Theory and Practice in Technical Vocational Education: Pupils’, Teachers’ and Supervisors’ Experiences

A gap emphasised in technical vocational education is the theory-practice divide. In relation to learning in technology and learning a vocation, the concepts of theory and practice are often mentioned and how to handle them in education is discussed and problematised. This paper is an empirical contribution to the discussion about theory and practice in technical vocational education. This study takes its point of departure from the pluralistic phenomenology of the life world and the research questions concern pupils’, teachers’ and supervisors’ experiences of theory and practice in relation to teaching and learning in technical vocational education. Pupils’, teachers’ and supervisors’ narratives from qualitative interviews have been analysed thematically, focusing on the content concerning theory and practice. The result indicates there are experiences of theory and practice concerning a traditional dualistic view, but there are also experiences concerning a more interwoven view. The concepts can be handled in a more interwoven way if the individual has a deeper, more complex underdstanding of them. Introduction In relation to learning in technology and learning a vocation, the concepts of theory and practice are often mentioned and methods of handling them in education are discussed and problematised (e.g. Bengtsson, 1995; Bjurulf & Kilbrink, 2008). The concepts can be handled on different levels and are often used concretely, meaning: school versus workplace, reading versus doing, or language and thinking versus physical work (Berglund, 2009). This dualistic and dichotomised divide between theory and practice is criticised by many researchers (e g Allan, 2007; Bengtsson, 1995; Berglund, 2009; Goodson, 1996). Furthermore, different suggestions on methods for how to bridge the gap between theory and practice in learning technology have been suggested in different studies (Allan, 2007; Tempelman & Pilot, 2010). There are also arguments for handling theory and practice as interwoven, in order to learn wholeness (compare e.g. Bjurulf & Kilbrink, 2008). One way to handle theory and practice as part of wholeness is to use the concepts of theory for knowledge about and practice for knowledge in. This has previously been done in studies about teacher education (e.g. Bengtsson, 1995). Similarly, theory has been used for knowing that, and practice has