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This is a thesis for M.Ed., University of Birmingham. It relates research on apprentices’ cognitive development and motivational problems to the psychological theories of Behaviourist and Gestalt - cognitive learning and achievement motivation. This is done with a view to establishing appropriate assessment procedures and a remedial program format for apprentices starting college. Show less

The influx of asylum seekers into the European Union (EU) in 2015-2016 has turned the recognition of non-formal and informal learning (NFIL) into an integration priority and challenge. In EU terminology this process is called ‘validation'. Already in 2012, the Council of the EU had urged member states to create mechanisms for the validation of NFIL by no later than 2018. However, the issue has remained systematically addressed by few. Moreover, across all countries, disadvantaged groups such as refugees still benefit least from validation. Yet little is known about the reasons for this - a question to which this study aims to contribute understanding. Notably Germany has lagged behind many other countries on the issue. Germany was selected as the research site because compared to other European countries, it accepted the largest number of refugees in 2015-2016. Additionally, its highly regulated labour market and well-established dual apprenticeship system makes formal skills recognition particularly relevant for refugees who only possess non-formally and informally acquired vocational skills (NFIVOS) as such recognition would enable these individuals to access skilled jobs that in Germany typically require formal vocational or professional qualifications.

In order to explore the impeding and facilitating factors in the recognition of refugees' NFIVOS for use in Germany's labour market, this study used unstructured informant interviews with refugees (N=7), semi-structured respondent interviews with people working on skills recognition and refugees at the operational and strategic levels (N=53), observations of advisory sessions for foreigners with NFIVOS or foreign credentials (N=14) and document analysis (N=49). In particular, this research focused on 14 case studies composed of seven refugees and seven skills assessment and recognition arrangements in Germany's federal state of Baden-Wurttemberg.

The data from this study were analysed using Bourdieu's theory of practice (1977b, 1986) with its concepts of field, capital and habitus. In so doing, it became clear that the biggest infrastructural barrier to the formal recognition of refugees' NFIVOS was Germany's lack of an arrangement that fulfilled this purpose in a refugee-friendly way. This could be seen as the result of Germany's selective inclusion of foreign institutionalised habitus but exclusion of foreign embodied habitus (except when the latter was supplemented by a German institutionalised habitus) in the skills recognition procedures which transform foreign habitus into German institutionalised cultural capital. Given this lack of a refugee-friendly procedure, the study makes inferences from its 14 case studies about what could fill this gap and finds that potential facilitating factors are an interplay of Germany's integration infrastructure and refugees' personal agency. As a consequence, it is argued that refugees' obstacles and facilitators in gaining formal skills recognition are the result of a mismatch and alignment, respectively, of refugees' habitus with the requirements of Germany's skills recognition field.

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This thesis examines the development and assessment of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills within the context of Australian high schools. This is with a view to establishing what Australian employees consider STEM skills to be, the extent to which they can be developed within high schools, and whether the predominant means of their assessment are valid. While the phrase 'STEM skills' is often used by all manner of stakeholders, very few articulate which specific skills they mean under this umbrella term. A survey of the literature, with a focus on the STEM skills desired by employers, was used to propose five domains of skills that are suitable for development within a high school context. These are: literacy; disciplinary; higher order thinking; interpersonal; and intrapersonal skills. Each of these are described in terms of the specific types of skills that fit within these domains. Year 7-10 STEM teachers from across Australia were surveyed regarding what they associate with the phrase STEM skills. It was found that there were many overlaps between skills identified from the literature and by teachers, but both sources included, and omitted, some skills the other did not.

The components of the Australian Curriculum pertaining to STEM in Years 7-10, the final years of compulsory STEM education, were examined to see what skills were articulated within the curriculum. These skills were compared with the skills identified from the literature. It was identified that the Technologies curriculum, Design and Technologies in particular, facilitates the development of the broadest range of skills and presents opportunities to engage with integrated STEM education. Teachers were also asked about their familiarity with aspects of the curriculum and the degree of support they felt it provided in developing STEM skills. A range of improvements would help to better support teachers to enable their students to develop the STEM skills Australian employers want. Two international standardised tests, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) that are typically used to argue that Australia is falling behind in STEM were analysed. It was found that they both place a large focus on knowledge and that the higher order thinking skills they seek to assess can often only be effectively demonstrated if the student has the required background knowledge. Neither assess many of the STEM skills identified from the literature or by teachers and thus are proposed to be ineffective metrics, in and of themselves, for determining the level of Australian students' STEM skills.

