eprintid: 28687
rev_number: 12
eprint_status: archive
userid: 1249
dir: disk0/00/02/86/87
datestamp: 2020-07-28 16:21:06
lastmod: 2020-08-10 12:15:10
status_changed: 2020-07-28 16:21:06
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Serrano Velarde, Kathia
title: Informal learning in formal organizations: The case of volunteer learning in the hospital
subjects: 300
divisions: 180600
keywords: Boundary work, hospital, informal learning, learning in organizations, lifelong learning, rule breaking, situated learning, volunteer, helping
note: Dieser Beitrag ist aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

This publication is freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.
abstract: The sociology of education has much to gain from an organizational perspective on learning processes. This is especially true for ‘informal learning’ – that is, learning beyond traditional educational settings such as schools and universities. The present article addresses this gap by providing a theoretical and empirical account of the informality of learning situations in formal organizations. Following the insights of the ‘situated learning’ literature and interaction-based analysis, the article investigates the role and place of informal learners in formal organizations by analysing the learning experience of volunteers who have chosen to take part in the German national voluntary service. The author grasps the complexity of their learning experience over time by using a mixed methods design that combines ethnographic protocols with a series of narrative interviews with German voluntary service participants in hospitals. Since the volunteers observed in the hospital context were constrained to routine tasks that do not require medical skills, their scope of learning new things is indeed limited. Learning thus comes with the necessity of challenging the boundaries of their volunteer role, which in turn requires the cooperation of the regular staff. The article reveals the social mechanisms underlying the individual learning experience of hospital volunteers. It does so by focusing on their boundary work and by identifying the limits of their participation in the communities of practice that they are ‘trying to help’.
date: 2020
publisher: Sage
id_scheme: DOI
id_number: 10.11588/heidok.00028687
official_url: https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392120907642
ppn_swb: 1726609804
own_urn: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-286872
language: eng
bibsort: SERRANOVELINFORMALLE2020
full_text_status: public
publication: Current Sociology
volume: 68
number: 4
place_of_pub: London
pagerange: 572-591
issn: 0011-3921 (Druck-Ausg.); 1461-7064 (Online-Ausg.)
citation:   Serrano Velarde, Kathia  (2020) Informal learning in formal organizations: The case of volunteer learning in the hospital.  Current Sociology, 68 (4).  pp. 572-591.  ISSN 0011-3921 (Druck-Ausg.); 1461-7064 (Online-Ausg.)     
document_url: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/28687/1/10.1177_0011392120907642.pdf