Study title

Vocational Teachers' Views on Competence-Based Education 2017

Dataset ID Number

FSD3167

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3167

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Vähätalo, Lauri (University of Tampere)

Other Identification/Acknowledgements

• The study was conducted as part of vocational teacher students' "TUTKEsta toimintaan" project at Tampere University of Applied Sciences

Abstract

This survey was conducted as part of a Master's Thesis and in relation with the Finnish educational project "TUTKEsta toimintaan" at Tampere University of Applies Sciences. The study charted upper secondary level vocational teachers' views on what sort of an impact competence-based methods have had on vocational education in Finland. "Competence-based" ('osaamisperusteisuus' in Finnish, translation by the Finnish National Agency for Education) is used here to describe a way of implementing studies where, instead of abstract knowledge, working life competencies and the flexibility and personality of one's studies is emphasised.

The survey first contained questions about competence-based education generally, e.g. with regard to how the concept is perceived, how well it had been implemented at the respondent's home institution, and if the respondent felt more pressure in their work due to e.g. rush, new systems, new legislation, expectations, and increases in workload or the number of students. Next, the respondents were presented with a set of attitudinal statements regarding the impact of personalisation and flexibility of studies. The teachers were also asked how personalisation of studies was visible in their everyday work, and whether personalisation and flexibility of studies offered advantages in studies and working life or if they created new challenges.

Next, attitudinal statements were presented on the tasks and appreciation of the teacher as well as working life cooperation. In addition, the respondents were asked if the teacher's role had changed in a variety of ways after the implementation of competence-based vocational education.

The respondents were then asked to evaluate the extent they agreed or disagreed with statements regarding competence-based evaluation, e.g. "Competence-based evaluation is simple" and "Competence tests meet employers' expectations of working life competencies". They were also asked if the new competence-based evaluation methods gave a more truthful image of students' competencies than the previous teaching system, and what were the possible pros or cons of the old system. Finally, the respondents were asked to describe how the competence-based system had affected their everyday work tasks and Finnish upper secondary vocational education in general.

Background variables included gender, age group, institution, and work experience in years.

Keywords

education; evaluation; evaluation of education; occupational training; teachers; teaching methods; upper secondary education; vocational education; vocational education institutions

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Vocational education and training (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Educational policy (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Vähätalo, Lauri (University of Tampere)

Time Period Covered

2017

Collection Dates

2017-02-06 – 2017-03-16

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland, Satakunta, Tampere

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Upper secondary level vocational teachers at Satakunta Educational Federation (Sataedu) and Tampere Vocational College (Tredu)

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

1.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

During archiving, variables bv5_2 and bv5_3 regarding subjects taught by the respondent were removed to protect the respondents' anonymity. For the same reason, the smallest and largest values in variables bv2 "Age" and bv4 "Working life experience in years" were categorised into larger groups, and in variable bv1 "Gender", the alternative "other" was categorised together with one of the other alternatives. In variable bv5_1 "Job description", alternatives "Common subject (YTO) teacher" and "Both" were also categorised into a single category to prevent identification. Some open-ended responses were truncated in the data to 255 characters. Complete open-ended responses are available in a separate txt file.

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Vähätalo, Lauri (University of Tampere): Vocational Teachers' Views on Competence-Based Education 2017 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2018-04-03). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3167

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications

Vähätalo, Lauri (2017). Osaamisperusteisuus osana uudistuvaa ammatillista koulutusta. Opetushenkilökunnan arvioita osaamisperusteisuudesta. [verkkodokumentti] Tampere: Tampereen yliopisto. Sosiologian pro gradu -tutkielma. http://tampub.uta.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/102578/1513684872.pdf?sequence=1 [Viitattu 20.4.2018].

Vähätalo, Lauri (2018). Osaamisperusteisuus toisen asteen ammatillisen koulutuksen arjessa. Teoksessa Osaaminen esiin. Ammatillisen koulutuksen reformi ja osaamisperusteisuus (toim. Harri Kukkonen ja Anu Raudasoja). Tampere: Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulun julkaisuja. Sarja A: Tutkimuksia 23. http://www.tamk.fi/web/tamk/-/julkaisu-osaaminen-esiin [Viitattu 20.4.2018].