Changes in vocational education and training (VET) and the profession are focused on technological and organizational development, internationalization and the integration of VET into lifelong learning. The professionalism of teachers and the related vocational education processes face the challenges of reforms in the vocational education system of Lithuanian schools. This affects the content of a professional career. The aim of the article is to present a tool for self-assessment and development of teaching competencies of vocational teachers and masters, which helps to plan their professional growth. The comparative study provided information on the main areas of work of masters in Germany, Italy and Lithuania. During the development of the new tool, an analysis of the scientific literature, a comparative overview of the latest trends in the training of VET teachers and masters, interviews with VET experts and target groups of VET teachers were carried out. Based on the initial comparative analysis, evaluation questionnaires were prepared and adapted to the language of each of the partner countries (Lithuanian, German and Italian). The quantitative study of VET teachers and masters was conducted, in which 324 VET teachers and masters from 10 state vocational training centres in different regions of Lithuania participated. Based on the results of the research, an online self-assessment tool was created - a tool with the help of which vocational teachers and masters can independently assess their teaching competence and plan the growth of their professional career. The platform was tested by 170 vocational teachers during training in Lithuania.

There is an increasing focus on the so-called hybrid teacher, at the European level. This teacher can alternatively work in a vocational school and a business. It is highly believed that this would help to solve both the aging of VET teachers and the quality of VET. The factors determining the choice of a VET teacher as a second career as well as perceptions of the participants’ former occupation were examined in this research using respectively the FIT-Choice and the PPO scales. The survey involved 114 VET teachers from 33 VET institutions of the country. The results revealed the determinants of VET teachers’ career choice, the most important of which are the high requirements of the teaching profession, the willingness to work with young people, and the influence of former teachers. The analysis of the relations between the perception of prior occupations and these determinants showed that social significance of prior occupation, strong interest in the subject and teaching, as well as workplace training self-efficacy facilitates the transition from business to vocational training. The results are discussed taking to similar studies conducted in other countries using the same measuring instruments.

Nowadays, as a means of supplying the market with a highly qualified workforce, vocational teachers play a significant role in Lithuania’s educational system. It is assumed that the most important factor determining the quality of education is the teacher. Undoubtedly, the vocational teacher’s personality traits and their work motivation are considered to be important components of a successful educational process. Aim: this study was carried out in order to detect the relationship between the vocational teachers’ personality traits and their work motivation. Method: The personality traits were evaluated using the Big Five Inventory (BFI; John et al., 1991, 2008) while the work motivation was assessed by employment of the Multidimensional Work Motivation Scale (MWMS; Gagne et al., 2015). 364 teachers from various Lithuania’s vocational schools participated in the research (243 of them were women, 93 men, while 10 did not specify their gender). Results: The study revealed that a greater expression of neuroticism correlated with an increase of the teachers’ motivation (p < .01), extrinsic (social and material) regulation (p < .01) and introjected regulation (p < .05), although the identified regulation (p < .05) and intrinsic motivation (p < .01) were observed to decrease. Meanwhile, with the increase of the teachers’ expression of extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness, intrinsic motivation (p < .01) and identified regulation (p < .01) heightened, and the extrinsic (material) motivation decreased (in case of extraversion and agreeableness – p < .01, in case of conscientiousness and openness to experience – p < .05). Moreover, the differences of work motivation noticed among various personality profiles were added to the results of the research. [...]