Profile

Vocational Education and Training & Learning in Organisations

This chair is concerned with Vocational Education and Training (VET) and Learning in Organisations. In other words, professional development in formal learning settings, as well as informal learning and behaviour at work. In addition, different levels are of interest: the individual level (the person that develops), and the macro level (the organisation or the system). At the intermediate level the work team, instruction models and/or the characterictics of the job are of our interest. Our empirical research always contain more than one of these aspects, at different levels, and the relation is always of our interest. All topics are researched in all kinds of domains.

Research topics on informal learning at work are for instance professional development of teachers; learning from errors in nursing, elder care and in the banking sector; learning from feedback at work; fostering innovative behaviour; team learning (e.g. in consultancy, in elder care, among vocational educators); diversity in teams; leadership; effects of characteristics of the job on the development of employees in IT; learning of older workers; learning organisations; (international comparison of) education and training systems (e.g. Teacher education systems, HRD system).

Research on VET is for instance conducted on the evaluation of different instruction models, and the development and diffusion of innovations, and what and how needs to be investigated in VET. In addition, publications on research methods are conducted (e.g. on Structural Equation Modelling, Critical Incidents Technique and Vignette Technique).

Important is the relation between research and teaching (in Bachelor and Master). Therefore, these topics are also part of our courses. For instance in winter 2014/15 a multidisciplinary course on leadership and teams is organised by the chair (in cooperation with business administration and psychology), and projects courses are running on the evaluation of training and learning from errors at work.