Changes in the workplace, technological evolution and political aims for labour mobility challenge initial vocational education and training (IVET) systems to prepare students for life-long learning (Billett, 2014; Nägele & Stalder, 2017). Basically, IVET provides students with a formal qualification which can be referred as domain-specific competencies (Gekara & Snell, 2018). However, due to their inevitable lack of versatile job experience young IVET graduates cannot stand out in recruitment situations with their domain-specific competencies; instead, students profit from domain-general competencies (Löfgren et al., 2022; Nägele & Stalder, 2017). These refer to integrated sets of knowledge, skills and attitudes that broadly assist an individual to adapt and act in unknown situations (Gekara & Snell, 2018; Nägele & Stalder, 2017).

In this study, Finnish IVET students’ domain-general competencies are investigated from the student perspective. In fact, Finnish technical-trade employers and IVET teachers have considered that IVET students graduate with varying or even unsatisfactory levels of competencies (Löfgren et al., 2020, 2022). However, students themselves have been seldom consulted (Billett, 2014). Also, Panadero et al. (2019) note that there are not many validated self-report instruments for IVET student domain-general competencies except for the one of Kyndt et al. (2014). They measured the following domain-general competencies that are not sufficiently addressed in the formal curricula but are greatly beneficial in the workplace: work organisation, cooperation ability, professional attitude, problem solving, active listening, empathy and assertiveness (Kyndt et al., 2014). This instrument covers very well the competencies we have found to be important for the Finnish IVET graduates (see Löfgren et al., 2020, 2022).

Despite its rarity, the instrument of Kyndt and colleagues (2014) and all other competency questionnaires alone may give a too simple, acquisition-driven impression of the student development of competencies. This is problematic because technical-trade educators, for example in Finland (Virtanen et al., 2014) and Sweden (Nylund & Gudmundson, 2017) tend to prefer a craftsperson habitus to their pedagogical task; thus, educators seem to stress students’ responsibility for their studies.

In fact, the learning environment alone can help the IVET students to overcome their difficulties and to continue with their studies, provided that the educators especially concentrate on their interaction with the students (Virtanen et al., 2014). In an advanced learning environment, educators at school and in the workplace provide the students with social support, recognition, equal treatment and a positive climate for learning so that the students may overcome individual adversities and develop more positive self-efficacy beliefs and a motivation for learning (Lüthi et al., 2021; Virtanen et al., 2014).

This study aims to discover how IVET students consider their learning of domain-general competencies and learning environment. We also want to find out how the experienced vocational learning environment contributes to student learning of domain-general competencies. The research questions are as follows:

RQ1)         How do technical-trade IVET students perceive the domain-general competencies they have learned during their studies?

• H1. Students’ domain-general competencies consist of the categories of Work organisation, Cooperation ability, Professional attitude, Problem solving, Willingness to learn, Active listening, Empathy and Assertiveness.

RQ2)         How do technical-trade IVET students experience their learning environment established by vocational educators?

• H2. Students’ experienced learning environment in IVET consists of receiving Social support from teachers and workplace mentors; encountering Equality and relatedness; having a constructive Climate for learning; and receiving Recognition for one’s opinions and efforts in learning.

RQ3)         How does the experienced learning environment relate to technical-trade IVET student learning of domain-general competencies?

• H3. A supportive, equal, constructive and encouraging learning environment contributes to student learning of domain-general competencies.

Research context In Finland, IVET is primarily a state-led and government-funded system. IVET studies consist of 180 competence points and usually last some three years. Students must spend at least 30 percent of their studies learning at the workplace but a greatly higher attendance at the workplace is also possible. This study was conducted in cooperation with four Finnish metropolitan vocational education providers. The focus was at technical vocational trades so that in-depth scrutiny was possible. Further, the study concentrated on automotive engineering, mechanical and metal engineering, building service technology and electrical and automation engineering because these programmes were the most active sending students to apprenticeships to local workplaces. Measures and data collection The data were collected with an online survey combining two different instruments. All items were rated on a five-point Likert scale (1 = ‘completely disagree’ to 5 = ‘completely agree’). Firstly, student perceptions about their learning of domain-general competencies were collected using the instrument of Kyndt et al. (2014), which includes the scales of work organisation, cooperation ability, professional attitude, problem solving, active listening, empathy and assertiveness. As suggested by Kyndt et al., (2014), a separate scale measuring participants’ willingness to learn was developed and added to the instrument as well as two items measuring participants’ excessive usage of mobile phones and flexibility at work. Secondly, data about the socio-emotional characteristics of the students’ experienced vocational learning environment were collected with the instrument of Soini et al. (2015). This instrument measures to what extent the students consider their educators to provide them with social support, recognition, a positive climate for learning and equal treatment. Sample and data analysis Data collection took place between November 2020 and February 2021. The questionnaire was presented to 1,060 IVET students, of which 132 voluntary students completed it (12.5%). 112 participants were male and 13 were females, 3 ‘other’ and 4 did not want declare their gender. The mean age was 22.5 years (SD = 8.87; range: 18-55). As regards data analysis, means, standard deviations, Cronbach’s alphas and bivariate correlations were first calculated for the scales. Then, a structural equation modelling (SEM) strategy was applied to test the hypotheses. Due to the relatively small sample, the scales were used as composite variables (based on mean) to limit the number of model parameters. A robust MLR procedure also helped to endure non-normality.

This study succeeded to yield valuable information about the examined phenomena with the help of already validated survey instruments (cf. Kyndt et al., 2014; Soini et al., 2015). However, the relatively small sample (N=132) and response rate (12.5%) raise the question whether only the most active and motivated students answered the survey. Also, due to the small sample an item-level SEM was not possible but composite variables based on scale means had to be used. According to the results, IVET students’ domain-general competencies consisted of work organisation, cooperation ability, professional attitude, problem solving, willingness to learn, active listening, empathy and assertiveness. Students’ experienced learning environment consisted of social support, recognition, equality and a positive climate for learning. Students assessed their level of competencies to be relatively high; similarly, they gave high ratings for their experienced vocational learning environment. High-achieving students tend to have strong self-esteem and self-efficacy beliefs; therefore, they may better exploit the resources in their learning environment and learn effectively (Lüthi et al., 2021). Still, the question remains whether the non-participating students would have assessed their level of competencies or their experienced vocational learning environment as high. This is a task for future research, especially because technical-trade employers and educators have commonly criticised IVET graduates’ level of competencies (Löfgren et al., 2020, 2022). Our findings further showed that a vocational learning environment may greatly contribute to student learning of domain-general competencies (R2 =.48) if the educators provide students with social support, recognition for student endeavours, equal treatment and a positive climate for learning. This finding is in line with earlier research (e.g., Lüthi et al., 2021; Virtanen et al., 2014) and strengthens the view that IVET students learn competencies better in a high-quality learning environment.

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