Technical and vocational education (TVET) in Ireland is delivered through the further and higher education (HE) institutions at a national level. There are sixteen regional Education and Training Boards (ETBs), and a consolidated HE sector of traditional universities and five Technological Universities. Due to their prior history as Institutes of Technology (IoTs) with a regional focus on the development of technical and vocational education, the recently amalgamated Technology University (TU) sector is strategically positioned to deliver on TVET qualifications to advanced and higher levels nationwide. A significant number of TU lecturers have had previous technical, vocational and professional careers prior to working in a HE organisation. They bring the knowledge, skills and experience of working in practice-based settings to their teaching role in TVET educational programmes.

The aim of this research study is to explore the experiences of individuals who have moved from a technical, vocational or professional career to teaching their expert knowledge and skills in a TVET programme in higher education.

Primary research questions:

Why do practitioners make a career change decision to teach TVET programmes in technological universities? What are TU lecturers’ experiences of their career change from practitioner to teaching their technical, vocational and/or professional knowledge and skills?

The objectives are:

1. To explore what can be learnt from TVET faculty experiences to inform successful career transitions from practitioner to teacher.
2. To advance knowledge how an individual’s career adaptability can influence TVET teacher engagement in their work role
3. To map the transition from an expert practitioner to the teacher career cycle to inform and enhance skills, mobility and career prospects.
4. To develop a conceptual model of how prior educational background and professional experience contribute to an evolving TVET professional identity and agency.

This paper uses insights from the literature on career construction theory, teacher/educator career cycles, employee engagement, perspective transformation, identity self-states.

Career construction theory and career adaptability formed a core construct to understand why individuals move career, their readiness/willingness to change career, personal resources and adaptive behaviours (Savickas, 2021).

Teacher/educator career cycles emphasis the personal, organizational, and career cycle influences on the teacher role (Fessler & Christensen, 1992), and are support by an exploration of the stages in the teaching career (Hubermann, 1993) and evolving expectations for teacher educators (Smith and Flores, 2019).

Employee engagement informs how individuals use varying degrees of their ‘self-in-role’ to perform at work (Kahn, 1990).

Perspective transformation as described by Mezirow (1991) and Cranton, 2016) is a psychological process during which an individual identifies and challenges their existing assumptions that may lead to a change in habits of mind resulting in a new worldview.

Identity self-states and discrepancy theory (Markus & Nurius, 1986) are cognitive expressions of aspirations and fears that are connected to interpretations of past and current selves. These can also explain how prior educational backgrounds, and professional experiences contribute to evolving identities for TVET lecturers (Ping, Schellings and Beijaard, 2018).

This paper argues for an informed understanding of the benefits to HE organisations of practitioner career transition and adaptability to HEs. As TVET education and training advances, the importance of the professional knowledge and experience second-career TVET lecturers bring to their teaching cannot be underestimated. Nor the valuable connections to industry they bring that aligns closely with the TU industry-focused mission as they work to fulfil TU eligibility criteria while adapting and developing their HE careers.

This study sought to identify and explain the experiences of second-career lecturers who transitioned into higher education from a previous career as a technical, vocational or professional practitioner. The design of this study is informed by a relativist ontology that drew on an interpretivist paradigm that was appropriate to investigate and understand a human and social phenomenon. The research questions were framed within a qualitative methodology and were based on the assumption that our understanding of the world is constructed from our interpretations of personal experiences and the meaning we make from them. Therefore, there is no single reality, but many realities. Thus, fifteen semi-structured interviews were chosen as the most appropriate method to gather data from a TVET second-career lecturer population of interest. This type of interview allows for a combination of pre-set and open probing questions which permits flexibility and further exploration or clarity if required. Following ethical approval, participants were contacted via an email from their Head of Department who shared an information leaflet on the research study that also included an invitation to participate in the study and share their experiences. They self-selected to participate in the study and were drawn from Nursing, Land Sciences, IT, Business, Social Care and Early Childhood Development, Culinary Arts and Law and Criminal Justice. The interview guide was designed to gain a deep understanding of an individual’s experiences of career transition, engagement in their role as TVET lecturers and experiences of an evolving professional/educator identity self-state. Following transcription of the interviews and a member checking procedure, the data was consolidated prior to analysis. A constant comparative method of analysis was used to construct categories and themes to capture the recurring patterns in the data using Quirkos software (Saldana, 2021). Qualitative research is inherently subjective; therefore, ensuring trustworthiness, rigour, and integrity was central to this study. The researchers adopted and extended Braun and Clark’s (2006) five-stage thematic analysis framework, expanding it to a twelve-stage process’ that yielded a more comprehensive and systematic engagement with the data, enhancing the depth of analysis and reinforcing this study’s credibility. More importantly, this approach enabled a deeper understanding and engagement with participants’ voices, ensuring that their perspectives were accurately represented and valued throughout. Researcher reflective logs and field notes enhanced the validity, quality and transparency of the research analysis and findings.

Exploring the experiences of individuals who have moved from a technical, vocational or professional career to teaching their expert knowledge and skills in higher education is complex. Factors such as concern, control, curiosity and confidence that sit beneath career adaptability are not easily identified, understood or explained by individuals who transition from one career to the next. While personal motivation and ambition is important, the ability to maintain meaningful engagement in their new work role and to feel psychological safe in learning new skills and the further development of their existing knowledge and competence can be challenging. Retaining experienced TVET staff is of strategic importance to the TU sector as it aligns closely with the industry focused mission and the successful delivery TVET programmes into the future. Outcomes from the study share knowledge on the transition from workplace practitioner to second-career TVET lecturer; and moving from expert to novice and back again to expert. These experiences are closely related to an individuals’ cognitive expressions of aspirations and fears with connections to interpretations of past and current selves. Each person must navigate their identity self-states as they progress through teacher career stages in their ‘new’ role. While valuable insights and knowledge have been gained from this study it is not without its limitations. Participants were confined to TVET second-career lecturers in the TU and did not include the wider lecturer population in the organisation who did not meet this criterion. Areas for future research include (1) a larger study to explore the same phenomenon across the remaining TU and IoT sector, and (2) to extend the research topic to the education and training boards who operate in a similar TVET environment, often working in collaboration with the TU sector.

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