Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Developing Domains of Occupational Competence: Workplaces and Learner Agency

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Competence-based Vocational and Professional Education

Abstract

This chapter proposes occupational competence as being cast within three domains of knowledge. These are, firstly, the canonical knowledge of the occupation (i.e. what all occupational practitioners need to know, can do and value). This comprises the domain of occupational capacities required to perform competently in, secondly, particular situations (i.e. situated domain of occupational competence) and, thirdly, the personal domains that individuals come to construct, exercise and utilise to develop further these bases for this occupational performance. Although each of these three interrelated dimensions of domain-specific occupational knowledge should be elaborated, the key focus of this chapter is on the third: personal domains of knowledge. These bases are broadly equated to the generation of expertise within occupational practitioners. The description and discussion advancing these propositions are informed by examples of professional work that are used to delineate these three dimensions of domain-specific knowledge and how the individuals’ expert performance is generated and developed. This consideration of the development of competence is the central focus and contribution of this chapter, which provides some observations for its promotion. Central here is how the development of personal domains of competence is associated with the kind and range of experiences individuals have, how they learn from them and the role played by personal mediation, active mimetic learning and individuals’ personal epistemologies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 299.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 379.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 379.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Barad, K. (2003). Posthumanist performativity: Toward an understanding of how matter comes to matter. Signs, 28(3), 801–831.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barsalou, L. W. (2005). Continuity of the conceptual system across species. Trends in Cognitive Science, 9(7), 309–311.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Billett, S. (1997, November 26–28). Experts’ ways of knowing. Paper presented at the 5th annual international conference on post-compulsory education and training, learning and work: The challenges, surfers paradise travelodge, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billett, S. (2001). Knowing in practice: Re-conceptualising vocational expertise. Learning and Instruction, 11(6), 431–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Billett, S. (2003). Sociogeneses, Activity and Ontogeny. Culture and Psychology, 9(2), 133–169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Billett, S. (2006). Relational interdependence between social and individual agency in work and working life. Mind, Culture and Activity, 13(1), 53–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Billett, S. (2009a). Conceptualizing learning experiences: Contributions and mediations of the social, personal and brute, Mind. Culture and Activity, 16(1), 32–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Billett, S. (2009b). Personal epistemologies, work and learning. Educational Research Review, 4, 210–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Billett, S. (2011). Vocational education: Purposes, traditions and prospects. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Billett, S. (2014a). Mediating learning at work: Personal mediations of social and brute facts. In C. Harteis, A. Rausch, & J. Seifried (Eds.), Discourses on professional learning: On the boundary between learning and working. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billett, S. (2014b). Mimetic learning at work: Learning through and across professional working lives. In S. Billett, C. Harteis, & H. Gruber (Eds.), International handbook of research in professional and practice-based learning. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Billett, S. (2014c). The standing of vocational education: Sources of its societal esteem and implications for its enactment. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 66(1), 1–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brass, M., & Heyes, C. (2005). Imitation: Is cognitive neuroscience solving the correspondence problem? Trends in Cognitive Science, 19(10), 498–495.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J. S., Collins, A., & Duguid, P. (1989). Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, J. (2001). Foreword. In B. F. Malle, L. J. Moses, & D. A. Baldwin (Eds.), Intentions and intentionality: Foundations of social cognition (pp. ix–xii). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, R. W., & Russon, A. (1998). Learning by imitation: A hierarchical approach. Behavioral and Brain Science, 21(5), 667–721.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charness, N. (1989). Expertise in chess and bridge. In D. Klahr & K. Kotowsky (Eds.), Complex information processing: The impact of Herbert A. Simon (pp. 183–204). Hillsdale: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chi, M. T. H., Glaser, R., & Farr, M. J. (1982). The nature of expertise. Hillsdale: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chomsky, N. (1966). Topics in the theory of generative grammar. The Hague: Mouton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins, A., Brown, J. S., & Newman, S. E. (1989). Cognitive apprenticeship: Teaching the crafts of reading, writing and mathematics. In L. B. Resnick (Ed.), Knowing, learning and instruction: Essays in honour of Robert Glaser (pp. 453–494). Hillsdale: Erlbaum & Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Damasio, A. (2010). Self comes to mind. