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The aim of this mixed-method pilot study was to expand the understanding of potential methods to support collaboration between vocational schools and workplaces and to enhance workplace guidance processes. Specifically, we evaluated whether a Cultural-historical Activity theory-based intervention program could have beneficial effects on school–workplace collaboration and on the individual-level competencies of the teachers and workplace personnel. Our results indicate that the change workshop provides a potential mechanism for enhancing personal competencies such as self-efficacy and for promoting collaboration between schools and workplaces, especially in terms of defining objectives for workplace learning. Our study also highlighted how the change workshop method has the potential to trigger expansive learning, in which school personnel and workplace trainers, through learning actions, can change and create new ways of working together. This study highlights the importance of providing workplaces and educational institutions with opportunities to share experiences and learn how to promote workplace-situated learning together.

Ammatillisen koulutuksen uudistus edellyttää työpaikoilta yhä aktiivisempaa roolia työelämässä oppimisen onnistumiseksi. Ammatillisten opettajien haaste on siirtyä oppilaitoskeskeisestä opetustyöstä kohti verkostotoimijuutta, jossa koulutuksen ja työpaikkojen yhteistyö luo mahdollisuuksia tulevaisuuden osaamiselle ja yhteiselle oppimiselle. Toteutimme yhteistyön kehittämiseksi vähittäiskaupan alalla kehittävän työntutkimuksen teoriaan ja metodologiaan perustuvan muutospajaintervention, johon osallistui ammatillisen oppilaitoksen kouluttajia, opiskelijoita ja työpaikkojen johtoa sekä henkilöstöhallinnon edustajia. Käytimme sosiokulttuurisessa lähestymistavassa kehitettyä kehittämistoimijuuden käsitettä, joka jäsentää ihmisen toimijuutta yhteisöllisenä ja yksilöllisenä ilmiönä. Tutkimme, millaista kehittämistoimijuutta muutospajan aikana ja seurauksena syntyi. Analysoimme erityisesti yhden kokeilun kehittymistä ideasta käytäntöön ja yhden kouluttajan toimijuutta uuden käytännön edistäjänä. Analyysimme osoitti kouluttajan yksilöllisen toimijuuden olennaiseksi verkostomaisessa kontekstissa toteutetussa interventiossa. Työpaikkojen kiire toistui muutospajojen diskurssissa yhteistyötä estävänä tekijänä, mistä tulisi käydä oppilaitosten ja työpaikkojen välistä arvokeskustelua. Uuden yhteistyökäytännön kehittymiseen ja vakiintumiseen ei riitä yhden toimijan aloitteellisuus, vaan tarvitaan kaikkien verkoston osapuolien toimijuutta. Verkostomaisten interventioiden osallistujien sitoutumiseen ja kokeilujen juurruttamiseen interventioiden jälkeen on panostettava nykyistä enemmän.

The study evaluated the implementation of peer-based Mental First Aid (MFA) in a city organization. Its aim was to examine (1) the participants' user experiences of MFA, (2) the developmental needs of the MFA implementation process, and (3) whether and how the implementation of MFA changed the City's safety management. The data were from interviews, feedback from MFA testing and training, safety management documents, and a survey. MFA became established in the organization and there was a clear need for it. It was considered easy to use and had a low user threshold. It added value to traditional occupational safety and health practices by improving the participants' own practical skills to systematically manage the human factors of safety. MFA implementation needs clear management structures and a systematic commitment and learning process.

In this case study, the potential of intentional arenas and tools to promote collective sensemaking during major structural and technical transformations in a specialist organization in the Finnish forestry sector is examined. The results suggest that sensemaking processes in complex change situations are intimately linked to the temporal development of tensions concerning new ways and structures of working. The article demonstrates how Change Workshops, based on activity theoretical methods and tools, shaped sensemaking by offering means to collectively investigate developmental tensions and their potential resolutions and promoted the creation of a systemic view of changing work. This research thus provides an insight into ways in which to foster systemic and future-orientated perspectives in collective sensemaking processes, which in turn improve the management of organizational change.

Vocational education and training (VET) providers must provide a safe and healthy learning and working environment for their students and employees. Establishing a culture with effective occupational health and safety (OHS) procedures helps VET providers in meeting this duty of care. The objective of this study was to describe the practices of sustainable OHS management in VET. The procedures were studied in six VET provider organizations; 6 workshops were arranged and 58 employees were interviewed. The procedures revealed were categorized into preventative actions, actions during the incident, and actions after the incident. Prevention is possible when sustained proactive and reactive actions are directed at the individual, team, working environment, and organization levels. The results will guide VET and other organizations toward shaping OHS policies and safety culture in the field of education. Furthermore, developing safety culture may achieve other VET providers’ goals, such as quality of education and student performance. acceptedVersion

The need to develop occupational safety and health (OSH) at schools is considerable. Even though safety and well-being challenges are widely recognised, adequate tools are lacking, especially for psychosocial risks, which are often connected to changes at work. This study aims to raise awareness of OSH challenges, and to support the development of proactive safety management practices. We approach OSH management from two perspectives, namely the risk-based and resilience perspectives, and address the importance of both in the complex work environments that schools have become. The empirical case of this study is an Activity Theory-based Change Workshop (CW) process in an education department in a Finnish city organisation. We show how the CW process enhanced collective learning, how a collective view of changing OSH challenges developed during the CW process, and how participants collectively developed proactive tools and practices for OSH management.