Share of upper secondary students enrolled in vocational education and training programmes, by age group (2018)

Author(s):  
Rebecca Ye

AbstractThis paper addresses the question of how higher vocational education and training programmes socialise participants for future work, where the occupational pathways they are to embark on are weakly defined. The analysis focuses on organisational rituals as a means to understand individual and collective transformative processes taking place at a particular intersection of education and labour markets. Building on organisational and sociological theories of rituals, as well as drawing empirically from a longitudinal qualitative interview study of a cohort of students in Swedish higher vocational education for work in digital data strategy, I explore how rituals are enacted in a vocational education and training setting and what these rituals mean to the aspirants who partake in them. The findings illustrate how rituals initiate, convert, and locate the participants in a team. These repeated encounters with rituals socialise, cultivate and build vocational faith amongst participants, despite the nascency and unstable nature of their education-to-work pathways. However, while rituals can serve as a catalyst to ignite processes of collective identification and vocational socialisation, they are not always successful. The paper discusses implications of faith-building in weak-form occupational pathways when the labour market is strong and conversely, when the economy is in recession. The text concludes by advocating the need for examining the power of educational institutions in shaping transitional experiences of participants in vocational education.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (30 (1)) ◽  
pp. 397-405
Author(s):  
Ágnes Stomp ◽  
Marianna Móré

Continuous development of education and training programmes in the European Union is a key factor in enhancing cooperation at European level. Today, economic and social changes are taking place in the world, which is why vocational training is seen as a tool to prepare people for a changing world of work, improving employability and competitiveness. Vocational education and training must adapt to changes affecting the economy, society and the labour market. Vocational education and training (VET) policy has been a national, autonomous area of the Member States for decades, but the issue of VET has increasingly been given priority in the process of European economic unification. At the Lisbon Summit, the European Council recognised the important role of education as an integral part of economic and social policies, which is an important tool for increasing the European Union’s competitiveness. European cooperation in VET has been promoted by the three common European instruments created as a result of Copenhagen process: the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), the European Quality Assurance Reference Framework for Vocational Education and Training (EQAVET) and the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET), which are progressively integrated in their VET systems by the Member States. The aim of these instruments is to support recognition between European VET systems, to promote lifelong learning and mobility and to improve learning experiences. The aim of our study is to explore with a comparative study, to what extent and manner the V4 Member States (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia) have integrated EQF, EQAVET and ECVET transparency instruments into their national vocational training systems and to what extent the transformations are in line with EU objectives.


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 228-238
Author(s):  
Vi Hoang Dang

Stakeholders’ perceptions towards a career in vocational education and training (VET) in Vietnam negate the country’s industrial development plan. During the last 15 years, the Vietnamese Governments investment in to the sector increased annually. However, parents and their children still pursue the goal of higher education via the mainstream rather than a career path way using the vocational education and training system. Although stereotypical views of vocational students are being challenged, Confucian ideology maintains some influence over stakeholders’ educational decisions leading to the sustained popularity of higher education. This study explores the perceptions of students on the image of and their loyalty towards vocational education and training. A sample of 300 lower secondary school, 300 upper secondary school, and 300 vocational students was drawn from across the Northern and Southern regions of Vietnam. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data and mean analysis conducted to explore the data. The findings indicate that agreement with statements about facilities and equipment, teacher’s ability, curriculum, and soft skills are the clearest indicators of enhanced perceptions about the image of vocational education and training. Encouragement from parents appears most influential to positively affecting lower secondary students’ loyalty. Unexpected was that vocational students had less interesting continuing in vocational education and training compared to lower and upper secondary school students inclination towards a career in VET. First-hand experience seemingly leads to diminished perceptions and loyalty towards vocational education.


Author(s):  
Abede Jawara Mack ◽  
Daniel White ◽  
Osiris Senghor

AbstractTechnical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) serves as a pillar for economic stability globally. Entrepreneurship education provides young people with essential skills that can be used in a positive manner, thus enabling them to be employers rather than employees. Marrying TVET and entrepreneurship education can help Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) in tremendous ways. These two subjects TVET and entrepreneurship can lift T&T to global prestige. Given this context, the study explored the benefits of exposing Post-Secondary TVET students to entrepreneurial training. An investigation was carried out using a mix-methods approach. The use of regression analysis and Spearman’s Correlation Analysis were used that determine the relationship between exposing Post-Secondary Technical Vocational Education and Training Students (PSTVETS) to entrepreneurship education and their interest in entrepreneurial training. Additionally, qualitative data was incorporated by utilising content analysis, focus groups and semi-structured interviews. The data revealed there was an absence of entrepreneurship education. Upon further investigation there was no real entrepreneurship culture or framework implemented within the PS schools. The results also showed the more students are exposed to entrepreneurship education more they are inclined to pursue entrepreneurship endeavours. Data also allowed the reader to grasped copious challenges experienced within TVET in T&T, that impacts on entrepreneurial training within post-secondary institutions in T&T. The researchers put forward an entrepreneurship education model that can be incorporated in the training of post-secondary schools. Additionally a strategy was articulated as to how entrepreneurship education can be adopted within the training of post-secondary institutions. Providing an adequate framework for entrepreneurial training within entrepreneurship education, and TVET provides originality and contribution to the field of TVET and entrepreneurship education.


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