The thesis concludes with recommendations and limitations as well as identification of future areas of research by way of suggesting how teachers could be better supported to develop the STEM skills in their students that Australia's employers want in their employees.

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This study is a comparative project about a comparative project: the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and its 'Survey of Adult Skills' developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). PIAAC is an International Large-Scale Assessment (ILSA) that assesses functional literacy (reading), numeracy, and problem-solving competencies in adults aged 16 to 65 years, comparing results between and within 42 countries which have participated in the program (OECD, 2016b, 2022b).

The research aims to compare how PIAAC has intervened in policy governance in education at the supranational level and within the national contexts of Australia, Chile, and Singapore. These countries present an excellent opportunity to explore the similarity and differences between PIAAC's productivity in varied cultural, institutional, economic, and social settings, including countries with diverse levels of involvement with the OECD and results in PIAAC. This research is informed by a broad Critical Policy Sociology (CPS) approach and, following Ball's 'theoretical toolbox' (2005, p. 43), it integrates multiple theories and conceptualisations to understand the implications of ILSAs in education. Rather than analysing PIAAC as an objective and neutral tool, this research draws upon Gorur's conceptualisation of ILSAs as complex socio-technical assemblages (2017).

The study proposes a pluri-scalar and multi-dimensional model to analyse the role of PIAAC in education policy governance. In particular, the study focuses on the actors and relationships involved in this assemblage, the rationales, and preconditions to participate in PIAAC, the contextualisation of its standards, and the uses and implications of the findings of PIAAC (described as the 'ARCU model'). The study employed Bartlett and Vavrus's (2017) Comparative Case Study (CCS) approach as the research design to elaborate on the specificity of the ARCU model as a comparative endeavour. Thus, following CCS, the study draws upon a vertical analysis across levels for each case and horizontal analyses across cases. In this research, the three countries are not considered as isolated units of analysis but as key nodes of each of the three vertical cases.

The methods combined document analysis, investigative research on the internet, and interviews with users and implementers of PIAAC at different scales bringing together voices from inside this 'international testing machine' (Addey, 2019, p. 1). These perspectives included my own experience as a former officer involved in the national implementation of PIAAC in Chile and that of officers and policymakers from the OECD, specialists from PIAAC expert groups, and public servants, policymakers, and researchers directly involved with PIAAC in the three countries. Altogether, these methods made it possible to problematise the productivity of PIAAC beyond its representation in the media, which has been the dominant approach so far, with findings indicating the limited influence of PIAAC in the analysed countries (Cort & Larson, 2015; Hamilton, 2018a; Yasukawa, 2019; Yasukawa et al., 2017).

Contrary to many previous studies, this research found subtle but powerful interventions of PIAAC in policy texts and discourses, which have been exerted through a process of 'customisation'. Thus, this study showed that PIAAC had intervened in education policies not so much through its capacity to set common standards but, on the contrary, due to the exceptional flexibility offered to the participating countries to personalise a particular assemblage that fitted their capacities, needs, and interests. As demonstrated, this customisation was deployed through varied configurations of actors put in place in the countries for the national implementation of this ILSA. Moreover, this customisation was exercised through the multiple rationales offered to national actors to stimulate their interest in participating in PIAAC. In addition, PIAAC enabled countries to contextualise the international standards to their technical capacities and policy needs, including selecting alternatives and negotiating, modifying, and even ignoring some of these standards. Lastly, PIAAC allowed multiple types of usage of its results by various actors in several domains under different circumstances. As this research demonstrated, PIAAC results have intervened in educational policies and the productivity sector, via government and non-government actors, through policy discourses and texts, for reform agendas supportive and against standardised testing, under progressive and conservative national governments, and at national and sub-national levels.

In summary, the research argues that such instance of customisation represents an additional 'soft power' mechanism deployed by the OECD to gain influence in education policy governance, particularly in Adult Lifelong Learning and related areas. This customisation, however, showed the limited capacity of PIAAC to embrace social justice principles. As this study evidenced, the possibility of customisation of PIAAC was not equitable among the countries analysed, nor between social groups within them. Thus, different forms of 'otherness', such as nations from the Global South (e.g., Chile) and groups within and across the analysed countries (e.g., first nations peoples, migrant workers, people living in isolated areas, and those speaking non-dominant languages), had limited opportunities to contribute to the creation of knowledge about adult competencies and make visible their capacities and needs through this ILSA. As the study revealed, rather than a simple imposition from the OECD, the intervention of PIAAC, including the marginalisation and reproduction of cultural and socioeconomic injustices, was exerted jointly with national actors involved in this ILSA. This imbricated intervention of PIAAC manifests the contemporary shape of education governance and some of the adverse implications of quantification under current 'governance by numbers' processes.

