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02 SES 11 A: Competence & Work Experience
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02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Paper Imagining the Future: Narratives of Purpose and Hope among Young People in Vocational Education 1: Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway; 2: University of Wisconsin-Stout Presenting Author:Vocational education is frequently framed in policy and research as a second-best or risky educational pathway, often associated with limited aspirations, constrained choice, or lower long-term returns. In both European and U.S.-based research, vocational participation has commonly been analyzed through lenses of stratification, labor market outcomes, and differential returns by gender, class, and program type (Jacob & Ricks, 2023; Ames, 2021). While such studies have provided important insights into inequalities in access and outcomes, they tend to privilege economic rationality and structural determinants over young people’s own interpretations of educational choice. Nordic research has similarly documented how vocational education is embedded in broader patterns of social reproduction, gender segregation, and classed educational trajectories (Reegård, 2019; Zahl-Thanem & Blekesaune, 2025). At the same time, recent sociological work has questioned deficit-oriented narratives by showing how vocational students articulate meaningful aspirations, strong professional identities, and future orientations that do not align neatly with dominant academic success norms (Ljunggren & Orupabo, 2020). These studies point to the need for analytical approaches that take young people’s narratives seriously, rather than interpreting vocational choice primarily as a constrained or compensatory decision. This paper seeks to contribute to this shift by focusing on vocational education as a space of future-making. Drawing on a comparative qualitative study of young people enrolled in vocational education and training (VET) in Norway and career and technical education (CTE) in Wisconsin, USA, the paper examines how narratives of hope, motivation, and agency are constructed within different institutional contexts. While U.S.-based CTE research has increasingly emphasized students’ preferences, perceived utility, and intrinsic value of vocational courses (Altermatt et al., 2025), such perspectives are rarely connected to broader sociological discussions of welfare regimes, institutional trust, and the social organization of opportunity. To bridge this gap, the paper builds explicitly on the concept of opportunity structures as developed by Smeplass and Zirkle (2026). Rather than treating opportunity as a fixed set of external conditions or as individual preference, opportunity structures are understood as institutionally organized and socially experienced horizons that shape how young people imagine possible futures. From this perspective, educational choice is not simply a response to labor market signals or program availability (Jacob & Ricks, 2023), but a narrative process through which young people align present engagement with anticipated futures that feel realistic, meaningful, and attainable. The overarching analytical concern of the paper is how young people in vocational education imagine their future, and how narratives of hope and motivation are shaped by institutional contexts and opportunity structures. More specifically, the paper examines how young people construct narratives around educational choice, practical learning, and early labor market attachment, and how these narratives express forms of agency grounded in institutional security, family experiences, and vocational cultures. By comparing Norway and Wisconsin, the analysis highlights how differing welfare arrangements and governance regimes shape perceptions of risk, reversibility, and future possibility—without reducing these differences to individual calculation or economic rationality alone. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used The paper draws on a comparative qualitative interview study conducted in Norway and Wisconsin, USA, with data collected during 2025–2026. The dataset consists of in-depth interviews with 28 young people enrolled in VET in Norway and CTE in Wisconsin. Participants represent a broad range of vocational fields and are all in the early phase of their vocational education. The methodological approach is explicitly youth-centered, placing young people’s own experiences, interpretations, and future imaginaries at the core of the analysis. Data collection was carried out by researchers with extensive expertise in their respective national contexts. This contextual expertise played a crucial role not only in recruitment and interviewing, but also in the analytical process. Throughout the study, the research team worked collaboratively across contexts, sharing interview transcripts, analytical memos, and emerging interpretations. This iterative back-and-forth enabled the researchers to translate institutional arrangements, educational pathways, and labour market structures across contexts, and to assess how young people’s expressed hopes and expectations relate to the opportunity structures surrounding them. An identical semi-structured interview guide was used in both countries. The guide was designed to elicit open-ended and reflective responses, encouraging participants to articulate normative understandings of education, work, and a good life rather than providing instrumental or predefined answers. Interview topics included educational choice, experiences of vocational learning, identity and belonging, economic considerations, and future plans and aspirations. This design allowed young people to construct narratives that link past experiences, present engagement, and imagined futures. