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Background/Objectives: All countries face a shortage of qualified nurses. Based on the social cognitive career theory (SCCT), it is assumed that individual and environmental aspects are interlinked and determinants in career choice and vocational behaviors. This study aims to determine if nursing students differ in their perceptions of nursing as a career. Furthermore, this study wants to determine if the students in a cluster differed in their outcome expectations, job satisfaction, and informal workplace learning. Methods: This study employed a mixed-methods design consisting of two phases: the first involving a pre-study with experts (N = 10) and the second comprising a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. The goal of the pre-study was to find relevant characteristics of the nursing profession. In a cross-sectional study with an online questionnaire, 230 nursing students (N = 230) participated. An inclusion criterion was that participants were enrolled in vocational training to become a nurse. In the questionnaire validated scales were used to ask participants about the characteristics of the nursing profession, their perceptions of nursing as a career, outcome expectations, informal workplace learning, and job satisfaction. Analysis: Data analysis included descriptive statistics (e.g., percentage distributions), hierarchical cluster analysis, and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: The LCA results based on Schwarz’s BIC showed a two-cluster solution (Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) 251.984, Bayesian information criterion (BIC) 265.296, and adjusted Bayesian information criterion (aBIC) 252.622). The results of the ANOVA showed significant differences regarding outcome expectations (F = 22.738; <0.001), the perception of nursing as a career (F = 36.231; <0.001), and the engagement in informal workplace learning activities (F = 20.62; <0.001). For job satisfaction, no significant differences were found. Conclusions: Nursing vocational education and training is a vital socialization process in which supervisors can arrange a positive learning climate.

Reversible biological electron transfer usually occurs between redox couples at standard redox potentials ranging from +0.8 to −0.5 V. Dearomatizing benzoyl-CoA reductases (BCRs), key enzymes of the globally relevant microbial degradation of aromatic compounds at anoxic sites, catalyze a biological Birch reduction beyond the negative limit of this redox window. The structurally characterized BamBC subunits of class II BCRs accomplish benzene ring reduction at an active-site tungsten cofactor; however, the mechanism and components involved in the energetic coupling of endergonic benzene ring reduction have remained hypothetical. We present a 1-MDa, membrane-associated, Bam[(BC)₂DEFGHI]₂ complex from the anaerobic bacterium Geobacter metallireducens harboring 4 tungsten, 4 zinc, 2 selenocysteines, 6 FAD, and >50 FeS cofactors. The results suggest that class II BCRs catalyze electron transfer to the aromatic ring, yielding a cyclic 1,5-dienoyl-CoA via two flavin-based electron bifurcation events. This work expands our knowledge of energetic couplings in biology by high-molecular-mass electron bifurcating machineries.

Purpose The aim of this study is to unveil how professional trainers and training managers describe the learning conditions of their workplaces, what informal and formal learning activities they intend to accomplish and what barriers to learning at work they encounter. Design/methodology/approach Barriers to learning in the workplace fall under individual, team or organizational aspects that hinder the initiation of or interrupt successful learning, delay proceedings or end learning activities much earlier than intended. Professional trainers (N = 16) and training managers (N = 10) participated in this interview study. Their answers were recorded, transcribed and analyzed via qualitative content analysis. Findings The participants assessed their work tasks as highly complex and balanced between new challenging tasks and routines. Their formal and informal learning activities were also fundamental to maintaining high performance. The trainers described a broad range of situations in which they suffered barriers to learning at their workplace, with most identifying external learning barriers such as vague supervisor requirements or disruptions from others. Originality/value The results of this study describe workplace complexity, which offers stimuli for learning through learning conditions, possibilities to engage in learning and also barriers to learning. To understand workplace complexity, all of these dimensions have to be understood and addressed.

Context: Often, vocational education and training (VET) professionals are not systematically prepared for their demanding, mostly diverse and complex tasks. Professional development can be understood as an enlargement of competencies that arise as opportunities in daily work. This study, embedded in a funded research project, focuses on VET professionals and their professional development. The research question is as follows: What challenges and problems regarding their professional development, as well as possible solutions, are described by training professionals in VET in Germany? Approach: The goal of this study is to discover what challenges VET professionals face and how they cope with them. Accordingly, this research was formalised with the following components: (A) An explorative study with group discussions (N = 53 participants in six groups) and (B) result validation with German VET experts (N = 10). The data were recorded, transcribed and analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Using a theory-based category system, the group discussion results were summarised in 12 systematic, organisational- and individual-level statements. The statements indicated that despite the necessity of formal professional development in the area of further training, most VET professionals must still be able to profit from offers at or below the German Qualification Framework (DQR) level 5. Many VET professionals ultimately sought visible recognition of their activities or personal commitment with regard to pedagogical and company-economic functions. The 10 VET experts also evaluated the 12 statements as important. Conclusion: The results of this study show that there is a huge need for qualification and learning opportunities for VET professionals. The demand is mostly for modern, tried-and-tested concepts and central themes, such as action and competency orientation, practice and transfer orientation, individual and structural reflection, media competency and learning support in all formats and at all levels.

Context: Often, vocational education and training (VET) professionals are not systematically prepared for their demanding, mostly diverse and complex tasks. Professional development can be understood as an enlargement of competencies that arise as opportunities in daily work. This study, embedded in a funded research project, focuses on VET professionals and their professional development. The research question is as follows: What challenges and problems regarding their professional development, as well as possible solutions, are described by training professionals in VET in Germany? Approach: The goal of this study is to discover what challenges VET professionals face and how they cope with them. Accordingly, this research was formalised with the following components: (A) An explorative study with group discussions (N = 53 participants in six groups) and (B) result validation with German VET experts (N = 10). The data were recorded, transcribed and analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Using a theory-based category system, the group discussion results were summarised in 12 systematic, organisational- and individual-level statements. The statements indicated that despite the necessity of formal professional development in the area of further training, most VET professionals must still be able to profit from offers at or below the German Qualification Framework (DQR) level 5. Many VET professionals ultimately sought visible recognition of their activities or personal commitment with regard to pedagogical and company-economic functions. The 10 VET experts also evaluated the 12 statements as important. Conclusion: The results of this study show that there is a huge need for qualification and learning opportunities for VET professionals. The demand is mostly for modern, tried-and-tested concepts and central themes, such as action and competency orientation, practice and transfer orientation, individual and structural reflection, media competency and learning support in all formats and at all levels. (DIPF/Orig.).