Search Results for
"Article"

Partnering a local nonprofit social agency, the authors developed and implemented a learning program for a group of older persons preparing them to conduct qualitative research within a healthcare setting as community researchers in Singapore. This paper illustrates how learning for new occupations, job identities, and work can be supported via a competency-based approach that enables and clarifies links between research work, older adult learning, and assessment. It demonstrates how learning processes and contexts matter as much, if not more than outcomes, skills, and tasks typical of conventional competency-based training. Thus, the paper builds upon but also challenges the paradigm of competency-based training. It offers a more developmental approach or strategy for older adult learning that promotes dialogic, reflexive, and hands-on/applied learning, corresponding with educational gerontology principles. © 2024 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Based on the qualitative data gathered from the existing literature pertaining to science curriculum with analytical and critical research designs, this article considers the implementation of the science Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC) in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. The study findings reveal that even though the CBC has been introduced in different SSA countries to enhance the quality of education, the science curriculum is still implemented in traditional ways. Consequently, CBC is not effectively addressing socio-economic needs as intended, at both individual and national level. The authors are concerned with how CBC is being implemented in other SSA countries that recently have adopted this kind of curriculum and how it will be implemented in other SSA countries that are planning to embrace it. In this paper, the authors suggest ways the new ideas could be introduced and reflect on how CBC can be implemented in SSA countries that share socio-economic and environmental similarities. They finally strongly recommend the establishment of special ‘laboratory’ schools or science education centres as well as school-based communities of practice to enhance teachers’ content knowledge and nurture contemporary teaching methods for the successful implementation of the new ideas. © 2024 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Creating decent work is among the priority issues for sustainable employment and development. This study aimed to determine the effect levels of the International Labour Organization (ILO) decent work criteria by augmenting nine indicators in the ILO manual to 12 criteria through a comprehensive literature review. Fuzzy DEMATEL, a multi-criteria decision-making method, has been preferred in this context. According to the analysis results of the study, the most heavily ranked criteria are ‘healthy workplace environment’, ‘decent working hours’ and ‘safe working conditions’ respectively, which contribute to the decent work concept. Further, ‘balance between work–family–personal life’ has been found the most affected criterion, while ‘education and training system’ has been the most affecting. Based on the findings, remedial and developing strategies are suggested on issues such as corporate culture, working hours regulation, safe working environment, subordinate–superior relations, social activities and regulations that take family life into account. © 2024 Central Institute for Labour Protection–National Research Institute (CIOP-PIB).

This systematic review aims to examine empirical literature about advancing the social role of college-based higher education (CBHE). A thematic analysis of empirical evidence from the 58 included articles offers insights into the social role of CBHE, and the characteristics of CBHE colleges, students, and lecturers. The review indicated a growing research interest in CBHE and an increase in the geographical spread of such research as the provision has grown. It also highlighted the social role of CBHE including (i) widening higher education participation, (ii) responding to local employment needs for work-ready graduates and community development, and (iii) supporting social justice. Although there are differences in the organisation of CBHE across education systems, the review underscored the overwhelming agreement that the CBHE provision is designed to respond to two policy concerns. These are policies to increase economic competitiveness and productivity by providing learning that is industry aligned and cost effective, and policies to promote social justice and equity by providing supportive learning environments for a distinct group of students who otherwise would not access higher education. The review calls for vigilant policy to sustain the double role of CBHE and to avoid the prioritisation of education for the market. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This article examines the construction of national identity within Vietnam's neoliberal education framework, specifically how femininity is portrayed in Vietnamese textbooks via the classic poem ‘Truyện Kiều’. Drawing on Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA) and an intersectional perspective, it scrutinises the discursive representation of womanhood in the original text Truyện Kiều versus its depiction in the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET)’s national textbooks. The article situates its analysis within the historical context of Vietnamese nationalism, tracing gender and sexuality relations from pre-colonial bilateral kinship systems through Confucian patriarchal norms to twentieth-century feminist and anti-imperialist movements. It also explores the influence of neoliberal reforms, notably the 1986 Đổi Mới policy, on national identity construction and femininity portrayal in educational materials. Through this critical examination, the article unveils how neoliberal ideologies and nationalist narratives intersect, reconfiguring perceptions of gender and national identity in Vietnamese education. © 2024 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Background Nurses' competences in providing spiritual care can increase quality of care for and quality of life of patients with cancer and job satisfaction but are often suboptimal. Training to improve this mostly takes place off-site, although implementation in daily care practice is key. Objectives The aims of this study were to implement a meaning-centered coaching on the job intervention and to measure its effects on oncology nurses' spiritual care competences and job satisfaction, and factors influencing this. Methods A participatory action research approach was adopted. Mixed methods were used to assess intervention effects in which nurses of an oncology ward in a Dutch academic hospital participated. Spiritual care competences and job satisfaction were quantitatively measured and complemented with content analysis of qualitative data. Results Thirty nurses participated. A significant increase in spiritual care competences was found, particularly regarding communication, personal support, and professionalization. More self-reported awareness of personal experiences in caring for patients, and an increase in mutual communication and involvement around meaning-centered care provision as a team were found. Mediating factors were related to nurses' attitudes, support structures, and professional relations. No significant impact was found on job satisfaction. Conclusion Meaning-centered coaching on the job increased oncology nurses' spiritual care competences. Nurses developed a more exploratory attitude in their communication with patients - instead of acting based on their own assumptions about what is of meaning. Implications for Practice Attention to and improving spiritual care competences should be integrated into existing work structures, and terminology used should match existing understandings and sentiments. © Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

