Vocational Experiences Research Articles

The role of temporality in refugees’ work-related meaningfulness-making

ABSTRACT This study explores how refugees, i.e., people experiencing liminality due to career and life disruptions, make work-related meaningfulness, and it uncovers how they apply temporality in their meaningfulness-making. Analysing 48 interviews of 24 refugees in Germany, the findings show how, post-migration, refugees faced two types of under-institutionalized liminal experiences challenging their meaningfulness – one concerning self-focused and one pertaining to other-focused sources of meaningfulness. To navigate these liminal experiences, refugees actively made meaningfulness. This was a temporal process, as refugees connected their past, present, and future. They drew on their past and present vocational experiences when moving towards their future vocational self, built on their past and acted in the present to secure present and future social connections, amplified synergies and resolved tensions in meaningfulness sources, and compensated unavailable meaningfulness sources with available ones. Based on our findings, we propose a model on how people make meaningfulness despite missing its main ingredients (i.e., a clear sense of self and social connections) and how under-institutionalized liminality can turn from a space devoid of meaningfulness into an agentic and creative space of meaningfulness-making. We contribute to meaningfulness, temporality, and liminality research.

Vocational Experiences of Korean Women With a High School Diploma: Insights into Work Precarity and Social Marginalization

A college education is a means to achieve upward social mobility and secure decent employment. Yet, college education tends to be accessible for families already part of privileged groups, such as those with financial resources. With attention to systemic oppression and varying degrees of access to education and employment, this study aims to describe the experiences of job-seeking and working among Korean women with a high school diploma as their highest educational attainment. The psychology of working theory, the work precarity framework, and intersectionality informed the study, exploring interview data from 13 Korean women. Findings from the reflective thematic analysis show that struggles in seeking and maintaining employment among the participants were particularly exacerbated by mistreatment, harassment, and disrespect due to having neither college degrees nor male privilege. Participants’ experiences with economic deprivation, lack of societal support and respect, and precarious work conditions led to psychological, social, and physical pain that went neglected. As they confront barriers to employment and undesirable work conditions, they affirm themselves and express the hope that the work society should better meet their fundamental needs as humans. Future research directions and practical implications are discussed.

초등학생의 창의·융합적 진로역량 향상을 위한 문제중심형 직업체험프로그램의 개발 및 적용

This study developed a program to improve creative and convergent career capabilities using job experience facility, which is an active career education method, and investigated whether the program affects learners' satisfaction and creative·convergent career competency(creative and convergent thinking skills about the profession and career perception). For the vocational experience program, the ADDIE instructional design model and problem-oriented learning instructional design strategy were applied to develop vocational experience pre and post professional programs for elementary school students. After that, the program was conducted to 3rd and 4th graders, satisfaction was investigated, and creative·convergent career competency evaluation sheets were reorganized and evaluated according to the target. As a result, there was no statistically significant difference in program satisfaction, but there was a significant difference in creative and convergent thinking skills and career perception for jobs, which had a positive effect on satisfaction and creative and convergent career competency.

'Am I a good enough therapist?': Self-doubt among speech and language therapists.

