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• Published: 15 December 2023

Knowledge mapping of vocational education and training research (2004–2020): a visual analysis based on CiteSpace

• Yumi Tian 1 ,
• Jiayun Liu 1 ,
• Xin Xu 1 &
• Xueshi Wu 1  

Scientific Reports volume  13 , Article number:  22348 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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The study aims to analyze the leading researchers of vocational education and training from dimensions of individuals, institutions and countries. This article utilises the scientific information measurement software—CiteSpace—to conduct a scientometric analysis of 2,024 articles on vocational education and training from the Web of Science (W.o.S.). According to the research results, some useful conclusions can be drawn as follows: (1) vocational education and training research has become interdisciplinary and subject involved are “psychology”, “sociology”, “economics” and “pedagogy”; (2) the United States, the Netherlands and Australia make the majority of contributions and there are numerous collaborations among countries; (3) Univ Amsterdam, Univ Utrecht and Univ Melbourne were the main research institutions; (4) J Vocat Educ Train, Rev Educ Res, Thesis Elev, Econ Educ Rev and J Educ Work were the top 5 highly cited journals; (5) “Engagement”, “Program”, “Self-efficacy”, “High school”, “Predictor” and “Labor market” have become major research hotspots currently.

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Introduction.

Nowadays the importance of vocational education and training has been highlighted by the rapid economic and social development with relatively mature vocational education and training systems established in countries like the United States, Germany, Australia, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Subsequently, researchers with academic backgrounds in economics 1 , 2 , 3 , management 4 , 5 , 6 , and information technology 7 , 8 , 9 around the world have paid close attention to the courses 10 , 11 , professions 12 , entrepreneurship 13 , 14 , skills 15 , 16 and evaluations 17 of this field.

Social changes are manifested in greater mobility of workers, shifting labor markets, frequent changes of professions, the disappearance of several professions and the emergence of new ones 18 , 19 . The emergence of artificial intelligence tools, which are transforming the entire landscape of the labor market, is becoming a significant risk and challenge. The need to learn constantly and throughout life and the instability of professional development make vocational education and training the most important and defining sector of education 20 , 21 . Many researchers agree that its role will constantly grow and cover all sectors of professional implementation 22 , 23 . Bibliographic analysis of the field of research in the field of vocational education is rapidly evolving, but there are fewer review works on this sector than it requires 24 .

Vocational education and training are studied from the point of view of assistance from the state administration or municipalities in the retraining of employees 6 , 16 ; many country case studies provide insight into the differences in the educational context of individual countries 2 , 3 , 11 , 14 . Experimental studies on combining vocational education and work or other types of employment make it possible to assess the potential of problems that require solutions 25 , 26 , 27 . The use of technical and digital tools within vocational education is also being devoted to more and more research 9 , 28 , 29 .

The existing research results have laid an important foundation for the reform and development of vocational education and training. However, vocational education and training still have a series of problems that need to be solved, such as the large gap between the skill supply of vocational education and the skill demand of the labor market, and the low enthusiasm of enterprises to participate in vocational education and training 4 , 9 . In addition, although many scholars use a variety of research methods from different dimensions to explore related issues of vocational education and training, few studies have investigated vocational education and training comprehensively and systematically 23 , 30 . There is an urgent need for bibliometric analysis to identify areas of development, areas of greatest interest among researchers, and stratification of research by country, institution, and area. This will allow the efforts of new researchers to be more targeted and their quality improved.

The objectives of this study are as follows:

Analyze the leading researchers of vocational education and training from dimensions of individuals, institutions and countries;

Figure out the distribution of journals related to vocational education and training;

Delve into the main research topics and knowledge structure in this field;

Aggregate the research hotspots and frontiers in this field.

The data used in the study were obtained through advanced retrieval from the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC): "Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-E) (2004–2020)"; Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) (2004–2020)"; "Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Science (CPCI-S) (2004–2020)". These data are intended to provide comprehensive, scientific and systematical research on the existing literature related to vocational education and training. The retrieval strategy was as follows: TS = ("Vocational Education" or "Technical and Vocational Education and Training" or "Technical Education" or "Technical and Further Education" or "Technical and Further Education" or ((VET) or (TVET) and (education))), and with language options of "English" and literature type selection "Article". Here VET is the "Vocational Education and Training" abbreviation and TVET "Technical and Vocational Education and Training" abbreviation.

Indeed, 644 data sources were retrieved from SCI-E, 697 from SSCI, and 693 from CPCI-S. A total of 118 duplicate articles were identified. The cleansing of a sample of data sources was carried out manually by carefully studying the content of abstracts and excerpts from the sources or full versions if they were available. Finally, a total of 2,024 bibliographic citations were obtained (Fig.  1 ).

Literature related to vocational education and training from 2004 to 2020.

Research tools

Information visualization is the process of representing and visualizing abstract data with the help of computer software, which can enhance researchers' perception of abstract information 31 . Based on the existing literature, visualization analysis can adopt the method of dynamic graphic visualization to reveal the trends, hotspots and frontiers of scientific research. Therefore, information visualization can facilitate researchers to understand and predict the frontiers and trends of scientific research opportunely and break new grounds for new ideas amid complex information.

In this study, the analysis software CiteSpace 5.7 was used to conduct research cooperation, cited references and co-occurrence analysis of keywords in literature pertinent to vocational education and training. CiteSpace is an important software in bibliometrics 32 . CiteSpace visualized knowledge maps can be used to identify, display and predict research trends and elucidate knowledge structure and development 33 . Therefore, CiteSpace's visualized knowledge map was adopted in this study to analyze literature in the field of vocational education and training. The analysis elements included Author, Institution, Country, Cited authors, Cited journals, Cited journals, and Cited references.

A network of cited references, co-authors and keywords co-occurrence can represent the scientific knowledge domains 34 . The network provides a systematic and scientific description of the evolving field of scientific knowledge through knowledge mapping, a novel method of literature analysis, enabling researchers to better understand knowledge structures, research collaborations and the hotspots and trends of research 35 .

Research process

In this study, a visual analysis of the bibliography of vocational education and training was conducted through CiteSpace. The research process was as follows: Firstly, the basic knowledge cluster of vocational education and training was constructed according to the reference literature of the field. This cluster is necessary for the next steps to identify the main clusters in the knowledge graph and highlight the most influential literature in this field of knowledge. Also, the basic knowledge cluster will help to study the evolution of each cluster, and future trends and identify key literature from a timeline perspective.

Secondly, the hotspots and frontiers of vocational education and training can be identified based on the frequency of the keywords in the related literature. Meanwhile, keyword bursts can also reveal the evolution of vocational education and training and determine the latest research trends. Burst refers to the significant change in the value of a variable over a relatively short period, which is adopted by Citespace to identify research frontiers.

Finally, the researchers, research institutions and countries were visualized to identify the major contributors to the evolution of knowledge in vocational education and training.

Research limitations

The results obtained may be limited to searching only the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) database, without considering Scopus or other relevant data sources. Also, the sample may not contain sources that directly relate to the topic under study but did not use the corresponding keywords in the article description or other identifiers, and this happens.

Knowledge clustering of vocational education and training research

The emergence and development of any new knowledge are based on existing research and findings, and so are vocational education and training. In general, the frontiers of research in a particular discipline can be represented by journal papers to a certain degree, and the cited references form the knowledge base for the journal paper. The important references can be clustered and the co-cited clustering can be determined with the help of specialized computer software, an important step in figuring out the knowledge base for vocational education and training.

The distribution of selected bibliographic citations by year is presented in Fig.  1 and Table 1 . First, one should evaluate the relatively uniform growth in the number of works devoted to the topic under study throughout the entire period under study. The only exception is the sharp increase in the number of studies in 2012.

In Eq.  1 \({c}_{ij}\) represents the number of co-occurrences of i and j, \({s}_{i}\) is the frequency of occurrence of i, \({s}_{j}\) is the frequency of occurrence of j.

After running CiteSpace, the knowledge mapping was obtained.

Cluster names related to the field of vocational education and training were extracted with the application of MI (Mutual Information). The formula is calculated as Eq.  2 , where \({g}_{st}\) is the number of shortest paths from node s to node t; \({n}_{st}^{i}\) is the number of shortest paths through node i among the \({g}_{st}\) shortest paths from node s to node t. 166 clusters were generated based on the co-primer clustering information with 10 main clusters.

Modularity Q is a measure of visual networks ranging from 0 to 1. The formula is calculated as Eq.  3 ; \(P(w|{c}_{i})\) is the co-occurrence probability of w and c, \(P(w)P({c}_{i})\) is the frequency of occurrence of w, \(P({c}_{i})\) is the frequency of occurrence of i-type values). The higher the value, the better the network clustering. In general, Modularity Q ranging from 0.3 to 0.8 indicates that network clustering is acceptable. Weighted Mean Silhouette S is a homogeneous indicator of network clustering ranging from − 1 to 1. The larger the Weighted Mean Silhouette S, the higher the clustering homogeneity. In general, Weighted Mean Silhouette S below 0.5 means that the clustering results are acceptable, and above 0.7 means that the clustering results are more reliable 36 . Figure  2 shows the Modularity Q value of 0.392 and the Weighted Mean Silhouette S value of 0.9641 for the visual network in the field of vocational education and training. Weighted Mean Silhouette S values of all 10 major clusters are above 0.8. The above data demonstrate that knowledge mapping is a high-quality clustering of the knowledge domain of vocational education and training.

Co-cited literature clusters.

Table 2 further provides a more detailed description of each of the knowledge clusters depicted.

It can be concluded from Table 2 that Vocational Interests (#0) ranked first in the knowledge cluster that includes job quality, linkage, occupation, completion, ring-biased Technological change, Labour market entry and dual training system, including 62 literature, most of which were published around 2014. The Weighted Mean Silhouette S value of the cluster is 0.966, indicating the high homogeneity of the 62 literature in the cluster. Among them, General Education, Vocational Education, and Labor-Market Outcomes over the Life-Circle, by Hanushek et al. 37 on Journal of Human Resources , are the articles with the highest citation (60% of the articles in this cluster cited this article); Vocational Education and Employment over the Life Cycle by Forster et al. 38 on Sociological Science , ranks the second (34% of the studies in the cluster cited this article); Educational Systems and the Trade-Off between Labor Market Allocation and Equality of Educational Opportunity by Bol and Van de Werfhorst 18 on Comparative Education Review ranks the third (27% of the studies in the cluster cited this article).

The second clustering is Workplace Simulation (#1) with 55 articles, and the Weighted Mean Silhouette S value of the cluster is 0.879. The most cited article was Students' Learning Processes during School-based Learning and Workplace Learning in Vocational Education: A Review by Schaap et al. 40 on Vocations and Learning . Forty percent of the studies in the cluster cited this article. The third cluster, Task Shifting (#2), consisted of 42 articles. The Weighted Mean Silhouette S value of the cluster is 0.967, a high homogeneity. The detailed information of each major cluster is shown in Table 3 .

In addition, widely recognized studies can be identified based on the number of citations. The top 3 studies with the highest citations (over 20 citations) are as follows: General Education, Vocational Education, and Labor-Market Outcomes over the Life-Cycle published by Hanushek et al. 37 on Journal of Human Resources (37 citations); Students' Learning Processes during School-based Learning and Workplace Learning in Vocational Education: A Review by Schaap et al. 40 (22 citations) on Vocations and Learning ; Vocational Education and Employment over the Life Cycle by Forster et al. 38 on Sociological Science (20 citations).

