The professional foundation of knowledge of vocational education

teacher trainers
Presentation at the European Conference of Educational Research in Göteborg
September 2008

Signild Lemar

In recent decades, increasingly explicit demands have been made to improve the quality and
status of the vocational education teacher training (VETT) programme in Sweden. (SOU
1994:101, SOU 1997:107). In 2001, an extensive reform was executed which incorporated the
VETT programme in the same organization as that of other teacher training. (Prop
1999/2000:135). The training programme for all teachers, no matter of what type of teacher,
consists of a general part, common to all students, and a specialized part, i.e, the field of
subject that the teacher will teach. The reform resulted in the VETT programme being
extended to 180 credits; today the requirements are 90 credits of general teaching skills and
90 credits of training in the vocational subject. To be accepted to the programme, applicants
must have relevant vocational training and experience from the vocational field in question. It
is also clearly stated that the training programme must prepare students both for future work
at upper secondary school and for postgraduate studies. (Prop 1999/2000:135).
The collective foundation of knowledge of a group of teachers is based on the specific level of
the subject/field of knowledge in question. According to sociological research on professions,
the valuation of the specific level of a vocational group is associated with extensive higher
education and research (Selander 1989; Ekholm 1997). Thus far, the VETT programme has
strengthened its foundation of knowledge which in the long term could help to improve it and
increase its status. The general part of the VETT programme has not caused any problems in
the Swedish system; however, dealing with the subject part has been problematic because it is
unclear what should be counted as relevant vocational experience and what the subject part
should consist of. The bill, den öppna högskolan (Open higher education) enables institutes of
higher education to use alternative methods of recruitment and training. (Prop 2001/02:15)
Thus, each institute of higher education is responsible for finding its own form and content
that fulfill the requirements of the degree ordinance and they have also been able to validate
vocational experience which has then been converted into credits. In this way, it has been
possible to train vocational education teachers in half the stipulated time. The VETT
programme is thus a consequence of how various institutes of higher education interpret the
degree ordinance. The scope and content of the training programme and the foundation of
knowledge and skills that the teacher trainers have are indicators for the ensuing level and
quality of the training programme.
In addition to endeavouring to raise the quality of the vocational education training
programme, the Swedish government has also realized it must prepare for an approaching
serious shortage of qualified vocational education teachers. During the period 2005-2009,
seven institutes of higher education were commissioned to train vocational education teachers
within a special project, SÄL 3. (SFS 2005:568). This study focuses on this SÄL: education
and the teacher trainers and the educational content of that particular training programme and
links it to the concept “foundation of knowledge”.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the foundation of knowledge and skills of techers
working in SÄL 3 and the educational content of the SÄL 3 training programme, in relation to
what the student vocational education teachers are being trained for. What training and
experience do the teachers trainers who are training vocational education teacher students
within the SÄL project have? How does the content of the VETT programme relate to the
requirements of upper secondary school and the ambition of institutes of higher education to
prepare students for postgraduate studies?

Method and execution

This study was completed during the spring of 2008. 59 vocational studies teacher trainers
have as a first part of the study, by a questionnaire, been asked questions regarding their
training, professional experience and level of education. Further the syllabi from four of the
seven institutes of higher education that train vocational education teachers in the SÄL project
have been analyzed (Hodder 1994).

Theorethical bases
Theories of curriculum and profession are used as analytical tools. Decentralization and goal
management have resulted in weakened boundaries between training programmes, fields of
knowledge and relations of responsibility which challenges the traditional academic system.
Here, Bernstein’s curriculum theory with its terms classification and setting is used to
understand how the change made to the vocational education teachers training programme has
had an impact on execution. (Bernstein 1996; Bernstein 1999) Theories of profession with the
term “foundation of knowledge and skills” constitute a natural tool for analysis since the aim
of this study is to understand what foundation of knowledge and skills permeates the field of
vocational education teacher training. (Carlgran & Marton 2001; Ekholm 1997; Goodson &
Hargreaves 2003; Selander 1993, Rolf 2001)

Results, analysis and conclusions

The results concerning the teachers trainers’ foundation of knowledge and skills and the
syllabi, an analysis was completed in spring 2008 and a final report will be written in autumn
2008. The results from the questionnaire will be presented in a first part and the analysis of
the syllabi will be presented in a second part.

