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Learning through life: 

Many people thought that learning through experience was a valid way of learning and some people thought that it could teach you more than you could learn in a classroom or from a book.  Some of the people who took this view did not have any experience of doing a formal course, but other people had done formal learning of one kind or another.  There were different reasons why experiential learning was valued:

Learning style some people liked to learn in practical 'hands-on' ways and preferred to be told or shown what to do, rather than being given written instructions.  One person in particular thought there was a divide between academic, written learning and experiential learning in the 'real world'.  She said 'I don't think you are ever too old to learn, but I aren't one who'll sit with a pen and paper'.   

Opportunities for discourse, or to watch and learn. Learning through discourse with friends was the way two people liked to develop their academic skills:

"..he's a bit older than me and I can learn awful lot from him.  He's got more life experience.  Like he can tell me academic things, and he does, he discusses quite a lot of things which makes me think.  I don't always agree with the things he says, he doesn't always agree with the things I say."

Other people learnt by watching skilled people either at work, or whenever they got an opportunity:

"I used to get with the electricians all the time, learning what they are doing, asking questions all the time, so I learnt how to rewire a house.  Metalworker I did metal work so I learn how to make a living out of metal, erm, the person I worked with did the job 50 years... I learn so much in life..."

Dyslexia made reading and writing difficult for some people.  For this reason one person commented that they preferred to learn through experience:

"Most of the time I'm better off learning in practical situations than writing anything down, questions what have ya, I'm best learning things practically, if it comes to practical stuff I'm real clued up with it and can pick things up very, very easily"

The increasing academic element on vocational courses concerned some people who felt that it would put off those who have vocational skills but lack confidence academically.  The following comment was made by a joiner about a fellow student at college:

"..I had a lad that I were at college with and he were dyslexic, brilliant with his hands but his coursework was sloppy.  But by God, you give him a bit of wood and he could make it sing"

Focusing on theory rather than practise was thought problematic by several people who felt that young trainees were entering the work place with theoretical knowledge, but unprepared practically.  One person working as a midwife made the following comment:

"I just think we are going down the wrong road with these degrees and, you know, degrees have their own places, yeah I agree, but we're getting the wrong people in... we've just got a load of students through...who stand out a mile, they're qualifying and they are absolutely fabulous, really brilliant midwives...and they've really struggled to get their degree, really struggled with their paper work and yet on the ward they are fantastic, they've got perfect confidence with women, everything and then the group that were in ahead of them were rubbish, they've got all these first class honours and all this and I think 'but you're a rubbish midwife!'... and you think will this filter down to schools then, will getting a degree put a lot of people off who are wonderful wonderful people, wonderful nurses, wonderful midwives, because they think they cant do it.  I wouldn't do it now if it was a degree, coz I would just think I couldn't do a degree..."

Social skills v's qualifications.  Some older Hull residents recalled that they had been brought up to value social skills more than qualifications:

"...me Dad's an intelligent bloke, but it wasn't a big thing to them, me being in a erm, a person who could socialise was more important to them than education, but now education is a big thing. "

This may relate to Putnam's (2000) concept of Bridging and Bonding Social Capital.  Putnam argues that Bridging Social Capital is about using social networks to get on in life - for example get promoted at work, whereas Bonding Social Capital is about getting by and surviving - for example borrowing ten quid of your mates until pay day, or looking after your neighbours kid for an evening.  Putnam argues that Bonding Social Capital is more prevalent among the working classes, and this could explain why social skills were valued more than qualifications as getting by depended on having strong social networks.   

The Cognitive Apprenticeship Model of learning recognises the importance of learning through experience.  It suggests that learning should be situated in "authentic contexts" and that skills should be acquired "by communicating with peers and experts about those contexts"  (Oliver, 1999)

Jean Lave started Situated Learning theory and The Cognitive Apprenticeship model based on it.  She believes that it is a more natural way of learning that is still relevant in modern society, in fact it is more likely to give students independent thinking skills which are transferable to new situations than spoon feeding of facts and ideas. 

Visit the following website for more information on Situated Learning theory, Cognitive Apprenticeships and Jean Lave:

http://elc.fhda.edu/dev_workshop/docs/cog_Apprentic.pdf

http://www.infed.org/biblio/communities_of_practice.htm

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