Student engagement profiles in vocational education and training: a longitudinal study

ABSTRACT

This study aims to explore how student engagement evolves during vocational education and training. A qualitative longitudinal study was carried out; 12 students were interviewed once a year during their three-year education. A qualitative content analysis was performed and three different student engagement profiles were identified. The findings highlight that student engagement is supported by interest and enthusiasm for the curriculum, strong connectedness to other students, and suitable ways to learn and study. However, one of the key findings of this study is that not all adolescents have a strong passion for their field of study. Many reported that there was nothing else interesting to study and that they were hoping for their field to become more interesting. In addition, the results indicate that connectedness and students’ emotional experience of education powerfully shape their view of their overall educational experience.

KEYWORDS:

• Student engagement
• vocational education and training (VET)
• professional growth
• qualitative longitudinal study

Introduction

According to extensive and long-standing research, student engagement has a pivotal influence on educational and occupational outcomes. It is positively connected with desirable learning outcomes, such as critical thinking and grades (Carini, Kuh, and Klein 2006) and learner self-concept (Abbott-Chapman et al. 2014). Student engagement is also associated with lower dropout rates (Archambault et al. 2009). Kuh (2009) notes that student engagement increases the odds that a student, regardless of their background, will attain their educational objectives. Macfarlane and Tomlinson (2017) observe that the vast majority of published engagement literature is concerned with effectiveness and stems from concern about student completion rates and achievement levels. In the present study, instead of linking engagement with concern about completion or dropout rates, the focus is on the process of student engagement and professional growth, that is, the broader aims of vocational education and training (VET). According to the Finnish Act on Vocational Education (2017), the aims of VET focus on developing students’ professional skills and the skills required for working life. In addition, students should be equipped with the knowledge and skills needed for personal development and participation in further education. Kuh (2009) reminds us that in addition to better grades, student engagement supports students in acquiring the skills and competencies demanded by the challenges of the 21st century.

Engagement studies have been criticised for a lack of the longitudinal perspective and inadequate exploration of the evolution of engagement (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris 2004; Macfarlane and Tomlinson 2017). Moreover, the focus of engagement studies seems to be more on institutions than on individual students (Macfarlane and Tomlinson 2017). Indeed, Jonasson (2012) observes that there is a need for more research on student engagement in actual school settings, with a focus on the different voices of various actors, and Nielsen (2016) highlights that student engagement is closely related to contextual settings in students’ everyday lives outside the school. Elffers, Oort, and Karsten (2012) argued that despite the vast amount of research on student engagement, attention did not extend to the vocational sector until recently. The present study examines the student engagement of vocational students during their three-year period of education. The data consist of students’ interviews conducted once a year for three academic years. A qualitative longitudinal research design made it possible to view engagement as a durational process. The purpose of the study is to describe how the student engagement of vocational students develops during VET. The focus of the study is first and foremost on student engagement but when it comes to vocational students, the evolution of student engagement is intertwined with their professional growth. Thus, the study also attempts to delineate the relationship between student engagement and professional growth among vocational students, which has not been the subject of research attention before. With the aim of obtaining an understanding of students’ perspectives on student engagement, the study addresses the following research questions:

1. What kind of factors influence vocational students’ engagement in studies?

2. How do graduate vocational students describe their studies in terms of student engagement and professional growth?

Student engagement

According to Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris (2004), student engagement can be considered a multidimensional construct that unites three components: behavioural, cognitive, and emotional. Behavioural engagement refers to participation and involvement in academic and social activities. Alterations in this dimension can predict dropout (Archambault et al. 2009). Emotional engagement encompasses reactions to teachers and classmates, and cognitive engagement involves the effort to comprehend complex ideas and master difficult skills (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris 2004). Jonasson (2012) points out that the above-mentioned standpoint highlights the individual aspects of student engagement. Thus, current studies emphasise the more dynamic, contextualised, and collective aspects of student engagement (Buskist and Groccia 2018; Lawson and Lawson 2013).

