Summary

The publication presents the results of a case study of which the objective was to answer the following question: What is the effect of various forms of practice-related teaching in the general basic subjects on the outcome that various student types gain from the teaching?

The study is part of a research project, which concludes with the following report entitled: “Is it possible to learn theory in practice? A theoretical and empirical analysis of practicerelated teaching within the vocational education programmes” (Aarkrog, 2007).

The content and design of the study

At the outset, the three elements of the study are defined:

Forms of practice-related teaching Outcome of the teaching Student types

Based on interviews with teachers of the general basic subjects about how they relate their teaching to practice, various forms of practice-related teaching were defined using the following two variables:

The first variable concerns the relation between theory and practice, where the distinction goes between theory-based and practice-based teaching. During theory-based teaching, the students tend to learn theory working in their classrooms or in laboratories, and practice is included either as examples of the theory or – in science – via experiments. During practicebased teaching, the students solve tasks or problems via one form of practice or another, for instance in the college/school workshop or perhaps in an outside location, and theory is included as a tool in solving the tasks/problems or theory is learnt via the solutions of the tasks/problems. During this study, we focused on practice-related teaching, where the intention is that the students learn theory by solving the tasks/problems in practice.

The other variable describes the spectrum between two extremes: teacher-controlled instruction and students’ independent work. Teacher-controlled instruction means instruction where the teacher formulates the tasks or experiments that the students are expected to carry out and/or where the teacher instructs the students extensively in, for instance, problems solving. By students’ independent work, we mean learning situations where the students themselves work with solving tasks/problems and where the teacher functions as an adviser or consultant.

Crossing the two variables provides the opportunity of formulating four forms of practice-related courses:

1. Courses that are theory-based and prioritise teachercontrolled instruction
2. Courses that are theory-based and prioritise students’ independent work
3. Courses that are practice-based and prioritise teachercontrolled instruction
4. Courses that are practice-based and prioritise students’ independent work

A central result of the study is that no example of the third form of practice-related teaching was found. This is particularly significant, as this form of teaching has proved particularly attractive for the students within the vocational education programmes.

The outcome that students gain from their teaching includes their motivation to learn theory and their learning outcome. The following three levels are used to describe the students’ learning outcome:

1. Can the students retell what they have learnt?
2. Have the students understood what they have learnt?
3. Can the students use what they have learnt?

The student types included in the study represent either end of the spectrum in terms of proficiency in the basic subjects, i.e. the stronger and weaker students respectively.

The following four assumptions form the basis of the study:

1. The students are better motivated to learn theory in practice-based than in theory-based teaching.
2. The students’ understanding of theory develops better in theory-based than in practice-based teaching.
3. Teacher-controlled instruction has a positive effect on the students’ ability to understand theory, while students’ independent work does not necessarily have the same effect.
4. The stronger students can benefit from the practicerelated teaching, which prioritises students’ independent work, while the weaker students need the instruction to be teacher-controlled in order for them to benefit.

The results of the study

1. Teaching that clearly relates to practice makes sense to stronger and weaker students alike. The relation to practice is particularly clear when the students work with theory in connection with practical tasks or problems. Generally, the students would prefer to work with practical tasks in the workshop rather than theory in the classroom. Thus, the students are motivated to learn when they work in situations closely resembling practice as is the case in practice-based teaching.
2. Form affects outcome: the form of teaching – which in this project means whether the practice-related teaching is theory or practice-based – has an effect on the students’ outcome of the teaching, as they learn different things via the two forms. While the students getting theory-based teaching learn theory, practice-based teaching provides experience in, for example, taking measurements in practice. Working in practice does not necessarily provide a faster understanding of theory. In fact, practice-based teaching can take time away from learning the theory rather than supporting it. Compared with practice-based teaching, the forms of theory-based teaching in this study are best suited when the objective is that the students are to learn theory.
3. Stronger and weaker students alike do not generally attach great importance to whether their teaching is theory or practice-based; what is important to them is whether their teacher helps them or not. In practicebased teaching, the students are – to a much greater extent – left to their own devices than in theory-based teaching. This means that even though both stronger and weaker students are motivated by working in practice and would therefore be expected to prefer practice-based teaching, particularly the weaker students criticise this form of teaching for being founded too heavily on the students’ independent work.
4. While the stronger students seem to benefit from the practice-related teaching, irrespective of whether it is theory or practice-based and irrespective of whether it prioritises teacher control or the students’ independent work, the same cannot necessarily be said for the weaker students. One reason is that these students need to practise basic skills, such as arithmetic.
5. Thus, the weaker students need the practice-related instruction to be teacher-controlled, as this form of instruction has a positive effect on the students’ learning of theory. The weaker students need the teacher to explain the theory for them and help them retain the overview as to how theory and practice hang together.

