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"Article"

The purpose of this study is to systematically analyze the impact of Industry 4.0 technologies on workforce employability and skills in the South Asian region. The study investigates the driving success factors, challenges, and needed skills by analyzing 48 peer-reviewed articles. The authors searched keywords on the Web of Science database for articles published between 2013 and 2022. The review was conducted using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA 2020) and pareto principles. The analysis identifies nine critical success factors, such as artificial intelligence, digital skills, and big data analytics, that contribute to Industry 4.0’s productivity and efficiency. It also identifies six types of challenges, such as training and development, financial constraints, and regulatory issues that must be addressed to grab maximum potential. In addition, the research categorizes five different skills, including the technical, digital, and social skills that are essential for the evolving labor market. The proposed “Industry 4.0 SEI Framework” provides stakeholders with a comprehensive view of the dynamics of Industry 4.0, thereby facilitating policy and industry strategies. © 2024 by the authors.

Amidst the fourth industrial revolution, marked by swift technological advancements and changing economic environments, lifelong learning has risen as an essential cornerstone for developing people and society. Adult education, with a particular focus on skills learning, is vital in equipping individuals with the necessary competencies to navigate the dynamic demands of the modern workforce. This paper provides a qualitative analysis and commentary on the case study of Singapore’s SkillsFuture movement, an exemplary national initiative to promote skills learning among adults. Intending to reach a wide audience in educational science, we investigate the effectiveness and impact of this comprehensive programme and its implications for other countries. This article contributes to educational science and policy development by illustrating the importance of investing in adult education and skills development. By comprehensively studying the SkillsFuture experience, we offer valuable insights into establishing effective and inclusive lifelong learning ecosystems to foster a culture of continuous learning, equipping individuals to adapt and thrive in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous global landscape. © 2024 by the authors.

Accessing higher education is a biographical learning experience for all students, which can promote transformations in individuals’ identities. This article aims to investigate the implications of biographical learning experiences on the students’ identities. We will explore African students’ biographical learning experiences in Portuguese higher education and how they shaped their identities. Biographical learning and identity theoretical perspectives were adopted. This is a qualitative study that used biographical interviews with 22 African students enrolling at Portuguese higher education. The content analysis carried out has been organized into 2 themes: Biographical learning experiences and identity transformations. The results of the study show that African students gained new knowledge and skills and became more independent and autonomous. They develop their self-confidence and open-mindedness through a new way of seeing the world. Thus, African students’ experiences in higher education contributed to the formation and transformation of their identity. © 2024 The authors.

This article, rooted in Paulo Freire’s transformative framework, critically examines Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET), challenging the conventional emphasis on powerful knowledge. Instead, it forefronts contextual factors to unravel power dynamics, privilege, and social inequalities within the educational landscape. The primary aim is to engage in dialogues illuminating issues of power and social justice, offering insights to foster more inclusive and equitable TVET practices. Embracing a Freirean lens, the research article actively seeks transformative practices within TVET by emphasising the potential of dialogue, collaboration, and critical consciousness. It moves beyond merely describing students’ suffering and disappointment, focusing on the intrinsic aspect of Freirean ideas—the development of consciousness through dialogic processes. By incorporating the voices and perspectives of TVET students, the article aims to construct an alternative conceptualisation of TVET education. The article illustrates how dialogues contribute to developing a counterculture of resistance and struggle, aligning with Freire’s theory. It emphasises the transformative power of dialogue in addressing students’ lived experiences, struggles, rights, aspirations, and disappointments. This approach aligns with Freire’s belief that dialogue catalyses positive change and empowerment in education. © The Author(s) 2024.

The paper presents the analysis of the higher education modernisation for sustainable development in Ukraine regarding goals adopted on global and national levels, pre-pandemic trends and the challenges of 2020. The global experience integrating sustainable development goals into higher education is also a background analysis. Taking into account the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in 2015 and the national “Concept of environmental education in Ukraine”, adopted in 2001, the article investigates the current trends on macro (the country’s ESD policy), meso (HEIs), and micro (participants of educational process) levels. Particular attention is paid to embedding SDGs in university policy, curriculum, and pedagogy, primarily in training economists. Furthermore, the research focuses on the new challenges of 2020 – the COVID-19 pandemic and digitalization affecting higher education transformation. These drivers cause transformative sustainability teaching-learning practices and social and environmental impacts of digital technologies implementation in Ukraine’s higher teacher and economic education. The research reveals similar trends in higher education modernisation for sustainable development in the world and Ukraine. This theoretical and empirical research is based on the literature review, statistical data and surveys conducted at a national university in 2023. Finally, the research results in suggestions given by Humanities students and faculty members to foster higher education significance in developing environmental knowledge, awareness and culture among professionals and society in the future. © by the authors, in its year of first publication.

In many European countries, immigrants tend to view vocational education and training (VET) programs as less desirable for themselves and their children. Students with migration background, therefore, show stronger preferences for academic education over VET programs. This article contributes to the literature on immigrants’ educational choices by investigating whether their educational preferences change as foreign-born students live in Switzerland for longer periods. Using data of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) of ninth-grade students between 2000 and 2012, our results confirm that the probability to prefer a VET program, conditional on cognitive ability, increases for foreign-born students the longer they have been in Switzerland. By exploiting variation in students’ knowledge level at the time of immigration, we provide a tentative test for whether differences in the level of knowledge on the host country's education system influence immigrants’ educational choices. For students born in a country with a similar VET system and for students with a parent born in Switzerland, the preference for VET programs did not increase with the time spent in Switzerland. These findings suggest that a lack of information about the Swiss education system biases immigrants’ educational preferences and this bias can lead to suboptimal choices. Thus, policymakers should ensure that immigrant students early receive information about the host country's education system. © The Author(s) 2022.