1. Vocational education teacher trainers within SÄL 3
Who is the group of  teacher trainers  who educate vocational educaton teachers and how do  
they as a group respond to higher education’s demands and upper secondary schools’  needs?  
To   be   a   teacher   trainer   requires   several   different   qualities.   The   teacher   trainer   must   have 
general teacher competency, have an education within the subject area that the students are 
going to specialize in, have scholarly schooling and preferably carry out research within for 
the   education­relevant   area.   Even   though   not   every   teacher   trainer   must   have   “specialty 
expertise” within all of these areas, a great deal is required so that the progression, breadth 
and depth between general teacher knowledge, subject knowledge and scholarliness can be 
balanced. 
      This development that Swedish teacher training has been through and the organization that 
teacher training has today makes it both possible and more difficult for the institute of higher 
education’s   work   with   staffing   different   courses   with   teachers   who   have   adequate 
qualifications. All institutes of higher education in Sweden that ran teacher education at the 
end  of   the   1990’s   received  the  general right  to  issue degrees  to  the  new  teacher training 
through the decision that was made in 2001 without any individual right to issue degrees test 
was carried out. This meant that all institutes of higher education had the right to provide an 
education with all specializations for all types of schools. In practice this right is limited 
especially   by  the   access   to   teacher   resources   and   teacher   competence.   (Swedish National
Agency for Higher Eduation, Högskoleverket, HSV p. 75 section 1). The evaluation of teacher 
competence is carried out by the institutes of higher education themselves.
         More than 60% of those who teach in the new teacher education in Sweden have
themselves an qualification as a teacher. (HSV 2005 section 1 page 85). A professional
teacher qualifikation requires a clear specialization toward the future vocational organization,
which in part prefers that the education includes elements of teaching practice, in part that the
teacher who instructs has experience of and knowledge about the profession. The daily
environment within teacher education is dominated by, according to the HSV.s measurement,
of adjuncts who to a greater extent than others have their own teacher education and have
carried and still do carry the professional tradition further. According to the HSV, the critical
question regarding the share of lecturer taught lessons are sufficient enough to maintain and
develop the education’s feeling of higher education. (HSV 2005 section 1, p. 87).
      The questions in this study were answered by 59 teacher trainers who participated in the 
education of vocational teachers and are focused on the following areas: Teacher trainers’ 
education within “general teacher knowledge”, teacher trainers’ education/experiences within 
the   vocational   programmes’  vocational/subject   specific   to   a   programme  and   the   teacher 
trainers’ academic education. Because the purpose is to attain a deeper understanding of the 
vocational teacher education in its entirety, no eventual differences between different institutes 
of higher education are presented.  

Many   vocational   teacher   trainers   have   general   teacher   competence   but   few   have  
competence within the vocational subjects 

Of the teachers who participate in this study, 88% (52) of the vocational teacher trainers have 
some type of teaching degree while 12% state that they do not have a teaching degree. Of the 
teacher trainers who have a teaching degree, 60% (31) have a teaching degree within another 
subject area than upper secondary school vocational subjects. Three of them have pre­school 
teaching degrees, thirteen have elementary and middle school teaching degrees and fifteen 
have subject teaching degrees for compulsory, upper compulsory school or upper secondary 
school. The teachers’ degrees encompass many subjects and subject combinations such as; 
Swedish, English, Religion, History, Civics, Psychology, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, etc. 
40%   (21)   of   the   vocational   teacher   trainers   have   vocational   education   degrees   and   have 
therefore an education to teach in some of the vocational programmes’ subjects specific to a 
study programme. Because certain answers cannot be interpreted completely it is difficult to 
give a precise distribution of teacher trainers with a degree related to different vocational 
subjects. It is therefore not especially daring to claim that all vocational programmes’ subjects 
specific to a study programme/specializations are not represented at all when the teachers’ 
education is surveyed at the institutes of higher education. The teacher trainers who have 
vocational teacher training exist, it seems, sporadically represented at different institutes of 
higher   education.   The   teacher   trainers   who   have   a   vocational   teacher   education   represent 
different upper secondary school programmes according to the following table.

