The Educational Power of Practice: the Case for More Practice in Compulsory Education

This article examines the educational power of practice through a combination of philosophical analysis and empirical material. Drawing on a research film following a healthcare apprentice and her workplace supervisor in Norway, together with theories of professional learning and three classic thought experiments from the philosophy of mind, the author argues that first-hand engagement with the world provides a form of understanding that cannot be acquired through propositional knowledge alone. Rather than merely motivating learning, practice gives knowledge meaning by enabling learners to experience what situations are actually like and to relate theoretical concepts to the world they describe. Accordingly, the educational roles of workplace supervisors and classroom teachers differ fundamentally. Workplace supervisors support learning by guiding learners’ engagement with authentic situations, whereas classroom teachers must make knowledge meaningful in educational contexts that are detached from the situations to which that knowledge refers. The author concludes that the educational significance of practice extends beyond vocational education. If first-person engagement with authentic situations is essential for meaningful understanding, compulsory and general education should provide learners with far greater opportunities to learn through authentic practice.