Working Life Skills Research Articles

GRADE 12 STUDENTS’ PERCEIVED SELF-EFFICACY TOWARDS WORKING LIFE SKILLS AND CURRICULUM CONTENT PROMOTED THROUGH SCIENCE EDUCATION

This research was based on the concern that students didn’t see the need for the acquisition of science skills and knowledge perceived as important in relation to different society issues and the world of work. The aim was to determine gymnasium students perceived self-efficacy towards working life skills as well as science curriculum, content-related topics. The sample was composed of grade 12 (N=1375) 18-19-year-old students. Data were obtained using a 4-point Likert scale questionnaire seeking to determine students’ perceived self-efficacy towards working life skills and topics in the science curriculum linked to disciplinary core ideas. In general, students perceived their self-efficacy to be above average towards most needed working life skills. However, it was much lower in areas related to problem-solving skills and understanding the nature of science. Results also indicated that the self-efficacy associated with purely Physics curriculum-related topics stood out as being much lower than for the other school science subject areas. Findings suggested there was a need to re-thinking the way science content was presented to students and to consider whether and how this could be restructured around core ideas in science in order to promote the development of problem-solving skills as an important aspect in enhancing working life skills. Keywords: core ideas, working life skills, self-efficacy, science curriculum topics, science education.

Prevalence of Substance Use, Housing Instability, and Self-Perceived Preparation for Independence Among Current and Former Foster Youth

This study assesses prevalence of substance use, and the impact of housing instability. and independence preparation on substance use in two samples: youth currently in-care and former foster youth. Both samples were from a mid-Atlantic state with youth currently in-care residing in rural jurisdictions and former foster youth residing in the state’s largest urban jurisdiction. A cross-sectional design utilizing paper and web-based surveys was used to collect data. Findings indicate youth in-care are consuming substances that are on average with national prevalence statistics. However, former foster youth are consuming substances at alarmingly high rates well above the national prevalence. A high rate of housing instability after leaving child welfare was reported for former foster youth. In addition, greater preparation for independence among former foster youth was associated with less substance usage. Implications for social work practice, independence preparation, and life skills classes are presented.

Building a More Sustainable Society? A Case Study on the Role of Sustainable Development in the Education and Early Career of Water and Environmental Engineers

Engineering education is critical for sustainability, given the key role that engineers have in shaping the development of our society. Yet, engineering studies have traditionally not been driven by sustainability-related knowledge and skills, but focused more on general computational skills and technical problem-solving. This has also been the case in our case study, which focuses on recent water and environmental engineering graduates in Finland. We studied the role that sustainable development has had in their education and early career through an extensive questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The analysis was done in two ways: indirectly by comparing how well the key working life knowledge and skills recognized by the respondents correspond with sustainability-related skills, and directly by studying the graduates’ views towards the sustainable development and their possibilities to advance it in their work. The results show that although sustainability was not at the core of respondents’ studies, their key competencies correspond well with sustainability-related working life skills. The respondents also see that sustainable development has a central role in water and environmental engineering, although it is typically more visible at a strategic rather than a practical level. However, the results also indicate that several early-career engineers have deficient knowledge of sustainable development, and are therefore lacking the ability to fully connect the principles of sustainable development into their own expertise. Overall, the findings suggest that water and environmental engineers with their wide set of competencies have the potential to take on a larger role in building a more sustainable society. To ensure this, engineering education should emphasize the connection between the field and sustainable development and clearly link engineers’ core competencies with the skills required to promote sustainability.

