Dimensions of a Quality Vocational Teacher: Future Issues and Research

Abstract The role of the vocational teacher is complex, with multi-faceted demands regarding their work in the classroom, influenced by wider expectations about the role of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in transforming societies and domestic economies. For the launch of World Vocational and Technical Education , we report on research funded by the South African government on TVET and vocational teacher quality. We present a holistic framing of the quality vocational teacher, drawing on three concepts: theoretical and subject-specific pedagogy, holistic workplace/occupational competencies, and relationality within the wider skills ecosystem. This conceptualization informed our empirical research: a review of South African and international literature, a survey, workshops and interviews. We found a narrow understanding of quality in the literature, with quality rarely defined, yet we observed much broader, aspirational notions of the quality vocational teacher in our empirical data. We drew on these findings to develop the Quality Vocational Teacher (QVT) model which consists of five interrelated dimensions of quality: pedagogy, workplace understanding, external stakeholders, future orientation, and personal/professional values and competencies. The QVT model situates the vocational teacher and the five dimensions at the center, emphasizing the capacity building potential that exists at multiple levels: the TVET teacher, the TVET college, policy bodies and the wider TVET system. Thus, the QVT model goes beyond an emphasis on metrics for measuring “quality”. In closing, we present some theoretical and practical considerations for future scholarship on the quality vocational teacher as the nature of life and work changes.