article on importance of vocational education

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Why Should We Care About Vocational Education?

Some years ago I was hired by Norway's Ministry of Education to train vocational education teachers. Having myself attended a comprehensive high school where vocational students were those who couldn't make it academically, and having taught in a suburban high school where there was zero vocational education, it was eye-opening to be in a country where vocational education had high prestige, was well-funded, and included students who could have gone to medical school if that had been their preference.

I was reminded of this experience recently when Tony Wagner, the author of The Global Achievement Gap and, most recently, Creating Innovators (much more on that book in a future column), spoke with educators and parents in my community and noted that in Finland's highly successful educational system, 45% of the students choose a technical track, not an academic track, after completing their basic education.

Blue-Collar Stigma in White-Collar Society

I'm sure many high school counselors have had some students confide that what they enjoyed doing most was working with their hands, whether on car engines, electrical circuits in the house, hair, or doing therapeutic massage. I bet that many of these students also confided that there is no way they could tell their parents that they'd rather pursue one of these occupations than go to college to prepare for a professional or business career.

We live in a society that places a high value on the professions and white-collar jobs, and that still considers blue-collar work lower status. It's no surprise that parents want their children to pursue careers that will maintain or increase their status. This is even more evident in high socio-economic communities. And for most teachers, if the student is academically successful, this will be seen as a "waste of talent."

The same dilemma often exists for students who are working to overcome the achievement gap. Most schools that are effectively helping kids to overcome this gap and achieve academically also place a premium on college admissions, often the mark of success for these schools. And kids who are the first in their families to graduate high school appear foolish to "throw this all away" by choosing some alternative to college and a blue collar career.

This bias against vocational education is dysfunctional. First, it is destructive to our children. They should have the opportunity to be trained in whatever skills their natural gifts and preferences lead them to, rather than more or less condemning them to jobs they'll find meaningless. If a young person has an affinity for hair design or one of the trades, to keep him or her from developing the skills to pursue this calling is destructive.

Second, it is destructive to our society. Many of the skills most needed to compete in the global market of the 21st century are technical skills that fall into the technical/vocational area. The absence of excellence in many technical and vocational fields is also costing us economically as a nation.

In the early sixties, John Gardner, in his classic book Excellence , talked about the importance of vocational education and of developing excellence across all occupations for the social and economic health of our society. Unfortunately, we've made little progress in the intervening years. Students who don't excel in traditional academic areas, or who have little interest in them, should not meet with disappointment or disapproval from parents and teachers. As another Gardner, Howard Gardner, has repeatedly pointed out, there are varied types of intelligence, and they are of equal value. As one example, bodily-kinesthetic and spatial intelligence are frequently high in those who are successful in varied technical trades. And there is absolutely no contradiction between recognizing and developing these intelligences and developing basic verbal and mathematical literacy for all students.

Vocational Education Groundswell

While changing societal values will take time, changes can take place on a school or district level more immediately. And the good news is that there are increasing models and resources to guide educators.

Joe Klein in a recent Time magazine article described an increasing number of excellent and well-funded vocational programs in the U.S., particularly in Arizona. Two of these, the East Valley Institute of Technology in Mesa and the Career and Technical Education Program at Monument Valley High School in Kayenta, provide both inspiration and practical models that could be implemented in many districts.

There are also more schools across the U.S. that are creating internship programs to help students gain workplace experiences while enrolled in an academic high school. At City Arts and Technology High in San Francisco, all juniors and seniors secure internships in the community, where they are mentored by an on-site professional and regularly visited by their school advisor. MetWest High School in Oakland, California is one of many that place student internships at the center of their mission. And Nancy Hoffman's excellent new book, Schooling in the Workplace , looks at how six countries successfully integrate schools and workplaces, while also providing a look at where this is happening in the U.S.

Finally, being able to begin legitimizing vocational education in a district may also depend on successfully re-educating parents regarding the value of occupations that aren't high on the social status scale. Mike Rose's The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker , provides an excellent antidote to our social biases about intelligence and an eye-opening look at the combination of cognitive and manual skills needed in occupations that our society has mistakenly devalued.

Vocational education on both a secondary and post-secondary level should be highly valued, well-funded and effectively implemented. The first steps can and should be taken on a local level.

What we know about Career and Technical Education in high school

Subscribe to the center for economic security and opportunity newsletter, brian a. jacob brian a. jacob walter h. annenberg professor of education policy; professor of economics, and professor of education - university of michigan, former brookings expert.

October 5, 2017

• 17 min read

Career and technical education (CTE) has traditionally played an important role in U.S. secondary schools. The first federal law providing funding for vocational education was passed in 1917, even before education was compulsory in every state. 1

CTE encompasses a wide range of activities intended to simultaneously provide students with skills demanded in the labor market while preparing them for post-secondary degrees in technical fields. Activities include not only specific career-oriented classes, but also internships, apprenticeships and in-school programs designed to foster work readiness.

CTE advocates cite several goals of career-oriented learning experiences. For non-college-bound students, CTE can provide hands-on training that translates directly to attractive careers upon graduation. Work-related or internship-like experiences that are often a part of CTE can teach students the “soft skills” necessary in the labor market. Finally, by integrating academic skills into a “real world” context, advocates claim that CTE can motivate students to attend school more frequently and be more engaged, and therefore improve core academic skills.

However, CTE has been on the decline for several decades. Starting in the 1980s, states increased the number of courses required for high school graduation, and began mandating students take additional courses in core academic areas such as math, science, social studies and foreign language. 2 These additional requirements, along with declining funding 3 and a growing perception that all young people should be encouraged to obtain a four-year college degree, led to a sharp decline in CTE participation. Between 1990 and 2009, the number of CTE credits earned by U.S. high school students dropped by 14 percent. 4

The past decade has seen a resurgence in interest in CTE. Scholarship in the area of education and the labor market has increased markedly. 5 In the past four years alone, media mentions of “career and technical education” have quadrupled. 6 In 2015 alone, 39 states instituted 125 new laws, policies or regulations relating to CTE, many of which increased state funding for such programs. Montana, for example, doubled the annual statewide appropriation for secondary CTE; Nevada tripled its funding. 7

Unfortunately, research on CTE has not kept pace with policy interest. 8

What does earlier non-experimental research tell us?

Prior non-experimental evidence suggests that students who participate in secondary CTE programs have higher employment and earnings than demographically-similar peers in the short run, but they do not necessarily have better academic outcomes. For example, many studies show little or no differences between CTE participants and comparison groups in terms of academic achievement, high school graduation or college enrollment. 9

A good example of this type of research is a recent study by Daniel Kreisman and Kevin Stange, which relies on data from the NLSY97, a nationally representative sample of 12- to 17- year-old youth in 1997 that tracks individuals over time.

They find that CTE participation is not strongly associated with educational attainment – CTE students are marginally less likely to enroll in college but no less likely to earn a degree – but CTE coursework does predict employment outcomes. Importantly, they find that CTE participation is associated with higher wages, with the increase driven entirely by upper-level coursework, defined as courses within a sequence beyond the introductory class, in more technical fields. Each additional year of upper-level vocational coursework is associated with a nearly 2 percent wage increase. 10 This suggests that the benefits of CTE education stem from in-depth study of a specific area consistent with the recent trend toward “pathways of study” within CTE. 11

As the authors recognize, however, the biggest challenge in evaluating CTE is that students typically self-select into such programs, or student choices are circumscribed by the types of programs offered in nearby schools. In either case, it is likely that students participating in CTE are different in many ways than other youth who do not participate in CTE – in terms of their personal abilities and interests, family background, etc. On the one hand, many observers have described CTE as a “dumping ground” for lower-achieving or unmotivated students. 12 On the other hand, because CTE is not the “default” pathway, the students who participate must be at least somewhat motivated and informed. 13

CTE can motivate students to attend school more frequently and be more engaged, and therefore improve core academic skills.

Kreisman and Stange attempt to circumvent this selection problem using what researchers refer to as an instrumental variables strategy. Simply put, they compare students across schools with different high school graduation requirements because, as they show, the greater the number of required courses, the fewer CTE courses students take. Using this approach, they find that the wage benefits associated with CTE disappear.

However, a key assumption here is that, after controlling for observable student and school characteristics, the students attending high schools with fewer graduation requirements are identical to those attending high schools with more graduation requirements. 14 As the authors recognize, this is a very strong assumption. If this assumption is true, it implies that students whose CTE course-taking is influenced by graduation requirements realize little benefit from it. Of course, it may still be the case that those who self-select into CTE benefit from it, and that prohibiting them from doing so would be detrimental.

A further complication is that virtually all of the existing research on CTE has focused on relatively short-run outcomes. This is a notable limitation because many believe that career-focused education involves a tradeoff – namely, learning a narrower set of technical skills that can provide short-run benefits at the expense of learning more fundamental skills that will better serve individuals in the long-run. 15 Indeed, a recent study using European data finds some evidence of exactly this type of tradeoff. 16 Given the changes we expect to take place in the labor market in coming years, and how often individuals might need to switch occupations, this is a potentially serious concern. Of course, advocates of CTE argue – with some justification – that career-oriented education today does aim to teach core academic skills essential to lifelong learning, and often does so better than traditional schooling, particularly for disadvantaged youth. 17

the gold standard

The single best way to avoid such selection problems and determine the causal impact of a policy or program is through a randomized control trial. While such experiments can be expensive and are often logistically or politically difficult, they have a long history in education policy research. Other research designs, known as quasi-experimental research, attempt to approximate the same design with statistical techniques.

According to the What Works Clearinghouse, for example, there are 83 programs with experimental or quasi-experimental evidence in the area of early childhood education, 39 programs for dropout-prevention, and 32 programs for English language learners.

In the area of secondary CTE, there is only 1. Yes, one. This study examined Career Academies in the early 1990s, before many of the occupations common today even existed and prior to the introduction of policies with important implications for secondary schools (e.g., school accountability). 18

Structured as distinct programs embedded within comprehensive high schools, the Career Academies provided students with career-oriented instruction in a particular field along with internships and other activities to prepare students for, and connect them with, the labor market. The schools in the study were located in or near large urban areas with predominantly low-income minority student populations. The Career Academy programs were oversubscribed, which permitted admissions to be determined by lottery.

Researchers found that Career Academies had no impact (positive or negative) on high school graduation, postsecondary enrollment or educational attainment. However, the study found that students who received the opportunity to attend a career academy earned 11 percent more than the control group. Interestingly, this positive wage effect was driven entirely by male students, who enjoyed a 17 percent earnings boost. Males defined as high-risk based on baseline characteristics (i.e. prior to high school) realized the largest benefits from the program. There was no significant difference between the earnings of females in the treatment and control group.

This single study has been cited hundreds of times, and is featured prominently in nearly every literature review and many policy proposals regarding CTE. While this was an extremely well-done evaluation of an important CTE model, it has important limitations. As noted elsewhere, Career Academies are a small component of CTE provision nationwide. 19 The study itself focused on a small number of sites which, as evidenced by their oversubscription, were perceived as high quality. 20

and then there were two

Compelling research on CTE recently doubled with the release of a new study of regional vocational and technical high schools (RVTS) in Massachusetts. 21

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Unlike the Career Academies described above, RVTS are entire schools devoted to career-oriented instruction. Students spend one week in the classroom followed by one week in a technical shop. While students in other schools have access to CTE courses, RVTS offer more variety in terms of the program of study, and the programs themselves are typically higher quality than those found in comprehensive high schools.

