Research and Analysis in the Cognitive Principles of Vocational Education and Training in Greece at the Beginning of the 21st Century

Abstract

Today, the Vocational Education and Training (VET) curriculum in Greece is state-regulated, combining school-based and work-based learning, and it is offered at upper-secondary and post-secondary levels. There is a need to prepare a new agenda for VET in Greece that follows the rapid technological developments of today. Our paper aims to enrich, redefine, and expand the current curricula and educational practices while proposing a complete plan for the overall reformation of VET’s learning conditions from the point of view of teaching and learning analytics. Through the evaluation of the existing changing institutional framework, the updated bibliographic references, and the experiential data of the educational reality, we can understand the expected needs of technological educators and decide how to address the priorities that must be determined. We focus on the preparation of the trainers and the overall redefinition of the role of education in preparing graduates. This paper’s main conclusions offer interpretations for the cognitive orientation of the existing curricula, as well as direction for the thinking and teaching skills of teachers, to build confidence in the prospects of technical education in Greece.

1. Introduction to Vocational Education and Training Research Framework

The teaching approaches, and the analytical programs applied in the Vocational Education and Training (VET’s) Technical High School and Laboratory Centers are pedagogically determined by the strong promotion of technological literacy. The learning framework of this pedagogical reality requires the scientific design of a model with special weights on the one hand, in terms of know-how and investment in knowledge of applied scientific principles and skills, and on the other in the approach to technical and technological innovations. The main scientific question was whether introducing innovation in a certain program serves the achievement of the pedagogical goals. As a proposed didactic model for the application of technological literacy, this action research emphasizes the development of metacognitive learning outcomes in which primary skills, as well as technical knowledge of fields and specialties, can be applied. The action research methodology is based on the definition of evaluation measures to be used for the design and introduction of innovative action in each sector and specialty, combining the analysis with strategies for defining innovative teaching objectives in VET.

At all levels of secondary and post-secondary vocational education in VET’s High Schools and the Laboratory Centers that support them—as well as in all classes of the 4th post-secondary year Apprenticeship Classes, and Schools of Higher Training Institutes, of all specialties—the knowledge-building process for student-apprentices has specific characteristics. To assess and formulate proposals and content for the syllabus (Analytical Programs of Study [APS]) in these grades, the curriculum designers should consider, perceive, and appreciate how learning types and learning objects are structured within vocational–technical communities. In the last decade, several researchers have observed that, despite plans for implementing reforms and efforts for redesigning and upgrading VET, the terms of learning and teaching in technical schools have not achieved the expected effectiveness [1]. The thought process and method that will be applied for the reformation of the VET’s curriculum should undoubtedly have as a prerequisite the deep knowledge of the specific subject’s operations, technologies, and techniques, for each sector and specialty. Our proposal sets out a research plan for the overall reformation of the learning conditions of VET in 21st-century Greece. When one attempts to design, organize, and implement a reform plan for VET in Greece, it is necessary to prevent the cognitive principles of technical education at the beginning of the 21st century. The main prompt for the whole plan to design and organize a reform is the following: to implement the proposed reforms in VET; the “eye of the mind” should not be distracted from the things themselves, the actual didactic application, and the elaboration of data as they are structured.

On the one hand, the phenomenon of the continuous reform of VET’s cognitive principles can be explained by the contradictions of the previous years, such as the inconsistencies of novel planning [2], and even the non-completion of the latest reform guidelines for updated VET curricula. On the other hand, even in the most favorable conditions, many comprehensive guidelines on learning and teaching terms do not seem to have worked at all or at least not to the expected degree [3]. This observation raises questions on the depth and breadth of how technical knowledge is approached in teaching practice in both the formal curricula and in the active 21st-century learning process [4]. For all the above reasons, we propose the design and formulation of an overall radical pedagogical proposal for VET reformation. The learning and teaching conditions of VET include both the processing of analytical learning indicators and the elaboration of indicators for analytical teaching. That is why we are submitting an overall plan with six key research guidelines.

From the point of view of the “History of the changes of VET’s curriculum”, VET as an educational system enables students to acquire skills to help them fit into the workforce [5]. Essentially, VET is eternally necessary for both the current and future workforce of a country. Although there are no records or long-term studies in which the development of VET is revealed precisely, we know from the economic histories of various countries that VET is placed in a wider social context. What is certain is that the reform programs of the VET do not focus on the development of a single country, but any reform models of its studies concern the world map and global production conditions [6]. The specialization concerns the wealth-producing powers of each country. From the perspectives of VET history and global economic reforms, VET curriculum reforms are based on aligning the needs of each sector so that the overall system of production remains stable. The increase in productivity levels, economic value, and the development of any country is directly affected by how young engineers are supported in their curricula. These guidelines include orientations, by asking important research questions such as how the learning terms and teaching in VET will be designed and expanded, what the new directions for interpretation and handling technical knowledge will be, and what the phenomenology of new technical knowledge and its scales of mind and construction of perception along with what the new teaching and learning scenarios for the new approach are.

The exact integrity of the problem is based on which principles we will reform and how we will structure VET curricula in Greece at the beginning of the 21st century. These aspects of the problem concern the holistic approach of the science of pedagogy to the new technical knowledge. Additionally, they include utilizing the existing knowledge on the subject and contributing to the promotion of knowledge about it, as the originality of the subject. In addition to a research plan that is suitable for the investigation of research questions and the procedures for conducting its research, we also present our plans for future work. Relevant literature includes scientific articles on the subject, design, and in-depth experiential application of new original perspectives on teaching and learning in VET, as well as the quality of the indicator of technical education [7]. Our observations and actions draw on data and produce results mainly from the daily life of the technical school, and always through primary sources. Our proposal includes a complete research project (Figure 1) consisting of seven parts, with two intermediate sections on specific topics related to the utilization of digital tools and Internet technologies in the learning and overall handling of gifted students. Our research presents certain aspects of how the organization of VET in Greece will be able to evolve in the immediate future. This perspective is extremely important for VET, as there is no universal global standard for VET. The organization model of each national VET concerns not only the wealth-producing specificities of each country but also possibly of each province or region separately. Greece possesses an extremely rich geopolitical configuration. There are vast ranges of coastlines, an extraordinary variety of mountain ranges, and numerous islands. Islanders do not have the same technical capacity needs as mountain or lowland residents. Our analysis starts from these data and provides a growth forecast. Our topic does not concern a comprehensive analysis of the existing research in the field of VET. A purely “historical and sociological” overview of the institutional frameworks and reforms of VET in Greece would detract from highlighting the aims of the article. The history of VET in Greece and an overview of the reforms, as well as the analysis of the existing situation, have been described in detail by education historians and reformers. The present article has a strictly programmatic character and concerns a kind of reform forecast; that is, metacognition of the existing experience, but also reflection.

