Introduction

Abstract

It is not an exaggeration to say that technology has transformed all fronts of our society. Technologies such as Artificial Intelligent (AI), virtual reality, cloud computing, blockchain, and quantum computing have changed how we live, how we communicate, how we learn, how we work and even how we think.

You give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. You teach him to fish and you give him an occupation that will feed him for a lifetime.

—A Chinese Proverb

1.1 Background

It is not an exaggeration to say that technology has transformed all fronts of our society. Technologies such as Artificial Intelligent (AI), virtual reality, cloud computing, blockchain, and quantum computing have changed how we live, how we communicate, how we learn, how we work and even how we think. The boundary between the physical and virtual worlds is becoming increasingly blurred, so much so that the arrival of Industry 4.0 has been announced (Schwab, 2016) and embraced by industry. The term ‘metaverse’ has emerged as a catchword of 2022. At the same time, the Covid-19 pandemic has delivered us another global disruption that has no historical precedent. The whole world seemed to be in a disruptive state. No one can precisely predict what the post-pandemic era holds for us but one thing is certain: the world has changed and is fast changing.

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), with its aim to help youth and adults develop values, attitude, knowledge and skills needed for the world of work, directly addresses the nexus between education and the world of work. Thus it is inevitably and strategically positioned at the forefront of post-pandemic recovery, transition and digital transformation. Put simply, in comparison to higher education, there is an urgency and immediacy in the challenges facing TVET in the post-pandemic era thanks to TVET’s closer ties with workplace. These challenges can mean how to restructure the TVET system globally to ensure its relevancy. These challenges can also mean finding effective and efficient ways to help current and future workforce to identify skills and knowledge needed for transitioning to digital and green economies that is already happening. Similarly, providing urgently needed flexible pathways for developing these skills and knowledge can also be extremely challenging and pressing. More importantly, these challenges give rise to the exigency to cultivate the kind of mindset required for digital transformation, sustainable economies, social cohesion and justice. However, is TVET ready to rise to these challenges? How should TVET respond to digital transformation to stay relevant in the era recovery, transition and transformation? What competencies do TVET teachers need to contribute to the development of a new generation of workforce ready for economic recovery, digital transformation and Industry 4.0? In what ways can these competencies be developed and evaluated? These are the focal issues that this handbook explores with the aim to assist TVET teachers in their professional development as a lifelong learner.

1.2 Digital Transformation and Industry 4.0

The concept of Industry 4.0, also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, was first popularized by Professor Klaus Schwab, founder and executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum in 2015 (Philbeck & Davis, 2018; Schwab, 2016). This concept refers to the era starting at the turn of this century and was placed into a historical context of the first, second and third industrial revolutions. From a technological point view, all the four industrial revolutions have been driven by technological advancements. The First Industrial Revolution is commonly referred to as the period between 1760 and 1840 when water and steam power fundamentally changed production from being manual to mechanical. The Second Industrial Revolution occurring between 1871 and 1914 is also known as the technological revolution. It was marked by the use of electricity resulting in mass production and assembly lines. The invention of mainframe computers and semiconductors in the latter part of the Twentieth Century gave birth to the Third Industrial Revolution, which is also described as the digital revolution (Schwab, 2016). The development of personal computers in the 1970s and the Internet in the 1990s further advances this period into an age of automation of production. Although the Fourth Industrial Revolution is regarded as being built on the Third, it is not commonly considered as an incremental advancement from the previous revolutions. When justifying the arrival of Industry 4.0, Schwab (2016) argued that the interruption brought about by digital technology is incomparable to the previous industrial revolutions in terms of its velocity, scope and systems impact. This is because a fusion of technologies such as AI, advanced robotics, 3D printing, quantum computing, internet of things and biotechnology have brought with them both innovations and disruptions to our lives in a unprecedented fashion. Emergent and emerging digital technologies are fundamentally changing our society, transforming productivity, communication and connectivity, and even blurring the boundaries between the physical, virtual, and biological worlds (Schwab, 2016). As far as industry is concerned, much more flexible and adaptive AI and computer-integrated production systems and the use of cyber-physical systems and cloud manufacturing might mean the replacement of human workers (for a detailed review and discussion on the impact of AI on skill development in the digital age, see Shiohira, 2021). This trend calls for a new workforce with multiple competencies and transversal skills, who can collaborate with both humans and technologies to solve complex technical problems in the production process (MacDougall, 2014; Madsen et al., 2016; Yu et al., 2015). More complex vocational skills and collaboration skills are needed in Industry 4.0 (MacDougall, 2014; Madsen et al., 2016). In turn, these changes can also dramatically influence social and environmental sustainable development (Bai et al., 2020).

