The journeyman’s examination in vocational education.

• Main Authors: Guðmundsdóttir, Guðfinna, Eiríksdóttir, Elsa
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Icelandic
• Published: Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands 2021
• Subjects: Vocational education; journeyman’s examination; upper secondary education; iðnmenntun; iðnnám; sveinspróf; starfsmenntun; framhaldsskóli; Iceland
• Online Access: https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/netla/article/view/3318

Vocational education in Iceland is in general a dual system where a section of the programme takes place at an upper secondary school and another section at a workplace under apprenticeship contract. The so-called certified trades are a major aspect of vocational education in Iceland, where the programme ends with a journeyman’s examination, legally required for working in the field. This study investigates the journeyman’s examination in its capacity as a legal and social recognition of professional skill and a final assessment of vocational studies. The journeyman’s examinations are professional qualifications undertaken after graduation from school and having completed the workplace section of the programme. An independent journeyman’s examination committee is responsible for creating, holding, and evaluating these examinations. A journeyman’s licence is considered a good measurement of professional skill and provides the legal certification to work independently in a trade. The objective of this research is to understand how those who work within the vocational education system, journeymen, teachers and master craftsmen, view the journeyman’s examination. In particular, the research questions concern how they view the examinations in the context of the programme as a whole, their opinion on the internal validity of the examination, and their experience and view of the process of taking the journeyman’s examination.To answer these questions four trades were selected as representative of the various programme types found among the certified trades, in terms of duration of the workplace period and the sequencing of the school and workplace periods. A total of 24 participants were interviewed, six within each trade: recently graduated journeymen (n = 8), teachers at upper secondary schools (n = 8), and master craftsmen in charge of apprentices at workplaces (n = 8). The interviews were semi-structured and covered various topics relating to vocational education, among them the journeyman’s examination which is of ...