Finding teachers for certain fields of education

In the LeadVet-project we are trying to find solutions and create models to improve leading and management of networks in vocational education. Partners in the project are from Norway, Germany and Turkey – countries with quite comparable challenges within vocational education as we Finns have.

Maybe the most important challenge is how to find teachers for certain fields of education – especially within fields where the industry positions appear more appealing to our professionals than a teaching job. At the same time, we are trying to find ways to offer better basic and continuous education for teachers – which implies opening doors to teachers’ working life participation and collaboration within the teacher education.

In the beginning of October 2024 Haaga-Helia hosted a training week for the LeadVET project. During the week we had a panel discussion about how to accommodate the different needs of the network participants. In this article we present some of the main issues presented in the panel discussion.

The triangle of educational institutions, companies and teacher education

We know quite well that when the networks of education institutions, companies and teacher education work well, there is always a win-win-win -situation. The educational institutions attract teachers, the companies obtain education for their employees, and in the network the teacher education stays in touch with the trends of working life. Well-functioning networks prevent us from alienating from each other.

Networks should be seen as functions by educational institutions, companies and vocational teacher education, instead of just networks of people. However, at the same time, for networks to function well people must meet with each other. Time must be allocated for networking.

We know that alienation leads to dissatisfaction and loss of quality in education. One good example of alienation is the use of language in education and work. We often speak in jargon unfamiliar to each other. This is also one major reason for constant co-operation between educational institutions and companies: we need the same language and an ongoing dialogue.

The triangle network offers companies good possibilities for career counselling of their employees. It is possible and beneficial to have employees working part-time as teachers and teachers working part-time in companies.

Challenges to acknowledge

At the panel, the industry representatives acknowledged a barrier for the win-win situation: educational institutions should not make business out of their co-operation with companies. Sending invoices based on the collaboration reduces the willingness to co-operate.

Some solutions are not in our hands. Salaries are one of those, as educational institutions cannot compete with the business world. Moreover, we must remember that salaries in technical fields and salaries for example in the health sector are on different levels. One phenomenon identified in Haaga-Helia’s teacher education is, that in an economic crisis or depression the number of applicants to teacher education in technical sectors increase. This shows the strong relation the economy to the teacher shortage. However, in health care there are no difficulties in finding people who want to be teachers.

Finally, as education providers we can try to improve the image of the public sector work. Educational institutions are good workplaces – even though the media tends to focus its attention on us only when something bad happens. This phenomenon cannot be explained by the public interest only. It is our responsibility to bring good practices and outcomes of education to the public discussion. After all, there are good things happening in vocational education every day.

Below is the recording of the LeadVet panel discussion

Picture: Haaga-Helia