Teachers within the Building and Construction programme, and the balancing between training for critical thinking and employability

It is not always acknowledged that Vocational Education and Training (VET) is a very diverse area. Different vocational tracks are different from each other. In this article it is also assumed that identities are of importance for vocational didactic positions and actions. Therefore, the aim is to contribute with knowledge about vocational teachers in the building and construction programme, their perceptions of how VET is viewed, the importance of vocational teacher training, and their own vocational identities linked to didactic positions regarding employability and critical thinking. Qualitative interviews were conducted with vocational teachers within the building and construction programme. The theoretical frame is based on the sociology of Bourdieu, and the concepts of capitals and habitus. Thus, a sociological view on identity is adopted. Therefore, vocational identities are here construed as habitus with a particular focus on vocational habitus. The results point towards the significance of paying attention not only to vocational identities or vocational habitus but also what vocational background it originates from. Furthermore, the results show that identities vocational teachers take on are dependent on time and locality. These flexible identities should be considered as an asset, a solid foundation for critical thinking. 

Vocational education and training (VET) suffers from declining interest and is often perceived as non-attractive. This view may deprive young people of a potentially rewarding and satisfying career. There are also a variety of challenges in vocational didactics and in the cooperation between education systems and trades. In this article, it is argued that one reason for this is epistemological and that there is a lack of a proper recognition of vocational expertise. Thus, the aim is to contribute to an exploration of vocational expertise and its connection to knowledge, a vocation, agency and discuss how this becomes relevant for VET. The empirical material consists of earlier video-recorded workplace studies which are revisited and reanalysed. Here importance is given to tacit knowledge and practical wisdom. The analysis is underpinned by knowledge and practice theories, and it is concluded that vocational expertise could be defined as a specific kind of knowing that is cultivated through the acquaintance with a vocational practice in which the expert has the agency. This conclusion is supported by a conceptualisation of a vocation as a practice of social, cultural, and historical value for its practitioners as well as for the society. In other words, agency is a given and needs to be embedded and recognised in expertise. Finally, there is a discussion of possible implications for VET.

Denna rapport bygger på ett samverkans- och forskningsprojektmellan Byggbranschens yrkesnämnd och Malmö universitet,finansierat av Riksbankens jubileumsfond. I rapporten presenterasbakgrunden till projektet, dess olika delstudier och resultat men ocksåvägar framåt för förbättrad syn på yrkeskunnande och ökad attraktiviteti bygg-och anläggningsprogrammet.

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Interest in Vocational Education and Training has declined in Sweden since the 1980s. Today the figure is around 30%, and among the lowest in the European Union. The decrease is particularly significant in male-dominated programs such as the Building and Construction Programme (BCP), with huge local variations in the country's municipalities. Against this background this pilot study aims describing and understanding how and why the attractiveness of the BCP varies between municipalities in cities and in the countryside. The study uses mixed methods: Quantitative methods contribute to a background description, and qualitative methods (interviews) are used to deepen the understanding. The analysis is supported by institutional theories in relation to the BPC’s regulation, the norms that surround it, and by local interpretations. It is clearly more attractive with the BCP in the countryside. Furthermore, there seem to be different norms regarding the program in cities compared rural municipalities.

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.