International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training
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Self-Regulated Learning Skills in Vocational Students Based on Their Self-Evaluation
Full text linkContext: The importance of both self-regulated and self-directed learners has been emphasised in lifelong learning. However, in theory, self-regulated learning (SRL) serves as a basis for becoming a self-directed learner. Therefore, SRL (which includes certain skills) needs to be developed in vocational education and training alongside specialist training in order to meet the demands of the labour market, where employees should be capable of continuous learning. Previous studies based on the experiences of vocational teachers, and mainly focusing on adolescent students, have highlighted that many vocational students have low levels of SRL skills. However, there is a lack of research exploring student perspectives on their own SRL skills. It is unclear what factors influence their SRL and what support they need for developing SRL. The aim of this article is to analyse and describe the differences in the SRL skills of vocational students based on their self-evaluation and the factors related to their SRL.
Methods: The author conducted diverse quantitative analyses of the responses of 244 students to achieve the research aim. First, a factor analysis was performed on the five skill areas of SRL, followed by a K-means cluster analysis based on SRL skills factors. Then SRL clusters of students were analysed according to the students\u27 socio-demographic factors, learning difficulties, and other learning factors using cross-tabulation and variance analysis.
Findings: From an SRL perspective, the most important factors in distinguishing and characterising the clusters of students were the skills related to plan management and organisation. On this basis, the study identified three clusters, consisting of students with: 1) Difficulties in organisation and behaviour (30%), 2) difficulties in planning and time management (20%), and 3) good and balanced SRL skills (50%).
Conclusion: Overall, the study found that half of the students exhibited good SRL skills and these students encountered fewer learning difficulties. They also studied more through collaborative learning activities, received sufficient verbal feedback, and showed higher levels of motivation towards their schoolwork. However, the remaining students require additional support to improve their SRL skills.
The Cobra Effect in TVET Policy Making: A Macro-Micro-Macro-Level Analysis of Exemplary Cases From Germany
Full text linkContext: Unlike education policy for general education, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) policy often focuses on societal needs, ignoring the attitudes and subsequent behaviors of learners. As a result, the impact of TVET policies is not what was expected and sometimes even counterproductive. Starting from this, we use macro-micro-macro-level analysis inspired by Coleman\u27s boat theorem to reflect on three exemplary cases of German TVET policy. These TVET policies have in common that they aim to reduce skills shortages in certain occupations.
Approach: Our paper illustrates the value of macro-micro-macro-level analysis when looking at TVET policies and programs. To this end, we look at three exemplary cases. All the cases represent TVET policies and programs aimed at reducing skills shortages, a common issue for most countries in the world. One way of addressing those shortages are TVET policies of which we present here: (1) Increasing the permeability between TVET and higher education, (2) attracting workers for post-qualification and (3) directed career counselling for refugees. Using Coleman\u27s boat theorem, we analyze the cases in terms of whether the policy strategies address the skills shortage adequately. We then compare the cases with each other to draw general conclusions regarding the connection of macro- and micro-level within policy making in TVET.
Findings: A common finding among all three case studies is that the investigated policies and programs do not consider possible deviant considerations of actors at the micro-level adequately. Consequently, the actor\u27s behaviors on the micro-level can contradict the intention of the policy.
Conclusion: We conclude that it is essential to take micro-level perspectives into account when developing political strategies for TVET. Therefore, TVET policies and programs should be developed from a more subject-oriented perspective and as a second step include societal needs. Furthermore, TVET policies and programs have to be accomplished by reforms changing work conditions for the better. Only then, there is a chance for convergence of micro-level decisions and macro-level outcomes.
