A curriculum tailored for workers? Knowledge organization and possible transitions in Swedish VET

Nylund, Mattias; Rosvall, Per‐Åke

doi:10.1080/00220272.2016.1138325

Cited by 43 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…In Sweden higher education preparatory programmes tend to have higher entry requirements than VET programmes, which contributes to greater heterogeneity in the latter (Nylund and Rosvall, 2016;Nylund et al, 2017). The pattern is broadly similar in Iceland, as upper secondary schools use grades from compulsory school to determine entry and the most popular, and therefore selective, schools are grammar schools that do not offer any VET (Directorate of Education, 2016;Eiriksdottir, Ragnarsdottir, and Jonasson, in press).…”

Section: Student Diversity In Vet Upper Secondary Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The hope was that reducing differentiation between educational pathways and delaying the onset of divergence would, in sociological terms, increase young people's agency and the range of transitions available to students from all social groups. A specific illustration of this was the inclusion of more teaching hours to cover general subjects within VET programmes (Nylund and Rosvall, 2016). In Iceland, the overall national education policy emphasises inclusion at all school levels.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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VET Teachers’ Interpretations of Individualisation and Teaching of Skills and Social Order in two Nordic Countries

Eiríksdóttir

Rosvall

2019

European Educational Research Journal

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The age at which young people leave education for the labour market has increased in recent decades, and entering upper secondary education has become the norm. As a result, the diversity of the student population has increased, for instance in terms of students' academic merits and achievements at school. Increased diversity seems to affect vocational education and training more than tracks preparing students for higher education, since entry into VET programmes is rarely selective. In this article we analyse a series of interviews with VET teachers regarding VET practices in upper secondary schools in Sweden and Iceland. We examine how policy plays out in practice in VET by looking at how VET teachers navigate the sometimes conflicting educational goals of employability and civic engagement, while simultaneously teaching a highly diverse group of students. In both countries, pedagogic practices are dominated by individualisation with a focus on task-related skills. Those practices are important in VET, but can exclude broader understandings of civil and workplace life, since general knowledge about areas such as ethics, democracy, equality, and environmental issues is difficult to obtain if education gives students few opportunities to interact with others, such as through group work or classroom discussions.

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Section: Student Diversity In Vet Upper Secondary Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

VET Teachers’ Interpretations of Individualisation and Teaching of Skills and Social Order in two Nordic Countries

Eiríksdóttir

Rosvall

2019

European Educational Research Journal

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“…The numbers vary greatly according to the vocational programme, but, in general, the number of students in the first post-reform cohort who continued on to higher education immediately after finishing their vocational programmes was approximately 30% lower than before (Nylund & Rosvall, 2016). The reform has also polarised the gender differences between vocational programmes.…”

Section: Contemporary Policy and Curriculum Trends: A Growing Dividementioning

confidence: 99%

“…One is in a formal difference: students in vocational programmes in Iceland and Sweden are not automatically eligible to enter institutions of higher education, and few students from Finnish vocational programmes later enrol in research universities (Lundahl et al, 2010; Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, n.d.; University of Iceland, 2016). Another manifestation is the general contextualisation of content through which students are directed towards specific vocational contexts and vocational higher education (Haltia, Jauhianen, & IsopahkalaBouret, 2017;Nylund & Rosvall, 2016); thus, it is likely that vocational students are not as well prepared for higher education as their academic counterparts.…”

Section: Contemporary Policy and Curriculum Trends: A Growing Dividementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The social class division is particularly evident when comparing academic and vocational programmes, while the gender division is more apparent among various vocational programmes. These divisions play a crucial role in the process of social reproduction in that they provide access to different types of knowledge (Nylund & Rosvall, 2016), identities (Dovemark & Holm, 2017;Rehn & Eliasson, 2015) and thus life opportunities (cf. Kap, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The academic–vocational divide in three Nordic countries: implications for social class and gender

et al. 2018

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In this study we examine how the academic-vocational divide is manifested today in Finland, Iceland and Sweden in the division between vocationally (VET) and academicallyoriented programmes at the upper-secondary school level. The paper is based on a critical re-analysis of results from previous studies; in it we investigate the implications of this divide for class and gender inequalities. The theoretical lens used for the synthesis is based on Bernstein´s theory of pedagogic codes. In the re-analysis we draw on previous studies of policy, curriculum and educational praxis as well as official statistics. The main conclusions are that contemporary policy and curriculum trends in all three countries are dominated by a neo-liberal discourse stressing principles such as "market relevance" and employability. This trend strengthens the academic-vocational divide, mainly through an organisation of knowledge in VET that separates it from more general and theoretical elements. This trend also seems to affect VET students' transitions in terms of reduced access to higher education, particularly in male-dominated programmes. We also identify low expectations for VET students, manifested through choice of textbooks and tasks, organisation of teacher teams and the advice of career counsellors.

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Ability as legitimation of tracking: Teachers' representations of students in vocational and academic tracks

Tarabini

Curran

Castejón

2022

British Educational Res J

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The division of educational systems into different tracks-academic and vocational-represents one of the key elements in explaining social stratification and inequalities. Previous research identifies teachers' expectations as a critical factor to understand the relationship between tracking and social inequality. This paper discusses how ability is represented in teachers' discourses and whether and to what extent it works as a legitimation of systemic forms of tracking. Using in-depth interviews with 35 secondary school tutors, we analyse how teachers draw on the concept of ability to explain students' unequal transitions from a lower comprehensive to an upper tracked education system in Barcelona (Spain). The results indicate three main elements: a highly naturalistic conception of students' abilities among teachers; a remarkably dichotomised conception of theoretical and practical abilities that match with the academic and vocational tracks; and a direct association between types of student and types of track based on different types of ability at a cognitive, behavioural and personal level. Overall, the analysis contributes to opening the 'black box' of the notion of ability as

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A curriculum tailored for workers? Knowledge organization and possible transitions in Swedish VET

Cited by 43 publications

References 29 publications

VET Teachers’ Interpretations of Individualisation and Teaching of Skills and Social Order in two Nordic Countries

VET Teachers’ Interpretations of Individualisation and Teaching of Skills and Social Order in two Nordic Countries

The academic–vocational divide in three Nordic countries: implications for social class and gender

Ability as legitimation of tracking: Teachers' representations of students in vocational and academic tracks

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