Articles

What makes an online learning journal powerful for VET? Distinguishing productive usage patterns and effective learning strategies

The current and future workforce is challenged to adapt to changing environments and become lifelong, self-regulated learners. Learning journals can regulate learning processes through scaffolding reflection o...

Authors: Beat A. Schwendimann, Gabriel Kappeler, Laetitia Mauroux and Jean-Luc Gurtner

The importance of owner-managed SMEs and regional apprenticeship activity: evidence from the German Mittelstand

Politicians frequently emphasize the importance of Mittelstand firms for the economy, thereby particularly referring to their enormous engagement in training apprentices. This view is especially prevailing in ...

Authors: Vera Jahn

A survey of students’ attitudes to implementing physical activity in Danish vocational education schools

With the purpose of increasing the level of physical activity (PA) among Danish adolescents the Danish government initiated a large scale vocational school reform in 2015 requiring that vocational schools must...

Authors: Jesper von Seelen, Anette Mikkelsen and Maiken Wolderslund

Another piece of the puzzle: Firms’ investment in training as production of optimal skills inventory

By applying the inventory theory to hiring skilled workers under uncertainty, the authors explain how firms decide on their optimum investment in an “inventory of skills.” This paper investigates the condition...

Authors: Harald Pfeifer and Uschi Backes-Gellner

How prior economic education influences beginning university students’ knowledge of economics

When beginning higher education studies in business and economics students bring with them diverse knowledge and experience in the field, which could affect their success in the program. Differences in prior e...

Authors: Roland Happ, Olga Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia and Manuel Förster

Control-value appraisals predicting students’ boredom in accounting classes: a continuous-state-sampling approach

Boredom is a prevalent experience in school. Findings indicate that students are bored in a notable amount of instructional time with negative consequences for learning outcomes. The control-value theory consi...

Authors: Kristina Kögler and Richard Göllner

The professional development of VET teachers in Italy: participation, needs and barriers. Statistical quantifications and benchmarking in an international perspective

In a context of scarce statistical information, this paper focuses on the professional development of Vocational Education and Training teachers in Italy, namely those teaching vocational subjects. It provides...

Authors: Marco Serafini

Hungarian vocational education teachers’ views on their pedagogical knowledge and the information sources suitable for their professional development

Vocational education teachers are key participants in the renewal of the Hungarian vocational educational system. Their professional development (as indicated by their learning activities, learning targets and...

Authors: Csaba Csíkos, Zsuzsa Kovács and Orsolya Kereszty

Supporting change in VET: teachers’ professional development and ECVET learner mobility

While mobility to other countries has become very much a part of higher education programmes, VET learners have not participated to the same extent. The possibility which European Credit System for Vocational ...

Authors: Cathal de Paor

Recommendations for confronting vocational education dropout: a literature review

Despite the importance of the subject of the early school leaving, there are few researches about success and dropout pathways in Vocational Education and Training, while there are many studies centered in oth...

Authors: Antoni Cerda-Navarro, Jaume Sureda-Negre and Rubén Comas-Forgas

Employers and apprenticeships in England: costs, risks and policy reforms

That so many employers in various sectors continue to train apprentices despite incurring substantial costs can be taken as prima facie evidence of there being ways to mitigate the investment risk. The main downs...

Authors: Lynn Gambin and Terence Hogarth

Co-regulations of learning in small groups of chef apprentices: when do they appear and what influences them?

The debate around the regulation of learning has recently penetrated the domain of collaborative learning, introducing a social dimension to what was earlier seen, essentially, as a personal initiative. The pr...

Authors: Elisa Motta, Alberto Cattaneo and Jean-Luc Gurtner

An exploration of assessment approaches in a vocational and education training courses in Australia

There is a compelling case for strengthening the strategies for assessment of competencies adopted in vocational and education training programs in Australia. A review of assessment in nationally recognised Vo...

Authors: Bronwyn Ewing

Being an economic-civic competent citizen: A technology-based assessment of commercial apprentices in Germany and Switzerland

Citizens in modern democratic societies are confronted with complex demands, challenges, and economic problems, and they typically act as consumers, savers, voters, and employees. It is highly desirable for ci...

Authors: Stephan Schumann, Esther Kaufmann, Franz Eberle, Andreas Jüttler and Nicole Ackermann

Departmental leadership for learning in vocational and professional education

To maintain relevance, institutes for vocational and professional education (VPE) need to be responsive to changes in society and industry. This requires leaders and educators in VPE to keep developing themsel...

Authors: Annemarieke Hoekstra and Paul Newton

Enjoying working and learning in vocational education: a multilevel investigation of emotional crossover and contextual moderators

Students’ positive emotions, such as enjoying learning activities at school, are increasingly recognized as being conducive to learning. Researchers therefore seek to understand the roles that teachers’ emotions ...

Authors: Julia Warwas and Christoph Helm

A mixed-methods study of physiological reactivity to domain-specific problem solving: methodological perspectives for process-accompanying research in VET

The study aims to investigate stress-inducing potentials of problem-solving activities (e.g., goal elaboration, decision making, and information seeking) within an authentic problem-solving task from the busin...

