A Policy Brief on Vocational and Technical Education in Turkey

The importance of vocational and technical education (VTE) is increasing in response to the rapidly changing information, technology, production methods, and developments in every aspect of life. The only way to survive in this age and to compete with this challenge is to continuously develop comprehensive educational policies that relate to each other (MoNE, 2018). In this sense, VTE has a very central role in providing societies with the knowledge and skills that the 21st century requires (Çınar, Döngel, & Söğütlü, 2009). For this reason, in educational policy discussions, an area that requires as much attention as other areas of education is VTE. This paper aims to review the current problematic states of VTE in Turkey and make recommendations for improving it.

Extent at Which Vocational Guidance Influence Career Decision of Vocational and Technical Students

Personal guidance centers on problems of personality, physical and emotional development, interpersonal relations and similar matters. But vocational guidance given to students may or may not influence their career after graduation. This study thus examined extent at which vocational guidance influence career decision of vocational and technical students. This is a descriptive research design of the survey type. 220 technical students were sampled all technical education students in Ilorin metropolis. Frequency count and mean were used answer the research questions and Hypothesis was tested with t-test at 0.05 level of significance. The findings established that vocational guidance has been able to influence career decision making of vocational and technical education students to a high extent. Also, there was no significant difference in the impact of vocational guidance on career choice of junior and senior vocational and technical education students. It was therefore recommended that Vocational and Technology Education students should be exposed to the importance of guidance services and what counseling is all about in order for them to make good career decisions.

Explanation of Potentials and Missing Initiatives in Palestinian Vocational and Technical Education Contents, Structure and Training

The study aims at explaining the missing initiatives in the contents, structure and training of vocational and technical education in Palestine. The impacts of vocational and technical education have not been largely perceived in Palestinian communities as it is yet to be placed on the hierarchy of productivity, growth and development. Apart from a growing number of scholarly responses about the inability of Palestinian vocational and technical education toward meeting market and global needs, it is however important to emphasize that this education is supposed to be a compulsory prerequisite to all students. Hence, with the review of scholarly literature and the application of content analysis through the qualitative method, the paper attempts to explain the potentials and missing initiatives of vocational and technical education in the Palestine context. Arguments were presented in previous literature as regards the importance of vocational and technical education, but none focused on the road to realizing its potentials and identify the missing initiatives. The study consequently discovered that signs of progress and changes could be realized in the contents, structure and training of vocational and technical education through addressing these missing initiatives.

THE POWERFUL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS IN VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL SECONDARY EDUCATION IN TURKEY: TEACHERS' VIEWS

<p>This research aims to determine the opinions of vocational high school teachers about the Powerful Learning Environment (PLE) approach in vocational and technical secondary education. This study, which was carried out with the qualitative research method, was designed with the phenomenological pattern. The participants of the research consist of 28 teachers. The data were obtained with a semi-structured interview form, and the descriptive analysis method was used in data analysis. According to the results of the research, the obstacles to creating a PLE in vocational and technical education are the theoretical weight of the course programs, work-orientedness in internship workplaces (rejection of the learning process) and outdated vocational field training program modules and workshop equipment. On the other hand, the suggestions for creating a PLE in vocational and technical education are using an on-the-job learning model and increasing the internship period, reducing the theoretical Intensity in the curriculum and emphasizing the practice and increasing teacher orientation, providing program, equipment and workshop materials suitable for technological development, constant communication and interaction between teacher-student-parent-internship employer, the establishment of commercial relations between vocational high schools and establishment of virtual companies in entrepreneurship clubs, meeting with industry representatives to adapt to the changing expectations of the post-pandemic industry and using the advantages of peer learning in vocational skills education.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0845/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

A model for Enhancing Academic Staff Promotion System in Vocational and Technical Education: College of Technological Studies, As A Case Kuwait

