Educational Associate Degree Programmes: Building Quality Education for Practical Training Teachers Together
The NVAO's overview report demonstrates the strong commitment of universities of applied sciences to the quality development of these programmes for practical training teachers. Thanks to the efforts of numerous stakeholders, the integration of these programmes from the Adult Education Centres into universities of applied sciences has been successfully accomplished. The educational associate degree programmes are well aligned with the profile of the practical training teacher and stand out for their accessibility, student-centred approach and societal engagement. At the same time, the programmes continue to face a number of challenges, including safeguarding staff workload, further strengthening subject-specific pedagogy, and developing more structural partnerships with professional field stakeholders. In this regard, the government also has an important role to play by creating more favourable framework conditions in consultation with the programmes.
Through educational associate degree programmes, universities of applied sciences prepare prospective practical training teachers with relevant professional experience for practice-oriented vocational secondary education. These programmes are the result of a reform of the former specific teacher education programmes that, until the 2018-2019 academic year, could be followed at universities, university colleges' Schools of Arts and adult education centres after the completion of a subject-specific programme or the acquisition of relevant professional experience. With the introduction of the educational associate degree, the Flemish Government sought to increase the attractiveness of teaching for career changers with expertise and enthusiasm, encouraging them to choose a career as a practical training teacher at associate degree level.
The overview report covers the assessments of 14 educational associate degree programmes offered by universities of applied sciences. It outlines the methodology applied during the assessments and presents an overview of the substantive findings and considerations of the NVAO's assessment committees.
The report concludes with the NVAO's own insights and policy recommendations aimed at supporting the further development and quality enhancement of educational associate degree programmes in Flanders.