Abstract
This paper critically analyses and aims to denaturalise models of identity that circulate in discourse about vocational education in the Netherlands. It is argued that discourse about the vocational track is characterised by a pervasive focus on deficits, framing vocational education as unprestigious, and its students as unintelligent and insubordinate. The analysis focuses on three levels at which this model of identity circulates and is reproduced: it is rooted in the historical emergence of tracks in the Netherlands, is re-enforced throughout the educational trajectories of students in the vocational track, and is reproduced on the event level in routine interactions among students and teachers. The paper contributes to existing scholarship on the sociocultural and personal dimensions of tracking, which predominantly comes from studies based on survey and interview-based data, by building on data from ethnographic fieldwork and participant observation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 144-158 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Ethnography and Education |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | Nov 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) (nederlandse organisatie voor wetenschappelijk onderzoek) [project number 406-12-050]. I would like to thank the students and teachers of class ‘3/4b’ for allowing me to do research in their midst. Furthermore, thanks go out to Mariëtte de Haan, Tjitske de Groot and Semiha Sözeri for comments on earlier drafts of this paper, and to the members of the UU DEEDS department for comments on the materials and ideas. Any remaining shortcomings are my own.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Keywords
- Vocational education
- deficit discourse
- tracking
- identity
- classroom ethnography