Challenges in the training of health and social care workers: ideas and ideals regarding students and vocational knowing

On the basis of Swedish teachers' descriptions of challenges in their work, this article aims to describe and analyse the underlying ideas and ideals regarding students and their future vocational knowing. The method used involves qualitative interviews with 17 health and social care teachers working in upper secondary school or adult secondary education. The findings show that the greatest challenges were a lack of motivation, language difficulties, and the link between theory and practice. The ideas and ideals that emerge about students and their professional expertise are that the students should be motivated to study and have made an active career choice. Since health care professions have been based on the idea of a calling, grounded in a middle-class ideal, creating motivation becomes part of the development of symbolic capital that is viable in the profession. In the creation of a professional habitus, the students' personality development is in focus, where the intention is profound changes if the dispositions are not right from the beginning. The students are expected to develop into empathic, ethical, adaptable, and courageous health care workers who will dare to stand up against poor conditions in health and social care. It is considered very important that the students are guided by Western humanist values, which a stable habitus based in a different cultural background can render difficult. In the creation of a professional habitus, it is also important to improve language skills and understand the value of the profession.

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