School-based Vocational Education And Training Research Articles

The competence-based VET curriculum and teaching of work values: the case of Lithuania

Purpose This paper aims to explore how the competence-based vocational education and training (VET) curricula facilitate shaping of work values of VET students. It discusses methodological and ideological orientations of competence-based VET in teaching work values and discloses the typical characteristics of teaching work values in the VET system of Lithuania. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative research approach leading to a survey method is adopted to investigate how VET students acquire and apply work-related values and attitudes to work. Findings The survey of the VET students has disclosed that students are open to accepting different values of work, including cognitive values, social prestige and altruist values. However, orientation of the VET curricula to and provision of instrumental values lead to relatively weak internalization of the work values related to societal and spiritual dimensions. Originality/value The paper provides empirical evidence regarding the implications of the competence-based curricula for teaching students work values in the school-based VET.

Vocational education and training systems in Europe: A cluster analysis

European countries differ widely in terms of vocational education and training (VET) tradition and the delivery of VET at the upper secondary level. A statistical approach to build a classification of VET systems in Europe is presented in the present article on the grounds of the size of the vocational enrollment, on the one hand, and the percentage of vocational enrollment in programs in which work and school are combined, on the other hand. Twenty-two European countries with full available information are considered in the study: 18 European Union (EU) countries, three Schengen Area (non-EU) countries (Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland), and the UK (non-EU state outside Schengen). Cluster analysis is a quantitative form of classification. The country groupings emerging from the K-means analysis performed in this paper allow us to distinguish mainly between vocational-oriented countries with high vocational specificity (e.g. Germany, Switzerland, and Austria), highly vocational-oriented countries with traditionally school-based VET programs (e.g. the Czech Republic and Slovakia), and less vocationally-oriented countries (general education-oriented countries such as Estonia and Spain).

Changing Skill Formation in Greece and Italy – Crisis-Induced Reforms in Light of Common Institutional Legacies

Context: After the Eurozone crisis unfolded a decade ago, comparative political economy has investigated reforms of public administration, labour market, welfare state and economic policy particularly in Southern European nations which were hit hardest by the crisis. However, analyses of skill formation reform, particularly vocational education and training (VET), have been scant, despite a common problem pressure for reforms emanating from stubbornly high rates of youth unemployment and similar legacies of statist VET. Approach: We investigate VET reforms brought underway in Greece and Italy during and in the aftermath of the crisis, asking how far apprenticeship-like forms of learning within their VET systems were strengthened. Empirically, we base our analysis on primary and secondary sources, having conducted semi-structured expert interviews in Greece and Italy in 2019. Results: We find that both countries attempted to strengthen the role of apprenticeship and work-based learning, but that politics differed across the two cases in the context of the Eurozone crisis. While in Italy, reforms were 'internalised' and shaped by domestic politics, Greek reforms were largely driven exogenously by the negotiations with the Troika. Conclusion: Although Italy and Greece have undertaken reforms to reduce the dominance of the state in VET provision by expanding apprenticeships and work-based learning, these do not amount to large scale changes to the dominant logic of school-based VET provision. In order to boost their potential in terms of practical learning both countries would need to continue on their reform pathways.

Vocational Students’ Perceptions of Self-Regulated Learning in Work-Based VET

This study’s aim is to examine vocational students’ perceptions of self-regulated learning in work-based settings regarding Finnish vocational education and training (VET). We examined the participants’ self-reported thoughts and experiences of VET learning and vocational development that were reflected against SRL theory. The interview data (N = 33) included apprentices (n = 15) in work-based and students in school-based VET (n = 18) in the fields of social and healthcare, business and administration, and construction. Overall, the results indicated that learning at work promoted vocational students’ cognitive engagement and motivation. The interviews also introduced certain SRL strategies that guided the participants’ efforts to learn. In particular, many of the vocational students had taken the initiative to set goals, done strategic planning, and monitored their own performance jointly with their teachers or co-workers. However, the self-reports also revealed some shortcomings in the students’ SRL behaviour. The importance and availability of social support and positive feedback from VET teachers and workplace trainers/co-workers to vocational students’ learning and self-efficacy were underlined in the self-reports.

