Vocational Education And Training Sector Research Articles

An Analysis of the Recognition of Prior Learning System in Vocational Education and Training Sector

The aim of this study is to examine the current state of the Validation of Formal, Non-Formal and Informal Learning (VFNIL) system in the Republic of Kosovo and critically assess institutional policies for the establishment of an effective VFNIL system at the national level. In achieving the research objective, structured interviews with key representatives of central and local Vocational Education and Training (VET) institutions are conducted and key policy documents are analyzed. The study discovers that the Validation of Formal, Non-Formal and Informal Learning (VFNIL) system is in progress of development in the VET sector only and is at its infancy stage. Building on the best practices of more developed countries, relevant legal provisions and operational tools for the provision of VNFIL services have been developed and six institutions have been accredited, but the services have not yet been delivered to candidates. The complexity of the accreditation system, rigid and bureaucratic administrative requirements and financial implications associated with the accreditation process of institutions and with the enrolment process of candidates have been identified as the main obstacles for the operational arrangements of an effective VNFIL system. The study contributes to the advancement of the understanding and the significance of validation of skills through the VNFIL services and advocates for the need to establish a robust and sustainable VNFIL system in line with European practices. 
 
 Received: 13 July 2023 / Accepted: 20 October 2023 / Published: 5 January 2024

Vocational education and training in South Africa: leaders' perceptions of a mentoring framework in a professional development programme

PurposeThe South African vocational education and training (VET) sector is required by legislation to redefine postsecondary education, advance industrialisation and expand the job market to address unemployment in the country. Yet, VET leaders' heterogenous educational and occupational backgrounds do not enable them to address the needs of the VET sector. Continuous professional development of leaders in the education sector needs to include support structures such as mentoring.Design/methodology/approachThe present study sought to investigate how VET managers in South Africa perceive three different types of mentoring – individual, peer group and expert-based key performance area (KPA) mentoring – during a part-time professional leadership development programme. Using interactive qualitative analysis (IQA), the authors collected and analysed data from focus group discussions (n = 24) and individual interviews (n = 21) from two cohorts of the programme.FindingsThe results revealed that individual mentoring represented the most important driving mechanism, followed by peer group mentoring and expert-based KPA mentoring. Participants identified leadership as a prerequisite for their development. Emotions formed the final outcome of the mentoring framework.Research limitations/implicationsBased on the findings, the authors suggest investigating the role played by leaders' interpersonal competences such as emotional competence in the workplace. Additionally, research needs to clarify if and how mentoring can support leaders to develop interpersonal competences in formal and informal settings.Originality/valueThe study offers empirical evidence on a three-pillar mentoring framework adopted in a professional development programme for leaders in VET in South Africa. It highlights the importance of individual, social and emotional factors.

Place of Residence Does Matter for Educational Integration: The Relevance of Spatial Contexts for Refugees’ Transition to VET in Germany

For the mostly young refugees who arrived in Germany around 2015/2016, completing vocational education and training (VET) represents the most promising opportunity for professional and social integration. However, access opportunities to VET are characterized by spatial inequalities: German districts vary considerably according to labour market structure, economic productivity and demographic development, which constitute the supply and demand for training places in the dual VET sector, to which refugees predominantly have access. This paper examines if the transition chances of young refugees aged 18–30 to VET depend on their place of residence. For this, we analysed the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees (n = 5216) using multi-level discrete-time event history analysis. On the supply side, higher economic productivity (measured by GDP), a low unemployment rate and a greater number of small versus large businesses in the district are positively associated with refugees’ transition chances. On the demand side, an increasing number of school leavers with no school-leaving certificate and of refugees in the district are negatively associated with the respective chances. Our results suggest that spatial characteristics essentially matter for young refugees’ training opportunities and thus support recommendations to reform current distribution policies, in which central spatial contextual factors remain largely disregarded.

