Vocational Areas Research Articles

CONTEMPORARY LEARNING ENVIRONMENT IN THE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION: THE NEW CHALLENGES

The quantitative research basis is the data of surveys which were filled in by teachers of vocational education institutions and employers. The research is based on researches and reports regarding vocational education, strategic planning documents of development of education of Republic of Latvia and EU, studies, statistics on vocational education (data basis of the Central Statistical Bureau, statistics of the Ministry of Education and Science (MES) on vocational education) also are used. The aim of the research is to analyze factors of the internal and external environment that affect vocational education in order to determine how these factors create challenges for the vocational education system and educational institutions. The article analyzes the correlation between the elements of internal environment: resources, processes and results and external environment (political, demographic social) factors. The challenges make the vocational education change the existing paradigm of vocational education. The research was performed with a purpose to analyze the environmental factors; the quantitative research combines: an analysis of normative documents and a survey of employers and teachers of vocational education. The key results of the research: demographic trends in Latvia have an essential impact upon the human resources of the vocational education institutions; in order to implement the lifelong learning strategy, it is important to involve more adults in the vocational education; the learning environment of vocational education must be developed by following the principles of lifelong learning; cooperation between the state institutions, employers and teachers is required in order to provide effective solutions to the challenges that vocational education is facing. The cooperation between the employers’ institution, educational institutions and state institutions is essential in the process of planning and implementation of the curriculum and evaluation of the results. The prestige of the vocational education in the society affects students’ choice regarding their further education; it also influences the assessment of employers. If there were developed and implemented such curricular, which would imply the key competences that are relevant to the vocational areas of education and on the basis of which a flexible transformation of the content of curricular would be possible, the competitiveness and quality of the vocational education would be ensured. Key words: external environment, internal environment, learning environment, vocational education.

Efficacy of Polytechnic students’ Interpersonal Communication Skills

Every year polytechnics in Malaysia produce thousands of graduates in vocational areas, however, these graduates have to strive in a competitive job market against graduates from other tertiary institutions. This study aims to investigate polytechnic students efficacy on their communication skills. These skills are crucial in determining their chances for employment and would also enable them to perform effectively at workplace. Final semester students from Politeknik Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah (n=120) were asked to assess their own communication skills ability using the Communication Skills self-assessment questionnaire. Findings indicate that polytechnic students are quite confident in their ability to communicate effectively at workplace and job interviews. However, interviews with potential employers indicate differently. Implications of the study include a call for the evaluation of the English proficiency courses currently being implemented in Malaysian polytechnics.

Maxims, tacit knowledge and learning: developing expertise in dry stone walling

This study attempts to further our understanding of how expertise is acquired in a specific vocational context. Using unstructured interviews with both individuals and groups, carried out whilst engaged in practice, it examines what happens when dry stone wallers are developing their skills, how they gain expertise and how they communicate their learning. It was concluded that learning a craft such as dry stone walling is complex and individual. Learning was clearly contextualised and did not take place in linear stages. The use of maxims or ‘rules of thumb’ was a key element in the learning process, and the use of tacit knowledge and intuition were much in evidence as expertise developed. By questioning whether expertise can be achieved by following a set of rules, or that it progresses in a specific, set direction, the study also highlights the reflective and emotional aspects of becoming an ‘expert’ that are likely to be relevant to other vocational areas.

Psychosocial adjustment patterns of persons with spinal cord injury in Taiwan

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychosocial adjustment patterns of a community sample of persons with spinal cord injury in Taiwan.Method. A total of 102 participants were recruited from the Association of People with Spinal Cord Injury in Taipei City. Mean age of participants was 30.8 years (SD = 11.39 years), and 77% were men. The participants were asked to complete a research packet containing a demographic questionnaire, the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale-Self Report Questionnaire, and the Sense of Coherence Questionnaire.Results. Four distinct groups were found, representing different levels of psychosocial adjustment: (i) Well adjusted, (ii) Moderately adjusted, (iii) Moderately adjusted and sexually inexperienced, and (iv) Poorly adjusted. Employment status, age at the time of onset, injury level, and current age, as well as the motivational and behavioural aspects of coping, were identified as the functions discriminating the groups based on the demographic characteristics and sense of coherence, respectively.Conclusions. Vocational, sexual, and leisure areas of adjustment were found to be the most problematic for individuals with SCI in Taiwan. Counseling and other rehabilitation intervention efforts should focus on these identified needs of people with SCI in Taiwan.