The author of the study, Shaun Dougherty, obtained detailed data on student applications to three RVTS. Because the schools are often oversubscribed, they admit students on the basis of their attendance, grades and discipline record in middle school. By comparing the educational outcomes of students who scored just above the admissions threshold (and thus were very likely to attend) and just below the admissions threshold (who mostly did not attend), Dougherty is able to account for the selection bias that has plagued prior CTE research. This approach is known as a regression discontinuity design. What Works Clearinghouse considers well-done studies of this type to provide evidence nearly as compelling as an RCT.

Dougherty finds that attending a RVTS dramatically increases the likelihood of high school graduation. Poor students are 32 percentage points more likely to graduate if they attend a RVTS, which represents a 60 percent increase given the baseline graduation rate of 50 percent. The effect for non-poor students is somewhat smaller, but still quite large – an increase of 23 percentage points from a baseline of 67 percent, suggesting a nearly 35 percent improvement. 22 At the same time, Dougherty finds that attending a RVTS has no impact (positive or negative) on the standardized math and reading exams that all Massachusetts students take at the end of 10 th grade.

where to go from here?

More rigorous research on CTE programs is clearly needed. To its credit, the Institute for Education Sciences (IES) recently initiated several new data collection and research grants in this area. The recent study by Dougherty is a great start, but only a start. Further progress requires a series of studies that build on each other, and examine different approaches to CTE. Because states play a large role in developing and overseeing CTE programming, they must take the lead. States have been very active in passing laws, issuing regulations and disseminating policies about CTE. States now need to step up and support a research agenda that can help ensure these new initiatives are successful.

The author did not receive any financial support from any firm or person for this article or from any firm or person with a financial or political interest in this article. He is currently not an officer, director, or board member of any organization with an interest in this article.

• The Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 preceded the passage of compulsory attendance laws in Mississippi in 1918 , the last of the 48 states of the time to pass such a law.
• Jacob et al. (2017). “Are Expectations Alone Enough? Estimating the Effect of a Mandatory College-Prep Curriculum in Michigan.” Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis,39(2): 333-360. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/0162373716685823 .
• U.S. Department of Education (2014). National assessment of career and technical education. Final report to congress. Technical report, Washington, DC.
• Hudson, L. (2013). “Trends in CTE Coursetaking. data point.” National Center for Education Statistics, NCES 2014-901.
• Shaun M. Dougherty and Allison R. Lomarbardi. “From Vocational Education to Career Readiness: The Ongoing Work of Linking Education and the Labor Market.” Chapter 10 in Review of Research in Education, March 2016, Vol. 40: 326–355
• From 5,518 stories in 2014 to 22,755 stories from January 1 to September 28 of this year, based on author’s Meltwater analysis.
• http://www.acteonline.org/uploadedFiles/Who_We_Are/Press/2015_State-Policy-Review_FINAL%20(1).pdf
• Corinne Alfeld made this same point in an IES blog post earlier this year.  See https://ies.ed.gov/blogs/research/post/career-technical-education-is-growing-research-must-follow
• For good reviews of this prior literature, see Kreisman and Stange (forthcoming) and Dougherty (forthcoming).
• The benefits of upper-level CTE coursework is driven largely by those focusing in technical fields.
• While selection bias is still a concern, it is worthwhile noting that the authors control for a very rich set of covariates including student demographics, parental income, parental education, student AFQT score, freshman year GPA, state of birth and various school characteristics.
• See, for example, Kelly, S. & Price, H. (2009). Vocational education: A clear slate for disengaged students? Social Science Research, 38 (4), 810–825.
• Insofar as CTE programs involve travel to/from worksites, it seems likely that participation requires more time than a student would have to devote to a standard high school track.
• As the authors discuss in detail in the paper, there are two reasons why their instrumental variable results might differ from their OLS regression results. The first is that the students who self-select into CTE have some positive, unobservable characteristics that explain their success in the labor market. The second is that there is true heterogeneity in the returns to CTE – the students who self-select do indeed benefit from the experience, but those whose course-taking decisions can be swayed by their school’s graduation requirements do not benefit.
• http://hanushek.stanford.edu/publications/german-style-apprenticeships-simply-cant-be-replicated
• Among younger people, employment rates are higher among those with vocational education. However, this pattern reverses by age 50. These patterns are most pronounced in countries that have highly developed work-based education systems such as Germany, Denmark and Switzerland. See Hanushek et al. (2017). “General Education, Vocational Education, and Labor-Market Outcomes over the Life-Cycle.” Journal of Human Resources. 52(1): 49-88.
• http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/top_performers/2017/07/the_false_choice_between_vocational_and_academic_education.html
• Kemple, J & Willner, C.J. (2008). Career academies: Long-term impacts on labor market outcomes, educational attainment, and transitions to adulthood . MDRC.
• Kreisman and Stange (2016), “Vocational and Career Tech Education in American High Schools: The Value of Depth Over Breadth.” NBER working paper
• And, if one looks beyond the headline results, the detailed findings of the Career Academy raise a number of important questions about the mechanisms, and thus generalizability, of the impacts. For example, students in the treatment group reported significantly higher levels of interpersonal support from teachers and peers than their comparison counterparts. While Career Academy students did engage in work-based experiences that control students did not, researchers found that the curricula and instructional materials used in the Career Academies were similar to those used in other parts of the high school, and did not meaningfully integrate academic content with career-related applications. Together these findings suggest that the benefits of attending a career academy may relate as much to the school culture as the particular career focus, similar to the benefits of attending a small school or “school-within-a-school.”Bloom, Howard S., and Rebecca Unterman. 2014. Can small high schools of choice improve educational prospects for disadvantaged students? Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 33(2): 290–319.
• Dougherty, S.M. (forthcoming). “The Effect of Career and Technical Education on Human Capital Accumulation: Causal Evidence from Massachusetts.” Education Finance & Policy.
• These findings are consistent with some prior research suggesting that CTE participation can increase attachment to school. See, for example, the following studies: Plank, Stephen B., Stefanie DeLuca, and Angela Estacion. 2008. High school dropout and the role of career and technical education: A survival analysis of surviving high school. Sociology of Education 81(4): 345–370. Cellini, Stephanie Riegg, “Smoothing the Transition to College? The Effect of Tech-Prep Programs on Educational Attainment,” Economics of Education Review, 25(4), August 2006: 394-411.

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Benefits of Vocational Education

The benefits of vocational education: how it can shape your career.

When applying for a job online, you may have come across the requirement stating, ‘We need someone with 10 years of experience.’ Do you find this strange? That is the characteristic most organizations seek in job candidates. Increasing competition has resulted in businesses and organizations seeking candidates who already possess the knowledge and skills required when joining, thus saving a significant amount of training time. However, how is this possible?

Your chances of success can be improved with vocational education. A vocational education and skills training program is aimed at preparing students for a specific career path. Through this program, students are provided with essential skills necessary for their future employment. Training is usually provided through classroom instruction, practical training, and on-the-job experience.

What is Vocational Education?

First, let's understand what vocational education is all about. The vocational education and skills training programs are designed to prepare individuals for a specific job or career. Through this course, students can gain essential skills (or vocational skills) needed for future employment as well as general knowledge similar to what is learned in high school.

Alternatively, it can be referred to as career and technical education (CTE) or technical and vocational education and training (TVET). Students are prepared in various spheres of life for specific jobs, careers, and trades. There are a number of practical activities involved. This type of education is sometimes termed technical education, as trainees directly develop skills using a specific set of techniques. Apprenticeships are one of the oldest systems of learning in vocational education.

Developing Vocational Skills is Important

In the current labor market, a gap exists between available jobs and potential employees. The shortage of in-demand skills has led experts to conclude that most employees will not be able to meet these requirements. It goes without saying that vocational education is an important part of the job market.

There is constant change and evolution in the global economy. To stay relevant in our careers, we need to continually learn about a variety of topics.

As a result, vocational education programs are in high demand to help individuals develop their technical skills and build their knowledge base so they can easily get hired by companies that seek skilled individuals. It is important for a vocational education institute to appear credible.

Potential learners would be likely to enroll based on their success rate, well-designed website, and a vocational school logo that is professional and trustworthy.

There are several benefits to attending a vocational school. By learning and indulging in a specific trade, students can embark on an enlightening career path. Once students understand the importance of vocational education, they will find that this type of instruction offers unparalleled benefits. Some of these are mentioned below:

Practical Skills are The Focus

Vocational education training emphasizes "learning by doing". It is more important to focus on learning through practice rather than theory. Vocational schools devote a greater amount of time to training students in work-related skills. As part of their studies, students will acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to practice their chosen profession competently.

This form of learning provides an opportunity for students to gain work experience during their course rather than as something they must pursue outside of the classroom through internships or part-time employment. In addition to gaining practical experience in their field of study, graduates can get a head start on their careers once they begin working full-time.

Providing Students with a Global Education

Students attending vocational schools come from diverse backgrounds and life experiences. The course environment allows students to interact with other students of different races, ethnicities, and cultures. Globally, students attend classes from various nations and work in the hospitality industry throughout the world.

Globalization continues to grow every year. Due to the Internet, companies and customers can communicate instantly, reducing the gap between individuals from diverse backgrounds. Tourism and travel allow people to become familiar with different cultures and locations around the world. Every year, more individuals take advantage of these opportunities.

Students who receive an education that allows them to interact with such a diverse group of people will benefit in their careers. In addition to cross-cultural experience, students graduate with the insight needed to succeed in jobs overseas, including communication skills and a better understanding of different cultures. To put it another way, their organizations benefit from them in a globalized environment.

Flexible Class Schedules

The traditional university system is designed to accommodate recent high school graduates who are currently completing all their educational requirements before entering the workforce. The majority of them have fewer courses available in the evenings for students working a 9-5.

Due to the wide range of students they serve, vocational training schools offer more diverse options. Programs usually offer flexible schedules so students can attend while working or taking care of their families. Some programs also offer online programs that can be completed whenever the student has the time.

Bringing Passions to Life

The reason individuals choose vocational training is to follow their passions or jobs that interest them primarily. One can observe, as soon as they enter a vocational school, that they spend substantial amounts of time and energy pursuing something they are passionate about. Consequently, students benefit from an environment that is conducive to learning.

Provide Hands-on Experience

University education traditionally emphasizes theoretical knowledge rather than hands-on training and practical experience. For certain occupations, such as engineering, that type of knowledge is extremely valuable. While many people enroll in university programs, they primarily acquire background knowledge. Thus, as their careers progress, they will have to learn on the job.

Unlike traditional schools of education, vocational training schools emphasize both theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Thus, whether your employment is in information technology, holistic healthcare, or another industry, you are likely to be better prepared than someone whose degree emphasizes theoretical knowledge.

Providing More Direct Training

Students who attend a traditional four-year university do not have the opportunity to study their chosen field for four years. Generally speaking, universities emphasize the liberal arts to provide students with a well-rounded education.

It is unfortunate that in order to meet your credit requirements, you are required to take silly and sometimes unnecessary courses like ceramics and frisbee golf.

A vocational school specializes in training you for your particular profession, so you learn the skills that you will need on a daily basis in your career.

