NordYrk 2026

Work-related learning has been at the core of organising vocational education and training and professional development opportunities since the times of medieval guilds. Education planners, administrators, and educators, among others, have been concerned with questions such as: how to guide and teach newcomers into an occupational field to understand the occupation and its societal demands, and enable them to have sufficient competencies to succeed as autonomous professionals who continue developing their skills throughout their lifetime.

These questions are still acute, and due to societal change and new upcoming challenges, they are getting a new twist. The demands of the societal twin transitions towards a more digitalised and sustainable future call for innovation and efficiency in work-related learning practices. This calls for the creation of learning ecosystems where teachers and students from different educational sectors, together with business, industry and other societal partners co-create new solutions for work. New forms and models of collaboration between the world of work and vocational education and training need to be experimented and studied. It also calls for the development of curricula that are more responsive and flexible to the demands of wider societal and global change. At the same time, both young people and adults should be able to develop themselves continuously and have a firm basis for learning to learn and command new skills for participating in society and developing their work, its processes, and work communities.

One of the key challenges in developing contemporary vocational and professional education is that, although digital learning environments can be immersive and simulations can provide engaging learning opportunities, it is difficult to ascertain how these environments can support professionals in becoming wiser. Furthermore, what constitutes practical wisdom? How can education meet the demands of holistic human development? The vital, ongoing goal of education is to produce responsible professionals who can meet the challenges of our time. At the same time, vocational education should train practical experts who possess interactional skills to collaborate and navigate in increasingly diverse societies. 

Education needs to pay attention to broader goals of learner development, and support socialisation and agency of learners. The immersive flow and flush of information and disinformation underline the cruciality of these approaches in education so that education can enable balanced individual development. Moreover, research on professionals who try to find wiser solutions to the challenges they face at work has highlighted the importance of multi-perspective thinking and reflection as well as collaboration. The organisers of the NordYrk 2026 conference therefore invite participants to explore these questions and to present research and development findings that increase understanding of how to embed smarter practices in work-based learning in vocational education and training and higher vocational education.