Concepts, Purposes and Practices of Integration Across National Curriculum

Abstract

The concept of integrating two sets of experiences implies a duality, that is, a consideration of the contributions of and relations between these two entities. For vocational education, it means accounting for experiences in at least two separate physical and social settings (i.e. workplaces and educational institutions) and how these can be and are reconciled by learners. These two kinds of settings exist for different purposes and have distinct goals, processes and practices aligned for their continuity. There are also other stakeholders who have an interest in the goals for and processes for realising vocational education, as well as an interest in securing their purposes. National industry groups, employee unions and professional agencies seek to achieve specific outcomes for particular industries and workplaces. All these stakeholders also make particular contributions to the provision of vocational education and implicitly to students, apprentices and workers’ learning. As illustrated in the national cases presented in Section II of this volume, the dual set of experiences in workplace and educational institutions is now an increasingly significant and common feature and characteristic of vocational education. This is the case whether it is enacted by upper secondary schools, specialised technical education institutions or universities. It is experiences in dual settings, the relations between them and how learners come to engage with and reconcile these experiences that make this form of education quite distinct from general education. Thus, integration of these experiences is salient, including how provisions of experiences are enacted and experienced across a wide range of educational and work settings, and in quite distinct ways.

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