The present research is included in the broader category of educational research [8] and, secondarily, in the category of teacher projects and research; i.e., research that focuses on the work of teachers who investigate their work [9]. The next scale in the classification concerns the research on the topics that concern educational project management methodologies from the aspect of administrative support [10]. Finally, we refer to VET environments, particularly issues of organizing educational research for authentic evaluation of the educational project [11]. The VET teaching and learning infrastructures and conditions in Greece—which exist in the VET educational units in Greece, the technical high schools, and the laboratories that support them—also determine the limits of the development of teachers’ activities and define scientific methodological limits of teachers’ actions (Figure 2).

This article revolves around and addresses “open” questions. The scientific questions for the article act as research guides for the complex reality of technical education. The research questions for this paper are:

RQ1. How will the planning and expansion of the terms of learning and teaching of technical knowledge be updated to more effectively approach the “new knowledge” and learning models for VET?

RQ2. Which approaches should be prioritized so that the interpretation and handling of technical knowledge renews the theoretical/conceptual framework for VET? How will the new “social significance” of laboratory–technical knowledge be determined at the beginning of the 21st century? In what ways will metacognition influence the deeper awareness of those involved in VET?

RQ3. How will the “phenomenology” of the new technical knowledge be defined, and in what ways will new materials, experimental devices, and models of laboratory exercises constitute the new technical knowledge? What should be the new handling of digitization, computational thinking, and the Internet?

RQ4. How will the scales of new knowledge be formed and how will the perception of new knowledge be constructed? With which evaluative models will we approach the new knowledge?

RQ5. Which innovative scenarios of the new approach and new teaching models will be adopted? With what priorities, and how should teaching guides and new methodological combinations of applications be organized in the new teaching scenarios?

RQ6. In what ways will the new achievements of science and applied knowledge for the design, construction, and inspection of machines be integrated into the new curricula, incorporating in turn the new technical data?

RQ7. In what ways will the new digital information be managed and in what ways will digital skills be developed in VET?

RQ8. How will a special pedagogy be implemented for gifted VET students? With what “scientific-psychometric tools” will a student be diagnosed as gifted?

RQ9. How will VET teachers, as technologist educators and engineers, integrate new issues of engineering ethics into active teaching practice?

The observational data are about experiential observations from observational keys to actual terms of participation in technical comments. The collection and selection of the observations recorded from the educational reality concerns the proximity to the research.

Many interesting recent studies and theoretical frameworks relate to technological literacy and pedagogical approaches in VET, especially for modular vocational syllabi [12]. Corresponding research projects, action plans, learning operations, learning scenarios, modeling, comparisons, and evaluations that result in either a complete project or publications or in organized laboratory “operations”, that confirm or even challenge the original plans, come to confirmed conclusions through cognitive integration [13]. Through these cognitive activities, the phases of updating the curricula in Upper Secondary, Post-Secondary VET, and Higher Vocational Training Institute grades should be considered in each sector and specialty. Data collection for a VET survey faces the difficulty of developing a straightforward research idea and linking it to a direction of data collection [14]. VET as a field includes several interrelated research fields, each of which individually requires a wide range of reporting and data collection. The literature has highlighted different categories and methods for researching this field. For VET, data collections are needed; from comprehension methods to observation methods, separate case studies by field or specialty, work studies, experimental methods, design and development for the laboratory parts of the studies, and data collections for each assessment field separately [15]. Especially in the field of education science research, complex and multidimensional versions of VET have been developed.

In addition to this introduction, the paper is divided into the following eight parts, which describe the analysis’s development points. In the second chapter, we present the overview, design, and extension of learning and teaching analytics of technical knowledge in Vocational Education and Training. In the same chapter, we present elements from the ontological definition of technical knowledge. In the third chapter, we describe the phenomenology elements of the new technical knowledge and the importance of the special characteristics of the locality of national VET systems, the importance of a continuous renewal curriculum, and the evaluation criteria for VET’s reform plan. In the fourth chapter, we comment on the construction of perception of the new knowledge. We present the cognitive characteristic elements as part of the VET’s curriculum and the models that knowledge constructed in the student’s mind. The fifth chapter records the pioneering scenarios of a new approach to Vocational Education and Training with a new curriculum. We present the main “pillars” of VET. In the sixth chapter, we describe the sciences of applied knowledge for the design, construction, and inspection of machines or other technical components. We approach an overview of how “stuff” such as mathematics, sciences, and technology could match better in VETs’ curriculum. We also describe digital information management and skills development handling of digital tools for VET, as well as the implementation of a special pedagogy for gifted students in VET. In contrast, in the seventh chapter, we describe digital information management and skills development in handling digital tools for VET. We add metacognitive evidence for the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis and the consequences of the “DigCompEdu” framework on the digital competencies of VET teachers. The eighth chapter epigrammatically describes a relatively complex pedagogical problem about The Application of Special Pedagogy for Charismatic Students in Vocational Education and Training, as a note for future works. In the ninth chapter, we record the conclusions and future research projects. Every chapter is the answer box for every scientific question we ask.

2. Overview, Design, and Extension of Learning and Teaching Analytics of Technical Knowledge in Vocational Education and Training

In the literature, there is no common universally accepted definition of VET [16]. As a field, VET constantly changes and usually adapts according to the trends prevailing in each country. In a broad sense, we can say that VET deals with the transmission of knowledge and skills from the world of work. UNESCO has described the learning processes that take place, noting that VET “refers to those aspects of the educational process which, alongside general education, deal with the study of technologies and related sciences, as and the acquisition of practical skills and attitudes, understanding and knowledge about various areas of economic and social life”. UNESCO also states that “Technical and Vocational Education is directly linked to the acquisition of knowledge and skills, which are required for the world of work and points out that each country must adopt the VET program in such a way that it meets the needs of its production” [17].

Vocational education in terms of its social scope covers a wide range of activities and many different educational programs. The history of vocational education, vocational education as the teaching of training skills, industrial arts, the technique of special didactics of technical education, laboratory courses, and the preparation for professional careers are areas in which professors of the Departments and VET Specialties must be able to define reference and operating frameworks. The historical factors, the original intentions of the study programs, and the teaching activities that derive from them, as well as the methodological starting points of the specialty courses of these schools, are of enormous importance to professors. The local history and geospatial determinations (mountain—island—city area, etc.) of the area to which a VET school unit belongs have an influence on this. Each technical school, in addition to the specializations it supports, also registers an implicit connection with the local history, the local economy, and the local labor market. It should not escape us that, historically, professional education began in, but also looks forward to workplaces. In our analysis, we will be concerned with the prospective role of VET and its relationship with innovation as production, as learning, and as a teaching scenario.

