International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training
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How do Vocational Teachers Learn? Formal and Informal Learning by Vocational Teachers in Kenya
Full text linkContext: Participation in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) supports the development of vocational teacher competencies. However, it is often not clear what learning methods vocational teachers use in their CPD. This study therefore investigated the CPD practices of vocational teachers in Kenya, with a specific focus on the formal and informal learning methods used. Approach: The study used a questionnaire survey to collect data from TVET teachers randomly drawn from six Technical and Vocational Colleges in Kenya\u27s Nairobi Metropolitan Area. Descriptive and inferential analysis of the data was used to determine how frequently different learning methods are used and to identify associations between CPD practices and teacher characteristics.Findings: TVET teachers in Kenya were found to use different learning methods depending on the availability of the learning methods and the learning goals teachers have. Formal academic learning and discussions with colleagues are frequently used while collaborative learning methods and practice-based learning activities are less frequently used. Rarely used are written reflections about practice and its outcomes. Despite viewing Lecturer Industrial Attachment (LIA) as important and therefore wishing to attend LIA, more than a third of the participants indicated that they had never attended LIA. The use of professional literature is restricted to text books with limited use of primary and secondary literature. CPD activities such as mentoring, supervising other teachers, and school visits were found to form a unique category of CPD activities that is more frequently used by teachers with administrative responsibilities. Conclusion: The limited use of active learning methods that involve critical evaluation of practices and their outcomes risks limiting the ability of vocational teachers in Kenya to transform and adopt better practices. It is recommended that vocational teachers in Kenya are encouraged to adopt a broad conception of teacher CPD that embraces collaborative, reflective, and practice-based learning.
Scoping Review of Positive Mental Health Research for Students in Vocational Education and Training
Full text linkContext: In this scoping review, we examine the knowledge base concerning positive mental health studies for students in vocational education and training (VET). The VET student population embraces approximately 30-52% of secondary school students in the Nordic countries, and 40% of the global student population. The risk of early school leaving (ESL) is substantially higher in VET than in general education and mental health may be a relevant factor in this matter. Yet, an overview of mental health studies in VET is lacking and therefore, this article aims to map empirical research studies that have explored positive mental health in VET students. The positive mental health framework, with its origin in Antonovsky\u27s (2002) salutogenesis and positive psychology, focuses on factors that promote mental health and wellbeing rather than taking on a pathological perspective.
Methods: For our scoping review, we searched four databases, and 19 articles were found eligible for inclusion. These articles were systematically screened by means of a coding scheme to identify the following information: Country of origin of the study, its aim, research design, measures, conceptualization of mental health, and main findings.
Results: The evidence suggests that positive mental health is understood as a multifaceted concept, and wellbeing is the dimension that is explored most often, followed by resilience and quality of life. The majority of the included studies used a validated questionnaire to assess various aspects of positive mental health, and most of them sought to explore correlations between different dimensions of positive mental health. Main findings of the studies suggest that a supportive school environment, physical activity, and a strong vocational identity may contribute to positive mental health for students in VET. Furthermore, correlations have also been identified between environmental factors and positive mental health. Finally, findings from the review illustrate how even small-scale interventions may have far-reaching effects, due to the interrelatedness of the different dimensions within the positive mental health construct.
Conclusion: Findings from this review illustrate that numerous factors may affect the wellbeing of students in VET. In particular, a strong vocational identity, a supportive school environment, and physical activity may contribute to positive mental health. These findings suggest that VET teachers may promote the wellbeing of their students by providing a supportive psychosocial learning environment at school.
New Higher Education Model? Degree Apprenticeships as a Strategy to Modernize Apprenticeships: Rationale, Current Development in the U.S., and a Conceptual Framework
Full text linkPurpose: To better prepare young people for the increasingly complex world of work in the global knowledge economy, apprenticeships are receiving renewed attention in countries without a strong history of vocational education. One of the strategies to promote and modernize apprenticeships in these countries is to offer apprenticeships integrated into degree programs, known as degree apprenticeships at the tertiary level. However, little research has been done to explore this new degree pathway. The purpose of this study is to explore the rationales and recent development of degree apprenticeships in the U.S. and to present a conceptual framework for designing and delivering such programs.
Approach: Through an extensive literature review, this study examines the underlying justifications for the integration of apprenticeships into degree programs. Subsequently, it delves into the current progress of degree apprenticeships in the U.S., substantiating the rationales. Finally, it explores multiple facets of degree apprenticeships, offering a conceptual framework for higher education institutions to consider when implementing such programs.
