Learning How to Learn at Work: Lessons from Three High School Programs
During the 1990s, work-based learning has gained prominence as
one element of local, state, and federal school reform
strategies. Federal legislation passed as the School to Work
Opportunities Act (STWOA) of 1994, for example, calls for
redesigning educational programs to include both school-based and
work-based learning (WBL). STWOA defines work-based learning as a
planned program of work experience linked to school. It further
specifies that WBL include training on the job, supervision by
workplace mentors, and instruction in general workplace
competencies and “all aspects of the industry.” Successful
completion of paid or unpaid work experiences (paid experiences
are preferable under STWOA) should lead to a portable
certificate. A recent evaluation of states receiving funds under
STWOA indicates that developing work-based activities are the top
priority.
Not surprisingly, the renewed interest in WBL raises questions
about its effectiveness. Previous research provides some
information about student outcomes associated with cooperative
education, school-based enterprises, and other types of programs
that incorporate WBL, but our understanding is sketchy at best,
particularly for newer programs promoting broader purposes. While
research suggests that the quality of work experience matters,
there is little systematic information about quality across
programs or even consensus on how to define it. Hardly any
attention at all has been given to the actual experiences of
students during WBL or the ways those experiences contribute to,
or hinder, their intellectual and occupational development.
Research Approach and Questions
This exploratory study adopts a different approach than previous
research by focusing explicitly on the workplace as a learning
environment for students. It draws on research on learning at
work from a sociocultural perspective to characterize the sorts
of instructional activities and learning tasks that students
encounter. The advantage of this approach is to draw attention to
the teaching and learning process itself–the process that
teachers in school or at work have the most ability to shape.
This study aims, first, to understand these workplaces as
learning environments for young people. Specifically, it examines
the social means by which work tasks are established and
accomplished by students. It characterizes teaching at work–Who
does it? and How does the community of practice support teaching
and learning?
Our second main objective is to understand what students learn
from WBL, including technical, generic, social skills, and
work-related attitudes. The study does not measure learning
formally, but, rather, asks what opportunities are presented for
learning different skills or attitudes and what students appear
to learn from these opportunities, based on our observations and
their own reports. We also explore the relationship between
school-based and WBL in these programs, since this link is
crucial to ensuring WBL quality.
The study examined WBL in three different types of programs in
Los Angeles, with an emphasis on the students’ perspective and
experience. The three programs operate in the same large,
metropolitan school district and serve similar populations of
mostly minority students. About 170 students participate in the
Transportation Career Academy Program (TCAP), which emphasizes
preparation for both entry-level jobs and careers in
transportation-related occupations. During their junior and
senior years, students can participate in an eight-week, paid
internship in a transportation-related field. We observed two
students performing internships at engineering construction
firms. Students’ work was primarily clerical, but in some cases
it was related to technical areas.
The Medical Magnet High School (MMHS) provides unpaid internships
in a variety of medical settings. The school emphasizes a
college-preparatory curriculum for grade 10-12 students, with
internships primarily provided for the purpose of career
exploration. Students rotate in several placements for one
morning a week throughout the school year. Students receive
elective course credit for their internship work. We observed two
students who were hired to work over the summer as laboratory
assistants in the science department at a local university. These
students assisted in conducting neuromuscular research
projects.
At the School-Based Enterprise (SBE), forty student-owners sell
their own salad dressing and produce from their garden. The SBE
is housed on a high school campus, and students work after school
for a few hours, odd hours over weekends, and over the summer.
Students learn all aspects of running a business, with an
emphasis on entrepreneurial skills. Students receive points for
their work, which are exchanged for the dollar value of company
shares upon high school graduation.
At each site, students completed a survey about their WBL
experience. The study team interviewed teachers, mentors,
employers, and other adults associated with the programs. We also
observed students at work and interviewed them to gather in-depth
information on WBL.
Characteristics of Work-Based Learning
Following work by Moore (1981) and others, the study attends to
the social context for learning and working and examines certain
characteristics of WBL. Our analysis first focused on the social
means by which tasks are initiated, accomplished, and processed,
as this is when the process of education is set in motion. Then
we examined the pedagogy of worksites and the community of
practice that students encounter.
Social Means To Support Tasks
Our analysis of workplaces as learning environments shows, first,
that the types of tasks students engage in and the means by which
they are established, accomplished, and processed, varies
markedly across the three programs. The SBE gives the most
latitude to students with respect to choosing work tasks and even
work times, while work at the other two sites was more closely
monitored and scheduled.
