1. Learning at the Workplace: Optimal Learning Environments
Contact: Dr. Christof Nägele Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training SFIVET Kirchlindachstrasse 79 | CH-3052 Zollikofen | |
Patrizia Hasler Schule für Gestaltung, Bern und Biel
Schänzlihalde 31, CH Bern

2. The workplace as a site for learning gets more attention in many countries: A remark on the psychological importance of work

3. (1) work and personality (2) learning at the workplace a model (3) cognitive underpinnings of action regulation (4) context: Swiss VET-System
I will start with four short remarks on important factors of our work.
It is on the importance of the work for human beings, a basic model of learning processes at the workplace, the basis of our action regulation - and the context, th Siwss VET-system.

4. (1) Work process forms... -> product -> subject personality
knowledge
skills
values
Rubinstein, 1958, S. 704
The primary aim of any work process is to deliver a product or a service. Ideas, materials, goods and information is transformed into a new quality.
But it is also the personality of am individual that is shaped by the job he or she does. Individuals aquire knwoledge and skills - but also values.
Im Prozess der Arbeit wird nicht nur ein bestimmtes Produkt der Arbeitstätigkeit des Subjekts erzeugt, sondern dieses selbst wird in der Arbeit geformt.
In der Arbeitstätigkeit entwickeln sich die Fähigkeiten des Menschen, es bildet sich sein Charakter, seine weltanschaulichen Prinzipien werden gestählt und zu Einstellungen des praktischen Handelns umgewandelt.
An der realen Arbeitstätigkeit eines Menschen nehmen in verschiedenem Masse alle Seiten und Äusserungen seiner Persönlichkeit teil.
Rubinstein, 1958, S. 704
Hacker, W. (2005). Allgemeine Arbeitspsychologie: Psychische Regulation von Wissens-, Denk- und körperlicher Arbeit. Bern, CH: Verlag Hans Huber.

5. Potential of learning in a work process
Significant (society and Individuum)
Direct feedback
Immediate effect of learning
Training effect
Cooperation
Potentiell ideale Voraussetzungen für effektives Lernen gegeben.
Es werden Tätigkeiten ausgeführt, welche Lernen ermöglichen.
Arbeitsprozesse...
sind gesellschaftlich und individuell bedeutsam,
enthalten direktes Feedback,
lassen den Nutzen des Lernen unmittelbar erkennen,
sind regelmässig und bieten Möglichkeit der Übung,
bieten Möglichkeiten kooperativen Lernens aber auch individuell angepasster Arbeitsweisen.
Hacker, W. (2005). Allgemeine Arbeitspsychologie: Psychische Regulation von Wissens-, Denk- und körperlicher Arbeit. Bern, CH: Verlag Hans Huber.

6. Quality of learning at the workplace depends on...
Type of activity
Support / coaching by trainer
Type of interaction (with colleagues, customers, ..)
Development of individual and shared understanding
Art der Aktivitäten, die eine Person macht
Unterstützung und Anleitung
Art der Interaktion
Aufbau einer gemeinsamen Vorstellung
Billett, S. (2001). Learning in the workplace: strategies for effective practice. St Leonards, Australia: Allen & Unwin.

7. Reflexivity
Reflexivity is expected to have an influence on task performance through the building of adequate individual and shared mental models.
It is not the reflexivity intervention per se that does lead to better performance:
The quality of the reflective process does make a difference!
Better reflexivity depends on a better individual understanding of the task.
Tschan, F., Semmer, N. K., Nägele, C., & Gurtner, A. (2002). Individual and group reflexivity, and its influence on shared mental models and performance in computer mediated groups .

8. Conceptual Model

9. (2) Learning - Job Design - Trainer
Curriculum
Methods / Didactics
Learning Organization
Assessment
Learning Materials
Diagnostics
Learning processes at the workplace must be organized - somehow.
The learning goals and curricula are defined by the company - or in case of initial vocational education and training in Switzerland in a process were representants of different companies and the governement jointly develop the curriculum for a specific profession.
A specific learning organization and didactics and sometimes learning materials structure the learning process.
Hacker, W., & Skell, W. (1993). Lernen in der Arbeit [Learning on the job]. Berlin, D und Bonn, D: Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung BiBB.

