In this paper it will be argued that in the current Danish Vocational Education and Training system, the role of the teacher is under a cross pressure that profoundly challenges the professional identity of the VET-teachers and affects their ability to teach and interact with the VET students.

On the basis of our study we suggest a revitalizing of the role of the VET-teacher, with a primary focus on teaching. It is argued that if engaged teachers with a strong vocational foundation and a broad pedagogical approach are left to focus on teaching, it will have a strong positive effect on VET-student’s motivation and learning and ultimately the dropout rate as well.

Currently two dominating objectives can be identified with regard to the VET-system. On the one hand the 95 percent objective t states that in 2015 95 percent of each cohort should complete an upper secondary education program. This objective puts extra emphasis on the VET-system, as the dropout rate is considerably higher in the VET programs than in the general upper secondary programs. On the other hand it is an important objective to establish a VET-system that contributes with a competent and highly skilled vocational workforce to respond to the demand of the Danish labor market in a global market economy (Cort 2010). This puts a cross pressure on the VET-teachers, and as research points out (Knudsen 2004, Cort 2009) within the last 10-15 years many VET-teachers have experienced a change in their roles as teachers. The core task as teachers of vocational skills and competencies has been supplemented with a range of other tasks such as social worker, personal coach, mentor etc., not to mention a range of administrative tasks (NCE 2009). This cross pressure generates two interesting research questions that we will be examined in this paper on the basis of an ethnographic study carried out at the basic course for joiners and carpenters: Which effects can be identified with regard to the training and the interaction between teachers and students? And secondly, which are the central competencies for the VET-teacher?

The analysis is theoretically informed by Basil Bernstein’s framework, where core concepts as framing, classification, recontextualization and the pedagogical device and discourse provide ways of linking the question of what happens in the classroom, with more general discourses on the level of institutions and society (Bernstein 1990; Chouliaraki 2001). This makes it possible for our empirical classroom studies to arrive at sociological conclusions regarding the effects of teaching and learning, but also to provide reformulation of pedagogical practice with hopefully more desirable implications for learning.

Bernstein, Basil (1990): ”Class, Codes & Control Vol. IV: The Structuring of Pedagogic Discourse”. Routledge, London. Chouliaraki, Lilie & Martin Bayer: (2001): ”Basil Bernstein. Pædagogik, diskurs og magt” [Basil Bernstein. Pedagogy, discourse and Power]. Akademisk Forlag. Cort, Pia (2010): “Education for All? Lessons from the Reform of the Danish VET-Programmes”. I: Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft und Praxis (BWP), 4/2010. Cort, Pia (2009): ”The Changing Roles and Competences of VET Practioners in Denmark: IVET teachers’ perception of changes and their implications for teaching”. Konferencebidrag. Danmarks Pædagogiske Universitetsskole, Aarhus Universitet. Konferencebidrag. Katznelson, Noemi; Arnt Louw Vestergaard & Rikke Brown (2011): ”Ungdom på erhvervsuddannelserne. Delrapport om valg, elever, læring og fællesskab” [Youth at VET. Interim Report on Choice, Students, Learning and Communities]. Odense: Erhvervsskolernes Forlag. Katznelson, Noemi & Rikke Brown (2011): ”Motivation i erhvervsuddannelserne. Med eleverne ind undervisningsrummet til faget, pædagogikken, lærerne og praktikpladsmanglen. Anden delrapport” [Following the Students into the Classroom. The Profession, Pedagogy, the Teachers and Lack of apprenticeship. Second Interim Report]. Odense: Erhvervsskolernes Forlag. Knudsen, Hans Jørgen (2004): ”De seneste 20 års reformer i erhvervsuddannelserne – fra reform til kontinuerlig forandring” [The last 20 Years of Reform in Vocational Education and Training - From Reform to Continuous Change]. Tidsskrift for arbejdsliv, 6 årg. Nr. 4, 2004. NCE (2009): ”Fastholdelse og rekruttering af erhvervsskolelærere - med særligt fokus på de tekniske skoler” [Retention and Recruitment of Vocational Education and Training Teachers - With Special Focus on the Technical Schools]. Nationalt Center for Erhvervspædagogik, Professionshøjskolen Metropol