Programs That Are Adaptable

A vocational program is designed to support non-conventional students who have other responsibilities on top of their studies. With options such as online courses , evening classes, and night weekends, this alternative is particularly useful for those who work full-time but are trying to develop new career skills.

Finding a Job is Easier for Students

Students who complete a vocational program have specific training and practical experience in their particular fields. They know their prospective employer knows they have specialized training and experience in the area so that they can start the job right away.

There are many professional opportunities available to students as a result of this. It is no longer necessary for them to worry about applying for jobs with no specific work experience in their chosen field, without which they might not be considered for the position. The education students receive is designed to allow them to jump right into a position without the need for training and to prepare them for success in the workplace significantly faster than those who have attended traditional academic institutions.

Faster School Completion is Often Possible for Students

As vocational programs are oriented specifically towards career choice, students finish them faster than other programs. For example, U.S. Career Institute's Online HVAC School and Online Electrician School can be completed in as little as four to six months!

As a result of spending less time in school, students have the opportunity to transition from spending money on training and learning to making money in their careers more quickly, yielding a net benefit to themselves financially.

The purpose of education extends beyond ranks, grades, and numbers. We can mold and shape ourselves to create a better future with the help of this powerful weapon. Let's break stigmas and embrace alternative teaching methods that focus less on theory and rote learning. Children should be liberated and allowed to decide what they feel best suits them.

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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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• Energy science and technology

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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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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EDITORIAL article

Editorial: exploring the psychology of vocational education: from the perspective of literacy promotion.

• 1 Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
• 2 National Institute of Vocational Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
• 3 Graduate Institute of Sport, Leisure and Hospitality Management, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
• 4 Graduate Institute of Curriculum and Instruction, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan

Editorial on the Research Topic Exploring the psychology of vocational education: From the perspective of literacy promotion

Vocational education helps students develop or enhance their knowledge, skills and abilities for a particular occupation. As a result, vocational education plays an important role in the economic and social development of countries (and regions) around the world. It has also made an important contribution to educational equity. The development of quality and sustainable vocational education has become an issue of concern for governments, educational institutions, educators and researchers. In the past, many experts have been thinking about how to develop policies to help promote vocational education. However, in addition to national goals, industry needs and expert opinions, the education policy system also needs to take into account the views and opinions of the stakeholders in order to implement the policy effectively.

The psychology of vocational education is broad in scope, because it encompasses stages of vocational probation, vocational preparation and continuing vocational education, from K-12 education to higher education and to lifelong education. Consequently, the issue of how to improve the quality and learning outcomes of vocational education has become an important topic in education. From the theoretical perspective of educational psychology, psychological and cognitive factors can be used to facilitate students' learning performance or to enhance teachers' teaching effectiveness. It can also help teachers in vocational schools better understand and develop students' vocational literacy in a more in-depth way, so that they can better respond to the challenges of their work.

The psychology of vocational education can be based on a cross-disciplinary theoretical approach to facilitate educational policy implementation, educational management, curriculum development, instructional design, apprenticeship, workplace learning, career counselling, skills training, career preparation, workplace learning, and so forth. The importance of the psychology of vocational education is therefore self-evident.

The study of the psychology of vocational education contributes to the development of vocational and technical personnel and the understanding of individual differences. It is more helpful to identify the effects or problems from the perspectives of the persons involved and to understand the reality of the situation. There is a wide range of specific Research Topics in the psychology of vocational education. Examples include: academic achievement (e.g., Liu Y.-B. et al. ; Peng et al. ), career adaptation (e.g., Chuang et al. ; Jiang et al. ; Wang et al. ; Xia and Wang ), career exploration (e.g., Liu X. et al. ), creativity (e.g., Niu and Wu ), critical thinking (e.g., Sartori et al. ), discrimination perception (e.g., Liu Y.-B. et al. ), education climate (e.g., Xue et al. ), employability (e.g., Bai et al. ), entrepreneurship education (e.g., Niu et al. ), learning engagement (e.g., Jiang et al. ; Lu et al. ), learning methods (e.g., Hong et al. ; Zhou ), learning motivation (e.g., Chang et al. ; Chuang et al. ), learning readiness (e.g., Loock et al. ), online learning (e.g., Niu and Wu ; Ye et al. ), postgraduate education (e.g., Chang et al. ), professional literacy (e.g., Fan ), prosocial behavior (e.g., Su and Wang ), self-efficacy (e.g., Chen and Ma ; Chuang et al. ; Niu et al. ), skills training (e.g., Thianthai and Sutamchai ), social support (e.g., Chen and Ma ; Jiang et al. ; Liu Y.-B. et al. ; Peng et al. ; Su and Wang ), and teaching methods (e.g., Li et al. ). As can be seen from the above, there is a wide range of research issues in the psychology of vocational education.

In addition, the dramatic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education systems around the world has given us insights into the impact of context in educational research. From the perspective of the psychology of vocational education, we have also gained a better understanding of the learning difficulties encountered by vocational education students and the teaching constraints of teachers when learning online. While it is important to understand successful stories, the reasons why they fail or succeed also need to be explored in order for us to understand the reasons. The results of these analyses can also help us understand how to effectively improve the design of online teaching and learning. In the post-epidemic era, vocational education is entering a new phase. Researchers, teachers and government agencies will be considering how to compensate for the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on vocational education. This highlights the need for more research on teaching and learning to inform us of how up-to-date vocational education is.

Furthermore, because of the COVID-19 epidemic, positive psychology has gained more attention in vocational education. Therefore, future research could be conducted on the role of helping people understand positive and negative emotions, career choices and career adaptation in the process of career development and construction, within the framework of occupational emotion theory. We can also use more positive psychology-related theories and variables to help us understand the psychology of vocational education.

It is clear from the above that, given the specificity and importance of the psychology of vocational education, interdisciplinary research methods, theoretical foundations and statistical models are needed to help us understand it more comprehensively. As time changes, new variables and localized variables need to be proposed to explain more current situations. In addition, the development of research on the psychology of vocational education needs to take into account the characteristics of the localization, global trends and educational policy directions, as well as to extend the scope of the psychology of vocational education to different cultures, groups and contexts. It is also possible to expand the psychology of vocational education in different cultural groups and contextual contexts. The need for education encompasses many dimensions, from the Macrocosm, to the mesocosm, to the microcosm—all need to be considered.

Of course, the research themes in the psychology of vocational education are not limited to those mentioned above. We are also looking forward to a wider range of Research Topics to help us understand the situation of vocational education. Although the formal system of vocational education is only a few hundred years old, the concept of skill training has been around since the creation of civilization. The development of vocational talent has also been around for thousands of years. Therefore, it needs to be paid with more attention and importance.

Author contributions

J-HY and M-YC: concept, design, and drafting of the manuscript. J-HY and Y-WH: critical revision of the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

This work was supported by Beijing Normal University First-Class Discipline Cultivation Project for Educational Science (Grant Number: YLXKPY-XSDW202211). The project name is Research on Theoretical Innovation and Institutional System of Promoting the Modernization of Vocational Education with Modern Chinese Characteristics.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Keywords: psychology of vocational education, vocational education, vocational probation, vocational preparation, continuing vocational education

Citation: Ye J-H, Chen M-Y and Hao Y-W (2023) Editorial: Exploring the psychology of vocational education: From the perspective of literacy promotion. Front. Psychol. 14:1167176. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1167176

Received: 16 February 2023; Accepted: 02 March 2023; Published: 14 March 2023.

Edited and reviewed by: Kai-Yu Tang , National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan

Copyright © 2023 Ye, Chen and Hao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Yung-Wei Hao, hao@ntnu.edu.tw

† These authors have contributed equally to this work and share first authorship

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

UNESCO Strategy for Technical and Vocational Education and Training adopted at Executive Board

Young people have been facing significant challenges as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, many of whom became unemployed and those who were unemployed prior to the pandemic, particularly the most disadvantaged, risk being pushed further away from decent work opportunities.

Despite the challenges facing the world’s learners, the crisis is also an opportunity to change course and take action. Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) plays a critical role in this journey as it seizes the important contribution in helping youth and adults develop the skills they need for employment, fulfilling work, and entrepreneurship, promoting equitable, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, and supporting transitions to digital and green economies for environmental sustainability.

8 April 2022 marked a key milestone for UNESCO’s Education Sector during the 214 th session of the Executive Board as it adopted the new UNESCO Strategy for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) for the period 2022 to 2029.

The UNESCO Strategy for TVET 2022-2029 : Transforming Technical and Vocational Education and Training for Successful and Just Transitions will build upon the achievements under the Strategy for TVET 2016-2021 and seek to generate global momentum in support of TVET, contributing to the post-COVID-19 social and economic recovery and to an acceleration of progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4. It will seek to instil a renewed ambition for TVET in Member States and build a common vision for transforming labour markets, economies, and societies. This Strategy is fundamental for its aim to respond to the relevant needs of Member States and the changing demands of TVET. 

The Strategy has been developed in part by taking into consideration the path to recovery, resilience building and reimagining of education and training and is aligned to UNESCO’s 2021  Futures  of  Education  report,  calling  for  a  new  social  contract  to  repair  injustices  while  transforming the future of education.

The title of this new Strategy, ‘Transforming TVET for Successful and Just Transitions’, signals UNESCO’s perspective regarding the important contribution that TVET is expected to make to recovery and to sustainable development over the next eight years. It will also contribute to solving the skills deficits affecting the labour market insertion, further learning and career progression for both youth and adults.

Through extensive consultations, including with UNESCO institutes, the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre and UNEVOC network members, the Inter-Agency Group on TVET (IAG-TVET), as well as through an international conference held in December 2021, the new Strategy focuses on three strategic priority areas:

• Developing skills for individuals to learn, work and live;
• Developing skills for inclusive and sustainable economies in view of digital and green transitions and;
• Developing skills for inclusive and peaceful societies.

The resulting Strategy, which aims to support the efforts of Member States to boost the relevance of their TVET systems will be officially launched in the coming months.

During the 214 th session of the Executive Board, the Committee on Conventions and Recommendations also examined the guidelines for consultations on the 2015 Recommendation concerning TVET . This recommendation is a key resource for guiding the transformation and expansion of TVET and lifelong learning around the world.

More information:

• Skills for work and life
• Watch UNESCO’s video on TVET
• Watch the highlights from the international conference on TVET 2021
• Follow #TVET on UNESCO  Twitter   and  Facebook

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Vocational Education, Skill Formation, and Social Development

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A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102).

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Dear Colleagues,

Vocational education is a system that emphasizes the development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that relate to an individual’s future participation within the economic sector of one’s community and nation. Within the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and digitalization, there is a need for a significant shift in how vocational education is perceived, designed, and delivered. It would be particularly worthwhile to investigate what policies and various stakeholders have achieved and to evaluate to what extent they have strengthened the skill formation system for skilled perspective workers, as well as their impact on social development. 

This Special Issue aims to focus on the different approaches that could be applied in the field of vocational education in order to create a more robust skill formation system that may contribute to economic growth and boost societal benefits.

Apart from vocational education, research on other types of education, such as higher education and basic education, which are also relevant to skill formation and social development, is equally welcome in this Special Issue.