Learning for Labour: specialist diplomas and 14-19 education

The 2006 Education Act provided an entitlement for all 14 year-olds to take a specialist diploma from 2013. Despite concerns of many educationalists and politicians, the first diplomas will begin in September 2008. New Labour claims that the diplomas are innovative and challenging; however, this article argues that they exhibit many of the weaknesses and contradictions of existing vocational qualifications, will accentuate divisions and represent a further move away from a comprehensive curriculum. The article also argues, however, that in addition to opposing the introduction of the diplomas, reformers must rethink approaches towards vocational learning in schools. Despite reports of ministers wanting to delay implementation, the Government has given the go-ahead for five new specialist diplomas to begin from September 2008 in a limited number of schools and colleges. The 2006 Education Act gave young people a ‘national entitlement’ to study one of 14 vocational areas outlined in the 2005 14-19 White Paper (Department for Education and Skills [DfES], 2005). According to the White Paper, up to 40% of Key Stage 4 students will be taking one by 2013. A level 2 diploma will equate to General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) grade C, occupying about half of the total timetable space. Level 1 can be used in conjunction with the White Paper’s proposals for a new workplace-based learning route for more ‘disaffected’ students, while post-16 students can follow a two-year level 3 qualification which, like current vocational qualifications, would constitute the majority of their study time. Education and the Economy: a new correspondence? The White Paper emphasises the importance of responding to globalisation and increased international competition by improved educational provision, particularly vocational education. The Government wants the diplomas to ‘put

Hanging in or shaping a future: defining a role for vocationally related learning in a ‘knowledge’ society

This paper explores the changing roles and purposes of vocational education for young people in what has been called a ‘knowledge’ society, using the General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ) as an example. This qualification dominated the broad, vocationally‐related route within the English qualifications system throughout the 1990s. The paper considers how lecturers in a college of further education understood the role and purpose of GNVQs, and explores the ways in which they engaged in mediating national qualifications policy in practice, through their engagement with students and constructions of students’ learning identities. The paper draws on data from a case study of one college of further education in the English Midlands, which involved interviews with lecturers and students across three vocational areas of the GNVQ. The focus in this paper is on the ways in which lecturers constructed GNVQs around what they perceived to be students’ needs. They encouraged students to use GNVQs to shape a future, which involved progression to further and higher education. The paper argues that, whilst such attempts to create a constructive and meaningful role for vocational education are important, they do not overcome the hierarchical structure of participation in formal learning which remains inherent in the education system. The paper concludes by considering the implications of this study for the future role of vocational education for young people within a wider system of education and training.

Exploring the mismatch between skills and jobs for women in Saudi Arabia in technical and vocational areas: the views of Saudi Arabian private sector business managers

Saudi Arabia’s rapid development has highlighted the shortage of national technical manpower and the subsequent need to recruit non‐Saudi technical workers, on the one hand, and the difficulty of replacing these workers with qualified Saudis, on the other. Therefore successive Development Plans have tried to raise the quality and quantity of technical and vocational education for both men and women. In 1995/96 only 5 per cent of Technical and Vocational Education (TEVT) enrolled students were female. This compares with an average of 29 per cent in other Islamic countries and 45 per cent in Japan (UNESCO, 1997, 1999). Part of this may be due to the preferences of female students in education, part due to the structure of TEVT in Saudi Arabia, part due to the availability of technical and vocational jobs available for women after completing their training and part due to the natural place of women in Saudi society. The Seventh Development Plan (2000–2004) assumes that the private sector will play a very significant role in employing a Saudi labour force including both men and women.As part of a comprehensive study concerning the factors affecting women’s employment in the Saudi private sector private sector business managers in four large cities were surveyed to see what factors they felt were important. The main factors affecting employment of women in technical and vocational education were seen by the managers as those relating to the structure of TEVT education in Saudi Arabia rather than preferences of women or pressures from society.

