"It seems typical of apprenticeship that apprentices learn mostly in relation with other apprentices. There is anecdotal evidence that where the circulation of knowledge among peers and near-peers is possible, it spreads exceedingly rapidly and effectively. The central grounds on which forms of education that differ from schooling are condemned are that changing the person is not the central motive of the enterprise in which learning takes place. The effectiveness of the circulation of information among peers suggests, to the contrary, that engaging in practice, rather than being its object, may well be a condition for the effectiveness of learning."
J. Lave and E. Wenger, "Situated Learning", Cambridge University Press, 1991, p93.
If this is correct, a key role of educators is to establish peer learning environments whereby learners have siginifcant freedom and resources to explore what it means to engage in practice, drawing upon the expertise of the teacher as required. I take the last point as meaning that performance is not simply a result of good teaching, but rather a requirement within a peer-oriented learning process. It is important to note that, as Lave and Wenger's case studies demonstrate, the nature of those 'apprenticeship' processes may vary significantly.
The authors also refer to the ways in which the masters or experts may withhold both expertise and opportunity to learn as a way of maintaining power (not simply as incentive to the learner).
None of this is dissimilar to the kinds of things that Greg Whitby and others are saying about the ways in which technology is helping to shift teaching and learning to a more learner-centred philosophy and practice.
Of course, Christian educators have been teaching in such ways in the past in various settings. Yet the more 'academic' the setting becomes, the less such kinds of apprenticeship have been evident (IMHO).
The question is what this means in a congregational setting. To what extent to leaders/teachers create peer environments or opportunities in which purposeful experimentation around discipleship practice take place?