The topics include, but are not limited to:

• Vocational education policy;
• Vocational education and industry cooperation;
• Education, economics, and social development;
• Student development;
• Teacher training in vocational education;
• Apprenticeship;
• Vocational education and social development;
• Skill formation in vocational education;
• Emerging technologies in vocational education;
• Students’ transitions in vocational pathways;
• Innovative training in vocational education;
• Vocational education and regional development;
• Various types of education and economic development;
• Various types of education and social development.

Prof. Dr. Haisheng Pan Dr. Xinqiao Liu Dr. Geng Wang Dr. Wenjuan Gao Guest Editors

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The impact of Vocational Education on Economic Growth and Development across the G20 Countries

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Guiding workplace learning in vocational education and training: a literature review

• Susanna Mikkonen 1 ,
• Laura Pylväs 1 ,
• Heta Rintala 2 ,
• Petri Nokelainen   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8195-7001 2 &
• Liisa Postareff 3  

Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training volume  9 , Article number:  9 ( 2017 ) Cite this article

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This review provides an overview of the empirical research concerning guidance in the context of vocational education and training (VET). The study examines practices, providers and supporting and hindering factors related to guidance and learning at the workplace. After the inclusion/exclusion process, the final number of research articles included in this review is 18. Results show strong evidence for the collective nature of workplace guidance, with the entire work community providing learners with guidance and assistance. Guidance provided to VET students at workplaces seems to relate strongly to the activities of the members of communities of practice. Guidance provided by the members of communities of practice opens up opportunities for learners to participate in collective practices by gradually assuming more responsibility and more demanding tasks as their skills develop. The learner’s self-regulative skills, such as responsibility and the ability to take the initiative and to actively seek guidance, affect how guidance is afforded to him/her in the work community during training. Furthermore, these skills may also determine the learner’s prospects for developing expertise in future workplaces.

Interest in workplace learning has grown in recent decades due to the changing character of work and the acknowledgement of the workplace as a learning environment (e.g. Fuller and Unwin 2003 , 2011 ; Illeris 2003 ). In the context of vocational education and training (VET), apprenticeships and work-based learning have been promoted (e.g., European Commission 2015 ). The aim of this review is to provide an overview of guidance and learning at the workplace in the context of vocational education and training. In VET programmes, theoretical studies in vocational institutions and practical training at workplaces should be considered complementary providing different kind of opportunities for learning (Aarkrog 2005 ). The connective model of Guile and Griffiths ( 2001 ) emphasises close collaboration between vocational institutions and workplaces in creating an ideal way to organize workplace learning for VET students. The model underlines that the context and the access provided to artefacts and people influences learning, while opportunities to participate in forms of social practice with different communities of practice are central to learning. Learners require opportunities to recontextualise their theoretical and practical knowledge in new contexts in order to create new knowledge and practices (Griffiths and Guile 2003 ). Thus, different kinds of practices, such as assistance from more experienced others and boundary crossing facilitate learning within and between the different contexts of education and work (Akkerman and Bakker 2011 , 2012 ; Griffiths and Guile 2003 ). Research has shown that close collaboration between students, workplaces and vocational institutions benefits learning (Savoie-Zajc and Dolbec 2003 ; Virtanen and Tynjälä 2008 ; Virtanen et al. 2014 ).

In the field of workplace learning, sociocultural theories consider learning as an ongoing, both an individual and social process of participation shaped by social, organizational, cultural and other contextual factors (Hager 2013 ). Tynjälä ( 2013 ) 3-P model of workplace learning acknowledges the sociocultural environment as a context that defines the possibilities and constraints of workplace learning. According to the model, there are three basic components in the learning phenomenon. The presage component includes both learner factors and learning context which relates to work organization and its features including organisation of work, partnerships and networks. Tynjälä ( 2013 ) points out that these factors do not affect the learning process directly but rather through the learner’s interpretation of the factors, which is in line with the constructivist’s view of learning. The process component encompasses the learning activities through participation, collaboration and interaction, whereas the product component includes diverse learning outcomes (Tynjälä 2013 ). Billett ( 2002a , b ) notes that participation in social practices is regulated by the workplace affordances and shapes both the learning process and the outcome. However, eventually an individual, the learner, can choose whether or not to engage in the process of learning.

As a process workplace learning is often considered incidental or informal, even if it could instead be seen as non-formal with different levels of intention to learn, including implicit, reactive and deliberate learning (Eraut 2004 ). Alternatively, one can regard all learning experiences as intentional because they aim at ensuring the continuity of social and work practices (Billett 2002b ). Ethnographic field studies on apprenticeships by Lave and Wenger ( 1991 ) suggest that learning happens in everyday interactions and through participation in communities of practice. However, the theory by Lave and Wenger ( 1991 ) has also been opposed as it neglects guidance and formal education, and is based on the idea that skills, knowledges and practices are passed on to novices. By doing this, the theory ignores the reciprocity of learning and the continuation of learning even after a full membership in a community of practice has been obtained (Fuller et al. 2005 ). Tanggaard ( 2005 ) states that studies on apprenticeship often describe apprentices gradually acquiring greater responsibilities and widening participation in new stages of production, but not much is said about how new skills are taught or didactically instructed. Tanggaard continues that teaching at the workplace is loosely organised as a possibility for the apprentice to receive help and get advice in the daily work situations, and takes place in connection with various social relations. Nielsen ( 2008 ) concludes that important educational interventions and instructional processes are used at workplaces, but they are not necessarily recognised as such.

The use of various terms related to pedagogical practices or interventions taking place at workplaces is heterogeneous and oftentimes incoherent. The concept of guidance is often used in the context of workplace learning (e.g. Billett 2002b , 2014 ). Coaching , tutoring and mentoring are similar activities which all have the underlying intention of providing support and encouraging the professional development and learning of individuals. However, the lines between the concepts of guidance, coaching, tutoring and mentoring are blurred although the underlying meaning of these concepts differ from each other (see Gallacher 1997 ; Wisker et al. 2013 ). Coaching refers to a process which occurs between peers or colleagues and is rather structured and systematic in nature (Gallacher 1997 ). Coaching has a rather narrow focus as it often concerns a specific problem, and the role of the coach is to help the coachee to define and overcome this problem (Wisker et al. 2013 ). Tutoring refers to offering support given by a responsible person within the organisation to a person, usually a novice, related to more practical matters. Tutors have a key role in acting between the institution and the individual (Wisker et al. 2013 ). Mentoring is about monitoring and assisting an individual’s development over a longer period of time, and mentoring can take the form of individual, group or peer mentoring (Wisker et al. 2013 ). Mentoring is also a term frequently used in higher education context to refer to personal support, career development and introduction to professional networks (Pearson and Kayrooz 2004 ). Another concept often adopted in the higher education context is supervision , which takes place when individuals have a long-term task, i.e. a thesis or a project. Similar with coaching and mentoring, supervising aims at enabling and supporting individuals to develop their skills and achieve tasks. However, supervision has a broader scope in that it often includes working alongside with the individual, as well as negotiation and dialogue, to enable the person to take an active role in developing the skills and processes. Thus, giving answers and fixed solutions is avoided in supervision (Wisker et al. 2013 ). Supervision has traditionally referred to a master-apprentice relationship, but lately the role of the academic community in supervision has been emphasized (Mainhard et al. 2009 ). Furthermore, good supervision is characterised by an emphasis on the learning processes and general work processes instead of the product (see Pearson and Brew 2002 ; Vehviläinen and Löfström 2016 ).

In this study, we use the term guidance to describe the support that members of the work community and teachers from vocational institutes provide for students (see also Virtanen and Tynjälä 2008 ). We also utilize Billett ( 2002b ) division of direct and indirect guidance to describe various guidance practices at the workplace. The social and physical environment of the workplace provides indirect guidance that is accessed in everyday work activities when the physical arrangements assist workplace learning and provide access to observing and listening more experienced coworkers and peers (Billett 2002b ). As much of what one must learn cannot be learnt through trial and error alone, intentional workplace learning strategies, such as guided learning, are necessary to assist an individual in developing procedures and concepts required for shared practice (Billett 2002b ). Direct guidance refers to close guidance and direct interaction between more experienced workers and learners (Billett 2002b ). Billett ( 2002b ) concludes that workplace pedagogic practices comprise three interdependent planes of guided engagement with work activities. The first plane includes everyday participation at work and the organizing of access to knowledge through observing and listening, but also by engaging in tasks of increasing accountability and understanding the goals of the required performance. The second plane comprises direct guidance and intentional learning strategies that are directed towards developing and promoting values, procedures, and understandings. Guided learning at work includes the use of modeling, coaching and scaffolding as well as other techniques to develop understanding and to engage learners in learning for themselves. The third plane of guided learning focuses on extending the adaptability of learners’ knowledge to new situations and circumstances. The use of questioning, problem-solving, dialogues and group discussions aim at assisting learners to assess the scope and the limits of their knowledge and the possibilities of its transfer to new situations.

This literature review presents an overview of the empirical research on guidance and learning at the workplace in the context of vocational education and training. The goal is to provide a holistic view on how guidance actualizes at the workplace by identifying practices, providers and supporting and hindering factors related to guidance and learning at the workplace. The research questions are the following:

(RQ1) What kind of guidance practices are used at the workplace?

(rq2) who provides guidance at the workplace, (rq3) which factors of guidance support or hinder learning at the workplace.

In this article, we will next describe our literature review method and the studies selected for this review. In the result section, we seek to answer our three research questions based on the articles selected for this review. In the conclusions and discussion, we will further discuss the empirical findings from the selected studies and provide suggestions for future research. We will also discuss some limitations of this study.

Method and overview of the studies selected for the review

The research method of this study is a literature review. The review type for this study is a mapping review (Grant and Booth 2009 ). A mapping review aims at mapping out and categorizing existing literature on a particular topic. Mapping reviews characterize the quantity and quality of literature and aim at identifying gaps in research literature from which to commission further research. For the literature review, we collected data by searching electronic databases to identify relevant studies. Search terms included guidance, counselling, supervision, mentoring, coaching, instruction, scaffolding, modeling, explanation, reflection and explorations in combination with the terms apprenticeship, workplace learning, on - the - job learning, work - based, vocational training and vocational education . In addition to searching through electronic databases, we manually searched the archives of journals focusing on workplace learning and vocational education.

In the initial article search, we searched for peer-reviewed articles from the ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) and Education Research Complete databases. The article search yielded 1209 articles from the ERIC database and 1136 articles from Education Research Complete (2275 all together after duplicates removed). We then started to limit the number of articles to those relevant to our study according to our specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. First, we only included studies published between 1995 and 2015 with full-text available and the language of the publication being English. This left us with 489 articles. We read the abstracts of these articles, and also the full texts in case the abstracts didn’t provide enough information for decision making. In the process, we included empirical studies focusing on guidance in the context of workplace learning within the vocational education and training system. We therefore excluded studies focusing on mentoring employees in corporate settings. We did include studies on guided learning at the workplace in apprenticeship education and during on-the-job learning periods in vocational education, but excluded studies in the higher education context. After the first round of the inclusion/exclusion process, we searched the reference lists of the articles selected for the review to identify additional relevant studies. The Google Scholar database was also included in the search at the end of the process, but no new articles were found.