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawson, J. (2005). A history of vocation: Tracing a keyword of work, meaning, and moral purpose. Adult Education Quarterly, 55(3), 220–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education. New York: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Downey, G. (2010). Practice without theory: A neuroanthropological perspective on embodied learning. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (NS)(Supplement 1), S22-40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engestrom, Y. (1999). Activity theory and individual and social transformations. In Y. Engestrom, R. Miettinen, & R. L. Punamaki (Eds.), Perspectives on activity theory (pp. 19–38). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ericsson, K. A. (2006). The influence of experience and deliberate practice on the development of superior expert performance. In K. A. Ericsson, N. Charness, P. J. Feltowich, & R. R. Hoffmann (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance (pp. 685–705). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ericsson, K. A., & Smith, J. (1991). Towards a general theory of expertise. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, H. (2004). What we do & don’t know about learning. Daedalus, 133(1), 5–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gattis, M., Bekkering, H., & Wohlschlager, A. (1998). When actions are carved at the joints. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 21(5), 691–692.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gergen, K. J. (1994). Realities and relationships: Soundings in social construction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gherardi, S. (2009). Community of practice or practices of a community? In S. Armstrong & C. Fukami (Eds.), The Sage handbook of management learning, education, and development (pp. 514–530). London: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Glaser, R. (1984). Education and thinking – The role of knowledge. American Psychologist, 39(2), 93–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gott, S. (1989). Apprenticeship instruction for real-world tasks: The co-ordination of procedures, mental models, and strategies. Review of Research in Education, 15, 97–169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grealish, L. (2015). Professional standards in curriculum design:. In S. Kennedy, S. Billett, S. Gherardi, & L. Grealish (Eds.), Practice-based learning in higher education: Jostling cultures (pp. 85–97). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greeno, J. G. (1989). Situations, mental models, and generative knowledge. In D. Klahr & K. Kotovsky (Eds.), Complex information processing: The impact of Herbert A. Simon. Hillsdale: Erlbaum & Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Groen, G. J., & Patel, P. (1988). The relationship between comprehension and reasoning in medical expertise. In M. T. H. Chi, R. Glaser, & R. Farr (Eds.), The nature of expertise (pp. 287–310). New York: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Higgins, C. (2005). Dewey’s conception of vocation: Existential, aesthetic, and educational implications for teachers. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 37(4), 441–464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodkinson, P., Billett, S., & Bloomer, M. (2004). The significance of ontogeny and habitus in constructing theories of learning. Studies in Continuing Education, 26(1), 19–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iacoboni, M. (2005). Neural mechanisms of imitation. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 15, 632–637.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iacoboni, M., Woods, R. P., Brass, M., Bekkering, H., Mazziotta, J. C., & Rizzolatti, G. (1999). Cortical mechanisms of human imitation. Science, 286, 2526–2528.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, S., Billett, S., Gherardi, S., & Grealish, L. (Eds.). (2015). Practice-based learning in higher education: Jostling cultures. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lajoie, S. (2009). Developing professional expertise with a cognitive apprenticeship model: Examples form avionics and medicine. In K. A. Ericsson (Ed.), The development of professional expertise (pp. 61–83). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning – Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lave, J., Murtaugh, M., & de la Roche, O. (1984). The dialectic of arithmetic in grocery shopping. In B. Rogoff & J. Lave (Eds.), Everyday cognition: Its development in social context (pp. 76–94). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, J. A., & Valsiner, J. (1993). Conceptual roots of internalisation: From transmission to transformation. Human Development, 36, 150–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lodge, R. C. (1947). Plato’s theory of education. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malle, B. F., Moses, L. J., & Baldwin, D. A. (2001). Introduction: The significance of intentionality. In B. F. Malle, L. J. Moses, & D. A. Baldwin (Eds.), Intentions and intentionality: Foundations of social cognition (pp. 1–26). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meltzoff, A. N., & Decety, J. (2003). What imitation tells us about social cognition: A rapprochement between developmental psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B29(358), 491–500.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mulder, M. (2014). Conceptions of professional competence. In S. Billett, C. Harteis, & H. Gruber (Eds.), International handbook of research in professional and practice-based learning (Vol. 1, pp. 107–137). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2010). Learning for jobs. Retrieved from Paris:

    Google Scholar 

  • Palinscar, A. S., & Brown, A. L. (1984). Reciprocal teaching of comprehension-fostering and comprehension-monitoring activities. Cognition and Instruction, 1(2), 117–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rehm, M. (1989). Emancipatory vocational education: Pedagogic for the work of individuals and society. Journal of Education, 171(3), 109–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rehm, M. (1990). Vocation as personal calling: A question for education. The Journal of Educational Thought, 24(2), 114–125.