Authors: Tobias Kärner

Guiding workplace learning in vocational education and training: a literature review

This review provides an overview of the empirical research concerning guidance in the context of vocational education and training (VET). The study examines practices, providers and supporting and hindering fa...

Authors: Susanna Mikkonen, Laura Pylväs, Heta Rintala, Petri Nokelainen and Liisa Postareff

Prospective educators as consumers of empirical research: an authentic assessment approach to make their competencies visible

Educators today have to be able to make current empirical research results usable for everyday practice. Consequently, there are increasing endeavors to develop and assess competencies in consuming empirical r...

Authors: Michaela Wiethe-Körprich and Sandra Bley

Vocational qualification as safety-net? Education-to-work transitions of higher education dropouts in Germany

In Germany, almost 15 per cent of all first-year students leave higher education without obtaining a degree. The German post-secondary educational system is tracked however, and many dropouts enter the labour ...

Authors: Mirte Scholten and Nicole Tieben

Developing and validating a technology-based diagnostic assessment using the evidence-centered game design approach: an example of intrapreneurship competence

Educational experts commonly agree that tailor-made guidance is the most efficient way to foster the learning and developmental process of learners. Diagnostic assessments using cognitive diagnostic models (CD...

Authors: Sandra Bley

Vocational learning in a Swedish post-secondary apprenticeship

In Sweden, some occupations require post-secondary apprenticeship, e.g. those who are to become construction workers, while some do not, e.g. those who are to become business and administration workers. Resear...

Authors: Magnus Fjellström

Test anxiety: perceptions of American community college nursing students

Nowadays, there are common phenomena among college nursing students who reported increasingly test anxiety. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to increase understanding of American community colleg...

Authors: Dongfang Liu and Bo Xu

Commercial competence: comparing test results of paper-and-pencil versus computer-based assessments

Vocational education and training (VET) aims to enable young adults or trainees to participate in the workplace, and to promote their vocational capacities. In order to examine trainees’ competencies at the en...

Authors: Julia Sangmeister

Supervisors and teachers’ influence on expectations on empowering leadership among students in vocational education and training

Empowering leadership practise among leaders in the construction industry contributes to improve occupational safety, by stimulating participative safety behaviour among construction workers. Socialization int...

Authors: Martin Grill, Anders Pousette, Kent Nielsen, Regine Grytnes and Marianne Törner

Understanding diversity: a Dutch case study on teachers’ attitudes towards their diverse student population

In the Netherlands, there has been a strong increase in diversity among students in recent decades. Even though access for previously underrepresented groups based on economic status, ethnicity or culture has ...

Authors: Daniel van Middelkoop, Hafid Ballafkih and Martha Meerman

Challenges of a cross-national computer-based test adaptation

In an increasingly globalized world, the call for internationally comparable competence measurements has emerged. After several international studies on pre-college education, the focus has shifted to internat...

Authors: Doreen Holtsch, Silja Rohr-Mentele, Eva Wenger, Franz Eberle and Richard J. Shavelson

Job opportunities and school-to-work transitions in occupational labour markets. Are occupational change and unskilled employment after vocational education interrelated?

This study links TREE panel data surveying school-to-work transitions in Switzerland with unique job advertising data from the Swiss Job Market Monitor that mirrors individual job opportunities. We investigate...

Authors: Helen Buchs and Laura Alexandra Helbling

Do they intend to stay? An empirical study of commercial apprentices’ motivation, satisfaction and intention to remain within the learned occupation

Commercial apprenticeship is the most commonly chosen type of apprenticeship within vocational education training in Switzerland. Both the Swiss economy and the training companies themselves benefit when appre...

Authors: Sarah Forster-Heinzer, Doreen Holtsch, Silja Rohr-Mentele and Franz Eberle

Occupational career patterns over 30 years: predictors and outcomes

Investigating individuals’ sequences of occupations and identifying suitable patterns is a complex task. Most research focuses on single time-points, single jobs and single transitions and only few longitudina...

Authors: Claudia Schellenberg, Annette Krauss, Achim Hättich and Kurt Häfeli

Development of mathematical competency in different German pre-vocational training programmes of the transition system

Mathematical competency is central to life in modern society, and it is particularly important for many occupations and professions. In Germany, young people with insufficient mathematical skills experience si...

Authors: Simon Weißeno, Susan Seeber, Janna Kosanke and Constanze Stange

Emotional states during learning situations and students’ self-regulation: process-oriented analysis of person-situation interactions in the vocational classroom

In reference to the interactionist paradigm, we analyse how students’ emotional states during class are affected by student’ self-regulation, by time-varying characteristics within learning situations, and by ...

Authors: Tobias Kärner and Kristina Kögler

Changes in the professionality of vocational teachers as viewed through the experiences of long-serving vocational teachers in Estonia

Since the restoration of independence in Estonia in 1991, much has changed with regard to vocational education and training (VET). Radical social and economic developments took place in the early 1990s and in ...

Authors: Meidi Sirk, Reeli Liivik and Krista Loogma

Transitions into vocational education and training by lower and intermediate secondary school leavers. Can male adolescents compensate for their school-based educational disadvantage in comparison with female adolescents?

