The paper deals with the concept of 'Critical Literacy' in the context of VET teacher education. It focuses on the question of whether and how critical literacy can be developed drawing on elements of discourse research. This is illustrated by means of a higher educational setting, dealing with business administration textbook usage and research. The impact of our learning and teaching setting is illustrated via an empirical longitudinal study (three-phase pre-post design) of students doing a master's degree in business education at an Austrian university. Data were initially collected directly before and after the university seminar using a semi-standardised questionnaire (n = 54). In order to obtain an insight into the sustainable impact of our discourse analysis course on students' thought and actions, in the third phase of data collection, eight participants, who in the meantime had four months experience in VET schools as student teachers (120 h) were invited to a qualitative interview. The paper encompasses a theoretical discussion on the concept of critical literacy, applies it to the target group VET teacher students and shows empirical evidence on pros and cons of discourse analytical course design aiming at the critical literate teacher.

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Following on from the already wide-ranging academic discussion about fostering critical thinking in students as an important component of a university’s educational mission, this paper takes a particular look at didactic principles for fostering this critical thinking. We begin with a reception of Abrami et al.’s (2015) comprehensive meta-study of higher education interventions that are successful in promoting critical thinking. It becomes apparent that an understanding of criticism, which we refer to as “conventional” has been used throughout. However, there are alternative designs of an understanding of critique and critical thinking. We therefore subsequently explain an understanding of critique that is oriented toward poststructuralist thought and is referred to as “deconstructive”. Didactic principles that can be called “heterodox” are presented, which are suitable to promote a critical thinking ability in the light of the poststructuralist-inspired concept of critique. These principles are not only theoretically negotiated, but also vividly explained by means of a concrete intervention in university teaching. The article concludes with reflections on the connection of “conventional” and “heterodox” didactic principles for the promotion of critical thinking and gives impulses for the further development of university teaching-learning arrangements.

Business internships in the context of Austrian colleges for higher vocational education (upper secondary level, ISCED 4a/5) are well established and linked to the curriculum. However, not much is known about the interns' learning contents and processes within such working-learning arrangements, particularly from the interns' perspectives. Therefore, in the PEARL project, learning in internships is investigated in a very specific way. The interns are involved as junior researchers playing an active role in collecting and interpreting data. They actafter some preparation by a researcher team at Innsbruck Universitylike auto-ethnographic researchers in their own internship and are interviewed afterwards. The qualitative study shows a variety of facets in the 'learning space business internship'. In this context, attention is also directed to a phenomenon which is described as 'opening the learning space'. The article ends with an 'opening tableau' showing the different tasks of schools, companies and the individual learners in this regard.

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