Approximately 95% of 16-year-olds enroll in upper secondary school in Iceland, but only about 20% initially choose vocational programs. However, 31% of all upper secondary school students are enrolled in vocational programs (Statistics Iceland, 2025). This is lower than the OECD average of 44% (OECD, 2023).
Traditionally, vocational students in Iceland have been older than other upper secondary school students, with an average age of 25, compared with 19 for other students (Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, 2014). Still, the number of 16–19-year-old vocational students has increased over the last few years. At the same time, the number of students aged 26 and older has remained high, while the number of students aged 20-25 has declined (Statistics Iceland, 2025), resulting in even greater diversity in students' ages and prior experiences. This is especially important in Iceland, where younger and older students in VET are often taught together.
Also, school practices have recently been changing in many VET programs in Iceland towards: (a) More project-oriented learning, even on an individual basis, and (b) Shorter length of study units, for example, with each unit lasting half a semester (with students taking 3 units at a time) or each unit lasting 3 weeks (with students taking 1 unit at a time).
Considering these changes, this study investigates school practices across three VET programs in Iceland, aiming to highlight their strengths and weaknesses in addressing the needs of an increasingly diverse student population in terms of age and experience.
Bernstein's (2000) code theory underpins the study's theoretical approach. It provides a means to examine the relationships between power and knowledge. This theory is suitable for this study because it offers the researcher a lens for examining and describing power relations within the social environment.
Morais and Neves’s (2004, 2010) pedagogic practice model is used to interpret the findings in this study. The model focuses on how teachers can optimize learning using Bernstein’s concepts of classification and framing. Morais and Neves identified the characteristics of teaching methods used by teachers who create the best conditions for compulsory school students from diverse social backgrounds to acquire science knowledge and skills. Their studies demonstrated that effective school practices can mitigate or eliminate the impact of social background on academic performance. They emphasize the importance of clear boundaries and explicit instructional practices to support student engagement and achievement.
This study also employs the concept of student readiness to account for the diverse age and prior experience of students at the start of their studies. The concept, as defined by Billett (2015a, 2015b), refers to the knowledge, skills, and attitudes students need to address new, often demanding challenges in vocational education.
The main research question of this study is: How do different school practices meet students' needs, considering their level of readiness at the start of their studies?

The study employed qualitative methods, including participant observations and interviews, across three upper-secondary VET programs in Iceland. A short-term ethnography (Pink & Morgan, 2013) was conducted within all three programs. Participant observations were conducted for approximately 10 school days over a month-long period, per program. The aim was to document evidence of school practices in action and to write field notes on the environment and field discourse. Field notes also included recorded examples (photos and drawings) of observed workstations and teaching methods. Participant observations involved being present for, preferably, the entire school day each time, following students’ daily schedules, and conversing with as many people as possible in the field. Short-term ethnography maintains the ethnographer's firsthand involvement as a core element of how the researcher comes to know about other people's lives and experiences. However, as Pink and Morgan (2013) suggest, short-term ethnography takes a more deliberate, interventionist approach than long-term participant observation and is more theoretically engaged. For example, in this study, students and teachers were asked to demonstrate how they completed tasks or projects they were not currently working on. This could interrupt the usual workflow during the school day. Interviews were conducted with students, teachers, and administrators across the three programs, for a total of 30. In this paper, however, the focus is only on interviews with teachers and administrators (n = 12) and participant observations. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2013, 2022). In constructing themes, the data were approached from two different directions. On the one hand, from above, through the lens of Morais and Neves’s (2010) pedagogic practice model. On the other hand, bottom up, not shaped by existing theory (Braun & Clarke, 2013, 2022). Students’ readiness at the start of the studies was estimated using interview data, looking for evidence of: (a) Conceptual knowledge (i.e., did the student know the main concepts and the names of common tools used?), (b) procedural knowledge (i.e., had the student painted a room, done some tiling work or repaired a car?), and (c) dispositional capacities (i.e., did the student know what it meant to be a professional in the field of study?).

The study's findings are organized into two main themes. The first theme, Feeling safe in the hands of the master, explores how the school's practices aligned with Morais and Neves's (2010) pedagogic practice model. Although the school's practices differed substantially, they aligned well with the model, with some notable exceptions. This main theme is further divided into four sub-themes to examine the specific differences among the three programs. The first sub-theme, Safe space, examines how the different school practices influenced communication between students and teachers. The second sub-theme, Time-bending and second chances, examines how the programs allow for different types of control over the pacing of learning. The third sub-theme, “I’m in the mood for this right now”, examines how the selection and sequencing of subjects are controlled within the programs. Finally, the fourth sub-theme, Dreadful aesthetics, addresses how the aesthetics part of the studies makes the evaluation criteria less clear to students. The second main theme, Schoolmates are key, explores the importance of student collaboration in navigating school practices. The students relied heavily on one another when interpreting what to do and what was going on day to day, whether in terms of individual tasks or overall school organization. Still, different school practices offered varying opportunities for this to happen. This study contributes to our understanding of how various VET school practices affect different student groups. The study's results should inform VET policymaking and highlight the potential benefits and challenges of adopting different school practices.

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