Findings: This study discusses two rationales for degree apprenticeships. First, they enable permeability of vocational education credentials, one of the features of a robust apprenticeship system. Second, they also equip higher education institutions to effectively prepare young people for work in response to globalization. For these reasons, recently, community colleges, the primary vocational education providers in the U.S., have actively been implementing apprenticeships within degree programs. This study also outlines four interconnected dimensions of apprenticeships - occupational, pedagogical, relational, and aligned – as a conceptual framework for implementing degree apprenticeships.
Conclusion: By providing a useful context and framework for degree apprenticeships, this study contributes to the growing body of research on apprenticeships and provides a foundation for on-going research to advance the theory and practice concerning degree apprenticeships. Future studies can explore the process of implementing degree apprenticeships using the suggested framework and develop strategies to further modernize apprenticeships based upon this study
Teacher\u27s Agency and the Cooperation With Entrepreneurs in Entrepreneurship Education
Full text linkPurpose: Vocational education and training (VET) in Finland takes place more and more at workplaces. Hence, the teachers\u27 cooperation with companies has become important. Little research has been done on the teacher\u27s activities in business cooperation and the factors affecting business cooperation. The teacher\u27s decisions and choices are made possible through the teacher\u27s autonomy and agency. The teacher\u27s agency is understood as a capacity to utilise autonomy. In this study, the teacher\u27s agency is reflected in their activity in developing entrepreneurial learning environments and activity in developing regional entrepreneurship education (EE). The study was conducted among Finnish VET teachers. In Finland EE is understood in its broad sense and the teacher is in a significant position choosing where, how and with whom they implement EE. The main research question in this article is: How does the VET teacher\u27s agency in EE affect their cooperation with entrepreneurs? Methods: The data consists of 933 vocational teachers\u27 responses. An open online survey tailored for teachers was used in the data collection (Measurement Tool for Entrepreneurship Education). Ordinal regression analysis has been used to analyse the data.Results: The teacher\u27s agency is a significant factor explaining his/her level of cooperation with entrepreneurs. The results show that the teacher\u27s activity, desire, and ability to express agency, strengthens the use of companies in teaching. Surprisingly, the teacher\u27s personal entrepreneurial background and the number of companies in the area do not act as explanatory factors for entrepreneurs\u27 cooperation. The study makes several suggestions on teachers\u27 perceptions of the factors explaining and creating agency as an entrepreneurship educator. Conclusions: In Finland, teachers\u27 autonomy is high. Teachers have the freedom to utilise their agency in many ways. They can, for example, make their own decisions and renew their teaching in many ways if they are willing and encouraged to do so. It seems like the question is more about management and teacher identity. The teacher\u27s agency should be strengthened, and the teacher should be given the option to act more freely. Furthermore, the teacher\u27s autonomy is not enough; agency is also needed.
Mathematical Skills of Students With Special Educational Needs in the Area of Learning (SEN-L) in Pre-Vocational Programs in Germany
Full text linkContext: Students with special educational needs in the area of learning (SEN-L) attend vocational trainings to be provided with qualifications for the labor market. Competences in arithmetic operations and comparing quantities such as weights and lengths are indispensable for obtaining a vocational qualification. Therefore, the study investigates whether students with SEN-L in Germany convert job-relevant quantities and master arithmetic operations accurately and with a certain speed before beginning vocational training. Methods: 152 students with SEN-L in pre-vocational training programs in southern Germany were examined using curriculum-related computer tests for formative assessment. Three skill-based tests were constructed as progress monitoring tests comparing weights and lengths and arithmetic operations including a speed component. Results: All newly developed tests meet the requirements of the Rasch model. Students\u27 performance on the lengths test and the weights test correlates with a significant linear relationship (r = 0.64). Only weak correlations (r > 0.29 < 0.45) are found between the performance in the arithmetic operations and the weights and lengths tests. For items in the weights and lengths tests, participants show on average significantly higher probability of solving than in the arithmetic operations test. Furthermore, students with SEN-L show slow processing speed (median processing speed weights test 6.37 seconds, lengths test 6.26 seconds, arithmetic operations test 33.97 seconds on average per item). The students solve more items of the weights and lengths tests correctly than of the operation test (median for weights 25 items, for lengths 24 items, for arithmetic operations 7 items). Conclusion: The majority of the students with SEN-L were not able to solve the expected number of items correctly and show that the participants\u27 accuracy in dealing with arithmetic operations and quantity comparison is low. It can be assumed that this might lead to difficulties in mastering mathematical items in the context of vocational training. This is the case, in particular, where a certain speed is required (fluency). Math instruction in pre-vocational programs needs a stronger focus on building up and expanding arithmetic operations and quantities and has to be complemented by monitoring the learning process of students with SEN-L.