Given the lack of expansion of the thematic field of research after 2013, as shown further in tables, it can be assumed that the Vocational Interests knowledge cluster has focused the most interest of researchers and perhaps provided the most topics for further in-depth research. It is the state of the labor market and the relationship with employment that has received the most attention. researchers in connection with vocational education.

Distribution of countries

The number of papers published by different countries and their academic influence can be elaborated on in Table 4 . It can be inferred that the United States was the most productive among the top 10 countries followed by the Netherlands and Australia in the field of vocational education and training with 260 papers published from 2004 to 2020, accounting for about 14% of all literature. However, China ranked sixth with 88 papers, accounting for 4.8% of all papers, far lower than that of the United States. In terms of betweenness centrality value, the USA (0.67), England (0.36) and Germany (0.27) ranked in the top three, indicating a significant academic influence on the field of vocational education and training. Betweenness centrality indicates the strength of a node's influence on the flow of information in the graph. This is a measure of the influence of a separate node in a whole network 33 . The United States ranked first regarding the academic influence in the field of vocational education and training research while China is still in a relatively disadvantaged position. A more complete visual representation of the distribution of academic influence by country is presented in Fig.  3 .

Network of countries distribution for VET.

Burstiness (Table 4 the last section) is an increase and decrease in activity or frequency of publications that disrupts the continuity or pattern of distribution. In this case, the higher this indicator, the more uneven the participation of publications from this university in the research field being studied. The Burstiness results of countries more active in the field of vocational education and training (Table 4 , Burstiness section) showed that: Turkey ranked first with a value of 12.38, followed by England which has been more active in this field. However, although Sweden and New Zealand are not very active in this field, academic attention has been drawn to them.

Distribution of research institutions

In terms of the production of research institutions in the field of vocational education and training, Univ Amsterdam ranked first with 30 articles, followed by Univ Utrecht (28 articles) and Univ Melbourne (22 articles) (Fig.  4 ).

Network of institutions for VET research.

However, the ranking of research institutions based on betweenness centrality demonstrated significant influence from other research centers. The top three universities with betweenness centrality were IZA (0.09), Univ Turku (0.09) and Univ Helsinki (0.07), indicating the importance and influence of these three universities in the field of vocational education and training. Regarding the post surge capacity, Gazi Univ was in the lead with a surge of 5.52, followed by Leiden Univ (5.02) and Univ Utrecht (4.24). See Table 5 for details.

Cited journals

In the citation network of journals, the larger the circle, the higher the citation frequency (Fig.  5 ).

Cited journals network.

Totally 233 pieces of literature on J Vocat Educ Train were cited; 208 on Rev Educ Res ; 181 on Thesis Elev ; and 156 on Econ Educ Rev (Table 6 ).

However, from 2004 to 2020, Thesis Elev ranked first in burst detection with a burst value of 31.74. Other journals with relatively high emergent detection values include SOC SCI Res, Comp Educ, Teach Teach, Econ J, J Labor Econ, etc. These journals mainly come from the fields of psychology, sociology, economics and pedagogy, the source of knowledge in the field of vocational education and training.

Hotspots and trends of the research on vocational education and training

The research hotspot is the focus of researchers' attention shared by a group of interrelated papers in a relatively short period. Keywords are the gist and soul of an academic paper, a highly summarized and refined research problem, and an important index of research hotspots. Therefore, the research hotspots and main characteristics of a certain field can be abstracted from the change in keyword frequency. In this study, "Keyword" was selected from the CiteSpace node types for Keyword co-occurrence network analysis. The larger the node, the more important the node.

In terms of keywords frequency (Table 6 ), related research mainly focused on vocational education and training in vocational education, the transition, inequality, gender, perception, attitude, and the program, work, school, and skill, among which, the keyword "vocational education" ranked first for appearing 399 times, followed by education (234 times) and vocational education and training (181 times). Betweenness centrality higher topics include health, adolescent, perspective, gender, employment, model, etc.

Meanwhile, keyword selection was carried out to clearly show the research hotspots in different years and their interrelation and evolution. Since none of the keywords identified during the study were localized for the period after 2013, we can conclude that the thematic field of research after this time developed almost exclusively intensively, and not extensively, that is, the research hotspots that had already been emphasized earlier were explored (Fig.  6 ).

Timeline of co-citation clusters from 2004 to 2020.

Keywords that appeared more than 25 times were selected and checked for betweenness centrality, as shown in Table 7 .

Compared with previous research 23 , 24 , this research uses CiteSpace V to analyze the research hotspots and research frontiers of vocational education and training from 2004 to 2020, and finds that:

First, the annual volume of research literature is steadily increasing, but the growth rate is relatively low. This is the same as the result of Hui's research 23 . The reasons for this result are as follows: The first is that the academic level and subject status of vocational and technical education are not yet mature, and its knowledge fields and subject boundaries are not clear enough, which causes the subject of vocational and technical education to face multiple identity crises 27 , 28 . The second is that the interdisciplinary nature of vocational education makes its research power scattered in many disciplines such as pedagogy, economics, management, and sociology, while there are fewer academic groups specializing in vocational and technical education 3 , 7 .

Second, from the perspectives of research countries, institutions, authors and journals, the main drivers of research in the field of vocational education and training come from the United States, the Netherlands and Australia, with Univ Amsterdam, Univ Utrecht and Univ Melbourne as the leading institutions. De Bruijn from Utrecht University, Christopher Winch from University of Westminster Univ Westminster, Pietty Runhaar from Deakin University, Martin Mulder from King's College, and Derek G Shendell from Rutgers State University, were the major contributors to vocational education and training. Literature on J VOCAT Educ Train was the most highly cited (233 times), followed by the top five journals including Rev Educ Res (208 times), Thesis Elev (181 times), Econ Educ Rev (156 times) and J Educ Work (150 times). This is different from Yu and Zhou's research results 24 . Through analysis of 719 literature titles, Li proposed that the main research countries for vocational education and training are European countries and the United States 12 . The reasons for the difference between the two may be: The first is the sample size. This study uses 3844 literature titles in the Web of Science database, which has a larger sample size coverage and more effective results; while Li's research has only 719 literature titles and a smaller sample range. The second is the time frame. This research uses 15 years of literature from 2004 to 2020, which represents the latest research characteristics in the field of vocational education and training; while Li uses literature from 2000 to 2009, which can only represent the characteristics of previous research.

Third, in terms of the most popular research topics, growth, vocational education and training, politics, university, secondary education, the environment, China, and other aspects of inequality took the lead from 2004 to 2015, and after 2015 20 , 24 . Other researchers agree with the results obtained in that study showing that the field started to focus on inequality, the teacher, professional development, engagement, program, self-efficacy, high school, the predictor and labor market, among which, the fields of engagement, program, self-efficacy, high school, predictor and labor market are still active and may become future research directions 16 , 24 . This is consistent with Hui's research results 23 . Technological changes and socio-economic development require vocational education and training to gradually shift the focus to students’ cross-industry abilities, and to pay close attention to the dynamic needs of the labor market. In addition, this has a certain relationship with the gradual change of vocational education research from macro to meso and micro.

Although an effective visual analysis of the relevant studies in the field of international vocational education and training from 2004 to 2020 was conducted, the obtained data cannot fully represent the overall picture of the development of international vocational education and training. Limited by research conditions, the related studies of international vocational education and training from the Web of Science were downloaded from 2004 to 2020. Significant potential for future research is to explain the observed spillovers in the influence and contributions of different countries and institutions over significant periods and how they change due to market influences, changes in technology, and other possible factors. Future researchers are encouraged to use a wider range of journals over a longer period.

Conclusions

By drawing the scientific knowledge map of international Vocational Education and Training from 2004 to 2020, this paper intuitively demonstrates the growth law of papers, knowledge sources, author contributions, institutional cooperation and national cooperation in this research field. It also analyzes the research hotspots in the field of vocational education and training, and draws the following conclusions from a comprehensive perspective:

Paper growth law. From 2004 to 2009, the development of Vocational Education and Training research was relatively slow. Since 2010, new Vocational Education and Training research has shown a vigorous development trend. The amount of new media research will reach its peak in 2020. The author predicts that in the future, Vocational Education and Training research will continue to show a trend of vigorous development.

Knowledge source. In the field of Vocational Education and Training, 12 journals have been cited more than 120 times. These journals mainly focus on psychology, sociology, economics and pedagogy. This shows that the knowledge in the field of Vocational Education and Training mainly comes from the above four disciplines.

Author contribution. Hanushek Ea, Forster AG, Bol T, Schaap, Akkerman, McGrath, Brockmann, Kuijpers, Nylund and other highly cited authors have provided high-quality papers and belong to high-impact authors.

Institutional cooperation. The most researched institution in the field of Vocational Education and Training is Univ Amsterdam (30 articles), followed by Univ Utrecht (28) and Univ Melbourne (22 articles), Maastricht Univ (22 articles), and Univ Helsinki (22 articles). On the whole, there is a lack of cooperation and exchanges between institutions, and no large-scale cooperation network has been formed.

Country cooperation. The country with the most research in the field of Vocational Education and Training is the USA (260 articles), followed by NETHERLANDS (251) and AUSTRALIA (217). Although there are many research results in the field of Vocational Education and Training in various countries, the cooperation network between countries needs to be strengthened urgently.

Research hotspots. The relatively high intermediary centrality in the field of Vocational Education and Training is health (0.13), adolescent (0.13), gender (0.1), employment (0.1), and model (0.1). This shows that the above content is a research hotspot in this field.

Data availability

Data will be available from the corresponding author (Xueshi Wu) on request.

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Jiangxi Province Social Science Planning general project Research on Modern Governance Mechanism of Mixed Ownership Vocational Colleges (No.: 18JY21).

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Tian, Y., Liu, J., Xu, X. et al. Knowledge mapping of vocational education and training research (2004–2020): a visual analysis based on CiteSpace. Sci Rep 13 , 22348 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-49636-7

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Vocational Education: An International Perspective

Vocational education is formal education about work, and vocational programs of study typically target a narrow subset of middle-income occupations. In this chapter, we trace vocational education from competing 20th century education philosophies to its varied structures throughout the 21st century world. We then review the body of economic research on labor market returns to vocational education. Three themes from this rapidly expanding literature are that (1) workers with a vocational education tend to have a flatter age-employment profile than workers with an academic education, (2) individuals who seek and gain access to more secondary vocational education tend to have better attainment and early-career outcomes, whereas the effects of large-scale changes to tracking in secondary grades are more ambiguous; and (3) vocational postsecondary education is associated with improved labor market outcomes relative to no or incomplete postsecondary education, particularly for multi-year programs. We close by highlighting areas where more empirical research is needed, which include a deeper understanding of the long-term and inter-generational effects of vocational education on stability and growth in earnings, and the effects of vocational education in the developing world.

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Developing critical thinking in technical and vocational education and training.

1. Introduction

2. materials and methods, 2.1. operationalization of definition of critical thinking, 2.2. experimental design, 2.3. creating a methodology for developing critical thinking.

