Nina Kilbrink

Experiences of Educational Content in Swedish Technical Vocational Education: Examples from the Energy and Industry Programmes

Abstract In this study, teachers and workplace supervisors in two vocational programmes at a Swedish upper secondary school were interviewed about their experiences of what is important to teach and learn during vocational education. The interviews were analysed thematically by the qualitative method analysis of narratives concerning what the informants talked about concerning the educational content. The told experiences of educational content concern five themes: basic knowledge, assessment, different educations, interest and integration of theory and practice. These themes relates to different levels of knowledge, from basic knowledge to learning to learn.

Transfer of Learning Through Integration of Theory and Practice in Technical Vocational Education

This chapter is an empirical contribution to the discussion about theory and practice in technical vocational education. The concepts of theory and practice are often used and discussed in relation to teaching and learning technology (compare, e.g., Bjurulf & Kilbrink, 2008; Gibson, 2009; Hansen, 2000), but also in relation to learning a vocation (e.g., Bengtsson, 2010; Berglund, 2009; Goransson, 2004).

Learning How (and How Not) to Weld: Vocational Learning in Technical Vocational Education

ABSTRACT This article focuses on vocational learning in technical vocational education in upper-secondary school, with a special focus on the object of learning to weld. A concrete teaching situation where the learning object to weld is the focus of the interaction between a vocational teacher and an upper-secondary student was documented by a video camera and then analysed from two different perspectives: a conversation analytical perspective and a variation theory perspective. The combination of the two perspectives allows a study of learning that deals with issues regarding both form and content, which may increase our understanding of vocational learning in technical vocational education in upper-secondary school.

Technical Vocational Education: From Dualistic to Pluralistic Thinking

Discussions of technical and vocational education often concern various dichotomies that need to be bridged in learning. In this chapter, the dichotomizations between theory and practice, school an ...

Transfer of learning in Swedish technical vocational education: student experiences in the energy and industry programmes

Abstract One of the most important issues in vocational education is the interaction between learning at school and at different workplaces. Students need to transfer what they have learned in and between these different learning arenas. However, little agreement exists among researchers on how to conceptualise and empirically study transfer of learning. This article aims to enhance our understanding of this process in technical vocational education by adding a new perspective on transfer: the phenomenological lifeworld approach. Eleven interviews with students enrolled in the Energy and Industry programmes at a Swedish upper-secondary school were conducted. Three transfer themes emerged from the data: learning for new situations, variation and integration of theory and practice. The student perspective, based on the lifeworld approach shows that the different learning arenas – the school and workplaces – can complement each other. The learning arenas offer different opportunities for learning, and learning in both arenas is necessary in order to prepare for an unknown future, according to the students in this study.

VET Students' Integration of Knowledge Engaged with in School-Based and Workplace-Based Learning Environments in the Netherlands.

Abstract In vocational education, students learn in different school-based and workplace-based learning environments and engage with different types of knowledge in these environments. Students are expected to integrate these experiences and make meaning of them in relation to their own professional knowledge base. This study focuses both on what types of knowledge students learn in these environments and how they integrate these different types of knowledge. Individual and group interviews were conducted with students, teachers and workplace supervisors in a vocational programme in the Netherlands. Results show that students recognise the importance of vocational knowledge learned in school-based learning environments while they are in the workplace and vice versa, and continuously contextualise knowledge to make it applicable for new circumstances. Also, students learn differently at school due to their experiences in the workplace.

Problem-Based Learning in a Programming Context–Planning and Executing a Pilot Survey on Database Access in a Programming Language

In this chapter we describe a pilot survey on applying problem-based learning (PBL) in an undergraduate programming course. During the course the students have applied PBL as a complement to traditional teaching and learning techniques. The PBL problem in this survey combines both knowledge about programming and knowledge about databases. We argue that to handle programming the students have to learn programming according to the deep approach to learning in order to be able to apply their knowledge in new programming situations and contexts. The result from this pilot survey indicates from both a tutor and a student perspective that PBL could be one method to reach a deeper understanding on how to access databases in a programming language.