Pedagogical theory arising from general education has long dominated discourse in both research and policy-making in education: this is also evident in vocational studies. Today, both locally and internationally, the complex processes of vocational pedagogy play a central role in the discussions. Work-based learning, the master-apprenticeship learning tradition, and the pedagogy of vocations and professions are all important concepts in on-going education policy debates. Contradictions between different learning traditions are clearly evident in vocational pedagogy: learning according to the workshop traditions or learning in the classroom, vocational theory and general theory, learning at school and learning in a work situation. This book is based on research in Norway and examines problems of teaching and learning in relation to vocational curricula of upper secondary schooling, apprentices’ experiences and masters thesis-writing in the field of vocational pedagogy. The book also explores the question of vocational education and gender, today and in the past.

The Author: Liv Mjelde is Professor of Vocational Pedagogy at Akershus University College, Norway. She is an expert on the changing relations between vocational and general education from psychological, didactic and sociological perspectives. One of her main research fields is gender divisions of labour.

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