Learners' perspectives on 'theory' and 'practice' in Work-based Learn...

Ongoing discussions about the academicisation of vocational education and training and the simultaneous vocationalisation of higher education (HE) programmes in German-speaking countries (Rauner, 2012) go hand in hand with an increasing diversification of study programmes (part-time studies, dual study programmes). This is contrasted by a discussion on fair crediting work related experience for academic achievements. From the learners point of view the relationship between experience, work based learning (WBL) and HE often remains reduced to the relationship between “theory” in HE and “practice” as internship sometimes as WBL. The range of WBL shows approaches that often are based within disciplines (health, engineering, …) or also being aligned to corporate roles within companies or organisations. (Gibbs & Garnett, 2007) Accordingly, a transdisciplinary approach could provide an opportunity to develop a theoretical framework for a common understanding of knowledge and to facilitate the transfer between WBL and HE. (Gibbs, 2015) But even in transdisciplinary contexts, concepts of epistemé (know that) and techné (know how) are often considered with high weight. And so although in ancient thought the most important of the intellectual virtues - phronesis as the ability to act appropriately in a concrete individual cases, taking into account all factors, objectives and insights relevant to the situation that the actor may know, is neglected. (Flyvbjerg, Schram, & Landman, 2012) And so rarely an overarching epistemic justification of theoretical knowledge and WBL is given. It was Dewey who already made a proposal in 1938, from a research-theoretical perspective, that does not establish separate spheres of social practice, but provides an integrated approach. He assumes that common sense and scientific inquiry do not represent substantially different forms of world access, but have a common core in the form of problem solving that show a difference only in the abstraction and formalization of language. (Dewey LW, p. 66ff). On the basis of two accompanying studies both carried out in 2018 (1) on the compatibility of studies with simultaneous professional activity (relevant and not related to the subject) (University Klagenfurt, Austria) and (2) the evaluation of a newly implemented dual HEprogramme (University of Applied Sciences in Vienna) we will investigate, whether indications for this view can be found and whether differences between the two types of HE are apparent. Experiences and expectations of learners are recorded by narrative interviews following quantitative surveys. Dewey, J. (2008). Logic: The Theory of Inquiry. Edited by Jo A. Boydston. The Later Works 1925-1953, Vol. 12: 1938: Southern Illinois University Press. Flyvbjerg, B., Schram, S., & Landman, T. (Eds.). (2012). Real social science: Applied phronesis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gibbs, P. (2015). Transdisciplinarity as Epistemology, Ontology or Principles of Practical Judgement. In P. Gibbs (Ed.), Transdisciplinary Professional Learning and Practice (pp. 151–164). Cham: Springer International Publishing. Gibbs, P. and Garnett, J. (2007), “Work-based learning as a field of study”, Research in Post-Compulsory Education, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 409-421. Rauner, F. (2012). Akademisierung beruflicher und Verberuflichung akademischer Bildung – widersprüchliche Trends im Wandel nationaler Bildungssysteme. bwp@ Berufs- und Wirtschaftspädagogik – online, (23), 1–19.