Search Results for
"Vocational education"

Higher educational aspirations, the ongoing academic drift and the widely discussed shift towards a knowledge society are putting increasing pressure on vocational education and training. The often higher level of academic qualifications within national qualifications frameworks also suggests that these are to be regarded as more valuable than vocational qualifications. However, few studies to date directly compare vocational and academic qualifications. Using the example of the occupation ‘Dispensing Optician’, this study compares an academic with a vocational qualification approach. Employing a document analysis of the respective intended curricula in Germany and the UK, the areas of competence, competence levels and the scope of content in both countries are analysed and compared. Finally, the results are discussed in terms of their possible implications concerning the trend towards higher qualifications, the categorisation of qualifications in qualification frameworks and the constitutive characteristics of vocational and academic education. © The Author(s) 2025.

Introduction: The digital age has transformed health professions education, making online learning (e-learning) essential for instruction, assessment, and evaluation. However, general surgery residents are dissatisfied with current study methods and routines. As they progress through the new Entrustable Professional Activities (EPA) milestones, adapting content delivery to their learning preferences is crucial for engagement, a key element in the Kirkpatrick training evaluation model. This study explores general surgery residents' experiences, attitudes, and preferences toward e-learning to enhance instruction in the EPA era of surgical education. Methods: We used a convergent parallel design, distributing a national survey and conducting semi-structured interviews with general surgery residents from 22 U.S. institutions. The survey examined e-learning resource utilization, satisfaction, and financial investment in medical school and residency. Interviews provided insights into residents' desired features of effective e-learning. Data analysis included comparative statistics for survey results and reflexive thematic analysis for interviews. Results: The survey was completed by 106 general surgery residents. Residents reported higher satisfaction with e-learning resources utilized in medical school (e.g., UWorld, Sketchy Medical) than those in residency (e.g., TrueLearn, SCORE Web Portal) (mean difference = 0.4, 95% CI = [0.3,0.5], p < 0.001). Learners’ financial investment in USMLE preparation was significantly higher than for ABSITE (74% vs. 21% willing to spend >$500; p < 0.001). Separately, 30 general surgery residents participated in semi-structured interviews, which highlighted preferences for mobile learning, multimedia, gamification, and competency-based assessments. Residents noted a gap between current e-learning resources and the EPA assessment paradigm. Conclusions: General surgery residents find current e-learning resources in residency lacking clinical relevance and alignment with competency-based assessments. In the EPA era of surgical education, there is a need to develop innovative e-learning platforms that prepare residents for standardized examinations and support clinical competency development. Addressing these gaps will enhance the quality and efficiency of surgical training to better prepare residents for independent practice. © 2025 Association of Program Directors in Surgery

