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Kacey Thorne, Sarah DeMark, Tyson Heath and Kristian Young
The global labor market has been upended and a new landscape has emerged. New models for ensuring the value and relevance of post-secondary education are needed. Learners need…
Abstract
Purpose
The global labor market has been upended and a new landscape has emerged. New models for ensuring the value and relevance of post-secondary education are needed. Learners need better understanding of the value and relevancy which the education provides and more immediate return on the educational investment. Education providers must ensure the relevance of the credentials. Employers require transparency into skills an individual possesses based on the credentials they hold. New models are needed to guide an understanding of credentials so that all have equitable pathways to opportunity. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned objectives.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors in this paper discuss how Western Governors University implemented a Unified Credential Framework (UCF) for ensuring credentials are relevant, verified, transparent and portable. The UCF is predicated on the use of skills as an underlying foundation.
Findings
Using a structured theory for understanding skills and micro-credentials creates more transparency into what post-secondary credentials represent, and the value they hold for individuals, employers and education providers.
Research limitations/implications
This paper represents a use case where the proposed solution is still emergent. Additional research is warranted as longitudinal data become available on student outcomes and impacts.
Originality/value
This paper presents a model that any organization can implement for clearer line of sight into the value and relevance of post-secondary credentials.
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Despite the growing emphasis on revitalizing the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector in Bangladesh, very little discussion has taken place on reforming…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the growing emphasis on revitalizing the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector in Bangladesh, very little discussion has taken place on reforming the current inflexible transition pathways, from TVET to the universities. This paper aims to reflect critically on the existing literature on TVET, in the global and national context, and the experiences of students and TVET experts, to develop a model of collaboration between the polytechnic institutes and the universities in Bangladesh.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper follows a qualitative strategy of enquiry, using a mix of critical reflection on literature on TVET and higher education and unstructured interviews with two TVET experts, four TVET students and four students from a public university. It draws on the theories of collaboration and uses exemplary cases to illustrate and support the line of reasoning.
Findings
This paper identifies that there is resource dependency between the polytechnic institutes and universities in Bangladesh, and their institutional environment necessitates them to form collaboration to ensure flexible transition pathway, from polytechnic institutes to universities; this paper proposes a model for such collaboration.
Practical implications
This paper offers a guideline for forming collaboration among the relevant stakeholders.
Social implications
Collaboration between polytechnic institutes and universities in Bangladesh is likely to address the inequitable nature of TVET, by improving its social status and acceptance, as well as allowing higher income opportunity and greater mobility for the TVET graduates, coming especially from humble socio-economic backgrounds.
Originality/value
This paper contributes in the recent discussions on how collaboration among different stakeholders can contribute in achieving the sustainable development goals, with special emphasis on TVET.
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Dorota Kwiatkowska-Ciotucha and Urszula Załuska
The chapter discusses the assumptions and main conclusions from the international comparative research, the key purpose of which was to identify and characterise the…
Abstract
The chapter discusses the assumptions and main conclusions from the international comparative research, the key purpose of which was to identify and characterise the representatives of the sandwich generation (SG) in selected European countries in relation to professional activity. The research covered five countries, and when choosing them we took into account the diversity of welfare state models. The research was carried out in the autumn of 2020 with the use of a proprietary questionnaire on representative samples of Internet users aged 45–65 from Belgium (only Flanders), Finland, Italy, Poland and Great Britain. The conducted analyses confirmed the diversification of the situation of SG representatives in specific countries.
Thomas G. Cech, Trent J. Spaulding and Joseph A. Cazier
The purpose of this paper is to lay out the data competence maturity model (DCMM) and discuss how the application of the model can serve as a foundation for a measured and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to lay out the data competence maturity model (DCMM) and discuss how the application of the model can serve as a foundation for a measured and deliberate use of data in secondary education.
Design/methodology/approach
Although the model is new, its implications, and its application are derived from key findings and best practices from the software development, data analytics and secondary education performance literature. These principles can guide educators to better manage student and operational outcomes. This work builds and applies the DCMM model to secondary education.
Findings
The conceptual model reveals significant opportunities to improve data-driven decision making in schools and local education agencies (LEAs). Moving past the first and second stages of the data competency maturity model should allow educators to better incorporate data into the regular decision-making process.
Practical implications
Moving up the DCMM to better integrate data into their decision-making process has the potential to produce profound improvements for schools and LEAs. Data science is about making better decisions. Understanding the path laid out in the DCMM to helping an organization move to a more mature data-driven decision-making process will help improve both student and operational outcomes.
Originality/value
This paper brings a new concept, the DCMM, to the educational literature and discusses how these principles can be applied to improve decision making by integrating them into their decision-making process and trying to help the organization mature within this framework.
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I Gusti Ngurah Edi Putra, Putu Erma Pradnyani and Ni Wayan Putri Larassita Parwangsa
Due to the gender norms in Indonesia, married women are vulnerable to domestic violence perpetrated by their husband. With a paucity of studies on this issue, the purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Due to the gender norms in Indonesia, married women are vulnerable to domestic violence perpetrated by their husband. With a paucity of studies on this issue, the purpose of this paper is to explore the vulnerability to domestic physical violence among married women in Indonesia by measuring the acceptance of being beaten by their husband and factors associated with married women’s approvals were also identified.
Design/methodology/approach
Secondary data analysis of three rounds of Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey in 2002/2003, 2007 and 2012 was performed. Data were analyzed descriptively to reveal the trend of women’s acceptance and binary logistic regression was applied to identify determinants.
