The quality of teaching in VET: overview

2010

2009

With the rapidly transforming nature of vocational work, it is increasingly challenging for vocational teachers in institutional environments to develop learning that is relevant and sustainable. Although it has been widely observed that new pedagogies are essential in this changing vocational environment, little guidance is emerging for both vocational teachers and teacher educators on what new approaches will enhance institutional vocational learning. This creates the clear need for focussed research to guide potential frameworks for future vocational teaching and learning practice. This paper investigates the challenges of designing effective and sustainable vocational learning environments in institutional settings. In particular, it focuses on what Chappell and Johnston (2003) have described as the 'zone of maximum disturbance': the contemporary TAFE system that increasingly has to confront conflicting expectations of its role as a public institutional provider of vocational education. It is apparent that innovative pedagogical frameworks need to emerge within these growing institutional and political constraints to enhance the ability of teachers to create meaningful learning experiences in institutionally-based vocational education.

Industry demands, social and community interests, an increase in youth unemployment and economic requirements merge to become a part of a complex interplay that surrounds the field of vocational education and training. Recent calls for a vocational education system that provides value for money to the taxpayer and meets the needs of industry has launched renewed debate and increased the focus on vocational education. Teaching and learning is progressively scrutinized, issues of assessment, quality and evaluation are in the spotlight. Many challenges face vocational education in the modern era; most essentially notions of purpose and identity.

The Teacher Education of VET in Schools (VETiS) Teachers - Report, 2017

This study investigates the professional preparation of teachers working in Vocational Education and Training (VET) programs in Australian secondary schools. It also investigates the similarities and differences and the enablers and blockers that occur across the various states and territories in their approaches to providing teacher education for VET in Schools (VETiS) teachers. The research focuses on the supply-side of university-based VET teacher education programs and offers a stocktake of the VET method area offerings that are available (and not available) for pre-service teachers in Australia.

The quality of teaching in the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia has been an area of concern for much of the twenty-first century (e.g. Department of Education and Training, 2016). While much debate has taken place about ways forward, there has been little substantive progress in reforming the education and professional development of VET teachers to address quality concerns. However, in the absence of a clear consensus and articulation of what constitutes 'good VET teaching' and what is required to produce it, it is doubtful that any endeavour to improve the quality of VET teaching would be successful. This paper contributes to the evidence base that could inform improvements in VET teaching by examining the views of two key interest groups -VET teachers and learners, on 'what makes a good VET teacher' , and analyses the common themes as well as particularities in their views and their possible explanations. The findings are then examined as dimensions of interconnected practices that constitute VET teaching.

2019

Research problem-Today the quality of vocational education and training (VET) and especially the quality of the didactic process in VET highly depend on the capabilities of VET teachers to structure knowledge and skills they impart when dealing with the increasing volume of vocational and professional knowledge, and also on their capability to integrate the requirements of occupation and needs of students when coping with the challenges posed by fast technological development and changing student identity. The goal of this study is to explore the role and potential of key competences of VET teachers and how their development could equip VET teachers with the above-mentioned capabilities. The research methodology is based on both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The quantitative study was carried out by using a standardised questionnaire. Such a study helps disclose the personality traits of VET teachers, ways of their professional development and specific characteristics of their educational process. The participants in this research were VET teachers from different VET schools in Lithuania. Research data were analysed by using mathematical-statistical methods: descriptive statistics, nonparametric hypothesis testing, and factor analysis. Qualitative research was carried out by interviewing VET teachers from different VET schools and centres in Lithuania. Key competences and their development significantly contribute to the development of professional identity and personality factors of VET teachers. There is a direct and positive interdependency between the development of key competences of VET teachers and the quality of didactics, pedagogy and the expertise of VET teachers in the given occupational field. Key competences help VET teachers to shape and develop their professional identity and to cope Genutė Gedvilienė, Vidmantas Tūtlys, Sigitas Daukilas Lithuania 256 Genutė Gedvilienė, Vidmantas Tūtlys, Sigitas Daukilas with the current methodological and organisational challenges in the fields of curriculum design, organisation of training processes (including application of contemporary educational technologies), and vocational didactics.