In this paper, we apply a framework for student engagement presented by Kahu and Nelson (2018). The framework recognises the three components of engagement but also views student engagement as embedded within a socio-cultural context and influenced by characteristics of both the student and the institution (see also Kahu 2013). Kahu and Nelson (2018) examine student engagement as an active process within an educational interface. In this interface, the student is in a set of relationships with multiple educational settings, and the student experience is influenced by four psychosocial mechanisms: academic self-efficacy, emotions, belonging, and well-being. Academic self-efficacy refers to students’ belief in their capacity to perform given tasks (see also Schunk and Pajares 2004) and is a result of a subjective appraisal of the situation (Kahu and Nelson 2018). Belonging relates to students’ connectedness to the institution, staff, and other students (see also Thomas 2012). Well-being is treated as a relative state on a continuum, measured against stress (Kahu and Nelson 2018). Emotions are situated and dynamic and result from a subjective appraisal of the situation (see also Fredrickson and Cohn 2008). These mechanisms are thought to explain differences between students. Furthermore, the framework defines the immediate (e.g. knowledge and skills) and long-term outcomes (e.g. retention and work success) of student engagement.

One reason for the ongoing interest in student engagement is that it is more responsive to environmental change than are other factors, such as student background (Abbott-Chapman et al. 2014; Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris 2004). However, there are no specific instructional strategies that automatically increase student engagement (Bender 2017). In fact, Payne (2019) reports that some strategies may influence individuals in different ways. For example, group work may support the engagement of some students while hindering that of others. Nevertheless, Bender (2017) encourages teachers to replace lectures with differentiated lessons, to trust students to learn from each other, and, if possible, to invite students to plan and prepare learning activities. Boulton et al. (2019) observe that students who are engaged with learning tend to be engaged across a wide range of learning activities. Supportive and high-quality relationships with teachers help to support adolescents’ need for relatedness and positively influence student engagement (Fredricks et al. 2019; Payne 2019). Students with good teacher relationships ask more questions and obtain more feedback, reducing the workload and thus increasing student engagement (Xerri, Radford, and Shacklock 2018). Hegarty and Thompson (2019) conclude that many of the factors influencing engagement rely on the active presence of a teacher, which means facilitating engaging learning experiences and encouraging interactions.

In addition, the relationships with peers and the extent to which adolescents feel included and accepted by their classmates are important (Fredricks et al. 2019). According to Gillen-O’Neel (2019), students who have a higher sense of belonging tend to also have higher emotional and behavioural engagement. In the VET context, a good relationship with classmates is especially important for younger students and students with less-educated parents. However, vocational students do not only connect with peers and teachers but also with the educational programme and their future occupation. (Elffers, Oort, and Karsten 2012.)

Professional growth

Contemporary working life requires employees to sustain their employability throughout their career (Billett and Choy 2013). This begins with processes that initially develop during their education (e.g. Aarto-Pesonen and Tynjälä 2017) but which need to be subsequently maintained during working life to respond to the emerging challenges of work (Billett and Choy 2013). Loogma (2009) states that the development of skills and competencies is a continuous process that enables the growth and accumulation of work-related experiences and capabilities. According to Clarke and Hollingsworth (2002), change in employees’ beliefs, knowledge, and practices is mediated by either enaction or reflection. Enaction refers to the putting into action of a new idea or belief, while reflection refers to a person’s active, persistent, and careful consideration of occupation-related ideas or events. The stimulus for change can be provided by an external source, such as an educational programme, or it can result from work-related experimentation and reflection on its consequences. Thus, professional growth refers to changes in beliefs, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour (Schipper et al. 2017).

Aarto-Pesonen and Tynjälä (2017) present a substantive theory of the professional growth process of physical education student teachers, which is characterised by strong emotional aspects. Emotions can either promote development and stimulate changes or, in cases of discomfort, confusion, or irritation, hinder renewed thinking. Aarto-Pesonen and Tynjälä (2017) highlight the importance of collaboration, networking, and opportunities to active participation, while Strahan (2016) suggests that professional growth depends on the interpersonal dynamics of collaboration among participants, underlining the importance of a climate of trust. He contends that professional growth occurs more productively when participants work together; collegiality and conversations accelerate and deepen professional growth.

