Search Results for
"Vocational education"

When trainers or teachers in the field of initial vocational education explain abstract notions, refer to technical objects or emphasize the specificities of technical skills, they often call forth concepts and practices different from those that are directly salient in the training situations in which they engage. The aim of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the empirical realities associated with such phenomena by promoting a discursive and interactional approach of what we propose to term "analogical discourse". Considering that analogies are performed and shared trough language and speech, we propose that concepts and methodological tools borrowed from the field of linguistics can be profitably applied to the analysis of analogical discourse. Not only can they reveal the dynamic and collective nature of analogies as they are performed, disseminated and sometimes negotiated amongst participants, but they can also help reflect about the complexities of vocational learning as it takes place in specific material, practical and socio-cultural environments. From that standpoint, the paper proposes to see analogies not only as related to conceptual development and cognitive dimensions of learning, but as a substantial contribution to the social, cultural and relational dimensions of it. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to help schools for vocational education determine teachers' continuing professional development needs associated with implementing competence-based education programs, so that these schools can develop better attuned HR policies. It investigates which elements from the cognitive apprenticeship model and from the acquisition and participation metaphors can be identified in the individual action theories of their teachers. Design/methodology/approach: A case study was conducted in one school for vocational education, where 12 teachers engaged in an innovation project around the development of a new competence-based education program for pupils. They participated in concept mapping, cued interviews (based on video recordings), semi-structured interviews, and a joint feedback session. These four sources were used for an in-depth content analysis of teachers' action theories. Findings: No distinctive, crystallized action theories about competence-based vocational education emerged at the individual teacher level; let alone individual teachers' action theories well in line with the two normative frameworks on competence-based education. The case study shows the struggle that individual teachers are going through to get their every-day teaching repertoire more in line with new ideas on competence-based education. Research limitations/implications: Only qualitative data are gathered, in one school, representing one school type, in one country only, limiting the statistical generalizability of the results. Not all respondents are able to participate in all four data sources. Practical implications: Schools should develop HR policies that offer teachers CPD activities in the crucial area of competence-based education; the frameworks presented in the study can be used to this end, by teacher educators as well as by HRD professionals interested in combining training programs with informal employee learning. Originality/value: The study draws on literature from various disciplines (especially educational psychology and HRD), which traditionally have remained mostly separate. It combines insights from four separate data sources. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

This paper presents research findings on practitioners working with young people on Entry to Employment (E2E) programmes in the north of England. E2E continues a long tradition of work-related learning for unemployed school leavers for whom other forms of education or training are deemed unsuitable, and is part of the UK government's strategy for reducing the numbers of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET). The paper explores the biographies of tutors and their routes into E2E teaching. It also discusses the training and development they have experienced, in the light of the expansive-restrictive continuum of workforce development introduced by Fuller and Unwin. By analysing the dispositions, interpretations and actions of practitioners and relating them to wider policy discourses, the paper also examines the learning culture of E2E. It argues that, although they demonstrate significant levels of care, enthusiasm and teaching ability, practitioners operate within a largely restrictive approach to workforce development and learning. The paper concludes that both practitioners and learners would benefit from a re-evaluation of the material and discursive relations under which E2E operates. © 2010 The vocational Aspect of education Ltd.