Doctoral Thesis: Diverse Learning Experiences Ensure Learners’ Satisfaction in Vocational Education
Learning experiences play an important role in the development of learner identity and agency, as well as in the achievement of learning outcomes. Reeli Liivik, who defended her doctoral thesis in the School of Educational Sciences at Tallinn University, studied how vocational students evaluate their learning experience and how a satisfying learning experience can be created for all vocational students.
Research on learning experiences often focuses on how a curriculum is implemented, how learning is designed, how learners are guided and behave and how satisfied learners are. Surveys of vocational learners generally show that they are satisfied with their vocational education experience. However, negative learning experiences do occur in learning environments which do not take learner-specific needs into account and which lack flexibility, practicality or coherence between theory and practice. International studies show that many vocational learners have a history of negative learning experiences, low success rates or low self-esteem, which can create resistance to schooling and lead to them dropping out.
In her doctoral thesis, Reeli Liivik seeks answers to the question of what the learning experiences of vocational students are, what meaning they attach to them, how students differ from one another in terms of their learning experiences and backgrounds and what challenges emerge from the learning experiences of different students in implementing vocational education.
Based on the responses of the learners, three groups with different learning experiences were identified. The first was a group of successful learners of different genders and ages with diverse learning experiences in service and other non-technical fields of study who experienced a variety of learning activities and high levels of satisfaction. They tended to rate their own ability as average, but felt they had enjoyed a wide range of support in their studies. The second group was made up of highly educated women studying agriculture, forestry and ICT who adapted to the traditional learning experience, who tended to experience teacher-centred learning (of whose effectiveness they were not convinced, but which still left them largely satisfied with their studies) and who rated their own abilities highly but did not feel they had received any support in the course of their studies. The last group were ‘problem boys’ with traditional learning experience in daytime vocational education in engineering, manufacturing, construction and ICT who tended to experience teacher-centred learning and were convinced of its effectiveness. However, they felt that they experienced more problems than others, with both their learning and their behaviour. Their own abilities they rated as rather low, but felt less supported compared to the successful clusters.
The distinction between successful and adaptable learners in vocational education should be highlighted, as more problem learners in VET have been studied in the past. From the learning experiences of the learners in the different clusters, the need to create a learning environment that supports the learners' confidence in one’s abilities.
Reeli Liivik hopes that her thesis has allowed her to even more effectively showcase vocational education as a valuable educational option. However, she believes the purpose and duty of general education should be to support learners' self-awareness and belief in their capabilities, and their readiness to choose and master a profession through appropriate and effective mandatory career studies. Career education that values vocational education and focuses on the strengths of learners should form a natural part of general education, ensuring awareness of different careers and learning opportunities and fostering a positive attitude towards vocational education. Due to the different learning experiences of learners in the clusters of vocational education students, it is also important in vocational education to establish links with other fields of education, such as andragogy and youth, special and social pedagogy.
Reeli Liivik, a PhD student at Tallinn University’s School of Education Sciences, defended her PhD thesis "The meaningful learning experiences of vocational students: a vocational pedagogical perspective’" on 23 September. The thesis was supervised by Krista Loogma, a long-serving professor at Tallinn University. It was opposed by Associate Professor Mari Karm from the University of Tartu and docent Larissa Jõgi from Tallinn University.