ABSTRACT

Occupational expertise has always been constituted and afforded recognition and status in work contexts, however, these contexts are becoming increasingly interconnected and interrelated, underpinned by, ‘intangible assets’. To explore this complex process and its implications for vocational education and training (VET), this article uses the concept of expertise as a ‘capacity for action’ and its emphasis on the communicative dimension of expertise. It explores the implications of these ideas by identifying, firstly, the ways in which knowledge is produced, consumed, adapted, and discarded through work practices and, secondly, how the valuing of expertise arises from the contexts in which its deployed and shaped. The paper concludes with a framework to show how the necessary components for the development of expertise as a ‘capacity for action’ within VET programmes could be portrayed. It argues that this could offer the means to strengthen the capacity of VET learners (at whatever stage) to both utilise their expertise and understand how it is being recognised and valued.

摘要

职业专长一直在工作环境中构成并获得认可和地位，然而，这些环境正变得越来越相互关联和相互关联，并以“无形资产”为基础。为了探讨这一复杂过程及其对职业教育和培训 (VET) 的影响，本文将专业知识的概念用作“行动能力”，并强调专业知识的交流维度。它通过首先确定知识通过工作实践产生、消费、适应和丢弃的方式，其次确定专业知识的价值如何从其部署和塑造的环境中产生，从而探索这些想法的含义。本文最后提出了一个框架，展示了如何将专业知识发展的必要组成部分描述为职业教育与培训计划中的“行动能力”。它认为，这可以提供一种方法来增强 VET 学习者（在任何阶段）的能力，以利用他们的专业知识并了解它是如何被认可和重视的。