Writing competences in Norwegian vocational education and training: how students and apprentices express their professional competences

This article analyzes the writing competence of Norwegian students and apprentices in three professions: healthcare, industrial mechanics and electricians. The research forms part of a large-scale assessment project in vocational education and training (VET). A subset of 108 written test-answers were subjected to an explorative analysis focusing on generic and professional writing competencies. A more text-based and trans-contextual working life for many professions requires not only profession-specific communicative competency, but also a stronger engagement in generic literacy practices. The need for written communication with customers, clients and colleagues across workplaces and countries has increased and the use of understandable language when communicating with non-peers is required. In the study, we found that the generic writing competency declined during apprenticeship, but on the other hand that the use of professional-specific terminology increased. We also found that writing competence seemed to be contextualized according to different traditions, text cultures and discourses across the three professions. The article questions the prevalence of text-based examinations in VET and analytical categories for measuring writing competence that do not take into account a multimodal character of professional communication.

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