The quality and standing of school-based Norwegian VET

ABSTRACTThe status and quality of vocational education and training (VET) represent a challenge in many countries, including Norway. In recent decades the political goal in Norway has been to ensure that vocational programmes at upper secondary level achieve equal status with academic programmes. Considerable efforts have been made to strengthen the quality of vocational programmes to achieve this. This article presents an analysis of the challenges of the school-based part of Norwegian VET. The analysis is particularly directed at issues of vocational relevance and coherence between the educational content and the qualification needs of the vocations. The aim is to identify the obstacles to relevance and coherence and show the attempts made to strengthen both quality and status.

VET teachers between school and working life: boundary processes enabling continuing professional development

ABSTRACTChanges in working life require development in vocational education and training (VET) to retain industrial currency. VET teachers are key actors in VET, and their continuing professional development (CPD) in vocational subjects is central to the currency of VET. This study is situated in Sweden, with a mainly school-based VET system where VET teachers have the main responsibility for students’ school-based and workplace learning, and they typically have a background in an initial occupation which they now teach their students. The study applies a situated learning perspective, with a particular focus on boundary processes between VET schools and working life, and how the modes of identification of engagement, imagination, and alignment are enacted and influence the identity formation and CPD of VET teachers. The findings are based on interviews with 30 Swedish VET teachers. The qualitative study shows how different forms of boundary encounter between VET teachers and working life, brokering of occupational knowledge, and reconstruction of occupational practices at schools provide opportunities for teachers’ CPD and influencing vocational teaching. It is important for the quality of VET teachers’ CPD to include and integrate the different modes of identification, to allow for updating of different aspects of the occupational identity.

Vocational Education and Learners\u2019 Experienced Workplace Curriculum

There has been a growing emphasis on providing students in vocational education and training (VET) with workplace experiences. School-based VET and apprenticeship training have been parallel routes in the Finnish VET system, but relatively little is known of their characteristics regarding students’ experiences. This study addresses this research gap by investigating these two VET pathways and addressing the following research question: How do learners experience workplace learning on various learning pathways? This study further investigates three different vocational fields: social and health care, business and administration, and construction. The study was based on semi-structured individual interviews (N = 33): 18 of the participants were students in school-based VET, and 15 were apprentices. The interview data were analysed with thematic analysis. The themes highlighted how the VET pathway builds a frame for participation that is then shaped by work practices and social practices and how, eventually, individuals alter boundaries to participation. The study implies that the two VET pathways, school-based VET and apprenticeship training, have significant differences. However, in the construction sector, differences between students’ experiences of workplace learning seem to be less visible. Based on learning experiences, it seems that apprenticeship training and school-based VET cannot be considered parallel or interchangeable routes. This should be acknowledged because the recent reform of vocational upper secondary education aims to advance a flexible combination of school- and work-based pathways, and it can also be considered when discussing the coherence of VET systems.

Impact of vocational education and training on adult skills and employment: An applied multilevel analysis

Vocational education and training has played a central role in promoting the school-to-work transition of young people. Despite this role, the return to Vocational Education and Training (VET) has been neglected in previous studies. This paper aims to examine individual returns to VET over a lifespan and to assess the effects of national VET systems, including school-based and work-based VET systems, on economic outcomes. We use the OECD’s Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) dataset for conducting our analyses. The results of this study indicate that vocational track graduates are more likely to have literacy skill disadvantages, short-term employment advantages, and long-term employment disadvantages compared to general track graduates. The most significant finding is that there are substantial differences between work-based and school-based VET systems with regard to their literacy and employment effects. Compared to VET graduates from general education-oriented countries, VET graduates from work-based VET-oriented countries are initially more likely to be employed, but that employment premium narrows faster over time. Therefore, a lifespan overview and the characteristics of national VET systems should enter into policy debates on national educational systems.

Staying in the Loop: Formal Feedback Mechanisms Connecting Vocational Training to the World of Work in Europe

