Learning to become a vocational and technical education (VTE) teacher in Brunei Darussalam

This thesis was devised to explore my central interest in finding out empirically how individuals learn to become Vocational and Technical Education (VTE) teachers in Brunei. This study was based on a case study of twelve participants which includes five males and seven females undergoing a one year full-time Post Graduate Certificate Technical Education course in Brunei. Each participant was interviewed twice: once at the beginning of the course and once at the end of the course. My main empirical findings show that social relationships in learning situations are important with regard to becoming a VTE teacher in Brunei. Within different learning situations, individuals were also proactive in taking control of their own learning. In addition, my findings illustrate that most, if not all, student teachers have learned and changed towards the end of the teacher training course. The process of becoming a VTE teacher could logically be seen as two separate stages; choosing and learning to become a VTE teacher. One of the thesis objectives was also to understand the relationship between career decision-making and learning in relation to the Brunei VTE teachers. Drawing from Hodkinson et al.'s (1996) careership theory and Hodkinson et al. 's (2008) integrated theory of learning cultures and cultural theory of learning, I conclude that the two stages are integrated in practice and should be viewed as an on-going learning process called an individual learning journey. Based on my empirical findings, I also conclude that Hodkinson et al.'s (2008) learning theories need to be extended in order to fully understand social relationships, individual agency within learning cultures and to take into account that learning cultures change even within the same learning situation when individual position and roles change. This thesis concludes by identifying some implications for research and practice that arise from the findings of this study.