Participation in designated learning opportunities and engagement in workplace learning are very different kinds of professional learning activities: Whereas the former takes place in organised, predefined settings with intended learning objectives, the latter mostly arises as a by-product through everyday experiences at work. Yet, empirical and theoretical models often do not sufficiently differentiate

The dual system of vocational education and training (VET) and its quality have recently been receiving scientific attention, partly due to high drop-out rates and to politically-motivated efforts to increase participation in the system (Le Mouillour, 2018). However, it remains controversial as to how quality within training companies should be measured, and from whose perspective, and how the quality

This paper addresses the question of how higher vocational education and training programmes socialise participants for future work, where the occupational pathways they are to embark on are weakly defined. The analysis focuses on organisational rituals as a means to understand individual and collective transformative processes taking place at a particular intersection of education and labour markets

Despite the growing use of virtual environments for training in complex industrial settings, we have little understanding of how these innovative settings transform training and trainers everyday work. This study investigates the instructional use of an industrial building’s virtual environment by expert trainers during a training session for nuclear power plant field operators. Drawing from the course-of-action

We investigated informal workplace learning (IWL) within an under-researched target group: blue-collar workers. IWL is particularly important for these workers because of learning barriers to participation in formal training. Based on meta-analytical conceptualizations and findings, we developed a conceptual framework of antecedents, processes, and learning outcomes of IWL among blue-collar workers

In the literature, informal learning is considered to be of great importance to employees’ development of workplace learning. The aim of this study, which involves respondents from a Swedish police education unit, was to contribute knowledge about Swedish police education teachers’ informal learning as regards conditions for learning, learning activities and learning experiences resulting from their

This article analyzes the writing competence of Norwegian students and apprentices in three professions: Healthcare, industrial mechanics and electricians. The research forms part of a large-scale assessment project in vocational education and training (VET). A subset of 108 written test-answers were subjected to an explorative analysis focusing on generic and professional writing competencies. A more

This quasi-experimental study of self-regulated learning (SRL) in the context of primary teacher education emerged from the importance attributed to SRL for developing student teachers’ active and conscious learning. Contrary to earlier studies that focused on SRL within the initial teacher training, in this study we sought for the impact of increased SRL opportunities on student teachers’ motivation

The purpose of this article is to explore first-line managers’ experiences of workplace learning in elderly care, with a particular focus on the conditions for learning when entering a new workplace as the new manager. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 35 first-line managers from three organisations in Sweden. Four learning conditions emerged as being particularly significant for first-line

Reflection is essential for professional competence development in every profession. Reflection-on-action (taking place a posteriori, when the task is already accomplished) and reflection-in-action (occurring while performing the task) are equally important to increasing one’s professionalism. Some evidence supports the effectiveness of promoting the former by using metacognitive prompts that encourage

In developed countries, obtaining a job qualification is a requirement for securing worthwhile employment. Given, it leads to better social and economic conditions during the entire working life. One relevant avenue to facilitate access to a job qualification, especially for students who have school concerns, is to encourage students to take non-university qualifying training programs like Vocational

Examining learning in work-integrated learning (WIL) courses is complex. WIL traverses work and university spaces, which can be challenging for the way student learning is conceived, planned, supported, assessed and reported. This study strengthens our understanding of how students learn on placement by going directly to the source and observing learning unfold, in situ. Using an ethnographic methodology

Many educational systems are characterized by segregation between a general and vocational educational track. When adolescents must decide on their postcompulsory education at the end of lower secondary school, the different programs are typically embedded in one of these two main tracks. Prior career choice theories postulate that vocational interests, as structured by the six-dimensional RIASEC model

An extensive body of workplace learning literature documents the changing nature of professional learning, knowledge and work, but the tensions between the distinctive purposes and interests of professions and organizations have not received the same level of attention. The sociology of professions literature in contrast has paid an enormous amount of attention to the contradiction of professions and

Over the last 15 years, different countries have developed low-level vocational education and training (VET) programmes for young people who struggle to enter or complete education at upper secondary level. Switzerland introduced nationally standardised two-year initial VET programmes in 2005, Norway in 2016. Data of interviews with curriculum experts in Norway and Switzerland provided an empirical

Despite the importance of dual VET for economic growth and stability, internationally, systems struggle with quality assurance and quality improvement. In recent years, numerous research efforts have been made to identify and describe quality aspects in dual VET, especially with regard to in-company training conditions as perceived by apprentices. This has resulted in an outsized number of test instruments

