Teachers and trainers are the backbone of any VET system and any educational
intervention. They are the ones who convey knowledge, skills and attitudes to the
participants, according to the curricula – if there are any – and according to their own levels
of competence. This is why the quality of VET programmes significantly depends on the
competences of the teaching staff.
VET teachers and trainers need a balanced mix of technical, methodological and
pedagogical skills, and the VET system as a whole needs teachers and trainers who are
competent to cover subjects not just related to occupational competence but also personal
development and educational mobility. And at least a part of the teaching staff should be
prepared for working with special needs groups.
What makes teaching in VET a real challenge is the fact that, because of the speed of
innovation and technological change, technical knowledge and skills become outdated much
more quickly than they do in general education. For VET teachers and trainers, catching up
with technological trends and developments is crucial, and this requires a good system of inservice
teacher training, which includes exposure to the world of work.
However, the reality in most of our partner countries is far away from this. The majority of the
teachers and trainers in VET have made a purely academic career and have hardly ever
gained practical experience in the occupational fields they train in. In-service training is a rare exception. Moreover the status, employment conditions and remuneration of teaching staff in
VET are often poor, which reduces their motivation, readiness and capability to invest time
and effort in further developing their competences, since many pursue alternative income
generating activities in parallel with their teaching work.
All this makes the teaching staff a real bottleneck for any progress and improvement in a
VET system. VET reforms or donor interventions in the field that do not adequately take this
issue into consideration are bound to fail.