Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training最新文献

Objective: A considerable amount of research identified socio-economic status and cognitive ability as robust predictors, the influence of student's ability to delay gratification (ADG) on their educational transition choice doesn't received researcher's attention. To address this gap, the present study examined the incremental power of students ADG in predicting the dichotomous choice i.e. the choice of general or vocational education after successful completion of compulsory schooling.

Methods: Amid Covid-19 pandemic, cross sectional survey via an online mode was found feasible for the data collection process in our study. An online link of survey questionnaire was created in the Google forms and administered to (N = 1024) grade 8 students in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, India. Multiple binary logistic regressions were conducted to predict the students' choice, and odds ratios and average marginal effects were reported for better interpretation of results.

Results: Our results showed that students tracking choice differed significantly with respect to their gender and locale (smaller effect), ADG (medium effect), and cognitive ability and socio-economic status (larger effect). The probability of choosing the track of vocational education (with general education track as a baseline category) increases as students ADG decreases, and vice versa. This association of student's ADG with the choice of vocational education track held same over and above the covariates-socio-economic status, cognitive ability, gender and locale.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40461-022-00134-6.

Background

Mentors guide students in their challenges at school and in life. At-risk students in last-resort programs who are at a high risk of leaving school unqualified are especially in need of highly competent and adaptive mentors. This study therefore aimed to identify mentor qualities as perceived by at-risk students and their mentors that meet students’ needs and mentors’ capabilities.

Methods

Face-to-face individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with students and mentors of two specialized programs in the Netherlands. Sensitizing concepts, derived from literature, were used to identify themes. Data analysis was conducted using thematic analyses and was validated by performing an audit.

Results

The mentor qualities that at-risk students and their mentors reported were classified in three different themes. Mentor tasks consisted of guiding and motivating students and providing them with tangible methods of support. Relationships between mentor and student were based on levels of respect, equality, and bonding. Characteristics of mentors related to empathy, care, and trust.

Research implications

Emotional responsiveness deserves further exploration as it appears to be an underlying concept of being a good mentor. Future research might explore mentor qualities in the context of other last-resort programs for at-risk students.

Practical implications

Findings implicate that mentors have to walk a tightrope between keeping professional distance and being sensitive, suggesting constant attention to their professional development is needed.

Originality

In the context of last-resort programs, an alternative perspective on mentoring at-risk students is outlined, based on perceptions of both students and mentors.

Competence development and measurement are of great interest to vocational education and training (VET). Although there are many instruments available for measuring competence in diverse settings, in many cases, the completed steps of validation are neither documented nor made transparent in a comprehensible manner. Understanding what an instrument actually measures is extremely important, inter alia, for evaluating test results, for conducting replication studies and for enforcing adaptation intentions. Therefore, more thorough and qualitative validation studies are required. This paper presents an approach to facilitate validation studies using the example of the simuLINCA test. The approach to validation applied in this study was developed in the field of medicine; nevertheless, it provides a promising means of assessing the validity of (computer-based) instruments in VET. We present the approach in detail along a newly developed computer-based simulation (simuLINCA) that measures basic commercial knowledge and skills of apprentices in Switzerland. The strength of the presented approach is that it provides practical guidelines that help perform the measurement process and support an increase in transparency. Still, it is flexible enough to allow different concepts to test development and validity. The approach applied proved to be practicable for VET and the measurement of occupational competence. After extending and slightly modifying the approach, a practical validation framework, including the description of each step and questions to support the application of it, is available for the VET context. The computer-based test instrument, simuLINCA, provides insights into how a computer-based test for measuring competence in various occupational fields can be developed and validated. SimuLINCA showed satisfying evidence for a valid measurement instrument. It could, however, be further developed, revised and extended.

This paper provides evidence on the effect of apprenticeship costs on the decision whether care facilities employ apprenticeship graduates after completing apprenticeship training. To account for the endogeneity in apprenticeship costs, we exploit an exogenous reduction in the apprenticeship costs of care facilities by exploiting the fact that the underlying apprenticeship levy was introduced across the German federal states at different points in time. We find that the redistribution of apprenticeship costs increases the probability of leaving the training facility after completing apprenticeship training by 10 percentage points. Furthermore, we use this quasi-experimental setting to estimate the effect of mobility of graduates on their wages, which hints at a negative relationship in the upper quartile of the wage distribution.

The benefits of mentorship to individuals in post-secondary relate to wellbeing, satisfaction, and perceived success which translates to organizational commitment. Mentorship improves skills in academic roles and leadership, yet a disconnect remains on what mentees and mentors expect and what institutions provide. Supports are required for mentorship to be effective in empowering employees and creating a culture that espouses competence and autonomy through collaboration and creativity. The aim of this research was to replicate and advance an earlier study assessing nursing and health sciences in a polytechnic to describe the perceived mentorship culture for faculty, professional services, and leadership, across a provincial organization. This was accomplished through a sequential descriptive mixed methods study assessing the building blocks and hallmarks of a Mentorship Culture Audit. This paper reports on both the comparative assessment from 2013 and this new quantitative survey, along with a qualitative component enhancing the understanding of the mentorship culture within a polytechnic providing a variety of programming for vocational students. The audit revealed the employee perception of a mentorship culture to a mean of 4.52 on a seven-point Likert scale and noted areas of strength or infrastructure to be developed. Qualitative data portrayed further understanding where hallmarks of mentorship promoted or were lacking for informal or formal structures. Organizations benefit from mentorship. Tailoring mentorship to a framework ensures mentorship is anchored for success. This study is unique in its replication, the mixed methods approach, and its originality as an organizational level mentorship assessment.