Challenges, Future and Policy Orientations: The 1960s−1970s as Decisive Years for Swiss Vocational Education and Training
Full text linkPurpose: The years 1960-1970 were decisive years in the development of Swiss vocational education and training (VET). The post-World War II economic boom, technological innovations and the debate concerning equal opportunities and the democratisation of education put the VET system under pressure. Reforms were thus undertaken to increase the attractiveness of the system and to respond to the urgent shortage of qualified workers at the time. At the same time, reforms were adopted increasing the theoretical and general knowledge content of VET and improving the quality of training. The aim of our article is to describe these reforms and to show how they relate to a certain image of the future of society.Method: Our article is based on an analysis of historical documents written between 1960 and 1972 in Switzerland on the subject of VET. These documents will, firstly, be used for a historical reconstruction of the situation and of the major challenges of the time; and secondly, they will be subjected to a discourse analysis in order to identify the main arguments that characterised the public debate at the time.Results: Our article shows how the reforms undertaken take shape on the basis of a certain image of the future of society and of VET held at the time: an image characterised by constant and rapid changes, increasing insecurity, need for adaptation and flexibility, complexification and specialisation of the work tasks.Conclusion: The article will also underline how the responses to the challenges posed by this image of the future will be at the origin of five trends that will characterise the evolution of Swiss VET until today: a trend towards academisation, with more academic and general content; a trend towards pedagogisation, with increased pedagogical attention to curricula and teacher training; differentiation, with the creation of new certifications; permeability, with the opening of vocational tracks to higher education; and “learnerisation”, with the gradual change of the figure of the apprentice from a “worker” to a “learner”. Far from being limited to the evolution of Swiss VET, these five trends describe movements that recent studies by CEDEFOP show also at the European level
An Empirical Case of Education Policy Implementation in Serbian VET
Full text linkPurpose: Education policy implementation is as important as policy design. This study applies a literature-based, multi-dimensional framework for success factors and barriers to vocational education and training (VET) reform implementation in the case of a new dual VET law in Serbia. We use the framework to assess factors related to implementation, then relate these factors to actual implementation progress to determine how factors relate to progress. In this application of the framework, we examine whether implementation success requires high scores in every dimension. Methods: This is a mixed methods study. We conduct document analysis of key resources related to the structure and intention of the reform. We also statistically analyze a dataset of two rounds of interviews conducted during the pre- and early-implementation phases. These interviews include key stakeholders from the public and private sectors, and from national, regional, and local-level actors. We examine how the framework\u27s dimensions and determinants relate to implementation progress. Results: The implementation of the law is moving forward in Serbia, making this a successful case of progress in policy implementation. Despite this progress, the factors for implementation are not all strong. We find that the content dimension of the framework is a barrier, capacity is unclear, and context, commitment, and clients—actors\u27 engagement— drive implementation progress. Thus, although the implementation process is imperfect in its determinants, it is successfully progressing and already forming the new system. Conclusions: Based on our results we argue that—even if the framework describes factors that affect VET reform implementation—not all elements are necessary for VET reform implementation to progress. Policymakers can start without perfect implementation conditions and may benefit from striving for "good enough" across dimensions rather than perfect in any one dimension. We discuss potential mechanisms and identify pathways for future research, including moving in the direction of causal research.
