International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training
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Returns to Workplace Training for Male and Female Employees and Implications for the Gender Wage gap: A Quantile Regression Analysis
Full text linkContext: Existing studies have explored the association between workplace training and wages suggesting that training participation may have a positive association with wages. However, we still know very little about whether this association varies between men and women. Through its potential positive association with wages, training may balance wage differences between men and women. In addition, the gender wage gap varies across the wage distribution. Differences in the association between training participation and wages for men and women across the earnings spectrum may offer an explanation as to why the discrepancy in female/male earnings is larger at some point of the wage distribution compared to others. Approach: Using data from the Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and unconditional quantile regression, this paper examines whether the association between workplace training and wages differs between men and women at different points of the wage distribution across 14 European countries. To partly control for endogeneity in training participation, detailed measures of cognitive skills have been included in the models. Findings: Findings show gender differences in the association between training and wages across the wage distribution. In most countries, results indicate larger training coefficients for women than men at the lower end of the wage spectrum whereas they are larger for men at the top. This pattern holds across most countries with the only exception of Liberal ones, where women benefit less than men across the entire wage spectrum.Conclusions: The findings of this work reveal that distributional variations in returns to workplace training follow a similar pattern across industrialized countries, despite their different institutional settings. Moreover, differences in training coefficients of men and women at different parts of the wage distribution suggest that training could reduce gender wage differences among low earners and potentially widen the gap in wages among individuals at the top of the wage distribution.
The Dilemmas of Flexibilisation of Vocational Education and Training: A Case Study of the Piano Makers
Full text linkContext: Dual VET systems are often praised for their labour market proximity because of economic stakeholders’ involvement. However, when labour market requirements change rapidly, a lack of flexibility is attributed to them. This occurs in times of fast socio-technological change like the current digital transformation. A repeatedly proposed measure to increase system flexibility is to reduce the number of occupations and create broader occupational profiles, for example, by combining similar occupations into so-called occupational fields. However, little is known about actually establishing occupational fields.Approach: Against this backdrop, we address the following research question: How was an occupational field created? As Switzerland attempted to merge occupations over a decade ago, we selected an information-rich and illuminative case concerning the research question: The piano makers’ occupation as one of the first occupations required to merge into an occupational field called musical instrument makers together with organ builders and wind instrument makers. Based on a qualitative case study, we reconstruct the process of occupational field construction by combining expert interviews with comprehensive document analysis and present its narrative.Findings: Based on this case study, we contribute to the understanding of VET flexibilisation by detailing occupational field creation and identifying opportunities and challenges. Here, we pay special attention to the institutional work of the affected occupational association and identify the importance of preserving its collective occupational identity. Although regulatory changes disrupted the piano makers’ occupation, the occupational association reinstitutionalised it as part of the musical instrument makers’ occupational field. Over a decade later, the piano makers reintroduced their former occupational title, which is deeply connected to their occupational identity. Conclusion: The results indicate that VET reforms that promote flexibilisation by creating occupational fields encounter serious limitations in collectively governed dual VET systems. In the Swiss system, occupational associations are core collective actors that rely on their members’ voluntary work. To maintain these economic stakeholders’ necessary commitment to VET, their collective occupational identity, symbolized by their long-standing occupational title, needs to be preserved.
Vocational Students’ Ways of Handling the Academic/Vocational Divide
Full text linkPurpose: The focus of this article is on Swedish vocational students’ own thoughts about different types of knowledge and how these thoughts relate to the forming of their vocational identities. The article reports on a study which investigates how vocational students handle the division between theoretical and practical knowledge as they learn to become skilled industrial workers. Theoretical and practical knowledge are often presented as dichotomies in a hierarchy, where theoretical knowledge is more highly valued than practical knowledge. The division between theoretical and practical knowledge is known in research as "the academic/vocational divide". This divide is particularly relevant to vocational students, as they need to deal with both types of knowledge as they navigate between the contexts of school and work.Methods: This study is part of a research project on vocational students’ learning and identity formation. The empirical material is based on qualitative interviews with 44 students enrolled on the industrial programme at Swedish upper secondary schools.Findings: The study revealed three different ways in which vocational students handled the academic/vocational divide: Placing higher value on practical knowledge than on theoretical knowledge, reinforcing the separation between school and work, and selecting theoretical subjects as useful tools for the future. Conclusions: Two conclusions drawn from the study are that students are aware of the status differences and divisions between practical and theoretical knowledge, and that they handle the academic/vocational divide in an active manner. Students make choices that will help them form a vocational identity or that will give them opportunities for further education and alternative careers. This article challenges and contradicts the image of vocational students as unmotivated and unintellectual, instead portraying them as knowledgeable actors who make strategic choices for their future and are active in forming vocational identities within vocations that require deep and advanced knowledge.
