School-Enterprise Cooperation and Vocational Safety Literacy Formation: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach in Chinese Higher Vocational Colleges
School-enterprise cooperation (SEC) is a central pillar of Chinese vocational education policy, yet how its specific dimensions affect students’ safety literacy remains empirically underexamined. This study disaggregates SEC into three dimensions: co-developed curriculum, enterprise practicum participation, and enterprise mentor guidance. Based on Theory of Planned Behavior, the mediation chain path of safety cognition→safety attitude→safety behavioral intention is examined to investigate the effect of three dimensions of SEC on vocational safety literacy. A total of 327 higher vocational students are surveyed in a district in Guangdong Province. Bootstrap mediation tests and structural equation modeling are used for statistical analysis. Results Enterprise practicum (β=0.31, p<0.001), guidance model (β=0.19, p<0.01) and co-developed curriculum (β=0.11, p<0.05), have the biggest direct effect (β) in chain mediation, with the first half “attitude to intention” (β=0.29) reaching significance. As the “last link of the chain”, practicum based experiential engagement may be need more to be emphasized rather than the curriculum reform alone, so does formalize safety mentorship.
Copyright (c) 2026 Fangfang Zhang, Siok Peh Seah https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Determinants of Perceived Employability Among Vocational College Graduates in Southern China
This paper examines the factors of perceived employability of 623 final-year students of vocational colleges in four provinces of Southern China. A modified scale of perceived employability was used, and the scale included the concepts of self-efficacy, career identity, institutional support, and social capital. The overall means of the scale of perceived employability were moderate (M = 3.31). The students rated themselves against the recognition of the institution in the labor market. The hierarchical regression results showed that a combination of individual, institutional, and environmental factors explained 35.8% of the variance of perceived employability. Self-efficacy was the strongest predictor of perceived employability (β = .27), followed by institutional support (β = .20), career identity (β = .15), social capital (β = .14), and internship experience (β = .11). There were significant differences among the provinces; Guangdong outperformed the less economically advanced provinces.
Copyright (c) 2026 Jiawei Yu, Siok Peh Seah https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Self-Efficacy and Perceived Communicative Competence Among Chinese EFL Learners in Central China: Unpacking the Mediating Role of Motivation
The link between self-efficacy and PCC among EFL learners remained under-researched, especially in terms of the underlying mental processes of these two factors. This study examined the mediating effect of L2 motivation on the link between self-efficacy and PCC among 362 non-English-major undergraduates across four universities in Central China. Data were collected using an adapted version of the MSLQ self-efficacy subscale, McCroskey’s SPCC scale, and an L2 motivation scale based on Dörnyei’s model. Mediation analysis, carried out using Hayes’ PROCESS macro (Model 4, 5,000 bootstrap samples), revealed that self-efficacy predicted PCC both directly, β = .313, p < .001, and indirectly via L2 motivation, indirect effect = .123, 95% CI [.069, .183]. This indirect effect accounted for 28.2% of the total effect. These findings suggest that motivational factors partially mediate the effect of self-efficacy on learners’ self-reported communicative ability, carrying potential implications for EFL teaching in resource-poor inland regions.
Copyright (c) 2026 Aijing Gao, Yasmin Binti Hussain https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0