MTD Final Graduation Presentation_Jacob for Sharing

An Apprenticeship Model for Developing
‘Competency’ Required for Trade Apprentices
(Biopharmaceutical Process Technician(BPT))
In Singapore
Student: Jacob David Porantharapilly
Master of Training and Development, Griffith University
23/08/16
s2963405 Contemperory Issues in Adult
and Vocational Education
1

Agenda
• The Background
• The Problem and Analysis
• Literature Review
• Possible Solution for Improvements
– The Solution: An Enhanced BPT Apprenticeship Curriculum
based on Cognitive Apprenticeship principles
• Justification and Challenges
• Question and Answer
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The Background
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The Context
• Trade Apprenticeship as a ‘Learn-and-Earn’ scheme is
accepted among some Industries in Singapore
– E.g. Biologics Industry and the trade of BPTs
• Singapore’s Workforce development agency (WDA)
with select Polytechnics’ have initiated ‘Biologics Skills
Training program’ (BSTP) and a typical 24-month BPT
Apprenticeship Competency-based training curriculum
– Apprentices are mainly Chemical/Biopharmaceutical
Polytechnic graduating students.
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Sample BPT Competencies (Bioscience
careers, 2016)
• Knowledge of Biologics process.
• Knowledge of Good Manufacturing/
Documentation practices (GMP/GDP).
• Skills to work in clean room environments.
• Skills on work safety.
• Skills on sampling (e.g. Biohazardous materials).
• Skills to operate various Biopharmaceutical
equipment's (Reactor/Fermenter)…..
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ComplexBasic

The typical 24-month BPT
Apprenticeship Curriculum
• Competency-based training (CBT); Assessment (CBA)
– Process Workforce skills qualification (PWSQ)
• Conducted in a Polytechnic
• Aimed at knowledge development
• Conducted by Advanced certificate in training and assessment
(ACTA) qualified lecturers’.
– On-the Job Training (OJT)
• Conducted in a host Biologics company
• Aimed at skills development
• Conducted by employees as Trainers; Not necessarily ACTA
qualified.
– CBA: Successful assessment at the end of the program
makes an apprentice ‘Competent’.
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CBA:
(Typically 2
days)
conducted in
the Host
Company:
Makes an BPT
apprentice
‘Competent’ or
‘Not yet
competent’
The typical 24-month BPT
Apprenticeship Curriculum (Cont’d)
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Host Company CBT:
OJT and aims at developing Skills;
Curriculum uses OJT Courses meant
for ‘New hired BPTs’ training;
Trained by an employee as trainers’;
Workplace affordances (Job aids,
access to procedures) for training.
Competent
Novice
Apprenticeship duration in Months
1-3 4-24
Educational
Institution
CBT:
Theory &
Laboratory: Aims
to develop
knowledge;
Lecturers’ are
ACTA qualified.

Summary: The typical 24-month BPT
Apprenticeship CBT Curriculum
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First 3
Months
Subsequent
21 Months
Theory
focused
Skills
focused
24 Month
Work-
Ready
competencies

The Problem and Analysis
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The Problem
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GRADUATING BPTGRADUATING BPT
APPRENTICES’ DO NOTAPPRENTICES’ DO NOT
EXHIBIT ‘WORK-EXHIBIT ‘WORK-
READY’ COMPETENCIESREADY’ COMPETENCIES
BIOLOGICSBIOLOGICS
COMPANIESCOMPANIES
RELUCTANT TORELUCTANT TO
EMPLOY AEMPLOY A
GRADUATED BPTGRADUATED BPT
APPRENTICEAPPRENTICE
• Apprentices exhibit varying capabilities
to perform BPT tasks
• Apprentices exhibit lack of confidence
to perform learnt BPT tasks
• Apprentices exhibit lack of
genralization and problem-solving skills
• Lacks independence/‘work-ready’ skills
• Inability to perform similar but
different tasks
• Reinvestment in re-learning; time and
resources
Tasks if not performed accurately could affect the Parenteral Drug
(Medicines) Safety and Efficacy and GMP

