Since the 1990s, the status, actors and methodologies of vocational and adult education have significantly changed. The interest in gaining knowledge that promotes their aims has become predominant among national and supranational political and economic decision-makers and commercial players. This is visible, for example, in the topics of research, development and innovation (RDI) projects and programmes that they are funding. At the same time, resources and space for self-directed, independent research in managerialist academia have become increasingly scarce. Therefore, the status of the previously underestimated area of vocational and (vocational and work-oriented) adult education has been rising. However, this has largely happened through the expansion of non-university actors – or vocational and adult education institutions - specialising in RDI and university researchers in topics and methodologies that can compete for external funding. While the pressure of policy- and industry-relevance is most explicit in vocational and adult education research, the challenge of maintaining autonomy and creating scientific knowledge that tackles local and planetary social, economic, and environmental inequalities is most urgent for the academic community.

In our previous selected mappings of vocational (and vocationally oriented adult) education research from the past 30-40 years, we have found that its expansion has primarily relied on the growth of policy-led and development-oriented contracted projects. (e.g. Heikkinen, Lassnigg, Molzberger, 2024; Lassnigg, 2025). Considering the globalisation of production and consumption, and commodity and service chains, it is alarming that the conceptual and methodological approaches of the expanding comparative studies remain shallow and uncritical. Most studies seem to take for granted a nation-state-centred (or Europe/EU-centred) methodology, adopting economist vocabularies and interpretations from supranational agencies (e.g. the UN, OECD, EU). Besides decontextualised teaching-learning issues, they hardly problematise the givenness of their target institutions and systems. There are hardly any dialogues with other fields of educational research, social and natural sciences, nor with alternatives to mainstream economics.

In the symposium, we raise the question of whether a cultural approach can provide opportunities for developing self-critical, conceptual and methodological vocational and adult education research. We also ask the conditions for such a shift, taking the realities of the research field into account. We reflect on the rather marginal (marginalised) attempts towards cross-cultural research and reflections on conceptualisations and methodologies with a cultural approach in vocational and adult education. Culture is a slippery concept, associated with diverse disciplinary, political and practical discourses. (e.g. Heikkinen, 2021). It is commonly brought into discussion as something external, impacting educational solutions and status divisions, or as a residual for unexplainable research findings. Furthermore, researchers seem to avoid articulating and debating the tension between (nation-statist) economist, systems and institutionalist approaches with relational, educational and contextualised approaches. (cf. Marhuenda, 2022). In previous attempts, a ‘cultural’ approach has primarily supported and enabled critical reaction to mainstream (hegemonic) research and policy discourses. (Heikkinen et al, 2024). Yet, suggestions for alternative historical, conceptual and empirical research related to culture have remained fragmented and unsystematic. We assume that reconceptualising culture, work and education in vocational and adult education is needed and requires joint cross-cultural research that clarifies their contexts and functions, traces the political impacts behind them, and relates them to politically, socially and environmentally ‘burning issues’.

Our symposium invites participants to a cross-cultural exercise to discuss the meaning and function of the ‘cultural’ approach in vocational and adult education research. We first introduce some ideas briefly, coming from our different cultural, linguistic and disciplinary contexts. They will be commented on by the discussant, followed by a discussion with the audience.

Heikkinen, A. (2021). Culture and VET: An outdated connection? In Eigenmann, Ph., Gonon, Ph.& Weil, M. (Eds.). Opening and Extending Vocational Education. (pp. 361-381). Bern: Peter Lang Heikkinen, A., Lassnigg, L., Molzberger, G. (2024). Conceptualising ‘culture’ in vocational and adult education research. VET & Culture Conference, Valencia 2.-4.10.2024. https://vetandculturenetwork.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/conference-presentations-vetculture-valencia-2024.pdf Lassnigg. L. (2025). VET research framework - some thoughts and observations. Presentation at ECER 2025, Beograd, 09 - 12 September. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/398131389_VET_research_framework_-_some_thoughts_and_observations Marhuenda, F. (2022): Conflicting roles of vocational education: Civic, Industrial, Market and Project Conventions to address VET scenarios. Hungarian Educational Research Journal 12 (2022) 3, 248–262 DOI: 10.1556/063.2021.00078.