10. Learning Organization
Curriculum
Job Design / Task
Methods / Didactics
Learning Organization
Assessment
Learning Materials
Diagnostics
An important element is the task. What kind of products and services are made by the company? And how is this done? As initial vocationa educationand training takes place in a real setting, the learning depends heavely on the tasks and job designs in the company. Learning is embedded in the real life.
Hacker, W., & Skell, W. (1993). Lernen in der Arbeit [Learning on the job]. Berlin, D und Bonn, D: Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung BiBB.

11. Learning Organization
Workplace Trainer
Curriculum
Job Design / Task
Methods / Didactics
Learning Organization
Assessment
Learning Materials
Diagnostics
The role of the trainer is a crucial role. He or she has many different roles. He can be the boss, a supervisior, a colleague. He instructs, guides or sanctions the apprentice. It is also the workplace trainer that assigns specific tasks to the apprentice. It is his duty to coordinate the production system - where the main focus of the company is to deliver good products and service. And on the other hand the training and eduactinal system in which the apprentice must have some freedom to develop his knowledge and skills.
Hacker, W., & Skell, W. (1993). Lernen in der Arbeit [Learning on the job]. Berlin, D und Bonn, D: Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung BiBB.

12. Learning at the workplace
Individual process
Social process
Moderated by
> Job design / Task
> Trainer
Learning is an individual process, in the tradition of constructivism.
Learning is also a social process, at it is embedded in a social setting at the workplace: colleagues, co-workers, other apprentices and so on.
Illeris, K. (n.d.). Workplace Learning and Learning Theory.
Furthermore, learning is a societal process as leraning is embedded in a culture, in a certain tradition of a profession.
The task determines what can be learnt.
The trainer as multiple roles as trainer, coach, confident.

13. (3) Cognitive underpinnings of action regulation
Action and action regulation depend on conceptual knowledge, on mental maps, or mental models.
Also handicraft, manual work is first of all: cognitive work.
„Dabei ist erstaunlich, wie viel begriffliches Wissen es für die Ausführung von Handlungen braucht. (…), dass Handarbeit über weite Strecken Kopfarbeit ist“ (S. 15). Steiner, G. (2007). Der Kick zum effizienten Lernen [Kick to efficient learning]. Bern, CH: hep verlag.
Hacker, W. (2003). Action Regulation Theory: A practical tool for the design of modern work processes? European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 12(2),

14. Swiss iVET/VET

15. (4) Swiss Educational System
Bundesamt für Berufsbildung und Technologie BBT. (2011). Berufsbildung in der Schweiz. Fakten und Zahlen [Vocational and professional education in Switzerland. Facts and Figures].

16. One task – Three partners

17. (...)

18. Why firms offer apprenticeship-places?
Tradition
Balance of cost – benefit
Professional pride
Input of new knowledge
Contribution to the professional development
...
Stalder, Barbara Elisabeth. Warum Lehrlinge ausbilden? Ausbildungsbereitschaft, Lehrstellenangebot und Bildungsreformen aus der Sicht von Lehrbetrieben des Kantons Bern. Bern, CH, Bern, CH.

19. Study Apprenticeship Polygrafie

20. The mere execution of a task is not learning
The training in the company has to establish the transfer from theory to practice.
This cannot be achieved by simply participating in work related activities.
Jobs and tasks need to be designed such that learning can happen.
The workplace trainer has to assist/support the learning process.
The learner must be an active learner.
Exchange of knowledge and skills between the three leraning places must be established.

21. Sample (spring 2010) Viscom, employers association, printing industry
Apprenticeship: i) media production ii) media design
N = 414 – all apprentices of the 2nd and 3rd year
Age: 2nd year 18.6 (SD 2.25), 3rd year 19.7 (SD 1.9)
2/3 female (N=263)
Method: Supervised online questionnaire during training in inter-company courses
In november 2009 we developed together with experts from the professional organisation Viscom an online questionnaire As the base we took proved scales from other studies and adapted them to the training situation of the Polygraphs. We chose the 2nd and 3rd year because the first year is a school based introductory year and the last year is trained by the old ordinance. Our sample is a full sample of the german-speaking part of Switzerland.
We realized the survey from January to April To increase the qualitiy of the survey we supervised the survey to answer questions and to explain the sense and necessity of the survey.

