Basic Academic Skills as Prerequisites for Successful Completion of Vocational Education and Training: The Example of Mathematics and Business Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 60
  In Roundtable Session: Mathematics, Business, Commerce, and Economics Competence in Workplace Learning

Abstract

Existing research has demonstrated that basic academic skills such as mathematical and language-related competencies contribute to the successful completion of vocational training programs. Light is shed on the precise relationship between skills which are transferrable across vocations and the specific outcomes of vocational education and training. So far, respective findings have lacked consistency even within particular occupational areas. This may be due to different approaches to measuring the traits in question, but also to the heterogeneity of required qualifications. The paper provides some answers to these questions on the basis of a longitudinal study covering the beginning and the end of three- to four-year vocational training programs. Linear structural equation models and multidimensional IRT analyses are employed.

Author

• Rainer H. Lehmann, Humboldt University - Berlin