Search Results for
"learning"

This study investigated the effect of performance-based versus competence-based assessment criteria on task performance and self-assessment skills among 39 novice secondary vocational education students in the domain of nursing and care. In a performance-based assessment group students are provided with a preset list of performance-based assessment criteria, describing what students should do, for the task at hand. The performance-based group is compared to a competence-based assessment group in which students receive a preset list of competence-based assessment criteria, describing what students should be able to do. The test phase revealed that the performance-based group outperformed the competence-based group on test task performance. In addition, higher performance of the performance-based group was reached with lower reported mental effort during training, indicating a higher instructional efficiency for novice students. © 2010 The Author(s).

Objective: International reports on school-to-work transition make it clear that worldwide youth are at-risk for educational disengagement and are three times as likely to be unemployed as their adult counterparts. Work-based education (WBE) is one of the most frequently recommended solutions for youth disengagement which suggests that WBE serves as a protective factor and encourages resilience in at-risk youth. The objective of this study was to describe and compare the experiences of two at-risk youth enrolled in WBE. Participants: Two 18-year old at-risk youth enrolled in WBE were chosen for study because they were learning in workplaces judged likely to promote resilience. Both had been disengaged from school prior to enrolling in WBE. Method: Each multiple-perspective case study includes the perspective of the youth, the workplace employer, and the work-based educator. Data consisted of ethnographic observations and interviews conducted at the workplace, and with the teacher in the school. Results: Each case study highlights how supportive adults and an at-risk youth engage in interactions that facilitate the emergence of resilience in the workplace. Conclusions: In these two cases, risk and resilience are context specific, suggesting that at-risk youth may require tailored workplace programs to meet their career development needs. © 2010 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.

What can arts-based learning offer to adult, work-related education? A study was undertaken that explored the benefits of learning with the arts for professional development of an adult learner in Australia. The individual experiences of nine adults who participated in arts-based workshops to build work-related skills were examined using the contextual model of learning where the personal, sociocultural and physical contexts were considered. To determine the potential for professional development, the participants' perceived learning outcomes were examined against the list of the skills valued in the modern workplace. The adult learners who participated in this research found learning with the arts to be engaging, enjoyable and productive. The study highlighted the potential benefits that learning with the arts could bring to the workplace which included increased motivation to learn, creativity, strengthened confidence and improved communication skills. © 2010 The Vocational Aspect of Education Ltd.

Reporting on research into two major employers recruiting to the financial services industry, this article draws on data collected from interns, recruitment professionals and graduate employees in their first year of employment. It poses a number of strategy- and outcome-related questions in an attempt to determine whether recruitment advisers are acknowledging a new breed of undergraduate with various skills and diverse histories. The research, involving two large employers, 172 trainees and their personnel managers, set out to explore the impact of life experiences on employment opportunities in the financial services industry. The evidence reveals that despite the fact that graduates entering the labour market have changed, becoming more diverse in terms of age, gender, previous education experience, interest and ambition, employers in the industry still recruit from the elite specifically in terms of their fast track to leadership programmes, known as internships. © 2010 The Vocational Aspect of Education Ltd.

This article explores teaching assistants' (TAs) perceptions of suggestions that English schools should encourage large numbers of 'low-achieving' school leavers to become apprentice teaching assistants. It reports on a piece of qualitative research that aimed to capture teaching assistants' views of these proposals. Semi-structured interviews were utilised to enable 44 TAs to express their views. These individuals were all enrolled on a foundation degree programme at a new university in the North of England. The findings of this research suggest that established teaching assistants' reactions to apprenticeships are likely to promote a learning environment where an already restricted form of apprenticeship experience will be subject to further constraint. This article highlights the risks that vocational education and training (VET) of this type poses in terms of reproducing gender and class-based inequalities. It further maintains that diluting the meaning of apprenticeship learning to meet ambitious governmental targets potentially endanger the integrity of this form of learning. © 2010 The Vocational Aspect of Education Ltd.

