Facilitating learning through effective teaching: At a glance

There has been a strong shift in what research and practice tells us is good teaching and learning in vocational education and training (VET). Making this shift can be a substantial challenge for some VET teachers but many are now moving to facilitating learning through effective teaching. Useful strategies and models are included in this publication.

The shift in teaching practice can be summarised as moving away from:

• a teacher-centred and supplier-driven approach towards an approach where learners are viewed as clients and individuals
• the passive transmission of knowledge towards the active and meaningful construction
  of knowledge, expressed colloquially, as a departure from 'chalk and talk' to a 'guide on the side'
• a passive role for learners towards their active involvement in the design of the learning process
• a focus on learning technical skills towards a focus on the whole person and learning to learn
• an emphasis on formal learning towards a more useful integration of informal and formal learning
• individualised notions of learning towards learning partnerships and communities of practice, whereby the whole group learns together
• an emphasis on verbal and directed learning towards hands-on, experiential and self-directed learning
• abstract learning contexts towards a more coherent integration with 'real' contexts such as workplaces
• assessment that merely measures learning towards assessment that aids learning
• assessment that controls learners towards assessment that empowers learners.