How do vocational teacher educators conceptualise and enact vocational didactics in vocational teacher education and training?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7577/sjvd.5874Keywords:
self-study , vocational teacher educator, vocational didactics, practical theory, work integrated learningAbstract
The article focuses on filling a research gap by exploring how vocational teacher educators create knowledge in vocational didactics through self-study in the context of work integrated learning. It argues that the conceptualizations and applications of vocational didactics by these educators enhance the research foundation of Swedish vocational teacher education and training and contribute to the professional knowledge base of vocational teacher educators.
The methodology of self-study offers flexible ways for interactive, iterative, and collaborative inquiry. The data consists of colleague interviews (N=10) carried out in spring term 2021. The research questions are What epistemic resources do vocational teacher educators use to articulate their practical vocational didactics theory? How do they express their practical vocational didactics theory when they enact vocational didactics content?
Through collective reflection the vocational teacher educators develop their vocational didactics practical theory using their personal and therefore idiosyncratic resources, e.g., previous work and educational experiences. These epistemic resources center on a radical acknowledgement of the vocational teacher students’ vocational knowing that they together transform into vocational didactics content. The radical acknowledgement supports shaping a more equal relationship built on a presumed reciprocal recognition of different but complementary specialised knowing. The vocational teacher educators’ knowing in the field of vocational didactics appears as generalist and requires close cooperation with specialists who supervise the students in their periods of work integrated learning. Through stories as a resource, the vocational teacher educators articulate their practical vocational didactics theory. The stories are used in the article to propose a model for a vocational subject didactics analysis. The article is an empirical contribution to the discussion of opportunities and constraints for work integrated learning in teacher education.
Downloads
References
Aakernes, N., Møllerhagen, T. H., Olstad, H. B., & Schaug, R. (2024). Creating a free space for professional development through collaborative self-study. Studying Teacher Ed-ucation, 20(1), 4–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/17425964.2023.2212683
Andersén, A., Asghari, H., & Petersson, M. (2019). Yrkesämnesdidaktik på universitet: mål, innehåll, arbetssätt och examination. Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 8(3), 98–123. https://doi.org/10.3384/njvet.2242-458X.188398
Annerberg, A., & Fändrik, A. K. (2019). Att vetenskapligt förankra ett yrkeslärarprogram: erfarenheter från ett utvecklingsprojekt. Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Train-ing, 8(3), 124–140. https://doi.org/10.3384/njvet.2242-458X.1883124
Crowe, A. R., & Dinkelman, T. (2010). Self-study and social studies: Framing the conver-sation. I A. R. Crowe (Red.), Advancing social studies education through self-study meth-odology: The power, promise, and use of self-study in social studies education (s. 1–19). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3943-9_1
Deng, Z. (2015). Content, Joseph Schwab and German Didaktik. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 47(6), 773–786. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2015.1090628
Dinkelman, T. (2003). Self-study in teacher education: A means and ends tool for promot-ing reflective teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 54(1), 6–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487102238654
Fejes, A., Lindberg, V., & Wärvik, G.-B. (Red.). (2017). Yrkesdidaktikens mångfald. Lä-rarförlaget.
Feldman, A. (2003). Validity and quality in self-study. Educational Researcher, 32(3), 26–28. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X032003026
Flores, M. A. (2017). Practice, theory and research in initial teacher education: international perspectives. European Journal of Teacher Education, 40(3), 287–290. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2017.1331518
Hiim, H., & Hippe, E. (2001). Å utdanne profesjonelle yrkesutøvere. Gyldendal akademisk.
Hökkä, P., & Eteläpelto, A. (2014). Seeking new perspectives on the development of teach-er education: A study of the Finnish context. Journal of Teacher Education, 65(1), 39–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487113504220
Hordvik, M., Fletcher, T., Haugen, A. L., Engebretsen, B., & Møller, L. (2023). Using the metaphor of orchestration to make sense of facilitating teacher educator professional devel-opment. European Journal of Teacher Education, 46(3), 417–434. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2021.1946510
Joram, E. (2007). Clashing epistemologies: Aspiring teachers’, practicing teachers’, and professors’ beliefs about knowledge and research in education. Teaching and Teacher Edu-cation, 23(2), 123–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2006.04.032
Kaiser, F. (2021). Academisation of the vocational school teaching profession and the gene-sis of vocational educational science. Bulletin of Institute of Technology and Vocational Ed-ucation, 22(4), 1–25. 結合_28 (uni-rostock.de)
Kitchen, J., Berry, A., Bullock, S. M., Crowe, A. R., Taylor, M., Guðjónsdóttir, H., & Thomas, L. (Red.). (2020). International handbook of self-study of teaching and teacher education practices. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6880-6
Korp, H., Grundberg, L., Lindholm, M-J., Påsse, M., & Wyszynska Johansson, M. (kom-mande). Conceptualizing and mediating vocational knowing in VET and VTE: How bring-ing them together can provide new insights for vocational pedagogies. Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training.
