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"Higher education"

higher educational aspirations, the ongoing academic drift and the widely discussed shift towards a knowledge society are putting increasing pressure on vocational education and training. The often higher level of academic qualifications within national qualifications frameworks also suggests that these are to be regarded as more valuable than vocational qualifications. However, few studies to date directly compare vocational and academic qualifications. Using the example of the occupation ‘Dispensing Optician’, this study compares an academic with a vocational qualification approach. Employing a document analysis of the respective intended curricula in Germany and the UK, the areas of competence, competence levels and the scope of content in both countries are analysed and compared. Finally, the results are discussed in terms of their possible implications concerning the trend towards higher qualifications, the categorisation of qualifications in qualification frameworks and the constitutive characteristics of vocational and academic education. © The Author(s) 2025.

Introduction: The digital age has transformed health professions education, making online learning (e-learning) essential for instruction, assessment, and evaluation. However, general surgery residents are dissatisfied with current study methods and routines. As they progress through the new Entrustable Professional Activities (EPA) milestones, adapting content delivery to their learning preferences is crucial for engagement, a key element in the Kirkpatrick training evaluation model. This study explores general surgery residents' experiences, attitudes, and preferences toward e-learning to enhance instruction in the EPA era of surgical education. Methods: We used a convergent parallel design, distributing a national survey and conducting semi-structured interviews with general surgery residents from 22 U.S. institutions. The survey examined e-learning resource utilization, satisfaction, and financial investment in medical school and residency. Interviews provided insights into residents' desired features of effective e-learning. Data analysis included comparative statistics for survey results and reflexive thematic analysis for interviews. Results: The survey was completed by 106 general surgery residents. Residents reported higher satisfaction with e-learning resources utilized in medical school (e.g., UWorld, Sketchy Medical) than those in residency (e.g., TrueLearn, SCORE Web Portal) (mean difference = 0.4, 95% CI = [0.3,0.5], p < 0.001). Learners’ financial investment in USMLE preparation was significantly higher than for ABSITE (74% vs. 21% willing to spend >$500; p < 0.001). Separately, 30 general surgery residents participated in semi-structured interviews, which highlighted preferences for mobile learning, multimedia, gamification, and competency-based assessments. Residents noted a gap between current e-learning resources and the EPA assessment paradigm. Conclusions: General surgery residents find current e-learning resources in residency lacking clinical relevance and alignment with competency-based assessments. In the EPA era of surgical education, there is a need to develop innovative e-learning platforms that prepare residents for standardized examinations and support clinical competency development. Addressing these gaps will enhance the quality and efficiency of surgical training to better prepare residents for independent practice. © 2025 Association of Program Directors in Surgery

This article focuses on the question of what strategies general education graduates can use to improve their chances of entering an attractive vocational education and training (VET) programme in Germany. We look, in particular, at grades in the school-leaving certificate and the additional acquisition of a higher qualification at a vocational school. By using a vignette study, we focus on the selection by companies that offer training. Our results show that excellent grades in the school-leaving certificate of graduates with only an intermediate school-leaving qualification or an entrance qualification for a university of applied sciences improve their chances of entering a VET programme in comparison to more highly qualified competitors with very poor grades. One far more effective way is to upgrade their qualification at a vocational school in combination with professional knowledge relevant to the field of the desired VET programme. In particular, this protects graduates with an intermediate school-leaving qualification from a devaluation of their qualification when applying for a VET programme with a high proportion of applicants who have a university entrance qualification. However, there is a negative effect on their chances if they upgrade their qualification in a vocational field that is not relevant to the desired VET programme. This indicates the importance of career counselling at schools. © 2025 The Author(s). International Journal of Training and Development published by Brian Towers (BRITOW) and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Developing students' sustainable agriculture competencies requires the alignment of curriculum content to encompass the full complexity of the dynamics of agriculture. However, empirical evidence from sustainable agriculture research indicates that actions oriented towards fostering students' competencies are scarce. To advance understanding, this study monitored and evaluated the development of students' sustainability competencies for smallholder farming during the implementation of a Participatory Integrated Planning (PIP) module—A sustainability learning programme that elaborates on cross-cutting issues of long-term integrated planning, which is normally not taught. A total number of 104 students from two vocational agricultural schools (N1 = 63; N2 = 41) were involved in the PIP learning module that was implemented from April 2022 to June 2023. Survey data on the development of the students' competencies were collected at the beginning (April 2022), in-between (December 2022) and end (June 2023) of the implementation of the PIP module. A one-way repeated measures MANOVA test was used to evaluate the effect of the PIP module on the development of students' competencies. Findings revealed that the PIP module significantly contributed to fostering all intended competencies, including facilitator of change, leadership, innovation and creativity, planning, system thinking, stewardship, auto-determination and interdisciplinarity. Improvement of these competencies was much higher in the earlier stage of the learning process compared to the later stage, implying that sustainability learning requires going beyond ‘business-as-usual’ to retain the interest of students and competencies development. Findings also revealed that competencies development levels differ depending on schools' context, implying that sustainability learning programmes should be flexible and adaptive for learning to occur in a real-context environment. These findings have practical implications for policies related to designing and upscaling sustainability learning programmes in vocational agriculture schools. © 2025 The Author(s). International Journal of Training and Development published by Brian Towers (BRITOW) and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.