| 1. |
- Alvunger, Daniel, 1976-
(author)
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Curriculum Making Across Sites of Activity in Upper Secondary School Vocational Education and Training : A Review of the Research in Sweden
- 2024
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In: International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training. - : VETNET European Research Network Vocational Education and Training (EERA). - 2197-8638 .- 2197-8646. ; 11:3, s. 303-333
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose: This paper presents a qualitative systematic review of Swedish research on vocational education and training (VET) at the upper secondary school level over the past 20 years. The review is based on a theoretical model on curriculum making as social practice that may serve as model for comparative studies between countries. By introducing the model, the ambition is to open for new perspectives on VET curriculum in policy and practice. Questions regarding key themes and the interplay of discourses and processes across multiple sites in the education system have not been addressed in previous systematic reviews of Swedish VET research. Methods: The methodological approach in the present paper is a qualitative systematic research review with an integrative and interpretative purpose and research design. The qualitative review is based on the conceptual model of curriculum making as social practice, seeking to capture the inherent complexity and porous boundaries of education systems and movements of ideas, discourses and actors between sites of activity. The model is used for mapping the research, and a content analysis for identifying main themes and emphases and exploring and discussing the potential gaps that may inform future international research studies. Findings: The results show that the research is focused on the micro and nano sites of curriculum making, with connections to macro site activities of national curriculum policy enactment. Research focusing on the macro site of activity has an emphasis on national policy and policymaking regarding the relationship between academic and vocational knowledge/programmes and apprenticeship and employability. In the micro and nano sites of activity – which comprise the majority of the research – the main themes are vocational knowing and identity, teaching, learning and assessment practices and work-based learning. Conclusion: An observation is the absence of principals and middle leaders as actors and informants in the studies. There is little evidence of actors moving between sites of activity and the meso site of activity only comprise a very small part of the research. In this respect, there is a potential gap to be explored, not least regarding how local curricula and syllabi are made and shaped in terms of the influence of representatives from local authorities, companies, trade unions, employer associations, universities and regional agencies. Curriculum making as social practice has the potential to be used for comparative international studies and as a framework that takes national differences in VET education systems into account.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Per, Professor, 1964-, et al.
(author)
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Factors influencing the value of CPD activities among VET teachers
- 2018
-
In: International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training. - 2197-8638 .- 2197-8646. ; 5:2, s. 140-164
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Context: Teachers in vocational education and training (VET teachers) have specific conditions for their continuing professional development (CPD). They have a background in an initial occupation, in which they now teach and train the next generation. Thus, as VET teachers, they are expected to master the knowledge and skills of that occupa- tion, even if they have now crossed the boundary from the community of their initial occupation to the community of the school. This study explores the perceived values among VET teachers of different activities that may contribute to their CPD in teaching subjects/initial occupations. The study examines VET at the upper secondary level in Sweden. Here, the VET teachers have the main responsibility for students’ vocational learning in the vocational subjects, including the work-based parts. In the latter parts, the teachers are supplemented by supervisors at the workplace.Approach: We argue for the duality of a VET teacher identity with a professional competence that comprises two intertwined parts – teaching skills, and knowledge of the teaching subjects based in the teachers’ initial occupations. Our study is based on a situated learning perspective, and the empirical findings particularly concern values created from learning through participation and boundary crossing. CPD activities typi- cally include some form of participation in and/or boundary crossing between school and work-life practices. In the analysis we also include the possible influence of institutional, situational, and dispositional drivers and barriers for participation in different activities. The research question was: what factors can explain the variation in perceived values created by participation in different CPD activities among VET teachers? The study was conducted as a survey of 886 Swedish VET teachers. Focus was put on the values created through different types of activity, values for the teachers’ vocational knowledge, for networks in working life, and for teaching. The data were primarily analysed using logistic regression modelling.Findings: Dispositional drivers, the teacher’s sex, and regular performance of the ac- tivity are important for the perceived value. The dispositional factor is the one most commonly retained, and it has a consistently positive effect. Factors such as educa- tional background and vocational training have weaker influence, which suggests that individual driving factors are important when VET teachers assess the value of CPD activities.Conclusions: The study covers a general challenge for VET teachers, but is of particular relevance in systems with a high degree of school-based VET, full-time employed VET teachers, and VET teachers who are responsible for students’ vocational learning. Here, the values for vocational knowledge, for networks, and for teaching that are created through different activities are important for the VET teacher identity. They are also interrelated, and together they provide professional development in relation to the initial occupation, and for the occupation as a vocational teacher.