Child & Recreation­Recreation,Pedagogical activities Handicraft ­  No specific specializations
Total 4  teacher trainers represented with this profession Total 1 teacher trainer 
Construction­ Construction, Building, Painting, Plate work Industry­ No specific specializations
Total 1 teacher trainer (1 without formal qualifikation) Total 1  teacher trainer (1 without formal qualific
Electricity­ Automation, Electronics, Computer, Electrical eng Food ­ No specific specializations
Total 2  teacher trainers Total 1 teacher trainer
Energy­ Operations& Maint ,Marine, Heating& Vent, Sanitation   Media – Media production, Printing
Total 1 teacher trainer Total 1 teacher trainer 
Business & Administration – Commerce&Service, Tourism& Travel Natural resource use ­ No specific specializations
Total 1  teacher trainer Total 1 teacher trainer
Hotel& Restaurant –Hotel, Restaurant & Mealservice Health care ­ No specific specializations
Total 3  teacher trainers Total 3 teacher trainers
Vehicle – Aircraft, Coach work, Machine & Lorries, Cars, Transport
Total 1  teacher trainer

Even though there is a certain uncertainty in these data the information does indeed show that 
teachers for all subjects specific to a vocational programme are not represented in the SÄL 
education at all and that this then means that at several of the accountable institutes of higher 
education there are not any teacher categories that correspond to the vocational programmes’ 
subjects. Because teachers who have participated here represent many different combinations 
of educations and in addition many different subject combinations it is not possible to show 
exact figures and numbers. The tendency is still that many different categories of teachers 
educate vocational teachers and that the teachers do not to a great extent represent upper 
secondary schools’ subjects specific to vocational programmes.
68% (40) of the vocational teacher trainers have worked in upper secondary schools while 
27% (16) state that they have not worked in upper secondary schools. Many of those who have 
worked  in  upper secondary schools have  not  worked in the vocational oriented programs. 
Invariably those who in large part have experience of upper secondary schools’ vocational 
oriented education are the teacher trainers who have a vocational teaching degree.
           Because the upper secondary schools’ vocational oriented education must prepare for
different vocational areas, the vocational teacher trainers’ own background can be of value in
meeting with vocational teacher students. It showed that 27% (16) of teacher trainers have
some other degree than a teaching degree that can be connected to the upper secondary
school’s subjects specific for a study programme. Here in several cases it is difficult to
determine which type of degree it concerned but those that were stated were, for example,
healthcare, nursing, pre-school teacher, chef, media, etc. There was also difficulty in
determining what can directly be connected to the vocational preparatory education and what
can indirectly be of value for these. Someone has, for example, answered degree within
“Course programme for personal and working life”. Most likely there are among the
vocational teacher trainers a number of such programmes that are not stated here because
teacher trainers have had difficulty in determining the relevancy for upper secondary school’s
vocational education. 71 % (42) have stated that they do not have any other degree that can be
connected to upper secondary school’s vocational preparatory education. Even if only one-
fourth of the teacher trainers have some relevant vocational degree, 53% (31) of them have
vocational experience that can be connected to the upper secondary school’s vocational
preparatory programme. This experience is stated as: vehicle (chauffeur, transport);
construction (wood); electric; industry; media (photographer, radio, journalist, production,
daily press, advertisement); office, healthcare (nursing); child care and recreation (child care,
recreation, administration); hotel and restaurant (tourism, baker, chef, cold buffét
manageress); boutique. Experience varies between summer employment to more than 30
years. There is also great variation in the experience’s currency which is partially apparent
even if it was not requested.
      Only a few vocational teacher trainers have defended their thesis and few participate in a
research project with a specialization toward the field of vocational education. Of the
vocational teacher trainers asked, 85% (50) have not defended their thesis (whereof 8% were
PhD students) while 15% (9) have defended their thesis. Of the teachers who have defended
their thesis, two have a clear specialization in vocational education and upper secondary
school vocational preparatory education. One has written a dissertation that is focused on
another part of upper secondary school than vocational education and two have written about
areas focused on education’s sociology, nationally and internationally. Another has a
specialization in architecture. Two have not answered the question regarding which
specialization their dissertation has. Of the PhD students, two have written with a focus on
school development, one on managing conflicts in school and one within economic history.
12%(7) of the vocational teacher trainers responded that they are responsible for or
participate in some research project, while 86% (51) answer that they do not. The completed
or ongoing projects are, for example, oriented toward: broadened recruitment, teacher
education, school development, unemployment, recreation activities, syllabi and one project
with a specialization in educational sociology. It is not possible to determine the research
project’s scope and character. Even though it is certainly on a general level of value for the
vocational preparatory education. Only 3% (2) state that they participate in or are responsible
for research projects with an orientation toward upper secondary school’s vocational
preparatory education while 95% (56) state that they do not. Those projects that are stated are
in part a project being planned and one completed nationally previously and one international
project.