• Use of multimedia in class: Allow students to work with different types of discourse, whether text, videos, images, audio, animations, or others. These are tools that help students develop concepts, analytical reasoning, creative thinking, problem solving and critical thinking [ 47 ]. Such resources should be brief and concrete so that the students do not become distracted.
• Working with controversial or real-world topics: To boost student interest and engagement, there must be strong social relationships between the teacher and students, as well as suitable rules for interaction and the facilitation of debate [ 48 ]. This relationship can be strengthened in class by addressing topics that are controversial or from real-life situations, as there is evidence suggesting that a real-world connection can be an effective methodology for developing critical thinking [ 26 ]. Controversial topics were proposed because exposing students to opportunities for dialogue is also an effective way of developing critical thinking [ 34 ]. Even though it can polarize students, it is also an opportunity for them to consider alternative perspectives [ 49 ], which may also be directly related to the evaluation sub-skill in or definition of critical thinking.
• Introducing peer discussion routines: Peer discussion promotes the development of critical thinking [ 50 ].
• Reflective questions and higher-order thinking: There is a need for reflective questions, which go beyond basic recall and instead promote metacognition on current topics [ 51 ].
• Using low-cost technology: Simple, open-access technology was used to promote student participation. The class poll system Plickers was used [ 52 ], where students answer using a preprinted QR code that is scanned by the teacher’s cellphone.
• Icebreaker or “Do it now!”: A short activity to introduce the main topic of the class in no more than 5 min. Icebreakers are an effective way of boosting student engagement [ 53 ] as they improve enthusiasm and help get the attention of the class [ 54 ].
• Sharing the lesson objective: A short activity of no more than 2 min to explain the expected learning outcomes for the lesson.
• Presentation of content: In no more than 5 min, the content is presented to the class.
• Practice: Practical exercises to consolidate the newly-acquired knowledge and relate it to one of the sub-skills of critical thinking based on different texts, images, or videos, in groups or individually. After each practice, a Plickers activity is performed based on the content and the aforementioned sub-skill.
• Focus on grammar: A short section of no longer than 8 min focusing on grammar. The main aim is to measure the sub-skill of evaluation and provide space for teaching grammar, a core element of the course.
• Turn and discuss: A section for talking about a controversial point from the class. The students are asked an open-ended question and must then reflect on it both individually and with a peer.
• Metacognitive routine: A concluding section in which the students go through a metacognitive routine based on an activity or item of content from the class.

2.4. Instruments for Measuring Critical Thinking and Learning

2.5. teacher surveys, 2.6. data analysis, 2.6.1. quantitative analysis, 2.6.2. qualitative analysis, 3.1. instrument validation, 3.2. differences between pre- and post-tests, 3.3. teacher survey results, 4. discussion, 5. conclusions, supplementary materials, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest, appendix a. comprehensive list of critical thinking assessment instruments.

Appendix B. Detailed Description of the Pre and Post-Test and Their Items Characteristics

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Share and Cite

López, F.; Contreras, M.; Nussbaum, M.; Paredes, R.; Gelerstein, D.; Alvares, D.; Chiuminatto, P. Developing Critical Thinking in Technical and Vocational Education and Training. Educ. Sci. 2023 , 13 , 590. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13060590

López F, Contreras M, Nussbaum M, Paredes R, Gelerstein D, Alvares D, Chiuminatto P. Developing Critical Thinking in Technical and Vocational Education and Training. Education Sciences . 2023; 13(6):590. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13060590

López, Felipe, Mayra Contreras, Miguel Nussbaum, Ricardo Paredes, Damian Gelerstein, Danilo Alvares, and Pablo Chiuminatto. 2023. "Developing Critical Thinking in Technical and Vocational Education and Training" Education Sciences 13, no. 6: 590. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13060590

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vocational education , instruction intended to equip persons for industrial or commercial occupations. It may be obtained either formally in trade schools, technical secondary schools , or in on-the-job training programs or, more informally, by picking up the necessary skills on the job.

(Read Arne Duncan’s Britannica essay on “Education: The Great Equalizer.”)

Vocational education in schools is a relatively modern development. Until the 19th century such education, except for the professions, was provided only by apprenticeship . This situation was partly due to the low social status associated with such instruction as opposed to a classical curriculum, which was considered “necessary for a gentleman.” With the growth of industrialization during the 19th century, however, several European countries, notably Germany , began introducing vocational education in elementary and secondary schools. In Great Britain, however, opposition to vocational education persisted into the 20th century, although a few trade and junior technical schools were established by local authorities before World War II . By the late 19th century public (common) school vocational education in the United States consisted of manual training and practical arts. These programs were gradually expanded until 1917 when federal aid was provided to public schools for trade and industrial, agricultural, and homemaking courses.

After World War II the demand for trained paraprofessionals in the relatively new fields of computer science , electronics, and medical services led to an increased interest in short-term postsecondary specialized training programs in these areas as an alternative to a traditional college education.

• Open access
• Published: 20 December 2013

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) for young people in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis

• Janice S Tripney 1 &
• Jorge G Hombrados 2  

Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training volume  5 , Article number:  3 ( 2013 ) Cite this article

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The world is facing a worsening youth employment crisis. In response, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is back on the development agenda after years of neglect. This systematic review examined the evidence from studies evaluating the impacts of TVET interventions for young people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The 26 included studies evaluated 20 different interventions, predominantly from Latin America. Meta-analyses of the effectiveness of TVET on five outcome measure categories were conducted. The overall mean effects on overall paid employment, formal employment, and monthly earnings were small, positive, and significant; however, significant heterogeneity was observed. Moderator analysis was performed in an attempt to explain between-study differences in effects. The overall paucity of research in this area, together with specific gaps and methodological limitations, affirm the need for strengthening the evidence base. Implications for policy, practice and research are discussed.

Introduction

The global youth unemployment rate rose sharply between 2008 and 2009, from 11.8 to 12.7 per cent, reversing the pre-crisis trend of declining youth unemployment rates since 2002 (International Labour Organization 2011 ). By 2011, 74.8 million young people were unemployed. In some regions, young people are nearly three times as likely as adults to be unemployed; they are also more likely than older workers to be underemployed or work in the informal labour market, in poor quality jobs that require low levels of skills and offer limited socio-economic security, training opportunities, and working conditions (International Labour Organization 2012 ). Significant regional variation in youth unemployment exists; and, in many countries, young women are much more likely to be un/underemployed than young men (United Nations 2012 ). Over 40 per cent of all young people live on less than two US dollars a day, with youth in developing countries disproportionately among the working poor (International Labour Organization 2012 ). This enormous unlocked potential represents a substantial loss of opportunity for both individuals and society.

One billion young people, the majority from LMICs, are predicted to reach employment age within the next decade (International Labour Organization 2012 ), compounding what are already severely limited opportunities for integrating youth into the labour market. With increasing policy importance now placed on higher-order skills and their central role in the global knowledge-based economy, comes a renewed focus on the potential of TVET to equip youths with the abilities to seize available work opportunities, and, in turn, impact upon global poverty and social stability (African Union 2007 ; King and Palmer 2010 ; Péano et al. 2008 ; United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Scientific and Cultural Organization 2010 , 2012 ). Neglected by the World Bank and other donor agencies during much of the 1980s and 1990s, there has been growing investment in TVET since 2000. Deciding which programmes to implement requires an understanding not only of which models are effective, but for whom they are effective. Collecting evidence from studies that have analysed these issues is crucial for purposes of policy-making.

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET)

The term TVET, as used in this systematic review, follows the definition used by UNESCO as “those aspects of the educational process involving, in addition to general education, the study of technologies and related sciences and the acquisition of practical skills, attitudes, understanding and knowledge relating to occupation in various sectors of economic life”. It incorporates: technical education, vocational education, vocational training, on-the-job training, and apprenticeship training (or any combination thereof).

Prior reviews of TVET

Although a number of prior reviews have summarised the existing research in this area (see, for example, Angel-Urdinola et al. 2010 ; Betcherman et al. 2004 ; Betcherman et al. 2007 ; Card et al. 2010 ; Fares and Puerto 2009 ; Greenberg et al. 2003 ; Katz 2008 ; Kluve 2006 ; Kluve and Schmidt 2002 ; Puerto 2007 ; Stavreska 2006 ; Van Adams 2007 ), there are a number of limitations to these reviews. Some contain evidence from high-income countries only; others, whilst broader in geographical scope, do not focus specifically on developing countries, TVET, or young people. Very few existing reviews are based on a comprehensive, systematic search for literature, and almost all take either a traditional narrative approach to synthesis or use vote-counting methods where conclusions regarding effective interventions are made based on the number of studies found to demonstrate significant positive results. None of the previous reviews that specifically focus on TVET for youth in LMICs have computed effect sizes for the included studies or examined variability in effects by study, participant or intervention characteristics. These are problems that this review aims to remedy, thereby adding value to the existing body of research on this topic.

Purpose of the present study

This review sought to improve upon prior work by systematically examining the evidence base to provide a clearer picture of the types of TVET interventions being used to improve employment prospects for youth in LMICs, to identify the overall effectiveness of TVET, to examine whether study, participant and intervention characteristics help to explain variability in intervention effects, and to identify areas in which more research needs to be conducted. An extended version of this article is available as a technical report published in the Campbell Collaboration library (Tripney et al. 2013 ).

Systematic review methodology was utilised for all aspects of the search, selection and coding of studies. The review was conducted in accordance with Campbell Collaboration procedures and guidelines on systematic review methods, available at http://campbellcollaboration.org/ . Full details about the methods for this review can be found in the technical report, and review protocol (Tripney et al. 2012 ).

Eligibility criteria

Eligibility was restricted to studies that: were conducted in LMICs; were reported between 2000 and 2011; evaluated the impact of a TVET intervention; investigated outcomes for youth aged 15–24 years; included at least one quantifiable measure of employment or employability (broadly defined); and used an experimental or rigorous quasi-experimental design (such as the use of propensity scores to match on pre-tests and/or relevant demographic characteristics or regression analysis to control for differences between groups). Single group pre-post test studies were not eligible. No language or publication status restrictions were applied.

The conceptual definition of TVET used in this review cuts across education level, type of learning arrangement, mode of delivery, setting, and type of provider/regulator. It includes provision of (i) initial training for young people from the age of 15/16 years after compulsory school, but prior to entering work; (ii) continuing education and training for adults in the labour market leading to personal, flexible and/or vocational competencies; and (iii) training for unemployed persons currently available for and seeking work (including retraining for those made redundant). Single- and multi-service TVET interventions were eligible for inclusion in the review, as were interventions delivered for any length of time or frequency. LMICs were defined according to World Bank classification of economies (in effect 1 July 2011 until 30 June 2012).

Literature search and strategy

The review recognised the importance of using a comprehensive and diverse search strategy to locate all qualifying published and unpublished studies (Papaioannou et al. 2009 ; Schucan Bird and Tripney 2011 ). First, 10 major bibliographic databases were electronically searched (including ASSIA, Econlit, ERIC, IBSS, Medline, PsycINFO, and SSCI). Searches within each database combined controlled vocabulary and natural language terms, with appropriate wildcards, for three concepts: TVET, employment, and study design. Second, specialist databases and library catalogues were searched, including grey literature, regional and topic-specific sources. Third, the websites of government agencies, research centres, foundations, professional associations, and other relevant organisations were searched. Fourth, the reference lists of previous reviews and included studies were checked. Fifth, citation searches of included studies were conducted. Sixth, information about additional relevant studies was requested from authors of included studies and other key experts in the field.

Data extraction and critical appraisal

Data were independently extracted from all included studies by pairs of reviewers using a coding tool specifically designed for this review. Studies were quality assessed using a tool developed specifically for assessing risk of bias in experimental and quasi-experimental designs based on statistical methods (Hombrados and Waddington 2012 ).

