Teaching in Innovative Vocational Education in the Netherlands

Overview & Synopsis

The orientation of vocational education towards competence-based education has led to fundamental changes in the work of vocational education teachers. This article pictures teaching in innovative, competence-based vocational education in the Netherlands. In a multiple case study, the teaching practices of 10 teachers from five vocational schools were thoroughly studied. By examining not only the actual behaviour of teachers but also their related personal ideas and professional attitudes, we learn about the ways teachers implement new educational concepts and their experienced uncertainties, dilemmas and practical tensions. These insights lead to a better understanding and specification of the concept of competence-based vocational education at the micro level of educational processes, that is, the interaction between teachers and students. Implications are described in terms of new repertoires of teaching behaviour and teaching methods--all in the context of vocational education. (Contains 2 tables and 1 note.)