Before the organization of education and schools, as we know them, the process of learning was simply the imitation of skills and knowledge that passed from father to son and from mother to daughter, continuously and orally. This behavior was based on what children learned from their parents through a process of trial and error during productive activities. This period was considered the historical beginning of VET [18]. Technical education in the modern sense was developed during the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, to produce the skilled manpower required for the newly established factories of that period. In the 20th century, technical schools expanded, and school training had a strong connection with production and industries. This period is characterized by great pressure within VET to meet the needs of the labor market [19]. Furthermore, when the managers of educational programs in industrialized countries realized that the creation of a skilled workforce was of decisive importance, they highlighted VET and reduced it to an important factor of production.

As we attempt an overview of what school and education are or could be, we encounter many conflicting opinions. According to Heidegger [20], “education” and “truth” are understood according to the ancient Greek concept of “pedia” and “alitheia” and in this context, they meet in an essential unity even nowadays. At this point, however, the trend emerges for a necessary radical review of the role of re-education in terms of the content of “education” [21], as the “un-truth” of education collides with the “reality of progress”. The image of “progress”, as “revealed” in recent years, seems completely “dystopian”, especially for the new generation, which forms impressions without perspective and vision. Additionally, the “epistemology” embedded in the analytical curricula is based on the view of the interaction of science with technology and society; a view that is constantly evolving, incorporating elements from technocratic cultural approaches. The handling of all this about education concerns not only the attempt to realize the illusions brought about by “progress” but also its reduction to a purely quantitative concept, through an unabashed lust for development which in some cases identifies “progress” with “economic growth” [22]. In this way, we get involved with the subject of technology and its relationship with humans and nature, a relationship that modern teaching should analyze and present thoroughly and exhaustively and indeed with a specific sign and orientation. On the other hand, technical issues in education must be understood as a complex multiscale stochastic systems whole because vocational studies “turn” student’s attention to the construction of a generalized theory of interactions [23].

According to the theorist Karpov [24], “education plays the role of a key instrument of social transformations that ensure the development of a modern community and the creation of a knowledge society”. Then, however, he finds that “at the same time, the sciences of education suffer from a deep crisis due to the inability to create culturally authentic models of modern education and its development”. He also considers that this crisis is a consequence of the positivist attitude towards reflection, research, and the application of education, which is determined by “practical values” that destroy its fundamental bases. For Aoki [25], the era of “social efficiency” in education excludes its ontological while consideration, at the same time, a practical theory can only offer speculative and preliminary ideas about education. At the center of the fundamental theoretical concepts of the educational phenomenon, there is always one or the other ontology, regardless of whether it is perceived by a researcher or not [26]. The existential–ontological relations between a teacher and a learner, which are “intangible”, are no less real than the world of things around them [27]. In other words, educational theory, to be authentic, should be able to connect different levels of reality, including the “ephemeral” [28]. With all this in mind, we return to the original question: “Should education be inoculated through the conditions of human interaction with the world [29]?” as argued by Dall ‘Alba [30], or “Should it organize and be organized as a means of overthrowing the establishment?” as argued by Postman and Weingartner [31].

More recent studies [32] note the important role of VET programs, which help young people acquire work skills and knowledge in the “real world today”, enabling them to either secure paid work or to organize their business activity (self-employment) [33]. According to an older, but quite popular and current common belief, vocational education is practical and non-academic teaching that gives students specific vocational skills corresponding to their studies and for specialty jobs, which require advanced knowledge and skills [34]. This position is intensified in the most recent reports, specifically for the requirements of the 4th Industrial Revolution [35]. Other sources add that one of the primary goals of technical education is to transform students’ abilities into skills to prepare them for the jobs offered, while also acquiring basic scientific knowledge [36]. According to them, VET is seen as an opportunity for many people to leave a life of poverty and jump into a higher social and economic class. For VET, in this case, the organizational action of technical education—when it transfers knowledge, skills, and abilities—must play an essential role in modern society; however, as an ideological mechanism, it does not also include methods of distribution and inculcation of ideology which act as decisive sources of persuasion for its students [37].

In the 21st century, VET curricula especially in the European Union (EU) have expanded the strong connection of technology with industries and production sites. Today, the dynamics of technology and globalization put VET at the top of the countries’ development agenda to produce a well-educated and qualified workforce in the shortest possible time, who will be able to deal with the latest developments and, on become competitive in the world market. The central aim of VET is to equip students with skills, provide them with basic scientific knowledge, and prepare graduates for continuing education, which is often related to a body of knowledge and skills that can be applied practically in technical professions and services. For our societies, this phase of development means that students must prepare for their entry into the labor market and make them competitively productive and efficient in various fields. With all the above, it is obvious that planning and teaching in VET should not only be connected, but also contribute positively to professional and economic development. Somehow, the “multi-level” governance of the field of VET includes transactions at the national level, the local and sectoral bodies, and finally, the educational organizations, schools, companies, and the labor market (Figure 3). However, higher vocational education and economic development in the digital age face several challenges, stemming from enrollment trends, policy interventions, labor market dynamics, and demographic shifts [38].

The first part of our plan presents the special features of technical knowledge towards which VET students are oriented because, beyond the miscellaneous options of VET’s operations, in fact VET encompasses the instruction of skills and knowledge directly relevant to industries or professions, intending to prepare students or employees for their planned career paths [39]. For the documentation of our research, we chose to include material that is already acceptable to enhance previous knowledge and cognitive data and at the same time, leads to new knowledge. In this direction, we are equally focused on “cultivating” whatever has already been established, as well as on introducing novel research paths and new scientific tools (Analytical Learning—Analytical Teaching/Teaching Analytics—Learning Analytics) [40]. According to VET curriculum designers, while classifying the characteristics of technical and laboratory knowledge that apply to VET school environments, we not only aim at historicity and understanding of what has been invented, but we also seek what seems to have already been omitted and is sought after [41]. The common divisions of the curricula or syllabus (Analytic Program of Study [APS]) do not serve our analysis as well; even the minimal extension of matter does not change only the parts (Sectors or Specialties of Vocational Schools) but the cumulative whole, as it works today. In every case, updating the APS is important to anticipate the development of students and educators, as well as the effect of changes in a broader sense. Presenting the characteristics of technical and laboratory knowledge requires special care in setting the rules for execution, whether it is our new attempts, new thematic introductions, or the introduction of standards that concern the “whole”. For example, the introduction of Python in the APS specialties of Informatics of the Vocational Lyceum positively affected not only the daily teaching practice but, overall, the prospects of graduates as well as the interdisciplinary perspective it provides to teachers and students. This happens in every reform attempt because, in the new context, it should be included beyond what we keep in our “hands” as material, and these which we aim for while proposing concrete and obvious evidence for their usefulness. In addition to intuition and lifelong practical–experiential experience, you also need to document the strategy for achieving goals.