Continuous development and the updating of skills are especially important for young people who complete VET (usually before the age of 20) and thus presumably have a career full of changes ahead of them. According to Niemi and Rosvall (2013), VET students are aware of the changes in working life and the high requirements for future employees. In their study, students expressed anxiety about having insufficient knowledge and not getting a job with mainly practical tasks.

Vocational education institutions as a study context

Compulsory education in Finland lasts 10 years. It starts at the age of 6 and ends at the age of 15. (EDUFI (Finnish National Agency for Education) 2018) At that point, one can choose either VET or general upper secondary education. VET is a popular choice in Finland because a vocational qualification provides general eligibility for studies in higher education. Around half of students completing their compulsory education continue to VET and half to general upper secondary education. (EDUFI 2019; MINEDU (Ministry of Education and Culture) 2019.) VET usually comprises both theoretical learning in a vocational institution and studying at workplaces (EDUFI 2019). The dropout rate is fairly low; according to Official Statistics of Finland (2018), 9% of students in vocational education aimed at young people discontinue their education. After completing the initial vocational qualifications, at the EQF 4 level, graduates may enrol in higher education or enter the labour market. There is also the possibility of obtaining further and specialist vocational qualifications. (Cedefob 2020.)

VET in Finland is not aimed only at young people. It is also aimed at those without a vocational qualification and who are already working. Thus, the latest reform, in 2018, aimed to increase individual learning pathways and flexibility and to improve the efficiency of the VET system. In this reform, the funding system of VET institutions changed. Under the new system, the focus of funding is on completed units and qualifications, employment or placement in further studies after the education, and the feedback collected from both students and the labour market (MINEDU 2019.) The reform was implemented when the students taking part in this study were in the middle of completing their studies.

The participants in this research were studying in either business and administration (seven students) or social studies and welfare sectors (five students), and they had just recently completed their compulsory education. These sectors are among the biggest VET sectors in Finland. They were chosen for the quantitative part of the original study; the data of this article come from a larger study of VET in Finland. The aim of this study was not to compare different sectors but to obtain participants from various fields.

Data collection and analysis

The data of this article come from a larger longitudinal study, as noted above. Qualitative and quantitative methods have been used to explore the engagement of vocational students. A survey was conducted in order to examine students’ certainty about their career choices, how they experienced the social environment in VET, and the relationship of these factors to student engagement (see Niittylahti, Annala, and Mäkinen 2019). A qualitative longitudinal research strategy was used to follow students from the beginning until the end of their education. In the survey, the students had the opportunity to indicate whether they would be willing to participate in the interviews; if so, they were asked to provide contact information. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with participants once a year during their three-year education. Students selected for interviews were male and female, and according to the initial survey, the certainty of their vocational selection varied at the beginning of education. At the beginning of the interviews, students taking part in the study were 16 or 17 years old. Those studying at the campus site where the first author works were excluded from the interviews. There were originally 17 students, but 5 declined the invitation to participate in the interviews in the third year. The loss of participants may have diminished the breadth and depth of the data. However, it was still possible to identify different profiles and changes in student engagement that occurred over time. Thus, the interviews with the 12 students provided adequate data for this study.

The study was conducted throughout according to the ethical principles of research in Finland (Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK 2019). Written consent was obtained from the students’ parents and the institution; the consenting VET institutions assisted in sending information about the study to students’ homes prior the study. Students and their families were informed of the study’s requirements, the treatment of the information provided, and their right to withdraw at any time (Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK 2019). The students were able to familiarise themselves with the themes of the interviews beforehand, and a written informed consent was received from all participants. From the beginning, the possibility of long-term commitment was discussed. At the end of each interview, the students were asked if they could be contacted the next year. Neale (2013) notes that sustaining confidentiality is important, because the risk of disclosure can magnify over time. In this study, the use of data was discussed with participants each year.

Interviews, which lasted between 20 and 60 minutes, were audio-recorded and later transcribed. Each interview began with a question: ‘Would you tell me about your year in this school?’ The purpose of this was to indicate that there were no right or wrong answers expected and that the students’ own opinions and experiences were valued. The interview themes concerned career choices, students’ perceptions of studying in VET, support received in and outside school, and future plans. The second- and the third-year interviews gave the students an opportunity to look back and talk about something they might not have wanted to discuss the previous year or had not yet identified. Students were, for example, asked what would have made their first year easier or what they would like to say to students who were starting their studies at the same institution.

