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The role of work-based learning for student engagement in vocational education and training: an application of the self-system model of motivational development

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A Correction to this article was published on 02 February 2022

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Abstract

Educational policy strategies give work-based learning (WBL) and dual learning pathways a prominent role in strengthening student engagement. Given this mounting policy attention, the current study aims to fill a knowledge gap with regard to the relation between WBL and student engagement, particularly within the context of dual pathways combining school- and work-based learning. To this end, we situated student engagement in the wider motivational framework of the self-system model of motivational development (SSMMD) to help theorize its antecedents in students’ learning contexts and psychological self-system processes. The main purpose of this study was to test the hypotheses based on the SSMMD within a WBL context and to relate student engagement in WBL to engagement in school-based learning. As most measurements of the elements making up the SSMMD were validated within a school-based learning context, we used confirmatory factor analyses to test the measurement transferability to a WBL context. Our findings show the relevance of applying the SSMMD to the context of WBL, hereby confirming the facilitating or inhibiting role of a WBL context in fulfilling the basic psychological needs of needs of autonomy, relatedness and competence, which in turn supports engagement in WBL. Our findings also show the potential to study work- and school-based learning as two interrelated learning contexts, stimulating researchers, policy makers and practitioners to further study and invest in dual learning pathways that purposefully combine learning in school- and work-based contexts.

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Notes

  1. In the school year 2015–2016 10, 3% of the students in Flemish secondary education left without attaining an upper secondary level qualification. Early leavers were 7 times more likely to leave from full-time school-based VET and 23 times more likely to leave from part-time (work-based) VET than from general secondary education (Flemish Ministry of Education and Training, 2018).

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Funding

This paper is based on a research project that was funded by the Flemish Government, project nuber 7428 - Evaluatie Proefprojecten Duaal Leren.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Migration and Intercultural Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    Ward Nouwen & Annemie Struyf

  2. Department of Training and Education Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    Noel Clycq & Vincent Donche

Authors
  1. Ward Nouwen
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  2. Noel Clycq
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  3. Annemie Struyf
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  4. Vincent Donche
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Noel Clycq.

Additional information

Ward Nouwen. Centre for Migration and Intercultural Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium. Email: ward.nouwen@uantwerpen.be

Current themes of research:

Current research focuses on social support, motivation and engagement in studying educational trajectories and outcomes of vulnerable youth. Various projects study these themes in full-time school-based and part-time work-based vocational education settings and simultaneously consider the impact of the structural context on these trajectories.

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

Nouwen, W., Clycq, N. (2020). Assessing the added value of the self-system model of motivational development in explaining school engagement among students at risk of early leaving from education and training, European Journal of Psychology of Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-020-00476-3

Nouwen, W., & Clycq, N. (2019). The role of social support in fostering school engagement in urban schools characterised by high risk of early leaving from education and training. Social Psychology of Education, 22(5), 1215-1238.

Nouwen, W., & Clycq, N. (2019). The role of teacher–pupil relations in stereotype threat effects in Flemish secondary education. Urban education, 54(10), 1551-1580.

Van Praag, L., Van Caudenberg, R., Nouwen, W., Clycq, N. & Timmerman, C. (2017). How to support and engage students in alternative forms of education and training? A qualitative study of school staff members in Flanders, Journal of Education and Work, 30(6): 599-611, DOI: 10.1080/13639080.2017.1319567

Clycq, N., Ward Nouwen, M. A. & Vandenbroucke, A. (2014). Meritocracy, deficit thinking and the invisibility of the system: Discourses on educational success and failure. British Educational Research Journal, 40 (5):796-819. doi:10.1002/berj.3109

Noel Clycq. Department of Training and Education Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium. Email: noel.clycq@uantwerpen.be

Current themes of research:

Research focuses on (ethnic) diversity, identity formation, educational (in)equality and teachers. Various projects study the socialization role of formal and informal education and the interplay between agency and structure in the lives and trajectories of vulnerable youth.

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

Nouwen, W., Clycq, N. (2020). Assessing the added value of the self-system model of motivational development in explaining school engagement among students at risk of early leaving from education and training, European Journal of Psychology of Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-020-00476-3

Van Caudenberg, R., Clycq, N., & Timmerman, C. (2020). Feeling at home in school: Migrant youths’ narratives on school belonging in Flemish secondary education. European Educational Research Journal, 1474904120923184.