By and large, the tasks students had to accomplish required
little creativity, although a few SBE students had opportunities
to be creative. Most of the time, students simply followed
directions to complete a variety of tasks. Their coworkers,
supervisors, or mentors provided the social supports students
needed to learn and do their jobs.
Although students received ample feedback on task performance,
they were not always sure what was expected of them. Two
programs, MMHS and TCAP, incorporated formal evaluation
procedures between the worksite and the school and students were
conversant with the frequency and nature of the assessment
process.
Pedagogy of Worksites
A second characteristic of the learning environment concerns the
pedagogy of worksites. Not surprisingly, training for the TCAP
students, who worked in private,
for-profit companies, followed a “show and tell” model. This
approach seemed suited to the level of student work–primarily
clerical. One firm was also dedicated to training and staff
development, and their intern had more learning opportunities
unconnected to productive work. In contrast, the MMHS students
were apprentices in a university science laboratory where
teaching is embedded in nearly every activity. The mentor had
extensive teaching experience, and she created a curriculum
tailored to the students’ needs. Likewise, the SBE advisors had a
strategy for teaching students the skills they needed to make a
positive contribution to the business and, more generally, to be
successful in academic pursuits and in life. To accomplish a
variety of learning goals, the SBE utilized a talented mentor
pool, outside conferences or workshops, free advice from experts,
and opportunities to practice in a fail-safe environment. The two
sites located at educational settings incorporated educative
purposes for WBL, in addition to having students engage in
productive work.
Student Participation in Communities of Practice
The communities of practice that students entered were also
strikingly dissimilar. The TCAP students were “junior” employees
and, for all practical purposes, treated as such. They were there
to make a productive contribution to the work and were included
in all business activities appropriate to their position. MMHS
students had a more difficult time, as they lacked status in the
research laboratory and had no real means to acquire it. To be
successful, they had to interact in a complex, sometimes
unfriendly social environment. They were included in social
activities, like basketball games, but not in the weekly meetings
that dealt with the lab’s program of research. They were
peripheral participants in this community. The SBE students
created and fully participated in their community of practice,
with guidance from their advisors. These students worked in a
nurturing environment, where their biggest social challenge was
to learn to work with one another.
Opportunities for Learning
The study also determined the opportunities that WBL presented
for learning technical and social skills, work-related attitudes,
generic skills (e.g., problem-solving, teamwork, communications),
and broader knowledge of industries or careers. Since
school-based learning and WBL are meant to complement one
another, the study also addressed the extent and depth of that
connection.
Technical, Personal, and Social Skills and Work Dispositions
Of the three sites, the MMHS students were most challenged–they
had to learn highly technical knowledge and skill and identify
their place in a complex social milieu. Students in the other
programs were less challenged socially, and their work was not
always demanding. SBE students could develop fairly sophisticated
technical skills, if they so chose. All students learned valuable
personal lessons about their current career interests and their
capabilities.
Students also learned a lot about what it means to work. They
learned to take responsibility, to work hard, to meet deadlines,
and to be persistent. They learned how to dress and act
appropriately to their work situation. The more relaxed SBE
environment did not provide as many opportunities as other
worksites to develop some valuable work habits, such as being on
time or knowing when to dress more formally.
Problem-Solving Skills
By and large, these worksites did not develop students’
problem-solving skills around substantive, technical matters.
Most of the problems students encountered had to do with the
procedural aspects of their work and were easily solved by
themselves or with assistance from others. Although the MMHS
program’s science fair project might have been an opportunity for
students to engage in more substantive problem solving, it was
unfortunately structured in such a way that students did little
of the work on their own. SBE provided some interesting
problem-solving events, but these were not available to all
students. Since SBE students decide which activities to volunteer
for, and since it is hard to tell in advance where complex
problems might emerge, the opportunities to develop some skills
are left to chance.
SBE students developed some teamwork skills, although teams were
loosely organized and their makeup varied across activities. TCAP
and MMHS students worked independently, for the most part, but
learned about job and task interdependencies. SBE students
utilized a broader array of communication skills because they had
more interactions with external audiences and had to communicate
for more varied purposes than students at other worksites.
Opportunities To Learn about an Industry
TCAP and the MMHS program had explicit career awareness or
exploration goals, and these students enhanced their
understanding of the transportation and science fields.
Individuals at the university lab displayed a strong interest in
motivating minority students to pursue science careers and in
some ways went beyond the program’s expectations. While the MMHS
program views student as volunteer interns, the lab hoped to turn
them into productive assistants and to make efficient use of
their time during the school year. At the SBE, students had
opportunities to learn all aspects of running a business, but we
were not able to determine how many students took advantage of
these opportunities.
