Conference Agenda

The phenomenon of practice shock—the gap between theoretical training and the practical demands of classroom teaching—represents a major challenge for novice teachers worldwide (Grossman, 2008). Research indicates that beginning teachers often struggle to apply their pedagogical knowledge effectively, particularly in classroom management and instructional practice (Morton et al., 1997; Danner, 2014; Dicke et al., 2015). Within the European Union’s broader agenda to enhance teacher professionalism and support competence development (EC, 2013), addressing this challenge has become a key priority.

In Germany, this issue has prompted reforms in teacher education programmes, most notably the introduction of the practical semester across eleven federal states. This phase seeks to bridge theory and practice through extended school placements supported by university seminars and regional education authorities (LABG, 2009 §12). For many student teachers, it constitutes their first substantial engagement with real teaching contexts and serves as an initial confrontation with the realities of professional life. The practical semester is designed to foster competence development and a deeper understanding of teachers’ professional roles (Weyland & Wittmann, 2011).

Teacher competence development has been widely studied (Cramer, 2010; Kunter et al., 2011), with evidence suggesting a strong relationship between practical experience and professional growth. However, few studies have explicitly examined how such training relates to student teachers’ perceived competence development (Bodensohn & Schneider, 2008). Emotional experiences are also crucial within this process (Bach & Hagenauer, 2022). During school placements—often characterised by high performance pressure—achievement-related emotions strongly influence learning processes, identity formation (Timoštšuk & Ugaste, 2012) and competence acquisition (Marais, 2013). Positive emotions encourage openness to new methods and resilience when facing challenges, whereas negative emotions tend to reinforce established routines (Frenzel, 2014).

Previous research confirms that emotional experiences shape competence development from the very first teaching encounters onwards (Burić et al., 2020). Yet studies focusing on these dynamics within vocational teacher education remain limited.

This study investigates how vocational education and training (VET) student teachers evaluate their competencies before and after engaging in school-based activities during the practical semester. It further explores the emotional responses elicited by these experiences in order to assess whether the practical semester supports competence development and helps reduce practice shock.

It is a challenge to recruit vocational education and training (VET) teachers in Norway (Vaag Iversen et al., 2023) and worldwide (OECD, 2023). For society, qualified and motivated teachers are key agents in providing high-quality instruction and teaching, resulting in improved educational outcomes, social equity, and development (Toom et al., 2015). It is essential to examine what motivates pre-service teachers to enter the teaching profession because their motivations are related to professional development, job satisfaction, and commitment (e.g., Goller et al., 2019; OECD, 2023).

To date, there is limited quantitative research in the Norwegian VET context regarding what motivates pre-service VET students for their choices. In other European countries, motivations to become teachers are markedly underexplored among VET pre-service teachers (Vilppola et al., 2023) although these teachers play a vital societal role in educating labour forces within industry, construction, trade, and health. Studies from Finland (Goller et al., 2019), Switzerland (Berger & D’Ascoli, 2012) and Sweden (Kristmansson & Fjellström, 2022) have examined motivations to become a VET teacher for example using the FIT-Choice scales. These motivations may be widespread, for instance intrinsic career values, social contributions, and work-life balance.

It would be valuable to gain deeper insights into how VET pre-service teachers view the expertise required to be a teacher, the challenges associated with the role, and the task return in terms of salary (Nesje et al., 2018). These aspects are relevant because they reflect which values, aims and practices teachers adopt in their teaching work; thus, contributing to student learning (e.g., Bükki & Fehérvári, 2024).

The FitChoice instrument has been used to measure motivation and perceptions among VET pre-service teachers in Finland (Goller et al., 2019), Switzerland (Berger & D’Ascoli, 2012) and Sweden (Kristmansson & Fjellström, 2022). By exploring the same concepts in a Norwegian context, this study contributes further to building a European knowledge base about motivation and perception among VET pre-service teachers.

Yet, when it comes to motivation and perception, it is interesting to relate this to study programs, gender, and work situations. This study has two research questions:
RQ1: How do vocational pre-service teachers perceive the teaching profession, and how do these perceptions differ based on study programs, gender and work situation?
RQ2: What motivates the teachers to pursue a career in teaching, and how do these motivations vary according to study programs, gender and work situation?

In Norway, the Education Act (2023) regulates that a relevant teacher training programme must be completed to be employed in a teacher position. This regulation includes VET teachers. As recruitment of VET teachers might be challenging, it is possible to be appointed as in-service VET teacher under the condition that the teacher training programme is completed. Employment in teaching positions requires relevant qualifications in the vocational subject area.

Norway offers two possible educational trajectories for becoming a VET teacher. There is a Postgraduate Certificate in Education for VET teachers (PPU-y) for those who have a professional bachelor's degree relevant to the educational program they are intend to teach in, or a vocational qualification awarded after completing upper secondary VET, in addition to documented vocational theoretic competence above level 4 in the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and a minimum of two years of professional experience. The other option is a three-year VET teacher bachelor program (YFL) that requires general university and college admissions certification, or recognition of prior learning. In addition, entrance requires a vocational qualification from upper secondary VET and at least two years of relevant practice in the vocation.
Both programs qualify to teach in relevant subjects for lower and upper secondary level, grades 8-13.