Van Praag, L., & Clycq, N. (2020). Going to work without educational qualifications: School-to-work transitions of early school leavers in Belgium. Journal of Youth Studies, 23(4), 465-480.

Nouwen, W., & Clycq, N. (2019). The role of social support in fostering school engagement in urban schools characterised by high risk of early leaving from education and training. Social Psychology of Education, 22(5), 1215-1238.

Nouwen, W., & Clycq, N. (2019). The role of teacher–pupil relations in stereotype threat effects in Flemish secondary education. Urban education, 54(10), 1551-1580.

Van Praag, L., Van Caudenberg, R., Nouwen, W., Clycq, N. & Timmerman, C. (2017). How to support and engage students in alternative forms of education and training? A qualitative study of school staff members in Flanders, Journal of Education and Work, 30(6): 599-611, DOI: 10.1080/13639080.2017.1319567

Clycq, N., Ward Nouwen, M. A. & Vandenbroucke, A. (2014). Meritocracy, deficit thinking and the invisibility of the system: Discourses on educational success and failure. British Educational Research Journal, 40 (5):796-819. doi:10.1002/berj.3109

Annemie Struyf. Centre for Migration and Intercultural Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium. Email: annemie.struyf@uantwerpen.be

Current themes of research:

Current research focuses on how the learning environment can strengthen students’ motivation and engagement. Throughout her PhD, Annemie Struyf focused in particular on how the learning environment can strengthen students’ engagement towards STEM education.

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

De Loof, H., Struyf, A., Boeve-de Pauw, J., & van Petegem, P. (2019). Teachers’ motivating style and students’ engagement and motivation in STEM: The relationship between three educational key concepts. Research in Science Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-019-9830-3

Struyf, A., De Loof, H., Boeve-de Pauw, J., & Van Petegem, P. (2019). Students’ engagement in different STEM learning environments: Integrated STEM education as promising practice?. International Journal of Science Education, 41(10), 1387-1407. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2019.1607983

Struyf, A. (2019). How to engage students for STEM? Analysing the ingredients for a motivational cocktail in the learning environment. Antwerp: University of Antwerp.

Vincent Donche. Department of Training and Education Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium. Email: vincent.donche@uantwerpen.be

Current themes of research:

Current themes of research focus on self-efficacy, academic motivation, learning strategies, transitions in the school career and higher education.

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

Duchatelet, D., Donche, V., Bursens, P., Gijbels, D., Spooren, P. (2020). Unravelling the interplay of sources of self-efficacy in negotiating in role-play simulations of political decision-making: A longitudinal in-depth case study. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 62, 101874.

Barbier, K., Donche, V., Verschueren, K. (2019). Academic (under)achievement of intellectually gifted students in the transition between primary and secondary education: An individual learner perspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2530.

Catrysse, L., Gijbels, D., Donche, V., De Maeyer, S., Lesterhuis, M., Van den Bossche, P. (2017). How are learning strategies reflected in the eyes? Combining results from self-reports and eye-tracking. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 88(1), 118-137.

Vermunt, J.D., & Donche, V. (2017). A learning patterns perspective on student learning in higher education: State of the art and moving forward. Educational Psychology Review, 29(2), 269-299.

Noyens, D., Donche, V., Coertjens, L., Van Daal, T., Van Petegem, P. (2017). The directional links between students’ academic motivation and social integration during the first year of higher education. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 34(1), 67-86.

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An abstract titled “The Role of Dual Learning in Tackling Student Disengagement and Early Leaving from Education and Training in Flanders” was presented during the ECER 2019 Conference by Ward Nouwen, co-authored by Noel Clycq (to be found at: https://eera-ecer.de/ecer-programmes/conference/24/contribution/48489/). However, the specific focus of the current paper changed significantly in the ensuing months.

The original online version of this article was revised: The version of the article that is published online unfortunately is the anonymized version of the paper. Throughout the paper and in the bibliography, the references to the authors’ publications are referred to as (author, YEAR).

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Nouwen, W., Clycq, N., Struyf, A. et al. The role of work-based learning for student engagement in vocational education and training: an application of the self-system model of motivational development. Eur J Psychol Educ 37, 877–900 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-021-00561-1

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