Search Results for
"Vocational education"

This book examines a largely overlooked social movement in West Germany, notable for its significant influence on the national apprenticeship system. The movement, which led to substantial increases in apprentice pay and contributed to long-term improvements in training quality, is analysed through a wide array of sources, including contemporary German-language literature, official statistics, and archival documents from trade unions and employers' associations. Consideration of comparable changes in the UK, Switzerland, Sweden and the US contributes to a broader understanding of developments in Germany at the time. Addressing an important gap in scholarship, the book will appeal to students, scholars, and researchers in economic history, labour economics, social sciences and history, interested in a better understanding of the apprentice movement in Germany and its impact on educational reform, employment relations and apprenticeship. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.

Background: Interprofessional healthcare requires interprofessional learning (IPL) starting during academic education. The aim of this study is to examine the implementation of IPL in the modules "Topical Workshop (TW) for Orthopaedic Rehabilitation" and "TW for Paediatrics and Child and Adolescent Psychosomatics" at the Universität zu Lübeck (UzL) from the perspective of students in occupational therapy, speech therapy, and physiotherapy. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in two phases. In phase 1, qualitative data was collected and analysed using Kuckartz's method of content-structuring qualitative content analysis. Building on this, two focus group interviews were conducted in phase 2 and analysed using the same method. The data was integrated using a triangulation approach. A final member reflection was carried out. Results: The analysis of five interviews, five written pre-understandings, the central evaluation, and two focus group interviews shows: Joint learning of new content, understanding of profession-specific content, and the acquisition of interprofessional skills are at the core of IPL. In the modules, the various professions were involved to different extents, approaches to interprofessional collaboration (IPC) were demonstrated, and practical relevance was established. Facilitating factors such as practical content and group work were contrasted by challenges such as a lack of exchange and unsuitable tasks. The perceived learning gains resulted in wishes and ideas for shaping future TWs. Conclusion: Both facilitating and inhibiting factors for IPL were identified. These lead to approaches for further developing the modules, which can be applied to similar academic contexts.; Hintergrund: Eine interprofessionelle Gesundheitsversorgung bedarf des interprofessionellen Lernens (ipL) bereits im Studium. Ziel der Studie ist es, die Umsetzung des ipL in den Modulen „Profilwerkstatt (PW) für orthopädische Rehabilitation“ sowie „PW für Pädiatrie und Kinder- und Jugend-Psychosomatik“ an der Universität zu Lübeck aus Sicht von Studierenden der Ergotherapie, Logopädie und Physiotherapie zu untersuchen. Methodik: Die qualitative Studie erfolgte in zwei Phasen. In Phase 1 wurden qualitative Daten erhoben und mittels inhaltlich strukturierender qualitativer Inhaltsanalyse nach Kuckartz ausgewertet. Aufbauend wurden in Phase 2 zwei Fokusgruppeninterviews geführt und nach demselben Verfahren analysiert. Die Daten wurden mittels der Vorgehensweise der Triangulation miteinander verknüpft. Abschließend erfolgte eine Member Reflection. Ergebnisse: Die Analyse von fünf Interviews, fünf schriftlich festgehaltenen Vorannahmen, der zentralen Evaluation und zwei Fokusgruppeninterviews zeigt: Gemeinsames Erlernen neuer Inhalte, Verständnis für professionsspezifische Inhalte und der Erwerb interprofessioneller Fähigkeiten stehen im Zentrum des ipL. In den Modulen wurden Professionen unterschiedlich stark einbezogen, Ansätze zur Zusammenarbeit der Professionen aufgezeigt und Praxisbezüge geschaffen. Förderliche Faktoren wie praktische Inhalte und Gruppenarbeiten standen Herausforderungen wie fehlendem Austausch und ungeeignete Aufgaben gegenüber. Der wahrgenommene Lernzuwachs resultiert in Wünschen und Ideen für die Gestaltung zukünftiger PW. Schlussfolgerung: Es wurden fördernde und hemmende Bedingungen für ipL identifiziert. Daraus ergeben sich Ansätze zur Weiterentwicklung der Module, die auf vergleichbare hochschulische Kontexte übertragbar sind. © © 2025 Jacob et al.

To address the shortcomings of traditional vocational education in terms of practical engagement and interactivity, this study focuses on the course raw material preparation and cement production. An innovative instructional model was designed and implemented, integrating virtual simulation, immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences, and a smart learning platform. Built around a four-stage process–train-learn-compete-evaluate–the model emphasizes task-driven learning and competency-based development. The platform records students’ operational behavior in real time, enabling full-process, visualized, and data-driven teaching management and precise performance assessment. Teaching practices have shown that this model significantly improves students’ hands-on skills, learning initiative, and professional competence, while enhancing instructors’ ability to deliver targeted feedback in a timely manner. The results provide a replicable and scalable instructional framework for advancing curriculum reform in vocational education under the smart education paradigm. © 2025 by the authors; licensee Modestum.

