PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Prof. Dr Tobias Langner (Chair holder)

Bastian Blomberg, M.Sc. (Research Assistant)

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Background: The shortage of teachers at vocational schools is expected to worsen in the coming years, especially in the industrial-technical subject areas (see Klemm 2018; Monitor Lehrerbildung 2017).

Objective: The project aims to increase the number of students on Master's degree programmes for teaching at vocational colleges in the industrial-technical subject areas. The target groups should have the most suitable interest structures for studying and working as a teacher at vocational colleges (cf. Leon, Behrendt, Nickolaus 2018). In this way, the project aims to contribute to overcoming the shortage of teachers.

Result: The final result of the project is a toolbox with effective communication tools that can be used successfully both offline and online to recruit different target groups to study to become teachers at vocational colleges, including at other universities across Germany.

PROJECT STRUCTURE AND MAIN AREAS OF WORK

Initial situation:

Choosing a career is one of the most important decisions in a person's life and is often made with a feeling of considerable uncertainty (cf. Altepost 2017). Choosing an occupation and training is therefore usually the result of an extensive decision-making process in the course of which comprehensive cognitive and emotional sub-processes interact with each other (cf. on selection decisions: Kroeber-Riel & Gröppel-Klein 2013). An intensive, benefit-related weighing up of rationally characterised information and experience-related feelings takes place. Subjective, emotional impressions (e.g.: Will I enjoy the job?) play just as important a role as reliable, verifiable information (e.g.: What salary can I expect?).

A necessary prerequisite for a profession to be considered in the decision-making process at all is sufficient awareness of the profession among the target group. Here it is important that an active awareness is established, i.e. that when the target group thinks of career alternatives, the profession of vocational school teacher spontaneously comes to mind. Consumer research has shown that brands and products that are actively recognised are also more likely to be taken into account in purchasing decisions.

Module 1 - Conceptualising the means of communication (What messages should be conveyed? Where and how should the messages be communicated?)

However, awareness alone is not enough; rather, the profession of teacher at vocational colleges must have a positive image (cf. Keller 2012). This is the only way to have a chance of prevailing over other career alternatives in the selection process (cf. e.g. Watt & Richardson 2012; Neugebauer 2013). In order to build up such a positive image before and during the decision-making process, communication measures are required that are specifically tailored to the needs of the respective target group. To do this, the relevant target groups must first be identified as part of scientific studies. The question then needs to be answered as to which messages about the profession of teacher at vocational colleges should be communicated to which target group. The emotions and information conveyed in the messages should be designed in such a way that they appeal to relevant motivations in the respective target group and address potential resentments.

In addition to the conception of the messages, the channels that can be used particularly effectively to convince the target group are identified. To this end, the communication measures and channels that have already been successfully developed and used at the University of Wuppertal to recruit students for the teaching profession at vocational colleges will first be analysed. In addition, these findings are to be mirrored with an analysis of the media usage behaviour of the target groups in the course of their career choice. The aim is to analyse which sources of information are used by the decision-makers and how over time. Such an analysis of the "customer journey" ensures that all relevant offline channels (e.g. personal communication, poster advertising) and online channels (e.g. social media channels of the training centres) are taken into account in the subsequent communication implementation (cf. Langner et al. 2018).

Once the communication channels have been selected, the way in which the communication is to be organised is developed. The aim is to effectively implement the previously derived communication messages in texts and images so that they have the greatest possible influencing effect (cf. in detail: Langner, Esch & Bruhn 2018). In addition to analysing existing communication measures, the University of Wuppertal is also conducting a benchmarking analysis. This involves examining the communication measures of companies (e.g. Deutsche Bahn) and organisations (e.g. the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts) that are particularly successful in recruiting young workers in order to learn from them for their own communication development.

Aim of Module 1: Based on the target group-specific derivation of effective emotional and informative messages as well as the identification of relevant channels for the promotional communication of the profession of teacher at vocational colleges, the participants design their own means of communication.

Module 2 - Implementation and empirical evaluation of the means of communication in the communication laboratory (How should the messages be conveyed? Are the means of communication effective?)

Derived from the findings of the previous module, the students' own communication measures for advertising a Master's degree programme in industrial-technical teaching at vocational colleges are implemented and their effectiveness and efficiency are examined (cf. Esch & Langner 2017). As outlined above, the means of communication must build awareness of the profession of teacher at vocational colleges and convey the appropriate emotions and relevant information. The previously developed communication tools are therefore comprehensively tested for their effectiveness in the behavioural science communication laboratory of the Schumpeter School of Business and Economics at the University of Wuppertal. Contactless eye-tracking is used to determine whether the awareness-boosting advertising elements are actually perceived in all communication media, even under the difficult conditions of casual, short-term viewing. In addition, the emotional qualities and intensities of the advertising messages can be recorded by analysing facial expression behaviour and measuring skin resistance. Finally, the absorption of information is analysed by means of protocols of thinking aloud and surveys following exposure to the advertising material.

Aim of Module 2: Building on the analyses and findings of the first module, Module 2 aims to implement communication media for the different target groups for all relevant communication channels, test their effectiveness and eliminate implementation weaknesses. The results are optimised advertising materials that have empirically proven their effectiveness.

LITERATURE

Altepost, A. (2017). Risks of career choice: Perceptions and action orientations when choosing an initial training programme. Springer Gabler. Wiesbaden.

Esch, F.-R., & Langner T. (2017). Approaches to brand controlling. In: Esch, F.-R. (ed.) Handbook of brand management. Springer Reference Economy. Springer Gabler. Wiesbaden.

Keller, K. L. (2012). Strategic Brand Management. 4th edition. Upper Saddle River. NJ: Prentice Hall.

Kroeber-Riel, W., & Gröppel-Klein, A. (2013). Consumer behaviour. Vahlen.

Klemm, K. (2018). Urgently wanted: Vocational school teachers. The development of recruitment needs in vocational schools in Germany between 2016 and 2035. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann Stiftung.

Langner, T., Brune, P., Fischer, A., & Klinke, T. (2018). Managing media convergence: Anticipating perception and impact paths of communication, pp. 21-51, in: Langner, T., Esch, F.-R., & Bruhn, M. (eds.) (2018). Techniques of communication. Wiesbaden. Springer Gabler.

Langner, T., Esch, F.-R., & Bruhn, M. (2018). Handbuch Techniken der Kommunikation: Grundlagen - Innovative Ansätze - Praktische Umsetzungen. 2nd edition. Wiesbaden. Springer Gabler.

Leon, A., Behrendt, S., Nickolaus, R. (2018). Interest structures of students and associated potentials for the recruitment of student teachers. Journal of Technical Education (JOTED), 6 (2), 40-54.

Monitor Teacher Education (2017): Attractive and future-orientated?! Teacher training in industrial-technical subjects for vocational schools. Special publication from the project "Monitor Lehrerbildung". Gütersloh.

Neugebauer, M. (2013). Who decides to study to become a teacher - and why? An empirical examination of the thesis of negative selection into the teaching profession. Journal of Educational Science, 16 (1), 157-184.

Watt, H. M. G., Richardson, P. W., Klusmann, U., Kunter, M., Beyer, B., Trautwein, U., Baumerte, J. (2012). Motivations for choosing teaching as a career: An international comparison using the FIT-Choice scale. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28 (6), 791-805.