Abstract
PurposeThe present study aims to reveal common and diverging trends in the development of pedagogical competences of vocational education and training (VET) teachers and trainers in Italy and Lithuania.Design/methodology/approachA structured survey was administered to Italian and Lithuanian teachers. The collected data were analysed and compared.FindingsResults show that there are many common challenges and problems in the development of pedagogical competencies of the VET teachers in both countries; e.g.: the marginalisation of the VET teacher's work and working conditions, especially the dissatisfying wages and poor career opportunities, and the absent or weak institutionalisation of the VET teacher's qualifications and training.Originality/valueThe emerged results can be useful for directors of VET-centres and VET-schools to manage training and pedagogical growth of teachers both in Italy and in Lithuania. Moreover, the outputs can be considered as a set of suggestions also by the policymakers both at national and European level.
Highlights
Competencies and qualifications of the vocational teachers [further vocational education and training (VET) teachers] are crucial factors of the VET curriculum reforms
This paper focuses on the following research questions: 1. What are the contextual factors of the institutional change of the reforms of VET systems that influence the development of pedagogical competencies of the VET teachers in Italy and Lithuania? This question is tackled by comparing the institutional features of the VET systems and teacher training in Italy and Lithuania in the first section of the article
Findings of survey 4.1 Findings of survey executed in Italy Descriptive statistical data show that most of the participants (86.7%) have a stable work situation guaranteed by an open-ended contract. This allows some of them to have other jobs too; VET-teaching is not the only work activity for all participants: 79% of them work full-time in VET, but 18.1% have a secondary job and 2.9% said they teach in VET as a second job. It should not be regarded as a shortage or problem, because the work of VET teachers in a sector related to the subject that they teach provide them with stronger connections between teaching activities and the workplace
Summary
Competencies and qualifications of the vocational teachers [further vocational education and training (VET) teachers] are crucial factors of the VET curriculum reforms. Attainment of the goals of competence-based VET curriculum reforms, such as reducing skills mismatch, improving the responsiveness of the VET curricula to the labour market needs, enhancing employability and attractiveness of VET pathways amongst the youth and adults, largely depends on the availability of the competent VET teachers and trainers who are ready to restructure, update and adjust their pedagogical approaches and methods (Sartori et al, 2015) For this reason, the development of pedagogical competencies presents by itself one of the key objects of implementation of competence-based VET curriculum reforms and requires attention from the policymakers, VET providers and social partners. The ability of teachers to apply their professional competences and personal capabilities and values in the training process is what makes a real difference to students (Tacconi and Gomez, 2013)
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