When Is Learning Work-Based?.

TL;DR: Work-based learning is a means of increasing students' engagement in learning and of preparing young people for employment as mentioned in this paper, which is the goal of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994.

Abstract: Work-based learning offers a means of increasing students' engagement in learning and of preparing them for employment. The Hamiltons clarify the definitions of types of work-based learning and urge educators to consider all types of work-based learning and to try to offer a wide range of options. The School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 encourages the creation of learning environments for young people at work. The purpose of this article is to add clarity and consistency to the definition of the term "work-based learning." Examples of work-based learning include cooperative education, youth apprenticeships, field trips to workplaces, and some service-learning activities. Work-based learning is intentional. Although people often learn incidentally at work, merely placing young people in work settings and hoping that they will learn does not constitute work-based learning. Work-based learning is experiential. Reading about work and hearing about work may be helpful, but they are not sufficient. Finally, work-based learning occurs in locations in which the primary activity is producing goods or services. Work-based learning is a means of increasing students' engagement in learning and of preparing young people for employment. The School-to-Work Opportunities Act was inspired by the idea of apprenticeship but wisely supports many other types of work-based learning occurring from kindergarten through college. Eight major types of work-based learning can be grouped into three categories: 1) visits to workplaces, which include field trips (onetime visits to observe) and job shadowing (longer-term, sometimes multiple visits to observe by following a worker); 2) work-like experiences, which include service learning and unpaid internships (voluntary service, not necessarily with a career focus) and youth-run enterprises (workplaces created to give young people employment and management experience); and 3) employment, which includes youth jobs (jobs ordinarily open to teenagers but often not learning opportunities), subsidized employment training (paid work as part of a training program), cooperative education and paid internships (school-related work experience), and apprenticeships (long-term work/learning programs - often lasting several years - that lead to certification). We define "work" as employment-related activity rather than in the broader sense of purposeful activity, including school-work, working out at a sport, and so on. By our definition, studying about work, learning how to work, or simulating a workplace in school are all school-based learning, not work-based. Work-based learning can occur in schools only if students are actively engaged in producing goods or services. If students perform services such as cleaning rooms or serving food in the cafeteria; if they work in school-based enterprises that produce goods or services for sale; if they serve as assistants or apprentices to teachers, librarians, or other staff members; and if these activities are designed as learning opportunities, then they are doing work-based learning even though they are located in a school building. There is another variation on work-based learning that deserves attention. Some teachers lead their classes in projects related to workplace issues. A class might undertake a marketing study to help a local business, for example, or analyze part of a production system both for its own learning and to make a real contribution to the firm. We view such work-related projects as worthwhile activities that complement what we define as work-based learning, but we see them as what the School-to-Work Opportunities Act defines as "connecting activities" linking school-based and work-based learning.(1) Work-based learning opportunities differ along several dimensions, notably their purposes; the activities participants engage in; the nature of their connections with school; and the investment of time, money, [TABULAR DATA FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED] and other resources made by the employer and the young people. …