PROFF – Professionalisation of VET teachers for the future - Europa

Portugal, a government initiative to encourage reading has led to an expansion of thetraditional role of teachers who are now working as information guides in school libraries.In general, the case studies show that teacher and trainer training is strongly affected bychanges in the way VET teaching is organised and that this leads to changes in requirementsfor training. We have identified several trends, shared by most programmes studied byPROFF.• VET reform has led, in nearly all cases, to the redefinition, diversification and expansionof teacher functions. In modern VET systems, teachers’ roles are no longer just to teachbut also to counsel students, to guide them in their educational choices, to performadministrative and management tasks, to plan, conduct research, and cooperate withexternal partners (outside institutions, companies, public authorities, parents, etc.).Several programmes examined were explicitly designed to respond to this change inteachers’ roles. Perhaps the clearest example was the Dutch ‘dual trajecten bve’programme, which was carefully designed to address the differentiation of staff functionsin Dutch institutes for vocational training and adult education (ROCs).• The diversification just described means that to an increasing extent teachers work inmultidisciplinary teams, covering multiple subject areas. In the past teachers workedindependently, on their own. In modern VET systems, however, effective teachingdepends not just on teaching skills but on the ability to work in a team and to plan andcoordinate team actions. Collegiality is also one of the ways to survive under themounting pressure and a means for improving the professional wellbeing of teachers.This is a significant challenge for teachers. In collegial work teachers take a risk,exposing their weak points to their colleagues. The need to adopt a collegial style ofworking requires teachers to acquire communication, social and management skillswhich were not previously included in teacher and trainer training.• Another issue, addressed in nearly all the programmes, is the need for teachers toreconceptualise their own position within VET. It is not enough for teachers to acquirenew skills and perform new functions. Effective motivation of teachers requires that theyshould understand the reasons for the change – making them their own.Finally, many programmes display a trend towards increased cooperation, not only betweendifferent departments in the same organisation but also among the many differentorganisations and actors involved in national VET systems. These include schools, traininginstitutions, companies and local and central government. Often, cooperation takes the formof what we have called bottom-across coordination, with individual teachers cooperatingdirectly with teachers, researchers, administrators and policy-makers outside their ownorganisation. This trend is critical. To quote the former Swedish education minister, YlvaJohansson (OECD/CERI, 2003):‘Networks and partnerships are critical: school autonomy goes hand in hand withbeing connected to the community, other educators and the broader society.Hence, the key role of networks and partnerships. Too much educational practice18