Professional Competence

Based on the needs of the world of work, our key development area is the cooperation between professional education, higher education, teacher education and employment. It requires applied research and development. Development is a proactive working method in which different operators and development networks work together to build a new society of high-quality professional competence, taking into account the objectives of sustainable development.

The research area’s priorities include professional excellence, entrepreneurship education that supports entrepreneurial activities, and the themes of sustainable development and learning. The target groups and research networks consist of professional education providers, professional teacher education, enterprises, public organisations with the adjoining bodies, as well as collaborative universities.

Key themes of research and development include:

• Learning at work, cooperation between education and employment
• Professional excellence
• Promoting entrepreneurial education
• Sustainable development
• Different learning environments
• Continuous Learning
• Flexible study paths
• Competence-based learning
• Special support
• Professional pedagogy and teacher competence

We are involved in the following domestic and international networks, to mention a few examples:

• Opettajankoulutusfoorumi
• Ammatillisen koulutuksen tutkimusseura OTTU ry
• SkillsFinland -verkostot
• Suomen eOppimiskeskus ry
• Kiltakoulut
• The European Association for Practitioner Research on Improving Learning (EAPRIL)
• European Research Network on Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
• European Venous Forum