Teachers in Dual and School-Based VET

By Katie Caves

In the last post, we talked about the differences in outcomes from school-based and dual apprenticeship VET programs. In this post, we’ll explore a few ways the two program types are different for teachers.

To recap, dual VET is what’s often called apprenticeship. Students spend most (or at least 25%) of their time in the workplace learning on the job, and the rest in school learning general content. In school-based VET, students are always in school for both practical and general content.

Curriculum Design

Teachers have very different roles in the planning, delivery, and updating of VET depending on whether the program is dual or school-based. In most dual systems, employers have a major say in curriculum design, and they bring their expertise and knowledge to that process. Since employers operate at the industry standard every day, it is easy for them to say what students need to know now and easier for them to predict what they might need to know in the future.

While some school-based VET programs rely on employers for curriculum design help, teachers and educators usually have a much bigger role. For example, Korean VET High School teachers have to design curricula for their students based on very broad occupational fields and their own industry knowledge. Teachers and educators might have excellent curriculum design skills—and educators use those skills in dual systems’ design processes as well—but they are not in industry every day even if they are very experienced. Motivated VET teachers can and do work hard to stay updated on their occupational field, but it is a much heavier load for them than people who work in the field every day.

Practical Skills Training

If a VET program is dual, students leave school for practical training and are in the classroom only for classroom-appropriate content like languages, mathematics, and other general-education courses. Workplace trainers usually have some kind of certification, for example the Swiss 100-hour trainer training course, but they already have all the practical skills and experience they need to train.

If the program is school-based, teachers have the added responsibility of practical training. Usually there are different teachers for general-education content and practical training, but even if schools are not expecting teachers to be both academic and practical instructors, there are added challenges. Practical teachers usually come from different backgrounds than academic teachers, including more industry experience and less pedagogical training. Recruiting and maintaining the skills of VET teachers in school-based programs can be very tricky.

American states are full of workarounds, including special qualifications procedures for industry-experienced VET teachers or teacher externships to improve the practical skills of more traditional teachers so they can teach VET. In either case, it is very difficult to keep teacher skill levels at the industry frontier since they are not in the workplace every day. Teachers in school-based systems might also be asked to partner with industry on finding internship places for students, and this type of networking can be very challenging and inconsistent.

Teacher Recruiting and Pay

Dual VET programs recruit teachers through normal channels and paid like other general-education teachers. The system is relatively simple because the job descriptions are essentially the same. Pay might vary by level or degree of specialization, but it is coherent with the overall education system.

In school-based VET systems, one major challenge is recruiting teachers with industry experience then convincing them to work for teacher wages. Industry typically pays more for people with the same skills, so few potential teachers are willing or able to take the pay cut. Public service is a noble motivation, but doesn’t pay the rent. Recruiting is also difficult because school leaders are less likely to know exactly what skills to look for or where to look.

Educators are a critical part of both VET program types, but their roles and experiences can be very different across types. In dual VET, teachers mainly do what we think of as normal teacher things. They help design curriculum by translating industry-driven competencies, teach general-education topics in classroom settings, and focus on pedagogical and subject-related issues. School-based VET is more challenging and complex because it asks teachers and school leaders to step outside their areas of expertise and asks them to have deep up-to-date knowledge and networks in industries where they do not work. Every system has its own approach, but there are common challenges and opportunities.