Transitions in education have been a wide arena for research; from studies on social stratification, life-course research to the political economy of skills regimes. The scholarship on transitions has shown how despite educational systems compelling movements between educational levels in a linear fashion, the modes in which actors navigate these transitory processes are far from straightforward.  In VET studies, transitions from education to working life has been a frequent topic (see e.g., Bakker & Akkerman, 2019; Tuomi-Gröhn & Engeström, 2003; Teräs, 2016; Ye, 2020). Through navigating challenging terrains of education while confronting seemingly irrational devices that judge and evaluate learning, actors have showcased problem-solving, moral and critical capacities in embarking on transitions.

The aim of this paper is to explore how two different theoretical approaches address the question of transitions in education in general and in vocational education in specific, namely, cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) and the economics and sociology of conventions approach (EC/SC). We marshal empirical material and research experience from two Swedish research studies with mixed methods research design. While an array of approaches have been used in the study of transitions in education, our focus in this paper is on CHAT (e.g., Leont’ev, 1978; Engeström, 2014; Sannino & Engeström, 2018; Teräs, 2017) and the EC/SC approach (e.g., Imdorf & Leemann, 2023; Schneijderberg et al., 2025; Verdier, 2016; Ye, 2024). 

In CHAT, transitions can be approached from three dimensions. First, transitions can be seen as movements from one stage to the next; second, as change and transformations; third as dialectical relations between the ‘old and new’ (Teräs, 2012). For example, when a vocational student is moving into a workplace learning period, this is a movement between two organisations – a school and a workplace, but at the same time there is a change and transformation from a student to a workplace trainee. Furthermore, there is a dialectical relationship between the school and the workplace, which is a dynamic interaction between them and transformation can occur through contradictions or conflicts. These three dimensions of transitions can promote expansive learning (Engeström, 2014).

Another emerging research approach in educational research is the Economics and Sociology of Conventions (EC/SC). EC/SC is an interdisciplinary, and international movement that has generated analytical approaches for studying processes and challenges in education (Schneijderberg et al., 2025). EC/SC has in recent years been mobilised in research on the persistence of educational inequalities, the organising of education, the conventions of vocational education and training, as well as shining a torch on educational transitions (Zehnder & Gonon, 2017; Verdier 2016; Esposito, 2025; Ye & Nylander, 2025). As proposed by Schneijderberg et al., (2025, p. 32), this approach advances the study of how educational inequality persists during key transition points, by examining the complex dynamics between actors, career trajectories, institutional barriers, and the broader legal and social landscape.

When we put CHAT and EC/SC in conversation with each other, we notice similarities and distinctions. Both approaches are theories of action / activity, where the situation or activity system serve as the units of analysis. Researchers working with these approaches shun methodological individualism, and rather, take interest in collectivity, complexity and uncertainty, critical moments where learning takes place. At the same time, the two approaches have distinct features:  EC/SC recognises the plurality of conventions as a starting point for actions or non-action, and adopts both inductive and deductive approaches in data analyses. CHAT, on the other hand, focuses on object-oriented and motive-driven activities and expansive learning actions of the subjects in an abducitve analysis.

Our paper draws on theoretical and empirical work from two ongoing research projects: Places and Boundaries: Migrant Children’s Educational Transitions in Sweden (henceforth, PLACES) and Coordination & valuation of short-cycle accelerated training for the green transition (henceforth, CYCLE). PLACES sets out to generate long-standing knowledge about how educational transitions are shaped by boundaries and places for first-generation migrant children and youth. The six-year research programme seeks to address several research questions including: what are the patterns and thresholds of educational transitions for first-generation migrant children and youth in different places? How do structural, social and symbolic boundaries shape transitions? The second project, CYCLE, examines the coordination and valuation of short-cycle education and training to deal with “skills shortages” in the labour market and against the backdrop of Sweden’s “green transition”. While the green transition is broadly conceived as a form of sustainability, or socio-technical, transition, that is complex and long-term, comprising multiple actors (Geels, 2011), education-to-work transitions involve acquiring and performing knowledge and skills; learning shaped by pedagogical practices that train, evaluate, and support individuals as they embark on new roles and positions (Walther et al., 2022). Both projects are based on a mixed-methods research design that involves combining interpretative qualitative research with quantitative population-level register data analyses and that takes the geographical variation and the differences in the organization of education across Sweden as a crucial starting point for data collection and analyses. Together, PLACES and CYCLE offer us valuable information and experience around the doing of transitions research in Sweden, dealing with two central societal transformative processes – migration and climate change – and how they manifest themselves in the lives of actors in compulsory, upper secondary and post-secondary educational levels.

The complexity of societal transformations, brought about by potent processes and phenomena like migration and climate change, demand from us novel approaches for exploring how actors (students, families, educators, organisers of education, to decision makers) navigate uncertain and difficult learning and educational situations. At the core of our aim in this paper is formulating research techniques around studying the multiplicity of mobilities in educational transitions, particularly involving vocational education and training. What are the possibilities and limitations for examining simultaneous transitions: educational transitions at the individual level and societal transitions at the collective level? Furthermore, what does plurality and multiplicities in conventions and dynamics of learning processes mean for the work of researchers, and consequently, for policy and practice, in the organization of education? In this paper, we set out to test the prospects of combining CHAT and EC/SC as a discovery process of theorising in the remit of researching educational transitions. Combining these two theoretical approaches enhances our understanding of complexity of transitions at different levels. How individuals face transitions in their life-history, how organisations like schools or workplaces react to challenges of their students’ transitions and how, on the societal and global level, actors navigate through demanding situations of our time. Consolidating useful theoretical insights and tooling from established and emerging research approaches could reveal the potentials and possibilities for research on educational transitions during societal transformative processes.

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