Session Information
02 SES 09 B, Dual VET International
Paper Session
Contribution
The tutor is a decisive agent to achieve the integral development of the student in any stage or educational modality. In the case of Dual Vocational Training (Dual VT), the teaching-learning process takes place in two institutions: an educational institution, and a company or workplace. Therefore, students have the support, accompaniment and advice of two tutors. Both tutors, one in the educational center and the other in the company, work in a coordinated way (Euler, 2013; Graf et al., 2014; Lentzen, 2016) and sharing a common goal: the training of each student to facilitate their employment.
The functions, tasks and responsibilities of the school tutor are regulated by the educational laws established in each region of Spain (by each regional government) and have been the subject of numerous investigations (Echeverría & Martínez Clarés, 2019). On the other hand, the company tutor assumes a fundamental role in the development of Dual FP in companies and organizations, and must have technical-professional, pedagogical and social skills. All of them have to allow him to adequately carry out his work as a tutor and as a trainer (Alemán, 2015; Rego, Barriera & Rial, 2015; Seyfrid, 2009). And also to become a fundamental agent for promoting connection between educational centers and the labor market (Deissinger, 2015; Martín, 2016).
The company tutor favors coordination with the educational center and provides pedagogical support during the learning process, to facilitate the link between theory and practice. In addition, it becomes a professional model for students, since training in the workplace is the students' first contact with the labor market (Echeverría, 2016; Jansen & Pineda, 2019).
Taking into account functions and tasks that tutors develop within the company, we can see how these agents present a double dimension. On the one hand, this professional brings his own experience and professional specialization and, on the other hand, he must have didactic and pedagogical competencies to be able to understand the teaching-learning processes and to plan the activities of the interns (Marhuenda, Chisvert & Palomares-Montero, 2016). Both dimensions of the company tutors is essential so that, during the student's stay in the company, the tutor facilitates and guides the learning process of each student. And so the student can develop the necessary skills to perform a profession in a given sector, and to be prepared to adapt to the changes that may occur in that professional context. In short, to bring the student closer to the labor market through a real work context (Onstenk, 1995; Siebert, Mills y Tuff, 2009).
In Spain Dual Vocational Training is a training modality that has been established recently, hence there are not many studies on it (Echeverría y Martínez Clarés, 2019), but all of them show that there is a gap between theoretical research and empirical studies. Specifically, they coincide in highlighting the need to know how companies and organizations work as training institutions. And specifically, that it is necessary to know what training tutors receive to carry out their work as trainers, how their work affects students and how they perceive themselves in the development of this task.
For this reason, this communication aims to know the company tutors satisfaction level with the development of Dual Vocational Training projects in the Principality of Asturias (Spain).
Method
The study presented is descriptive and exploratory and is based on a qualitative approach. To collect the information, a semi-structured interview composed of four dimensions has been used: tutor profile, Dual Vocational Training development in the company, needs detected in the development of Dual Vocational Training and level of satisfaction. In this study we focus on analyzing company tutors satisfaction level. The sample is made up of twelve tutors from companies that develop Dual VT in Asturias, taking into account the criteria of company size and productive sector to which it belongs. In order to provide the research transferability and confirmability (Sandín, 2000), an analysis of expert judgment has been carried out by professionals of Pedagogy. Among experts there has been an agreement in the definition of the categories and the categorization of 89.67% (Bakeman and Gottman, 1989). Regarding the procedure, the study has been carried out in three phases, for the treatment, organization and interpretation of the information, following the content analysis procedure typical of this kind of studies (Bakeman & Gottman, 1989; Sandín, 2000). In the first phase, the interviews have been transcribed and a category system has been designed through the MAXQDA program (v.20). In the second phase, the text has been integrated and assigned to each of the discursive fragments its code corresponding to the category to which it is assigned. Once the discursive fragments have been analyzed, the third phase has focused on obtaining and analyzing the results including their interpretation.
Expected Outcomes
The information provided in the interviews carried out with the agents involved has made it possible to analyze company tutors satisfaction in relation to the development of their tasks of tutoring and training in Dual VT. This analysis dimension has produced 131 discursive fragments (comments). Five categories have emerged: Dual VT program, tasks and training, results, experience as a tutor and shortage of students. The category that receives the most comments is “satisfaction with the Dual VT Program”. 82% of the tutors' comments regarding satisfaction with the development of the program show that they feel satisfied. They say that Dual VT is an opportunity to insert new workers into companies, because they have been trained in the culture of their own organization and they know the processes and working method of their own company. Thus, in addition to promoting the skills of students, it allows them to help in the selection process of workers. Tutors are satisfied with “tasks and training” carried out by the company (14.6%), and they positively value the experience of being tutors (9.2%) and the functions performed with the students. They are satisfied with “learning acquired by students”, mostly linked to the professional skills developed in training at the workplace. And highlight that they always try to guarantee personal, academic and professional growth of the apprentices, and to favor the transition from the educational system to the labor market. Regarding satisfaction with “results” (10.8%), tutors affirm that Dual VT is a training that favors professional insertion and the incorporation of new workers into companies. Finally, another category refers to the “lack of students” who choose to undertake Dual Vocational Training (8.1%). Tutors point out that students are "a rare commodity" and companies strive more each year to find students for this type of training.
References
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