Career-related instruction promoting students’ career awareness and interest towards science learning

The aim of this study was to investigate how career-related instruction implemented in secondary school chemistry education concerning water issues influences students’ career awareness and their interest towards science learning. This case study is part of a larger design-based research study for the EU-MultiCO project, which focuses on promoting students’ scientific career awareness and attractiveness by introducing them to career-based scenarios at the beginning of the instruction unit. The participants in this study were three eighth-grade classes with 46 students in total, and 2 science teachers. Data consisted of observations throughout the intervention and a questionnaire which the students took afterwards. Descriptive statistics taken from the questionnaire were used together with the content analysis of open questions and observation notes. The results reveal that the students acquired knowledge about science, science-related careers and working life skills and that they enjoyed studying chemistry and engaged in learning during the intervention. The students recognized the need for professionals and their responsibilities as well as the importance of water-related issues as global and local problems, but these issues were not personally important or valuable to students. The type of career-related instruction discussed in this paper can give guidelines for how to develop teaching to promote students’ science career awareness, trigger students’ interest and engage them in science learning.

Effects of Happy Workplace Program in Companies of Thai Garment Industry

This quasi-experimental research on the effect of happy workplace program (HWP) in Thai garment industry companies was aimed to study the changes among employees in regard to work skills, life skills, health behaviors and workplace promoting happiness factors. Two hundred and forty-one samples purposely selected from 3 sampled companies. Data were collected through a set of questionnaire and the happy workplace index checklist. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and paired t -test. The results showed that the end of the program, the significant higher levels of work skills, life skills, health behaviors and workplace promoting happiness factors were found compared to before the program in all 3 companies. Thus, this program can be utilized in other similar industrial companies.

フィンランドの科学技術系博士教育の制度改革 : 教育・研究の一体化と就業スキル開発要素の導入

フィンランドの科学技術系博士教育の制度改革 : 教育・研究の一体化と就業スキル開発要素の導入

Secondary school students’ perceptions of working life skills in science-related careers

ABSTRACTSchool students demonstrate a lack of interest in choosing science studies and science-related careers. To better understand the underlying reasons, this study aims to examine secondary school students’ perceptions of working life skills and how these perceptions relate to the skills of the twenty-first century. The participants in this study were 144 Finnish 7th graders (aged 13–14 years). Using a questionnaire and qualitative content analysis, we examined their perceptions of working life skills in ‘careers in science’ and ‘careers with science’. Results reveal that although students have a great deal of knowledge about working life skills, it is often just stereotyped. Sector-specific knowledge and skills were highlighted in particular but skills related to society, organisation, time and higher order thinking, were often omitted. Results also indicate that students do not associate ‘careers in science’ with creativity, innovation, collaboration or technology and ICT skills. Conversely, according to the students, these careers demand more sector-specific knowledge and responsibility than ‘careers with science’. We conclude that students need more wide-ranging information about scientific careers and the competencies demanded; such information can be acquired by e.g. interacting with professionals and their real working life problems.

Students experiences of peer-support during a Master’s thesis process

Working as an expert in health care requires peer-support skills. The aim of the study is to describe students’ (n = 8) experiences of peer-support from other students during their Master’s thesis process. This study was a qualitative and the data (n = 29) was collected from the students through a number of repeated open questions during one year. The data were analysed by a qualitative content analysis. The results show that students both received and gave individual and mental peer-support during their Master’s thesis process. The results also show that students need to be active in peer-support group such as to share ideas, to discuss openly and to read peers thesis. The peer-support helped the students to formulate research plan and think more critically based on others students’ feedback. Peer-support received in a group can help increase opportunities for learning working life skills for Master’s thesis students, but further research is needed. More widely in health care, it is important to be aware of the existence of peer-support and discuss how it can be promoted.

Physical and rehabilitation medicine management of heterotopic ossification in brain injury