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| 3. |
- Andersson, Per, Professor, 1964-, et al.
(author)
-
Swedish Vocational Adult Education in the Wake of Marketisation
- 2022
-
In: International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training. - : European Educational Research Association (E E R A). - 2197-8638 .- 2197-8646. ; 9:1, s. 1-22
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Context: This study is about vocational education and training for adults within municipal adult education (MAE). Sweden has a long tradition of adult education, and has one of the world's highest proportions of participants in adult education. The Swedish education system is characterised by extensive marketisation with many private actors, particularly in adult education. The focus of this article is on the enactment of the market orientation in vocational adult education, with the purpose of showing how vocational adult education is organised in different ways in Swedish municipalities and how national adult education policy is enacted in local VET practices.Methods: The data consist of documents presenting relevant national policies for adult edu- cation, in particular on vocational education, and semi-structured interviews with adult education leaders in 20 municipalities.Findings: The findings show that MAE in Sweden has a clear labour market focus on offe- ring education that corresponds to working life's labour requirements. Most municipalities have a shortage of staff in elderly care and childcare, which is why they offer a large number of training places in these professions. Many immigrants choose these training programmes to get a job. It is also common for municipalities to offer these training programmes in combination with SFI (Swedish for immigrants). This means that MAE fulfils an important function for integration. VET in MAE is offered as school-based training, apprenticeships or distance education. Offering VET at a distance makes it possible to provide a wider range of training programmes, and enables people who have difficulties participating in on-site training (due to commitments such as work or young children) to take part. Apprentice- ship training provides work experience and often leads to employment. However, a weak interest in apprenticeship training among students and difficulties finding apprenticeship placements are examples of reasons why the number of apprenticeships is often very limited.Conclusion: Swedish MAE is characterised by flexibility and a broad supply of courses. However, there is a clear focus on certain vocational areas – mainly within the municipal organisation. This gives reason to question whether publicly funded VET for adults should mainly prepare participants for publicly funded labour-market sectors, or whether other sectors could also benefit from newly trained adults. Since vocational training within MAE is of great importance for immigrants' establishment in the labour market, there is a risk that unilateral investments in certain vocations will limit immigrants' career opportunities.
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| 4. |
- Antera, Sofia
(author)
-
Being a Vocational Teacher in Sweden : Navigating the Regime of Competence for Vocational Teachers
- 2022
-
In: International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training. - 2197-8638 .- 2197-8646. ; 9:2, s. 269-293
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Context: Vocational teachers are called to constantly meet the upcoming needs in social and working life. In Sweden, the high demand for vocational teachers has led to their recruitment in the early stages of vocational teacher studies or even before teacher training. Entering this new community of practice, vocational teachers cross boundaries between their previous occupation and their teaching job, mediating the introduction of competence between them. In this context, the study explores vocational teachers' competence through their own perceptions, addressing important competence areas, as well as how competence is understood.Approach: The study employs a socio-cultural perspective on learning. Communities of practice establish their regime of competence, a set of principles and expectations that recognise membership. To be competent is translated as understanding the shared enterprise of the community, being capable and allowed to engage in it and, thus, interact with the other members and with the available resources. Hence, what is expected by members to know and to be is defined by the regime of competence and, hence, by the community. Comprised of 14 semi-structured interviews with vocational teachers in different vocational disciplines, employed both in upper secondary and adult education schools, the study adopts a qualitative research strategy. The research material was analysed thematically.Findings: According to findings, important competence comprise of up-to-date vocational competence supporting the performance of vocational teaching, but also interpersonal competence, including good communication and the construction of a close relationship with the students. The student-teacher relationship serves as the basis to match students with their work placement, facilitating higher work-based training quality. Moreover, maintaining a continuous development attitude and openness to critique are crucial for teachers. Finally, teachers approach competence focusing on its relationship to action and performance, while also referring to its situated nature. Therefore, to be competent is understood differently in different practices (teaching and occupational), highlighting the importance of understanding the uniqueness and duality within the regime of competence of vocational teaching.Conclusion: Teachers have described the importance of competence which was not developed during teacher training. Instead, important competences were often developed in the previous profession or informal teaching activities. Vocational teachers seem to value and utilise their previous occupational worker identities to a high extent. This should be considered when teacher training or in-service training is designed to support individuals in developing their (new) teacher identity.
