The historical shifts of in/formality of learning within craft skills ecosystems in the United Kingdom

Abstract

In this paper, we address the debate on local skills ecosystems and informal learning. We use the social ecosystem model as a tool to help us analyse the role played by various actors in learning and skills ecosystems and highlight the role of informal learning in vocational education and training. We draw on the case of craft pottery to discuss the historical shifts and transformations of ecosystems, including the centrality of informal learning occurring in different spaces and times, and subsequent transformation of the learning ecosystem. Our paper contributes in two ways. First, we add the lens of temporality to understanding of how learning and skills ecosystems are maintained and developed, in the absence of supportive government policy. Second, we show how multiple horizontal sectors contribute to reconstruct a learning and skills ecosystem, as an informal one, over time.