1.3 Digital Transformation of TVET

As far as education is concerned, it is an established reality that today’s learning, teaching and training have been transformed dramatically by technological advancements. How should TVET, as “a pathway for individuals to thrive, a catalyst towards sustainable economies, and a vector of social justice” (UNESCO TVET Strategy for 2022–2029), respond to the challenges and opportunities brought about by the digital transformation occurring in Industry 4.0?

As suggested by the term of TVET, vocational education consists of both domain knowledge learning and vocational skills learning and training. The arrival of the Industry 4.0 era is not only outdating some of the domain knowledge, occupations and skills, but also creating new values, knowledge and disciplinary areas that compel TVET to prepare the future workforce for. Therefore, such a transformation calls for a more urgent response from TVET to keep up with the rapidly changing industry needs. TVET must be reformed in many significant ways to stay relevant. Digitizing is one thing and transformation is another. To be more specific, digital transformation of TVET does not just mean the digitization of learning contents, nor does it merely mean the adoption of digital technologies to support learning, assessment and skill training. More importantly, it means the transformation of what and how students learn, what and how teachers teach and what and how trainers train. This is a process in which technology should be seamlessly integrated with pedagogy to innovate teaching and training, and in some cases, this can mean an overhaul of an entire curriculum in order to equip future workforce with the values, knowledge and skills needed to survive in the digital age. In this transformative process, learning becomes deeper, broader, more transversal and richer in content and more effective, diverse and flexible in mode. As ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work (ILO, 2019) put it, a ‘human-centred approach to the future of work’ and ‘effective lifelong learning and quality education for all’ are needed to ensure the success of such a transformation. So much so repeated calls for re-examine and reinvigorate education has been heard from both academics and policy makers. For example, Zaharah et al. (2018) reviewed research published between 2015 and 2018 on the topic of TVET in the era of Industrial 4.0 and their findings are still relevant today. Confirming the persistent challenges specific to TVET, such as quality, relevance, financing and attractiveness, their review specified the need for TVET to re-audit and re-examine curricula and program outputs in order to stay relevant to industrial needs in Industry 4.0 (Ali & Abdulkadir, 2017; Sommer & Kreibich, 2017; World Economic Forum, 2017). The Beijing Consensus on Artificial Intelligence and Education (UNESCO, 2019) also calls for the use of AI to empower teaching and learning so as to develop students’ interdisciplinary skills and competencies and make the learning process more adaptive.

In view of these transformative needs and changes, UNESCO, in most of its strategic initiatives and policy statements regarding TVET, highlights the importance of equipping all youth and adults with relevant knowledge, skills and competencies for work, life, and entrepreneurships. Lifelong learning has been emphasized as an important pathway to stay relevant to sustainable industrial and societal developments (UNESCO, 2016; UNESCO Strategy for TVET (2016–2021)). The recently published UNESCO TVET Strategy for 2022–2029 continues to prioritise the development of skills for individuals to learn, work and live, for economies to transition towards sustainable development and for societies to become more inclusive and resilient (UNESCO TVET Strategy for 2022–2029).

