I am arguing that this approach to learning envisages the transmission of knowl knowledge
as being profoundly social and impacting upon identity. The focus on identity
allows a reflexive approach whereby learning is more than a set of competencies or
accolades, it is around growth and change of the self. Learning here gradually
increases with participation in a ‘community of practice’. Much early work by Lave
and Wenger (1991) focuses on informal learning contexts such as learning as apprenticeship,
learners in settings as diverse as Mexican Yucutan midwives to American
meat cutters. The work has been further theorised across formal settings. There is a
large body of work which explores adult learners (e.g. Stacey, Smith, and Barty 2004);
online communities (e.g. Schlager, Fusco, and Shank 2002); school-based learning
communities (Hung 2002); school teachers learning (Hodkinson and Hodkinson
2003); and much on learning in workplaces. This approach broadly situates learning
in certain forms of social co-participation, challenging intellectualist theories which
posit learning predominantly within an individual mind.