As Matsuo and Tsukube write, “Cognitive apprenticeship has been widely recognized as an instructional model for developing higher-order cognitive skills.” (Matsuo & Tsukube, 2020)
But what exactly do we mean by cognitive apprenticeship? We’ll be examining the approach and looking at a few examples from various fields.
I expect that most of us are familiar with the traditional apprenticeship model. As the authors write, “Throughout various traditions, teaching and learning have been accomplished through apprenticeships in various fields and trades including painting, carpentry, plumbing, medicine, law, and doctoral education.” (Matsuo & Tsukube, 2020)
Many people would probably refer to this colloquially as “on the job training”. As an interesting case in point, in the Province of Ontario where I live, right until the 1940s, “the law program consisted of three (and later four) years of on-the-job training complemented by a few law courses”. You read correctly: back in those days, there was no requirement for what we now know as a degree in law (LL.B., JD) in order to become a lawyer in Ontario. The path to the profession went through an apprenticeship and the bar exams. As a lawyer who was called to the bar just over thirty years ago, I always found that little bit of historical trivia fascinating (“Really?! No law degree??”). The apprenticeship itself didn’t disappear, of course, because both have their place.
Then or now, what “apprenticeship” or “on the job training” should not mean is “give them the job and let them figure it out”. There are ways of doing this properly, but more on that in a minute.
The martial arts – another area of interest to me – also leverage the apprenticeship model, where less experienced students learn from experienced practitioners who demonstrate the techniques, observe and provide feedback, and gradually remove the support as skill increases. But what kind of apprenticeship are we talking about? The traditional kind, “focusing on skills”, or the cognitive kind? It depends on whether we’re talking about “basic judo” or what the founder of the art referred to as “upper-level judo”. (Kano, p. 98)
As Matsuo and Tsukube write, “Cognitive apprenticeship is different from traditional apprenticeship, as there is a stronger focus on developing mental models or metacognitive skills rather than focusing on physical skills”. (Matsuo & Tsukube, 2020)
In a cognitive apprenticeship, the learner is encouraged to articulate, reflect, and explore, as can be seen from the infographic above. Perhaps to the surprise of some, this applies perfectly to the teaching of martial arts, which have been described as “systematic fighting styles and practices as ways of embodying wisdom.” (Holt, 2023)
The key point here is that there is considerably more to martial arts than physical skills, in the form of higher-order principles and understandings that must be mastered for application in the dojo and beyond. In the case of my own martial art of judo, I can offer the following examples of principles that must be teased out from physical experience (or practice), over time, on the journey to mastery:
1. The concept of “giving way” to gain an advantage in various situations
2. The principle of energy conservation of mind and body
3. The principle of leverage
4. The principle of high performance through safety and mutual accountability
5. The principle of collaboration through conflict
As someone who has been practicing judo for nearly 45 years and teaching it for over two decades, I can state without hesitation that becoming a judo teacher (and developing one) is a great application of the cognitive apprenticeship, with some domain-specific adaptations (it is also meant to be a form of moral apprenticeship, but that is beyond today’s topic).
What I find interesting, as someone who spent the better part of his career in corporate management, is that “Although cognitive apprenticeship is believed to be a critical component of adult learning theories and professional education (de Bruijn, 1995; Wilk, 2010), it appears to be less used in post-educational work and in management learning.” (Matsuo & Tsukube)
Perhaps what the authors allude to without naming it explicitly is the “sink or swim” approach to management training that many have experienced – some with great success, but many others without if we’re to judge by the low percentage of employees who would recommend their boss to others (McGlauflin and Abrams, 2023). You wouldn’t want your medical doctor or your airline pilot trained like that, so why your professional manager?
Someone in a very senior executive role once said to me: “I was trained to handle numbers, but 90% of what I do involves leading people and that’s something I was never taught.” But where would you teach this? In the classroom?
Some organizations do opt for developing their leaders at all levels through integrated apprenticeship approaches that combine Modeling, Coaching, Scaffolding, Articulation, Reflection, and Exploration over less effective “they’ll figure it out” approaches. Don’t you wish your own managers over the years – whatever their level – had received this kind of support to become better people leaders?
References:
Holt, J. Physical Philosophy: Martial Arts as Embodied Wisdom. Philosophies 2023, 8(1), 14.
Kano, Jigoro. Mind Over Muscle: Writings From the Founder of Judo. Kodansha International, Tokyo, 2005, 155 pages.
Matsuo, M. and Tsukube, T. A review on cognitive apprenticeship in educational research: Application for management education. The International Journal of Management Education 18 (2020)
A brief History of the Law School, University of Toronto.
McGlauflin, P. and Abrams, J. Only 28% of employees would recommend their boss to others, but managers say they’re not getting the support they need. Fortune Magazine, August 31, 2023.