A qualitative content analysis was performed. After data collection, the interviews were transcribed and managed with the qualitative data software program Atlas.ti. First, the interviews were coded using the conceptual framework of student engagement presented by Kahu and Nelson (2018). In the framework, students’ experience of various educational settings is influenced by four psychosocial mechanisms: academic self-efficacy, belonging, well-being, and emotions. These four concepts were used as a coding frame. They naturally overlap, and several codes were attached to one section of the data. In Table 1 we clarify and give examples of our coding.

Table 1. Examples of coding of the four psychosocial mechanisms influencing student engagement.

Code	Examples of the section of the data that was attached to the code
Academic self-efficacy	Positive	‘I learn more by doing. So maybe the best thing here is that I can study with my computer at my own pace. I have found a suitable way to study and here it is easy to abide.’ (Linda)
	Negative	‘Now I am doing my on-the-job learning period in an accounting firm and I am supposed to work with people’s salaries. And, I have to say that I don’t know anything about it. We have had poor teaching, or no teaching at all about it.’ (Ellen)
Belonging	Positive	‘Other students are really nice here, and the staff takes good care of us. You don’t have to know all people here to feel safe. You don’t have to be afraid that some would give you the bad eye. I think that there is a good spirit in the entire school.’ (Hanna)
	Negative	‘It is so annoying that we have people in the class who don’t know how to keep their mouth shut. They just make noise. I left in the middle of the last lesson because I was so irritated. There was such a brawl, I got distressed, so I just scrammed.’ (Sofia)
Well-being	Positive	‘This has been a more relaxed year compared to the first or second study year. We got to choose specialisation according to our interests, and now this has been super interesting. We have made lots of group work and so on. It’s been more relaxed.’ (Mia)
	Negative well-being, stress	‘I was so tired and angry all the time. I was nearly crashing. I came home from school and wasn’t able to do anything. All I could do was cry and shout.’ (Kristina)
Emotions	Positive	‘It’s nice here and feels like time is flying.’ (Hanna)
	Negative	‘Occasionally I miss some variation. It’s boring to just listen teachers talk. I get, like, annoyed with the teacher’s voice, and then I just don’t feel so good.’ (Kristina)

The framework (Kahu and Nelson 2018) also defines the immediate and long-term outcomes of student engagement. Immediate academic outcomes are knowledge, skills, and attitudes, while social outcomes are satisfaction, pride, and well-being. Long-term academic outcomes are retention, work success, and lifelong learning, and social outcomes are citizenship and personal growth. These concepts were also used in the coding. Hsieh and Shannon (2005) argue that the use of an existing theoretical framework in directed qualitative content analysis can help the researcher to focus on the research question. In addition, it provides predictions about the key concepts of interest or about the relationships among them. As the analysis proceeds, additional codes can be developed. In this case, there was no need for new codes, and thus the data supported the framework of Kahu and Nelson (2018). Second, the interviews were analysed as serial interviews with individual students to identify how student engagement and professional growth evolved over time. This allowed us to consider the way in which students described their study year in VET and how that description changed over time. Third, comparing across and within these data sets highlighted the similarities and differences in the students’ perspectives; that is, how students presented concerns about their well-being or belonging to the study community, how they talked about gaining knowledge and skills during their education, and the factors supporting or hindering their engagement and professional growth. As the analysis progressed, additional frames were allowed to emerge (see Hsieh and Shannon 2005); the comparison made it possible to identify three different profiles of student engagement: immediate, nascent, and indeterminate. Finally, the profiles were considered in relation to the entire data set to ensure their compatibility.