Tutors as Professional Role Models, With Particular Reference to Undergraduate Business Education

As part of the ongoing debate concerning the changing nature of the role of tutors in UK higher education, consideration needs to be given to their ‘professionalism’ in the broadest sense of the term. In popular vocational areas, such as undergraduate business education, it is important for tutors to reflect on the extent to which and manner in which they might serve as professional role models for students. Particular attention needs to be given to technical competence with respect to not only subject specialism but also pedagogic acumen and course management skills; standards; an ethical imperative; the exercise of autonomy; and reflective practice. Factors which inhibit tutors from acting as role models, such as academic traditions and countervailing pressures, and the implications for students also need to be taken into account.

A Reflection on Competency-based Education: Comments from Europe

This article reports on the rationale, design, implementation, and outcomes of new competency-based courses at a U.K. university. Follow-up research among students and staff members indicates that students taking the competency-based courses appear to be much more skilled than their predecessors in the academic and vocational areas taught on the courses, are receiving higher grades, and are having good success in being selected for jobs. The article also provides a model for design and delivery based on experiential and metacognitive theory and on research asking students for their reactions to this new way of learning and their preferences for competency-based course design.

Teaching schizophrenic patients recreational, residential and vocational skills

Three therapy programs have recently been devised as a further development of the Integrated Psychological Therapy (IPT) for patients with schizophrenia. They offer targeted and structured behavior therapy in residential, vocational and recreational activity-three areas of rehabilitation which have been neglected in Europe, despite evidence from numerous prospective and retrospective studies showing severe impairment in these areas of psychosocial functioning in schizophrenia. The three therapy programs, aimed at enabling patients to lead more independent and satisfying lives in the community, have shown promise but need further research for their empirical validation.

IDENTIFICATION OF A MATHEMATICS CORE IN VOCATIONAL PROGRAMS AT 2‐YEAR COLLEGES

Fifty‐seven faculty across 26 vocational program areas at Odessa College in Odessa, Texas, were surveyed during the 1991 fall semester. A core of 38 mathematic competency skills from a list of 70 previously developed mathematic competencies were identified as being necessary for students to be successful in vocational program areas. A comparison of these mathematic competency skills with those reported in a Vernon Regional Junior College study indicated similar results. The 38 mathematic competencies identified in the study were combined into five mathematic areas: whole numbers, fractions, decimals, mixed operations involving converting mixed numbers to decimal fractions and decimal fractions to mixed numbers, and measurement and calculation (metric and English systems). Stephanie Kern (PhD in higher education administration from the University of North Texas) is an associate professor of mathematics at Odessa College. Her specialty is mathematics education. Randall E. Schumacker (PhD in educational psyc...

Implementation of a family-centered treatment program for substance-abusing women and their children: barriers and resolutions.

Recent federal health financing and health care delivery programs have increased access to alcohol and other drug abuse treatment programs for low-income women, and have provided intervention and prevention services for their children and families. The Village South Families in Transition (FIT) in Miami, Florida, implemented a residential treatment program for women and their children that aims to decrease alcohol and other drug use, reduce reliance on social and health welfare systems, improve functioning in specific life-skill and vocational areas, improve parenting techniques and maternal/child relations, and provide intervention and prevention services for the clients' children in a safe and supportive environment. Program implementation required resolutions to numerous barriers, including securing a facility for women and children; recruiting, hiring and training of staff; establishing and maintaining community linkages; treatment considerations; balancing treatment versus evaluation/research; and critical decisions faced by treatment staff as they modify client-centered programs to incorporate gender-specific and family-centered programs.

