Self-Directed Learning as a Practice of Workplace Learning: Interpretative Repertoires of Self-Directed Learning in ICT Work Abstract Changing technologies and competition in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) are challenging the learning of individual workers and teams alongside and through work. Organisations call for employees’ autonomy and self-directedness executed by agile operations and low hierarchies, where learning is also increasingly the responsibility of the individuals and teams themselves and occurs in practice without strong control of the organisation. Therefore, the multidimensional concept of self-directed learning becomes essential in the context of learning at work. In this study, we examine how employees in the ICT sector describe self-directed learning practices in the context of workplace learning. Our data consist of interviews with ICT employees in two organisations, which undergo an applied discourse analysis. The workers talked about self-directed learning as an obliged, creativity-enhanced as well as flexible and fast-paced practice. Self-directed learning was also described as a practice tied to work itself. The paper concludes with a discussion on how these partly conflicting discourses about self-directed learning practice in work could be considered in practices related to enhancing such learning in the ICT field. Suggestions for future investigations are also presented.

Hermeneutic Dimensions of Competency-Based Education and Training Abstract A distinctive feature of contemporary professional, vocational and continuing education is the prevalence of the ‘competency’ approach. So-called competency-based education or training (CBE/T) can be adopted as a basis for programs of learning, frameworks for development within occupations, or for national systems of vocational education. Its application is observed across a wide range of occupations – from gardening to teaching to piloting aircraft – and to diverse levels of expertise, from entry-level to continuing professional development. Although acceptance of the competency-based approach is widespread, there is still debate about its meaning and merits. Just as diverse applications can be cited, there are varying definitions and rationales for the approach. And while CBE/T appeals to common sense, there have been and continue to be challenges and criticisms from different disciplinary perspectives and with respect to its features and impacts. In this paper a special set of problems with CBE/T is examined. A model is presented which differentiates three interrelated components: competence, competency texts and CBE/T. By separating the definition into three components, a little-understood characteristic of the approach is foregrounded – processes of interpretation that translate between these components. The model thus exposes ‘hermeneutic’ dimensions of the competency approach which are argued to be key to understanding a number of problems associated with CBE/T. The paper concludes that the hermeneutic features of the competency approach represent challenges for basic assumptions of the model.

Correction to: Sales Assistants in the Making: Learning Through Responsibility The article Sales Assistants in the Making: Learning Through Responsibility, written by Kaja Reegård, was originally published Online First without open access.

Promoting Students’ Transitions to Successive VET Levels through Continuing Learning Pathways Abstract Continuing learning pathways have been proposed as curriculum design solutions to reduce student drop-out rates and to promote their transitions to successive levels of the educational system. The present study aimed to compare the effects of a specific continuing learning pathway in Dutch VET (the Green Lyceum or GL, which combines a lower secondary pre-vocational school-based (VMBO) programme and a middle-management VET (MBO) programme in an integrated learning trajectory offered by agricultural (or ‘green’) VET institutes) with a more traditional route (a regular middle-management VET programme) in terms of students’ learning performance at MBO level and their transitions to a higher professional bachelor programme (HBO). GL students more often obtained a MBO diploma at EQF level 4 in the nominal study time period than comparable students in terms of cognitive level in regular MBO. Moreover, former GL students more often proceeded with an HBO programme than comparable students coming from regular MBO. Finally, students coming from the GL less often opted for HBO programmes in the agricultural domain than comparable students coming from regular ‘green’ MBO and more often decided to start with programmes corresponding with other sectors. To conclude, the combination of design characteristics of these continuing learning pathways seems to promote students’ transitions within the VET system and, thus, can inspire the design and implementation of comparable learning routes to solve transition problems.

A Novel Instrument to Measure the Multidimensional Structure of Professional Agency Abstract This study aimed to construct and validate a quantitative measurement instrument to determine the structure of professional agency in working life. Empirical data (N = 589) were collected via a web-based, theoretically informed questionnaire, within the professional domains of education, healthcare, rescue services, and information technology. The questionnaire items incorporated theoretically based dimensions of professional agency. The structure of professional agency was initially analysed via exploratory factor analysis. Thereafter, using exploratory structural equation modelling, the structure of professional agency was investigated with a view to confirmation and validation. The results indicated that the structure of professional agency included three dimensions: Influencing at Work, Developing Work Practices, and Negotiating Professional Identity. These dimensions appeared to be separate from but closely linked to other work-related constructs, notably Learning at Work and Emotionally Meaningful Work. The study enriches current theory on professional agency by shedding light on its multidimensional structure. In presenting an instrument for measuring professional agency, the study can benefit scholars and work organisations with an interest in researching and fostering professional agency in various work and educational contexts.

Enabling Young Professionals to Learn from Errors - the Role of a Supportive Learning Climate in Crossing Help Network Boundaries Abstract Learning from errors is crucial for individuals’ as well as organizations’ performance. Yet, learning does not automatically follow from erring: the fear of negative consequences may prevent professionals from learning. These social costs of making an error, receiving negative judgments or experiencing feared punishment, need to be lowered for learning from error to take place. This study explores whether a supportive learning from error climate enables young professionals to engage in help-seeking behavior for learning after making an error. Using a social network approach, information from 157 young professionals in the domain of auditing reveals that not all help-seeking after errors is learning-oriented. Especially help-seeking from hierarchical superiors depends on the organization’s learning from error climate: perceptions of this climate moderate the relationship between social costs of help seeking within a hierarchical work setting and the learning value of help sought. This study contributes to existing literature through its focus on a specific learning from error behavior, help-seeking, its triangulation of climate measures, as well as its focus on professionals’ actual error experiences in their work environment.

