ERIC Number: EJ1033670
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
Reference Count: 54
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1363-9080
Defining Boundaries between School and Work: Teachers and Students' Attribution of Quality to School-Based Vocational Training
Jonasson, Charlotte
Journal of Education and Work, v27 n5 p544-563 2014
School-based vocational training has been organised to support students' boundary crossing between school and work. Such training has the potential to engage students in relevant work-oriented schooling. Drawing on theories of boundary connections and symbolic resources, it is argued that school participants define and attribute quality to school-based vocational training based on their experiences and expectations of past, present, and future boundaries between school and work contexts. Empirical findings from an ethnographic study conducted at a Danish vocational school illustrate that students and teachers in some cases attribute negative qualities to school-based vocational training, whilst, in other cases, they find it difficult to define the boundaries between school and work, thus questioning the relevance and organisation of school-based vocational training in supporting students' boundary crossing between school and work. It is therefore argued that boundaries between school and work practices do not exist per se. Instead, more attention needs to be directed to the negotiations in which particular boundary connections between school and work practices are developed. This may have important consequences for the preparing of students for apprenticeship.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Vocational Education, Educational Quality, Ethnography, Education Work Relationship, Vocational Schools, Vocational Education Teachers, Secondary School Students, Teacher Attitudes, Student Attitudes, Participant Observation, Semi Structured Interviews, Experience, Expectation
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers: Denmark

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