Abstract:
Sternberg's concept of the 'expert student' has major implications for teaching and learning
with conceptions of these two activities that markedly differ from current traditional ones.
In an era when generic skills are increasingly a focus of interest it may well be best to
focus upon the development of expertise in learning as the most truly generic of skills. This
paper draws upon some of the most recent ideas on the development of expertise in learning.
While the concept of developing expertise in learning appears to encounter problems of application
to traditional school education, on account of the sociocultural context and the nature of
school learning where subject content rarely will be focused on adult work and specialisation. it
has major implications for VET. This, in part, is because many students VET are truly engaged in
specialist areas of study where there is potential to develop true proficiency or expertise. A
range of issues relating to all of these areas and factors are explored in this paper.