    Google Scholar 

  • Renkle, A. (2002). Worked-out examples: Instructional explanations support learning by self explanation. Learning and Instruction, 12(5), 529–556.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogoff, B. (1990). Apprenticeship in thinking – Cognitive development in social context. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogoff, B. (1995). Observing sociocultural activity on three planes: Participatory appropriation, guided participation, apprenticeship. In J. W. Wertsch, A. Alvarez, & P. del Rio (Eds.), Sociocultural studies of mind (pp. 139–164). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, H. G., & Rikers, R. M. J. P. (2007). How expertise develops in medicine: Knowledge encapsulation and illness script formation. Medical Education, 41, 1133–1139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scribner, S. (1984). Studying working intelligence. In B. Rogoff & J. Lave (Eds.), Everyday cognition: Its development in social context (pp. 9–40). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scribner, S. (1985a). Knowledge at work. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 16, 199–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scribner, S. (1985b). Vygotsky’s use of history. In J. V. Wertsch (Ed.), Culture, communication and cognition: Vygotskian perspectives (pp. 119–145). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Searle, J. R. (1995). The construction of social reality. London: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • SilvĂ©n, M. (2002). Origins of knowledge: Learning and communication in infancy. Learning and Instruction, 12, 345–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson, J. (1994). Vocational expertise. In J. Stevenson (Ed.), Cognition at work (pp. 7–34). Adelaide: National Centre for Vocational Education Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sticht, T. J. (1987). Functional context education. San Diego: Applied Cognitive and Behavioural Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutherland, L. (2002). Developing problem solving expertise: The impact of instruction in a question analysis strategy. Learning and Instruction, 12, 155–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sweller, J. (1989). Should problem solving be used as a learning device in mathematics? Journal of Research into Mathematics Education, 20(3), 321–328.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tigelaar, D. E. H., & van der Vleuten, C. P. M. (2014). Assessment of professional competence. In S. Billett, C. Harteis, & H. Gruber (Eds.), International handbook on research in professional and practice-based learning (Vol. 2, pp. 1237–1269). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Universities Australia. (2008). A National Internship Scheme: Enhancing the skills and work-readiness of Australian university graduates Retrieved from Canberra:

    Google Scholar 

  • Valsiner, J. (1994). Bi-directional cultural transmission and constructive sociogenesis. In W. de Graaf & R. Maier (Eds.), Sociogenesis re-examined (pp. 101–134). New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valsiner, J. (2000). Culture and human development. London: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valsiner, J., & van der Veer, R. (2000). The social mind: The construction of an idea. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vosniadou, S., Ioannides, C., Dimitrakopoulou, A., & Papademetriou, E. (2002). Designing learning environments to promote conceptual change in science. Learning and Instruction, 11(4–5), 381–419.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, R. K., & Sternberg, R. J. (1986). Tacit knowledge and intelligence in the everyday world. In R. J. Sternberg & R. K. Wagner (Eds.), Practical Intelligence – Nature and origins of competence in the everyday world (pp. 51–83). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wertsch, J. V. (1993). Voices of the mind: A socio-cultural approach to mediated action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wertsch, J. V., & Tulviste, P. (1992). L. S. Vygotsky and contemporary developmental psychology. Developmental Psychology, 28(4), 548–557.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolcott, H. F. (1982). Mirrors, models, and monitors: Educator adaptations of the ethnographic innovation. In Doing the ethnography of schooling: Educational anthropology in action (pp. 68–95). New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Griffith University, Queensland, Australia

    Stephen Billett

Authors
  1. Stephen Billett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephen Billett .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Education and Competence Studies Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Martin Mulder

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Billett, S. (2017). Developing Domains of Occupational Competence: Workplaces and Learner Agency. In: Mulder, M. (eds) Competence-based Vocational and Professional Education. Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol 23. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41713-4_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41713-4_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-41711-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-41713-4

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation