International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training
Not a member yet
199 research outputs found
Sort by
Building a skilled workforce: Public discourses on vocational education in Thailand
Full text linkContext: Thailand is now facing skilled labour shortages, which has prevented the country from achieving significant economic progress. This paper examines Thailand’s vocational education policy discourses from 1992 to 2014 and how such policies were discussed to build the country’s skilled labour force.Approach:This study utilised a qualitative approach, using documentation analysis as a key research method. We also used data triangulation and thematic analysis to categorise the public discourses. In order to examine the vocational education policy discourses in Thailand, secondary data such as the five NESD plans (7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th) and other government policy statements were investigated and triangulated, along with data from newspaper articles, other public documents, reports from international organisations, and academic journal articles.Findings: Based on the findings of the study, we identified three key policy discourses regarding vocational education in Thailand during 1992-2014: (1) increasing the vocational skilled workforce, (2) the minor role of private vocational providers, and (3) collaboration between vocational providers and industry.Conclusion: We argue that there are five key policy themes in building a vocational skilled workforce: (1) the dedication of the government in increasing the quantity of vocational skilled workforce, (2) encouraging collaboration between vocational colleges and industries, (3) fostering a greater role for private vocational providers, (4) promoting a positive reputation for vocational education, and (5) maintaining the continuity of policy implementation
Vocational Training for Rural Populations: A Demand-Driven Approach and its Implications in India
Full text linkContext: Vocational training is viewed as a significant tool that increases employment outcomes and provides potential career advancement opportunities for individuals. Many countries are witnessing a shift from supply-driven to demand-driven approaches. The demand-driven approach in vocational training is often explored at the macro level and is associated with the perspectives of employers and labour markets. In contrast, this article explores the demand-driven approach at the micro level by focusing on the perspectives of individual learners within the context of their localities in order to position them at the centre of the skill development process.Methods: This study used a qualitative exploratory research method and a mixture of focus group and face-to-face semi-structured interviews to obtain data to identify the practical problems that arise in real life contexts when attempts are made to prioritise vocational training demands in line with the needs of all the stakeholders. Based on the demand from the targeted learners, a competency-based vocational training course especially for women was designed, tested and evaluated in selected villages.Findings: The results show clearly that the demands of the rural population varied, and their participation in the training course was highly influenced by access to a training centre, the duration of the training, economic returns and socio-cultural factors. The demand-driven approach works best in vocational training when it involves the relevant stakeholders and the target groups in the planning and designing process.Conclusion: The findings illustrate that demand-driven approach should be context specific, responsive to individuals’/learners’ demands, relevant and flexible.
Understanding informal jewellery apprenticeship in Ghana: Nature, processes and challenges
Full text linkContext: The processes of acquiring education in jewellery in Ghana has been dominated by the informal apprenticeship system and it forms the backbone of the workforce of the jewellery industry in Ghana. However, the patronage of informal jewellery apprenticeship in Ghana in recent times has been on decline even though it has the potential of training human resources to transform Ghana’s precious mineral resources sector.This is based on the belief that jewellery trade and its training are shrouded in secrecy, in other words, the jewellery trade is considered to be a sacred profession where information on its operating systems are not allowed to be shared easily. It is believed to be associated with cult and magic, hence the reluctant to admit people who are from outside the family of particular jewellery enterprise. This study is sought to bring to fore the understanding nature, processes and challenges of the informal jewellery apprenticeship in Ghana. Approach: The study adopted the descriptive and phenomenology research designs (qualitative research methods). Jewellers who own a jewellery business and who are training other people through apprenticeships as well as people who are trained are observed and interviewed. A sample size was selected through purposive and convenience sampling techniques from four jewellery enterprises in Accra, Ghana. A thematic analysis plan was adopted to generate fndings of the study. Findings: The results show that for a person to train as a jeweller, s/he has to enrol by going through induction, futhremore fees (money and perishable items) are to be paid. The training content is driven by orders received by the master jeweller, thereby making it unstructured and lacking criteria for assessing the performance and progress of apprentice jewellers. Teaching and learning methods are usually on-the-job training that rely on demonstrations and observation.Conclusion: Informal jewellery apprenticeship in Ghana uses a fexible, cost-efective approach for transferring jewellery making skills from masters to apprentice jewellers, and it has substantial potential for improving skills training in the country. Sometimes the reluctant of some jeweller to train others is to keep the trade to family members only. 
Students’ experiences with different learning pathways to higher professional bachelor programmes
Full text linkContext: In the Dutch educational system, different learning pathways to higher professional bachelor (or HBO) programmes have been created: the regular VET route, the general secondary education route, and continuing learning pathways (such as the Green Lyceum or GL) that combine characteristics of these two traditional routes and that are specifically designed for students who combine a relatively high cognitive level with an affinity for practical, vocation-oriented assignments. Approach: The present study aimed to compare the experiences of students coming from these three different learning pathways to HBO. 62 former GL students, 127 former middle-management VET (or MBO) students, and 81 former regular general secondary education (or HAVO) students completed an online questionnaire on their experiences in their first HBO study year and their scores on the various scales were compared. Findings: Students from the three groups were equally satisfied with their current HBO programme. The same pattern was found for perceived study success in their HBO programme. Former GL students, however, mentioned that they had been better prepared in terms of development of study skills needed in HBO. Compared with the MBO route to HBO, former GL students felt better prepared in terms of the theoretical subjects addressed in their previous educational programme. In this regard, their level of theoretical preparation was comparable to that of former HAVO students. When the vocation-oriented aspects of education were concerned, however, the GL appeared to be comparable with the MBO route to HBO (in the HAVO curriculum, vocation-oriented preparation for HBO is absent). Moreover, former HAVO students scored lower than former GL and former MBO students with respect to the extent to which they felt that they had received support in choosing a particular HBO programme in their previous educational programme.Conclusion: The GL seems to combine the advantages of MBO and HAVO programmes for this particular group of students: theoretical preparation for HBO at HAVO level combined with practical preparation at MBO level, systematic career orientation and guidance, and development of study skills required in HBO. In other words, such continuing learning pathways can be a curriculum design solution for specific student groups to promote their transition to HBO
Stories of Learning: A Case Study of Norwegian Plumbers and Apprentices in TVET at the Construction Site and in a Training Agency
Full text linkContext: Through a dual model, based on 2 years of education in upper secondary school followed by two and a half year of apprenticeship training, Norwegian plumbing education has become an integrated part of the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET). Competence and skills are described in national plumbing curriculum. However, there is little information on how learning and training, interaction and relations between craftsmen and apprentices take place and develops at the workplace. The objective of this article is to identify significant learning processes by studying apprentices in a training agency and in communities of plumbers at the building site. Approach: The study has an ethnographic approach, based on a combination of fieldwork and interviews with apprentices, plumbers and a vocational teacher. During one year of fieldwork I followed a group of plumbing apprentices in a training agency, and in their plumbing companies at different construction sites. As a former plumber and vocational teacher, I was able to participate as a plumber and researcher and thus I had a unique position to work along with the apprentices and plumbers. This enabled me to observe interaction, learning and training in their communities of practices as an insider.Findings: The study showed that the process of learning practical skills, a professional language and a technical rationale was time consuming, challenging and sometimes tiering. In return the apprentices discovered proficiency, gained confidence and were considered as participants in the community of plumbers. A central finding is the great value of working in a community of plumbers at the building site, combined by studying sanitary and heating technology at the training agency. Among peers at the training agency, the apprentices were challenged to build and explore complex pipe laying, and to discuss technical regulations and rationale with each other and the vocational teacher. Conclusion: Craftsmen, like plumbers, consecutively handle a variety of technical work tasks and situations. Inside practice, the plumbers are close to materials and systems on construction site, where pipes, cableways and building structures looks different from the plan and the progress on paper. As experts, the plumbers often solve problems more functional and cost effective than suggested in the blueprint. The study shows how apprentices and plumbers develop skills, tacit knowledge and professionality through involvement with relevant things and situations, and by sharing experiences and technical expertise in communities of peers and plumbers.
