ERIC Number: EJ1082301
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1363-6820
EISSN: N/A
Caring Disposition and Subordination. Swedish Health and Social Care Teachers' Conceptions of Important Vocational Knowledge
Rehn, Helena; Eliasson, Eva
Journal of Vocational Education and Training, v67 n4 p558-577 2015
Based on the increasing demands for vocational training in upper secondary school to adapt to workplace conditions, the aim of this article is to explore vocational teachers' conceptions regarding vocational knowledge. Drawing on a social constructionist perspective, this study analysed data from 17 interviews. The study showed how power dynamics, such as gender and class, affect the teachers' conceptions. The most important expertise, according to the teachers, was related to a feminine caring disposition in which empathy and communication were identified as core abilities. However, these abilities needed to be balanced in order to avoid becoming too emotional. There was a strong link to class, for example, the hierarchical structure was revealed when the teachers spoke of a nursing assistant having to know when to call a nurse rather than a doctor or an ambulance. The findings raise questions concerning what it means for the construction of vocational habitus when a superordinate group trains a subordinate group.
Descriptors: Vocational Education, Secondary School Students, Education Work Relationship, Teacher Attitudes, Vocational Education Teachers, Interviews, Caring, Gender Differences, Social Class, Empathy, Correlation, Foreign Countries, Allied Health Personnel, Health Education, Qualitative Research
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Sweden
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A