Using Activity Theory to Understand How People Learn to Negotiate the Conditions of Work

Using activity theory to evaluate a professional learning and development initiative in the use of narrative assessment

“…An activity system is any group of people working together within a common context but where they all have a different role to play in that setting, and where rules form a context within which that work or learning takes place. In understanding an activity, establishing motive is key (Worthen, 2008).…”

“…CHAT has been used to analyse professional development (Crossouard, 2009;Davies, Howes, & Farrell, 2008;Webb & Jones, 2009), pre-service teacher 40 R. Bourke et al education (Pearson, 2009), and workplace learning (Worthen, 2008). For example, Yamagata-Lynch examined the effects of a year-long, university-led professional development programme for teachers 'for integrating technology into their everyday teaching activities and for becoming technology leaders in their school ' (2003, p. 105).…”

“…Second-generation CHAT focused on Leont'ev's cultural-historical approach and emphasised how activity systems are embedded in rich social contexts with a history and future that are constantly in flux (Worthen, 2008). The components of second-generation activity systems (the activity set) include the subject, the people engaged in the activity who, motivated towards an outcome, act on an object using mediating artefacts to achieve that outcome (see Figure 1).…”

Intervening in Informal Learning: Activity theory as teaching tool

“…This paper offers a cross-disciplinary meeting of social movement learning theory, adult education theory, and informal learning theory. It is intended to contribute to a small but growing interest in expanding the use of sociocultural learning theory in union educational practice (Worthen, 2012) by building on the limited, but significant scholarly literature on informal, everyday (situated) learning in unions (Carter, 2012;Cooper, 2005;Krinsky, 2007;Sawchuk, 2001Sawchuk, , 2002Sawchuk, , 2013Worthen, 2008), and makes practical recommendations for the use of informal learning theory in formal union education initiatives. As social movement learning theorist Foley (2001) argued, We need to get on with the difficult and rewarding work of trying to understand what people are actually learning in the places where they work and live.…”

“…Taken together, the what and the how offer potentially new ways of thinking about both the everyday collective learning and practices of unions, and the tacit, self-directed, incidental, integrative (Bennett, 2012) (and sometimes transformative) learning of individual union members. A sociocultural analysis of informal learning, particularly that informed by cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) provides a critical (and useful) lens for thinking through routine and strategic practices of unions and union educa-493 tion (Krinsky, 2007(Krinsky, , 2008Sawchuk, 2001;Worthen, 1999Worthen, , 2008. By deeply honouring and inquiring into learning processes of workers, CHAT further offers new tools to engage members as educators, and provides a new angle for thinking about union pedagogy in both formal and informal learning (Carter, 2012;Wills, 2012;Worthen, 2012).…”