Developmental Work Research

• In Event: Roundtable Session 18
  In Roundtable Session: Some Theoretical Bases for Research on Vocational Education and Training and Career and Technical Education

Abstract

This paper presents studies of vocational and professional education employing a specific research approach called developmental work research (DWR), initiated in Finland in early 1980s by Yrjö Engeström and his colleagues. DWR combines scientific research, practical development work and learning, called theory of expansive learning. Theoretical base is cultural-historical activity theory and methodology is often a formative intervention such as a change laboratory. The approach has been widely used in Finland and in other countries in research projects in which the aim has been to create innovative solutions and practices with practitioners and to contribute to theoretical understanding of those activities. The empirical studies introduced here are examples of DWR and how researchers and practitioners collaborate, create and learn together.

Author

• Marianne Teräs, University of Helsinki