Critical Analysis of the Problem
• The BSTP program/BPT apprenticeship curriculum are
good initiatives to develop Talent for Biologics
companies.
– Meets stakeholders (WDA and Industry partners) intent
– Addresses Nations Skills Future plan/employment pathways
– National accreditation: Apprentice receive WSQ Higher
Certificate in Process Technology (Biologics): By WDA.
• However, there are shortcomings…
– Curriculum not ideally aligned to address Apprentices need
– Training focuses on teaching outcomes rather than learning
• Trainers and workplace affordances.
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Critical Analysis of the Problem
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Education and Experiences not Synergized

Critical Analysis of the Problem:
Curriculum
• Reflects Traditional Apprenticeship approach
– Learning tasks due to the demands of workplace/industry
– No challenging tasks; affects confidence (Eraut, 2007)
• Mainly CBT
– Outcome based; Consistency; Documentation significant
– Learners limited to contextualize similarities and
differences (Bound, Rushbrook, & Sivalingam, 2014).
• OJT not created for BPT Apprentices (Novices)
– Meant for new hired BPTs; work considered training
– Lacks depth when inappropriate pedagogical strategies are
used by Trainers; limited access to affordances (Billett,
2001).
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Critical Analysis of the Problem: Trainers
• The PWSQ courses (conducted in a Polytechnic)
– WSQ ACTA qualified lecturers are good initiatives
– Employs pedagogical learning strategies
• The OJT courses (conducted in a host company)
– Typically Non-ACTA qualified employee as Trainers
• Trainers not equipped with proper pedagogic learning strategies
– E.g. Coaching, modelling, scaffolding etc.
• Lacks an understanding of Learning styles and Learner Preferences
– Trainers tacit knowledge not shared/Unaware to share
• Trainers unaware to access required workplace affordances.
– Trainers see assessment leading to ‘Competent’ as priority.
23/08/16
s2963405 Contemporary Issues in Adult
14

