The study investigated subject integrated teaching and vocational knowledge in one Health and Social Care program. The material was collected ethnographically, during a period of a school semester (5 months), and analysed according to the Activity-Theoretical concepts actions, goals and tools.

The results identified five goals for subject integrated teaching: the legitimacy of Swedish as a school subject; a focus on linguistic prescriptivism; the identity of vocational subjects; a predominant medical focus in vocational subjects; and a professional language. Further six recurrent tools were identified: a fictional book; a teacher-prepared hand-out; a teacher-constructed case report; teacher-examples from health care; and linguistic rules. There was a theoretical kind of vocational knowledge with focus on language issues, on medical aspects of care, and on a professional language.

In conclusion, subject integrated teaching contributed with more than each of the specific subjects contributed with and simultaneously tensions between goals representing different subjects were found. However, tools were shared between subjects.

The aim of this study was to explore what subject-integrated teaching of vocational subjects, ethics and health care, contributed with in terms of vocational knowing. The case study was ethnographically inspired and followed a group of students (16 +) and their teachers in a Swedish Health and Social Care Program while they worked with a theme unit called Death for two weeks in autumn 2012. Data comprised observations, field notes, and audio recordings of the planning and teaching of the theme unit, informal discussions with teachers and students, handouts, a theme booklet, and student assignments. Analysis was based on concepts related to cultural historical activity theory, especially emphasizing rules, tools, actions, operations, and contradictions. Results showed three major objects emphasized in the teacher–student interaction and the tools chosen to support the subject-integrated teaching activity: vocational knowing related to vocational ethics, to everyday ethics, and argumentative skills. Manifestations of contradictions in the form of dilemmas related to the examples that teachers copied from a textbook. As these examples were mainly contextualized in everyday situations, and there are no formal ethical guidelines for nursing assistants on which teachers could rely on, teachers’ narratives were used to complement these examples. Students’ argumentative skills were emphasized and related to personal situations, in which ethical arguments for justification in vocationally relevant situations were made unclear.

The aim of this case study was to investigate what vocational knowing was made available in subject-integrated teaching of four vocational subjects in a Swedish Health and Social Care Program (HSCP). The study was composed of two separate data collections, both ethnographic. The first data collection was performed in autumn 2012 on a theme unit called VIPS, with a group of students (16+), in a Swedish HSCP. Data comprised observations, field notes, and audio recordings of planning and teaching of the theme unit, informal discussions with teachers and students, handouts, a theme booklet, and student assignments. The second data collection was performed during spring 2018 in which life-history interviews focused on documentation were conducted with the teachers involved in the theme unit from 2012. Data comprised audio recordings and time lines. A theoretical framework and analytical work were performed with concepts from Cultural Historical Activity Theory, and from New Literacy Studies. The results indicate that the object in the teaching activity comprised vocational knowing in three areas: psychosis, ethics, and communication, and vocational literacy. Vocational contextualization of teaching was a necessary component that made available vocational knowing that contributed to the students' professional development.

The aim for this review was to systematize, describe and critically analyse previous research concerning school-based integrated teaching for vocational knowing in nursingrelated training in upper secondary and in higher level education. Searches were conducted in four databases, two specifically for Swedish hits, and two for international hits. Also, search was made in a Nordic journal on vocational education and training. References in included studies were also assessed for further inclusion of studies. Altogether, 14 studies were included and assessed for quality and coherence with GRADE CERQual. Review findings comprised three types of integrated teaching, through embeddedness or streaks, problem-based learning, and between school and workplace; vocational knowing relating to a professional and academic context; and methodological significance for the vocational knowing highlighted in the studies. In conclusion, the methodological approach typically used in the primary studies related to a quantitative approach, which was also discerned as quality measure. The primary studies brought forward a partial understanding of integrated teaching and vocational knowing, which is dependent on the methodological approach. In order to enhance understanding about the research topic, there is a need for more studies on integrated teaching utilizing a qualitative approach.