02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Paper
The Phenomenon of Vocational Orientation in a General Subject in VET
Anniken Hotvedt Sundby
University of Oslo, Norway
Presenting Author: Sundby, Anniken Hotvedt
A great deal of variation exists in how VET is organised across countries, making VET more diverse than other sectors of the education system (Kis, 2020). However, despite wide variations, VET in most countries includes a significant proportion of general subjects. However, within the VET discourse and the research field of vocational education, vocational subjects and workplace issues tend to receive more attention than general subjects (Schaap et al., 2012).
This paper highlights the content and purpose of general subjects in VET. In Norway, 70–80% of the content in general subjects is common across educational programmes at upper secondary schools. There is a shared curriculum document for these general subjects. However, in VET, requirements were introduced in 2020, demanding that 20–30% of the content in these general subjects should be vocational-oriented. In Norway, teachers have the flexibility, ‘pedagogical freedom’ and ‘space’ to decide how, what, and when to integrate vocational orientation in their teaching. However, little research has been done on vocational orientation in general subjects in VET in Norway (Stene et al., 2014, p. 69). Dalby and Noyes (2022) have explored waves within the mathematics curriculum within VET over the last 30 years in England. Possibly, the vocational orientation of general subjects can be seen as yet another curriculum ‘wave’ within VET. However, using the Norwegian subject (national language subject) as a case, the following research questions are posited:
1) What are teachers’ perspectives on vocational orientation in VET programmes in the Norwegian school subject?
2) How do teachers re-contextualise vocational orientation in their teaching and practice?
This study takes a broad view of the term vocational orientation as a guiding principle, which refers to all approaches and convergences between general and vocational subjects. According to Lauglo (2005), vocational orientation is an academic concept, and the fact that the concept is possibly ‘theoretical’ makes it interesting to explore. The term vocational orientation is also often associated with the concept of relevance. However, relevance can be seen as a broader concept independent of vocational orientation. Stuckey et al. (2013), within the context of science education, refer to three dimensions of relevance: individual, vocational and societal. From this perspective, relevant content means reaching the students in ways that make general subjects useful and interesting in every part of their lives, not just at school.
In the global context, VET mainly serves two purposes: qualifying students for a work profession and contributing to social inclusiveness and equality (Hegna et al., 2012). However, according to Carstensen and Ibsen (2021), VET research has tended to view equality as a ‘potential side-effect rather than a driver for reform trajectories in VET’ (p. 1043). Furthermore, in the Norwegian context, VET also aims to provide students with general knowledge so that the student, at a later stage, can progress to higher education.
Overall, general subjects in VET are in a cross-press between different purposes. Moreover, vocational orientation has the potential to bridge the gap between academic subjects and the world of work. On the other hand, the vocational orientation of general subjects may also limit students’ access to theoretical knowledge. Therefore, to better understand the dimensions of vocational orientation, this study combines approaches from curriculum theory concerned with knowledge in school subjects (Hordern, 2014, 2022; Muller & Young, 2019; Wheelahan, 2007, 2015) with empirical research in the Norwegian context that identifies different ways of understanding vocational orientation. These include 1) lowering the level, 2) using vocational examples, 3) using the general subject as a tool and 4) pursuing joint projects (Stene et al., 2014).
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThis qualitative study uses three data sets: 1) policy documents, including the formal national curriculum document of the Norwegian subject from 2020; 2) individual interviews with teachers in the Norwegian subject in different VET programmes; and 3) learning resources and material the teachers bring to the interview as examples of how they approach vocational orientation in their classrooms. Analysis of the policy documents and the learning resources work as a backdrop, a supplementary data source, primarily to provide contextualisation for the interviews. Analyses of the teachers’ interviews conducted in October and November 2022 are at the forefront of this study.
