Good senior secondary vocational education: Educators’ experiences with subjectification and imagination’s heartwork at a Dutch college

Abstract

This study investigates how educators in Dutch senior secondary vocational education (SSVE) experience, conceptualise, enact ‘good education’. It addresses a gap in the existing research by offering the first application of Hogan’s ‘imagination’s heartwork’ to the Dutch SSVE context. Combining the lenses of ‘imagination’s heartwork’ with Biesta’s domains of purpose of education, this study builds a bridge between the analytical and the continental European tradition of education research. The use of art in its various forms further adds to the new approach to research into Dutch SSVE. Employing hermeneutic phenomenology, chosen for its strength in illuminating educators’ embedded values and prejudices, the research draws on a survey of 30 SSVE educators and in-depth conversations with 12 participants. Analysis of the survey yielded six core themes, including education as fun and teacher involvement with their students. The fictionalised narratives resulting from the conversations show a myriad of perceptions about SSVE, such as ‘SSVE as the strong foundation of the country’ and ‘the headmaster as an archetype for good education’. Contrary to the prevailing education measurement focus, this study advances hermeneutic phenomenology as a rigorous methodology for vocational education studies. This study raises the question whether SSVE in its present form is actual education, and answers questions about the ways educators create opportunities for subjectification, in addition to Biesta’s other domains. It proposes Dutch vocational colleges to position themselves as hospitable, educational sanctuaries. It underlines the flaws in the Dutch education system and policy and in doing so identifies a gap in SSVE research. Eventually, this thesis makes a strong case for Hogan’s ‘imagination’s heartwork’ and Biesta’s domains of purpose of education as guiding principles in Dutch SSVE and provide actionable insights for policymakers, administrators and educators committed to the emancipation of its students in a 21st century democratic Dutch society.