The therapeutic process is fraught with various feelings. This research focused on a specific type of negative feeling, namely self-doubt (SD). To explore and characterize the nature of SD among speech and language therapists (SLTs) (the frequency of SD, situations that trigger SD, emotions and thoughts related to SD, and coping strategies) in various stages of occupational experience. A total of 267 SLTs answered an online survey. Respondents represented SLTs in all stages of vocational experience, with varying academic degrees, from a variety of employment settings. The survey addressed situations that trigger SD, thoughts, and emotions associated with SD and the background information of the respondents. Frequency distributions of the responses of the participants were determined, and independent-samples Kruskal-Wallis tests were conducted to examine if there were differences between groups that differed in their occupational experience on the frequency of SD, attitudes towards SD and emotions related to SD. Differences were found between SLTs in various stages of professional development in several aspects of SD. Novice SLTs reported significantly higher levels of SD compared with experienced SLTs. In the face of SD, novice SLTs consider career abandonment significantly more than do experienced SLTs. They perceive themselves as a failure when experiencing SD to a significantly greater extent than do more experienced SLTs. In addition, SD is associated with various negative emotions. Self-doubt is a natural professional feeling. It may be harmful especially in the early stages of professional development. Our findings call for support and guidance in the face of SD. What is already known on the subject Healthcare professionals report feeling SD. This feeling may have deleterious effects on well-being and career satisfaction and is especially harmful in young therapists. What this paper adds to existing knowledge This study characterizes the nature of SD among SLTs in various stages of occupational experience. Our findings indicate that SD is reported among SLTs at all career stages, especially in novice SLTs. Self-doubt is associated with a range of negative thoughts and emotions, and it may be triggered by various situations. Nonetheless, it is a topic that our respondents rarely learn about. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Normalising and validating SD is important to SLTs' resilience and may facilitate coping. This may be achieved by learning about the subject of SD in graduate programmes. In addition, mentors should create a safe learning culture to allow sharing SD and challenging situations, especially in the first years of occupational experience.

Behavioral influences on the relationship between firms' aspiration performance gap and innovation input: The moderating role of executives' vocational socialization

AbstractWhile extant research shows a curvilinear relationship between aspiration performance gaps and innovation input, we know far less about how vocational experiences of key firm decisions makers may shift this relationship. We propose the concept of executives' vocational socialization and explore how it influences the relationship between firms' aspiration performance gaps and innovation input from the perspectives of the behavioral theory of the firm and upper echelons theory. We theorize that two aspects of executives' vocational socialization, namely, executives' technical career experience and firm tenure, strengthen the inverted U‐shaped relationship between the negative aspiration performance gap and innovation input and weaken the U‐shaped relationship between the positive aspiration performance gap and innovation input respectively. We test these hypotheses using a panel dataset of 1158 listed firms in China from 2008 to 2017, and the empirical results from switching regression and fixed‐effect models support our hypotheses. Our study contributes to research on the aspiration performance gap, innovation input, and behavioral theory of the firm.

Вузовский музей в механизме формирования профессиональных компетенций у студентов

The article analyzes the role of a university museum in the formation of students’ vocational skills. The author highlights that it is essential that students should solve pedagogical problems which are equivalent to those they will have to solve in real life. Applied tasks should be relevant and enable students to apply their professional knowledge in real-world environments. The article maintains that a university museum can help solve the aforementioned task. The author singles out a range of varied activities that enable students to accumulate sufficient applied experience: hosting excursions, providing master-classes on interactive museum software to schoolchildren, designing leaflets and display stands. Such activities enable students to gain initial vocational experiences and collect their portfolios which can later come in handy during the job-hunting process. To illustrate such activities, the article describes work of volunteer tour guides of the Time Machine team of Ryazan State University named for S. Yesenin, outlines the principles of their performance and the structure of the team.

Motivations to have a Second Career as a Teacher in Vocational Education and Training

In Sweden, upper secondary vocational education and training (VET) teachers must have high relevant vocational experience from a previous career, but 44% do not have a teaching certificate and thus are not formally qualified. However, there are significant differences between the 12 national VET programs in this respect. For example, 68 percent of the Child Recreation Program teachers are qualified, but only 28 percent of the HVAC and Property Maintenance Program teachers. The overall aim of this study is to identify and understand factors that motivate individuals to choose VET teaching as a second career in Sweden. As the Factors influencing teaching choice (FIT-Choice) scale has been rarely used in a Swedish VET context, a secondary aim is to test its suitability in this context. Thus, we investigate Swedish VET teachers’ choice of a second career, using the FIT-Choice scale. The findings show that it has sufficient validity and reliability for investigating Swedish VET teachers’ motivational determinants, and that the factors motivating their career change are highly dependent on their former occupation and working conditions. Other important factors include the family-friendly work schedules. The findings contribute to understanding of factors that motivate people to become vocational teachers, which is essential for improving the development of the highly skilled employees required in numerous sectors.

