Conceptualisation of Learning through Errors at Work

Abstract

This chapter advances a conceptual framework for understanding individual and team learning through errors at work. Although learning through errors is an emerging issue in research on professional development, such a framework is still missing and there are only a few empirical studies of this phenomenon. The chapter contributes to closing this gap in two ways. Firstly, it provides a conceptualisation of learning through errors, based on cognitive and actionoriented approaches to human error and theories of experiential learning. Secondly, it presents findings from a literature review that provides an overview of how existing empirical studies conceptualise learning through errors. These findings indicate that most of the reviewed studies elaborate insufficiently the concept of error and the type of error being investigated. The instances of learning through errors are also diverse and sometimes inconsistent with the studies’ theoretical approaches. These conceptual problems inhibit the integration of findings to build a cumulative body of research. For further inquiries on learning through errors, we propose a focus on specific error cases for a given field of work and operationalising the learning process through experiential learning activities.

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