Findings

There were some similarities across the data. All students showed signs of the long-term outcomes of engagement in terms of retention and completion of VET. They all stated that they preferred ‘learning by doing’. Here, learning by doing does not seem to mean actually making something with one’s hands, as in baking, for example, but refers to being active in the learning process, as in group activities. Every student staid that their family supported their studying, and they received help with school work and practical aid (e.g. transportation). Most of them also recognised the need to study, even if they were not sure about their chosen field. They said that staying at home was not an option. Despite these similarities, three different kinds of engagement profile were identified and are presented below. When using quotations to exemplify the findings, we use pseudonyms and a number indicating the study year of the interview (e.g. Hanna, year 1).

Immediate engagement profile

Two students showed immediate engagement at the start of their studies. In their first-year interviews, they expressed strong emotional engagement, interest, and enthusiasm. An example of this can be seen in the following quote:

Well, the good thing about this place is that there are a lot of friends here. Plus, the food is good, and it is quite flexible here. We have these field assignments. I like it when it’s a bit more relaxed … that it is not just lessons all the time, that you don’t have to attend the class all the time. You don’t have to just sit and stare at the board and listen; you can do something by yourself. For example, group work is really nice …

Well, for example, the trade services, sales and customer relationship management, with this one teacher, is just what I like. There are these field assignments, they’re just the kind of stuff I know, a lot of work and entrepreneurship-related stuff. I want to become an entrepreneur someday, so this place feels right. (Oliver, year 1)

As can be seen in the quote, immediately engaged students had a strong sense of being in the right field of study and were planning to either study further or work in the same field after graduation. They felt connected to teachers and especially to other students. They had high self-efficacy and the way of studying suited them well. Gillen-O’Neel (2019) reports that a sense of belonging is associated with higher academic self-efficacy. Both the students in this study exhibited the social outcomes of engagement of satisfaction and well-being when stating that they enjoyed the possibility of studying in more diverse and relaxed ways instead of just sitting silently and listening in the class. From the start, they were able to begin their professional growth in a climate of trust. Both felt that studying was not too demanding; they had time and energy for hobbies and friends after school. Nonetheless, in the second-year interview, one reported that he had started skipping school during the first year, showing signs of an alteration in behavioural engagement. At first it was for some lessons, but then somehow increased. When he failed to pass a study course, he decided to shape up and quit skipping. He realised that ‘by being present in the lesson, you learn. That’s the way here.’ (Oliver, year 2). Otherwise, both said that the second year was pretty much the same as the first one. They had a strong sense of belonging, and their emotional engagement was strong. Moreover, they both were focused on the future and graduation. Both these students found the third year especially interesting and more demanding, and they both expressed greater behavioural engagement in terms of time, effort, and participation. An example of this can be seen in the following quote:

I have, I really feel, that I have grown up. I am more educated than before. This could be affected by the fact that I have been with entrepreneurs a lot, and with them you have to behave appropriately. I have changed as a student. I do long hours, sometimes ten-hour school days, because now I study and soon will work with what I really want to do. So, I am willing to work for it. I have become more diligent. But that’s just because I get to do what I really want. (Simon, year 3)

These students manifested the academic outcomes of engagement in the form of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they acquired during the final year of education. They both spoke about professional growth and the requirements of their future profession and assessed their own skills and suitability for the field. Chan (2019) suggests that the ability to identify and articulate one’s strengths and weaknesses during education is indicative of developing a passion for one’s vocation. Both these students were about to graduate at the time of the third interview, and they each had a job. They exhibited the social outcomes of engagement when stating that their education had been useful and had prepared them well for their future working lives. Specifically, both stated that they were ready for the responsibilities of work and working life. One highlighted that he appreciated the wide-ranging education and training and the chance to see different types of workplace.

