Abstract: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… Show more
“…Considering this development, the CDLE is very welcome and necessary in Finnish vocational education. On the other hand, vocational education institutes get more funding if their students continue their studies in higher education, and, as noted, the traditionally more lucrative path from vocational schools is to universities of applied sciences (5).…”
Section: Conclusion and Future Plansmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The typically more desired path from these general upper secondary schools is to scientific universities. On the other hand, only 3% of vocational school students continue to scientific universities (5). As a result, participation among vocational students has been far more active in the CDLE.…”
Finland, the country famed for its education, is seeing a decreasing trend in higher education. The number of students who proceed to higher education has developed a downward trend during the last few years. Also, the length of studies in higher education is longer than in other European countries. The Ministry of the Education and Culture has challenged universities of applied sciences to develop innovative ways to shorten the overall study time. At the same time, many students starting their higher educational studies are older than in other European countries.The aim of this study is to describe a development project between Laurea University of Applied Sciences and several vocational secondary schools and general upper secondary schools in Finland's metropolitan area. We have co-created a common digital learning environment which is conceived as an ecosystem -a learning environment consisting of learning tools and components that adhere to common learning goals. In the system, secondary school students have the option of taking some studies from Laurea. This gives them a head start in their future university level studies and helps to bridge the transition.The developed "common digital learning environment" (CDLE) is an ecosystem more focused on learning rather than administration. The purpose of the CDLE has been to shorten overall study time and to give vocational students an option to try higher education studies as a part of their vocational educational studies or studies at upper secondary. The CDLE model has shown that it is possible to integrate higher educational studies with secondary level studies.This article discusses ways of integrating studies between educational levels via a digital learning ecosystem. In this article, we will present a concrete model of the CDLE. This model is ecological, economical, reachable and student centred. The findings of the project are promising. So far, we have opened the CDLE for almost all of Laurea's bachelor programs.In the future we aim to make the CDLE available for master's level programs as well. We conclude that there are different ways to shorten study times, intensify studies between levels of degrees and to give a chance to try higher educational studies using digital learning opportunities, such as the common digital learning environment CDLE.
“…Considering this development, the CDLE is very welcome and necessary in Finnish vocational education. On the other hand, vocational education institutes get more funding if their students continue their studies in higher education, and, as noted, the traditionally more lucrative path from vocational schools is to universities of applied sciences (5).…”
Section: Conclusion and Future Plansmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The typically more desired path from these general upper secondary schools is to scientific universities. On the other hand, only 3% of vocational school students continue to scientific universities (5). As a result, participation among vocational students has been far more active in the CDLE.…”
Finland, the country famed for its education, is seeing a decreasing trend in higher education. The number of students who proceed to higher education has developed a downward trend during the last few years. Also, the length of studies in higher education is longer than in other European countries. The Ministry of the Education and Culture has challenged universities of applied sciences to develop innovative ways to shorten the overall study time. At the same time, many students starting their higher educational studies are older than in other European countries.The aim of this study is to describe a development project between Laurea University of Applied Sciences and several vocational secondary schools and general upper secondary schools in Finland's metropolitan area. We have co-created a common digital learning environment which is conceived as an ecosystem -a learning environment consisting of learning tools and components that adhere to common learning goals. In the system, secondary school students have the option of taking some studies from Laurea. This gives them a head start in their future university level studies and helps to bridge the transition.The developed "common digital learning environment" (CDLE) is an ecosystem more focused on learning rather than administration. The purpose of the CDLE has been to shorten overall study time and to give vocational students an option to try higher education studies as a part of their vocational educational studies or studies at upper secondary. The CDLE model has shown that it is possible to integrate higher educational studies with secondary level studies.This article discusses ways of integrating studies between educational levels via a digital learning ecosystem. In this article, we will present a concrete model of the CDLE. This model is ecological, economical, reachable and student centred. The findings of the project are promising. So far, we have opened the CDLE for almost all of Laurea's bachelor programs.In the future we aim to make the CDLE available for master's level programs as well. We conclude that there are different ways to shorten study times, intensify studies between levels of degrees and to give a chance to try higher educational studies using digital learning opportunities, such as the common digital learning environment CDLE.
“…She suggests that being less context‐bound and more widely applicable, vertically structured knowledge is potentially powerful knowledge that enables one to “challenge the social distribution of power” (p. 639). Or, as Nylund et al (2018, p. 792) formulate this, vertical knowledge discourses constitute “the means by which society conducts its conversations about itself, both in terms of what it is and what it should be”. Access to it is, consequently, important for enabling one to partake in shaping one's future.…”
Section: Gender‐based and Class‐based Critiques Of Engineering Educationmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Bernstein's distinction between vertical and horizontal discourse in discussing the social‐class dimensions of the curriculum is of particular relevance for the present article. Nylund et al (2018) have described the distinction as follows:When knowledge is classified in relation to disciplinary systems of meaning – that is, as more theoretical, abstract and conceptual – it has a vertical character. If, instead, knowledge is classified in relation to local contexts or “everyday experiences”, then knowledge has a horizontal character.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Nylund et al (2018) map this distinction onto the separation between academic and vocational programs in upper‐secondary schools and argue that it can be detrimental for working‐class students at vocational programs to be deprived of access to powerful, vertically organized knowledge.…”
A diverse body of feminist scholarship has addressed the masculine orientation of Western engineering education for at least four decades. Among critiques specifically targeting curriculum, a recurrent line of argumentation highlights its reductionist framing and narrow focus on mathematics and technology. The argument is that these traits represent a masculine orientation and that women would gain from a curriculum more oriented towards the context and applicability of technical knowledge. Simultaneously, researchers working in a Bernsteinian, social realist, educational tradition have suggested that, from a social-class perspective, it is important to provide all students with access to theoretical, abstract and context-independent knowledge. This article explores the resultant, theoretical tension between these two positions. Our empirical starting point is a recently completed ethnographic study of a male-dominated bachelor's degree engineering program in Sweden. This program's curriculum repeatedly emphasizes the value of experiential and contextually rooted knowledge over contextless and mathematically modeled knowledge. Borrowing Bernstein's terminology, we argue that such emphasis represents a privileging of horizontal discourse over vertical and that, as such, said curriculum potentially deprives the male, working-class students of access to powerful knowledge. We further ---This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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