3. New Directions for Interpretation and Handling of Technical Knowledge in ET: The Phenomenology of New Technical Knowledge

The term “cognitive principles” of VET does not refer to learning styles or learning objectives, but it is preoccupied beyond learning complexity, or any other “teaching” concept. The analysis of the term starts from the position that the “technical knowledge” and ultimately the “cognitive identity” of a VET student, (e.g., Electronics, Electrician, Engineer, etc.) is not a “given” characteristic, but is “constructed” from the first moment of his/her inclusion in the school unit, within his/her overall development, mainly through knowledge acquired in a laboratory. After reviewing, designing, and extending the former learning conditions, in the second part, we will prepare the framework for updating the guidelines and new interpretations of handling the technical knowledge. The aim is to enable those involved (students/teachers) to broaden their horizons and expand their previous knowledge. We will clarify the new contexts so that they are true aids to the mental capacity of the VET educational community to rectify and increase the cognitive forces of access to technical knowledge, computational thinking, action, and supervision [41]. Our definition of “technical knowledge” deepens the purposes, the series of proof, and the ways of examining the technical culture. Our approach involves metacognition that contributes to a deeper awareness of the operation of machines, mechanisms, techniques, and technologies, and reaches towards their social mission. As Vocational High School graduates constitute the country’s future workforce, they should be aware of the advantages and superiority of technology with a central goal of the improvement of human living conditions. Along with the development of technical culture, the new directions should highlight and cultivate respect for human effort and creativity. Newly graduated technicians will learn to see “behind” every tool, technician, instrument, and mechanism; and they should be able to answer questions such as: “What problems did the people, who conceived and created them, have?”, “What human needs needed to be satisfied?”, “What was the reasoning, behind their design, structure, form, and functions?”. Thus, every artifact, construction, or technical infrastructure must stop looking “magical”, but function as a code of social meanings, human needs, and purposes. In this way, the “secret” of any technical construction will be challenged and deciphered.

The orientation of the main directions of the APS initially concerns the identification of the basic principles of design and creation: “What is this?”, “How was it made?”, “Why is it in this form?”, “What scientific laws does it serve?”, “Which scientific fields support its operation?”. In short, “How and why does it work?”. Then, we proceed to more complex questions concerning improvements to the existing equipment: “Could we do it better, and if so, how?” This section is based on the belief that there is no unresolved technical problem. If that problem is investigated methodically, systematically, and logically, we can find its origin, its solution, and the possibilities or prospects it may hide. The gradual solution to these questions demands that we overcome the subconscious fear of confronting technical difficulties, the mental and physical thinking “struggle” of every creator and every person who actively joins the forces in the “world of work”. In a broader context, graduates should be credited with the dedication to and responsibility for the work which society has entrusted to engineers, but also to those who participate in the creation and impetus of technical achievements, which mainly concern projects that improve people’s daily lives. This should not be considered only while studying but should potentially function as a conscious way of life.

In the first two parts, we highlighted the “directions” of the new road of knowledge of VET and the “orientation” of the associated metacognitive skills. In the third part, we will focus specifically on walking this new road. Our purpose is not to create a prediction or series of conjectures but to find and understand exactly the opening of a new path between experience and theory (“via media inter experiential et dogmata”). For the innermost look and anatomy of technical thinking and knowledge, we should only consult the “things” themselves that concern this thought and this type of knowledge. Many times, it has been noted in the literature that one of the most painful obstacles in the student’s mental approach are the errors that come from previous misconceptions that have been recorded as cognitive prejudices. This point is so intense that one must practice constant confrontation with the “information” that comes through the senses. The careless observation, the irregular, accidental monitoring, and the shallow practice form an empirical thought that is blind, arrogant, vague, and fragmented. This results in the accumulation of unsuitable material for the intellect, sciences, and applied mechanics. In this type of learning, there is no hope for enlargement or development. First, we need to reconstruct the values of the technical pieces of knowledge; as in technical knowledge, engineering aims mainly at “manual” real designations in work or construction. The reconstruction of the new technical knowledge should focus on these four axes, which reflect the shortcomings of the curriculum:

(1)

the purpose and function of new knowledge;

(2)

the data collection from newer technical and scientific achievements or other relevant scientific areas;

(3)

the degree of calibration and “subtlety” of the manipulations of young people’s knowledge objects; and, finally

(4)

the determining of what will follow and how the overall curriculum will be organized to enhance learning.

Reconstructing the new thinking about learning in VET should not have the aim of “wasting” students’ education time on convenience or naïve experiments or laboratory exercises but should “shed light” on the causes of the phenomena that are described and inform the students of the “fruits” of new technologies, as long as they remain active. There should be reference to the fundamental qualities and their inclusion of special topics of advanced technologies. In the selection of the series of exercises, emphasis should be placed on how the facts are formulated and especially how thorough is the cleansing from the first cognitive prejudices but also the myths that circulate in technical culture. The new phenomenology of technical knowledge is in the context of “smart learning environments” [42].

The type of predictive knowledge provided by technical education and the course in VET is the result of a financial investment, not only in the fixed equipment of the laboratories but also in the consumables of each laboratory separately and mainly in the underlying techniques and technologies for each sector and each specialty. Each VET’s school and each VET’s laboratory, given its financial budget, captures “how” and “why” the “cognitive identity” of a VET student will evolve. The educational utilization of the equipment of the laboratories, and the teaching methodology of the teachers who “construct” the knowledge or skills in the VET students, as well as how the planning and distribution of the funding of the laboratories are implemented, decisively influence the “production” of perception, knowledge, and skills. The catalyst for all this is the connection with new technologies and techniques, but also the effective distribution of educational resources in the VET laboratories. In other words, to achieve the educational goal in VET, as a pedagogical derivative, the elementary logistical infrastructures, the consumables, the maintenance procedures of the training equipment, and the connection with the new technical and technological developments for each sector and each specialty separately are required.

The new phenomenology includes a broad framework for the localization of learning objects in conjunction with the digitization of new cognitive experiences and the limits of enhanced monitoring of phenomena (from simulations and virtual labs up to remote platforms). Through the new phenomenology, new experimental devices and laboratory exercises must be organized in the sectors and specialties, on which the innovative approach will be based on technical knowledge.