The 10 participating teachers were from four different municipalities and were randomly selected according to their availability and willingness to participate. Their teaching experience ranged from 6 to 25 years. The interview guide included questions about how the teachers understood the concept of vocational orientation, collaboration across general and vocational subjects and operationalisation of vocational orientation in their teaching. The analysis of the interviews was inspired by thematic analysis (Braun & Clark, 2012) and the initial systematising of the transcribed interviews resulted in four preliminary themes: 1) understanding of vocational orientation (definitions); 2) rationale, argumentation, and justification; 3) emphasis (to what degree do they use the strategy of vocational orientation); and 4) reported practices (how they do it).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsA preliminary analysis of the Norwegian subject curriculum document reveals that vocational orientation is mainly connected to learning vocational terminology, writing in vocationally relevant genres, and reading technical material relevant to one’s vocational field. According to the narrative in the subject curriculum document of Norwegian, vocational orientation is a narrow tool or strategy. In contrast, in the preliminary analysis of the teachers’ interviews, most teachers do not have a narrow understanding of vocational orientation because the analysis reveals that teachers have >50% of vocational orientation in their teaching. They use the idea of vocational orientation to make the Norwegian subject relevant, connect it to vocational subjects and prepare students for working life that requires reading, writing, digital, and oral communication skills. An interesting finding so far is that oral skills, often in combination with digital skills, expressing oneself appropriately in planned communication situations, and using professional language, including the ability to plan and carry out various oral presentations, is something the teachers emphasise.
The findings reveal that the teachers use their flexibility, ‘pedagogical freedom’ and ‘space’ when navigating vocational orientation. The interviews and the example materials analysed so far tell a story of oral and digital skills being at the forefront, while writing and reading skills are more backgrounded. The operationalised Norwegian subject in VET seems quite different from what is expressed in the formal subject curriculum of the Norwegian subject. Given these tentative findings, one may suppose that the ‘academic values’ in the formal curriculum do not take priority when teaching the Norwegian subject in VET programmes. Considering the pedagogic implications arising from this research, further discussions might include whether a common curriculum document in general subjects, as is the model in Norway currently, is the best solution for VET and what types of curriculum we need in VET.
ReferencesBraun, V., & Clarke, V. (2012). Thematic analysis. In H. Cooper, P. M. Camic, D. L. Long, A. T. Panter, D. Rindskopf, & K. J. Sher (Eds.), APA handbook of research methods in psychology: Vol. 2. Research designs: Quantitative, qualitative, neuropsychological, and biological (pp. 57–71). American Psychological Association.
Carstensen, M. B., & Ibsen, C. L. (2021). Three dimensions of institutional contention: Efficiency, equality and governance in Danish vocational education and training reform. Socio-Economic Review, 19(3), 1037–1063. https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwz012
Dalby, D., & Noyes, A. (2022). Mathematics curriculum waves within vocational education. Oxford Review of Education, 48(2), 166–183. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2021.1940913
Hegna, K., Dæhlen, M., Smette, I., & Wollscheid, S. (2012). «For mye teori» i fag- og yrkesopplæringen – et spørsmål om målsettinger i konflikt? – Europeiske utdanningsregimer og den norske modellen [ «Too much theory» in vocational education and training – a question of conflicting objectives?]. Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning, 53(2), 217–232. https://doi.org/10.18261/ISSN1504-291X-2012-02-04
Hordern, J. (2014). How is vocational knowledge re-contextualised? Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 66(1), 22–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2013.867524
Hordern, J. (2022). Powerful knowledge and knowledgeable practice. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 54(2), 196–209. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2021.1933193
Lauglo, J. (2005). Vocationalised secondary education revisited. In R. Maclean, D. Wilson, & J. Lauglo (Eds.), Vocationalisation of secondary education revisited (Vol. 1, pp. 3–49). Springer Netherlands.
Muller, J., & Young, M. (2019). Knowledge, power and powerful knowledge re-visited. The Curriculum Journal, 30(2), 196–214. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585176.2019.1570292
Kis, V. (2020). Improving evidence on VET: Comparative data and indicators (OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 250). OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/d43dbf09-en
Schaap, H., Baartman, L., & de Bruijn, E. (2012). Students’ learning processes during school-based learning and workplace learning in vocational education: A review. Vocations and Learning, 5(2), 99–117. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12186-011-9069-2
Stene, M., Haugset, S. A., & Iversen, V. M. J. (2014). Yrkesretting og relevans i fellesfagene. En kunnskapsoversikt [Vocational orientation and relevance. A knowledge overview]. Trøndelag forskning og utvikling.