22. Apprenticeship Polygrafie

23. Higher Education: Tertiary A or Tertiary B?
About 40 % of the apprentices in Polygrafie want to use the apprenticeship to go through the possibility of the professional baccalaureate to higher educationpermeability of the Swiss educational system
40%

24. Determinants of favorable workplace learning
Individual Processes - Individual Factors: motivation, persistence, self-efficacy, cognitive flexibility, ...
Social Processes - Team: Support, good relationship quality, ...
Job design: variability significance, autonomy, task identity, challenging work, ...
Trainer: monitoring/guidance, expert in the domaine, psychological and pedagogical expertise, ...
Curriculum: relevant domain specific contents
INDIVIDUAL
PersistenceSelf-efficacyMotivation Self-esteemFlexibilityPositive attitudes towards life
JOB DESIGN
VariabilitySignificanceAutonomyFeedbackTask identityChallenging work
TRAINER
Gives space and time for reflectionDidactics and teachingTrust and autonomyHigh demandsMonitoring / guidanceGood in explaining thingsVocational competencePositive handling of errors
TEAM
Number and quality of friends at workReceiving instructionsSocial support
CURRICULUM
In our context the curriculum was given.

25. Dependent Measures Skills, workplace Training satisfaction
Work related attitudesSchool gradesDomain specific structural knowledge

26. Satisfaction with education and training

27. Company: Satisfaction with training
It is mainly the trainer and not the team.
Is there really a community of practice - or to put it in other words: In initial VET the key person is the trainer - and not the team!
It is also the trainer who has to assess the apprentice.

28. Self-evaluation: Workplace Skills
Variability
Significance
Autonomy
Feedback
Task identity
Here we find primarily individual factors. It is the self-assessment of the skills.
Challenging work = more feedback = higher confidence in the skills
no effect

29. Work related attitudes

30. School grades

31. Domain Specific Structural Knowledge
Curriculum
Extraction of Key Concepts
Validation: Experts
Rating: Apprentices & Experts
Network Construction
Network Similarity
Schvaneveldt, R. W., Durso, F. T., Goldsmith, T. E., Breen, T. J., & Cooke, N. J. (1985). Measuring the structure of expertise. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 23,

32. Domain Specific Structural Knowledge

33. Domain Specific Structural Knowledge
Here we see the mediating role of the workplace trainer!
We used concepts form the 3rd and 4rd year of the apprenticeship. Thus, not all apprentices were familiar with the concepts. Furthermore, the concepts were described in generic terms. In the companies quite often specific product names are used. But as there are different manufacturers of these products, they can have different names in different companies.

34. Trust and Autonomy

35. Trust and Autonomy

36. Three learning places – one curriculum
The curriculum represents the dual-or even trial corporatistic model of initial vocational education and training in Switzerland.
There is a joint responsibility for the achievement of the planned performance goals
One planned performance is established for the three learning places, vocational school, company, inter-company courses
The two different tracks are also included in the same curriculum. So it‘s easy to change within the two tracks.
(Bildungsplan Polygrafin/ Polygraf EFZ, 2006)
Content
School
Company
I-C training

37. Knowledge transfer between the three learning places
Biggest transfer intercompany-course companySecond biggest transfer school company (apprentices judge higher)Companies judge high transfer companyintercompany- courses

38. Learning at the Workplace: Optimal Learning Environments
We see the important role of the trainer.
Trust is important. Trust seems to root in good work related instructional skills of the trainer.
It starts with the work allocation, includes adequate instructional techniques, a honest and direct feedback as well as a positive handling of errors.

39. The mere execution of a task is not learning
Jobs and tasks need to be designed such that learning can happen.
=> Demanding tasks, variability, scope of action
The workplace trainer has to assist/support the learning process.
=> Work allocation, high demands, honest and direct feedback
Exchange of knowledge, skills and values between the three leraning places must be established.
=> Better use of knowledge and skills from all learning places at the workplace. To discuss: the role of the trainer.
The learner must be an active learner.
=> Trustful relationship as a good starting point.