Swedish VET was included in extensive school reforms in the early 2010s. However, VET teachers were not particularly involved in these reforms. They have also been relatively invisible in initiatives concerning teachers’ continuing professional development (CPD). Therefore, a project was initiated to explore teachers’ CPD concerning vocational knowledge and industry currency of competence from their initial occupations. The project applied a situated perspective on learning, identity, and boundary relations and processes. There were three parts: Analyses of participation in a national initiative, to let teachers up-date their vocational knowledge, e.g. through practicum in a workplace; a survey, with responses from 886 teachers concerning CPD activities related to their initial occupations; and interviews with 30 teachers.

10% of all VET teachers participated in the national initiative during its two first years. The most common activities identified in the survey were reading vocation-related texts, study visits in workplaces, and work with students’ workplace learning. The survey also showed what values these activities created in terms of teachers’ vocational knowledge, networks, and development of teaching. The interviews showed the value of varying school-workplace boundary processes. Work with workplace learning, study visits, skills competitions, and other industry arrangements, created CPD opportunities and networks.