Retrieving the general from the particular: the structure of craft knowledge

SOURCE: Reading Bernstein, researching Bernstein
OUTPUT TYPE: Chapter in Monograph
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2004
TITLE AUTHOR(S): J.Gamble
SOURCE EDITOR(S): J.Muller, B.Davies, A.Morais
KEYWORDS: VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING
DEPARTMENT: Equitable Education and Economies (IED)
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 3209
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/7611
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/7611

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Abstract

This chapter poses Bernstein's depiction of craft as a "horizontal knowledge structure within vertical discourse" as a central question to be investigated. It draws on historical-empirical material as well as on some of the findings of an ethnographic study of cabinetmaker apprentices. It concludes that craft as knowledge form and its related transmission-acquisition practices constitute a restricted orientation which cannot yield a resolution to the "theory-practice" conundrum, yet they have much to offer those tasked with reform in vocational education and training.