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| 5. |
- Asplund, Stig-Börje, 1973-, et al.
(author)
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Visualising the intended practical doing : Future-oriented movements in swedish vocational school workshop settings
- 2021
-
In: International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training. - : European Research Network Vocational Education and Training. - 2197-8638 .- 2197-8646. ; 8:2, s. 160-185
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Context: This article focuses on teaching and learning processes in a vocational classroom in Swedish vocational education. There are few studies within the field of vocational education that have a focus on how vocational learning is done in interaction in the vocational classroom/workshop, and what vocational learning content is displayed in the interaction between teacher and student, and thus made possible to learn. This article aims to fill this gap by exploring the future-oriented movements that take shape when a vocational teacher and vocational students negotiate how a practical task could, and should, be handled and solved in vocational teaching situations in vocational plumbing school workshop settings. An increased understanding of these processes can help to improve the actual teaching of a specific subject content to support students in their vocational learning, aiming for learning a professional trade. Methods: The data consist of video recorded lessons from the Sanitary, Heating and Property Maintenance Programme in Swedish upper secondary school. Through concrete empirical examples from video recorded lessons the article explores the interaction between teachers and students in vocational school workshop settings using CAVTA. CAVTA is based on Conversation Analysis (CA) and Variation Theory (VT) and is a theoretical and methodological framework that can be used together and integrated to reach understanding of both how- and what-aspects of the learning process in practice, when analysing teaching and interaction. Findings: Findings show how aspects concerning a specific vocational learning content that revolves around a vocational practical doing compete for the space with a vocational learning content of a more general nature. These general objects of learning are also related to work-specific vocational learning and knowledge in relation to the future profession, but on a more general level than the task specific vocational knowledge. Altogether, this illuminates how different layers of work-specific vocational learning are made visible in the interaction, and how they mutually contextualise each other in the here and now. Conclusion: This article illustrates that the specific and the general vocational learning content can complement each other and open up for a more in-depth vocational learning. In conclusion, this article emphasises the importance for vocational teachers to develop teaching strategies to navigate between helping the students in their problem solving here and now, and contextualising the specific vocational learning content and making vocational learning relevant for future vocational occupation and working life.
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| 6. |
- Ferm, Lisa, 1984-, et al.
(author)
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Gendered Vocational Identities – Female Students' Strategies for Identity Formation During Workplace-Based Learning in Male-Dominated Work
- 2021
-
In: International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training. - : European Research Network in Vocational Education and Training. - 2197-8638 .- 2197-8646. ; 8:3, s. 334-354
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose: This article investigates female vocational students' strategies for becoming part of a workplace community, what these strategies are and how they are tied to the formation of vocational identities within male-dominated industrial work. Of particular interest is how female students enrolled on Swedish upper secondary industrial programmes experience workplace-based learning at industrial workplaces as part of their vocational education. The theoretical framework derives from Wenger's concept of community of practice, but his theoretical concept does not explicitly include gender dimensions. Therefore, the concept of community of practice is also combined with Paechter's assumption of gender, whereby femininity and masculinity can be considered as different communities of practice. Methods: The article draws on evidence from a Swedish study based on interviews with 20 female students enrolled on the industrial programme at six upper secondary schools. In this vocational programme, there is a distinct gender distribution and only a small minority of the students on the programme are girls. In the analysis, the focus is on the female students' strategies used during workplace-based learning to become part of the work community which consists almost exclusively of male workers.Findings: The female students deliberately negotiated vocational identities as female industrial workers to become accepted in the male-dominated work community. The findings highlight three specific strategies that the female students used: Acting like gender does not matter, acting like boys (not like drama queens), and acting tough and joking around. The female students' strategies were part of – and tied to – a complex vocational identity formation process that featured contradictory requirements. By taking individual responsibility, they identified relevant information for becoming industrial workers and chose to act like boys. The female students saw no problem with being a girl, yet they struggled with implicit, diffuse and hidden gender structures and prejudices in the male-dominated industrial companies. Nevertheless, they strived for what they perceived to be an attractive vocational identity as industrial workers; it was an alternative, atypically feminine way of being that attracted the female students. Conclusions: The study concludes that female students mostly rely on their individual agency when interacting with others in the male-dominated workplace community. A "gendered vocational identity" is formed which shows that the identity formation of female students is a complex double process, in which vocational and gender identities are formed simultaneously and in parallel within the male-dominated workplace.
