Project

Vocational didactics in Switzerland: developing transversal competences

The Leading House ‘Vocational Didactics’ is funded by the Chamber of Universities of Teacher Education, which is part of the Swiss Conference of Rectors of Higher Education Institutions (swissuniversities). This LH is managed by the Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (SFUVET) and works closely with the universities of teacher education in Lucerne, Zurich and St. Gallen as well as with the University of Zurich.

Adobe Stock / Vasyl

This research project is a continuation of a previous project entitled Vocational didactics in Switzerland: Developing scientific know-how conducted by the same research team. The aim of this project is to improve the acquisition of transversal competences in VET programmes, in particular ‘critical thinking and problem solving’, ‘communication’, ‘collaboration’ and ‘creativity and innovation’.

In this context, researchers will develop competence analysis tools for vocational school teachers, workplace trainers and branch course instructors. They will also analyse the general conditions and develop didactic concepts and models to encourage acquisition of these competences. In addition, researchers will intensify the dialogue with various stakeholders at national and international level on the topic of vocational didactics in order to identify future challenges.

In preparation for this, all five of the participating institutions (SFUVET, PH Lucerne, PH St. Gallen, PH Zurich, University of Zurich) have designed individual projects that are intended to be complementary to one another. These projects can then serve as the basis for ongoing discussions taking place within the Swiss VPET system.

In this project, SFUVET will take a closer look at how professional creativity manifests itself at three different levels:

  1. At the level of host companies,
  2. At the level of professionals in the given field, and
  3. At the level of vocational schools (this will include development of a didactic guideline on how creativity may be developed).
Publications
Presentations