Competence-Based Tests: Measurement Challenges of Competence Development in Vocational Education and Training

Abstract

In the current vocational education and training (VET) research, many empirical studies focus primarily on the development of competence-based test instruments that aim to measure the cognitive dispositions of a domain-specific competence construct. While these studies mainly focus on the analysis of competence structures and levels, the valid measurement of competence development represents a research gap. Studies with this focus differ significantly in their theoretical-conceptual foundations and their methodological approaches. Moreover, different challenges arise in the methodological aspects of a valid change measurement. For this purpose, the first chapter reviews the research on the measurement of competence development in the VET field. Given the increasing significance of sustainable development-related competencies in VET, an empirical analysis is performed on commercial trainees’ development of declarative knowledge related to sustainability from a societal perspective and sustainability in business processes. The in-depth analyses are based on data sets from cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. The differences and similarities between these research designs are compared with regard to their analysis potential, analysis methods, and results.