- 2015Implementation
- 2016Implementation
- 2017Implementation
- 2018Implementation
- 2019Implementation
- 2020Completed
Background
The training and qualifications of VET teachers are a direct determinant of the quality of VET services. It is important for VET teachers to have the necessary didactic, subject and technological competences, the continuous improvement of which must be an integral part of the career of every VET teacher. Teacher development is becoming particularly important in these times, when the abundance of information available in public sources is relegating the importance and necessity of the theoretical information conveyed by the teacher to the students. Nowadays, a vocational teacher no longer has to be a mere communicator of information; s/he has also to be able to find, organise and select information necessary in the learning process, available and easily accessible to learners in various sources. The use of information technology and knowledge of technical information dissemination channels becomes crucial for VET teachers.
Objectives
The aim is to develop optimal approaches for ensuring high-quality VET teachers and trainers in compliance with modern labour market requirements.
Description
A training programme for trainers in companies has been in progress since 2015 within the Erasmus+ project Developing apprenticeship: in-company trainer training and apprenticeship promotion. The programme is dedicated to the professional development of trainers in companies. Knowledge and skills have been listed for each of the 11-course modules. Online training material has been prepared to support their training during and beyond the project. The programme was piloted with a limited number of trainees.
Since February 2017, Lithuanian institutions (the Qualifications and VET Development Centre, the Lithuanian Association of VET Institutions, the Kaunas chambers of commerce, industry and crafts) have joined the Erasmus+ project Testing new approaches to training VET and apprenticeship tutors for work-based learning, TTT4WBL (2017-20), grant agreement No 2016-2927/005-001, which supports an innovative approach – tandem training – for the training of trainers in work-based learning (WBL) of the Baltic countries, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. A common competence profile of WBL trainers in the Baltics will promote a common Baltic vision while respecting the needs of each particular country in developing the training programmes for WBL trainers. The project will develop and pilot a sample training programme for in-company and vocational education and training (VET) institutions’ trainers. At a later stage each Baltic...
A training programme for trainers in companies has been in progress since 2015 within the Erasmus+ project Developing apprenticeship: in-company trainer training and apprenticeship promotion. The programme is dedicated to the professional development of trainers in companies. Knowledge and skills have been listed for each of the 11-course modules. Online training material has been prepared to support their training during and beyond the project. The programme was piloted with a limited number of trainees.
Since February 2017, Lithuanian institutions (the Qualifications and VET Development Centre, the Lithuanian Association of VET Institutions, the Kaunas chambers of commerce, industry and crafts) have joined the Erasmus+ project Testing new approaches to training VET and apprenticeship tutors for work-based learning, TTT4WBL (2017-20), grant agreement No 2016-2927/005-001, which supports an innovative approach – tandem training – for the training of trainers in work-based learning (WBL) of the Baltic countries, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. A common competence profile of WBL trainers in the Baltics will promote a common Baltic vision while respecting the needs of each particular country in developing the training programmes for WBL trainers. The project will develop and pilot a sample training programme for in-company and vocational education and training (VET) institutions’ trainers. At a later stage each Baltic country will develop its own training programme in relation to the national priorities, legal framework and the interests and opinions of stakeholders in the particular country and based on a common agreed competence profile of a WBL trainer.
The idea of joint training was first proposed in the Q-Placements project with the aim of strengthening communication and cooperation between VET schools and enterprises in organisation of apprenticeships. A joint training programme was developed with focus on WBL tutor skills in communication and cooperation. After completion of the Q-Placements project, in Latvia Baltic Bright developed a WBL tutor training initiative in cooperation with the German-Baltic Chamber of Commerce. The German chamber offered the training content which is used for German in-company tutors and Baltic Bright contributed the idea of joint training and the content with focus on communication and cooperation skills.
The TTT4WBL project develops further the tandem approach, based on the results of needs analysis regarding WBL tutor training in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Three national joint training programmes for WBL tutors based on prior research and analysis have been developed. They are based on an existing joint training programme in Latvia, but adopted to national contexts considering findings from needs analyses, good practices in partner countries, lessons learned from the study visit to Finland and the joint Baltic Train-the-trainer workshop. All programmes have been piloted during the first phase of field trials at national workshops and have been reviewed and improved before the second and third phase of training, taking into account feedback from participants, trainers’ self and peer evaluation, and proposals received from researchers.
The TTT4WBL training programme was developed to run for 16 hours and project partners could decide how to plan their training sessions. All workshops were moderated by two lead trainers.