This chapter gives a comparative account of the development and gestalt of plurilingualism in two German imperial cities from late medieval times to the beginning of the nineteenth century. It includes a brief overview of their more general religious, political and cultural backgrounds, discusses early forms of vocational language training, focuses on the precarious existence of the 183 Augsburg and Nuremberg masters of languages found in the archives and in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century printed sources, includes a section on the teaching of modern languages to the female gender in early modern times, gives a brief analysis of the surprisingly large corpus of teaching and learning materials available to contemporary foreign language students, and concludes with a short summary of project results. © Willem Frijhofff, Marie-Christine Kok Escalle and Karène Sanchez-Summerer/Taylor & Francis Group 2017.

Discussions of student writing in (mainly traditional) universities have highlighted tensions between hegemonic expectations and more participatory writing practices which could better serve an increasingly diverse student population. Our paper extends this discussion in an investigation of writing in vocational disciplines. Based in a teaching-intensive university in the UK, our ethnographically informed data collection activities include focus groups with post-compulsory teacher educator colleagues and an auto-ethnographic examination of student writing tutorials, providing a detailed insider perspective and contributing to understanding of academic literacies in vocational disciplines. We argue that the above two-way tension (hegemonic-academic versus dialogic-participatory) is complexified in practice-based fields by the values of the professional domain, which constitute a third set of writing practices towards which lecturers (and students) are drawn. This can amplify the constraints on developing participatory approaches, but may also offer opportunities for lecturers to align their academic and professional values and practices to better support students’ writing development. © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This article examines the institution of apprenticeship in artisanal production during the second half of British colonial rule in India (1850–1950). It proposes that apprenticeships were used strategically by various types of businesses that employed or trained artisanal labour, ranging from craft industries, technical schools and government enterprises. The article focuses on three strands of apprenticeships. First, it discusses the master-apprentice relationships, which were bound through artisanal rituals, customs and community norms. Second, it discusses the mutation of master-apprentice relationships in artisanal workshops undergoing commercialisation. It highlights the role of debt as a key instrument in binding apprentices to master artisans. Finally, it focuses on the colonial state’s interventions to institute indentured apprenticeships, some of which were legally bound. The article highlights the broader colonial discussion on the institution of apprenticeships, including the Indian versions of it, which were marked by the rigidity of caste and unscientific training methods. © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This article employs a capability approach and a sustainable wellbeing theory to present a holistic analysis of wellbeing dimensions from students’ points of view within Finnish vocational education and training (VET). Drawing from feminist ethnographic research, the article places everyday life at vocational cooking school at the centre of the analysis and explores how students’ opportunities for wellbeing are shaped by power dynamics operating within social relations. The analysis identifies valued functionings for the students, which are further systematised into categories of sustainable wellbeing: Having, Doing, Loving and Being. The paper consolidates findings from previous studies that highlight students’ valuing VET beyond mere labour market opportunities. Additionally, it makes a novel contribution by integrating students’ perspectives on ecological elements into the study of VET and capabilities. The paper demonstrates that opportunities for flourishing are not equally accessible to all students but are embedded in values and norms of employability that operate within social relations. Acknowledging students’ appreciation for ecologically and socially sustainable wellbeing could contribute to transforming VET to better account for the needs of both students and the planet. © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This study investigates how cognitive flexibility, engagement, and teamwork interact to foster problem-solving and innovation within interdisciplinary project-based learning (PBL) in vocational education. Drawing on Cognitive Flexibility Theory (CFT), Social Interdependence Theory (SIT), and Transformative Learning Theory (TLT), it examines the contextual roles of project complexity and knowledge diversity, as well as the moderating effects of openness to learning and peer feedback quality. A cross-sectional survey of vocational students (N = 278) in Sichuan Province, China, was employed to test a structural model that assesses direct, mediated, and moderated relationships. Results indicate that project complexity and knowledge diversity significantly enhance cognitive flexibility, which in turn drives problem-solving and teamwork. Engagement further facilitates these outcomes, underscoring its role in collaborative and adaptive processes. Openness to learning and peer feedback quality exhibit nuanced moderating effects, highlighting that excessive openness or unstructured feedback can dilute rather than amplify innovation. The findings offer novel insights into how CFT, SIT, and TLT converge in interdisciplinary PBL, demonstrating that well-orchestrated team dynamics and contextual supports are essential for harnessing cognitive flexibility. Practically, the study provides actionable guidance for educators and policymakers seeking to design effective PBL environments, emphasizing the importance of structured peer feedback, balanced openness, and context-specific measurement of cognitive adaptability to meet the demands of contemporary workplaces. © © 2025 Xiong, Chan, Wong, Xie and Na.