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The analysis followed an abductive approach (Tavory & Timmermans, 2014), moving iteratively between empirical material, emerging analytical patterns, and theoretical concepts. Rather than testing predefined hypotheses, the analysis remained sensitive to surprising or taken-for-granted elements in young people’s accounts, allowing concepts such as hope, agency, and opportunity structures to be refined through engagement with the data. This approach aligns with qualitative traditions that emphasise close, experience-near interpretation as a basis for theoretical development (Smeplass, 2023). Analytically, the study combines thematic and narrative analysis. Interviews were first coded thematically to identify recurring patterns related to motivation, future orientation, and perceptions of risk and opportunity. Narrative analysis was then used to examine how young people constructed coherent stories about their educational trajectories and future possibilities. The comparative dimension is analytical rather than variable-based, focusing on similarities and differences in how futures are imagined within distinct institutional and welfare contexts. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings Preliminary analyses reveal both similarities and differences among young people in the sample. Initially, the study expected clearer contrasts between Norway and Wisconsin, particularly given differences in welfare arrangements, educational governance, and economic security. Instead, the analyses point to a striking degree of similarity in how young people across both contexts narrate their futures. This convergence suggests that these orientations may reflect broader generational patterns in how young people relate to education, work, and the future. Across both contexts, young people tend to distance their educational choices from the uncertainties that dominate adult public discourse, such as geopolitical instability, economic volatility, or technological change. Rather than framing their futures in terms of risk or threat, participants articulate a pronounced future optimism and focus on the immediate and experiential value of vocational education. Vocational pathways are described as meaningful, motivating, and practically oriented, with strong emphasis on hands-on learning, skill development, and early connection to working life. At the same time, important contextual differences remain. Norwegian participants, in particular, express very limited concern about educational costs, debt, or long-term income prospects, reflecting the broader welfare context in which vocational education is embedded. In Wisconsin, economic considerations are more present in young people’s narratives, yet they do not dominate how vocational education is valued or chosen. In both contexts, young people emphasize work that allows them to create, contribute, and make a difference, and vocational education is experienced as a legitimate and respected pathway within their immediate social environments. Taken together, these findings challenge deficit-oriented and risk-focused accounts of vocational education. They invite further exploration of vocational education as a space of hope and future-making and suggest that vocational pathways may be attractive to contemporary youth precisely because they combine realism, flexibility, and meaning in an uncertain world. References Altermatt, E. R., Rorrer, A. K., Barnett, R. M., & Goetz, T. (2025). Understanding interest in career and technical education course-taking: Exploring the impact of students’ perceptions of intrinsic and utility value. Journal of Career and Technical Education, 40(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.21061/jcte.485 Ames, T. (2021). Does career and technical education in high school improve labor market outcomes? Journal of Education and Work, 36(1). Jacob, B. A., & Ricks, J. (2023). Why choose career and technical education? Evidence from U.S. high schools. Jacob, Brian A. and Ricks, Michael, Why Choose Career Technical Education? Disentangling Student Preferences from Program Availability (October 2023). NBER Working Paper No. w31756. https://ssrn.com/abstract=4596056 Ljunggren, J., & Orupabo, J. (2020). Moving beyond: narratives of higher educational aspirations among descendants of immigrants in vocational training. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 41(5), 701–716. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2020.1776593 Reegård, K. (2019). Educational time-out between a rock and a hard place. Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 9(1), 129–143. https://doi.org/10.3384/njvet.2242-458X.1991129 Smeplass, E., & Zirkle, C. (2026). Opportunity structures in vocational education and training. Palgrave MacMillan. Tavory, I., & Timmermans, S. (2014). Abductive analysis: Theorizing qualitative research. University of Chicago Press. Smeplass, E. (2023). Investigating adult learners' experiences from using slow reading as a pedagogical approach. International Journal of Educational Research, 122, 102252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2023.102252 Tønder, A. H., Aspøy, T. M., & Reegård, K. (2015). Å velge et yrke – Intervjuer med elever på Vg1 Helse- og oppvekstfag. Fafo Report. Zahl-Thanem, A., & Blekesaune, A. (2025). Social origin and educational choices: A comparative study of rural and urban students. European Sociological Review, 41(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/00016993241305615 02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Paper Young Refugees‘ Development of Occupational Aspirations 1: Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany; 2: Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg Presenting Author:In Germany, vocational training plays a crucial role in the successful integration of refugees (Jeon, 2019). In the process of career choice, the formation of vocational aspirations is of particular importance (Rojewski, 2005). Adolescents may need to adapt their vocational aspirations to a largely competitive opportunity structure (Tomasik et al., 2009), as they must make their career decisions within the constraints of a segmented and predominantly market-oriented vocational education and training system (Protsch/Solga, 2016). Young refugees additionally face the challenge of developing occupational goals in a new social context, the existing opportunity structures of which are presumably still largely unfamiliar to them (Bergseng et al., 2019). The aim of this study is to examine the development of vocational aspirations among young refugees who migrated to Germany between 2014 and 2017. We define occupational aspirations as an individual’s goals with regard to their future career (Rojewski, 2005). Occupational aspirations are formed already in childhood but remain relatively vague until early adolescence (Gottfredson, 1981). They become more concrete as educational and career decisions draw closer (Heckhausen/Tomasik, 2002), since adolescents increasingly engage with perceived opportunity structures during this phase (Gottfredson, 1981). The developmental process of occupational aspirations is influenced by various factors. Drawing on status attainment approaches (Sewell et al., 1969), we expect that higher parental occupational expectations lead to higher occupational aspirations among young refugees (H1). Furthermore, we expect young refugees in academic school tracks to develop higher occupational aspirations than those in non-academic tracks (H2) (Basler/Kriesi, 2019). In addition, we assume that anticipated discrimination in the training market negatively affects the development of occupational aspirations (H3) (Busse/Winkler, 2024). Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used For the analyses, we use Refugee Cohort 2 (RC2) of the study Refugees in the German Educational System (ReGES) (Will et al., 2021). At the time of sampling (October 2017), the refugee adolescents were between 14 and 16 years old and were still attending lower secondary education at the first measurement point. Our analyses refer to survey waves 1 (2017/2018, T1) and 4 (2019, T2) and include young refugees who were in grades 7 or 8 in wave 1 (n = 1,050). The dependent variable is the respondents’ realistic occupational aspiration (Rojewski, 2005). For the analyses, we use the International Socio-Economic Index of Occupational Status (ISEI) (Ganzeboom, 2010) corresponding to the aspired occupation. We estimate a cross-lagged structural equation model with imputed data (FIML). Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings Our results show that young refugees in grades 7 or 8 (T1) expect to enter occupations with comparatively high ISEI scores (e.g., Basler/Kriesi, 2019 for data on students without a refugee background) (M = 69.9; SD = 20.2). Over the observed period (on average 10 months), they lower their vocational aspirations by an average of 7 ISEI points (Δ = −7.51). The cross-lagged model (χ² = 3.07, df = 3, RMSEA = 0.02; CFI = 0.96) indicates systematic differences in the occupational aspirations of young refugees between the two measurement points. At T1, there is a significant association between perceived parental occupational expectations and the occupational aspirations of refugee students (β = 0.72, p < 0.001). The influence of perceived parental occupational expectations on students’ occupational aspirations decreases between T1 and T2 and is no longer statistically significant (β = 0.11, p = 0.077). We also find evidence for an effect of school track on the initial level of occupational aspirations at T1 (β = 4.00, p < 0.001). By contrast, there is no evidence for an effect of anticipated discrimination in the training market. Our findings highlight the high plasticity and dynamism of occupational aspirations among young refugees. They may suggest that young refugees’ orientations become decoupled from their own perceptions of parental occupational expectations and instead become more strongly aligned with the opportunity structures of the vocational education and training system. School tracks and the associated opportunities for training pathways substantially channel adolescents’ orientations. References Basler, A., & Kriesi, I. (2019). Adolescents' development of occupational aspirations in a tracked and vocation-oriented educational system. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 115, 103330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2019.103330 Bergseng, B., Degler, E., & Lüthi, S. (2019). Getting migrants ready for vocational education and training in Germany. In B. Bergseng, E. Degler, S. Lüthi, B. Bergseng, E. Degler, & S. Lüthi (Hrsg.), OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and Training: Unlocking the Potential of Migrants in Germany OECD. https://doi.org/10.1787/090e6616-en Busse, R., & Winkler, O. (2024). „Soll ich eine Ausbildung machen?“. Entscheidungskalküle für berufl iche Bildung bei geflüchteten Schüler*innen. In J. Scharfenberg, J. Hufnagl, A. Kroner, & M. Spiekenheuer (Hrsg.), Migration und Bildung in der globalisierten Welt - Migration and Education in a Globalised World. Perspektiven, Herausforderungen und Chancen in der Migrationsgesellschaft - Perspectives, Challenges, and Opportunities in the Migration Society (S. 21–33): Waxmann Verlag GmbH. https://doi.org/10.31244/9783830998419_2 Gottfredson, L. S. (1981). Circumscription and compromise: A developmental theory of occupational aspirations. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 28(6), 545–579. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.28.6.545 Heckhausen, J., & Tomasik, M. J. (2002). Get an Apprenticeship before School Is Out: How German Adolescents Adjust Vocational Aspirations When Getting Close to a Developmental Deadline. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 60(2), 199–219. https://doi.org/10.1006/jvbe.2001.1864 Jeon, S. (2019). Unlocking the Potential of Migrants. Cross-country Analysis, OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and Training. Paris: OECD Publishing. Protsch, P., & Solga, H. (2016). The social stratification of the German VET system. Journal of Education and Work, 29(6), 637–661. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2015.1024643 Rojewski, J. W. (2005). Occupational aspirations: constructs, meanings, and application. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Hrsg.), Career development and counseling. Putting theory and research to work (S. 131–154). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sewell, W. H., Haller, A. O., & Portes, A. (1969). The Educational and Early Occupational Attainment Process. American Sociological Review, 34(1), 82–92. https://doi.org/10.2307/2092789 Schels, B., & Abraham, M. (2023). Adaptation to the market? Status differences between target occupations in the application process and realized training occupation of German adolescents. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 75(4), 722–743. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2021.1955403 Tomasik, M. J., Hardy, S., Haase, C. M., & Heckhausen, J. (2009). Adaptive adjustment of vocational aspirations among German youths during the transition from school to work. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 74(1), 38–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2008.10.003 Will, G., Homuth, C., Maurice, J. von, & Roßbach, H.-G. (2021). Integration of Recently Arrived Underage Refugees: Research Potential of the Study ReGES—Refugees in the German Educational System. European Sociological Review, 37(6), 1027–1043. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcab033 02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Paper Exploring Narrative Approaches to Career Guidance in Upper Secondary Education University of Turin, Italy Presenting Author:This paper presents the design and implementation of PNRR OrientaUnito (Ricchiardi & Lattanzi, 2023; Ricchiardi et al. 2023), a large-scale school-based career guidance project developed by the University of Turin in 2022 and implemented in upper secondary schools across the Piedmont region of Italy. The project was conceived in response to growing evidence that adolescents’ capacity to imagine, narrate, and plan their futures is increasingly challenged by economic instability (Deloitte, 2025), rapid transformations of the labor market (Sowa et al., 2025), and pervasive social and environmental uncertainties (Hickman et al., 2021). In such a context, traditional information-oriented guidance approaches, largely focused on educational and occupational choices, may prove insufficient to support young people’s processes of meaning-making, identity development, and self-directed future construction. Grounded in contemporary career development theories that emphasize narrative reflexivity (Savickas et al., 2009) and identity construction as a dynamic and relational process (Guichard, 2009), PNRR OrientaUnito was designed as a comprehensive guidance framework aimed at creating reflective, dialogical, and expressive spaces within school contexts. These spaces are intended to enable students to explore values, aspirations, fears, and representations of both personal and collective futures, integrating cognitive, emotional, and symbolic dimensions of career development. The project is coordinated by a multidisciplinary team of experts in the socio-psycho-pedagogical field responsible for the design, annual experimentation, and iterative redesign of guidance interventions targeting students in the third, fourth, and fifth years of upper secondary education. Within this overarching framework, multiple 15-hour guidance pathways are implemented, differentiated by students’ age, school track (academic, technical, and vocational), intensity and setting of delivery as well as by methodological approach. While some pathways adopt a mixed guidance model combining narrative and informational components, others are explicitly grounded in narrative and expressive methodologies. This paper