Connections to School Learning
Since school-based learning and WBL are meant to complement one
another, we hoped to see strong links between school and work.
TCAP seemed to do a good job of preparing students to enter the
workplace. They conducted workshops for students to help them
adjust to an adult working environment, and the school program
gave them solid skills that employers could use. But since the
work experience is not concurrent with school, the students are
left to make these connections on their own. In this case, then,
school learning appeared to enhance learning at work.
The MMHS program incorporated several structural features for
connecting school and work, such as agreements with resource
sites that listed learning objectives for students, and
requirements for students to write journals about their work
experiences. The students working at the lab, however, were paid
employees, not volunteers. The lab work was so advanced that
students had little prior knowledge from their school science
classes, but found some opportunities to apply math or chemistry
knowledge. Somewhat ironically, the science fair project
requirements took precedence over real experience. In this case,
work appeared to enhance school learning, but was otherwise
unconnected to it.
The SBE was perhaps the best kept secret at the high school. The
only teacher connected to the program was one of the SBE’s
original founders. It does not receive school or district funds.
Indeed, the enterprise’s primary connection to the school is its
location on school property. Although the students’ school
classes were not connected in any way to the SBE, the SBE
strongly supported academics. Student-owners could be tutored in
any subject, receive preparation for SAT and ACT testing, and get
personal assistance to apply to college. Doing well in school and
raising academic aspirations were as important as running the
business. The SBE clearly enhanced school learning and overall
academic achievement: nearly all the student-owners go on to
college, compared to fewer than half of the graduating seniors in
the same high school.
Implications and Further Questions
Overall, we conclude that most of what we learned in examining
teaching and learning opportunities in these programs was quite
positive. The longer-term, fairly intensive WBL experiences
studied here provided opportunities for students to learn many
work-related skills and attitudes. Students were generally
satisfied with their work experience, although, on average, felt
work was not very challenging. Although the programs varied with
respect to opportunities for learning specific skills, the WBL
experiences generally met each program’s goals. However, the
study does raise some questions and implications that we offer
not as criticisms of the programs, but as general lessons to
consider when developing educationally valuable WBL opportunities
for young people.
The report discusses several implications for the design and
delivery of WBL programs. First, to adequately prepare students
for their work experience, it is important for program staff to
understand the social context of the WBL setting. The implicit or
explicit model of pedagogy and the firm’s views of training can
affect the kind of student who can succeed, as can the
expectations that employers have for students capabilities.
Training opportunities and expectations can vary considerably
with work settings.
In addition to preparing students for work, program coordinators
need to carefully match students and worksites. Although this
suggestion may be self-evident, even those coordinators who
worked closely with employers did not always make a good match.
In addition, programs use irrelevant criteria, such as grades, to
determine where to place students. Program coordinators might
make better matches by considering whether a student is suited to
a particular social context–and vice versa–in addition to
making placements on the basis of knowledge or interest.
Third, students need skills to learn how to learn at work.
Students must know when to ask questions, take initiative, have
the confidence to solve problems, and know how to work together.
Students must take responsibility for their own learning.
Unfortunately, we heard numerous stories that schooling does
quite the opposite. Students told us that learning at school
means listening, not asking questions. It means working alone,
not with other students. It means asking the teacher what to do,
not figuring it out for oneself. In school, a good excuse is all
you need to get out of doing something. This situation leads to
very different implications: (1) provide WBL experiences for more
students because that experience will likely provide the best
opportunities for students to learn how to learn at work; and (2)
improve school-based teaching to produce active, engaged learners
who can work alone and with others, and who will be better
prepared to learn how to learn at work. Either remedy entails a
serious, and costly, school reform strategy.
The study also raises some important questions for further
research and consideration. First, who teaches at work? The
work-based learning sites in this study were very different with
respect to teaching strategies and expertise. This study suggests
that much more serious attention be paid to providing appropriate
training to worksite mentors and to monitoring their performance
as teachers.
This study corroborates other research on school-to-work programs
in finding that school and work are often only loosely connected
and that any connection is difficult to establish. But the study
also shows that students learn many valuable lessons and develop
many skills where connections between school and work are weak.
This raises questions about the nature of connections between
school and work. What types of connections are possible, and
which are most necessary for achieving high-quality outcomes?
Stasz, C., & Kaganoff, T. (1997, December). Learning how to learn at work: Lessons from three high school programs. Berkeley, CA: National Center for Research in Vocational Education.