The Causal Model of Teachers’ Competency in Higher Vocational Education in Shandong Province, China

Shandong, a well-known province for manufacturing and vocational education, is facing issues with mismatches between the competence of higher vocational teachers and the demands of the industry. This study conducts a mixed methods exploration of teachers’ competence. In particular, it surveys 379 teachers and interviews key informants. The findings show that with career planning, professionalism, and training of teachers has a significant positive effect on job satisfaction of concubines and their competence (p < 0.01). Career planning has the highest total effect on competence (β = 0.3694), followed by the training factor of faculty (β = 0.2120). The job satisfaction intervenes between the professionalism and competence of nurses. Insights derived from qualitative data underscore that the key paths to improvement include clear career positioning, professional practice oriented and industry customized training. Through this research, the regional vocational education investigated will be enriched. It will clarify the “planning-orientation, training-empowerment, satisfaction-mediation” mechanism. Moreover, it will provide suggestions for colleges, enterprises and governments regarding teacher development.