Nascent profile

For seven students, it took between several months and nearly a full study year to experience an alignment between student and institutional factors. One student reflected thus at the end of the first year:

At first, I was not sure if this was my thing, and I thought about it. There were moments when it was nice to study, when it was a bit more relaxed, but then I wondered if I really wanted to do this, when studying was actually boring. Well, studying isn’t always just fun. But then we started the on-the-job training period, and I really started to do what I am going to do after graduation and I was like, uh, this is what I really want. (Susanne, year 1)

For five of the participants, VET was more demanding than they had expected, resulting in doubts about their self-efficacy. Students said that the school days were too long and too full of subject matter. The pace felt fast. Many said that they learned best by doing but that the beginning of their studies had been mainly eight hours of lectures. They explained that when they were just sitting in the class and listening the whole day; they could not concentrate that long. Fix et al. (2019) emphasise that, for successful learning, it is important to adapt the learning activities and content to individual student needs. Moreover, some students said that they had doubts about their field of study and thus experienced elevated distress due to this mismatch. Xerri, Radford, and Shacklock (2018) argue that having a clear reason for education affects students’ perception of workload and engagement. One student said that on some days she was too tired to do anything after school, and some mornings she was too tired to wake up and come to school. According to the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (2019), 8% of vocational students suffer from school fatigue, which develops as a result of the constant stress associated with schoolwork. However, all five of the students expressed a strong connectedness to other students and friends. They stated that friends were a major reason for them to continue on their educational path. Some stated that they had no other study alternatives. This indicates that their professional growth had not yet fully started.

Two students had doubts only about their field of study. Max considered changing his field of study, while Linda said she did not have any other study options. Nonetheless, they both indicated that the way of studying suited them well. They both had the option of studying in diverse ways: some theory lectures, some group work, some presentations, some independent work by computer. Max quickly made friends in his new school and felt that there were many like-minded students at the VET institution. He said he found the motivation to study again after having felt less motivated in compulsory education. All this made him feel strongly connected, and because of this sense of belonging, he decided to stay. Linda had difficulty finding any good friends due to class changes and said that the early period was mentally and emotionally stressful. At the time of the first interview, however, she had a good friend in her class and said that she found it more comfortable to study when she was surrounded by people who shared the same specific interest.

The second-year interviews revealed differences compared to the previous, immediate engagement profile group: All seven nascent profile students stated that their study skills had improved, indicating cognitive engagement, and that their self-efficacy had increased. Many of them stated that their stress levels were lower, that they felt that studying was more coherent, and that they could now trust that they would learn the things required at the required time. They also stated that they gave more time and effort to studying, thus demonstrating elevated behavioural engagement. Many of them found the curriculum to be more interesting during the second year. All stated that their motivation to study had improved. All students expressed strong connectedness to other students and friends but also to their chosen occupation. Most of them were focused on the future and graduation. Six of them spoke about professional growth, understanding the requirements of the profession and assessing their own skills and features in relation to their future occupation and working life. Aarto-Pesonen and Tynjälä (2017) report that empowerment, as an experience of increased capacity, increases students’ understanding of professionalism and activates learning.

At the end of the third year, two of these students had applied to University of Applied Sciences to continue their studies and five were working or had a job waiting for them after graduation. They all reported that they had learned a great deal, both in school and about themselves. One student described the journey as follows:

I grew so much. I notice the difference in me. When I started here, I was a young, rebellious person. I wanted to be here, but I wasn’t that interested all the time. I thought they were rambling on, that I already knew those things. The second year, I started to think that I would have to study and that studying here was actually okay, nice. And in the third year I realised I was very lucky because I studied and learned. So, I grew, matured, and really wanted to learn more. I mean, when I started, I wanted to complete these studies, but I wasn’t ready to do anything that wasn’t obligatory. And then I started to realise that if I do these things, my life gets easier. I mean, I was able to think about more than just me, such as the class climate and so on. (Hanna, year 3).

Many stated that the wide-ranging education and training had helped them to define their own topic of interest and had prepared them well for the future. Three of them also brought up long-term outcomes of engagement by acknowledging the need for lifelong learning in their chosen occupation. This represents a favourable continuation of professional growth. For these students, their overall perception of the education in the VET institution was positive, and they felt that the education had been important and significant for them.

Indeterminate engagement profile

Three students were engaged enough to complete their education but struggled the whole time to experience an alignment between student and institutional factors. This caused them to express stress and emotions like disappointment, frustration, and annoyance throughout their education. Below are extracts from one student’s interviews from all three years:

Interviewer:

Would you tell me about your first year in this school?

Laura (year 1):

Well I am a bit disappointed by this place. Things don’t work so well here, and the teaching is futile sometimes. For example, those lessons we have right now, they are useless; we don’t really need them.

