A Taxonomy for Teaching Transfer Skills in the Danish VET System

Abstract

The article deals with transfer in the dual Danish VET system. Transfer is defined as the process of applying knowledge and skills acquired in an educational situation to working life. The existence of many identical elements in both training and transfer situations is known as ‘near transfer‘, and is most readily achieved when training is conducted within company premises. Students find the relevance of their theoretical training to in-company-based application highly motivating. Cognitively, transfer is facilitated by the concrete similarities between training and its application. However, the purpose of school-based education is to develop the students’ mastery of ‘far transfer‘, i.e., their ability to apply knowledge and skills to a broad range of situations. Therefore the pedagogy of VET should provide a progression from near to far transfer. The aim of this article is to describe and discuss some of the pedagogical challenges for VET of near and far transfer.