Nursing assistants are vital healthcare team members who often experience personal challenges to professional success. The Transformational Healthcare Readiness through Innovative Vocational Education (THRIVE) program is designed to combat these challenges through coaching and curriculum that is steeped in adult learning and social theories. The program's goal is to increase retention and success of newly hired nursing assistants through personal and professional support. Components of THRIVE can be adapted in a variety of healthcare settings. © © 2024 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

This article examines pedagogical practices in Western orientated culinary arts education, specifically focusing on the traditional master-apprentice model. Leveraging the author's experiences with resistance to pedagogic change, the study employs Bourdieu's Field Theory to unravel entrenched pedagogic beliefs, norms, and practices in the culinary arts. The discussion centers on exploring historical social agents and their impact on culinary education, elucidating how they shape pedagogic beliefs, norms, and the logic of the field. Through Bourdieu's lens, the article emphasises the interconnectedness of culinary education within broader socio-cultural forces, revealing the intricate weaving of social positioning and knowledge acquisition within the field. This provides insights into the emergence of resistance to pedagogic change. The findings contribute to ongoing critical discussions pertaining to contemporary culinary education. The discussion underscores the importance of understanding socio-cultural dynamics shaping culinary education and advocates for strategies to support culinary educators amid pedagogic change. In a post-pandemic world, this discussion becomes a vital resource for comprehending and addressing opportunities and challenges in vocational education. It strives to ensure a responsive and adaptive pedagogic approach for future culinary arts learners. © 2024 Elsevier B.V.

The German education system includes a variety of educational pathways to school-leaving qualifications via general and vocationally oriented schools. This article presents a vignette study used to experimentally analyse the selection of applicants from general and vocationally oriented schools with a lower secondary school–leaving certificate (Hauptschulabschluss), intermediate secondary school–leaving certificate (mittlerer Schulabschluss), or university entrance qualification ([Fach-]Hochschulreife) for an interview for a vocational training option in a company. Based on a signalling approach, five hypotheses were developed on the signalling effect of school-leaving qualification, school type, and the general vs. vocational knowledge acquired in the various pathways. The data set comprises 884 recruiters in companies with low-level vocational training options (where more than half of the trainees have, at most, an intermediate school-leaving certificate) and 1308 recruiters in companies with high-level vocational training options (where more than half of the trainees have at least an intermediate school-leaving certificate). The results show for both segments that the clearest signalling effect is attributable to vocational knowledge: Applicants with a school-leaving certificate from a vocationally oriented school in an occupational field relevant to the vocational training option have the best chances of being invited for an interview, whereas applicants with a school-leaving certificate from a vocationally oriented school in an occupational field distal to the vocational training option have the lowest chances. © The Author(s) 2024.

Introduction. The process of professional development of the country is influenced by global processes: digitalization, progressive science and institutional education, the emergence of new interdisciplinary scientific fields, the development of new factors of social mobility, the emergence of new professions, etc. This influence can be taken into account in the discrepancy between the desired labor and educational career paths with the fact that university graduates use life guidelines based on the level of dissatisfaction with their acquired profession and career. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate the distinctive features of the formation of career trajectories of university graduates who received education in the natural sciences and humanities. Materials and methods. To achieve this goal, an online questionnaire was conducted, in which 252 graduates of different years from 32 Russian universities of natural sciences and humanities took part. To process the data, sequential analysis of t-Student criteria (p = 0.05), factor analysis, and content analysis were used. Results. Special features of the formation of career trajectories have been identified: the assessment of the demand for knowledge and skills in the labor market among graduates of natural science faculties after a bachelor's degree is higher than among graduates of humanities (7.17 compared to 5.75); More often than not, graduates of natural science faculties (71.6 compared to 43.1) plan to work/continue to work in the specialty acquired as a bachelor’s degree; 67.9% of graduates of natural science faculties have a longer planning horizon (several years) (compared to 43.1). from 32.1%); 26% of “techies” continue their work dynasty (compared with 6%); %); significant values for graduates of humanities are “harmony of personal life and career” (4.49 on average 4.01), “social recognition” (3.42 on average 2.95) and “emotional health” (4.52 on average 4.11), while for “techies” the opportunity to realize their entrepreneurial abilities is more significant (3.2 on average 2.75). “Humanitarians” compared to “technical specialists” are potentially more ready for sabbatical (3.46 on average 2.78), downshifting (2.65 on average 2.18) and relocation (3.40 on average 2.73). Four types of career trajectories were identified among graduates of humanities faculties (using the rotation method – Varimax): balanced multipotential, stagnant uncertain, innovative and altruistic escapism. For graduates of natural sciences, such differentiation is not defined. Conclusion. The data obtained allow us to conclude that graduates of natural science faculties have more employment opportunities due to the compliance of university training with the requirements of employers. For graduates of humanities faculties, the career trajectory is more variable, unstable, has a fluctuating nature and is associated primarily with horizontal mobility, while for graduates of natural science faculties the career trajectory is less variable and has a greater tendency toward upward mobility. © 2024 LLC Ecological Help. All rights reserved.