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Despite the fact that some studies have shown a connection between learning efficiency and instructional time, there is limited research carried out within the Technical Vocational Education and Training sector with a particular focus on National Certificate Vocational programmes. To fill this gap, the current study utilised WhatsApp, an instance of a Mobile Social Network, in extending instructional time beyond the normal lecturing timetables with the objective of improving learning efficiency for learners studying Computer Programming as a subject. To achieve the research objective, a participatory action research project was carried out following a pragmatic approach, collecting qualitative and quantitative data concurrently in three phases using semi-structured interviews, questionnaire and documents. Thematic and statistical approaches were used to analyse the data collected from five colleges in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.

The findings of the study highlighted multiple issues: Firstly, awareness of instructional time phenomena was minimal from the lecturers and the learners. Secondly, there were no formal interventions in place to recover or extend instructional time beyond the traditional college boundaries. In overall, the implementation of WhatsApp to extend instructional time was accepted at the five locations. However, statistical results from the five locations after implementation of WhatsApp intervention opposed each other. Test results indicated an overall pass rate of 69.2 per cent (n=54) of the total number of learners (N=78) who sat for the final examination. While the pass rate at each of the other four locations was above 50 per cent, the pass rate of the fifth location was considerably low (37 per cent).

The study generated three contributions to the body of knowledge: practical, theoretical and methodological. Firstly, through the study, practical interventions were generated to assist learners outside the classrooms. Secondly, the study generated propositions and an integrated Mobile Social Network framework that is expected to be a useful course of action for lecturers who want to improve learning efficiency through extending instructional time. A key methodological contribution has been the application of mixed methods choices in the collection, analyses of data and interpretation of results.

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The aim of this thesis was to understand the validation of vocational knowledge prior to entry into vocational teacher education in Sweden with regard to conceptions and understandings of vocational knowledge, and also to understand how institutional conditions, such as ideas of how to organise validation, influence the content and form of the validation practice. From this aim the following research questions were developed: What ideas about the organisation of validation stand out in the policy and practice of validation? What conceptions and understandings of vocational knowledge is the organisation of validation built on and what do they entail? Who has the agency to describe and decide upon vocational knowledge in the policy and practice of validation? What institutional arrangements appear in the practice of validation?

To conduct the studies in the thesis a multimethods approach was adopted, combining policy analysis and interviews. For theoretical support, new institutional theories were used and also theories of knowledge. The results revealed that the regulative elements of validation have transformed vocational knowledge to fit a frame similar to formal education. In terms of norms and values, it appears as if validation is more of a social and economic project than one of accounting for vocational knowledge and vocational pride. Cultural/cognitive matters that are taken for granted when considering vocational knowledge differ quite significantly between agents involved in validation. Validation of vocational knowledge exhibits a conceptual confusion having different conceptions of knowledge simultaneously at play. This confusion blurs the boundaries between concepts of knowledge, learning, and the learning context. In the complexity of ideas of how to organise validation and different knowledge conceptions, institutional arrangements appear to be based on a sense of belonging, either to academia or to the trade. The agency of those with vocational knowledge is limited in several ways within validation.

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The purpose of this convergent parallel mixed methods case study was to explore the dental hygiene curriculum at one Ontario College, referred to as DH College (pseudonym) to discover educator, student, and graduating student perceptions of teaching and learning strategies related to national core competency development. Dental hygiene programs across Canada use these entry-to-practice National Dental Hygiene Competencies to develop curricula.

All full-time educators of the program were invited to participate in an online survey and interview. This study explored how participating educators (n=7) in the DH College program interpreted, integrated, and assessed student achievement of core national competencies in the classroom. Through document analysis the study explored how students (n=144) perceived learning experiences related to core competency development. And, through the use of an online survey, the study further explored how participating graduating students (n=20) self-assessed their abilities related to the core national competencies. The Capabilities Approach theoretical framework grounded this study.