In brief, the study shows that: It makes sense for the students if the teaching they receive in the basic subjects relates to practice in a way that they recognise. The students prefer to learn by solving practical tasks/problems and for that reason, they find the practicebased versions of practice-related teaching (i.e. 3 and 4 on page 2) particularly attractive. However, as the study shows that the most prevalent of these by far is form of teaching no. 4 (cp. page 2), which is characterised by a significant element of students’ independent work, during which time the teacher’s function becomes that of a supervisor or consultant and as the study also shows that the teacher’s help, teaching and ability to explain have a major impact on the students’ satisfaction with and outcome of the teaching, there is a definite requirement to further develop the practice-related teaching in the general basic subjects, combining practicebased instruction with teacher control (cp. form of instruction no. 3 on page 2).

Referencer

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Aarkrog, V. (1998). Sammenhængen mellem skole og praktik i detailhandelsuddannelsen – en kortlægning. København: Undervisningsministeriet og Danmarks Erhvervspædagogiske Læreruddannelse.

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Aarkrog, V. (2007). Kan man lære teori i praksis? En teoretisk og empirisk analyse af praksisrelateret undervisning i erhvervsuddannelserne. København: Danmarks Pædagogiske Universitet.

Undervisningsministeriets temahæfteserie

I denne serie udsender Undervisningsministeriet publikationer om generelle eller mere specifikke aktuelle emner. Formålet er at skabe debat og inspirere til udvikling i uddannelserne.

2005:
Nr. 1: Frafald i erhvervsuddannelserne – årsager og forklaringer (internetpublikation) (Erhvervsfaglige uddannelser)

2006:
Nr. 1: Åbne læringsmiljøer i erhvervsuddannelser – læringsforløb og sammenhænge (UVM 7-369) (Erhvervsfaglige uddannelser)

Nr. 2: Praktikuddannelse med elevens læring i fokus – kompetenceudvikling i SOSUuddannelserne (UVM 7-370) (Erhvervsfaglige uddannelser)

Nr. 3: Entreprenørskab i de videregående uddannelser. Innovation og iværksætteri inden for KVU og MVU (UVM 8-049) (Videregående uddannelser)

Nr. 4: Naturfagene i bevægelse. Når folkeskolelærere udvikler undervisning (internetpublikation) (Grundskolen)

Nr. 5: Vejledning om disciplin, god adfærd og trivsel i folkeskolen – et inspirationshæfte (UVM 5-470) (Grundskolen)

Nr. 6: Tosprogede børns overgang fra dagtilbud til skole – fokus på den sproglige udvikling (internetpublikation) (Grundskolen)

Nr. 7: Undervisning i demokrati – inspiration til grundskoler og ungdomsuddannelser (UVM 5-471) (Grundskolen og ungdomsuddannelser)

Nr. 8: Evalueringskultur på erhvervsskolerne. Hvad, hvorfor og hvordan? (UVM 7- 372) (Erhvervsfaglige uddannelser)

Nr. 9: De faglige udvalg og den gode praktikoplæring. Styrkelse af erhvervsuddannelsernes praktikdel (internetpublikation) (Erhvervsfaglige uddannelser)

Nr. 10: Hold fast! Initiativer til fastholdelse af tosprogede og praktisk orienterede unge i erhvervsuddannelserne (UVM 7-374) (Erhvervsfaglige uddannelser)

2007:
Nr. 1: Introduktion til den nye karakterskala. 7-trinsskalaen og bedømmelser i erhvervsfaglige uddannelser (dvd og booklet) (Erhvervsfaglige uddannelser)

Nr. 2: Det bli’r sjovere og sjovere. Bedre erhvervsuddannelser med it (978-87-603- 2650-9) (Erhvervsfaglige uddannelser)

Nr. 3: Innovationskraft på professionshøjskoler (978-87-603-2654-7) (Videregående uddannelser)

Nr. 4: Hvis det skal gi’ mening… Elevernes udbytte af praksisrelateret undervisning i erhvervsuddannelserne (978-87-603-2652-3) (Erhvervsfaglige uddannelser)

Hvordan indvirker forskellige former for praksisrelateret undervisning i de almene grundfag på forskellige elevtypers udbytte af undervisningen?

Dette spørgsmål belyses i publikationen, som indeholder resultaterne af en undersøgelse, der var en del af forskningsprojektet “Kan man lære teori i praksis? En teoretisk og empirisk analyse af praksisrelateret undervisning i erhvervsuddannelserne” gennemført af Vibe Aarkrog, Danmarks Pædagogiske Universitetsskole og publiceret i 2007.

Resultaterne af undersøgelsen viser blandt andet, at

• det giver mening for eleverne, når grundfagsundervisningen relaterer sig til en praksis, de kan genkende
• eleverne foretrækker at arbejde med løsning af praktiske opgaver
• lærerens hjælp, instruktion og evne til at forklare har afgørende betydning for elevernes tilfredshed med og udbytte af undervisningen
• der er behov for at videreudvikle den praksisrelaterede undervisning i de almene grundfag, med henblik på at eleverne lærer at anvende teori i praksis.

Denne side indgår i publikationen " Hvis det skal gi' mening…"
© Undervisningsministeriet 2007