Training for a Reflective Workforce: Transfer of learning ... · Training for a Reflective...

Training for a Reflective Workforce: Transfer of learning for

support worker apprentices Report to Careerforce

February 2017

Karen Vaughan and Jo MacDonald

New Zealand Council for Educational Research

PO Box 3237

Wellington

New Zealand

www.nzcer.org.nz

ISBN 978-0-947509-85-9

© Careerforce 2017

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the funding and support of Careerforce, the Industry Training Organisation (ITO) for health, mental health, aged support, disability, social services, youth work, cleaning and urban pest management industries.

We are very grateful to the apprentices and other support workers who so generously shared their knowledge and experiences of learning and work with us. We also thank the employers and organisations that supported this project and facilitated our work.

Finally, our thanks go to Rose Hipkins at NZCER for her advice and review.

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Contents

Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. i

1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1

Project background ................................................................................................................................... 1 Participating organisations and people ...................................................................................................... 2 Main theoretical ideas: How to read this report ....................................................................................... 5

2. Support workers, capability, and the apprenticeship programme ............................................. 6

New demands on capability ...................................................................................................................... 6 What support workers in this project do ................................................................................................... 7 Support workers’ views of their work ....................................................................................................... 9 What makes a good support worker? ...................................................................................................... 11 The Careerforce apprenticeship programme ........................................................................................... 12 Learning arrangements in a new apprenticeship programme .................................................................. 15 What do apprentices hope to gain from the apprenticeship programme? ................................................ 15

3. Impact of the apprenticeship programme................................................................................... 17

Analysing impact as “transfer of learning” ............................................................................................. 17 Understanding transfer of learning as reflective practice ........................................................................ 19 Overall perceptions of personal and work-related impact from the apprenticeship programme ............. 19 Near transfer: same knowledge or activities in a similar context ............................................................ 21 Further transfer: same knowledge or activities used differently or in new situation ............................... 22 Far transfer: being reflexive and flexible ................................................................................................ 24

4. Reflective practice: on and in action ........................................................................................... 27

Apprentices’ accounts of engaging in reflective practice ........................................................................ 28 Reflecting on action ................................................................................................................................ 29 Reflecting in action ................................................................................................................................. 31 The workplace and the apprenticeship programme as reflective spaces ................................................. 32

5. Conclusion: adding value and building capability ..................................................................... 36

Question 1: How does the apprenticeship programme contribute to work capability? .......................... 36 Question 2: What value is added by the apprenticeship programme? .................................................... 37 Question 3: What are the implications for workforce planning, learning support and pathways

development? ...................................................................................................................................... 38

References ............................................................................................................................................. 40

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Tables

Summary of phase 1 data collection ............................................................................................... 2 Table 1

A summary of phase 2 data collection ............................................................................................ 3 Table 2

Support worker contexts, phases 1 and 2 ........................................................................................ 7 Table 3

A three-tiered model of transfer of learning for the Careerforce apprenticeship programme ....... 18 Table 4

How much has the apprenticeship programme given you new knowledge for work? .................. 20 Table 5

How much has the apprenticeship programme changed how you do things at work? .................. 20 Table 6

How much has the apprenticeship programme changed you at a personal level? ......................... 20 Table 7

Apprentices’ reported modes of reflection .................................................................................... 29 Table 8

How well supported do you feel as an apprentice by your manager? ........................................... 33 Table 9

Figures

Figure 1 Word cloud of support worker attributes ...................................................................................... 11 Figure 2 Overview of the New Zealand Certificate in Health and Wellbeing (Level 4) ............................. 14

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1. Introduction

Project background

This report presents findings from a research project focusing on a group of 21 apprentices undertaking the new Careerforce apprenticeship programme, the Level 4 New Zealand Certificate in Health and Wellbeing. These apprentices are among the first to embark on the apprenticeship programme. We explored the following questions:

1. How does the apprenticeship programme contribute to work capability? 2. What value is added by the apprenticeship programme (e.g. work practice, confidence and

career pathways, client confidence)? 3. What are the implications for workforce planning, learning support and pathways

development?

A fourth question about barriers and enablers for apprentices in the Careerforce apprenticeship programme is answered in a separate report, internal to Careerforce.

Training for a Reflective Workforce (this project) began in August 2015 with a focus on how training makes a difference to work capabilities in health and community support service organisations through learning transfer and reflective practice. During 2016 the focus of the project shifted to the new Careerforce apprenticeship programme. The big ideas remained the same―capability, transfer of learning and reflective practice―but the research questions homed in on the apprenticeship programme rather than training more generally.

Terminology

Kaiāwhina is the over-arching term to describe non-regulated roles in the health and disability sector (Health Workforce NZ & Careerforce, 2015). Some of the participants in this project were from that sector. Others were from the social services sector. However, regardless of sector, people we spoke with referred to themselves by their specific job title―including case manager, work broker, activities co-ordinator and support worker.

In this report, we use the term support worker to encompass all of these roles, and the support worker role more generally, including the role of those in the social services sector who are not called “support workers” but who do provide support to others. When discussing the apprenticeship programme we use the term apprentice. This term includes all participants from all sectors. We use pseudonyms for participating organisations and individuals.

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Participating organisations and people

Phase 1: Support workers and managers in three organisations

Three organisations were involved in phase 1. They were approached by Careerforce and expressed interest in participating. We visited each organisation to observe support workers undertaking an aspect of reflective practice. In one organisation this was a daily handover meeting between shifts; at the others it was a weekly team meeting. In one organisation we also observed a training session.

We facilitated a workshop with a group of support workers in each of the three organisations. At these workshops we talked with support workers about their work, and invited them to reflect on their practice by telling a story about a time of significant learning or development. This generated rich discussion within the group.

At each organisation we also interviewed one or two managers with roles that included responsibility for training and education. About a week after the facilitated workshop we interviewed each of the support workers individually, by telephone. In these interviews we delved more deeply into individual experiences of work and training. Table 1 summarises the phase 1 data collection.

Summary of phase 1 data collection Table 1

Data collection New Beginnings Nightingales Star Home Support

Observation of practice Weekly team meeting focused on individual clients

Handover meeting between shifts

Weekly team meeting; dementia training session

Workshop 7 support workers 7 support workers 6 support workers

Individual interviews 2 managers 7 support workers

1 manager 7 support workers

2 managers 6 support workers

The organisations in brief

The three organisations that participated in phase 1 provide community-based services to clients.

New Beginnings provides mental health and intellectual disability services, vocational skills and supported employment, and supported education and training. We focused on a team that provides intensive support through a day service for high-and-complex-needs clients with intellectual disability and/or a mental health diagnosis.

Nightingales provides nursing, home care and support so that people can stay in their own homes and communities. It also provides inpatient care in its hospital and hospice. We focused on a team that provides home-based rehabilitation support for frail elderly who would otherwise be re-admitted to hospital or residential care. Clients are supported for a maximum of 6 weeks.

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Star Home Support also supports older people and those with disabilities or injuries to stay in their own homes. We met with support workers in a provincial city who provide home-based support, including supporting people with dementia.

We first produced a report which introduced the main theoretical ideas used in the project (Vaughan & MacDonald, 2015a). Then we produced an interim report (Vaughan & MacDonald, 2015b) on the findings from the first phase. This phase also shaped our thinking about the ideas in this report and provided us with more contextual information about support work. These findings are reported in section 2, on support workers and capability.

Phase 2: Apprentices in four organisations

This report mainly presents findings from the apprenticeship programme focused phase of the project that began in mid-2016. The main participants were 21 apprentices from four organisations across the health, disability, and social services sectors. We spoke with each of these apprentices twice: once in July–September 2016, and again 3 months later (October–December 2016). Most of the first interviews were undertaken face to face; all of the second interviews were by phone. We also spoke with one assessor and two clients, and observed some apprentices at work.

Careerforce provided us with the names of four organisations we could invite to participate in the research. All agreed that we could contact their apprentices. One larger organisation with multiple apprentices identified potential participants in two geographical localities. We then contacted 24 apprentices in these four organisations and provided them with information about the project. From this group of 24, 21 participated in a first interview and 18 participated in the second interview. Table 2 summarises the phase 2 data collection.

A summary of phase 2 data collection Table 2

Data collection Connections New Beginnings

The Hope Centre

Mountain View

Total

Observation of practice

Informal from site visits

Yes (team meeting during

phase 1)

Yes Yes

Interview 1 13 6 1 1 21

Interview 2 11 5 1 1 18

Client voice – – 1 1 2

Assessor interview 1 1

The organisations in brief

Connections is an organisation providing employment services and financial assistance. Over half the participating apprentices came from this organisation.

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New Beginnings also participated in phase 1 of the project. All but one of the apprentices we spoke with in this organisation provided intensive support to clients through a day service for high-and-complex-needs clients with intellectual disability and/or a mental health diagnosis. The attendance of many clients is by court order. The apprentice in this organisation who has a different role supports people with mental health issues, working with them to develop individual goals and facilitating a variety of programmes. Two of these apprentices were also involved in phase 1, when they were trainees in other programmes.

