Developing Core and Key Competency Indicators of higher vocational certificate graduates under the Northeast Vocational Education Institute

Abstract

Developing core and key competency indicators of higher vocational
certificate graduates that consistented with the needs of the establishment for
vocational manpower preparing was important for graduates into the world of work
and quality competition. This research aimed to develop core and key competency
indicators of higher vocational certificate graduates under the northeast vocational
education institute and validate core and key competency indicators model of higher
vocational certificate graduates under the northeast vocational education institute with
empirical data. This researh consisted of two phases. The first phase was to formulate
and develop core and key competency indicators using qualitative research approch
through the study of relevant documents and researches and interviewing of 5
executives/managers/supervisors of establishments and 9 teachers. The instrument was
a structured interview. The data were analyzed by content analysis. The second phase
was to validate core and key competency indicators model using quantitative research
approch through confirmatory factor analysis. The samples consisted of 530
executives/managers/supervisors of establishments, obtained using simple random
sampling technique. The instrument was a rating scale questionnaires which had
reliability 0.98. The data wereanalyzed by arithmetic mean, standard deviation,
correlation coefficient and confirmatory factor analysis.
The results were as follows :
1. The core and key competency indicators of higher vocational certificate
graduates under the northeast vocational education institute were 8 factors and 64
indicators : consideration of communication competency 10 indicators, information   technology competency 9 indicators, self-development competency 10 indicators,
collaboration competency 7 indicators, problem solving competency 10 indicators,
research competency 5 indicators, application of number competency 6 indicators and
business management competency 7 indicators.
2. The validation of core and key competency indicators model of higher
vocational certificate graduates under the northeast vocational education institute
through second order comfirmatory factor analysis was found consistent with empirical
data, with the value χ2 = 1893.30, P = 0.13, df = 1824, GFI = 0.90, AGFI = 0.90 and
RMSEA = 0.01. All factor loadings of 8 factors were positive, their sizes were from 0.54-
0.93 at .01 level of significance. The loading factors from the highest to the lowest
include problem solving competency, self-development competency, communication
competency, collaboration competency, business management competency,
application of number competency, information technology competency and research
competency with factor loading values of 0.93, 0.90, 0.87, 0.85, 0.77, 0.73, 0.64 and
0.54 respectively. All of 8 factors could explain the variance of core and key
competency of higher vocational certificate graduates under the northeast vocational
education institute by 86, 82, 77, 72, 59, 54, 41 and 30 percents respectively.
In conclusion, core and key competency indicators of higher vocational
certificate graduates under the northeast vocational education institute from this
research were suitable for developing core and key competencies of students.