The IPOO model offers an approach for Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) activities of work-based learning (WBL). Previous posts of this blog have explored the first three dimensions of the model: Input, Process, and Output. Time to lay eyes on the one that is still missing yet equally important: Outcome.
Outcome comprises the medium and long-term effects achieved through the utilization of the output. What was output again, in this context? Right, basically the competences and qualifications learners achieve and what they contribute to business processes through WBL programmes. Based on that, the M&E of the outcome dimension goes a bit further and deals with employment and educational effects of WBL programmes.
Let’s start with employment effects, which describe the employability or well the labour market performance of the learners. M&E activities would here focus on whether – right after completing the WBL programme – graduates had a smooth transition into work life or a rather difficult start. Possible M&E indicators are the employment rate and/or the average length of the job-seeking period. In monitoring, one may at this point also look at the proportion of students staying in the company where they were trained. In terms of evaluation, one may look for answers to the following questions: Do students of WBL programmes perform better or worse on the labour market than students from regular school-based VET? Why? Are WBL programmes actually offered for the right profiles, or should there be some adjustment? In a long-term perspective, the career development concerning salary and/or hierarchy level might also be of interest.
The educational effects have a different focus: the lifelong learning of WBL programme graduates. At the one hand, it is in the interest of M&E to check whether the qualifications acquired in WBL programmes are formally recognised. Do they, for example, grant access to further learning opportunities? At the other hand, M&E may examine to what extent WBL programmes provide participants with relevant skills for further learning: Do WBL students acquire competences that help them, in the long run, flourish within the education system?
Data on the performance of VET graduates in the labour market may already be available through official statistics, e.g. from employment agencies, but more often than not, especially when it comes to the monitoring and evaluation of programmes at the institutional level, these data will have to be collected first. The main instrument for doing so is tracer studies. A tracer study, alternatively referred to as ‘graduate survey’, can be defined as a standardised survey of graduates of educational institutions. The survey takes place some time after graduation or immediately at the end of the programme in question and may cover a variety of topics related to the educational attainment, labour-market prospects and career development of the learners. Tracer studies may take place at the institutional, national or even international levels. Since the beginning of the 21st century, tracer studies carried out individually by educational institutions have gained relevance.
Please log in or sign up to comment.