Supporting Apprentices’ Integration of School- and Workplace-Based Learning in Swiss Initial Vocational Education and Training

ABSTRACT

In a dual initial vocational education and training (IVET) system, an integration between school- and work-based learning is essential to provide apprentices with necessary trade-specific skills and to ensure the quality of training. However, apprentices often perceive a disconnection between learning sites. Accordingly, based on the concepts of boundary crossing and school-workplace connectivity, this study aimed to investigate how the integration between school- and work-based learning contributed to the quality of Swiss IVET from the perspective of apprentices, vocational teachers and in-company trainers. Data were collected through focus groups (n = 64) and thematic data analysis was carried out following an inductive and deductive approach. Key findings indicated some issues related to sociocultural differences between school and training company: a general devaluation of school-based learning (non-aligned with workplace-learning or perceived as useless) and the diversity of apprentices’ experiences at the training company. Furthermore, the analysis revealed how these situations perceived as disconnected can become learning opportunities: by applying a skill acquired at school in the workplace that is not part of the routine (learning mechanism of transformation); by bringing in the classroom authentic situations experienced by apprentices at work (learning mechanism of reflection). Implications for training and teaching are addressed.

KEYWORDS:

• Swiss dual IVET
• perceived IVET quality
• school- and workplace-based learning
• boundary crossing
• school-workplace connectivity

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr Viviana Sappa for her precious advice and feedbacks on the article, as well as all apprentices, vocational teachers and in-company trainers that took part in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Moreover, for a few weeks a year (depending on the occupational field), apprentices also learn at a third learning site through ‘branch courses,’ whose purpose is to complement school- and workplace-based training.

2. A community of practice is a group whose members regularly interact with one another and share experiences based on their common interests, resulting in learning (Lave and Wenger 1991).

3. Two focus groups with hairdressing and beauty apprentices and administrative assistant apprentices took place. This explains why there are 14 groups instead of 12.

4. Conceptual knowledge consists of ‘static knowledge about facts, concepts, and principles that apply within a certain domain’ (de Jong and Ferguson-Hessler 1996, 107). This type of knowledge is mainly taught at school; however, it is transmitted to a lesser extent within training companies (Eraut 2004). Procedural knowledge refers to ‘actions or manipulations that are valid within a domain’ (de Jong and Ferguson-Hessler 1996, 107), and is essential to being able to concretely perform a task. This type of knowledge is learned primarily at the training company.

Additional information

Funding

This study is part of the project ‘How is the quality of upper-secondary-level VET understood by its players, and how does it influence learner commitment? An analysis of the various learning locations and the development of a scientifically-based assessment tool’, which is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation https://www.snf.ch (grant no. 100019_175880).

Notes on contributors

Florinda Sauli

Florinda Sauli is junior researcher at the Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Training SFUVET. Her research interests are perceptions of the training quality by institutional and field stakeholders in the context of Swiss vocational education and training.

Matilde Wenger

Matilde Wenger is junior researcher at Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Training SFUVET. Her research interests are teachers’ gender identities; apprentices’, teachers’, and trainers’ perception of training quality; and apprentices’ role stress in dual vocational education and training.

Jean-Louis Berger

Jean-Louis Berger is professor at University of Fribourg. His research interests include the perception of training quality and apprentices’, teachers’, and trainers’ beliefs, motivation, and self-regulated learning in the context of vocational education and training.