The paper questions the link that policy-makers assume exists between qualifications and access to employment in the creative and cultural (C&C) sector. It identifies how labour market conditions in the C&C sector undermine this assumption and how the UK's policy formation process inhibits education and training (E&T) actors from countering these labour market conditions. It demonstrates how non-government agencies ('intermediary organizations') are creating new spaces to assist aspiring entrants to develop the requisite forms of 'vocational practice', 'social capital' and 'moebius strip' (i.e., entrepreneurial) expertise to enter and succeed in the sector. It concludes by identifying a number of: (a) new principles for the governance of E&T at the national level; (b) pedagogic strategies to facilitate 'horizontal' transitions into and within the C&C sector; and (c) skill formation issues for all E&T stakeholders to address. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.

In 2008, the UK Labour government unveiled plans to abolish the learning and Skills Council and transfer funding for the education and training of 16-19-year- olds in England to local authorities (LAs). The transfer of 16-19 funding complements the responsibilities that LAs have already acquired in relation to the raising of the education and training 'participation age' and ensuring that all young people have access to a full 14-19 curriculum entitlement in their area. Such a move might be read as part of the 'new localism' that has gained currency under the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, as well as an opportunity to rein back from an English education and training system that has become increasingly centralised and 'top-down'. Indeed, some commentators have argued for a new model of governance based on 'devolved social partnership', with input from a wider range of stakeholders and the space for policy levers to be shaped more at local level. Drawing upon interviews with key personnel in LAs and other stakeholders, this paper examines the opportunities and challenges that LAs face in their new role, whether this amounts to a genuine devolution of power, and the prospects for 'devolved social partnership'. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to advance understandings of the subjectivities that influence auxiliarylevel female employees' work and learning experiences in general legal practice. Moreover, the aim is to maximise the opportunities for these workers. Design/methodology/approach A broader critical ethnographic study investigated sociocultural perspectives of women, work, and learning. This paper represents part of the study exploring the empirical relationships of female workers and the subjectivities that impact on their work and learning. This approach was based on critical epistemologies and examines sources of workplace barriers. Data were triangulated through interview transcripts, observations, and reflective diaries. The collection of data involved gathering information from nine female workers and an analysis of the data were activated at the research settings and organised into categories through comparison and inductive coding. Findings Findings suggest that negotiating subjectivities at work is complex and inhibiting for auxiliary workers. Yet, despite low levels of support, auxiliary workers are determined and they find ways to survive through participatory practices and agentic actions. These findings are imperative to enhance auxiliary women's workplace learning experiences. Originality/value The research challenges management to acknowledge and expand understandings of subjectivities and to take advantage of these understandings as a springboard to augment auxiliary women's work and learning experiences. Value is in transforming social practice within legal workplaces to better consider the potential of all workers. Also, strategically this may well enhance the productivity and viability of these kinds of practices. © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Since the 1980s there has been significant growth in the engagement of higher education with workforce development, with among other things the emergence of a distinct if varied area of provision commonly referred to as work-based learning. Recent examination of practice and literature indicates a growing sophistication in the way that work-based learning is being theorised and facilitated in higher education, with its gradual emergence as a distinct field of practice and study supported by relevant pedagogies and concepts of curriculum. Tensions continue to exist between the demands and opportunities provided by the workplace and the need to develop capable practice, support personal development and maintain academic validity; however, universities are beginning to engage with these issues at a deeper level than that suggested by simple notions of employer engagement and skills development, and the evidence indicates that well-designed work-based programmes are both effective and robust. © 2010 Society for Research into Higher Education.

This paper reports on a case study investigating learning outcomes at the individual and organisational level of a cross-institutional innovation project based on the SOAP approach. SOAP integrates Schooling of teachers, Organisational development of schools, Action and development-oriented research, and Professional development of teachers. The innovation project was aimed at combining teachers, student teachers, and teacher educators in an alliance to design and develop new competence-based vocational educational arrangements for pupils. An inductive qualitative analysis of 37 semi-structured interviews among the participants revealed seven main categories of individual learning outcomes: attitudes, project design and management, collaboration, action theory, teaching practice, educational principles, and developments within secondary vocational education. Three main categories of organisational learning outcomes were identified: institution-level learning, project-level learning, and combining institution-level and project-level learning. A tension was identified between the participants' individual interests in learning and personal development, and the need for organisational learning aimed at improving organisational processes. © 2010 Association for Teacher Education in Europe.