ABSTRACT
Initial vocational training (VT) in high school consists of short-term programs leading to employment in a skilled trade. To better align training with employment opportunities and to encourage students to stay in the programs until they graduate, most programs include traineeship. Since traineeships involve acquiring skills directly on the job, they require greater involvement of supervisors to guide the trainees. Given the importance of on-the-job guidance in achieving traineeship objectives, this study examines the potential influence of three dimensions of guidance provided by traineeship supervisors -planning, support, and training- on students' job perception (i.e., occupational image) and traineeship satisfaction. Overall, the results provide mixed results, partially supporting the mediation hypothesis suggested by the results of previous studies. Indeed, the results reveal that the quality of the training offered by the supervisor affects subsequent students' satisfaction with traineeship experience. Training has an indirect effect on satisfaction via the occupational image held by students. However, the expected indirect links between the other two dimensions of supervisor guidance -degree of planning and support perceived by the student- and the students' image of their chosen occupation could not be confirmed. The results support the importance of providing quality on-the-job training to students during their studies.
ABSTRACT
New vocational education and training (VET) teachers in Quebec (Canada), as in other countries (e.g., France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States), face specific challenges and experience an atypical process of entry into the teaching profession. In addition to the known professional induction challenges, which requires numerous adjustments in terms of organizational integration and socialization as well as on a personal level, new VET teachers also experience a major professional and identity transition: they shift from experts in their field to novices in the teaching field. Moreover, as they are not generally trained in pedagogy, new teachers must enroll in a mandatory teaching bachelor's program once they are fully in charge of a class and its educational responsibilities. This complex process calls for a closer look at ways to facilitate their induction experience. Specifically, because it is closely related to motivation, engagement, and performance, this study focuses on their perceived self-efficacy as teachers. This study focused on 21 new VET teachers in the francophone province of Quebec, Canada, and aim to identify different strategies through which they succeeded in developing and maintaining their self-efficacy: strategies related to 1) the work of teaching, 2) mobilization of resources, 3) professional development, and 4) attitudes and well-being at work. These strategies allow us to gain a deeper understanding of previously unexplored aspects of the reality of these teachers, and to propose avenues for the development of interventions targeting their needs.
