Producing cross-disciplinary knowledge from a “micrological” approach to activity: a challenge for work analysis in training and education

Résumé 0

Developing generalizable knowledge from microscopic, situated scales of analysis is both a recurrent and fundamental question for research approaches based on activity analysis in the field of education and training. Even though it is not always explained and argued as such, this transition from local observations to more general interpretations of the principles that organize human action and underpin the learning associated with it remains problematic and in need of further study. Following on from an epistemological reflection on the analytical frameworks mobilized in this field of research, this contribution examines the conditions for moving from a study of the micro-gestures of activity to a more general understanding of professional activity. The first part sets out the intentions and principles underlying what can be considered the anthropological gamble inherent in this type of research. The second part examines the extent to which this way of studying work situations, gestures and processes can be described as “micrological”. The third and final part presents an example of an analysis that involves getting as close as possible to work activities, in an attempt to identify more general, structuring processes in the exercise of the trade and its learning.