Dwelling at Work: A Place Where Vocation and Identity Could Grow?

This paper explores how vocational, occupational, practical or indeed experiential education can assist in the development of "phronesis" or practical wisdom within the responsible learner. It proposes that formalized, institutionalized education might inhibit the development of phronesis in the quest for knowledge. We propose that should we desire a society which flourishes as a community based on relatedness not transaction and on transcendence not immanence, then we will need to restore the centrality of the workplace as a site for democratic learning rather than instrumentality. We explore this proposal through the lens of Heidegger's development of the notion of "techne" from the being of a craftsman to technical skills. (Contains 6 notes.)