Aligning HE Pedagogical Innovation with VET, Industry, and Research Partnerships: Insights on the Demola Portugal Initiative

Academia–industry collaboration has been around for some time, but there has been a shift in both the education and workforce settings to work closely together, coordinating initiatives across all sectors, namely higher education (HE), vocational education and training (VET), and industry, in an attempt to mutually drive innovation, provide opportunities to go from concept to action, encourage entrepreneurship, improve ICT use, and other equally important hard and soft skills, aiming to bridge the existing gap between the teaching–learning arena and the business world. Aware that the VET sector, HE, the government, and industry should be devoted to forging partnerships considered key to the development of research, leading to quality, more business, and ultimately, the economic and social well-being of society, a Consortium of 14 Portuguese Polytechnic Institutions engaged in an innovative pedagogical training program, “Learning based on co-creation processes,” a project within the Demola Portugal Initiative (2021–2023), and at the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu (IPV) with reference No. POCH-04-5267-FSE-000818. This training program, with its active methodologies, is then put into practice through the “Link Me Up—1000 Ideias” project. In our study, we will focus on the needs, expectations, and experiences of the IPV teaching staff and the vocational schoolteachers that participated in the training course. Through the analysis of questionnaires and e-portfolios of the participants in the first two editions (January–June 2021 and September 2021–February 2022), we intend to answer the following questions: (i) Which facilitation skills can be meaningfully used by the teachers participating in the (Demola) Pedagogical Innovation Training course at IPV? (ii) Which tools/platforms can enhance the students’ learning and collaboration among different team members, company representatives, and trainees/facilitators? The data collected confirm that the Demola Portugal Initiative provides an effective approach to bring HE closer to the labor market and keep pace with progress and innovation.

Finnish VET representatives’ interpretations of inclusion

The purpose of this study was to learn about Finnish VET representatives’ perceptions of inclusion. Discussions and research on inclusion in education have mainly concentrated on the comprehensive school context, although vocational education and training (VET) students may have multiple, intersectional experiences of disadvantage. Our data included representatives (N=53) from five different Finnish VET sectors. Through semi-structured interviews, we investigated their interpretations of inclusion. We applied an abductive approach in our analytical process that followed the principles of qualitative content analysis. Our findings indicated that the definition of inclusion is ambiguous. At the administration level, inclusion was related to ideology, whereas teachers spoke about special education practices. Work-life representatives connected inclusion to the principles of communality, and students appreciated this understanding and individual solutions in their studying and workplace learning. This study supports the view of earlier studies and addresses a need for shared understanding and values to engage with inclusion in practice. The VET sector would benefit from discussions and training in inclusion and inclusive principles, where the study works as an initiator.

International Curriculum Comparison in Vocational Education and Training: A Collaborative Development of an Analysis Instrument

Context: International comparative research on Vocational Education and Training (VET) is gaining importance, as global cooperation and mutual learning in VET grows. However, it is characterized by a high degree of complexity, due on one hand, to the heterogeneity of the VET sector, and on the other hand to the unique challenges of international comparisons. In addition, comparative research projects are increasingly conducted in the form of cross-border collaborations, which have their own particular organizational and methodological considerations, opportunities, and challenges. This paper presents an example of a cooperative research process, aimed at investigating the complex phenomenon of the competence-based approach in Russian and Chinese VET. In providing an example of developing an instrument for curriculum analysis and comparison, we discuss and reflect on the methodological and organizational peculiarities and challenges of the research process conducted collaboratively by an international team. Method: The instrument for analysis and comparison of curricular documents, was developed in an iterative multi-stage process, combining deductive and inductive steps. The embeddedness of the elements of a competence-based approach in curricular documents is investigated, using qualitative content analysis. To develop a coding frame, we started with a comprehensive partially systematic literature review of international, Russian and Chinese discourses on competence-based curricula. The frame was built on the selected model of competence-based education, and on accumulated results of the literature analysis of national discourses. Furthermore, during the first coding process, an iterative adaptation of the developed instrument took place. Results: The result of this process was the development of an analysis instrument which, on the one hand, is well-adapted to each national context and, on the other hand, allows a comparison of results along the same dimensions of analysis, in our case, elements of the competence-based approach in curriculum. Conclusion: Developing an analysis framework for a cross-cultural comparative investigation of such a diffuse and heterogeneous construct as the competence-based approach, can pose a methodological challenge for an international team of researchers. However, an effective application of own team resources such as proficiency in different languages, insider and outsider perspectives, along with continuous intensive communication and a flexible, iterative research process, allows development of a well-adapted analysis instrument for international comparison.

