Looking through the Eyes of Students in Vocational Education, from the Present into the Future

This study investigates characteristics of powerful learning environments (PLE) from the perspective of students in vocational secondary education, focusing on a newly developed multidisciplinary and integrated course. We investigated whether the experienced learning environment meets the requirements of a PLE and to what degree it meets the preferences from students. Additionally, we examined the relation between student satisfaction and their engagement. The survey data of 544 students showed that students are asking for more challenging pathways that provide opportunities to explore authentic problems with each other's support, taking individual differences into account. Vocational students, who did experience such a PLE, indicated to be more satisfied and engaged. These findings highlight the need to redesign curricula more in line with design principles of PLE.