Crossing boundaries and maintaining differences between school and industry: forms of boundary‐work in Swedish vocational education

Abstract

This article discusses forms of ‘boundary‐work’ in school‐based training for industrial work or, put another way, discourse and practices that cross, blur or reinforce boundaries between school and industry. The discussion builds on two ethnographic studies, one conducted in the 1980s and one in 2006, to provide insights on continuity and change in an activity system with two partly conflicting raison d'êtres: one linked to the educational mandate of the school and the other to industrial demands on the school. Two forms of boundary‐work are used by teachers and students to make sense of everyday activities and define school‐based vocational training. The ‘reaffirmation’ of boundaries and of schooling specificity involves taking the fostering and educational aspects of education seriously; the ‘reconstruction’ of workplace experiences provides instructional practices that link schooling to work. Various manifestations of these forms of boundary‐work are analysed, as are tensions and developments over time.

Keywords:

• vocational training
• schooling
• boundary‐work
• education–industry linkages
• Sweden
• ethnographic restudy

Acknowledgements

The two sets of research reported here were funded by the Swedish Board of Higher Education and the Swedish Research Council, respectively. The author also wishes to thank Sabrina Thelander for her participation in the 2006 study.