Educational Interventions to Promote Self-Regulated Learning in Vocational Schools - A Systematic Review
Full text linkPurpose: In the evolving landscape of the 21st century, characterized by dynamic global challenges such as health crises, climate change, and rapid technological advancements, the imperative of lifelong learning has become more pronounced than ever. Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) plays a pivotal role in lifelong learning, involving independent, self-directed behaviors to enhance knowledge and skills. While the significance of SRL is widely acknowledged in the broader context of lifelong learning, its specific role in vocational schools is a critical aspect that requires careful investigation. In these specialized educational settings, effective SRL practices are not only integral to individual academic success but are also crucial for fostering the competencies essential for a thriving professional career. However, there is a need for a systematic analysis of how SRL is fostered within vocational schools. Despite its importance, the current best practices for promoting successful SRL in vocational schools remain underexplored. Therefore, this study aimed to systematically review intervention studies focused on changing educational practices related to SRL in vocational schools. Specifically, we addressed two key research questions: (1) What are the characteristics of intervention studies aimed at fostering SRL in vocational schools? and (2) What is the quality of these interventions in terms of their impact on promoting SRL?
Methods: To address these questions, we conducted a systematic review of intervention studies focused on fostering SRL in the context of vocational education. Our review includes 11 studies, with 10 reporting positive effects of interventions promoting SRL.
Findings: The findings highlight that collaborative and problem-solving approaches, along with learning environments emphasizing student autonomy, are effective methods for enhancing SRL. Additionally, the review underscores the importance of distinguishing between direct and indirect interventions to promote SRL in the classroom. The effectiveness of each approach is contingent on the specific context and student population.
Conclusion: However, comparing and drawing conclusions from these studies presented challenges due to the limited similarity in outcome measures and variations in the quality of evidence. Future research should consider methodological adjustments to address the heterogeneity of intervention studies on SRL at the vocational school level, including the development of standardized assessment tools and more rigorous experimental designs to better evaluate the impact of SRL interventions. These adjustments are crucial for ensuring that vocational schools can effectively integrate SRL practices that not only align with academic goals but also prepare students for the demands of their professional careers.
Competence Profiles of Vocational Teachers in Sweden
Full text linkContext: Vocational teachers’ professional work builds on both vocational and teaching competence, requiring vocational teachers to balance multiple identities in their professional practice. As a professional group coming to education from different vocational disciplines, vocational teachers also have various educational backgrounds, teaching experience, or competence profiles. Nevertheless, teacher training programmes treat them as a homogeneous group. This study aims to identify competence profiles among vocational teachers in Sweden and analyse background factors associated with these competence profiles.
Methods: Data was collected via an online survey, asking vocational teachers to respond to questions on how important they considered different competences to be for vocational teaching. The vocational teachers also rated to what extent they had achieved different competences. The sample included 280 vocational teachers from various disciplines, representing both high schools and adult education schools. The survey data was analysed using k-means clustering.
Findings: Two main competence profiles emerged in the analyses. Profile 1 had mainly male vocational teachers with extended occupational experience and limited teaching experience. These teachers reported lower achieved competence in all areas compared to teachers in Profile 2. Profile 2 included mostly female vocational teachers with longer teaching experience and more limited occupational experience. A higher percentage of these teachers had teacher training, and they reported higher achieved competence in all areas.
Conclusions: Several background factors were associated with these two competence profiles, but no relations of cause and effect were proved. The competence profiles rather highlight the differences and different learning needs among groups of vocational teachers, leading to the conclusion that vocational teachers in Profile 1 might be in need of further or a different type of support in their professional development
Emphasising Self-Directed Learning in VET-Schools: Teachers\u27 Convictions and Role Negotiations
Full text linkContext: Accompanying learners in their increasingly self-directed learning is an important goal in the field of vocational education and training. With digitalisation, the traditional role of the teacher, characterized in terms of an arbiter and transmitter of knowledge, is in crisis. Besides teachers\u27 task in instruction, other role aspects are coming to the fore, such as supporting learners in their self-directed learning. Words such as coach, mentor, and learning facilitator emphasize mentoring as a key component of the teacher’s role, but these are challenging to implement in practice.