Although the search yielded a decent amount of articles, a minimum number of them actually discussed guided learning at the workplace. Most of the articles excluded from this review covered workplace learning (not guidance), mentoring programs in enterprises or guidance on levels of education other than vocational education and training (e.g. higher education). After the inclusion/exclusion process, the final number of research articles included in the review was 18 (see Table  1 ). Two researchers participated in both setting the inclusion/exclusion criteria and in discussing the articles selected for the study. Other scholars (Nielsen 2008 ; Tanggaard 2005 ) have previously noted the tendency in research on apprenticeship education to overlook issues of guidance at the workplace. The literature search process for this article further supports this finding: studies related to the guidance of VET students at workplaces are few indeed.

The data was collected and studies were assessed using a data extraction matrix, which included information on sample size, study design and results related to guidance and workplace learning. The assembly of the data was guided by the three research questions presented in “ Background ”. We arranged the collected data to identify claims made in the literature. Two researchers further thematized the claims into broader categories, first independently and then together, by comparing and discussing the claims until they reached consensus. Based on the theoretical background and literature surveyed, we then listed the factors of guidance that support or prevent learning at workplaces in a table. We also identified practices that individuals and groups at workplaces typically use to provide learners with guidance. The following sections will present and further discuss the findings in greater detail.

In Table  1 , we have presented the 18 articles selected for this study. The studies cover various training programmes within the vocational education and training framework. In nine articles (articles 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 13 and 14), the training programmes could be described as more traditional apprenticeship programmes with the majority of the learning taking place at the workplace. In nine articles (articles 2, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17 and 18), the vocational training programmes involved both school-based and work-based learning, with variation in the length of the on-the-job learning periods.

Total number of participants in the 18 reviewed articles was 3485, of which 681 participated in qualitative and 2804 in quantitative studies. Qualitative methods dominated the sample, as they were applied in 10 studies between 1999–2015. Three studies (2008–2014) applied quantitative methods and four mixed-method studies (2000–2011) applied both qualitative and quantitative methods. Participation selection criteria was explicit in most of the reviewed articles (16), but only 11 articles described participants’ demographic data (e.g., age, gender, work experience). Further, only six articles mentioned voluntary participation. Most common data collection method was interview (10 articles), but also observation (8 articles) and surveys (5 articles) were applied. Nine of the articles applied individual level data collection (interviews and surveys), five applied both individual and group level data collection (observations and focus group interviews or conversations), and two articles were based on group level data.

In this chapter, we look into how guidance is actualized at workplaces and seek to identify the kinds of guidance practices typically used at the workplace (RQ1). The articles selected for this literature review introduce a variety of practices through which guidance is provided for students and apprentices at workplaces (Table  2 ).

In five articles out of 18 (Evanciew and Rojewski 1999 ; Filliettaz 2011 ; Koskela and Palukka 2011 ; Onnismaa 2008 ; Tanggaard 2005 ), guidance was described as a process during which more experienced workers and novices work together: Novices work under the surveillance of experts, while experts monitor the work of the students and provide help if needed. The help provided by experts can involve for example hints and clues on how to successfully complete a task (Evanciew and Rojewski 1999 ), providing instructions and making sure that students have understood them (Filliettaz 2011 ), and asking questions or providing hints that allow trainees to make independent assessments as to what to do next (Koskela and Palukka 2011 ). Sometimes the trainers can also give somewhat more direct orders about which task should be performed next (Koskela and Palukka 2011 ). Tanggaard ( 2005 ) describes the help provided by experts as a kind of frustration control that helps when the apprentices cannot cope on their own.

Five articles described guidance as an activity of explanation (Collin and Valleala 2005 ; Evanciew and Rojewski 1999 ; Koskela and Palukka 2011 ; Onnismaa 2008 ; Tanggaard 2005 ). Evanciew and Rojewski ( 1999 ) state that apprentices benefit from their mentors’ descriptions of the ‘tricks of the trade’ and thereby gain access to information unavailable at school. The process of explanation can also be seen as involving the sharing of tacit knowledge with newcomers at the workplace. The transfer of tacit knowledge seems most efficient when more experienced professionals work together with inexperienced apprentices (Koskela and Palukka 2011 ; Onnismaa 2008 ). Collin and Valleala ( 2005 ) also describe the process of categorization, which involves ‘unpacking’ work-related categories, with experienced workers who explain which topics certain categories cover (e.g. confidential information). Categorization is a central activity of socializing new workers into the workplace and contributes to the building of mutual understanding about work-related categories.

Of the 18 articles, five saw guidance as involving conversations and discussions with others as well as reflection of one’s learning (Filliettaz 2011 ; Smith 2000 ; Winters et al. 2009 ; Wegener 2014 ; Virtanen et al. 2014 ). Virtanen and Tynjälä ( 2008 ) define self-assessment as students evaluating their own performance. Discussing and assessing learning, however, occurs more frequently in the presence of others. According to Virtanen and Tynjälä’s study (2008), discussions with other employees are the most widely used form of guidance during on-the-job learning periods of VET students. Smith ( 2000 ) reports that discussions with fellow workers and supervisors are in frequent use at workplaces and help apprentices develop their knowledge. Filliettaz ( 2011 ) describes more experienced workers giving systematic feedback to apprentices and thus inviting apprentices to engage in conversations. Winters et al. ( 2009 ) and Virtanen et al. ( 2014 ) also report on somewhat more formal training discussions that involve teachers from vocational institutes and that include discussions with experts about the meaning of students’ experiences during studies. Winters et al. ( 2009 ) however notes, that during the discussions involving students, teachers and workplace mentors, the potential to engage students in reflecting on their experiences was not utilised. Similarly, Wegener ( 2014 ) notes that discussions involving teachers, students and supervisors don’t necessarily stimulate reflection, as students tend to view discussions as test situations and feel like they need to provide “right” answers, instead of more freely discussing their experiences. Instead of formal situations, students tend to initiate reflection at everyday interactions at the workplace, where reflection is not the object per se. However, according to Wegener, educators have difficulties acting on these initiatives.

In four articles out of 18, guidance was described as a process of scaffolding and fading (Evanciew and Rojewski 1999 ; Filliettaz 2011 ; Nielsen 2008 ; Tanggaard 2005 ). Nielsen 2008 ) defines scaffolding as “ a process whereby beginners in a profession are supported by experienced workers so as to improve their basis for participating in a social practice ”. Through the scaffolding process, newcomers are introduced to new areas of the profession and eventually invited to take over more responsibility in the production process. Scaffolding includes the gradual withdrawal of support as the beginner’s skills improve (fading). The articles covered in this review described the apprentices as assuming increasing responsibility and enjoying progressive recognition as legitimate and trustworthy members of the work community. Scaffolding can thus be seen as supporting the identity formation of apprentices (Filliettaz 2011 ; Nielsen 2008 ). Nielsen ( 2008 ) states that scaffolding can also serve to communicate bodily know-how (non-verbal scaffolding) to apprentices. A significant part of what is being learned in craft production requires for the apprentice to develop a bodily sense of the products. Scaffold instruction enables apprentices to observe and touch the product, and together with the master to evaluate its quality. Tanggaard ( 2005 ) describes the typical scaffolding situations as often representing a more asymmetrical relationship between the experienced and the not so experienced workers, which can sometimes lead to the apprentice not being critical towards existing practices.

Three articles describe the observation of demonstrations by more experienced workers and supervisors as central to guidance processes at the workplace (Evanciew and Rojewski 1999 ; Smith 2000 ; Tanggaard 2005 ). Smith ( 2000 ) distinguishes between worker observations and environment observations. Worker observation can be described as “ structured observation of the process being demonstrated by a fellow worker ”. Smith argues that apprentices highly appreciate demonstrations as a method of learning. Similarly, both Evanciew and Rojewski ( 1999 ) and Tanggaard ( 2005 ) state that apprentices found observing the work and demonstrations by more experienced workers as valuable and beneficial for their learning. However, according to, Smith ( 2000 ) environment observation (“ unstructured observation of the workplace to identify visual cues from artefacts, objects, and physical arrangements ”) was not seen as an effective way to learn by the apprentices, nor was it appreciated by the supervisors, who rather saw it as a waste of time.

Three articles mentioned allowing independent work and encouraging students to experiment and explore on their own as part of guidance activities (Evanciew and Rojewski 1999 ; Reegård 2015 ; Smith 2000 ). Reegård ( 2015 ) describes the managers quickly introducing apprentices to work and trusting them with a lot of responsibility and autonomy from early on. On the one hand, this was seen as a deliberate pedagogical strategy. On the other hand, independency could be seen as a signal of poor formal training awareness and lack of resources available for guidance. Smith ( 2000 ) also describes the activity of practicing as a form of independent work of students. Hairdressers for example were expected to practice with dummy heads before treating the hair of customers. Evanciew and Rojewski ( 1999 ) mention that trainers sometimes encourage apprentices to attempt or explore a task on their own before requesting help from their trainers. The use of exploration, however, is rare. Smith ( 2000 ) states that the use of exploration is highly valued by the apprentices but often limited and not encouraged by the workplaces because of production and safety issues. Trials and experimentation outside of established work methods at the workplace is discouraged.

In this chapter, we seek to identify the providers of guidance at the workplace. We are interested in recognizing the people or groups of people who are involved in the process of providing guidance for students. The results of this chapter are summarized in Table  3 .

The research identifies people or groups of people as providers of guidance at the workplace. Interestingly, of the 18 articles featured in this paper, only two (Koskela and Palukka 2011 ; Savoie-Zajc and Dolbec 2003 ) mention designated workplace trainers as the only ones responsible for guiding learners. Other articles highlight the more collective nature of workplace guidance and identify different groups of people as providing guidance for learners.

Of the 18 articles, ten view workplace guidance from a more collective perspective and claim that nominated trainers are not the only ones providing learners with guidance (Chan 2014 ; Collin and Valleala 2005 ; Corney and du Plessis 2010 ; Evanciew and Rojewski 1999 ; Gurtner et al. 2011 ; Onnismaa 2008 ; Reegård 2015 ; Smith 2000 ; Tanggaard 2005 ; Wegener 2014 ). Other members of the work community are also involved in providing guidance for newcomers when they share workplace situations. Although learners are usually assigned a designated workplace trainer, other colleagues, experts and workplace managers also interact with them while they engage in their work tasks. Filliettaz ( 2011 ) refers to this as distributed or collective guidance. Tanggaard ( 2005 ) claims that apprentices often develop a significant relationship with a person other than their designated trainer as an instructor, provided that person is readily available for guidance. Apprentices often build their own networks for learning and choose instructors with whom they feel comfortable.

Seven of the 18 articles mention that guidance can also come from fellow learners (Corney and du Plessis 2010 ; Filliettaz 2011 ; Fuller and Unwin 2004 ; Gurtner et al. 2011 ; Nielsen 2008 ; Smith 2000 ; Tanggaard 2005 ). Corney and du Plessis ( 2010 ) refer to this as strengths-based natural mentoring or peer mentoring, which uses the supportive networks young people naturally build in their work contexts. Peer mentoring involves a more mutual approach and is based on reciprocal relationships and equality. Tanggaard ( 2005 ) uses the term ‘symmetrical instruction’ to describe situations in which apprentices with nearly the same level of competence guide and instruct each other. He claims that symmetrical instruction helps apprentices to develop critical attitudes towards the work, in contrast to situations of asymmetrical instruction, where apprentices might imitate more experienced workers without questioning how they do things. Asymmetrical instruction also opens up opportunities for reflection as well as even technical innovations and new ideas through cooperation with apprentices. Fuller and Unwin ( 2004 ) note that apprentices also spend significant amounts of time helping other workers, which challenges the traditional novice-expert dichotomy and suggests that apprentices can also utilize their prior experience and learning to provide guidance for others.