focuses in particular on two fully narrative-based pathways - Photovoice for career guidance (Smeda, et al., 2014) and Rap for career guidance (McElroy, 2023) - which employ evocative and creative languages to support students in articulating personal meanings related to education, work, and life trajectories. These pathways, aimed only at third year students, use tools such as photography, visual storytelling, and rap music to foster reflexivity and collective dialogue around future imaginaries. To examine the outcomes of these narrative interventions, the paper adopts a mixed approach that integrates quantitative measures of career guidance competencies with qualitative analysis of student-produced materials, including photographs, images, and rap lyrics. The study argues that narrative-based career guidance can play a crucial role in supporting young people’s future planning by addressing not only decision-making skills, but also the emotional, symbolic, and imaginative dimensions of career construction. By combining quantitative and qualitative evidence, the paper contributes to ongoing debates on the role of creative and narrative approaches within school-based guidance systems. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used The study employs a mixed research design combining quantitative assessment and qualitative analysis to evaluate the outcomes of the Photovoice and Rap guidance pathways implemented within the PNRR OrientaUnito project. This methodological choice is consistent with the project’s constructivist and narrative theoretical framework (Patton & McMahon, 2006), which conceptualizes career development as a process involving both measurable competencies and subjective meaning-making. In both guidance pathways, activities were designed to stimulate reflection on future scenarios, personal values, perceived constraints, and aspirations through the use of narrative, visual, and musical tools. Particular attention was given to creating a safe and participatory group climate that could support personal expression and collective reflection. The paper adresses three main research questions: 1) Do guidance interventions have a statistically significant impact on the development of students’ career management (or orientation) competencies? 2) What is the effectiveness (Cohen’s d) of the different pathways, differentiated by tools and methodologies, in developing these competencies? 3) How is the future represented in the analyzed rap songs and images? Quantitative data were collected using a self-assessment scale measuring career guidance competencies, developed by the research team in 2024. The instrument assesses multiple dimensions, including self-knowledge, decision-making, perceived agency, and optimism toward the future. The scale (36 items) was administered before and after participation in the workshops, and descriptive statistics as well as inferential analyses were conducted to examine changes over time and to identify areas of statistically significant improvement. Qualitative data were drawn from materials produced by students during the guidance activities, including photographs, visual compositions, written texts, and rap songs. These materials were analysed thematically (Clarke & Brown, 2016) to identifying recurring patterns in students’ representations of the future, perceived challenges, fears, hopes, and orientations toward education and work. The coding process was iterative, moving from initial open coding to the construction of broader thematic categories that captured shared meanings across groups. The integration of quantitative and qualitative data enabled triangulation of findings and offered a more nuanced understanding of the interventions’ impact. Rather than focusing on long-term outcomes, which were beyond the scope of the present study, the analysis concentrates on immediate changes in students’ perceptions, narratives, and expressive representations related to future planning and career construction. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings The findings discussed in this paper suggest that narrative-based career guidance interventions can make a meaningful contribution to supporting adolescents’ future planning in contexts characterized by uncertainty, instability, and rapid social change. The PNRR OrientaUnito project, and in particular its two fully narrative-based pathways, demonstrates that creating reflective and expressive spaces within school-based guidance can enhance students’ self-awareness, helping them to identify, articulate, and critically reflect on the multiple personal, relational, social, and contextual factors that shape and influence their educational and career decision-making processes. Quantitative results indicate measurable improvements in key career guidance competencies, while qualitative analyses reveal the richness and ambivalence of students’ representations of their futures and of the future more broadly. Students’ creative outputs highlight how fears, anxieties, and hopes coexist, underscoring the need for guidance practices capable of engaging with complexity rather than attempting to neutralize uncertainty through purely informational approaches. From a theoretical perspective, the study provides empirical support for career construction and narrative models that conceptualize guidance as a process of identity development and meaning-making. From a practical standpoint, it emphasizes the value of integrating creative and expressive methodologies in school guidance programs, particularly during critical educational transitions. The paper concludes by arguing that the capacity to imagine and narrate the future should be recognized as a central developmental task in adolescence. Investing in narrative-based guidance interventions can strengthen the educational role of career guidance and contribute to more inclusive, human-centered guidance systems capable of responding to contemporary social and educational challenges. References Clarke, V., & Braun, V. (2016). Thematic analysis. