© DOLINSKA, KETSCHAU, & SCHULTE (2019)www.tvet-online.asia Issue 13 1 Joanna Dolinska, Thilo J. Ketschau, & Sven Schulte Research Design and Preliminary Results of an Exploratory Study on Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Poland (TU Dortmund University) Abstract TVET in Poland has a long tradition and distinctive features set in Polish geographic, economic and social context. Even though there is no unique and specific TVET low in Poland like for example the Vocational Training Act in Germany, numerous educational reforms conducted in Poland have been instrumental to shaping the contemporary form of this type of education. The last educational reform from 2017 introduced changes that profoundly influenced the structure of TVET in Poland. Amidst these momentous changes the research team from TU Dortmund and the education provider VESBE e.V. started an “Explanatory Study on the TVET in Poland” as a research project with a multi-method-approach. Embedded in the context of international Technical Vocational Education and Research, the main objective is to have a closer look at both TVET Systems in Poland and Germany. In more detail, and by using a comparative approach, the project aims to identify central elements of dual learning approaches with regard to transfer options on different levels of the TVET Systems (focusing on companies located in Poland as well as in Germany). This article presents the theoretical frame, the applied methodology, preliminary findings as well as crucial challenges of the project. It is a contribution to the academic discussion on Polish TVET at the secondary level that not rarely has been overshadowed in the Polish scholarly tradition by voices focused primarily on technical education at the university level. Keywords: International TVET Research, Transfer of Dual System-Elements, Cooperation of Learning Environments, Poland 1 Introduction Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Poland has its own long history, distinct structures and vivid dynamics, which has been reflected on numerous occasions in subsequent educational reforms that took place in Poland after 1989. It has been reshaped over the course of history, depending on the sociopolitical, demographic and technological grounds. The most recent educational reform from 2017 introduced, to some extent, new frames of the Polish TVET and provided the research ground for the study described in this article.