Most adult workers would agree that they have learnt a lot through their experiences in the workplace. When they are asked how they have learnt in the workplace they usually say that it is ‘just by doing things’, ‘other workers’, ‘observing and listening to others’ and ‘the workplace’ itself (Billett 1996). It is tempting to dismiss these kinds of comments as being naïve. Such a temptation is never more likely than in countries where there is an emphasis on formal learning within educational institutions which enjoy legitimisation through certification. From such situations have come associations between teaching and learning. Nevertheless, most of us are not so easily fooled. We frequently have a strong sense of how we learnt to do particular vocational tasks, and from whom and where we gained insights and understandings. This chapter shows how learning in the workplace occurs and proposes how we should best organise learning experiences in the workplace to maximise their impact. The key premises advanced here are quite simple. Firstly, the kinds of activities that individuals engage in determine what they learn. Secondly, the kinds of guidance they access when engaged in that learning will determine the quality of that learning. Hence, the title for the chapter attempts to capture both the circumstance and utility of guided learning in the workplace as part of everyday productive activities. © 1999 David Boud and John Garrick.
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