Particularly in efforts to link vocational education and training (VET) offerings more closely to the demands of the labour market, the approaches of competence-based education are gaining importance for the planning, implementation, and assessment of educational processes in vocational education and training worldwide (Argüelles & Gonczi, 2000, p. 9; Hodge et al., 2019, p. 28). At the same time, the concepts of competence-based VET also contribute to linking the didactic orientation to vocational requirements with pedagogical needs for learners’ development opportunities in training processes (Frank & Iller, 2013; Reusser, 2014). In this respect, the concepts of competence-based VET represent extensive didactic approaches for achieving quality development and upgrading vocational education. Despite their increasing concernment in the global reform efforts in the VET field, there have been few studies to date that could be used to make robust statements about the effects of these innovative approaches in vocational education processes, not to mention in a comparative perspective.

Against this backdrop, the focus of this contribution[1] was to address the research question of to what extent and how the competence-based approaches are actually enacted in the teaching and learning processes of the vocational curriculum in the selected countries, Russia and China. The reason for choosing these two countries is that both the Russian and Chinese VET systems are school-based and state-driven, although they have different structures. In addition, both of them are active in the process of introducing and implementing the competence-based approaches as a means to modernize their VET system. Therefore, the key concern from a comparison standpoint here was to identify the most notable contrasts and similarities between the competence-based approaches implemented in the chosen national contexts.

[1] This contribution is a part of an international research project (CodeVET) conducted in cooperation with German, Russian and Chinese universities, and represents a comparative study focusing on the investigation of the competence-based approach in the planning and implementation of educational processes in VET programmes of Accounting and Logistics in Russia and China. This project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and was completed on 31.10.2022.

To answer this question, semi-structured interviews and structured lesson observations were conducted with the teachers of vocational education institutions in different regions of Russia and China. Those teachers who are responsible for the delivery of professional courses in the accounting and logistics programs were selected as interviewees, and 24 lesson hours from these interviewees were observed. Both interviews and observations focus on the implementation of different didactical principles of the competence-based approaches (conceptualised on the basis of the Revised Comprehensive Competence-based Education Model from Sturing et al. (2011), such as practical learning in an authentic environment, coaching, and cooperative learning, etc.) in the teaching-learning processes. The data collected was further analysed using the method of qualitative content analysis.

The results portray a concrete picture of the realization of the competence-based approach in the teaching practice through both teachers’ and researchers’ perspectives in both national contexts. It can be revealed that there are discrepancies between teachers’ beliefs and their practice. For example, some teachers interviewed claimed that their lessons were student-centered and their roles in the lessons have been changed from knowledge transmitters to learning coaches. However, many lessons observed were still teacher-centered, i.e. learners behaved as passive receptors of teaching content. Moreover, the results provide in-depth insights into the teaching and learning processes of VET curricula regarding the concept of competence-based education. For instance, it has been noted several times that at least the practice-related characteristics of competence orientation are less observable in the teaching and learning processes of more general and theoretical content. In addition, the findings will contribute to exploring good practices of the implementation of the competence-based approaches in the teaching practice, such as the use of innovative learning formats for conducting practical learning in a simulated vocational environment.

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