This article focuses on the question of what strategies general education graduates can use to improve their chances of entering an attractive vocational education and training (VET) programme in Germany. We look, in particular, at grades in the school-leaving certificate and the additional acquisition of a higher qualification at a vocational school. By using a vignette study, we focus on the selection by companies that offer training. Our results show that excellent grades in the school-leaving certificate of graduates with only an intermediate school-leaving qualification or an entrance qualification for a university of applied sciences improve their chances of entering a VET programme in comparison to more highly qualified competitors with very poor grades. One far more effective way is to upgrade their qualification at a vocational school in combination with professional knowledge relevant to the field of the desired VET programme. In particular, this protects graduates with an intermediate school-leaving qualification from a devaluation of their qualification when applying for a VET programme with a high proportion of applicants who have a university entrance qualification. However, there is a negative effect on their chances if they upgrade their qualification in a vocational field that is not relevant to the desired VET programme. This indicates the importance of career counselling at schools. © 2025 The Author(s). International Journal of Training and Development published by Brian Towers (BRITOW) and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The “leaky pipeline” metaphor describes the greater likelihood of women and girls leaving Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields at every point, relative to men and boys. Gender disparities occur both in recruitment—that is, who chooses to enter a STEM pathway—as well as retention—that is, who chooses to persist in a STEM major or occupation. In addition, women who persist in STEM careers are less likely than men to reach top levels of leadership in those careers. The “leaky pipeline” metaphor describes the greater likelihood of women and girls to leave STEM fields at every point, relative to men and boys. Gender disparities occur both in recruitment—that is, who chooses to enter a STEM pathway—as well as retention—that is, who chooses to persist in a STEM major or occupation. In addition, women who persist in STEM careers are less likely than men to reach top levels of leadership in those careers. The aim of this paper is to analyse the representation of women in green occupational groups, studying both their attraction to “green vocational education and training programmes” and their completion as well as their transition to the labour market. It is important to note that green vocational programmes are closely related to STEM vocational education and training (VET) programmes. In this sense, it is relevant to analyse whether the gender “leaking pipeline” phenomenon exists in green training programmes and occupational groups in the same way it does in STEM occupations. The quantitative breakdown by occupational group highlights a clear gender gap in female participation in GREEN VET programmes. Moreover, when women from green occupational groups enter the labour market, their employment conditions are systematically worse than those of men. It is worth noting the scarcity of studies on this issue, particularly quantitative ones, which indicates the limited scientific attention paid to analysing the gender gap in green vocational programmes and occupational groups. © 2025 Brian Towers (BRITOW) and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The logistics sector plays a pivotal role in driving economic growth while addressing environmental sustainability challenges. As the industry transitions towards greener practices, the integration of ‘green skills’ into logistics vocational education and training becomes crucial for equipping the workforce with the competencies needed for sustainable growth. This study explores the integration of green skills into logistics vocational curricula in China and Germany, aiming to gain the current state and challenges in greening the VET curricula for equipping logistics professionals to address the transition towards a green logistics. Using a qualitative curriculum analysis framework inspired by Sterling's model of educational responses to sustainability, this study examines national, regional and school-level curricula to identify the embedded green skills and their integration approaches in both national contexts. The findings reveal both similarities and differences in green skills integration across the two countries. Both contexts exhibit a stronger emphasis on general green skills over logistics-specific and cross-sectoral green skills, reflecting a shared priority for transferable competencies. However, the Chinese curricula demonstrate a fragmented, bottom-up approach with inconsistent alignment between national and school-level curricula. In contrast, the German curricula adopt a more structured, top-down integration strategy, yet inconsistencies at the school level hinder deeper systemic reform. This study concludes that although both countries exhibit evidence of green skills integration, the efforts predominantly remain at the stage of ‘cosmetic reform’. Greater efforts are needed to strengthen the role of VET in supporting the global green transition, with a particular emphasis on adopting systemic approaches from a transformative perspective to embed sustainability into logistics vocational education. © 2025 The Author(s). International Journal of Training and Development published by Brian Towers (BRITOW) and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

To advance the social and economic goals of the communities that vocational education and training (VET) serves requires more than being responsive to governmental and industry needs. While necessary to a degree, being responsive to such needs is not a sufficient goal to which VET systems should be directed, enacted and judged. They also need to: (i) be responsive to the communities served by those systems and (ii) play a role in bringing about change in those communities through supporting innovations, extending existing economic activities and building capacities at the local level. Given the scope of these roles, VET, perhaps more than any other educational sector, requires effective localised social, administrative and educational infrastructures to achieve such outcomes. Social infrastructure includes partnerships that support work placements, work experiences, employment opportunities and articulate local enterprises' requirements. Administrative infrastructure includes the intentional organisation and enactment of vocational educational provisions and their certification. Educational infrastructure includes the provision and alignment of expertise and resources to achieve these outcomes, including those of teachers and the ability to extend their efforts beyond the educational institution. These forms of local infrastructure are proposed as being essential for achieving five contemporary purposes of VET: (i) engaging young people with VET; (ii) assisting them in identifying occupations to which they are suited; (iii) preparing them for occupations; (iv) continuing education across working life to meet changing needs and goals and (v) aligning workplace innovations with workers' learning. In advancing that proposal, this paper draws on the reviews of literature and findings from a three-decade-long programme of research in VET provisions in countries with both developed and developing economies, to make a case for VET going beyond responsiveness to meet local communities' needs, advance their capacities and extend their social and economic potentials. © 2025 The Author(s). International Journal of Training and Development published by Brian Towers (BRITOW) and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Developing students' sustainable agriculture competencies requires the alignment of curriculum content to encompass the full complexity of the dynamics of agriculture. However, empirical evidence from sustainable agriculture research indicates that actions oriented towards fostering students' competencies are scarce. To advance understanding, this study monitored and evaluated the development of students' sustainability competencies for smallholder farming during the implementation of a Participatory Integrated Planning (PIP) module—A sustainability learning programme that elaborates on cross-cutting issues of long-term integrated planning, which is normally not taught. A total number of 104 students from two vocational agricultural schools (N1 = 63; N2 = 41) were involved in the PIP learning module that was implemented from April 2022 to June 2023. Survey data on the development of the students' competencies were collected at the beginning (April 2022), in-between (December 2022) and end (June 2023) of the implementation of the PIP module. A one-way repeated measures MANOVA test was used to evaluate the effect of the PIP module on the development of students' competencies. Findings revealed that the PIP module significantly contributed to fostering all intended competencies, including facilitator of change, leadership, innovation and creativity, planning, system thinking, stewardship, auto-determination and interdisciplinarity. Improvement of these competencies was much higher in the earlier stage of the learning process compared to the later stage, implying that sustainability learning requires going beyond ‘business-as-usual’ to retain the interest of students and competencies development. Findings also revealed that competencies development levels differ depending on schools' context, implying that sustainability learning programmes should be flexible and adaptive for learning to occur in a real-context environment. These findings have practical implications for policies related to designing and upscaling sustainability learning programmes in vocational agriculture schools. © 2025 The Author(s). International Journal of Training and Development published by Brian Towers (BRITOW) and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

