Promoting vocational education-related standards of behaviour in classroom teaching in pre-vocational training measures (FöABv)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Marc Thielen
• Subject Area: Educational Research on Socialization, Welfare and Professionalism
• Term: from 2017 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 376696319

This research project aims at analysing in what way standards of behaviour which are considered as prerequisite for entering vocational training are promoted in classroom teaching in pre-vocational training measures. Especially in respect of young people not in possession of an intermediate school-leaving certificate («mittlerer Bildungsabschluss»), - an overrepresented group in transitional education measures from general schooling to vocational education - training companies pay particular attention to work habits and social behaviour. At the same time, the behavioural problems often mentioned by employers are interpreted in terms of a lack of «apprenticeship entry maturity», which is to be compensated for in pre-vocational training measures. In this context, this project will examine how work habits and social behaviours are situationally produced, negotiated and processed as a relevant subject matter of promotion in classroom teaching. The focus is on the question of how the line is drawn between behaviour that is considered appropriate for vocational settings and behaviour that is seen as inappropriate in pre-vocational training measures. Of particular interest is, which normative constructions that are associated with those mentioned standards of behaviour are situationally expressed. Following the Foucauldian approach to power relations, this project addresses normalizing and disciplinary as well as modes of subjectivation found in pre-vocational training measures. The methodology applied is based on participant observation in class, an ethnographic research strategy thus far rarely employed in pre-vocational training measures. Owing to this, it is possible to synchronically accompany and analyse practices to promote vocational education-related standards of behaviour in specific situations and interactions. This approach takes the heterogeneity among institutions of pre-vocational training into account. By contrasting an educational programme provided by a vocational school that is regulated by state law with an educational offer provided by an educational institution that is governed by the German Social Welfare Code ( «Sozialgesetzbuch III»), those practices are identified and analysed which are significant across institutions. The project aims at generating a «grounded theory» on the logic of practices. These are applied to promote those work performances and social behaviours that are considered vital for entering vocational training. Hence, this project contributes to setting up an empirically based modelling of a specific classroom order in pre-vocational training measures in the transitional system.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants