Traditional formal education has often been accused of being disconnected from the learning of real working life competencies. Recent studies have shown that students may feel that formal education is 'too theoretical', and graduates often claim that they do not possess the competencies needed to do their jobs (e.g., Mora, Garcá-Aracil, & Vilas, 2007; Stenström, 2006; Tynjälä, Slotte, Nieminen, Lonka, & Olkinuora, 2006; van der Velden, 2006;). A similar criticism often levelled by entrepreneurs and employers is that the slow process of formal education hinders it from responding to the acute needs of working life (e.g. Billett, 2007). The content and pedagogical practices of formal education programmes may not serve the needs of current jobs. To overcome these problems, some employers have adopted an old - but until recently largely forgotten - practice of educating workers in the workplace. This 'education on demand' may be realised through different models, varying from close co-operation between formal education and industry to the traditional dual system of vocational education and training, as in Germany, or to specialised training programmes organised wholly by companies themselves (for more on corporate universities see, e.g. Andresen & Lichtenberger, 2007; Rademakers, 2005). The goal in all these models is to bridge the gap between education and work, and to provide students with real life experience so as to better equip them with the skills and knowledge needed in productive working. The aim of this chapter is to examine a specific example; the company-based training of shipyard workers. Our assumption is that training carried out in an authentic work environment, and its close vicinity in the company school, could provide a promising starting point for realising the connectivemodel of work experience (Griffitths & Guile, 2003; Guile & Griffiths, 2001) described in Chapter 2 of this volume. Thus, we examine whether features of the connective model are present in a shipyard metal industry course run by the company in the workplace.We also examine company-based training from the expertise development point of view and analyse how the transition from novice towards expert begins and proceeds in a workplace-based training programme carried out in a combined classroom and authentic work environment. In our analyses we draw on ideas from two different directions of research: classical studies of expertise and studies of conceptual change. This is a novel approach to vocational development. We start by discussing the theoretical viewpoints and previous empirical findings of expertise research that supports the idea of providing education and training in the workplace.We also discuss possible problems related to workplace training.We examine the development of expertise from different complementary perspectives and describe expertise as a complex phenomenon composed of cognitive, social, and bodily aspects. In the second part of this chapter we present empirical findings from a study conducted in the shipbuilding industry where future employees are trained in the company's own school and in an authentic production environment.©Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009.
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