Critical Analysis of the Problem:
Workplace Affordances
• Restricted affordances creates restricted learning
environment affecting learners acquiring broader
skills/‘work-ready’ skills
– Access to workplace systems (e.g. Learning management
system and GMP deviation reports); procedures;
knowledge-sharing forum.
• Articulates division of labour and distribution of
opportunities to participate in work and learning.
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Literature Review
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Literature Review: Apprenticeship
• Apprenticeship: A structured learning where Experts
help novice Apprentices acquire ‘competence’ in a
trade (Collins, 2006; Dennen, 2004).
• Traditional Apprenticeship
– Tasks not arising from pedagogical concerns
– Limited teaching outcomes/Not broad-based (Collins, 2006).
• Cognitive Apprenticeship (Collins, 2006; Dennen,
2004; Dennen & Burner, 2008)
– Tasks and problems sequenced to the learning demands
– Generalizes knowledge/application to different settings.
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Literature Review: ‘Novice’ and
‘Competent’ Stage’s of Development
• Novice: Learners have no experience on what they are
expected to perform and are taught on ‘context-free
features and rules’;
• Competent: Learners are able to set goals and able to
comprehend the situation in terms of what is needed
to achieve those goals (Dreyfus & Dreyfus, 1980).
– Most workers (Clinical Nurses) acquire a ‘competent’ stage
to perform on similar work situations within 24 to 36
months (Benner, 1984).
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Literature Review: Curriculum
• Intended: Exactly what stakeholders intent should
happen when curriculum is implemented;
• Enacted: What happens when curriculum is enacted;
• Experienced: What learners experience, construe
and learn as a result of its enactment (Billett, 2006).
– Learners are meaning makers/experience differently/level
of effort (Smith & Keating, 2003).
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Literature Review: Trainers
• Trainers/Experts increases apprentices competency
by sequencing learning and making connections
between work and institution (Collins, 2006).
• Trainers, however could be seen as mere curriculum
“Implementers” (Print, 1993) when work is seen
more important rather than training.
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Literature Review: Workplace
Affordances
• Access to meaningful workplace affordances aids in
reinforcing, refreshing and generating new forms of
knowledge (Billett, 2001).
– E.g. OJT Job aids
– Apprentices equipped with “Restricted knowledge and
skills affects competency development” (Moore, 2004) in
an occupation.
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Literature review: Curriculum (Cont’d)
• CBT: “everyone receives the same learning
experience to reach the outcomes, no matter how
different the settings and groups of learners”
– Learners do not have capacity to identify similarities and
differences between contexts because theoretical
constructs are invisible for learners in CBT (Bound,
Rushbrook, & Sivalingam, 2014).
• OJT lack teaching depth when inappropriate
pedagogic strategies are employed
– Limited access to experts and affordances (Billett, 2001).
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Possible Solutions for
Improvements
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Possible Solution for Improvement
(Educational Institution learning)
• Continue with PWSQ courses in Polytechnics but link
to sequential/progressive workplace OJT learning
– Implement a Dual-system/Two-fold approach
• Separate theoretical knowledge into ‘Basic’ and ‘Advanced’
interjected with workplace attachment learning into
‘Fundamentals’ and ‘Complex’ learning tasks
• Utilize projects/Problem-based assignments
• Sequence ‘Advanced’ and ‘Complex’ learning to later stages of the
curriculum
– Espouses situational learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991).
– Many Educational-institution has adopted such practices
(Problem-based learning) based on authentic work
contexts (Etelapelto, 2008)
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(Company OJT learning)
• Create structured; progressive learning environment
– Create specific OJT CBT courses/‘Basic’ and ‘Complex’ tasks
• Use existing OJT job aids already available for New-hires (BPT).
• Develop ‘Trainers’ to become ACTA qualified Trainers
– ACTA enables application of various pedagogic learning
strategies (Willmott & Karmel, 2011)
• Trainers equipped with pedagogic learning strategies are well-
equipped to meet the needs of diverse learners
– E.g. Coaching, modelling, scaffolding etc.
• Support unrestricted affordances for learning
– Apprentices become part of workers community (Lave &
Wenger 1991).
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(Competency-based Assessment)
• Create formal workplace assessment to assess
explicit knowledge (Bound & Lin, 2011).
• Adopt ‘Absolute/Relative grading’ of Competency-
based assessment (Gronlund & Waugh, 2009)
• Enables grading in terms of student performance
without reference to others performance
• Enables company’s to select graduated BPT apprentices
to suit different job roles/workplace tasks.
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(Stakeholders’)
• Include Apprentices (representatives) to design their
‘Learning curriculum’.
– Trend concurred by organization and work communities
(workers, managers and trainers) (Etelapelto, 2008)
– Alignment of Intended>Enacted>Experienced curriculum.
• Move from Traditional apprenticeship approach
– Explore Cognitive apprenticeship approaches and
principles to enhance the typical 24-month BPT
apprenticeship curriculum model
– Content>Method>Sequencing>Sociology (Collins, 2006)
1. Tasks and problems sequenced to the learning demands;
2. Generalizes knowledge/application to different settings.
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Literature: Cognitive Apprenticeship
(Collins, Brown & Newman, 1989)
• Cognitive Apprenticeship: Learning tasks sequenced
to reflect demands of changing learning needs.
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Principles (Collins, 2006)

Concepts (Collins & Burner, 2008)
• Situatedness
– Active learning that takes place via one’s participation in an
authentic task or setting (Lave and Wenger, 1991).
• Legitimate peripheral participation
– A newcomer who primarily observes is considered a
legitimate peripheral participant.
• Guided participation
– It is the social element of cognitive apprenticeship
• Membership in a community of practice
– Cognitive apprenticeships often naturally occur within a
community of practice.
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Literature: Traditional vs Cognitive
Apprenticeship
Traditional Apprenticeship Cognitive Apprenticeship
Job determined by tasks Learning determined by goal
Physical skills and processes Cognitive and metacognitive
processes
Tasks performed by observation Tasks performed by reasoning
Learning by doing Learning by problem solving
Learning from modelling,
coaching and fading
Learning from modelling,
coaching, fading, articulation,
reflection and exploration
Simple tasks Complex tasks
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Enables Expert’s Tacit Knowledge Explicit

