Toward a Pedagogy for Professional Noticing: Learning through Observation Abstract A necessary skill that underpins all professional practice is noticing that which is salient. Noticing can be learned directly and indirectly through a variety of campus-based and placement activities. This paper suggests that developing a capacity for noticing is under conceptualised and underdeveloped in courses preparing students for the professions. It discusses three aspects of noticing: noticing in context, noticing of significance and noticing learning, and explores the use of these through a case study of simulation in nursing education. The case study points to the importance of close attention to the circumstances in which noticing can be fostered and, in doing so, points toward the potential of developing a pedagogy of professional noticing.

Subject-Integrated Teaching for Expanded Vocational Knowing and Everyday Situations in a Swedish Upper Secondary Health and Social Care Program Abstract The aim of this study was to explore what subject-integrated teaching of vocational subjects, ethics and health care, contributed with in terms of vocational knowing. The case study was ethnographically inspired and followed a group of students (16 +) and their teachers in a Swedish Health and Social Care Program while they worked with a theme unit called Death for two weeks in autumn 2012. Data comprised observations, field notes, and audio recordings of the planning and teaching of the theme unit, informal discussions with teachers and students, handouts, a theme booklet, and student assignments. Analysis was based on concepts related to cultural historical activity theory, especially emphasizing rules, tools, actions, operations, and contradictions. Results showed three major objects emphasized in the teacher–student interaction and the tools chosen to support the subject-integrated teaching activity: vocational knowing related to vocational ethics, to everyday ethics, and argumentative skills. Manifestations of contradictions in the form of dilemmas related to the examples that teachers copied from a textbook. As these examples were mainly contextualized in everyday situations, and there are no formal ethical guidelines for nursing assistants on which teachers could rely on, teachers’ narratives were used to complement these examples. Students’ argumentative skills were emphasized and related to personal situations, in which ethical arguments for justification in vocationally relevant situations were made unclear.

From Job to Calling: Vocational Identity and the Role of Apprenticeship Abstract In a longitudinal study of bakers’ apprentices, reluctant or ambivalent entrants to the work of baking, discovered an affinity for their work through processes of belonging to a workplace, becoming and being bakers. Through extensive, thorough and at times demanding engagement with bakers’ work and the forging of strong personal relationships with other workers, apprentices developed a ‘passion for the trade’. Therefore, for some of these apprentices, work had become not just a means to earn a living, but a form of vocation. Given that individuals’ live spans consists of a long component of time at work, it is important to understand the role of apprenticeship in forming robust occupational identity. It is especially significant where apprenticeships lead to transformation of workers’ perspectives of work being more than a job, and the development of work as a form of vocation or calling. This article explores the mechanisms supporting the ways in which affiliation to work, engagement in skilled practice and the formation of an attachment to occupational identity, occur. The article illuminates aspects of apprenticeship supporting the transformation of individuals’ perspectives on work from just a job to a calling. In so doing, artisanal work is provided with the recognition it deserves, as a viable and sustainable career choice into the uncertainties and challenges of future work.

Problem-Based Learning: the Emergence of New Scripts and Roles for Teachers to Render Epistemic Practices Transparent Abstract A lack of alignment between professional practice and education has triggered the move to alternative educational models, often with detailed scripts and templates to be followed. Among these are variants of problem/case-based models, where learners are challenged to achieve professionally desired learning outcomes and acquire knowledge and skills in their respective disciplines by encountering real-life situations as the stimulus and focus of their learning activities. A characteristic of these diverse models is that their scripts have been based on theories and understandings of what constitutes good learning and teaching in general. This article reports on a study conducted among law students that uses a script which focuses on the core ‘know-how’ of the legal profession. To examine the merits of this approach with respect to actionable knowledge, we employ perspectives from Knorr Cetina’s practice-theoretical lens. Particular attention is paid to how students are introduced to and learn the three archetypes of epistemic practices that Knorr Cetina identifies as central for members of expert cultures. The results from the study not only show that these practices were developed but also detail what is important in this respect. Thus, the article addresses calls in this journal for more research on how connections between school and work for professionals can be enhanced.

Empirical Conceptualisation of Integrative Learning. A Focus on Theory-Practice Integration in Technical Vocational Education and Training Abstract The integrative learning of theory and practice has been widely recognised as a cornerstone of today’s technical vocational education and training (T-VET). Considerable uncertainty persists regarding how to construe such integrative learning, let alone regarding how it proceeds or what it generates. This article reports an in-depth qualitative study designed to clarify the concept of integrative learning by advancing current understanding of what constitutes the integrative learning of theory and practice (ILTP) in terms of both its process and its outcome aspects. In all, 48 key actors in dual T-VET (students, tutors and mentors) participated in serial focus groups, class observations and apprenticeship observations. The constant comparison method was used to generate a description of both the learning process and the learning outcome based on descriptive axial dimensions along which learning and knowledge were positioned. More specifically, we distinguished three process dimensions (intentionality, time of the prompt and locus of learning) and three outcome dimensions (purpose, logic and locus of integrated knowledge). All in all, the findings can be understood only in consideration of co-existing perspectives on integration according to which the separation of theory and practice is more or less marked. The article discusses expected implications for practitioners and future research.