Context: Vocational education and training (VET) is expected to be designed for creating learning outcomes which meet the needs for skills and competences in the labour market. Hence, identifying current and upcoming skill requirements and ensuring that these requirements are incorporated into education has long been the subject of academic and policy discussion. Governance processes keeping VET systems up-to-date have been more recently addressed as `feedback mechanisms'. The term broadly summarizes the interplay of institutions, actors and processes which allows the continuous renewal of VET provision (i.e. by creating new qualifications or updating curricula). The aim of the paper is to enhance the understanding of cross-national variations in formally institutionalised `feedback mechanisms' between VET and the labour market.Method: The research builds on a comparative analysis of case studies in 15 European countries. The paper presents examples for four different `formal feedback mechanisms' in Germany, France, England, and Austria.Results: Four main types of formal mechanism have been identified: 1) The liberal model explained by VET in England and Higher VET in Austria; 2) The statist model explained by school-based VET in Austria; 3) the participatory model explained by VET in France and 4) the coordinated model explained by apprenticeship training in Germany and Austria.Conclusions: Existing approaches in the economic sociology of labour markets, the varieties of capitalism approach as well as comparative research on welfare states are useful in predicting whether particular VET systems are likely to be predominant. However, they do not provide an alternative in describing differences in VET systems which the concept of formal feedback mechanism does. Moreover, by analysing formal feedback mechanisms, it is possible to demarcate where a VET sub-system ends and another VET sub-systems begins. In this sense research presented here also asks for new standards for comparative VET research as it suggests that entities to be compared are not countries' overall VET systems, but their potential sub-systems.

Should I stay or should I switch? An analysis of transitions between modes of vocational education and training

How established is the horizontal permeability between modes of vocational education and training (VET) in Switzerland? Formally encouraged by the Swiss law on VET, horizontal permeability refers to transitions across VET modes, i.e. between dual and school-based VET. This paper first discusses why horizontal permeability is indeed relevant and then empirically examines the horizontal permeability of the Swiss VET system for a given occupation – commercial VET. The latter is the largest VET domain in Switzerland and, importantly, a domain in which school-based VET is well established. The empirical analysis uses panel data following a cohort for over 10 years in the Canton of Geneva. Results show that going from school-based to dual VET within commercial VET increases chances to earn a qualification, however students changing modes lose half a year in the process. These findings suggest that, at least in commercial VET, horizontal permeability is only partial.

So Similar and Yet so Different: A Comparative Analysis of a Firm's Cost and Benefits of Apprenticeship Training in Austria and Switzerland

The authors compare a firm’s costs and benefits of providing apprenticeship training in Austria and Switzerland, using two original micro data sets. While both countries share a number of similarities, including an extensive vocational education and training (VET) system, and a common border, there are some important institutional differences. On average, a Swiss firm generates a net profit of 3400 Euro per apprentice and per year of training, while an Austrian firm incurs net costs of 4200 Euro. Applying matching models, we find that this difference is largely driven by a higher relative apprentice pay in Austria, which in turn is associated with collective bargaining agreements and competition with alternative school-based VET pathways. However, Austrian firms can still generate a return on their training investment, partly due to wage subsidies, but mostly by retaining a high share of apprentices as skilled workers, and thereby save on future hiring costs.

When Expectations Clash: Vocational Education at the Intersection of Workplace and School

Next to highly regarded varieties of apprenticeship-based vocational education there are, in many countries, forms of mainly school-based VET (voca- tional education and training) that suffer from ...

A Road Map to Vocational Education and Training in Industrialized Countries

Young people have been among those most affected by the recent financial crisis. Vocational education and training (VET) is often viewed as the silver bullet for the youth joblessness problem. In this article, the authors provide a better understanding of VET in industrialized countries, proposing a typology with three types of vocational systems: 1) vocational and technical schools, 2) formal apprenticeships, and 3) dual apprenticeship systems that combine school training with a firm-based approach. They first describe the strengths and challenges of each system. They subsequently review the evidence of the effectiveness of VET versus general education and the relative effectiveness of the different VET systems. Results indicate that VET is a valued alternative beyond the core of general education and that the use of apprenticeships combined with institutional learning tends to be more effective than school-based VET.

A Roadmap to Vocational Education and Training Systems Around the World

With young people among the big losers of the recent financial crisis, vocational education and training (VET) is often seen as the silver bullet to the problem of youth joblessness. This paper provides a better understanding of VET around the world, dealing with three types of vocational systems: school-based education, a dual system in which school-based education is combined with firm-based training, and informal training. We first explore the motivation for these different types of training, before summarizing the institutional evidence, highlighting the key elements of each training system and discussing its main implementation strengths and challenges. We subsequently review the evidence on the effectiveness of VET versus general education and between the three VET systems. There are clear indications that VET is a valued alternative beyond the core of general education, while the dual system tends to be more effective than school-based VET. Informal training is effective, however relatively little is known of its relative strengths compared with other forms of vocational education.