Re-contextualisation in in-company vocational education in the dual system in Germany

Abstract

This chapter "shows the adaptability of Bernstein's concept 'recontextualisation' to new empirical contexts. The German dual system of vocational education is presented as a case where the creators of a discourse are also its recontextualisers, a case never before systematically analysed with Bernsteinian concepts. The chapter adds to Bernstein's concepts the empirical finding of legitimate boundaries to a primary discourse. It shows that a differently produced pedagogic discourse takes effect in a different relationship of time, space and discourse and in different subject projections, while Bernstein's basic assumptions about the pedagogic device still hold." The research is based on a documentary analysis of central legislative texts, especially the Vocational Training Act (Berufsbildungsgesetz - BBiG) and the Trade and Crafts Code (Handwerksordnung - HwO). (Authors' abstract, BIBB-Doku)