Background

This study investigates teacher collaboration in Hungarian vocational education and training (VET) schools based on an online survey of teachers (n = 303). Collaboration of teachers has long been appreciated for its significant benefits including increased motivation, job satisfaction, self- and collective efficacy, as well as its role in teacher professional development and school improvement. Collaboration of teachers working in VET schools, especially in VET systems where initial VET is provided to young people and (in part) within compulsory education, appears as particularly desirable, given the special context, objectives and challenges of this sector and the spread of competence-based education. However, relatively little is known about VET teacher collaboration, especially in Hungary, where three different profiles of teachers—general subject and vocational teachers and vocational trainers—work in VET schools. The aim of our study was to provide data about how Hungarian VET teachers collaborate, which could validate prior research results on teacher collaboration as well as identify any special features of the VET context.

Method

Our study design was exploratory, descriptive and correlational, applying quantitative statistical analysis. We measured teacher collaboration (practice and perception of impact) and explanatory individual and organisational factors selected for our research framework by adapting instruments of previous empirical studies (most importantly, OECD’s TALIS). We analysed connections between collaboration and independent variables created by principal component analysis.

Results

Our data show that sharing-type collaboration (professional discussions and exchange of materials) are widespread among Hungarian VET teachers. They are much less likely to participate in deeper collaborative activities that presuppose higher levels of interdependence, and they also appreciate the impact of deeper collaboration less. Female respondents participate in sharing-type activities more than their male colleagues, and middle-aged (40–55) are most active in both types of collaboration and perceive the most impact. Collaboration practices correlate most with perceptions of their impact. More frequent collaboration and perceptions of higher impact are related to teachers’ sense of higher self-efficacy and relaxed, tolerant and encouraging collegial relationships. Structural barriers seem to influence only sharing and perceptions of impact. Small, but statistically significant differences in collaboration were found between the three teacher profiles. Vocational trainers (who instruct vocational school practice) showed the highest level of participation in deeper collaboration, while vocational teachers were least likely to participate and perceived the least impact. No significant associations were found between collaboration and prior or current work experience in the taught vocation.

Conclusions

Our results largely confirm and validate previous research on teacher collaboration in lower level and general educational contexts by providing data on VET teacher collaboration. They also note the role of some VET-specific factors, such as structural barriers and small, but statistically significant differences between different VET teacher profiles.

中文翻译：

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匈牙利VET学校的老师如何合作？对形式，影响的感知以及相关的个人和组织因素进行定量研究

背景

这项研究基于对教师的在线调查（n = 303），调查了匈牙利职业教育与培训（VET）学校的教师合作情况。长期以来，教师合作一直被人们赞赏，因为它具有显着的好处，包括增加动力，工作满意度，自我和集体效能以及在教师专业发展和学校改善中的作用。考虑到该部门的特殊背景，目标和挑战以及能力的传播，在职业教育学校，特别是在向初等职业教育（部分）向年轻人提供职业教育的职业教育和培训系统中工作的教师，似乎特别合意基础教育。但是，对VET教师合作的了解很少，尤其是在匈牙利，在VET学校中，三种不同的教师概况（普通学科和职业教师以及职业培训师）在这里工作。我们研究的目的是提供有关匈牙利VET教师如何合作的数据，这可以验证先前有关教师合作的研究结果，并确定VET环境的任何特殊特征。

方法

我们的研究设计是探索性，描述性和相关性的，并应用了定量统计分析。我们通过调整以前的经验研究工具（最重要的是，经合组织的TALIS），测量了教师的协作（对影响的实践和感知）以及为我们的研究框架选择的解释性个人和组织因素。我们分析了协作与由主成分分析创建的自变量之间的联系。

结果

我们的数据表明，匈牙利职业教育与培训教师之间普遍存在共享型协作（专业讨论和材料交换）。他们不太可能参加以相互依存度更高为前提的更深层次的协作活动，并且他们也较少地了解深层协作的影响。与男性同事相比，女性受访者参加共享型活动的比例更高，中年（40-55岁）在两种类型的协作中都最为活跃，并认为影响最大。合作实践与人们对其影响的看法最为相关。更频繁的协作和对更高影响力的感知与教师的更高自我效能感以及放松，宽容和鼓励的大学关系有关。结构性障碍似乎仅影响共享和影响感知。在三个教师档案之间的协作中，存在很小但具有统计学意义的差异。职业培训师（指导职业学校实践的人）在更深层次的合作中表现出最高的参与水平，而职业教师参与的可能性最小，影响最小。在协作与所教职业的先前或当前工作经验之间未发现显着关联。

结论

我们的研究结果通过提供有关VET教师合作的数据，在很大程度上证实和验证了先前有关低水平和普通教育环境下教师合作的研究。他们还注意到一些VET特定因素的作用，例如结构性障碍以及不同VET教师档案之间的细微但有统计学意义的差异。