An activity theory analysis of learning in and for inter-school work

Abstract

In this article I will discuss activity theory. This highly influential body of writing is seen as a product of the reworking and extension of the original Vygotskian ideas on the social formation of mind by A.N. Leontiev (1978) and colleagues who had initially worked as part of Vygotsky’s group in Moscow and departed for a new setting with new theoretical emphases in Kharkov. At a very general level of description, activity theorists seek to analyse the development of consciousness within practical social activity. Their concern is with the psychological impacts of activity and the social conditions and systems which are produced in and through such activity. I will open this article by outlining some of the distinctions, fissures and cleavages that have formed in the field since the original early twentieth century body of work became widely available in the west. I will then provide a brief outline of the methodology developed by Engeström and his colleagues in Helsinki. I will conclude the article by outlining a number of issues which feature in current debates.

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