The NCVER has just published research on “Effective teaching and learning: teacher perspectives on what works best for whom.”
NCVER consulted with the VET Development Centre (VDC) as part of the project to source participants, including educators and leaders of teaching teams to validate and explore concepts emerging from the research.
It is a short plain English research report accessible to all VET professionals – but to further enhance its utility to the sector, the researchers have also published a 2-page ‘research insight’ which distils the ideas shared by the VET teachers who participated in the research.
The report itself concludes with the following comment:
“Teaching VET is complex. The teaching process involves more than learning needs or preferences; VET teachers also need to take many different elements into account… In relation to both the recognition and use of their skills, the issue of progression and pathways for teachers was again raised, alongside the explanation that the most likely pathway for highly experienced teachers is into higher-level management-type positions, noting that this results in their expertise no longer being used directly in the classroom.”
Effective strategies identified in the research which were successfully being used to further develop teaching skills included:
- Mentoring
- Participating in ‘Communities of Practice’
- Engaging in reflective practices/sharing learnings at ‘debriefing’ sessions
- Shadowing other teachers
- Team teaching
- Problem-solving sessions
- Participating in peer review
- Using internal and/or external networks
- In-house PD with others, and
- Undertaking learning (i.e. ‘being a learner’)
Additional ideas identified in the research to strengthen teaching skills included:
- Being able to “draw on the skills, knowledge and practices of teaching award winners”
- Watching video examples of VET teachers’ approaches
- Joining a network to collaboratively develop and share resources and practices
- Using resources on how to “develop the skill of learning in adults”
- A reflective practices toolkit, and
- Using sample session plans.