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| 7. |
- Ferm, Lisa, 1984-
(author)
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Vocational Students’ Ways of Handling the Academic/Vocational Divide
- 2021
-
In: International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training. - : VETNET. - 2197-8638 .- 2197-8646. ; 8:1
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose: The focus of this article is on Swedish vocational students’ own thoughts about different types of knowledge and how these thoughts relate to the forming of their vocational identities. The article reports on a study which investigates how vocational students handle the division between theoretical and practical knowledge as they learn to become skilled industrial workers. Theoretical and practical knowledge are often presented as dichotomies in a hierarchy, where theoretical knowledge is more highly valued than practical knowledge. The division between theoretical and practical knowledge is known in research as "the academic/vocational divide". This divide is particularly relevant to vocational students, as they need to deal with both types of knowledge as they navigate between the contexts of school and work.Methods: This study is part of a research project on vocational students’ learning and identity formation. The empirical material is based on qualitative interviews with 44 students enrolled on the industrial programme at Swedish upper secondary schools.Findings: The study revealed three different ways in which vocational students handled the academic/vocational divide: Placing higher value on practical knowledge than on theoretical knowledge, reinforcing the separation between school and work, and selecting theoretical subjects as useful tools for the future. Conclusions: Two conclusions drawn from the study are that students are aware of the status differences and divisions between practical and theoretical knowledge, and that they handle the academic/vocational divide in an active manner. Students make choices that will help them form a vocational identity or that will give them opportunities for further education and alternative careers. This article challenges and contradicts the image of vocational students as unmotivated and unintellectual, instead portraying them as knowledgeable actors who make strategic choices for their future and are active in forming vocational identities within vocations that require deep and advanced knowledge.
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| 8. |
- Gessler, Michael, et al.
(author)
-
Vocational Didactics : Core Assumptions and Approaches from Denmark, Germany, Norway, Spain and Sweden
- 2015
-
In: International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training. - 2197-8638 .- 2197-8646. ; 2:3, s. 152-160
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The design of vocational didactics has to meet special requirements. Six core assumptions are identified: outcome orientation, cultural-historical embedding, horizontal structure, vertical structure, temporal structure, and the changing nature of work. Different approaches and discussions from school-based systems (Spain and Sweden) and dual systems (Denmark, Germany and Norway) are presented in this special issue. From an inside or national perspective, the solutions show a high cultural-historical dependency. From an outside or cross-national perspective, contingency and alternative possibilities become visible. The combination of both perspectives could enable continuity as well as innovation. This is the basic assumption of the presented collection about vocational didactics.
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| 9. |
- Johansson, Martina Wyszynska, et al.
