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Context: With an increase in cultural diversity in many countries, schools and teacher educators are grappling with the question of what this diversity might bring in vocational education, and how teachers can be prepared to work with this diversity. In order to train and empower teachers who experience tensions because of culturally diverse student populations, it is useful to know whether teachers do have different needs to work with this diversity. This study reports on profiles in teachers' experience of value-based tensions (professional ethics and stance, diversity and communality, respect, personal autonomy, and justice) teaching in culturally diverse classes of Senior Secondary Vocational Education and Training (SSVET).

Methods: This study relied on data from a questionnaire completed by 891 teachers from 20 culturally diverse SSVET schools in the Netherlands. A Hierarchical Cluster Analysis was performed to identify subgroups of teachers that have a similar pattern of responses (profiles) with regard to the different value-based tensions they experienced. Subsequently, the association of the distinguished profiles with the competence elements (knowledge, skills and attitudes) was examined with [analysis of variance] ANOVA. Lastly, the P-value of the Pearson Chi-Square was examined through cross-tabulation analysis to determine whether the associations between the distinguished profiles and personal and contextual characteristics were statistically significant.

Findings: Hierarchical cluster analysis identified three profiles suggesting that teachers experienced all tensions more or less to a certain degree: Relaxed, rarely tense, or reasonably tense. 'Professional ethics and stance' tension was the most frequently experienced value-based tension in all three profiles. The profiles were related to teachers background characteristics. The teachers with a reasonably tense profile work mainly in the lower levels of the SSVET. These teachers reported to have had more training on the topic of multicultural education. Teachers with relaxed profile reported having fewer skills than teachers with medium and reasonably tense profiles.

Conclusion: The current study suggests that the culturally diverse student population creates tensions for teachers in SSVET and - depending on the type of profile - for some teachers more than others. The most frequently experienced tension on professional ethics and stance in all profiles confirms that all teachers experience conflicts with regard to their own norms, values and convictions and those of their students on the one hand, and the standards of the labor market with its own specific requirements for professional ethics and stance as a third party on the other. For teacher educators, the profiles can be useful as a reflection tool during study and professional development, as different groups of teachers have been distinguished and some groups need extra training in all the tensions. In SSVET, teachers with the different profiles could support each other in the process of coping with the value-based tensions.

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Senior secondary vocational education and training (SSVET) is highly culturally diverse, with a majority of students having an immigrant background. Teachers in culturally diverse classes are more often confronted with tensions in their daily practice and they are uncertain of how to manage these tensions. This exploratory study investigated what value-based tensions teachers encountered when teaching in culturally diverse SSVET classes. Furthermore, the reported tensions by teachers were examined in terms of (inadequate) knowledge, skills and (hindering) attitudes as a possible cause to deal effectively with the experienced tensions. We collected interview data from 16 SSVET teachers from five schools, each with more than 60 per cent of students with immigrant backgrounds. The results showed that most of the value-based tensions that the SSVET teachers encountered were related to the intercultural loaded values diversity and respect. Next to tensions related to values also found in prior research, teachers additionally reported tensions with regard to professional ethics and stance of students, which seems unique to SSVET. Most experienced tensions were perceived as being caused by self-reported lack of skills. Less often, teachers experienced a shortage of knowledge or hindering attitudes when faced with these tensions in culturally diverse SSVET classes.

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This research presents a descriptive study regarding collaborative learning in a multicultural classroom at a vocational education school in The Netherlands. The study bridges two domains of research: research on culturally diverse learning environments - which has mostly concerned primary and general secondary education - and studies on collaborative learning. It analyzes current practices and perceptions of both teachers and students applying collaborative learning in a culturally diverse, competence-based learning environment. The results suggest that in a multicultural classroom, students, on the one hand, are mostly focused on their individual performance, resulting in poor collaboration among classmates. On the other hand, teachers seem unaware of their own role in affecting students' behavior and the influence of the cultural backgrounds of students on collaborative learning processes.

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