f) higher education. Therefore, as long as we are engaged in developing doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers etc. we are carrying out CPD. A large number of non-professional occupations now require high-level skills. In my experience of the manufacturing industry, craft engineers frequently solve problems, which require high levels of conceptual and analytic skills, at times rectifying errors caused by their ‘professional’ engineering colleagues. 4:3The Learning Environment We know quite a lot about how people learn. Firstly, it is an intuitive process – whether we want it to happen or not, it will happen. Secondly, it happens through interaction, most often with other people. Thirdly, it is decided by the individual – people control what they will learn and how they will learn. 4:4Work Based Learning Work-based learning is not new. Learning at and from work occurs naturally: people are sophisticated learners and the workplace provides a multiplicity of opportunities for the interactions, which produce learning. What is new is a concerted effort to engineer the workplace to provide an effective learning environment, and to accredit the learning which employees acquire. There are good reasons for deliberately planning programmes of work-based learning, rather than isolating staff development from the day-to-day working routine. These reasons can be grouped under the three headings of Learning theories Economic analysis and priorities Organisation change and development 4:5Learning Theories: Philosophies Of Learning And CompetenceThere are two approaches to the philosophy of learning. The 'Classical School' (for example, Paul Hirst ) argues that knowledge is per se valid, and can be analysed into distinct forms: mathematics, science, ethics, aesthetics etc. To be a complete, balanced individual you need to acquire (and presumably continuously update) knowledge in all the categories. The ...
