Benefits of Vocational Teachers’ Participation in Projects under Erasmus+ Programme: The Case of Lithuania

Abstract

Embracing the financing opportunities offered by the European Union, vocational schools draw up applications for various projects, mostly for implementation of international partnerships, dissemination of best practices, and exchange programmes, involving the general education and vocational teachers as well as students, student assistance specialists, and school principals. Vocational training institutions generally engage in projects under the Erasmus+ strategic partnership programme aimed at long-term mobility of vocational teachers and other participants of vocational training. When assessing the importance of Erasmus+ projects in the context of vocational training quality in Lithuania, the authors of the paper aimed at identifying the benefits of vocational teachers’ participations in projects under the Erasmus+ programme. Seeking for the research objective, a qualitative research approach was selected applying the triangulation principle. Document analysis method was invoked to examine the project activities documents of 26 Lithuanian vocational training institutions. Benefits experienced by vocational teachers experienced in project activities were analysed applying a semi-structured interview for the interviewing of 9vocational teachers and vocational teachers who served as international project coordinators in more than two national and international projects in 2015–2019. The study revealed that in Lithuania, projects implemented in vocational training institutions having the largest experience of international projectactivities were associated with vocational teachers’ qualification improvement, introduction of innovations, and renovation and expansion of infrastructure. Benefits of involvement in project activities are diverse, starting with improvement of the learning process, relationships with the learners, and vocational teachers become open to changes. The major benefit of project activities gained by vocational teachers is oriented to experiential learning, when learning occurs through personal experience.