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In this paper I consider the social role vocational education can play in decentring settler-colonialism. Through focused programming located in community settings, these educational offerings provide opportunities for students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Connecting capitalism’s relationship to this school system, I contend that vocational education, with its vast scope of subject-matter areas, and deeply embedded connections to the intersectionality of race, class, and gender-oppressions, provide an under-examined opportunity to advance decolonising efforts within society. © 2024 The Vocational Aspect of Education Ltd.

Reporting findings from action research in Secondary Vocational Schools (SVSs) in Palestine contributes to our understanding of the five criteria that underpin excellence in Work-Based Learning (WBL) This paper presents a new model for promoting WBL performance for SVSs in Palestine by focusing on five key indicators derived from previous research analysis and findings for the researcher of this paper, the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) and the Quality, Cost and Delivery (QCD) model. This paper addresses the question of how to promote WBL in SVSs in Palestine? In-depth interviews with 52 school personnel and 85 students from three SVSs in Palestine were conducted. A five-question descriptive questionnaire was administered to all respondents to assess the five key performance indicators to identify performance gaps. Analysis of the responses provides an understanding of the causes of the gaps and helps provide explanations to develop an action plan to improve performance. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Work-ready professionals serve as valuable organizational and industry resources. In the face of skills shortages in construction, it is imperative that graduates emerge well equipped for their careers in the industry. This study explores the role of educators in fostering work readiness in graduating project management (PM) professionals embarking on careers in construction. Seventy-five semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with five key stakeholder groups including PM students, early-career PM professionals, construction employers, PM professional body representatives, and PM university educators. In interviewing five key stakeholder groups, this study adopts a holistic approach to investigate the role of educators in preparing a work-ready next generation of construction PM professionals. Thematic analysis revealed that the stakeholders considered that educators’ responsibilities entailed: i) teaching content relevant to industry; ii) providing career education; iii) facilitating work experience; iv) refreshing curriculum; v) engaging in open dialogue with alumni; vi) possessing industry experience; and vii) engaging with industry. The findings contribute insights into the role of educators in preparing graduates for the industry. Educators delivering PM courses for graduates planning to work in construction may use the results of this research as a guide to assist them in fostering work readiness of future construction professionals. © 2024 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

In a rapidly evolving technology and skill-based economy, the development and engagement in practical skills and motivation among electronic technology education students is key to their career readiness and employability. Thus, this study investigated the relationship between initial training experiences and electronic technology education students’ motivation and engagement in practical skill learning. The study employed cross-section and correlational survey method to elicit data from 177 sample of electronic technology education students through structured questionnaires. Path analysis and mediation analysis were used for the data analysis. Results showed that initial training experiences positively and significantly predicted motivation, and students’ engagement in practical skill learning. Learning self-efficacy was found to mediate the relationship between initial training experiences and motivation. These findings emphasise the importance of well-designed initial training to enhance students’ motivation and engagement in practical skill development. Thus, this study makes significant contribution to extant literatures. © 2024 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

