Prevocational School Research Articles

A STUDY OF THE EMPLOYABILITY OF UPPER BASIC SCHOOL LEAVERS IN GAMBIA, NIGERIA AND SENEGAL

This article is about the first part of a two-part Feasibility Study which originated in Bamako, in 2012, with initially four countries participating (Gambia, Guinee-Bissau, Nigeria, and Senegal). Later on, Guinee-Bissau withdrew from the group. Many young people in West and Central Africa leave school without having learned skills important in the work place. Arguably, such poor preparation for the world of work may be traceable in part, to how the Pre-Vocational (PV) school curriculum policy is implemented in Upper Basic Schools (UBS). The issuing Research Question then was: in what ways can the curriculum for UBS leavers be improved in order to enhance their employability during their last years at school? The general research objectives were to study the extent to which the current PV curriculum for UBS leavers was relevant to their employability and to introduce into the PV curriculum an innovative relevant Programme of Study. The present article refers to the first objective only and is essentially about a Baseline Survey of the employability of UBS leavers and of the deficiencies in the current PV school curriculum regarding their employability. Relevant research tools were developed and the main findings were that across the three countries, the teachers were aware of the concept of employability and of deficiencies in the PV curriculum regarding the employability level of the UBS leavers. Substantial proportions of UBS leavers in each country were not at an appropriate level of employability, with Senegal obtaining the highest average score for a Students’ Competency TEST across the three countries (41% of the maximum possible total score). Also, the students’ overall performance in the TEST masked some significant results for the individual TEST items. Appropriate actions were recommended for both the immediate future and the long term. Article visualizations:

Is It More Feeling or Thinking? The Influence of Affective and Cognitive Attitude on Adolescents’ Intention to Engage in Binge Drinking

Previous work has revealed that interventions aiming to reduce adolescent binge drinking commonly focus on cognitive attitudes, but are insufficiently effective in changing binge-drinking intentions. The focus on these cognitive attitudes might be the reason for this insufficient success. That is, other work has revealed that affective attitudes have a stronger influence on binge-drinking intention than cognitive attitudes. However, this relation has so far only been found among traditional college students and pre-vocational school students, therewith neglecting another important population at risk, namely vocational community college students. This study examines whether affective attitudes are also significantly stronger influencers of binge-drinking intentions among vocational community college students. Using a sample of 298 vocational community college students (Mage = 17.63), the current study shows that affective attitudes were more strongly related to vocational community college students’ intention to engage in binge drinking than cognitive attitudes. This finding indicates that the effectiveness of interventions targeting adolescent binge drinking can be improved by incorporating content elements concerning affective attitudes.

Feasibility of an Active Game Program in a Dutch Pre-Vocational High School Setting.

This study examined the use of an active gaming program in a pre-vocational school over a 1-year period. Three hundred students (mean age, 13.3 years; range, 12-18 years) were invited to participate and exposed to the active game program called E-sportszone, in which they could participate during the school day and after school. Attendance to E-sportszone was assessed by objectively monitoring over a 1-year period and self-report. Questionnaires about E-sportszone attendance, physical activity (PA), and sedentary behavior and underlying psychosocial determinants were administered at baseline and after 1 year. Forty-two percent of the students attended the E-sportszone at least once. Attendance over the year varied from 1 day through 114 days (median, 3 days) with a peak during the E-sportszone marathon that was organized. Multivariate analysis showed boys used the E-sportszone more than girls (odds ratio [OR] 2.8) and older students were less likely to be users than younger students (OR 0.4). Furthermore, students who had a more positive attitude toward PA (OR 1.5) or who had higher scores on intention to use the E-sportszone (OR 1.5) were more likely to engage in active gaming than those who had lower scores. A substantial group of at-risk students (i.e., high body mass index, low PA, and high level of sedentary behavior) used the E-sportszone at least once. However, frequency of usage was low, resulting in limited contribution to PA behavior. Long-term use was challenging, and future studies should focus on strategies to encourage continued use of active games in this type of pre-vocational school setting.