Mountain View and The Hope Centre are both residential care facilities, for the elderly and for adults with physical or neurological disabilities respectively. We spoke with one apprentice working in each of these organisations. We also observed these apprentices at work and spoke with one of their clients.

Ethical considerations and client voice

Both phases of the project were approved by the NZCER Ethics Committee. Gaining informed consent from managers (at an organisational level) and apprentices (to give individual consent) was central to our approach.

We discussed with Careerforce the possibility of observing apprentices at work and/or speaking with clients with whom apprentices worked. Because all of the apprentices work with people who are in challenging and complex situations—some with significant physical or mental disabilities—we carefully considered this aspect of the data collection. Our ethics application outlined processes that could allow for client voice while minimising the chance of negative consequences for the client themselves, the apprentice or the researcher. These processes included opportunities for verbal consent, an adapted project description, and asking service providers to select appropriate clients (i.e. those who present no risks and are likely to be open to a conversation).

In the two larger organisations it was not possible to formally observe apprentices at work or speak with clients (in one because of the nature of the client context, in the other because there was not time to work through the approval processes). However, we did see the work environments of apprentices in both of the larger organisations and talked with them about their working day.

In the two smaller residential care organisations we were able to observe apprentices working with clients, and we spoke with a client in each of these settings. Although we did not speak to enough clients for client voice to be highly visible in the report, the two clients we did speak with said things that confirm the messages in this report about the work that support workers do.

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Main theoretical ideas: How to read this report

This report is structured around three main theoretical ideas:

1. Changes to the nature of health and community support work mean that support workers need more than technical competence. They need capability―knowledge, skills and dispositions―to do support work well.

2. Becoming fully capable involves a transfer of learning―applying what is learned in different situations. There are different forms of transfer of learning. The kind most suited to support work is what we refer to as a far transfer of learning. This is transfer to different or more complex situations that cannot necessarily be predicted or prescribed in advance.

3. Reflective practice is a recognised way to support this kind of transfer of learning as well as being part of the enactment of a transfer of learning. It can help health and community support workers to make sense of experiences and events and thereby inform their future decisions and actions, leading to improved work performance.

We introduce these ideas in more detail in their relevant sections.

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2. Support workers, capability, and the apprenticeship programme

This section sets the scene by discussing the nature of support work. In this project we have given support workers an opportunity to talk about what they do and to articulate the complexity of their roles. We frame this discussion using the idea of capability, which includes dispositions as well as knowledge and skills. We also introduce the Careerforce apprenticeship programme in this section.

New demands on capability

Kaiāwhina are respectful and empower others competently using a holistic, strengths-based approach in a wide range of roles with consumers who have health and/or disability needs. (Health Workforce NZ & Careerforce, 2015)

Training for a Reflective Workforce (this research project) was prompted by the changing nature of service delivery models in the sector. There is demand for restorative models of care and client-driven (person-centred) support. Inter-professional collaboration is also on the increase. The concept of person-centred support underpinning these changes in service delivery models is a fundamental principle of the development of new qualifications (including the apprenticeship programme) and pathways for the sector.

These changes take support work beyond straightforward task performance into problem solving, critical thinking, needs assessment, relationship management, and a sense of professionalism and responsibility (often called “showing initiative”), in ways that typically involve “emotional labour” (Hochschild, 1983). We came across numerous examples of this type of work when interviewing support workers in both phases of this project. (See also Briar, Liddell, & Tolich, 2014; see also Hampson & Junor, 2010; Junor, Hampson, & Ogle, 2009.)

Emotional labour

Hochschild (1983) was the first to identify the concept of emotional labour in relation to service work. Other researchers have used or expanded on this concept. There are three inter-related ways in which support work is emotional. Like other work involving face-to-face contact with customers or clients, it involves support workers managing their own emotions in certain situations (e.g. at times when they might feel disgusted or disturbed), and using negotiation, tact

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and diplomacy skills. This is closest to Hochschild’s original concept. Support workers are also using emotional intelligence through an awareness of their own and other people’s emotions, and using emotional information to guide their actions. Third, support workers are giving their emotions (Bolton, 2000, refers to this as a ‘gift’) to clients through care, compassion and empathy. We heard examples of all these forms of emotional labour in our interviews with support workers in both phases of the project.

What support workers in this project do

The support workers we spoke with in phases 1 and 2 of the project had a range of job titles, including case manager, work broker, activities co-ordinator and support worker. They worked in four broad contexts:

1. home-based support 2. residential support 3. day-centre support for clients with high and complex needs 4. client-focused case management.

Across both phases they were evenly spread across home-based support, day-centre support and client-focused case management; only two participants (both in phase 2) were working in residential support contexts.

Support worker contexts, phases 1 and 2 Table 3

Context Phase 1 (trainees)

Phase 2 (apprentices)

Total

Home-based support 13 – 13

Residential support – 2 2

Day-centre support 7 6 13

Client-focused case management – 13 13

TOTAL 20 21

Home-based support

In the home-based context, support workers usually work in shifts, with multiple clients to visit in one shift. This brings variety and unpredictability. In the organisations we visited, support workers are located in teams that meet for handover or team meetings, but otherwise work individually, driving between clients’ homes.

Support workers told us how each visit involves “scanning” the environment from the moment they arrive at each house. They “use life skills” and think creatively to assess and observe, in a way that respects the client. For example, a support worker might ask if they can make the client a

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cup of tea and use that opportunity to see what food is in the house. Support workers have an allocated period of time with each client and then drive from one client home to the next.

Support workers also talked of the unpredictability involved in visiting multiple clients each day and “not knowing what you will find”. This is heightened in situations where a new client enters the service and a support worker is visiting before information has been provided (there may not be hospital discharge notes available and the registered nurse may not yet have seen the client).

Another feature of providing home-based support is having to travel long distances between clients, which makes it challenging to take breaks or even toilet stops. Having time pressures with clients also requires a delicate balance between sticking to the time allocated and not rushing clients. These challenges are reported in other research involving home-based support workers (Briar et al., 2014).

Residential support

Support workers in residential care homes highlighted the holistic nature of their role, supporting residents’ social, physical and psychological needs. They got involved in a wide range of activities, and were creative with equipment and resources. In common with other contexts, support workers talked about having to adapt to individual clients, “working with their personality and characteristics”, including physical capability. This was particularly evident in our observations in these settings. We observed one support worker doing a large crossword with a group of elderly residents, some of whom had dementia, and another taking an exercise class with a group of residents in wheelchairs who varied in the way they moved their bodies and in the level of support they required to participate.

Day centre support for clients with high and complex needs

In this context, the ratio of support workers to clients is high (1:1 or 1:2) and the team are co-located in one open space. Support workers highlighted the unpredictability of client behaviour as the greatest challenge of their work. One described this as a “mental drain” from being “on the ball” all day. Others spoke about dealing with violence and inappropriate or challenging behaviours, and the use of de-escalation strategies (with restraint as a last resort). De-escalation and the use of restraint is something they have regular training in, and for many it was a significant training experience.

Support workers will be rostered to provide support with particular clients for the day, although other clients will participate in activities facilitated by support workers. Clients are “kept busy” during the day with multiple learning activities to choose from (e.g. art, media, health, cooking), along with sports or gym, and, for some, visits out for external programmes, trips or work experience. Lunch is a communal activity shared by clients and support workers. Support workers need to be continually aware of maintaining a safe environment, changing activities if things

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aren’t working, adjusting their facilitated activities to cater for clients’ differing needs and abilities, and stepping in to support colleagues.

Client-focused case management

In this fourth context support workers have different roles, but most see clients face to face. Many clients have health and disability issues, including mental health and addiction, which need intensive and long-term support. Other support workers interact more often with employers, brokering employment opportunities. In this role they talked about having two “clients”: the job seeker and the employer.

Front-line case managers talked about having to be “many things rolled into one”. They have a heavy case load and, in common with support workers in other contexts, don’t know what issues they will have to deal with on any particular day. This means they have to be able to build trust and rapport quickly.

What’s in common across contexts?

These four contexts shape the work that support workers do, and support workers have context-specific knowledge and skills (e.g. understanding dementia, training in de-escalation). However, there is much in common across these contexts. Here we highlight:

• the unpredictability of what each day will involve, which creates both variety and challenge (Briar et al., 2014 also report that support workers enjoy this variety and challenge)

• the person-centred approach and significance of the relationships between support worker and client, which involves emotional labour

• being located in a team but working individually, making autonomous decisions (the ability to work largely unsupervised in isolation has been highlighted in other research involving support workers; see Briar et al., 2014)

• the many situations each day that require problem solving and reflective practice.

Support workers’ views of their work

The thing that makes support workers proud or happy is seeing their clients progress. This means different things in different contexts, but it is a testament to the person-centred focus of all the support workers we met. Support workers get great satisfaction from knowing they have done their job well and have contributed to improving the lives of others.