A longitudinal study of enrichment across post-16 colleges in England and Wales illustrates the possibilities and limitations of colleges’ societal and cultural impact. Over a four-year study, these activities outside subject curricula, widely intended to compensate for the mobilisation of cultural capital by students in privileged settings, increased in salience whilst responding to post-pandemic crises; but differed across settings in their aims and organisation, including the agency afforded to staff and students. This paper explores these differences, in the context of a longstanding theorisation of colleges as sites of social reproduction interruptible only outside the technical sphere, whilst drawing on contemporary understandings of structure, agency and stratification. Whilst analysis of survey and case study data suggests broad association of general education spaces with agentic enrichment practices, alongside vocational enrichment overlapping technical curricula or generic ‘support’, we suggest that contestation over the aims and content of enrichment takes place in the context of a hierarchical terrain of post-16 institutions and broader societal and policy developments unfolding over time. We argue that authentic and socially just enrichment requires its extension to the interests and agency of students across educational pathways, in contradistinction to the currently deepening stratification of post-16 education in England. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Climate change is not geographically homongeneous and disproportionally affects African nations, making the acceleration of knowledge sharing and mobilization among African-centric researchers critical for developing adaptative and preventative solutions. An interdisciplinary approach to environmental education is therefore essential. While mechanisms like short-term international exchange programs have been explored, little research has focused on a cohort-based approach centered on environmental education of international and interdisciplinary doctoral students and early career researchers. Drawing from the literature on international experiential learning and cohort-based models and employing a Theory of Change framework, we report on the outcomes of an innovative four-year environmental education short-term study program in Canada involving three cohorts of post graduate scholars from Sub-Saharan Africa. Our findings demonstrate that an interdisciplinary cohort approach is beneficial in accelerating research capacity for tackling complex problems such as climate change. Furthermore, participating scholars benefited from cross-learning, research dissemination, community engagement, network development, and enhanced soft skills. Recommendations for successfully organizing and delivering a cohort-based international exchange program are also discussed. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Objective: Community college baccalaureate (CCB) programs are expanding across the nation, particularly in California—home of the largest and most ethnically/racially diverse community college system in the nation. CCB programs provide many benefits, two of which include providing an accessible and affordable pathway towards baccalaureate attainment, and also meeting economic and workforce development (EWD) goals, particularly for students from historically minoritized communities. While the community colleges of the United States have historically provided accessible education that aligns with EWD, more can be learned about the strategies these institutions use to do so. Methods: Using a content analysis methodology, we examined the application proposals of the first 15 approved CCB programs in California to understand how these community colleges as aligned with EWD. Results: The findings we generated suggest that the first 15 approved California CCB colleges (1) utilized varied information and sources to understand their labor market conditions, (2) rarely acknowledged how their CCB programs would address student inequities in the labor market, and (3) were limited in articulating the specific practices, structures, and systems they would implement to be EWD-aligned. Conclusion: Policymakers, practitioners, and researchers can help ensure successful EWD alignment and equity by improving data systems to better understand labor market conditions, conducting more quantitative and qualitative research to capture students’ labor market experiences and outcomes, and comprehensively aligning college- and career-related practices, programs, structures, and systems. © The Author(s) 2024.

The scope of work-integrated learning (WIL) has expanded and evolved globally and is a recognised pedagogy that enhances graduate employability, strengthens students’ personal attributes, and affords a personalised learning experience. Despite abundant research and discourse on WIL, misconceptions about what WIL is and how WIL educative experiences are enacted continue to prevail, partially due to the absence of a universal definition of WIL. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into WIL curriculum design and educational practices that reflect a recently published inclusive definition of WIL. The importance of pre- and post-WIL for optimising outcomes during WIL is emphasised. A framework for conceptualising the enactment of the WIL curriculum is presented that preserves the flexibility of WIL while establishing a consistent interpretation of what WIL curriculum entails. Consensus on the defining elements of WIL and its enactment will facilitate stronger global collaboration, shared teaching ethos, augmented research impact, and agreement on what constitutes quality WIL. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

With a greater focus on employability upon graduation, universities are increasingly considering how the course experience links to knowledge and skill development. To assist with skill development, industry practice and authentic activities should be embedded into the curriculum. Designing and including authentic assessment helps to replicate real-life industry scenarios which support students’ development of professional competencies. This study examines an authentic assessment of planning and operating an event within an event management topic. Data was collected through a survey of students, and additionally the reflective practitioner approach was used to consider the development of the curriculum. This study found that students gained a greater understanding of the event process by, for example, using stakeholder theory in order to prioritise event objectives, produce a project plan including key milestones, and develop risk management strategies. Communication, time management and content management were identified as key areas of skill development by students. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

With the continuous development of embodied cognition theory and virtual reality (VR) technology, its application in teaching has been paid more and more attention by researchers. However, there are still few practical studies on the combination of VR technology and embodied learning. Starting from literature research, the paper analyzes the factors that affect the embodied learning in the VR environment; then, put forward the design principles under the support of VR based on the previous studies; finally, constructs the embodied learning design framework, combined with the two parts of study. The research chooses a course (namely Discrete Mathematics) as an example of embodied learning design case, which organizes the application facing college students in Computer Science and Technology major of Nanchang Institute of Technology. The study found that the body is indeed involved in the cognitive process, and the embodied learning based on VR can effectively improve the learning achievement and has a positive impact on learners’ learning participation and interest in learning during the experiment. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2024.