Constituting the workplace curriculum

Abstract

This paper advances some bases for a workplace curriculum. These are premised on conceptions of curriculum as intents directed to individuals' progression towards full and effective workplace performance, yet whose enactment is shaped by workplace factors and is ultimately experienced by workers as learners. So whether the intentions will be realised is likely premised on the support (affordances) for their enactment by interests within the workplace. These interests are directed towards the workplace's continuity including individuals and their affiliates standing in the workplace. Workplace affordances, like those in educational institutions, emphasise the role that the norms and social practices that comprise workplaces play in regulating individuals' engagement in and learning through work. The degree by which these affordances invite, structure, support and guide participation and are likely to engage workers in the kinds of thinking, acting and learning required for effective workplace performance is important for developing effective vocational practice. Yet, the degree of consonance between individuals' interests and these workplace affordances will ultimately shape individuals' experience of and engagement in learning. So the conception of an ideal curriculum directed towards full participation is subject to the affordances of the interests of managers, co-workers and factors affecting production, as well as the intentionalities of worker-learners themselves. These concepts may well provide ways of thinking about curriculum more broadly as participatory practices comprising the interactions between the agency and continuities of both the social practice (e.g. educational institutions, workplaces etc) and individuals who participate in and learn through their engagement in these practices.