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Constructing learning spaces – knowledge development in work-based learning

Tove Lafton (Department of Early Childhood Teacher Education, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway)
Anne Furu (Department of Early Childhood Teacher Education, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway)

Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning

ISSN: 2042-3896

Article publication date: 2 April 2019

Issue publication date: 20 September 2019

430

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how kindergarten, as a learning arena equal to a university college, creates learning spaces that engage or intervene in the professional learning of student teachers in early childhood education.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is based on narratives from students in work-based education.

Findings

The paper addresses the complexity of education by outlining how the concept of learning is applied in earlier research on work-based learning (WBL).

Research limitations/implications

This earlier understanding is complemented this with two theoretical lenses (sociocultural and sociomaterial thinking) to analyse a constructed narrative from the students.

Originality/value

The two theoretical positions open up to examine knowledge development and potentially enrich the picture of learning spaces in experiential WBL, going beyond the student as an individual learner.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Professor Elizabeth Jones, Manchester Metropolitan University and the Hong Kong Institute of Education, for her insightful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript, and also their department for initiating the project researching the workplace as a learning arena.

Citation

Lafton, T. and Furu, A. (2019), "Constructing learning spaces – knowledge development in work-based learning", Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 677-687. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-07-2017-0039

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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