Demonstrations of Vocational Skills as

Integrator of Education and Working

Life in Finnish VET

Paper Presentation for VETNET, ECER2008

Gothenburg, Sweden, 10 - 12 September 2008

Dr. Marja-Leena Stenström

The Finnish Institute for Educational Research,

University of Jyväskylä
Aims of the paper

• Aim is to describe connection between work and learning

in Finnish vocational education and training, especially in
the vocational skills demonstrations from the viewpoint of
student assessment.
• This paper is based on a study whose aim was to examine
students’ practice-oriented learning as a part of VET
provision at workplaces. The study was part of the
Leonardo da Vinci project QUAL-PRAXIS (Grollmann &
Stenström 2005; Stenström & Laine 2006) coordinated
by the Finnish Institute for Educational Research,
University of Jyväskylä.
• The data have been collected by interviewing social
welfare and health care and construction students (n=6),
their teachers (n=8), and representatives (n=6) of
enterprises operating in these fields in Central and
Southern Finland in 2005.
Context of work and education

• Historically, learning and work were inseparable during

the pre-modern era, whereas during modern era a
progressive differentiation took place between work and
learning.
• In the late modern era differentiation has become
fragmentation. Learning and work after post-compulsory
education are organised in different forms.
• Nowadays, the fact that knowledge and skills are also
provided outside formal education and training, is
gradually leading to the formulation of a European
educational policy.
• There has also been an increase of interest in workplace
learning among educational scholars (e.g. Billett, 2001;
Fuller & Unwin, 1998; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Griffiths &
Guile, 2004).
Finnish VET system

• Described as a continuum, at one end are countries such

as Germany and Austria in which working life bears the
main responsibility for VET, while at the other end there
are countries where vocational education has been
school-based e.g. Finland.
• However, in recent years Finnish educational policy has
emphasised the importance of creating closer
relationships between education and industry.
• Since 2001 in Finnish upper secondary VET has been the
incorporation into the curriculum of work-related learning
lasting at least 6 months.
• Efforts to achieve closer cooperation between VET and
working life also include what are known as vocational
skills demonstrations (demonstrations of vocational
skills), a procedure that was in experimental use in
educational establishments from 1999 until autumn 2006,
when it became established practice (Opetusministeriö,
2004).
Demonstrations of vocational skills
demonstrations as part of work-
related learning in Finnish VET

• In Finnish vocational education and training, the central

competencies of each vocational study module are
assessed by means of vocational skills demonstrations.
The assessment targets and criteria used are defined in
the national core curriculum.
• The central competencies, as targets of assessment, are
command of the knowledge that forms the foundation of
the work domain, command of work processes, command
of working methods, tools and materials, command of
occupational safety, common emphases, and core skills
common to all fields (Kinnunen, 2005).
• These assessment targets are the same for every initial
vocational qualification, but not all of the above-
mentioned targets of assessment are included in every
vocational skills demonstration.
Targets of assessment of vocational
competence in Finnish VET
(Kinnunen, 2005, 70.)
Comparison between Eraut’s typology
(2004) of knowledge and targets of
assessment of Finnish vocational
competence

Eraut’s typology of Targets of assessment of

knowledge Finnish vocational
competence
Theoretical knowledge Command of the knowledge that
forms the foundation of work

Methodological Command of working methods,

knowledge tools and materials, and
command of occupational safety
Practical skills Command of work processes

Generic skills Core skills common to all fields

General knowledge Common emphases

about occupation
Targets of assessment of
Finnish vocational competence

• This comparison has been made on the basis of the

titles of the types not their contents. However, it
can be seen that the contents of the Finnish
curriculum resemble Eraut’s typology (2004),
although the concepts are different.
• He has examined the types of knowledge used in
educational context and in the workplace.
• Although most types of knowledge are described as
transferable, there is little evidence that these skills
are being transferred to the workplace.
Learning theories behind skills
demonstrations

• The constructivist learning theory forms one

approach to vocational skills demonstrations.
• However, constructive learning is not enough on its
own to explain work-related learning, which can be
described using the concepts of reflective,
transformative, contextual and situated learning
(Lave & Wenger, 1991; Mezirow, 1991).
• The contextual nature of work-related and work-
based learning lies in the fact that the student
engaged in it learns and is assessed in an authentic
context.
• Thus, learning of this kind can be described as a
process of participating in communities of practice
(Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998).
Features of assessment of vocational skills
demonstrations fostering connection
between work and learning

• Part of learning process

• Reflection
• Self-assessment
• Feedback
• Joint assessment (tripartite principle)
• Authentic context
Assessment as Part of Learning

• In vocational skills demonstrations,

assessment is part of learning and its aim
is to guide and motivate the student to
learn and to acquire self-assessment skills.
• The most important element is the
assessment discussion, which occurs after
every demonstration of vocational skills,
the aim of which is to promote the learning
process.
Reflection

• Vocational skills demonstrations and on-the-job

learning periods have generated reflection not only
among the students, but also among the workplace
instructors and the teachers.
• Workplace instructors have reported that
supervising students has made them think over
their own ways of action and working methods and
their approach to instruction.
• Teachers feel that the implementation of vocational
skills demonstrations has broadened their
perspectives and helped them to keep up to date.
• Conducting vocational skills demonstrations has
forced teachers to get to grips with the essential
issues included in a study module or qualification.
Self-assessment

