Dialogue and Variation as a Didactic Model in Technical Vocational Education

Abstract

Using didactical models when planning and conducting teaching can be a way of basing teaching on scientific research. However, when it comes to organising teaching and learning in relation to vocational education and technical objects of learning, there is a lack of didactical models. A central part of technical vocational education is teaching and learning how to handle tools related to the vocation students are training for. Previous studies show that teaching about tools in technical vocational education can have different focuses (cf. Asghari et al, 2025) and be based on teachers’ experiences and situations arising ad hoc, which can make teaching in this area unequal (Asplund et al., 2022). Therefore, we have been carrying out didactic modelling in three phases - extraction, mangling and exemplifying (Wikman et al., 2020). In this study we focus on how a didactic model emphasising dialogue and variation can create conditions for students’ learning of how to use tools in a preferable way in a vocational school workshop. In an intervention study, using learning study as a method, teaching and learning has been documented and evaluated. In this study, video recordings of teaching sessions in car mechanics and building and construction workshop classrooms have been analysed using CAVTA (Conversation Analysis and Variation Theory Approach) as the theoretical and methodological framework (cf. Asplund & Kilbrink, 2020; Kilbrink & Asplund, 2020). Data also consists of interviews with students after the video recorded teaching sessions. Preliminary findings indicate that using a didactic model emphasising dialogue and variation can contribute to students’ learning about tools in vocational workshops.