Where data allowed, effect sizes were computed for each study and random-effects inverse-variance weighted meta-analytic methods were used to synthesise the evidence. We followed Petrosino et al. ( 2012 ) in the use of standardised mean differences (SMDs) for synthesising both continuous and dichotomous outcomes. The different formulas used in calculating effect sizes are detailed in the full technical report. The included studies were analysed by outcome and Hedges’ g effect sizes were reported. To visibly examine between-study variability in the effect size estimates, forest plots were used to display the estimated effect sizes from each study along with their 95 per cent confidence intervals (CIs). Heterogeneity was explored using both the Q test and the I 2 index (Deeks et al. 2001 ; Higgins and Green 2011 ). Moderator analyses were performed to examine possible reasons for variability in effects. Due to the small number of available studies, an analogue to the ANOVA analysis (univariate) approach was used (Lipsey and Wilson 2001 ). The categorical variables which identified the sub-groups used in this exercise were specified in advance.

Size of literature reviewed

Of the 8072 articles identified using the electronic search, 145 were deemed potentially relevant on the basis of title and abstract and the full papers were retrieved for a full text review. The full papers of a further 76 items identified through the non-database search were also manually examined. This process resulted in a total of 30 different studies, described in 55 separate publications, being identified as meeting the eligibility criteria. Of these, 26 studies were included in the review. a The study search and selection process is detailed in Figure  1 .

Study search and selection process flowchart.

Descriptive analysis

Publication dates of the 26 included studies ranged between 2001 and 2011, and over three-quarters were published as technical reports. Three studies were randomised experiments and 23 studies used a quasi-experimental design (QED). The QED evaluations used different econometric techniques to address selection bias and net out the impacts of other factors, most commonly propensity score matching (Rosenbaum and Rubin 1983 ). The majority of study samples included both male and female participants, and a single study focused exclusively on young women. The risk of bias assessments resulted in five studies graded medium quality (Attanasio et al. 2011 ; Card et al. 2011 ; Chong and Galdo 2006 ; Hicks et al. 2011 ; Espinoza 2010 ), 10 graded low/medium (Acero et al. 2011 ; Aedo and Nuñez 2004 ; Aedo and Pizarro 2004 ; Analítica Consultores 2006 ; Chong et al. 2008 ; Díaz and Jaramillo 2006 ; Elías et al. 2004 ; Ibarraran and Rosas-Shady 2006 ; Jaramillo et al. 2007 ; Ñopo et al. 2007 ) and 11 graded low (Alzuá and Brassiolo 2006 ; Alzúa et al. 2007 ; Benus et al. 2001 ; Bidani et al. 2002 ; Chun and Watanabe 2011 ; Delajara et al. 2006 ; Dmitrijeva 2009 ; López-Acevedo 2003 ; Medina and Nuñez 2005 ; Mensch et al. 2004 ; van Gameren 2010 ). d

Twenty different TVET programme interventions were evaluated. Settings include 10 upper-middle income countries (Argentina; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Brazil; Chile; China; Colombia; Dominican Republic; Latvia; Mexico; Panama and Peru); two lower-middle income countries (India and Bhutan); and one low-income country (Kenya). e Twelve programmes were specifically targeted at youth. The majority were targeted at disadvantaged populations, based on criteria such as household income, education level, and employment experience. A few were occupation- rather than age-focused (targeting, for example, demobilised soldiers or unemployed former employees of state-owned enterprises). A small number of interventions were directed exclusively at either urban or rural residents.

The 20 TVET interventions consisted of one or more of the different models or approaches to vocational skills development (see Table  1 ). The different types of TVET are not evenly represented, however; for instance, no apprenticeship training programmes were evaluated and a very small number of studies focused on technical education or vocational education. Many of the interventions in the included studies were complex, multi-component programmes. Alongside TVET-related training, some programmes incorporated labour mediation services (such as job readiness skills), some included training specifically for self-employment and some included other types of training (such as basic skills). However, the largest category of multi-component programme involved components consisting of different types of TVET. There were nine two-phase TVET interventions, most of which combined theoretical and practical training, usually in the format of classroom-based vocational training followed by a period of on-the-job training to provide beneficiaries with work experience. These interventions typically focused on short-term semi-skilled training in specific occupations demanded in the private sector.

Primary study authors often did not provide all the necessary data for computing effect sizes. It was possible to calculate at least one effect size for 10 of the studies included in the review (Acero et al. 2011 ; Aedo and Nuñez 2004 ; Aedo and Pizarro 2004 ; Attanasio et al. 2011 ; Card et al. 2011 ; Elías et al. 2004 ; Espinoza 2010 ; Hicks et al. 2011 ; Ibarraran and Rosas-Shady 2006 ; Medina and Nuñez 2005 ). The findings from these studies were statistically combined using meta-analytic techniques.

Overall mean effects of interventions

The overall mean effect sizes for five outcomes are presented in Table  2 . For three outcomes, an overall positive and statistically significant effect on TVET on youth was found: overall paid employment ( g  = 0.134; 95% CI [0.024, 0.243]); formal employment ( g  = 0.199; 95% CI [0.055, 0.344]); and earnings ( g  = 0.127; 95% CI [0.043, 0.21]). For working hours worked, the overall effect was also positive, but non-significant ( g  = 0.043; 95% CI [-0.017, 0.104]). In contrast, the overall effect on self-employment earnings was negative, and non-significant ( g  = -0.025; 95% CI [-0.11, 0.061]). b

Analysis of homogeneity

For three outcomes (overall paid employment, formal employment, and earnings) the grand mean provides some evidence that the TVET interventions were, on average, effective; although, effects are generally small and difficult to detect. Furthermore, in each case the result of the statistical test for homogeneity was statistically significant (Q = 23.8, p < 0.05; Q = 11.1, p < 0.05; Q = 25.5, p < 0.05), indicating that studies disagreed on the magnitude of effect. Our next step was to explore the reasons for this variability between studies.

Analysis of moderator effects

Moderator analyses were performed to examine independent variables that may be contributing to the heterogeneity. The results are presented in Table  3 .

Relationship of study characteristics to effect size

Two factors potentially associated with treatment effect were examined: study quality and length of follow up (i.e., timing of outcome measurement). As there were no high quality studies included in the review, studies rated medium quality were compared with those rated low or low-medium. c Short-term treatment effects (measured at approximately six months) were compared with medium-term effects (measured at approximately 12 months). The low quality studies were found to have consistently larger mean effects than the medium quality studies; and, for two outcomes, differences in mean effects observed between studies according to study quality were statistically significant: paid employment (Q b  = 6.49, p = 0.0108); formal employment (Q b  = 10.6, p = 0.0012). Although studies that measured short-term treatment effects consistently had slightly larger mean effects than studies in the medium-term follow up group, no statistically significant relationship between length of follow up and treatment effect was observed for any of the outcomes for which we had data.

Relationship of participant characteristics (gender) to effect size

For one of the five outcome categories (weekly hours), statistically significant differences in mean treatment effects were observed between studies according to gender (Qb = 10.1; p = 0.00151). Treatment effects for female youth were positive ( g  = 0.16; 95% CI [0.04, 0.28]), while those for male youth were negative ( g  = -0.09; 95% CI [-0.2, 0.01]). However, male youth participation in TVET demonstrated effects that were not statistically different from zero, lessening our confidence in this result.

Relationship of intervention characteristics (type) to effect size

Slight differences in mean effects between two-phase models of TVET and other models were observed, with two-phases usually, but not always, producing the larger effects. However, these differences were not statistically significant.

Conclusions

This review improves upon prior work by statistically synthesising TVET intervention research, strengthening the evidence base on which current policies and practices can draw. However, the nature of the available evidence, and limitations in the review itself, are such that drawing strong inferences from the results of the analyses is not recommended and considerable caution should be used when interpreting and applying the findings of the review.

Despite renewed investment in TVET and increased pressure for evidence-based decision-making, there remains an overall scarcity of research in this area and specific knowledge gaps. The interventions included in this systematic review are not representative of all TVET programmes in existence. Studies were undertaken in a relatively small number of counties, predominantly in Latin America and the Caribbean. Some types of TVET are poorly represented in the review; for example, no studies examined the effectiveness of apprenticeship training. The quality of the existing evidence base is also a concern. Only three RCTs were identified, and methodological and reporting shortcomings of the included studies were such that none provided high quality evidence to help answer the review questions.

Overall, interventions included in the meta-analyses were found to demonstrate a significant, though small, positive effect on a limited range of labour market outcomes: overall paid employment ( g  = 0.134; 95% CI [0.024, 0.243]); formal employment ( g  = 0.199; 95% CI [0.055, 0.344]); and monthly earnings ( g  = 0.127; 95% CI [0.043, 0.21]). However, the observed heterogeneity was also significant, indicating that different studies point to somewhat different conclusions. Attempts to explain the heterogeneity in overall mean effects suggest that methods matter. The low quality studies have consistently larger mean effects than the medium quality studies. For two outcomes, evidence of a statistically significant relationship between study quality and effect size magnitude suggest that the overall mean effect may be inflated and that our conclusions about treatment effect should be based only on those studies rated medium quality: paid employment ( g  = 0.06; 95% CI [-0.01, 0.12]); formal employment ( g  = 0.12; 95% CI [0.05, 0.19]). Treatment effects for both self-employment earnings and weekly hours worked were non-significant. On the whole, the other independent variables that were tested were unable to explain variability in effects. Length of follow up did not demonstrate a significant relationship with treatment effect. Two-phase TVET interventions (classroom-based vocational training followed by on-the-job training) produced statistically similar effects to other TVET models. Gender may have some influence, as an increase in the number of weekly hours worked by youth following participating in TVET appears to be driven by the effect on young women. It is important to note, however, that due to an insufficient number of studies reporting relevant data, only some of the moderator analyses that had been planned a priori could be performed. Furthermore, due to the very small number of studies for most of the variables tested, and thus low statistical power, we may not have been able to detect moderator effects that may indeed be present. In addition, there may be other moderating variables that either were not tested in this study or measured in the primary reports, such as implementation fidelity, whether the intervention was theoretically informed, and so on, which could account for the differences in effects between studies.

While a key strength of this study is its application of systematic review principles to improve upon prior work. There are several important limitations to this review that should be acknowledged. First, not all eligible studies are included in the meta-analysis. Second, the methods for calculating comparable effect sizes from studies using complex econometrics methods, as used in this review, are under-developed and require further research (for a complete discussion, see Becker and Wu 2007 ; Duvendack et al. 2012 ; Lipsey and Wilson 2001 ). Third, no high quality studies were identified and some of the methodological concerns associated with those that were included may mean that the studies have yielded biased estimates of treatment effect. All conclusions from the current review are therefore sensitive to the possibility that the results from the meta-analyses may be over- or under-estimating the effects of TVET on the outcome variables of interest.

Limitations notwithstanding, this systematic review provides some evidence to support the claim that participation in TVET improves the labour market situation of youth in LMICs, on average, when compared to youth who do not participate, with the strength of the evidence strongest for formal employment and monthly earnings. Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that it is worthwhile to continue investment in TVET provision. Although, statistically, the effects of TVET on youth may be small, even a slight increase in the employment rate, for example, could potentially translate into fairly large numbers of young people entering the labour market, especially where programmes are delivered nationally. Through its use of statistical meta-analysis, this review has improved upon previous work; nevertheless, there are two main related areas of likely disappointment for policymakers and programme implementers. First, not only were the observed effects generally small and difficult to detect, the review does not provide conclusive evidence of the effectiveness of TVET on youth employment outcomes. This suggests an urgent need to improve the rigour of the evidence base, and will require policymakers, practitioners and other relevant stakeholders engaging critically with the barriers to effective research production and dissemination in this area. The commissioning of RCTs and robust QEDs is crucial for generating evidence capable of supporting causal claims. To improve potential generalisability, it is also important that appropriate support, financial and otherwise, is given to rigorous outcome research on all types of TVET that have been implemented internationally for young people, and in a broader range of geographical settings than covered by the current evidence base. A cost-benefit analysis was outside the scope of the current review; however, attention should be given to the collection of data regarding the costs of TVET interventions, and examinations of cost-effectiveness should be a priority in future impact evaluations and systematic reviews. Second, the available evidence does not allow recommendations to be made for, or against, investments in a particular model of TVET. Although claims have been made in the literature and media for the success or effectiveness of a particular format of TVET widely implemented in Latin America and the Caribbean, the evidence from this systematic review suggests that such claims are premature. In the absence of evidence in support of any one model or approach to vocational skills development, it seems reasonable in the meantime for policymakers and other stakeholders to select the least costly, most culturally acceptable, and/or most easily implemented programmes, while at the same time becoming good consumers of evidence and working towards the strengthening of the evidence base on TVET. This review has demonstrated that not only is there is a clear need for additional primary research in this area, but that more of the same will not suffice. The methodological shortcomings of the current evidence base, and specific knowledge gaps, suggest a number of future research priorities. These are summarised in Table  4 .

a Four eligible Spanish-language studies could not be included in the review. Of these, one study was judged as meeting the review selection criteria on the basis of detailed descriptions in previous literature reviews, but efforts to obtain a copy of the publication were unsuccessful. The three remaining eligible non-English language studies were not included in the review due to exhaustion of financial resources. All four studies evaluated ProJoven, a Peruvian programme that was evaluated by a number of studies that were included in the review.

b A preliminary assessment of the ‘direction of effects’ of the 16 studies not included in the meta-analyses suggests that these studies generally support the meta-analytic findings.

c For this exercise, all of these studies were grouped together into a single category labelled low.

d One study (Espinoza 2010 ) was graded medium quality overall; however, individual assessments for the different outcome categories varied. For employment outcomes, this study was graded as proving medium quality evidence; for monthly earnings, the grading was low/medium.

e World Bank country classifications have been revised twice since the conduct of this review, and Chile and Latvia are currently ranked as high income economies.

Authors’ information

JT is a lecturer in Social Policy, based at the EPPI-Centre (Evidence for Policy and Practice Co-ordinating Centre), Social science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London. JH is a research analyst at J-PAL (Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab), based at its regional office in Latin America at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

Abbreviations

Low- and middle-income country

Quasi-experimental design

Randomised controlled trial

Standardised mean difference

Technical and vocational education and training.

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Acknowledgements

This manuscript arose from a systematic review commissioned in 2011 by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), in response to the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) systematic reviews call 3. JT was the grant holder and principal investigator. JH participated in the full review on an un-funded basis. JT and JH wish to acknowledge the contributions of those who helped in the creation of the full review: Mark Newman was involved in data collection and advised on the statistical analysis; Kimberley Hovish, Chris Brown, Katarzyna Steinka-Fry and Eric Wilkey participated in the acquisition of data. Special thanks are due to Sandra Jo Wilson, editor of the Education Coordination Group (ECG), for her guidance throughout the initial project. The funding agency informed the scope and development of the full review. The preparation of this manuscript was unfunded, and the funding agency had no role in the writing of this manuscript, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the funding agency. The full version of the review is published in the Campbell library ( http://www.campbellcollaboration.org/lib/project/227/ ), and the 3ie database of systematic reviews ( http://www.3ieimpact.org/en/evidence/systematic-reviews/details/152/ ).

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Tripney, J.S., Hombrados, J.G. Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) for young people in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Empirical Res Voc Ed Train 5 , 3 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1186/1877-6345-5-3

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Essay on Vocational Education for Students and Children

500 words essay on vocational education.

It refers to a skill-based program that enables students to obtain knowledge, training, and practical skills of a specific trade. It is often referred to as technical or career education as it helps students develop skills in a particular discipline. In addition, they focus more on application-based training rather than theoretical knowledge.

Besides, diverse job functions from various sectors such as food and beverages, computer network cosmetology, banking and finance, tourism, skilled trades, and healthcare, etc. include vocational training.

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Benefits of Vocational Training

The vocational training has many benefits not only for an individual but also for the nation. Furthermore, some benefits of vocational training are:

Job-ready – This training makes a person job-ready and students can directly get a job after completing their studies. In addition, it provides students the required set of skills and training for various jobs such as fashion designers, computer networking, interior designing and many more. Also, it makes the person skilled and ready for the job of their respective fields.

Low Education Cost – The fees of these courses are quite economic and anyone can easily afford to pay for them. Moreover, they are an easy alternative for those students who do not want to opt for a 3-year degree course. Many of these vocational courses are as good as degree courses and offer employment quickly. Besides, they are best for those students who cannot afford the cost of the degree course.

Career advancement – They are also the best alternative for those people who have a job and want to acquire new skills. Also, the duration of these courses is quite less compared to the degree courses but the set of skills taught is quite useful and important.

Besides, it is quite effective for a professional to improve the prospect of their career. In addition, dropouts and students who are less interested in academic studies can choose from a range of diverse courses in their field of interest.

Economic Development – The demand for skilled professionals in the various sector is growing day by day in the world. In addition, the existence of skilled manpower is beneficial to society as well as the economy of developing nations. With this, the need for importing manpower from other nation is also reduced.

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Growing Need for Vocational Education

The development of nations requires skilled manpower and vocational education prepares them for the job. Also, the demand for skilled labor has increased manifold in both the business and government sectors. Furthermore, over the year the vocational education has diversified immensely.

Moreover, vocational courses come as a surprise package as students get the opportunity to enhance and get trained to improve their natural talents and skills. Besides, they become highly successful in their field and fetch good packages.

In conclusion, the students who complete these courses are better at a job than those who only receive an academic education. Also, it is an asset of the country that helps the economy to develop and grow. In addition, there is a high demand for these skilled people in both the government and the business sector. Above all, it benefits students, society, nation, and employers.

FAQs about Essay on Vocational Education

Q.1 How vocational education is different from traditional education? A.1 In traditional education the main emphasis is on teaching and learning of theoretical materials. But vocational education emphasizes on learning and teaching of practical knowledge. Also, vocational education makes the person job-ready.

Q.2 Who is the father of vocational education? A.2 Charles Allen Prosser is known as the father of vocational education. His aim was to improve the education system of the country which later reforms the world.

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Writing Competences in Norwegian Vocational Education and Training: - How Students and Apprentices Express their Professional Competences

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• Ellen Beate Hellne-Halvorsen   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1485-1423 1 ,
• Leif Christian Lahn 2 &
• Hæge Nore 1  

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This article analyzes the writing competence of Norwegian students and apprentices in three professions: Healthcare, industrial mechanics and electricians. The research forms part of a large-scale assessment project in vocational education and training (VET). A subset of 108 written test-answers were subjected to an explorative analysis focusing on generic and professional writing competencies. A more text-based and trans-contextual working life for many professions requires not only profession-specific communicative competency, but also a stronger engagement in generic literacy practices. The need for written communication with customers, clients and colleagues across workplaces and countries has increased and the use of understandable language when communicating with non-peers is required. In the study, we found that the generic writing competency declined during apprenticeship, but on the other hand that the use of professional-specific terminology increased. We also found that writing competence seemed to be contextualized according to different traditions, text cultures and discourses across the three professions. The article questions the prevalence of text-based examinations in VET and analytical categories for measuring writing competence that do not take into account a multimodal character of professional communication.

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Introduction

Textualization, digital transformation and new technologies characterize all sectors in today’s global society, and communicative competence Footnote 1 has been acknowledged as a key productive resource in work and professional practices (Bétrancourt et al. 2016 ; Gee and Hayes 2011 ). Almost all professions require reading and writing skills to plan and document work processes (Karlsson and Nikolaidou 2016 ). Thus, professionals are increasingly expected to keep themselves up to date, and to “learn to learn” by integrating literacy skills and professional competence. These combinations are often referred to as “hybridity” (Davey and Fuller 2013 ; Nore 2015 ) and regarded as essential themes within educational systems and professional life. They are fundamental elements of the international competence-based educational reforms (Mulder 2017 ) that have accentuated the integration of basic skills (i.e., writing, reading, oral communication, mathematics and digital skills) as part of learning outcomes in all school and vocational subjects. These ideas are implemented in the Norwegian system for vocational education and training (VET) through the Knowledge Promotion Reform (2006, 2020 revision), (Baek et al. 2018 ) which is characterized as a literacy reform (Hertzberg and Roe 2015).

Textualization as a “new work order” (Gee et al. 1996 ) has been a research topic for 20-30 years, but is still leaving us with a number of unanswered questions: To what extent does this “work order” differ between vocations and professional boundaries? How is the differential digitalization of workplace communication and performance incorporated in extant models of “writing in the workplace” (Schrijver and Leijten 2019)? What are the mechanisms of work-place learning and vocational Footnote 2 training given such transformations? It is beyond the scope of our study to provide satisfactory answers to these “grand” issues, notably the last one. We have focused on the first with sidelong glances to the second. The third issue has a directive function for our research. This article is based on a study of writing skills among students and apprentices in Norwegian VET representing three professions; healthcare workers, electricians and industrial mechanics.

Aims and Research Questions

Our empirical material is drawn from a national research project, Measuring Vocational Competence Development (MECVET), that piloted the implementation of a German model and instrument, COMET-model, for large-scale assessment in VET (Lahn and Nore 2019 ; Rauner et al. 2013 ). In our review of the psychometric results and interviews with raters (from schools, work and labor unions) we were intrigued to pursue in an explorative way the correspondence between scores on professional competence and indicators of proficiency in writing. The COMET test assignments were formulated as work orders (from clients, superiors, colleagues etc) to which the students and apprentices responded in a written note. The validity of such formats is an underlying issue in this article, but methodological challenges with the implementation of the COMET-model in a Norwegian context do not invite a psychometric inquiry at this stage (confer Lahn and Nore 2019 ). Our strategy in the present study has been to select a subset (N=108) of written test answers and subject these to a rerating using a test instrument for the assessment of writing competencies. Our analysis which is basically qualitative, has been guided by three main research questions:

How does the VET-students’ and apprentices’ writing competencies relate to their specific professional writing skills and generic writing skills?

During the first screening of our test-data we were struck by the distinct differences between writing competencies, genre or discourses across professions and domains. In line with the constant comparative method (Charmaz 2014 ) and new literature on professional genres in workplace-writing (Neumann 2016 ), the following question was therefore raised for systematic inquiry:

In what ways are writing competencies similar and/or different across professions?

Our research has been designed to compare cohorts of students and apprentices in the three trades across three years in the Norwegian model of sequential dual VET, the second year in school followed by the two years in working-life as apprentices. Thus, we have been able to pursue a third research question:

How does the writing competencies change during the school period, the apprentice period and in the transition from student to apprentice?