Although prior studies have examined the influence of career and technical education (CTE) on high school completion in the United States, few studies provided direct empirical evidence on how it worked. Using the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:2009), this study examined public high school students’ CTE experience from three integral aspects (coursework, career and technical student organizations

This study examines storytelling episodes in 13 video-recorded and fully transcribed post-simulation debriefings from a maritime navigation course. The aim is to scrutinize the facilitators’ practice of telling stories from the sea during debriefings, to explore the organization and inner function of storytelling in debriefing. A combination of dialogical-performative analysis and a structural narrative

The construct of career adaptability has recently gained importance in research on vocational development and has led to a variety of theoretical and empirical approaches. Alongside with vocational identity it has been theorised as the crucial meta-competency of modern career construction. Due to its roots in adolescent career development, career adaptability is not limited to the vocational adjustments

This article aims at investigating whether physicians can acquire and develop practical wisdom in their practices through structural case discussions focused on learning. Our starting point is that practical wisdom is essential to realize the moral purpose of professional care: to help each individual patient to alleviate her suffering and to promote her health in a way that is attuned to her individual

Teaching approaches have been shown to be an important aspect of teaching in school or higher education. Although differing approaches to teaching may play a role in the outcome of professional trainings, they have not yet been further studied in this context. It is first necessary to determine whether the existing approaches to teaching construct can be transferred to the context of professional training

In this article, we explore workers’ stories about digitalization of work and professional development. The data (101 stories) were collected from 81 Finnish government workers through the method of empathy-based stories (MEBS). MEBS is a qualitative data collection method in which participants write short imaginary texts based on an introductory script (frame story) designed by the researcher. In

Learning is not static but dynamic and it is not restricted to an externally imposed direction of learning. Thus, helping an individual to actualize self-direction in learning is a potential model for enhancing information literacy skills and learning outcomes. This study, therefore, employed the theoretical framework of self-directed learning skills to foster students’ lifelong learning tendencies

In the domain of visual arts, professional artists usually graduate from academies and universities. For professional development, art students must practise domain-specific activities. Support from lecturers and exchanges with fellow students also help advance accomplishments. Amateurs without academic or vocational artistic education can acquire their skills autodidactically or attend courses such

Occupational prestige, the hierarchical perception of occupations, is a neglected issue in studies on vocational education and training, although the attractiveness of apprenticeship programs is strongly affected by their prestige. Based on a qualitative study, this article examines the identity strategies of apprentices whose training programs lack prestige. It understands not only identity but also

Intrapreneurship competence, as one of the main twenty-first century skills, has moved into focus, as it enables benefits for both organizations and individuals. To foster associated competencies and enable tailor-made instruction, teachers need knowledge not only about what their students can do but also about which errors are typically made within this domain. To identify such knowledge, we analyzed

Our study aims to develop and validate a multidimensional Innovative Work Behaviour instrument to measure teachers IWB. Current IWB conceptualizations and operationalizations need further attention. Existing measurements miss empirical evidence of the construct validity and moreover do not include a sustainability dimension. Based on a thorough and comprehensive conceptualization of IWB, we first adapted

Much of individual’s learning takes place during job performance, implying that professionals engage in self-regulated learning (SRL). This study systematically reviews the current state of the field concerning conceptualisation and operationalisation within research on self-regulation of professional learning - for which we use the acronym “SRpL”. Although there is a growing interest for research

This study aims to explore the relationship between learning climate, in the dimensions of learning facilitation and error avoidance, learning potential of the workplace (task-related and interactional) and innovative work behavior. Survey data were collected from a sample of 374 employees and their supervisors from an automatic food distribution company in central Italy. Structural equation models

The transition from occupational practitioner to vocational educator means moving from the logic of production to the logic of teaching; the purpose of knowledge changes from enhancing production to enhancing learning. This process touches issues of transmitting vocational knowledge from a workplace context to a school context; it has been explored in the literature, but few studies have focused on

The article “Toward a Pedagogy for Professional Noticing: Learning through Observation”, written by Donna Rooney and David Boud, was originally published Online First without Open Access.

