3.2 Vocational Education and Knowledge
3.2.2 Knowledge Categories
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There was a grey area with respect to how the knowledge base would connect to the craft or craftsman when the theoretical was not explicit – and when the knowledge could not be discussed like other forms of formal knowledge. There was thus a demarcation that would suggest a ‘separation of hand and head’. The artisan would exemplify the level where he or she:
…had grasped the principle of the whole, the relationship between the parts and the whole, the principle of arrangement, whereas the apprentice who had only learnt skills could not operate in terms of this larger principle (Muller & Gamble, 2004, p. 19).
Gamble (2012) brings in the concept of craft not only being a reproduction of known and fixed procedures requiring dexterity and accuracy, but also craft as innovation. The latter, she argues:
…over and above dexterity and accuracy, is the ability to extrapolate beyond known procedures, materials and tools to create a new product, or to adapt an existing product to new specifications (Gamble 2012, p. 2).
There are different forms of trade or craft, and Gamble (2012) builds a typology of labour process segmentation in craft or trade work. In this typology, type 1 is where the craftsman is capable of working the full spectrum of production (extended craft-based production); in type 2 the worker does a single operation or a number of restricted operations (restricted craft based production); in type 3, an operation is isolated and divided between various trades or crafts; and in type 4, the machine replaces the craft skill resulting in deskilling of the craftsman into semi-skilled or unskilled (fully mechanised production). It thus does appear that the requirements that would prepare a worker for one of these categories of craft would vary. I derive from this typology that there are demands that are placed on a lecturer in automotive mechanics; for instance, to use methods that develop competencies that may span either type 2 or aspire for ‘full spectrum’ operations in a trade.
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This begins from a point of entry where an aspiring worker starts from developing a crude idea of the rules related to a trade, before developing his understanding of these rules to the point that his understanding of these rules increases such that they can now be applied to different situations, slowly bringing to bear the contextual base on which these rules are premised. He introduces the idea of epistemic ascent, arguing that it has relevance for vocational education and training.
The idea of epistemic ascent as it relates to both academic and vocational curricula (Winch, 2014) refers to an underlying idea that knowledge has categories and that the relationship between different knowledge categories can be understood in terms of its contribution to supporting the progression of learners from novice to expert, rather than just being a logical structure. Winch (2014) contends that the idea of a growing subject expertise is central to the design of a curriculum, be it academic or vocational, as consideration of the different kinds of knowledge will require consideration of their relationship and how they may be integrated into the curriculum.
The components of a curriculum that would specialize a student into becoming an automotive mechanic should embody the idea of epistemic ascent, as it is a concept that is equally applicable to both the academic and vocational curricula. This concept involves integration of the various kinds of knowledge from simpler forms to more complex forms which in turn would create avenues for epistemic ascent from novice-hood to expertise.
While policy makers and those in training may be inclined to regard epistemic ascent as a mere academic debate, and continue to follow practices which produce restricted vocational achievement, Winch (2014) argues that in doing so they are making choices that may not only devalue certain kinds of ‘know that’, ‘know how’ or personal characteristics; they need to be aware of the implications of the choices they make and should be able to account for them in terms of how they create or restrict avenues for epistemic ascent. Put simply, the curriculum choices made will determine the level of operation a worker may be able to rise to in the workplace and within an occupation, and these are choices that those in control should be able to account for.
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Elsewhere, Winch (2006) indicates how vocational education develops someone from being a novice to being an expert. He says the novice who is new to the rules needs to be instructed in them and in their use, starting with a crude idea of what is involved in following the rules without having applied them to differing contexts. Novices have an uncertain grasp of how these rules come to exist, but as they continue with their vocational education they may be able to refer to the evidential base of these rules and note that their application may need to be contextually nuanced (ibid).
Winch differentiates ‘skill’ from ‘technique’, and argues that the conflagration of these two terms to mean one thing by those who define know-how is damaging. He argues that skill should be seen as agent property transcending technique to encompass a person’s character, diligence and attention to detail (Winch, 2013; 2014). In convergence with the idea of epistemic ascent within professional or vocational education and training, Winch brings in the concept of practical abilities: technique, skill, transversal abilities, project management abilities and occupational capacity – and argues that acquiring these in their entirety may lead to more professional autonomy and deeper understanding of one’s occupation and its role in the wider economy (ibid). Winch notes that in some way the practical abilities may be nested, where possession of the first is necessitated by possession of the second and so forth – yet there may be instances where a higher one may not necessarily mean possession of the one just before it (Winch 2014). These practical abilities – which are, by their very nature, varied – imply that those who have more or all of them will be at a higher level of epistemic ascent than if they were merely concentrating on technique and repeating procedures (ibid). The distinctions between the practical abilities are discussed below.