Does Enhanced Student Commitment Reduce School Dropout? Evidence from Two Major Dropout Regions in the Netherlands

Cabus S. J. Does enhanced student commitment reduce school dropout? Evidence from two major dropout regions in the Netherlands, Regional Studies. Enhanced student commitment to the school, peers and teachers may improve student motivation and reduce school dropout. A Dutch dropout prevention measure in this respect deals with smoothing the transition from the pre-vocational school to the vocational school in order to reduce school dropout. Potential dropout students are followed during the summer break, go through an intake procedure, and communication between the pre-vocational school and the vocational school is enhanced by transferring a file containing detailed information on the student. Also a small government experiment offered the possibility to students to attend classes from familiar teachers in their pre-vocational school. Using regional borders as an instrument, and accounting for differences in the underlying student population in a quasi-experimental set-up, the results show, on the one hand, that the transition policy did not decline school dropout among native Dutch students. On the other hand, ethnic minority students increasingly dropped out of school one year after the transition policy became effective.

Differences and similarities in the use of the portfolio and personal development plan for career guidance in various vocational schools in The Netherlands

In The Netherlands, a growing number of vocational education and training institutes are implementing competence‐based approaches to learning, including new career guidance practices. These practices often involve instruments such as portfolios or personal development plans, and are aimed at supporting students in their search for a sense of direction, occupational choice and developing their identities. In this study perceptions of teachers, career counsellors and students on portfolios and personal development plans for career development were investigated at two vocational schools and one prevocational school. The results suggest that these instruments are perceived to be useful when used in a dialogical context. If used in a context without reflexive dialogues between teachers and students, students perceived the instruments as not useful and showed coping behaviour, such as not committing themselves to the actual goals or completing the instruments for external purposes/credits only.

Short-term Effects of School-Based Weight Gain Prevention Among Adolescents

To determine whether a multicomponent health promotion intervention for Dutch adolescents would be successful in influencing body composition and aerobic fitness. Randomized controlled trial. Ten intervention and 8 control prevocational secondary schools. A total of 978 adolescents (mean age, 12.7 years). An interdisciplinary multicomponent intervention program with an adapted curriculum for 11 biology and physical education lessons and environmental change options, including additional lessons on physical education and advice on the school canteen selection. Body height and weight, hip and waist circumference, 4 skinfold thickness measurements, and aerobic fitness. Multilevel analyses showed significant differences in changes after the 8-month intervention period in favor of the intervention group with regard to hip circumference (mean difference, 0.53 cm; 95% confidence interval, 0.07 to 0.98) and sum of skinfolds among girls (mean difference, -2.31 mm; 95% confidence interval, -4.34 to -0.28). In boys, the intervention resulted in a significant difference in waist circumference (mean difference, -0.57 cm; 95% confidence interval, -1.10 to -0.05). No significant intervention effects were found related to aerobic fitness. The multicomponent Dutch Obesity Intervention in Teenagers program positively influenced several measures of body composition among both girls and boys. Our results indicate that secondary prevocational school curriculum changes may contribute to excessive weight gain prevention among adolescents.

A YRBS survey of youth risk behaviors at alternative high schools and mainstream high schools in Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong, prevocational schools serve as an alternative to mainstream schools to provide education with more emphasis on practical and technical subjects. In this paper, health-risk behaviors of prevocational school (PVS) students were identified, and comparisons of health-risk behaviors with or without adjusting the demographic factors from prevocational schools and mainstream schools were made. The PVS students were at higher risk for most categories of health-risk behaviors such as unintentional and intentional injuries, smoking, alcohol drinking, glue sniffing, inadequate physical activity, insufficient consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, and early sexual activity with multiple partners. Female students of PVS reported higher prevalence of emotional problems and substance abuse. Findings suggest that the school environment is an influential factor on the lifestyle behavior of students. Comprehensive health education and intervention programs are needed for youth in Hong Kong prevocational schools.

