Empirical Conceptualisation of ILTP

Abstract

The integrative learning of theory and practice (ILTP) has been widely recognised as a cornerstone of today’s technical vocational education and training (T-VET), and yet considerable uncertainty persists about how to conceptualise such integrative learning, how it proceeds or what it generates. This chapter presents two qualitative studies aiming to conceptualise the ILTP in education programmes in the field of chemical process technology (CPT). While these studies have much in common (e.g., the broader research question, a grounded theory approach, and the empirical context), they also pursue own goals. The first study goes beyond current knowledge on the epistemological roots of pedagogical approaches, aiming to grasp how the students and their instructors conceive of theoretical and practical forms knowledge, and the relationship between these forms. The findings enable us to put forward a possible articulation of the ‘integration of theory and practice’ as a network of relationships that are embodied by multiple agents. The second study advances current understanding of what constitutes the ILTP in terms of its process and its outcome aspects. We generated a description of these aspects by means of axial dimensions along which learning, and knowledge can be positioned. We distinguished three process dimensions (intentionality, time of the prompt and locus of learning) and three outcome dimensions (purpose, logic, and locus of integrated knowledge). The findings also revealed underlying co-existing perspectives on integration, according to which the separation of theory and practice is emphasised to varying extents. The chapter discusses plausible implications for practitioners and future research.KeywordsInterpersonal epistemological assumptionsForms of knowledgeObjects and agents of integrationPerspectives on theory-practice integrationNetwork of relationshipsProcess and outcome dimensions of integrative learningQualitative research methods