Laukia, Vocational Education with a Finnish touch

Vocational education together with academic education is developing the society and the world of work and gives students skills and competences to earn their own future. This publication gives some answers to questions how to make vocational education attractive and of good quality. The focus of this book is vocational education and training in Finland. The concept vocational education here includes education of professionals and specialists in all vocational education sectors; technical sector, agriculture, hospitality, business administration, transportation and so on. The main focus in this publication is upper secondary level education, but the articles also illustrate tertiary technical education or university of applied science education, both terms are used depending on the country. In this publication there are articles about history of vocational education, pedagogical methods, learning environments and examples how to build co-operation between education and the world of work. There is also an article about the structure of vocational education and training in Finland, an article about teacher education and how to support the students in their studies. This publication is for students, teachers, directors, civil servants and political decision makers who are interested in vocational education. The authors are specialists in vocational education, researchers, teachers, directors, civil servants with practical experience in the vocational education sector. The publication is edited and published by Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, School of Vocational Teacher Education.