In the last 20 years, different levels of efforts have been made throughout the world to ready TVET for the digital transformation happening in the workplace. UNESCO has set us a great example in this regard by accelerating its efforts in promoting the quality of TVET globally since the turn of the century. These efforts can be exemplified in its International Congresses on TVET held every four years and the development of a five-year strategy for TVET since 2010 (e.g., UNESCO Strategy for TVET (2010–2015) and UNSCO Strategy for TVET (2016–2021)). The new Strategy for TVET (2022–2029) was just released at a hybrid international conference in October, 2022 at the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for TVET in Bonn, Germany. These strategic documents aim to contribute to the adoption and implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 4 and the Education 2030 Framework for Action. Another exemplary effort by UNESCO is the establishment of more than 250 UNESCO UNEVOC Centres in 166 UNESCO Member States since 1993. Its purpose is stated in the mission statement, “As UNESCO’s designated centre for technical and vocational education and training (TVET), UNESCO-UNEVOC supports Member States in their efforts to strengthen and upgrade their TVET systems” (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2022a). Since 2016, the centre’s leadership program has trained 654 TVET leaders, managers and staff from 112 countries. In addressing TVET’s recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the leadership program in 2021 featured the theme of “Skills for the digital transformation: How TVET institutions can respond to future demands” (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2022b).

In Europe, CEDEFOP, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Education and Training, has made consistent efforts in assisting the European Union and its member nations to promote creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in vocational education and training, and create professional development opportunities for TVET teachers and trainers (CEDEFOP, 2015). Since its inception in 1975, the centre has provided policy consultation to the EU and enhanced the dissemination and sharing of knowledge and good practices in vocational education and training among EU member states (https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/about-cedefop/what-we-do). One recent example is the establishment of the CEDEFOP Community of Learning Providers. This is a platform for EU TVET community and CEDEFOP to share and promote good practices, provide strategic consultation and guidance, and feed into general EU Commission policy (CEDEFOP, 2019).

In China, TVET is the main source of skilled workforce. China’s TVET institutions are largely state-run. There are three types of provision: junior secondary, senior secondary and tertiary, with senior secondary institutions being the backbone of vocational education and training. There are 13,093 vocational institutions at this level, providing half of TVET graduates for China each year (Wang & Han, 2017). A top-down approach has been taken to promote vocational education throughout the country as evidenced in the issuing of series of state policies regarding TVET in the last 10 years. For example, in 2014, the State Council in China issued the ‘z’ (China G20, 2014), and the State Council of China (2019) published ‘the National Implementation Plan for the Reform of Vocational Education’. The top-down approach was also taken at an institutional level in implementing institution-wide reforms such as blended learning adoption and digital campuses building. Strong institutional involvement was manifested in systematic policy, structure and strategy support (Han & Wang, 2021; Wang & Han, 2017). As a result, TVET in China has grown exponentially in the past decade to become one of the largest TVET providers in the world. In 2021, the enrolment for Senior high vocational schools reached 5.57million, 1.8 times higher than that in 2011. Secondary vocation schools also attracted 4.89 million enrolment in 2021. The combined graduates from senior high and secondary vocational schools reached 10 million every year (Ministry of Education of China, 2022b). In 2021, China had 1.29 million TVET teachers, an increase of 17% compared to the number of TVET teachers in 2012 (Ministry of Education of China, 2022b).

1.4 TVET Teachers’ Professional Development in Industry 4.0

It has been widely acknowledged that teachers and trainers are the key change agents in fostering the capabilities of future workforce who can take on the challenges and make the best of the opportunities created by digital transformation (Jafar et al., 2020; Johnson et al., 2016; Latchem, 2017). In other words, how and how successfully TVET responds to the above-mentioned challenges and harnesses the potential of what digital transformation can offer largely depends on the competencies of TVET teachers and trainers. Are TVET teachers ready to help TVET to stay relevant to Industry 4.0? What competencies do they need to develop and how should they develop them effectively and in a sustainable manner?

