RAPPORT
WWW.RECORDINGACHIEVEMENT.ORG
Issue 1 (2015)
The International Journal for
Recording Achievement,
Planning and Portfolios
Communities of Practice: A Heuristic for Workplace Reflection
in Higher Education
Phil Brown, University of St Mark and St John
Abstract:
This article aims to trigger discussion of the utility of Lave and Wenger’s (1991) concepts of Legitimate
Peripheral Participation (LPP) and Communities of Practice (CoP) (Wenger, 1998) as heuristics for
workbased reflection by higher education students. It considers the key role identity plays within a
social theory of learning utilising Wenger’s (2000) re-conceptualisation of Communities of Practice.
More specifically the paper draws upon Wenger’s (2000) conceptualisation of modes of belonging;
engagement; alignment; and imagination; within communities of practice. The application of these
concepts is explored in relation to how students might use them heuristically to develop deeper
analytical reflections of work based learning in higher education. It i s further suggested that these
reflections of workplace learning are aligned to Personal Development Planning and future employment.
In reconceptualising informal work based learning and reflection through a lens of Communities of
Practice students may be able to manage their learning experiences and emerging professional
identities more effectively.
Introduction
The employability agenda within higher education
has grown in the last two decades. Gaining a
degree has been explicitly linked to future
employment (Jarvis 2000; Ball 2004; Murphy
2005), leading to claims by some academics that
some students may be less concerned with
learning and more concerned about getting a
degree (Marshall et al., 2014) or that ‘students are
intent on increasing their credentials rather than
their understanding’ (Coffield, 2000, p. 5). The
repositioning of higher education around the
employability discourse means that students must
be able to demonstrate work-based as well as
academic competence to potential employers
(Moon 2004b). Universities have long recognised
their role in credentialising formal learning:
however, there is growing recognition of the
valuable ‘real-life’ lessons that are learnt through
engaging with informal work-based experiences
(Coffield 2000). This diffusion of learning,
particularly through industry placements, means
that universities are no longer the ‘traditional
bastions of knowledge’ (Lea, 2005, p.180). The
higher education curriculum is therefore
concerned beyond the academic with issues of
vocat