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 12(3), 297–298. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2016.1262613 Deloitte Global. (2025). 2025 Gen Z and Millennial survey. https://www.deloitte.com/content/dam/assets-shared/docs/campaigns/2025/2025-genz-millennial-survey.pdf Guichard, J. (2009). Self-constructing. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75(3), 251–258. Hickman, C., Marks, E., Pihkala, P., Clayton, S., Lewandowski, R. E., Mayall, E. E., & van Susteren, L. (2021). Young people's voices on climate anxiety, government betrayal and moral injury: A global phenomenon. The Lancet Planetary Health, 5(12), e863–e873. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3918955 McElroy, J. (2023). The power of rap in music education: A study of undergraduate students’ original rap creations. British Journal of Music Education, 40(3), 397–407. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265051723000086 Patton, W., & McMahon, M. (2006). The Systems Theory Framework of Career Development and Counseling: Connecting Theory and Practice. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 28(2), 153–166. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10447-005-9010-1 Ricchiardi, P., & Lattanzi, T. (2023). Educational, Vocational and Career Orientation Pathways for High School Students. Form@re - Open Journal Per La Formazione in Rete, 23(2), 209–227. https://doi.org/10.36253/form-14643 Ricchiardi, P., Torre, E., & Lattanzi, T. (2023). Choice Education Pathways: Differential Effectiveness Evaluation. Lifelong Lifewide Learning, Vol 20, N. 43, pp. 246-266. https://doi.org/10.19241/lll.v20i43.803 Savickas, M. L., Nota, L., Rossier, J., Dauwalder, J.-P., Duarte, M. E., Guichard, J., Soresi, S., Van Esbroeck, R., & van Vianen, A. E. M. (2009). Life designing: A paradigm for career construction in the 21st century. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75(3), 239–250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2009.04.004 Smeda, N., Dakich, E., & Sharda, N. (2014). The Effectiveness of Digital Storytelling in the Classrooms: A Comprehensive Study. Smart Learning Environments, 1, Article 6. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-014-0006-3 Sowa, S., Xia, J., Smith, J., & Manches, A. (2025). Supporting children’s career aspirations under changing career conditions: A systematic review of intervention approaches. International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, 25, 23-43. 02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Paper Multiplicity of Mobilities: Researching How Educational Transitions Are Organized During Societal Transformations Stockholm University, Sweden Presenting Author:Transitions in education have been a wide arena for research; from studies on social stratification, life-course research to the political economy of skills regimes. The scholarship on transitions has shown how despite educational systems compelling movements between educational levels in a linear fashion, the modes in which actors navigate these transitory processes are far from straightforward. In VET studies, transitions from education to working life has been a frequent topic (see e.g., Bakker & Akkerman, 2019; Tuomi-Gröhn & Engeström, 2003; Teräs, 2016; Ye, 2020). Through navigating challenging terrains of education while confronting seemingly irrational devices that judge and evaluate learning, actors have showcased problem-solving, moral and critical capacities in embarking on transitions. The aim of this paper is to explore how two different theoretical approaches address the question of transitions in education in general and in vocational education in specific, namely, cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) and the economics and sociology of conventions approach (EC/SC). We marshal empirical material and research experience from two Swedish research studies with mixed methods research design. While an array of approaches have been used in the study of transitions in education, our focus in this paper is on CHAT (e.g., Leont’ev, 1978; Engeström, 2014; Sannino & Engeström, 2018; Teräs, 2017) and the EC/SC approach (e.g., Imdorf & Leemann, 2023; Schneijderberg et al., 2025; Verdier, 2016; Ye, 2024). In CHAT, transitions can be approached from three dimensions. First, transitions can be seen as movements from one stage to the next; second, as change and transformations; third as dialectical relations between the ‘old and new’ (Teräs, 2012). For example, when a vocational student is moving into a workplace learning period, this is a movement between two organisations – a school and a workplace, but at the same time there is a change and transformation from a student to a workplace trainee. Furthermore, there is a dialectical relationship between the school and the workplace, which is a dynamic interaction between them and transformation can occur through