Search Results for
"learning"

Purpose: This study examined how vocational education and training (VET) students' satisfaction of basic psychological needs in VET learning environments, namely autonomy, competence, and relatedness, is related to their burnout and intention to leave VET. Self-Determination Theory was employed in the study. The aim of the study was to contribute to the existing body of empirical knowledge on basic psychological needs in educational contexts, with a particular focus on their role in negative processes. The findings may assist in evaluating the potential of basic psychological needs support in enhancing student motivation and well-being in VET learning environments. Methods: Cross-sectional online survey data were collected in 2023 from 255 students at a large vocational institution in Finland. The questionnaire included the following factors from three validated scales: Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction - Work Domain (BPNS-WD; "autonomy", "competence", "relatedness"), School Burnout Inventory (SBI; "exhaustion", "cynicism"), and dropout intentions. Data were analysed in R using correlation analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling. Results: The results indicated that the factors of basic psychological needs were negatively associated with the two burnout factors and the factor of dropout intentions, confirming our hypotheses. However, the hypotheses were only partially confirmed as not all associations reached statistical significance. Contrary to our hypothesis, relatedness satisfaction was positively related to burnout cynicism, although the relationship was not statistically significant. Conclusions: The findings suggest that supporting the basic psychological needs of VET students may reduce school burnout and the intention to drop out of school. Nevertheless, further research is required at the institutional and workplace levels to investigate the potential influence of perceived social relatedness on the development of burnout cynicism, and vice versa. Furthermore, the results indicated that female students, as well as those with older age or less work experience, experienced more burnout exhaustion than other respondents. A more comprehensive analysis is needed to gain better understanding of the factors that increase exhaustion within these groups of students. © 2025 European Research Network Vocational Education and Training. All rights reserved.

England’s mainstream upper secondary curriculum is driven by academic, exam-based GCSEs and A levels, with applied learning qualifications an alternative for ‘less-academic’ 16–18-year-olds. This paper elides two studies of the impact of the BTEC National Diploma on employment and career trajectories, one from the perspective of 16–22-year-olds, another of mature adults. Study 1 explored medium-term impact as students progressed from school to university or work-based learning. Study 2 explored longer-term impact through a life history project spanning 1986–2022 across 10 different industries. Synthesis of the data identified three factors underpinning BTEC’s success: a genuine second chance; teaching and assessment that enabled understanding and promoted learning; strong education/employer links providing real-world experience. Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model provides a theoretical lens, illustrating how knowledge, skills and competences develop best when the educational environment meets the needs of each learner: one-size-fits-all does not work. This paper concludes that all three factors should be mainstream, but significant challenges include our highly politicised policy environment, enduring belief that only exams offer rigorous assessment and lack of an employer engagement system that could support real-world learning. Extra-curricular activities and project qualifications provide applied opportunities for some, but long-term political consensus may be needed for all learners to flourish. © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The education sector is faced with many challenges in a world that is developing at a very rapid pace, such as the increasing burden of administrative tasks on educators. This study looks into the potential solution of Robotic Process Automation to these challenges and its impacts on higher education. We analyze the existing literature on RPA adoption by higher education using a systematic review and draw attention to the current state of applications and potential benefits. Our findings show that RPA would significantly enhance administrative operations, reduce errors, and free educators for teaching and student engagement. RPA could be a significant opportunity to establish efficiency and effectiveness in the learning environment, although not free from challenges, such as the cost of initial investment and job displacement. The paper concludes with recommendations for institutions to successfully integrate RPA while ensuring a balanced approach is taken to maximize benefits and mitigate associated risks. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.

New requirements of the increasingly digitalized world of work have an impact on modern engineering training. In view of these considerations, the aim of the present work is to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) for error detection into existing practical exercises for product development, taking sustainability aspects into account. The basis of the concept is the use of the smart factory to convey technical content in its real function, control, maintenance and repair, as well as 3D printing with the introduction of AI to detect defects in the manufacturing process (using cameras). This article examines the following research question: What methodologies to foster students’ digital competences are needed to enable it to form the basis of interdisciplinary team project activities of engineering students. At the centre of this investigation is the synergy between traditional teaching approaches and modern technologies to create an interactive and practice-oriented learning environment. The application scenario is the use of AI to design work process descriptions with the recognition of their limits: the optical quality inspection. The aim is to develop and test the teaching/learning modules with a focus on Industry 4.0 and AI-supported generative manufacturing with sustainability-oriented quality assurance. COMET-based competence measurement is offered as an additional instrument for recording the competence of teachers. The expectation of the concept advertised here is to test the implementation of the measure in the modules for the teaching degree program in industrial-technical subjects (GTF) and to gather experience for implementation on a larger scale. The preliminary studies to date promise a successful approach to the research question of designing digital skills development. Further work, in particular trialing interdisciplinary group work and the integration of real-time learning settings, is required to improve the results to date. The integration of further AI-based learning tools can also be realized in future work. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.