Access Barriers to Dental Treatment and Prevention for Turkish Migrants in Germany – A Qualitative Survey

IntroductionThe worldwide migration movement is growing and thereby challenging the health care systems of immigration countries like Germany to make health care equally accessible for all people. Due to their low oral health status and low uptake rates of dental treatment and prevention, migrants were detected as a vulnerable group. Data regarding dental care access barriers of this group is limited. Therefore, the following study established a deeper understanding of unknown access barriers.MethodsNine expert interviews and one focus group interview were conducted semi-structured via interview guideline in the period of August until October 2018. The experts were persons with strong vocational interactions and experiences with the sector oral health care and migration. The focus group participants had a Turkish migration background.ResultsThe expert and focus group interviews revealed a variety of barriers that exist toward dental treatment and prevention for migrants. Language, perceived significance of oral health, oral health knowledge, health socialization and patient-dentist interaction were detected to be the main barriers with underlying subthemes and interactions. Furthermore, a predominantly not precaution-oriented dental service utilization of migrants was underlined by the interviewees. Additionally, ways to reach a higher cultural sensitivity in oral health care were stated.ConclusionWith respect for research, there is a need for the integration of migrant-specific items when collecting health data from people. With respect for policy, there is a need for more structural and individual attention for promoting equal access to oral health care and prevention measures for people with a migrant background.

The influence of OSPE and PBL on competency-based pharmacy student self-assessment

BackgroundIn addition to vocational education and experience, the pharmaceutical profession’s proper pursuit requires acquiring and continuously improving professional competencies. In recent years, the need has been increasingly highlighted for developing a medical education system based on helping students develop their competencies. It is necessary to adapt the tools and methods for assessing competencies during formal education. It will enable students to know the directions of further personal or professional development.ObjectiveThe study aimed to compare pharmacy students’ self-assessment outcomes before and after the Objective Structured Practical Examination (OSPE), which finished the Pharmaceutical Care course (PCc). The study’s purpose was also to compare the outcomes of the self-assessment of competencies between the students of two academic years for whom classes on the PCc were provided by different methods.MethodsThe study was conducted over two academic years (2018/2019 and 2019/2020) among 5th-year students enrolled at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Jagiellonian University Medical College (JUMC) at the end of the Pharmaceutical Care course. Different teaching methods were used in the delivery of the course in these academic years. The students self-assessed their competencies using a questionnaire consisting of a list of personal and patient care competencies. The students completed the questionnaire before and after the OSPE, which followed the completion of the PCc.ResultsStudents’ professional competencies as self-assessed after the exam were higher than those assessed before the exam. Differences were observed in both personal and patient care competencies. Students taking the course in the 2019/2020 academic year set their pre-OSPE competencies higher than students taking the PCc in 2018/2019.ConclusionThe self-assessment scores increased for most competencies included in the study following the OSPE. This may suggest that taking part in the exam, involvement in patient’s case simulations, and self-assessment of performance at individual stages of the exam contributed to increased subjective assessment of professional competencies.

Geography as a vocation? Becoming a geographer under neoliberalism

ABSTRACT Whereas geographers have outlined the effect of neoliberalism on the discipline, we ask how neoliberalism has particularly altered what it means to be a geographer. We do this by exploring geography as a vocation. After a summary of debates about academia and vocation, we present an overview of autobiographical and biographical writing on becoming a geographer. In these accounts, we note the increased attention that has been paid to issues of race, class, gender and precarity as shaping both what geography is and who can ⁣pursue it. These accounts are then contrasted with visual timeline interviews we undertook with geographers in UK secondary and higher education. We found a strong sense that geography is not simply a job, but a calling or vocation. However, this experience of vocation is being undermined by neoliberalism marked in particular by metricization and casualization. We argue, however, that both individually and collectively geographers are finding ways to resist the deforming effects of neoliberalism and to reclaim a sense of vocation. Although we recognize that vocation is a problematic and historically situated notion, we conclude that it is a productive new way to approach contemporary debates on what it means to be a geographer under neoliberalism.