It’s great seeing people who wouldn’t have been able to manage, who would have lost their home, and they can stay in their home longer because they’re healthier, wiser as far as education about diet. Empowering them. It’s very rewarding. I get a great kick out of it. (Support worker, phase 1)

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Getting my clients to go ‘Wow, I’ve learnt something’. They go away with something they’ve learnt, and it could be a little thing. That would be my proudest moment. (Support worker, phase 1)

I want to see people have better lives and that’s why I’m here. I care. (Lisa, apprentice)

It’s rewarding. It’s humbling. It’s fulfilling. (Anne, apprentice)

In both phases of the project we gave each support worker the opportunity to tell us what they would most like people to know about their job. Support workers spoke with great animation in response to this question, and between them covered aspects of themselves as support workers, the nature of their role, and the people they work with (clients and colleagues). Some illustrative examples of their comments are provided below.

Support workers would like people to know that they:

• are not “carers” or “baby sitters”, but are highly capable at what they do:

It’s realising the importance and extent of the work we do. (Ricky, apprentice)

I’m not just a carer. I’ve been through training. I’m smart. (Support worker, phase 1)

I don’t think people see how in-depth a job description we have. (Support worker, phase 1)

• make a difference to the lives of vulnerable people:

This role is significant because it helps people get better. It builds on capabilities they have. (Mereana, apprentice)

I want people to know we are doing something to change these people … I hope people will see we are doing a good job, and will see clients as human beings who also have feelings. (James, apprentice)

It is making a difference. It’s an opportunity to help people help themselves and change their own lives. (Nita, apprentice)

• have a demanding and unpredictable role:

No day is ever the same. You never know how clients are going to be. (Amy, apprentice)

It’s tough. It looks easy, sitting at a desk with a computer, but it is mentally straining. (Ben, apprentice)

I want people to know that the job we do is incredibly difficult. The money is crap, but the reason I’m here is that I want to make a difference. That’s what gets me out of bed every morning ... We wear so many hats and are expected to navigate people out of situations―we’re not doctors, social workers or psychologists. (Lisa, apprentice)

• work with supportive and committed colleagues:

It’s a great team and the environment is great. (Amy, apprentice)

We’re pretty passionate about what we do. (Diane, apprentice)

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What makes a good support worker?

To explore these ideas further, we asked everyone what kind of person you need to be to be a good support worker. Across all contexts there was much in common, as shown in the word cloud below (the larger the words, the more they were mentioned).

Figure 1 Word cloud of support worker attributes

Many of these terms appear at first glance to be things that some people are more naturally disposed to than others. Indeed, support workers told us that it was because they had these qualities that they were well suited to their work. However, while these qualities are important to the job, they not necessarily entirely fixed or fully developed in advance of being a support worker.

Hampson & Junor (2010) argue that rather than “natural attributes”, care workers have social and organisational skills, and these can be broadly categorised as skills in shaping awareness, interacting and relating, and co-ordinating. They argue that such skills can be applied and honed in the work context and through job-specific learning (Hampson & Junor, 2010). Similarly, research with apprentices in carpentry, general practice medicine and engineering shows that the actual deployment of certain dispositions (behavioural tendencies) and associated “soft skills” (intrapersonal or interpersonal task performance) is not a given. It is the workplace environment and the way that jobs are structured which can develop or diminish workers’ dispositions and soft skills (Vaughan, in press).

Our interviews support the idea that support workers’ apparent natural talents can be further developed. When we asked “What makes a good support worker?”, we heard examples of how the qualities identitifed by support workers had been developed through experiences on the apprenticeship programme (such as self-reflection) and by situated learning in the workplace. These will be discussed when we consider the impact of the apprenticeship programme on individuals and their work, but here are a few examples:

I had formed an opinion about certain clients … That attitude is gone, that was something I needed to change in myself. I’m here to help everyone. (Diane, apprentice)

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I feel like I’m approaching things differently and being more tolerant. (Lisa, apprentice)

I’ve learned how to approach clients with disabilities, how to talk to them. Instead of feeling sorry for them. I don’t do that anymore. (Dani, apprentice)

Capability grows through what people actually do, through how they think about what they do, and through their relationships with others. In other words, capability is a social phenomenon. It encompasses ‘soft’ skills and dispositions as well as knowledge and technical (‘hard’) skills, and it requires some investment at the level of identity.

Support workers develop capability for their work through learning. Learning can occur in formal training sessions and/or in the course of doing the work. Ideally, people’s learning will be ongoing to help manage the changes that occur during their working life: changes at the sector level (e.g. the nature of the work), at the organisational level (e.g. policies, business model, staffing mix), and at the individual level (e.g. personal priorities, career development).

The rest of this report focuses on how the apprenticeship programme is developing the capability of apprentices, and how this is affecting them as individuals―the work they do―and the people they work with. First we describe the apprenticeship programme, apprentices’ aspirations and motivations for undertaking the qualification, and their experience of it so far.

The Careerforce apprenticeship programme

Careerforce is the Industry Training Organisation (ITO) for health, aged support, mental health, disability, social services, youth work, cleaning, and urban pest management industries. Like all ITOs, Careerforce leads the development of national standards and qualifications, and arranges workplace learning for the sectors in its coverage. Careerforce has a central role in ensuring the capabilities of the workforce match changing work demands, and engages with employers to facilitate workforce development and planning. Its work also helps employers provide clear career pathways for trainees. This may include supporting them to integrate national qualifications with in-house training, and providing literacy and numeracy skills support.

The Careerforce apprenticeship programme in Social and Community Services was launched in early 2016. It sits within a wider context of increased interest in apprenticeships around the world. The New Zealand Government, like others internationally, has focused on developing the role of apprenticeship in a modern vocational education and training (VET) system that can meet the demand for skills, qualifications, and self-managing lifelong learners.

In line with this focus, the New Zealand Government has boosted its apprenticeship investment and set new targets for apprentice numbers by 2020 (New Zealand Government, 2016a, 2016b). This policy move supports two changes made in 2014, which encouraged the development of new apprenticeships such as Careerforce’s. First, the definition of ‘apprenticeship’ was broadened to encompass all ages and any training leading to qualifications at Level 4 or higher on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework. This turned all Modern Apprenticeships and existing other

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apprentice-type training into New Zealand Apprenticeships. Second, a funding adjustment to ITOs, which develop qualifications and arrange most apprenticeships, has supported the development of more qualifications at Level 4 and above.

Careerforce’s apprenticeship programmes are training programmes for advanced support roles in health, disability, mental health and addiction, social services and rehabilitation. The programmes are designed for people who have some experience working in their field.

All apprentices initially undertake a training needs analysis, including attention to family support, literacy and numeracy needs, prior learning experiences, technology access, and the apprentice’s expectations. A training plan is developed for each apprentice, which specifies whether they will be supported by Careerforce directly or by their employer. The employer attends this session alongside the apprentice. The Tertiary Education Commission’s Code of Responsibility for Apprenticeships is used to work through a shared understanding of roles and responsibilities among all parties (apprentice, employer, Careerforce). Apprentices are expected to take around 18 months to complete the programme.

The learning is made up of 13 modules (see Figure 2). During the period of this research, all apprentices were working on modules in the top two rows in Figure 2.

Figure 2 O

verview of the N

ew Zealand C

ertificate in Health and W

ellbeing (Level 4)

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Learning arrangements in a new apprenticeship programme

The apprenticeship programme is designed to be undertaken mainly through self-directed learning via an online platform, MyPath. This is supported by regular visits from Apprenticeship and Vocational Pathway Advisors who provide assessment and learning support, and an administrator who sends reminder and encouragement notifications directly to apprentices by email and text. This approach contrasts with the more traditional idea of apprenticeship as a model of learning involving scaffolded, deliberate practice under close supervision from a practitioner-expert in the workplace (Billett, 2016; Fuller & Unwin, 2016). The Careerforce apprenticeship programme has more in common with two more recent developments in learning arrangements.

First, it pays attention to accrediting and further developing existing skills. This opens up a space to consider making visible and linking formal, non-formal and informal learning, all of which may be important for work capability (Vaughan & Cameron, 2009). Second, it is aligned with the explosion in online learning approaches and programmes with their emphasis on modularity, flexibility and accessibility. This has particular potential to benefit learners who have not had positive formal learning experiences before and who may constitute a more diverse group of learners than those traditionally engaging with tertiary education. It is notable that the apprentices in the Careerforce apprenticeship programme constitute a particularly diverse group in terms of cultures, prior learning experiences in other countries as well as New Zealand, and expectations about learning.

All the apprentices reported on their self-directed learning efforts and engagement with the online platform. At the time of their interviews, some aspects of the Careerforce apprenticeship programme had not yet been implemented, e.g. administrator notifications and visits from Apprenticeship and Vocational Pathways Advisors. Apprentices reported that they generally undertook their apprenticeship programme learning at home, after work, in the evenings or during the weekend. However, most of the apprentices (18 out of 21) also had some employer-provided time during working hours. For 13 of the apprentices with the same employer, this took the form of blended learning, comprising a monthly session with a workplace assessor in each of three different work sites. Another five apprentices across two different work sites with the same employer had several hours set aside each week in which to undertake self-directed learning. The remaining three apprentices did their entire apprenticeship programme learning in their own time.