Psychological Capital and Job Search: A Systematic Literature Review and Agenda for Future Research
Full text linkPurpose: There is consistent evidence that a positive mindset could foster the job search process. Psychological capital, defined as a tendency to hold cognitions and positive appraisals of one\u27s ability, could highlight the importance of individual cognitive appraisal in the job search process. Nevertheless, psychological capital\u27s impact on job seekers is still unclear. Methods: The purpose of the present study was to explore the role of psychological capital in the job search process. The author conducted a systematic review following the PRISMA-P guidelines. This systematic review sought answers to three questions: 1) What theories are applied to explain the relationship between psychological capital and the job search process? 2) How is the association between psychological capital and the job search process? 3) Did the psychological capital interventions positively influence the job search process? The review focused on quantitative studies carried out between 2007 and 2021 on job seekers. Finally, 11 studies fit the inclusion criteria. Results: Overall, the literature review supports the significant association between psychological capital and the job search process. On the one hand, the studies analyzed have shown the resonance of psychological capital on the job search outcomes and job seekers\u27 well-being. On the other hand, the results showed insufficient evidence to make any firm conclusions concerning psychological capital interventions\u27 effects on the job search process improvement. Conclusion: It is concluded that psychological capital may be a valuable advantage for helping job seekers engage in their job search process. The results presented in this study could have important implications for job seekers and public and private employment agencies. Even so, it is necessary to continue contributing to its development. Particularly, there is still considerable scope for improvement in the study of psychological capital and the job search process in terms of the study design we apply, the variables we study and their measure, and the theoretical background we use to explain the previous relationship.
The Role of VET in a Green Transition of Industry: A Literature Review
Full text linkPurpose: This article examines the role of Vocational Education and Training (VET) in a green transition of industry. In the world of industry, battling climate change is often treated as a technical issue, but recent research on VET has tried to balance the technological paradigm with more human-centric approaches. The literature review addresses emergent VET research that presents various and partially competing perspectives on the purpose of VET in relation to climate change. Methods: We use an integrative literature review to investigate this complex topic. This technique is particularly useful for making sense of emergent research concepts, as well as various, and partially competing, theoretical and methodological approaches. It also allows us to incorporate literature from different countries and VET systems. The main search was performed in Scopus during March 2023, and included studies published within a timespan of eight years (2016–2023). Findings: Through a qualitative content analysis, we have identified five cross-cutting themes in the literature: Conceptualising ill-defined concepts of green jobs and skills; high-tech solutions in the movement towards a fourth industrial revolution versus inclusive growth for VET greening; towards sustainable work-based learning for green skills in VET; radical transformative approaches to a just green transition; and the co-creation of skill-formation ecosystems. The analysis has highlighted the ways in which VET can take on different roles in the green transition, and that these roles can be developed successively in parallel with a green transition in industry. In the development of the role of VET, it is also relevant to consider the contrast between transitional approaches and transformative approaches in VET research. While transitional approaches are recurrently marked by empirical research in specialised areas and subsystems within society, transformative approaches are characterised by a stronger focus on societal transformation (large-scale changes), power dynamics, and social justice. Conclusion: In conclusion, we suggest an analytical model that synthesises research on what role VET can play in a green transition of industry. The development model highlights that VET can take on different roles in a green transition and can gradually develop in parallel with a green transition in industry.
Effectiveness of Collaboration in VET: Measuring Skills for Solving Complex Vocational Problems With a Multidimensional Authentic Technology-Based Assessment
Full text linkContext:Collaboration and digitization in work and production process have been of scientific interest in the research field of vocational education and training for decades. So far, there is a lack of empirical evidence on the extent to which the performance of collaborative problem-solving can outperform individual problem-solving. An appropriate instrument for measuring collaborative performance appropriately has been lacking to this point: It is challenging to (1) collect data on interaction in collaboration in a standardized way and (2) to assign the individual performances to the group performance. In a web-based office simulation, this study examined the two-dimensional construct of collaborative problem-solving ability, which consists of cognitive and social components, and explored the effectiveness of collaboration.
Methods:The test settings are systematically varied between individual and collaborative problem-solving in a domain-typical problem scenario in the economic domain. A theory-driven two-dimensional authentic instrument with a complex commercial problem in a web-based office simulation was applied to measure the performance in these two test settings. Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis was conducted to test for measurement invariance across test settings, the two-dimensional RASCH-Model incorporating between-item multidimensionality with correlated dimensions was used for ability estimation. ANOVA test was conducted to determine if there is a statistically significant difference with respect to the ability between the individual and collaborative test settings.
Findings:The two-dimensional construct of collaborative problem-solving ability with correlated dimensions showed better fit than the unidimensional construct. The scalar measurement invariance was established after excluding three items. ANOVA tests confirmed that the collaborative setting enhances the problem-solving ability of learners significantly in both the cognitive component and social component, and the ability in cognitive component was more fostered.
Conclusion:The findings suggested the validation of this multidimensional authentic instrument to measure the performance in a collaborative work environment in economic domains. The results showed the effectiveness of collaboration with a computer-based agent. In the practice of vocational training and education, teachers can use this instrument for the evaluation of the effectiveness of collaboration