High school students' work engagement in practical teaching Cover Image

Радна ангажованост средњошколаца на практичној настави
High school students' work engagement in practical teaching

Author(s): Biljana Milanović Dobrota, Marina N. Radić Šestić
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Педагошко друштво Србије
Keywords: vocational high school; practical teaching; students with typical development; students with mild intellectual disabilities

Summary/Abstract: The current interest in introducing the dual education system into Serbian secondary education has drawn our attention to the question of students’ self-perception in the process of practical teaching. The idea that underpins this paper is the supposition that students are affectively engaged with the work activities they perform. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) (Schaufeli et al., 2002) has been used for assessing students’ work engagement in practical teaching. A study was conducted to examine the differences between high school students with mild intellectual disabilities and those with typical development with regard to aspects of work engagement defined as Energy, Commitment and Absorption. The sample was comprised of 248 students of vocational high schools in Serbia of both genders, of whom 111 with intellectual disabilities and 137 with typical development. The findings indicate that students with mild intellectual disabilities tend to rate their engagement in practical teaching more positively (t=7,457; p=0,001) than students with typical development. The paper provides a detailed analysis of the pedagogical implications of these findings and also outlines the limitations of the study, thus pointing the way for future research on this or related issues.

  • Issue Year: 66/2017
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 67-82
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Serbian
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