Measuring Commercial Knowledge and Skills in Switzerland

• In Event: 31.089 - Knowledge Is Not Enough: Problem-Solving Competence and Innovative Skills for Modern Workplaces

Abstract

Objectives
Compared to other countries with dual VET such as Germany or Austria, Switzerland has some unique properties in its system of commercial vocational education. While the in-company training and contents of the industrial courses differ according to the 21 commercial branches, school education is organized in an identical fashion for all commercial apprentices. Details of the development of knowledge and skills, especially of the emergence of problem solving skills during apprenticeship are still in need of clarification, however. First and foremost, this requires the development of an instrument for measuring commercial competence.
Perspectives
In recent years, the practice of measuring professional competences by means of paper-pencil tests has met with considerable criticism. New instruments are called for which are more geared to the specific professional setting. LINCA, a computer-based test, represents a move in this direction. In order to measure commercial knowledge and skills as authentically as possible, a simulation of an ordinary workday with typical problem solving tasks was developed. LINCA is a combination of closed questions as well as open “extended-response” tasks (e.g. booking, writing an email or advising a customer). It uses different media such as film vignettes and audio devices. The extended-response tasks demand of the apprentices several steps in the process of solving them . Documents and information needed are embedded into the simulation. The apprentices have to decide about the relevance of documents and the procedure of problem solving.
Methods
LINCA is part of a longitudinal study with four measurement points. It has already been applied at the second measurement point during commercial apprenticeship. It was available online and the effective workload was about 90 minutes.
Sample
A disproportional sample of 40 classes, representing two different aspiration levels, has been drawn. A total of 1637 apprentices were subjected to the LINCA, of whom: 63% were female and 37% male. The mean age was 18.2 years (SD = 1.57).

First Results
First results of the problem solving tasks aret:
• Apprentices have several misconceptions in business administration. For instance, one task was to do a net booking of an invoice. Around 30% used the gross method.
• Apprentices show problems in computational tasks. For example, only 30% of the students were able to correctly calculate a discount of 15% from a given price.
• Apprentices forget a lot of things they have learnt in school such as what kind of taxes exist in Switzerland. Without this knowledge they are unable to correctly initiate the next steps of problem solving.
Significance
Commercial apprenticeship is the most widely chosen vocational education in Switzerland. LINCA provides a new tool of measuring the level of professional knowledge and skills relevant in commercial settings. It also provides some insight into the corresponding problem solving processes among apprentices preparing for commercial and vocational careers. It is also suitable to disclose frequent student misconceptions, thus facilitating improvements in the pedagogical content knowledge conducive to the conceptualization of courses, textbooks and, last not least, the actual lessons.

Authors

• Silja Mentele, University of Zurich

• Sarah Forster - Heinzer, University of Zurich

• Doreen Holtsch, University of Zurich

• Franz Eberle, University of Zurich