No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

At-risk students like those with special educational needs, learning difficulties, or pupils at risk of exclusion frequently struggle in transition from basic to secondary vocational education and training, often due to poor personal, learning and social skills. Therefore, several countries implement transition programs like the choice of profession training (CoPT) in Estonia to support youngsters’ readiness to continue their studies. This study aimed to identify how the characteristics of powerful learning environments in vocational education (PoLEVE) appear in CoPT in VET teachers and support specialists’ experiences. The deductive thematic analysis of 16 semistructured interviews illuminated the development of learning-, life-, cooperation- and self-determinations skills through adaptive teaching and learning support in a safe and positive learning community. Nevertheless, the results also call for empowering at-risk students to cope independently, supporting their construction of vocational knowledge through reflective dialogue and intellectually challenging problem-solving.

There is a need of innovative teacher training programmes for character education. This paper addresses three research questions: What are the challenges that a teacher training programme for character education should address? What are the learning outcomes that the programme should achieve? How should the programme be structured for supporting the achievement of those learning outcomes? Two regional authorities, three schools, three universities and a centre of teacher training from Latvia, Estonia and Spain created a strategic partnership for answering these research questions, using design-based implementation research. The results include six domains of learning outcomes and a programme structure adaptable to different educational context.