Preparation for vocational life-skills education model implementation for school dropouts

Бесплатный доступ

Introduction. In this article, social data on adolescent school dropouts are presented alongside a discussion of efforts to improve their life skills and employability. A focus on life-skills education for dropouts living in rural areas reveals how important business skills are for improving employability. The research context and efficient activities for coping with the addressed issues are comprehensively described. Materials and Methods. A previously developed Life-Skills Education model, involving field study, needs analysis, action research and evaluation, is elaborated to facilitate the collection of data related to the dropout rate and efforts to build soft skills to facilitate employability. Grounded theories on developing employability skills for dropouts are elucidated alongside real-world endeavours to provide a clear picture of what research objectives are achievable and how they can be achieved. Two districts - in Bantul Regency and Yogyakarta Special Province, Indonesia - were selected for the study, in which two sample groups of dropouts were involved in a set of planned activities. Observation, interview, survey and documentation were the main techniques employed. Results. The obtained results allow a fresh perspective to be obtained on the number and quality of school dropouts in the researched districts, as well as potential solutions for improving their life skills. Specifically, they include the following: (1) As many as 164 identified adolescent dropouts were found to live in the researched rural areas, of which 75% were unemployed, thus requiring appropriate life-skills education. (2) Twenty trainer-tutors were selected according to specific criteria and provided with a set of developed materials of respective knowledge and skills to be taught over the course of a one-month training programme. (3) In both districts, tutors accomplished the pedagogical content knowledge based training programme had improved their knowledge, attitudes, and motivation by the average gain score of 32.30, 3.15, and 5.55 respectively. Discussion and Conclusion. This paper suggests that the study has successfully prepared the implementation of Life-Skills Education model through its applied stages and recommends that (1) continuous Life-Skills Education programmes to improve the business skills of teenage dropouts should be carried out by managing and developing the qualifications of the tutors and by providing appropriate vocational skills suitable with their needs, and (2) that the contribution of educational interventions on pedagogical content knowledge in interdisciplinary domains might be further analysed.

Еще

Model, life-skills, education, dropout, vocational education, pedagogical content knowledge

Короткий адрес: https://sciup.org/147220715

IDR: 147220715   |   DOI: 10.15507/1991-9468.096.023.201903.366-378

Текст научной статьи Preparation for vocational life-skills education model implementation for school dropouts

This research was carried out on the basis of the actual problems experienced in the southern coastal areas of Bantul Regency, Indonesia. Various indicators, which show that the quality of education has failed to significantly improve, apply particularly to remote rural areas. For example, complaints arise from the business world that graduates entering the workforce are not likely to be adequately prepared. Symptoms of junior and high school graduates are an increasing problem in rural areas due to the difficulty of finding work, while helping their parents work as farmers, traders or anything they can to earn a living.

In order to try to address this problem, this study proposes an alternative model of life-skills education for school dropouts in order to prepare themselves for entering the workforce using a synergetic approach to develop the potentialities of rural communities. Four components developed over the course of this research are: (1) selfproficiency; (2) rational thinking or cognitive skills; (3) social skills; (4) work skills.

In the literature of adolescent psychological development, the age group is classified into three parts: the group from 12 to 14 years is referred to as early adolescence, 15-17 is middle adolescence, and the one from 18 to 21 years is described as late adolescence [1]. However, this age-based categorisation should be seen primarily in terms of a basis for facilitating learning, while in reality it can be seen to consist in a continuum. Moreover, it should be kept in mind that such age-related categories tend

to change with the culture of the times. For example, young women aged 25-27 years may still be referred to as in late adolescents in the context of more rapid cultural changes than those recorded by psychologists working in the field of adolescence studies.

Adolescence comprises a developmental period that continues school age but involves different developmental problems, including physical, social, psychological, intellectual, skill-based and even religious aspects. One aspect of social development is the urge to be independent, which can be seen in terms of two main directions. The first of these is the desire to separate from one’s parents, while the second consists in the urge to associate with a peer group. These two types of movement comprise a reaction to the internal status of young people. Following the onset of puberty, a great discrepancy arises between physical maturity and social ties to the older generation. In adolescents, the desire to break away from one’s parents can be seen in terms of the desire to find oneself.

