{"title":"The vocational teacher, an inventor in special needs education: A study on Swedish vocational programmes","authors":"Robert Holmgren, Gerd Pettersson","doi":"10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.23132100","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.23132100","url":null,"abstract":"Upper secondary vocational education and training (VET) in Sweden has been subject to frequent educational policy reforms which have resulted in reduced numbers of students and student groups comprising many students with special education needs (SEN). These changes can be assumed to have resulted in increasing demands on VET teachers’ work with special needs education (SNE). The purpose of this study is to contribute knowledge about VET teachers’ conditions for, and work with, SNE in Swedish VET programmes. An analysis of interviews with 15 teachers from eight VET programmes revealed the following themes: 1) Framework factors in the learning environments affecting teaching and learning, 2) The schools’ organisation of special educational competence and the VET teachers’ application of special needs education, 3) Communicative teaching for increased knowledge of students’ strengths and needs, 4) Adaptations at individual and group level, 5) Integration of theory and practice, and 6) Reconsidering teaching approaches through follow-ups. The analysis, based on Skrtic’s theory, reveals a dichotomy in the VET teachers’ conditions for, and work with, SNE. In the schools, a bureaucratic approach is applied where overriding goals are attributed high value, while the VET teachers strive for an adhocratic approach where the teaching is based on their students’ needs. Based on Ainscow’s theory, the analysis shows that the VET teachers take an interactive learning environment-related approach, which means that, based on their understanding of the students’ difficulties, they develop adaptations to stimulate their students’ learning and development.","PeriodicalId":410150,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training","volume":"17 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139529574","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Opplevelse av sammenheng i fag- og yrkesopplæring: Et longitudinelt perspektiv","authors":"Grete Hanssen","doi":"10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.231321","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.231321","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000\u0000\u0000This longitudinal study explores the resources vocational students need to balance stress and develop vocational competence in school- and work-based learning. As a theoretical framework, the concepts of sense of coherence (SOC) and general resistance resources (GRR) are used, as proposed by Antonovsky in his salutogenic theory. SOC consists of three components: comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness. GRR is about how a person, group or community use internal and external resources to promote SOC. Participants are interviewed at the end of their school part of the education and again at the end of the apprenticeship. The two interviews are compared using comparative analysis methods to explore how participants’ GRRs develop. The study shows that comprehensibility increases when practice and theory are integrated into work tasks during the apprenticeship. The manageability component, developed throughout the educational process, helps them master stress and to face unpredictable situations. The GRRs promoting meaningfulness are almost similar in the two interviews and appear to be stable over time and central for participants to engage in learning situations and develop vocational competence.\u0000\u0000\u0000","PeriodicalId":410150,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training","volume":"114 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131807957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Organisatoriske særtrekk i samordningen mellom skole og arbeidsliv i yrkesfagutdanningen: Empirisk belysning gjennom en norsk casestudie","authors":"M. C. Rekdahl, Jan Merok Paulsen","doi":"10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.2313154","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.2313154","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000\u0000\u0000The current study provides an in-depth investigation of critical factors of successful inter- organisational collaboration involving upper secondary schools, vocational communities situated at department levels, and labour market partners in the school’s local environment. The research question that has guided the study is: What are the organisational characteristics of schools and subject departments which are well-performing in terms of a high degree of student completion in vocational education and training? The concept of ‘organisational characteristic’ refers to structures, roles and institutionalised patterns of collaboration involving school teachers, school leaders and labour market partners. The study is designed as a single case study encompassing two units of analysis, embracing school and department levels in their interactions with partners in the labour market. The findings of the study highlight the importance of collaborative learning through the creation and development of specific organisational routines directed towards the core practices of vocational didactics. Moreover, the findings underscore the process of local adaptation activated at the subject- department level and directed towards corresponding businesses and relevant parts of the public sector. Implications for further research and practice are discussed.\u0000\u0000\u0000","PeriodicalId":410150,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training","volume":"83 9","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"120852977","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fra logg til blogg: Yrkesfaglæreres digitale kompetanseutvikling gjennom designbasert praktikerforskning","authors":"Svanhild Kristine Berntsen, Hedvig Johannesen","doi":"10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.2313128","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.2313128","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Professional digital competences (PDC) have a significant influence on Norwegian and international innovation in education and have been extended to include several aspects of the teacher’s role. There is a need for more research on vocational teachers/education in general, and specifically on digital competence. This article is an intervention study in Norwegian vocational education and training, exploring the development of vocational teacher’s professional digital competences through design-based practitioner research. The aim has been to study how the implementation of a new artefact, using blog as an ePortfolio and a boundary object, influence the practitioner researcher’s and vocational teacher colleagues’ development of PDC. The study was carried out in subjects of vocational specialisation with youth enterprise as the method. The results and analysis contribute to identifying participatory knowledge about vocational teachers’ development opportunities and competence profile related to the use of technology as boundary objects and the further establishment of new boundary-crossing practices. This study contributes to an expanded understanding of vocational teachers’ competence profile and development opportunities related to PDC, and the case contributes with increased knowledge about how practitioner research provides opportunities for development.\u0000","PeriodicalId":410150,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training","volume":"60 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124188715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
P. Andersson, S. Ahn, Hedvig Skonhoft Johannesen, Johanna Köpsén, A. Louw
