Search Results for
"Vocational education"

Although work-related identity research has undergone considerable expansion in recent years, vocational identity among students remains a neglected area. However, initial vocational education plays a crucial role in the process of lifelong learning. Accordingly, this chapter discusses students’ vocational identity formation during their vocational education and training. As recent findings on vocational or professional identity emphasise its context-based or sociocultural construction, we examined students’ vocational identity formation in two different fields: 1) technology and transport, and 2) social services and health care. Our quantitative data indicate that while students’ vocational identity formation begins during vocational education and training, there are differences between students in different fields. On the basis of our qualitative data it seems that students’ vocational identity is heavily constructed in line with the education practices of their own specific fields. Thus, experiences during vocational education, even before individuals enter the workforce, play an important role in the formation of vocational identity. © 2008 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

vocational and technical education (VTE) has traditionally been stigmatised in Arab societies owing to the lowly image of manual work and the perception of VTE as a last resort for weak school students. This paper focuses on the transition to upper secondary VTE from the regular Lebanese school system and on students’ aspirations once they have done so. While regular school students’ career aspirations largely reflected the conventional academic orientation of the school system and few contemplated moving into the VTE realm even if they failed, students who had made the transition expressed well-informed positive views regarding VTE, mostly concerning its direct linkages with career formation and the employment market. Despite the recognised ‘job ticket’ value of the Baccalauréat Technique, most envisaged pursuing a higher VTE qualification, and the aspirations of those intending to complete the Licence Technique were comparable to those of terminating Year 12 students in the regular academic system who were contemplating university. The paper ends by addressing specific problem areas in Lebanese upper secondary VTE. © 2008 The vocational Aspect of education Ltd.

Sociological perspective on skills and qualifications There are many ways in which the process of skill formation can be socially organized; this process differs substantially even in advanced economies at similar levels of technological development. Many abilities and skills necessary and useful for life are learned from early childhood onward in daily interaction with parents, other adults, and peers, or through the exposition to and use of communication media. In this chapter, however, we are mainly interested in the formation of abilities and skills required to perform work tasks in jobs, and we examine the returns of qualifications in work contexts. Whereas in psychology and education science, skills and competences are often understood as specific cognitive or other capabilities of individuals to solve particular problems and/or perform particular tasks, sociology usually has amuch broader understanding of them. The sociologist’s understanding is probably best captured in the concept of qualification. The latter refers to sets of skills needed to perform more or less homogeneous sets of tasks, for instance, for a particular job or profession. In most research, the conceptualization of qualifications and their measurement then refers to the successful completion of particular programs in institutions of (general) education and vocational training in a society. Thus, the sociological understanding of skills or competences in the sense of qualifications is to a large degree institutionally shaped and socially and culturally constructed. © Cambridge University Press 2008 and Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Training posts in primary care or hospital practice settings provide rich learning opportunities for trainees. Trainees will appreciate and benefit from support for their learning in the clinical setting, exposure to modern teaching methods and constructive feedback. Planning is very much at the heart of productive learning: both planning for single teaching episodes and planning on what should be achieved overall during an attachment.

This article describes a college internship program conducted by a health system's security department from two points of view--the trainer's and the trainee's.

This paper addresses the issue of vocational education and Training in Schools - an issue that has recently attracted significant political attention particularly in light of current national skills shortage in Australia. Specifically, it investigates secondary school students' perceptions of VET in Schools [VETiS]. It also explores the factors influencing their decision-making in relation to VETiS - that is, why one might choose, or choose not, to enrol in a VETiS course of study. In view of the findings presented, the paper argues that VET, and more particularly VETiS, is experiencing an "image problem" - one underscored by the need for curriculum design and delivery reform - and suggests that there is much work still to be done on the VET agenda.

