Article 2013

Renaissance or a backward step? Disparities and tensions in two new Swedish pathways in VET

BI
Berglund, Ingrid
 HL
Henning Loeb, Ingrid
International Journal of Training Research
Journal · Vol. 11 · Issue 2 · pp. 135-149
Abstract

This article builds on results from studies of two new pathways in Swedish upper secondary VET. A major reform was launched in 2011 and the restructuring was presented by the Minister of Education as a 'renaissance for VET education'. The conclusion of the Upper Secondary Commission is that 'students shall be more specialised within their vocational or study area compared to today's vocationally oriented programmes'. We conceptualize the restructured upper secondary VET and these two new educational pathways as a new 'VET practice architecture'. Apprenticeship Education and Vocational Introduction are both regarded as alternatives to school-based VET, particularly beneficial for students with 'practical' learning styles and as alternatives for students who lack the motivation to study in regular VET programmes. The results from the empirical studies show a landscape of disparities and tensions and the vocational learning taking place challenges the notion of a 'renaissance for VET education'. © eContent Management Pty Ltd.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Apprenticeship education pathways access to higher education VET reform New VET Quality in VET

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations
Department of Education and Special Education, Göteborgs Universitet, Gothenburg, Vastra Gotaland, Sweden
Department of Education, Stockholms universitet, Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
Funding & Acknowledgements
Vetenskapsrådet, VR
The study reported here was research within a project funded by the Swedish Research Council on the organizing of educational settings for adolescents ineligible for regular programmes in upper secondary school (Henning Loeb & Lumsden Wass, 2012). The organising and reorganising of educational settings before, during and after the reform of 2011 was the focus of research and the project has been carried out as field studies, with observant participation, interviews and other ethnographic techniques of shadowing (Czarniawska, 2007).
References 10 References
1 Alexandersson, Mikael, Equivalence and choice in combination: The Swedish dilemma, Oxford Review of Education, 37, 2, pp. 195-214, (2011)
2 Pedagogiskt Och Didaktiskt Arbete I Forsoksverksamheten Med Gymnasial Larlingsutbildning Under Aren 2009 2011, (2012)
3 Att Vara Larling I Gymnasial Larlingsutbildning, (2012)
4 Berner, Boel, Crossing boundaries and maintaining differences between school and industry: Forms of boundary-work in Swedish vocational education, Journal of Education and Work, 23, 1, pp. 27-42, (2010)
5 International Handbook of Education for the Changing World of Work, (2009)
6 Billett, Stephen Richard, Constituting the workplace curriculum, Journal of Curriculum Studies, 38, 1, pp. 31-48, (2006)
7 Shadowing and Other Techniques for Doing Fieldwork in Modern Societies, (2007)
8 Education Act
9 Education Act, (2010)
10 Utbildning Demokrati, (2008)
Quick Actions
Full Text via DOI
Citation Metrics
15
Times Cited (Scopus)
References 10
Document Identifiers