The role of digitization, computational thinking, and the Internet at this stage is crucial. The species and the new descriptions of experiments and laboratory exercises are structured more accurately than ever, as new technologies and computing capabilities allow unprecedented stability, and an unprecedented stable “path”. The examination of cases through the exhaustive representations of new technologies constitutes a thorough cleansing from previous prejudices and the personal “myths” of students. In this way, the VET students will be protected from any “mental” errors attached to the course of learning and will learn to seek more infallible assumptions and proof. In the next stage of the third part, the students should “communicate” to the “real” world, outside of the school context, and confirm the correctness of what has been established through school knowledge. Through this path, they will enter the work of understanding and explaining its nature as a technical culture, so that they are better prepared for its constantly renewed emphasis on technical achievements. By covering these, the third part of our research is completed. The tools for rating the key evaluation criteria of the VET management system highlight the crucial importance of social dialogue, consultation, and the active participation of stakeholders and the proper functioning of the field (Figure 4). Priority is, of course, given to the expertise and capacity of VET teachers to engage effectively in consultation and decision-making. The evaluation criteria include the reform of the institutional framework, the curriculum, the allocation of strategic functions, the attitude of stakeholder engagement, the quality assurance and development, the rationalization of the organization, and finally the financial resources and possible funding.

4. Construction of Perception of the New Knowledge

To describe the new didactic application, we must enter the pedagogical practice in VET with the tools that will support it. The new fact in the working hypotheses of educational reform for VET is that some already-known cognitive characteristic elements come back not only as mandatory but also as part of the curriculum (Figure 5). As far as the educational background of the graduates is concerned, any technical skills should incorporate different elements and aspects. From the point of view of typical technical knowledge, negotiation, and cognitive flexibility are two basic but crucial elements. From the point of view of cooperation service orientation, judgment and decision-making, as well as high degrees of emotional intelligence are points for coordinating with others. From the point of view of project and people management, creativity and critical thinking in complex problem-solving are important aspects of a team.

At this point, specific elements in both the implementation instructions and their immediate use should be observed and evaluated. Our first concern is to propose specific examples of study and research according to the methods described and, more specifically, the added educational value for each example should be appreciated. The important thing at this point is to submit specific fields and topics that differ from each other so that there can be a sample of each species. Examples should function as perfect models that will explain what is described through examples when developing scenarios. We should also represent all the progress that has been made in depicting the continuation in the structure and order of invention in the selected subjects, following and facilitating all the necessary clarifications of the difficult and subtle shades of the examples. An indicative list of the above can concern all the above “models” of knowledge consolidation; and based on the test framework and verification, and in terms of their handling, these fall under the broader category of human–computer interaction. These models, either visualized or interactive, provide orientation-oriented laboratory-experimental knowledge to the student with the following axes:

(a)

based on which model the experimental-laboratory device is tested;

(b)

how the interaction with the operator-user is achieved; and

(c)

other complementary elements complement their functionality works.

The research methodology for examining cognitive characteristic elements as part of the VET’s curriculum refers to the participants, the tools used for data collection, and the analytical methods employed are deliberately important elements. To capture all of these, important elements are the spatial locations of the Vocational High Schools, the standard arrangements for enrollment in technical schools and the graduation procedures, the accessibility and internal cooperation of the Vocational High Schools, and the Laboratory Centers (infrastructure, equipment, location), which support the laboratory exercises, based on the detailed curriculum.

5. Pioneering Scenarios of a New Approach for Vocational Education and Training New Curriculum

In the fifth part of our proposal, we describe pioneering scenarios of new approaches for VET’s new curriculum, to conclude what we have discussed so far. We control the growth points with interest until we are confident that our ultimate core goals will be met. Our development in this section is based on the position that scientific and technical issues intended for school knowledge and teaching should be developed suitably. The purpose of this issue is for the Technologist Educator (TE) not only to be able to implement effective ways of teaching for his or her students but also to recognize them as an effective “model” of teaching and be guided by criteria based in reality.

It is also important to justify whether the didactics of the following manipulations are appropriate or not for the development of critical thinking in students [43]. By definition, a topic such as school knowledge in VET, poses as a necessity the observation of reality itself and, in other words, an organized one. Teaching in technical school stems from reality. Based on the above, during the development of theoretical–laboratory teaching of a topic, students should be led to a deeper understanding of what is observed around them and especially what conclusions are drawn from the models that they apply to solve a real problem. Therefore, this part will consist of those “things” we have devised, tried, or added, using the same intellect everyone uses. This happens as we have higher hopes for our steady dialogue with technical knowledge, than for the manipulation of concepts through reductions.

The target of this approach is for the “mind” to gradually acquire an increasing certainty about the learning objects it has selected and determined in its future career, specific series, and methods of confirming what it handles or will handle as a professional. Here, the rise of certain levels should be differentiated for the sake of convenience and use (skills) from the entry of the “mind” to the precise explanation of the causes (scientific knowledge and documentation). Because it is a different preparation and aids the guidance of the senses and so on, the orientation of the intellect abolishes the belief in authority and consolidation of the dialectic of cause and effect. Essentially, in this section, we are attempting a resurgence of values and initial conceptual definitions, so that the TE can assist in her or his methodological choices.

As an essential component of educational systems worldwide, the VET curriculum must be redesigned to equip individuals with the specific skills and knowledge needed to perform trades or professions. The main pillars and technologies that underpin modern VET are critical for ensuring that training remains relevant and effective in a rapidly changing world. The pillars and technologies in VET must always be redesigned to create a responsive, relevant, and accessible training environment that meets the needs of both learners and industries. By leveraging new technologies and maintaining strong ties with industry partners, VET programs can equip learners with the skills they need to succeed in the workforce (Figure 6). From the point of view of prevention from misguided and incomplete planning for the cognitive principles of VET, the leverage must include industry collaboration and relevance, competency-based education, development and continuous updating of the curriculum for every existing sector and specialty, access and inclusivity lifelong learning, and finally sustainability and social responsibility.

The term “cognitive principles” of VET, does not refer to learning styles, or learning objectives, and is preoccupied beyond learning complexity, or any other “teaching” concept. The analysis of the term starts from the position that the “technical knowledge” and ultimately the “cognitive identity” of a VET student, (e.g., Electronics, Electrician, Engineer, etc.) is not a “given” characteristic, but is “constructed” from the first moment of his/her inclusion in the school unit, within his/her overall development, mainly through laboratory knowledge. The options described here are crucial not only for the selection of appropriate topics but also for the full development of technical teaching. The essential goal of a teaching technique is to crystallize in students’ consciousness that control of their observations should be made based on specific scientific models. At this point, we focus on the analysis and the degrees of difficulty that arise from various options, and we suggest criteria that must be considered to link technical teaching with the needs and real problems in the sectors and specialties that are students’ choices. To restore the content and methodology of a teaching technique, we will identify the basic terms that make it up, which are its connecting joints: Science, Technology, Mathematics, and Applied Engineering.

