The development of vocational education students’ professional agency in learning-work environments

In vocational education, a growing emphasis is being placed on the development of professional agency; that is, professionals who can adapt and contribute to shaping changing work practices. This study aims to understand how professional agency in vocational education students develops. For this, we employ Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), which views professional agency as the dialectical and generative relationality between individuals and their work environment. We conducted a multiple case study analysis, where students were observed in learning-work environments of different professional domains and were interviewed immediately afterwards about moments that concerned them during work. Additionally, students were asked to report such moments via an end-to-end encrypted app for instant messaging, followed by another interview. The development of professional agency was compared and summarised using one case as a starting point and contrasting it with other cases. The analysis of 110 cases provided us with deepened insights in how students construct themselves in work practices and how they participate in the construction of work practices. These results challenged us to discuss the concept of professional agency in terms of both CHAT and, more specifically, the concept of zone of proximal development.