The Proposed Solution: An
Enhanced BPT Apprenticeship
Curriculum Model
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Basis of the Solution
• An apprenticeship model that develops ‘competent’
BPT Apprentices’ with ‘work-ready’ competencies
within a 24-month period.
• Guiding thoughts to develop this ‘Ideal’ curriculum:
– My experiences as an Apprentice (1982); and
– A Framework for Cognitive apprenticeship.
• Beneficiaries:
– Biologics and Pharmaceutical company’s
– Company trainers’ through ACTA certification
– Polytechnic students/Young adults
– The Nations ‘SkillsFuture’ plan/Singapore CET 2020.
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The BPT Apprenticeship Model
08/23/16
s2963405 Contemperory Issues in Adult and Vocational
Education
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Host
Company
CBT:
Classroom
&OJT
Simple tasks
Work related
Lab tasks
Competent
Novice
Apprenticeship duration in Months
1-3 4-9
Educational
Institution
CBT:
Basic Theory
Laboratory
Educational
Institution
CBT:
Advanced
Theory
Advanced Lab
based
assignments
Host
Company
CBT:
OJT
Complex tasks
Perform simple
tasks
independently
Perform Lab
tasks
independently
Assessment
CBA:
Graded
assessment in
presence of EI
and Co Reps.
Perform a
‘Batch’ as a team
with other BPTs.
(Independently)
10-12 13-23 24
Note: Benner’s suggested duration in reaching a ‘competent’ stage is used as a guidance for apprenticeship
period (e.g. 24-month) and not to justify BPTs apprentices’ ‘competent’ stage.

Justification and Challenges
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Justification
• An apprenticeship curriculum that synergise
education and experience
• Adopts cognitive apprenticeship principles
– Apprentices learn by observing, engaging, and discovery
• Dedicated BPT apprenticeship curriculum enables
specific Training and Assessment (T&A)
• Advocates ACTA qualified trainers’ for OJT; T&A
– Apprentices able to learn from ACTA qualified trainers
equipped with various pedagogical learning strategies
– Modeling, Coaching, Scaffolding.
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Justification (Cont’d)
• Graduating ‘Competent’ Apprentice may know their
‘competencies’ (strengths and limitations)
– Students experience success early in the program
• Provides motivation and improved confidence
• Biologics companies could rely on graduating
‘competent’ Apprentices with work-ready skills
– Do not have to reinvest in already learnt competencies
• Model can be adapted to other industries
apprenticeship curriculum.
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Challenges
• Stakeholders ‘Buy-in’
– Curriculum CBT
• Creating Basic and Advanced and Complex task-based CBT courses
and a “Lengthy Graded CBA” as part of the curriculum
– Polytechnic and host Company’s need to accommodate
the “Phased and Incremental training” structure
• Polytechnic Lecturers and ACTA qualified Trainers availability
– Workplace affordances for learning
• Unrestricted to Employees as well as Apprentices
– Approval of the Curriculum/Courses by WSQ for
accreditation.
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Challenges (Cont’d)
• Trainers
– Unwillingness to become ACTA qualified
– ‘Consonant’ and ‘Dissonant’ curriculum users
• Adopt Machiavellian tactics to resist / undermine the new curriculum
(Marsh, 2004)
• Apprentices
– Graduating apprentices could face difficulty in gaining
employment due to graded outcomes
– Ineffective feedback on learning experiences
• Trainers/Company’s ineffectiveness; Fear of retribution
• Curriculum courses inappropriateness.
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Evaluation: Assessing the Model’s
Effectiveness
• Stakeholders regular Audit of the program
• Evaluation/Feedback reports (Kirkpatrick, 1975)
– Apprentices
• Experienced curriculum
– Lecturers and Trainers
• Enacted curriculum
• ACTA and its benefits
– Biologics companies who have hired these graduated
apprentices as BPT employees
• Company Managers and Trainers observing their work activities
• Level 4 or Return on Investment (ROI)
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Summary: The BPT Apprenticeship
Model
• A Sequential and progressive learning curriculum
– Basic and advanced and complex (knowledge and skills)
learning (Dual system with a two-fold approach)
– Students experience success early in the program
• Provides motivation and improved confidence
– Empowers Trainers to use appropriate pedagogical
learning strategies to teach novice apprentices
– Empowers Company’s to provide Resources/workplace
affordances to enable apprentices meaningful learning
– Graded assessment enhances reliable performance
assessment.
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Question and Answer
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End

