Development of a Vocational Teacher Education Strategy in Lithuania : Challenges, Reality and Solutions

Abstract

Lithuania, as a country in transition, is undergoing ‘double-time changes’ in politics, economics and social life relating to the changes that replaced the centralised economy by the market economy. This has been paralleled by the continuous progress of science and technology that has resulted in permanent changes in labour market needs for vocational qualifications. These ‘doubletime changes’ create a sophisticated and ‘turbulent’ effect which is very complicated to manage. It also presents a new set of challenges for the entire Lithuanian VET system, as well as vocational teacher education. The systematic research on Lithuanian VET teacher education improvement has become very important. The answers to the questions ‘what is a good VET teacher?’ and ‘what makes a VET teacher a good one?’ also becomes very important. Research data on the current situation of Lithuanian VET teacher professional qualification show the great demand for acquiring pedagogical qualification.