This study aims to identify the research trends, conceptual structure, and core thematic clusters of studies related to vocational skills development teachers in Korea published between 2010 and 2025. A total of 23 studies—18 KCI-indexed journal art...
This study aims to identify the research trends, conceptual structure, and core thematic clusters of studies related to vocational skills development teachers in Korea published between 2010 and 2025. A total of 23 studies—18 KCI-indexed journal articles and 5 theses—were selected based on relevance, and bibliometric analysis, text mining with topic modeling, and keyword co-occurrence network analysis were conducted sequentially. Bibliometric results indicate a gradual increase in research output since 2010, with notable peaks around 2017 and 2021 that align with major policy changes in the national vocational training system.
Text-mining and LDA topic modeling identified four primary thematic domains: competency and role performance, professional identity development, job stress and organizational behavior, and curriculum, qualification, and training quality management.
Keyword network analysis showed that “vocational skills development teacher,” “competency,” “job,” “professionalism,” and “identity” exhibit high centrality and function as key hub concepts across the research landscape. Louvain community detection and structural-hole indicators further revealed that variables such as burnout, growth, experience, and organizational justice, while currently peripheral, may serve as potential bridging concepts linking the competency–professionalism–identity clusters, suggesting areas with strong future research potential.
By structurally mapping this specialized research domain using integrated bibliometric, text-mining, and network-analytic approaches, the study provides foundational insights for revising teacher competency models, incorporating organizational and psychological factors, and responding to digital and AI-driven transitions in Korea’s vocational training ecosystem. These findings enhance the structural understanding of research on vocational skills development teachers and offer baseline evidence to support improvements in teacher competency development and overall vocational training quality.