Identification Professional Competencies of Industrial Educators in the Technical and Vocational Schools

This study aimed to identify professional competencies of industrial educators in the technical and vocational schools. The research method was developmental and functional and the method of data collection was qualitative of phenomenology. Participants in the study included manager and employees department of the technical and vocational education and industrial educators in the technical and vocational schools of Zanjan in the academic year 2018-19. A sample of 23 key informants were interviewed through purposeful and theoretical sampling. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and In-depth. Validity of qualitative data were verified through peer debriefing, rich description, member check. The reliability of the qualitative data was confirmed by re-coding by the second coder and the coder himself. The collected data was analyzed by the Colaizze phenomenological approach. Based on the results of the data analysis, professional competencies were identified in 5 dimensions, 19 main categories and 60 sub-categories. Awareness of work market, technical and vocational knowledge of industry, educational knowledge, organizational knowledge, general conditions, psychomotor, work engagement, information and industry technology, coaching and mentoring, safety health and workplace engineering, learning environment management, perceptual and mind ability, effective interpersonal communication, constructive interaction and participation with the external environment, systematic and comprehensive approach to technical and vocational education, self-development approach, optimism for training skill, entrepreneurial attitude and product-centric and value-added approaches to work constituted the components of competence. Identifying and developing Educators professional competencies is an important strategic planning for improving and ensuring educational quality.