This study proposes the Critical Incident Technique as an empirical tool to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching entrepreneurship competencies within entrepreneurship courses by using the Comprehensive Entrepreneurship Competence Model as a theoretical framework. The study focuses on the perceptions and experiences of 15 teachers who introduced in parallel, during two semesters in 2022, the same teaching approach in 39 entrepreneurship courses offered in 5 universities in Estonia, Finland, Italy, Poland, and Portugal. The teachers were asked to describe in detail specific incidents encountered during their teaching experience, without any cognitive filter represented by pre-established items, categories, and elements of evaluation of the teaching process. Then, the incidents were sorted into categories based on similarities in the content and classified as relating to positive and negative outcomes. Our findings contribute to the design of new educational programmes aiming at fostering students’ entrepreneurship competencies, showing peculiarities that need to be considered. Moreover, the study emphasizes the importance of using a range of evaluation approaches when testing a new method and suggests that exploring the teaching process, in addition to learning outcomes, can provide useful insights to inform the design of the teaching. © 2024 Society for Research into Higher Education.

Purpose: In the evolving landscape of the 21st century, characterized by dynamic global challenges such as health crises, climate change, and rapid technological advancements, the imperative of lifelong learning has become more pronounced than ever. Self-Regulated learning (SRL) plays a pivotal role in lifelong learning, involving independent, self-directed behaviors to enhance knowledge and skills. While the significance of SRL is widely acknowledged in the broader context of lifelong learning, its specific role in vocational schools is a critical aspect that requires careful investigation. In these specialized educational settings, effective SRL practices are not only integral to individual academic success but are also crucial for fostering the competencies essential for a thriving professional career. However, there is a need for a systematic analysis of how SRL is fostered within vocational schools. Despite its importance, the current best practices for promoting successful SRL in vocational schools remain underexplored. Therefore, this study aimed to systematically review intervention studies focused on changing educational practices related to SRL in vocational schools. Specifically, we addressed two key research questions: (1) What are the characteristics of intervention studies aimed at fostering SRL in vocational schools? and (2) What is the quality of these interventions in terms of their impact on promoting SRL? Methods: To address these questions, we conducted a systematic review of intervention studies focused on fostering SRL in the context of vocational education. Our review includes 11 studies, with 10 reporting positive effects of interventions promoting SRL. Findings: The findings highlight that collaborative and problem-solving approaches, along with learning environments emphasizing student autonomy, are effective methods for enhancing SRL. Additionally, the review underscores the importance of distinguishing between direct and indirect interventions to promote SRL in the classroom. The effectiveness of each approach is contingent on the specific context and student population. Conclusion: However, comparing and drawing conclusions from these studies presented challenges due to the limited similarity in outcome measures and variations in the quality of evidence. Future research should consider methodological adjustments to address the heterogeneity of intervention studies on SRL at the vocational school level, including the development of standardized assessment tools and more rigorous experimental designs to better evaluate the impact of SRL interventions. These adjustments are crucial for ensuring that vocational schools can effectively integrate SRL practices that not only align with academic goals but also prepare students for the demands of their professional careers. © 2025 European Research Network Vocational Education and Training. All rights reserved.

The combination of knowledge and skill sets from robotics and Artificial Intelligence has proven as a powerful catalyst for students’ learning experiences, when applying available resources and knowledge acquired through vocational training. Within the Department of IT at an Austrian vocational high school, our students actively engage in projects that combine robotics and AI. Our diploma theses extend beyond mere classroom theory, allowing interested students to apply their knowledge in authentic, real-world scenarios in the form of thesis projects which span different engineering and IT disciplines. Our goal is to emphasize hands-on experiences and encourage our students to design, construct and program robots, even with the addition of AI technology, such as image recognition and classification trained for specific tasks. Through this practical immersion, our students gain a deeper understanding of robotics and AI, disciplines that are at the forefront of today’s technological innovation. We worked with two groups of students on interdisciplinary projects bridging the gap between robotics and AI and based on our students’ feedback found an increase in motivation to learn not only about the fields themselves, but also about related fields, from mathematical theory to better understand the intricate workings of AI algorithms to electronics and working with microcontrollers. Personal interviews with involved students have also pointed toward an increased motivation through the intense cooperation between the team members as well as the teachers responsible for supporting the project teams through their thesis projects. Projects connecting robotics and AI empower students to become adaptable, creative problem-solvers which is a crucial foundation for success in the twenty-first century. By fostering collaboration and critical thinking, while enhancing students’ technical skills and equipping them with the adaptability and creativity they require, this educational approach prepares students to thrive in a rapidly changing world where both disciplines play pivotal roles. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.

