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Conceptualising transitions from vocational to higher education: bringing together Bourdieu and Bernstein

Katartzi, Eugenia; Hayward, Geoff

Authors

EUGENIA KATARTZI Eugenia.Katartzi@nottingham.ac.uk
Assistant Professor in Education and / or Teacher Development

Geoff Hayward



Abstract

In this paper we provide a framework for conceptualising transitions from Vocational Education and Training (VET) programmes to Higher Education (HE), by bringing together Bourdieu’s and Bernstein’s theoretical approaches with the view to attend to the often side-lined epistemic and pedagogical parameters. We utilise the Bourdieusian tools of field, habitus and capital to capture the relational, material and cultural aspects of HE transitions. In using a Bernsteinian lens we shed further light into how social agents acquire differentially structured and valorised knowledges and develop a sense of themselves as hierarchically positioned knowers. The metaphor of transitional frictions is utilised to capture the ongoing struggles that students with a VET background experience as they make the transition to HE. We argue for the need of widening epistemic access and putting in place enabling pedagogies that can ease these transitional frictions, thereby potentially increasing the chances of successful HE participation and completion.

Citation

Katartzi, E., & Hayward, G. (2020). Conceptualising transitions from vocational to higher education: bringing together Bourdieu and Bernstein. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 41(3), 299-314. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2019.1707065

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Dec 16, 2019
Online Publication Date Dec 30, 2019
Publication Date Apr 2, 2020
Deposit Date Oct 21, 2020
Journal British Journal of Sociology of Education
Print ISSN 0142-5692
Electronic ISSN 1465-3346
Publisher Routledge
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 41
Issue 3
Pages 299-314
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2019.1707065
Keywords Sociology and Political Science; Education
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4981744
Publisher URL https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01425692.2019.1707065