Journal of Vocational Education and Training, Volume 55, Number 4, 2003

Learning as Becomit g in Vocational Educationand Training: class, gender and the role ofvocational habitus

HELEN COLLEYUniversity of Leeds, United KingdomDAVID JAMESUniversity of the West of England, Bristol, United I(ngdomMICHAEL TEDDERSt Austell Centre, Cornwall College, United I(ngdomKIM DIMENTUniversity of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom

ABSTRACT Official accounts of learning in vocational education andtraining emphasise the acquisition of technical skills and knowledge to fosterbehavioural competence in the workplace. However, such accounts fail toacknowledge the relationship between learning and identity. Drawing ondetailed case studies of three vocational courses

- in childcare, healthcare and

engineering in English further education colleges, within the projectTransforming Learning Cultures in Further Education, it is argued thatlearning is a process of becoming. Learning cultures and the vocationalcultures in which they are steeped transform those who enter them. Theauthors develop the concept of 'vocational habitus' to explain a central aspectof students' experience, as they have to orient to a particular set ofdispositions

- both idealised and realised. Predispositions related to gender,

family background and specific locations within the working class arenecessary, but not sufficient for effective learning. Vocational habitusreinforces and develops these in line with demands of the workplace,although it may reproduce social inequalities at the same time. Vocationalhabitus involves developing not only a 'sense' of how to be, but also'sensibility': requisite feelings and morals, and the capacity for emotionallabour