With the increasing challenges facing professional engineers working in more complex, global and inter-disciplinary contexts, different approaches to understanding how engineers practice and learn are necessary. This paper draws on recent research in the social sciences from the field of workplace learning, to suggest that a practice theory perspective on engineers' professional learning is fruitful. It shifts the focus from the attributes of the individual learner (knowledge, skills and attitudes) to the attributes of the practice (interactions, materiality, opportunities, challenges). Learning is thus more than the technical acquisition and transfer of knowledge, but a complex bundle of activities that is social, material, embodied and emerging. The paper is illustrated with examples from a research study of the learning of experienced engineers in the construction industry to demonstrate common practices-site walks and design review meetings-in which learning takes place.
KeywordEngineers' practice; professional learning; workplace learning; practice theory; engineering education.
This paper reports on the first phase of an Australian inter-disciplinary partnership study concerned with professional learning of experienced engineers. It is a theoretically motivated, qualitative paper that aims to produce detailed descriptions of professional learning that arise within professional engineering work. The paper uses practice theory to conceptualise professional learning. By using 'practices' as the units of analysis, professional learning is understood as an integral part of everyday work practices that is embodied, relational and material rather than an individual attribute. The paper concludes by suggesting that practice theory may provide organisations with an alternative perspective of workplace learning, inviting them to reconsider how professional learning is acknowledged, rewarded and fostered in organisations.
This paper presents the preliminary results of a multi-phased qualitative investigation of continuing professional learning. The study focused on the identifi cation of common engineering practices that contribute to learning. This paper examines a particular practice, that of the site-walk. It draws on practice theory, an emerging set of conceptual resources used in workplace learning research. Data was elicited via qualitative methods such as interviews, focus groups and site visits with experienced engineers employed in a large Australian engineering company. It was analysed using the lens of practice theory. The fi ndings suggest that site-walks, while an everyday practice for engineers, are also highly learning-rich. This understanding has implications for continual professional learning, and for educators of novice engineers.
This paper reports on the implementation of a Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA), a component of graduation recently introduced into the teaching workforce in Australia. The TPA typically requires graduates to demonstrate that they can plan, implement, assess and reflect on a series of lessons given to school students. This case study used grounded theory to analyse the initial implementation of a TPA at an Australian university, based on interviews, student focus groups, and a classroom readiness survey. We investigated the TPA's contribution to final-year pre-service teachers' learning and professional readiness. We conclude that the TPA, as a threshold task, is broadly beneficial to the profession and graduating teachers, and may strengthen professional bonds between schools and universities. We also warn of TPA-related fragilities and its potential to reinforce populist notions of 'teaching as telling' and to test surface-level quizknowledge to the exclusion of deeper, attitudinal learning outcomes.
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