Stuckey, M., Hofstein, A., Mamlok-Naaman, R., & Eilks, I. (2013). The meaning of ‘relevance’ in science education and its implications for the science curriculum. Studies in Science Education, 49(1), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057267.2013.802463
Wheelahan, L. (2007). How competency‐based training locks the working class out of powerful knowledge: A modified Bernsteinian analysis. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 28(5), 637–651. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425690701505540
Wheelahan, L. (2015). Not just skills: What a focus on knowledge means for vocational education. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 47(6), 750–762. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2015.1089942
02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Paper
Teachers and Their Role in the Career Choice Process
Barbara E. Stalder1, Christof Nägele2
1Bern University of Teacher Education; 2University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland
Presenting Author: Stalder, Barbara E.
The focus of the career choice process is on the students who are making the transition from lower secondary level to VET or general upper secondary level schools. Various actors (parents, peers, teachers, career counsellors, etc.) and institutions (school, vocational information center, training companies) are involved in this process. Expectations and ideas are brought to teachers by all actors involved in the process. At the institutional level, this happens through the location of career orientation in the Curriculum “Lehrplan 21”, and the goal formulations described with it. In addition to knowing the challenges in the education and career choice process, the handling of frustrations and the inclusion of one's own possible solutions (cf. Department of Education Canton Bern, 2022, p. 30) are formulated as goals. This means that students should reflect on their experiences and actions in the career choice process, re-evaluate them and, ideally, transformative learning should take place. Through the implementation of vocational orientation in schools, the career choice process is initiated and accompanied by teachers. Teachers thus come into focus, as they are supposed to impart the competences for career choice to the students through the planning and design of lessons (Driesel-Lange et al. 2020). The competence mediation model Dreer 2020) names four central dimensions here, which make the tension between the role expectations of teachers in the career choice process visible. Along the dimensions of teaching, organization, cooperation and the dimension of professional actor, the spectrum that teachers are supposed to cover ranges. What is striking here is the varying commitment of teachers (Neuenschwander, Schaffner 2011) in the career choice process and the statement that qualified teachers can make a relevant contribution to shaping quality career guidance at school (Bylinksi 2010, Deeken 2008).
The digibe project (digital support in the career choice process), funded by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI, supports the career choice process by making reflection tasks on career orientation available online to schools and investigating "the effect of digitally supported reflection in career orientation at lower secondary level" (cf. SERI).
In the current project, there seems to be evidence that the role of the teacher and the understanding of the role of teachers could have an influence on the career choice process of students. So far, too little is known about teachers' understanding of their role in the career choice process in this respect. The focus will be on the design of career choice lessons by the teacher as well as on the question of which role or roles teachers assume in the career choice process. This assumes that the teacher, depending on the design of the lesson or the role taken on, is perceived as a helpful resource not only in the career choice process, but especially in the process of reflection by their students.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe above-mentioned question describes a first qualitative part of the survey, which asks teachers about their role and understanding of their role. The sample size depends on the number of teachers in the digibe project. The project covers the school years 9, 10 and 11 with three cohorts, whereby the first cohort is already in the second year of the study and is accompanied over the entire duration of three years. The teachers who are in the 10th year of school with their class are surveyed, as the curriculum here explicitly provides lessons for the subject of vocational orientation in most of the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland.
The teachers were interviewed by means of guided telephone interviews. The interviews were analyzed using content-structuring qualitative analysis (Mayring 2014). A deductive coding system is used, which includes roles of instructing, career coaching, guiding or coordinating identified in advance with definition and anchor examples. This coding system will be further developed during the study through inductive categories. To minimize misinterpretations, samples from the interviews are analyzed in the team and possible deviations are jointly interpreted (Mayring 2014). In order to comprehensively document all steps of the analysis of the interviews and to enable retracing, the software MaxQDA will be used.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsAt the time of submitting the abstract, no results were available yet, but it is expected that teachers will comment on their role in the career choice process and that these roles can be described and, if necessary, new roles can be formulated. In a second part of the survey, it is planned to ask the students how they experience their teachers in the career choice process and which roles the teachers take on. In the presentation, we will present first results and discuss them against the background of the four central dimensions of the competence mediation model (Dreer, 2020).
ReferencesBylinski, U. (2012a). Anforderungen an die Professionalität des Bildungspersonals im Übergang von der Schule in die Arbeitswelt – Ergebnisse aus dem Forschungsprojekt des BIBB. In: Loebe, H. & Severing, E. (2012). Jugendliche im Übergang begleiten – Konzepte für die Professionalisierung des Bildungspersonals. Forschungsinstitut Betriebliche Bildung (fbb) gGmbH. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann Verlag, S. 33–49.