References
Benner P. (1984). From Novice to Expert: Excellence and power in clinical nursing practice. Menlo
Park, CA: Addison Wesley.
Billett, S. (2001). Learning through work: Workplace affordances and individual engagement.
Journal of Workplace Learning, 13(5), 209-214.
Billett, S (2006). Constituting the workplace curriculum, Journal of Curriculum Studies, 38(1), 31-
48
Billett S. R., & Choy, S. C. (2013). Learning through work: emerging perspectives and new
challenges. Journal of workplace learning. 25(4), 264-276.
Bioscience careers. (2016). North Carolina Association for Biomedical Research. Retrieved from
http://www.aboutbioscience.org/careers/processtechnician
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References
Bound H., & Lin, M. (2011). Singapore workforce skills qualification (WSQ), Workplace learning
and assessment (Stage1). Centre for Work and Learning. Institute for Adult Learning.
Singapore.
Bound, H., Rushbrook, P. & Sivalingam, M. (2014). What is Quality Curriculum? Programme
Design, Delivery and Management in Singapore’s Diploma in Adult and Continuing Education.
Centre for Work and Learning. Institute for Adult Learning. Singapore.
Collins, A. (2006). Cognitive Apprenticeship. in R. Sawyer (Ed.). The Cambridge Handbook of the
Learning Sciences. New York: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 4, pp.47-60.
Dennen, V. (2004). Cognitive apprenticeship in educational practice: research on scaffolding,
modelling, mentoring and coaching as instructional strategies. In D.H. Jonassen (Ed.),
Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology, pp. 812-828.
Dreyfus, S. & Dreyfus, H. (1980). A five stage model of the mental activities involved in directed
skills acquisition. Operations Research Centre. California: University of Berkeley.
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References
Eraut, M. (2007). Learning from other people in the workplace. Oxford Review of Education,
33(4), 403-422.
Etelapelto, A. (2008). Perspectves, prospects, and progress in work-related learning. In S. Billett,
C. Harteis & A. Etelepelto (Eds). Emerging perspectives of workplace learning. Rotterdam:
Sense Publishers, Chapter 15, pp. 233-247.
Fuller, A. & Unwin, L. (2004). Young people as teachers and learners in the workplace: challenging
the novice-expert dichotomy. International Journal f Training and Development, 8(1), 32-42.
Gronlund , N. E. & Waugh, C. K. (2009). Assessment Student Achievement, 9th
Ed. Pearson, Upper
Saddle River, New Jersey, Columbus, Ohio.
Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning – legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Marsh, C. (2004). Curriculum implementation. In Key concepts for understanding curriculum.
Pp.65-75. London: Routledge/Falmer
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References
Moore, D. (2004). Curriculum at work: an educational perspective on the workplace as a learning
environment. Journal of Workplace Learning, 16(6), 325-340.
Print, M. (1993). Curriculum development and design. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Smith, E. & Keating, J. (2003). From training reform to training packages. Tuggerah, NSW: Social
Science Press.
Willmott, G. & Karmel, A. (2011). The WSQ: A Retrospective, Reflections on the development,
implementation and future of Singapore’s CET system: Singapore: Institute for Adult
Education.
Winkelmann, R. (1996). Employment prospects and skill acquisition of apprenticeship-trained
workers in Germany. Industrial & labor relations review, 49(4), 658-672.
Temasek Polytechnic. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.tp.edu.sg/boost
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