Computer Anxiety And Other Factors Preventing Computer Use Among United States Secondary Agricultural Educators

Nowhere has the impac t o f the microcomputer been felt more strongly than in the schools of the United States. Bork (1985) declared that computer use in education is a highly dynamic technology and over the next 25 years will become the dominant delivery system in education. The Office of Educational Research and Improvement (1986), in the U. S. Department of Education, reported that 99 percent of all public high schools in the Uni ted S ta tes have purchased microcomputers. Data from the Second National Survey of Instructional Uses of School Computers indicate that the use of computers appears to be more common in vocational areas than in academic subjects (Survey Maps, 1986).

Psychosocial dysfunction in somatising patients.

Somatising patients present with a variety of psychosocial dysfunctions. Using the Dysfunctional Analysis Questionnaire and the Global Assessment of Functioning scale, we studied the nature and severity of psychosocial dysfunction in a group of somatising patients. Dysfunction was less marked in the cognitive area than in social, vocational, personal and familial areas. Patients with depressive disorders showed more dysfunction than those with somatoform disorders in all psychosocial areas except cognitive.

Adults with LD in the 1990S

What issues face adults with LD in the 1990s! Proposed solutions are delineated in educational, vocational, and social service areas.

Who Majors in Psychology?

We compared 365 graduates with bachelor's degrees in psychology to 244 in sociology/anthropology, 194 in speech communication, 155 in physical and health education, and 204 in social work/society and justice on earlier high school interests, grades, and achievement measures (e.g., vocabulary test scores). Advisers can inform prospective majors that, as high school students, psychology graduates' strongest vocational interest areas were artistic, general cultural, scientific, and service, not unlike successful PhDs in psychology. Psychology majors had similar interests to those majoring in the other four areas, but our majors had better high school grades and achievement test scores.

Alcohol and Drug Abuse: A Content Analysis of the Rehabilitation literature

The major rehabilitation journals were examined from 1978 through 1988 to determine the prevalence and content of articles related to alcohol and drug abuse. Of the 1,743 articles examined, 20 were identified that addressed alcohol and drug issues, primarily in traditional vocational rehabilitation counseling areas. Implications and suggestions for expansion of the rehabilitation literature base in alcohol and drug abuse are discussed.

Cannabis and cognitive functions: A prospective study

Psychological tests measuring intelligence, memory and other cognitive functions were given to 26 heavy cannabis users (mean duration of cannabis use 6.76 years; average daily intake 150 mg THC). Compared with a control group, the cannabis users were found to react slowly in perceptuo-motor tasks, but not to differ in intelligence or memory tests. The users suffered disability in personal, social and vocational areas and indicated higher psychoticism and neuroticism scores.

The Cyclical Overproduction of Graduates in Germany in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Over the last two hundred years phases of overproduction and of scarcity in academic careers have recurred with a remarkable regularity. The cyclical development depends on the complex interaction between the varying determinants of growth and the varying conditions of social recruitment for specific careers. If professional prospects are favourable, careers will open up into educationally uncultivated strata, and if the prospects worsen, its recruitment basis closes a little further down again. The interplay of attracting effects (pull) and deterrence effects (push) produce the remarkable long-term pulsation of student streams in the vocational subject areas. German data from theology, law, medicine and higher education suggest that political control has effected little change in the cycle. Academic qualifications and limits on entry have always been introduced at the times of excess supply, and the history of structural change in German education is linked to these phases.

The Situation of Women in Technical Professions in the Federal Republic of Germany

SUMMARY In West Germany, women have traditionally worked in a very restricted range of jobs, with skilled women workers being concentrated in administrative and service sector employment. The article reviews the reasons for this situation and the initiatives which have been taken to increase the proportion of women in jobs traditionally undertaken by men, including technical jobs at all levels. The Federal Government supported by the Lander (West German States) has introduced a number of projects across the country to train more young women in non-traditional vocational areas, especially in the mechanical and electronic/electrical engineering fields with a view to producing skilled craft workers and technicians. The difficulties faced by young women who have taken up such training, both during the training period and when seeking work subsequently are discussed The situation for women engineers at the professional level is also outlined and a number of strategies which may be helpful in improving the position of women in engineering in the Federal Republic is outlined. Recently, computer courses organised by women's groups have proved successful in attracting women students from a wide variety of backgrounds and age ranges with little or no previous technical or scientific training.