Pre-Service Teacher Career Choice Motivation: A Comparison of Vocational Education and Training Teachers and Comprehensive School Teachers in Germany
Full text linkContext: The current shortage of teachers in Germany, especially in vocational schools, is of relevance to the education system and labour market policy. To recruit future teachers more effectively, it is of great importance to gain a better understanding of pre-service teachers’ career choice motivation. However, research has concentrated so far mainly on teachers in the general education system. The present study investigates the career choice motivation of students who will become vocational education and training (VET) teachers and compares it to the career choice motivation of future comprehensive school teachers. Approach: We surveyed N = 79 teacher training students in total, 30 pre-service VET teachers and 49 pre-service comprehensive school teachers at the beginning of their university-based teacher training. To measure career choice motivation, we used the standardized questionnaire Motivation for Choosing Teacher Education (FEMOLA) including six subscales (Pohlmann & Möller, 2010). In order to compare pre-service VET and comprehensive school teachers with regard to the six scales of career choice motivation, we performed a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). Findings: We found the highest means for the motives subject-specific and educational interest for the future VET teachers. In comparison to the pre-service comprehensive school teachers, they rated their educational interest, social influences, and utility as significantly less relevant in terms of their career choice motivation. There are no significant differences on the other three motivational scales. Conclusion: The findings show that the two groups partially differ in their motivations to become a teacher. Therefore, we can conclude that the measures for attracting new students should also be individually adapted to the motives for their career choice. For example, in a counselling interview, the motives for choosing a profession should be discussed and compared with the requirements for studying and later working life
The Importance of Authentic Workplace-Based Assessment: A Study From VET Teacher Education
Full text linkContext: This article is based on a pragmatic theoretical perspective on education, in which theoretical and practical competences are developed through experiences and participation in real-world teaching contexts. Previous research points to a lack of culture for authentic workplace-based assessment in vocational and professional education in many countries. Prior to this study, professors/authors and student-teachers in a vocational teacher education program in Norway experienced that student-teachers were unable to demonstrate comprehensive teaching competence, as examinations and assessments assess theoretical knowledge separately from practice. Research questions: 1) How can an authentic workplace-based exam during placement give student-teachers an opportunity to showcase their comprehensive teacher competence? 2) What factors are important to emphasize in such an exam? 3) How do the student-teachers demonstrate and develop comprehensive teacher competence through an authentic exam?Methods: Using action research, professors/authors carried out sequential actions to develop a practical-theoretical exam in an authentic professional setting. This included demonstrating elements of practical and theoretical competence conducted during teaching practice. The exam involved planning in line with a guidance document and practical teaching in the classroom in VET-schools, followed by a piece of reflective writing based on teaching experiences. Supervisors and professors/authors observed the student-teachers teaching as part of multiple qualitative methods.Findings: The empirical results show how student-teachers demonstrate and develop comprehensive teaching competence. Both the student-teacher and the supervisors in VET-schools experienced the authentic exam as realistic and professionally based. The biggest challenge involved logistics: Compensating the professors’/authors’ time and financial frameworks related to the observation of the student-teachers. However, this kind of authentic assessment leads to stronger coherence between both theory and practice, and between the vocational teacher education at the university and the VET in upper secondary school. It also supports the job-relevant learning process towards comprehensive teacher competence.Conclusions: This kind of authentic assessment i.e. an authentic exam requires an understanding of the complex role of teachers within their professional context in VET. Therefore, the professors/authors see the need of a broader, more comprehensive teacher competence in VET to meet the work life needs for competence.
Exit, Voice or Loyalty? VET Stakeholders’ Response to Large Scale Skilled Emigration From Poland
Full text linkContext: The topic of this paper is how mass emigration of skilled workers affects national policies, and employers’ willingness to invest in Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Poland. In the wake of EU enlargement in 2004, Poland became one of the biggest sending countries for skilled labour to Western European countries. These massive outflows of skilled labour, not compensated by adequate inflows of equally skilled workers, have led to serious skills shortages, especially in the construction sector. The paper investigates whether emigration and immigration constitute a driving force for institutional change of the Polish VET system, by analysing policy development and the attitudes of VET stakeholders towards contributing to VET.Approach: The paper focuses on the emigration of skilled construction workers in Poland. Drawing on Hirschman’s (1970) framework, when faced with massive skills deficits construction companies are confronted with different options: i) withdraw from the VET system and find other training and recruitment options (exit), ii) attempt to improve conditions by turning to policy makers (voice), and/or iii) remain loyal to the VET system. The analysis is based on an interview study of decision makers responsible for VET policies, employers, chamber of Craft and trade unions, principals of vocational schools, teachers and representatives of regional examination boards.Findings: After years of inattention, VET has been regaining a strong position in national policies. We find that construction companies are mostly more willing now, compared to 5 years ago, to take on learners for practical training and to contribute to improving school equipment. The study showed that one of the most significant obstacles to employers investing in the training of VET learners is the fear of losing a young skilled employee through emigration. Yet, dependent on skilled labour, employers of big construction companies saw no other option than to continue investing in training young learners. However, smaller companies seeking the short-term benefits of employing low-cost labour are less interested in investing in VET.Conclusion: Despite a range of recent policy actions and legislative efforts, several major challenges in the Polish VET system remain unresolved. Continued effort to institutionalise and enhance dialogue between the education system and the labour market appears as the most pressing need. It is currently too early to determine the degree of "institutional stickiness" of the activities observed on the policy level and among employers regarding their increased interest in VET as a response to mass skilled emigration.
