If teachers and teacher educators are willing to support the learning of students, it is important for them to learn what motivates students to engage in learning. Students have their own preferences on design characteristics of powerful learning environments in vocational education. We developed an instrument - the Inventory Powerful Learning Environments in Vocational Education - to measure students’ preferences on characteristics of powerful learning environments in vocational education. We investigated whether student preferences on the design of their learning environments are in line with what is described in the literature as beneficial for learning. Data of 544 students show that the preferences of students support most characteristics of PLEs in vocational education. Looking through the eyes of students, teachers have to challenge their students and encourage them to take their learning in their own hands. Adaptive learning support is needed. Remarkable, students do not prefer having reflective dialogues with teachers or peers.
Students' educational engagement is both an important predictor of study success and a key preventive factor for dropout. Vocational tracks in secondary education show high dropout rates. There is strong evidence that the solution to educational disengagement lies in student-centred, powerful learning environments (PLEs). This study investigates characteristics of PLEs from the perspective of students in vocational secondary education. Students' perspectives on a learning environment are crucial for their satisfaction and learning engagement. Therefore, we investigated whether the perceived learning environment meets the requirements of PLEs, and to what extent it meets students' preferences. Additionally, it was investigated whether students who perceive their learning environment as more powerful, are also more engaged for school. Survey data of 532 students showed that student perceptions of their current learning environment were largely discrepant from the characteristics of PLEs. Students strongly asked for more challenging learning pathways, in combination with adaptive learning support. Students who perceived the characteristics of PLEs as being present, reported higher satisfaction and stronger engagement than students who perceived their education to be a less powerful environment. There is a need to redesign curricula in vocational education in such a way that these more intensely implement characteristics of PLEs. Every student has the right to succeed in education. This is a challenge, especially for vocational students in Europe, as shown by the current high dropout rates (Lamb et al. 2011). In Flanders more than one fifth of students in vocational education leave school without a qualification (Van Landeghem and Van Damme 2011). Students' educational engagement is both an important predictor of study success and a key preventive factor. Engagement has been shown to predict student achievement and school dropout (Finn, Pannozzo, and Voelkl 1995; Klem and Connell 2004). While it is affected by social background, it is also strongly influenced by school-related factors, including pedagogy and curriculum (
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