Students' personal professional theories in competence‐based vocational education: the construction of personal knowledge through internalisation and socialisation (original) (raw)
Related papers
This contribution to the symposium on Michael Young’s article ‘Overcoming the crisis in curriculum theory: a knowledge based approach’, supports his contention that curriculum theory has lost sight of its object – ‘what is taught and learned in schools’, and argues that this has particularly deleterious consequences for vocational education and training (VET). VET is unproblematically positioned as applied, experiential and work-focused learning and it is seen as a solution for those who are alienated from or unsuccessful in more traditional forms of academic education. This paper argues that rather than being a mechanism for social inclusion, VET is instead a key way in which social inequality is mediated and reproduced because it excludes students from accessing the theoretical knowledge they need to participate in debates and controversies in society and in their occupational field of practice. It presents a social realist analysis to argue why VET students need access to theoretical knowledge, how a focus on experiential and applied learning constitutes a mechanism for social exclusion, and what a ‘knowledge rich’ VET curriculum would look like.
Students' vocational knowledge can be defined as all knowledge students require performing within occupational practice. In the context of vocational education and training, students' vocational knowledge is often discussed from a perspective of either what should be taught and learned in schools or different kinds of knowledge students should gain in occupational practice. Much less focus is on students' vocational knowledge itself. This exploratory in-depth study aims to describe what characterises students' vocational knowledge. To explore students' vocational knowledge, an analytic framework is used to describe vocational knowledge characteristics specifying: (1) occupation-specific knowledge components, and (2) qualities. Results show the framework provides a structure to gain insight into the nature and meaning of vocational knowledge, and is valuable to describe characteristics in terms of knowledge components such as technical procedures or the social and occupational environment, and qualities such as richness, complexity and specificity. Additionally, to use an existing frameworkoriginally developed in the contexts of ICT and Social Work -its usefulness is explored in a new context, namely, the hospitality industry. Recommendations about the framework serving as a potential tool to support students' learning processes are provided.
To address the demands of the changing world of work, tertiary institutes are developing new qualifications that enhance the employability of graduates. This paper draws on the conceptualization of Stephenson and Yorke (2013) of capability, which emphasizes the ability of the individuals to perform effectively both in new and different contexts. The paper presents findings from two separate strands of research to derive a contemporary model of personal vocational practice. The paper argues that a reflexive model of personal practice would enable educators and training providers to help students to grow long after their formal academic studies and initial career preparation. A reflexive model is one which provides informative feedback on process and outcome of practice at every stage in its delivery.
Towards a new paradigm of vocational learning
International Approaches, Developments and Systems, 2007
This chapter begins with a consideration of the origins of vocational learning, showing that for most of its history it was an on-the-job activity. With the rise of compulsory formal education systems late in the nineteenth century, vocational learning was gradually absorbed into formal arrangements, in the process being reconceptualised around influential assumptions that have shaped formal education systems and wider public understandings of learning. It is argued that the result has been that recent growing interest in on-the-job learning has been warped by unconscious adherence to inappropriate formal education assumptions. The deficiencies of the recent competencies agenda and its implementation is traced to these kinds of assumptions. Hence, this chapter concludes, we need a new account of vocational learning. Some recommended features of such an account are sketched briefly.
Knowing in practice: re-conceptualising vocational expertise
Learning and Instruction, 2001
... However, as Vygotsky (1978) proposes, intrapsychological outcomes are a result of a long series of developmental events (p. 57) and the process being ... The latter view is more consonant with the constructivist underpinnings of both cognitive and sociocultural theories. ...
Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 2004
The notion of competence has received sustained and ongoing critical attention. Despite this, many important matters remain unclear. This article argues that much of the confusion can be traced to both proponents and opponents of competence variously sharing highly questionable assumptions about learning that revolve around viewing it as a product. An examination of various writings demonstrates the pervasive influence of these assumptions on both proponents and opponents. The result is ambiguity and equivocation as both camps run together items that are logically and conceptually distinct. It is argued that to advance these matters we need to distinguish clearly between three items-performance and its outcomes, the underpinning constituents of competence (capabilities, abilities, skills) and the education, training or development of people to be competent performers. This article identifies five pervasive errors that stem from a failure to recognise this threefold distinction. These distinctions are wholly consistent with an alternative conception that views learning as a process. When the three distinctions are maintained in an account of competence, it turns out that many common criticisms fail. It also turns out, however, that the notion of competence lacks many of the superficially attractive features that appealed in the first place to policy makers, politicians and industrialists.
Constructing Vocational Knowledge: situations and other social sources
Journal of Education and Work, 1998
This article examines how social sources influence individuals’ thinking, acting and construction of knowledge. Reconciling both cognitive and sociocultural constructivist perspectives, it proposes that the particular situations in which individuals engage in vocational activities should be included in frameworks which seek to explain the social genesis of knowledge and its construction by individuals. Engagement in these activities is held to
Práxis Educacional, 2020
O artigo analisa o desenvolvimento da competência profissional de futuros especialistas em educação profissional. O chamado currículo como componente do programa de treinamento educacional, uma espécie de itinerário para os alunos estudarem a disciplina, é oferecido aos futuros profissionais do ensino profissional para futuros desafios no mercado de trabalho. Com base no princípio da centralização no aluno, os professores compartilham a responsabilidade de obter competências profissionais com os alunos que atuam como clientes na escolha de disciplinas. A sequência das etapas educacionais propostas nos conteúdos programáticos envolve a interação do professor com os alunos, as ações do professor como tutor, análise reflexiva dos alunos na preparação e execução independentes de tarefas criativas. O artigo apresenta o plano de estudos com a lista de literatura recomendada, questões para o controle final do conhecimento de futuros especialistas em forma de conversação, tópicos de tarefas...
Vocational Learning: Contributions of Workplaces and Educational Institutions
International Handbook of Education for the Changing World of Work, 2009
This chapter identifies contributions to the learning of vocational practice from experiences in both educational institutions and workplaces. It proposes that each of these setting potentially provides particular contributions to learning vocational practice. When each set of contributions is usefully exercised and integrated they stand to purposefully support rich and robust vocational learning. Yet, this integration is not possible in all circumstances. Therefore, it is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the contributions from both kinds of settings, and how best their learning potential can be maximised and their weaknesses limited. This paper is structured to achieve these purposes. Consideration is given first to the kinds of knowledge required to be learnt for effective vocational practice. Next, the contributions to learning vocational practices from both workplace and educational settings are discussed through a consideration of the strengths and weaknesses of their respective contributions. Consideration is then given to how best to integrate the contributions of both environments to provide optimum learning experiences.