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The Institutionalisation of Validation and the Transformation of Vocational Knowledge the Case of Admission Into Vocational Teacher Education in Sweden

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The Institutionalisation of Validation and the Transformation of Vocational Knowledge the Case of Admission Into Vocational Teacher Education in Sweden [framsida] Maria C. Johansson C. Maria Linnaeus University Dissertations Linnaeus University Dissertations No 350/2019 No 350/2019 Maria C. Johansson Maria C. Johansson the transformation of vocational knowledge vocational of the transformation and validation of institutionalisation The [rygg] The institutionalisation of validation and the transformation Lnu.se of vocational knowledge Lnu.se ISBN: 978-91-88898-55-5 (print), 978-91-88898-56-2 (pdf ) linnaeus university press The institutionalisation of validation and the transformation of vocational knowledge The case of admission into Vocational Teacher Education in Sweden Linnaeus University Dissertations No 350/2019 THE INSTITUTIONALISATION OF VALIDATION AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF VOCATIONAL KNOWLEDGE The case of admission into Vocational Teacher Education in Sweden MARIA C. JOHANSSON LINNAEUS UNIVERSITY PRESS The institutionalisation of validation and the transformation of vocational knowledge: The case of admission into Vocational Teacher Education in Sweden Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Education and Teachers' Practice, Linnaeus University, Växjö, 2019 ISBN: 978-91-88898-55-5 (print), 978-91-88898-56-2 (pdf) Published by: Linnaeus University Press, 351 95 Växjö Printed by: DanagårdLiTHO, 2019 Abstract Johansson, Maria C. (2019). The institutionalisation of validation and the transformation of vocational knowledge: The case of admission into Vocational Teacher Education in Sweden, Linnaeus University Dissertations No 350/2019, ISBN: 978-91-88898-55-5 (print), 978-91-88898-56-2 (pdf). The aim of this thesis was to understand the validation of vocational knowledge prior to entry into vocational teacher education in Sweden with regard to conceptions and understandings of vocational knowledge, and also to understand how institutional conditions, such as ideas of how to organise validation, influence the content and form of the validation practice. From this aim the following research questions were developed: What ideas about the organisation of validation stand out in the policy and practice of validation? What conceptions and understandings of vocational knowledge is the organisation of validation built on and what do they entail? Who has the agency to describe and decide upon vocational knowledge in the policy and practice of validation? What institutional arrangements appear in the practice of validation? To conduct the studies in the thesis a multimethods approach was adopted, combining policy analysis and interviews. For theoretical support, new institutional theories were used and also theories of knowledge. The results revealed that the regulative elements of validation have transformed vocational knowledge to fit a frame similar to formal education. In terms of norms and values, it appears as if validation is more of a social and economic project than one of accounting for vocational knowledge and vocational pride. Cultural/cognitive matters that are taken for granted when considering vocational knowledge differ quite significantly between agents involved in validation. Validation of vocational knowledge exhibits a conceptual confusion having different conceptions of knowledge simultaneously at play. This confusion blurs the boundaries between concepts of knowledge, learning, and the learning context. In the complexity of ideas of how to organise validation and different knowledge conceptions, institutional arrangements appear to be based on a sense of belonging, either to academia or to the trade. The agency of those with vocational knowledge is limited in several ways within validation. Keywords: agency, competence, institutional arrangements, institutional conditions, institutionalisation, validation, vocational knowledge, qualification framework Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................. 5 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 7 1.1 Vocational knowledge in the academic context 8 1.2 Validation and the knowledge society 10 1.3 Validation and vocational knowledge 11 1.4 An institutional perspective on validation 12 1.5 The purpose and aim of the thesis 14 1.6 Outline of the thesis 15 1.7 The relevance of the thesis 17 2. THE ADMISSION INTO VOCATIONAL TEACHER EDUCATION . 19 2.1 Vocational teacher education and the admission procedure 19 2.2 The applications and the applicants 25 2.3 The organisation of the admission into vocational teacher education 26 2.4 Validation and the transnational policy field 28 3. VALIDATION ............................................................................................ 