Each vocation has a set of tools that are needed in performing the work. Some of the tools are physical, like wrenches, drills, and hammers in the technical vocations, and whisks, knives, and various kitchen utensils within the hotel, restaurant and catering vocations. All vocations use machines and tools of different kinds, and a skilled worker knows how to handle and use them, how and where to keep them, and what kind of service they need and when (Lindberg, 2003). Some tools are physical and other tools are non-physical and the use of the senses is a knowledge that is relevant in several professions. While the chef must be able to taste, it is required that other senses are used in other professions. In several professions, the sense of smell is central, for example when healthcare workers assess the state of health or the need for care. How students develop vocational knowledge is a rather under-researched topic in the context of vocational education and training. Vocational knowledge is perceived as the kind of knowledge required to perform in occupational practice (Heusdens, Baartman & Bruijn, 2019). The use of senses as a part of vocational knowledge has received little attention in previous research.

In this study, we investigate how students, apprentices and newly qualified professionals identify current senses they use in their profession and their experiences of how such senses have been developed. The aim is to identify some of the tacit knowledge that can contribute to improving vocational training with a more proven focus on sensory development. The informants represent the cooking profession, the skin care profession and the healthcare profession and have been observed and interviewed about their own development of the profession-specific senses. We have particularly looked at the use of taste and smell in the cooking profession, the use of massage pressure and the aesthetic look in the skin care profession and the development of the clinical gaze (smell, look and touch) in the health worker profession.

Sensing, through taste, smell, touch, sound, are all different forms of perception, and they all represent an embodied knowledge experienced through sensations. This is a tacit form of knowledge (Kollbotn, 2007). This study's theoretical grounding is based on Polanyi's (1983) perspective, where tacit knowledge implies that humans know more than what can be communicated verbally. “Tacit knowledge is knowledge that is not explicated” (Collins, 2010, p. 1). The fact that the knowledge is tacit does not mean that the knowledge cannot be explained or expressed linguistically. Tacit knowledge is not impossible to learn or communicate (Polanyi, 1983). Polanyi (1983) describes that there is knowledge that when it is embodied in a person, and when this embodiment has taken place, then the knowledge is silent. Sight, sound, touch, smell, taste are embodied practices used in different vocational practices. 

The research question for this project is therefore “How do young workers use their senses in professional practice and how do they experience the development of senses as a vocational knowledge?”

Methodologically, this is a qualitative study. By choosing a qualitative research design we seek to explore descriptions and perceptions of the participants' experiences and their perspective. The approach in this study is phenomenological hermeneutic (Bryman, 2016). We wanted to gain access to the participants personal understanding, seen from their inside view. In this way, we try to interpret experiences, behavior and action. The experience is based on interviews and observations of young students, apprentices and newly qualified professionals in the cookery, skin care and health professions in Norway. The inclusion criteria were that the participants were in practical work within their (future) profession, and thus had newly acquired experience with the development of senses in their work. The background for this criterion was that we wanted to investigate their experiences in order to incorporate this into their vocational education and training. The standard model for vocational education in Norway at upper secondary level follows a four-year model where the first two years are completed at school. The last two years are spent as an apprentice in an approved apprenticeship company. Over four weeks 12 second-year students in the cookery subject were observed in practical work in kitchen workshops. Four students and two newly qualified chefs were interviewed following the observations. The interviews lasted approximately one hour. 12 apprentices / newly qualified healthcare workers were interviewed individually, and each interview lasted up to 1 hour. In addition, three healthcare worker apprentices have been observed for some working days in home nursing. In the skin care subject, 12 skin care students have been observed treating clients in the skin care clinic at school. A focusgroup interview was also conducted with six newly qualified skin care professionals. In all interview situations, a semi-structured interview is the basis. A typical feature of humans is that they understand the world based on their own preconceptions (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2018). Preconceptions are implicit in all experience and cognition (Gadamer, 1975). The researchers in this study are all vocational teachers and are thus familiar with the field through their own teaching. In interviews and in observations, we understood the argumentation because it was a well-known terminology, and we thus spoke the "same language" as the participants. Our preconceptions animated the entire research process, from interview guide to analysis and conclusion, while at the same time we were aware of this possibility of influence and sought new perspectives.

The preliminary results show that the students in the three different professions studied coordinate their use of the senses in different ways. In all subjects, it turns out that the senses, as a professional exercise, must be adapted to users by using their hearing to listen to their wishes and needs in order to satisfy customers, patients and clients. Participants express that the involvement of users feedback is of great importance for both understanding of, and development of, the senses in all three subjects / professions mentioned. In the skincare profession, it is of great importance that an evaluation form is used after treatment, where the clients express their experiences of pressure, flow and the desired result of the treatment. In the culinary profession, guests provide continuous feedback on taste and experience. Apprentices in the healthcare profession experience learning a lot from the patients they visit, and they use different senses to see the whole person and their state of health. The practical knowledge is bodily, and it is embedded in bodily skills that are practiced in a familiarity with the environment, in this case guests, clients and patients. The study contributes to a research contribution that shows the experiences of students, apprentices and newly qualified professionals in a silent but embodied professional competence. Tacit and embodied professional competence should receive increased attention both in vocational training and in professional education. Our preliminary results show that feedback from guests, clients and patients in particular can be important contributors to training and developing the senses as part of an overall professional vocational knowledge.

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