Methods of VET Research

There are four topics in particular that VET research is concerned with: (1) the development and analysis of occupations and occupational fields as well as the analysis of changes in occupational work and qualification requirements; (2) the analysis, development, and evaluation of occupational curricula; (3) the analysis, design, and evaluation of occupational learning and education processes; and (4) the analysis and development of occupational training courses and systems. At its core, VET research deals with work tasks and processes organized in occupational form, which take place in more or less formalized VET programs and systems. A whole range of sciences is concerned with occupational development in the broadest sense: Social-historical occupational research addresses occupational development as a phenomenon of social development in a historical perspective. Sociological occupational research deals with the question of de-occupationalization as a phenomenon of change in the world of work. Labor market research develops, among other things, forecasts on occupational and professional development. Research in occupational sociology and vocational education examines, for example, occupational work and vocational training for the development of occupational identity. Methods of empirical social research: These have contributed to establishing VET research also as a sociological research. Methods of occupational science: The regulation of action in industrial-technical occupational work is based on objective rules, the analyses of which presuppose knowledge of work processes. Vocational education research is always referred to the occupational science competence of researchers when it comes to the content of vocational work and education.