Gendered Vocational Identities – Female Students\u27 Strategies for Identity Formation During Workplace-Based Learning in Male-Dominated Work
Full text linkPurpose: This article investigates female vocational students\u27 strategies for becoming part of a workplace community, what these strategies are and how they are tied to the formation of vocational identities within male-dominated industrial work. Of particular interest is how female students enrolled on Swedish upper secondary industrial programmes experience workplace-based learning at industrial workplaces as part of their vocational education. The theoretical framework derives from Wenger\u27s concept of community of practice, but his theoretical concept does not explicitly include gender dimensions. Therefore, the concept of community of practice is also combined with Paechter\u27s assumption of gender, whereby femininity and masculinity can be considered as different communities of practice. Methods: The article draws on evidence from a Swedish study based on interviews with 20 female students enrolled on the industrial programme at six upper secondary schools. In this vocational programme, there is a distinct gender distribution and only a small minority of the students on the programme are girls. In the analysis, the focus is on the female students\u27 strategies used during workplace-based learning to become part of the work community which consists almost exclusively of male workers.Findings: The female students deliberately negotiated vocational identities as female industrial workers to become accepted in the male-dominated work community. The findings highlight three specific strategies that the female students used: Acting like gender does not matter, acting like boys (not like drama queens), and acting tough and joking around. The female students\u27 strategies were part of – and tied to – a complex vocational identity formation process that featured contradictory requirements. By taking individual responsibility, they identified relevant information for becoming industrial workers and chose to act like boys. The female students saw no problem with being a girl, yet they struggled with implicit, diffuse and hidden gender structures and prejudices in the male-dominated industrial companies. Nevertheless, they strived for what they perceived to be an attractive vocational identity as industrial workers; it was an alternative, atypically feminine way of being that attracted the female students. Conclusions: The study concludes that female students mostly rely on their individual agency when interacting with others in the male-dominated workplace community. A "gendered vocational identity" is formed which shows that the identity formation of female students is a complex double process, in which vocational and gender identities are formed simultaneously and in parallel within the male-dominated workplace.
Comparative Analysis of the Process of Training Education Managers in Educational Institutions
Full text linkContext: A significant part of future specialists receive only practical skills without formal practical exam situation. In this regard, there is a need to train a manager who can adapt and be ready to carry out his/her activities in a specific profile interaction. The aim of the experimental study was to develop and test the advanced working hypothesis about the possibility of effective formation of readiness for future self-realisation of future education managers.Approach: The work uses mathematical methods for testing the hypothesis of testing the readiness of education managers with verification of competency type.Findings: The novelty of the study is determined by what the authors are considering "the possibility of training a manager in accordance" including not only the standards for the provision of educational services to the population, but also the possibility of introducing world-class training standards. The authors show that the basis for such a development may be the readiness to work in a globalised environment. The dynamics of changes in the indicators of the levels of readiness for professional self-realization of students studying in the control and experimental groups from the first to the fourth year were compiled and recorded. The methodology of vocational training of students for the purpose of their self-realisation during training has been specified. The practical significance of the study is determined by the fact that integration with the global educational environment should be based on international standards for the provision of educational services. Conclusion: The results of this research can be useful and interesting to international readers, as the parameters of educational and methodological support have been developed and tested, which contains a set of situational exercises to form readiness for professional self-realisation for future education managers. Also, the conducted analysis indicated serious problems with the employment of university graduates both in the Republic of Kazakhstan and in the Republic of Lithuania.
