Encountering New Literacies—On the Impact of Texts on Dropout and Retention in Vocational Education and Training

Abstract

This chapter describes the literacies found in three vocational educations (VET) in Denmark. Literacies in VET are complex and unknown to students when they enter VET and poor literacy skills is seen as one reason for the high dropout rates from VET. Texts and genres from VET are analyzed using Systemic Functional Linguistics as theoretical foundation. The study shows that genres in VET are different from what students have met in primary education and suggests that primary education should focus more on the literacies in VET to support all students in their further schooling in Denmark.