Communities of interpretation as a source of coherence in vocational education and training: Perspectives from the county authority and the vocational office

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate what the county authority and the vocational office consider barriers to creating coherence in vocational education and training and how they facilitate an interpretive community that can promote a comprehensive education course by implementing the curriculum for the Knowledge Promotion 2020. The term “coherence” is used in the professional literature to shed light on contexts at different levels. In this study, coherence is linked to the context in the content and structure of the training by illuminating the program design perspective on coherence. The theoretical framework of understanding is derived from school and organizational theory. Community of interpretation is, among other things, about understanding the reasoning behind others’ priorities and choices. This provides a better basis for creating a common understanding of the task of educating skilled workers across learning arenas, schools, and companies. A qualitative interview study of employees, with key tasks in the county municipality and training office, lays the foundation for the empirical data analyzed using a constant comparative analysis method. The study highlights three key barriers to achieving coherence: few fruitful arenas for collaborations between training arenas, different understandings of the curriculum, and limited authentic work tasks in the school part of the education. To promote a comprehensive training course, the participants work to systematize and target a more binding collaboration between school and company. They coordinate and clarify areas of responsibility through the preparation of guidelines, partnership agreements, and annual cycles. They offer teachers and company employees courses and internships to raise competence across the training arenas. The study concludes that network-building must be further developed through collaboration and dialogue and that this important work must be brought into communities of interpretation to achieve a common understanding of concepts, content, methods, and requirements for final competence.