1.4.1 What Competencies Are Required of TVET Teachers and Trainers in the Digital Age?

Our review of the research into TVET teachers’ professional development indicates that a number of competency standards and frameworks for TVET teachers have been proposed to guide the professional development of pre-service and in-service teachers (see Diao & Yang, 2021; Diep & Hartmann, 2016; Jafar et al., 2020; Latchem, 2017; Wagiran et al., 2019). Despite all these efforts, in-service TVET teachers are still facing tremendous challenges in their professional development today as shown in the recent UNESCO trends mapping study (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2022b). These challenges range from inadequate support in terms of infrastructure and resources, to the lack of adequate and effective professional development programs to help teachers develop digital competence. In fact, the shortage of teachers trained for quality vocational teaching and training and the lack of TVET facilities and infrastructure have been recognized as ongoing issues (Milio et al., 2014; World Economic Forum, 2017).

In the trends mapping study conducted by UNESCO-UNEVOC (2020), ten trends were mapped out in regard to teaching in TVET for the next ten years. They include the need for TVET graduates with transversal skills such as critical thinking and collaboration skills, and applied vocational skills, and the need for ongoing updating and upgrading of skills needed from industry. When exploring the key issues relating to the professional development of TVET teachers and trainers, this study highlights the importance of ongoing professional development and industry exposure for both in-service and pre-service TVET teachers and trainers. It also clearly specifies the need for developing teachers’ and trainers’ digital competencies focusing on building their digital skills, knowledge of new digital technologies, equipment and/or practices in the workplace. Most importantly, this study underscores the urgent need for TVET teachers to develop competencies in applying innovative pedagogical and technological approaches to the delivery of pedagogically sound teaching and training practices such as learner-centered teaching and training. These critical competencies are also aligned with the core competencies we propose in the competency framework for TVET teachers in the digital age, in Chap. 3 (see Sect. 3.2). In the proposed framework, we also attach great importance to the development of the dual role of TVET teachers being a knowledge provider and practical skill trainer. The need for developing TVET teachers’ digital competencies is also underlined in this year’s trends mapping study, which continues to call for further research into the “pedagogical skills and competencies needed to deliver high-quality, learner-centred, technology enhanced distance training in TVET” (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2022b, p. 48). In China, policy support is strong and ongoing in the formulation of standards and frameworks for guiding teaching and learning reform in TVET and professional competency development. For example, in 2019, the Ministry of Education published the Implementation Plan for Further Developing TVET Teachers’ Dual Roles in the New Age (Ministry of Education of China, 2019b), calling for a deeper reform of TVET, particularly in terms of the development of comprehensive professional standards and frameworks covering areas such as recruitment, promotion and performance evaluation. These areas were reiterated in the most recent policy statement, Notice Regarding the Promotion of TVET Teachers’ Professional Competence (Ministry of Education of China, 2022a), issued by the Ministry of Education in May 2022. This Notice calls for further improving and normalizing professional standards for both TVET teachers and principals.

1.4.2 In What Ways Can TVET Teachers’ Professional Competencies Be Fostered?

In this handbook, we advocate an ecological approach to TVET teachers’ professional development as far as strategies are concerned. This approach sees teacher professional growth as the outcome of the concerted effort made at the national/international, institutional/industry and individual levels. These efforts complement one another. Only when they work together, can TVET teachers’ lifelong agency growth be effective and sustained. In terms of mode of TVET teachers’ professional development, we promote a diverse approach providing different and flexible pathways to support teacher professional growth, such as recognizing their personal efforts through a variety of certification systems (e.g., micro-credentials) and adopting a variety of technologies as support and enabling mechanisms.

1.4.2.1 Policy, Strategy and Structure Support

Policy support, national/global initiatives and guidance characterize the efforts of the national/international level strategies. Research has identified key areas to be targeted, such as improving the social status of TVET as a viable education pathway among learners, families, employers, policymakers and other stakeholders (Milio et al., 2014). Funding support should be provided to develop the most effective models of teacher training and professional development that meet the needs of Industrial 4.0 (World Economic Forum, 2017).

