Reciprocity failure

I once trained as a photographer. We learnt a lot of practical skills, such as how to light a subject in studio conditions, and we learnt about exposure rates and shutter speeds. Because I trained in the pre-digital era, we spent a lot of time in the darkroom, fiddling blindly with developer containers and stumbling around fumbling for the light switch. We also learnt a lot of technical and theoretical content. One of the more important things I learnt was the theory of reciprocity. Essentially, there is a balance between shutter speed and aperture (the iris of the lens). Simplified, it meant that the lower you set the shutter speed, the narrower the aperture had to be and vice versa. We learnt that aperture values needed to match shutter speeds, otherwise the resulting image would be poor. Failure to take account of this would result in reciprocity failure, and this was particularly evident in low light situations. Today's digital cameras are generally automatic. You point and click, and you have your photograph.

Today, few people understand or care about the old photographic theories, because with contemporary technology, few apply. But nothing you learn is ever wasted. I wrote in my previous blog post about reciprocity learning, where I discussed the sharing culture emerging through social media. I suggested that Personal Learning Networks would not be able to function if people failed to share their ideas and content freely. But we can take this a step further. At present in the UK we have a silo system of education and training. Children learn in primary and then secondary school, leaving at around 16 years old to enter vocational education (Further education) or they stay on for another two years (in either secondary school or further education) to gain additional qualifications that will gain them entry into Higher Education. When they gain their degree or vocational qualification they generally seek employment. Once in their chosen career, they will receive on the job training, and the Learning and Development (L and D) department will ensure that they are equipped to do their jobs.

Do L and D departments and companies talk to the schools? Occasionally, but not that often. Are schools aware of the needs of the business sector? Sometimes, but not as much as they should be. There should clearly be a relationship between what is taught in schools and what is taught in L and D, but how many can actually understand the links? It's obvious to me that a kind of reciprocity failure has occurred. There is a mismatch between what schools teach and what businesses want. This is because there is still little or no communication between schools and businesses. This needs to change. Schools and businesses need much more dialogue. Businesses need to be working with the schools, and children need to gain more understanding of the world of work while they are still in school. Sure, we see a limited amount of work placement (usually one week) for students when they are 15 years old. But is this enough to help them to understand what it will be like when they eventually work full time? What are our schools missing? Do businesses understand what goes on in schools to prepare children for a world of work? We need to break down the silos and establish some seamless progression from school, through training, to the workplace. This can only be achieved through better dialogue. Innovative practices are evident in schools and in the corporate sector. These need to be shared by both. At the moment, this isn't happening, which means we are still stumbling around in the dark.

Photo by Steve Wheeler


Reciprocity failure by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at steve-wheeler.blogspot.com.