University of Huddersfield Repository Farrar, Nicholas Stewart Tacit knowledge, learning and expertise in dry stone walling Original Citation Farrar, Nicholas Stewart (2006) Tacit knowledge, learning and expertise in dry stone walling. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/4729/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ TACIT KNOWLEDGE, LEARNING AND EXPERTISE IN DRY STONE WALLING NICHOLAS STEWART FARRAR A thesis submitted to the University of Huddersfield in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education. September 2006 Dedication To Jane and Stephen, who have both, in their own ways, made great efforts to support the production of this work over its lengthy gestation. 11 Abstract This is a detailed study of learning in the context of dry stone walling. It examines what happens in the learning situation. The aim of this work was: 'To understand the nature of expertise in dry stone walling, how it is understood by those practising the craft, and how it is transmitted to others'. The main research questions were, therefore: " What happens when dry stone wallers are learning their craft? " How do they acquire expertise in dry stone walling? " How is this learning communicated? This process necessitated developing a way of engaging with the practitioners, eliciting descriptive data about what they were doing, and why they were doing it, through interviews (or conversations) with both individuals and groups, whilst they practiced their skill. Twenty three wailers were interviewed as they worked, building walls. The material obtained was analysed under seven different themes: " 'Knowing how' " The use of tacit knowledge or intuition 9 'Flow' " Constant decision making, reflection and learning from mistakes " Individual and subjective variations and experiences " The relevance of emotion " The use of 'rules of thumb' or maxims. Learning walling does not fit simply into any of the seven themes. It is contextualised, complex and individual. It demonstrates tacit knowledge and intuition. It involves emotion, sometimes consciously, sometimes not. It involves memory, problem solving, and learning from mistakes, and reflection. Maxims or 'rules of thumb' were a key element in the learning process at all stages. Linear stages of learning were not evidenced. Deep understanding of the practice is evidenced, and the wider learning and teaching implications are explored. 111 CONTENTS Page i Title Page i ii Dedication ii iii Abstract iii iv Contents iv v List of Tables viii vi List of Appendices ix vii Acknowledgements x Chapter 1 Learning Dry Stone Walling: The Context and the Problem 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 The Genetic Context 4 1.3 The Educational Policy Context 11 1.4. The Problem of Describing Learning, and Complexity 17 1.5 Complexity, Frames of Learning and Axioms 21 1.6 Summary 24 Chapter 2 Literature Review 2.1 Introduction 27 2.2 Polanyi and Tacit Knowledge 27 2.3 Dreyfus and Benner on the Acquisition of Expertise 37 2.4 Schön and Reflection 66 iv 2.5 General Theories of Expertise 68 2.5.1 Introduction 68 2.5.2 The Importance of Expertise 68 2.6 Studies of Expertise in Specific Contexts 79 2.6.1 Introduction 79 i 2.6.2 Sport 79 2.6.3 Music and 'Practice, Practice, Practice' 82 2.6.4 Medical and Surgical Skills 86 2.6.5 Educational Expertise 87 2.6.6 Psychological Expertise 89 2.6.7 Expertise in Dry Stone Walling 91 2.6.8 Apprenticeship and Craft Skills 97 2.7 The Theoretical Framework for this Study 101 Chapter 3 Methodology 3.1 Introduction 106 3.2 Research Aims 106 3.3 Understanding and Interpretation 107 3.4 Ethics 111 3.5 The Selection of the Method 112 3.6 Recruiting Respondents 114 3.7 How to Talk to Wallers 116 3.8 Asking the Right Questions 117 3.9 The Interlude of Foot and Mouth Disease 117 V 3.10 Finding Appropriate Recording Technology 119 3.11 Emerging New Questions and Group Conversations 120 3.12 More about Interpretation 125 3.13 Summary 127 Chapter 4 Results and Discussion 130 Chapter 5 `Get Your Footings Right' 134 Chapter 6 `End in End out' 141 Chapter 7 `Get your Batter Right' 146 Chapter 8 `One over Two, Two over One' 149 Chapter 9 `To the Line, to the Line' 153 Chapter 10 'The Right Stone' 162 Chapter 11 `One Man's Footing is Another Man's Through' 169 Chapter 12 `The