6. Sciences of Applied Knowledge for Design, Construction, and Inspection of Machines or Other Technical Components

The term “Science of Applied Knowledge for Design, Construction, and Inspection of Machines or other Technical Data” as presented here relates to an occasional method of Applied Knowledge Science for the Design, Construction, and Control of Machines or other technical elements, and focuses on the method of constructing a project or specifically on solving a real problem. The techniques that are suggested to utilize the specific scientific field in technical teaching concern the oriented pursuit of construction, assembly, and the reuse of materials to achieve a new solution [44]. For students of secondary and post-secondary education with no advanced in-depth individual technologies, this can be considered as an ideal condition since the teacher can suggest technical instructions only in fragments; although the definition of “what does every time an Engineer” is not always clearly defined [45]. Based on students’ acquired knowledge, we can only occasionally approach the reality of engineers. The first step towards occasional exploitation of this sector consists of analyzing the status of the current problem and determining the requirements for support for a specific solution [46]. In this work, we propose one approach that is mainly supported by cooperative technologies that should be identified as “recording” guidelines to support a real solution. Having understood the above and effectively applied it specifically to an object Department or Specialization, the teacher will be able to index the data that will be used by students. It could also be that the approach of machines in a historical context helps [47].

6.1. Mathematics

Usually, we get the feeling that we understand a scientific law when we can predict it and render it with mathematical formulas. The indisputable subtraction that distinguishes mathematical objects must have authentic value: to make this a fruitful and active removal, we can probably wait long enough. Nevertheless, the first mistake is what we should avoid in the search for logical processes for mathematics subcategories involved in specific teaching. The search for some foundation within the mathematical sphere plays no role in developing or finding a specific solution. Because waiting for one a priori to ensure “applicability” through a mathematician’s calculations may not be feasible, it would be good to proceed to the identification of applied solutions in both counting and determination of the components that will act to resolve the specific real problem. The various tested interaction fields (mathematics and computer science, mathematics and physics, mathematics and biology, mathematics and economy, etc.) would be good to approach with clarity and insight from the teacher. Research policy could also incorporate elements of statistical and combinatorial for the enrichment of the conceptual maps and mathematical entities involved in teaching.

6.2. Sciences

The term “Science” is respected and accepted in modern vocabulary, both by teachers and by our students. In essence, it identifies everything that has arrived in a situation that can be predictable and understandable. If you define something as “scientific”, you automatically identify it and its reliability [48]. Utilization of this field for STEM teaching mainly concerns elements of interdisciplinarity and communication areas that are identified by the problem to be solved. The scientific data are determined by assumptions, theories, and laws [49]. Scientific “natural” laws go beyond time and culture and are independent of moral or other value systems.

6.3. Technology

The history of human societies is realized through their production means that allow people to meet their material needs. But what allows a man or woman to position themselves as human and to be confronted by nature to extract its goods is the tool [50]. The privileged technical education sector of our technology recalls the American animal–technological definition of man by Benjamin Franklin: “Man is an animal that makes tools (a toolmaking animal)”. Here, and according to various analysts, there is one real danger, to degenerate the teaching of technical skill by highlighting a “technocratic” activity without a broader orientation. The teacher’s input can restore the divergence.

6.4. Nested Sections

At this point in our proposal, we consider it appropriate to include two separate actions. As a suggestion, although for the time being it is not predictable if they will exist as separate sections, we deem it appropriate to mention them because of the scientific interest they present. The first concerns digital information management and skills development handling of digital tools for VET, and the second concerns the implementation of a special pedagogy for gifted students in VET.

From the point of view of the theoretical determinations of the research and the theoretical/conceptual framework, the fundamental term that connects us to this educational and pedagogical work is the way or ways in which the elements of “metacognition” are organized in the pedagogical actions of VET. Every version and every deviation from the original goal in the theory and the workshops of the technical courses, during the implementation of the teaching act, is today a metacognitive experience for the development of the research of the field with collaborative characteristics for the learning community, but also of the field of management administrative work. What we plan and prepare as teaching is put into practice as a real intervention in real conditions by understanding in depth how the pedagogical element works and how the teaching is reframed, but also the relationships of the members of the VET community.

The above data, combined experientially with the science of pedagogy, help us to understand in depth another role for VET, which operates dynamically with unspecified high degrees of responsiveness for the entire educational community. “Metacognitive” encouragement and “empathy” are structurally part of the pedagogical horizons of VET. From the point of view of administrative “care” for the pedagogical function of the school, both metacognition and empathy leave a valuable legacy for the present and future of VET. In terms of authenticity and experience, the results of the research are ever-present and guide us in planning the next future designs.

7. Digital Information Management and Skills Development on the Handling of Digital Tools for Vocational Education and Training

The 21st century has led to a new era involving a large breadth and depth of digital technologies and new personalized standards of communication [51]. In this phase of the ever-expanding growth of all these new learning environments [52], it is difficult to determine the exact extent of their impact on education and educational processes. What is certain is that a research proposal should refer to the effect of digitality on the reform of learning patterns and cognitive data not only in positive but also in negative data [53]. This type of recording of problems created by the rapid development of digital technical culture is worth discussing because it helps researchers and VET teachers and students to better understand the relationship of all of us with the new digital age and technology. In this section, we will focus briefly on the main arguments worth presenting in our research. This section is part of the broader philosophical problem that is related to new digital technologies, and we believe it must be read and pondered as we already experience what it requires of citizens during the new digital age. From the point of view of historical evaluations and development in VET, we must declare that plans for how “opening up education” can be improved and strengthened through digital tools and at the same time strengthen education and training in Europe in the future through the development of educational scenarios and action roadmaps were launched in 2013 [54]. In 2017, a separate strategy for VET was developed and specialized: the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu) [55]. At this point in the analysis, a reference should be made to the implementation of the DigCompEdu framework in VET. The initial targeting of the strategy concerned the provision of practical recommendations to VET institutions and teachers regarding the development of digital skills, and mainly concerned VET teacher training programs [56]. The specific strategy pointed out the challenges faced by teachers when adopting digital tools and suggested strategies for the effective development of their digital skills [57]. The initial premise was about understanding how the DigCompEdu framework can be implemented and adapted to meet the specific needs of VET [58]. Indeed, access to these directions requires institutional access or subscription to academic databases.

