Knowledge-Based Skills

Abstract

The development of practical skills depends upon knowing about and knowing how to do certain things. There still lingers the notion that the first is best dealt with by education and the second by training. This compartmentalization is unhelpful and the success of skilled professional practitioners requires a fully integrated programme balancing both elements. The ‘apprenticeship model’ provides an appropriate and well-tested framework of such integration. It is found particularly in preparation for professional qualifications – medicine, the law, accountancy and architecture. Too often there is insufficient balance in the contribution from specialists within the academic and practical worlds. The balance can be improved by engaging more practitioners directly in the educational process. Scottish universities have a long-standing tradition of practically-oriented degree courses which provide a useful framework for attracting the commitment of leading practitioners to the educational process. The author's experience of that model leads him to argue for its wider adoption, for example in business studies, as much to the benefit of practitioners as to students.