2. Content of syllabi – related to general teacher knowledge, vocational subject 
knowledge and academic knowledge
Working through the contents of the syllabi was first carried out by surveying the contents
with a subsequent analysis with a focus toward content that corresponded to general teacher
knowledge and content that is aimed toward vocational subject and content that is aimed
toward education’s academic level. Syllabi for the 90 hp that the education consists of from
four intitutes of higher education were processed.
This simple surveying must be viewed as straightforward. For a more in-depth analysis study
guides or other documents or conversations with the teachers concerned would have been
valuable. However, any such documents or conversations have not been used here. The syllabi
cover both the university-located education and the work placement part that is carried out at
an upper secondary school. It is not apparent in the syllabi but most likely includes that
certain parts of the content must be treated in the upper secondary school under the
supervision of a vocational teacher.
 Syllabi content with a focus on general teacher knowledge is clear within the education at
institutes of higher education and have been written in different ways. All in all the syllabi
encompass content regarding gender, class, ethnicity, values and special pedagogy.
When surveying the contents of the syllabi with focus on respective vocational subjects it
shows that there is no specific subject content expressed in the syllabi. This is hardly
surprising when the content for other teacher categories are found in the so-called
specialization courses. Something equivalent to subject content does not exist in the SÄL
education because it is being validated. The student’s vocational education or vocational
experience replaces subject studies. However, there are texts in the syllabi that are embedded
in what could be termed, “general vocational subject didactics”. Included in that category is
content of the following character; vocational education’s history, vocational education’s
structure and function in society, application of vocational didactic models, cooperation
between school and working life as well as the relationship between theory and practice. What
could be said to be the only subject content in the syllabi that can be connected to the upper
secondary school’s different vocational subjects are texts that say that the students must be
able to analyze the upper secondary school’s syllabi in the vocational subject they are being
educated. In addition, they must be able to plan, carry out and evaluate teaching in their own
subject. It is these parts of the content that most likely treated by both the higher education
placement and the school placement.
When it pertains to the syllabi’s content with the focus that the students must develop an
academic stance there are syllabi for the thesis project that are included in the education. Here
is, obviously, clear content regarding academic and academic schooling. When it pertains to
other courses it is difficult to ascertain the academic level because often it is not clearly
expressed. However, terms are used that critically review, problematize and analyze in the
syllabi that imply ambition for an academic stance. One way to judge academic level in a
course is to evaluate the course literature. In the courses, literature is used that can be said to
be on a academic level but any closer examination and evaluation of it has not been carried
out in this investigation. Analysis of terms and literature in syllabi are a part of the evaluation
of academic level at the same as in practice, and is about how terms, literature and
examinations are handled, how teachers and students carry out the education, what stance
permeates the courses. Studies of this, the actual carrying out has not been done here, which is
an exciting future challenge.

