Multi-professional development of youth workshop studification: An analysis of relational expertise

Abstract

This qualitative case study analyzed the studification development through the lens of relational expertise (RE) that raises for examination experts' motive orientations—in other words, their understanding of what matters to each partner when working on the object of activity. The studification of youth workshops offers an alternative pathway to vocational education for young people and adults in a weak labor market position. The development of studification requires cooperation among experts in several professional fields. Empirical studies of experts' perceptions of their own and their partners' views are thus far limited. The research question asked what matters for the workshop professionals in the studification and how their partners perceive what matters for the workshop professionals, correspondingly. The data consisted of expert interviews with 21 informants in the studification development project. The method applied an abductive approach to theory-based and data-driven thematization and comparison. The findings indicated that the partners shared the motive based on the awareness of a young person at risk of exclusion who always has some future opportunities and learning potential. The gaps in different thematic areas of RE demonstrated how partners’ understanding of what matters to others is shaped by their own institutionally grounded motive orientation. The conceptual framework of RE that was developed can be applied and enriched in future studies of expertise in partnership networks.