The impact of teacher qualification on vocational schoolteachers’ professional identity

<p dir="ltr">Background: Vocational Education and Training (VET) is studied globally in schools, offering an alternative route to academic learning. Within a supportive school community context, students can gain industry relevant skills and vocational knowledge, supporting their transition into the adult workforce. Yet despite substantial numbers of students choosing VET subjects in schools, recruiting suitably qualified VET teachers for secondary schools is a global challenge. <p dir="ltr">Purpose: This paper presents the lived experience of 14 in-service and two pre-service VET schoolteachers who had gained initial teacher education (ITE) qualifications, shedding light on the many facets of their identity transformation from vocational practitioner to ITE student to qualified vocational schoolteacher. <p dir="ltr">Method: Participants, recruited both opportunistically and through snowball sampling, taught in 16 different secondary schools located in the Australian state of Victoria. Semi-structured online interviews were conducted with them by the third author of this article. Interviews were transcribed and thematically analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. <p dir="ltr">Findings: Completing an ITE qualification had been an enlightening and empowering experience for these industry experts who had previously developed strong vocational identities. The participants believed that school students perceived them as relatable and authentic role models. Their shared lived experience was that students responded positively to their vocationally informed empathetic, respectful, patient and caring pedagogy. <p dir="ltr">Conclusion: The participants in this study practiced what we have identified as Vocationally Informed Relational Pedagogy (VIRP) – an approach which is invaluable in shaping sustainable, high-quality VET programmes in schools. The value of a formal teaching qualification for industry experts who wish to become schoolteachers is integral to the transformation of their professional identity.