Yrkesfaglærerens paradoks: Utdanne til fagarbeid eller videre studier?

This article refers to the vocational teachers’ reflections from experiences with students on the upper-secondary level health-care worker studies in Norway, who have a different purpose and basis for their education than to train as health-care workers. The study is based on six group interviews with 15 vocational teachers at health-care worker studies and draws attention to the experiences and assessments that the teacher makes in educating health-care students. Knowledge of motivation, self-efficacy, and community of practice form the theoretical foundation for the study. The results show that it is a complex group of students the teachers present in their reflections. Among other things, the teachers describe students who to a large extent do not know what they want with the education, as well as students who during the school year encounter practice and become insecure about their educational choices. The teachers therefore tend to facilitate a somewhat more general presentation of the subject, in order to embrace all the students’ different bases and goals of the education. At the same time, teachers clearly stated that they set clear academic requirements for the students and requirements for active participation, but if the academic focus is general and not specifically aimed for the health-care worker, it may strengthen the understanding that the profession is less important.