Essence is the Heartings' 172 Chapter 13 `You Can't Use What You Haven't Got' 177 Chapter 14 `It's All to Do with Practice - Getting the Mileage in' 180 Chapter 15 `Good Days and Bad Days' 187 Chapter 16 Other Emotional Aspects of Walling 193 Chapter 17 There are Rules and There are `Rules' 197 Chapter 18 Learning From Your Mistakes 201 Chapter 19 The Obvious, Practical Things 203 Chapter 20 Working Together 205 Chapter 21 Conclusion 208 21.1 Introduction 208 vi 21.2 How Expertise is Acquired in Dry Stone Walling 209 21.2.1 Knowing How 209 21.2.2 Tacit Knowledge 211 21.2.3 'Flow' 214 21.2.4 Decision Making, Reflection and Learning from Mistakes 215 21.2.5 Individual and Subjective Variations and Experiences 218 21.2.6 The Relevance of Emotion 220 21.2.7 The Use of 'Rules of Thumb' or Maxims 221 21.3 Summary of Findings 224 21.3.1 What Happens When Wallers are Learning Their Craft? 225 21.3.2 How is Expertise in Dry Stone Walling Acquired? 226 21.3.3 How do Wallers Communicate this Information? 227 21.4 Implications of the Study 229 21.4.1 The Wider Implications for Learning a Skill 229 21.4.2 The Implications for Teaching 232 21.4.3 The Implications for the DSWA 233 Bibliogra phy 235 vi' List of Tables Table 2.1 Page Different approaches to accounting for outstanding performance 70 (From Ericsson and Smith, 1991) Table 2.2 Characteristics of Expertise (From Dunphy and Williamson, 2004) 74 Table 2.3 Models and their Characteristics (summarised from Dunphy and 75 Williamson, 2004, pp. 111-117). viii List of Appendices Page Appendix 1. The current situation of the Dry Stone Walling Association. 258 Appendix 2. The merits and drawbacks of dry stone walls. 261 (Rainsford-Hannay, 1957) Appendix 3. Snow's 'Four principles to understand why one stone is needed and not another' (2001) Gardner's '5 Techniques and 'old-timers' expressions' (2001) Shadmon's '20 points to remember' (1996). 262 Appendix 4. What experts are said to do well (Hollyoak, 1991). 266 Appendix 5. An example of an interview (or collective conversation) with dry stone wallers. Interview 4, gth October 2004.267 Appendix 6. The interviews, the wallers involved in the interviews, and their experience. 274 ix Acknowledgements The support of the staff at Huddersfield University School of Education and Professional Development has been crucial to the production of this work. Particular thanks to my tutor, Gill Trorey, and also to Professor Cedric Cullingford and Jackie Malone, who have all worked patiently with me to achieve success in producing this piece of work. In addition, I would like to thank my colleague Dorrie Ball for her extremely helpful comments on the text. X Chapter 1 Learning Dry Stone Walling: The Context and the Problem 1.1. Introduction Dry stone walling is part of the physical and emotional landscape of the United Kingdom. Most people in this country will, with a little encouragement, talk of how dry stone walls are attractive, and often will describe the skill of dry stone walling as a 'dying art', harking back to some apparently long-lost 'golden age'. Tourists come from across the world to see the countryside of the Yorkshire Dales, bounded by many miles of walls. 'Coffee-table' books of photographs of this landscape are common. Rainsford-Hannay (1957) says: Some people do look upon these walls with interest, and even with wonder, but many more do not. The vast majority, though, in the course of their lives, see thousands of miles of such walls, take them as a matter of course, and seldom give them even a passing thought. Yet here we have a native art, unsurpassed elsewhere (p. 19). Herriot and Brabbs (1979) note: Those wonderful walls, often the only sign of the hand of man, symbolise the very soul of the high Pennines, the endlessly varying of grey against green, carving out ragged squares and oblongs (p.22). Lowenthal and Prince (1964) emphasise the visual attractiveness of the countryside: Hedgerows, stone walls, and roads contain vistas, model contours, reinforce contrasts between textures and colours of adjacent fields, and link contrasting landscapes, as in the Yorkshire Dales, where limestone walls, unbroken and continuous from every tram terminus to the last wilderness of bog and cloud carry the eye from grassy valley bottom up to untenanted heath and rocky cliff.