Opplevelse av sammenheng i fag- og yrkesopplæring – et longitudinelt perspektiv.

Abstract

This longitudinal study explores the resources vocational students need to balance stress and develop vocational competence in school- and work-based learning. As a theoretical framework, the concepts of sense of coherence (SOC) and general resistance resources (GRR) are used, as proposed by Antonovsky in his salutogenic theory. SOC consists of three components: comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness. GRR is about how a person, group or community use internal and external resources to promote SOC. Participants are interviewed at the end of their school part of the education and again at the end of the apprenticeship. The two interviews are compared using comparative analysis methods to explore how participants’ GRRs develop. The study shows that comprehensibility increases when practice and theory are integrated into work tasks during the apprenticeship. The manageability component, developed throughout the educational process, helps them master stress and to face unpredictable situations. The GRRs promoting meaningfulness are almost similar in the two interviews and appear to be stable over time and central for participants to engage in learning situations and develop vocational competence.