Background
The idea for the study emerged from the public debate in spring 2025 concerning the state of vocational education, in which young people became the objects of adult-centric and stigmatising discourses of concern.
This study challenges that perspective and argues that the everyday lives of young people in vocational education cannot be understood without taking young people’s own viewpoints seriously.
It builds on a finding from the Under Pressure research project, according to which, for some young people, vocational education institutions may function as spaces of respite from the pressures of a performance-oriented society and its fast-paced rhythms of life. Drawing on social theories of time (Hartmut Rosa, Barbara Adam, also Carmen Leccardi), the study therefore asks what time and everyday life in the 2020s look like from the perspective of young people studying in vocational education.
The study aims to produce youth-centred knowledge that opens up a different perspective on “vocational students”, while also offering a new perspective on how youth research is conducted
Goal
The researcher will spend a total of six months in a vocational education institution during spring 2027 and, potentially, autumn 2027, by hanging out with young people. Not in classrooms or lessons, but in corridors, the cafeteria, break areas and work halls.
The research is guided by three key principles:
Vocational education and young people studying in vocational schools deserve time.
I think that not enough is known about the thoughts of young people studying in a vocational school. In my research, young people can tell in their own words what they think about life, the present and the future. My intention is that the views of young vocational students would be better considered in society when making decisions concerning young people’s lives, for example, related to education, work and other everyday life.
Young people studying in vocational schools need time.
I think that a lot of things are required of young people in today’s world, and that many young people feel pressure to succeed and feel that the world is changing rapidly. These thoughts come from the Under Pressure study, in which I was previously a researcher. I hang out and spend time at vocational school to understand whether these are the experiences of young vocational students – what young people think about this.
A youth researcher gets time.
I think that my long stay at vocational school helps me get to know and understand young people better. Spending time with young people helps me understand their experiences and thoughts better than shorter research visits. I have a great privilege to spend time with young people and also to discuss with them what good youth research is and how I should conduct research.
Impact
Time for Vocational Students! study produces significant social knowledge by foregrounding the everyday lives and voices of young people in vocational education while challenging the assumptions associated with them.
In addition, it develops approaches to conducting youth research through methodologies centred on slowing down and sharing time with young people, and especially through young people’s own reflections on and solutions for how research concerning young people should be conducted.
Funding
The study is a four-year postdoctoral research project funded by the Kone Foundation, running from 1 August 2026 to 31 July 2030.