Communities are negatively affected by the large number of teenagers dropping out of school. In the first place, the school dropout phenomenon is a major cause of juvenile delinquency1. Juvenile delinquency is very detrimental to society because it leads to criminal acts. Secondly, the dropout condition adds to the number of unemployment. Unemployment is often associated with teenagers who are dragged into negative or immoral behaviours such as gambling, drunkenness, violence and so on. Thirdly, the dropout condition reduces the active participation of the teenager in advancing a region and/or region, due to resentment and feelings of inferiority on the part of adolescents. As a result, the development of an area lags very far behind, especially during an era of regional autonomy in Indonesia, when the progress of a region is seen as the responsibility of the region itself [2].

This phenomenon is explained by unemployment rates that are much higher among those who did not complete high school (12 years of education) [3]. Alternatively stated, high school graduates can increase their probability of re-employment by around 40 percentage points [4]. Attempts to curb youth unemployment, therefore, has been carried out by some countries having a similar problem. For example, the Nigerian government has tried to develop self-dependence and self-reliance through the acquisition of vocational skills since 1977 [5]. In a similar fashion, Indonesia has proposed Pendidikan Kecakapan Hidup (PKH) or Life-Skills Education (LSE) as a means of equipping high-school graduates with enterprise skills necessary for developing their financial capacity. According to Haryanto et al., schools are assumed to be the optimal means for equipping their graduates with such skills [6]. In line with this, Blazely et al. suggest that the theoretical nature of in-school learning tends to result in a failure to relate what students learn with their actual environment [7]. As a result, they might lack the knowledge and skills to cope with problems emerging in their daily lives. Since there is apparently no representative model for the appropriate implementation of LSE programmes for school dropout teenagers, this study attempted to develop such a programme for tackling specific problems experienced in rural areas of Indonesia by focusing on efforts to develop adolescents’ knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to their talents and interests. In terms of skills, this study additionally limited its focus on the four main groups of personal, cognitive, social and vocational2.

Список литературы Preparation for vocational life-skills education model implementation for school dropouts

