Approaches to Teaching in Professional Training: a Qualitative Study

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Teaching approaches have been shown to be an important aspect of teaching in school or higher education. Although differing approaches to teaching may play a role in the outcome of professional trainings, they have not yet been further studied in this context. It is first necessary to determine whether the existing approaches to teaching construct can be transferred to the context of professional training and how approaches to teaching can be operationalized for future studies. For a multi-perspective view, we conducted 45 interviews with trainers, human resource development practitioners and trainees. The interviews were analyzed by qualitative content analysis. Our results show that the construct can be transferred to professional training. However, to apply the approaches to teaching construct to professional training, some of the underlying categories must be modified. Furthermore, we discuss the need to include new aspects, such as the category of transfer. Implications for further research are presented, including the development of a measurement instrument based on the results.