In the past 20 years, UNESCO has made consistent contributions in this regard, guiding TVET teaching globally through policies, initiatives and research findings such as trends mapping studies (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2020, 2022b). For example, the four-stage model of technology integration in teaching proposed in Improving the Quality of TVET Using Technology: A Practical Guide (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2020) has been widely used, presented a four-stage model of technology adoption, UNEVOC has also developed training initiatives and resources (e.g., training videos). According to the Discussion Document for UNESCO  (2022) TVET Strategy for 2022–2029, between 2015 and 2021, UNESCO has trained more than 2700 TVET teachers around the world.

Countries around the world have also developed their own policies and frameworks regarding TVET teachers’ professional competency development. For example, the COMET (Competence Development and Assessment in TVET) project originated in Germany has now become an international endeavour to develop and refine a competency and assessment model for both TVET students and teachers (see Sect. 2.2.2 for a more detailed discussion). In China, TVET teacher development features a top-down approach with government bodies at different levels playing key roles in policy making and funding support. For example, The National Implementation Plan for the Reform of Vocational Education published by the State Council of China (2019) proposes the establishment of 100 TVET teacher training bases throughout China to develop in-service teachers’ dual competence as a class teacher and a vocational skill trainer. This plan also stipulates that in-service teachers need to be trained for at least one month every year either at the bases or in enterprises. Following this, the Ministry of Education has also issued various policy statements and strategic plans to provide systematic policy support for vocational teacher development. The Ministry’s publication of A Strategy for TVET Teachers’ Competency Development (2021–2025) is a case in point. Another effort unique to China’s national efforts to promote TVET teacher development is the annual competition for Best ICT-Supported Teaching Practices. This competition is held at institutional, regional and national levels. (see Sect. 5.1).

At the institutional level, apart from policy and infrastructure support, ongoing and regular professional development programs and opportunities as well as incentives mechanisms dominate the efforts by TVET institutions and relevant departments within an institution throughout the world. In the Chinese TVET context, the cases discussed in Chaps. 4 and 5 and the TVET institutions investigated in Wang and Han (2017) and Han and Wang (2021) indicate that the institution is the key driver behind teacher professional development. All of these institutions adopted an institution-wide system-driven approach with clearly defined goals (e.g., promoting TVET teachers’ dual role of being a knowledge provider and vocational skills trainer), coordinated programs and opportunities and concerted support at different levels within each institution. One unique feature to the Chinese TVET is that the institutions solicit external expertise (such as blended learning experts from higher education institutions) when developing and conducting their teacher professional development, especially at the beginning of their blended learning reforms (see Han & Wang, 2021; Wang & Han, 2017). Their experiences and achievements reveal a strong institutional role in TVET teachers’ professional development.

1.4.2.2 Individual Efforts

As far as individual efforts are concerned, our ecological approach to teacher professional development places teachers in the centre of their professional development and sees teachers as the prime initiator of their own professional growth. Only when they are internally motivated and self-driven, can professional development be sustained and become a lifelong career growth path. Life-long learning and self-directed learning are particularly important to TVET teachers who are facing the double challenge of reiterative knowledge and skill updating and acceleration of new knowledge and skill acquisition, as necessitated by the fast changing industry needs. This challenge suggests that TVET teachers increasingly need to manage their own career trajectories through self-directed learning and evidencing their performance against the required professional standards. Fortunately, in the digital age, resources and technologies are at our fingertips (at least in developed and most developing countries) engendering flexible pathways for TVET teachers to become autonomous and life-long learners to stay relevant.