The aim of this work is to determine the epidemiological and characteristics and the therapeutic modalities of heterotopic ossification in brain injury. Retrospective study conducted between January 2010 and January 2016, including patients hospitalized for management of sequelae of an isolated head injury or associated with multiple trauma, and in whom the diagnosis of of heterotopic ossification (HO) was increased. A review of epidemiological data (including age, sex, occupation, type of neurological injury, discovering circumstances of HO), clinical data, the therapeutic choice and evolutivity. Twenty-nine patients with HO were included in the study, 22 adults and 7 children. A male predominance was noted with a sex ratio of 3/1. Mean Glasgow Outcome scale following the trauma was 6/15. Muscle retractions were noted in 23 patients, mainly affecting the upper limb muscles of the wrist and hands and leg sural triceps. Forty-three HO were found in 29 patients. The main locations of HO were respectively hips, knees and elbows. All patients had rehabilitation and working life skills adapted to the evolutionary stage of the brain trauma. Drug treatment included non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and analgesic. HO resection was performed in 15 patients having significant functional limitation or a painful nerve compression. Six adults were able to resume their old job and three children were able to resume normal schooling. The recruitment of our patients has been among the severe trauma patients explaining the high incidence of heterotopic ossifications (HO). The hip is the location most frequently found which is comparable to the literature data. This work highlights the importance of early detection and multidisciplinary management of HO in brain injury patients. These HO will determine the functional prognosis and the social and professional reintegration of the brain injury patient.

Relationship among quality of nurses' work life, organizational culture and Turnover Intention at Assiut University Hospital

Introduction: Nurses are amongst the employees whose lives are fully affected by the quality of work life (QWL) as a consequence of dynamic changes in work environment. The aim was to investigate the relationship among nurses' quality of work life, organizational culture and turnover intention at Assiut University Hospital. Design: A correlational descriptive design was used. Setting: four Intensive Care Units classified as follows: Causality Intensive Care Unit, General & Postoperative ICUs, and Coronary Care Unit (CCU).Subjects: Included all nurses working in aforementioned settings with a total number of 120 nurses. Four tools were used to collect data namely: socio-demographic data sheet, quality of nurses' work life, organizational culture questionnaire, and turnover intention questionnaire. Results: illustrated that nurses’ quality of work life scores was highly significant in relation to the department, marital status, organizational culture score, and turnover intention score. Conclusion: This study contributed to understanding the relationships between quality of nurses work life and organizational culture that will lead to turnover intention among the study sample of hospital nurses and found a positive correlation between quality of nurses work life and organizational culture with highly statistically significant relation and between quality of nurses work life and turnover intention . While, there was a negative correlation between turnover intention and organizational culture. Recommendations: Workshops on the quality of work life skills for nurses and nurse managers should be done periodically. In order to lessen intent to turnover for the nursing profession, staff nurses are encouraged to participate in nursing committees, assume leadership roles, and become decision-makers.

Becoming entrepreneurial: Transitions and education of unemployed youth

In Finland, young people who are neither employed nor in any education or training programme are expected to participate in short-term education, the aim being to improve their work life and employment skills, and thus make them more accountable for their labour market outcomes. An extensive assortment of so-called transition activities is created to guide young adults ‘into society’. The empirical data is analysed by using a discursive approach. The focus is on the consequences of entrepreneurial discourses, with specific attention given to project-based educational practices that train young adults on the margins of education, working life and society. Based on their results, the authors show how entrepreneurial activities offer skills for representing oneself in accordance with entrepreneurial ideals, but might limit opportunities to speak otherwise.