Dual Vocational Education and Training (dual VET) has become an important educational model across Europe, although it is implemented in significantly different ways and remains a minority educational pathway in most countries. Previous research highlights that the capacity of dual VET models to resolve social and economic challenges requires a high degree of involvement and coordination of social partners. This article explores the role played by trade unions and employer organisations in the governance of experimental ‘dual VET systems’ under Southern statist skill formation regimes where social partners play a comparatively less institutionalised role in providing skill formation–namely, Greece, Portugal, and Spain. In doing so, the article draws on a systematic governance approach which distinguishes three governance levels (political-strategic, technical-strategic, technical-operation) and combines desk research (specialised literature, policy documents, institutions’ legal statutes, etc.) and fieldwork (key informant interviews). The article shows that the three countries have each developed some collective responses to ‘dual VET’ and, accordingly, cannot be assessed as strictly or exclusively statist governance models. At the same time, the article illustrates interesting cross-country differences across the three governance levels. © 2024 The Vocational Aspect of Education Ltd.

The Academic Professional Apprenticeship (APA) has emerged in recent years as a new avenue for early career academic staff to develop into their roles. While much of the content may be similar, as an apprenticeship, the requirements and structure of the APA differ from other routes for supporting early career academic staff such as a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education. The purpose of this paper is to explore the conflicting priorities of early career academics studying the Academic Professional Apprenticeship and to consider how this programme of study has influenced their identity formation. This article discusses qualitative interviews with 11 apprentices nearing the end of their studies, about their identity and experiences. A flexible inductive framework approach was taken to analyse the data, with multiple coders deployed to increase the validity and reliability of the findings. Key findings suggest that the identity of the apprentice is a multifaceted one, with a reluctance to identify explicitly as an apprentice, often preferring the more discreet title of being a student or, simply, studying. Elements such as teaching pressures, intrusion into research productivity and historical perspectives of what an apprenticeship is, all contribute to the formation of personal identities. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Since Ewart Keep published his important article on England’s VET policy failures in 2006 in JVET much has happened, while important aspects of Keep’s critique still hold. In his article entitled “State Control of the English Education and Training System: Playing with the Biggest Train Set in the World”, Keep argued that the state’s continual interventions to promote a market–based VET system led to a cycle of policy failure followed by further remedial action by the state. Underlying problems of employer demand for skills remained unaddressed. This article aims to examine the continuities and discontinuities in England’s VET policies since 2010, indicating where problems apparent for the whole of the postwar period still apply. The focus of the article will be on apprenticeship policy during this period, covering the introduction of Trailblazer apprenticeships, the Apprenticeship Levy and the setting up of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. Using policy analysis and a review of data from the ‘Young Lives, Young Futures’ ESRC–funded project, the article will assess the success of policy from 2010 to 2024 and pose the question whether Keep’s critique of English VET policymaking still holds. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The choice of higher education studies is a key moment for students with disabilities. In this line, the progressive increase in the number of students with disabilities at Spanish universities implies an imminent need to delve further into the reasons that have led them to choose university studies. A total of 91 university graduates with disabilities from different Spanish universities participated in this study. The data were obtained through semi-structured individual interviews and, subsequently, a mixed methods analysis was carried out. On the one hand, the obtained qualitative results indicate that decision-making is mainly based on personal interest. A significant proportion of respondents also referred to other factors, including family, disability and specialisation. On the other hand, the quantitative results define significant associations between various factors, such as gender, type of disability and area of expertise. In conclusion, these results are relevant in terms of guaranteeing the university success of students with disabilities, since, although the choice of degree is a complex issue due to the diversity of factors involved, having this information would allow universities to anticipate in order to favour their vocational development. © 2024 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.