The tandem training sessions were organised in three phases – the pilot phase (November 2017 to January 2018), the second round (March 2018 to June 2018) and the third round (August 2018 to January 2019) of field trials. Altogether 50 tandem exercises were organised. The total number of trained WBL tutors is 820 (Latvia 300, Lithuania 312, and Estonia 208) involving around 80 VET Schools and 250 companies across most regions of the three Baltic countries.
On 11 September 2019, during a meeting of the Board of the Lithuanian Association of VET Providers, board members together with a representative of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport discussed the situation with regard to WBL nationally and examples of good practice from other countries. As all VET providers in Lithuania participated in tandem training sessions organised in the TTT4WBL project, attendants from different regions of the country talked about the benefits of this training, the cooperation opportunities for specialists involved in WBL at VET institutions and at businesses, and the wider communication of project activities.
As not all business companies in Lithuania are willing at present to cooperate with VET providers in the form of WBL, members of the Lithuanian Association of VET Providers expressed the need for additional training to promote this innovative form of training recognised in many European countries.
In 2020, the TTT4WBL project enabled the Baltic countries to join forces and agree on the basic requirements for competences of WBL tutors, which are reflected in a common competence profile. The Baltic WBL tutors’ competence profile will serve as a basis to plan WBL tutor training programmes across the Baltics and will guide VET and company managers in WBL staff development.
JAMK University of Applied Sciences, School of Professional Teacher Education from Jyväskylä, Finland, conducted the research in the TTT4WBL project in the Baltic countries on the impact of the tandem training approach (teachers from VET institutions and representatives of the companies being trained together). The report comprises a wide array of perspectives of diverse informants in the Baltic countries and reflects how the participants in the tandem training assessed their competence before and six months after the training. The report also relates the lead trainers’ experiences regarding the implementation of the tandem training and the views of the VET students, the VET institution managers and the company managers on work-based learning and tutor training.
On 24 January 2020, the conference Towards high quality work-based learning in the Baltics and beyond was organised in Riga, Latvia.
In 2020, the project ended. The partners had identified the project impact on the Lithuanian system, which included:
- approval and registration of WBL tutor tandem training programme as one of the in-service training programmes in the National register of studies, training programmes and qualifications;
- provision of financial support for further tutor tandem training in VET institutions and companies as part of ESIF (European Structural and Investment Funds) funded activities for apprenticeship development;
- raised awareness of the importance of apprenticeship / work-based learning among all VET institutions;
- increased involvement and participation of companies in apprenticeship / work-based learning network formation;
- a designated authority – the Qualifications and VET Development Centre (KPMPC) – was appointed for apprenticeship development, tutor training, consulting and methodological assistance to providers, in order to achieve sustainability of activities.
Bodies responsible
- Qualifications and VET Development Centre (KPMPC)
- Lithuanian Association of VET institutions (LPMIA)
Target groups
Education professionals
- Teachers
- Trainers
Thematic categories
Teachers, trainers and school leaders competences
Competent and motivated VET teachers in schools and trainers in companies are crucial to VET becoming innovative and relevant, agile, resilient, flexible, inclusive and lifelong.
This thematic category comprises policies and practices of initial training and continuing professional development approaches in a systemic and systematic manner. It also looks at measures aiming to update (entry) requirements and make teaching and training careers attractive and bring more young and talented individuals and business professionals into teaching and training. Supporting VET educators by equipping them with adequate competences, skills and tools for the green transition and digital teaching and learning are addressed in separate thematic sub-categories.
The measures in this category target teachers and school leaders, company trainers and mentors, adult educators and guidance practitioners.
This thematic sub-category refers to all kinds of initial and continuing professional development (CPD) for VET educators who work in vocational schools and in companies providing VET. VET educators include teachers and school leaders, trainers and company managers involved in VET, as well as adult educators and guidance practitioners – those who work in school- and work-based settings. The thematic sub-category includes national strategies, training programmes or individual courses to address the learning needs of VET educators and to develop their vocational (technical) skills, and pedagogical (teaching) skills and competences. Such programmes concern state-of-the-art vocational pedagogy, innovative teaching methods, and competences needed to address evolving teaching environments, e.g. teaching in multicultural settings, working with learners at risk of early leaving, etc.
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2026). CPD programmes and material for trainers: Lithuania. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2026). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2025 update) [Online tool].
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/sk/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/28344