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Introduction
Learning has often been seen as a contest between two rival metaphors; namely the older once dominant metaphor of acquisition and the more recent challenger of participation ([11] Hodkinson and Hodkinson, 2003). In many educational settings learning is conceived as being individualistic, dependent on transmission pedagogies and associated with the transfer of a decontextualised knowledge separated from the activities of life ([10] Guile and Young, 1998; [14] Kozulin, 2003; [20] Wenger, 1998). Through such a conceptualisation collaboration is not perceived as essential and assessment of learning focuses on the achievement of the individual in examinations removed from the context of real life. Such a view of learning ignores the complexities of human interactions and fails to consider learning as a social process with its meaning being in the "lived-world" ([8] Fuller et al. , 2005; [10] Guile and Young, 1998; [12] Holmes and Meyerhoff, 1999). [20] Wenger (1998) argues that learning is better conceived as the intellectual intersection of understandings of meaning. Meaning derived from experience and activity, meaning derived from practice through participation, meaning derived from belonging to a community and the shaping of identity within the social world; in other words.
Situated learning
Learning in the social world involves the acquisition of tacit knowledge, which is situated in the activity that is occurring ([17] Steadman, 2005). Through trajectories of participation, "[...] individuals develop personal identities that are shaped by and are formative of their activities in the various communities in which they participate" ([9] Greeno, 1997, p. 7). "Situativity", as labelled by Greeno, depends on the acquisition of the ability to participate and interact in a successful manner - success being defined as the ability to learn from others, operate in the given environment, and be accepted in the community. [1] Billett (1996) regards "situated learning" as separate from the notions of socialisation and internalisation. He concluded that although there is significant exposure to the socio-cultural aspects of a community through interactions with experts, this does not directly correspond to the fundamental changing of the novice. He conceded that, given the power differential between expert and novice, the dominant values of the expert may influence the behaviours and attitudes of the novice, but only in so much as these changes serve to...