Developing Connectivity between Education and Work

Principles and Practices

Eva Kyndt, Simon Beausaert, Ilya Zitter, Eva Kyndt, Simon Beausaert, Ilya Zitter

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780367549305
• eBook ISBN: 9781000411270
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Adult Education

Future-oriented education needs to invest in the connectivity between learning and working in order to realise its full potential. This book presents guiding principles on how to build these successful connections. By taking an educational perspective and enriching it with insights from human resource development, this book explores the why, how and what of designing for connectivity.

This edited volume presents the current knowledge about educational practices and principles that help to realise connectivity between learning and working experiences. Introducing the central perspectives of workplace learning and learning environments at the boundary of school and work, this book presents key research that examines how educators and professionals from organisations and schools can come together with the purpose of realising connectivity in educational programmes. Empirical research showcasing both theoretical and practical insights from real life cases are at the heart of this book. Considering the barriers to achieving connectivity, this book also focuses on how it can be achieved, with ideas and guidance about communication, design principles and best practices.

Using carefully chosen international examples, this book is ideal reading for policy makers, practitioners and researchers looking to learn more about connecting learning and working experiences.

Section 1

Setting the stage

Chapter 1.1

Connectivity between education and work

Theoretical models and insights

Päivi Tynjälä, Simon Beausaert, Ilya Zitter and Eva Kyndt

Introduction

From the very beginning of human history, working and learning have taken up a core role within human life. However, the connection between these fundamental human activities has varied across times. While prehistoric people learnt working by doing, ancient Greeks had separate places for learning, schools. Medieval guild and apprenticeship systems, in turn, united learning and working, whereas the development of modern education systems separated them again. Thus, for most people, an extensive period of learning has preceded the undertaking of work – which itself was seldom recognised as a source of learning. Apprenticeship-style learning became implemented as part of the education system in many countries, but often the connections between school and workplaces have remained distant.

As work is continuously evolving, characterised by a high pace of change and constituted by the interdependency of learning and working, these have become a repeating and intertwined cycle that people, organisations and societies need to complete all the time, rather than being linear and separate phases of the lifetime journey. As such, the connectivity between learning and working has become more critical than ever.

Supporting learning is no longer the sole responsibility of educational providers; it has now evolved into a joint responsibility of education and work. This evolution is illustrated by the fact that several governments are in the process of strengthening or innovating (e.g. Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands), initiating (e.g. Belgium) or considering (e.g. Australia) a dual education system centred around the connectivity between education and work. Educational institutions can no longer work in isolation; furthermore, organisations are experiencing that learning is becoming an integral aspect of work. Moreover, upskilling and reskilling workers is high on the agenda of many organisations and governments. More and more organisations are setting up partnerships with tertiary educational institutions to achieve their goals in this area.

At the same time, many scholars have been introducing theoretical models focusing on organising and supporting learning within the interconnectedness between education and work. In other words, these models emphasise that education should no longer take place in a setting that is separated from work contexts. In this chapter, we present and relate some of these models that argue for deeper connections between school and work. Every model takes its own perspective on the matter and adopts a different emphasis. More specifically, the emphasis is placed, on the one hand, on connectivity through the facilitation of integrative learning processes and, on the other hand, on curriculum and instructional design. These different perspectives are discussed below. Note that this chapter does not present an exhaustive list of models; rather, it provides an introductory overview of a selection of dominant models. Additional models will be offered throughout the book.

Connectivity through facilitating integrative learning processes

The first model focuses on the integration of workplace learning into formal educational programmes, no matter the educational level, through facilitating integrative learning processes. Embedding workplace learning in the context of education requires the development of pedagogical models that take into account different forms of professional knowledge, as well as the established nature of learning. The Model of Integrative Pedagogy (e.g. Tynjälä, 2008; Tynjälä & Gijbels, 2012; Tynjälä, Heikkinen & Kallio, 2021) represents such a theoretical framework. The model was designed to enhance the connectivity between education and work and to support learning at the interface of academic and work-based learning environments. The model has been empirically tested and further developed through several studies (e.g. Heikkinen, Tynjälä & Kiviniemi, 2011; Koskinen & Äijö, 2013; Ortoleva & Bétrancourt, 2016; Tynjälä, Virtanen, Klemola, Kostiainen & Rasku-Puttonen, 2016; Täks, Tynjälä, Toding, Venesaar & Kukemelk, 2014).

The starting point of the model is the integrated nature of professional expertise (e.g. Bereiter, 2002; Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1993; Eraut, 2004; Le Maistre & Paré, 2006; Tynjälä, 2009). The essential elements of expertise are theoretical, practical, self-regulative and socio-cultural knowledge. It is important to bear in mind that these different forms of knowledge are only analytically separated, for in high-level expertise they are tightly integrated and fused into each other (Tynjälä, 2008; Tynjälä et al., 2016, 2021). Learning processes leading to integrated professional expertise is still a relatively under-researched topic, though explorative studies have been carried out into how vocational knowledge is developed during professional performance (e.g. Heusdens, Baartman & De Bruijn, 2019; Orozco, 2020). Given that...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Lists of figures
• List of tables
• Preface
• List of contributors
• Section 1: Setting the stage
• Section 2: Designing across boundaries
• Section 3: Boundary objects for connectivity
• Section 4: Guidance for connectivity
• Index