We have explored these questions from two main perspectives; one considering the professional use of language, such as terminology and specific text culture and argumentation within professions. The other perspective includes the use of language as generic and transferable writing skills, such as orthography, punctuation, syntax and text organizing and paragraphs. However, this framework is extended by including exemplars of multiple literacy practices that fall outside traditional definitions of writing competencies.

Measuring Professional Competence and Literacy in VET

Different definitions and perspectives on literacy are identified in the international large-scale assessment instruments developed during the last two decades. For example, Program for the International Assessment of Adult (PIAAC) aims at measuring basic competencies and general problem-solving skills. It extends the scope of the previous International Adult Literacy Study (IALS) by focusing on digital media (OECD 2009 ). However, these tests are constructed in formats that support reading in a broad sense, but not the production of texts in written or graphic form. The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) refers to its knowledge focus as “scientific literacy” (Sadler and Zeidler 2009 ) and has inspired the development of similar instruments for the measurement of domain-specific competencies in VET, for example the VET-LSA that was piloted in several European countries, including Norway (Baethge and Arends 2009 ). This literature on large-scale instruments underscores the difficulties in disentangling the concept of professional competence and that of literacy.

The COMET-model and instrument for measuring key dimensions of “holistic shaping competence” (Rauner et al. 2013 ) was piloted in China, South-Africa, Switzerland and Norway. As pointed out above, testees were asked to write a short note describing how they would handle a work order and provide arguments for their “solutions”. The rationale for a written format is two-fold. Firstly, the above argument for a rich repertoire of communication modes in a changing working life, is emphasized. Secondly, Rauner et al. ( 2013 ), referring to central ideas in German work psychology, underline how writing has a learning potential in making explicit the planning and evaluation of work tasks. A similar concept of the writing process in three stages, planning, writing and reviewing, has a dominating position in the literature on writing (Heidrich and Schubert 2019 ) although recent versions give more leeway for situational and motivational factors (Parkinson et al. 2018 ).

In sum, our short review of the OECD international large-scale assessments for scholastic outcomes / adult competencies and similar attempts for the VET-sector indicates that the concepts of competency and literacy are often used interchangeably. However, such tests place little emphasis on the type of writing skills increasingly asked for in the formal assessment of students and apprentices (Nore & Lahn 2014 ). Our study of written solutions in the MECVET assignments should be viewed against these international trends and more general discussions on the training of students’ writing and literacy in different professions throughout VET.

Dual VET systems like the Norwegian, combine school-based and workplace-based training for both “hard skills” and “soft skills” such as domain-specific practical procedures and corresponding theory on the one hand, and professional behavior and communication standards on the other (Ortoleva and Betrancourt 2015 ). To complete a VET qualification, one must pass a trade or journeyman´s examination with a long tradition as performance-based tests. However, the recent reforms give higher priority to writing skills supporting planning, evaluation and documentation of work tasks and processes as well as justifications of their profession-based solutions. In some professions, justifications and documentations may include a combination of writing and other semiotic resources such as photos or filling in pre-defined professional forms as multimodal texts. In other professions, as healthcare, texts are mainly verbal as students and apprentices are trained in writing case reports like the assignments of the COMET-test.

In the school-based part of Norwegian VET, students learn both vocation-specific subjects and general subjects like Norwegian language. School-subjects also include vocational in-depth studies in enterprises with logs on vocational experiences. After two years, students turn into two years of apprenticeship with mainly practical, professional training.

Literature Review and Theoretical Framework

When focusing on the writing competence of VET-students and apprentices we are confronted with the task of actively restructuring a literature that is split between different thematic perspectives (Heidrich and Schubert 2019 ) and theoretical positions with specific methodological preferences (Karlsson 2009 ). Research that surfaces terms such as “work-place writing” (Bremner 2017 ), “writing in the workplace” (Schrijver and Leijten, 2019) and “professional written communication” (Heidrich and Schubert 2019 ) has been dominated by studies of professionals that are specialists in document production, translation etc. This literature draws on the broader fields of professional expertise (Kellogg 2018 ) and Literacy for Special Purposes (Leijten et al. 2014 ). Research that more directly focus on the integration of literacy (writing) practices and work performance in the vocational professions is comparably sparse (Parkinson et al. 2018 ). A number of studies confirm the established theses on the textualization of “manual work” (Karlsson and Nikolaidou 2016 ) adding to this picture the transformative effects of digital technologies on written communication in everyday work settings – roughly understood as a change from linear textual production to hyper-texts and multimodality (Fraiberg 2018 ). These patterns are accentuated by the need for “interdiscursivity” (Breuer and Allsobrook 2019 ) in globalized professional work when written communication with customers, experts in various fields etc. is the “new work order” (Gee et al. 1996 ). Consequently, scholars differ in identifying “writing genres” attributed to specific trades or professional communities (Breuer et al. 2016 ) or focus on the ways written professional communication is hybridized (Davey and Fuller 2013 ). Such variation may reflect the unique character of the sites investigated.

A number of studies have illustrated how apprentices and trainees are encultured into a spoken professional discourse during their training. Less attention has been given to their learning writing skills (Parkinson et al. 2018 ). A similar neglect is identified in professional communities that recognize the value of writing competence as crucial resources for effective work performance, but that do not see the point of training such skills (Neumann 2016 ; Breuer et al. 2016 ). Writing activities in VET schools primarily mediate student learning and are only slightly oriented to the need of complex working life literacy (Hellne-Halvorsen 2014 ; Coppi et al. 2019 ). To make these practices relevant to the “interdiscursivity” (Breuer and Allsobrook 2018) of modern working life, written communication should be an integral part of VET combining genre-instructions and linguistic features such as vocabulary, orthography, syntax, sentence and text structure, coherence and argumentation. In a survey on the education of engineers and health professionals from the UK and Germany, Breuer et al. ( 2016 ) found that training for writing was partly absent and highly deficient. According to students’ responses grammar or linguistic features were given the least attention by teachers and text genre instructions did not correspond to professional genres in working life. This mismatch is a point of departure when scholars argue for boundary-crossing programs (Breuer et al. 2016 ; Leu et al. 2017 ; Nägele and Stalder 2017 ) that strengthen students’ work-based writing skills on one hand and turn these into resources for professional development and transferable language skills on the other (Bétrancourt et al. 2016 ; Ortoleva and Betrancourt 2015 ; Neumann 2016 ). Still, apprentices and trainees must learn from practice and collegial interaction to become proficient in workplace writing (Parkinson et al. 2018 ).

Our analytical approach to writing in VET is based on two theoretical frameworks: The first, informed by New Literacy Studies (Barton and Hamilton 1998; Heath  1983 ; Street 1984), underlines how specific competencies are intrinsically linked to the functions and purposes of writing. Semiotic resources, textual norms and use of professional terminology and argumentation should be analyzed through their anchoring in specific professions and text culture. Berge et al. 2016 define text culture as a rhetorical community “constituted by text norms defining what kinds of writing are considered relevant…” (p. 175)”. From this perspective, even though writing is situated within a specific sociocultural context, written activities reflect the ecological and dialectical relations between community and writing practices. In principle, both teachers and trainers in the VET-system are considered experts on written discourses, textual norms, professional expressions and language use within their field. Thus, the assessment of written text should be based on these explicit textual norms (Berge et al. 2016 , p. 175). Writing competence for professional purposes are in our study referred to as the professional factor (P-factor).

Our second analytical approach draws our attention to the way professional competence is communicated by ordinary language expressions and formal, standardized use of language – what we refer to as its generic character. In a working life characterized by “interdiscursivity”, the generic (G-factor) and formal writing skills are characterized as decontextualized and boundary-crossing. They are at the core of professional expertise when different target groups and different purposes of writing demand the ability to transform writing skills throughout one’s life as a transferable competency (Davey and Fuller 2013 ; Nägele and Stalder 2017 ; Nore 2015 ). Generic writing competencies includes skills in complex linguistic systems and grammar; text organizing, cohesion, paragraph, syntax, spelling and punctuation. In VET, this might be a challenge for teachers and trainers who: (a) may not regard writing as part of their teaching and training, and/or (b) may not themselves have the competence or attitude required to teach students and apprentices generic writing skills (Hellne-Halvorsen 2014 ). Research has shown that many VET-teachers and trainers do not have the vocabulary or metalanguage to teach or guide students and apprentices in writing (Evensen et al. 2016 ).

Our approach to writing competence in VET indicates a double perspective; one relates to a vocational profession within a specific context, text culture or discourse, while the other relates to generic skills across contexts, subjects and professions, what we term transversal or generic writing skills. In line with the theoretical frameworks outlined above we adopt a broad definition of literacy as the ability “(…) of putting knowledge, skills, attitudes and values effectively into action when dealing with (handwritten, printed or digital) text in the context of ever-changing demands ” (Hanemann 2015 , p. 5). This definition draws on a multidimensional construct that includes language, multimodality, text culture, professional communication and represents a holistic approach to language and literacies (Coppi et al. 2019 ; Fraiberg 2018 ; Jewitt and Kress 2003 ). By implication, a new literacy pedagogy has gained currency in part by acknowledging the urgency and learning potential of media multiplicity and convergence (Schwendimann et al. 2018 ). The differentiation of codes and mediated practices should be reflected in the pedagogical discourses on the variety of functional writing competencies. However, elements of “hybridity” and transversal writing norms need to be considered as pointed out above.

The learning potential of teachers’ and trainer’s assessment of written assignments or “learning logs” and their feedback to students and apprentices is a recurrent research topic (Schwendimann et al. 2018 ). It will not be addressed in our review, but indirectly the presented literature and theoretical framework raise important questions about the professional writing norms and practices to be explicated for different educational purposes and in various formats (Karlsson 2009 ). We return to this topic when the set of categories included in the Professional Writing Manual is explained in the next part, and in our final reflections.

In this section, we provide added information on the COMET-test in terms of samples and the test assignments. Then we discuss the selection-criteria for our subset of written test answers to be rerated with the Coding Manual for Professional Writing and provide an overview of the general categories and the specific categories chosen for the study in this article.

Description of Test Design and the Subset for Analysis

The COMET-testing was conducted at three different stages: At the end of the second year in upper secondary school, at the end of the first year and the second year of apprenticeship (N=50 in each stage and within each profession, in total 450 students and apprentices). The testing followed the guidelines of the COMET-project by providing a set of four test assignments for each vocational profession representing core work tasks in each of the professions and formulated as complex problems or orders from customer and enterprises. Realistic situations specific for each vocational profession were described, such as planning an outdoor day with elderly patients (Healthcare), outlining a repair and maintenance solution to a machine breakdown (Industrial mechanics) or suggesting an electric wiring in a drying room for spray-painting (Electricians). The task assignments asked for a similar professional argumentation structure for the three professions, which included writing to inform, explain and describe, or a justification for a claim (Andrews et al. 2009 ). Example from healthcare: “Describe and give reasons for…”. From industrial mechanics: “Elaborate and give reasons for”, and electricians: “Suggest solutions and give reasons for…”. These formulations provide general guidelines for identifying both a reader (Berge et al. 2016 ) and an implicit target group such as customer, or superior. These norms may have guided testees´ performance on the test and should be considered when analyzing the material. The testees were given two hours to write their assignments using computers with access to the Internet – the latter violating the international guidelines for the large scale assessment with COMET.

