The increasing ubiquity of gamification in everyday life normalizes it as a motivational tool. While much scholarship supports gamification, labor sociologists have long problematized the phenomenon. In this mixed-methods action research study, we explore the results of gamifying a lesson on gamification in a sociology of work course. We designed…

This paper addresses the question of how higher vocational education and training programmes socialise participants for future work, where the occupational pathways they are to embark on are weakly defined. The analysis focuses on organisational rituals as a means to understand individual and collective transformative processes taking place at a…

Over a half century ago, researchers found that so-called classic professions attract socially advantaged recruits with better labour market outcomes; however, as semi professions become increasingly institutionalized, and classic professional programs expand, differences between these two groups may be less pronounced. Using Statistics Canada's…

One aim of vocational education and training (VET) is to provide a pathway to employment. The effectiveness of this, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, is an important policy issue. Research demonstrates that, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the transition from education to employment does not occur…

In this study, we reconstruct the types of work performed by early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals working with children up to three years of age from an interactional perspective. The theoretical framework of the investigation is social organization of work defined by Strauss and colleagues in regard to medical sector. Analysis…

Career Technical Education (CTE)--a structured series of courses that provides high school students technical and vocational skills, paving the way to postsecondary education and careers--is key to aligning secondary education with both labor market needs and college opportunities. CTE provides high school students with the chance to engage in…

In the present descriptive qualitative study, we present the concept of vocational branding to provide a definition and explain how it may increase interest in a particular vocation or career. We define vocational branding as a set of stories, facts, and ideas communicating the personality, traits, and realistic benefits and challenges of a…

The study is devoted to the evaluation of the determinants of job-education mismatches and their impact on salaries of university graduates. We use a comprehensive and nationally representative survey of Russian university graduates. The study employs a self-evaluated measure of mismatch and a statistical variant for robustness and interpretation…

Using an episode of a student affairs podcast for professional development, we engage in a critical discourse analysis to better understand what discourses the podcast host and guest rely on when discussing college students engaged in sex work. Further, we examine how the discourses the host and guest use contribute to particular logics about sex…

The upheavals of the last few years within higher education and the labor force have catalyzed leaders in arts and design postsecondary education to question assumptions within their institutions about "what it means to be embarking on a career and life" in arts and design today (Novak-Leonard, Dempster, Scotto Adams, & Walters,…

In social stratification research, the most frequently used social class schema are based on employment relations (EGP and ESEC). These schemes have been propelled to paradigms for research on social mobility and educational inequalities and applied in cross-national research for both genders. Using the European Working Conditions Survey, we…

Critiques of neoliberal capitalism have offered a rich vocabulary for the analysis of the political economy of literacy across professional, public, and classroom contexts. Since the Great Recession, commonplaces about work-readiness have been conditioned by economic precarity and changes to the social contract of work that blur the lines between…

Background: Engineering education research frequently examines students' persistence (or intentions to persist) into engineering careers from engineering school. However, the variety of engineering-related occupations has increased substantially in recent years, challenging researchers' abilities to discern what constitutes persistence in…

Creative careers are responding rapidly to new creative practices, new audiences, emerging digital platforms and technologies. These careers are well paid, resistant to automation and permeate all aspects of society. Yet students' and teachers' perceptions and attitudes are not in alignment with the reality of a job in Australia's Creative…

Universities are facing challenges not seen before. Academic development is expected to address many of these challenges, creating conditions supportive of teaching and learning. However, increasing managerialism, measurement, and risk-aversion make this difficult as the emphasis shifts from supporting individuals towards delivering institutional…