Opening Up the Continuing Professional Development Imagination: Bringing the Clinical Workplace Into View

Area of Science:

• Workplace learning
• Continuing professional development
• Sociocultural learning theories

Background:

• Theories from economics, sociology of work, and sociocultural learning inform the framework.
• Existing research on workplace learning lacks a unified conceptual tool for analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• Introduce the Working as Learning Framework (WALF).
• Provide conceptual tools to analyze the interplay between workplaces, work organization, and learning.
• Define expansive and restrictive learning environments.

Main Methods:

• Drawing upon interdisciplinary theories (economics, sociology, sociocultural learning).
• Developing a conceptual framework (WALF) to analyze workplace learning dynamics.
• Defining key concepts: expansive and restrictive learning environments.

Main Results:

• The Working as Learning Framework (WALF) is presented.
• Conceptual tools are provided to analyze the relationship between work environments and learning.
• The concepts of expansive and restrictive learning environments are introduced.

Conclusions:

• WALF offers a novel approach to understanding continuing professional development through workplace learning.
• Implications for educators and researchers in continuing professional development are discussed.
• Encourages engagement with interdisciplinary scholarship on workplace learning.