4th Teaching & Education Conference, Venice

VOCATIONAL KNOWLEDGE THAT IS TACIT BUT CODIFIED, EXPLICIT BUT UNCODIFIED, AND CODIFIED BUT UNPUBLICISED

PAUL KINGSLEY

Abstract:

Michael Young, following in the footsteps of Basil Bernstein, felt that vocational knowledge possessed by practitioners was often uncodifiable, and cannot be made explicit. These features have sometimes been seen as characterising the divide between the more tacit or implicit knowledge of the practitioner, and the codified, explicit knowledge provided by the academic or scientist. This paper argues that this distinction cannot be maintained. Academic theory can be stored and applied tacitly in work situations. In developing an insight by Ikujiro Nonaka and colleagues, it is maintained that explicit knowledge can become implicit in the course of its application. On the other hand, practitioner knowledge can be completely explicit, and although it may be written down like the recipe for Coca-Cola, it may not be publicised outside an organization. A more interesting difference between academic and practitioner knowledge is the way it is influenced by the economic incentives to publish information. While the academic is likely to achieve status and economic advancement in publishing what he or she knows, the practitioner’s economic interests may be best served by keeping it concealed. Michael Polanyi wrote that we can know more than we can say. Interestingly, there may be circumstances where we can know more than it is in our interests to say. Similarly, in the case of trade secrets and state secrets, we can know more than we are allowed to say.

Keywords: vocational education, tacit knowledge, codified knowledge

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