2.5 The report at a glance The flow diagram below summarises the theoretical orientation that has emerged from our reviews of the literature on vocational pedagogy. We do not think that an optimal pedagogy can be designed without reference to a number of important related matters: the most appropriate teaching and learning methods can only be specified after a number of other issues have been considered. 1 You need to have a very precise specification of the outcomes of vocational learning that are being sought. You cannot know how best to teach until you know clearly what you are teaching for.
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2 The way you teach must depend on an appreciation of the intrinsic demands and constraints of the particular domain you are working in. A job that predominantly involves working with people – being a nursery nurse, for example – will require a different balance of teaching methods and learning experiences than a job that involves mainly solitary hours looking at a screen – being a graphic designer or a software developer, for example. 3 You need a broad appreciation of what learning methods are available to your learners. Only if you have a full ‘palette’ of learning processes can you begin to know what kinds of experiences will harness the most appropriate learning for each desired outcome. Pedagogy is successful to the extent that it recruits the right cognitive processes from the learners.
How to teach vocational education: A theory of vocational pedagogy