New learning culture and changing role of vocational school teachers
Digital learning is becoming increasingly important in vocational schools and in the training given to vocational school teachers. With a new learning culture emerging, the roles of both teachers and learners are changing.
As learners take more responsibility for their own learning, the role of teachers is changing from that of ‘knowledge mediators’ to that of guides and mentors in the learning process. Research on self-directed learning and new learning cultures often focus on learning and learners. Very little attention has been given to the shift away from classroom instruction to self-directed learning, to the impact that this has had on vocational school teachers and how the new paradigm changes perceptions of what it means to be a teacher. This dissertation project focuses on the implications of such a change in roles, how changes within a new learning culture can be conceptualised and how vocational school teachers’ perception of their role evolves when lessons are increasingly designed with the new learning culture in mind. Our research is centred on teachers responsible for vocational subjects relating to business and administration.