Multiple Salient Goals Pursued by Jobseekers in Mandatory Continuing Professional Education Abstract Continuing professional education (CPE) is viewed as the main strategy to tackle unemployment and to improve the weak position of jobseekers with few qualifications on the labour market. However, the mandatory nature of these programmes raises questions regarding jobseekers’ motivation to enrol for and engage in training and – by extension – the effectiveness of the programmes. Moreover, until now, researchers have failed to address the different personal goals that unemployed people bring to CPE. Yet goals are viewed as a central determinant of motivation and behaviour. To overcome these limitations, the purpose of this present paper is to investigate the content of the multiple goals that jobseekers with few qualifications pursue in CPE programmes and to examine the dynamics of multiple goal pursuit. Based on the taxonomy developed by Carré (1998, 2001), jobseekers were asked to rank a list of goals in order of importance when enrolling for the training. Next, an explorative multidimensional unfolding method was used to identify several subgroups of jobseekers, depending on the combination of salient goals that they strive for simultaneously. Particular attention is paid in this study to the impact of the mandatory context on the goals pursued by jobseekers (i.e. the dictated goal). Self-report data was collected from a sample of 112 jobseekers from seventeen social-professional education training centres. Results indicated that few participants attribute importance to the dictated goal, and that they pursue multiple goals, oriented primarily towards learning and to a lesser extent towards participation. In addition, four subgroups of jobseekers were distinguished, based on their different combinations of goals. Only one subgroup explicitly reported external pressure as a factor that motivated them to enrol in training. The implications of applying an approach whereby multiple goal pursuit by jobseekers is considered, and the impact of this multiple goal pursuit on their motivation in mandatory CPE programmes are discussed.

Vocationalising Specialized Concepts: Appropriating Meanings Through Feedback Abstract This article is based on research about upper secondary students' experiences in vocational becoming as they develop conceptualized knowing through interactions with others. Interactions for meaning-making by vocationalising concepts also involve feedback relating to occupation-specific tasks. The aim was to understand this constructivist process of occupational identity formation - a goal of vocational education. The research reported here draws on data from participant observations and focus group interviews with 34 students in 2nd and 3rd grades in two schools, who were training to become security officers. Students vocationalise five features of security practices: (i) transforming anomaly into specialized concept; (ii) the uniform as a marker; (iii) accountability to the security industry through zero limit; (iv) modernizing the security occupation; and (v) social, study and professional conduct. The findings indicate that processual feedback supports the development of vocational conceptual knowing inferentially in the space of reasons. Teacher-led processual feedback provides more opportunities for vocationalising concepts, whereas student-led feedback during group work offers fewer such opportunities, although it does strengthen student identity. Overall, the findings show that collective meaning-making, supported by processual feedback, contributes to the construction of specialized knowledge for vocational becoming, thus leading to emergent vocational identity. However, making firm decisions about a chosen vocation takes time, and this appears challenging especially for youth with their limited life experiences (Tanggaard in Journal of Education and Work, 20(5), 453–466, 2007). For many prospective security officers, their vantage point remains uncertain, as they imagine, deliberate and put expectations to a reality check during the course of their study.

Students’ and their Supervisors’ Evaluations on Professional Identity in Work Placements Abstract This study explored the extent to which undergraduates demonstrate capabilities associated with professional identity (PI), an individual’s connection with the ideology of professional practice and a critical element of graduate employability. It gathered quantitative and qualitative data from 212 Australian business undergraduates and their workplace supervisors on 17 capabilities associated with PI. It also examined the value of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) in developing these capabilities. Findings indicated broad agreement on areas of strength and weakness yet supervisors assigned consistently higher ratings than students. Areas for development aligned with the advanced stages of PI and ratings were fairly uniform by gender, age and business specialisation. International students recorded lower mean ratings in certain capabilities. Both supervisors and, more so, students acknowledged an improvement in capabilities during WIL. Careful consideration of the design and structure of WIL programs is required to ensure development of the full range of capabilities associated with PI.

Epistemic Practices in Professional-Client Partnership Work Abstract Relational aspects of professional practice demand increasing attention in research on work and learning. However, little is known about how knowledge is enacted in practices where different people work together. Working in partnership with clients surfaces a number of epistemic demands, responses to which are poorly understood. This paper analyses two cases of nurses working with parents in support services for families with young children. The questions asked are: What epistemic practices are enacted when professionals work in partnership with clients? How do they generate distinct modes of partnership work? Findings show how professionals’ and clients’ knowledge is mobilised and made actionable through practices of diagnostic reasoning, recontextualising, testing and contesting knowledge claims. A distinction is presented between partnership that unfolds as strengthening the client from a professional epistemic perspective, and that which validates and augments the client’s own epistemic contribution. This reveals how knowledge is made to matter and becomes a basis for action in the course of working with others, and informs a new analytical distillation highlighting key epistemic aspects of professional-client partnership.