Correctional Sentence Plan

According to Correctional Services Minister Sbu Ndebele, the South African prison population ranks highest in Africa and ninth in the world with approximately 160,000 inmates (Ndebele, 2013). Approximately 30% of those prisoners await trial (Cruywagen, 2013). The majority of South African prisoners are poor male adults, 18 years and older, whose poverty is often compounded by racial discrimination. Therefore, not surprisingly, they have inadequate schooling (also see Yates & Frolander-Ulf, 2001). The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) mandates all inmates without a qualification equivalent to Grade 9 to complete Adult Education Training Levels 1 to 4, including children 15 years and younger, and all individuals sentenced to imprisonment. In 2013, Mokoele reported that 10,049 members of the total prison population were engaged in some form of education or training. In June 2013, 140 correctional centers had adult education training programs with enrollment headcount of 11,600. The DCS efforts in South Africa indicate that provision for justice and protection of the public are fundamental concerns. Notwithstanding room for improvement, this country's sentencing and corrections policies have been designed with the goals of preventing offenders' continued and future criminal activity. The government's approach to sentencing and corrections leans toward incarceration or rehabilitation, albeit signs of evidence-based strategies that hold offenders accountable, are sensitive to corrections costs, and reduce crime and victimization. Correctional policy makers have identified broad principles whose intended purpose is to provide broad, balanced guidance to corrections applicable to this country. As seen above, the importance of prisoner education is acknowledged. However, missing is official recognition of this or adult-specific components outlining an upper secondary school adult education diploma entitling holders to apply for higher education. Research highlights accessible and relevant offender data, except for criminal records and demographic information, making it difficult or impossible to access data on an inmate's work experience, educational level, health status, or life skills (Lawrence, Mears, Dubin, & Travis, 2002; Mokoele, 2013). This article examines current practices as a potential model for other prison systems in the world. Correctional Sentence Plan and Sentenced Offender Intake Process Offender correctional sentence plans (CSP) in South Africa comprise six key delivery areas, namely, corrections, development, security, care, facilities, and after-care (DCS, 2004). All these areas are intended to ensure quality service to the offender, to effectively manage the correctional official and their respective centers as well as drastically improve the management relations with accredited external stakeholders and oversight authorities. However, this article will focus on only one area, viz. corrections, while other key delivery areas will be explored in the future. The CSP aims to help prisoners and officials understand why people offend and what can be done to stop re-offending. The plan also pre-empts offenders from inflicting harm on themselves or others and devises an intervention to reduce the risk of prisoners, some released prior to the official release date, from committing future crimes. However, only prisoners serving sentences longer than 24 months are eligible to have CSP. The incarceration process forms the basis for the DCS's engagement with a sentenced offender. The CSP determines prisoner rehabilitative and education interventions during their time in custody and in preparation for their release into the community. During this critical CSP phase, offender educational attainment data could assist with proper assessment. Furthermore, such data support assessing effective implementation. Recidivism Versus Benefits of Adult Correctional Education Programs Studies reporting a correlation between greater education and lower recidivism outnumber studies reporting negative conclusions. …

Developing a Project Manager's Competencies: A Collective View of the Most Important Competencies

The project management literature often presents many different recommendable requirements, skills, characteristics and roles for a successful project manager. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the discussion by reporting the results of project managers’ self-evaluations regarding personal and social competencies. The requirements of project managers’ working life skills and competency theories affect, at least in the background, their competencies. The web-based self-evaluation was performed by a large group (N = 750) of project managers, but also students, whose studies were considered as their “projects.” This paper introduces a self-evaluation method to collect and analyze the data of a project manager's work-role based competencies. It is worth noting that the competency self-evaluation does not evaluate competencies directly but statements related to a project manager's work. As a valuable result, it shows a collective view of the most important competencies in a project manager's work, which should be considered when recruiting and developing project managers.

A method to quantify the integration of renewable energy and sustainability in energy degree programmes: a Finnish case study

The key factors affecting the sustainability of our society are research, conversion, delivery and the efficient use of energy resources. The expertise, attitudes and sustainability awareness of decision-makers determine far-reaching political decisions made regarding whole energy systems as well as the choices available for individual consumers. Despite the significance of education with respect to renewable energy and sustainability, the position of these topics remains unclear in degree programmes. Measuring the relevance of these subjects can be considered a central issue in terms of promoting a more sustainability-oriented perspective on education strategy formation. Therefore, this paper presents a new curriculum development method for stimulating discussions about the learning outcomes of the degree programmes. This method has been used to calculate a proposed relevance ratio (RR) index, which indicated the relative weight of renewable energy and sustainability topics for energy studies in Aalto University's energy degree programme. The benefits of this RR index include the ability to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of selected contents in the curricula. However, more research is needed to integrate wider working life skills with the students' learning path as a means of promoting student expertise. This new tool will be universally applicable and quantify the desired contents of learning outcomes in degree programmes at universities.

