Creating continuity between school and workplace: VET teachers’ in-school work to overcome boundaries

Abstract

VET typically takes place at two educational sites: in VET school and at the workplace. The focus of this article is to analyse how Swedish VET teachers from three different VET programmes create ‘sameness and continuity’ between in-school training and work-based learning (WBL). Based on qualitative interviews with teachers, their work in connecting these two educational sites is analysed. The article presents findings suggesting that VET teachers overcome the gap between in-school training and WBL by using the boundaries between them in different ways. One category of teachers states that they have everything connected to the intended community of practice (the workplace) in their workshop, and their teaching is embedded in practice. Another group compartmentalises the boundaries between school and workplace as they make students aware of differences between the two sites. The final category of VET teachers consists of those who do not have a workshop as classroom and must therefore actively create connections in their teaching practice, without the intended community of practice being represented at school except through the teachers and students own experience. This study can contribute to VET teachers’ awareness of the resources available to facilitate learning at the boundary between school and the workplace.