Informal Learning in TVET Teachers' professional development: models and factors

• In Event: Teacher Education and Equitable Approaches

Proposal

Formal learning, non-formal learning and informal learning are internationally recognized as three basic types of learning and have a great impact on personal growth and career development. Compared with formal learning and non-formal learning, informal learning usually happens in the workplace, in the home and during leisure time (Halliday-Wynes et al., 2009) without direct reliance on a teacher or an externally-organized curriculum. As an important part of teachers’ professional development (TPD), informal learning refers to learning that is acquired through teachers’ everyday work and life. Previous research concentrates more on the teachers in primary and middle schools (Hoekstra et al., 2009). Additionally, environment (Lohman, 2000), teaching experience and school culture (Grosemans et al, 2015) are proven to be important influencing factors in teachers’ informal learning. Compared with schoolteachers and university Professors, technological and vocational education and training (TVET) teachers need to face students who get bad scores in academic lessons learning, a more cross-border working environment and practice-oriented teaching (XiZhen Z., 2021), so their learning and development in the workplace need to consider the characteristic of students in vocational schools and different conditions and systems to support.
However, there is currently limited research on informal learning for TVET teachers. Especially in China, the sources of Chinese TVET teachers are very diverse. Considering that all types of teachers in TVET schools are not well prepared, teachers’ learning in the workplace is very important. This makes it necessary for the researchers to explore the process of informal learning. Thus, we formulate our research questions as:
1) How do TVET teachers conduct informal learning in China?
2) What factors influence the informal learning of TVET teachers?
We gathered data through open interviews with 12 TVET teachers from Chinese vocational schools. Each interview lasted around 40 minutes to an hour, and then we transcribed all the audio recordings. We used thematic analysis and the software Nvivo.11 to analyze the transcribed text by the following steps: 1) Label the transcribed text. In this step, we labelled all the phrases or short sentences that express teachers' learning activities and influencing factors on teachers' informal learning. 238 analysis units were labelled throughout the entire transcripts. 2) Building categories. We merged labels that represent similar informal learning activities and influencing factors. After five discussions and adjustments with co-authors, fourteen types of learning activities and ten influencing factors were finally generated. 3) Group categories into domains. In a further discussion among the co-authors, we summarized 14 types of learning activities into 4 types of learning models according to the aspects of motivation, behaviours, participants and results. In the same way, the influencing factors are further classified into three domains.
In this study, we summarized four models of informal learning from the interviewed teachers: autonomous learning, supportive learning, collaborative learning, and shared learning. Each model contains several informal learning activities which lead to changes in teachers’ behaviours or cognition (Annemarieke et al., 2009). Autonomous learning means the process in which teachers independently set learning goals, look for learning resources, take a series of learning ways, and finally obtain continuous changes in their knowledge, skills and socialization. It consists of four main activities: deliberate learning, observation, reflection and interaction. Supportive learning contains two main activities. The first one is mentoring. The second one is the master teacher studio. Collaborative learning refers to a group of teachers gathering together to work with a common goal and they are mutually reinforcing in the process. It comprises four main activities: competition, projects, collective lesson preparation and heterogeneous forms for the same lessons. Sharing is a special informal learning model, which is usually organized actively by teachers in vocational schools. In addition, some local educational departments will also hold some regional sharing activities. This model comprises many activities, such as demonstrative public lessons, and collective lesson plan presentations.
The study also shows three types of factors affecting the informal learning of TVET teachers: individual factors, organizational factors and institutional factors. The individual factors include education and work background, subjective initiative, and career planning. Individual factors are closely related to teachers’ autonomous learning. Except for individual factors, one of the main supports for TVET teachers’ informal learning is the existence of favourable mediums (Encinar-Prat et al., 2019). Organizational factors and institutional factors determine the environments for TVET teachers’ informal learning in China. In this study, the organizational factors include leadership, working atmosphere, organizational division of labour, and speciality resources. The institutional factors include the school-based teacher development programme, the regional cultivation system for TVET teachers and the school's professional title system. The school’s professional title system is a unique teacher incentive system in China, which is closely related to the motivation and goal of teachers’ informal learning.
This study demonstrated that informal learning has a great impact on the improvement of teachers’ teaching. These outcomes may be instrumental, emotional and political (Brookfield, 2017). TVET teachers’ informal learning outcomes not only show teachers’ growth in explicit skills, but also provide us with a better understanding of how TVET teachers’ daily implicit learning behaviours influence teachers’ professional development. Firstly, TVET teachers are keen to push themselves to improve their teaching skills and vocational skills in their respective fields. Secondly, the four models bring many incidental learning outcomes. Thirdly, the focus on teachers’ informal learning caters to the change of the mainstream paradigm of teachers’ professional development, specifically, a shift toward a learning paradigm (Libao W., 2017). This is because these teachers not only pay attention to teachers’ teaching, but also pay attention to students’ learning and the interaction between teachers and students. Under the culture of collectivism (Xin Z. et al., 2018), cooperation between Chinese TVET teachers’ informal learning process is very common except for the autonomous learning model. The current study implied that school leaders and policymakers may need to improve the institutional arrangements for the development of TVET teachers, provide facilitators and organizational support for TVET teachers' informal learning, and extend teachers’ learning resources.

Author

• Jinlin Lan