Five articles argue that teachers from vocational institutions sometimes also participate in guiding the workplace learning of the VET students (Corney and du Plessis 2010 ; Wegener 2014 ; Winters et al. 2009 ; Virtanen and Tynjälä 2008 ; Virtanen et al. 2014 ). The process of guidance clearly involves teachers, especially in planning and evaluating learners’ workplace learning periods. Although workplace trainers are primarily responsible for guiding their students, teachers also visit workplaces during on-the-job learning periods and provide guidance for their students through discussions. Discussions between students and teachers are vital pedagogical elements of workplace learning that help to integrate school learning and workplace learning. Setting goals for workplace learning periods with teachers shows the student that he/she must learn at least some vocational qualifications at the workplace. Wegener ( 2014 ) notes that the different kind of didactical practices may also lead to conflicts between teachers and workplace supervisors.

In this chapter, we have classified the findings on guidance and work environment into four categories: (1) learner factors, (2) direct guidance, (3) indirect guidance and learning context, and (4) connectivity. Table  4 presents the summary of the supporting factors and Table  5 shows an overview of the hindering factors related to guidance and learning in the workplace.

Learner factors

The studies selected for this review show that apprentices are often required to work autonomously and receive support only if necessary. Apprentices are largely responsible for their own learning and must often initiate activities to develop their skills by themselves (Gurtner et al. 2011 ; Reegård 2011; Savoie-Zajc and Dolbec 2003 ; Smith 2000 ; Tanggaard 2005 ). Such situations often push learners to develop the self-regulative skills (Reegård 2015 ; Virtanen and Tynjälä 2008 ; Virtanen et al. 2014 ) and strong social skills (Evanciew and Rojewski 1999 ; Savoie-Zajc and Dolbec 2003 ) that are essential to initiating requests for guidance. The work community may however view excessive requests for guidance or being a slow learner as tiresome behavior, which may lead to the discontinuation of the apprentice’s training in the workplace (Gurtner et al. 2011 ; Nielsen 2008 ). Evanciew and Rojewski ( 1999 ) also report that apprenticeships are sometimes even terminated because of the apprentice’s lack of appropriate social skills and work ethic, despite the trainer’s failure to allocate sufficient time to teach these skills. The learner’s deliberate career choice and previous work experience support motivation for and engagement in workplace learning (Chan 2014 ).

Direct guidance

Smith ( 2000 ) notes that the workplace and workplace management can also support guidance by securing adequate resources for the workplace trainer. The trainer should always be provided with sufficient time to make space in the production schedule for training and supervision activities. Support from the workplace for the workplace trainer is essential in order to train and guide apprentices to fulfill a legitimate role in the work community. A major hindrance to the success of workplace guidance comes from a work community that fails to commit to guiding learners.

Support from the designated workplace trainer is an important feature of guidance that has been shown to support workplace learning. First, a close personal relationship with the workplace trainer has proved to be a valuable resource for apprentices. Relationships with supportive mentors assist apprentices’ workplace learning processes. Supportive workplace trainers trust their apprentices and enhance their self-esteem by praising them when they have carried out their work duties well (Chan 2014 ; Evanciew and Rojewski 1999 ). Instructional situations at workplaces have the potential to facilitate identity transformation and to provide access to new communities of practice (Koskela and Palukka 2011 ; Nielsen 2008 ). Instructional situations should include aspects of mutual recognition and identity formation (Nielsen 2008 ). Virtanen et al. ( 2014 ) state that the opportunity to receive individual guidance seems to be the most important factor in producing successful workplace learning outcomes. Tanggaard ( 2005 ) states that the potential for developing a personal relationship with the workplace trainer is greater at the workplace than at school. Workplace mentors are usually able to work longer and in greater detail, and thus to assist in learning, than teachers. However, according to, Chan ( 2014 ) even designated trainers sometimes lack personal engagement and commitment to guiding apprentices, which can lead to apprentices disengaging from their work. When workplace trainers fail to commit to guidance, apprentices receive insufficient support for their learning. Not being allowed to work independently and depending heavily on trainers keeps apprentices from becoming productive members of the work team. The degree of work autonomy can sometimes even depend on the work climate and the goodwill of the trainers (Savoie-Zajc and Dolbec 2003 ). The asymmetric power relationship between a learner and an instructor makes the instructor a role model, which can sometimes lead to uncritical imitation of poor habits (Tanggaard 2005 ). According to, Tanggaard 2005 apprentices often select their own network of trainers who best fit their personality. Trainers’ unexpected reactions to requests for guidance limit initiative (Smith 2000 ).

The research underscores the importance of workplace trainers’ pedagogical skills. Receiving support from a range of different workers at the workplace benefits apprentices’ learning. The availability of workplace support from a broad range of workers, even those with no formal training role, benefits apprentices’ learning (Chan 2014 ; Savoie-Zajc and Dolbec 2003 ; Tanggaard 2005 ). The trainer’s pedagogical awareness and skills affect how the workplace serves as a learning environment. Pedagogical skills also influence the way in which experienced workers are able to share their knowledge and to provide opportunities for apprentices to participate in productive tasks at work (Filliettaz 2011 ). Pedagogical skills can also appear as the ability to share knowledge or to raise questions and initiative (Fuller and Unwin 2004 ; Gurtner et al. 2011 ). Structured training for trainers is recommended to improve the overall quality of guidance at the workplace (Filliettaz 2011 ; Smith 2000 ). Virtanen and Tynjälä ( 2008 ) state that the pedagogical training of workplace trainers may also improve the critical thinking skills of VET students. Some researchers have noted, however, that workplace trainers show efficient training behaviors even without receiving formal training (Evanciew and Rojewski 1999 ; Koskela and Palukka 2011 ). Onnismaa ( 2008 ) states that workplace trainers are also challenged to take into account apprentices’ prior experience and personal goals when guiding them. To facilitate learning, trainers can promote critical reflection, a central tenet of professional growth (Onnismaa 2008 ). Nevertheless, promoting reflection shouldn’t become a way of leaving the learners on their own drawing their own interpretations and decisions (Wegener 2014 ). Trainers themselves must also engage in self-reflection and continuous observation of their interactions (Koskela and Palukka 2011 ).

Indirect guidance and learning context

The research underlines the importance of the ability of the communities of practice to provide apprentices with a supportive work atmosphere. A supportive learning environment includes a social and friendly atmosphere, positive attitudes towards helping apprentices, good workplace relationships among employees and meeting the apprentices’ needs (Chan 2014 ; Smith 2000 ). When other workers are reluctant to help apprentices, there is no guarantee that guidance will be provided. A poor work climate at the workplace affects guidance and the learning affordances offered to the apprentices. If more experienced workers view the apprentice as a potential threat, they may seek to guard their own positions and may be less willing to encourage young people. Competition between workers and the fear of newcomers replacing the experienced workers may compel them not to share their expertise (Fuller and Unwin 2004 ; Nielsen 2008 ; Onnismaa 2008 ). Furthermore, Filliettaz ( 2011 ) states that power issues between workers affect the work climate and the learning affordances arising from work-productive tasks. Competition and conflicts between workers can place the apprentice in an uncomfortable position, where he/she must choose sides between workers and the people from whom he/she wishes to receive guidance. In such situations, apprentices bear the burden of always having to be the first to request assistance (Chan 2014 ; Reegård 2015 ; Smith 2000 ).

Several studies highlighted the problem concerning the lack of time and resources set aside for guidance (Gurtner et al. 2011 ; Nielsen 2008 ; Onnismaa 2008 ; Smith 2000 ). Guiding apprentices is not considered a priority; instead, production schedules sometimes become more important than instructing apprentices. When the main focus of the workplace is on preserving productivity, guidance seldom receives adequate attention (Savoie-Zajc and Dolbec 2003 ). This leads to apprentices having limited access to work operations and only being assigned simple work tasks that will not risk slowing production. Workplaces that focus mainly on productivity often fail to provide adequate conditions for workplace learning. Under these conditions, the apprentices’ learning may remain limited, and the apprentices’ legitimacy, weak (Fuller and Unwin 2004 ; Gurtner et al. 2011 ; Savoie-Zajc and Dolbec 2003 ; Smith 2000 ).

A sense of equality and community at work are important factors in learning a profession (Collin and Valleala 2005 ; Fuller and Unwin 2004 ). Non-hierarchical socialization processes and task equality, with all employees (including the managers) completing the same types of tasks, also fosters the integration of apprentices into work communities (Reegård 2015 ). Reciprocal relationships between all members of work communities help to build mutual trust and respect (Fuller and Unwin 2004 ; Nielsen 2008 ; Onnismaa 2008 ). Sharing knowledge and skills among colleagues regardless of age and status is essential to the development of expertise (Fuller and Unwin 2004 ; Onnismaa 2008 ). Relationships between peers at the workplace should also be encouraged, because peer learning provides guidance and support, especially if guidance is unavailable from other providers (Tanggaard 2005 ). Peer guidance is easily accessible and less risky than asking advice from experts, which explains its significance, especially in the beginning of the learning process (Gurtner et al. 2011 ). Moreover, support from family, friends, and significant others, is also considered important and affects learning at the workplace (Chan 2014 ; Corney and du Plessis 2010 ).

In work communities, the apprentice must be seen as a legitimate rather than a marginal member of the work team. Seeing apprentices in a central role also calls for the apprentices to be able to influence workplace practices and to be asked for their opinion. Virtanen et al. ( 2014 ) claim that the more apprentices see themselves as active members of their work community, the more they learn. Workplaces also provide learners with guidance through supportive practices. First of all, workplaces provide support for learners by providing them opportunities to participate in a wide range of tasks, which helps apprentices to develop broad expertise. When apprentices are rotated through different departments at the workplace, they are able to build relationships with many workers and to acquire experience from a variety of work tasks (Fuller and Unwin 2004 ; Savoie-Zajc and Dolbec 2003 ;l Virtanen et al. 2014 ). The research shows that placing the learner in a marginal position in work communities and not seeing him/her as a legitimate member of the work team limits available learning affordances (Filliettaz 2010 ; Nielsen 2008 ; Savoie-Zajc and Dolbec 2003 ). The marginalized apprentice is offered only marginal tasks to work on and is continuously placed in situations that will not threaten company productivity or security (Savoie-Zajc and Dolbec 2003 ). This denies the apprentice the opportunity to work in important working situations and hinders the apprentice’s learning of more complex and demanding tasks relevant to the development of expertise (Nielsen 2008 ; Savoie-Zajc and Dolbec 2003 ). Apprentices in marginal positions at workplaces also experience little work autonomy. Not taking the apprentice’s viewpoints into account is another indicator of apprentice marginalization in the work community. Winters et al. ( 2009 ) note that students seldom receive treatment as equal partners in formal training conversations. In conversations with teachers and workplace trainers, student participation is too often limited and real dialogue seems to be lacking, as the teachers tend to dominate the themes and content of such conversations.

