Vocations and Learning最新文献

Learning in the workplace supports physicians in developing competences to ensure quality medical care. As such, learning in the workplace is essential for physicians’ life-long professional development. Notwithstanding its importance, research on physicians’ learning in the workplace and the corresponding motivational drivers is limited. In this study, 17 semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore experienced physicians’ learning activities and their motivation for learning in the workplace. In addition, it was examined whether differences could be noted in learning in the workplace depending on physicians’ experience, specialism, gender or the type of hospital they work in.

Concepts from learning in the workplace and motivation theories, i.e. learning activities in the workplace, self-determination theory and achievement goal theory, guided the data analysis, and an inductive analysis was conducted as well. Results revealed various learning activities for instance but not limited to: learning by asking colleagues for feedback, asking for help while performing particular medical actions, helping students while conducting their assignments or observing colleagues. Besides, the participants indicated different motives for learning. Physicians reported that they are motivated to properly perform their job, they enjoy learning and/or like learning in relation to solving challenging cases. The study shows that participants’ differences in motivation can be related to seniority and the type of hospitals physicians are employed in.

This study investigates the evolving landscape of learning and innovation within organisations that are particularly affected by the increasing digitalisation and prevalence of remote work and trainings. Focusing on the police and technology sectors, in this research 20 individuals were interviewed, identifying both real-time and long-term challenges associated with remote learning and innovation. In the police sector, the real-time challenges included one-way efficiency, encompassing impracticality, unidimensional learning situations, and efficiency-driven multitasking. A long-term challenge was individualistic performance orientation, suggesting a shift in learning responsibility from the organisation to the individual. In the technology sector, the real-time challenges involved incomplete detections during remote innovation, encompassing missing artefacts, unlikely coincidences, and narrow observations. A long-term challenge was the weakening of social bonds, with subthemes such as community distancing and a decline in social skills. The study emphasises the critical need for appropriate remote workplace pedagogy, community reinforcement and well-planned training to address these challenges, emphasising that the values guiding remote work and virtual environments play a crucial role in shaping learning outcomes.

The purpose of this article is to introduce a design-based research (DBR) approach developed in the field of vocational and continuing education, which is grounded in a pragmatic and phenomenologically inspired enactivist approach to activity. As a design-based methodology, our activity-centered and enactive DBR approach aims to generate knowledge related to design and to identify relevant design principles. After detailing the particularities of an activity-centered and enactive DBR approach, we focus on the results pertaining to design knowledge by identifying two broad design principles for vocational education and training, and five enactivist inspired principles for training design. A significant practical implication for researchers and practitioners in vocational and continuing education and training is that these enactivist inspired design principles provide promising pathways to enhance the connectivity between (i) work experiences, (ii) work and training practices, and (iii) learning contexts.

In many countries with apprenticeship-based vocational education and training (VET), dropout from apprenticeship training is a major concern. Leaving an apprenticeship early can be problematic, particularly for young people who do not continue their training at another company or in another occupation, and drop out of the education system without obtaining a qualification. Previous research mostly has used a quantitative design focussing mainly on the perspective of apprentices who left training early and on attributes of the individual that may lead to dropout. Drawing on literature on quality of workplace learning environments, this study used a qualitative comparative approach to analyse the workplace learning environment from the perspectives of both young people who left their apprenticeships early and apprentices at the end of their training. The analysis revealed striking differences between the stayers and leavers in terms of two main characteristics of the workplace learning environment. The findings illustrate how being given responsibility can promote professional development and self-confidence, but also can lead to stress, exhaustion and insecurity if an early transfer of responsibility is not accompanied by support and guidance. Furthermore, the findings emphasise the importance of creating safe learning environments in which apprentices experience support and room for making mistakes. The study concludes that future research may include measures related to transfer and fulfilment of responsibility and handling of mistakes in workplaces to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the processes leading to early contract terminations.

Modeling vocational competence is increasingly crucial for monitoring and enhancing the quality of Vocational Educational Training (VET), particularly in the context of ongoing international comparative studies known as "large-scale assessments" of vocational education and training. This study endeavors to provide well-structured and guideline-compliant empirical evidence for the validation of the two-dimensional construct of economic vocational competence, advancing beyond the current state of research. A sample of 1438 first-year apprentices from two federal states in Germany participated as test-takers. The authentic assessment framework comprised 24 items, assessing two dimensions of vocational competence: domain-linked competence and domain-specific competence in the business/commercial domain. Measurement invariance was assessed across (1) federal states and (2) versions of test booklets, and the Multidimensional Random Coefficient Multinomial Logit model was employed to examine the quality of the two-dimensional vocational competence construct. The results supported the validity of the structure, highlighting the differentiation between domain-linked competence and domain-specific competence. This provides a more substantively accurate representation of trainees' vocational competence compared to a unidimensional model.