Efficiency of the teaching-industry linkage in the Australian vocational education and training

The vocational education and training (VET) sector plays a crucial role in Australia’s education system. Associated closely between the VET provision and industry, VET training quality is continually at the heart of debates in the process of implementing the Australian VET reform agenda. In response of key themes of this reform process, investigating the training efficiency of VET through the linked efficiency between teaching and industry responsiveness is imperative. The paper aims to address this objective by using the dynamic network data envelopment analysis in a balanced panel data for 2008–2012. This advanced model allows to assess simultaneously the efficiency of two nodes, teaching and industry responsiveness, and the overall dynamic training efficiency of VET based on fields of education in a network structure. We found that the overall training efficiency of VET is, on average, 0.835 while the mean divisional efficiencies of the teaching efficiency and industry responsiveness are 0.763 and 0.908, respectively. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to examine dynamic changes of the efficiency of the teaching and industry linkage following various period weights. Policy implications are drawn for the Australian VET sector.

EU AND UKRAINIAN INNOVATIVE EXPERIENCE IN EDUCATION: THE ORIENTATION POINT FOR VET OF UKRAINE

The article analyses the EU policy for innovations in the sector of vocational education and training (VET). It reveals the activity results of the European network “Innovations in vocational education and training” leading by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop). The paper identifies main development directions in VET systems and reviews its best practices of the EU countries based on the analysis of the experience of Campus of Occupations and Qualifications (France), Centre for Management, Training and Employment of Youth (Italy) and Centres of (Vocational) Excellence (Great Britain). Additionally, the following research covers some best practices in public and private educational sectors of Ukraine e.g. two university-based models of innovations eco-system realised via innovation hubs and startup schools, STEM-centres and Fabrication Laboratories. Therefore, the main ideas of positive European experience are identified being the valuable tool for developing the modern policy for innovations and VET in Ukraine. The identified local practices in education sector can be adapted to the capacity and needs of VET sector after additional and more detailed study.

Ensuring comparability of qualifications through moderation: implications for Australia’s VET sector

ABSTRACT Maintaining the quality and comparability of qualifications has become a major priority for vocational education and training (VET) systems world-wide, especially for those countries which have decentralised assessment and reporting systems. In the absence of external examinations, one policy solution to align the assessment standards of different providers is the introduction of assessment moderation. Yet there has been little, if any, research conducted in VET that has examined different approaches to moderation for quality control purposes. By drawing on lessons learnt in a range of settings (i.e. schools, vocational and higher education), this paper identifies the optimal conditions for undertaking social, external and statistical moderation approaches to quality control. It also identifies a range of potential system level factors that could hinder implementation within the context of the Australian VET sector.

Three Worlds of Vocational Education: Specialized and General Craftsmanship in France, Germany, and The Netherlands

SummaryOne of the biggest challenges in the design of educational systems concerns how vocational education and training (VET) systems are best organized for the labour markets of tomorrow. Do we need more specialized craftsmen with practical and specific skills that tightly link to specific occupations, or do we need a shift towards broader craftsmen with more general skills? Using microdata from France, Germany, and The Netherlands, we show that there are different ways by which the VET sector establishes school-to-work linkages. Linkages between school to work are on average stronger in systems with a dual VET sector compared to a full school-based model. However, an important reason why linkages are stronger is because of compositional differences, as in dual VET systems more students tend to be enrolled in strongly linking educational programs. Moreover, VET systems are far from homogeneous, and there are large differences in how strong educational programmes link to occupations within and between countries. In general, employment is highest among the stronger linking programs, and this effect is strongest in dual VET systems. These results suggest that there is still room for occupationally oriented schooling.

Characteristics of Effective Health and Safety Training Environments and Trainers in Australian Vocational Education and Training

Effective health and safety training can contribute to a reduction of workplace accidents and assist employers to meet their health and safety legal obligations as prescribed by health and safety legislation. This paper considers the competency requirements for trainers of health and safety within the Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) context from a standards perspective. Currently, there are not specific specified requirements for these trainers, but rather generic requirements that apply to all trainers in the VET sector. An interpretive qualitative method utilizing observations based on a review of a range of sources, including published research, standards documents, general internet sources and industry publications is applied such that the health and safety training practices and environments in the VET sector are explored and described. Health and safety training, in order to be effective, warrants careful attention to the training environment, the training practices implemented and the skills and knowledge of the trainer. The role of standards for health and safety training, with ANSI/ASSE Z490.1-2016 and CAN/CSA Z1001-18b provided as examples, is considered and a these standards provide a basis for a proposed standardization for health and safety training practitioners in the Australian VET system. The findings offer inclusion of a specific training and assessment unit of competency in the TAE Training and Education Training Package to address the specific requirements for safety trainers, which then be used as a benchmark in the VET sector and by employers and industry. The paper, in conclusion, posits that inconsistent training practices and trainer qualifications could be minimized by utilizing a national, consensus-based standard on the training practices in health and safety training, which can be achieved through a competency specification.

