Search Results for
"Students"

Case management in the criminal justice system includes conducting psychosocial assessments, identifying risks, developing intervention strategies, navigating services, monitoring/evaluation, and advocacy. Social work and criminology graduates are equally qualified for forensic case management positions, yet the work readiness of these graduates is poorly understood. This study used a simulated client interview in a community corrections context to explore students’ confidence, performance, and the calibration between these. The study used a quantitative, non-randomized pre-experimental design with a pre-and-post online survey via Qualtrics. Participants included a total of 106 social work and criminology students in Australia aged 20–73 years. The results did not find a correlation between confidence and performance, raising questions about how self-efficacy transfers and functions across social work tasks and contexts. students’ self-reported confidence often did not reflect the assessed performance during the simulation. This was most evident around the skill of engaging in trauma-informed practice and managing ethical dilemmas. The findings highlight difficulties in operationalizing theoretical knowledge into discernible skills for forensic practice. It is recommended that a greater focus be given to adaptive learning to assist graduates with building confidence and skills to support clients within the criminal justice system. © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The widespread adoption of virtual and remote laboratories has transformed practical education by offering scalable, safe, and flexible environments for developing technical skills. Despite these benefits, challenges remain in providing timely, meaningful feedback that supports self-regulated learning and improves student outcomes. In this study, we analyze anonymized interaction logs from a virtual laboratory system focused on the Industrial Electrical Control Training Lab, used by 839 students enrolled in Electrical, Electromechanical, Mechanical, or Industrial Automation vocational programs offered by the National Service of Industrial Apprenticeship of Santa Catarina (SENAI/SC, Brazil). We introduce a novel methodology that combines sequential pattern mining (SPM) with automatic performance-based segmentation to analyze student behavior in virtual laboratory environments. Using interaction logs from students containing time-stamped cable connections and interface interactions, we segment learners into performance (High, Intermediate, and Low) based on the z-scores of accuracy and speed, using two strategies: (i) a K-means clustering approach, and (ii) a rule-based decision function. Building on this segmentation, we propose an algorithm to identify frequent action sequences and recurrent error patterns specific to each group. Chi-square tests confirmed significant associations (p < 0.05) between distinct error types and performance levels, and one-way ANOVA validated that both segmentation methods produce statistically distinct clusters. Our findings indicate that students in the high-performance group are likely to refer to schematics beforehand, whereas those in the lower performance group frequently begin with montage connections. These results can be integrated into LA dashboards to support real-time feedback for students and instructors, ultimately enhancing teaching strategies and learning in practical disciplines. © 2013 IEEE.

This chapter discusses adult learning initiatives undertaken in the United Kingdom in the last 35 years. Drawing on a rich history of adult education, carried largely by local communities, adult education throughout the 1990s became increasingly formalised, standardised, and centralised. Spending cuts affected Further Education Colleges, non-traditional Adult Higher Education students, and providers of Adult Liberal Education. Short-term initiatives were introduced by the government primarily to boost employability and increase skills supply for economic growth. Apprenticeships gained prominence and led to the introduction of a levy in 2017. The late 2010s also saw a turn back to the local level with the instalment of Devolved Adult Education Budgets. COVID-19 lockdowns accelerated the use of online and digital learning. In July 2024, the UK's newly elected Labour Government announced the establishment of Skills England to streamline skills policies and to create coherence between the fragmented work of stakeholders. © The Editors and Contributing Authors Severally 2025.

