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Collaboration between schools and enterprises in vocational education and training (VET) is a challenge in many countries, Norway included. There is a tendency to organise VET in separate theoretical and practical learning arenas that lack mutual coherence. This article presents the findings of a four-year action research study in which 30 vocational teachers, who were taking an in-service master’s degree programme in vocational pedagogy, completed systematic research-based projects on developing partnerships between schools and enterprises in the school-based part of Norwegian VET. The goal was to strengthen the relevance of vocational education by creating stronger links between the content of the education and the content of the vocation. The study was based on a pragmatic, holistic perspective on vocational competence and education where essential, authentic vocational tasks to which theory is related are regarded as the core educational content, both in the enterprises and in schools. The findings are based on an analysis of 30 master’s degree theses documenting each of the teachers’ development projects. The results show examples of and principles for how collaboration between schools and enterprises can be organised around vocational tasks. Core principles include formal agreements on collaboration between schools and enterprises, regular dialogues between vocational teachers, instructors and students about educational tasks and content, joint planning and follow-up of students’ placements in enterprises, and exchanges of experience and competence between teachers and instructors. The results show that, according to students, instructors and vocational teachers, the application of such principles contributed to vocational relevance and students’ motivation and learning outcomes.

Vocational school students exhibit a high prevalence of addictive behaviors. Mobile phone-based prevention programs targeting multiple addictive behaviors and promoting life skills are promising. Tailoring intervention content to participants' preferences, such as allowing them to choose behavior modules, may increase engagement and efficacy. There is limited understanding of how personal characteristics relate to module choices. This study examined the prevention needs of German vocational school students as well as their prevention preferences through self-determined module choice in the multibehavior app-based addiction prevention program ready4life. A 2-arm cluster randomized controlled trial recruited German vocational school students aged ≥16 years. Among 376 classes from 35 schools, ready4life was introduced during a school lesson. Students were invited to download the ready4life app and completed an anonymous screening with individualized risk and competence feedback in the form of a traffic light system. Informed consent was provided by 2568 students. Intervention classes received individual app-based coaching with weekly chat contacts with a conversational agent over 4 months. They could choose 2 of 6 modules: alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, social media and gaming, stress, and social competencies. Control group classes received a link to health behavior information and could access coaching after 12 months. Prevention need was high. For 86.2% (2213/2568), ≥2 risks were reported based on yellow or red traffic light feedback. Within the intervention group, stress (818/1236, 66.2%) and social media and gaming (625/1236, 50.6%) were the most chosen topics, followed by alcohol (360/1236, 29.1%), social competencies (306/1236, 24.8%), tobacco (232/1236, 18.8%), and cannabis (131/1236, 10.6%). Module choices closely aligned with received traffic light feedback among those with 1 or 2 risks. Multilevel regression models showed that women were significantly more likely to choose the stress module (odds ratio [OR] 2.38, 95% CI 1.69-3.33; P<.001); men preferred social media and gaming (OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.40-0.69; P<.001), alcohol (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.37-0.67; P<.001), and cannabis (OR 0.37, 95% CI 0.21-0.63; P<.001) when holding age, educational track, and prevention need for the corresponding behavior constant. Younger students were significantly more likely to choose the cannabis module (OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.74-0.90; P<.001). Educational track also influenced module choice (eg, those with a lower educational level were more likely to choose alcohol and cannabis, suggesting a positive equity impact). Students' prevention needs significantly influenced choice of the module (eg, higher alcohol consumption increased the likelihood of choosing the alcohol module; OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.20-1.43; P<.001). Our study confirms vocational school students' high prevention needs regarding addictive behaviors. Students' module choices were highly congruent to their demonstrated needs, with most students being interested in the stress module. Module choice also differed by age, gender, and educational track. German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00022328; https://drks.de/search/en/trial/DRKS00022328. RR2-10.1024/0939-5911/a000811.

Identifying the constraints hindering industry-education integration (IEI) in vocational education is a critical prerequisite for promoting its high-quality development. However, existing research has yet to establish a systematic solution to this core issue. Therefore, this study takes Shenzhen, China, as a case study and adopts an empirical research approach to construct an analytical framework of “factor identification-mechanism analysis-strategy formulation,” aiming to thoroughly investigate the key constraints on IEI development in vocational education. First, based on a literature review and questionnaire survey, the study identifies 12 critical constraining factors of IEI. Subsequently, through expert interviews and Interpretative Structural Modelling (ISM), it reveals the underlying mechanisms of these constraints, classifying the 12 factors into five hierarchical levels. These factors form 16 constraint pathways, with inadequate policies, weak foundations for school-enterprise collaboration, insufficient institutional commitment, and ineffective communication mechanisms identified as critical bottom-level factors. These indirectly influence intermediate factors such as hardware/software conditions, alignment of talent cultivation philosophies, education-market demand matching, collaboration channel efficiency, and stakeholder interest fulfillment. Consequently, they diminish corporate engagement enthusiasm, blur responsibility-rights boundaries between stakeholders, and dampen faculty participation motivation, ultimately impeding IEI progress. Finally, the study proposes targeted countermeasures, emphasizing tripartite collaboration among the government, vocational institutions, and enterprises. Key strategies include strengthening legal safeguards, consolidating industry-education collaboration foundations, and proactively fulfilling educational responsibilities. The findings resolve the dilemmas constraining IEI development, providing policymakers with evidence-based references and offering practical guidance for deeper collaboration between vocational institutions and enterprises. This study holds significant theoretical and practical value for advancing high-quality vocational education.

Context: Swedish Higher Vocational Education (HVE) is organised as state-funded programmes provisioned by both public and private education providers in close relation to employers. In HVE programme managers have responsibilities like those that often are vested in vocational teachers. They are responsible both for the day-to-day work of provision and the continuous development of the programme and its syllabi. This article presents a study investigating the work of programme managers, focusing on their work with creating and updating syllabi and on their work organising the students' training. Methods: Five programme managers responsible for five diverse HVE programmes have been interviewed and the syllabi of these programmes have been examined. The analysis is based on a Bernsteinian theoretical perspective focusing on recontextualisation of knowledge for pedagogic discourse by different stakeholders as agents who have different basis for their actions. The study first establishes what knowledge make up the programmes to inform the understanding of what training the programme managers are tasked with organising, then examines how the programme managers take part in selecting knowledge for course syllabi, and how they organise the teaching of these syllabi in in their programmes. Findings: The knowledge that has been recontextualised for pedagogic discourse in the studied programmes is most often vocationally specific or context bound in relation to a particular occupational field. The syllabi are related to clearly defined jobs. The findings highlight how practice thus in several ways may be difficult for programme managers without work experience in the relevant occupational field or knowledge in relation to it. Not only in the work of forming and updating curricula, but also as they must be able to navigate the relevant sector of business and industry to engage appropriate employers for collaborations and to hire teaching staff. Conclusion: The findings presented in this article show that local autonomy allows for major differences regarding knowledge in syllabi and the organisation of learning between programmes within the same nationally organised VET system. This is salient even with a small number of programmes having been studied. This strongly support the importance of examining what happens in autonomous local contexts of VET provision and asking who has influence over publicly funded education in this sort of contexts, and on what these stakeholders base their actions.

Presents a multi-faceted approach to a case study of a secondary school, the London Technial and Commerical High School, one of the first vocational secondary schools. The history of the classroom and curriculum are traced, using a variety of ways to examine the history, the institutional structures, and everyday life in the school. A major theme is the importance of viewing teachers and administrators as mediating agencies between government and the \"outiside world\" on the one hand, and students on the other. Another central theme is gender and class.