Analysis of the profile of highly talented apprentices
There is little research on the characteristics of talented apprentices in the vocational education and training (VET) community. How can we define talent in different vocational sectors? Which individual and situational factors may influence achievement in vocational school and during apprenticeship? What is the role of soft skills in vocational achievement independently from and in interaction with high cognitive potential? These are some of the questions the project seeks to answer.
Research conducted several years ago showed that top performers at the end of the vocational school are those who are more motivated, less affected by stress, more emotionally resilient regardless of their level of cognitive giftedness (Stamm, Niederhauser, & Kost, 2010). The goal of the current project is to better understand the role of talent and giftedness in vocational education and training so as to accompany talented apprentices throughout their training with initiatives that may reduce the dropout rate and increase the number of qualified professionals concluding their vocational education.
The project relies on two basic assumptions:
- Talent or HP in VET does not correspond to the classic intellectual potential measured with typical IQ tests, but may include practical and emotional abilities. Importantly, the cognitive abilities needed to excel in a professional sector are context-specific and not general (such as spacial rotation for a mason);
- Other factors beyond cognitive abilities may play a role in accounting for vocational success. In particular, the literature has shown that soft skills are important for achievement at school and in the workplace, In this project both cognitive and non-cognitive skills will be measured and compared to understand whether and how they influence vocational performance independently or in interaction. Other factors that will be investigated include, motivation, speed of learning, self-esteem, socio-economic status, personality and engagement with the school/on-the-job.
This project will employ mainly quantitative research, such as multivariate statistics, and structured interviews. Surveys will be used to collect information regarding the characteristics of apprentices and their school/workplace environment. School grades and feedback from on-the-job trainers will also be collected to quantify excellence in performance.
Because this is a first investigation of what we hope will be a larger project involving different professional sectors, the investigation of talent/high potential will be initially restricted to the ICT domain, which is a key economic sector in Switzerland and also one of the most popular choices among apprentices.