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Between Apprenticeship and Skill

Acquiring Knowledge outside the Academy in Early Modern England

Bibliographic Data

ID4516292
AuthorsPaul Wallis (0000-0003-1434-515X, London School of Economics and Political Science, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume32
Issue2
Pages155-170
Publication date2019-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience in Context (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0269-8897 • E-ISSN: 1474-0664
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0269889719000164
OpenAlexW2882982028
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited52

ArgumentApprenticeship was probably the largest mode of organized learning in early modern European societies, and artisan practitioners commonly began as apprentices. Yet little is known about how youths actually gained skills. I develop a model of vocational pedagogy that accounts for the characteristics of apprenticeship and use a range of legal and autobiographical sources to examine the contribution of different forms of training in England. Apprenticeship emerges as a relatively narrow channel, in which the master's contribution to training was weakly defined and executed conservatively. The creation of complementary channels of formal instruction was constrained by cost and coordination problems. When we consider a range of British youths who obtained advanced skills as artisan practitioners (and engaged in invention or pursued natural philosophical interests), we see the importance of individual agency over institutional structures. For these youths, training could involve rejecting apprenticeship, engaging in periods of advanced study, including time in multiple workshops after the end of apprenticeship, and parallel campaigns to access scarce books and communities of scholarship

Agency (philosophy · Apprenticeship · Argument (complex analysis · Pedagogy · Political science · Scholarship · Social science · Sociology · Vocational education · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · History of Emotions Research · Law · Medicine

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Unique citing works5
Citations per year0,83
Citation span2020 - 2026 (7)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 5
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