Vocational and technical colleges and schools is a type of education which place students on apprenticeship system. It is through which students can spend certain time in industry premises to gain the necessary skills and attitudes mostly required by industries. Vocational and technical education is completely different from a formal education that is taught in classrooms. Developing countries (e.g., Kuwait, Oman, Qatar), has realized the importance of vocational and technical education in vital sectors of the economy (e.g., oil, electricity and water, construction), where expatriates are the dominate workforce and the need to reduce dependence on expatriates is one of high governments manpower strategy. In Kuwait, the government has absorbed the need to reduce dependence on expatriates and thus established the College of Technological Studies, CTS, to respond to the urgent need of skilled and semi-skilled indigenous workforce. Thus, the management of the College of Technological Studies has to apricate and value the significant role of the College of Technological Studies in meeting government workforce objectives. This can be accomplished by ensuring that academic staff has the necessary skills to prepare students to meet industrial needs and ambitious. The academic staff promotion system must be one of the CTS management priorities. The constant review and update the academic staff promotion system is crucial to maintain high standard of vocational and technical graduates. A model is introduced in this research for academic staff promotion system that enable the CTS management to review and assess the quality of the CTS academic staff competencies and their ability in meeting industrial requirements. The new model for academic staff promotion system would overcome and/or reduce the deficiencies of the current academic staff promotion system. The new model would encompass more realistic and efficient criteria’s for assessing the performance of vocational and technical academic staff and introduce a proper work methodology and procedure for minimizing the percentage of errors while promoting a candidate to a higher academic status.

ON THE REFORM OF TEACHING MODE IN VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

Around the development of modern science and technology, combined with different education modes, this paper discusses the reform of education mode, in order to improve the quality and efficiency of teaching and promote the modernization of education. At the same time, this paper puts forward some suggestions on the curriculum based on the learning experience.

RESEARCH ON THE INNOVATION OF TEACHING MODE OF VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

Vocational and technical education group is the main training object of new high-quality talents in our school, and teaching is the basic link of Vocational and technical education. The current teaching mode of Vocational and technical education has the disadvantages of emphasizing theory and neglecting practice. Therefore, it is necessary to discuss the teaching mode of Vocational and technical education in our school. Based on the current situation of the teaching mode of Vocational and technical education in our school, this paper puts forward the teaching and assessment mode of “combining theory with practice” and “combining thinking cultivation with practice”.

Teaching and Supervision as Determinants of Post-Graduate Studies Completion Time in Vocational and Technical Education Programmes in South-South Nigerian Universities

This study was necessitated due to the need for post-graduate students to complete their programmes within the stipulated time. It examined the extent teaching and supervision determine post-graduate studies completion time in vocational and technical education programmes in South-South Nigerian Universities. One research question guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey research design was employed for the study. The population consisted of 204 graduates of vocational and technical education programmes in South-South Nigerian Universities. There was no sampling since the population was manageable. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire. Method of internal consistency was used to determine the reliability of the instrument using Cronbach Alpha and the reliability coefficient of 0.79 was obtained. The data collected for the study were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation to answer the research question and further determine the closeness of the respondents’ mean ratings. The t-test and ANOVA were used for testing the null hypotheses. Findings of the study revealed that teaching and supervision contribute to a great extent to post-graduate studies completion time in vocational and technical education programmes. Based on the findings of this study, it was concluded that teaching and supervision factors outstandingly determined post-graduate studies completion time in vocational and technical education programmes. It was recommended among others that, heads of school of post-graduate programmes should ensure that, only lecturers that are committed to work should be assigned as post-graduate course lecturers and supervisors.

The Project-based Learning Management Process for Vocational and Technical Education

This research is an analysis and a synthesis of research papers and case studies concerning the project-based learning management. The brainstorming among experts as well as their opinions on learning management process are utilized to define an appropriate learning process for students in vocational and technical education in Thailand. The results of this research reveal that the project-based learning management process for vocational education consists of 5 steps, i.e. preparation, topic definition, creation and test, presentation, and evaluation. This is compliant with the concepts of experts, aligning the teacher and student roles in the same direction, which can be used as a learning management process as to the vocational curricula. Thus, the project-based learning management is an approach of instructional management that is in consistence with the development of vocational students in Thailand. The objective thereof is to provide learners with skills in creating inventions and innovations in the form of projects. Also, learners are encouraged to have attributes and skills of presentation, talk and communication with others, originality, critical thinking, creative thinking, and ability to work well with others; all of these are in accordance to the 21st century skills.