Interviewer:

What would you say about studying here to someone who has never been here; for example, to a ninth-grader?

Laura (year 2):

I’d say that if you want something a bit more demanding, don’t come here. If you want to have some challenges, go somewhere else. But if you want an easy school, then come here.

Interviewer:

Did your studies prepare you for working life?

Laura (year 3):

I don’t know. I learn better at work than in school. I don’t know, maybe not. No, they didn’t. They could have prepared and instructed us more before we entered working life.

Laura expressed disappointment and frustration in the first interview because of the way the education was planned. Furthermore, she said that some teachers were incompetent and overall that the teaching did not inspire her. Occasionally, she left school in the middle of the day. She tried to change her field of study, but she discovered that some of the topics in the curriculum were interesting and so decided to stay. She had strong self-efficacy and planned to continue her studies after completing VET. Her membership of a group of friends was built through sharing frustration, thus indicating that not all connectedness increases student engagement. In the second year, she stated that teaching had improved but that she still thought it was largely useless, and she continued to skip some lessons. In this regard, Placklé et al. (2018) report that students who experience their VET environment as less powerful in terms of learning show low satisfaction with their education. During the second year, however, Laura had more on-the-job learning, which she preferred. She wanted to study more quickly and to complete her education in two years instead of three, but that was not possible in her institution at that time. At the time of the third interview, she had graduated and was working. She had sent her application to the University of Applied Sciences to continue her studies, as she had planned three years earlier. She stated that her grades were good. When looking back, she thought that she had regressed because of the low demands of the vocational institution. Overall, she felt that education had not prepared her well to enter working life.

Another student, Sofia, expressed some disappointment and annoyance in the first interview because of the way the education was planned and the long school days. There had also been some changes to her class and teachers. She had some difficulty making good friends in her class, and it was uncomfortable for her to study in a noisy class. She felt that some lessons were useless, and she struggled with some academic aspects of the curriculum, but she enjoyed the on-the-job learning period. Sofia said in the second year that her study skills had improved and that she participated more actively in lessons, thus expressing behavioural engagement. She also said that she had doubts about her self-efficacy during the first year, which had caused her stress. Furthermore, she did not express emotional connectedness to the institution or other students, and she said that her motivation to study was lower than in the first year. The third year was somewhat more stressful for Sofia and the study load of the final year surprised her. At the time of the third interview, she was in her final on-the-job learning period. When looking back, she felt deceived because ‘nothing worked at school and there was never quiet enough in the class to study’. She felt that the education could have been completed in two years. In addition, she said that some of the theory lessons had been pointless and she did not see any positive side to the extent of her education. In this regard, Jonasson (2012) notes that if vocational students participate in, from their perspective, irrelevant learning activities, it may lead to general dissatisfaction and a negative view of the educational programme.

A third student, Ellen, said that during the first year, her motivation to study declined and that she had continued to study because she had no other option. She had no close friends in her class, and she had some doubts about the field of study. Sometimes, she left school in the middle of the day because she just could not keep it up. However, she said that the method of studying suited her well, that her teachers were supportive, and that she tried to help and support a peer who occasionally did not complete her assignments. In the second year, Ellen said, studying was more interesting, which indicates increased emotional engagement. She also felt that her study skills and her self-efficacy had improved. She stayed in school more frequently, indicating growing behavioural engagement. Nevertheless, the third study year was difficult, and the on-the-job learning periods were demanding for her. She found the gap between theory education in school and actual complex assignments at work confusing. In this regard, Kilbrink et al. (2018) highlight that one of the most important issues in VET is the problem students experience in bridging the gap and transferring their learning between the two learning environments. When looking back, Ellen felt that she had not studied much during her whole education. While she had gained some basic knowledge to enter working life, she did not feel comfortable if the work was considered responsible. Both Sofia and Ellen stated in the first-year interviews that they wanted to complete their education and enter working life, and at the end of their education they were trying to find a job and integrate into society. Both stated that their study skills improved during their education. Neither one felt a strong connectedness to the institution or other students.