Teenagers who have failed to become apprentices in trade or industry are still required to attend school up to twelve years of schooling in Bavaria. In the last years the number of these adolescents without apprenticeship increased. Most of these adolescents come from families with low socioeconomic backgrounds and did not gain a good school leaving certificate. They are required to attend vocational schools. The following study attempts to clarify the situation of the adolescents without apprenticeship. The students were asked for their opinion about the lessons and the education they receive at the moment. Furthermore, they are compared to apprentices from the same vocational school with a standardised mental health screening instrument, the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire. Results indicate that the students without apprenticeship show more-than-average levels of problems. Hence, it cannot surprise that teachers find it difficult to deal with these students. It might be worthwhile considering the inclusion of social workers and psychological experts to support teachers as well as their students to alleviate the problems of adolescents without apprenticeship. © 2008 Schattauer GmbH.

Background: Apprentices form the major subgroup in adolescents aged between 16 and 25 years in Germany. Prospectively today's apprentices will display an important role within the society by being the backbone of the future middle class, a socio-economic group of high significance. However, there is little knowledge about the health of apprentices, a major determinant of economic and social capacity. A number of surveys has focussed on the health of adolescents, but these studies failed to provide specific data regarding the subgroup of apprentices. Aims of the study: The aims of this study were to survey the health status and the health behaviour of apprentices in a large range of qualified jobs and to point out possible differences between the occupantional fields and gender-specific items. These differences could serve as a starting point for the development of specially-tailored prevention and health promoting strategies in the dual vocational education system. Methods: 528 vocational first-year scholars aged between 16 to 25 years were enrolled in the study. A standardised questionnaire concerning life-style attitudes, (physical activity, smoking, alcolhol consumption, drug-abuse, the amount of sleep and dietary habits) was provided in different vocational school settings. The survey was conducted as a pilot-study in vocational schools of Bielefeld in spring 2005. Results: The response rate was 100%. Health risk behaviours were common in apprentices. The percentage of smokers was higher than 50%, exceeding the average rate found in contemporary students. Physiological activity and sleeping quantity was significantly reduced compared to the period of regular scholarship, while drug-abuse slightly decreased. Gender, graduation and the vocational choice had an influence on the health behaviour of the apprentices. Conclusions: Depending on gender and the vocational choice, apprentices differed in their health risk behaviour and therefore require specially-tailored prevention activities. Health promotion and physical activity programs as an integrated unit in the daily life in schools and at the working places are necessary to increase the awareness for health-related life-style factors and to counterbalance the effects of occupational exposure. Based on the results both partners of the dual vocational training are challenged to implement effective and coordinated programmes to maintain health in this population. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart.

In the face of globalization, states around the world have tried to regain legitimacy by using a policy framework known as new public management (NPM). In education, it promises to improve quality and competitiveness, by means of increasing control over educational institutions, implementing managerial techniques and submitting educational institutions to increased competitiveness. This article presents evidence from an exploratory study comparing senior college administrators' attitudes in the Canadian province of British Columbia and those of vocational school administrators in two German subjurisdictions toward NPM. Questions addressed include: (1) how NPM-related measures were perceived by those administrators; and (2) how differences in the way reform discourses are framed in the different subjurisdictions impact the administrators' attitudes towards NPM. Findings show that the level of agreement on different aspects of NPM was comparatively similar across countries and subjurisdictions. Correlational analysis, however, revealed differences between the administrators' semantic constructions of the reform policy. Interpretive analysis indicated that semantic constructions were linked to the varying policy discourses of the subjurisdictions. The article concludes that discourse is an important aspect when introducing NPM in educational institutions, since it lays the groundwork for the conceptualization of future policy discourses.

This paper discusses the interaction between healthcare policy at the European, UK and Scottish levels and the funding of education that underpins specific health policy priorities. Stroke is used throughout to illustrate the relationship between a designated European and UK health priority and the translation of that priority into clinical delivery. The necessity to build a responsive and sustainable culture to address the healthcare education that underpins changing healthcare policies is emphasized. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.