Relevant opplæring i yrkesopplæringens første år: Elevers erfaringer med yrkesrelevant opplæring [Relevant training in the first year of vocational training: Pupils’ experience with vocational training]

Abstract

During the last years, vocational education in Norway has been organised through eight different educational programmes. Each programme makes the basic year for many different professions, students may be heading for. The national regulations for Norwegian vocational education and training describe a clear intention of professional relevance for each student and competence development through democratic participation. The aim of this research was to investigate how the basic year in vocational programmes works, related to these intentions from a student perspective. This study provides both qualitative and quantitative results.Despite the fact that most of the students, before or during the first year, have decided on their future profession, the survey shows that the basic year in Norwegian vocational education is not, or only partially relevant to their vocational plans. The students find that their possibilities to influence in deciding their learning tasks and the educational content is minimal. Interpretation and understanding of curriculum, learning assignments and educational content are decided by the teachers or others, not the students.

Keywords

• vocational relevance
• vocational interests
• vocational plans
• student influence
• student participation