International Journal of Training Research, 2017

Welcome to this Special Edition of the International Journal of Training Research, with the theme of VET Teaching and Teacher Education. Within this edition are six articles, each addressing a particular aspect of the central theme, and I hope you enjoy engaging with all of them. This Special Edition is the culmination of a number of activities beginning in 2010 when Professor Erica Smith, one of Australia's champions of Vocational Education and Training (VET) teacher education, instigated the creation of a VET working group that would sit within the Australian Council of Deans of Education (ACDE). Erica circulated a plea to all deans of education in Australian universities, asking them to nominate their VET teacher-educator (if they had one!) to join our group. For me, as the sole VET teacher-educator at the University of Tasmania, it was wonderful to connect with like-minded peers across Australia, all of whom are passionate about the value of VET teacher education and the need for it to remain part of the offerings in our universities. Since that time, Australian Council of Deans of Education Vocational Education Group (ACDEVEG) (as we became known) has worked collaboratively on a number of activities, from representations to the Productivity Commission's research into the VET workforce, to responses to federal government inquiries, and providing support and advice to each other in our mission to encourage and strengthen VET teacher education. Our group represents a wonderful example of would-be competitors working together for the betterment of a common cause. In Melbourne in 2015, ACDEVEG organized its first national VET conference. The conference marked a long-overdue return to such an event, with the previous one being held in Coffs Harbour in 1996. The 2015 conference was a great success, with delegate numbers quickly reaching our venue-enforced limit of 100 and spilling over to a waiting list. It confirmed what we suspected: teachers, trainers, researchers, teacher-educators, employers and government agencies all wanted to connect, share and learn from each other. The 2015 conference was the catalyst for this Special Edition, with the majority of the articles being presented at that time. The success of the 2015 VET Conference ensured that it would once again become an annual event, with 2016 seeing us reconvene in Sydney, while this year, in December, we will gather in Brisbane. The 2015 VET conference was special in another way, and that was its celebration of the life of Ros Brennan Kemmis, one of our most loved and respected members of ACDEVEG, who had passed away earlier that year. It is with great honour that we dedicate this Special Edition to her memory. Erica Smith, a long-time friend and colleague of Ros, contributed the following passage to the 2015 Conference Program: Ros spent her entire life involved with multiple sectors of education with a passion for public education and social justice for all. She was dedicated to adult literacy in the 1980s, including working with prisoners to improve their literacy as well as running a family literacy 'bus'-which led her to become involved in VET, with a great interest in VET teacher education. Ros was an inspired teacher in face-to-face and distance education at Charles Sturt University (CSU). She developed amazing rapport with distance and online students, supporting them with her great and deep knowledge as well as warmth, patience and practical help. She visited many Technical and Further Education (TAFE) colleges around New South Wales (NSW) to set up support for the TAFE teachers, who were often struggling with a new job as a TAFE teacher as well as university study. She wrote many subjects and components for the suite of VET courses offered at CSU.

in Marginson, Simon (ed.), Tertiary Education Policy in Australia

The qualification needed to be a vocational education and training (VET) teacher in Australia is a Certificate IV in Training and Education. This qualification does not equip teachers with the knowledge and skills they need to be autonomous practitioners who can support students’ learning. In drawing from a 2010 research project on the quality of VET teaching in Australia, this chapter argues that VET teaching needs to be professionalised, and that VET teaching qualifications need to be differentiated to reflect the different types of students, industries, fields and levels in which teachers teach. The current approach to VET teaching is based on low trust and high levels of regulation and compliance. VET teachers have been demonised as being inadequate, and attempts made to teacherproof the curriculum through competency-based training models of curriculum. We need a high-trust model of VET teaching based on teachers’ professionalisation through developing a qualifications framework and model of continuing professional development that will support high quality teaching, and a professional body to take responsibility for developing the profession.

2017

This study investigates the professional preparation of teachers working in Vocational Education and Training (VET) programs in Australian secondary schools. It also investigates the similarities and differences and the enablers and blockers that occur across the various states and territories in their approaches to providing teacher education for VET in Schools (VETiS) teachers. The research focuses on the supply-side of university-based VET teacher education programs and offers a stocktake of the VET method area offerings that are available (and not available) for pre-service teachers in Australia.