Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training最新文献

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.

The vocational education and training (VET) sector plays a crucial role in Australia’s education system. Associated closely between the VET provision and industry, VET training quality is continually at the heart of debates in the process of implementing the Australian VET reform agenda. In response of key themes of this reform process, investigating the training efficiency of VET through the linked efficiency between teaching and industry responsiveness is imperative. The paper aims to address this objective by using the dynamic network data envelopment analysis in a balanced panel data for 2008–2012. This advanced model allows to assess simultaneously the efficiency of two nodes, teaching and industry responsiveness, and the overall dynamic training efficiency of VET based on fields of education in a network structure. We found that the overall training efficiency of VET is, on average, 0.835 while the mean divisional efficiencies of the teaching efficiency and industry responsiveness are 0.763 and 0.908, respectively. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to examine dynamic changes of the efficiency of the teaching and industry linkage following various period weights. Policy implications are drawn for the Australian VET sector.

The study aimed to identify and understand practices and strategies for enhancing learning through collaboration among a master’s degree in vocational pedagogy (MVP) program, vocational teacher training institutions (VTIs), and workplaces. Using in-depth semi-structured individual and focus group interviews, data were obtained from administrators, mentors, supervisors, students, teachers, officers/managers of the MVP, two VTIs, and four workplaces from central and eastern parts of Uganda. The data analysis was based on Engestrom’s cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) particularly the concept of expansive learning for resolving contradictions within human activity systems. The findings revealed a need for involving actors in timely planning and disseminating the activity plans, increasing duration for collaborative activities as well as involving the students in the tracking of MVP activity record in fostering the institutional capacity to plan and implement collaborative activities. To strengthen the institutional capacity to supervise learning under collaborative activities, findings indicated a need to engaging workplace mentors and facilitators in learning at the MVP as well as joint supervision and collaborative development of supervision guidelines. To foster the communication between partners, the findings revealed a need to institute a collaboration focal person, providing feedback to collaborating actors and government support on a policy encouraging workplaces’ involvement in vocational training. Relationship issues revealed a need to initiate collaboration based on a signed memorandum of understanding as well as organising workshops and symposiums to equip and orient actors to MVP work methods and practices. Due to contradicting learning cultures and traditions amongst the activity systems, some of the suggested strategies required renegotiating the system especially the university before being implemented to minimise further challenges.

Although apprenticeships ease the school-to-work transition for youth, many apprentices seriously consider dropping out. While associated with noncompletions, dropout considerations are important to study in their own right, because they reflect a negative quality of apprenticeship experience and can impact apprentices’ quality of learning and engagement. Few studies have addressed apprentices’ dropout considerations using comprehensive theoretical frameworks. To address this gap, this study examined how apprentices’ interest and anxiety growth trajectories predicted dropout considerations and associated with perceived resources and demands, grounded in expectancy-value theory (EVT) and the job demands-resources (JD-R) model. Australian apprentices (N = 2387) were surveyed at 6-month intervals utilising an accelerated longitudinal design, on their workplace interest and anxiety, job-related resources (role model, timing of choice, employer teaching, expertise, job security, and training wages) and demands (lack of information, career indecision, and excessive work). Latent growth models (LGM) within a structural equation modelling framework showed apprentices began with high interest which declined over time, and low anxiety which increased in the latter half of their first year until the end of their second year. Apprentices’ dropout considerations were predicted by initial interest and anxiety levels (at the beginning of their apprenticeship), and by interest losses during their apprenticeship (but, not by increases in anxiety). Almost half the variance in interest and anxiety trajectories was explained by apprentices’ perceived resources and demands: resources had a greater effect on promoting interest than reducing anxiety, whereas demands were more important in exacerbating anxiety.