In the indeterminate engagement profile, in terms of engagement, interest and enthusiasm with the curriculum were limited throughout the education. Positive social outcomes of engagement and professional growth were also scarce. In accordance with the previous research of Aarto-Pesonen and Tynjälä (2017), emotions like discomfort, confusion, and irritation hindered renewed thinking and thus limited professional growth.

Discussion and conclusion

This study examines how the student engagement of vocational students develops during VET. We identified three different profiles of student engagement: immediate, nascent, and indeterminate. First, we were interested in the kinds of factors that influence student engagement. The immediate engagement profile students reported that interest and enthusiasm for the curriculum, a strong connectedness to other students, and a suitable way of learning and studying were factors supporting engagement. Along with high self-efficacy, the institutional and student factors aligned, resulting in student engagement and thus supporting the framework of Kahu and Nelson (2018). However, one of the key findings of this study is that not all adolescents have a strong passion for their field of study. Many indicated that there was nothing else interesting to study and that they were more or less waiting for the first year to ignite their interest in the field. This is in line with the previous research by Chan (2019), according to whom apprentices entered the vocational field of baking at random but developed a strong attachment to their occupational identity. The results of this study indicate that having friends in school, a suitable learning pace, variation in teaching methods and learning activities, development of learning skills, and the ‘opening up’ of the field were the elements that supported study and eventually increased interest in the field. In the indeterminate engagement profile, interest in and enthusiasm for the curriculum was low throughout the entire education period, which emphasises the importance of career counselling. According to Kipponen and Annala (2016), university students in Finland feel pressure from both their own families and society to graduate quickly. This was not reported by vocational students in this study, however.

The nascent profile highlights the importance of pedagogical decisions during the first year in VET. Students’ experience of days filled with lectures highlights the fact that there is a need for more diverse, engaging teaching methods and that they should be used from the very beginning of study. Moreover, students’ reports of long days and an overwhelming amount of new information highlights the organisation’s responsibility for student engagement. The results support the perception that a teacher alone cannot engage students (Lawson and Lawson 2013); rather, all members of the school community share the responsibility to see that students have the opportunity to become engaged in their studies (Buskist and Groccia 2018).

The indeterminate engagement profile provided an interesting insight into our second research question regarding the way in which graduate students describe their studies, in terms of student engagement and professional growth. These students expressed stress and emotions like disappointment and frustration throughout their education and complained of limited professional growth at the end. None of them felt well prepared to enter the world of work at the end of their education. These findings indicate that the aims of VET, such as the development of skills required in working life, were only narrowly achieved. The findings of this study indicate that we should increase individual learning pathways and flexibility to help more students to be prepared to enter the world of work. Individual pathways were one of the aims of the latest VET reform in Finland, and the results remain to be seen.

Students in the indeterminate engagement profile expressed limited emotional connectedness to the educational institution, and some of them had no close friends in their class. In previous research, student–student relationships have been found to be significant in improving student engagement (Fix et al. 2019; Xerri, Radford, and Shacklock 2018). The results of this study underline the importance of supporting peer relationships and working together in classrooms. It seems that sometimes friends are the main reason for staying in school, and engagement with vocational studies develops later. In addition, our results indicate that a sense of belonging and students’ emotional experience of education powerfully shape their view of the whole educational experience. This is in line with the previous research of Elffers, Oort, and Karsten (2012) and poses an interesting question for further research: How do we provide individual learning pathways and at the same time support emotional connectedness to the institution and between students?

The longitudinal research design provided an opportunity to see the development of student engagement, which would have been impossible to detect from a single interview. The profile perspective adds to our understanding of student engagement the notion of the slow development of engagement. Engagement can be somewhat tentative during the first year of vocational education but it can evolve afterwards. The student engagement framework of Kahu and Nelson (2018) provided an applicable method for examining the student experience and perspective. The nascent profile suggests that all four mediating mechanisms of the framework are crucial aspects of engagement and that they all should be met before engagement can proceed. Nevertheless, the framework could benefit from further definition of the four mediating mechanisms because of the notable overlapping of the concepts. Further research on the relationship between student engagement and professional growth is also necessary, especially in the VET sector.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.