Academia During the Time of COVID-19: Examining the Voices of Untenured Female Professors in STEM.

This paper highlighted the diverse voices of 84 female-identifying professors in STEM fields who responded to a series of open-ended questions regarding work, family, and tenure experiences in the context of the current global pandemic. The current paper is part of a longitudinal study of the vocational experiences of tenure-track women in STEM that has examined the “leaky pipeline” in women’s academic careers. Consensual Qualitative Research-Modified (CQR-M; ) was implemented to analyze the data. The findings suggested that participants perceived the precarious balance between work and family to have increased in difficulty in the face of COVID-19. Among untenured female faculty with children, an added layer of challenge was noted related to loss of childcare in the wake of the pandemic. The pre-existing, pervasive barriers (i.e., institutional, systemic, and psychological) were further exacerbated by familial barriers for female STEM faculty seeking tenure during COVID-19. Overall, the results indicated missed opportunities within higher education to implement supportive policies for untenured female faculty in STEM. Clinical implications, future research directions, and social advocacy interventions in the context of COVID-19 are discussed.

Collaborative learning in creative writing: A teacher’s perspective

This study aims to determine how the impact of collaborative classes on creative writing and how these classes improve students' abilities in achieving learning outcomes. The research question that exposed is how do teachers perceive teaching creative writing through collaborative project. Collaborative learning offers a number of opportunities for students to learn interpersonal skills and character and teamwork by participating in task-oriented learning groups, so that although the content or learning materials continue to develop, collaborative groups are still able to develop various skills that can prepare students to pursue career. The method used in this study is descriptive qualitative. The primary data in this study were taken from interviews with lecturers in creative writing courses. From the analysis it can be seen that collaborative learning engages all students from diverse backgrounds personally and actively, inviting each individual to contribute knowledge and perspectives to the world of education from their own unique lives and also from their academic and vocational experiences.

Co-designing a curriculum model for career education: perspectives from regional communities in Australia.

The vocational experiences and skills of young adolescents could be infused into formal education by identifying career competencies to be taught within the academic curriculum. Such curriculum practices that embed educational and career pathways must also include the perspectives of students and the community, particularly those from marginalised groups. Drawing on data from 111 teachers, principals, carers and students, this paper presents research undertaken to co-design career education lesson plans within an infused model of the curriculum for early Middle Year students from regional, rural, and remote Australia. The lesson plans and activities were designed to allow for meaningful self-reflection and goal-setting that could be seamlessly infused into the formal curriculum and help embed early-stage career education. The paper concludes by projecting opportunities and challenges for seamless curriculum integration, while pertinent to the Australian context, can also be read with broader relevance to other educational systems and schools.

Authentic pharmacotherapy case study enhances learning outcomes in pharmacology in preprofessional undergraduate students

Introduction: Professional health training curricula that integrate basic and clinical sciences are associated with improved learning outcomes. Authentic clinical case studies that capture the complexity of a typical patient are frequently used in clinical training programs to model to students how to integrate information across disciplines to justify management plans. The value of such authentic case studies in preclinical students is less studied. This study seeks to know (i) if preclinical students in a large midwestern liberal arts college would be interested in participating in an optional case study assignment and (ii) if participation is associated with improved learning outcomes in a third-year pharmacology course. Material and Methods: Demographics, motivation, and vocational experience were assessed by an online survey. Binary multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between participating in the voluntary case study and performance on case-related and noncase-related questions. Results: More than two-thirds of the students participated in the case study, and their decision was driven largely by interest and/or experience in a healthcare vocation. Completing the case study was associated with better performance on case-related multiple-choice questions on midterm exams (Wald’s χ2 = 2079; P < 0.001). Conclusions: This study suggests that there are potential benefits to using case studies in preclinical curricula to drive improved student outcomes by underscoring the link between prerequisite courses and clinical practice. It also proffers a potential tool for assessing the efficacy of case study interventions.

