The main purpose in this thesis was to study young persons and their encounter with vocational education and training as related to industrial work. Another was to compare the situation for these persons in two school organizations, a municipal upper secondary school and an industrial upper secondary school situated within a private company.

The approach was to investigate the interplay in vocational training between the teacher's arrangement of the teaching and the student's view of this situation. The study was analysed using a theoretical model designed to focus on the interaction between student prerequisites and experiences and teacher and school influences.

Data was collected from one class at a municipal upper secondary school and another class at an industrial upper secondary school that were followed for three years during their vocational education. The result has been analysed by interviews with teachers and students, student marks, student questionnaire and observa-tions of education.

The students had started their industrial training with differing experien-ces. The common factor was an interest in technology. At the beginning of their education a marked difference was noted in the students' self-confi-dence, mainly between the groups in the two school organizations. The stu-dents in the company-based school showed considerably more self-confi-dence than those in the municipal school.

The students can be divided into those who are theory-oriented and practice-oriented respectively. The former group had great confidence in theoretical explanations and seldom questioned these, carefully following instructions. The practice-oriented group used a more questioning and examining way of learning.

The students at the municipal upper secondary school have difficulties in adjusting to educational situations, which they cannot see the use of, espe-cially those students who are practice-oriented. At the industrial upper secondary school, which has a more restricted educational process, the students adjust to the situations.