After seven years, and in the intervening COVID-19 crisis, empirical studies have evaluated the impact of the DigCompEdu framework on the digital competencies of VET educators. Knowledge and lessons learned from the application of the framework in different professional contexts; in case studies, but also in empirical research on how VET educators use their digital skills, has documented an asymmetric development of this strategy in individual countries [59]. Discussing the specific skills required in VET, we finally find that as much as we support the renewal of teaching tools and the upgrading of the logistical infrastructure of educational structures, this should in no way be confused with the development of skills, the connection with the forces of work and the connection of the new generation with the practical experience of the world of work [60]. This is emphasized and clarified in the individual sections of the article. A deeper understanding of the complexities and skills involved in the job is only gained through the workplace. Students or apprentices are prepared for education. In the technical high school and the technical schools, the teachers manage the subjects of the syllabi and the general principles of applied sciences, applied mathematics, or applied services. We suggest that strategic predictions for the development of digital skills within VET are of little use as practical knowledge and applications require completely different contexts. A digital skills strategy isolated from practical implementation in the field only raises the qualitative indicators of what it wants to highlight but not the technical reality of learning. The overgeneralization of the digital skills hypothesis as a strategic work hypothesis, excessive optimism, and blunt conclusions go beyond the methodology of VET pedagogy.

As a sampling, case study, and research in progress, some versions in some specialties [61] could be considered tolerably satisfactory, but this cannot be generalized. However, learning and knowledge within VET must be reorganized as a practice. The lack of an interdisciplinary strategy and, from an ethical point of view, the instrumental degradation of educational technologies as a pressure lever of social orientation, as well as a poor organization in the presentation of the material, creates learning gaps for students and arbitrary conclusions. From everyday applications to complex algorithms, VET teachers will have to stand and make it clear that today’s emerging new coding technologies will act as guides and provide conceptual guidance tools for demystifying and decoding current technologies’ delusions. Our intention is clear: digital technologies have their possibilities and can be used to (re)create divisions and inequalities within our society. Divisions and social inequalities are not something new. The new element is that an effort is being made, through its adoption of new digital technologies and new products related to them, to transfer these inequalities to the new digital experiences. Nowadays, even in public educational structures such as VET, we see a growing tendency to reproduce discrimination even through online practices. VET students today are a generation growing up with the Internet, and the memory of “digital life” covers most of what they can remember. What is missing, however, is a unifying view of technology that will incorporate critical elements of emancipatory framework analysis. This framework will enable VET members as a learning community to speak in a distinct and specific way about what needs to be done so that digital life has elements of acceptance of diversity, to become more tolerant and more democratic. This section explores how correlations between the above and the new digital culture are made. This proposal recognizes as a given position that the future of education concerns the preparation for the exploitation of the new possibilities of digital management.

The key technologies for new learning environments in VET include a huge amomum of miscellaneous objects such as Digital Learning Platforms, E-Learning, Simulation, Virtual Reality environments; Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Adaptive Learning situations, 3D Printing and Digital Fabrication, Collaborative Tools and Social Learning; and, of course, Mobile Learning with Gamification, Apps, and Microlearning (Figure 7).

VET teachers’ processes, especially those related to modern specializations, require the integration of digital multimedia application tools and the redesign of the organization of websites. The Panhellenic School Network has already expanded the possibilities for communication to and between users and has successfully integrated many possibilities of digital-distance education culture. For pedagogical processes, the promotion and integration of digital tools with learning materials and the re-presentation of cognitive data have the aim of enriching reports and communication. The integration of new forms and new types of digital functionality in education is required to be done with scientific seriousness and complete documentation. At this stage, it is necessary to record the first approach to the basic principles of planning, implementation, reassessment, and ultimately classification of those websites and web activities using digital learning tools. The full development of the proposed new digital applications [62] not only for each sector [63] and each specialty [64], but even new ones is a subject for a new article and is added to future projects.

8. The Application of Special Pedagogy for Charismatic Students in Vocational Education and Training

At this stage of the program development, our proposals for the new approach to technical educational curriculum for gifted students of VET seem disproportionate. Reflecting on scientific writing in its entirety for charisma [65], we find discontinuities and methodological leaps in approaching the concept. The contradiction lies not only in the difficulty of identifying the issue but also in focusing on the object itself. In general, the up-to-date recorded approaches in the article on charisma have not precisely determined the final criteria for its diagnosis. For field scholars, the object is known to be not easily “diagnosed” charismatic children or the contexts and limits of their charisma. Even “ordinary” children display abilities that “disappear” in adolescence (e.g., special memory). On the other hand, there is a complete lack of a pedagogical model on how to support gifted children and how they must be trained to show their charisma. Some charismatic children show special talents. For example, it is possible for a ten-year-old girl with “mild autism” to be taught Lyceum mathematics while, at the same time, her reading level does not exceed the limits of third-grade students. The development of the charismatic is based on the child’s spiritual abilities and is not evaluated in the known mandatory way of evaluation circulars (grading scale). The imprint of charisma is not always visible, does not belong to the commonly accepted perceptions, and differs in one completely original idiosyncrasy. Charismatic students “are” like every other child. In addition to the introversion and closeness of the charismatic, their characteristics are likely to exhibit emotional dysfunctions and personal details. In addition, they may not work linearly, but can handle many things at once. In particular, charismatic engineering and skilled physical technicians are likely to organize many innovative activities at the same time. On the other hand, they are posed with the question of whether a charismatic person is “academically”, emotionally, and socially able to lift their full load of technical studies. The charismatic, intelligence scale applies differently in contrast to the usual types of pupils, in addition, cerebral neurotrophic factors operate at levels beyond normal.

The expanding classification of gifted students is a substantial investment in the education system, which, however, at this stage does not have to show any data, methods, or prehistory. This happens as we are used to evolving, in both public and private education, data based on a predefined “knowledge box”. The detailed curriculum comes from this cognitive box and is created starting from an atavistic dialectic aimed at the transference of inherited wisdom during studies in generations of students. It is quite difficult to think of a new approach to analytics programs out of the “box”, even for simple issues such as the institutional introduction of innovative practices in the years of study. Mediation of education leaves the charismatic students “out”, as idiosyncratic cases are considered exceptions, and to join, they need specialized staff but also special treatment for the proportion of charisma. The presentation of the above elements, in combination with the configuration of a positive image of VET helps us to make suggestions and prospects of overcoming, especially for charismatic technical school students. We believe that VET, despite all efforts to upgrade and promote it in recent years, both internationally and nationally; the content, the learning models that are applied and its directions remain relatively unknown. At this stage, we seek the concept of charisma to be determined by performance in some areas and to be supported by a relatively charismatic-friendly learning environment within VET. The next step is to connect its charisma with innovation and the “production” of a series of achievements always in the context of the teaching applications of VET.

9. The Phenomenology of New Technical Knowledge, Conclusions, Limitations of the Research, and Suggested Areas for Future Research as an Epilogue

In our research, we describe data analysis as programmatic targets and objectives. The findings are linked to the research questions through supervisory deduction for each chapter separately. In the nine chapters:

(1)

We overviewed, designed, and extension of VET’s learning and teaching terms and technical knowledge. Introduction to the topic and its refinement of published research: “new knowledge” approach and learning models for VET.

