Competency-based training in international perspective: comparing the implementation processes towards the achievement of employability

This article undertakes a comparison of competency-based training (CBT) systems in a number of countries with the purpose of drawing lessons to support Ghana and other countries in the process of CBT implementation. The study focuses on recognition of prior learning and involvement of industry since these features seem crucial in achieving employability. The study shows that industry is involved in the training activities. However, recognition of prior learning (RPL) requires innovative techniques, such as e-portfolio and on-line facility, to provide greater awareness and quality information to assist learners to produce work-related evidence. Performance criteria in RPL assessment must cover situational contexts and contingency management skills to enhance flexibility and adaptable labour force in the event of changes in workplace practices.     

Identity and intergroup perception in Israel

Several studies done in Israel during the past 10 to 15 years on identity and intergroup perception are reviewed with a view towards relating these two areas of research. Problems of methodology are discussed. The methodology of concept differentiation supplemented the more common questionnaire approach. The groups that served as objects of scrutiny were religiously observant, traditionalist, and nonobservant Jews: members of the Oriental and European Jewish communities; Christian and Moslem Arabs; and Arabs and Jews in Israel, in general. The dimensions of evaluation, symmetry, and differentiation were applied to seemingly heterogeneous content and yielded three hypotheses: (1) group membership is positively related to evaluation; (2) status differential between groups is inversely related to symmetry of evaluations; and (3) identity/ intergroup perception evolves through stages of differentiation, ambivalence, and integration. The hypotheses fit the data, especially when changes in self and mutual evaluations are taken into account.     

Course evaluation and attitudes toward college teaching

Prior research suggests that attitudes may be one category of personal (student) variables that students bring to the task of evaluating college courses and their instructors. In a previous study, attitudes toward college teaching, in general, and the perceived progessivism of instructors, in particular, were associated with students' evaluations of courses. Perceived attitudes were a kind of evaluation. The results of the study raised the question as to when the attitude-evaluation relation was first formed in the course of a semester and whether a causal order between them could be established. The present study, using a repeated-measures design, replicated the major findings of the previous study on a cross-section of University of Haifa students attending 22 courses. While there is no clear evidence for the priority of either attitudes or evaluation, the findings indicate that their association is formed early in the course, with some further consolidation later on. Both attitudes and evaluations are remarkably stable during the course. In view of these findings it is suggested that classroom evaluations might be moved back to one of the first meetings of the course to allow for feedback and changes in the instructor's presentation. Moreover, perceived attitude measures could be developed into an indirect measure of teacher performance.     

Towards graduateness: exploring academic intellectual development in university master’s students

Our research aims to contribute to the body of knowledge on graduateness by proposing a model that explicates the expected level performance of graduates. In this study, the model is elaborated for 3 graduateness domains: reflective thinking, scholarship, and moral citizenship. We used data on students’ perceived abilities in these domains that were collected at both the beginning and end of 1-year master’s programmes in 3 faculties at a research-intensive university. The model appears to be suitable for investigating students’ academic intellectual development. Not all students appeared to achieve the expected level of graduateness by the end of the master’s programme. However, the results revealed an increase in the proportion of students meeting the thresholds for graduateness. The students’ reports reveal growth in reflective thinking and scholarship during the master’s programme.     

Professional identity in institutions of higher learning in Israel

Members of the faculties of Engineering and Sciences were surveyed at the Israel Institute of Technology (N = 247) and Tel Aviv University (N = 112) as to identification with, criticism of, and feelings about their respective institutions, as well as recommendations for possible improvement. Findings showed that a strong professional identity coexists with a pronounced critical stance. Findings are consistent with Herzberg's two-factor theory of work motivation that views higherorder motivators, such as the professional identity here assessed, as relatively independent of lower-order hygiene needs, mainly working conditions. The strong professional identity of engineering and science faculties would seem to minimize the likelihood of a massive exodus to industry.This study was performed in the S. Neaman Institute for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology, with the cooperation of the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem. The authors wish to acknowledge Engineer David Kohn's valuable advice and assistance at every stage of the study.     

Effect of Key2Teach on Dutch teachers’ relationships with students with externalizing problem behavior: a randomized controlled trial

European Journal of Psychology of Education - The teacher-student relationship plays an important role in the academic and behavioral development of primary school children with externalizing...     

Students or lower-skilled workers? ‘Displacement’ at the bottom of the labour market

Although the labour market participationof students has increased substantially inrecent years, the unemployment rate oflower-skilled workers in Europe has remainedhigh. To what extent, therefore, do studentsoccupy jobs that are also suitable forlower-skilled unemployed workers? Two separateempirical studies were carried out for thepurpose of answering this question, one amongststudents in higher education and one amongstemployers. The conclusion is that studentsoccupy a substantial numbers of jobs that are,in principle, also suitable for thelower-skilled unemployed, especially in sectorssuch as retail trade/shops, hotel and cateringand industry. This suggests that a substantialdisplacement process is taking place. Themotives employers give for recruiting studentsinstead of lower-skilled persons are mostlyrelated to the students' perceivedcommunication skills and flexibility as well astheir ability to learn the job more quickly.     

Effective teacher professionalization in networks?

Teacher professionalization has been focused to strongly on external experts and a one-size-fits-all set of solutions that often fail to distinguish between the needs of different teachers. This article describes a research into teacher networks that might be more successful vehicles for professional development of teachers. The results show that networks that focus on (self-) reflection, that exploit subgroups and networks meetings with a strong content focus, that stimulate enthusiasm and are instructive, that build a community of teachers and that make room for application of new materials/methods in the classroom, are the most promising ways for professional development and job motivation.     

The relationship between perceived competence and earned credits in competence-based higher education

We explored how two types of study outcomes, perceived competence and earned credits, are interrelated, and influenced by self-regulation, motivation (intrinsic value and expectancy of procrastination) and deep approach to learning. The relationships between these variables were analysed in a sample of 894 first-year Dutch university students, using linear structural modelling. Results show that learning process factors play other roles in explaining perceived competence than in explaining earned credits. Perceived competence and earned credits, as two sides of the same coin in competence-based education, are only weakly related. Furthermore, this study shows that it is most likely that perceived competence affects earned credits, but a model in which earned credits affects perceived competence as possible causal relationship was also accepted, although the relationship remains weak. The practical implication of this study is that, as long as perceived competence and the number of credits are not related, competence-based higher education will not obtain optimal efficiency. For participants and researchers in higher education, it remains important to be aware that different learning goals may evoke different study behaviours in students, and the challenge for higher education is to align these goals.     

Contextual Influences on School Effectiveness: The Role of School Boards

The purpose of this research project is to investigate if characteristics of school boards and their administrative control do explain variance among schools in pupil achievement in the cognitive domain. A combination of findings of research on school effectiveness and organizational effectiveness, gives the ground for the framework of school boards’ administrative control used in this study. A random sample of 133 school boards and one specific primary school, selected out of the total number of schools they oversee, was drawn. The findings show that characteristics of school boards do explain variance in cognitive achievement. Even after controlling for student background and school characteristics, school boards do make a difference. School boards that involve school team and parents (committee) in their decision‐making process manage schools with relatively better results in the cognitive domain.