Findings
Women’s acceptance of wife beating in some circumstances experienced an increase during 2002–2012. Determinants varied by type of beating justification. Overall, determinants fell into three groups of women’s, husband’s and household’s characteristics.
Originality/value
This study helps to identify determinants of women’s vulnerability to domestic physical violence and suggests some substantial approaches to address this pressing issue.
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Pilar Beneito and Óscar Vicente-Chirivella
The autonomous governments of two regions in Spain established mobile bans in schools as of the year 2015. Exploiting the across-region variation introduced by such a…
Abstract
Purpose
The autonomous governments of two regions in Spain established mobile bans in schools as of the year 2015. Exploiting the across-region variation introduced by such a quasi-natural experiment, this study aims to perform a comparative-case analysis to investigate the impact of this non-spending-based policy on regional Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores in maths and sciences and bullying incidence.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors apply the synthetic control method and diff-in-diff estimation to compare the treated regions with the rest of regions in Spain before and after the intervention.
Findings
The results show noticeable reductions of bullying incidence among teenagers in the two treated regions. The authors also find positive and significant effects of this policy on the PISA scores of the Galicia region that are equivalent to 0.6–0.8 years of learning in maths and around 0.72 to near one year of learning in sciences.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first empirical study analysing the impact of mobile phone bans in schools on bullying cases, exploiting variation across regions (or other units), years and age intervals. Besides, the scarce formal evidence that exists on the consequences of the mobile phones use in students’ academic achievement comes from a micro perspective, while the paper serves as one more piece of evidence from a macro perspective.
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Vidmantas Tūtlys, Ilze Buligina, Juris Dzelme, Genutė Gedvilienė, Krista Loogma, Biruta Sloka, Tarja Irene Tikkanen, Ginta Tora, Lina Vaitkutė, Terje Valjataga and Meril Ümarik
The paper seeks to disclose the features and implications of the neoliberal VET and employment policy agendas for the social and institutional VET ecosystems and the integration…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to disclose the features and implications of the neoliberal VET and employment policy agendas for the social and institutional VET ecosystems and the integration of at-risk youth in the labour market in the Baltic countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on the comparative policy analysis approach with reference to the theories of social and skill formation ecosystems and the historical institutionalism perspective.
Findings
The research has revealed three interconnected and alternately/simultaneously applied development pathways in the skill formation and vocational education of at-risk youth in the Baltic countries: (1) the market-oriented approach based on fostering immediate employability based on the momentary skills needs in the economy; (2) the state-assistance approach based on ensuring equal access to the VET and employment services by the state and (3) the approach of systemic support to socially disadvantaged or at-risk young people in developing their capabilities.
Originality/value
The originality of the paper lies in a new, holistic and comparative perspective in analysing the implications of the “Baltic neoliberalism” for the development of skill formation systems, VET and employment of at-risk youth in this region.
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Regina Lenart-Gansiniec, Wojciech Czakon and Massimiliano Matteo Pellegrini
This study aims to identify context-specific antecedents to schools’ absorptive capacity (AC) and to show how those can enact “a virtuous learning circle.”
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify context-specific antecedents to schools’ absorptive capacity (AC) and to show how those can enact “a virtuous learning circle.”
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a mixed method: an exploration based on semi-structured interviews with educational experts; the development of a measurement scale and a partial least squares structural equation modelling to test the impact of the antecedents.
Findings
The results yielded four empirically-grounded antecedents and their measurement scales, namely, prior knowledge, employees’ skills, educational projects and interactions with the environment (Studies one and two). All antecedents are significantly and positively related to AC processes (study three). Using the organizational learning theory perspective, the results have been interpreted as an AC “virtuous learning circle.”
Practical implications
With increasing pressures to adapt, a case of which was the COVID-19 pandemic, schools can greatly benefit from absorbing knowledge flows. This suggests the construction a favourable environment for AC. To this end, the individual (employees’ prior knowledge and skills), organizational (educational projects) and institutional level of managerial action (interactions with the environment) can be effective when create a recursive organizational learning circle. In addition, this study offers an expert-validated measurement scale for self-assessment of a school’s specific contingencies, and thus, for planning of punctual interventions to develop AC.
Originality/value
This study advances the existing body of knowledge management in the educational context by rigorously identifying and validating a scale for measuring the antecedents of AC and developing an interpretive approach to the AC “virtuous circle.”
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Marco Curreli and Sladjana Sandy Rakich
The purpose of this commentary is to describe how Omni Nano has designed and implemented a model for teaching Nanotechnology to high school students.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this commentary is to describe how Omni Nano has designed and implemented a model for teaching Nanotechnology to high school students.
Design/methodology/approach
This commentary describes the Omni Nano program and the approach taken to support high school science teachers to include Nanotechnology education in their STEM programs.
Findings
The program findings are determined from qualitative teacher and student program surveys and informal interviews. The strong positive comments indicate that Omni Nano is successful at sparking students’ interest in nanotechnology and teaching nanotechnology concepts effectively.
Practical implications
The Omni Nano model demonstrates how complex STEM topics such as Nanotechnology can be designed and implemented effectively to promote student learning.
Originality/value
As the field of nanotechnology continues to evolve, high schools will need to provide additional coursework to scaffold student development and meet the demand for nanotech careers. Omni Nano has developed the first nanotechnology curriculum for high school students.
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