Method: The study used in-depth interviews with 10 vocational teachers who emphasise self-directed learning in their lessons. Based on Schütze\u27s narrative analysis method, the narratives revealed how the teachers described typical experiences in relation to their role conception and their role action.
Findings: For the conception and role implementation of coaching roles, the teachers\u27 convictions of what constitutes good learning and teaching were decisive. Training in teacher-training colleges seems to broaden and shift the understanding of teaching and learning processes and progressive roles. Teachers often experience that learners spontaneously reject their progressive roles, with learners appearing to prefer traditional teaching and role design. Although their new roles are not yet fully manifested and normalised in their teaching practice, teachers need to repeatedly legitimize the benefits of their role implementation to different stakeholders. Furthermore, difficulties arise in the practical implementation of the roles, since how to act as a teacher in various instructional sequences that emphasise self-directed learning often seems ambiguous.
Conclusion: The teacher\u27s role is in flux, and with changing expectations come challenges in understanding and fulfilling their role. The study results show typical experiences and negotiations of vocational teachers who emphasise self-directed learning in their lessons. The themes derived from the vocational teachers’ narrations shed important insights into role negotiation, and the findings may offer direction in how to support and guide teachers in their role implementation.
The Role of Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction in Finnish Vocational Students\u27 School Burnout and Dropout Intentions
Full text linkPurpose: This study examined how vocational education and training (VET) students\u27 satisfaction of basic psychological needs in VET learning environments, namely autonomy, competence, and relatedness, is related to their burnout and intention to leave VET. Self- Determination Theory was employed in the study. The aim of the study was to contribute to the existing body of empirical knowledge on basic psychological needs in educational contexts, with a particular focus on their role in negative processes. The findings may assist in evaluating the potential of basic psychological needs support in enhancing student motivation and well-being in VET learning environments.
Methods: Cross-sectional online survey data were collected in 2023 from 255 students at a large vocational institution in Finland. The questionnaire included the following factors from three validated scales: Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction - Work Domain (BPNS-WD; "autonomy", "competence", "relatedness"), School Burnout Inventory (SBI; "exhaustion", "cynicism"), and dropout intentions. Data were analysed in R using correlation analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling.
Results: The results indicated that the factors of basic psychological needs were negatively associated with the two burnout factors and the factor of dropout intentions, confirming our hypotheses. However, the hypotheses were only partially confirmed as not all associations reached statistical significance. Contrary to our hypothesis, relatedness satisfaction was positively related to burnout cynicism, although the relationship was not statistically significant.
Conclusions: The findings suggest that supporting the basic psychological needs of VET students may reduce school burnout and the intention to drop out of school. Nevertheless, further research is required at the institutional and workplace levels to investigate the potential influence of perceived social relatedness on the development of burnout cynicism, and vice versa. Furthermore, the results indicated that female students, as well as those with older age or less work experience, experienced more burnout exhaustion than other respondents. A more comprehensive analysis is needed to gain better understanding of the factors that increase exhaustion within these groups of students.
Mapping Social Capital in Vocational Education and Training: A Multi-Perspective Egocentric Social Network Analysis in a European Innovation Project
Full text linkContext: The importance of the involved stakeholders and their networks in vocational education and training (VET) focussing on international transfer and cooperation is highlighted in various empirical studies. A systematic empirical survey of these by means of social network analysis, however, has hardly been applied to date. This article is concerned with the development of social capital in the course of network formation and its sustainability. The object of investigation is the funded European VET innovation project AI Pioneers within the Erasmus+ program of the European Union. The main objective of the project is to establish and expand an international network in the context of VET in order to support the exchange of expertise on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in education.