Communities of practice also support apprentices’ learning by allowing them autonomy and independent work. Giving apprentices freedom, trust and responsibility provides them with rich learning affordances. Allowing apprentices to work independently and then praising them for a job well done substantially enhances their self-esteem (Reegård 2015 ). The increase in responsibility should take place gradually, with apprentices receiving more responsibility and more demanding tasks commensurate with their skills development (Evanciew and Rojewski 1999 ; Filliettaz 2011 ; Gurtner et al. 2011 ; Nielsen 2008 ; Smith 2000 ). Giving learners too much independence and responsibility too soon could endanger workplace guidance. Gurtner et al. ( 2011 ) argue that training apprentices to work autonomously is an important objective in many occupational sectors. Unfortunately, this objective often leads to apprentices working alone without an expert by their side. Too much independence and responsibility leads to insufficient guidance and may hinder learning (Reegård 2015 ).

Connectivity

The training programs available to apprentices should be able to integrate formal and informal training, theory and practice (Onnismaa 2008 ; Savoie-Zajc and Dolbec 2003 ; Winters et al. 2009 ; Virtanen and Tynjälä 2008 ; Virtanen et al. 2014 ). Integrating different forms of knowledge is essential for the development of vocational competence and expertise. Students should be able to integrate theoretical information gained at school with practice at the workplace (Savoie-Zajc and Dolbec 2003 ; Virtanen and Tynjälä 2008 ; Virtanen et al. 2014 ). Discrepancies between learning environments might hinder the learning process (Evanciew and Rojewski 1999 ; Savoie-Zajc and Dolbec 2003 ). The integration of formal and informal learning requires close collaboration between various actors in vocational education. Moreover, guidance associated with training calls for collaboration between teachers, students and employers, which facilitates subsequent professional development. Guiding students must not be something that occurs exclusively at the workplace, though teachers often suffer from insufficient time and resources for guidance (Evanciew and Rojewski 1999 ; Tanggaard 2005 ). Teachers from vocational institutions should also be involved in helping students to set their learning goals and holding discussions with them (Virtanen et al. 2014 ).

The features of the training program itself have proved to be important factors of guidance affecting apprentice learning. Previous research emphasizes the importance of an explicit framework which defines clear roles and rules for the training program (Fuller and Unwin 2004 ; Onnismaa 2008 ; Smith 2000 ). Vocational training programs should also take into account personal needs for learning and guidance (Fuller and Unwin 2004 ; Onnismaa 2008 ; Smith 2000 ; Virtanen et al. 2014 ). Onnismaa ( 2008 ) states that the personalizing vocational studies is especially important for mature students. Having a designed apprenticeship program at the workplace that has mapped the range of tasks and skills to be covered will increase opportunities for apprentices to develop broad expertise when learning is not haphazard and productivity driven (Chan 2014 ; Fuller and Unwin 2004 ). In this way, apprentices benefit from a structured training program and clear goals (Evanciew and Rojewski 1999 ; Smith 2000 ).

Conclusions

The purpose of this review was to provide an overview of the empirical research concerning guidance and learning in the context of vocational education and training. The study has focused on identifying guidance practices, providers of guidance, and supporting and hindering factors related to guidance and learning at the workplace.

The 18 articles presented in this study illustrate different guidance practices manifested at the workplace. These practices represent both direct and indirect guidance described by Billett ( 2002 b). Especially observations of the work environment and more experienced workers, and the allowing of independent work and explorations can be seen as forms of indirect guidance. Direct guidance on the other hand is manifested as experts and novices work closely together and engage in scaffolding activities, as information and tacit knowledge is being shared and as experts and novices engage in conversations discussing, assessing and reflecting on learning. The guidance practices that fall into the category of direct guidance can further be divided into (1) strategies that focus on completing certain work-related tasks (such as working together on certain tasks, giving instructions and advice, explaining and providing information) and (2) strategies that focus more comprehensively on the learning process itself (such as reflection and discussions about the things being learnt).

The articles presented in this study describe a variety of guidance practices utilized at the workplace, but also present some limitations in their use due to lack of resources or guidance awareness at workplaces. It seems that techniques that are more trainer-led and easily carried out in the everyday work flow are in more frequent use, whereas techniques that require more time, reciprocality and activity from the community and learner see less frequent use., Smith ( 2000 ) for example, states that workplaces do not encourage the use of exploration because of the risk it will interfere with the company’s production schedules and cause problems with workplace safety. Moreover, workplaces may already have established certain ways of doing things, and any experimenting outside these established methods may evoke an unfavorable response. When it comes to reflection, it has been proved hard for teachers to act upon the initiatives for reflection made by students at everyday work situations (Wegener 2013). Formal training for workplace trainers may also affect the chosen methods of guidance. Some studies (Evanciew and Rojewski 1999 ; Reegård 2015 ) suggest that trainers can provide guidance for learners efficiently without any formal training, whereas others (Filliettaz 2011 ; Smith 2000 ) find that structured training for workplace trainers improves the quality of workplace guidance. Nielsen ( 2008 ) and Reegård ( 2015 ) note that the independence given to learners may also sometimes result from insufficient resources for guidance rather than from intentional pedagogic strategies.

The literature shows strong evidence for the collective nature of workplace guidance, with the entire work community providing guidance and assistance for learners. Collective guidance can also come from fellow learners and be provided by other VET students at workplaces or teachers from vocational institutions. Guidance provided by members of the communities of practice invites opportunities for learners to participate in collective practices (Filliettaz 2011 ) by gradually taking on more responsibility and more demanding tasks as their skills develop. The learner’s self-regulative skills, such as responsibility and the ability to take the initiative and actively seek guidance, affect how guidance is afforded to him/her in the work community during training. Furthermore, these skills may also affect the learner’s prospects for developing expertise in future workplaces. The literature covered in this review focuses little attention on the supervisory relationship between the learner and the trainer. What seems important for learning is not the position of the person providing the learner with guidance, but a well-functioning personal relationship between the trainer and the learner as well as a commitment from both to the guidance process. Whether formally trained or not, the workplace trainer must be able to share his/her knowledge with the learner and to inspire the learner to actively participate in the learning process. The literature also discusses conditions related to the work environment, such as atmosphere, equality, legitimacy and autonomy that are considered important factors for learning.

The research presented in this study describes various ways through which guidance is manifested at the workplace. Students and apprentices receive close guidance in direct contact with more experienced workers, but also the more indirect forms of guidance, such as observations of more experienced workers and features of the learning context, are being described (see Billett 2002 ). What seems noteworthy is the rather high level of indirect guidance described in the literature (see Tables  4 , 5 ). The literature does present ways through which direct guidance is offered, but also brings forward many limitations and hindering factors for the guidance of VET students, such as lack of time and resources set aside for guidance. This raises a question about whether the indirect forms of guidance become more common in case workplaces fail at allocating adequate resources for guidance. Whether it is the resources, established ways of working and learning or the availability of pedagogical expertise that shapes guidance practices at workplaces, further research needs to evaluate the usefulness and value of these practices from a learner’s point of view while taking into account the wide variation in learning environments (see Fuller and Unwin 2003 ) and the realities of everyday work situations.

To improve learning at work, guidance at workplaces must be part of a legitimate and established process that the broad work community is committed to providing. More attention needs to be focused on what the learner has to offer to the supervisory relationship and the skills and knowledge he/she brings to it. Even if the master-novice relationship and, in some cases, the professional monopoly on expertise remains important, the school also needs to encourage its teachers and students to cross boundaries between the school and workplace (Tuomi-Gröhn et al. 2003 ). Students may act as crucial change agents who carry, translate and help to implement new ideas between the educational institution and the workplace (Engeström 2011 ). There is a need to challenge the role of factors such as age and status in defining the concept of expert (e.g.Fuller and Unwin 2004 ) in order to support reciprocal learning.

A company’s approach to the development of individual expertise is likely to be influenced by a range of factors, including the product market in which it is located, as well as the organization of the work and the distribution of skills (Fuller and Unwin 2004 ). If companies fail to map the range of skills to be covered, learning risks becoming haphazard and is more likely to be driven by the need to preserve company productivity (Chan 2014 ; Fuller and Unwin 2004 ; Smith 2000 ). Guidance should be recognized as an important task to be carried out at the workplace. When the processes of guidance in the work community become transparent, both learners and other members of the work community become more aware of the objectives of VET students’ workplace learning, thereby supporting the allocation of adequate resources for guidance. A structured training program makes the training objectives more transparent for both the learner and the work community.

From a methodological perspective, reviewed articles used in most cases basic qualitative (e.g., content analysis) and quantitative (descriptive statistics) analysis methods. Only 11 articles contained both explanation and justification of selected methodological approach and explicit description of data analysis. In practice this means that only these studies could be properly replicated in the future. Only eight articles had a section about critical examination of the method(s) and limitations of the study. This is quite surprising, as all the reviewed articles were published in peer-reviewed journals. Group level data collection was applied in eight articles, but we found very little discussion about rationale of choosing such approach and related validity issues (see, e.g., Chioncel et al. 2003 ). Although quantitative studies in this review were based on cross-sectional design, we were delighted to see that most of the qualitative articles included components of longitudinal design (data collection varied from 1 month to 4 years). Only one study contained intervention, but that was non-controlled (retrospective). To conclude, future studies should pay more attention to methodological issues (clear argumentation why a certain design and related analysis methods were chosen; detailed description of participants, procedure and analyses) in order to minimise bias in results and recommendations.

Limitations

We want to acknowledge that, like all studies, this study has certain limitations. First , the number of articles related to workplace guidance in the context of vocational education turned out to be surprisingly small. Studies focusing primarily on guidance were rare, and in many of the studies selected for this review, guidance was something observed alongside other things, but was not the main focus. However, the cumulative results nevertheless suggest, that we managed to capture the main themes related to workplace guidance in the literature. Second , because the number of original articles that fit the inclusion/exclusion criteria was so small, we included them all in order to obtain versatile information about our topic. Thus, it is worth noting that the original articles themselves have certain limitations. In most studies, the sample size was relatively small, which is not unusual for qualitative interviews and case studies, which many of these studies represent. Although articles investigated many interesting aspects of workplace guidance, methodological robustness was not in all cases clearly opened for a reader; we found lack of detail in participant information, methodological choices and also how the analyses were conducted. This clearly limited our ability to judge importance and validity of the results and practical recommendations. Third , most of the studies featured in this paper failed either to take into account the specific features of different vocational fields or to compare the guidance afforded to learners in the different learning environments of specific vocations. Given the differences noted between different fields of vocational education (e.g. social and health care vs. technology), generalizing the results from one field to another may be questionable (Virtanen et al. 2014 ). Consequently, we recommend devoting more research to compare how these different field-specific learning environments affect the guidance provided to learners.

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• Workplace learning
• Apprenticeship education
• Literature review

• Trends in Education

The importance of vocational training for career development

May 16, 2024 •

9 min reading

When it comes to finding a job and encouraging emerging professionals to excel in their new career path, making sure that graduates have the skills they need for the position plays an essential role. Students who do not have the necessary skills will quickly find themselves struggling in their new position. They may start to lose confidence and feel unsure about what to do. The businesses that hire them will also feel frustrated as they lose money and time. They find themselves training new employees who do not have the insight and practical knowledge they need to do what they were hired to do.

What is Vocational Education?

Let's delve into the essence of vocational education . The term refers to specialized programs that are crafted to equip individuals with the necessary skills and training for a specific profession or career path. By undertaking these courses, students not only acquire vital vocational skills essential for future employment but also gain foundational knowledge akin to what is typically learned during high school.