What do apprentices hope to gain from the apprenticeship programme?

All apprentices involved in this project had started the apprenticeship programme in March or April 2016, soon after its launch. Their pathways and journeys varied, but most were experienced

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in their roles and had completed other training prior to the apprenticeship programme. Some had been ‘shoulder tapped’ by a manager or training advisor within their organisation and encouraged to apply; at least one organisation had selected apprentices from those who expressed an interest.

Apprentices had a variety of reasons for enrolling and hopes for what they would gain from the qualification. These fall into three main categories:

• to do their job better• for their own learning, not necessarily expressed in terms of their current job• to gain a qualification.

For some this was related to career progression. These categories were not mutually exclusive, and many apprentices mentioned two or three of these reasons.

To be a better-equipped case manager and get better results with clients. That was the whole idea, apart from getting a qualification. To do my job better. (Michael, apprentice)

To do my job better. An opportunity to upskill and better myself. This qualification to me is quite personal―it’s things you can take in[to] your everyday life. (Nita, apprentice)

To be recognised with a piece of paper [the qualification], and to help clients and identify their needs. (Dani, apprentice)

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3. Impact of the apprenticeship programme

Analysing impact as “transfer of learning”

This section explores apprentices’ accounts of the impact of the apprenticeship programme. We draw particularly on interview questions about personal change, new knowledge and changed work practice in order to find out:

• how much the apprenticeship programme had changed them personally • how much the apprenticeship programme had changed how they did things at work • how much the apprenticeship programme had provided new knowledge for work, and how

they were using it • the most helpful and least helpful knowledge in the apprenticeship programme • any difference the apprenticeship programme had allowed them to make to clients’ lives.

Our focus deliberately included personal impact as well as work practice impact, which covered interactions with clients, relationships with co-workers, and apprentices’ changing perspectives, which underpin improvements in work practice. We also took a cue here from Mezirow’s theory of transformative learning (Mezirow, 2000; Segers & De Greef, 2011), which argues that learning is truly transformational when the learner re-evaluates the premises or assumptions behind what they currently know and do and takes a new perspective. This better positions people to see potential in, and use, what they have learned from different contexts. It works best when they have been personally changed by the learning in another context. For example, a support worker may use learning from a profound life experience to empathise with a client. We therefore turned to the idea of transfer of learning―applying what is learned in one situation to another―to analyse the impact of the apprenticeship programme.

The degree to which learning is transferred is affected by how abstract the principles learned are, how much interpretation is needed to apply them, and how new the situation for application is. The more distant or different the principle is from the application situation, the more transfer effort is required. In order to know what to do in unpredictable or complex situations―such as those increasingly faced by support workers―a person needs to understand the deep structure (the underlying principles) of a situation, rather than just the surface structure (the immediate context) (Willingham, 2009).

As Cameron et al.’s (2011) summary of the transfer of learning literature shows, conceptualisations of transfer use different metaphors often involving physical positioning (e.g.

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near and far transfer, lateral and vertical transfer, low-road and high-road transfer). For the purposes of this literature review we define and use the following three-tiered framework for analysing the transfer of learning involved in the impacts of the apprenticeship programme.

A three-tiered model of transfer of learning for the Careerforce apprenticeship Table 4programme

Near transfer Further transfer Far transfer

Using knowledge or activities from the apprenticeship programme in a similar, but non-training, context

Using knowledge or activities from the apprenticeship programme in a different way, or applying them to a new kind of situation

Using knowledge reflexively―with awareness and questioning of one’s own attitudes, values and behaviours and

assessing the complexity of situations and acting flexibly

Using a transfer-of-learning lens we can get a sense from their interviews of the degree to which apprentices seem to have transferred their learning from the apprenticeship programme into their everyday work. This allows us to get a sense not only of the depth but also the shape and nature of the impact of the apprenticeship programme. We cannot measure transfer of learning directly―indeed, collecting evidence for it has long proven very complex, elusive and difficult (Cameron et al., 2011). However, our interview questions sought proxies for this through self-report, essentially asking apprentices how they felt about the apprenticeship programme, what they learned, how they might have changed, and what they actually did.

It is important to note that our analysis is based on the interview data. It is not a comment on the learning abilities or dispositions of individual apprentices. Nor does it mean we think individual apprentices’ perception of impact sits within only one type of transfer (e.g. near or far transfer). In fact many of the apprentices provided accounts of their experiences of impact that we saw as examples of different degrees of transfer.

We are arguing that further and far forms of learning transfer are particularly appropriate and therefore desirable for support work. However, near transfer of learning is also useful, either as a first step or as part of a full suite of knowledges, activities and dispositions making up support work capability.1 In other words, we have examples of each kind of transfer of learning rather than examples of where an individual is at.

1 We are not suggesting that the individual is to blame if they don’t experience far transfer learning. Workplaces

and organisations need to afford the opportunities for transfer to take place.

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Understanding transfer of learning as reflective practice

We cannot talk about far transfer of learning in support work without talking about reflective practice. We see reflective practice as a form of far transfer of learning that is self-perpetuating and to be continually practised. Today’s ideas about reflective practice have developed particularly from the work of Schön (1983) and Dewey (1938), and they can be summarised as involving “thinking about past or ongoing experience of events, situations or actions so as to make sense of them, potentially with a view to informing future choices, decisions or actions”

(Reynolds, 2011, p. 5).

Reflective practice is therefore increasingly recognised as “the key to the elusive transfer of training we’ve been wrestling with for over a century” (Schulman 1995, cited in Graham & Megarry, 2007, p. 772). Self-reflection, then, is a necessary prerequisite. You need a certain amount of self-awareness to be able to see yourself in, and to assess, the situation. Hence we emphasise the interplay of personal and work-related impacts.

Reflective practice has become standard practice for many fields, particularly those with a primary focus on people, such as social work or health care, because of the impossibility of knowing the situation in advance (or knowing it fully ever) and reducing it to a series of known factors and protocols. Reflective practice is particularly appropriate for support work, because support workers are the face of their organisations, dealing with complex and evolving client needs and working within changing service delivery models.

The everyday work with clients and the organisational and wider regulatory environments are characterised by uncertainty and change. Reflective practice is crucial for managing this and continuing to be effective. It is therefore becoming an essential dimension of the support workers’ toolkit, enabling them to be part of a “workforce that adds value to the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders by being: competent, adaptable, an integral part of service provision” (see www.workforceinaction.org.nz). We therefore refer to reflection and reflective practice in conjunction with transfer of learning. In section 4 we discuss where, how and with whom apprentices engage in reflective practice.

Overall perceptions of personal and work-related impact from the apprenticeship programme

In our second interview with apprentices, when they were around 6 months into the apprenticeship programme, we asked them to place themselves on a continuum, a scale that ranged from “no change” to “far-reaching change” in relation to the difference the apprenticeship programme had made to them personally and to how they did things at work, and the degree to which it provided them with new knowledge. We then invited discussion about that rating and probed for examples.

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The aggregated scale responses of all the apprentices interviewed are shown in the tables below. The tables were designed to prompt discussion and use of examples in the interview situation and cannot provide more than a broad indication of apprentice perceptions. However, taken together, the three tables do suggest the apprenticeship programme is perceived by almost all of the apprentices as having an impact.

How much has the apprenticeship programme given you new knowledge for work? Table 5

Not at all Somewhat / a bit Quite a lot Far-reaching change

3 6 5 4

How much has the apprenticeship programme changed how you do things at work? Table 6


2 5 6 5

How much has the apprenticeship programme changed you at a personal level? Table 7


3 8 4 3

The first table (Table 5) about new knowledge for work indicates a spread of perceptions. However, half the respondents thought the apprenticeship programme had given them quite a lot of, or far-reaching, new knowledge. The table about how apprentices do things at work (Table 6) indicates that more than half of the apprentices thought they had made quite a lot of change or far-reaching change.

In elaborating on their ratings, most apprentices described at least some new knowledge or change in perspective about their role and work practice. Most also described shifts in how they did things at work. Sometimes the link to their apprenticeship programme learning was very direct (e.g. they learned something new and applied it soon after); other links were more indirect (e.g. noticing or questioning the assumptions they made in daily life).

Every apprentice also seemed to have been personally affected by the apprenticeship programme (Table 7). All but three apprentices rated it as having an impact, at varying levels. Many of the examples of personal impact we heard from those apprentices who rated their personal change as quite a lot or far reaching also talked about themselves in a work context. They provided examples of how their learning was influencing them at work―that they knew different things, that it was reinforcing how and why they did things, or that it was changing the way they thought about and worked with clients. They perceived this learning as personal and didn’t separate their ‘not at work’ and ‘at work’ selves.

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Those reporting only a bit of change suggested that it was reinforcing their ways of doing or thinking about things rather than being new. So our question was not framed in a way that allowed them to articulate this as personal change. Several in this group anticipated there would be a greater personal impact or change as they worked through the modules and completed the apprenticeship programme.

