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ERIC Number: EJ1022136
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1363-6820
EISSN: N/A
Framing and Classifying the Theoretical and Practical Divide: How Young Men's Positions in Vocational Education are Produced and Reproduced
Niemi, Anna-Maija; Rosvall, Per-Åke
Journal of Vocational Education and Training, v65 n4 p445-460 2013
Research material from ethnographic studies of vocational upper secondary educational programmes in Finland and Sweden presented here indicates that the discourse of schoolwork as being either theoretical or practical is firmly fixed. However, the students on the researched programmes were aware of recent changes in the labour market that raise a need for generalisation, or at least knowledge of both practical and theoretical aspects of their programme-specific subjects. They referred to the changes with notions suggesting that a practical and theoretical divide was neither meaningful nor helpful for their education. We discuss how a stereotyped idea of what was thought of as "man's work" made it difficult for students who wanted to accomplish tasks considered as theoretical and how the teachers' framing of pedagogic practice intensified or ameliorated this difficulty. We also address the dichotomy between theoretical and practical by contemplating students' positions within different pedagogical practices. We suggest that some kinds of practices might diminish the dichotomy and could improve the students' possibilities for fully engaging in their studies.
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 - Location: Finland; Sweden
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A