Monika POGATSNIK
3. The impact of dual education on the development of non-cognitive skills
In our study, we analysed the impact of work-based education (dual education) on the development of non-cognitive skills among the dual BSc students of Obuda University. In our survey, we collected the students’ perceptions of their personal and social skills (timekeeping, attendance, get on with workmates, communication, understanding other people’s point of view, working with others, keeping feelings under control, etc.) (Blades, Fauth, Gibb, 2012). The participants were from different technical and IT BSc courses, they are in different years of their education from the first to the fourth year. Dual students had mainly positive views of their skills, the most commonly improved skills were communication, self-confidence and timekeeping.
3.1. Participants
Participants of our survey were dual students of various BSc courses at Obuda University Alba Regia Technical Faculty: mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, land surveying engineering, technical management, and IT engineers. Students studied in different semesters, from the first year to last year students. Four years ago, in 2015, the dual education model was launched at Obuda University, so the first dual students are in the fourth year of their university education. The total population is 126 people, representing the 23 percent of all the full-time undergraduate students at the Alba Regia Technical Faculty of Obuda University. In this research participated 51 percent of the total population, the total number of participants is 64.
Figure 3 Distribution of
respondents by gender Figure 4 Distribution of
respondents by year Figure 5 Distribution of respondents by BSc course
(male 89%, female 11%) (first year 42%, second year 17%,
third year 28%, quarterly 13%) (IT Engineering BSc 40%, Electrical Engineering BSc 27%, Mechanical Engineering BSc 17%, Engineering Management BSc 11%, Land Surveying Engineering BSc 5%)
The participants of the research were dual students at 27 different companies. Among the dual partner companies, there are multinational and Hungarian owned businesses of different sizes (big, medium or small companies), all of them operating in Szekesfehervar or its surroundings in the IT or the industry sector.
3.2. Results
Dual students have generally judged their own different skills positively. On the question of how good they are in each area, their average values for each item on the 2-5 scale ranged from 3 to 4.5.
They judged themselves the weakest in timing and in directing others. They considered themselves the best in listening and cooperating with others. (Figure 6)
6. Figure The opinion of dual students about themselves
(weak (2), average (3), good (4), excellent (5))
We asked upper-grade students about the skills they developed most during their dual practice. They had to choose the three skills, which evolved the most significantly. The most often the problem-solving skill was chosen. The second was "collaboration" and "self-confidence in professional issues". (Figure 7)
3,77
7. Figure In which area did you develop most during dual practice? (frequency of mentioning)
The recent results were compared with previous research (Pogatsnik, 2017) conducted among the dual partner companies, where 33 companies were interviewed about their intentions of their future employees. The skills most often mentioned by managers or HR specialists of the companies are included in Table 2, compared with the skills that dual students think they have developed the most. In both cases, the most often chosen elements were problem-solving skills and collaboration. On the one hand, companies consider this to be the critical soft skill for their future employees, and dual students feel that they have developed most in this area during their dual practice.
15
2. Table Skills most frequently mentioned by dual partner companies vs. the skills dual students feel having developed the most during their practical training
Dual companies Dual students
Problem-solving skills Problem-solving skills
Independent, precise work Cooperation
Collaboration, Teamwork Self-confidence in professional issues Commitment to Ethical Behavior Contact creation
Reliability Self-confidence in the workplace
We examined the average values of problem-solving skills among the dual students of each year (Figure 8). The most significant difference was between the first and second-year students, but a steady increase could be observed. Dual students of upper second-years have identified this non-cognitive skill with the highest frequency in which they feel they have developed most in dual training.
8. Figure Problem-solving skills (1-4. year dual students)
The answers were the following to the open question: “What business experience do you think helped the most to develop your problem-solving skills?”:
"I have a good mentor from whom I can learn a lot."
"I always get some minor tasks that I am responsible for."
"I participate in a project."
“I thought when I had my first independent task that I couldn't solve. But finally, I succeeded.”
"I was thrown into deep water."
"I learned a lot from the tasks entrusted to me."
3,52
4,36 4,45 4,67
0,00 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 6,00
1. 2. 3. 4.
4. Conclusion
In today's labor market, the so-called 21st-century skills are highly appreciated. To develop these non-cognitive skills, although there are many discourses, there is still very little time and energy spent in traditional schools in Hungary. Professional alternatives coming from outside the school system can be a solution to the complex development of these abilities.
Such an alternative is dual training in technical higher education.
The experience of our research confirms that dual students have developed the most in problem-solving and collaborative practice. A supportive mentor, coping with tasks from the independent real life, the so-called “deep water,” and participation in a common project are all factors that make these skills develop positively.
The research among dual students has raised the need for a more extensive, longitudinal research on a larger scale. We are now developing a toolkit for key competencies that can be used to examine the general non-vocational skills of students studying in engineering and information technology bachelor’s programmes. By extending the measurement to all the Obuda University bachelor programmes, we plan to investigate the first- and third-year students, which will provide an opportunity to examine how key competences develop during university years. For example, whether we can measure any difference among traditional and dual training students? Does the dual student's 80-week work experience provide measurable benefits for a traditional trainee student with only 6-8 weeks of work experience?
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