Higher apprenticeships and the shaping of vocational knowledge

Abstract

Higher apprenticeships are celebrated in current policy discourses as an alternative to traditional higher education, with the claim that they will prepare higher apprentices for their future careers and enhance industrial productivity through higher skill levels. This paper aims to scrutinise these claims using notions developed by Bernstein and related work in the sociology of educational knowledge, identifying how the formulation of higher vocational knowledge will affect how apprentices work, learn and access knowledge. It is suggested that the socio-epistemic processes through which 'regions' of professional and vocational knowledge are constituted, and the manner in which knowledge is recontextualised, give rise to specific knowledge articulations and curriculum decisions. Drawing on an analysis of the structure of apprenticeship frameworks and their associated qualifications, as well as interviews with professional bodies, the research will demonstrate how certain types of knowledge are foregrounded as a result of sectoral and professional dynamics and the imperatives of knowledge structure. In some sectors and professions, key concepts associated with disciplinary knowledge may be downplayed or obscured, reducing what Wheelahan and others have described as 'epistemic access', with a potential impact on progression opportunities for apprentices and the ability to provide valuable input in the workplace. In others, higher apprenticeships may continue longstanding traditions of higher vocational formation, involving educational institutions, employers and practitioners in constituting productive vocational knowledge and practice, albeit within a macro-context that may not promote practitioner influence over the circumstances of formation.

Vocational Knowledge – Regions and Recontextualisation Capability

“…Turning to illustrative examples, research into higher apprenticeships in England between 2012 and 2014 (Hordern 2015) demonstrates the contrasting internal relations that can be found in regions, and the consequences this can have for curriculum development. In the regions of human resource management (HRM) and project management, the development of higher apprenticeships was primarily led by professional associations, who engaged with multiple employers in an attempt to achieve consensus around the structure of the apprenticeship and the content of qualifications.…”

“…Contrastingly, projects to develop higher apprenticeships in the engineering and construction areas were primarily led by networks of educational institutions, working in collaboration with employer representative bodies who, in turn, were involved in long established networks of employers. There is evidence of stronger and more stable internal relations in these regions, based upon the ongoing need for connections with a disciplinary knowledge base and patterns of practitioner formation that involve educational institutions and workplaces in partnership (Hordern 2015). The foundational elements of the 'toolbox of applicable knowledge' are more clearly and consensually defined where construction or engineering are concerned; a facet of the more hierarchical nature of the knowledge structures that underpin the knowledge base and provide clearer recontextualisation rules for curriculum design.…”

“…To ground the discussion, illustrations of regions and aspects of their recontextualisation capability are provided from recent research into the development of higher apprenticeships in England from 2012-4 (Hordern 2015), with a particular focus on higher apprenticeships at levels 4 and 5 in Project Management, Human Resource Management, Construction and Engineering. The projects to develop new higher apprenticeships funded by the Coalition government in England provide interesting examples, particularly as they were often tasked with bringing together a diverse range of key stakeholders within their 'regions' to agree new apprenticeship frameworks containing knowledge and competence qualifications.…”

Higher apprenticeships in England: professional and vocational formation

“…Studies using a productive systems approach, focusing on how political economy and organisational dynamics impact on workplace learning and professional formation, have demonstrated the extent to which learning in the workplace relies on appropriate institutional conditions (Bishop et al, 2009;, with sectors such as Hospitality or Social Care particularly susceptible to restriction on learning with limited investments in skill or qualification opportunities. Thus higher apprenticeships in emerging professions and labour intensive sectors are subject to particular pressures on processes of workplace and learner recontextualisation (Evans et al, 2010) to enable formation, brought about by a lack of appropriate infrastructure that would serve to frame the workplace curriculum and learning environment (Hordern 2015). Decisions made to support learning at a workplace level become particularly important, but are correspondingly weakly supported by the institutions that structure the context of formation in these sectors or professions.…”

“…It is the second of a pair of articles focusing on higher apprenticeships in England, with the first (Hordern 2015), addressing issues relating to the curriculum and knowledge content of higher apprenticeships in more depth. Following a brief review of the policy context, this paper outlines how macro, meso and institutional processes shape formation, discusses how a profession or vocation establishes legitimacy, and identifies pressures to extend formation structures.…”