Curriculum Enactment by Vocational Teachers in Norwegian VET: Professional Judgement, Tensions and Local Adaptation in the Implementation of the Subject Renewal Reform

Abstract

This article explores how vocational teachers in Norway enact the revised national curriculum (The Subject Renewal Reform – LK20) within the two-year school-based part of the 2+2 model in upper secondary vocational education and training (VET). Drawing on data from interviews with vocational teachers in three vocational education programmes, the study investigates how vocational teachers interpret, adapt, and translate the intended curriculum into pedagogical practices, analysed through the perspective of curriculum enactment theory. Using the framework of the curriculum as intended, implemented, and enacted, combined with perspectives on professional judgement and curriculum making, the article analyses the tensions and affordances embedded in curriculum enactment processes, focusing on how vocational teachers negotiate policy changes while asserting their professional agency. The findings indicate that vocational teachers’ professional judgement plays a pivotal role in mediating national policy intentions and local realities, and that local adaptation is shaped both by school cultures and workplace collaborations. The study contributes to the understanding of curriculum implementation as a dynamic, context-dependent process also in VET. The knowledge contribution highlights the enacted curriculum as a key analytical lens, making provisions for vocational teacher agency and professional judgement in situations of considerable tension, increased requirements, and multiple stakeholders