Technique
Technique refers to the method that is followed when carrying out a procedure, and may be more or less fully described by the task performer or an observer. The carrying out of a procedure is central to the learning of automotive mechanics in Swaziland, particularly during the earlier years where there tends to be a lot of training on the performance of a technique. However, as Winch (2014) indicates, the attainment of a technique does not necessarily mean the acquisition of a skill. While training in a technique is of great
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importance in vocational education and training, a professional education that limits itself to this is deficient in many aspects.
Skill
Winch (2014), using Stanley and Williamson’s (2001) criteria of know-how, says to have acquired skill to carry out a task is to have acquired the ability to carry it out in contextually relevant conditions. Contextually relevant conditions may include different factors such as commercial, financial and temporal constraints; difficult weather conditions; hazardous circumstances or lack of opportunity to correct errors, among others. The constraints present operational conditions that are out of the ordinary which require the vocational or professional worker to draw on personal resources or grit [my own word] far beyond the acquisition and practice of a skill.
Transversal abilities
Winch (2014) uses the German words fertigkeiten (skills) and fahigkeiten (transversal abilities), stating that the distinction between them is central in countries following the German tradition. Transversal abilities involve planning that is over and above the mere exercising of a planning skill, and incorporates a degree of care about the outcome and a degree of attention to the detail of achieving the desired outcome. It involves more than the ‘motions’ of the planning, emphasizing the care and attention necessary to accomplish a complex outcome. Such transversal abilities become central for workers operating autonomously in a work environment, so that they have an ability to act without instruction or supervision and even to manage projects. The care and attention to the success of a complex task distinguishes skills from transversal abilities and it is through a curriculum recognising these latter abilities that a worker capable of independent operation is developed. In short, someone with skill can plan but fail to follow the plan through to its ultimate accomplishment, while one with transversal abilities not only
‘conceives’ but ‘delivers,’ following through to the desired end.
Project Management Abilities
Project management abilities are at the higher end of a scale or continuum in terms of challenges we set ourselves with regard to duration, complexity and scope of judgement and decision making. The projects that we find at this end require both the use of skills
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and transversal abilities and concern the ‘bigger picture,’ where instead of just laying a line of bricks, the builder is concerned with the entire two storey house; that is, its accomplishment as a unit. To manage and execute a project requires first skills and transversal abilities and entails that one does not need to be supervised, but depends on one’s own personal independence and responsibility. The complex abilities that are required in project management include planning, coordinating, communication, controlling and evaluating and may also include patience and self-discipline, among others; they include a resilience which may result in the creation of an ability that may be transferred and applied in another sphere of activity. Winch (2014) says that this transferability is related more to the development of personal characteristics than to the acquisition of skills.
Occupational Capacity
Occupational capacity presupposes the above abilities, and corresponds to the German notion of Beruf, which encompasses a wide ranging sphere of activity where an individual establishes himself or herself in the social order of individuals who acquire occupational capacity and practise it (Winch, 2014; Greinhert, 2007; Hanf, 2011). Winch (2014) explains that occupational capacity, like skills and transversal abilities, requires knowledge as well as systematic knowledge, but supersedes these in its requirement for knowledge in the form of systematic knowledge which spans the occupation as a whole:
the knowledge of the principles underlying practice within the occupation, including capacity to respond to social and technological change. This now lives in the world of the
‘know that’ and ‘know how’ and entails reflection on underpinning knowledge, related occupations as well as the wider society — a wait and look back, if you like — and a look towards the boundaries. The realms at the heart of occupational capacity are both inward looking towards attainment of excellence in the occupation, and outward looking in terms of breaking into new horizons that may come with societal change needs and changing technology, with the productive activities of the occupation impacting on the wider society in the way the products and services of the occupation present themselves.
This becomes a continuum, in a way, which spans the practical abilities that a vocational student may develop. These determine his/her level of epistemic ascent (as defined by Winch). Depending on the extent to which a vocational student has developed these
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abilities, he/she will be able to perform or display abilities that will be defined in terms of the level of technique, skill, transversal abilities, project management abilities or occupational capacity – each of which is a sphere of activity establishing the worker or vocational student in the social order as he or she strives towards higher capability in the occupation.
Some of the findings in this research relate to epistemic ascent, linking the pedagogic practices of the lecturer to the building of knowledge categories that relate to the progression of a worker from novice to expert. This concept is analysed with respect to the pedagogic practices of the lecturers and the levels of epistemic ascent for which these prepare the automotive mechanics students.