Engestrom (1996) challenges the idea of development as, metaphorically, a process of vertical ascent. Hence, ‘Traditional developmental theories are about progress, about climbing upward on some developmental ladders… [M]ovement happens along a vertical dimension, from immaturity and incompetence toward maturity and competency.’
Engestrom also critiques an influential theory of learning and development, Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development: ‘It is depicted as the distance between the actual developmental level and the level of potential development reachable under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers. “Level” and “more capable” are vertical notions.’
Engestrom views learning and development as a more turbulent process, a position that counters the idea of apprenticeship as the gradual, incremental acquisition of mastery in a particular field. For Engestrom, learning and development entails destruction of the old. Therefore, relationships in learning and development entail tension, as existing knowledge and understanding is tested and then accepted, adapted or rejected, depending on its relevance and use value in the circumstances prevailing at the time.
If development is, as Engestrom argues, ‘significant and relatively long-term qualitative change in the way we relate to the world,’ then it is dependent on its context for meaning and relevance, and hence development is only useful if it remains relevant. As contexts do not remain static, so knowledge does not remain static.
Arguing from an Activity Theory perspective, Engestrom stresses the importance of learning and development occurring via tools (mediating artefacts), through which people render their environments sensible, in the sense that they construct a purpose for each tool, which is utilised to achieve an outcome in goal-directed activity. Through the use of tools, people create new meanings and new possibilities: ‘The mediating artifact not only amplifies, it opens up new possibilities that lead to surprises.’
Therefore, for Engestrom, subjects use tools in ways that do not necessarily conflate with the tool’s design. Instead, they use the tools at their disposal innovatively, to achieve outcomes. The use of tools is necessarily creative because contexts do not remain static, and hence the purpose for which a tools was designed may no longer be applicable. Learning and development, therefore, are ongoing, quotidian and creative: ‘Development emerges as everyday creation or construction of the new in zones of uncertainty riddled with contradictions and surprises and heavily dependent on re-mediation by cultural artifacts.’
Reference
Engestrom, Y. (1996) ‘Development as breaking away and opening up: a challenge to Vygotsky and Piaget,’ http://lchc.ucsd.edu/mca/Paper/Engestrom/Engestrom.html (accessed 31 October 2011)