We asked the three apprentices who reported no personal impact at all to elaborate. They explained that there were things they had learned, or did differently at work, as a result of their study, but that they did not understand this to be personal change. One said, “I am pretty much who I am already” but said he was “more proactive in dealing with clients” (James). Another reported learning how to approach their clients differently. The third reported knowledge acquisition but no personal change. He went on to describe something we might have considered was a personal change (though he did not):

Where I come from, certain disability or mental illness is about stigma attached to the family … I never thought about that before. I am embarrassed that I contributed to the stigma, but now I have learnt. (Andrew)

Near transfer: same knowledge or activities in a similar context

Greater awareness of services and clients

Many apprentices reported gaining new knowledge about their clients’ conditions or backgrounds. Sometimes this was simply new information. Sometimes it prompted apprentices to rethink their previous understanding or consider the implications for society generally.

[I learned] how the population is ageing and the implications of that for the country―how there will be more older people wanting to remain independent and still have jobs. In the not too distant future we will probably die younger but right now we are living longer. That was interesting. There will be more dementia and Alzheimer’s. (Anne, apprentice)

Most apprentices also reported that the apprenticeship programme had raised their awareness of community support services. This awareness could be quite general (e.g. about the range of services and community resources that exist), or it could be quite specific (e.g. about services that would be appropriate for their clients).

The apprenticeship programme also provided apprentices with useful knowledge about treatment models. One apprentice reported the surprise of finding the approach he had been using was actually a structured model. Others got a better understanding of the principles that underpinned their everyday work processes.

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What I got that was new knowledge was [the idea of] models … In the past I never knew where those models and theories sat in terms of supporting clients. Now I am tapping into culture and service delivery models. I see where they fit. (Joe, apprentice)

More knowledge about service provision meant apprentices could do their jobs more competently. They not only knew that certain resources and services existed, but they gained more confidence to call upon them. They might call upon them for a direct referral or resource for a client, or to confirm an idea they had, or to gain advice about next steps or other possible resources or pathways further afield.

I had to do some research around services [for the apprenticeship programme] … I found even more [services] I could be working with. (Kath, apprentice)

Further transfer: same knowledge or activities used differently or in new situation

New perspectives on existing knowledge

Some apprentices did not report new knowledge from the apprenticeship programme but rather new perspectives. They described the apprenticeship programme as confirming their work approach or understanding. This did not necessarily lead to a change in work practice. It could, for example, affirm what seemed like an apprentice’s hunch by locating it in relation to a particular approach.

It is adding to what I am already doing. At the end in 8–10 months … it will be an added value to my thinking process. It would support the way I actually work. (Ben, apprentice)

I am looking at their whole picture, not just trying to get them out the door. I am assessing what the deeper issues are. [So the apprenticeship programme] is reinforcing what I already know. (Kath, apprentice)

It is reiterating, confirming. No-one checks if you are still using the right information. So it’s reaffirming that I am doing okay. (Diane, apprentice)

Some of the new perspectives involved taking on the perspective of clients. This transfer of learning involved applying knowledge, empathy and imagination. Apprentices examined their work practice from the perspective of the client.

It’s not so much that it’s new [knowledge]; it’s the way I am reinterpreting it and using that newly refreshed knowledge to apply it to my clients. My perspective has changed. I have more of an awareness of a bigger picture outside the process. (Chrissie, apprentice)

The most useful knowledge [in the apprenticeship programme] is the main, current challenges which we see every day―what a client faces―but we don’t really know a

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lot about. You see how critical something is. For example, someone dealing with different agencies over a health problem. The agencies work in isolation so the client has to repeat their story over and over―to a DHB [district health board], then us, then a community housing provider … to think about it from a client’s point of view is helpful. (Andrew, apprentice)

I thought I was empathetic but realised that I didn’t really understand the meaning, and the difference with sympathy. I now talk about it with other people in work and my personal life. (Nita, apprentice)

I used to group everyone together, treat everyone the same. But I learned that you have to deal with certain backgrounds in certain ways, ask certain questions or be more kind if someone has depression or anxiety … Now I know why things are a certain way. (Kane, apprentice)

Locating self and work in the big picture

Knowing about services, models and their own organisation was really important for helping apprentices develop a sense of a bigger picture about their role and work. That bigger picture might be an organisation’s purpose or the rationale for a particular service approach. It helped apprentices locate themselves within their organisation and understand the significance of their role, including dimensions that may previously have been invisible to them.

I now understand the role of public service. (Michael, apprentice)

It gives you knowledge of government initiatives―the bigger picture, not narrow in your sphere. You are a cog in a much wider health and wellbeing process. (Ricky, apprentice)

My job is to facilitate personal wellness, but what is important is that we … work with people’s innate strengths and build on them. It’s not just any old facilitation. You help people to grow and live life. (Mereana, apprentice)

One apprentice explained that she had been able to connect her experiences of vulnerability to those of her clients. She herself had once been a client needing support. While she brought an existing empathetic disposition to her work and apprenticeship programme, she found direction in the apprenticeship programme for using that empathy. In other words, the apprenticeship programme has encouraged her to use her experiences to frame her support role expansively.

Another apprentice used her new understanding of disability to think differently about the barriers faced by her clients, including her own assumptions―and theirs―about the life possibilities for people living with disabilities.

I’ve learned how to approach disabilities clients, how to talk to them. Instead of feeling sorry for them. I don’t do that anymore. [Now] I am able to look at our clients with medical certificates ... and see that they have barriers but that there are things they can do. (Dani, apprentice)

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Another apprentice’s new understanding enabled him to help clients more fully utilise his organisation’s service.

Training told us that it’s okay for a client to bring a support person. But having read about different cultures in the apprenticeship, I now encourage clients to bring a support person. (Kane, apprentice)

Far transfer: being reflexive and flexible In this section we focus on examples from four apprentices. They demonstrate an ability to think about their work at the level of underlying principles and act flexibility in the face of both presented and underlying client needs. They represent the ideal kind of apprenticeship programme impact: far transfer (which often also includes further and near transfer). We present each example as a vignette in order to accentuate our holistic model of understanding both transfer or learning and reflective practice.

Kane

Kane has been a case manager for only 2 years, having entered the field out of a desire to work with people in his local community. He describes himself as a “people person” and strives to build rapport and trust with his clients. He is highly sensitive to the idea that his clients are judged by others, and that he, by association and because of his role, is also judged. He is an enthusiastic learner and wants to use what he learns to “break the mould” of expectations for his community, including himself. This is his account of how his work as a case manager has been affected by the apprenticeship programme and its focus on reflective practice.

Knowing the story before we make a call. Breaking the mould on one-size-fits-all. Knowing why things are a certain way. The apprenticeship has a focus on mental health and stigma. As a case manager, it’s easy to make assumptions about why someone is here. Prior to the apprenticeship I was thinking this way, but apprenticeship has confirmed that it’s not one size fits all and you can never know someone’s story from just one appointment. [So] my questioning [of clients] has changed. Now I am asking more open-ended questions. As a case manager you get into processing―processing everything in a one-size-fits-all way. I have found more success by saying, ‘You tell me, and I’ll help you get there’. I got 17 people into fulltime employment. Our target is 8. I like to think it’s because of me. By giving [clients] options, it puts the onus on them to make an effort.

The quote from Kane demonstrates a capacity to understand clients both as unique individuals and as members of social groups shaped in certain ways. Kane’s awareness of his taken-for-granted ways of thinking about people opens up the possibility that this has been limiting his ability―and therefore his organisation’s ability―to recognise and meet client needs.

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Joe

Joe had recently become a team leader in his organisation after 9 years as a support worker, several of them in a senior support worker role. He came into support work after a casual job experience during teacher training. He never became a teacher for personal reasons, but took a support work role and enjoys the opportunities to problem-solve, implement his ideas and lead others. He talks about the apprenticeship programme, describing its impact at a number of levels of his work.

Having your homework, meeting a deadline [for the apprenticeship programme], makes you speed up the preparedness [generally], thinking: what do I need for this assignment or that meeting, not just walking in blind anymore. I am learning to do more research, use the clinical base, not just thinking: oh, my experience will get me through.

I am preparing teams as well, saying: take notes, bring documents. We talk to [external experts]. Most of us have lots of life experience but not the technical background, so we need to know our stuff. Then we can show that we understand the topic.

I get staff involved in the meeting now because they have important knowledge too, and they get to see how [senior colleagues] think, and they experience the arguments that go on. I would have liked to have had that myself as a support worker. You are getting a bigger picture. I can also identify who the leaders are, who should be in meetings.

Joe’s quote is a good example of capability development as a support worker who can appropriately draw on the knowledge available for the situation ahead. It is also a great example of how capability can be a collective affair. Joe understands that he does not succeed alone in his work. He describes the way in which he develops the capability of his team, and as that grows, so does his own confidence and capability. Indeed his capability development is not just as a support worker but as a leader of his coworkers.