{"title":"Editorial: Autumn 2022","authors":"P. Andersson, S. Ahn, Hedvig Skonhoft Johannesen, Johanna Köpsén, A. Louw","doi":"10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.22123iii","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.22123iii","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":410150,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129176853","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Demokrati på erhvervsuddannelser med afsæt i social- og sundhedsuddannelser","authors":"H. Duch, Tobias Kidde Skov","doi":"10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.231311","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.231311","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Since the year 2000, the Danish vocational education and training institutions have been legally required to include the educational objective of educating the students to participate in democracy. We examine the implementation of the requirement from a student perspective, through interviews with twelve newcomers at a social and health care college. Our focus is the student experience in school and their expectations for their working life. \u0000\u0000\u0000With the theoretical approach of John Dewey’s philosophy on democracy and education we find a diversity among students. Some students are very active and express their opinions while others choose to be reluctant in public. In social science, the students learn about representative democracy but democracy as a social practice is limited in other subjects and in the classroom. However, the teachers’ role seems important for the students’ courage to speak up. The article concludes that some students might be in risk of exclusion of democracy, and we suggest more research in didactical approaches to address this.\u0000","PeriodicalId":410150,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124719027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Selvstendige helsefagarbeidere i morgendagens helsetjeneste","authors":"Siw Martinsen Watz","doi":"10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.2212395","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.2212395","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Work in home nursing care is characterised by individual work and time limits and requires an independent professional. This article investigates how apprentices in the health care profession in Norway develop independence during their apprenticeship period in home nursing care. The study addresses the apprentices’ perspective on their own development in the encounter with the field of practice and the patient living at home. The research question the article answers is: How do health care apprentices experience the development of independent professional practices during the apprenticeship period in home nursing care? 12 apprentices and newly qualified health care professionals were interviewed individually, with a semi-structured interview guide as a starting point. The results show that health care apprentices encounter a working day in home nursing care where the individual apprentice’s independence is both a prerequisite for the work, and a consequence of high workload. The development of independence at work can be linked to the apprentices’ participation in practice, gradual and adapted responsibility and to guidance and reflection in a community of practice. The study claims that development takes place in interaction with the supervisor, other colleagues and patients. When apprentices are given tasks adapted to their level of competence, they experience control and develop independence.\u0000","PeriodicalId":410150,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127350449","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Being someone or doing something: How students in municipal adult education view their future vocation","authors":"T. Karlsson","doi":"10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.2212371","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.2212371","url":null,"abstract":"Being an adult, deciding what to do with your life, and trying to understand the consequences of educational choices can be difficult. Vocational education and training (VET) programmes within the Swedish municipal adult education (MAE) offer an opportunity to learn a vocation, and last 6–18 months. This study aims to explore how adult VET students perceive desirable vocational habitus and is based on 18 interviews comparing students from two vocational MAE programmes in assistant nursing and floor laying. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at the beginning of the students’ training and data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. The results show that choosing a VET programme is a process of choosing what you want to do for work but also who you want to be. However, whether or not students see themselves as suitable is contrasted between how they perceive their future vocation and what the vocational community expects from them, which in turn affects their learning process and development of a vocational identity. Noticing the discrepancies between students’ perceptions and vocational expectations can both reduce the risk of losing students during training and reduces the risk of reproducing unequal ideals.","PeriodicalId":410150,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123810906","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How can students in vocational education be motivated to learn mathematics?","authors":"K. Muhrman","doi":"10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.2212347","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.2212347","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The aim of this article is to discuss how mathematics teaching with a closer connection to students’ vocational orientation can increase their motivation to learn mathematics. This article uses a motivation theory called self-determination theory to analyse interviews and observations made in two different studies investigating mathematics in vocational education. The results indicate that there are many vocational students who are unmotivated to learn mathematics because they do not see any relevance in the subject. However, there seem to be positive aspects regarding vocational students’ motivation to learn mathematics when they are given the opportunity to work with vocational-integrated mathematics tasks, especially in a vocationally authentic environment. In relation to self-determination theory, it is possible to see increased motivation linked to a sense of meaningfulness, competence and self-determination, as well as increased social collaboration. However, teachers need to be observant of students’ goals for their studies, so that even those who do not see a future in the vocation they are training for will find motivating factors for their learning in mathematics.\u0000","PeriodicalId":410150,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129598707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
E. Asrat, Alebachew Kemisso Haybano, Susanne Gustavsson
{"title":"Conceptualisation and experience of ownership in multi-stakeholder partnerships: Lessons from the HDECoVA initiative in Ethiopia","authors":"E. Asrat, Alebachew Kemisso Haybano, Susanne Gustavsson","doi":"10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.2212320","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.2212320","url":null,"abstract":"Ownership is commonly considered a key principle aiming to promote effective multi-stakeholder partnerships. This article explores the conceptualisation and experience of ownership in a multi-stakeholder initiative in TVET, with an empirical focus on a Public-Private Development Partnership (PPDP) in Ethiopia. The qualitative case study is based on insights derived from semi-structured interviews with project staff and partnership actors and an analysis of relevant documents. The findings indicate discrepancies between rhetoric and reality of ownership dynamics, which complicates the actual ownership practice. The goal of all-inclusive equitable participation, originally intended, is not achieved. Power is not equally shared in the initiative, as local actors play a limited role in the decision-making process, and therefore do not acquire ownership as intended. In this case, the PPDP approach reproduces inequality as international actors exert influence through indirect governance. This study suggests a coherent understanding of the ownership concept, which emphasises the relationship between all parties, promoting co-ownership, rather than merely defining the roles of donors and beneficiaries. PPDPs are likely to achieve better results and local actors may sustain outcomes when their capacity is built through active engagement in the process and the partnership is implemented through joint commitment, responsibility, and equal participation. ","PeriodicalId":410150,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131322716","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}