Contribution
Description: In Finland, vocational education and training (VET) has until recently been strongly school-based, with only short, often unsupervised, practice periods. However, in 2001 the Finnish VET system was reformed: the curricula were revised; vocational study programmes were extended to three years in all fields; compulsory and systematically organised on-the-job learning periods (lasting at least 6 months) were introduced in all the study programmes. On-the-job learning is a prescribed learning situation for the student. According to the new VET curricula some of the degree requirements have to be fulfilled at the workplace. With the reforms, the students now have two VET learning environments: the school and the workplace. However, according to prevailing learning theories one must seek to integrate theory, practice, and self assessment skills within the students' studying or learning (Tynjälä et al. 2003). One tool for evaluating integrative pedagogy in on-the-job learning is provided by Guile & Griffiths' (2001) typology of work experience. Guile and Griffiths identified five models of how work experience has been utilised in education systems: the traditional model, the experiential model, the generic model, the work process model, and the connective model. The last model, the connective model, can be considered some kind of ideal model. It emphasises the connection between formal and informal learning, and also the connection between students' vertical and horizontal development (vertical development referring to conceptual understanding, horizontal development to the ability to work in different contexts). Finnish studies on the evaluation of on-the-job learning have mostly been carried out from the students' point of view. However, within on-the-job learning there are three essential parties: the student, the teacher, and the workplace instructor. The purpose of the present study is to examine the students' learning from the point of view of the vocational teachers and the workplace instructors. More specifically, the following research questions are addressed: 1. How do the vocational teachers and the workplace instructors see the link between school-based learning and work-based learning? 2. What things did the students learn at the workplace that they could not have been learned at school (assessed by the vocational teachers and the workplace instructors)? 3. How do the vocational teachers and the workplace instructors see the students' personal development during on-the-job learning periods?
Methodology: The data was gathered in 2004 for a large project called Competent Central Finland. The data was collected with Internet-questionnaires from the teachers of the vocational institutes, (N = 796, n = 330, 42 %), traditional questionnaires from the workplace instructors (N = 2478, sample 800, n = 420, 53 %) and in-depth interviews (five teachers and five workplace instructors). The data will be analysed using quantitative and qualitative methods.
Conclusions: According to the preliminary results, the teachers and the workplace instructors had a positive view of the connection between school-based learning and work-based learning. There are the features of the connective model in the realisation of on-the-job learning. The findings can also be compared with the results of the students' point of view (Tynjälä & Virtanen 2005).
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