31 3.1 Validation as an emerging research field 31 3.2 Different models and forms of validation 32 3.3 Quality and validity 33 3.4 Issues in the practice of validation 36 3.5 Summary of issues in validation 42 4. VOCATIONAL KNOWLEDGE ............................................................ 45 4.1 The knowledge question 45 4.2 A vocation and vocational knowledge 46 4.3 Tacit knowledge 49 4.4 Competence, competency and qualification 50 4.4 Learning outcomes and qualification frameworks 52 4.6 The socio-epistemic approach 56 4.7 Summary of conceptions of vocational knowledge 57 5. A NEW INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE .......................................... 61 5.1 New institutional theory 61 5.2 Institutional pillars 63 5.3 Organisational fields and isomorphism 65 5.4 Travelling ideas 67 5.5 Agency 68 6. EXPLORING VALIDATION OF VOCATIONAL KNOWLEDGE ......... 73 1 6.1 Methodology 73 6.2 Case studies and the case of this study 76 6.3 Research phases and design 77 6.4 Literature review and previous research 79 6.5 Policy analysis 80 6.6 Interviews 84 6.7 Study counsellors and ValiWeb 86 6.8 Vocational expert and applicant 87 6.9 Analysis of all interviews 88 6.10 Analysis of agency and institutional arrangements 89 6.11 Trustworthiness 90 6.12 Ethical considerations 91 6.13 Overview of the studies and data analysis 93 7. VALIDATION IN POLICY ....................................................................... 99 7.1 Important events and policy producers 99 7.2 Regulative elements in policy: Common principles 101 7.3 Normative elements: Economic and social 104 7.4 Cultural/cognitive elements: Outcomes of lifelong learning 110 7.5 Isomorphism in policy on validation 113 7.6. Comparability as crucial 114 7.7 Market driven and progressive as normative elements 115 7.8 Learning outcomes applying to any knowledge 117 7.9 Conceptions and understandings of vocational knowledge in policy 118 8. VALIDATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS ................ 121 8.1 Criteria and framework: A regulatory focus 121 8.1.1Vocational knowledge turned into subject content 121 8.1.2 Difficulties with descriptors 124 8.1.3 The level of the framework as important 131 8.2 Elusive, confusing, and instrumental 135 8.3 Objectives, norms and methods: A normative focus 137 8.3.1 Social and economic opportunities 137 8.3.2 Complex, tricky, difficult: Views on validation 139 8.3.3 Nurses as a special category of applicants 141 8.3.4 Familiarity with current and recent trends and employability 143 8.3.5 Different methods 146 8.4 A socio-economic project 148 8.5 Certificates and/or narratives: A cultural/cognitive focus 150 8.5.1 Vocations and vocational knowledge 150 2 8.5.2 Certificates 155 8.5.3 Narratives 157 8.5.4 Vocational experts and academics 161 8.6 Vocations and their related knowledge lost in academia 166 8.7 Conceptions and understandings of vocational knowledge 168 9. VALIDATION IN A TRADE ................................................................... 171 9.1 Presentation of the two interviewed hairdressers 171 9.2 Criteria and framework: A regulatory focus 172 9.2.1The application and the guidelines 173 9.2.2 Idiosyncrasies of the hairdressing trade 174 9.2.3 Reflections on the regulations 175 9.3 Objectives, norms and methods: A normative focus 179 9.3.1 Fortune-seekers and the trades norms and needs 179 9.3.3 Time and familiarity with current and recent trends 182 9.3.4 Methods for validation 184 9.4 Hairdressing and vocational knowledge: A cultural/cognitive focus 186 9.4.1 A craft requiring knowledge and technical skills 186 9.4.2 Social competence and the customer in focus 189 9.4.3 Tacit knowledge of hairdressers 191 9.5 Institutional clashes 193 9.6 Conceptions and understanding of vocational knowledge 194 10. VALIDATION OF VOCATIONAL KNOWLEDGE: SYNTHESIS ..... 197 10.1 Regulation by the same principles 198 10.2 Validation and its objectives, values and norms 202 10.3 Different ways of expressing vocational knowledge 205 10.4 Conceptual confusion 207 10.5 Vocational knowledge and agency 211 10.6 Trusting academia or the trade 215 11. CONCLUDING DISCUSSION .............................................................. 217 11.1 Limitations of the thesis 217 11.2 Validation as an institution 219 11.3 Academia, trades and agency 220 11. 4 The public image of vocational knowledge 222 SWEDISH SUMMARY/SVENSK SAMMANFATTNING ........................ 223 References ..................................................................................................... 243 Appendices .................................................................................................... 259 3 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The process of writing this thesis is coming to an end. Many new thoughts, ideas and contact with nice and interesting people have emerged from it. It has been challenging, exciting, inspiring and at times a quite lonely endeavor. For the new
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