Training Tech Professionals to Teach: Part 4, Combining VET and University Teaching

In Part 3 I looked at the carefully thought out set of teaching qualifications for the Vocational Education and Training Sector (VET). One approach to the university sector would be to start with those who had completed a VET qualification and then add whatever else they might need. However, this might not be attractive, or useful, for someone who already has a degree in computing. Requiring a VET qualification may discourage computing professionals from studying teaching.

An alternative approach would be to have a graduate university program which also met the VET requirements. This would also be useful as the student could look at requirements for the two sectors as part of their studies.

CQ University advise that their CertificateIV in Training and Assessment requires about 270 hours of study. This is approximately one half the time for a postgraduate certificate. So it would be reasonable to incorporate the material required for a Cert IV in a Graduate Certificate.

One approach which could be used is to teach the students using the tools and techniques they are learning about as subject matter. As an example, students could prepare an e-portfolio as part of learning about e-portfolios as a teaching tool. The students would learn about Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) as an educational topic and also present evidence, via the e-portfolio, for RPL.