(author)
-
Vocational Didactics: Mapping the Terrain in Swedish Upper Secondary Vocational Education and Training
- 2024
-
In: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR RESEARCH IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING-IJRVET. - 2197-8638 .- 2197-8646. ; 11:1, s. 76-95
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose: The article focuses on the contribution of didactics and didactic theory as a distinct strand in research on vocational education and training (VET). Empirical research is reviewed to further explore what characterizes vocational didactics in the Swedish context of Upper Secondary VET. Approach: Semi-structured and flexible review methodology was used to identify didactic research and map its emergent features. An analytic framework was constructed for this purpose and used iteratively throughout the review process. The framework expresses the constitutive simultaneous interdependence of the relationships A-B-C. They refer to A) the ways of how the actors engage with the content as meaning and matter or relationship between the actors and the content, B) the relationship between the actors and the method through interaction with the content, and C) relationship between the methods embedded in work tasks and school assignments and how they underpin the content. A total of 26 sources was identified and thematized as school-based vocational didactics, collaborative vocational didactics, and work-based vocational didactics. Findings: Four distinct features of vocational didactics in Upper Secondary Vocational Education and Training (USVET) are outlined: 1) Diversification of the use of simulation as a method in school-based education pointing to vocational knowledge and skills 2) broadening of instruction (and reflection) as a method by inclusion of several parties (e.g., supervisors, workplace staff, instructors-practitioners), 3) work tasks as a method pointing to vocational knowledge and skills as content, 4) interaction between several parties using verbal and non-verbal means. Despite a growing interest in the importance of work tasks in their dual affordance of meaning and matter, few sources deal with students' learning processes in alignment with the logic of the production of goods and services. Conclusion: The analytic framework we have put forth strengthens the conceptual boundaries of vocational didactics from a point of view of profession-related learning objectives (content), actors, and methods involved. Applying the didactic theories to review empirical research on VET strengthens the integrity of vocational didactics as a particular field.
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| 10. |
- Köpsén, Johanna, 1984-
(author)
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The Work of Programme Managers in State-Funded Employer-Driven Swedish Higher VET
- 2022
-
In: International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training. - : Uni Bremen Campus GmbH. - 2197-8638 .- 2197-8646. ; 9:2, s. 195-215
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Context: Swedish Higher Vocational Education (HVE) is organised as state-funded programmes provisioned by both public and private education providers in close relation to employers. In HVE programme managers have responsibilities like those that often are vested in vocational teachers. They are responsible both for the day-to-day work of provision and the continuous development of the programme and its syllabi. This article presents a study investigating the work of programme managers, focusing on their work with creating and updating syllabi and on their work organising the students' training. Methods: Five programme managers responsible for five diverse HVE programmes have been interviewed and the syllabi of these programmes have been examined. The analysis is based on a Bernsteinian theoretical perspective focusing on recontextualisation of knowledge for pedagogic discourse by different stakeholders as agents who have different basis for their actions. The study first establishes what knowledge make up the programmes to inform the understanding of what training the programme managers are tasked with organising, then examines how the programme managers take part in selecting knowledge for course syllabi, and how they organise the teaching of these syllabi in in their programmes. Findings: The knowledge that has been recontextualised for pedagogic discourse in the studied programmes is most often vocationally specific or context bound in relation to a particular occupational field. The syllabi are related to clearly defined jobs. The findings highlight how practice thus in several ways may be difficult for programme managers without work experience in the relevant occupational field or knowledge in relation to it. Not only in the work of forming and updating curricula, but also as they must be able to navigate the relevant sector of business and industry to engage appropriate employers for collaborations and to hire teaching staff. Conclusion: The findings presented in this article show that local autonomy allows for major differences regarding knowledge in syllabi and the organisation of learning between programmes within the same nationally organised VET system. This is salient even with a small number of programmes having been studied. This strongly support the importance of examining what happens in autonomous local contexts of VET provision and asking who has influence over publicly funded education in this sort of contexts, and on what these stakeholders base their actions.
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| 11. |
- Moreno Herrera, Lázaro, 1964-
(author)
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Transitions and Diversity in Didactics : An Exploration Searching for Implications for Vocational Education and Training
- 2015
-
In: International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training. - 2197-8638 .- 2197-8646. ; 2:3, s. 161-169
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Depending on the perspective and even language, the concept of didactics is defined in different ways. The debate about conceptualization, particularly concerning the equivalence in English of what in other languages, specifically Germanic and Latin languages, is termed ‘didactics’, is well documented in the research literature. There is a claim in this article concerning the need to transcend the language discussion; it is indeed necessary, especially for Vocational Education & training (VET), to develop a close linkage between what some authors consider “an empirically based” side of didactics associated with empirical findings and the “non-empirical” side that is associated with theoretical constructs for understanding the teaching-learning process.The main aim of this article is to revisit research in didactics in German, Nordic and French contexts looking for diversity in the various approaches. This is intended to contribute to the discussion about prospects and shortcomings in the development of a didactics for the intricate subject of vocational education and training. Rather than alternative didactical paths, the article intends to suggest lines of development, encourage discussions and the further research needed concerning relationship didactics and vocational education and training.