The birth and development of Vocational Education Teachers’ (VET) professional identity

The purpose of this study was to analyze how VETs construct their identities in their career-related narratives. This was studied through three research questions: (1) How does professional identity manifest itself when described by VETs? (2) How does one end up in a VET’s career and how is this career decision related to the development of professional identity? and (3) How do VETs perceive the future of professional identity? The narrative method was chosen because it suits extremely well to research on teachers’ professional development and identity construction: Teachers create and construct their identities by talking, interpreting, and reflecting their experiences and opinions. In this study, Finnish VETs (N=12) were recruited from one vocational education college with multiple fields. The narrative data obtained from them included oral (n=5) and written (n=7) narratives. The narratives were categorized with the analysis of narratives and combined as conclusions with the narrative analysis. The VET’s narratives included four main themes defining their professional identities: substance knowledge, pedagogical expertise, work-life skills, and developmental abilities. Based on the data, two main ways of ending up in a VET’s career could be distinguished. As a whole, a VET’s identity appeared complex and dynamic. The development of a VET’s professional identity was viewed from four basic perspectives. Suggestions for vocational teacher education are given in the light of the findings of this study.

Associations between state regulations, training length, perceived quality and job satisfaction among certified nursing assistants: Cross-sectional secondary data analysis

BackgroundIn the U.S., there are federal requirements on how much training and annual continuing education a certified nursing assistant must complete in order to be certified. The requirements are designed to enable them to provide competent and quality care to nursing home residents. Many states also require additional training and continuing education hours as improved nursing home quality indicators have been found to be related to increased training. ObjectivesThis study investigated the associations among state level regulations, initial training quality and focus, and job satisfaction in certified nursing assistants. DesignCross-sectional secondary data analysis. SettingsThis study used the National Nursing Home Survey and National Nursing Assistant Survey as well as data on state regulations of certified nursing assistant training. Participants2897 certified nursing assistants in 580 nursing homes who were currently working at a nursing home facility, who represented 680,846 certified nursing assistants in US. MethodsState regulations were related to initial training and job satisfaction among certified nursing assistants using chi square tests and binomial logistic regression models. Analyses were conducted using SAS-callable SUDAAN to correct for complex sampling design effects in the National Nursing Home Survey and National Nursing Assistant Survey. Models were adjusted for personal and facility characteristics. ResultsCertified nursing assistants reporting high quality training were more likely to work in states requiring additional initial training hours (p=0.02) and were more satisfied with their jobs (OR=1.51, 95% CI=1.09–2.09) than those with low quality training. In addition, those with more training focused on work life skills were 91% more satisfied (OR=1.91, 95% CI=1.41–2.58) whereas no relationship was found between training focused on basic care skills and job satisfaction (OR=1.36, 95% CI=0.99–1.84). ConclusionsCertified nursing assistants with additional initial training were more likely to report that their training was of high quality, and this was related to job satisfaction. Job satisfaction was also associated with receiving more training that focused on work life skills. Federal training regulations should reconsider additional hours for certified nursing assistant initial training, and include work life skills as a focus. As job satisfaction has been linked to nursing home turnover, attention to training may improve satisfaction, ultimately reducing staff turnover.

Employment Preparation and Life Skill Development Initiatives for High School Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities

