COMPARING LEARNERS' PERCEPTIONS AND EXPECTATIONS IN PROFESSIONAL TRAINING AND HIGHER EDUCATION: THE GERMAN PERSPECTIVE

摘要

We found several differences according to the learners' perceptions of and expectations towards education. Smaller differences were found between the two enterprises but those between the professional and the university context were most significant, reflecting the specific attributes of both scenarios of education. Even though the sample sizes of the enterprises were quite small, and thus, are not representative of these large concerns, the differences were explainable, particularly between the context of professional training and the university context. Learning scenarios that were produced for the context of higher education might need adaptation in order to meet the requirements of learners in the context of professional training. The found diversity in the answers from the two enterprises allows the conclusion that the organisational culture generally influences the enterprises' educational culture. As a general conclusion we can assume that generalizing research results that were solely achieved from national university students might lead to an inappropriate design of learning scenarios for particular professional contexts. Professional training for a particular enterprise should be developed according to its specific educational culture. The Learning Culture survey revealed as an appropriate tool for such investigations.