The soul of vocational schools: Training as a religious experience

There is more to schools than buildings and a collection of hired teachers. They develop values, transmit aspirations and require certain sets of beliefs. Unless schools convince students of the importance of what they teach, their chances of success are very slim. In a society which puts much value on university diplomas, convincing students that plumbing is the best occupation in the world may prove to be well-nigh possible. The most successful vocational programmes tend to be those that are operated either by systems dedicated to vocational education or by specialized schools within the regular system. Many planners will insist on solutions that lead to some degree of physical segregation. But given the usually high correlation between social class origin and school achievement, it is undeniable that we end up with a system that segregates the poor in courses of study that lead to lower-level occupations.

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Zusammenfassung Schulen sind mehr als nur Gebäude und eine Ansammlung angestellter Lehrer. Sie entwickeln Werte, vermitteln Hoffnungen und bauen auf bestimmten Glaubenssätzen auf. Solange Schulen ihre Schüler nicht von der Wichtigkeit dessen, was unterrichtet wird, überzeugen, sind ihre Aussichten auf Erfolg gering. In einer Gesellschaft, die einem Universitätsdiplom einen hohen Stellenwert einräumt, dürfte es fast unmöglich sein, Schüler davon zu überzeugen, daß Klempner der beste Beruf der Welt ist. Die erfolgreichsten Berufsprogramme sind meistens die, die von den der Berufsausbilding verpflichteten Systeme oder von Fachschulen innerhalb des regulären Systems durchgeführt werden. Zahlreiche Bildungsplaner werden auf Lösungen bestehen, die zu einem gewissen Grad von Segregation führen. Geht man aber von der im allgemeinen engen Verknüpfung zwischen sozialer Herkunft und Schulleistung aus, so kann nicht geleugnet werden, daß dies zu einem System führt, das die Minderbemittelten in Ausbildungsvorgänge einweist, die sie nur auf einfache Berufe vorbereiten.

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Résumé Les écoles sont bien plus que de simples bâtiments et une équipe d'enseignants. Elles développent des valeurs, transmettent des aspirations et requièrent certains modèles de croyances. Si les écoles ne convainquent pas les élèves de l'importance de leur enseignement, leurs chances de succès sont très minces. Dans une société qui attache de la valeur aux diplômes universitaires, il semble pratiquement impossible de persuader les apprenants que le métier de plombier est le meilleur du monde. Les programmes d'enseignement professionel les plus efficaces semblent être ceux qui procèdent soit par des systèmes spécialisés de formation professionelle soit par des écoles spécialisées intégrées dans le système formel. Les spécialistes de la planification insisteront sur les solutions qui conduisent à un certain degré de séparation physique. Cependant, étant donné la corrélation habituellement élevée entre l'origine sociale et les acquis scolaires, il est indéniable que nous aboutirons à un système qui isolera le pauvre dans des cours qui mènent à des métiers de bas niveau.

     

Ratings of university teacher instruction: how much do student and course characteristics really matter?

Several student and course characteristics were examined in relation to student ratings of instruction. Students at a major Canadian university completed the Universal Student Ratings of Instruction instrument at the end of every course over a three‐year period, providing 371,131 student ratings. Analyses of between‐group differences indicate that students who attend class often and expect high grades provide high ratings of their instructors (p < .001). In addition, lab‐type courses receive higher ratings than lectures or tutorials, and courses in the social sciences receive higher ratings than courses in the natural sciences (p < .001). Regression analyses indicated, however, that student and course characteristics explain little variance in student ratings of their instructors (<7%). It is concluded that student ratings are more related to teaching instruction and behavior of the instructor than to these variables.     

The Influence of Coaching on Employee Performance: Results From Two International Quantitative Studies

Coaching has been identified as a key managerial behavior that organizations must promote to develop employees and achieve higher levels of performance. Despite this agreement and an increasing interest in coaching, there is still a paucity of studies exploring the impact of coaching on individual performance. This article presents an empirical investigation from two international field studies, one using business‐to‐business salespersons working in Latin America and the other one using business‐to‐consumer frontline employees from a service organization in Canada. Building on leader‐member exchange theory, we propose that coaching increases individual performance beyond the potential impact of sales experience and tenure. We find that coaching can explain between 2.9% and 6.2% of the variance in performance when controlling for tenure and experience. This article makes several scientific and managerial contributions, and also opens new avenues for research.