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| 12. |
- Persson-Thunqvist, Daniel, Professor, 1969-, et al.
(author)
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The Role of VET in a Green Transition of Industry : A literature review
- 2023
-
In: International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training. - Berlin, Germany : European Educational Research Association. - 2197-8638 .- 2197-8646. ; 10:3, s. 361-382
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose: This article examines the role of Vocational Education and Training (VET) in a green transition of industry. In the world of industry, battling climate change is often treated as a technical issue, but recent research on VET has tried to balance the technological paradigm with more human-centric approaches. The literature review addresses emergent VET research that presents various and partially competing perspectives on the purpose of VET in relation to climate change. Methods: We use an integrative literature review to investigate this complex topic. This technique is particularly useful for making sense of emergent research concepts, as well as various, and partially competing, theoretical and methodological approaches. It also allows us to incorporate literature from different countries and VET systems. The main search was performed in Scopus during March 2023, and included studies published within a timespan of eight years (2016–2023). Findings: Through a qualitative content analysis, we have identified five cross-cutting themes in the literature: Conceptualising ill-defined concepts of green jobs and skills; high-tech solutions in the movement towards a fourth industrial revolution versus inclusive growth for VET greening; towards sustainable work-based learning for green skills in VET; radical transformative approaches to a just green transition; and the co-creation of skill-formation ecosystems. The analysis has highlighted the ways in which VET can take on different roles in the green transition, and that these roles can be developed successively in parallel with a green transition in industry. In the development of the role of VET, it is also relevant to consider the contrast between transitional approaches and transformative approaches in VET research. While transitional approaches are recurrently marked by empirical research in specialised areas and subsystems within society, transformative approaches are characterised by a stronger focus on societal transformation (large-scale changes), power dynamics, and social justice. Conclusion: In conclusion, we suggest an analytical model that synthesises research on what role VET can play in a green transition of industry. The development model highlights that VET can take on different roles in a green transition and can gradually develop in parallel with a green transition in industry.
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| 13. |
- Sjöberg, David, 1971-
(author)
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Simulation exercises in police education, why and how? A teacher's perspective
- 2024
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In: International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training. - : VETNET European Research Network Vocational Education and Training (EERA). - 2197-8638 .- 2197-8646. ; 11:3, s. 460-482
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Context: This study is about the teaching method of simulation exercises and is set in a police education context. Simulation exercises are a central part of Swedish police education, and therefore it is of interest to explore how they are used, and for what purpose, by investigating police teachers' perceptions of this teaching and learning method. Police teachers are police officers who work as teachers at a police education unit on contracts lasting a few years, but which can be extended, and they usually lack any formal pedagogical training. Approach: In this study, the exploration of the use of simulation exercises was conducted through an inductive approach which included semi-structured interviews with 12 police teachers. The analysis was carried out in several steps. To promote impartiality in the initial data analysis the researcher first stayed close to the data and connection with the findings of previous studies was only considered in the latter stages of this analytic process. Findings: The findings show that the police teachers perceive that the overall purpose of simulation exercises is for students to apply specific content taught in courses, both physical techniques and methods, and more theoretical knowledge, in the fluid context of scenarios relevant to police work. The results also show that the teachers are aware that the purpose of the exercises is stated in the planning documents, but because they inherit the designs from previous teachers, they may not be aware of the underlying details of it or what is to be achieved in the scenario. The findings also demonstrate that the teachers learn the craft of designing and performing simulation exercises and develop their roles as teachers through an informal workplace learning process that involves tacit knowledge developed through working together, and by talking to and observing each other. Conclusion: The paper contributes to the field of simulation exercises in vocational (higher) education in that the findings can provide educated arguments for the need for scholarly discussions on simulation exercises as a pedagogical tool that supports student learning, as well as arguments for why formal pedagogically-oriented continuing education on the design and implementation of simulation exercises where learning is in the foreground may be needed to support police teachers' professional development.