Diane

Diane is a very experienced case manager with a passion for helping others. She has had a number of different roles in support work and community brokerage. She enjoys the apprenticeship programme and draws on examples from throughout her background and work experience, relating them to the theory and principles she is learning. It has, she says, helped her become less jaded after so long in the job. The following quote illustrates the apprenticeship programme’s impact on Diane and then its ripple effect, from her to her coworkers.

I had formed an opinion about certain clients … That attitude is gone. That was something I needed to change in myself … [The apprenticeship programme] prompted me to work differently with my colleagues. I used to have tunnel vision, think everyone should work like me. The apprenticeship opened my eyes to recognising people’s strengths and working with that. [The apprenticeship programme has also] helped me be less jaded about clients. It’s led to conversations with colleagues in the tearoom about how we look at people and judge them. A client I’d written off came in and I didn’t get annoyed with him, and we had a good conversation.

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While we have focused on the apprenticeship programme’s impact on clients via the apprentices, Diane highlights the role of the apprenticeship programme in relation to a “community of practice”: people with collegial relationships committed to learning together about common issues (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Communities of practice may meet or communicate in person or online and can involve informal ‘chewing the fat’ interactions as well as more formal discussions. This helps shape and legitimate practitioners’ capabilities, offering support, a challenge and a sense of purpose. Communities of practice are also important because they exist outside of training programmes or classroom interactions. They provide an enduring platform that can help sustain the benefits of training. Apprentices like Diane are able to share the benefits of apprenticeship programme learning across the entire community of practice.

Alex

Alex is a younger apprentice who has not done any formal learning since school. She joined her organisation 4 years ago after a youth cadetship, and since then has moved around a few different roles, including front-line roles with clients and employers. Alex wants to complete the apprenticeship programme to do her job better and “gain a better, open-minded view and understanding when dealing with clients and stakeholders”. Alex expressed anxiety about herself as a learner, finding assessments “scary”. Gaining confidence has been an important outcome from her apprenticeship programme study: “I feel awesome every time I pass a module”. However, maintaining this confidence is an ongoing battle for Alex.

The Te Ao Māori module and associated noho marae facilitated by her organisation had a strong personal impact on Alex, enhancing her sense of identity as Māori.

My confidence was boosted when I completed that course [Te Ao Māori] but it was the hardest thing I’ve had to complete. It gave me a sense of identity. I learnt my mihi, my pepeha. I ended up being somewhat related to one of the tutors. Through our iwi. (Alex)

A real sense of pride was evident as Alex talked about this. She described how she now “thinks about it [the noho marae] all the time” and reflects on her new knowledge about colonisation when interacting with Māori clients. Alex described what she had learnt from the apprenticeship programme so far as always “being at the back of my mind, and it wasn’t there before.” Her response to a situation with a client and an employer had changed her understanding of the significance of her role in clients’ lives.

I had a client with convictions apply for a job with an employer who usually declined everyone else who had convictions. I managed to get him an interview. I convinced the employer. The client got the job. I have learned what a responsibility I have with someone’s life. (Alex)

Alex’s story is a good example of the strong interplay between personal impact and impact on work when effective and deep learning occurs. It also illustrates the vital role of confidence in apprentices’ capability to work well with their clients.

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4. Reflective practice: on and in action

The previous section introduced the idea of reflective practice, a core component of the Careerforce apprenticeship programme, as learning through (and from) experience. We highlighted the importance of reflective practice for support workers whose semi-autonomous work involves significant “emotional labour” (Hochschild, 1983) in the management of their own emotions as well as those of clients. We suggested that reflective practice is a key dimension of far transfer of learning because it involves being open to experience and interpreting situations and protocols. The examples of far transfer of learning we have provided highlighted support workers’ integration of the personal and the professional, using self-awareness to reflect on the client and situation at hand while acting flexibly in keeping with principles of good support work.

But how do support workers get to develop reflective practice? Where, how and with whom do they do it? In this section we focus on apprentices’ reported experiences of different modes of reflective practice. We describe these in terms of Schön’s (1983) two categories of reflective practice: reflection on action (when reflection is used for sense-making after the event) and reflection in action (when reflection is used intuitively, to guide action while it is happening).

We suggest that reflection in action is an example of far transfer of learning, in keeping with the subtitle of Schön’s (1983) classic work on reflective practice, The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. Reflection on action is also something that expert practitioners systematically practise (e.g. through written reports or regular team meetings) in order to support the development of reflection in action.

The perpetual interaction and learning at the heart of reflection in action occurs in the interaction between individual support workers and the environment (e.g. clients, colleagues, organisation policies, workplace culture, regulations). So what a support worker actually does is very much contextualised and “determined by others in the form of rules, values, attitudes, expectations”, making it unrealistic to have an “isolated individual as the centre of the learning process” (Svensson, Ellstrom, & Aberg, 2004, p. 479, cited in Borjesson, Cedersund, & Bengtsson, 2015, p. 286).

For this reason this section also discusses apprentices’ experiences in relation to the role of the workplace or organisation in facilitating reflective practice. What a workplace (or employer) does here is particularly pertinent in light of the pressures on the support work system as a whole. On the one hand, there is a growing demand for services and a skilled workforce, and therefore also a growing need for that workforce to be reflective in order to manage the work. On the other hand, there is a contraction in the structures that might support reflective practice development (Kinsella, 2010, p. 574, cited in Borjesson et al., 2015, p. 286) (e.g. funding, time allocations to

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clients, or individual or collective reflection time/space for apprentices). There is, however, a range of reflective practices that apprentices already use that could be harnessed or extended.

Apprentices’ accounts of engaging in reflective practice

We asked apprentices about how, when, where and with whom they engaged in reflective practice or reflection. We prompted apprentices with a list of people they may or may not reflect with and the activities in which they might engage. We also asked about when these things occurred, their usefulness or impact, and the nature of any activities or encounters (e.g. ascertaining the correct procedure, streamlining processes, working through emotions; resolving team differences of opinion; re-evaluating actions taken or planning future action; learning something new together; or sharing client information for planning purposes).

Their responses are categorised in the following table. We adapt Schön’s (1983) categories of reflective practice (on action and in action) and match these with instances of reflection reported by apprentices. Most apprentices reported more than one mode or activity for reflection. We note that it is difficult to define ‘action’ and therefore where to draw the line between on action and in action. For example, is the action confined to the case manager’s meeting with a client? Or does the action continue as the case manager investigates resources for meeting the client’s needs after they have left?

Although Schön’s (1983) original definitions are not clear-cut, there seems to be general agreement in the literature that in action refers to direct collaboration or interaction with clients, where practitioners need to think on their feet and “craft on-the-spot”.2 This is our interpretation, too, although we also position discussions on-the-fly with colleagues in the midst of client interactions as in action because it is similar to general practitioners’ “corridor consultations” with colleagues, which routinely occur as part of a consultation with a patient (Vaughan, Bonne, & Eyre, 2015).

2 The phrase “crafting on-the-spot” is taken from Veillard’s (2012) study of apprentices.

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Apprentices’ reported modes of reflection Table 8

Reflecting on action Reflecting in action

Individual moments

Ad hoc reflection or structured habits for reflecting

Crafting on-the-spot during direct client interactions

Collegial encounters

On-the-fly discussions with colleagues in the midst of a client interaction

Informal discussions as part of work culture (e.g. shared lunchtimes)

Formal, scheduled team meetings for planning, debriefing or strategising

On-the-fly discussions about clients or work issues conducted with colleagues during the working day

With others (non-work)

Discussions with trusted family or friends outside of work

Reflecting on action

Individual reflection and reflection with others away from work

Eight of the 21 apprentices told us that their main reflecting occurred alone. Three apprentices reported this as having on an impromptu basis; for example, noticing and considering a related issue on a television show, or thinking about particular clients from time to time.

Other apprentices had a more structured approach or a daily habit of reflection. One described keeping a diary and writing about issues at work as a way to work through things. Another reported taking a few moments after the end of every client interview to think about anything she could do better. A third apprentice used his smartphone in the evenings to make notes about ideas or to create reminders.

An apprentice described the process as a continual questioning of himself―“What could I do better?”―and deliberately paying attention to the broader political context in which his work has meaning and purpose.

One way … to do things is to shut up shop, get out of the office. The other way is to keep up-to-date with current affairs, how are things sitting with the public at large, whether things are being sensationalised. It’s an ongoing process, any time of the day―at home or right after the client has left. Or maybe during my meditation time. (Andrew, apprentice)

For Amy, a senior team member, it was important that the reflection process was a solitary one. This allowed her to process matters outside of the demands of providing leadership to her team.

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As a result her reflections encompassed multiple different relationship configurations between her, clients, team members, the team leader and the organisation.

When I reflect, I do it on my own, often when I am driving. And if I am at my desk when everyone has gone because I normally stay quite late. Also if I am here alone first thing in the morning. I question myself a lot of times. [I think about] how I could have handled things better, especially with staff. Because, coming from working on the floor, now to a senior role, I have gotten used to working alongside staff and now I have to talk to my staff in a more senior way. (Amy, apprentice)

Four apprentices told us they consult their partners at home to think through matters or generate ideas for how to deal with issues.

