Sustainability and Technology in Work and Learning

The knowledge area of Sustainability and Technology in Work and Learning (BTAL) focuses on innovations and the development of technological competence, digitization, learning in various professions, and how the premises for the development of a sustainable world are upheld. It will provide multiple perspectives that will illuminate various connections between the mentioned areas. This has direct implications for vocational education in high school, businesses, and vocational teacher education.

The overarching framework for LK20 (fagfornyelsen) is central to vocational and professional education, and it is described in values and principles that knowledge and awareness of technological innovations are needed to develop solutions that contribute to changing lifestyles, thus preserving life on Earth. Furthermore, it is described in the interdisciplinary theme of sustainable development that technology has a significant impact on people, the environment, and society. It is emphasized that the application and development of technology can contribute to finding new solutions but also create new challenges.

The overarching research approach for BTAL will be vocational knowledge and learning cultures in the face of technology and digitization from a sustainability perspective. This approach connects technically oriented research on one hand and humanistic/social scientific research on the other. This constitutes an important field of knowledge and a foundation for addressing and tackling the many challenges posed by the new world of work, both technologically, in terms of new learning methods, and from a societal perspective with sustainability.

Some overarching research themes will include:

• What innovations and technologies are central within different industries in the workforce, and how do they fit into a sustainability perspective?
• In what ways does new technology lead to new generic and subject-specific knowledge, and what does changing knowledge practices mean for the learning processes?
• What significance will new technologies, learning technology, sustainability, and AI have on the content and methods of vocational education with pedagogical thinking in mind?