Employment preparation and life skill development are crucial in assisting students identified as having emotional and behavioral disabilities with successfully transitioning to adulthood following high school. This article outlines four initiatives that a school counselor developed with other school personnel to promote work skills, life skills, and social and emotional development, which include (a) a school vegetable garden, (b) a raised worm bed, (c) a sewing group, and (d) community collaboration. The authors also discuss implications for school counselors and recommendations for future research.Keywords: school counseling, life skills, transition, disabilities, adolescentsHigh school counselors, teachers and other school personnel are in the unique position of providing resources to help students transition from high school to early adulthood. This transition may involve preparation for college or development of employment skills for students who plan to enter the workforce rather than attend college. Life skill development (e.g., communication, problem-solving skills, financial management) is also crucial for young people as they transition out of high school.The transition from high school to adulthood can be especially difficult for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) defines the term emotional disturbance as follows:a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child's educational performance: (a) an inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors; (b) an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers; (c) inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances; (d) a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; (e) a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.Specifically in Florida, where the innovative program discussed in this article was developed, a student with an emotional or behavioral disability is defined as having persistent (is not sufficiently responsive to implemented evidence-based interventions) and consistent emotional or behavioral responses that adversely affect performance in the educational environment that cannot be attributed to age, culture, gender, or ethnicity (Exceptional Student Education Eligibility for Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disabilities, 2009, para.l). In 2000, researchers reported that approximately 230,081 children and adolescents in the United States were receiving services within the serious emotional disturbances category, with an estimated 1.15% within the age range of 13-16 years old (Cameto, Wagner, Newman, Blackorby, & Javitz, 2000). These students often have multiple obstacles to overcome including (a) social, (b) emotional, (c) academic, and (d) environmental challenges (Lehman, Clark, Bullis, Rinkin, & Castellanos, 2002). Therefore, it is crucial to create programs to assist these students in developing the knowledge and skills needed to make a successful transition to adulthood.Transitioning to adulthood may involve continued education or full-time employment. However, young people in general are often ill-prepared to enter the workforce (Burgstahler, 2001); therefore, it is imperative that schools provide job training to help prepare students who plan to enter the workforce following high school. In regard to students with disabilities, the IDEA Amendments of 1997 and the IDEA of 2004 outline the responsibility of schools to help high school students transition to adulthood. Specifically, IDEA requires schools to begin transition planning for students with disabilities by age 14 and to have transition services specified within a student's Individual Education Program (IEP) by age 16 (Sabbatino & Macrine, 2007). …

Supporting students' pedagogical working life horizon in higher education

In this article, we introduce a model of a pedagogical working life horizon. It encompasses questions posed by individual students concerning their future and incorporates the idea of a working life orientation to the pedagogical possibilities within education. Working life orientation consists of three elements: individual relationship, knowledge and skills and employability. In the model, we aim to outline how an orientation to working life might be included in higher education, providing a broad perspective on the various pedagogical possibilities. There are two key pedagogical elements supporting the implementation of the pedagogical working life horizons model: reflection and an inquiring attitude. Our inquiry is a synthesis of socio-constructionist theories of career guidance, a review of international writing on career guidance and working life skills in higher education, adult learning theories and of our practical experiences as educators and scholars in the fields of guidance and adult education.

Moving Ahead: Evaluation of a Work-Skills Training Program for Homeless Adults

This study examines the impact of a work-skills program grounded in an integrated services approach on both employment and related life domains among homeless individuals. Six hundred thirty-eight participants in a 14-week work-skills program at a large day center in New England completed assessments at intake between 1999 and 2007; a subsample of 333 also completed assessments at graduation from the program; a smaller subsample of 55 participants were re-assessed 6months after graduation. These assessments measured work and related life skills, employment, housing status, general health status, substance use, self-esteem and self-efficacy, and legal involvement. Results revealed improvement in all types of work and related life skills, employment and income, and multiple other life domains from baseline to graduation and follow-up. Exploratory analyses suggested that improvements in work and related life skills were associated with improvement in self-esteem and self-efficacy, and that these improvements predicted stable housing situations at follow-up. Overall, these findings indicate that, for individuals struggling with the challenges of homelessness, completion of a work-skills program has a positive impact on skills and employment, and on a diverse set of life domains.

The impact of online resilience training for sales managers on wellbeing and performance

In a randomised controlled trial, the internet-based ResilienceOnline (ROL) program was evaluated among lubricant sales managers at BP Australia. This program is designed to enhance resilience by teaching seven skills to help improve ability to cope with challenges and setbacks and maximise potential achievements. Sales managers were allocated to complete the ROL program (n = 26) or to be in a waitlist-control condition (n = 27) and were compared on pre- and post-intervention measures of happiness, quality of life, depression, anxiety, stress and work performance. Sales managers found the resilience training very enjoyable and believed it would improve their work performance and life skills. However, a high proportion of sales managers did not complete the ROL program and it was not found to significantly reduce distress or improve quality of life or work performance.