Skill and work experience in the European knowledge economy



and technological resources that reside in such ‘communities’ in order to solve routine
or unforeseen problems (Wenger 1999); and (iii) work collaboratively with others to
address novel problems (Eraut 1999).

Problem solving is another activity that has been commonly defined as an important
generic skill. Problem solving, however, is closely associated with the issue of problem
identification and these issues are handled very differently in different work contexts
(Stasz 1998). As Stasz has argued, in some occupations, for example health care,
problems are identified as a result of ‘situational assessment’ in other words identified
and solved by the work team and this may involve technical adjustments as well as
changes in occupational roles. In contrast, in other occupations, for example the
construction industry, senior staff tend to assume responsibility for identifying
problems and the workforce are only called upon to contribute to ‘solving’ certain
aspects of the overall problem.

The concept of generic skill, therefore, is characterised by its own complexities and
ambiguities which are not always fully made explicit. This situation is further
compounded through the influence the different perspectives that inform and underpin
the debates and discourses about generic skill within EU education and training policy
and in academic research in vocational education and training. The following
discussion highlights four different conceptions of generic skill that have surfaced in
the social scientific and educational studies literature. In doing so, it draws on the
insights about the relationship between skill and work context that have been
highlighted by Darrah and others.

Different types of generic skill.

One of the most common uses of the concept of generic skill is to describe the extent
of a young persons’ ‘work readiness’ (Keep and Mayhew 1999). In some cases this
amounts to little more than a demand for basic motivational skills and habits, such as

20



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