Measuring Quality in Indian VET Institutions: Development Steps Towards a Framework Adapted to the National Context
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Purpose: The quality of vocational education and training (VET) processes plays an important role in international education policies and research. In India, issues of quality came into focus in recent years due to an increased demand for skilled workers, and continuing challenges in the area of quality of VET. Existing quality assurance mechanisms of VET in India are characterised by a lack of comprehensiveness and uniform standards. This paper addresses the contextualised development of an Indian-specific approach for quality measurement. It centres on following research question: Which quality areas, criteria and related indicators are of relevance for measuring quality comprehensively? Approach: Design-based research substantiates the research objective, which is to develop a model that is theoretically and technically sound, as well as adapted to the national context. The question of how to create "cultural-fit" was essential for the research process illustrated in this paper. Starting point for the development of the approach was to build a structured review, and following analysis, with reference to existing models and approaches to quality management. The initial search examined national and international academic sources for quality management in business and education, as well as governmental sources for quality management strategies in VET. A significant number of models were selected, based on inclusion criteria, and these models were aggregated to provide a source for a first own conception of an approach. Results: Quality dimensions and criteria were collected and identified with reference to distribution across models. In total, seven major quality areas are identified, namely Institutional Sphere and Context; Personnel; Educational Planning, Provision and Assessment; Learning and Teaching; Leadership and School Management; Industry Linkage and Learner Achievements. In addition, 40 quality criteria are determined under these major quality fields, and relevant quantitative and qualitative sub-indicators for measurement are derived. Conclusion: The actual results will be a basis for the following pilot-based implementation in India. The model can provide meaningful feedback and data-based recommendations for continuous improvement of the Indian VET system and may furthermore provide for a reflected and contextually adapted implementation in other countries.
Research in International Transfer of Vocational Education and Training – A Systematic Literature Review
Full text linkContext: The transfer of vocational education and training (VET) has a long tradition and can be based on various conceptual and methodical approaches. Transfer process and success can be influenced by numerous factors at different levels (systemic, institutional and individual). However, the existing research on the challenges and success factors of VET transfer is very heterogenous and fragmented. Method: To provide a comprehensive and structured overview of the current state of the international research on transfer in the context of VET, we conducted a literature review, which is presented here. Using the method of systematic literature review, a total of 231 studies were found and 41 studies were selected based on the defined criteria for full text analysis. Findings: Various specific research foci and analytical approaches used on the included studies were identified and documented. The transfer of a dual VET system or its elements is based on different approaches and perspectives of the recipient country and the transferee. Major challenges for the transfer of dual VET systems include the social reputation of VET in the recipient countries and (language- and culture-related) communication difficulties between the involved parties. For a successful transfer of VET, a deeper knowledge of the contextual conditions in the recipient country are of particular importance, as well as a close, longstanding cooperation between the involved parties. Conclusion: The generated knowledge about key contextual conditions at the individual, company and systemic level in the context of VET transfer can provide a valuable basis for future VET cooperation.
