The symposium focuses on recent transitions in vocational education and training (VET) in three national contexts: Australia, Finland and Sweden. More than ever, national VET systems are confronted with policy ambitions dealing with economic growth, youths lacking education and work, etc. In addition, it is suggested that changes in work and work requirements demand new kinds of vocational preparation (Billett, 2009). Taken together, in policy there is on the one hand an emphasis on VET as way to produce high skills and equalities of opportunities. On the other hand, the short-term needs of the industry and other work life sectors are seen as more important. The aim of the symposium is to discuss tensions in the VET sector within this policy context of new regulations and ideals, shaping new practices at the intersection of school and work.

The work reported on here is part of individual parallel projects. One is a larger empirical research program conducted within the “Pedagogy, Education and Praxis” international collaboration in the Research in Professional Practice, Learning and Education Institute (RIPPLE), Australia. The Finnish and the Swedish contributions are empirical projects funded by The Swedish Research Council, and the EU respectively.

In our studies, we identify alignments in terms of travelling international policy discourses, mirrored in the formation of national agendas, although situated in the different national and institutional contexts. We will explore how practise architectures (Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008) constitute mediating preconditions when policy is implemented in practice. Following Kemmis & Grootenboer (2008), these preconditions are seen as cultural-discursive (sayings), material-economic (doings), and social-political (relatings). Sayings, doings, and relatings orient and justify, shape and give content to actions and interactions and they are interrelated. The concept of practice architecture can also be used to identify particularities in the VET-sectors presented in the different cases.

The Symposium will focus on: 1) VET teachers’ views on their teaching and VET pedagogy (paper 1); 2) the changing status of mathematics in VET programs (paper 2).3) the integration of workplaces and schools in VET (paper 3), 4) the effects of more stringent eligibility requirements in VET programs (paper 4 and 5). We will argue that the restructuring of VET has lead to the reshaping of the conditions under which students learn and teachers teach. The discourses on qualifications, skills and outcomes have been reinforced, to the exclusion of other dimensions of learning and teaching.

Billett, S. (2009). Changing Work, Work Practice: The Consequences for Vocational Education. In. Maclean, R. & Wilson, D.N. (eds). International Handbook of Education for the Changing World of Work. Vol. 1. Bonn: UNEVOC Springer.

Kemmis, S. & Grootenboer, P. (2008) ‘Situating Practice: Practice architectures and the cultural, social and material conditions for practice’. In S. Kemmis & T.J. Smith (eds.) Enabling Praxis: Challenges for education. Rotterdam: Sense.