This paper examines the transitions made by lower secondary school leavers and intermediate secondary school leavers into vocational education and training in Germany. With the basis that boys have long been u...

Authors: Ursula Beicht and Günter Walden

Occupation-specific social competences in vocational education and training (VET): the example of a technology-based assessment

The difficulties regarding the definition and measurement of social competences, crucial to the research in vocational education and training, are well known. In this paper, we show, based on the example of me...

Authors: Moana Monnier, Tanja Tschöpe, Christian Srbeny and Agnes Dietzen

Reliability and validity of a computer-based assessment of cognitive and non-cognitive facets of problem-solving competence in the business domain

To measure higher-order outcomes of vocational education and training (VET) we developed a computer-based assessment of domain-specific problem-solving competence. In modeling problem-solving competence, we di...

Authors: Andreas Rausch, Jürgen Seifried, Eveline Wuttke, Kristina Kögler and Steffen Brandt

VET or general education? Effects of regional opportunity structures on educational attainment in German-speaking Switzerland

Regional opportunity structures have received little attention in research on educational aspirations and attainment. This papers aim is to address whether regional opportunity structures affect educational at...

Authors: David Glauser and Rolf Becker

A multidimensional structure of domain-specific problem-solving competencies of electronics technicians for automation technology

The ASCOT research initiative funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research had the objective to measure vocational competencies in high-quality jobs. To adequately assess these it is important to o...

Authors: Felix Walker, Nico Link and Reinhold Nickolaus

Work or university? Economic competencies and educational aspirations of trainees with hybrid qualifications in Switzerland

The Federal Vocational Baccalaureate constitutes the major link between the academic and vocational tracks in the Swiss educational system. Statistics show that only 20 % of a cohort move immediately to an aca...

Authors: Michael Jüttler, Andreas Jüttler, Stephan Schumann and Franz Eberle

Evaluating the pedagogical content knowledge of pre- and in-service teachers of business and economics to ensure quality of classroom practice in vocational education and training

Research on teachers’ professional knowledge and skills is becoming increasingly important. However, valid assessments of teachers’ knowledge and skills are scarce. In this study, we report on our development ...

Authors: Christiane Kuhn, Alicia C. Alonzo and Olga Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia

Apprentice–trainer relationship and work group integration in the first months of an apprenticeship

Social integration is an important outcome of organizational socialization. It helps adolescents after transition to their first job to adapt rapidly to the new work and organizational situation. Positive soci...

Authors: Christof Nägele and Markus P. Neuenschwander

Assessing what prospective laboratory assistants in biochemistry and cell biology know: development and validation of the test instrument PROKLAS

Laboratory assistants in biology and medicine play a central role in the operation of laboratories in hospitals, research institutes, and industries. Their daily work routine is characterized by dealing with m...

Authors: Stephan Gantner, Jörg Großschedl, Devasmita Chakraverty and Ute Harms

Why is the pipeline leaking? Experiences of young women in STEM vocational education and training and their adjustment strategies

The paper investigates the perceptions of young women during their vocational education and training (VET) in traditionally male-dominated STEM fields—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—by analy...

Authors: Elena Makarova, Belinda Aeschlimann and Walter Herzog

Erratum to: Spatial structure counts: the relevance of regional labour-market conditions for educational transitions to vocational training

Authors: Katarina Weßling, Andreas Hartung and Steffen Hillmert

Determinants of course completions in vocational education and training: evidence from Australia

Completion rates in Australian vocational education and training (VET) are notoriously low. While there are conventional reasons such as issues with course, health, institutional factors, financial and family ...

Authors: Peter Fieger

Combining teaching with another job: a possible resource to face professional challenges. Preliminary findings from a Swiss study in vocational education and training

There is a general consensus regarding the stressful nature of the teaching profession and an extensive body of literature has shown a multitude of risks and protective factors that influence teachers’ profess...

Authors: Viviana Sappa, Elena Boldrini and Carmela Aprea

Spatial structure counts: the relevance of regional labour-market conditions for educational transitions to vocational training

Regional context conditions can have a crucial impact on school-to-work transitions and subsequently individual life chances. This paper aims to develop an approach to analyse the spatial references of regiona...

Authors: Katarina Weßling, Andreas Hartung and Steffen Hillmert

Functional relevance of students’ prior knowledge and situational uncertainty during verbal interactions in vocational classrooms: evidence from a mixed-methods study

Descriptive accounts of instruction in German vocational schools consistently indicate whole-class dialogue to be prevalent. We aim to extend previous research by elucidating pedagogically valuable dialogic pr...

Authors: Tobias Kärner and Julia Warwas

Determinants of competence development in accounting in upper secondary education

Given the lack of research on predictors of students’ learning success in vocational domains, the present study aims to identify determinants of student competence growth in the subject Accounting. Based on th...

Authors: Christoph Helm

The labour market position of narrow versus broad vocational education programmes

This paper compares narrow, or specialised, and broad, or less specialised, upper-secondary vocational education (VE) programmes in the Netherlands with respect to their graduates’ position in the labour marke...

Authors: Johan Coenen, Hans Heijke and Christoph Meng