How Are Professional Skills Acquired?

Abstract

As firms lose skilled labour force through mass retirement, turnover and economic fluctuations, a pressing concern is how to ensure that the skills of the present-day masters are conveyed to the future professionals. This chapter examines the process of how the skills leading to professional performance are acquired in the context of on-the-job learning and identifies the key factors in this process. Based on an empirical examination of the on-the-job training periods of 20 Finnish vocational college students a model is built, suggesting that there are three different levels of professional performance on a junior’s path towards professionalism. The results suggest that individual activity, critical observation, conscious doing and creativity are crucial in the learning process. The chapter contributes to the emerging discussion on knowledge sharing across generations in organisations.

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