Running surveys, seeing systems, and dwelling on shores: Metaphor as method in work-integrated learning research
Loading...
Supplementary material
Other Title
Authors
Blakeway, Peter
Mann, Samuel
Myers, Ruth
Mann, Samuel
Myers, Ruth
Author ORCID Profiles (clickable)
Degree
Grantor
Date
2026
Supervisors
Type
Conference Contribution - Paper in Published Proceedings
Ngā Upoko Tukutuku (Māori subject headings)
Keyword
ANZSRC Field of Research Code (2020)
Citation
Blakeway, P., Mann, S., & Myers, R. (2026). Running surveys, seeing systems, and dwelling on shores: Metaphor as method in work-integrated learning research. In C. Dannenberg, J. Fleming, & K. E. Zegwaard (Eds.), Combined Refereed Proceedings of the 6th WACE International Research Symposium on Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, and the WILNZ Annual Conference, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, NZ, pp. 20–25. WACE Inc. and WILNZ Inc. https://waceinc.org/resource/refereed-proceedings-of-the-6th-wace-international-research-symposium-2026/
Abstract
Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) is inherently reflective – ākonga learn through reflection on their practice. At higher levels of learning, WIL learners are researchers deeply embedded in their contexts. They are working in conditions of uncertainty, shifting technologies, evolving professional identities (Billett, 2009; Gherardi, 2012) and are necessarily insiders (Mann et al., 2024). The questions that matter incorporate multidimensionality, messiness, ambiguity and wickedness. We need to provide learners with navigation tools for these messy lowlands (Schön, 1995). This paper explores the question, how can metaphor as method support learning in the messy lowlands of WIL? We suggest metaphor as method expands WIL approaches to revealing emergent conceptual theory-practice nuances, as well as sharpening our attention to metaphors in use, to think with, and as metaphors of change (Saglietti, Brabant, & Holmén, 2025). In this paper, three WIL researchers reflect on metaphor as method within their practice: Peter’s running surveys help him navigate vocational education in era of AI; Sam’s seeing systems highlights the neverending process of meaning-making; and Ruth’s dwelling on shores explore a deepening ethical and relational becoming with place. The three reflections are ordered to represent increasing levels of metaphoric abstraction but also of increasing embodiment.
Publisher
WACE Inc. and WILNZ Inc
Permanent link
Link to ePress publication
DOI
Copyright holder
Authors
Copyright notice
The publisher grants permission and encourages authors to archive the final unaltered published proceedings in their institutional repositories, distribute directly to a third party, and on their personal websites. The authors and readers of this proceedings publication can distribute an unlimited number of printed and electronic copies of the unaltered version of this proceedings publication on the condition that it is the unaltered original version as published here and that distribution is at no commercial gain. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International