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Workplace Learning in Dual Higher Professional Education

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Abstract

Workplace learning is considered an effective strategy for the development of vocation, career and professional identity. Dual training programs, in which learning at a vocational school and learning at work in a company are combined, are seen as strong carriers for skill formation processes. In this study we explore workplace learning in dual training programs in Dutch higher professional education. To gain an understanding of these learning environments and processes, a qualitative multiple case study was conducted in seven sectors. The findings show substantial differences in learning environments between and within sectors. However, cooperation between school and practice is minimal in all of the cases. Although students develop personal and job-related competencies that are useful for daily work routines, they acquire hardly any profound theoretical knowledge at the workplace. School fails to direct workplace learning. Given the considerable share of workplace learning in dual training programs, and the demands to higher professional education graduates in terms of being able to solve complex problems and develop new knowledge during their career as reflective practitioners, it is important that these shortcomings are resolved. More promising alternatives for workplace learning environments and questions for further research to improve workplace learning in higher professional education are discussed.

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Notes

  1. This part of the study using a longitudinal survey design is reported in Reenalda (2011): Effecten van dualisering in het HBO [The effects of work-study programs in Higher Professional Education]. Enschede: University of Twente; and Nijhof, W.J. & C. Poortman (2013). Work-study Programs for the Formation of Professional Skills. In: Beck, K. & Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O. (eds). From Diagnostics to Learning Success. Proceedings in Vocational Education and Training. (pp. 157–169). Rotterdam/ Boston/Taipei. Sense Publishers.

  2. Five randomly selected pages of quotations were used to calculate the proportion of agreement.

  3. Because these students generally consists of older students with more (family) responsibilities than internship students.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on this paper. This project was made possible by a grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research: project number 411-21-306.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Cindy L. Poortman, Marloes Reenalda, Wim J. Nijhof & Loek F. M. Nieuwenhuis

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  1. Cindy L. Poortman
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  2. Marloes Reenalda
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  3. Wim J. Nijhof
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  4. Loek F. M. Nieuwenhuis
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Correspondence to Cindy L. Poortman.

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Poortman, C.L., Reenalda, M., Nijhof, W.J. et al. Workplace Learning in Dual Higher Professional Education. Vocations and Learning 7, 167–190 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12186-014-9111-2

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