Students' readiness on practical learning in clothing engineering education: case on haute couture learning

Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn) Vol. 19, No. 1, February 2025, pp. 330~339 ISSN: 2089-9823 DOI: 10.11591/edulearn.v19i1.21358  330 Students' readiness on practical learning in clothing engineering education: case on haute couture learning Chytra Mahanani1,2, Edy Supriyadi1, Thomas Sukardi1, Sri Listiani3, Urip Wahyuningsih4 1 Department of Technology and Vocational Education, Faculty of Postgraduate, Yogyakarta State University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 2 Department of Culinary and Fashion Engineering Education, Faculty of Engineering, Yogyakarta State University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 3 Department of Fashion Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Jakarta State University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 4 Department of Fashion Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Surabaya State University, Surabaya, Indonesia Article Info ABSTRACT Article history: Haute couture-making techniques are critical competencies to be mastered by fashion engineering education (CEE) graduates. However, until now, many graduates have been unable to master these techniques optimally. Various studies and field phenomena confirm that they are unprepared for supporting knowledge (SK), socio-cultural, and psychological aspects. This phenomenon prompted us to measure practical learning readiness (PLR) in these three dimensions. In addition, we also examine the differences between dimensions and indicators and test the determination in constructing the PLR to determine the order of solving the problem. The survey was conducted on 386 CEE students with criteria who were currently studying haute couture (HC). The results of the descriptive analysis confirmed that psychological conditions (PC) and SK had a low level, while socio-cultural support had a high level. The results of the comparison test show that the three are generally similar, although there are notes in several indicators. Although all dimensions contribute significantly to constructing PLR, PC contribute the highest. This indicates that low PC are the first step to be addressed by CEE. Furthermore, several notes related to the decrease in knowledge-supporting practice are also the second effort that CEE must make to boost PLR in its students. Received Oct 13, 2023 Revised Mar 11, 2024 Accepted Mar 27, 2024 Keywords: Clothing engineering education Haute couture learning Practical learning readiness Vocational education Vocational students This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA license. Corresponding Author: Chytra Mahanani Department of Technology and Vocational Education, Faculty of Postgraduate Yogyakarta State University St. Colombo No.1, Karang Malang, Caturtunggal, Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia Email: 1. INTRODUCTION Haute couture (HC) is the highest level of clothing with the best quality stitches and is made exclusively based on customer requests [1]. HC is also known as a high-level manufacturing technique that has a high level of difficulty and takes quite a long time [2]. In addition, the manufacture also involves premium materials of the highest quality to add to the results of an increasingly exclusive product [3]. Of course, this makes the price very high for the quality of materials and complex manufacturing techniques. Thus, it is unsurprising that learning the manufacturing technique requires high skills and is difficult, especially for people needing more experience [4], [5]. The difficulty in making HC is felt by many people who are in the learning stage, including students of practical readiness (CEE) in tertiary institutions [6]. Research conducted by Lee [7] explains that the competency in making HC is the most difficult competency for CEE students to master. This is also confirmed by other relevant studies, which reveal low learning Journal homepage: http://edulearn.intelektual.org J Edu & Learn ISSN: 2089-9823  331 outcomes in these competencies [8]. This marks a gap in the learning process, bearing in mind that the increasing demand for HC production differs from qualified competence in students as prospective workers in the clothing sector [1]. Practical learning readiness (PLR) is an important key that significantly impacts competency and student learning achievement [9]. So far, PLR is defined as the readiness of the institution as a whole to implement practice, which includes aspects of strategy, infrastructure, lecturers, and students [10]. Of these four aspects, student readiness in practical learning (PL) is identified as one of the most crucial aspects impacting low student achievement [11]. Moreover, readiness for PL on competency outcomes that have a high level of complexity, such as HC manufacturing techniques, so that these achievements require high readiness to achieve them. Readiness to learn is a self-condition that has been prepared or planned by individuals to carry out learning activities [12]. Similar studies suggest that readiness greatly impacts the results obtained from an important activity [13]. In addition, research from [14] ensures that low learning outcomes for students are due to readiness that the students have yet to build. In general, PLR in vocational education (VE) includes three dimensions: the readiness of knowledge to support practice, sociocultural support (SCS), and psychological conditions (PC) [10], [15]. These three dimensions were also identified based on reports from various studies that emphasized the important aspects studied to solve the problem of student readiness in learning [16]–[18]. First, the readiness of knowledge to support practice is very important, considering that learning theory says that the cognitive aspects of individuals play a role in delivering them to the systematic procedures needed in practice [10], [19]. In addition, understanding the system and how it works obtained through cognitive activity is very important to stimulate the psychomotor processes needed in practice [9]. Then, several studies identified a decrease in socio-cultural support in individuals after the pandemic, which impacted their learning readiness [20]. Low SCS, such as decreased interaction between students and the intensity of applying important cultural values in practice, greatly affects their readiness for PL [21], [22]. Finally, PC that are disrupted by restrictions during COVID-19 are said to be the most dominant factor in influencing student learning readiness [23]. This is allegedly still experienced by most students with low outcomes, considering that PC are very closely related to motivation, intentions, and emotions in learning [24]. Ome research on PLR in the three dimensions mentioned has been carried out, but more needs to be done in CEE, especially on HC learning outcomes. Research from Budiastuti et al. [2] only shows student readiness in general regarding learning at CEE. Some others are only related to learning innovations in overcoming low academic achievement in CEE without being based on supporting facts about more specific is (...truncated)