Deeken, S. (2008). Unterstützung der Lehrkräfte für eine erfolgreiche Berufsorientierung. In G.-E. Famulla (Hrsg.), Berufsorientierung als Prozess. Persönlichkeit fördern, Schule entwickeln, Übergang sichern. Ergebnisse aus dem Programm «Schule – Wirtschaft/Arbeitsleben». Baltmannsweiler: Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, S. 220-233.
Driesel-Lange, K., Kracke, B., Hany, E. & Kunz N. (2020). Berufswahlkompetenz theoriegeleitet fördern - Ein Kompetenzmodell zur Systematisierung berufsorientierender Begleitung. In T. Brüggemann & S. Rahn (Hrsg.), Berufsorientierung. Ein Lehr- und Arbeitsbuch (2. Aufl., S. 57 – 72). Münster: Waxmann.
Dreer, B. & Weyer, C. (2020). Kompetenzen von Lehrpersonen in der Studien- und Berufsorientierung. In T. Brüggemann & S. Rahn (Hrsg.), Berufsorientierung. Ein Lehr- und Arbeitsbuch (2. Aufl., S. 572-578). Münster: Waxmann.
Erziehungsdirektion des Kantons Bern (2022). Kapitel 6.1 Berufliche Orientierung. In: Lehrplan 21 Gesamtausgabe (S. 30-31). Biel: Gassmann.
Mayring P. & Fenzl T. (2014). Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse. In: Baur N., Blasius J. (eds) Handbuch Methoden der empirischen Sozialforschung. Springer VS, Wiesbaden.
Nägele, C., & Stalder, B. E. (2022, June 17). Teachers’ roles in supporting careers of students [Presentation, final project meeting Erasmus+ project VETteach].
Nägele, C., Stalder, B. E., Hell, B., & Düggeli, A. (2020). Digitale Begleitung im Berufswahlprozess digibe. Wissenschaftlicher Teil Projektantrag. Pädagogische Hochschule FHNW.
Neuenschwander, M. P. & Schaffner, N.: Individuelle und schulische Risikofaktoren und protektive Faktoren im Berufsorientierungsprozess - In: Die deutsche Schule 103 (2011) 4, S. 326-340.
02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Paper
School Quality as an Example for Policy Learning: Lessons from a German-Indian Cooperation Project
Matthias Pilz
University of Cologne, Germany
Presenting Author: Pilz, Matthias
It is a common practice to look at different systems and other countries in search for inspiration or potential solutions in order to address problems or initiate change as part of policy learning (Li & Pilz, 2021). Still- and despite of long established practices of different types of policy transfer- it remains contested- specifically in education (Ozga, 2001). In research on policy learning in education, it is generally emphasised that a direct transfer of policies from one context to another is questionable (Phillips & Ochs, 2003). Steiner-Khamsi (2012) states context is the main factor for successful implementation. In addition, policy learning is described as a selective process, which mirrors the “‘socio-logic’ or context-specific reasons for receptiveness” (Steiner-Khamsi, 2014, p. 156). Ochs & Phillips (2002) define forces of context and their impact on cross-national attraction of externalising potentials. These may affect motives of cross-national attraction, initiate search for foreign policies and decisions to borrow, influence the determination of stages of policy development, and affect the actual development process and the capacity for a successful implementation of a policy in the home country (Phillips & Ochs, 2003). Particularly a countries´ or regions´ culture, as part of the policy context, and highly-interrelated with a variety of framing conditions, is of relevance but often neglected in transfer research (Bertram, 2020).
This paper presentation addresses the role of transnational policy learning in school improvement, based on the example of transferring practices of self-steered quality development to Indian educational institutions. It centers on an approach to measuring institutional quality, which, as a diagnostic tool, establishes a basis for quality development and thus as a change model (Li & Pilz, 2019) enables possible innovation processes for Indian (vocational) school management. This quality approach exemplifies the example of a possible "voluntary transfer" (Phillips & Ochs, 2003), or policy learning as a deliberate transfer process (Li & Pilz, 2019). It is developed in a German-Indian cooperation project and addresses, among other things, initial efforts by the Indian government to establish more holistic quality management processes in vocational education institutions (DGT, 2018). Based on a design-based research paradigm , the development of the quality framework involves several cycles of evaluation and revision, based on evaluation results (McKenney & Reeves, 2012).