contradictions or conflicts. These three dimensions of transitions can promote expansive learning (Engeström, 2014). Another emerging research approach in educational research is the Economics and Sociology of Conventions (EC/SC). EC/SC is an interdisciplinary, and international movement that has generated analytical approaches for studying processes and challenges in education (Schneijderberg et al., 2025). EC/SC has in recent years been mobilised in research on the persistence of educational inequalities, the organising of education, the conventions of vocational education and training, as well as shining a torch on educational transitions (Zehnder & Gonon, 2017; Verdier 2016; Esposito, 2025; Ye & Nylander, 2025). As proposed by Schneijderberg et al., (2025, p. 32), this approach advances the study of how educational inequality persists during key transition points, by examining the complex dynamics between actors, career trajectories, institutional barriers, and the broader legal and social landscape. When we put CHAT and EC/SC in conversation with each other, we notice similarities and distinctions. Both approaches are theories of action / activity, where the situation or activity system serve as the units of analysis. Researchers working with these approaches shun methodological individualism, and rather, take interest in collectivity, complexity and uncertainty, critical moments where learning takes place. At the same time, the two approaches have distinct features: EC/SC recognises the plurality of conventions as a starting point for actions or non-action, and adopts both inductive and deductive approaches in data analyses. CHAT, on the other hand, focuses on object-oriented and motive-driven activities and expansive learning actions of the subjects in an abducitve analysis.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used Our paper draws on theoretical and empirical work from two ongoing research projects: Places and Boundaries: Migrant Children’s Educational Transitions in Sweden (henceforth, PLACES) and Coordination & valuation of short-cycle accelerated training for the green transition (henceforth, CYCLE). PLACES sets out to generate long-standing knowledge about how educational transitions are shaped by boundaries and places for first-generation migrant children and youth. The six-year research programme seeks to address several research questions including: what are the patterns and thresholds of educational transitions for first-generation migrant children and youth in different places? How do structural, social and symbolic boundaries shape transitions? The second project, CYCLE, examines the coordination and valuation of short-cycle education and training to deal with “skills shortages” in the labour market and against the backdrop of Sweden’s “green transition”. While the green transition is broadly conceived as a form of sustainability, or socio-technical, transition, that is complex and long-term, comprising multiple actors (Geels, 2011), education-to-work transitions involve acquiring and performing knowledge and skills; learning shaped by pedagogical practices that train, evaluate, and support individuals as they embark on new roles and positions (Walther et al., 2022). Both projects are based on a mixed-methods research design that involves combining interpretative qualitative research with quantitative population-level register data analyses and that takes the geographical variation and the differences in the organization of education across Sweden as a crucial starting point for data collection and analyses. Together, PLACES and CYCLE offer us valuable information and experience around the doing of transitions research in Sweden, dealing with two central societal transformative processes – migration and climate change – and how they manifest themselves in the lives of actors in compulsory, upper secondary and post-secondary educational levels. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings The complexity of societal transformations, brought about by potent processes and phenomena like migration and climate change, demand from us novel approaches for exploring how actors (students, families, educators, organisers of education, to decision makers) navigate uncertain and difficult learning and educational situations. At the core of our aim in this paper is formulating research techniques around studying the multiplicity of mobilities in educational transitions, particularly involving vocational education and training. What are the possibilities and limitations for examining simultaneous transitions: educational transitions at the individual level and societal transitions at the collective level? Furthermore, what does plurality and multiplicities in conventions and dynamics of learning processes mean for the work of researchers, and consequently, for policy and practice, in the organization of education? In this paper, we set out to test the prospects of combining CHAT and EC/SC as a discovery process of theorising in the remit of researching educational transitions. Combining these two theoretical approaches enhances our understanding of complexity of transitions at different levels. How individuals face transitions in their life-history, how organisations like schools or workplaces react to challenges of their students’ transitions and how, on the societal and global level, actors navigate through demanding situations of our time. 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