Teacher Continuing Professional Development and Team-Working Competences: A Case Study From Italy
Full text linkContext: European policies describe the key role of teachers’ Vocational Education and Training (VET) in improving students’ learning outcomes. In order to improve teacher education, Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) policies identify competency models as the main framework for understanding teacher professionalism and designing VET policies. By reinterpreting these models through the capability approach, this article aims to identify more relevant competences of preschool teachers in the public and private services of northern and central Italy.Methods: The research began with a comparative analysis of VET policies for preschool teachers to outline more common competences used to define their professional profile. This led to the creation of a new, re-thought competency model used to design a quantitative survey to describe teachers’ competences in preschool settings. The self-assessment questionnaire was built on the following competence areas: Management of educational and relational processes, teamwork and large-scale teamwork, networking and governance. The self-assessment questionnaire evaluated 65 preschool teachers’ pre-acquired competences and development levels and those more desirable for the future (called “ideal” co.). The comparison of areas and their values reveals critical results, particularly related to teamwork competences at different levels.Results: The study outlines the structure of preschool teacher professionalism based on “traditional” competences (e.g., educational relationships with children) and some “innovative” competences (e.g., networking and governance), which appeared to be more desirable in teachers’ evaluations. However, the comparison of the data reveals that governance competences are better evaluated then teamwork co., introducing some hypotheses about the quality of relationships in the community of practice.Conclusions: The research outlines how the competences emerging as relevant for teachers need to be better activated in professional settings to become strategically important. The results related to teamwork and governance competences focus on the importance of informal and extended learning contexts to teachers’ socio-relational competence development. The organization of the school system needs to be re-thought and extracurricular competences need to increase to foster the generative development of informal learning communities at intra- and extra-school levels. According to the capability approach, the research reveals the extreme complexity of preschool teacher professionalism. For vocational education and training, its underlines the re-thinking of the preschool teacher profile as a co-designer of learning environments, which includes building formal and informal competences to foster communities of practice as a learning and generative process
Job (In)Security and Workers’ Training Decisions: A Framing Approach
Full text linkContext: In this study, we attempt to contribute to the scarce evidence about the relationship between perceived labour market insecurity and worker training investments. Drawing on existing research into framing in decision-making, we investigate whether framing the labour market as insecure increases the willingness of workers to invest in training. We also investigate whether this effect is larger when training contract terms are favourable, such as when training is done mostly in an employer’s time, or when no payback clause is included.Approach: Data are gathered through a vignette-study under a sample of senior Dutch students, with experimental manipulation of frames. Respondents are given a questionnaire in which they are asked to imagine themselves working for a fictitious firm (but presented to them as real). The security/insecurity frames are elicited by randomly stressing either the positive or negative side of a series of events related to the labour market position of people working in this firm. Respondents are then asked to respond to five vignettes, each of these a randomly generated combination of training contract terms. For each vignette, respondents are asked to state whether or not they would be willing to go along with the specified training program under the conditions outlined in that vignette. Data are analysed with multilevel logistic regression. Findings: The willingness to train is not invariably greater under an insecurity frame. Instead, we find a crucial interaction: the willingness to train is greater under an insecurity frame when training-contract terms are favourable (e.g when no payback clause is included), but smaller when training-contract terms are unfavourable. Since the positive and negative effects are approximately equal in size, in a balanced design such as ours they cancel each other out, resulting in a close to zero overall effect for the frame variable.Conclusion: Our results suggest that, when workers are aware of the insecurity in their situation, this only makes them more willing to follow training when the risk of losing their investment is low.