Becoming cabin crew: a situated learning approach to training and workplace experience

ABSTRACT This paper provides a perspective on learning in which training and situated learning complement each other in developing cabin crew competence. Traditionally, airlines have approached cabin crew training from a competency-based, behavioural perspective with limited engagement in the actual work context. This ethnographic study builds on contemporary learning theoriesto argue that participation in social practice is essential for developing cabin crew competence. More importantly, it was found that learning arises in the frictions and negotiations between identity, knowledge, and values fostered in training and the workplace experience of the cabin crew. These findings contribute to the situated learning literature by expanding the notion that training may also have characteristics of social practice. Likewise, understanding learning arising from the negotiation of different contexts offers a broader perspective of situated learning. These findings in the learning processes of cabin crew may contribute to the improvement of the airlines’ training programmes and potentially to other contexts of high social interaction, such as hospitality and healthcare.