Teacher Training and Capacity Development

In general, the role of teachers and trainers in the VET system has become more complex in recent years. Guidance, counselling, teamworking, cooperation with enterprises and communication with stakeholders have become increasingly important. However, the responsibilities laid down in legislation and regulations are not always easy to implement in practice. Lack of funding and the inability to keep up with the latest technological developments may impede the actual engagement of teachers in the different settings.

Successful implementation of suggested curricula and VET model in the ICT CoC requires a significant intervention in terms of capacity development of current and future staff. Teacher development has a critical role to ensure quality teaching in competencies development, which includes knowledge, skills and attitude relevant to the rapidly changing labor market. Furthermore, teaching staff are the most valuable resource in any learning institution and their skills have to be updated regularly and therefore the capacity development plan should take account of that.

Teacher development for TVET requires quite different approaches from teacher development for primary and general secondary education. A TVET teacher requires many educational and didactical skills to deal with new situations. In concrete terms, this concerns matters that teachers need to know, and matters that need to be transferred to the next generation. These are:

  • Knowing subject matter deeply;
  • Learning to learn Skills;
  • A large knowledge of digital educational tools;
  • How to be a facilitator and motivator of learning environment.

The new model and learning environment differ from the one with which ICT teachers were familiar with. In the new setup of the ICT CoC teachers must cope with many more uncertainties:

  • A curriculum in which lessons and content are fixed no longer exists;
  • It requires Generic Soft Skills like: Cognitive, Interpersonal, Adaptability, Values and attitudinal, Cross cultural understanding, Sustainable development.
  • The new model requires the ability to jump between fields of technical specialization and capture the key issues quickly.

Effective vocational teachers need to meet the demanding “dual requirement” of both pedagogical skills, and practical professional expertise. Our proposed model is designed to reform vocational teacher policy in the practical engineering and technician programmes to meet the “dual requirement” of industry knowledge and experience alongside teaching skills by:

  • Encouraging part-time working arrangements, allowing people with valuable work experience to enter teaching;
  • Designing initial teacher education programmes so as to ensure a good mix of pedagogical skills, vocational competence and industry knowledge.

Based on the key strategic focus of this project, our proposed capacity development plan will target following areas:

  • Instructor trainingSupport capacity building in the areas of competence development, measured in terms of theoretical knowledge, technical and pedagogical skills as well as skills in new technologies in the workplace;
  • Linkage between vocational and general educationCreation of pathways between vocational education and general education and articulate teachers’ role;
  • Linkage of TVET to the labor marketFacilitate consultation among stakeholders of TVET, labor and employment, including teacher/trainer development experts to enhance and secure the socio-economic relevance of TVET;
  • Business management and entrepreneurial trainingPromote pilot projects that help develop business management and entrepreneurial skills for self-employment.