Regional Disparities in the Training Market: Opportunities for Adolescents to Obtain a Company-Based Training Place Depending on Regional Training Market Conditions
Full text linkContext: Due to limited geographical mobility, opportunities for adolescents interested in company-based training are primarily dependent on regional training offers. Competition for company-based training among adolescents varies regionally, and thus, the chance to obtain a training contract varies as well. In this article, we investigate the opportunities for adolescents to obtain company-based training depending on regional training market conditions. We assume that the advantages of obtaining a company-based training place exist in areas of decreased competition among interested adolescents. However, the question is whether those advantages will differ between adolescents depending on characteristics such as school achievement, socioeconomic status or migration background. Furthermore, we assume that, above all, market-induced ease-of-access to company-based training exists for occupations that face hiring challenges and indicates less occupational attractiveness.Methods: The transition from school (after 9th and 10th grade) to company-based training is analysed using data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS, starting cohort 4). This dataset is merged with the official regional training market data regarding local supply and demand ratio for training places (called "SDR") in the dual system of Vocational Education and Training in Germany. Logistic regressions are used to predict the probabilities of obtaining a training place. The focus lies on the interaction effects between SDR and adolescents’ education-related characteristics (school certificates and grade point average), socioeconomic characteristics and migration backgrounds. Subgroup-specific analyses of different clusters of hiring challenges for trainee occupations are used to examine whether these effects are valid for all occupations.Findings: The results confirm regional differences in obtaining a training place depending on the SDR. Here, applicant hierarchies according to educational achievement continue to exist if competition for company-based training among adolescents decreases. Beneficiaries are better-qualified adolescents with poorer GPAs. SDR hardly influences social disparities. However, the advantages of obtaining a company-based training place primarily exist for training occupations with hiring challenges when competition for company-based training among adolescents decreases. These occupations have a significantly lower occupational prestige (ISEI-08) compared to occupations with fewer hiring challenges.Conclusion: The results make it clear that market-induced ease-of-access to company-based training is not necessarily an advantage. Because the findings indicate that the advantages pertain mainly to low-prestige occupations, it can be assumed that career-path disadvantages can arise down the road. Future studies should investigate this in more differentiated ways.
Scoping Review on Research at the Boundary Between Learning and Working: A Bibliometric Mapping Analysis of the Last Decade
Full text linkContext: The research field at the boundary between learning and working is multidimensional, fuzzy, dynamic, and characterized by high growth. A study that comprehensively maps and aggregates this research field is missing. Approach: Using tools of bibliometric analysis (bibliographic coupling, co-citation analysis and co-occurrence analysis), we map the research at the boundary between learning and working in a scoping review study. Our study considers peer-reviewed articles published between 2011 and 2020 and recorded in Scopus. In total, 5,474 articles are included in our analysis. Findings: Focusing on the intellectual structure of the research field, we identified the most publishing and most cited countries, journals, and authors, as well as latent collaborative networks among countries, journals, and authors. Furthermore, we used references and keywords to identify the conceptual structure of the research field and distinguished four types of conceptual clusters: motor clusters, highly developed and isolated clusters, emerging or declining clusters, and basic and transversal clusters.Conclusions: Research at the boundary between learning and working is highly parcelled out internationally. This scientific parcelling represents a disadvantage for exchanging ideas and accumulating knowledge. In addition to forming a parcelled field, a dividing line runs between centre, periphery and excluded countries and scientists. Especially scientists from developing countries and nations, economies in transition and those from post-conflict situations are excluded from the international discourse. This situation is more than just a disadvantage for the exchange of ideas and the accumulation of knowledge. Instead, there is a systematic bias in the research landscape here.
Varieties Within a Collective Skill Formation System: How VET Governance in Switzerland is Shaped by Associations
Full text linkContext: International scholarship and policy tend to depict national structures governing Vocational Education and Training (VET) as uniform and devoid of internal differences. This macro perspective neglects the numerous processes at the meso and micro level that shape the structure and content of VET. This article focusses on professional associations (meso level) in Switzerland to examine the heterogeneity of governance of individual VET programmes that can exist within one country or one collective skill formation system. Approach: Drawing on insights from historical institutionalism and research on corporatism, we argue that these differences are the product of the characteristics, traditional practices and styles of reasoning of the various associations involved in VET governance. Our analysis is based on expert interviews and governance documents in two vocational areas: Electrotechnology and food services. Findings: We identify and decode an array of cooperative practices and show that collective skill formation has a different meaning for different associations and, correspondingly, different occupations. Collaboration with state actors, unions, VET schools and single firms, as well as voting procedures, differ considerably between associations. Furthermore, we find that these different modes of governance are determined by associational characteristics such as size, level of professionalization, location and established cooperative practices, as well as traditional styles of reasonings. Conclusion: The findings indicate that the decisions taken are not always the product of current day training requirements but of historically grown associational characteristics. Thus, path dependencies are to be considered not only at a macro level but also at the meso level. There is a multifaceted variety of governance approaches beneath the classification "collective skill formation system". Associations are key in defining VET content, working life structures and collectivity.