Collegial encounters

All the apprentices were part of a wider team with whom they regularly met with varying frequency, from daily to weekly to monthly. The purposes of the meetings also varied: joint planning, debriefing, critical incident discussions, and distribution of information or instruction. The majority of apprentices seemed to find their team meetings useful or at least important.

[I do] a lot of reflection. I do it every day, in close teams. We have to keep up to date with what everyone is doing―informal and formal. At meetings we go over everyone’s workload. Colleagues are useful as they’re in the job so they understand. (Nita, apprentice)

In team meetings … for an hour once a week, it is really good reflective time. It is a group of work-focused case managers telling us about new things, then half an hour or more to talk about little things, difficult clients, best practice. (Chrissie, apprentice)

We have a team meeting once a week with managers―we do reflective practice there too, as an office. We talk about how we could provide better customer service to our clients. You get asked for your opinion. (Jamila, apprentice)

One apprentice described how her team thrashes things out, experimenting, reflecting and revising. This exemplifies collective reflection on action.

I’m in charge of my team of three. We discuss what way we can implement things or make it work for us. Every week … We put plans in place. We vent, we fight. We are opinionated. We disagree and then finally we will agree. One colleague will think their plan is best. We take a little from you, and a little from you, and a little from me. We try something and if it doesn’t work, we go back to the drawing board. (Dani, apprentice)

However, not all of the team meetings had a reflective component and not all the apprentices found the reflective meetings useful. Four apprentices pointed out that the operational focus of their team meetings tended to crowd out any potential for collective reflection and learning. Amble (2012) describes this demanding “rhythm” as typical in care work, with the “lack of physical stillness, time, space and help, if needed” making it hard to “draw the connections and transform a stream of events into a conscious, analysable experience” (2012, p. 263).

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One apprentice described herself as “naturally reflective” and her team as supportive, but preferred to consult with her colleagues individually. She described the monthly group supervision meeting as “not useful” (although she thought others thought it was), and suggested that she had nothing to bring up there or did not feel comfortable doing so. She pointed out that the infrequency of that meeting made it impractical for dealing with issues. Another apprentice commented that debriefings that seemed reflective were really just “negative bonding” as people tried to deal with work stress.

A third type of team meeting describes it as being used to facilitate a positive transition from work to home. While this purpose is not a strong example of reflective practice (because the focus is limited), it does involve some reflection and brings the team back together at the end of a day’s intensive work.

Also at the end of the day, there’s a 20 minute window where everyone gets together and talks about their day. We might acknowledge a co-worker or a client that’s really well. Or if there was a moment that made you laugh. Our team leader is always in and out, discusses things or what’s going well. We all stand up, all in the circle, go around and say what was awesome. If you say nothing, everyone says “Come on!” No one has half-assed answers or the whole team is on them. We just try to reconnect as a team. (Cassie, apprentice)

There were other interesting examples of reflection on action that occurred on an informal basis. Many of the apprentices in one organisation described sharing lunchtimes with colleagues, and that these became impromptu reflective encounters. Cassie, who worked with high and complex needs clients, had a clever approach to reflection which deliberately occurred outside of the stressful work space. As a senior team member it enabled her to reflect with staff while getting around the support work burden of having to “always be present and wide awake to ask and answer questions” (O’Hara, 2012, p. 49).

All of us switch off when we leave work. The seniors or my teammates get together out of work and have a few drinks or a BBQ at someone’s house. We discuss work a little there. For me it’s good to see where staff are sitting. Usually they mention things out of work, off the clock. I take a mental note and think about them at work. (Cassie, apprentice)

Reflecting in action

Some of the examples of far transfer of learning in the previous section are also good examples of reflection in action. Kane described being more attuned to the way in which clients’ backgrounds shape them and their needs, and asking different kinds of questions in client meetings. Joe described becoming a team leader and the shift of “action” from client encounters to team encounters. Joe used reflection on action (his client notes and prior research) to facilitate his agile leadership and reflection in action and decision making with his team. Diane was extending the action of the client encounter into a community of practice with her colleagues that was likely to

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serve them well during on-the-fly collegial encounters as part of client meetings. Alex described the internalisation and integration of new knowledge, life experience and work role. She embodied reflection in action.

Other apprentices also reported engaging in what we would call reflection in action. Most of the mental health support workers did this. They did not report this in relation to our question about reflection, but in response to our questions about the nature of their work. In other words, they did not necessarily see what they did as reflection in action, but there is no doubt that they act with a sensitivity and nimbleness while ‘on the floor’ with clients, pivoting between individual work with their designated client and joint work when situations arise and colleagues need a hand.

Two apprentices in other contexts described their reflection as occurring while with clients.

I do creative writing and meditative practices with residents. That’s par for the course within my own work. I’m always adapting, even if it’s exercise routines, I’m adapting to their abilities for those involved each time. It’s a core part of what I do. (Ricky, apprentice)

I’m more present in my work. It’s easy to lose track of what you’re doing and everything becomes a number. I now have longer conversations and ask different questions [of clients]. When you’re more self-aware, you’re not on auto-pilot. You engage more with clients and the employer. (Nita, apprentice)

The workplace and the apprenticeship programme as reflective spaces

Many apprentices cited the It’s About You apprenticeship programme module focused on reflective practice as particularly enjoyable, challenging and enlightening. It was notably a module that asked apprentices to draw on their own life experiences and perspectives and evaluate these in relation to broader issues, world views and society-wide demographic patterns.

The apprentices whose employers provided time for apprenticeship programme learning reported using this time as a space for reflective practice. They found group discussions particularly valuable here. During the course of interviewing apprentices from one organisation, we found they had recently had a powerful learning experience and were eager to share it with us. Their organisation had recently held a noho marae, deliberately designed to coincide with their working on the apprenticeship programme modules It’s About Aotearoa and It’s About Te Ao Māori. Although our interview questions were focused mainly on the apprenticeship programme, we had space for interviewees to talk about learning more broadly.

The noho marae was amazing ... The effects of colonisation and how it affects people today. It became quite personal ... I got way more out of it than I was expecting to. It inspired us to learn more about ourselves and our culture. (Nita, apprentice)

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It was just eye opening. Colonisation and how it affected Māori people ... It was really emotional for a lot of people and for me. (Alex, apprentice)

I’ve just been on the noho marae. It was unbelievable. I came away richer but not in dollar signs. (Diane, apprentice)

Going to the noho marae, nothing was done on the computer and there was a lot of discussion, and that’s what was useful for me. Sitting in a room instead of typing on a computer. (Kath, apprentice)

Apprentices who experienced the noho marae were more enthusiastic than apprentices who only engaged with the modules It’s About Aotearoa and It’s About Te Ao Māori in the online environment. Some apprentices reported new learning from those modules, though one with prior learning about the Treaty of Waitangi found it oversimplified.

It is useful that some of the apprentices were in a position to compare and contrast the experiences of learning in context (noho marae) with learning online. The approach can be connected with research which has found that profound and authentic learning experiences maximise the value from apprenticeship training programmes and are the key to helping apprentices “cross vocational thresholds” to integrate their knowledge, action and being (vocational identity) (Vaughan et al., 2015). In other words, learning experiences (like the noho marae) draw on and enhance apprentices’ identities in support of their work. This is evident in the quotes above.

These observations also underline the importance of good partnership arrangements between ITOs and employers to support the integration of informal and formal learning and the use of learning experiences. We had this line of inquiry in mind when we asked apprentices about their workplaces and about how well supported they were as apprentices by their manager. The following table shows how apprentices rated the support of their manager. It shows that more apprentices tended to feel supported or very well supported by their managers than felt only somewhat supported or not supported at all.

However, the reasons apprentices gave for these ratings reveal differing expectations―and therefore experiences―of how their organisation viewed the apprenticeship programme. It seems that apprentices’ ratings for feeling supported and very well supported by their managers were based on either being grateful for the organisation’s structural provision of time at work to study, or having a manager that personally took a demonstrable interest in the apprenticeship programme. Lower ratings were associated with the opposite experiences (i.e. a manager who did not seem to know or care).

How well supported do you feel as an apprentice by your manager? Table 9

Not supported at all Somewhat supported Supported Very well supported

3 3 6 4

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Four apprentices cited their managers as showing a positive interest. They felt proud of their apprenticeship programme and pleased that their manager cared about their progress. One of these (Diane) highlighted her manager’s regular “checking in” about the apprenticeship programme, together with the offer of extra time to do assessments.

Two apprentices had had several different managers and were able to distinguish between them. One had a previous manager who “allowed time off but showed no interest”, whereas her current manager was “really supportive and wanted to know more [about what I am doing]” (Nita). The other apprentice did not know if her new manager even knew she was doing the apprenticeship programme: “I know it’s in his calendar but we never talk about it”. The previous one had sent “a nice email saying ‘well done’ after the Aotearoa module” (Chrissie).

Three apprentices expressed disappointment that their managers did not show any particular interest in the apprenticeship programme.

