Christopher John Zirkle
About
Dr. Chris Zirkle is Professor II in the Department of Teacher Education at NTNU and is also an Associate Professor in Workforce Development and Education within the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University. He presently serves as advisor for the college’s undergraduate program in Technical Education and Training. In addition, he is the primary advisor for the teacher licensure programs in Business Education, Career and Technical Education and Family and Consumer Sciences.
Dr. Zirkle has taught in a variety of positions at the middle school, high school, community college and university level. He also has experience as a building administrator at the high school level. He holds current Ohio teaching and administrative licenses in nine different fields. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from Central State (Ohio) University, a Master of Arts in Industrial Technology Education from Ball State University, a Master of Science in Business and Industrial Counseling/Management and an Educational Specialist Degree from Wright State University and a Ph.D. in Comprehensive Vocational Education from The Ohio State University.
In the fall semester of 2021, he served as a Fulbright Scholar at Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki, Finland. He previously served as a visiting scholar at the University of Cologne in 2016 and Nagoya University (Japan) in 2010-11. He is a member of the European Research Network on Vocational Education and Training (VETNET), and is an affiliate faculty in the East Asian Studies Center at The Ohio State University.
Research
- International and Comparative Education
- International technical-vocational education
- Secondary Education and Teaching
- Teacher Education
- Technology Teacher Education
- Vocational Education
- Teacher education
- Workforce Development and Education
- Workforce policy
Publications
2024
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Zirkle, Christopher John;
Smeplass, Eli;
Leraand, Arve.
(2024)
VET Teacher Training: A Comparison of University Programs in the U.S. and Norway.
International Journal of Vocational Education Studies
Academic article
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Smeplass, Eli;
Hylander, Lene;
Zirkle, Christopher John.
(2024)
Roles of science and research in vocational teacher preparation: A case study from a Norwegian VET teacher programme.
Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training
Academic literature review
Journal publications
-
Zirkle, Christopher John;
Smeplass, Eli;
Leraand, Arve.
(2024)
VET Teacher Training: A Comparison of University Programs in the U.S. and Norway.
International Journal of Vocational Education Studies
Academic article
-
Smeplass, Eli;
Hylander, Lene;
Zirkle, Christopher John.
(2024)
Roles of science and research in vocational teacher preparation: A case study from a Norwegian VET teacher programme.
Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training
Academic literature review
Teaching
ES WDE 5624 Foundations of Workforce Development and Education
ES WDE 5668 Career and Technical Education Capstone
Outreach
2025
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Academic lectureSmeplass, Eli; Zirkle, Christopher John. (2025) Opportunity Structures in Vocational Education and Training – Changing the Discourse on VET. Nordyrk Nordyrk , Århus 2025-06-10 - 2025-06-12
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Academic lectureSmeplass, Eli; Zirkle, Christopher John. (2025) Opportunity Structures in Vocational Education and Training: Insights from National Studies. JVET JVET Conference , Oxford, England 2025-07-24 - 2025-07-26
2024
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Academic lectureHylander, Lene; Smeplass, Eli; Zirkle, Christopher John. (2024) Strengthening the connection between vocational education and training, work life and science: Developing research-based teacher training. Nordyrk , Reykjavik 2024-06-03 - 2024-06-05
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Academic lectureZirkle, Christopher John; Leraand, Arve; Smeplass, Eli. (2024) VET teacher preparation: A comparison of university programs in the U.S. and Norway. Nordyrk , Reykjavik 2024-06-03 - 2024-06-05
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Academic lectureSmeplass, Eli; Zirkle, Christopher John. (2024) A Comparative Study of Vocational Teacher Training in Norway and Ohio. Association for Career and Technical Education Research ACTER - Association for Career and Technical Education Research , San Antonio, Texas 2024-12-03 - 2024-12-04