3 PLY: exploring the limits and possibilities for transformative workplace learning in Irish schools

Abstract

In this paper we report on preliminary research conducted in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland by researchers at Dublin City University and the University of Ulster. The research considered the limits and possibilities for meaningful workplace learning for young people to support their transition to sustainable employment in the post-Global Financial Crisis context. In the research, we adopted the term ‘workplace learning’ as opposed to the term ‘workbased learning’ as it underscores our interest in learning that happens in a real workplace rather than learning that might happen in schools while targeted at future work endeavours. Our specific focus was on the forms of workplace learning that are organized within the context of the senior school curriculum and their role in enhancing youth transition and a consideration of what concepts from Actor Network Theory (Latour 2007) might offer in analysing the data. Funded by the Irish Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South (SCoTENS), the research was conducted in 2013 and is now being further developed into a paper for submission to the Journal of Teacher Education