Definitions and key concepts Vocational Education and Training (VET), VET teaching, professionalization of VET-teachers

Vocational Education and Training – abbreviated as VET – is the education, training and teaching related to specific trades, occupations or vocations. The European Commission defines VET as follows: “Vocational education and training (VET) provides learners with essential skills enhancing their employability, supporting their personal development and encouraging active citizenship. VET boosts enterprise performance, competitiveness, research and innovation.” (European Commission). Although VET-systems vary widely among European contexts (see Cedefop’s VET in Europe Database), VET is roughly taking place in educational institutions, part of secondary or tertiary education, or part of initial training programmes aimed for working professionals (apprenticeships or workplace learning) (Eurostat, statistics explained; Cedefop, 2021). As VET is strongly focused on vocations, education and training it is often organized in close collaboration with well-developed networks of VET-stakeholders, such as employers. VET plays an important role in the educational landscape and thus in the education and training of professionals: more or less half of EU upper secondary level students are enrolled in VET-programmes (2018 data, Eurostat).

As in other types of education and training, teachers play an important role in VET. VET teachers prepare young people for work, they foster the life-long-learning of professionals and provide well equipped professionals for industry, society. Ideally, VET teachers connect the worlds of education and practice by cultivating ‘hybrid learning environments’ (Bouw et al., 2021; Oonk et al., 2022). Sometimes described as a ‘dual profession’: VET teaching requires a unique combination of social, pedagogical and industry-specific skills and knowledge (OECD, 2021). Indeed, the ideal VET teacher is a ‘jack of all trades’. Of course, VET teachers need vocational, pedagogical, social or interpersonal skills. More recently however, VET teachers are increasingly challenged to cross traditional boundaries in learning and education. They need to be reflective and ‘responsive’: able to stay in touch with the developments in society, their industry and innovations for learning (Oonk et al., 2022). COVID-19 has pressed the already stressed importance of digital competence for remote and online learning (Cataneo et al., 2022; OECD, 2021). They furthermore need to be able to effectively work together with (regional) partners in industry to create relevant (hybrid) learning environments (Van den Berg, 2021).

The world is highly dynamic as well as the landscapes of industry and teaching. Continuous professionalization and stimulating (VET) teachers’ innovative behaviors is therefore of utmost importance (OECD, 2021; De Jong, 2019). Global trends such as the transition towards sustainability, digitalization, automation, hybridization of education and learning etc. makes continuous (VET) teacher professionalization and innovation an important theme (OECD, 2021). Life-long-learning and innovation is paradoxically however not self-evident. When one is asked, any (VET) teacher will no doubt agree with the necessity of continuous professionalization and innovation. However, practice often shows a rather different image. Like any other professional, (VET) teachers are primarily focused on doing their jobs which in many cases comes down to teaching. Research shows that innovative behavior is a result of a complex interplay of individual and organizational factors such as self-efficacy, motivation, beliefs, as well as job characteristics, work culture and physical resources (Thurlings et al., 2014). Organizational factors seem determined as teachers often experience a lack of support or incentives in their environments to work on themselves and behave innovatively. In the case of VET teachers, their complex set of both pedagogical as well as industry-related knowledge might even be considered challenging contexts making existing support and training not fitting to their needs (Ramos et al., 2021; OECD, 2021).