فصلنامه مهارت آموزی
پیاپی 15 (بهار 1395)

One of the most important sign of accelerated motion of a country in achieving balanced and sustainable development is amount and quality of investment for skills training. It is obvious that the need for investment in technical and vocational high schools is doubled, since every year a large number of students are concerned. It takes note of the fact that today in developed countries, technical high schools, as the main breeding centers for enterprises and citizens having the ability to produce entrepreneurs (not job seeker students), are seriously considered by educational authorities. Using a qualitative approach, this study aims to explore and investigate the main challenges of skill training and education of entrepreneurial students in technical and vocational schools for boys in Torbat Heydarieh city, Iran. Their understanding of the nature and diversity of these challenges was represented by using the interpretative approach. The causes and formative factors of challenges was recognized and represented. The participants were selected by purposeful sampling, and interviewed a total of forty-five (15 trainees and 30 students) after data saturation was achieved. In order to analyze the data, the Colaizzi’s strategy was used according to narrative data obtained from semi-structured interviews with participants and tried to study the phenomenon to understand their perspective and improve the credibility of the substantial results. The results showed that there are 10 major challenges in the process of skill training and education of entrepreneurial students  including; "workshop equipment and textbooks are not up to date", "insufficient funds", "not up to date teaching methods", "failure to attract talented and interested students", " insufficient time for skill training", "negative attitude of parents towards skill training and technical high schools", "mismatch of acquired skills and labor market needs", "problems to continue education after skill training" and "inadequate support and covering of skill training in medias", that each of them could cause many serious problems and barriers for education process in order to provide a dynamic skill training system for students of technical and vocational high schools as entrepreneurial students not only job seekers.

The ISO standards have an important role in the world which we live in, since they facilitate economies and trade, expand knowledge, disseminate the initiative advances, share the optimal management and implement the optimum compliance evaluations. Accreditation, as the most well- known model for quality evaluation, is an effective basis for assessing the amount of (technical and vocational training centers) TVTC’s attention to follow the necessary standards and by clarifying the matters will assure the organization that its programs comply with the pre- determined criteria. The research is aimed to study the significance of establishment of quality management system, ISO 9001, on upgrading of accreditation rank of Bushehr Provincial TVTCs. The research method is Semi experimental, using pre- and post-test. The study population consisted of all Bushehr’s provincial TVTCs, and TVTC no.4, as the biggest center for females, and TVTC no. 5, as the biggest one for males (Dashtestan), were selected for sampling. A standard accreditation questionnaire, developed by Iran Technical and Vocational Training Organization (Iran TVTO), was used as the research tools. At the pre-test phase, accreditation questionnaires in four areas including; “training management”, “training implementation”, “training productivity”, and “training support” were filled out by participants of both sample centers, then collected, extracted and ranked the results. At the post-test phase, first the requirements of ISO 9001 standard were followed and implemented in both sample centers and once again, the same questionnaires were filled out, collected and ranked. The results showed that there is a significant correlation between establishment of quality management system and accreditation in the fields of “training management”, “training implementation”, and “training productivity”; but there is no significant correlation in the field of “training support”. And finally, the centers’ accreditation rank in the time of ISO establishment was increasingly promoted.

Weak relationship and linkage between universities and industry sectors is one of the challenging issues. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges and solutions for effective and sustainable linkage between branches of Applied Science and Technology University and industry sectors. In this study Delphi technique was used. The experts’ panel included staff managers and head of sub- branches of Maharat Institute of Applied Sciences. This study was done during three steps. In the first step, 47 challenges and 30 solutions were identified as the items. In the second step, challenges and solutions were asked through a five-point Likert questionnaire and it submitted to the research population. Then the data were collected and analysed. The items with less than 80 percent agreement by panel were omitted. The remaining items were classified in different categories. Based on research results, most challenges were related to structural field and most of proposed solutions were in the field of providing and developing infrastructures. At the end, according to the results, applicable recommendations were presented.

Health and safety in the workplace has been a central issue during recent years. The present paper studies health and safety in Esfahan technical and vocational training workshops and determines its role on better working life. This paper aims to clarify existing workshops strength and weaknesses and determines necessary measures to be done to provide better working life. A survey of experts and professionals was conducted based on the trichotomy model.

One of the issues and concerns of today's youth is job which is often chosen during the academic life and skill training courses regardless of one's talent, interest, desire and purpose. In many developed countries, there are special centers for career guidance and counseling adjacent to the institutions that train the students for employment. These centers have experienced advisers who rely on scientific methods and mechanisms to help the clients choose a clear path towards their future and a path that benefits their society too .This paper seeks to investigate significance of school career guidance and counseling on selection of technical and vocational education major in Shahed and other high school students, in Mazandaran Province, Iran. The method of research was descriptive- survey method. The total statistical population includes all second and third grade students of Shahed and other technical and vocational high schools in Mazandaran province (respectively 75 and 16191 people). 63 students of Shahed schools and 372 students of other high schools were selected as samples. The Student-T-test has been used for data analysis. The result of data analysis indicated that career guidance and counseling is not an effective factor for students' choice in Shahed and other high schools. Also it has been observed that there is a significant difference between the Shahed and other high schools regarding the effect of career counseling on students' choice of majors.

Study of the relationship between formal technical and vocational education (Electronics and Electro-technics majors) and market needs from industry managers' points of view (middle rank managers including; technical, production, and training managers from companies and related institutions) is the subject of this paper. Its main purpose was to determine the validity level of relationship between formal technical and vocational education (Electronics and Electro-technics majors) and the knowledge and skills needed by industry managers in the market.  In this study, descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, etc. and inferential statistics including sample T-test, were used to answer the research questions. The data collection was conducted through a researcher- made questionnaire. In general, results were as follows: in all over the Iran, the knowledge of graduated students from formal technical and vocational high schools (Electronics and Electro-technics majors) is moderate in terms of industry managers and they are not fully aware of this kind of education.

Communication development at international level has largely swept down countries’ borders. In such an environment, it is not logical to only follow the current domestic employment approach especially for providing training services for trainees in technical and vocational training centers (TVTCs). Relying on traditional teaching and knowledge-based approaches and avoiding the meta- cognitive patterns in practical and skill training are challenges that have interrupted the process for acquiring the standardized skills. Undoubtedly, skill training practices and patterns need a fundamental review and standardization. So, this standardization not only plays a key role in growing the national economy, but also provides effective international communications in the field of skill training. In this paper, to study this phenomenon objectively and deeply, the Grounded Theory was used. Research population consisted of all Tehran TVTCs’ instructors; of these, 15 people were selected purposefully from east, west and central TVTCs as sample population.  Data were collected by using deep interview among the samples. After analyzing data using open, axial and selective coding, a paradigmatic model, including; existing challenges, and applied strategies for skill training development in national and international levels, was developed.