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A Path Towards a Possible Future – Adult Students’ Choice of Vocational Education
Linköping University, Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Education and Adult Learning. Linköping University, Faculty of Educational Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7732-3658
Linköping University, Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Education and Adult Learning. Linköping University, Faculty of Educational Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7990-8684
Linköping University, Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Education and Adult Learning. Linköping University, Faculty of Educational Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-1649-2690
2022 (English)In: Vocations and Learning, ISSN 1874-785X, E-ISSN 1874-7868, Vol. 15, no 1, p. 111-128Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Today’s society is characterized by high unemployment, a prevailing trust in and demands for an academic degree, and an emphasis on the individual’s own responsibility for their educational choices. This study aims to examine adults’ vocational education choices, their intentions in connection with municipal adult education (MAE) studies, and how this relates to identity formation. The study is based on 18 interviews and compares students from two vocational MAE training programmes in assistant nursing and floor laying. The analysis has identified different pathways concerning adult students’ decisions to enrol in municipal adult education and a specific vocational education and training (VET) programme. We see educational choices and paths in terms of underlying causes or as forward-looking rationalities. The results show that the process of identity formation is larger than simply one of vocational becoming within a vocational community of practice, since MAE studies involve a student’s whole being, including both their personal identity trajectories and their vocational identity formation. With this article we hope to provide a foundation for a pedagogical discussion about student intentions, focusing on how different subjectivities affect students with regard to their future vocational becoming.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Netherlands, 2022. Vol. 15, no 1, p. 111-128
Keywords [en]
Adult student, Identity, Municipal adult education, Educational choice, VET
National Category
Pedagogy Learning Sociology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-180650DOI: 10.1007/s12186-021-09280-6ISI: 000710095900001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85117609747OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-180650DiVA, id: diva2:1606305
Note

Funding: Linkoping University

Available from: 2021-10-27 Created: 2021-10-27 Last updated: 2023-10-24Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Something to Do Something to Be: A study of students' vocational identity formation in adult education
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Something to Do Something to Be: A study of students' vocational identity formation in adult education
2023 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Alternative title[sv]
Något att göra, någon att vara : En studie om komvuxelevers yrkesidentitetsutveckling
Abstract [en]

The aim of this thesis is to understand how vocations are learned in adult education by exploring the vocational identity formation of students in Municipal Adult Education (MAE) in Sweden. By analysing interviews of adult students during different stages in their Vocational Education and Training (VET) through working life, this study contributes to the fields of adult education and VET. The theoretical framework centres on the concept of identity, utilising communities of practice, and is nuanced with the concepts of sense of self and vocational habitus, in order to analyse both social practices and individual aspects of the students’ vocational identity formation.

The most standout finding is that VET in adult education can provide something beyond forming a vocational identity. In essence, the process of successfully completing an education can improve how students perceive themselves as adults, learners, and active members in society. The findings also show how the intersection between students’ perceptions of themselves, their education, and their vocation create barriers that they must overcome in order to progress in their identity formation. Overcoming barriers is an important part of the learning process that is towards a vocational identity, however, while some barriers are surpassed, some persist, and some are substituted by new ones.

These processes in turn affect how students identify and dis-identify with educational and vocational practices, which in turn influence how they participate in these practices. To the extent that students progress in their vocational identity depends on a variety of factors, related to their ability to participate in the social practices offered by education, primarily time in school and access to workplace-based training. Furthermore, the process of learning a vocation is a complex social venture and the findings argue that there is a risk in attributing students’ struggles solely to issues pertaining to vocational learning as this may overlook underlying structural challenges faced by students.

Abstract [sv]

Syftet med denna avhandling är att förstå hur yrken lärs i vuxenutbildning genom att utforska yrkesidentitetsutvecklingen hos elever inom kommunal vuxenutbildning i Sverige. Genom att analysera intervjuer med vuxenstuderande under olika stadier i deras yrkesutbildning och yrkesliv bidrar denna studie till områdena för vuxenutbildning och yrkesutbildning. Den teoretiska ramen fokuserar på identitet som begrepp och utgår från teori om praktikgemenskap (communities of practice) som också breddas med begrepp rörande elevers självuppfattning (sense of self) och yrkeshabitus (vocational habitus) för att analysera både sociala praktiker och individuella aspekter av studenternas yrkesidentitetsutveckling.

De mest framträdande resultaten är att deltagande i yrkesutbildning som vuxen kan erbjuda något utöver lärandet av en yrkesidentitet. Vuxna yrkeselever som genomgår och klarar en utbildning kan också stärkas i hur de ser på sig själva, i hur de uppfattar sig som vuxna, som lärande individer eller som aktiva samhällsmedborgare. Resultaten visar också hur samspelet mellan hur eleverna uppfattar sig själva, deras utbildning och deras yrke kan skapa barriärer, eller hinder, som de måste övervinna för att fortsätta sin identitetsutveckling. Att ta sig förbi barriärer är en viktig del av den lärandeprocess som rör sig gentemot en yrkesidentitet men även om eleverna tar sig förbi vissa barriärer, kvarstår vissa och andra byts ut.

Elevernas lärandeprocesser påverkar också hur eleverna identifierar och avidentifierar sig med/från olika utbildnings- och yrkespraktiker, vilket i sin tur påverkar hur de aktivt deltar och interagerar i dessa praktiker. Hur framgångsrika de väl är i sin yrkesidentitetsutveckling beror därtill på olika faktorer kopplade till deras möjlighet att tillhöra de sociala praktiker som erbjuds av utbildningen, i förhållande till mängden tid i skolan och tillgång till arbetsplatsförlagd utbildning. Därtill kan processen att lära sig ett yrke vara en komplex social resa och resultaten visar på att det finns en risk i att tillskriva elevernas utmaningar enbart till frågor som rör yrkeslärande då detta kan förbise underliggande strukturella utmaningar som studenterna står inför.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press, 2023. p. 91
Series
Linköping Studies in Behavioural Science, ISSN 1654-2029 ; 255
Keywords
Vocational Identity, Vocational Education and Training, Adult Education, Municipal Adult Education, Pedagogy, Educational Sociology, Yrkesidentitet, Yrkesutbildning, Vuxenutbildning, Komvux, Pedagogik, Utbildningssociologi
National Category
Pedagogy
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-198720 (URN)10.3384/9789180754255 (DOI)9789180754248 (ISBN)9789180754255 (ISBN)
Public defence
2023-11-24, Vallfarten (VAL), Building Vallfarten, Campus Valla, Linköping, 13:00 (Swedish)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2023-10-24 Created: 2023-10-24 Last updated: 2023-10-24Bibliographically approved

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Karlsson, TobiasMuhrman, KarolinaNyström, Sofia

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