Occupation-specific social competences in vocational education and training (VET): The example of a technology-based assessment

Abstract

Background: The difficulties regarding the definition and measurement of social competences, crucial to the research in vocational education and training, are well known. In this paper, we show, based on the example of medical assistants in Germany, that these skills have to be assessed in an occupation-specific way, and develop an appropriate simulation-based Situational Judgment Test. Competence modeling, the translation into the test format and results of a data collection are discussed in detail for the dimension of communicative strategies. Methods: Based on empirical and theoretical analysis, we derived a normative competence model underlying the development of a video-based situational judgment test. The final assessment contained 2 × 6 prototypical interactional types of situations, presented in short videos. At the end of every scene, questions of multiple choice format or open questions were asked for each of the social competence dimensions (emotion regulation, perspective coordination, communication strategies). In regard to the evaluation, for the dimension of communication strategies, for example, open answers were rated by using a weighted checklist giving a final score for each situation or all over the test. After two pre-evaluations on N = 236 and N = 260 pupils at the end of their apprenticeship towards becoming medical assistants, validity aspects due to e.g. format were analyzed and edited. A final inquiry on N = 405 pupils confirmed the expected reliability and dimensionality aspects. Results and discussion: Validity measures could additionally be confirmed by a structural equation model (N = 405, Χ2 = 594.319, df = 518, CFI =.96, RMSEA =.02 and SRMR =.07) showing unexpected but meaningful underlying factorial structures for the dimensions of emotion regulation and communication strategies. Results of the test show that emotional dissonance is present in every situation. Regarding testscores, high levels are rarely achieved for all dimensions. Conclusion: By using an occupation-specific approach, we show that social competences can be defined and performance-relatedly assessed. However, results show that the competence levels are marginally satisfactory for all dimensions, considering the stressful environment of medical assistants. Hence, contents of this nature should be integrated more concretely in their educational pathway. © 2016 The Author(s).

Keywords

Author Keywords

communication vocational education and training Emotion regulation Social competences Communicative strategies Medical setting Perspective-coordination Situational Judgment Test

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

Division of Competence Development, Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, Bonn, Germany

Funding & Acknowledgements

Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF

In aptitude diagnostic practice, simulation-based testing is used, in which people are supposed to describe their fictional behavior in certain typical situations, so-called Situational Judgment Tests (SJT) (Ployhart and MacKenzie ). In comparison to role-plays, questions can be focused in detail on different competence dimensions, allowing the identification of structures and levels, while the observation of the act itself would only show the resulting conglomerate of the dimensions working together (Lane and Rollnick ). SJTs are mostly used in the selection of executives and designed to fit specific professional positions, which is why specific procedures need to be developed for each context of requirements. One such context is the occupation itself. Based on a requirements analysis to determine the work tasks, interactions and tools composing the occupation one could imagine defining tasks that can display the participants social competences in the specific context of their work. Tschöpe (unpublished manuscript ) for example has developed an SJT for the measurement of counseling skills among bankers, containing social competences as a major pluri-factoral component. In this paper we want to present an SJT related to the work of Tschöpe (unpublished manuscript ) in the medical field, more specifically for medical assistants in Germany. The project, called Competence Measurement based on Simulations and adaptive Testing in Medical Settings (CoSMed), was funded through the ASCOT (technology orientated competence measurement in vocational education and training) research initiative by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The overall CoSMed project develops computer-based test procedures on a collaborative basis for measuring the occupational competences of medical assistants. In this paper, only the aspect of social competences will be treated but compared with the other findings in the end.

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Occupation-specific social competences in vocational education and training (VET): The example of a technology-based assessment

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