108 written answers from the COMET-material were selected for the analysis based on the following criteria: (1) 12 students and apprentices in each vocational profession at each educational stage, (2) all four test-assignments represented at each stage, (3) answers representing different professional competence levels as rated by experts in the trade. The researchers undertaking the rating of writing skills were not told how the selected written hand-ins scored on the professional competence assessment. The testees were given information about the assessment criteria used in the COMET-rating but not about the criteria of writing competence. However, one of the key dimensions of the total COMET-score for professional competence was the quality of their written presentations.

The empirical basis of this article is the analysis of a subset of the COMET written test answers, using a coding system that (1) focus on formal/generic writing skills and 2) specific professional characteristics of working life literacy. In accordance with our theoretical framing, we studied professional competence as a conjoint use of profession-specific language (P-factor) and more general words and expressions, characterized as generic written competency (G-factor). However, our analytical perspective needs to include characteristics of writing skills that may facilitate the communication of professional competencies. In order to strengthen the consistency of our interpretations, nearly half of the written answers to the test were subject to discussion between the coders. Discrepancies in rating were most evident for categories such as terminology and professional argumentation, with more consensus on the generic writing skills.

Analytical Codes

As stated above, our approach indicates a socio-cultural and broad perspective on literacy, which also applies to our understanding of the term “text”. A broad perspective implies both verbal language and other semiotic resources that writers employ in their text production such as figures, drawings and copies of illustrations from Internet, as visual language (Coppi et al. 2019 ). If a text, as an utterance gives meaning and status to participants within a context, it is reckoned to be a text (Halliday 1973 ). The students and apprentices in our study could, for example, use verbal language coupled with drawings, copies of illustration, pictures or figures from Internet.

The way testees understand the reading of the assignment, their professional writing styles and multimodal composing may have had impact on the length of the test assignments, and thereby the rating of their professional and writing competence. To assess the students and apprentices’ professional competencies, it is essential to analyze their texts in the broadest sense of the term, including a variety of semiotic resources. However, our analysis has mainly focused on the use of verbal language which is reflective of the “state of the art” when it comes to instruments for assessing writing competence in a digitalized working-life.

Categories for Analysis

Our analysis is based on two perspectives; profession-specific writing competency (P-factor) and generic or formal writing competency (G-factor). Considering the complexity of written texts, a coding scheme for analyses of the assignments was developed including categories for the two perspectives based on established text- and language analysis in general language subjects at upper secondary level in school. Profession-specific writing includes professional terminology, professional related terminology, professional argumentation, professional text culture and multimodality. Generic or formal writing skills includes categories such as orthography, expressions and grammar, punctuation, syntax, paragraph, text coherence and text organization. In this article, we outline a selection of these categories as shown below (Table 1 ):

The analytical strategy of each category is mainly based on a highly reliable counting of grammatical mistakes such as lack of commas, or misspelling. This is also the case of using professional terminology. Harder to analyze is categories of professional argumentation and text organization. Classification in low – medium – good argumentation needs further explanation (Table 2 ):

Argumentation can be performed by coherent prose, by bullets or by fragmented sentences. Essential argumentative criteria are logical and coherent explanation to a statement or claim. The criteria are directive but depend on assessors’ judgement.

Results and Analysis

In the following presentation of results from the assessment of writing competency we first provide examples of noticeable variations in the written answers. Then a cross-tabular summary is provided for each category and integrated with analytical perspectives.

Professional Specific Writing Competencies and Text Cultures

Professional writing competence is essential for participation in expert communities and professions. In general, students and apprentices learn and internalize professional-specific terminology and expressions during VET. Thus, they reproduce a text culture.

Text-cultures within specific professions or expert domains are characterized by literacy markers, for example differences in the use of semiotic resources and text organization (Coppi et al. 2019 ; Leu et al. 2017 ; Neumann 2016 ; Parkinson et al. 2018 ). Likewise, the textual layout varies from: (a) versions of coherent text in prose, (Excerpt 1 ), (b) presenting text as bullets with keywords and fragmented sentences, (Excerpt 2 ), to (c) frequent use of filling in pre-defined professional forms, (Excerpt 3 ). As illustrated below, our study shows different ways to organize and construct texts across these three vocational professions.

Healthcare: Coherent prose

Industrial mechanics: Bullet points

Electricians: Use of verbal language in combination with semiotic resources from Internet.

In Table 3 , we make an analytical distinction based on verbal language, between coherent prose, fragmented sentences and multimodality (combination of verbal language and illustrations, drawings, pictures). The figures reflect the dominant pattern. For each category of text formation, we have one column for students (S) and one for second year apprentices (A).

Within all professions, coherent text formation is the dominant pattern. Healthcare workers’ hand-ins are expressed in purely verbal form, while both the industrial mechanics and especially electricians use other semiotic resources combined with verbal language. One explanation can be traced back to the tests constructed as cases of authentic work tasks. Another factor that distinguishes between the professions is the style to which the students and apprentices are most exposed to in their training – healthcare students and apprentices write predominantly in coherent prose, whilst industrial mechanics and electricians more often use sentence fragments, keywords and bullet points - increasingly so during their apprenticeship period (Table 3 ).

Another significant difference between the professions is that students and apprentices in healthcare write longer texts than those in the two other professions. Both healthcare workers and electricians in their 2 nd year of apprenticeship use more words than students do, whereas this difference is not present in the scores of the industrial mechanics.

Professional Terminology

Frequent use of professional specific words or terminology differs between professions. Table 4 give some examples of professional-specific terminology within each profession.

Table 5 shows the percentage of profession-specific terminology per page in three clusters (<6, 7-14 and >15).

As we can see, healthcare students and apprentices use less professional terminology than electricians and industrial mechanics. Whereas the latter use more professional specific terminology in their last year as apprentices compared with their school period, the reverse is true for the healthcare candidates.

Professional Argumentation

Argumentation or to argue are conceived broadly as encompassing written activities such as explaining, proving, documenting, giving reasons or examples for statements (table 2 ). They are common across disciplines or subjects (Andrews et al. 2009 ; Breuer et al. 2016 ). Professional argumentation makes logical reasoning explicit. In Norwegian education (primary and upper secondary school), the ability to argue is emphasized as part of democratic participation and critical thinking. This is also the case in VET and in VET-teachers’ didactical orientation towards student writing (Hellne-Halvorsen 2014 ). Through argumentation, students and apprentices prove their professional competence and understanding.

As we have stated above, the COMET case assignments asked the testees to give reasons and argue for their solution. In Table 6 , professional argumentation in the three professions are compared on three levels (low, medium, good) (See also Table 2 ).

Students and apprentices in healthcare perform somewhat better than industrial mechanics in professional argumentation. According to the examples of solutions illustrated above (Exerpt 1-3), healthcare workers use coherent prose as argumentation strategy and industrial mechanics use chronological bullets. Electricians on the other hand, are in sum rated at medium and low level of performance in professional argumentation which may be due to their use of verbal language in combination with illustrations and drawings, as multimodal texts. However, our analysis of professional argumentation of the test hand-ins indicates that their use of figures is not adequately supported by verbal language.

Table 7 gives an overview of professional argumentation skills across educational stages, from student to last year apprenticeship. To what extent do the two learning contexts, (school and workplace) influence the development of professional argumentation? Table 7 illustrates the development of professional argumentation during VET for the three professions by comparing students in school and second year apprentices.

The ability to argue professionally in written form seems to be at an average level for students in school context, except for the electricians who score remarkably high on this factor. Healthcare apprentices show a relatively poor argumentative competency compared to healthcare students whereas an opposite tendency is evident for the apprentices in industrial mechanics and electricians. These apprentices seem to improve their argumentation skills to a medium level. When it comes to argumentation skills at a good level, apprentices in all the three professions show a decreasing competence to argue professionally.

Generic Written Competence

Generic writing competency includes different aspects of formal language skills in general and reckoned as key competencies in communication and learning in education and working life (Breuer et al. 2016 ; Nägele and Stalder 2017 ). First, generic competencies implies the ability to communicate with different target groups, e.g. make the content and message of a written text clear and understandable to both peers and non-peers. Next, to avoid misunderstanding and deficiency in communication, which demands adequate formal skills. Overall, generic competencies is required and necessary to impart or communicate professional competency. Shortages, misspelling or grammatical failure can interfere with productive professional communication.

Orthography and Spelling

Students and apprentices in our study used computers with an Internet connection to write their solutions. They therefore had the possibility to use a spellchecker. Despite this, misspelling occurred in most texts. In our study, we separate misspelling in two different categories; single words and compound words. Compound words are a Scandinavian and German phenomenon, and an expanding and productive way of making new words in our language, indicating that the use of hyphenated words is not very common. Using spellcheck can be of great help for single words. However, spellchecker does not always correct compound words, since the spellchecker mistakenly marks many of these words as incorrect way of spelling. We have simplified the presentation by combining the misspelling of both single and compound words.

We found that the students perform better than the apprentices and the second-year apprentices commit more spelling errors than first year apprentices. The healthcare students and apprentices perform better in orthography than the other groups, whereas students and apprentices in electrician range lowest on this factor. The increase in misspelling across the three educational stages crossing the school-to-work boundary is noteworthy.

Syntax and Punctuation

A well-formed sentence structure in professional texts should fulfil certain criteria. First, a sentence must formally contain a grammatical subject and verb usage that makes it clear and explicit who or what a sentence is about and how the subject is related to action. An incomplete or deficient sentence is not a sentence in our analysis but is counted as a sentence fragment. Exceptions from this are formulations in keywords and bullets, which are present in several texts. Secondly, each sentence has to start with a capital letter, and finish with a period punctuation. Many very short fragmentary sentences or very long sentences without periods also indicates weak competence in sentence formulation. Sentence variation and coherence between sentences shows the ability to formulate good sentences. Above all, each sentence must express a clear and understandable content.

Healthcare students and apprentices are considerably better at sentence formulation compared with the two other professions (“Good” scores for 72%, 54% and 58% respectively). Industrial mechanics and electricians show more or less similar performance due to bullets and fragmentary sentences. Competency in formulating good sentences decreases as the testees move from their school contexts (where 85% write good sentences), to their work contexts (where only 50% of the second- year apprentices obtain such scores).

Punctuation is connected to sentence formulation in general. The use of periods (full stop) and commas can have impact on the content of a sentence, and thereby the communication of meaning and intention. Norwegian language is characterized by quite clear grammatical rules concerning the use of commas and is thus an issue of teaching in mother tongue/native language for all students at all stages in school. Our figures show that about 50% of the healthcare workers and industrial mechanics and 30% of the electricians had a maximum of one punctuation mistake per page. The differences between the students in the three professions compared to apprentices are minor; with 2-5% more mistakes per page for the latter group, which is a small decrease in generic written competencies.

Paragraphs and Text Organizing/Structure

The macro level of professional texts in general normally contains several paragraphs and a logical stringency structure. This means that different parts of the content stick to the thematic issue of the whole text, and that each paragraph contains separate and different thematic issues or argumentative parts. The test assignments demanded explanation of case solutions. This indicates a logical and chronological structure of the written texts, illustrating the working processes, which can be realized in two ways: By coherent prose, by bullet pointing or by employing other multiple semiotic modes to the case solutions (see excerpts 1 , 2 , 3 and Table 3 ). In short, texts by healthcare students and apprentices are characterized by coherent prose, while texts of electricians and industrial mechanics combine prose with bullets, keywords or other semiotic resources. This is a matter of text culture or discourse.

