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The Role and Nature of Knowledge in Vocational Programmes

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Enhancing Teaching and Learning in the Dutch Vocational Education System

Part of the book series: Professional and Practice-based Learning ((PPBL,volume 18))

Abstract

An important issue in the design of vocational education is the positioning of the knowledge component of occupations in the curriculum. The underlying question here is what knowledge contents students come across during their education in order to develop their personal knowledge base for professional performance. The knowledge contents of occupations are not unambiguous. In the literature, a distinction is made between different types of knowledge. The first type is codified knowledge that is related to disciplinary knowledge such as language and mathematics but also mechanics, physiology, nutrition, economy, et cetera. Occupational knowledge refers to the specific manifestations of this discipline knowledge. The second type of occupational knowledge refers to distributed and embodied knowledge that can be partly explicated in procedures.

In this contribution, we address the positioning of occupational knowledge contents from the perspective of the curriculum, in particular the intended curriculum. Points of attention are the delimitation, alignment and sequences of content, as well as the tasks and contexts whereby, to which and in which students learn and are assessed.

Looking back over the past decades we can observe a pendulum movement of attention to knowledge in the form of school subject knowledge to an approach in which skills and attitudes received more attention. In recent years the importance of different types of knowledge related to professional behaviour is acknowledged. This chapter provides a more detailed story of this movement in time and analyses. current examples of how occupational knowledge is positioned in the intended curriculum.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Elly de Bruijn

  2. Welten Institute, Open University of the Netherlands, Heerlen, The Netherlands

    Elly de Bruijn

  3. Freudenthal Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Arthur Bakker

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  1. Elly de Bruijn
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. HU University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Elly de Bruijn

  2. Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Stephen Billett

  3. Inholland University of Applied Sciences, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Jeroen Onstenk

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de Bruijn, E., Bakker, A. (2017). The Role and Nature of Knowledge in Vocational Programmes. In: de Bruijn, E., Billett, S., Onstenk, J. (eds) Enhancing Teaching and Learning in the Dutch Vocational Education System. Professional and Practice-based Learning, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50734-7_8

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