Within the Swedish context, this paper sets out to describe and analyse the declining interest in work and education linked to Industrial Technology. This is made through the narratives of different agents connected to Industrial Technology. Thus, a narrative approach is adopted, supported by vocational knowing and pride as analytical concepts. The results reveal that the narratives connected to the Industrial Technology are quite paradoxical, starting with negative accounts turning into quite positive ones. On one hand, industrial work is described as easy, requiring little knowledge, and as being dirty. On the other hand, industrial education and work are described as filled with opportunities for individuals as well as for society and complex vocational knowing of which the workers and students are rightfully proud. This implies that vocational knowing and pride are shadowed by the negative narratives, which may affect the public interest in industrial work and education.

The aim of this thesis was to understand the validation of vocational knowledge prior to entry into vocational teacher education in Sweden. From this aim the following research questions were developed: What ideas about the organisation of validation stand out in the policy and practice of validation? What conceptions and understandings of vocational knowledge is the organisation of validation built on and what do they entail? Who has the agency to describe and decide upon vocational knowledge in the policy and practice of validation? What institutional arrangements appear in the practice of validation? To conduct the studies a multimethod approach was adopted, combining policy analysis and interviews. For theoretical support, new institutional theories were used and also theories of knowledge. The results revealed that validation have transformed vocational knowledge to fit a frame similar to formal education. It appears as if validation is more of a social and economic project than one of accounting for vocational knowledge and pride. Cultural/cognitive matters that are taken for granted when considering vocational knowledge differ quite significantly between agents involved in validation. Validation of vocational knowledge exhibits a conceptual confusion having different conceptions of knowledge simultaneously at play. In the complexity of ideas of how to organise validation and different knowledge conceptions, institutional arrangements appear to be based on a sense of belonging, either to academia or to the trade. The agency of those with vocational knowledge is limited in several ways within validation.

The Swedish school education in geography has developed slowly and still focuses on names of, for example, countries and capitals, rather than geographical concepts and processes. To implement the secondary and upper secondary school curricula, teachers need both broad and deep geographical knowledge. For example, teachers need knowledge of geographic information systems (GIS), which are computerised information systems for analysis and presentation of geographical data. This literature-based discussion article aims to analyse opportunities and difficulties with using GIS programs in the teacher and school education. In summary, the preconditions are good, with few technical barriers, for developing GIS-based teaching in the teacher and school education that promotes active, inquiry-based, cooperative, and problem-based learning. This would make the school education more problem-oriented and interdisciplinary so that it promotes pupils’ opportunities to achieve the competencies stipulated in the curricula. Such development requires that teacher educators and school teachers get the time and resources needed to develop technological pedagogical content knowledge. However, it is probably enough for educators and teachers to get started with simpler internet- and web-based GIS and then develop their knowledge at an appropriate pace.

The aim of this thesis was to understand the validation of vocational knowledge prior to entry into vocational teacher education in Sweden with regard to conceptions and understandings of vocational knowledge, and also to understand how institutional conditions, such as ideas of how to organise validation, influence the content and form of the validation practice. From this aim the following research questions were developed: What ideas about the organisation of validation stand out in the policy and practice of validation? What conceptions and understandings of vocational knowledge is the organisation of validation built on and what do they entail? Who has the agency to describe and decide upon vocational knowledge in the policy and practice of validation? What institutional arrangements appear in the practice of validation?

To conduct the studies in the thesis a multimethods approach was adopted, combining policy analysis and interviews. For theoretical support, new institutional theories were used and also theories of knowledge. The results revealed that the regulative elements of validation have transformed vocational knowledge to fit a frame similar to formal education. In terms of norms and values, it appears as if validation is more of a social and economic project than one of accounting for vocational knowledge and vocational pride. Cultural/cognitive matters that are taken for granted when considering vocational knowledge differ quite significantly between agents involved in validation. Validation of vocational knowledge exhibits a conceptual confusion having different conceptions of knowledge simultaneously at play. This confusion blurs the boundaries between concepts of knowledge, learning, and the learning context. In the complexity of ideas of how to organise validation and different knowledge conceptions, institutional arrangements appear to be based on a sense of belonging, either to academia or to the trade. The agency of those with vocational knowledge is limited in several ways within validation.

This article is derived from analysis of observations and an interview with, Anita, a nursing aide, who was followed in her work in a semi-emergency unit in Sweden. Based on an analysis of this information, it is suggested that the process of going from school to a workplace can be viewed as a transition between different mathematical activities, which involve and require learning. Although it is easy to see transitions occurring between different contexts, they may also occur within the boundaries of a workplace and be connected to critical moments in the execution of work tasks. Adopting a social critical perspective, this article initiates a discussion about the transitions between potentially mathematical activities in work and how the values given to these different activities can be understood. It is further suggested there is difficulty in recognizing some activities in work, because, often, they are over-shadowed by other competences and components needed in work, such as caring.

Ce document vise à discuter des mathématiques dans les processus de travail implicites et explicites et comment ce travail pourrait être lié aux mathématiques scolaires. Cette ré exion fait partie d'une discussion plus large sur les mathématiques et leur place dans la société. Les données ont été recueillies dans une société de transport routier. Il apparaît que des ajustements des processus de travail implicites aux processus de travail explicites sont faits donnant lieu à des recherches de solutions créatives, dans des situations parfois très critiques. Identi er des expériences fondées sur la pratique des mathématiques est di cile à percevoir, car il y a un caractère insaisissable, et il y a une nécessité de mener une enquête minutieuse. Dans le processus de travail explicite, les caractéristiques mathématiques sont, par dé nition, plus évidentes. En essayant de comprendre comment faire usage de ces résultats dans les programmes de mathématiques pour les élèves en formation professionnelle, non seulement les processus de travail explicites, mais aussi les processus implicites doivent être pris en compte. Par conséquent, avant la contextualisation de tâches dans les écoles, il est nécessaire de mieux comprendre la relation entre les mathématiques dans les processus de travail explicites et des compétences implicites dans le milieu du travail.

This paper sets out to discuss the mathematics in the implicit and explicit work processes and how it might be related to school mathematics. This is part of a wider discussion about the mathematics that is valued in society. Data was gathered in a road-carrier company. It seems that in the implicit work process adjustments to the explicit work process are made when  nding creative solutions, sometimes in very critical situations. Identifying practice-based experience about mathematics is di cult to detect, as it has an elusive character, and so needs careful investigation. In the explicit work process, the mathematical features are, by de nition, more obvious. In trying to understand how to make use of these  ndings in mathematics curricula for vocational students, not only the explicit but also the implicit work processes need to be taken into account. Consequently before contextualising tasks in schools, there is a need to better understand the relationship between the mathematics in the explicit work processes and implicit workplace competences.