Vocational teacher education in Russia: Institutional models, international experience, and strate-gies for curriculum renewal

Introduction. The article addresses the problem of preparing qualified teaching staff for the vocational education system in order to meet the demands of the modern labour market and the secondary vocational education system. The aim of the research is to reveal mechanisms, differences and developmental strategies of vocational teacher education systems based on evaluating institutional models and international experience. Materials and Methods. The study follows the competence-based approach. The analysis of vocational teacher education curricula was based on a typology of institutional models according to five criteria: meeting professional standards, balance between education and industry components, focus on practical skills, flexibility and variability, and relying on regional and industry specifics. Data collection was carried out by analysing the official universities’ websites (n=20), curricula and summaries of vocational educational programmes. In order to process a vast amount of textual information at the synthesis stage, DeepSeek-R1, an open-weight reasoning large language model (version 2025), was used, while all substantive conclusions and interpretations were made by the authors independently. Results. Significant differences were identified between four institutional models of vocational teacher education across all five comparative criteria. A comparative analysis of international systems (Australia, Germany, Finland, etc.) revealed that the key factors for the effectiveness of vocational teacher education include: compulsory industry experience as an entry requirement for the profession, certification mechanisms, tiered teacher qualifications, and extended industry internships as an integral part of training. Based on the identified patterns and international experience, recommendations have been proposed, including the introduction of certifications, tiered qualifications, strengthening industry placements through triple-helix models, and a shift towards integrated modules. Implementing these measures will help bridge the gap between theory and practice and improve the quality of staffing for the VET system. Conclusions. The study confirms that the existing models of vocational teacher education in Russia fail to ensure adequate integration of pedagogical and industry components and do not develop competencies responsive to labour market demands.