Amateurism and professionalism in work and learning

Abstract

This article explores the concept of amateurism as a form of critique and addition to the concepts of professionalism, professional work and education. While amateurism is usually conceived pejoratively, the notion of doing something ‘for the love of it’, even if one is not formally qualified, opens up the possibilities for conceiving new forms of work, worker and sets of working relationships based upon different conceptions of expertise. Drawing upon historical and contemporary studies of the contribution of amateurism to professional work, and exploring the role of digital technologies in enabling amateurs to contribute to forms of professional practice, the article explores some of the challenges posed for work and learning, and suggests some lines of research to be explored.