Students' goal orientations, information processing strategies and knowledge development in competence-based pre-vocational secondary education

Abstract

In this study, learning processes of students in competence-based Pre-Vocational Secondary Education (PVSE; in Dutch vmbo) were investigated. The study aimed at describing the relation between goal orientations, information processing strategies and the development of knowledge of these students. Students in PVSE are increasingly confronted with competence-based learning environments, in which they are supposed to develop and integrate knowledge, skills and attitudes. Learning skills and attitudes have a more central position in competence-based education than in traditional education. However, the development of knowledge remains of great importance in order for students to become qualified professionals. Knowledge is an essential component of competence and necessary to make adequate decisions under different circumstances. In competence-based education, learning is considered to be a subjective process of knowledge construction that is strongly influenced by the context the students are in. Information the students are confronted with is interpreted from a personal framework, in which their goal orientations play an important role. Little is known about the actual learning of PVSE students in competence-based learning environments and how this can be measured. As a consequence, the following research questions were formulated: (a) Which instruments can be used to investigate the goal orientations, information processing strategies and development of knowledge of students in competence-based PVSE? (b) What relations exist between goal orientations, information processing strategies and development of knowledge of students in competence-based PVSE? (c) What is the relation between the development of PVSE students’ knowledge and characteristics of competence-based learning environments? First, a study was carried out in order to assess the psychometric properties of different instruments for measuring students’ goal orientations and information processing strategies. Goal orientations were investigated using both qualitative and quantitative techniques: a semi-structured interview, a questionnaire and a sorting task. Similarly, information processing strategies were examined using a semi-structured interview, a questionnaire, and the think-aloud method. The results gathered by means of these instruments were compared and instruments that would be used in the second study were chosen. Next, the second partial study was carried out (n=812; 14 schools). This study aimed at describing the relations between, on the one hand, goal orientations, information processing strategies and knowledge development and, on the other hand, the degree to which the investigated learning environments could be described as competence-based. In this study, student questionnaires were used to examine their preferences for certain type of goal orientations (mastery, performance and work avoidance) and for deep or surface processing strategies. Conceptual knowledge was investigated by having students create concept maps before and after a learning project. The extent to which characteristics of competence-based education were implemented in the schools was examined using a teacher questionnaire. The third study was an in-depth study in a ‘good practice’ of competence-based education, investigating the teacher behavior that influences student learning in such environments. Semi-structured interviews and observations were carried out to investigate teachers’ conceptions about competence-based learning environments and student guidance, their actual behavior regarding these aspects, and their explanations for this behavior. Causal and hierarchical analyses showed that student preferences for mastery and performance goals positively affected their preferences for the use of deep information processing strategies. Use of surface information processing strategies negatively affects the development of conceptual knowledge. Students appeared to develop slightly more knowledge in learning situations with fewer characteristics of competence-based education. The organizational characteristics of the learning situations, such as the integration of theory and practice and the use of authentic contexts as a basis for the formulation of learning tasks, were further found to be distinctive for the development of knowledge. The manner in which teacher guidance was shaped in different schools (by means of activities such as coaching, providing help on demand and providing feedback) did not have a significant influence on the degree to which students developed knowledge. The teachers in the in-depth study created a well structured learning environment in which a whole-to-part learning model consisting of authentic, practice-oriented themes and tasks was used, that possibly elicits meaningful learning. The teachers played a large role by coaching during the learning process and in providing active support.