Before activities in workplace skill development and skill transformation can be pursued, what exactly is meant by ‘skill’ requires careful examination. The notion of ‘skill’ is far from consensual or accepted unproblematically, and this article is focused on the various meanings and problems that have arisen around ‘skill’. Four conventional conceptions of skill are examined critically and rejected: that a skill exists as a discrete competency, that a skill is ‘acquired’ and is centered in the individual, that work skill (and knowledge) is learned through mental reflection on ‘concrete’ experience, and that skill development is about behavior, not politics. Towards expanding conceptions of work learning, contemporary theories applicable to changing work environments are outlined: learning as participation in situated practices, as expansion of objects and ideas, as ‘translation’ and mobilization, and as embodied emergence. Drawing insights from these four perspectives, a conception of work learning embedding a double movement of ‘flying’ and ‘grounding’ is offered. The argument is theory-driven and largely focused on work contexts subject to rapid knowledge transformation. © 2006, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.
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