Conclusions and Analysis
This   text   intends   to   contribute   to   a   more   in­depth   understanding   of   vocational   teacher 
education. Readers with good insight in vocational teacher education may claim that it looks 
different   at   different   institutes   of   higher   education   both   when   it   pertains   to   interpreting 
steering documents and when it pertains to organizational and personal solutions that could 
mean that this text appears as categorizing and simplistic. At the same time, it is a bit of a 
challenge to still contribute to the debate and the conversation. The vocational pedagogical 
field must be brought up to the surface and problematized. The completed survey of teachers 
that constitutes a part of the results must be viewed as a pilot study with the ambition to 
develop tools in order to, in the future, more closely investigate the vocational pedagogical 
field. Even if higher education works in different ways, which makes comparisons difficult 
and even if the responses from the teacher trainers within SÄL 3 do not reveal all parts that 
are   of   importance,   the   text   should   be   used   as   a   foundation   for   discussion.   I   mean, 
nevertheless, that the results despite shortcomings and limitations in the material, mirrors 
reality. I would also like to emphasize that those who have participated by responding to my 
questions have been accomodating, contributed good advice and made it possible to create a 
foundation for further studies.  
       It is also important to point out that the results should not be interpreted that there are 
shortcomings in individual teacher trainers or institutes of higher education. What  I wish to 
show   is   how   the   system   generates   conditions   and   how   the   system   reforms   that   have 
surrounded education of vocational teachers affects how it is interpreted and finally realized. 
Evaluation of earlier SÄL education shows that students and beneficiaries are very satisfied 
with   the   education   they   receive,   which   must   be   viewed   as   an   evaluation   of     the   SÄL 
education in large. Despite the fact that the teacher trainers who participate in this study, who 
as a group, are lowly regarded have an education and experience that matches the vocational 
preparatory education’s subjects specific to a programme of study, have to a small extent 
defended their thesis and to a very small extent are responsible for or participate in research 
projects that are specialized toward the vocational pedagogical field, which does  not  imply 
that they do not conduct a quality education. On the contrary. However, even if the results 
cannot be generalized to other education, I am convinced that many interesting comparisons 
can be made. 
         What can be read from the results?  The national ambitions to raise vocational teacher 
education’s status by extending and academizing it in line with other teacher education has 
with all certainty brought with certain improvements.  When all institutes of higher education 
received the right to educate which teacher category they, themselves determined to have 
capacity for, boundaries between different education’s identity and speciality were loosened. 
Weakened boundaries between education and with that also between areas of responsibility 
can, according to Bernstein, convey that groups with a weak position within an educational 
system can be marginalized (Bernstein 1996, 1999). There is certainly more education or 
fields   of   knowledge   that   would   be   able   to   serve   as   an   example   of   how   they   have   been 
marginalized at the same time as the SÄL education, that was constituted on a national level 
to then quickly decrease the number of unqualified teachers serves as a clear example.
      That vocational teacher education after the teacher training reform has been academized 
and extended could mean that the education has gone through a professionalization by raising 
the status (Selander 1997). But because the general pedagogical part has a tradition in teacher 
training and often today is shaped and carried out together for all teaching categories these 
elements of generalism are characterized in such a way that weakens the unique. As the 
instruction   is   carried   out   by   teachers   who   are   not   specialists   within   the   vocational 
pedagogical   field   then   it   can   hardly   be   a   matter   of   some   unique   vocational   pedagogical 
expertise developing. 
      The teachers who teach SÄL students have a high degree of general teacher competence. 
As   an  observed group, the teacher trainers who have participated in this study represent 
different general comptence as they have their own basic education in a number of different 
teacher education programmes that they have attended during different time periods. It could 
