The aim of the main study was to investigate subject integrated teaching in an upper-secondary Health and Social Care program and the vocational knowledge that was shaped in teaching. The aim of this presentation is to highlight a teacher-constructed case report as a tool for subject integration, the use of the tool for integration and the kind of vocational knowledge that is shaped through the use of the tool.
The material was collected ethnographically and comprised of observation on teaching, with the case report as a base, during a theme unit called “Professional language”. The material further comprised of field-notes on teaching, interviews and informal discussions, sound-recording of teaching and material handed out during teaching. The material was analysed according to Activity-Theoretical concepts of actions, goals and tools.
The results identifiedthat the case report had a vocational origin but had been modified to an educational context. This qualified the case report as a boundary object. It was used by a teacher of core-subjects in teaching to highlight content related to Swedish and to vocational subjects, but also content that related to the theme unit.
In conclusion, the use of the teacher-constructed case report in subject integrated teaching helped shape additional vocational knowledge compared to subject-specific teaching.