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| 14. |
- Sjöberg, David, 1971-, et al.
(author)
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What students who perform in "secondary roles" can learn from scenario training in vocational education
- 2019
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In: International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training. - : University of Bremen. - 2197-8638 .- 2197-8646. ; 6:1, s. 46-67
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Context: Learning through scenario training and live simulation in vocational education is generally regarded as an effective tool for developing professional knowledge. However, previous research has largely overlooked the learning of students in secondary roles in scenario training. The objective of this study is to explore learning for students who act in secondary roles during scenario training in vocational educational settings. Method: The studied case entails scenario training for police students in a Swedish police education programme. A case study design, which included both participant observation and a questionnaire, was used. The analytic lens applied was inspired by practice theory and focused on how structural and situational arrangements of the training activity affect learning. Results: Our findings show that students who act in secondary roles learn from their scenario training experiences, but this learning often is overlooked in the design of training activities. Due to the structural arrangements of training activities, learning emerged as students in secondary roles were tasked to support the primary participants in relation to their learning objectives. In addition, it emerged in how students in secondary roles used previous scenario training experiences in relation to the current scenario and its learning objectives. Examples of learning from situational arrangements emerged as students in secondary roles formulated and provided feedback to primary participants and through informal discussions and reflection processes. Learning also emerged as students in secondary roles embodied the “other” during scenario training, something that provided the students with new perspectives on police encounters. Conclusions: We theorize and extract three dimensions for how learning emerges in this case for secondary participants. It emerges through embodying the “other”, in students’ sensory experiences, and through reconstruction of knowledge through repetition. However, our findings also show that learning for students in secondary roles can be improved through mindful set-up and design. Based on the findings, our article provides a discussion and suggestions on how scenario training can be planned and set-up to develop professional knowledge for students in secondary roles.
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| 15. |
- Tyson, Ruhi, 1978-
(author)
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What Would Humboldt Say : A Case of General Bildung in Vocational Education?
- 2016
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In: International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training. - 2197-8638 .- 2197-8646. ; 3:3, s. 230-249
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A classic philosopher in the Bildung-tradition, Humboldt, argued that general Bildung was the opposite of specialist training (vocational education). This has been a matter of contention and the aim here is to revisit the issue through an empirical case study. In the vocational education biography of craft master Wolfgang B. he speaks about aspects of his education that have much in common with Humboldt‘s ideal of general Bildung but transposed into the context of vocational education and training (VET). The concept of vocationalism (Beruflichkeit) provides context to the present argument which is that the contrast Humboldt made is relevant but not in the sense of there being two categories of education (general and vocational) but rather two expressions of pedagogy: one expansive and one exclusive. Furthermore, there are two versions of general or expansive Bildung present in the case. The conclusions are that empirical studies of vocational Bildung expand on the concept of Bildung, increase our understanding of how VET contains affordances of Bildung and of the curriculum-patterns related to this.
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| 16. |
- Andersson, Ingela, 1963, et al.
(author)
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Formation of Apprenticeships in the Swedish Education System: Different Stakeholder Perspectives
- 2015
-
In: International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training. - 2197-8646. ; 2:1, s. 3-24
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The article explores the major features of the Swedish Government’s new initiative - a school based Upper Secondary Apprenticeship model. The analyses are guided by activity theory. The analysed texts are part of the parliamentary reform-making process of the 2011 Upper Secondary School reform. The analyses unfold how the Government, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO), and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (SN) construct Upper Secondary Apprenticeship as an activity in the 21st century. The conclusion highlights how three traditional aspects of Swedish initial vocational education and training (IVET) collide in the formation of Upper Secondary Apprenticeship – a curriculum of labour market based apprenticeships, a curriculum of school based IVET, and ill-defined curriculums of school based apprenticeships. The emerging Upper Secondary Apprenticeship curriculum foreshadows multifaceted educational trajectories where the learning targets, and not the responsibility for the student’s learning are displaced from the school to the workplace setting.
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| 17. |
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