Search Results for
"Vocational education"

Introduction: With an increasing focus on social accountability in program design in response to a shortage of rural healthcare professionals, emerging approaches in pre-registration health professional education (HPE) offer ‘place-based’ solutions. This review assesses the adoption of these approaches by the international HPE community and describes how programs are designed to recruit and train students ‘in place’. Methods: Utilizing a global scoping review, a search strategy of relevant HPE databases was developed based on the review’s eligibility criteria and key search terms. Titles and abstracts of all articles were screened against the review’s inclusion criteria, followed by full text review of articles retained. Reporting followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist. Results: Database searches identified 4,215 articles (1,526 duplicates). Title and abstract screening were completed, with 319 retained for full text review. Of these, 138 met the inclusion criteria, with 50 unique HPE programs from 12 countries identified, predominantly from medicine or nursing and midwifery. Programs often had a dual purpose to provide a rural workforce and increase access to HPE for under-represented groups. Recruitment strategies included preferential admission of local students, identifying students with rural or primary care intentions, community involvement in selection, and pre-entry programs. A typology of four training models was identified: short-term rural placements, extended rural placements, rural campuses, and distributed blended learning. Distributed blended learning occurred primarily in nursing and midwifery programs, enabling students to train in their home rural communities. Outcomes evaluated by programs focussed on graduates’ work locations, the effectiveness of widening access measures, and academic results. Discussion: Despite heterogeneity of design and context, place-based programs were characterized by three common features closely aligned with social accountability: widening access to HPE, comprehensive program design and a community-engaged approach. Key considerations for place-based HPE program design are the geographical scale of the program, strategies for student recruitment from the target region, provision of continuity with rural communities through longitudinal training experiences, engaging communities in the design and delivery of the program, and alignment of evaluation with the goals of the program and the communities served. © © 2025 Fuller, Beattie, McGrail, Versace and Rogers.

This study examines laboratory training for engineering students with pedagogical profiles in industrial parks. It explores the integration of technical and educational competencies, highlighting benefits, challenges, and methodological solutions. Emphasis is placed on experiential learning, professional identity development, and creating sustainable models that bridge engineering practice with vocational education teaching. © 2025 IEEE.

In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, the acquisition of practical skills has become increasingly important to meet the demands of the labour market. In vocational education and training, the focus on practical skill acquisition is paramount, especially in fields such as electrical installation and maintenance work, which require a high degree of technical proficiency and competency. Self-directed learning, which places the responsibility for learning on the learners, has gained increased attention as an approach to enhancing students’ engagement and motivation and promoting lifelong learning skills. Therefore, this study investigates the effect of self-directed learning on student engagement in practical skills acquisition in electrical installation and maintenance work in Nigeria. Using a stratified sampling technique, 500 electrical installation and maintenance work students were selected as the sample for the study. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to analyze the students’ responses. The study revealed that students’ task value, learning motivation, self-monitoring, interpersonal communication, and planning and implementation influenced their engagement in practical skills acquisition. Also, learning motivation, self-monitoring, planning and implementation but not interpersonal communication influenced students’ task value about practical skills acquisition. The outcomes of the study shed light that student’s motivation to engage in practical learning activity is influenced by their expectancy of success and perceived value of activity. Likewise, this outcome will positively influence the government, teachers, and education policymakers as regards to enhancing practical skill acquisition in schools. © The Author(s) 2025

This article details the design and validation of the Students’ Perceptions of Upper Secondary education Programmes (SPUSEP) instrument, developed to explore Portuguese students’ experiences of transitioning into upper secondary education. The instrument was developed based on a literature review and focus group discussions with students from four upper secondary schools and was tested through a pilot study with 185 students attending the 1st year of upper secondary level in these schools. Reliability and validity were assessed using Cronbach’s alpha and a Principal Component Analysis. Furthermore, an independent sample T-test was conducted to examine differences between students in scientific-humanistic and VET programmes, as well as between general and VET schools. The results confirm that SPUSEP is a robust and reliable tool for gathering insights into students’ perceptions of upper secondary education programmes. It captures effectively the various perceptions of different pathways, including concerns about course load, degree of subject choice and learning experiences. SPUSEP can support discussions about and reforms of upper secondary education programmes at institutional, local or system levels, to promote more informed and student-centred educational improvements. © the author.