Professional development for the further education sector (FE) in England, whether commissioned by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF), or the Department for Education (DfE), is typically formal learning. There are usually measurable outcomes, and practitioners are asked to identify changes to their practice. The focus on outcomes means informal learning is rarely directly funded. This paper analyses a professional development programme funded by the DfE and cut short. This programme was based on a network model that is neither fully formal nor informal. We argue the model sits in a ‘grey zone’ between formal and informal professional development, and that the specific benefits of this kind of ‘grey zone’ model should be considered for future commissioned professional development. We find that informal learning in the semi-structured setting created by the Network had the potential to empower and recognise frontline teaching staff, by providing opportunities to present good practices and learn from other Network members. The Network structure enabled responsiveness to practitioners’ needs, by being flexible and adapting to circumstances. However, these adaptations made the Network vulnerable to challenge, and this, alongside concerns about the quality of presentations, and a lack of centralised control, ultimately contributed to its downfall. In conclusion, whilst there are undoubtedly risks from a funder perspective of operating in the ‘grey zone’ these should be balanced against the potential significant benefits to participants of a network approach to professional development. © 2025 Association for Research in Post-Compulsory Education.

With the proliferation of disruptive technologies driving innovation, there arises an imperative for businesses to equip themselves with forward-looking skill sets. The stewards of higher education institutions (HEIs), who oversee the preparation of candidates with pertinent skills, bear a significant responsibility. The workforce is grappling with an expanding skill gap (SG) brought about by the rapid adoption of technology and the evolving landscape of job roles. Thus, academia finds itself presented with a pressing challenge—to bridge this growing divide. To address this concern, we propose the HEISG (higher education institution skill gap) framework, leveraging machine learning (ML) techniques to assess and quantify this SG. This framework calculates skill scores pertaining to both supply and demand by analyzing exit skill scores from HEIs and entry skill scores required by industries, respectively. By comparing the resulting student profiles from HEIs with job descriptions from industry, we compute a cosine similarity score that highlights the gap between the supply and demand skill vectors. This iterative process is aimed at narrowing the chasm between the skills demanded by the industry and those imparted by HEIs. Our proposal suggests updating curricula to align with industry needs. The application of ML algorithms and natural language processing aids in generating skill index (SI) with customizable threshold values, tailored to specific disciplines and sectors. This study contributes to a better understanding of the demand for various skill sets, ultimately ensuring that students are well-prepared for the industry, thanks to the implementation of this framework. © 2025 selection and editorial matter, Urmila Shrawankar and Prerna Mishra; individual chapters, the contributors.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the perspectives of supervisors from criminal justice organisations regarding student internships. It examines how supervisors perceive internships as a pathway for developing future professionals, fostering practical skills and improving understanding of the criminal justice system. Additionally, it investigates supervisors’ expectations of interns and the perceived impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the qualities displayed by student interns. Design/methodology/approach: This study draws on qualitative interviews with supervisors from criminal justice organisations in Melbourne, Australia, who oversaw student interns participating in RMIT University’s Criminology and Justice Studies internship course. Interviews explored supervisors’ perspectives on the role of internships, the qualities they value in interns and how these attributes have shifted post-COVID-19. Thematic analysis was employed to identify key themes related to expectations, perceptions and the evolving role of work-integrated learning (WIL) within the criminal justice field. Findings: Supervisors view internships as vital for student professional development and as an opportunity to identify future recruits. They expect interns to demonstrate professional skills, subject matter knowledge, interest in the field, resilience and confidence. To assist many host organisations, provide in-house training to interns to improve capabilities. Supervisors observed a decline in key attributes following the COVID-19 pandemic, citing challenges such as reduced resilience and confidence amongst interns. The findings highlight the value of internships for both host organisations and students whilst addressing post-pandemic challenges in preparing work-ready graduates. Originality/value: This study fills a gap in the literature by focusing on the perspectives of supervisors from criminal justice host organisations within Australia, which has not previously been explored. It contributes to understanding how internships support the professional development of criminal justice students whilst revealing challenges posed by the pandemic. The findings provide insights for universities to enhance WIL programmes and better prepare students for careers in the criminal justice field. © 2025, Jarryd Bartle, Michele Ruyters, Gregory Stratton, Monique Moffa, Alasdair Henry, Alyssa Sigamoney and Robin Cameron.