• Self-assessment offers students a chance to identify

their personal vocational strengths and weaknesses
and become aware of their development needs.
• Many students find self-assessment difficult,
particularly at the early stages of their studies,
although in the opinion of teachers, today’s
students have better self-assessment skills than
their forbears.
• Despite the difficulty of self-assessment, students
feel that it is essential that they were able to
evaluate their own work.
• In addition, better skills in assessing themselves
and in being assessed by others has made students
better equipped to enter working life.
Feedback

• During the assessment discussion, the student’s

performance in the vocational skills demonstration
is examined.
• The teacher and the workplace instructor give the
student feedback, provide guidelines on the
student’s development and explain why they are
proposing a particular grade.
• The assessment discussion offers also the student
an opportunity to present feedback of their own and
share their thoughts on vocational skills
demonstrations and assessment situations.
• Moreover, being able to arrange a shared
assessment discussion promotes cooperation
between education and working life.
Joint assessment by teacher,
workplace instructor and student

• Tripartite assessment by the student, the teacher and the

workplace instructor is the prominent principle of the
Finnish vocational skills demonstrations.
• The teacher’s role in the assessment discussions is to be
the assessment expert. S/he also has the main
responsibility for the implementation of the assessment.
• Workplace instructors are valued for their professional
field- and workplace-specific expertise.
• Using assessors of working life it it important that these
assessors have taken part in assessment training, since
proper training can help to interpert the assessment
criteria (improving reliability).
• The student’s most important task is to demonstrate their
skills. The student also prepares a written demonstration
plan.
Authenticity of the assessment
context

• Teachers and workplace instructors

consider that authenticity of vocational
skills demonstrations is essential.
• According to them a real working situation
is best able to bring out a student’s
vocational skills.
• Even if teachers prefer vocational skills
demonstrations implemented in real
working life, simulations have also been
utilised at least in the Technology and
Transport Sector.
Skills demonstrations as integrator
of education and working life

• The studies of skills demonstrations show that the

implementation of this new assessment system has
improved cooperation between education and
working life (e.g. Stenström et al., 2006, Stenström
2008).
• Vocational skills demonstrations offer an excellent
opportunity to connect formal school learning and
more informal workplace learning and to integrate
theory and practice.
• Skills demonstrations have also led all three parties
involved – teachers, workplace instructors and
students – to take their own learning-related duties
more seriously as well as encouraged them to
develop their occupational skills.
Student as mediator between
education and working life
(Stenström 2008)
Challenges for future

• The current practice allows only little room for

personal co-operative relationships.
• These problems are connected with the limited
resources.
• In the transfer of information between education
and working life, the main channel is definitely the
students. Their role is central: they are the ones
who bring new ideas from the school to the
workplace and vice versa. The role of information
exchange on the other levels seems to be rather
modest.
• Therefore, one of the biggest challenges in
developing work-related learning and skills
demonstrations is to strengthen the direct
cooperation between teachers and workplaces.
Questions?

• There is also the question of the reliability of vocational

skills demonstrations. The conditions under which
vocational skills demonstrations are implemented differ.
• First, workplaces are different and working practices are
diverse.
• Second, it is natural that workplace instructors vary:
instructors are different in their basic education and differ
in how much training they have as workplace instructors.
• Moreover, in guiding students their motivation and styles
differ. Vocational skills demonstration tasks are also
various, as are the demands they make on the student.
• At this stage, one of the most important questions related
to vocational skills demonstrations is whether suitable
workplaces as sites for learning will continue to be
available for educational institutions and their students.
Conclusion

• In sum, the system of job learning and vocational

skills demonstrations has contributed to the
creation of closer links between education and
work, closer collaboration between teachers and
workplace instructors e.g. in assessment process
and closer integration of theory and practice.
• However, there are challenges for developing
assessment of vocational skills. The issues concern
assessment criteria, targets, assessor training,
assessment methods, resources and tasks of the
skills demonstrations.
Connection between education and
working life in vocational skills
demonstrations (Stenström, 2008)
Published articles, reports in
English
• Grollmann, P. & Stenström, M-L. (Eds.). 2005. Quality assurance and
practice-oriented assessment in vocational education and training:
Country Studies. (Working Papers No. 55). University of Bremen, Institute
Technology and Education.
• Stenström, M-L. (2008, forthcoming). Connecting Work and Learning
through Demonstrations of Vocational Skills – Experiences from the
Finnish VET. In M-L. Stenström & P. Tynjälä (Eds.) (2008). Towards
integration of work and learning: strategies for connectivity and
transformation. Amsterdam: Springer.
• Stenström, M-L. & Laine, K. (Eds.) (2006). Quality and Practice in
Assessment: New Approaches in Work-Related Learning. Jyväskylä:
University of Jyväskylä, Institute for Educational Research.
• Stenström, M-L. & Laine, K. (Eds.) (2006). Towards good practices for
practice-oriented assessment in European vocational education.
(Occasional Papers No. 30). Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, Institute
for Educational Research.
• Stenström, M-L., Laine, K. & Kurvonen, L. (2006). Practice-Oriented
Assessment in Finnish VET - Towards Quality Assurance through
Vocational Skills Demonstrations. In M-L. Stenström & K. Laine (Eds.),
Quality and Practice in Assessment: New Approaches in Work-Related
Learning (pp. 89-120). Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, Institute for
Educational Research.
• Thank you for your attention!

• Further information:
• Marja-Leena Stenström
• The Finnish Institute for Educational
Research, University of Jyväskylä
marja-leena.stenstrom@ktl.jyu.fi