The necessity of vocational educational changes as perceived by Estonian vocational teachers

ABSTRACT

The study discusses how vocational education changes in Estonia have been perceived by vocational teachers. Vocational teachers have been challenged in terms of making sense of and adapting to the educational changes triggered by reform policies introduced in recent decades. As reforms have often not been implemented as planned, it is essential to understand which changes teachers view as necessary in their professional work. The analysis is based on a quantitative survey conducted among vocational teachers. K-means clustering was used and three clusters of VET teachers were formed according to their evaluation of the necessity of the changes. Changes such as collaboration in professional development and the implementation of an EQF system were evaluated as most necessary. Teachers who evaluated the changes as most necessary tended to express greater self-efficacy, commitment to their profession and a higher degree of collaboration.

KEYWORDS:

• VET reform
• perception of changes
• necessity of changes
• VET teachers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The article was supported by the Estonian Research Council, under Grant IUT18-2, “Teacher professionalism and professionality in a changing context” (1.01.2014−31.12.2019).