Mixed methods analysis of an exploratory apprenticeship model employment program for young adults with developmental disabilities

BACKGROUND: Individuals with developmental disabilities experience lower employment, higher underemployment, and higher job switching rates than the general population. OBJECTIVE: The current study investigated: (1) the vocational and support experiences of individuals with developmental disabilities, and (2) the differences in participant outcomes between an apprenticeship-model employment program and the comparison group. METHODS: Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to assess outcomes and experiences of participants in the apprenticeship model employment program (N = 22) and a community-based “Job Club” (N = 11). Thematic analysis was used to analyze interview transcripts. Independent samples T-tests and paired samples T-tests were utilized to analyze within-group and between group differences. RESULTS: Parent interview data regarding past and current experiences of the participants in the apprenticeship model employment program suggest 6 major themes. Independent samples T-tests determined that the apprenticeship program participants were significantly less employed than the comparison group at pre-, then similarly employed as the comparison group at post-intervention. Within-group analyses determined that some aspects of participant confidence in their vocational skills and problem-solving skills significantly increased from pre- to post-intervention, according to parent report. CONCLUSIONS: The apprenticeship model of employment appears to be a promising model in need of further study with a larger sample size.

The Necessity of Vocational Education for Children in Preschool

Vocational education is an important activity in the process of developing the capacity to choose a career. Vocational education activities not only involve students, but are used to refer to all activities intended to support individuals of all ages and at all times in life with career understanding, make choices about career, job, job. Career guidance should be conducted right from the preschool level to prepare children for the perfect future career. The article is based on the results of analysis of Vietnam policy documents, domestic and foreign studies on vocational education as well as in-depth interviews. The article analyzes the role and tasks of vocational education for preschool children, some vocational education activities in preschools in Vietnam today, principles of vocational education for preschool children. In particular, the author also mentioned some forms of vocational education that have been implemented for preschool children today, such as field visits, vocational experience, career guidance.

Marketization，Community Networks in Labor Market and Resource Misallocation within Cities

The growth of aggregate TFP depends not only on technological progress but also on the optimal allocation of production factors. Hsieh and Klenow（2009）developed a monopolistic competition framework, and found out that there would exist large dispersion of firms’ TFPR when resources could not be reallocated from low-productivity plants to high-productivity plants due to price distortion. Using the data of Chinese manufacturing firms to estimate this model, they found that if the allocation efficiency of capital and labor in China was the same as in the US, aggregate TFP would be boosted by 30%–50%.Based on this groundbreaking paper, a large number of literatures have studied resource misallocation in China from the perspective of factor market distortions and government interventions, while little attention has been paid to the role of informal institution. However, community networks based on strong interpersonal ties such as kinship, geographical proximity, common educational or vocational experiences play an important role in the labor market, which have a profound effect on labor resource allocation. Traditionally, those networks are linked to nepotism, rent-seeking, corruption and market-segmentation. However, recent Development Economics views them as a supplement for market imperfection: People connected with strong ties can share recruiting information, and multilateral reputation can make commitments credible, which alleviates market failure such as adverse selection, moral hazard and incomplete contract.Zuo and Li（2017）estimated the city-level index of community networks, and examined its effect on firms’ TFP with various degrees of marketization, which to some extent involve resource misallocation within cities. However, we find that resource misallocation within cities may be more serious than inter-cities by decomposing all the variance of industry-level TFPR. And this paper gives it an explanation from the combination of community networks and marketization. The research shows that community networks mitigate resource misallocation in areas with low degree of marketization. However, in areas with high degree of marketization, community networks reduce the efficiency of resource allocation. By substituting the marketization index for its sub-indexes, the coefficient estimation is consistent with the theoretical hypothesis; and the heterogeneity test shows that these effects are more significant in industries with high barriers to entry and exit, capital-intensive industries and technology-intensive industries.The possible contributions of this paper are as follows: （1）The combination of community networks and marketization provides a new explanation for resource misallocation within cities in China.（2）New Institutional Economics emphasizes the interaction and common role of formal and informal institutions in the process of economic transformation and development. This paper studies the problem of resource misallocation in China from this perspective, which not only enriches the literature of resource misallocation, but also provides new evidence for the theory of Institutional Economics and Development Economics.

