Authentic and self-directed learning in vocational education: Challenges to vocational educators

This article analyses the dilemmas and practical tensions in implementing competence-based vocational education. Eleven case studies were conducted, including observation of lessons and interviews with teachers and students. The results show that schools meet various fundamental issues in realising this approach. A crucial question is how to stimulate the acquisition and use of a way of knowing and thinking that is based on vocational theory. Reflection, authenticity and coaching are relevant characteristics that are hardly put into practice yet. To understand these results the article reflects on factors that account for the distance between promising concepts and actual teaching practice.     

中职教育与高职教育的沟通与衔接研究

简述沟通与衔接的意义,提出了中职教育与高职教育的沟通与衔接的关键是两者课程之间的衔接;转变思想观念是构建中职、高职教育衔接的课程体系的关键;开发实践教学课程是实现中职、高职教育课程体系衔接的重点等观点。     

浅析中高职教育衔接立交桥的搭建策略

科学有效地实施中高职教育衔接,构建中高职教育人才培养立交桥,对促进我国职业教育协调发展,构建科学的现代职业教育体系有着重要的意义。本文在论述中高职教育衔接的必要性和可行性的基础上,分析了当前我国职业教育中高职教育衔接存在的主要问题,并依据我国职业教育实际给出了解决问题的策略与路径。     

Social and communicational skills in upper secondary vocational education and training

This article presents the methodology used by the Finnish Education Evaluation Council in the national evaluation of social and communication skills in vocational education and training. The evaluation concentrates on key competences such as learning-to-learn skills, communication skills, social skills and entrepreneurship （Implementation of Education and Stringfellow, 2005; Recommendation of the European Training 2010, 2004; Winterton, Delemare-Le Deist ＆ Parliament and of the Council of December 18, 2006 on key competencies for lifelong leaming, 2006）. The evaluation focuses particularly on skills required in the labour market. These competences are included in all vocational study programmes as a part of accompanying with other key competences. The authors＇ approach follows the principles of developmental and participative evaluation, applying the Common Quality Assurance Framework （CQAF） model, which has been accepted by the European Commission for the quality management and quality assurance framework for vocational education and training in Europe. Additional methods such as interview and statistical data gathering were used to acquire comprehensive data and ensure extensive participation of each partner involved has key competences. The evaluation material was collected from vocational education and training providers by sector （n=8） and by qualification （n=53）. Every sector and type of examination was included in the evaluation. The evaluation was based on a sample （n=130）. The evaluation data were collected from multiple sources by using multiple methods. The material included written self-evaluation reports by vocational education and training providers （n=130 which equals 95% of VET providers）, quantitative information, interviews organized by the National Board of Education and an evaluation seminar for providers as focus groups. Educational administrators, teachers, students, employers and workplace instructors participated in the self-evaluation of the vocational education and training establishments （multi-professional evaluation）.     

Students embracing change towards more powerful learning environments in vocational education

Students’ educational engagement is both an important predictor of study success and a key preventive factor for dropout. Vocational tracks in secondary education show high dropout rates. There is strong evidence that the solution to educational disengagement lies in student‐centred, powerful learning environments (PLEs). This study investigates characteristics of PLEs from the perspective of students in vocational secondary education. Students’ perspectives on a learning environment are crucial for their satisfaction and learning engagement. Therefore, we investigated whether the perceived learning environment meets the requirements of PLEs, and to what extent it meets students’ preferences. Additionally, it was investigated whether students who perceive their learning environment as more powerful, are also more engaged for school. Survey data of 532 students showed that student perceptions of their current learning environment were largely discrepant from the characteristics of PLEs. Students strongly asked for more challenging learning pathways, in combination with adaptive learning support. Students who perceived the characteristics of PLEs as being present, reported higher satisfaction and stronger engagement than students who perceived their education to be a less powerful environment. There is a need to redesign curricula in vocational education in such a way that these more intensely implement characteristics of PLEs.     

