The Institute for Vocational Education and Training congratulates Ms. Manuela Stärk on the successful defense of her dissertation. On 18 October 2024, Ms Manuela Stärk successfully defended her dissertation entitled "Influences of professional socialization on successful study coping: An empirical study with professionally socialized students from teacher training courses in vocational and business education" was successfully defended.

Highlights of the dissertation:

• Study approach: The dissertation is based on a qualitative cross-sectional study and focuses on vocationally educated students without a general university entrance qualification in teacher training programs in vocational and business education.
• Development of a theory outline: A theory outline was developed to analyse the influences of vocational socialization on the successful study management of this group of students.
• Key findings: The study shows that normative orientations, psychosocial aspects as well as professional and personal competencies have a decisive influence on the successful study management of these students.

The empirical analysis shows that professional socialization helps these students to master academic challenges and overcome setbacks, which promotes their academic success and enables them to successfully complete their studies.

Here is a summary of the dissertation:

In the wake of demographic change, the predicted shortage of skilled workers and the emancipation efforts of vocational versus general education, increased permeability of the German education system is gaining importance. In recent decades, the permeability between vocational and higher education in Germany has been expanded at an institutional and structural level (Schmidt et al., 2021, 283 ff.). The proportion of students without a traditional higher education entrance qualification has risen (Brutzer et al., 2022, 175 ff.). Against the background of the educational schism, an insufficient fit between the existing offer structures of the universities and the individual requirements of students with previous vocational training and socialization of vocational and business education at the University of Kassel is discussed at the same time (Schmidt et al., 2021, 283 ff.). Students of the aforementioned degree programs at the University of Kassel who have previous vocational training and successfully complete their studies despite setbacks achieve similar grade point averages as students with a general higher education entrance qualification (Sonntag, 2016, 250, 254 f). Building on this, the explorative research project systematically investigates the influences of professional socialization on the successful study management of successful vocationally educated students without a general higher education entrance qualification in vocational and business education courses at the University of Kassel. The guiding question of the study was: How does the professional socialization of vocationally educated students influence their successful completion of their studies? The qualitative study deals with the experiences of vocationally educated students of vocational and business education. The episodic interview (Flick, 2011, 279; Tulving, 2002, 3 ff.; Misoch, 2019, 57) was used for this purpose. Cases were selected according to the principle of theoretical sampling (Strübing, 2004, 36) and the grounded theory methodology (Strauss & Corbin, 1996) was used abductively to analyze the data. The study results show that normative orientations (Lempert, 2009, 41; Haller, 1968, 484 ff.; Stocké, 2013, p. 269; Gottfredson, 2002, 91), psychosocial aspects (Lempert, 2009, 41; Kuhl, 1996) and professional and personal skills (Lempert, 2009, 41; BMBF, 2013, 14 f.) influence students' perceived study requirements, attitudes towards academic success and study behavior. These aspects can in turn be traced back to the professionally shaped cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1983, 1987; Wolter et.al., 2017; Dahm et al., 2018; Döppers, 2022; Kamm, 2022) of the student group. Against this background, recommendations for action are derived for the vocational and higher education sector.

Below you will find a summary of the work in English:

In the course of demographic change, the predicted shortage of skilled workers and the emancipation efforts of vocational education compared to general education, increased permeability of the German education system is gaining importance. In recent decades, the permeability between vocational and higher education in Germany has been expanded at the institutional-structural level (Schmidt et al., 2021, 283 ff.). The proportion of students without a traditional university entrance qualification has increased (Brutzer et al., 2022, 175 ff.). With this educational schism in mind, simultaneous discussions regarding the lack of alignment between the existing structural offerings of universities and the individual prerequisites of students with vocational education as well as the socialization of vocational and economic pedagogy are ongoing at the University of Kassel (Schmidt et al., 2021, 283 ff.). Students in the mentioned programs at the University of Kassel, who have vocational backgrounds and successfully complete their studies despite setbacks achieve similar grade averages as students with a general university entrance qualification (Sonntag, 2016, 250, 254 f).

Building on this, the exploratory research project constitutes a systematic examination of the influences of vocational socialization on the successful academic performance of successful students with vocational education who do not possess a general university entrance qualification in programmes within the field of vocational and economic pedagogy at the University of Kassel. The main research question of the study is: How does the vocational socialization of students with vocational education influence their successful academic performance?

The qualitative study focuses on the experiences of students with vocational education in vocational and economic pedagogy. To do this, the episodic interview method was used (Flick, 2011, 279; Tulving, 2002, 3 ff.; Misoch, 2019, 57). The case selection was based on the principle of theoretical sampling (Strübing, 2004, 36), and the data analysis utilized the grounded theory methodology in an abductive manner (Strauss & Corbin, 1996).

The study results indicate that normative orientations (Lempert, 2009, 41; Haller, 1968, 484 ff.; Stocké, 2013, 269; Gottfredson, 2002, 91), psychosocial aspects (Lempert, 2009, 41; Kuhl, 1996), as well as professional and personal competencies (Lempert 2009, 41; BMBF 2013, 14 f.) influence the perceived academic demands, attitudes toward academic success and academic behaviors of the students. These aspects can in turn be attributed to the vocational character of this student group's cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1983, 1987; Wolter et al., 2017; Dahm et al., 2018; Döppers, 2022; Kamm, 2022). Against this background, recommendations for action are derived for both the vocational and higher education sectors.