College Is Where The Real Learning Happens: Perceptions From Irish Craft Apprentices Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

This research set out to examine the learning experience of three apprentice painters and decorators on the Irish Standards Based Apprenticeship from the Technological University Dublin. This apprenticeship involves college based and work based learning. The main aim of the study was to explore the learning experiences of apprentices in their own words. This would provide for unique insights into their learning experience. The research method was one on one semi structured interviews and the data was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. One of the super ordinate themes that emerged from the data analysis was the perception among the participants that learning occurred in the college environs. This was contradictory as the full programme for apprenticeship requires learning at all stages in order to be effective. Such a perception may be detrimental to the learning experience of the participants and as such needs to be examined further.