My manager has not asked about it, not asked how’s it going … no proactive conversations about the qualification. (Lisa, apprentice)

I am not supported at all. My manager doesn’t seem to understand what I’m doing. It’s just another qualification to the others; it’s not different because it’s an apprenticeship. (Michael, apprentice)

Not all of us are selected for the apprenticeship but you don’t really feel valued for doing it. Nobody really cares. I expected somebody to say, ‘Yes, we really value this extra work you are doing’, but it didn’t happen. (Andrew, apprentice)

One apprentice noted that when the heat is on, support for the apprenticeship programme and the dedicated time apprentices are given for it can go by the wayside. He described it as a conflict between the push for qualifications and the push for service delivery.

We see apprentices’ managers as an important face for their organisation’s support for the apprenticeship programme, though by no means the only face. Apprentices clearly wanted a show of support from their managers, as well as from their assessors. While this is the domain of the employer and workplace, this can be influenced by ITOs as the qualification designers, providers of learning support material and industry stakeholder managers. We know that this is an ongoing and challenging process, with some similarities to that involved with co-operative and work-integrated education (CWIE), which is the accepted New Zealand term for limited-duration work placements into tertiary education institution programmes.3

That said, there is scope for employers and workplaces, supported by the ITO, to draw on existing workplace culture and practice to provide reflective spaces for apprentices, as well as considering how new spaces could be created. These existing spaces include the ones we have mentioned already: debriefings, planning meetings, critical incident sessions. They might also include

3 CWIE is known in the United States as co-operative education, in Australia as work-integrated learning, and in

the United Kingdom as sandwich degrees.

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seminars with discussion, orientations and inductions, and mentoring and supervision sessions. In some cases, workplace-sponsored activities (e.g. cycling-to-work days, quiz nights) might also be appropriate to supplement the other measures and help promote a trusting, supportive workplace environment.

These occasions for reflective practice are learning opportunities and can sometimes also be assessment opportunities. They can be appropriately designed to take account of apprentices’ backgrounds and previous “assessment “careers” (Ecclestone & Pryor, 2003), which shape their current experiences in the apprenticeship programme. Some examples of combining reflective practice with assessment include “site walk-arounds” for carpentry apprentices to demonstrate competence and “ride-alongs” for assessors to develop expertise; “think-alouds” as evidence collection and reflection-on-action in rugby league coaching (Whitehead et al., 2016); and regular “reflective practice groups” with consultation role plays for general practitioners (Vaughan et al., 2015). These are valuable opportunities, not just for apprentices but also for their managers, team leaders, supervisors and employers, whose own knowledge and perspectives can be re-evaluated and refreshed in such encounters.

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5. Conclusion: adding value and building capability

This project grew out of the recognition of changing needs in the health and community support sector. Clients’ (and their family’s) needs are changing. There is more demand for restorative models of care and client-driven (person-centred) support. These changes shift the nature of support work away from being focused on straightforward task performance, such as occupying the attention of mentally and/or physically disabled clients. Support work now demands a deeper inquiry into client needs. The work necessarily involves problem solving and “crafting on-the-spot” (Veillard, 2012), critical thinking, relationship management, inter-professional collaborative work, and a strong sense of professionalism, in ways that typically involve significant “emotional labour” (Hochschild, 1983).

In response to these changes, training (and potentially also recruitment) needs are also changing. Person-centred support in service delivery is a fundamental principle in the development of Careerforce’s new apprenticeship programme. The name of this project therefore pointed to an important development: training for a reflective workforce. This would be a workforce of support workers who are nimble in the face of evolving client needs, and who can and will review situations and actions taken in order to make sense of what is happening and inform their future practice. In other words, a reflective workforce would be a workforce of lifelong learners.

We now turn to the three questions addressed in this research.

Question 1: How does the apprenticeship programme contribute to work capability?

Careerforce’s apprenticeship programmes are training programmes for advanced support roles in health, disability, mental health and addiction, social services, and rehabilitation. As such, the apprenticeship programme is designed for people who already have some experience working in their field. We think of capability as comprising knowledge, skills and dispositions. So the apprenticeship programme contributes to work capability by attending to all three dimensions of capability.

We used a transfer of learning lens to analyse apprentices’ accounts of change in their perspectives and actions at work, particularly with clients and colleagues. This lens helps provide a sense of the degree to which apprentices seem to have transferred learning from one situation

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(the apprenticeship programme) to another (their everyday work). We situated the idea of reflective practice within a three-tiered model of transfer of learning, particularly as an exemplar of far transfer of learning, as outlined below.

Near transfer involves using the same knowledge or activities from apprenticeship programme modules in a similar but non-training context. This was illustrated through apprentices’ accounts of raised awareness about client conditions and backgrounds, and their growth in knowledge of support models, resources and services.

This learning sat mainly at the level of information (e.g. knowing the name of a model or learning about a particular service). However, it also provided apprentices with more confidence in their support of clients because they knew of services they could call on or felt more professional in their knowledge of their service model.

Further transfer is using the same knowledge or activities from apprenticeship programme modules in a different way, or applying it to a new kind of situation. This was illustrated through apprentices’ accounts of gaining a new perspective about their job and role.

Further transfer typically involved seeing things from the point of view of the client. It drew on new knowledge of the social, political and economic influences that shape clients’ needs and also clients’ ability to utilise support. Further transfer of learning could also involve apprentices gaining a sense of the bigger picture about their role as a support worker, providing another level to the purpose for their work.

Far transfer is using knowledge reflexively (with awareness and questioning of one’s own attitudes, values and behaviours), assessing the complexity of situations, and acting flexibly. We used vignettes from several apprentices to illustrate what far transfer of learning might look like. These accounts showed support workers bringing themselves to their work, and using self-awareness to re-evaluate their own values and behaviours and to connect these new insights to how they worked with clients.

Apprentices demonstrated an ability to think about support work at the level of underlying principles while at the same time acting flexibly with clients and colleagues. They showed support workers seeing the complex and holistic nature of situations and sensitively interpreting them (reflection in action), often supporting these changes by using reflection on action.

Question 2: What value is added by the apprenticeship programme?

From our analysis of apprentices’ interviews using the transfer of learning lens, we can see that the apprenticeship programme seems to be linked to (positive) changes in how apprentices do their work. They reported asking different questions of clients to better understand their needs, instead of blindly following “process”. They reported engaging in greater discretionary effort on

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behalf of clients. They reported talking with colleagues about ideas they were coming across in the apprenticeship programme. The value of the apprenticeship is apparent in what it adds to fostering support workers’ work capabilities.

The value of the apprenticeship programme is also apparent through apprentices’ reports of increased confidence. For some apprentices this increase in confidence related to their ability to learn. They were excited about what they were learning and thrilled to experience success in learning. They were pleased about their organisation investing in them through training. And they saw a career pathway and a future for them in support work. For many, these were firsts. Often apprentices had entered support work rather serendipitously, with few or no existing qualifications and an uneasy relationship with formal learning.

The apprenticeship programme also boosted some apprentices’ confidence quite directly at work, enabling them to work better with their clients. Confidence is more than just a feel-good factor: it enables reflection and learning. The apprenticeship programme was clearly adding value to support workers’ sense of self and their sense of professionalism. It was also providing recognition for the previously undervalued knowledges of support workers who engage courageously and sensitively with all kinds of human vulnerabilities. We also suspect that confidence will work the other way, too, enabling clients to have more confidence in their support workers.

Question 3: What are the implications for workforce planning, learning support and pathways development?

This project has shown that personal and professional benefits from the apprenticeship programme are inextricably linked. The apprenticeship programme modules make good use of this interconnection, especially with the emphasis on reflective practice. This clearly resonated strongly with apprentices, who readily transferred learning into their daily work with clients and interactions with colleagues. The apprenticeship programme can provide a valuable pathway for support workers to become reflective practitioners.

The transfer of learning facilitated by the apprenticeship programme is not just the domain of individual support workers. It requires support from workplaces and employers, who provide the conditions and opportunities to practise what is being learned. Learning is really only as good as the opportunity to actively develop capabilities, and opportunities are really only as good as their affordances—their possibility for realisation or application. In other words, what happens after training is as important as what happens during it.

There are likely to be opportunities in each workplace to create or enhance existing spaces for reflection on action (after an event) and foster reflection in action (during the event), and to do it in ways that elegantly build on everyday work. We also note that other research shows these reflective spaces are just as valuable for assessors, trainers, mentors and employers as for

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apprentices, and they help strengthen learning and apprenticeship programmes across the apprenticeship system. (For apprenticeship examples of this in different New Zealand industries and fields, see Vaughan, et al., 2015; Vaughan, Kear & MacKenzie, 2014; Vaughan, O’Neill & Cameron, 2011.)

Aligning the changing nature and structure of support work, the goals of health and community support organisations, and the delivery of the apprenticeship programme will be an ongoing process. When all of these are aligned, the conditions are in place to enhance the likelihood of far transfer of learning, with associated gains in reflective practice. This attention to the interconnected conditions for learning within the apprenticeship programme is consistent with the goals of the Kaiāwhina Workforce Action Plan’s focus on the next 20 years of workforce development.

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