Bedriftenes perspektiver og behov når elevene er i yrkesfaglig praksis [The companies perspectives and needs during vocational education]

Abstract

Vocational education (VET) requires collaboration between schools and workplaces in order to get a coherent education of good quality. The Norwegian vocational education has a model of four years where students complete two years of education at school, and the remaining two years as an apprenticeship in a company. The subject Vocational indepth learning is introduced to strengthen the transition between school and companies, and gives the students an opportunity to train in companies during the two first years in school. Previous studies show that cooperation between school and companies is random and has potential of improvement. Previous studies focus on the perspective of schools and students. In this article, we enquire the companies' perspectives and needs. We have investigated the companies' reasons to receive students and the students influence on the work places. Our findings show that the main motivation for receiving students is to ensure recruitment. We also find that the presence of the students affects the working environment and may lead to higher work satisfaction for the mentors. Within certain areas, the students also contribute to development of the employees.

Keywords

• Vocational education
• students in practice
• vocational in-depth studies
• companies' perspectives
• workplace learning