be claimed that those with roots in different pedagogical cultures hardly possess a common  
general   knowledge   base.   On   the   other   hand   it   can   be   claimed   that   they   have   a  general  
knowledge base  because it is common, even at different institutes of higher education, that 
they have interpreted the Degree Ordinance and with support of their competence created this 
general education part. However, with the teacher trainers there does not exist any common 
knowledge base regarding vocational subjects. All programmes or specializations are on the 
whole   not   represented   in   the   teacher   trainers’   background.   This   could   be   viewed   as 
unproblematic because the teacher students count this part of the education. At the same time 
HSV has pointed out that it is necessary to create progression between general and specific 
parts, thus, between general education area and orientations/subject studies. How shall the 
progression be secured in this case when the subject part to a large extent does not exist? Not 
even the vocational teacher trainers who are themselves vocational teachers in their basic 
education   have  among   them   any  common  knowledge   base   because  the  different  subjects 
specific   to   a   study   programme   are   historically   run   from   different   cultures   with   different 
traditions and with different vocational language. Despite this, vocational teacher students are 
often   educated   during   their   university­located   education   in   the   vocationally   specialized 
elements as if they were a collected group. HSV also points to the risk that higher education, 
to a great extent, set up education based on organizational requirements, and possibilities 
such as student groups’ sizes and the teacher groups’ competence (HSV 2006). It is also the 
case with the vocational teacher students who are made into one group and therefore, never 
during their time of education except during the work practice placement part are able to 
come in contact with their specific subjects in which they are going to teach. Many of them 
may never meet other teacher trainers with the specific subject competence that they will be 
educated for and teach when they are certified teachers. This could be compared if teacher 
students with good language knowledge, mathematic knowledge or good knowledge within 
social science subjects for different reasons, for example, organizational and economic were 
able   to   validate   and   count   their   subject   knowledge   instead   of   studying   these   as 
specializations.   Thereafter,   they   would   be   able   to   on   a   level   with   the   vocational   teacher 
students and be brought together into one education group and never during their education 
be able to come across their own teaching subject nor be able to meet any teacher trainer with 
their own subject’s specific competence except during the work practice placement part of the 
education. This loosening up of subject borders, which has been the result of the teacher 
education reform and the decentralized steering provides higher education possibilities to 
find local solutions at the same time that the small specific fields of knowledge that have not 
yet been established within higher education are watered down. Bernstein would point to that 
the development from a collect code with clear subject borders toward an integrated code 
with   diffuse   borders   between   subject   and   teacher   groups,   which   entails   that   weaker, 
unknown, low status subjects draw the shortest straw. Fields of knowledge with a tradition 
within academics, such as language and natural science, etc. would hardly be simply exposed 
to similar consolidations. This, despite that small study groups at many institutes of higher 
education are a problem within teacher education as well as within modern languages and 
natural science.
         That the vocational teachers’ subject part seen from academic eyes is weak is obvious 
because the teachers subjectcompetence is thin. The weakness is manifested due to the fact 
that the subject part is usually validated and counted and it is unclear whether this subject 
part is on an academic level, an unclarity that hardly contributes to the common knowledge 
base within the group vocational teachers is strengthened. 
           One reason that SÄL 3 has the format it has is that it was urgent to educate as many 
vocational teachers as possible. Another reason was that previous SÄL education was very 
appreciated by students, teacher trainers and potential employers/municipalities. With all due 
respect that these participants appreciated the education, the pragmatic reasons that lay as 
foundation for this appreciation must also be taken into consideration. That municipalities/ 
schools   quickly   want   to   have   qualified   teachers   is   obvious.   That   students   need   teacher 