The digital age offers us abundant resources for teacher professional growth. Our research points to one of the most impactful resources for lifelong professional capacity building in the last decade, Open Educational Resources, commonly known as OERs. OERs refer to openly licensed materials that can be retained, reused, remixed, revised and redistributed (Open Educational Resources, n.d.; Wiley et al., 2018). OERs, contributing to equity, equality, quality, and inclusiveness, have proven to be an important alternative venue for teacher agency development and are regarded as the “catalysts of lifelong learning” and “continuous professional development” (Ossiannilsson, 2019, p. 131). However, as it was rightfully pointed out by Bossu and Willems (2017, p. 26), developing OER courses and resources alone was not enough for academic capacity building. Teachers’ digital capacity to access OERs is a key to increase the use of OERs (for a detailed discussion of OERs, please see Sect. 4.5.1).

OER, empowered by online learning technologies such as LMS and mobile technology, catalysed a new flexible path for teacher professional development, i.e., alternative credentials such as micro-credentials. Micro-credentialing represents a recent global endeavour to recognize informal learning, microlearning and nanolearning by lifelong learners. It has also been adopted in teacher professional development in recent years as an effective way to encourage, energize and certify teachers’ self-directed learning and micro-learning. It supplements the seat-time and workshop approach to formal teacher professional development programs and particularly suits competence-based learning and skill training. For TVET to stay relevance, micro certification and credentialing systems should be based on agreed industry standards and the identified needs of both learners and employers (Milio et al., 2014; World Economic Forum, 2017). A more in-depth discussion is contained in Sect. 2.2.4).

Professional learning communities (PLC) and communities of practice (CoP) present another flexible venue for TVET Teachers’ lifelong professional growth. These two terms are often used interchangeably to refer to a group of professionals sharing their knowledge, skills and practices to develop professionally together. To some scholars such as Blankenship and Ruona (2007), and Beni et al. (2021), PLC is different from CoP in that the former is more compulsory in nature with the involvement of institutional guidance and leadership, while the latter is more grassroot-participatory and less organized, emphasizing the input from community members. Despite the differences, their constructive impacts on fostering lifelong learning and continued professional growth for teachers have been confirmed and acknowledged (see Kong, 2018; Pedersen, 2017; also see Sect. 4.5.2 for more discussion on learning communities).

1.4.2.3 Modes of Teacher Professional Development

In terms of modes of learning and training, an outstanding feature of teacher professional development in the digital age is the exploitation of a diverse range of technology to support and enable teacher professional learning efforts and opportunities. Humans and machines have never been working so closely together in a partnership, collaborating and interacting with each other. For example, a PLC or CoP can engage teachers in a face-to-face mode or virtually through synchronous/unsynchronous online platforms (e.g., blogs, LMS, Zoom), virtual reality or social media (e.g., Facebook, WeChat and WhatsApp).

In addition, the use of AI and computer algorithms in teacher professional development has received increasing attention in recent years. These technologies are qualitatively transforming the way teacher professional development is conducted, making it more dynamic, adaptive and targeted in learning and more accurate and timely in learning evaluation. Today’s AI can identify teachers’ needs and intelligently feed on-demand, tailor-made training resources into professional learning and training. As the whole learning process can be recorded, an ongoing multivariate analysis of the teachers’ learning data can be timely performed to inform the progress and effectiveness of teacher professional learning and how each individual performs in their learning trajectory.

Shiohira (2021) argues for an immediate and multidimensional engagement with AI by educational and training institutions so as to “promptly respond to both job-specific skills and the transversal skills required to navigate new ways of working and to the renewed requirement for lifelong learning and continuous upskilling” (p. 47). In the same vein, the Implementation Plan for Training Proficient Teachers (2.0) issued by Ministry of Education of China (2019a) promotes a seamlessly integration of digital technology into teacher training and professional development. It specifically emphasizes the need for developing a range of interactive and context-specific teacher training resources through the use of technologies such as AI, SMART learning environments, virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality.