Our assessment of text structure encompassed the ability to create a coherent structure. Table 8 shows a relative even distribution of levels (low, medium, good) across the professions – with a slightly higher score for healthcare workers and slightly lower score for the electricians.

However, when the results for all groups are compared across the three-year span, we find an improvement in scores for coherent structure – from 16 % for students, 23% for first year apprentices and 47% for second year apprentices.

The ability to separate and structure a professional text in logical and coherent paragraphs is of course a matter of genre. The test assignments demand a logical structure preferably organized in paragraphs reflecting the different stages of working processes. However, writing paragraphs is related to prose presentation, and is not relevant for those few students/apprentices who use only keywords or bullets in their texts. To organize a text in paragraph requires also an experienced writer, which many VET-students and apprentices are not. A paragraph marks off a text structure or a separate issue or content introduced by thematic sentence(s) to the rest of the paragraph, but still linked to the whole text. However, based on the figures in Table 9 it is tempting to conclude that making coherent and logical paragraphs seems to be a challenge for all testees.

As we see, the healthcare students and apprentices manage to write more comparatively ‘ good’ paragraphs. Again, electricians rank lowest on this factor. When distributing the groups across educational stage we see an interesting improvement from nearly 20% of the students obtaining good scores, to nearly 30% for the first- and second-year apprentices. In addition, the medium scores have increased. This may indicate an improvement of professional competency in general, or it may reflect a deeper professional understanding and possibly a stronger motivation for professional writing on thematic issues in a logical and coherent form.

Summary and Discussion

The issue writing competencies surfaced during the MECVET-implementation of the COMET-model aiming at the measurement of holistic vocational competence in VET. First, in the theoretical rationale (a plan-write-reflect model) for written answers to case-study assignments. Second, an observed high correspondence between scores on the COMET-test and the quality of the written solutions. These issues were never addressed in the international reports from national large-scale assessments (Rauner et al. 2013 ).

In this article we have been focusing on the written answers of students and apprentices in the three professions as literacy achievements without making any inferences about their validity as representations of professional competency or as adequate reflections on the assigned task. With such an analytical frame we conclude that writing competency in general (both professional specific and generic writing competencies) improves during the important VET-transition from the school context to the second year of apprenticeship. However, most of the students and apprentices score only at a medium level, as shown in Table 10 :

Second year apprentices are close to finishing their education and achieving trade certificates. Since more than 90% will pass, the candidates nearly have obtained the required professional competency, and in our study also improved their general writing competency.

On the other hand, we have identified a decline in generic writing skills. Students master generic skills like orthography and sentence formulation better than second year apprentices. A plausible explanation is that school subjects put more emphasis on writing formats in general compared with workplace activities. Frequent writing may improve writing competence. In addition, language teachers (teachers in Norwegian subject) have a specific perspective on generic skills, which may influence students’ awareness on formal use of language. However, VET-teachers tend to pay little attention to generic skills and emphasize the profession-specific part (Hellne-Halvorsen 2014 , 2019 ; Breuer et al. 2016 ). Overall, school contexts appear to have a positive impact on generic writing competency.

A school context also appears to emphasize professional argumentation. The ability to argue decreases with apprenticeship. VET-teachers are concerned about assessing students´ written and oral argumentation as professional key-competencies and understanding. These findings are in line with former research on teachers´ didactical work with professional argumentation in school context (Hellne-Halvorsen 2014 ). In-company trainers emphasize task orientation and are less concerned about professional writing competencies (Breuer and Allsobrook 2019 ). Stronger confidence in professional competence and insight into technical and practical work processes is a logical explanation to this. Despite this, professional argumentation increases from a low to a medium level for industrial mechanics and electricians during VET. A similar pattern is seen in the use of professional specific terminology. This pattern leads us to question the influence that schools have on terminology use. Do textbooks and learning resources in school context have an impact on the salient terminology use in healthcare and less so among the industrial mechanics and electricians? However, the influence from practical work in workplaces is likely to strengthen professional use of language for both industrial mechanics and electricians. The vocabulary of healthcare workers seems to be more in line with ordinary common vocabulary and terminology, maybe because much communication is with patients and their relatives.

Our data are in line with conclusions from other studies (Guile and Young 2003 ; Hellne-Halvorsen 2019 ; Lahn and Nore 2019 ) that the re-contextualization of transversal generic writing competency from school to training enterprise and vice versa needs to be understood more fully. On one hand, we would predict that the 12-years’ period in school with Norwegian language as a main subject, and the recent competence-based educational reform with writing as a “key competence” (Mulder 2017 ), would strengthen generic writing skills. On the other hand, these may be poorly integrated with vocational subjects in the learning trajectory of students and apprentices (Hertzberg and Roe, 2015; Bétrancourt et al. 2016 ; Neumann 2016 ; Parkinson et al. 2018 ). Also, international studies (Nägele and Stalder 2017 ) have identified obstacles to transfer of generic skills, such as motivation, cognition and self-regulation, social processes and organization at work. Efficiency, economy and time pressure at workplaces may hinder use and development of generic skills and the transition from school to work. Added to this, generic writing skills depend on how trainers and colleagues in workplaces facilitate such skills through guidance and instructions (Billett 2000 ; Neumann 2016 ).

Distinct variations in the written products from three vocational professions may indicate specific and context-bound discourses, traditions and cultures (Parkinson et al. 2018 ). In healthcare, coherent narrative prose is the most common text formation, while industrial mechanics and electricians use a combination of prose and fragmentary texts, often supported by specific non-verbal semiotic resources. However, our analysis did not include how these forms interacted with professional competency and professional argumentation by influencing the coherence, logical structure and the intelligibility of the text. In the implementation of the COMET-model Norwegian VET-teachers resisted the international protocol for the testing by allowing the testees to be on-line (Lahn and Nore 2019 ). This generated by accident interesting observations that challenged the underlying plan-work-reflect rationale for using the pen and paper format in the hand-ins. The belief in textual media as superior explication devices in professional contexts compared with other semiotic resources is not warranted by recent studies of multiliteracies (Kress et al. 2001 ; Mills 2010 ). Similarly, from a somewhat different institutional angle, text-based examinations cannot be conceived as “proxies” for digitalized assessment systems that may capture very different aspects of the learning trajectories of VET-students and apprentices.

Final Reflections

The combination of generic and professional writing competencies as hybrid writing competency manifests itself differently in the three vocational professions in our study. The literacy skills of the healthcare workers are more generic, and that of industrial mechanics and electricians more profession oriented. The context for our analysis of professional writing is a test situation that very likely will be associated with a school setting – irrespective of the case-based and authentic character of the assignments. As predicted, the health care apprentices would take advantage of their expertise in a narrative format that resulted in high scores on the important dimensions or categories. Similarly, the students and apprentices in the technical vocations may have short-cut the COMET-guidelines for a holistic interpretation of the test-assignment by using a familiar written solution from tests with a more closed format. In this sense the written hand-ins could be understood not only as specific professional writing genres, but also as norms about how to respond to test situations. Thus, hybridity may be identified in terms of a large variety of patterns as situated in more or less typical literacy events (Heath 1983 ). In this respect two implications of our study, one didactical and one methodological, are worthy of a final reflection.

The last couple of years we have witnessed a revival of the learning journal (or blogs) as a device for bridging the world of school and work (Schwendimann et al. 2018 ). The overall rationale for such educational innovations has been variants of the plan, write, reflect-model, but recent reviews are highlighting the challenging character of those assignments for VET-students (Cattaneo and Aprea 2018 ). It is quite common to attribute their poor performances to a low competency on the generic dimensions for writing, and as pointed out by Edwards et al. ( 2013 ), the literacies associated with academic subjects are often seen as more cognitively demanding than literacy skills related to vocational subjects. These UK researchers then refer to studies that partly reverse these assumptions. In the latter case they found a larger variety of literacies. To some extent we identified similar patterns in our written hand-ins produced in a test environment. Thus, our exploration could be a starting point for investigating “effective scaffolds” for VET-learners that “…might lack proficiency or show reluctance for reflective writing…” (Schwendimann et al. 2018 , p. 5). However, we need to question to what extent the linear conceptions of writing skills represent a barrier or a scaffold in our modelling of such assumedly boundary-crossing tools.

A valid objection to our study then is our use of a coding manual that mainly had been validated for academic texts (Skar et al. 2017 ) although profession-specific categories were added. On the other hand, this framework may be face valid for how the COMET-raters (as teachers, trainers, professional examiners) assessed the written achievements of the testees. As pointed out above, the overall COMET-score on holistic professional competence correlated strongly with the sub-dimension on (written) presentation of the test-solution. Still, in our focus group interviews with the COMET-raters, they reassured us that they were trained in “reading between the lines”. The hyper-textual and multi-modal character of the hand-ins from students and apprentices in the technical vocations was only represented in terms of frequencies (of occurrence) and not integrated into a framework supporting a functional understanding of the text production. This extension is highly recommended given the empirical evidence above provided by Edwards et al. ( 2013 ) and useful for the development of a coding manual that is valid as an instrument for assessing writing competence in VET or a methodological foundation for designing “scaffolds” in the implementation of educational programs with learning logs and journals. However, micro-genetic studies and in-depth studies of the expertise of students and apprentices in text-production across the school / work boundaries are needed.

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Hellne-Halvorsen, E.B., Lahn, L.C. & Nore, H. Writing Competences in Norwegian Vocational Education and Training: - How Students and Apprentices Express their Professional Competences. Vocations and Learning 14 , 243–264 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12186-020-09262-0

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Received : 05 June 2020

Accepted : 21 December 2020

Published : 24 February 2021

Issue Date : July 2021

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s12186-020-09262-0

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13. Article Writing on: Vocational Education

Article writing in English is a tough art and it is a part of CBSE Curriculum and  many other competitive Exams. We are providing article writing format giving some article writing samples. Go through these article writing questions and find relevant article writing topics and learn a different article English. These article writing examples will surely help you to create article writing for Common English .

Vocational Education

Vocational Education is any sort of formal training programme that trains students t to work in a particular trade.

Unlike most higher education courses that provide basic degrees with no specific specialisation in trade, vocational courses train students for a particular trade. For example, diploma course in photography, video making, baking, etc., are vocational courses. In our country, a three-year honours degree has always been more valued and respected than the short term job oriented courses.

 It is one of the weaknesses of the Indian education system. As a result, there is a mismatch between the skills required for the job and the skills I possessed by the candidates. As a result of that, there are scores of unemployed graduates in the country.

While education in India has grown manifold since independence, the state of vocational education still remains poor. The educational institutes still follow the education pattern that was laid by the British during the colonial era and which has lost its relevance in keeping with the job market of the present time. Today, the economies world over are changing into knowledge and skill-based economies. This technology – dependant era requires an individual to be specialised in a particular skill.

For this, the education system and people’s mindset need to be reformed. Vocational subjects should be made a part of the higher education degrees. Also, more institutes and universities for-vocational training should come up. At the same time, society should shun its biased views against these courses and realise the need of the hour to have professional courses.

 However, there have been some positive developments in the last decade. There has been a surge in the number of students choosing to enrol in technical courses. Also, good colleges and training schools have cropped up in the last few years that provide many vocational courses like secretarial practice, computers, hotel management, etc.

Some of the renowned and known institutes providing such, A, courses, in the country are YMCA, Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, VW’ Amity University, College of Vocational Studies, etc.

Therefore, our education system should make endeavours towards this concern. With time, our educational system should also change to meet the demands of the changed scenario.

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