In line with strong hierarchical structures and top-down steering, quality management as part of school development, in the sense of a self-directed, systematic, and diagnosis-based process (Mok et al., 2003), is currently not formally embedded in the Indian vocational education system and seldom established in the general education system. In existing quality assurance and management approaches, aspects of learning and teaching are neglected in general education (Alexander, 2001) as well as vocational education (Regel et al., 2022).
School development is primarily considered worldwide a social process at the level of the institution itself (Feldhoff et al., 2016). Factors that promote or restrain improvement build upon comprehensive systematic quality management procedures may be located within the individual institution´s “capacity” to engage in change and development processes (Stoll, 2009). These factors involve the organisational structure of schools, shared commitment and collaborative activity, knowledge and skills, leadership, feedback and accountability, teacher empowerment as well as exchange with the school environment (Ehren & Baxter 2020; Stoll, 2009). Thus, this paper centers on the following research questions: How can an approach primarily derived from international contexts be shaped to meet national and local stakeholders´ needs and capacities? How can policy learning be enabled with regard to school quality development and improvement in India? Which factors facilitate or restrain policy learning in school development in India?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedTo answer the research questions and to identify facilitating and restraining factors for policy learning in school improvement within significantly differing contexts, the approach was evaluated in a prospective evaluation in vocational educational institutions in India. International approaches to school development as well as German experience in quality development in the vocational education system served as a basis for transfer. In particular the valuation criteria were derived from the model of school capacity for managing change (Ehren & Baxter 2020; Stoll, 2009). This allowed focusing on and bundling conditions specifically relevant for school development, out of a vast quantity of possible varying context factors. The sample consisted of two types of vocational institutions located in the secondary (ITIs) and tertiary sector (Polytechs). Data were collected in a participative qualitative evaluation of the approach in 20 institutions in Delhi and 10 institutions in Bangalore. Evaluation methods consisted primarily of problem-centred interviews in the form of group discussions and further expert interviews to explore the institutional context. The recording and transcription of all interactions build the base for the following qualitative analysis of the material.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsRelevant aspects have been identified that relate to the research focus on facilitating and restraining factors for quality improvement processes at the level of the individual vocational education and training institute´s capacity for improvement. These relate to factors at the micro-level of individual actors and interactions, at the meso-level of institutions as well as different factors at the system level. Nevertheless, results acknowledged the role of individual actors as well as local context conditions formulated by past school improvement research. These findings are of specific interest in the context of a highly structured and hierarchized system like the Indian one, which differs considerably from typical contexts where school improvement policies evolved. Here, further research concerning policy learning in general will be needed to clarify impact factors, potentials and boundaries of self-driven quality improvement in detail in India and also more broadly for other countries in need of school quality development.
ReferencesAlexander, R. J. (2008). Education for all, the quality imperative and the problem of pedagogy. (Create pathways to access, research monograph 20). London: Institute of Education-University of London.
Bertram, D. (2020). Accounting for culture in policy transfer: A blueprint for research and practice. Political Studies Review, 20(1). 83–100.
Ehren, M. & Baxter, J. (2020). Governance of Education Systems: Trust, accountability and capacity in hierarchies, markets and networks. In: Ehren, M. & Baxter, J. (Eds.), Trust, Accountability and Capacity in Education System Reform: Global Perspectives in Comparative Education. London: Routledge, 30-54.
Feldhoff, T., Radisch, F., & Bischof, L. M. (2016). Designs and methods in school improvement research: a systematic review. Journal of Educational Administration, 54(2), 209–240.
Li, J., & Pilz, M. (2019). Transferring German evaluation policy to China: A prospective evaluation of peer review in TVET. Comparative Education review, 63(4), 613–632.
Li, J., & Pilz, M. (2021). International transfer of vocational education and training: A literature review. Journal of Vocational Education & Training. Online first: https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2020.1847566
McKenney, S., & Reeves, T. (2012). Conducting educational design research. London: Routledge.
Ozga, J. (2001). Policy Research in Educational Settings: Contested Terrain. Open University Press.
Regel, J., Ramasamy, M., & Pilz, M. (2022). Ownership in international vocational education and training transfer: The example of quality development in India. International Journal of Training and Development, 26(4), 664–685.
Stoll, L. (2009). Capacity building for school improvement or creating capacity for learning? A changing landscape. Journal of Educational Change, 10, 115–127.
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