In K-12 education, scientific literacy helps students understand natural phenomena and develop critical thinking for future challenges. STEM education integrates science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to promote interdisciplinary learning. However, current STEM practices often lack feedback mechanisms, overlook productive failure, and ignore misconceptions. Error correction is a potential teaching method that focuses on students’ errors in learning, and can facilitate the change of misconceptions. This study proposed an error correction strategy-based STEM model (ECS-STEM model) and explored its effects on students’ learning motivation, STEM project outcomes, and cognitive network structures. Seventy primary school students aged 11 to 12 participated in the study, of whom 33 were in the experimental group, which utilized the ECS-STEM model, while 37 were in the control group, which followed the traditional STEM (T-STEM) model. The results showed that students using the ECS-STEM model performed better than those using the T-STEM model in terms of STEM project outcomes and learning motivation. In addition, epistemic network analysis showed that the ECS-STEM model promoted students’ reflection on experimental operations and principles, enabling them to question erroneous operations or concepts. Therefore, this study provides valuable insights and guidance for future exploration of effective STEM teaching and science education. © 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This thematic issue investigates vocational schools as pathways to higher education (HE) across several countries, analyzing their potential to enhance educational and social mobility. With rising global demand for HE, vocational education and training (VET) systems offer alternative routes to HE, with vocational schools playing a crucial role, providing opportunities for students from less privileged backgrounds. The issue examines how vocational schools in various countries affect the permeability between VET and HE, highlighting the diverse narratives across different educational settings, including the DACH countries, China, the Czech Republic, Japan, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Despite vocational schools’ potential to act as bridges to HE, findings remain mixed. Although vocational schools have expanded university access, they often reproduce social inequalities. Analyses suggest that these schools could improve their impact in more targeted ways through stronger teacher engagement, better preparation of students, and structured pathways that acknowledge and address students’ diverse needs. The necessity for clear, common terminology and concepts, as well as for appropriate survey data to understand vocational pathways to HE in vocational school research, is emphasized, acknowledging significant research gaps, particularly in Eastern Europe and the Global South. Overall, this thematic issue calls for a new research agenda that includes diverse international perspectives, advocating for the recognition and enhancement of vocational schools as vital components to feed the HE landscape. © 2025 by the author(s).

Grounded in “The Race Between Education and Technology,” this book uses multisource data to analyse the evolving labour market for college graduates, interpreting how the relationship between humans and automation shifts from competition to coexistence, which is reshaping skill demand, education policy, and labour market in China and abroad. In examining the competition between humans and automation, the authors analyse how automation is pushing graduates out of informal employment, reshaping their career paths, and changing labour market structures. They also explore the impact of automation on skill demand, distinguishing between general and specific skills and highlighting how technological advancements are driving the evolving requirements of the labour market. The discussion then moves from competition to coexistence between humans and automation, highlighting the crucial role of education policy in managing human-automation substitution. The authors contend that rather than simply displacing human workers, automation can be integrated into the workforce in a way that promotes coexistence and even synergy between human skills and technological innovation. This book advances the traditional understanding of the relationship between technology, labour market, and education. It will appeal to scholars and students who are interested in the economics of education and labour economics. © 2026 Peikang Zhang, Huailiang Liang, Xuanyu Chen and Yuxuan Qin.

Objective: Data from a longitudinal study were used to examine health changes among students in health profession disciplines. Methods: In the summer semesters of 2021 and 2022 a baseline survey (T0) was conducted among students in health-related professions at a university in Germany. Participation in the online survey was voluntary and took place during the period of remote learning. The follow-up survey (T2) was conducted at the end of the degree program in the summer semesters of 2023 and 2024. In addition to sociodemographic data, health-related features were assessed using selected indicators: self-rated health status, height and weight, diseases, self-rated mental well-being, physical activity, tobacco and alcohol consumption, dietary habits and health literacy. To analyze changes between T0 and T2, the McNemar test, Fisher’s exact test, Wilcoxon test and Student’s t‑tests for paired samples were applied. Results: Complete longitudinal data were available for 33 students, corresponding to a follow-up rate of 33.7%. Over the course of the study program, a significant increase in the proportion of students classified as overweight or obese was observed. Dietary patterns also significantly deteriorated and a higher frequency of medical diagnoses was reported. In contrast, self-rated health remained largely stable. Conclusion: The university phase represents a critical period in the development of health-related behavior. Over the course of the study program, significant changes were observed in key health indicators. Despite these developments, self-rated health remained largely stable, suggesting a potential discrepancy between the objective health status and individual perception. These findings highlight the need for targeted health promotion strategies as well as for structural support systems within higher education institutions and future workplaces. © The Author(s) 2025.