Completed project · 2017–2020
Promoting training-relevant behavioural standards in pre-vocational teaching
The project focuses on the pedagogical order in teaching within pre-vocational programmes in the transition system between general schooling and initial VET. It identifies, analyses and systematises practices through which young people's behaviour is situationally constituted, negotiated and addressed as a matter relevant to teaching in pre-vocational institutions.
Social competences are increasingly considered essential for successfully completing dual vocational training. Recent company surveys consistently show that training companies now regard so-called soft skills as hard skills. Conversely, deficits in social competence are blamed for companies' declining willingness to train and for training drop-out. Pre-vocational provision in the transition system therefore has a central societal function: educationally supporting young people in acquiring competences considered necessary for initial training. This is demanding, partly because participants often lack an intermediate school-leaving qualification and have limited opportunities in the training market. The project examines the educational practice of vocational preparation, referred to in specialist debates as vocational support pedagogy or transition pedagogy. In school-based and social-pedagogical pre-vocational institutions, it examines teaching practices that address young people's behaviour in relation to anticipated expectations in the training system. Participant observation is supplemented by qualitative interviews with teachers, trainers and social-pedagogical professionals. The project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).