Considerations for the Integration of Students’ Experiences

• Educational institutions are fundamentally designed for teaching and learning, whereas learning in workplaces remains a secondary function supported through engagement in routine and nonroutine work tasks, direct and indirect guidance and opportunities and accessibility to a range of work tasks to gain experience (Billett, Stud Contin Educ 23(1):19–35, 2001). Development of skilled workers demands that learning at educational institutions and in workplaces is well connected and integrated. Without deliberate efforts from teachers, guides, mentors or other actors to make connections between learning at different sites, students could likely remain ‘passive bystanders’ during scheduled practice periods in workplaces. It therefore becomes necessary to develop learners’ capacities to help mediate between the curriculum organised by their educational institutions and the curriculum situated in the everyday business of workplaces where they gain vocational experiences. Further to empowering learners to access and engage in learning, there are other considerations necessary for effective integration of learning in different sites. In this chapter we draw on the cases presented in Part II to propose broad considerations for integration around four imperatives: social-cultural arrangements, negotiated curriculum, the roles of stakeholders and learner preparedness. Imperatives and implications for students’ learning are discussed. In the summary of the chapter, we recapitulate the main ideas about supporting integration of learning in educational institutions and workplaces and stress the significance of a collective and reciprocal approach for integration.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogy (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogiskt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogical Work (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Integration Connections Learner preparedness Agency Considerations for integration Supporting integration

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kap (subject category)