ABSTRACT
In this second chapter, Mike Wallace offers a theoretical deconstruction of ‘the myth of automatic transfer’: the assumption, underlying many so-called ‘experiential’ training courses in professional learning, that simulations are valid ways of conveying skills, and that what is developed and practised in the simulation context will, or should, naturally transfer back to the real-life professional setting without much or any additional attention to learning. Starting with his own experience of one such course, Wallace proceeds to show that this assumption seems to be motivated more by considerations of economy and ‘neatness’ than by any understanding of the nature of learning. In the course of this he develops a timely critique of the fashionable approaches of both David Kolb and Donald Schon, and presents a more comprehensive model of professional learning that does better justice to the complexities. The chapter makes a strong case that practice driven by impoverished models which rest on untenable implicit theories of learning is bound to be ineffective. Wallace’s contention that effective professional learning requires verisimilitude rather than vicarious experience, and ongoing on-the-job support, is borne out by later chapters such as those by Agnes McMahon (Chapter 12) and Jan Winter (Chapter 13).