This study conducts an exploratory and integrative literature review to investigate the discourse on various concepts and terms related to the green alignment of vocational education and training (VET). The study focuses on the key actors setting the discourse, the content within it and the regional contexts in which the discourse occurs. A review of 85 international publications reveals that the discourse is predominantly shaped by the perspectives of policy and research, with international organisations playing a prominent role in the policy strand. While green skills are primarily associated with green jobs in the labour market, green VET encompasses the process of greening VET providers. This discourse appears to be especially prevalent in the Asia-Pacific region and in Africa. The results of the study provide policy and research actors with a nuanced understanding of the discourse, enabling policy actors to integrate scientific insights more effectively into their decision-making processes and foster a more constructive dialogue between policy and research. © 2025 The Author(s). International Journal of Training and Development published by Brian Towers (BRITOW) and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

As the modern world is characterized by a large number of various conflicts, it is vital for people to resolve them peacefully. So, it is relevant to develop conflict resolution skills while educating students. The research aimed to examine how certain educational environments designed to cultivate conflict resolution skills in students influence the development of these skills level. A total of 139 students of a Ukrainian university, consisted of two experimental group (E1=48; E2=46) and a control group (C=45) participated in the experiment and produced significant findings that are crucial to the field of conflict resolution skills development. The χ² test helped analyses the experiment data and make a conclusion about its statistical significance. The p-value (less than 0.05) indicated that the difference between the experimental and control groups was statistically significant at the 0.05 level of significance. Results revealed that the students of the experimental groups had substantially higher achievements than the control group students. Thus, educational environments designed to cultivate conflict resolution skills effectively influence these skills level development if academic staff purposefully promotes it. It is recommended to utilize the proposed educational environments in complex within formal educational settings, during extracurricular activities and internships. © 2025, Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science. All rights reserved.

This study aims to systematically review and analyze the integration of fourth industrial revolution (IR 4.0) technologies into technical and vocational education and training (TVET) through on-the-job training (OJT), focusing on key themes such as skills development in the digital age, workforce productivity, relevance of IR 4.0 technologies, and the role of OJT in TVET. Additionally, it seeks to identify the challenges and best practices associated with this integration, offering actionable insights for policymakers, educators, and industry stakeholders to enhance skills development and workforce adaptability in the context of the IR 4.0. A systematic literature review was conducted to understand the multifaceted challenges and opportunities surrounding OJT programs within TVET institutions. Given TVET’s vital role in equipping individuals with workforce-relevant skills, optimizing OJT programs is crucial for meeting modern industry demands. The PRISMA framework guided the review, using advanced search techniques on databases such as Scopus, ERIC, and IEEE, leading to the analysis of 35 primary sources. The review addressed areas including the adaptation of training to modern technologies, labor market outcomes, innovative practices for competency development, and ensuring equity and access in vocational training. It identified best practices, highlighted knowledge gaps, and provided recommendations to optimize OJT in TVET. Key findings emphasized aligning OJT with emerging technologies, enhancing employment outcomes, promoting innovative training methods, and ensuring inclusive and effective vocational training. The study concludes by offering recommendations to improve the quality and outcomes of OJT in TVET, ensuring alignment with evolving workforce and industry needs. © 2025, Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science. All rights reserved.