  • Sander R.A. Adolescent Psychological, Social, and Cognitive Development. Pediatrics in Review. 2013; 34(8):354-358. Available at: https://pedsinreview.aappublications.org/content/pedsinreview/34/8/354.full.pdf (accessed 11.01.2019). (In Eng.)
  • Zeytinoglu I.U., Yilmaz G., Keser A., Inelmen K., Uygur D., Ozsoy A. Job Satisfaction, Flexible Employment and Job Security Among Turkish Service Sector Workers. Economic and Industrial Democracy. 2012; 34(1):123-144. (In Eng.) DOI: 10.1177/0143831x11434845
  • Feldstein M., Eliwood D. Teenage Unemployment: What is the problem? In: NBER Working Paper Series. Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research; 1979. No. 393. Available at: https://www.nber.org/papers/ w0393.pdf (accessed 11.01.2019). (In Eng.)
  • Riddell W.C., Song X. The Impact of Education on Umemployment Incidence and Re-Employment Success: Evidence from the U.S. Labour Market. IZA Discussion Paper No. 5572. Bonn: Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit; 2011. Available at: http://ftp.iza.org/dp5572.pdf (accessed 11.01.2019). (In Eng.)
  • Awogbenle A.C., Iwuamadi K.Ch. Youth Unemployment: Entrepreneurship Development Programme as an Intervention Mechanism. African Journal ofBusiness Management. 2010; 4(6):831-835. Available at: https:// academicjournals.org/journal/AJBM/article-full-text-pdf/841B08423424 (accessed 11.01.2019). (In Eng.)
  • Haryanto et al. Identifikasi remaja putus sekolah di Kecamatan Tepus dan Tanjungsari Gunungkidul. SIBERMAS Programme. Jakarta: The Ministry of Higher Education; 2002. (In Indonesian)
  • Henry M.L., Beeson P.M., Alexander G.E., Rapcsak S.Z. Written Language Impairments in Primary Progressive Aphasia: A Reflection of Damage to Central Semantic and Phonological Processes. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 2012; 24(2):261-275. (In Eng.)
  • DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00153
  • Monks F.J., Knoers A.M.P., Haditono S.R. Psikologi Perkembangan. Yogyakarta: Gajah Mada University Press; 2010. (In Indonesian)
  • Kartono K. Psikologi Anak (Psikologi Perkembangan). Bandung: Mandar Maju; 1990. (In Indonesian)
  • Arnett J.J. Emerging Adulthood: What Is It, and What Is It Good For? Child Development Perspectives. 2007; 1(2):68-73. (In Eng.) x
  • DOI: 10.1111/j.1750-8606.2007.00016
  • Monks F.J. Psikologi Perkembangan. Yogyakarta: Gajah Mada University Press; 1999. (In Indonesian)
  • Rubiyanto R. Metode Penelitian Pendidikan", Surakarta: FKIP-PGSD UMS. 2005. (In Indonesian)
  • Pribudhiana R. Case Study of Post-Literacy Programme in Indonesia [Electronic resource]. 2013. Available at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1079
  • Siagian R. Manajemen Sumber Daya Manusia. 7th ed. Jakarta: Bumi Aksara; 2000. (In Indonesian)
  • Haditono S.R. et al. Psikologi Perkembangan: Pengantar dalam Berbagai Bagiannya.Yogyakarta: Gajah Mada University Press; 2008. (In Indonesian)
  • Baumert J., Kunter M., Blum W., Brunner M., Voss T., Jordan A. et al. Teachers' Mathematical Knowledge, Cognitive Activation in the Classroom, and Student Progress. American Educational Research Journal. 2010; 47(1):133-180. (In Eng.)
  • DOI: 10.3102/0002831209345157
  • Miles M.B., Huberman A.M., Saldana J. Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook. 3rd ed. SAGE Publications; 2013. (In Eng.)
  • Charmaraman L., Georgia Hall. School Dropout Prevention: What Arts-Based Community and Out-of-School-Time Programmes Can Contribute. New Dir Youth Dev. 2011; 2011(S1):9-27. (In Eng.)
  • DOI: 10.1002/yd.416
  • Latif A. Economic Effects of Student Dropouts: A Comparative Study. Journal of Global Economics. 2015; 3(2):137. (In Eng.)
  • DOI: 10.4172/2375-4389.1000137
  • Suhardi D. The Summary of Statistics of Education Year 2017/2018. Jakarta: Secretary General of the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia; 2018. Available at: http://publikasi.data. kemdikbud.go.id/uploadDir/isi_FBB7E3E1-3F01-49E6-B1BC-E1DA8E608D33_.pdf (accessed 11.01.2019). (In Indonesian)
  • Doyle A. Most Important Business Skills for Workplace Success. The Balance Careers [Electronic resource]. 2019. Available at: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/business-skills-list-2062366 (accessed 11.01.2019). (In Eng.)
  • Givaudan M., Leenen I., Fons J.R., Van De Vijver, Poortinga Y.H., Pick S. Longitudinal Study of a School Based HIV/AIDS Early Prevention Programme for Mexican Adolescents. Psychology, Health & Medicine. 2005; 13(1):98-110. (In Eng.)
  • DOI: 10.1080/13548500701295256
  • Sreekumar V.N. Life Skill Education among Adolescents. International Journal of Current Research. 2016; 8(10):40787-40790. Available at: http://www.journalcra.com/sites/default/files/issue-pdf/18306.pdf (accessed 11.01.2019). (In Eng.)
  • Hillman K. Attitudes, Intentions and Participation in Education: Year 12 and Beyond [Electronic resource]. LSAY Briefing Reports. 2010; (20). Available at: https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent. cgi?article=1019
  • Kibret B.T. Life Skills Training (LST) Programme for Young People: Justifications, Foundations and Contents. International Journal of School and Cognitive Psychology. 2016; 3(1):163. (In Eng.)
  • DOI: 10.4172/2469-9837.1000163
  • Kumar P. Morality and Life Skills: The Need and Iimportance of Life Skills Education. International Journal of Advanced Education and Research. 2017; 2(4):144-148. Available at: http://www.alleducationjournal. com/archives/2017/vol2/issue4/2-4-64 (accessed 11.01.2019). (In Eng.)
  • Gorard S. Querying the Causal Role of Attitudes in Educational Attainment [Electronic resource]. International Scholarly Research Network. 2012. (In Eng.)
  • DOI: 10.5402/2012/501589
  • Kunter M., Klusmann U., Baumert J., Richter D., Voss T., Hachfeld A. Professional Competence of Teachers: Effects on Instructional Quality and Student Development. Journal of Educational Psychology. 2013; 105(3):805-820. Available at: http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1054512 (accessed 11.01.2019). (In Eng.)
  • Evens M., Elen J., Depaepe F. Developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge: Lessons Learned from Intervention Studies [Electronic resource]. Education Research International. 2015. (In Eng.)
  • DOI: 10.1155/2015/790417
Еще
Статья научная