Vibe Aarkrog

Learning in the workplace and the significance of school‐based education: a study of learning in a Danish vocational education and training programme

Over the last decades educational researchers and politicians have shown a growing interest in the concept of learning in practice, i.e. learning in the workplace. Learning in practice plays an important role in connection with lifelong learning, as the workplace is an obvious setting for realizing this aim. Theories about learning in practice often include a critique of school‐based learning by seriously questioning the idea that learning in school can be transferred to action and by emphasizing the context dependence of learning and acting. This article contributes to the debate by pointing out some advantages of combining school‐based and workplace‐based learning. The results of a study of learning in a vocational education and training (VET) programme for sales assistants show that both the theoretical training in the VET school and the practical training in the workplace are necessary to develop competency. Furthermore, the results indicate that a careful matching of specific parts of the curriculum with the learning setting (the workplace or the school) may improve the trainees’ achievements. The matching is not only useful in improving VET programmes but is also generally useful in planning lifelong learning as work‐related education.

Best for the Bright? The Pros and Cons of the New Danish Apprenticeship Model

Within the last 15–20 years apprenticeship has had a revival, supported by theories about learning in practice (Schon, 1983) in particular situated learning (Lave and Wenger, 1991). These theories have contributed to developing the concept of learning to include formal and informal learning and to introducing general shift of focus from teaching to learning. Apprenticeship is in many ways perceived as an optimal way of learning, as it is closely connected to a specific and concrete practice and involves the luxury of individual training. However studies of and literature about apprenticeship training all point to the necessity of further developing apprenticeship in order to enable the general and expansive learning that corresponds to the modern demands for qualifications (Fuller and Unwin, 1998; Gamble, 2002; Guile and Young, 1998; Shaw and McAndrew, 2008). That part of the training, which aims at transcending the specific community of practice, often takes place in schoolbased education, (Brooker and Butler, 1997). In the Danish dual system the general training will typically take place in VET colleges. However, in this article about the new apprenticeship model in Denmark, the issue is whether the general parts of the VET curricula can be accomplished in other ways than through school-based learning. This issue is relevant because the new apprenticeshipmodel partly substitutes school-based trainingwith in-company-based training.

Computer Training and General Education.

Is it possible to integrate ideals of general and liberal education into computer‐training programmes? To answer this question an analysis was made of computer training programmes for adults in Denmark. The results showed that the participants expressed a positive attitude towards computers and towards learning computer technology but they only expressed few and general expectations of the courses. This is problematic according to ideals of general education and of self‐directed learning. The organizers wanted to produce courses with general and enlightening contents but the form and contents of the actual courses only to a moderate degree realized the organizers’ intentions. The participants obtained a broad learning outcome. However, they only to a very moderate degree used this outcome at work or in relation to further education. The conclusion was that it is possible to integrate ideals of general and liberal education if computer training helps the participants to develop more precise intentions, if ...

Assessment of prior learning in adult vocational education and training

The article deals about the results of a study of school-based Assessment of Prior Learning of adults who have enrolled as students in a VET college in order to qualify for occupations as skilled workers. Based on examples of VET teachers’ methods for assessing the students’ prior learning in the programs for gastronomes, respectively child care assistants the article discusses two issues in relation to Assessment of Prior Learing: the encounter of practical experience and school-based knowledge and the validity and reliability of the assessment procedures. Through focusing on the students’ knowing that and knowing why the assessment is based on a scholastic perception of the students’ needs for training, reflecting one of the most important challenges in Assessment of Prior Learning: how can practical experience be transformed into credits for the knowledge parts of the programs? The study shows that by combining several Assessment of Prior Learning methods and comparing the teachers’ assessments the teachers respond to the issues of validity and reliability. However, validity and reliability might be even further strengthened, if the competencies are well defined, if the education system is aware of securing a reasonable balance between knowing how, knowing that, and knowing why, and if the teachers are adequately trained for the assessment procedures.