Abstract:

This paper aims to provide information on effectively and efficiently incorporating occupational safety principles into teacher education. In the Slovak Republic, in vocational and technical teacher education, where occupational safety issues are fundamental for learners to develop good lifelong habits, the search for occupational hazards is vastly underestimated. Safety subjects are absent in the teaching for teachers of technical subjects.

Equally important is the aspect that the structure of occupations in the labour market is changing, and it is also necessary to reflect the change in schools due to the robotization and automation of the industry, not excluding the emergence of new risks from new professions. At present, there are no courses that give teachers the chance to 'upskill' as part of lifelong education. The capacity of universities to produce teachers who are ready to prepare students for future employment in the 21st-century workplace effectively needs systemic rebuilding.

The paper documents a detailed procedure for incorporating the principles of safe working practices when operating a CNC lathe, including first aid and unexpected incidents associated with the operation of the equipment, into a specific work activity in preparation for the mechatronics profession. The case study method as a method of active problem analysis is highly suitable for dealing with specific situations and therefore used, and its pros substantiated in this study.

Keywords:

Higher education, vocational competences, case study, mechatronics technician, CNC lathe, profession.