The Evolution of the Italian Educational System, 1956-1966

(3-6 years); scuola elementare (6-11 years); scuola media, scuola di avviamento al lavoro (pre-vocational training school); scuola post-elementare (11-14 years); scuole secondarie (14-18 or 19 years) followed by university or higher studies. With the exception of the kindergarten, the state provided appropriate schools, and private individuals and organizations were also free to institute other schools. The public versus private school issue is still of central importance in educational politics in Italy. Non-state schools in Italy may legally take the form of pareggiate (recognized as completely equal to state schools), of which there are very few; of parificate (equal, that is, conforming to state standards and enjoying in return the right to grant all diplomas except those of the final stage); or of private (free in every respect, including that of observing only the most basic government regulations). A fundamental principle of the Italian arrangement over the past forty years is that only state schools may grant certificates on the basis of state examinations.' In these examinations students of non-state schools are evaluated by commissions composed of state teachers. In 1955 the primary school underwent a partial reform. It was divided into two cycles (the first cycle composed of grades 1 and 2, and the second of grades 3, 4, and 5) and given new teaching programs, which are still in force. While the division into cycles has received almost unanimous approval as conforming closely to the growth stages of the children, the 1955 programs have been and continue to be debated, mainly because of their avowed Catholic foundation.2 This situation arose out of Article Thirty-six of the Concordat between Italy and the Holy See, approved in 1929, according to which instruction in Italian schools must have as its foundation and crown the teaching of the Christian doctrine ac-

A High-School Program for Mentally Retarded Adolescent Girls

Rochester, New York, has a school system which since 1906 has made provision for mentally retarded pupils. Beginning in 1916, boys attending classes for mentally retarded in the elementary school were promoted at fourteen years to a boys' prevocational school with a training program designed to prepare for local semi-skilled and unskilled occupations. In the spring of 1929 the West Side School for Boys, a second prevocational school, was opened. There were no similar units, however, to which men tally retarded adolescent girls were promoted from the elementary school. Previous to 1915, the date of the establishment of the first junior high school and the 6-3-3 plan of school organization, the girl who was mentally retarded, like other pupils in the grades who were slow-learning, remained in the elementary school till age for leaving. In the ensuing years the possible goal of promotion to junior high school was open to all pupils except those who were assigned to classes for seriously retarded.

Why Not a Prevocational High School?

Why Not a Prevocational High School?

Book Work with a Special Class of Girls in a Pre-Vocational School

When Mary Smith takes her place in the particular class of girls here described, we already know two facts about her: First, she did not give promise of being able to do the higher work of the grammar school successfully. Second, she has come to this home-making school with the vague hope on the part of her parents and herself of securing at least the rudiments of an academic education here and with a very definite hope that she may be given a training that will enable her to secure some sort of a wage-earning position at least one degree removed from that of domestic service. If fourteen years of age, she may come from the sixth, seventh, or eighth grades. Of the Mary Smiths with us at the present time, fifteen are from the sixth grade, twenty-eight from the seventh, and five from the eighth. There are ten girls over fifteen years of age and thirty-eight between the ages of fourteen and fifteen. Though their mental qualities would be found to be largely negative rather than positive, the girls are, with possibly three exceptions, not abnormal or subnormal to the degree that they cannot benefit much from working in a schoolroom. They are all educable to a certain degree. The causes for their being below grade are largely due to sickness and home conditions. To get the best results they must be taught in small groups, and their rate of movement must be a slow one. Too much unsympathetic pressure drives them out of school very quickly. On the contrary, if they are allowed to take their work too lightly the results are equally disastrous. The greatest help that can be given these girls is to hold them up to a standard of work that represents their best efforts, but that does not constantly impress upon them the sense of failure.