As learning societies necessitate continuous education, a growing number of part-time programs are being offered. A key challenge for part-time programs is adequately supporting students in connecting their learning within the program to their work life, which in contrast to dual education is not part of the program. To better understand such boundary-crossing support in part-time higher professional

In this paper we aim to understand how the discourse of VET stakeholders (educational administrators, school leaders and vocational teachers) reproduces and/or contests gender-typical occupational practices in VET. Drawing from interviews with VET stakeholders in Estonia, we found that, as a rule, teachers and heads of schools have noticed gender segregation both in society and in the context of their

TVET educator roles and identities vary internationally, and are subject to repositioning, for example as the relative significance of institutions and the workplace change within national systems. In English apprenticeships, a key position has long been occupied by competence assessors, whose non-teaching role has related uneasily to those of professional educators. Following the introduction of new

Reflection plays an important role in medical students’ ability to develop diagnostic competence through practice with clinical cases. However, it is not easy for students to develop expert-like performance through self-reflection alone; conversely, seeking feedback from experts constantly in practice is impractical. This study investigates the design and effects of computer-based cognitive feedback

The aim of the present empirical study was to explore students’ self-regulated learning behaviours in vocational education and training and to describe the micro processes associated with planning, monitoring and evaluating during practical learning tasks. The 18 participants were well-performing students from upper secondary vocational education. We collected data from observations, interviews and

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

When organizations create new knowledge and work practices as a reaction to challenges they face, they often have difficulty to adopt these new practices “on the ground”. One of the reasons is that in these cases, individual informal learning and collective knowledge creation are often insufficiently connected. In this paper, we investigate knowledge practices that explain how new knowledge generated

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

Changing technologies and competition in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) are challenging the learning of individual workers and teams alongside and through work. Organisations call for employees’ autonomy and self-directedness executed by agile operations and low hierarchies, where learning is also increasingly the responsibility of the individuals and teams themselves and

A distinctive feature of contemporary professional, vocational and continuing education is the prevalence of the ‘competency’ approach. So-called competency-based education or training (CBE/T) can be adopted as a basis for programs of learning, frameworks for development within occupations, or for national systems of vocational education. Its application is observed across a wide range of occupations

The research elaborating emotions in organizational settings has increased considerably in recent years. However, we lack a comprehensive understanding of the role of emotions in learning at work. This review aimed to elaborate how emotions and learning are understood in the field of workplace studies, and how emotions and learning at work are related. For the review, 31 scientific articles were selected

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of individual and organisational factors on knowledge workers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of informal learning. Because most studies on informal learning have been conducted at the individual level, studies empirically examining the influence of individual and organisational factors simultaneously remain necessary. The research question

This article analyzes the motives for firms providing apprenticeship training in Catalonia and the reasons why other firms do not provide such training. In light of the recent introduction of dual apprenticeships in the formal education system in Spain, a country with a traditionally school-based vocational education and training (VET) system, Catalonia constitutes a relevant case for analyzing firms’

Professional vision is a key skill in visually-oriented professions, but its relevance to vocational education and training has only drawn limited attention from researchers. When educating fashion designers, professional vision is vital because precisely analysing clothing is required to create good products suitable for customers. In this study, we investigate what visual information must be observed

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

Relational aspects of professional practice demand increasing attention in research on work and learning. However, little is known about how knowledge is enacted in practices where different people work together. Working in partnership with clients surfaces a number of epistemic demands, responses to which are poorly understood. This paper analyses two cases of nurses working with parents in support

Continuing professional education (CPE) is viewed as the main strategy to tackle unemployment and to improve the weak position of jobseekers with few qualifications on the labour market. However, the mandatory nature of these programmes raises questions regarding jobseekers’ motivation to enrol for and engage in training and – by extension – the effectiveness of the programmes. Moreover, until now

Fluctuating demands and fast changing job-requirements require organizations to invest in employees so that they are able to take up new tasks. In this respect, fostering employees’ employability is high on the agenda of many organizations. As a prerequisite for creating employability, many scholars have focused on the role of social informal learning. In this study, we extend this perspective and

There is a common understanding that becoming a teacher needs to be a continuous and coherent process of educational and professional development across all teacher education phases. This study focuses on the professional preparation of candidate teachers when entering the induction phase. It provides an opportunity to reconstruct their transition into the profession and asks how predictive perceived

This study aimed to construct and validate a quantitative measurement instrument to determine the structure of professional agency in working life. Empirical data (N = 589) were collected via a web-based, theoretically informed questionnaire, within the professional domains of education, healthcare, rescue services, and information technology. The questionnaire items incorporated theoretically based

The Swiss teacher education and training system offers a practically and academically oriented path for aspiring commercial vocational education and training (VET) teachers. Although teachers’ content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) are considered crucial for teaching quality and students’ achievement, little is known about Swiss VET teachers’ Economics CK and PCK. Using assessments

Although nurse aides take on a high share of care activities in nursing homes, almost nothing is known about how they develop the knowledge and skills to do so. This study attempts to close this research gap by answering the following research questions: (1) How do novice aides learn and develop and how is their learning trajectory structured? (2) What are the potential and problems of these informal