Studying the professional competencies of students according to needs of the workplace

Abstract

This article aims to 1) study documents on learners’ professional competence according to the needs of the workplace and 2) study learners’ professional competence according to the needs of the workplace. This is a mixed method research between qualitative research (Qualitative Method) and quantitative research (Quantitative Method). Using the concept of professional competence and vocational education standards, industrial subjects, electrical and electronics career groups, and electrical subjects as a research framework. The research area is workplaces located in the Eastern region. The workplace must be listed in the database of cooperation with educational institutions under the Office of the Vocational Education Commission and accept students from Educational Institutions under the Office of the Vocational Education Commission for professional competence or Vocational training.    The researched sources include laws and policies related to education, concepts on professional competence, concepts on vocational education management, and research related to learners’ professional competence. The informants were HR managers or representatives of five establishments in the Eastern region, 3 people each, totaling 15 people, by purposive sampling. The research instruments were a document record form and a questionnaire. The study of academic documents used content analysis and a study of learners’ professional competence according to the needs of the establishments. Data were analyzed by finding the mean ( ) and standard deviation (S.D.). The research results were as follows :

1. Study of documents on learners' professional competence according to the needs of the establishment. The researcher conducted a study from documents, textbooks, and information sources from websites, totaling 5 stories. It was found that the professional competence of learners that is necessary for learners in vocational education has 4 aspects: morality, ethics, desirable characteristics, and characteristics according to good social norms, core competence, professional competence (basic profession), and professional competence (specific profession).
2. The professional competence of the learners met the needs of the workplace by selecting the competence with the highest average score in each area, a total of 4 areas, consisting of 4 competencies: 1) discipline, 2) principles of conduct, adapting to living with others in society and living in modern society, 3) principles of safety and legal requirements related to occupation, and 4) skills in designing, installing electrical systems and electrical communication systems both inside and outside the building.