Approach: To answer the research questions, the first step was to combine theoretical approaches from a social network perspective from psychology in relation to the analysis of interpersonal trust, sociology regarding the social capital approach and business administration by addressing the roles of actors in innovation processes. Among others, the social network perspective in this study is based on the work of Granovetter as well as Marsden and Campbell. For the data collection, a fully structured interview questionnaire and a semi-structured interview guideline were developed based on the theoretical framework of the study. In the second step, a multi-perspective egocentric network analysis was carried out: Data on a total of N = 10 egocentric networks were collected from the funded partners in the AI Pioneers project to gain an overall picture of the combined social capital and network structures. For the visualisation of the network data, the type of structured and standardised network maps was used.
Findings: Regarding the establishment of social capital in the analysed innovation project AI Pioneers, it can be emphasised that a total of 74 relationships have been recorded in the 10 egocentric networks combined. In line with the project objectives, the education sector is addressed by the majority of the analysed relationships (n = 54), with (technical) vocational schools making up a substantial part of these. Focussing on the sustainability of the surveyed network structures: Most of the analysed relationships already existed before the project start and were consolidated during it (n = 57), while new ones were also established (n = 17). In addition, the continuous development of mutual trust and the need for equal cooperation is emphasised: A relatively high level of mutual trust can be recorded overall in the analysed egocentric networks (n = 55), while a low mutual trust is present in 19 relationships which is described due to e.g. asymmetrical power relations or a lack of commitment. The results show that the relationships analysed primarily contribute their resources in the form of expertise and their networking knowledge to the egocentric networks. Furthermore, a high level of interest and willingness to support the AI Pioneers project can be captured, particularly due to the novelty of the topic and the application of AI in VET.
Conclusions: The study makes a significant contribution to VET research and its methodological set by using social network analysis with a combination of qualitative approaches for analysing egocentric networks from multiple perspectives. The importance of allocating resources to the creation of social capital regarding cooperation, network building and the sustainable maintenance of established structures can be emphasised. In this respect the benefits of a network-based approach can be highlighted in the context of the Erasmus+ program and the partnerships for innovation on forward-looking topics. In addition, the development of the two structured survey instruments in this study can be emphasised, which can be further developed on the basis of future research. Further quantitative network analyses would be valuable for VET research, especially against the background of innovation drivers and network formation, such as market and trend-related drivers due to demands and developments in the field of AI in education. 
VR-Based Workplace Training and Spaces of Learning: A Social Space Study of VR Training for Apprentice Electricians
Full text linkContext: This study uses a social space approach to investigate Virtual Reality (VR)-based workplace learning in the context of apprenticeship training in the electronics industry in Switzerland. It was one part of a project which developed a prototype VR environment that enables apprentices to practice testing an electrical installation in a virtual garage using VR headsets. The study uses a spatial theory perspective to understand how the apprentices use the VR environment to develop their vocational competence and how spaces of learning are created through this process.
Approach: The study applies a socio-spatial perspective to a triangulation of the results of a qualitative content analysis of structured interviews with 16 apprentices and their 11 trainers and a quantitative analysis of a close-ended apprentice survey questionnaire (N = 16).
Results: When a VR environment is used for workplace learning, spaces of learning are created from the interplay of four spatial dimensions: The regulation and practices of use of the VR environment, the locality of use, the educational potential of the VR environment, and a mental representation of the real workplace represented in the VR environment. The VR headset acts as a boundary object in the training relationship. Other important findings of the study are: Automated access to learning opportunities reduces pressure on the teaching-learning relationship; the haptic dimension of work is important for competence development; the VR environment enables personalized learning with unlimited opportunities for practice; the lack of variety in the operational scenario enables apprentices to focus on practicing and perfecting procedures but does not reflect the complexity of the real world.
Conclusion: Our socio-spatial analysis shows that when VR environments are used in workplace training the interplay of physical, mental, and virtual spatial dimensions leads to the emergence of learning spaces. The access to the VR environment, the location where it is used, and the active use of its learning features interact with the mental representations of the depicted environment. Spaces of learning created using a VR environment can complement traditional workplace training by facilitating the development of specific aspects of vocational competence.