我国中职院校学前教育的发展情况

学前教育是终身教育的基础,是我国教育体系中必不可少的组成部分。随着我国社会经济的快速发展,人们对中职院校学前教育专业的关注也越来越高,我国政府及有关部门提出,要大力发展中职院校学前教育专业的建设,培养大学生的综合能力和素质。本文着重从我国中职院校学前教育专业课程开设的依据,目前发展中面临的问题进行研究,并提出几点建议。     

20世纪90年代以来我国中等职业教育发展实证研究

20世纪90年代以来，我国的教育结构产生了巨大的变化，尤其是高等教育规模的扩大，专业教育不断高移，引起了教育结构的不断变革，职业教育的发展也受到了相应的影响。本文以教育部发布的教育公报数据为依据，对10多年来我国教育结构中其他层次教育的规模发展变化与我国中等职业教育的发展进行了分析对比，以此探讨我国教育结构的变迁对我国中等职业教育的影响。     

工学结合:社会转型期职业教育发展的必然选择

在社会转型的大背景下,职业教育肩负着推动社会流动,改善社会阶层结构,促进社会和谐发展的重要历史使命。职业教育必须随着社会的转型而转型,而“工学结合”就是职业教育转型的必然选择。“工学结合”既是指导职业教育转型的重要指导思想,也是引导各级各类学校教育改革的重要方向。     

Facilitating the learning journey from vocational education and training to higher education

An increase in students who enter higher education in Australia following their studies in the vocational education and training (VET) sector has led to heightened national interest in the transition experiences of these students. This paper reports on the experiences of students who, as a result of their VET studies, entered a relatively new, large, metropolitan university in 2009 and 2010 in the fields of Business and Law, Early Childhood and Nursing. The investigation elicited responses from students about a range of personal, administrative and academic experiences. A total of 529 students responded to a survey, 74 students were interviewed by telephone and 33 students attended focus groups. A major finding of the research was that many students saw the new learning context as a positive factor and responded to challenges with enthusiasm and resilience. Despite this, it seems that the transition period, particularly the first semester of study, is an unnecessarily stressful time for many students and that this could be mitigated by the provision of timely information about differences between institutional and learner expectations, workload, administrative processes and learning practices.     

陕西省中高职衔接的SWOT分析与发展策略

在分析陕西省中高职教育衔接的优势、劣势、机遇和挑战的基础上,指出其中高职衔接发展的策略：建立中高职院校间的互动机制;加强适应产业发展的专业建设;构建统一的职业资格体系。     

中等职业教育发展的路径优化及政策建议

从中等职业教育的战略导向、办学经费筹集和投入、微观运作体系三部分出发,详细地论证了中职教育在我国未来发展的前景和具体办学方式,针对思想观念、具体运作模式、创新模式建立等方面提出了解决措施。     

Making it real: The benefits of workplace learning in upper-secondary vocational education and training courses

In OECD countries, ‘real world’ upper-secondary vocational education and training (VET) programs are used to engage less academically oriented youth in learning, while helping to prepare them for post-school work and/or further education. In general terms, VET programs with high employer involvement, such as apprenticeship schemes, are considered to be superior to classroom-based VET programs that are typically found in many English-speaking countries. In this study, we examine outcomes from a potential ‘third way’: classroom-based VET with a short-term structured workplace learning component. Using propensity score matching and PISA data linked to information from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth, we find this model is associated with higher school completion rates and better employment transitions.     

高职教育集团化发展实施对策

开办高等职业技术教育院校,以工学结合的人才培养模式作为高等职业教育人才培养的模式,从而带动专业的建设性,把教学的内容与现今企业所需人才标准相结合,培养适应现代化企业建设所需的技术专门人才和高素质的劳动者是现在高职院校教学开展的目标。     

论学习型经济中职业教育的创新

企业的生产组织形式经历了从单件生产到福特制生产,再到后福特制生产即学习型经济生产的演进历程。学习型经济的生产组织形式对职业教育提出了许多挑战,在学习型经济中,职业教育应从“适应/顺应”到“形成/养成”,整合“普教”与“职教”,在课程上突显“专业性”与“模块化”,融通“职前教育”与“职业继续教育”。     

