A teacher has many work tasks, roles and functions. This especially concerns the VET teachers since they are to organize and plan for vocational learning in the interplay between school and working life (Akkerman & Bakker, 2012; Mårtensson, 2020). In this interplay, VET teachers' dual identity, both as a teacher and prior vocational identity and experience, is emphasized as crucial for arranging uptodate vocational training (Fejes & Köpsén, 2012; Köpsén, 2014). It is also stressed that the legitimacy of VET teachers depends on their vocational knowledge, skills and competence (Andersson, Köpsén, Larson & Milana, 2013; Cedefop, 2019). Due to this, prior working experience or a vocational education are often a general entrance requirement, for the admission to university to become a vocational school teacher (Hoppe & Kaiser 2021). With these experiences, prospective teachers also bring with them a prior vocational identity connected to a specific vocational community of practice in which they have learnt their trade and are now leaving. This is a process of transition from a vocational worker to the role of VET teacher, a process that could be filled with feelings of loss and ‘letting something go’ (Kolkin Sarastuen, 2020). The aim of this paper is to explore how different European universities and their VET teachers training program work in order to align students' vocational work-based identity with the new teacher identity. The paper will show examples of how students' prior vocational knowledge is an essential component in the teacher training program and how it is used in order to teach students about vocational didactics as well as to introduce university training concepts.

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