IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/woemps/v34y2020i6p1045-1061.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rethinking Situated Learning: Participation and Communities of Practice in the UK Fire and Rescue Service

Author

Listed:
  • James Brooks

    (University of Leeds, UK)

  • Irena Grugulis

    (University of Leeds, UK)

  • Hugh Cook

    (University of Leeds, UK)

Abstract

Legitimate peripheral participation is the bedrock of situated learning. It involves the novice or newcomer acquiring skills through work in a community of practice (CoP). It is generally assumed that CoP learning involves novices moving in a centripetal manner from periphery to core, gaining skills and knowledge from established workers before becoming full members of the community. This article draws on qualitative research in Northern Fire, one of the UK’s largest fire and rescue services, to challenge the idea that novices’ learning progression is linear and sequential, highlighting their fundamental importance in CoPs. It argues that learning is radial, with established workers learning from novices, just as novices learn from established workers. The novices contributed to group dynamics passively, simply by being there; and actively, through their own skills and theoretical knowledge. When funding cuts and austerity curtailed recruitment, the absence of novice firefighters hindered CoP learning.

Suggested Citation

  • James Brooks & Irena Grugulis & Hugh Cook, 2020. "Rethinking Situated Learning: Participation and Communities of Practice in the UK Fire and Rescue Service," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(6), pages 1045-1061, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:34:y:2020:i:6:p:1045-1061
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017020913225
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0950017020913225
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0950017020913225?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alan Felstead & Francis Green & Nick Jewson, 2012. "An analysis of the impact of the 2008–9 recession on the provision of training in the UK," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 26(6), pages 968-986, December.
    2. Joanne Roberts, 2006. "Limits to Communities of Practice," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 623-639, May.
    3. John Seely Brown & Paul Duguid, 1991. "Organizational Learning and Communities-of-Practice: Toward a Unified View of Working, Learning, and Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 40-57, February.
    4. I. Gijbels & A. Pope & M. P. Wand, 1999. "Understanding exponential smoothing via kernel regression," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 61(1), pages 39-50.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Manuela Galetto & Sabrina Weber & Bengt Larsson & Barbara Bechter & Thomas Prosser, 2023. "‘You see similarities more than differences after a while’. Communities of Practice in European industrial relations. The case of the hospital European Sectoral Social Dialogue," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 167-185, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Verena Brinks, 2016. "Situated affect and collective meaning: A community perspective on processes of value creation and commercialization in enthusiast-driven fields," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(6), pages 1152-1169, June.
    2. Emmanuelle Vaast & Geoff Walsham, 2009. "Trans-Situated Learning: Supporting a Network of Practice with an Information Infrastructure," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 20(4), pages 547-564, December.
    3. Simon Turner, 2013. "Absorptive Capacity: The Role of Communities of Practice," Working Papers wp444, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    4. Sandra Dubouloz & Anne Berthinier-Poncet & Luciana Castro Gonçalves & Emilie Ruiz & Catherine Thevenard-Puthod, 2021. "Innovation communities: from their characterization to the questioning of their boundaries [Comunidades de innovación: desde su caracterización hasta el cuestionamiento de sus fronteras]," Post-Print hal-02891869, HAL.
    5. Torsten Ringberg & Markus Reihlen, 2008. "Towards a Socio‐Cognitive Approach to Knowledge Transfer," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(5), pages 912-935, July.
    6. Marijn A. van Weele & Henk J. Steinz & Frank J. van Rijnsoever, 2018. "Start‐up Communities as Communities of Practice: Shining a Light on Geographical Scale and Membership," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 109(2), pages 173-188, April.
    7. Haradhan Kumar MOHAJAN, 2017. "Roles Of Communities Of Practice For The Development Of The Society," Journal of Economic Development, Environment and People, Alliance of Central-Eastern European Universities, vol. 6(3), pages 27-46, September.
    8. repec:sph:rjedep:v:3:y:2017:i:6:p:27-46 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Papadopoulos, Thanos & Stamati, Teta & Nopparuch, Pawit, 2013. "Exploring the determinants of knowledge sharing via employee weblogs," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 133-146.
    10. Agterberg, M. & Hooff, B. van den & Huysman, M., 2008. "Keeping the wheels turning : multi-level dynamics in organizing networks of practice," Serie Research Memoranda 0003, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics.
    11. Nancy Beauregard & Louise Lemyre & Jacques Barrette, 2015. "The Domains of Organizational Learning Practices: An Agency-Structure Perspective," Societies, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-21, October.
    12. Ivory, Chris & Casey, Rebecca & Watson, Kayleigh, 2016. "The role of mobile ICT in repair worker communities of practice," 27th European Regional ITS Conference, Cambridge (UK) 2016 148676, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    13. Harvey, Jean-François & Cohendet, Patrick & Simon, Laurent & Dubois, Louis-Etienne, 2013. "Another cog in the machine: Designing communities of practice in professional bureaucracies," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 27-40.
    14. Siedlok, Frank & Hibbert, Paul & Sillince, John, 2015. "From practice to collaborative community in interdisciplinary research contexts," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 96-107.
    15. Agterberg, M. & Huysman, M. & Hooff, B. van den, 2008. "Leadership in online knowledge networks : challenges and coping strategies in a network of practice," Serie Research Memoranda 0004, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics.
    16. Amin, Ash & Roberts, Joanne, 2008. "Knowing in action: Beyond communities of practice," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 353-369, March.
    17. Lamine Mebarki & Ewan Oiry, 2011. "Les communautés de pratique, un nouvel instrument pour la GRH ?," Post-Print halshs-00626875, HAL.
    18. Yakhlef, Ali, 2010. "The three facets of knowledge: A critique of the practice-based learning theory," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 39-46, February.
    19. Moingeon, Bertrand & Quélin, Bertrand & Dalsace, Frédéric & Lumineau, Fabrice, 2006. "Inter-organizational communities of practice: specificities and stakes," HEC Research Papers Series 857, HEC Paris.
    20. Sandra Dubouloz & Anne Berthinier-Poncet & Luciana Castro Gonçalves & Emilie Ruiz & Catherine Thevenard-Puthod, 2020. "Communautés d'innovation : de leur caractérisation au questionnement de leurs frontières," Working Papers hal-02891869, HAL.
    21. Willem, Annick & Girginov, Vassil & Toohey, Kristine, 2019. "Governing bodies of sport as knowledge brokers in Sport-for-All communities of practice," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 584-599.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:34:y:2020:i:6:p:1045-1061. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.britsoc.co.uk/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.