How do vocational teachers develop and use pedagogy?

By Catherine Lloyd, Vice Principal - Shuttleworth College, and Research Further Scholar

My recent research further project involved an investigation of agriculture teaching in further education (FE) in England, which naturally led to a consideration of pedagogy and the approach taken by the lecturers.

At a basic level pedagogy concerns the decisions made about what and how to teach. This simple statement, however, hides the layers of complexity which informs those decisions and variations between subjects, contexts and settings. To delve deeper into this area, I am going to consider three views of pedagogy and reflect on these in relation to my research study.

Some describe vocational education as providing the knowledge and technical skills for a particular occupation or trade. The breadth of subjects and choice of careers that are catered for in FE are vast, and learners develop a range of personal and transferable skills as well as those linked to their chosen career.

Vocational pedagogy is used to refer to teaching that takes place in the FE sector which has a focus on training for occupations – it doesn’t include what could be considered academic teaching, such as that which takes place in sixth forms. In 2012, Lucas, Claxton and Spencer defined it as ‘the science, art, and craft of teaching that prepares people for certain kinds of working lives’. It involves a blend of different approaches and methods of teaching, with the intention that the skills learned at college are transferable to the workplace. The CAVTL report published in 2013 titled ‘it’s all about work’ reinforced this view and stated that vocational teaching should be characterised by a clear line of sight to the workplace, with an emphasis on gaining practical skills and underpinning knowledge in realistic working environments. The report identified eight distinctive features of vocational teaching and learning including developing expertise through ‘a combination of sustained practice and the understanding of theory’, as well as a focus on practical problem solving. The report suggests that ‘at its best, vocational teaching results in multiple outcomes’ allowing individuals to grow as responsible adults’.

Another view which has relevance here is that of subject-specialist pedagogy. It appears from the literature that tensions around subject-specialist pedagogy and vocational education have not been fully resolved. In part this relates to what constitutes a subject. In 2000, Bernstein categorised subjects into singulars and regions: singulars are those such as biology or chemistry which are specific academic disciplines, whereas regions occur where singles are grouped together, and the knowledge applied or professionally oriented such as engineering and architecture. Bernstein explained that regions can be more or less strongly bounded depending on their professional identity. Teaching of vocational education with its focus on occupations rather than subjects, could lead it to be seen as generic rather than specialist in terms of pedagogy. Generic pedagogy is concerned with teaching and learning without a focus on the specific subject content to be taught. In 2021, Hanley and Thompson suggested that due to the broad nature of vocational education within FE and the diversity of the curriculum, teacher education often focuses on generic rather than subject specialist pedagogy.

The focus of my study, agriculture, blends knowledge from a range of areas and is broad in scope. It draws from singulars such as biology and other regions such as engineering. It also draws on knowledge gained through practical experience which may be hard to articulate, for example stockmanship gained from working with and observing livestock, or a knowledge of the land gained through many seasons of farming. In addition, approaches to farming vary from intensive, through to regenerative and organic and for this reason I would argue that agriculture as a region is less strongly bounded.

Despite this my research identified contextual and subject-specific factors which strongly influenced pedagogy in agriculture. Subject-specialist pedagogy makes the link between the subject and the way it is taught. A Gatsby funded project in 2018 considered subject specialist pedagogy in FE with a focus on science, engineering and technology. The project found that incorporating subject specialist training into initial teacher education for those in the sector was both ‘possible and desirable’ and that subject specialism has a particular pedagogical value.

Vocational education is not just about the knowledge and skills but also the expectations of the occupation itself. In 2022, Hodkinson and James suggested this involves developing an occupational identity, sometimes referred to as learning as ‘becoming’. Every occupation will have cultures, norms, values and attitudes associated with it. Signature pedagogy described by Shulman in 2005 is concerned with preparing individuals ‘to think, to perform and to act with integrity’ in the manner of others in that profession. Shulman described three components of signature pedagogy; a surface structure, which concerns operational acts of teaching and learning, a deep structure which is a set of assumptions about how best to impart a certain body of knowledge and know-how, and an implicit structure which is a moral dimension that comprises a set of beliefs about professional attitudes, values, and dispositions. Certainly, within agriculture there will be values, attitudes and beliefs that could be incorporated during the teaching and learning process as students prepare to enter the workplace. However, this process is not unproblematic as there may be a need to challenge beliefs or attitudes. Without reflection this approach could serve to reproduce existing practice, resisting new ideas and developments rather than embracing them.

These three views of pedagogy are not mutually exclusive, they can and will be blended together in practice. This caused me to reflect on what the participants had told me about teaching agriculture and the richness and complexity of the decision-making process. Within FE, programmes of study are broad and have multiple outcomes. A problem solving and practical-based approach was evident in my research and aligns well with descriptions of vocational pedagogy. Learners were gaining skills and knowledge on college farms, through participating in authentic learning experiences which in turn provided a clear line of sight to the workplace. I also identified a range of contextual factors that were subject specific which led me to consider that a subject-specialist approach has value in understanding the particular factors which influence learning and teaching. For example, agriculture is driven by the farming year and the natural order in which events occur, such as drilling, harvesting etc. These events need to be accommodated within curriculum delivery in a way that makes sense to learners. Teachers also need to be responsive to things such as adverse weather impacting lesson delivery, which wouldn’t factor in most other subject areas. Alongside this the need to think and act in a way appropriate to the profession can influence and shape teaching. The participants in the study spoke about work ethic within agriculture and the immersive nature of farming.

I believe an understanding of a vocational area or subject, its background, culture and the factors which have shaped and influenced it, is useful when considering pedagogy. Agriculture is steeped in history and has been delivered in England since 1845 at what was at the time The Royal Agricultural College. Around 180 years of teaching and learning should have provided extensive source material to draw on, but in fact there are relatively few published research studies. Whilst I am not suggesting that all trainee teachers need history lessons, an overview of how a subject area has developed and what has driven this can be helpful in understanding its current context. It can raise awareness of the challenges that are faced and the background to these, as well as highlighting opportunities for future development.

Within vocational education, tutors are often called dual professionals, with a specialist knowledge of their subject area and teaching. I am interested in how we draw these together and support the development of teachers’ subject specific pedagogical understanding.

In 2012, Lucas, Claxton and Spencer said that tutors are of central significance in the learning process, the values and beliefs they hold about the purpose of education will influence the choices they make. There is still a lack of evidence relating to how vocational teachers develop and use pedagogy making this a rich area for future research. The findings of my research further study contribute to the current body of literature through providing an insight into the practice of lecturers teaching agriculture in FE. A deeper understanding across subject areas would be of benefit in supporting teacher development and contributing to debates concerning pedagogy within vocational education.

The views expressed in Think Further publications do not necessarily reflect those of AoC or NCFE.