certification and appreciate the format and that the education is maximally shortened are just 
as obviously valuable as for students who typically are the family provider and are tied to 
their   home region. This does  not necessarily mean that they  will be  inferior  teachers.   It 
definitely does not either mean that higher education and teacher trainers do not do a good 
job, quite the opposite, they carry out an education under demanding conditions. What I, 
myself wish to claim is that the ambitions in the higher education laws and degree ordinance 
for teacher education are difficult, yes almost impossible to reach with the conditions that are 
stipulated for the SÄL 3 education.
           When it pertains to the requirements on the teacher trainers’  academic training  the 
number of teachers who have defended their thesis who work with the SÄL education are 
low. Even if not all SÄL educators are with in the survey it is not likely that the number who 
have defended their thesis would radically change even if a complete investigation took place. 
Certain   higher  education  schools  use   only  those   who  have  defended  their  thesis  in   their 
courses that involve the degree project. These exist in certain cases at other units than the unit 
that has the main responsibility for the SÄL education. Those teachers, in some cases, have 
not been able to be picked up by this investigation. At the same time it is not only the degree 
project that educates students in an academic stance in relation to the teacher profession. 
Every course has a great responsibility. That the number of those who have defended their 
thesis is low does not mean that the teacher trainers at respective higher education schools do 
not work to connect the education with research and to give it a good academic quality. But 
with   the   idea   of   the   weakly   researched   vocational   pedagogical   fields   it   does   not   look 
especially   promising   when   to   a  large  extent  no  vocational   pedagogical   research   is  being 
conducted by the teacher trainers. With the sociological professsion’s research standard full, 
conclusions would be able to be drawn, that the collective knowledge base  of vocational 
teacher trainers is split and it has not been able to be collected under teacher education’s 
umbrella. If vocational teacher education shall continue to be clad in the same suit as general 
teacher education it requires a comprehensive problematizing. Shall the vocational teacher 
education  be academicized or  shall  it be  strengthened  in the  work place, or  both? What 
qualifications   are   reasonable   and   possible   that   a   teacher   trainer   has;   general   teacher 
competence,  subject  competence and   academic  competence or  shall   these   be  weighed   in 
some fashion and how should such a weighing look like? The teacher profession has this 
scope and the question is how shall this be handled when the requirements that the teacher 
education   connection   to   research   and   the   profession   must   be   sharpened.   There   is   no 
opposition   to   these   ambitions,   at   least   not   visionary,   but   the   responsibility   for   a   good 
education   must   be   taken   seriously   and   not   be   conjured   away   in   rational   reforms.   The 
following quote is from one of the HSV’s investigations and it points a finger on the span 
between academics and the reforms that in different ways permeated this the last decades. 

“One   can   observe   here   that   from   both   an   education   policy   and   within  
academics   there   is   strong   support   surrounding   the   value   of   an   education  
connected to research. At the same time, many are worried that the development  
in practice makes it impossible. Certain debators claim that higher education’s  
dramatic   expansion,   new   positions   reserved   only   for   teaching,   and  
establishment   of   new   institutes   of   higher   education   with   a   small   research  
organization has hollowed out the connection between research and education.  
We   must   admit,   it   can   be   said,   that   this   ideal   is   no   longer   able   to   be  
maintained.”  (HSV 2006:46 R  p. 7)

The question is if it is possible to carry out an education with such highly stated goals under 
the   conditions   that   have   been   valid   for   SÄL   3   or   if   important   knowledge   content   and 
important teacher processes become castles in the sky in the rhetoric surrounding academic 
and extended education. On the other hand, to follow the progression that is currently being 
introduced,   to   shorten   vocational   teacher   education   and   to   take   vocational   programmes’ 
students who not without choice receive eligibility for higher education studies form serious 
threats for the vocational pedagogical field. So yes, of course the debate is needed. 

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