Identifying motivational profiles among VET students: differences in self-efficacy, test anxiety and perceived motivating teaching

Abstract

There are indicators that a substantial number of students in vocational education and training (VET) experience problems with successfully building their careers. This is often attributed to VET students' motivation. The present study provides insight into VET students' motivational profiles based on selfdetermination theory. Additionally, differences between those motivational profiles in terms of self-efficacy, test anxiety and perception of motivating teaching were investigated. The study involved 195 VET students, from one VET college in the Netherlands. Using latent profile analyses, four motivational profiles were identified that differed with respect to quality and quantity of motivation. Profiles with higher quality (25%) and higher quantity (27%) of motivation were related to higher levels of self-efficacy and perceived motivating teaching compared to profiles with low quantity (7%) or low quality (41%) of motivation. Furthermore, students in the profile with high-quality motivation reported the lowest levels of test anxiety. Additionally, our findings suggest there is indeed a relatively large group of VET students (48%) who actually experience motivational problems. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Online vs. Classroom Learning: Examining Motivational and Self-Regulated Learning Strategies Among Vocational Education and Training Students

“…This indicates that online and classroom VET students perceived the value of the task -the course they enrolled on-to be equally important, even though task value has been proven to be one of the most important motivational factors, it being associated with learning engagement and success (Aristeidou et al, 2017;Zhang and Liu, 2019) and a significant predictor of course completion (Cho and Heron, 2015;Vanslambrouck et al, 2018). As Cents-Boonstra et al (2018) showed, VET students with a higher level of motivation also have a higher level of self-efficacy, which is strongly linked to learning success.…”

“…Several researchers have suggested (e.g., Cardinal, 2010;Cents-Boonstra et al, 2018;Dubeau et al, 2017;Biemans et al, 2019) that VET programs attract less motivated students, and studies on VET motivational and SRL strategies are therefore not priority areas for exploration. To us, this opens a door to new research, which might focus on the Catalan context using the preliminary validated scales to compare motivation levels and SRL strategies between VET and high-school or university students-these being similar in age but differing in levels of motivation (Martin, 2008).…”

“…Motivational and self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies employed by VET students have been underexplored in research, making it difficult to have a clear idea of what these might comprise (Savoie-Zajc et al, 2010). Various researchers (Cardinal, 2010;Cournoyer et al, 2015;Dubeau et al, 2017) have suggested that the low number of studies in this area could be related to the reputation that VET programs have of attracting less motivated students. Therefore, one reason for conducting this research is that to the best of our knowledge no studies have previously analyzed differences in students' motivational and SRL strategies with regard to the different types of VET learning available (traditional or online).…”

Pre-Service Teacher Career Choice Motivation: A Comparison of Vocational Education and Training Teachers and Comprehensive School Teachers in Germany

“…To comply with the challenge of recruiting more people for teacher training to overcome the above-mentioned lack, we need to know where and how to find further potential applicants. One important angle to consider on that note are the motives why students chose the profession of vocational education and training (VET) teacher in the first place (Driesel-Lange et al, 2017). However, their career choice motivation-understood as the factors or reasons that are influential for the decision to choose teaching as a career (Han & Yin, 2016;Thomson et al, 2012;Watt et al, 2012;Wenström et al, 2018)-is little studied so far.…”

Students’ motivation in secondary and post-secondary education

“…Two articles in this issue examine psychological aspects related to the motivation of 16þ-year old students in vocational education settings. Studies have reported motivational problems of students in vocational education, yet there is little research on this topic (Cents-Boonstra et al, 2019;Glerum et al, 2018). Therefore, the investigation of students' motivation in a vocational context is essential.…”