Page 32 - t_en

MET-VET – Metacognition for
Environmental Thinking in VET
Project number:
2021-2-PL01-KA220-VET-000050783

existing teacher training programs, developing specialized courses focusing on green skills, and
incentivizing participation in environmental competency workshops and seminars. Moreover,
partnerships with environmental organizations, industry stakeholders, and governmental agencies
could be forged to create comprehensive training programs tailored to the specific needs of VET
educators. By aligning these efforts with existing CPD frameworks and leveraging digital platforms for
delivery, Greece can ensure that its VET teachers are not only proficient in digital technologies but also
equipped with the knowledge and skills to champion environmental sustainability within vocational
education.

In Cyprus, the recruitment processes and professional development for teachers and trainers in
vocational education and training (VET) reflect the evolving needs of the educational landscape. VET
teachers are typically employed through structured recruitment processes in public institutions, while
trainers may operate in varied contexts, often with less regulated recruitment standards. The
University of Cyprus, along with other public institutions, offers pedagogical training programs.
Between 2018 and 2021, a total of 939 secondary education teachers completed the ‘Pedagogical
Training of Prospective Secondary and Technical Education Teachers’. According to the Council of
Ministers decision of August 2015, the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute (CPI) is responsible for running
teachers’ professional learning. The CPI provides compulsory courses for newly appointed VET head
teachers and deputy head teachers once a week during the school year. Additionally, CPI in
collaboration with the Department of Secondary Technical and Vocational Education and Training
offers various training programs on various subjects of the curricula to all teachers and a series of
optional seminars on instruction and pedagogy which are offered by CIP during the afternoon and they
are open and free for all teachers. Technical schools, like the rest of the schools, have the opportunity
to receive systematic annual support from the CPI under the scheme of the special support programme
for teachers’ professional learning. At the beginning of the school year, schools are expected to follow
a needs assessment procedure for outlining their specific needs and target a single priority theme.
Then, according to their needs, each school has to organise its own training programme for teachers,
making use of the many training programmes offered by the institute or elsewhere. Based on its
training, each school designs its own action plan. The CPI offers a series of workshops that embrace
topics like: antiracism, seminars for teaching Physics, trainings on social issues, emotional education
programme, and so on. All workshops are divided according to the target groups (for instance, primary
school teachers, secondary education teachers etc.), however there are no specific training sessions or
workshops for updating the green skills of VET trainers. The Unit for Education for the Environment
and Sustainable Development which was created with the aim of monitoring the implementation and
updating of the National Strategic Planning for Environmental Education has as one of its key actions
“the professional development of teachers and educators in matters of teaching and methodology of
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), in the competences of ESD, in the Sustainable
Development Goals of the Global, United Nations Agenda 2030”. The Unit has prepared a series of
supportive material for VET trainers and educators of the secondary technical and vocational training
in Cyprus which are made available through the portal of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth
(https://elearning.schools.ac.cy/index.php/el/elearning/endeiktiko-yliko) there for each sector a
folder is prepared with material that will enable VET trainers to include training on sustainable
development and the SDGs. Even though the material is easily accessible through the portal, it is up to
the VET trainers and educators to download it and train themselves on their free time. Additionally the
Unit offers seminars and workshops for teachers’ training during school time or on dedicated trainers
and educators training days, for example: “training of biologist at Center of Environmental Education”;

32
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not
necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither
the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.