This paper examines three theoretical models on what is learned in the professional workplace and how it is learned. The authors compare learning across professions and depict key features of any workplace enviroment. One prominent finding of our earlier research on mid-career learning was the overwhelming importance of confidence. Much learning at work occurs through doing things and being proactive in seeking learning opportunities, and this requires confidence. Moreover, we noted that confidence arose from successfully meeting challenges in one's work, while the confidence to take on such challenges depended on the extent to which learners felt supported in that endeavour. Thus there is a triangular relationship between challenge, support and confidence (Eraut et al. 2000). The contextual significance of the word "confidence", which was used by our respondents without further elaboration, depended on which aspects of this triangular relationship were most significant for particular ...   read more ...

This paper examines three theoretical models on what is learned in the professional workplace and how it is learned. The authors compare learning across professions and depict key features of any workplace enviroment. One prominent finding of our earlier research on mid-career learning was the overwhelming importance of confidence. Much learning at work occurs through doing things and being proactive in seeking learning opportunities, and this requires confidence. Moreover, we noted that confidence arose from successfully meeting challenges in one's work, while the confidence to take on such challenges depended on the extent to which learners felt supported in that endeavour. Thus there is a triangular relationship between challenge, support and confidence (Eraut et al. 2000). The contextual significance of the word "confidence", which was used by our respondents without further elaboration, depended on which aspects of this triangular relationship were most significant for particular people at particular points in their careers. The dominant meaning for most mid-career respondents usually came close to Bandura's (1995) concept of self-efficacy. This is a context-specific concept, relating to the ability to execute a particular task or successfully perform a role. It is not a general attribute like "self-esteem". For some mid-career respondents, however, confidence related more to relationships than to the work itself. Did they feel confident about the support of their working colleagues, in more senior, more junior or parallel jobs? This depends on whether they perceived their more significant working relationships as mutually supportive, generally critical, faction-ridden or even overtly hostile. read less ...

AERA Conference Montreal April 15th 2005 

AERA Conference Montreal April 15th 2005 read less ...

Early career learning at work (LiNEA) project team / Professor M Eraut et al. 

Early career learning at work (LiNEA) project team / Professor M Eraut et al. read less ...