Vocational Education and Training and the Development of Safe Workers

Vocational Education and Training (VET) plays a significant role in the development of work ready individuals and a significant component of a work readiness is the ability to undertake work in a safe manner. This discussion paper aims to outline the various roles played by stakeholders in the VET sector in shaping the development of “safe workers” and increasing the effectiveness of training provided by the VET sector, particularly related to licenced outcome training. The discussion investigates methods to manage and integrate stakeholder expectations and requirements across the various contributors to the training and assessment processes. Current practices are noted and considered with an identification of potential gaps, particularly in stakeholder communication and knowledge, including the dissemination of relevant information. Issues related to the complexity created where the training and assessment practices are regulated by multiple regulators are highlighted as a primary focus of the study. The paper concludes by proposing establishment of an independent group of technical experts across the range of applicable regulations requirements to provide authoritative support to the VET sector.

Translating the Learning Factory model to a Danish Vocational Education Setting

In 2018, the Center for the use of digital technologies in teaching (CIU) in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector was launched. The center is funded for three years by the Danish Ministry of Education. The main goals of CIU are to qualify the current use of digital technologies in teaching at the Danish vocational schools and furthermore to create a knowledge base on didactic aspects of technology enhanced teaching environments. The Danish VET sector currently face challenges in terms of recruitment, student retention, personalisation of teaching and learning, and in general to align with the demands of the labor market and industrial partners. The VET sector is characterised by a large degree of heterogeneity, both in terms of educational programmes, teaching practices and student population thus, there are no one-size-fits-all solutions. The Learning Factory model offers a lense to identify and hence solve these challenges while also meeting the goals of CIU. We therefore adopted the Learning Factory model and are now in the process of translating it to fit the Danish VET sector. In this paper, we first outline the process of translating the original Learning Factory model to a Danish VET sector. We then present the first round of Learning Factory established this fall. The five Learning Factories include participants from 21 schools and focus on various uses of IT including Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Learning Management systems. We end with a discussion of how to develop a Learning Factory model that can produce solutions to local authentic problems meanwhile facilitating knowledge-sharing across a large, heterogeneous and complex setting such as the Danish VET sector.

Examining the impact of goal attainment and training goal on overall training satisfaction among vocational education and training completers

Purpose The purpose of this paper was to examine whether there is a relationship between goal attainment and overall training satisfaction among vocational education and training (VET) completers, and in turn whether this relationship varies across the different goals for undertaking training in a VET course. Design/methodology/approach A request was made to the National Centre for Vocational Education Research in Australia for access to the unit record data from the 2016 Student Outcomes Survey. Approval was obtained. The final sample comprised 149,632 students who completed a VET course in 2016, where 55 per cent of the sample were women and the average age was 36.55 years (SD=13.17). Findings Students who achieved or did not yet know whether they had achieved their training goal were more satisfied with their overall training compared with those who partly achieved their goal, who in turn were more satisfied than those who did not attain their goal across the various training goals. However, participants who were training for personal reasons or reasons other than for employment or pursuing further study, and either partly achieved, did not achieve or did not know yet whether they had achieved their training goal reported the lowest levels of training satisfaction, although these participants were still satisfied overall with their training. Originality/value These results highlight the importance of understanding the impact of goals on achievement-related activities and should be used to inform learning and teaching approaches as well as the provision of support services in the VET sector.

International Collaborations in the VET Sector: Motivations and Challenges

This study identified the motives for vocational education and training (VET) providers in different countries to collaborate internationally and the challenges they encounter by interviewing 16 teachers, program coordinators, and managers from four VET providers in China and Canada. The findings of this study highlight the difference in primary motives driving VET providers in developed and developing economies to pursue international collaborations. For the former, a commercial approach is prominent, while for the latter, international engagement is more instrumental and developmental in nature. This study also sheds light on the specific barriers such as curricula incompatibility and staff readiness created by the national focus of VET to engage internationally. These findings contribute to a fuller understanding of international collaborations in different national contexts across educational sectors. Furthermore, the employment of the interorganizational relations theory in guiding the investigation enriches the theory by extending its application into educational organizations and exploring how different motives could be interpreted in the educational setting.

