This paper deals with vocational didactics in vocational education and training (VET) in the context of Upper Secondary Vocational Education and Training (USVET) in Sweden. The aim of this paper is to stimulate and contribute to an ongoing discussion on the growth and diversification of vocational didactics as a strand in research on VET. By mapping Swedish research, the question of what contemporary characteristics of vocational didactics in USVET can be outlined is explored. The theoretical framework applied is continental didaktik (hereafter didactics) in dialogue with vocational pedagogy, foregrounding broader issues of vocational becoming. Vocational becoming encompasses two dimensions, that is both knowledge building and identity formation as regards young people. Internationally, VET is embedded in national contexts with various models in co-existence. Bearing in mind the diversity of VET models from a European perspective, vocational didactics represent therefore a variety of approaches. In general, empirical research on dual VET models and school-based models contributes to the growth of vocational didactics as a scientific field. The integrity of such field must account for novel initiatives such as new training models that are introduced at a national curriculum level. In the case of Sweden representing mainly school-based VET models, the work-based education component is gaining importance, possibly producing effects in vocational didactics as one research strand in research on VET. Such expansion of research on VET raises questions of borders and boundaries of what distinct features characterize vocational didactics as an evolving scientific field.

Didactic concepts are applied to acknowledge and account for learning occupations captured by and theoretically framed as vocational becoming. Based on these frameworks, an analytic tool is proposed as a means to access Swedish research on vocational didactics in the context of USVET. This model acknowledges the basic premise for didactics as the interplay between the content, the method and actors involved in teaching and learning as we differentiated three possible foci: 1) The content as meaning and matter, that is, vocational knowledge and identity and its legitimation by work tasks and school assignments, 2) Methods, that is, work tasks and school assignments that underpin the content, 3) A minimum of two parties (teacher and student) involved. The foci are subsequently interconnected forming three distinct relationships or as we call them the three aspects A-B-C. To map features of research on vocational didactics we compiled a sample of Swedish studies, applying certain inclusion criteria. Our reading of abstracts and subsequent analysis was guided by a set of questions that aim at tracing the presence of the three aspects A-B-C. Using the interplay of the three aspects above as a unit of analysis, a sample was identified for further analysis. The analysis enabled us to thematize the sample into three strands: 1) vocational didactics in the school-based education, 2) collaborative vocational didactics, and 3) vocational didactics in work-based education.

Mapping the contours of contemporary vocational didactics in Sweden enables us to put some tentative suggestions regarding the development of the field. The integrity of vocational didactics in Sweden as a distinct field relies on how the issue of diversification and specialization is dealt with, for instance in relation to vocational subject didactics. By applying our analytic model to empirical research on USVET we can tentatively outline four distinct features as contemporary characteristics of vocational didactics in USVET. The features encompass the use of simulation, broadening of instruction, the use of work tasks and focus on interaction. The features also implicitly point in the direction of gaps and a need to further investigate issues of e.g., the use of work tasks by different stakeholders in various contexts of service and production sectors. In conclusion, to strengthen the integrity of vocational didactics as a scientific field, we propose that Swedish research into vocational didactics can be enriched by coming into dialogue with research that has a stronger epistemological base in competence discourses, especially with its strong emphasis on quality, foregrounding the issues of both identity and knowledge.

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