What is career success? A new Asian American psychology of working.

Model minority stereotypes of Asian Americans as high educational and occupational achievers are perpetuated by conceptual and methodological issues in career development research that aggregate across Asian ethnicities and oversample high achievers. These issues render those marginalized, such as working-class immigrants with limited English proficiency, as well as their children, as invisible within research, practice, and policy. A new theoretical framework, entitled the Asian American Intergenerational Model of Psychology of Working (AAIM), questions the mainstream career development assumptions of linearity, stability, and upward mobility that reveal inherent classism. Building on the Psychology of Working Theory (Duffy et al., 2016); the AAIM broadens the scope and definition of work beyond career, and acknowledges the significance of structural and cultural forces on people's work and life. An expanded qualitative analysis of interviews with 17 low-income, working-class, Chinese immigrant parents (Tu et al., 2019) provides an empirical illustration of the intergenerational and coethnic dynamics of vocational experiences central to the AAIM. The working-class immigrants relied on coethnic networks to secure employment within a narrow range of options, many straddling helplessly between arduous manual labor and family demands. Though they had immigrated primarily to provide a better future for their children, many parents struggled to participate meaningfully in their children's development. These findings highlight the need to expand Asian American psychology of working to incorporate systems and social justice perspectives. Research, practice, and policy implications of AAIM advocate for maximal inclusivity and offer directions to address invisibility of the most marginalized and disenfranchised Asian American workers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The employment policy and vocational activity support system for people with intellectual disabilities in Poland

This short report discusses issues related to the employment policy and vocational activity support system for people with intellectual disabilities in Poland. The analyses are based on data from a broader research project entitled Employment and Disability. The reconstruction of the Vocational Experience of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities in Poland. The project sought to explore the work-related situation of persons with intellectual disabilities regarding the employment policy, support practices in workplaces, and vocational experience of employees with intellectual disabilities, their job coaches and the coordinators of employment projects. The methodological framework combined the grounded theory set in social constructivism, as presented in Charmaz's works, with discourse analysis and the sociologically-oriented analysis of practices. The data were collected in 25 workplaces employing persons with disabilities in various parts of Poland, mainly by means of in-depth interviews, observation, and field notes. Although analyses discussing the specificity of Polish employment policy indicate that the vocational activity of persons with intellectual disabilities is promoted in Poland, in reality its implementation is difficult. The difficulties result from the poor quality law regulating vocational activity, lack of adequate legislative solutions, barriers on the part of employers, and the absence of sufficient financial support.

¿Cómo reaccionar ante la derrota en una partida de ajedrez?

A través de ejemplos de la práctica deportiva, el presente artículo aborda las conductas adoptadas por algunos atletas, sobre todo ajedrecistas, ante la derrota. Los autores analizan cómo han reaccionado ante el fracaso destacados maestros del juego ciencia a través de la historia, llamando la atención hacia los ejemplos negativos encontrados en el proceso investigativo, a través de la revisión bibliográfica, observaciones, entrevistas y experiencia profesional de los autores. En adición se analizan tres de las partidas donde ocurrieron los sucesos que se narran en el texto.