The recruitment of VET teachers and the failure of policy in England’s further education sector

ABSTRACT England’s further education (FE) sector has been characterised by instability and policy churn for at least three decades during which time reform of vocational education and training (VET) has been piled on top of reform, with few resulting in lasting change. In the context of another ambitious new reform of VET in England, this article reports on a study that examined the chronic difficulties in recruiting teachers of vocational science, engineering and technology (SET) to FE colleges. We argue that these difficulties in recruiting SET teachers reveal persistent weaknesses in policy planning for the English VET sector and help to explain the serial failure of VET policy in England.

Play meets early childhood teacher education

Recent policy changes connect play in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings explicitly to learning, and to later school-learning outcomes, calling on early childhood (EC) educators to incorporate intentional teaching into their practice. Given these recent policy changes, the purpose of this propositional article is to raise awareness and promote discussion about the current place of play in initial early childhood teacher education programs in Australian universities and the vocational education and training (VET) sector. The article initiates dialogue by contributing a rhizomatically-informed analytical snapshot of publicly available information from course outlines and subject guides in EC initial teacher education (ITE) in 20 Australian universities and the VET sector. This rhizomatically-informed analytical snapshot showed that the word ‘play’ was absent or occurred at relatively low frequency in course and subject descriptive material. The least frequent occurrence was in materials from ITE degree-level courses. While the snapshot does not delve into the full course and subject content (and makes no claims to do so), the rhizomatic methodological approach used leads us to ask whether ‘play’ is being overlooked in the delivery of ITE and VET courses for ECE. Recent quality ratings of ECEC services in Australia support the idea that for beginning and experienced educators, the knowledge base may be less robust than assumed when it comes to combining intentional teaching with play-based learning and the achievement of child outcomes. At the very least, we propose that this warrants further investigation.

Critical Reflections and Recommendations Derived from Providing Over 20,000 Hours of Practicum Industry Placements for Tertiary Students in Exercise Science, Sport and Fitness

More than 30 of the 43 universities in Australia offer an exercise science and/or sport science degree programs. In the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector, more than 160 Registered Training Organisations offer Australian Government approved fitness training courses. The paper is a self-reflective exercise based upon mentoring placement students from multiple registered course providers from the VET sector fitness strand. Combined with reflection on apparently healthy general population hours for placement students from six Sydney city and one regional New South Wales based universities this represented evaluation of more than 200 students and more than 20,000 placement supervision hours. This observation was based upon student placements conducted over the previous seven years, though a significant proportion of the students surveilled were from the previous 36 months. A number of recommendations were developed that may be relevant not just for health, fitness and exercise and sport science courses, but also may be relevant to industry mentorship across a range of fields.

Issues impacting on enrolled nurse education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students: a discussion

Background: Achieving increased participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia’s health workforce, particularly nursing, is federal government policy imperative. However, the uptake of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students into nursing has stalled and their attrition from tertiary nursing courses is considerably higher than for other students. Aim: To alert the profession to issues impacting enrolled nursing education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Design: Discussion paper. Results: Studies of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students mainly focus on tertiary education for registered nurses whereas vocational education and training (VET) for enrolled nurses is usually overlooked. It is generally assumed that the issues influencing the recruitment, attrition, and retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in higher education universities and other institutions similarly impact enrolled nursing students in the VET sector. Conclusion: Research that contributes robust evidence-based knowledge specifically on strategies addressing issues in enrolled nursing education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their employment uptake is required.

Technical and Vocational Education Analytics Using Punjab TEVTA Students’ Data

The development of informative workforce that is skilled in a specific profession is considered as the most recommended and desirable feature of any advanced state. Technical Education & Vocational Trainings provide golden opportunity of growth regarding the output of individuals and prosperity of employers. Subsequently it is the dire need of developing countries to invest in public vocational education and training sector (VET) for the progression of skillful societies. Process of manual predictions and analysis on the basis of students’ data to make decisions that will improve the overall teaching and learning is very difficult and tiring. Data mining is exceptionally helpful when we are talking about education data analysis and prediction. Data mining techniques are being used successfully in different areas especially in student educational and learning analytics called as Educational Data Mining (EDM). In this work, TEVTA students’ data is shaped as a ready-to-mine data set and then various data mining techniques are applied to derive interesting patterns that can potentially derive important decisions for improvement of learning process, enhancement of teaching method and overall development of whole system of technical education and vocational trainings. Besides presenting interesting analytics of TEVTA data, we develop classification problems to predict status of students after completing TEVTA courses. This classification can also help in evaluating success of TEVTA programs. This work can help in analyzing and predicting the aspects affecting students’ as well as institutes’ performance from different dimensions.