Abstract:

This paper analyses adult learners returning to education to make a career change into a new industry on an Irish Government Funded Reskilling Initiative, and the role that psychometric testing could potentially play in predicting the outcomes of adult learners on a university certificate programme.

It builds on previous research presented at the 14th Annual International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies (EDULearn) 2022. At the time, no correlation could be found between the outcome achieved by the adult learner and the answers they gave during a psychometric test. However, a larger pool of candidates over an extended period of time using new statistical modelling and multivariate analysis may lead to more definitive conclusions.

Government-funded reskilling initiatives provide pathways for adult learners to make this mid-career change, and when screening candidates for the limited places on these programmes it is crucial to understand the factors that may contribute to their success in completing these programmes. This paper investigates the role of psychometric testing to better understand its contribution to predicting reliable outcomes.

This case study examines the findings from 600-adult learners who were enrolled in a university certificate programme as part of a Government funded reskilling initiative and who had completed a psychometric test during their interview for a place on the programme between the years 2020 and 2022. These adult learners were grouped into the following 4 categories, all of approximately equal size:
- Those who were not offered a place on the programme
- Those who did not finish the programme
- Those who are still in progress
- Those who have successfully completed the programme

This paper reviewed the responses of these adult learners to a series of psychometric questions that they were given at the interview stage for a place on the programme, to determine if a relationship exists between the answers given and the outcomes achieved by these adult learners.

This is broadly practitioner-based research across a single case study as illustrative of real-world phenomena. The methodology for comparison draws heavily on Bereday’s model of comparative styles and their predispositions (Bereday, 1964).

The key outcome of this paper will be an insight into the effectiveness of using the answers to a psychometric questionnaire for predicting the potential outcomes of adult learners when reskilling a workforce into new growing industries. These findings could be very relevant to Governments and Higher Education for delivering on strategies to transition large numbers of experienced workers into new growing industry sectors.

Keywords:

Behavioural science, psychometric testing, adult learners, returning to education.