Relevant Curriculum in Vocational Education and Training

Author(s):

Hilde Hiim(presenting / submitting)Jan Stålhane(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

02 SES 13 B, Transitions in Partnerships in VET

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-11

11:00-12:30

Room:

324. [Main]

Chair:

Fernando Marhuenda

Discussant:

Andreas Saniter

Contribution

An action research project aimed at relevant curriculum in VET through cooperation between vocational teacher education, vocational high schools and apprenticeship firms.

Recent research on curriculum in Norwegian VET points towards great challenges in vocational education. There is a considerable lack of coherence between the educational content and the needs for qualifications in the actual vocations. The results show that close collaboration and infrastructure between vocational schools and vocational work enterprises is a precondition for improving curricula and learning (Hiim 2013). But there are a lot of structural and educational challenges for such improvement.

Norwegian VET is organized in a 2+2-model with two school years followed by two apprenticeship years. The curriculum in the school based part consists of general academic subjects, general vocational theory and practical exercises that are poorly related to the actual vocations. The curriculum in the apprenticeship part is mainly practical work. There is a high dropout rate that seems to be related with lack of coherence and relevance in the curriculum. Problems are similar in Danish and Swedish vocational education, even if the structural models are different.

At Oslo and Akershus University College, institute of vocational teacher education, we are in the initial phase of an action research project aimed at developing relevant curriculum in VET. The project will involve vocational high schools, apprenticeship firms and vocational teacher education. A main intention of the project is to develop curriculum in VET based on a principle of coherence between essential professional tasks in the actual vocations and the educational content. To reach this aim it will be necessary to develop new organizational structures of cooperation between vocational teacher education, vocational high schools and apprenticeship firms. The involved parties will cooperate on analyzing basic tasks in specific vocations, the kind of practical and theoretical knowledge needed for vocational professionalism and how the education should be structured to obtain this kind of knowledge. They will also cooperate on planning, implementing, evaluating and further developing curriculum based on their analyses.

The aim of the project is to develop specific knowledge on vocationally relevant curriculum in different vocational programs and to develop knowledge on relevant curriculum in VET more generally. The research question is: What are essential principles of relevant curriculum in VET and how can vocational education institutions and work enterprises cooperate on developing relevant curricula?

The theoretical framework will be related to pragmatic theories of knowledge and theories of relevant professional and vocational education. Pragmatic interpretations of practical professional knowledge and different ways of knowing are essential. Concepts of practical knowledge, experience and experiential learning will be analyzed and related to vocational educational implications. Dreyfus & Dreyfus (1986) model of developing professional expertise and Schøn’s (1983) concept of reflective practicum will be important, and will be related to a theory on curriculum based on vocational functions (Hiim 2013). Literature on apprenticeship learning and craftsmanship will also be important (Billett 2012, Lave & Wenger 1991, Sennett 2008).

Method

Action Research is a well established tradition in curriculum research and in organizational development, and will be a main approach in the project (Eikeland 2012, Hiim 2015, McNiff 2013, Noffke & Somekh 2009, Reason & Bradbury 2008). A main issue in the project will be to obtain knowledge on curriculum in VET developed by practitioners. Groups of vocational teacher educators, vocational teachers and instructors in apprenticeship firms will collaborate on analyzing and developing curriculum in VET and in vocational teacher education. The project as a whole will be managed by a professor and an associate professor at the institute of vocational teacher education. These will help facilitating the work in the groups. Each group will also have their own leader and will be organized in accordance with basic principles in action research. Their main task will be to identify and reflect on curricular and structural challenges in VET in the program where they perform their educational practice, to plan how the challenges can be met and to implement and evaluate their plans. Members of the groups will also have the responsibility for documenting the curricular processes and results, in accordance with principles of practitioner research (McNiff 2013). The curriculum research and development groups will meet regularly to discuss and compare their findings and relate them to theoretical perspectives. Regular conferences for schools and firms that are involved in the project will also be organized. A special focus will be on involving school leaders and local and regional educational authorities, to share information and stimulate institutional support for the project. Some of the research in the project will not involve action experiments, but focus on qualitative or quantitative investigations on how vocational students, teachers and instructors that are not involved in the action research, look upon the relationship between vocational curriculum and organization and the needs for qualifications in the actual vocations. The idea is that results from these investigations and the action research may complement each other. Results from each group and type of investigation will be documented and published separately. Results from different groups and parts of the project will also be compared, documented and published.

Expected Outcomes

Extensive examples of coherence (or lack coherence) between educational content, basic vocational tasks and needs for qualifications in the curriculum in vocational programs is an expected outcome of the project. The examples will show how theoretical and practical vocational knowledge can be integrated and what kind of challenges has been met in the efforts of developing an integrated curriculum. Structural conditions for practically and theoretically coherent vocational education will be developed and discussed in each example. New knowledge on general principles in relevant vocational education, based on the specific examples, is also an expected outcome. A new model for organizing relevant VET, characterized by coherence between practical and theoretical vocational knowledge, is also an expected result.

References

Billett, S. (2011). Vocational Education. Purposes, Traditions and Prospects. Dordrecht: Springer. Dreyfus, H., & Dreyfus, S. (1986). Mind over Machine. The Power of Human Intuition and Expertice in the Era of the Computer. New York: Free Press. Eikeland, O. (2012). Action Research and organizational learning: a Norwegian approach to doing action research in complex organizations. Educational Action Research, 20:2, 267-290. Hiim, H. 2015. Educational Action Research and the Development of Professional Teacher Knowledge. In Action Research for Democracy. Gunnarsson, E., Hansen, H. P., Nielsen, B. Steen (Eds.). London: Routledge. In press. Hiim, H. (2013). Praksisbasert yrkesutdanning. Hvordan utvikle relevant utdanning for skole og arbeidsliv. (Practice based vocational education. How can vocational education become relevant in high schools and work life). Oslo: Gyldendal Akademisk. Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. McNiff, J. (2013). Action Research. Principles and practice. London: Routledge. Noffke, S. & Somekh, B. (2009). The SAGE Handbook of Educational Action Research. London: Sage. Reason, P. & Bradbury, H. (2008). The SAGE Handbook of Action Research – Participative inquiry and Practice. London: Sage. Sennett, R. (2008). The Craftsman. New Haven: Yale University Press. Schøn, D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner. New York: Basic books.

Author Information

Hilde Hiim (presenting / submitting)

Oslo & Akershus university college

Faculty of teacher education and international studies

Oslo

Jan Stålhane (presenting)

Oslo and Akershus University Collage