Workshop Attendance as a Mode of Learning: Evidence from the Netherlands Abstract Although workshop attendance appears to be as high as participation in training, this paper is the first study in the educational science, human resource management and labour economics literature that explores the drivers of workshop attendance among the working population. In our analysis of the Dutch Adult Education Survey, we find that workshop attendance is highest among managers and professionals, in contrast to their participation in training. These results confirm our expectation that workshop attendance is important in acquiring state-of-the art knowledge on external developments as a dominant source of competitive advantage for the organization. Furthermore, workshop attendance is positively related to individuals’ level of education. Particularly in workers’ mid-career years, attending workshops appears to be an important mode of learning: Workshop attendance is peaking at the age of 47. Moreover, we find that workshop attendance is complementary to training participation instead of a substitute. Our results show that there are interesting differences between the drivers of workshop attendance and those of participation in training and informal learning.

Work Values of Spanish University Students: a Follow-Up Study Abstract Work values are key elements in the competence training of university students, but little is known about the evolution of these values throughout university education. In this study, 362 Spanish university students were followed throughout the four years of their degree programmes. All of them completed a Work Values Scale that includes intrinsic, social and extrinsic work values. The results show that the values remain constant except for those identified as extrinsic values of territorial mobility. The evolution of these values is associated with other variables, such as combining studies with family or employment responsibilities, with the possibility of dropping out from studies, with the need of another year to finalize them or with the attributions that youths make regarding their evolution at university.

Enabling the Transfer of Skills and Knowledge across Classroom and Work Contexts Abstract Increasingly, contemporary work means graduates will operate in multiple workplace settings during their careers, catalysing the need for successful transfer of capabilities across diverse contexts. The transfer of skills and knowledge, however, is a complex area of learning theory which is often assumed and lacks empirical analysis. Facilitating transfer is critical for preparing students for effective transition to the workplace. Work Integrated Learning (WIL) provides an opportunity for tertiary education students to ‘practice’ transfer across classroom and work settings. Building on existing scholarship and using a mixed-methods design, this study aimed to explore the nature of transfer across these contexts during WIL, influencing factors and WIL design principles that optimise transfer. Survey data were collected from WIL students (N = 151) and interview data from WIL industry supervisors (N = 24) across different disciplines/professions in three universities (Australia and New Zealand). Findings indicate that students practice transfer during WIL, yet it is often during less complex tasks that relate to discipline-specific skills, rather than generic ones. WIL thus augments transfer, yet certain program and workplace characteristics enhance student confidence and capabilities in this process, highlighting the need for careful curricula design. Findings also highlighted the important role of paid work and volunteering and emphasise the importance of educators taking a holistic approach to developing students’ transfer ability, drawing on practical and authentic learning in curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, particularly those that engage industry. Implications for stakeholders are discussed, and strategies identified to enhance skills and knowledge transfer from classrooms to the workplace.

Vocational Education and Learners’ Experienced Workplace Curriculum Abstract There has been a growing emphasis on providing students in vocational education and training (VET) with workplace experiences. School-based VET and apprenticeship training have been parallel routes in the Finnish VET system, but relatively little is known of their characteristics regarding students’ experiences. This study addresses this research gap by investigating these two VET pathways and addressing the following research question: How do learners experience workplace learning on various learning pathways? This study further investigates three different vocational fields: social and health care, business and administration, and construction. The study was based on semi-structured individual interviews (N = 33): 18 of the participants were students in school-based VET, and 15 were apprentices. The interview data were analysed with thematic analysis. The themes highlighted how the VET pathway builds a frame for participation that is then shaped by work practices and social practices and how, eventually, individuals alter boundaries to participation. The study implies that the two VET pathways, school-based VET and apprenticeship training, have significant differences. However, in the construction sector, differences between students’ experiences of workplace learning seem to be less visible. Based on learning experiences, it seems that apprenticeship training and school-based VET cannot be considered parallel or interchangeable routes. This should be acknowledged because the recent reform of vocational upper secondary education aims to advance a flexible combination of school- and work-based pathways, and it can also be considered when discussing the coherence of VET systems.

Effects of Perceived In-Company Trainers’ Ethos on Apprentices’ Vocational and Organizational Identification: an Empirical Study with Cook and Automotive Apprentices Abstract The aim of this paper is to clarify the relationship between the pedagogical ethos of vocational in-company trainers as perceived by apprentices and the apprentices’ identification with their vocation and their company from both a theoretical and an empirical point of view. It is argued that the trainers’ pedagogical ethos is a relational construct that can be characterized by caring behavior, fairness, and the presupposition that the apprentices are capable of dealing with their assignments in a successful way. In order to investigate the importance of this specific kind of ethos in the Swiss context on an empirical basis, a cross-sectional study with 233 cook apprentices and 302 automotive apprentices was conducted. The analyses showed that the trainers’ pedagogical ethos as perceived by the apprentices significantly predicted the apprentices’ vocational and organizational identification. As regards occupation-specific differences in the effects of perceived ethos on identification, the analysis yielded no statistically significant results. Cook apprentices on average tended to feel less fairly treated by their trainers but to experience more trust in their ability than automotive apprentices, however. Moreover, their average ratings of vocational and organizational identification tended to be lower than to the ratings of automotive apprentices. The final section of the paper discusses these results with regard to identity formation processes and to their practical and moral implications.