Lauvås, P. & Handal, G. (2015). Handledning och praktisk yrkesteori. (3., uppdaterade uppl.). Studentlitteratur.
Lindberg, V. & Wärvik, G-B. (2017). Vad är ett yrkesämne? I A. Fejes, V. Lindberg, G-B. Wärvik (Red.), (s. 23–58). Yrkesdidaktikens mångfald. Lärarförlaget.
Loughran, J. (1998, april 13–17). Being a conduit for learning: Understanding and inter-preting feedback from teaching experiences. [Paper presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting San Diego, CA, United States.
Loughran, J., & Russell, T. (Red.). (2002). Improving teacher education practices through self-study (s. 239–248). RoutledgeFalmer.
McCool, M., & Myers, J. (2023). Reviewing the literature to clarify self-study re-search. Educational Action Research, 31(3), 472–489. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2021.1976660
McIntosh Cooper, J. M., & Curtis, G. A. (2022). Employing self-study research across the curriculum: Theory, practice, and exemplars. I S. Watson, O. Williams-Duncan, S. Austin & J. Bell (Red.), Conceptual analyses of curriculum inquiry methodologies (s. 1551–81). IGI Global.
Murray, J., & Male, T. (2005). Becoming a teacher educator: Evidence from the field. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21(2), 125–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2004.12.006
Nihlfors, E. (2020a). Respekt för varandras kunskaper. Pedagogisk forskning i Sve-rige, 25(4), 112–116. https://doi.org/10.15626/pfs25.04.11
Nihlfors, E. (2020b, december 10). ULF spaning nr 6 – Etiska frågor. Den nationella sam-ordningsgruppen för försöksverksamheten Samverkan kring praktiknära forskning (ULF). c_709236-l_3-k_ulf-spaning-6_etik.pdf (ulfavtal.se)
Ping, C., Schellings, G., & Beijaard, D. (2018). Teacher educators' professional learning: A literature review. Teaching and Teacher Education, 75, 93–104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2018.06.003
Pinnegar, S., Hutchinson, D. A., & Hamilton, M. L. (2020). Role of positioning, identity, and stance in becoming S-STTEP researchers. I J. Kitchen med fl. (Red.), International handbook of self-study of teaching and teacher education practices (s. 97–133). Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6880-6_4
Ritter, J. K., & Quiñones, S. (2020). Entry points for self-study: Where to begin. I J. Kitch-en med fl. (Red.), International handbook of self-study of teaching and teacher education practices (s. 339–375). Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6880-6_11
Schaug, R., & Herudsløkken, K. (2019). Teaching and teaching practice in vocational teach-er education: Vocational student teachers’ and practice teachers’ perspectives on teacher education for and in teaching practice. Scandinavian Journal of Vocations in Develop-ment, 4(1), 53–80. https://doi.org/10.7577/sjvd.3218
Smith, K. (2015). The role of research in teacher education. Research in Teacher Educa-tion, 5(2), 43–46. https://doi.org/10.12968/prtu.2015.43.46
Smith, K., & Flores, M. A. (2019). The Janus faced teacher educator. European Journal of Teacher Education, 42(4), 433–446. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2019.1646242
Utbildningsdepartementet. (2017). Regeringsbeslut. Uppdrag om försöksverksamhet med praktiknära forskning. U2015/03573/UH, U2017/01129/UH. Stockholm: Utbildningsde-partementet. Uppdrag om försöksverksamhet med praktiknära forskning - Regeringen.se
Vanassche, E., & Kelchtermans, G. (2015). The state of the art in self-study of teacher edu-cation practices: A systematic literature review. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 47(4), 508–528. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2014.995712
Vollmer, H. J. (2023). International transfer of knowledge: Translating Didaktik, Fachdid-aktik, Allgemeine Fachdidaktik. Research in Subject-matter Teaching and Learning (RISTAL), 5(1), 39–55. https://doi.org/10.2478/ristal-2022-0105
Whitehead, J. (1989). Creating a living educational theory from questions of the kind,‘How do I improve my practice?’. Cambridge Journal of Education, 19(1), 41–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764890190106
Wyszynska Johansson, M., & Andersson, I. (2024). Vocational Didactics: Mapping the terrain in Swedish upper secondary vocational education and training. International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training, 11(1), 76–95. https://doi.org/10.13152/IJRVET.11.1.4
Zeichner, K. (2007). Accumulating knowledge across self-studies in teacher educa-tion. Journal of Teacher Education, 58(1), 36–46. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487106296219
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Martina Wyszynska Johansson, Marie Påsse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in SJVD accept the following terms:
- The author(s) retain copyright and gives the journal the right to the first publication of the work licensed simultaneously under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work when authorship and first release in the SJVD are recognised.
- The author(s) may enter separate, extra-contractual arrangements for non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (for example, send it to an institutional archive or publish it in a book) referring to the first release in SJVD.
- The author(s) are allowed and encouraged to post their work online (e.g. in institutional archives and on their website) before and during the filing process, as it may lead to useful exchanges of views, as well as faster and increased citation the published work.