Exploring the Didactic Principles of Vocational Teachers in Financial Education: An Interview Study
Full text linkContext: Financial literacy is an issue becoming increasingly important internationally. Many countries have already implemented a national strategy to improve the financial literacy of the people. In Austria, a national strategy for financial literacy and financial education was developed in 2021. One target group of this strategy are students of part-time vocational schools. These students work in a company and already earn their own money. They have to attend part-time vocational school alongside their work. The curriculum of these schools includes financial topics. Studies on teachers\u27 views of financial literacy show that they mostly reduce it to personal money management. However, little is known about their underlying principles for teaching topics in the field of financial literacy. Therefore, this paper answers the following research questions: Which didactic principles are relevant for teachers of part-time vocational schools in Austria in financial education? Why are some didactic principles perceived as more relevant and why are others perceived as less relevant by the teachers?
Approach: To address this research gap, an interview study was conducted with teachers from part-time vocational schools. Twelve teachers took part in the study. The problem-centred interviews were transcribed and analysed by using qualitative content analysis.
Findings: Problem orientation and life-world orientation are seen as relevant didactic principles for teaching financial topics. The teachers interviewed argue that teaching students how to deal with current problems in their lives engages their interest and motivates them. Multiperspectivity is viewed as less important. Students should first learn to act competently as a private individual before they are confronted with the company perspective or the systemic perspective is one reason given. Science orientation is also interpreted by the teachers as less relevant. According to some respondents of the study, students in part-time vocational schools are not significantly affected by the science orientation.
Conclusions: The understanding of science orientation should be reflected among teachers. Multiperspectivity is a relevant aspect in financial education even though it is seen as less relevant by the teachers. Offering lesson plans on how these principles are integrated in financial topics could be helpful for teachers. Furthermore, financial didactics should be integrated into teacher education curricula. This study is focused on a small number of interviews among Austrian teachers from part-time vocational schools only. Therefore, it would be interesting to conduct larger quantitative studies among teachers from different types of schools and with different educational and practical backgrounds.
Crossing Borders, Opening Minds? VET Tandem Partnerships in a Dutch- German Cross-Border Region
Full text linkPurpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the potential contribution of cross-border vocational education and training (VET) exchange partnerships within the context of tandem exchanges between VET institutions in the Rhine-Waal Euregio region in the Netherlands and Germany. These tandem exchanges offer learners and teachers in VET the opportunity to develop new perspectives on their training pathways, the labour market and learning approaches in each context respectively. This occurs through the discussion and debate ignited by the exchanges, as well as through visits to relevant VET institutions, companies and other institutions in the border region.
Approach: The approach taken in the paper uses both documentary analysis of a long-standing cross-border VET network, Ler(n)ende Euregio, as well as an interview-based study. Group interviews were held with teachers and school leadership teams from three tandem partnerships in North-Rhine Westphalia and the Netherlands, namely in the Rhine-Waal border region. The interviews revealed aspects of the motivation for the tandems and the challenges involved.
Findings: The findings showed that learning opportunities for the students and the teachers are considerable and include: Gaining an insight into their vocational training pathway in the neighbouring country, and thereby reflecting on their own VET experience; developing social, intercultural and linguistic competences. This occurs particularly because of the switch between host and guest modes. Further, such exchanges can play a role in tackling prejudice in both cross-border contexts. Challenges faced by the tandem partnerships include: Maintaining continuity in the participating VET institutions and the teachers responsible for the exchanges and overcoming logistical and bureaucratic hurdles. Greater recognition of cross-border exchanges through certification for learners and dedicated time on the curriculum could be positive steps.
Conclusion: The paper concludes that tandem partnerships in the Dutch-German border region offer a sustainable and accessible addition to the palette of mobilities available to learners and, significantly, also to teachers, in VET. The potential, particularly for learners who may not otherwise travel abroad during their training, is considerable, and is arguably relevant to other cross-border regions and international contexts.