The impact of cooperative learning on self-directed learning abilities in the computer applications technology class

ABSTRACT

This article reports on an explorative study into the relationship between the implementation of cooperative learning strategies and students’ self-directedness in learning. Participants in this study were first-year Computer Applications Technology student teachers. Students completed a self-directed learning questionnaire at the beginning of the module and again after completion of the module. We used cooperative learning strategies during contact sessions over 12 weeks. After completion of the module, interviews were also conducted with randomly selected students. We concluded that the cooperative learning experiences in the Computer Applications Technology class appear to have an effect on students’ perceived readiness for self-directed learning only in cases where students do not have perceived high self-directed learning skills.     

The significance of social relationships in learning to become a vocational and technical education teacher: a case study of three individuals

This article about workplace learning examines the learning of individuals in becoming a Vocational and Technical Education (VTE) teacher in Brunei. Drawing on research findings from a group of student teachers, it presents case study accounts of three individuals to illustrate the importance of social relationships in learning to become a VTE teacher. These findings also extend current theorising about learning at work which integrates individual learners into predominantly social theories of learning.     

Development of the self-directed learning skills scale

The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable scale for assessing high school students’ self-directed learning skills. Based on a literature review and data obtained from similar instruments, all skills related to self-directed learning were identified. Next, an item pool was prepared and administered to 255 students from various high schools. To test the suitability of the gathered data, exploratory factor analysis was performed. The results revealed that there were correlations between the items, factor analysis could be conducted and nine factors were obtained. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed concerning the quality of the factor structure. The results of the CFA confirmed the nine-factor solution. The final version of the scale has a nine-factor structure and includes a total of 40 items. This instrument uses a five-point Likert-type scale and was termed the Self-Directed Learning Skills Scale (SDLSS).     

Not just skills: what a focus on knowledge means for vocational education

This contribution to the symposium on Michael Young’s article ‘Overcoming the crisis in curriculum theory: a knowledge based approach’, supports his contention that curriculum theory has lost sight of its object—‘what is taught and learned in schools’, and argues that this has particularly deleterious consequences for vocational education and training (VET). VET is unproblematically positioned as applied, experiential and work-focused learning, and it is seen as a solution for those who are alienated from or unsuccessful in more traditional forms of academic education. This article argues that rather than being a mechanism for social inclusion, VET is instead a key way in which social inequality is mediated and reproduced because it excludes students from accessing the theoretical knowledge they need to participate in debates and controversies in society and in their occupational field of practice. It presents a social realist analysis to argue why VET students need access to theoretical knowledge, how a focus on experiential and applied learning constitutes a mechanism for social exclusion and what a ‘knowledge rich’ VET curriculum would look like.     

我国高中阶段职普教育数量与结构的演变

体制改革以前,我国高中阶段职普教育结构受“左”的思想影响,波动大、不稳定,尤其是十年“文革”的破坏,使职普教育结构严重失衡。体制改革以来,职业教育的比例不断提高,职普比例一度达到6∶4。虽然1999年以来受高等教育扩招等原因的影响,职业教育数量和比例有所下降,但近年来职业教育又取得了长足的发展,职普教育的结构日趋合理。     

论职业教育的社会认同和职业教育发展之间的关系

一些人认为职业教育的社会认同和职业教育的发展是一种因果关系，只要通过教育或法令的形式来提高人们对职业教育的社会认同，就能促进职业教育的发展，摆脱职业教育目前发展的困境，作者认为这种观点是是怀疑的，需要探讨几个问题。首先，目前人们对职业教育的社会认同感是否正确，有没有更改的必要，其次是能不能更改，再次是即使人们对职业教育的社会认同感提高了，职业教育的发展状况就一定能够改善吗？通过对职业教育发展历史的回顾，作者认为，不是人们对职业教育的社会认同促进了职业教育的发展，而是职业教育的发展促进了人们对职业教育的社会认同，前者的错误在于把一系列的偶然的联系当作了必然的因果。