basis is there will be people going from hereafter with a lot of skills gained at one of the most
high-profile producing theatres in the country (John Pitt, interview, October 2005).’
‘Vocationality ’and ‘work flow’ as the basis of transfer and employability
A number of learning strategies were employed to deepen and extend the apprentices
vocational practice throughout the duration of the production and during the ‘dark periods’
between productions. First, John, in conjunction with the HoDs, identified the content for a
‘teaching’ curriculum for the apprentices (Lave & Wenger, 1991). One priority was the
provision of Health and Safety (H&S) courses. These courses often amount too little more
than list of ‘do’s and don’ts’ in the workplace. The Rep in contrast used the term health and
safety metaphorically to refer to developing an understanding of the whole work context, the
different specialisms required in the theatre, their relationship to one another, and the
potential problems that may arise and how to avoid them occurring or to deal with them if do
arise.
The bespoke aspects of education and training were agreed after several months in a series of
three-way meetings between an apprentice, the HoD and John. Prior to these meeting, the
HoDs and John had gleaned important insights about the apprentices learning and
developments needs from a series of informal discussions that they had held with apprentices.
Draft learning and development plans for each apprentice were drawn up by John, in
consultation with HoDs and apprentices, apprentices were either released to attend courses or
specialist trainers invited into the Rep at times that it did not clash with the production
process (John Pitt, interview, January 2006). These courses tended to combine occupationally
specific knowledge and skill with a broader engagement with the work process, as John
observes, ‘this was the bit they found useful - learning about some of the other areas’. For
John, the development of this wider understanding of apprentices work role in relation to the
other areas of work within a theatre ‘is the basis of transferable skills’ (Interview, October
2006).
Second, John and the HoDs established a ‘learning curriculum’ for the apprentices (Lave &
Wenger, 1991) which reflected not only the Rep’s flat hierarchical management culture, but
also the very supportive working relationships that existed within and between departments.
The hallmark of this curriculum was the opportunity for apprentices to be ‘legitimate
peripheral participants’ (Lave & Wenger, 1991) within their own department and ‘boundary
crossers’ (Tuomi-Grohn & Engestrom, 2003) between departments, so that they could try out
the techniques that they were learning and grasp the connections between different forms of
vocational practice. As the Lighting apprentice clearly explained:
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