Indeed, technology has transformed TVET and presented changing challenges and opportunities unique to students and teachers in TVET. The new challenges and opportunities mean more than just upskilling and reskilling in order to survive. They implore educators to reorientate teaching and learning to respond to economic, societal and environmental demands facing the post pandemic workplace globally. More than ever, a new mindset empowered by forward thinking is needed. This rethinking not only prepares TVET students and teachers for the uncertainty brought about by the increasingly digitalized world of work, but also ready themselves for taking better advantage of the opportunities afforded by emerging technologies such as AI), automation and the fifth generation of mobile communication technology (5G). The transformation of TVET is largely hinged on the quality of teachers. Needless to say, holistic, ongoing, flexible and sustainable professional development supported by technology is urgently needed for TVET teachers to stay abreast with the digital transformation of our societies. Such a need became the grounds of this Handbook.

1.5 The Purpose and Scope of the Handbook

This Handbook was the result of the concerted efforts from the International Centre for Higher Education Innovation under the auspices of UNSCO and experts from higher education in China and around the world. Covering both theories and practices in TVET teacher development, this Handbook aims to provide an up-to-date discussion and recommendations on issues relating to TVET teacher competency development and assessment in the digital age. It caters for the needs of in-service teachers and trainers as well as TVET leaders who want to upscale their professional learning and development in terms of vision, knowledge, expertise, and industry skills needed in the transition to the digital world of work. What should be particularly useful to TVET teachers/trainers are the proposed competency development framework, competency indicators, and assessment instrument. Drawing on extensive research on TVET teachers’ competency development and today’s industry needs, the proposed framework, indicators assessment tool can be readily used by TVET institutions and training organizations to inform the effectiveness of existing teacher training and professional development programs. They can also be used as a self-evaluation tool for individual teachers to assess their professional competency levels so as to plan and adjust one’s career trajectory accordingly. Teachers and trainers may also find the exemplary cases of teachers’ professional development from various countries inspiring and motivating. The Handbook can also serve as a useful reference for developing professional development policies and programs by TVET leaders, administrators, teachers, and trainers who may find the competency framework, indicators and strategies thought-provoking and adaptable.

This handbook is organized across five chapters, with each chapter consisting of several sections. This chapter provides the background for this research. By situating TVET teacher professional development in the context of digital transformation in education and the Industry 4.0 age, this chapter first discusses digital transformation in TVET and professional competencies needed by TVET teachers to stay relevant in the digital age. It then proceeds to identify the need, resources, strategies and modes for continuing, flexible and sustainable TVET teacher professional development. The second half of this chapter explains the purposes and scope of the Handbook and how it should be used by different readers. Chapter 2 exposits key theories relating to TVET and TVET teacher professional development with a focus on teacher professional development theories needed for the transition to digital TVET. Chapter 3 sees the application of relevant theories to the proposal of a TVET teacher competency framework that categorizes core competencies required of in-service TVET teachers and trainers in different stages of their career trajectory in the digital age. This framework is further developed and substantiated by our proposal of competency indicators and an instrument for evaluating TVET teachers’ competencies. Chapter 3 concludes with recommendations for use of the proposed framework, indicators and assessment instrument by different stakeholders at the national, institutional, and individual levels. With a focus on strategies for TVET teachers’ professional development, Chapter 4 first proposes an ecological approach that sees teacher professional development as an interaction between different levels of efforts (i.e., national/international, institutional and individual). This is followed by the proposal of a teacher professional development model and a review of the strategies, approaches and resources used to support TVET teachers’ professional growth throughout the world. Chapter 5 presents a collection of exemplary cases of teachers’ professional development in TVET around the world.

1.6 How to Use This Handbook

This handbook provides resources and references that can be easily used or adapted by in-service TVET teachers as well as administrators and policy makers in their attempt to engage and support effective teacher professional development in a time of digital transformation. This Handbook can be used together with the other two books in this series: (1) the Handbook of Teaching Competencies Development in Higher Education, and (2) the Handbook of Educational Reform through Blended Learning.