"Vocational education and training, allows students to gain practical experience in their chosen career path before they even graduate."

Students who finish those rigorous programs have the credentials and training they need to get started right away in their chosen career path.

Not only do the students feel confident in their abilities, but the employers themselves know that they have made a solid choice in their new hire and can count on them to begin excelling in the position quickly.

In today's competitive job market, there is a noticeable disparity between the number of job openings and the skills possessed by potential candidates. The growing demand for specialized skills has prompted experts to acknowledge that many individuals may struggle to meet the criteria required for these positions. Undoubtedly, vocational education plays a crucial role in bridging this gap and preparing individuals for successful careers.

For those interested in the benefits of vocational education for job training and career preparation, here are some of the key positives for both students and employers with this type of career preparation path.

Skill development and employability

Vocational learning opportunities play a critical role in skill development and employability. The importance of vocational development can largely be summed up as the difference between theoretical knowledge vs. practical skills. In non-vocational studies, students often spend hours of their time exploring a variety of different subjects. Their class time tends to be only a few hours per week, as they will spend many hours in the library and on computers conducting research and writing papers that help them continue to build their theoretical knowledge in a variety of fields.

Even within their chosen discipline, they often spend a significant amount of time exploring theories, ideas, and procedures used by other professionals in the industry. They have significantly fewer opportunities to put these ideas to work compared to students going through a vocational education situation. The skills for work and vocational pathways are significantly limited for these students, as their theoretical knowledge does not have the work experience that helps them transition from a classroom study topic into their actual profession. This can sometimes cause challenges when the students graduate and transition into the working world.

However, for students in a vocational education and training setting, this situation gets corrected. Students spend hours in the practical workshops each week learning hands-on practical skills related to their chosen field. Class time tends to increase in these schools, compared to their outside research time, because students spend more time exploring actual work opportunities that prepare them for their future jobs. They do not focus as much time on researching the theoretical as learning the practical.

Students also have courses that will walk them through chances to use the highly specialized equipment and spaces that they need to do their jobs well. Rather than simply learning about this type of equipment or how it might be useful in the job, they have the chance to try out their skills while still in school. When the time comes for them to transition to an actual job, they have the experience they need to begin the job right away. They will not have to spend time learning how to physically operate the equipment on the job, allowing them to become a valuable employee and build a careers faster.

INVEST IN EDUCATION TOOLKIT With this 10-step process, you will have all the tools you need to master the critical areas of a successful school

The value of graduating with work skills.

When employers look for new employees to join their institution, they know that they want to find someone who has the skills to do the job well and can adapt quickly to the work environment. Businesses spend a significant amount of money trying to onboard new employees, as they must go through a training process and anticipate that there will be a learning curve for the employee on a new job.

Vocational schools help with bridging the skills gap between work and education.

Students do not enter the work field with little practical experience regarding the tools and environments in which they will work. Instead, they have specifically worked in these situations throughout their education under the supervision of their trainers. This creates a more favorable employability skills assessment. Potential employers can look at the academic record of these students and know the type of skills they will already have when they first enter the building. This effect can be leveraged even more when a training institution is applying a competency-based training approach that is mapped with the industry's needs.

For those interested in learning how to enhance employability skills, therefore, the first solution should lie in vocational learning opportunities. These skills can help students learn the techniques and strategies that they specifically need for this area of work and ensure that they are prepared to succeed. Employers can feel confident that the candidates they receive from a quality school already have the experience and training they need to begin work right away.

Finding a job following graduation

Many graduates struggle to find employment immediately following graduation. It can be a stressful time for many students, trying to balance their last few months of studies as they begin to submit applications and search for positions in their chosen field of work. For students who have graduated from a vocational training school, however, this situation can go a bit differently. They have the experience to list on their resume and employers know they have a significant portion of the training they need. Often they even have started building a professional network through their job placements and internships they could potentially leverage. This helps to open doors to new possibilities.

Graduates often want to know how they can enhance their employability opportunities. The answer lies in gaining the work experience that employers want to see. Bringing this experience can make it significantly easier to find a job. Experience gives employers more insight into how a candidate will perform on the job and how many resources will need to be dedicated to training a new hire for the job. For vocational students, these work experiences become part of the curriculum.

Throughout the studies, students gain hands-on opportunities through internships and practical learning opportunities. Completing real work projects, as they do in a variety of classes, helps students build employable resumes before they even graduate.

Building strong networks for students before graduating

In nearly any industry, the importance of a strong network can play a direct role in finding a job and building a successful career. Connections and relationships can help people find new jobs, learn about new opportunities, and have chances to continue their education and build more career-based skills.

Through a vocation-based education, students have an excellent opportunity to build a strong network that will enhance their learning experience and the rest of their professional careers. With a vocation-based training program, students work more closely with their fellow students and their trainers on their coursework. Since less time is spent independently researching and writing papers and more time is spent in class working on projects and learning practical skills, students naturally develop better and closer relationships with their classmates. Their fellow students transition from being people they simply sit next to in the lecture hall into partners with whom they work during projects and internships.

Similarly, students have more opportunities to get to know their professors. With skills-based training, students work more directly with their trainers. The hands-on opportunities they have to work during their coursework let them complete projects, engage with work tasks, and learn specialized techniques under the direct supervision of the trainer. Trainers are there to provide support and students have opportunities to speak with them and engage with more one-to-one time. This builds relationships and can help students find professional mentors for the transition to the business world. Through internship opportunities, students expand this relationship horizon into the work world, even before graduation.

Altogether, this type of practical classroom experience helps those learning in a vocational training program develop a strong professional network that will benefit them throughout their entire professional career. They will have people who can provide them with insight and guidance as they build a career and find the jobs they want.

Students experience economic benefits

Students who go through vocation-based schooling also have the chance to receive a variety of different economic benefits from their education.

Most importantly, they often do not have to spend as much on their schooling while still receiving an education that prepares them exceptionally well for their field. Vocational schools often have fewer years required to earn the degree of certification and often cost less in tuition each year as well.

Additionally, students who graduate from specialized programs like this can enter their career path faster. Employers know that they already have work experience and training related to their field, which makes it easier to transition into the desired role and takes less of a toll on the business working to onboard them. Students can accept more specialized jobs and earn the applicable salary as well. This combines to create a strong economic opportunity for graduates from vocational programs. Vocational graduates also tend to have a good toolset to rise through the ranks rapidly as they know the trade inside out. Another financial aspect is the "earn as you learn" that many vocational training paths offer. Here students can earn some money and hence reduce the financial impact of their studies through paid internships as part of some curricula.

When it comes to educating students, the importance of building skills-based education cannot be underestimated. Students who attend schools that specialize in teaching them skills that they need to excel in a particular field will find that they finish school well-prepared to enter their chosen field. They gain on-site work experience throughout their education so the transition to the working world is minimal, helping them professionally and financially. The businesses that hire them know that they can count on their new employees to get started immediately in the field and work with a high level of independence and competency, creating a favorable experience for everyone involved.

Those interested in pursuing a vocational pathway for their education and a career in one of the many exciting trade areas these types of schools serve should carefully consider if the benefits described here will help them in their chosen field.

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Informal Learning and Vocational Education and Training—The View of the Classics in Vocational Pedagogy (Dewey, Kerschensteiner and Spranger)

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The following article is tracing the history of the term ‘informal’ back to the educational classics. It was John Dewey who introduced this term in relation to education and learning. Schools played and still play an important role in profiling this concept, which has gained a prominent role today and is mainly used for mature learners. Informal learning is seen as a pivotal source for vocational learning. It is—as formal learning—a necessary part of vocational education and training (VET). With this historical and philosophical background in mind, the following article is stressing the advantages and the deficits of such a concept.

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Gonon, P. (2024). Informal Learning and Vocational Education and Training—The View of the Classics in Vocational Pedagogy (Dewey, Kerschensteiner and Spranger). In: Pilz, M. (eds) Informal Learning in Vocational Education and Training. Internationale Berufsbildungsforschung. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-44341-2_2

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-44341-2_2

Published : 31 August 2024

Publisher Name : Springer VS, Wiesbaden

Print ISBN : 978-3-658-44340-5

Online ISBN : 978-3-658-44341-2

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Importance of vocational education

Vocational Education refers to a system or course of study which prepares individuals for jobs that are based on manual or practical activities. Vocational Education is traditionally non-academic in nature and is totally related to a specific trade, occupation or vocation. Because it is Vocation based, it is called Vocational Education. Until recently i.e until the end of the twentieth century, the aim of vocational education was to focus on specific trades such as automobile mechanic or welder and was therefore associated with the activities of lower social classes. Because of this, it attracted a level of stigma. Vocational education, in fact, is closely related to the age-old apprenticeship system of learning. But with the development of economies worldwide, the labour market became more specialized. The demand for higher levels of skill both in government and business sector started increasing. This lead to the further development of vocational education through publicly funded training organizations and subsidized apprenticeship or traineeship initiatives for businesses. At the post-secondary level vocational education is typically provided by an institute of technology, or by a local community college. Vocational education has also diversified over the 20th century. Demand for Vocational Professionals is required more than ever in various industries such as retail, tourism, information technology, funeral services and cosmetics, as well as in the traditional crafts and cottage industries. Vocational education prepares an individual for a job and not college. While most colleges will accept vocational education students, they tend to be limited because most colleges lack proper courses. Vocational education is a multifaceted one as it tends to focus around several careers which include auto repair, woodworking, carpentry, blacksmith, cosmetology, and other fields. There are many vocational schools across the country which provide the students to gain valuable hands-on experience.

How is Vocational Education Beneficial?

• Vocational Education helps people in the better performance of their jobs as they acquire a great learning experience. Working professionals get a chance to hone their skills while making money.
• Vocational education and training is a sort of introduction as it gets employees ready for the workplace which comes in handy while performing various tasks.
• Due to the nature of the skills it imparts, a student doesn't consider it a futility as compared to academic education.
• Vocational Education as the term itself denotes the students are specialised and therefore they have more chances of employment as compared to others.
• Many students who are in a dilemma whether they should attend college or not, Vocational education really opens a completely new door.
• It makes an individual a responsible and independent whereas those who study regular courses lack in this sphere.
• The career of one's own choice is one of the major benefits of this education. A vast majority of people are caught in the wrong jobs because they were in it for the sake of job, money, lack of alternative and professional compromise whereas an individual pursuing Vocational Education is already pursuing his dream job.
• This type of education is a great asset to the economy. Our government need not import foreign technicians on higher wages as our own can do the required work. 
• Certain vocational skills acquired from Vocational Education teaches students the importance of manual work. The physical labour done under certain jobs makes them strong, healthy, active.
• Majority of Vocational Skills are applicable all over the world and these create employment opportunities in foreign countries.
• Technical programs develop the economy by bridging the demand and supply gap with highly skilled workers. It also gives students the opportunity to take marketable skills from the classroom directly into the working world.
• Better Vocational Education also attracts foreign investment and foreign exchange in form of foreign conglomerate and foreign students.
• School drop-outs and adults can also receive this type of education as it provides an opportunity to learn a skill or trade. There are many well-paid career fields in which a college degree is not required.
• Another benefit is that Hands-on work activities allow direct application of acquired knowledge.
• This education provides stable jobs as these are the jobs whose demand is never fulfilled.

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