Session Information
02 SES 16 A, Teachers & Trainers VI: Development of Teaching Competencies of VET Teachers and Trainers in Germany, Italy and Lithuania
Research Workshop
Contribution
The goal of this comparative study is to disclose the common and diverging trends in the development of teaching competencies of VET teachers and trainers in Germany, Italy and Lithuania. This research is a part of Erasmus+ project TEACHVET aimed to develop the on-line instruments for the self-assessment, monitoring, guidance and comparability of the teaching competence of VET teachers and trainers.
The study is focused on the following research questions:
1. To what extent and how the issues of VET teachers and trainers training and competence development are regulated by the national laws and legal acts?
2. What are the responsibilities of the state institutions and agencies, social partners and stakeholders VET providers in the design of VET teachers and trainers training curricula, organization of training, assessment of acquired competencies and qualifications of the VET teachers and trainers?
3. What are the instruments and mechanisms of the legal regulation of the competencies and qualifications of the VET teachers and trainers and how they are used in the VET teachers and trainers training and competence development?
4. What are typical features of the teachning competencies of VET teachers and trainers and how do these competencies and their development influence the socio-professional status of VET teachers and trainer and their career opportunities?
Competencies of VET teachers and trainers and their development increasingly attract the attention of researchers and policy makers as highly important factors of the quality, accessibility of VET and it's acceptance in society. Day (2017) reminds us that in addition to benefits, such as criteria for teaching quality assurance via a minimal/threshold standard for teacher education, competence-based approach in teacher training also brings significant drawbacks, such as favouring of atomistic and reductionist learning outcomes, and difficulties in ensuring acquisition of holistic capabilities required by increasingly complex tasks of the teaching profession. Application of the competence-based approach in teacher education is strongly influenced by the spread of corporate management values and parameters in the identification and assessment of the teacher performance and competences leading to the development of the “entrepreneurial” identity of teachers (Day, 2017). Wuttke and Seifried (2017) note that competence-based teacher education approaches are heavily influenced by behaviourism and characterised by over-specification and fragmentation of learning. In order to overcome this drawback, current approaches of modelling of teaching competence draw on a more holistic teacher competence model which consists of professional knowledge and beliefs, motivation and self-regulation (Wuttke and Seifried, 2017). The study of Tacconi and Gomez (2013) on the factors of success of the Salesian VET centres in Italy revealed that professional expertise and competence of those VET teachers who really made an impact on successful training and further employment/career of their students were strongly integrated and linked with a wide range of personal skills and values. The ability of teachers to apply their professional competencies and personal capabilities and values in the training process is what makes a real difference to students (Tacconi and Gomez, 2013). This study will seek to provide comparative perspective of the development of teaching competencies of VET teachers and trainers in the context of the changing content of their work and institutional context of teacher training.
Method
There are applied the following methods of research: 1. Collecting and analysis of the literature, existing research data and statistics on the teaching competence of VET teachers and trainers in Germany, Italy and Lithuania. There are analysed research papers, reports, statistical data providing information about assessment and development of the teacher competence of VET teachers and trainers. 2. Critical content analysis of the available national occupational standards or profiles, as well as other official documents that stipulate the occupations or qualifications of VET teachers and trainers in the mentioned countries. This analysis provides the basic reference information for the analysis of the current state of the work processes of VET teachers and trainers and related competence requirements. 3. Interviewing of the VET teachers, trainers and experts provides updated relevant information for the current state and future development of the work processes and teaching competencies of VET teachers and trainers. There are organised individual interviews and focus groups. Population of informants per country: 5 initial VET teachers and trainers from the different fields of teaching (services, industry, agriculture), 5 trainers from the different fields of teaching, 2-5 experts from VET teacher training institutions. 4. The findings of research are analysed for each country separately and then compared.
Expected Outcomes
The study will provide the following expected outcomes: 1. Insights on the development of the institutional and organisational context of teaching competence development of VET teachers and trainers in the project partner countries and on the implications of this context for the change and development of teaching competencies. 2. Information about the main changes and dynamics of teaching competence development by taking into consideration (amongst others) requirements posed by the global economic and technological change of work, as well as specific requirements of the VET reforms.
References
Day, C. (2017). Competence-based Education and Teacher Professional Development. In: Competence-based Vocational and Professional Education, edited by M. Mulder. Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, Vol. 23 (Bern: Springer-Verlag), pp. 165-182. Jossberger, H., Brand-Guwel, S., van de Wiel, M.W.J. (2015). Teachers' Perceptions of Teaching in Workplace Simulations in Vocational Education. Vocations and Learning, 8(3), 287-318. Tacconi, G. and Gomez, G., A., M. (2013). Success stories. Quando è la Formazione Professionale a fare la differenza (Success stories. When the vocational education and training makes difference. Roma: CNOS-FAP. Tacconi, G., 2016. Il mestiere del formatore secondo Primo Levi (The teachers work according to Primo Levi). Rassegna CNOS, 32, 65-80. Wuttke, E, and Seifried, J. (2017). Modeling and Measurement of Teacher Competence: Old Wine in New Skins? In: Competence-based Vocational and Professional Education, edited by M. Mulder. Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, Vol. 23 (Bern: Springer-Verlag), pp. 883-902.
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