Students’ Perspectives on the Learning Environment in Vocational Education and Training (VET)

Abstract

The article addresses the learning environment in Danish vocational education and training programmes. The learning environment is understood as a process in which certain situations appear particularly central to students’ experience of it. The results show that these key situations are characterised by students’ uncertainty, as well as situations in which students need an accessible teacher and opportunities to receive help. Also central are situations where the organisation of subject teaching balances different students’ perspectives on how teaching should be structured, as well as their views on the need to regulate relationships among students. The presentation of the results groups these situations into five key situations, within which a number of examples are provided. These findings are based on interviews conducted during the introductory part of vocational education, the basic course, at one vocational college and the empirical material is part of a larger study involving several schools and data sources. The theoretical approach is based on Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory, drawing on the concepts of autonomy, relatedness, and competence. These concepts relate to fundamental needs and how they can be satisfied or become a source of frustration depending on whether teaching is regulated too much or too little. Based on the findings, the article discusses the importance of a process-oriented perspective on the learning environment and the key situations in light of didactic categories, as well as teacher competencies. The article concludes that because the learning environment is not static, it is crucial that teachers continuously attend to students’ perspectives and, on that basis, make decisions about regulation. The practical implications are that the learning environment should be central in didactics and that attention should be directed toward students’ perspectives.