Tracing the moving ‘target’ in Didaktik of vocational classroom instruction

Abstract

Reconciling broad educational goals of job-readiness with specific work task-related qualifications or competences poses challenges for vocational teachers. To assist efforts to address these challenges, this article explores knowledge practices of project-based vocational instruction in Swedish upper secondary vocational education and training, particularly how the teacher´s intentionality (expressed through choice of a target) responds to needs to develop integrative knowledge. Two specific research questions are addressed, using a conceptual framework incorporating Didaktik and Legitimation Code Theory. First, how do vocational teachers in this setting repurpose vocational knowledge during project work? Second, what educational goals do they target during project work? Secondary analysis of participant observation data indicates that fragmentation of occupation-specific knowledge into disparate work processes and work products resulted in a split target. Pursuing the split target, observed teachers enacted knowledge practices centred on student accountability for generic but highly restricted work processes. For example, the tangible task Devising a safety and security plan was recast as the more intangible task of social collaboration in group work. Targeting collaboration appeared to provide limited integrative knowledge-building opportunities, raising concern that qualifications-based curricula may offer insufficient structure for vocational teachers to plan their instruction accordingly, at least in the observed setting.

Investigation study of integrated vocational guidance on work readiness of mechanical engineering vocational school students

“…Teachers' competence and attitudes toward vocational instruction (guidance) are critical to the success of vocational programs, which have been implemented in secondary schools to help students see the relevance of education to work [ 23 ]. Another thing that needs to be investigated is the teacher's intentionality in didactics, such as the choice of focus material (target), the meaning of specific jobs/tasks in teaching in the delivery of results-based curriculum that students need to develop integrative knowledge [ 23 , 24 ].…”

Impact of Higher Vocational Education and Training on the Development of Novice Teachers’ Skills: An Empirical Analysis

“…As a vital component of vocational education, the teaching and learning situations resulting from faculty and student interaction are crucial elements through which novice teachers can acquire practical knowledge. Through such interaction, novice teachers are expected to develop the analytical and practical skills needed to pursue their profession (Johansson, 2020;Kilbrink & Asplund, 2020). In vocational education, it is important to note that a greater part of the learning processes that occur during interactions between a teacher and a novice teacher that pertain to a speci c vocational learning content also involves the handling of physical objects, such as hand tools and machines.…”

“…There are quite a few differences between vocational education in Sweden and other countries. One of the main differences is that vocational education in Sweden is mainly school-based, and the teachers are primarily responsible for the student's vocational development rather than their workplace mentors (Johansson, 2020).…”

Practical subjects in the vocational curriculum: A critical review of the literature

“…Because the focus of the critical review is on the knowledge forms that are evident in curricula and pedagogies in practical vocational subjects, we conceptually framed the critical review with Legitimation Code Theory (LCT), a social realist framework that has been widely used to study the knowledge base of different types and levels of educational provision (Maton, 2014), including vocational education (e.g., Johansson, 2020). LCT is multi-dimensional in offering a variety of concepts and tools to analyse practices.…”