| 1. |
- Ahn, Song-ee, 1972-, et al.
(author)
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The professional bodies of VET teachers in the context of simulation-based training for vocational learning
- 2023
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In: Vocations and Learning. - : SPRINGER. - 1874-785X .- 1874-7868. ; 16, s. 141-156
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- It is argued that the use of high-fdelity simulators is educationally efective, since students are able to work more independently and can better control their learning. Therefore, simulations can be used as a teaching method to facilitate and ease teachers’ work situations. This raises questions as to whether teachers’ professional bodies are a bounded physicality, or whether we can understand teachers’ professional bodies in practice in terms of enactments? This article analyses and discusses the enactment of VET teachers’ professional bodies in the context of vocational and simulation-based training. The empirical material is based on ethnographic observations in three classes in two diferent vocational education programmes at two upper secondary schools in Sweden. Three diferent cases are presented and analysed as examples of how VET teachers’ professional bodies are enacted. Guided by a practice theory perspective (Schatzki, T. R. Social practices: a Wittgensteinian approach to human activity and the social (1996), Schatzki, T. R. The site of the social: A philosophical account of the constitution of social life and change (2002), Schatzki, T. R. & Natter, W. Sociocultural bodies, bodies sociopolitical. In T. R.Schatzki & W. Natter (Eds.), The social and political body (1996), the study shows that VET teachers’ professional bodies are enacted in multiples, distributed, and delegated in an interplay between the teachers, the students, the simulator, and its material set-up. In these enactments of professional bodies, VET teachers embody both a teacher identity and a previous vocational identity, which they perform simultaneously depending on the educational situation.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Per, 1964-, et al.
(author)
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Maintaining Competence in the Initial Occupation : Activities among Vocational Teachers
- 2018
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In: Vocations and Learning. - : Springer Netherlands. - 1874-785X .- 1874-7868. ; 11:2, s. 317-344
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Contemporary work-life changes rapidly, and vocational education andtraining (VET) teachers need to keep up-to-date with changing knowledge demandsand technological developments. This article concerns VET teachers’continuing pro-fessional development (CPD) related to the specific vocations for which they teach. Theaim is to analyse VET teachers’participation in various types of activities designed tomake them become more knowledgeable in relation to industry currency. The studydraws on a socio-cultural perspective on practice and learning. Theory concerningadults’participation in education is also used in analysing drivers of and barriers toparticipation in learning activities. The analyses are based on survey data from 886Swedish VET teachers relating to their participation in different activities, barriers/drivers concerning participation in these activities, perceived effects (outcomes) ofparticipation in terms of professional development, and teachers’background. Readingprofessional texts was the most common CPD activity among those VET teachersparticipating in the study. Reading, and work in the VET teacher’s former/initialoccupation were the two activities where variation in performing them could beexplained to the highest degree. The study particularly highlights the importance ofboundary crossing between school and work-life for maintaining and developing theindustrial currency of VET teachers’competence. Active membership and engagementin the community of practice of the initial occupation is important for participation inCPD activities closely related to this community.
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| 3. |
- Antera, Sofia
(author)
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Professional Competence of Vocational Teachers : a Conceptual Review
- 2021
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In: Vocations and Learning. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1874-785X .- 1874-7868. ; 14, s. 459-479
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this article, the variety of interpretations of the concept of professional competence with reference to vocational teachers is reviewed and discussed. Previous vocational teacher research has been found to focus on which professional competencies vocational teacher possess or should demonstrate, with little focus placed on how competence is defined, leaving a gap related to how the professional competence concept is perceived and constructed. Through a conceptual analysis method (CAM), which follows the data collection process of a systematic literature review, the researcher identifies the concept attributes that are commonly shared as well as neighboring concepts associated with professional competence. Findings indicate that only few studies detail solid concept definitions. Furthermore, there is an agreement amongst the researchers on the main attributes of professional competence, including the situated and developmental character of professional competence as well as its relationship with action. In regard to concept use, there are distinct interrelationships between professional competence, professionalism, performance and qualification. Most definitions regard the individual as the reference point and little to no discussion takes place regarding professional competence at a collective level. Because complex concepts like the one under study can lead to confusion, it is suggested that their use should be accompanied by a discussion of their various meanings.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Avby, Gunilla, 1965-
(author)
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Professional Practice as Processes of Muddling Through : a Study of Learning and Sense Making in Social Work
- 2015
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In: Vocations and Learning. - : Springer. - 1874-785X .- 1874-7868. ; 8:1, s. 95-113
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Using an ethnographic approach, the aim of this study was to explore how social workers learn and make sense of experiences in their daily practices. Five events that took place during an ordinary day of child investigation work are described and serve as the basis for the analysis. The findings imply that investigation work is largely a social rationalization process and that the interaction between different actors in work is a strategy to enhance the level of knowledge and contribute to learning among the professionals. Thus, learning is embedded in daily activities, for example, consulting colleagues, framing problems and building relationships. Furthermore, the findings suggest the possibility of assuming a contextualized view of reasoning, a so-called contextual rationality, which maintains that practitioners need to make judgments in a way that is sensitive to and relevant for their own contextualized settings. Contextual rationality is a reasonable strategy to deal with complex problems in daily practices that cannot be completely analysed or solved. Contextual rationality is thus not about accuracy, rather it engages individuals to find meaning and order in the complexity of modern organizations where norms, values and expectations provide frameworks for explanations. Besides offering an explanation for the basis of practice, the study identifies a variety of learning opportunities in everyday practice that could potentially be used in efforts to organize a more reflective practice to facilitate improved workplace learning.
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| 6. |
- Barman, Linda, 1972-, et al.