(2)

We presented new approaches to the interpretation and handling of technical knowledge. Theoretical/conceptual framework: the “social significance” of the laboratory: technical knowledge at the beginning of the 21st century (metacognition which contributes to a deeper awareness of those involved in VET).

(3)

We reexamined the phenomenology of new technical knowledge. Experimental devices and laboratory exercises, on which this new approach will be based, are technical knowledge. The role of digitization, computational thinking, and the Internet. Presentation, but mainly an extension of the main findings so far in research on new knowledge (meta-web 2.0: digitization and “Localization” of new knowledge).

(4)

We presented scales of intellect and construction of perception of new knowledge (“evaluative” approach to new knowledge).

(5)

We suggested pioneering scenarios of the new approach (guides and methodology combinations of applications in teaching scenarios).

(6)

We analyzed the science of Applied Knowledge for the Design, Construction, and Inspection of Machines or other Technical Data.

(7)

We suggested digital information management and digital skills development for VET.

(8)

We focused on the applications of Special Pedagogy for Charismatic Students in VET.

(9)

We examined ethics issues in active teaching practice as an epilogue. The ninth and final part of the proposal concludes our reformation plan.

We designed this research both as performers and observers. We went as far as our limited resources allowed us to discover the causes of what influences mentalities and behaviors in the field of VET learning. It is important to emphasize this point as well, as in mental “struggles” and human knowledge, one of the greatest obstacles is ignorance of causes [66]. The implications of a predictive reform for VET and the prediction of the effectiveness of our proposals do not allow more than summarization of findings. The critical engaging assessment from the application of the programmatic subjects was integrated into individual chapters. All chapters serve the practical ethics that will emerge from the correct and clear implementation of the results of the practices proposed so far. We laid the foundations and perspectives, and we aim to complete this edifice in the future. At this moment, we do not have, a “full package” theory, but the orientation to the affairs and forces of the VET community, in mind.

This article foresees phases of structural changes for VET. When implementing structural transformations in education, the future complications from the volatile factors that may affect the evolution and development of the reforms are many and varied. Phenomena such as Technological and technical developments, combined with economic factors such as economic instability, crises, and war zones affect the available sources of finance, affecting the possibility of implementing reforms. Sociopolitical changes and resistance from the educational community are additional parameters. Population changes and demographic shifts can upend education budgets and strategies. In addition, pandemics or health crises, changes in the legal framework related to education, or environmental changes involving natural disasters, have direct effects on infrastructure and education policies. Finally, the position of denial of changes by the educational community, due to stress, fatigue, and chronic underfunding, combined with low salaries for teachers negatively affects any proposed reforms.

Curricula represent an essential means of developing skills at the individual level, which undoubtedly have an impact on national development in a developing context. Individual skills can be translated as skills that are necessary for community development and play an important role in the development of economy and technology. The pedagogical work carried out in technical schools is an important feature of national education for each country. It leverages initial and continuing education for many people, integrates specific vocational skills into the educational process, and frames the immediate needs and demands of the labor market. As a development mechanism, VET curricula should, at a macro-economic level, converge with the utilization of the country’s wealth-producing resources, while at the same time ensuring the rise of the self-esteem of the country’s labor force that originates from it. In any case, it should defend the active forces of labor and potentially skilled producers.

For an effective reform in VET to work, it will have to homogenize and shorten the functions in the three pillars that we identified in the previous sections; the cognitive characteristic of VET’s new curriculum; the five pillars, as dimensions for VET; and the technologies for new learning environments (Figure 8). These elements act as permanent constituents of permanent reform, as the evolution of the elements of VET follows the evolution of technical culture and socio-economic restructuring. For these components to be able to cooperate, checkpoints and feedback are required. In addition, whenever a component is upgraded, the new parts must be able to work seamlessly with the old ones and be able to follow the upgrades given the separate schedules or individual processing. Sometimes in science, it happens that different attitudes, mindsets, or choices of priorities coexist, and a comprehensive design reform may want to fit pieces of these differences.

Beyond the above, it must be added that without a critical mass of technical and professional skills, it is unlikely that society will be able to move up the value chain and achieve appropriate levels of development. Having a functional and effective education and training system for personal and national development is a necessity of basic choice for the social fabric. This system must be linked to standards of development and defense of the world of work and directed towards meeting the changing demands of society and the economy while maintaining the competitiveness of graduates. On the other hand, training or skill acquisition alone does not create jobs. A correct and well-targeted investment in the general education of VET students alongside familiarization with the technical possibilities of modern technology is the most appropriate way to promote specialized technical staff with varied educational levels. Thus, the specific curricula, as VET teachers will implement them, are legitimate to act as an obstacle to the increase of youth unemployment, poverty, social crisis, and security problems in society. Based on VET study programs, students should be facilitated in integrating into the labor market by having the appropriate knowledge base. Educational programs and curricula should prepare young people for entering the labor market and provide lifelong learning pathways that respond to changing technologies and global economic demands [67]. For these reasons, developed and emerging economies have intensified their efforts to fully integrate VET into their general education systems [68]. These systems prepare young men and women for their future integration into the world of work by adopting necessary structures within their educational system, ensuring a high and balanced quality of studies in combination with the acquisition of skills, as determined by the fields of application, the complexity and the rate of emergence of technological innovations [69]. In addition, we must stress that giftedness while studying at VET has special characteristics and special research must be oriented to this area.

The continuing transformative power of technical knowledge is constantly reflected in the planning of future stages of research. As the hypothesis of the reform of VET curricula is based on the real renewals of the technical culture, it is not possible to determine specific stages for its evolution. What we submit as future research concerns the feedback from the attempted modeling of its fields as we presented them in the previous sections. Each aspect of VET reform constitutes a separate metacognitive data pillar. To approach this pool of knowledge, the researcher should be equipped on the one hand with the theoretical tools of the critical pedagogical approach and, on the other hand, with the constant contact of the educational community with the issues of material technology and modern techniques. The new designs and adaptations are a field for organizing future pieces of training and for the VET educational community itself. For the coming years, all we can count on is the approach of innovative pedagogies that will make use of the new equipment. The degree of development and the quality and quantity of implementation of innovative new designs depends on adequate funding. The VET education community in Greece seems to be relatively prepared. In support of the above, it should once again be noted and emphasized that implementing such reformations demands that we avoid distractions from the things themselves, the didactic application, and the elaboration data as they are structured. With the consent of the entire VET, the community is to set the completion of project evaluation as a key. Finally, at this stage, the most important thing is to win and secure agreement to ensure the strengthening of individual goals and the indexing of solutions for specific situations, both now and in the future.