The conclusions drawn from the findings of this mixed methods case study suggest that the DH College curriculum supports the development of core national competencies which are: the dental hygienist as a professional, communicator and collaborator, critical thinker, advocate, and coordinator however, educators find it challenging to teach professionalism and advocacy in the classroom. Three of the seven educators interviewed felt that graduates are not attaining all of the 70 core ability-based outcomes at the level of national expectations. And, graduating students reported that they had gained no understanding or a less than a basic understanding from their program curriculum with respect to 21 (30 per cent) of the 70 core national ability-based outcomes required for entry-to-practice into the profession. Furthermore, and most importantly, educators were not unanimous in their explicit understanding of what constituted basic attainment of the national ability-based outcomes.

Though the findings are not generalizable beyond the case study program, an understanding of these findings has the potential to inform teaching and learning, policy, and practice, not just in the case study program, but other dental hygiene programs that seek to review their own programs with respect to the core National Dental Hygiene Competencies.

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Can a Digital Badge Credentialing System improve student awareness when developing Key Skills in post primary education? Soft skills, the intra- and inter-personal skills essential for personal development, social participation and workplace success are proven to predict meaningful life outcomes. A version of these skills, referred to as Key Skills, have recently been embedded within the new Junior Cycle Post Primary curriculum in Ireland. Unfortunately, there is a clear struggle in the area of assessment and accreditation of these vital skills. Standard achievement tests miss or, more accurately, are not capable of adequately capturing the relevant information. This project proposes the use of Digital Badge Credentialing System (DBCS) in answer to the clear need outlined above. In general, digital badges will act as online credentials representing an individual's skills, interests, and achievements and backing this up with embedded meta-data as proof of the students work towards the award.

Digital badges have the capability and flexibility to be an alternative or supplement to traditional credentials such as diplomas, certificates and degrees etc. Considering the digital badges ability to recognise alternative learning formats, or situations i.e. non-formal or informal contexts they can reflect a finer-grained and nuanced reflection of a person's skills, experiences and dispositions. The ongoing segmentation and ever-changing society of the 21st century makes great use of the humanistic approach and constructivist approach. The humanistic approach to education understands the self as constantly changing. It establishes reliable support mechanisms within the learner avoiding the ever shifting environment. By doing so the learner has personal power (autonomy) to create better meaning and establish connections with others in this constantly changing modern life. Similarly, constructivist learning theory sees the learner responding to their sensory experiences and constructing in their own minds, schemes or cognitive structures which constitute the meaning and understanding of their world, as they understand it. Again making the experience very personal and individual. Both pedagogical approaches tied with student-centred learning are perfect underpinnings for this study.

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This study investigates the challenges for an implementation of recognition of prior learning (RPL) at three [further education and training] FET Colleges in Limpopo Province. The implementation of RPL in the South African education system is seen as an essential tool to drive transformation in FET Colleges. RPL was designed to play a unique role in the provision of the higher level skills required to support the socio-economic growth and development of the nation. With all these good intentions, RPL is virtually non-existent in our public FET Colleges. This is a qualitative case study in which both exploratory and descriptive designs were used. Data was collected from observations, documents, interviews and questionnaires from the learners and educators. Twenty one learners and seven educators were interviewed. Questionnaires were distributed to nine educators. The purposive sampling method was used. The significant findings are that there are no RPL policy guidelines, no quality management systems, a shortage of accredited staff and equipment prescribed for RPL, and lack of management and leadership commitment to implementation of RPL. This study therefore recommends the urgent implementation of RPL in FET colleges to promote access and to urgently address the needed skills for the nation. The research also recommends an effective model on quality assurance which appears to be compromised in colleges. The research also recommends effective and efficient training of educators, as this study revealed that the educators have low academic qualifications. While the Ministerial Task Team on RPL recommends a holistic approach to implementation, this research recommends an effective training model for the FET educators to implement RPL.

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The main purpose of this study is to investigate the issues associated with the stakes of the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exam of Nepal, to explore the negative consequences of the exam results, and make suggestions regarding how extreme negative consequences of the SLC exam results can be minimised. The results suggest several issues contributing to the stakes of the SLC exam: socio-cultural factors, including the test's historical importance and influence in society; and, its general social value, including the issues of prestige and face.

Four categories of negative consequences of the SLC exam results were also identified: (1) long-lasting chronic consequences; (2) short- and long-term psychological consequences; (3) career-related consequences; and (4) extreme negative consequences. The study suggests strategies to address these negative consequences including practical and vocational education for unsuccessful students, respectful and responsible family and school environments, and alternatives to the SLC exam.

Excerpts from published abstract. Show less