Apprenticeship : from theory to practice and back again

Abstract

This is an important contribution to an under-researched but topical field of inquiry, whose value is accentuated by the fact that it reports on work carried out in Norway, with reference to theoretical perspectives prevailing in Scandinavian countries. Such theoretical and empirical data are not often accessible to researchers in Englishspeaking countries, and hence the book will be of great interest to those looking for fresh insights as well as for comparative material. Mjelde, who has been investigating vocational education over the past twenty five years, has come up with a sustained sociological account relating to different aspects of vocational training and apprenticeship - or 'workshop learning', as she calls it. She draws on a number of research projects with an extensive quantitative and qualitative data base, generating important insights through interviews, questionnaires, participant observation, and analysis of educational policy texts.