In 1980, the Dreyfus brothers proposed a model of pro ciency:

Dreyfus model of skill acquisition - the human learning process

- The model doesn’t say anything about learning or knowledge, but how to acquire skills

Through a research project, Dreyfus & Dreyfus found that “know-how” or “practical
knowledge” is very dif cult to express in the form of facts and rules.
For example, it can be almost impossible to explain how to ride a bike - it must be
experienced, and felt to a greater degree than it can be put on a set of facts or rules
- Practical knowledge is something other than theoretical knowledge, the practical
knowledge does not presuppose the use of conscious, abstract rules

The two brothers assume that many of our skills are acquired at an early age through the
“trial and error” method or by copying / imitation. They have researched and described
how adults acquire skills and they come to the conclusion, that you usually go through ve
stages, which means that each stage has a different view on the task or "practice"

The ve stages apply to both structured and unstructured tasks and go from beginner level
to being an exper

They distinguish between structured and unstructured areas, and state that within the
unstructured area, one must be exposed to considerable concrete experience of real
situations, while in the structured one can reason more easily to a solution that can be
veri ed

Examples of unstructured areas can be: Socializing, making forecasts, nursing and
teaching, etc
Examples of structured areas can be: mixing materials in speci c conditions, planning
routes and logical tasks, etc
fi
fi
.

fi
.

fi
fi
.

fi
.

 The ve levels
Beginner (novice)
The person sees the facts and characteristics of the situation and experiences, that there
are rules for action. The novice who has to learn, follows the rules to the lette
and have dif culty making decisions and capturing context speci c and re ective
considerations. It is characteristic that the novice rst becomes aware of facts and
characteristics as he encounters them, in the performance of his actions.
Rules of action are learned by experience, and these rules can be generalized to similar
situations. Knowledge at this stage is context-independent

Advanced beginner
The advanced beginner has “real-life” experience and can therefore recognize relevant
situations. The recognition is concrete and dependent on the context
Through “trial-and-error”, the context dependent is supplemented with context independent
elements and rules

Competen
The competent practitioner learns to use a prioritized decision-making procedure. Goals
and planning are chosen consciously, to reduce complexity. Actions become more uid
and adapted to a speci c context. The ability to prioritize, to consciously choose goals and
plans in order to form the necessary overview, is characteristic of competence
In the actions one becomes involved with one's own person, and becomes responsible
Interpretation and judgment are part of the competence

Knowledgeable practitioner (pro cient)

The knowledgeable practitioner is beyond analytically rational and deeply involved in his
actions. A perspective has been developed based on past events and experiences.
There are no objective choices or conscious choices of appropriateness. It is a matter of
spontaneous interpretation and unconscious choices. The actions of the knowledgeable
practitioner are based on experience with previous actions of a similar nature, that trigger
the expectation of speci c results
Dreyfus & Dreyfus believe that this stage is characterized by alternating between analytical
thinking and intuition

The expert
The expert owns in-depth experiences. He recognizes the situations intuitively,
synchronously, and holistically. What is also called “silent” (tacit) knowledge.
The true expertise is characterized by uid and unforced action, and situations are
recognized as wholes. To become an expert, one must "dismantle" the head, and give the
cognitive less weight than the physical - re ecting on one's actions is a disadvantage

Generally very reminiscent of the idea of mastery - you just do things.

fi
t

fi

fi
:

fi
.

fi
fl
​​

fl
fi
.

fi
.

fl

fl