(author)
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Hardness or Resignation : How Emotional Challenges During Work‑Based Education Influence the Professional Becoming of Medical Students and Student Teachers
- 2023
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In: Vocations and Learning. - : Springer Nature. - 1874-785X .- 1874-7868.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper addresses how emotionally challenging experiences during work-basededucation may influence the professional becoming of student teachers and medicalstudents. We conducted a qualitative analysis of eight focus group interviewswith undergraduates from two universities in Sweden who studied to become eitherphysicians or teachers, and interpreted their experiences through Wenger’s theory ofcommunities of practice. The findings show that students’ ideal view of how to becaring in their aspiring professional role as physician or teacher collided with existingpractices, which affected them emotionally. In particular, the students found itchallenging when norms and practices differed from their values of professionalismand when the professional culture within practices reflected hardness (physicians) orresignation (teachers). Both medical students and student teachers experienced thatprofessional decision making and legitimacy challenged them emotionally, howeverin different ways and for different reasons. This study makes visible both generaland specific aspects of how students view their future role in the welfare sector andchallenging dimensions of professional practice. The findings bring into focus thequestion of how professional education can support students’ professional becomingin relation to their emotional challenges.
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| 7. |
- Berner, Boel, 1945-
(author)
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Learning Control : Sense-Making, CNC Machines, and Changes in Vocational Training for Industrial Work
- 2009
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In: Vocations and learning. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1874-785X .- 1874-7868. ; 2:3, s. 177-194
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The paper explores how novices in school-based vocational training make sense of computerized numerical control (CNC) machines. Based on two ethnographic studies in Swedish schools, one from the early 1980s and one from 2006, it analyses change and continuity in the cognitive, social, and emotional processes of learning how to become a machine tool operator. What and how students learn will become part of their self-understanding, future vocational identity, and sense of what they know. The paper discusses in detail the various tasks involved in learning CNC and how students and teachers understand and handle their everyday encounters with the machines. The study combines a situated learning perspective with one from science and technology studies, which focuses on how a technology’s script is made workable, or “localized”, as part of ongoing activities and interactions in the school.
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| 8. |
- Carlsson, Sandra, et al.
(author)
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Teaching Here and Now but for the Future : Vocational Teachers Perspective on Teaching in Flux
- 2023
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In: Vocations and Learning. - Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands. - 1874-785X .- 1874-7868. ; 16, s. 443-457
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- As working life changes, it places new demands on vocational competence and the use of different digital technologies. It affects vocational teaching, yet digitalization within vocational education constitutes a scarcely researched area. In this study, we explore how vocational teachers relate to teaching in a digitalized society from a socio-material perspective and explore the possibilities as well as the discursive manifestations of contradictions it gives rise to. Data includes semi-structured interviews with ten vocational teachers, representing eight vocational programs in Sweden. Findings show how vocational teachers benefit from digital technology to realize pedagogical strategies and facilitate students’ vocational competence. At the same time, digitalization entails challenges of keeping up with changes in working life and providing students with relevant vocational digital technologies. Contributions include increased knowledge about digitalization in vocational education, and how it entails navigating different contradictions.
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| 9. |
- Christidis, Maria, et al.
(author)
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Subject-Integrated Teaching for Expanded Vocational Knowing and Everyday Situations in a Swedish Upper Secondary Health and Social Care Program
- 2019
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In: Vocations and Learning. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1874-785X .- 1874-7868. ; 12:3, s. 479-498
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The aim of this study was to explore what subject-integrated teaching of vocational subjects, ethics and health care, contributed with in terms of vocational knowing. The case study was ethnographically inspired and followed a group of students (16 +) and their teachers in a Swedish Health and Social Care Program while they worked with a theme unit called Death for two weeks in autumn 2012. Data comprised observations, field notes, and audio recordings of the planning and teaching of the theme unit, informal discussions with teachers and students, handouts, a theme booklet, and student assignments. Analysis was based on concepts related to cultural historical activity theory, especially emphasizing rules, tools, actions, operations, and contradictions. Results showed three major objects emphasized in the teacher–student interaction and the tools chosen to support the subject-integrated teaching activity: vocational knowing related to vocational ethics, to everyday ethics, and argumentative skills. Manifestations of contradictions in the form of dilemmas related to the examples that teachers copied from a textbook. As these examples were mainly contextualized in everyday situations, and there are no formal ethical guidelines for nursing assistants on which teachers could rely on, teachers’ narratives were used to complement these examples. Students’ argumentative skills were emphasized and related to personal situations, in which ethical arguments for justification in vocationally relevant situations were made unclear.
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| 10. |
- Döös, Marianne, 1949-, et al.
(author)
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Organizational learning as an analogy to individual learning? A case of augmented interaction intensity
- 2015
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In: Vocations and Learning. - Sweden : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1874-785X .- 1874-7868. ; 8:1, s. 55-73
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper attempts to explore an analogy between individual and organizational learning within experiential learning theory (ELT). The focus is on both the possibility of identifying a learning subject that learns in action, and on the genesis process behind the learning of a suggested learning subject at organizational level. The exploration uses an empirical study of a global software communication organization. The research adopts a qualitative approach, with data from three middle-management layers of a research and development (R&D) unit with 5,000 employees. During the study, shifts of emphasis occurred between two organizational logics, which required work-integrated learning. Metaphorically speaking, the organization was portrayed as ‘teeming with interaction’, and a growing wave of change decisively altered both the thinking and work processes within the organization. The organizational learning process is theoretically understood as an ‘augmented intense interaction’ around a specific content. The subject that learns and upholds the outcome is suggested to be the teeming activity, comprehended as a living organism. In practice, the awareness of an organization as a body that teems with interaction has potential to offer new understanding about how to manage change.
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