Internships offer the opportunity to gain experience and skills by working in organisations or to establish a professional network, and there is empirical evidence of the positive effects of practical experience in higher education. However, there are only a few studies on the characteristics of workplace tasks that facilitate learning during internships. In this paper, we address this research gap by conducting a diary study to examine students' work tasks at the beginning and end of an eight-week business internship period, their perceptions of the tasks, and the influence of task characteristics on self-perceived learning. Analyses of approximately 2,000 work tasks documented by 51 students show that the frequencies of different work tasks did not differ substantially between the first and last week of the business internship. At both times of data collection, many students were engaged in organisational routine and administrative tasks, especially those with a domain-specific focus. However, the values for the assessment of task characteristics (such as challenge/difficulty) were higher at the beginning of the internship than towards the end. Causal analyses revealed that task characteristics such as novelty or feedback (from colleagues or supervisors) were positive predictors of self-perceived learning during both weeks, whereas the predictive power of other task features changed. For example, help received (from colleagues or supervisors) was a significant predictor in the first week of the internship but not in the last; the opposite was the case for autonomy. From these results, we derive implications for both future research and the active design of internships in the higher education context.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of musician identity learning. Identity is a significant driving-force behind many artistic vocations. However, identity may also pose challenges such as vulnerability, burnout and conflict of commitment. The paper focuses on musician identity, based on interviews with classical and rock musicians during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyses reveal that the musicians are either in integrating or situating musician identity learning, two different processes discussed as dynamically interrelated and depending on life situation. The paper argues that breaks of normality accentuate challenges stemming from musician identity and that the proposed learning processes are responses to those challenges, which is previously under-explored. The paper concludes that many musicians or other artistic practitioners likely struggle to de-centralize their identity in order to foster a sustainable vocational career and personal growth, and that temporary career breaks may provide necessary relief and learning space.

A concern across many vocational education systems is the high dropout rate from their programs. This problem is likely to be exacerbated at time of low unemployment rates when employers are less demanding about the certification of skills at the time of employment. This qualitative study examines the factors associated with students leaving early from Initial Vocational Education and Training (IVET) institutions in Estonia. The study analyses the challenges and potential risk factors of IVET early leaving from both the students and staff members points of view. The research participants were 20 Estonian IVET students and 12 staff members from various vocational schools. The study highlights the complex interplay of students’ challenges and emphasises the importance of addressing them to promote retention and success in vocational education and training programmes. The study employs the Self-Determination Theory, more specifically, the conceptual frame of basic psychological needs to interpret the data. The results of the research indicate that students at risk are mainly shaped by their primary school experience prior to vocational school, with teachers and peers as the main influencers.

Vocational teachers in building and construction in upper secondary school deal with complex situations of an organisational, vocational, and social kind. Recent research has shown that the teacher is the single most important factor for students’ learning in school. Teacher-student relationships and the teacher’s repertoire of teaching practices can be more important for the student’s learning than class size, the classroom environment, and the student’s socio-economic background. Beyond passing the journeyman’s test, we know little about the craft knowledge and working life experiences vocational teachers in the building and construction trades have acquired over many years in the construction industry, and thus, what knowledge and experiences they bring into the vocational teacher role. Learning in working life often takes place as an integrated part of work, and it is difficult to observe how learning happens. Craft knowledge is often tacit and personal. In this narrative, phenomenologically inspired study, learning is investigated as a bodily, internal process that simultaneously depends on the interaction with the material and social environment. Through narrative interviews with eleven vocational teachers in plumbing and carpentry, this study explores the teachers’ backgrounds as vocational students and apprentices, and their extensive experience as craftsmen on different construction sites. The analysis shows that the building site drives craft-related actions and situations that generate a strong craft identity, professional working life experiences, and personal growth. Craftsmen at the construction site work under constant pressure in a social, physically, and mentally demanding work environment and consecutively solve problems. As professional craftsmen in the complex working environment, the teachers also acquired social and organisational expertise, which they intuitively transferred to their role as vocational teachers.

This study examines the social networks and networking behavior of students graduating from higher education and transitioning to the labor market. To obtain an in-depth understanding of graduating students’ social networks, a mixed method social network study was conducted. Network data from 12 graduating students were collected. The results showed that students seek labor market-oriented contacts with individuals in the personal, education, and work contexts. Students received more practical and job-specific support from weak ties (e.g., colleagues at internships) and more social and emotional support from strong ties (e.g., parents and fellow students). The development of a labor market-oriented network occurred spontaneously through social media channels or when students proactively connected with others at educational institutions or job events. However, not all students felt confident developing a network. In these cases, the lack of awareness of relevant network actors, and interpersonal and intrapersonal characteristics play a critical role.