HEP Vaud

The University of Teacher Education, State of Vaud (HEP Vaud) provides a full range of training courses for the teaching and education professions. Located at the heart of the Lake Geneva area university network, enriching and benefitting from it, HEP Vaud also plays an important part in Swiss education sciences research. HEP Vaud, which is part of the Swiss universities network, develops dynamic collaborations, both on training and research, with numerous national and international academic establishments.

The University of Teacher Education, State of Vaud strives towards three major goals, motivated by excellence:

• to offer university level training to future teachers and postgraduate training to all education professionals;
• to stimulate research and development in the field of education sciences, notably as part of national and international research projects;
• to offer its expertise together with a full range of teaching and learning resources to both educational establishments and teaching professionals.

HEP Vaud offers future teachers a wide range of training courses. There is the Bachelor of Arts in early-years and primary education, the Master’s degree in secondary education, Master of Advanced Studies in upper secondary education, Master’s degree in special education, and a number of joint master’s programmes, notably with the Universities of Lausanne and Geneva, and EPFL (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne). A wide range of postgraduate training is also available, such as the Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS), Diploma of Advanced Studies (DAS) and Master of Advanced Studies (MAS), together with over 220 short continuing education courses designed to meet the needs of teachers and school leaders. Approximately 3300 people are studying in HEP Vaud, and they are supported by more than 300 teacher-researchers and over 1400 teacher trainers numerous partner schools.

Twelve teaching and research units (UER) are working on the development of research. Several of these units, often working in collaboration with external partners, have established scientific research laboratories in key areas : inclusion, lesson study, creation in art and technology, student persistence and educational alliances, work-study programmes, education for sustainable development, and multilingualism and interculturalism.

HEP Vaud has strengthened its expertise based on four pillars of strength: digital education, the inclusive school, sustainability and open science. Changes brought about by the major social challenges related to these issues have had and will continue to have important implications for training and research. In two of these fields, digital and inclusion, HEP Vaud has already positioned itself as a leading Swiss point of reference and centre of expertise.

To enrich its teaching and research, HEP Vaud encourages mobility by its students and teaching and research staff, and strengthening of intercultural and linguistic competences. HEP Vaud is piloting and copiloting innovative international programmes such as PEERS (Projets d’étudiants et d’enseignants-chercheurs en réseaux sociaux – student and teacherresearcher social networking projects) involving partnerships with other elite educational establishments. These innovative projects enable students to face up to differences of culture and content in their field of education, in a context different to the usual period abroad.

Lausanne Laboratory Lesson Study (3LS) has the following subjects and fields of research:

• all types of LS processes (lesson study, learning study, micro-teaching, etc.) during professional development, initial training and further training;
• the development of theoretical frameworks and research methodologies related to LS;
• training processes implemented through the LS and the analysis of their effects in terms of pupils’ learning and also of the development of the professional skills of both students and teachers;
• links between teachers’ relationship with knowledge and mastery of such knowledge and the teaching-learning process.

The Laboratory collaborates with institutions responsible for teacher training, universities and institutions of higher education; educational establishments; and research bodies and authorities working in the domain of LS.

Key persons in LIFT project

Dr Stéphane Clivaz is a professor of mathematics education at Lausanne University of Teacher Education (HEP Vaud), Switzerland. After his MA in mathematics (Lausanne University, 1992), he was a secondary math teacher and the head of department for more than 10 years. He worked for State of Vaud ministry of education as an academic advisor and came to HEP Vaud in 2003 as an assistant professor, where he starts to teach secondary and primary math education since then. He acted as the Head of Math-Science Education department from 2005 to 2015 and was appointed as full professor in 2012. Professor Clivaz is the co-founder of the Lausanne Laboratory Lesson Study (3LS) in 2014, and he was the head of this laboratory until 2018. He is the Honorary General Secretary of the World Association of Lesson Studies (WALS) beginning 2022.

Contact information

Dr Stéphane Clivaz stephane.clivaz[at]hepl.ch

HEP Vaud https://www.hepl.ch/
3LS https://3ls.hepl.ch/