Teacher well-being is crucial to educational quality and the sustainability of the education system, and vocational education plays an essential role in socioeconomic development, yet the well-being of teachers in higher vocational education remains underexplored. This study collected qualitative interview data from 17 higher vocational teachers in Hangzhou, China. Guided by the PERMA model, reflexive thematic analysis was conducted with NVivo to identify key factors influencing their well-being.

Teachers in educational studies have gradually drawn global scholarly attention. While teachers’ wellbeing starts to grow as a domain in teacher studies, teachers are facing challenges that hinder their well-being. Enhancing teacher well-being is crucial to both teachers and the education ecosystem (Ozturk, Wigelsworth, & Bagnall, 2025). With industrialization now oriented by technologies, socioeconomic development requires increasing numbers of highly trained technical workers rather than labourers for repetitive work in the past (Dunkel & Le Mouillour, 2009; Kyvik, 2009). Despite growing global scholarly interest in teacher well-being, research on higher vocational teachers, who are central to high-quality vocational education (Edel, 2022; Ke & Shi, 2018; Loo, 2022), remains scarce, particularly in the Chinese context. As China advances its vocational education reforms, higher vocational teachers face mounting pressures from shifting policies, industry demands, and institutional changes, yet their professional experiences and well-being receive little academic attention.

This study aims to explore the teaching experiences and well-being of higher vocational teachers, with particular attention to those working in institutions that have lower social recognition. Drawing on their lived experiences, the research seeks to provide a comprehensive understanding of the conditions that shape teacher well-being in this under-researched context.

By centring teachers’ voices, this research offers both empirical and theoretical contributions to the field, informing the application of positive psychology in non-Western educational settings. The findings aim to inform educational policy and practice, providing recommendations to better support teachers’ well-being and ultimately enhance the quality and sustainability of vocational education.

The PERMA model, proposed by Martin Seligman in 2011, is adopted as the theoretical framework for the current research. It contains five components contributing to individual well-being: Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment. Each element contributes uniquely to well-being: (1)Positive Emotion refers to the experiences of pleasure and satisfaction; (2) Engagement focuses on the state of being absorbed or immersed in activities; (3) Relationships underline the significance of social connections and support networks; (4) Meaning pertains to the sense of purpose and coherence in life, motivating individuals to pursue activities that align with their values; (5) Accomplishment refers to the pursuit and achievement of goals.

The PERMA model has been increasingly adopted in educational and professional settings. Interventions and education programs based on the PERMA framework have shown positive effects on students’ motivation and engagement (Miranda et al., 2024). The PERMA model also facilitates teacher satisfaction and development. Teachers who experience high levels of well-being measured by the PERMA model are more likely to be productive and engaged (Leng & Zhang, 2024). The application of PERMA components on Chinese higher vocational teachers helps us to understand the well-being of this unique group of teachers, and thus yields an improvement in their professional performance (Hascher & Waber, 2021). The qualitative utilisation of the PERMA model provides a lens for in-depth exploration of how and why each factor affects their well-being. However, teachers’ well-being through the educators’ living experiences and narratives remains understudied (Weiland, 2021).

Rapid societal and technological changes as well as student heterogeneity and individual needs shape work and skill requirements of Finnish vocational education and training (VET) teachers (e.g., Vilppola et al., 2022); thus, underlining the need to study VET teacher competence and its development. Competence of (VET) teachers has been a topic of growing interest in the previous European research, including Finland (e.g., Antera, 2023; Lehtonen et al., 2018; Sartori et al., 2015). Prior research (Antera, 2023; Sartori et al., 2015; Tapani & Salonen, 2019) has adopted four competence domains which are argued to respond to the diverse competence needs of VET teachers: pedagogical domain (e.g., teaching methods, setting up a safe learning environment, assessment, being familiar with the curricula and qualifications), professional domain (e.g., professional know-how; understanding the codes, statutes and methods of one’s discipline), organisational domain (e.g., economic and administrative know-how) as well as developmental and research domain (e.g., development of occupational practice, self-reflection of teaching practice). While these domains are based on a broad set of literature, they lack quantitative evidence from the teacher perspective which this study aims to provide.

Previous research has also shown that the work environment is pivotal in providing organisational support for teachers’ everyday continuous professional development (Ballangrud & Nilsen, 2021; Kyndt et al., 2016). Such support may range from offering working hours and opportunities for individual and collective reflection to more formal events, such as teachers’ work placements; at any case, the work environment is the context for VET teachers’ professional development (Ballangrud & Nilsen, 2021). However, we lack the studies examining detailed patterns between VET teachers’ competence and organisational support for competence development, and how gaps between them are related to teachers’ work engagement and turnover intentions. In this study, we assume that organisational support gaps for professional development may decrease teachers’ work engagement, reflected in lower vigour, dedication, and absorption (Schaufeli et al., 2019), and increase their intentions to leave their workplace or teaching as a profession (Huhtala & Feldt, 2016).

This study aims to investigate how Finnish VET teachers perceive their current level of various competencies and organisational support for competence development. The study also aims to examine how the gap between the organisational support and self-assessed levels of competencies is associated with teacher engagement and, ultimately, turnover intentions. The research questions are as follows:

RQ1) How do Finnish vocational teachers perceive the organisational support for their competence development?

RQ2) How do the teachers perceive that organisational support for competence development contributes to their levels of work engagement and turnover intentions?