Constructing meaning across experiences – a qualitative study of Norwegian students’ professional becoming

Abstract

Work-integrated learning is often promoted as a ‘solution’ for gaps between graduates’ competencies and labour market needs, typically framed as initiatives connecting learning and work-based experiences. Yet these experiences alone do not ‘ensure’ professional becoming, underscoring the need to examine students’ meaning-making. This qualitative study explores how students become professionals focusing on how they interpret, connect, and legitimise experiences within and beyond the university. Grounded in sociocultural perspectives on learning, identity and meaning-making, it asks: How do students construct meaning for their professional becoming across contexts? Individual semi-structured interviews with 24 first- and final-year students across four programmes at a Norwegian university were analysed grounded in reflexive thematic analysis. The analysis generated two relevant themes: Enacting professional competence and Seeking recognition and feedback. The findings suggest that competence becomes meaningful when students can participate in contexts they perceive as authentic and receive confirmation that their participation is legitimate. However, identifying authentic opportunities for participation beyond formal learning seems contingent on students’ reflective capabilities to notice, interpret and articulate their competence. Accordingly, the study contributes to broadening the understanding of WIL as a multidimensional meaning-making phenomenon. Additionally, it bears practical implications for universities as the findings underscore how they play a vital role in not only affording and legitimising students’ authentic participation across different contexts, such as student organisations or work placements, but also support them being able to interpret different kinds of experiences – also outside the realms of the university – as meaningful for their professional becoming.