Integrating Digital Technology in Teaching Factory–Based Vocational Learning: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Digital transformation requires vocational education to provide learning experiences that are increasingly relevant to the needs of modern industry. This study aims to examine the integration of digital technology in Teaching Factory–based vocational learning to strengthen the Vocational High School Center of Excellence Program. This research employed a Systematic Literature Review method guided by the PRISMA framework. Data were obtained from Scopus and Google Scholar through Publish or Perish, covering publications from 2017 to 2026. From 369 initially identified documents, 67 articles were selected as the final corpus after the identification, screening, eligibility, and inclusion stages. The findings show that publications related to Teaching Factory, digital technology, and the Vocational High School Center of Excellence increased markedly during 2023–2025, with Indonesia as the dominant research context. The identified digital technologies span six domains, ranging from classroom-level ICT and digital marketing tools to simulation-based and Industry 4.0-oriented technologies, and are pedagogically integrated through six recurring patterns centered on authentic production-based learning, project- and work-based learning, teacher capacity-building, and digital entrepreneurship. The reviewed literature reports several potential contributions of digital technology integration, including stronger school–industry alignment, student competency development, teacher pedagogical readiness, Teaching Factory management, school product commercialization, and the identity of Vocational High School Centers of Excellence as reference schools. However, this review also identifies several challenges, including uneven digital integration, limited infrastructure, teacher readiness, industry collaboration, quality control, and limited evaluation of learning impact. Building on these findings, this review proposes a preliminary Digital Teaching Factory model comprising seven interlocking components (curriculum, pedagogy, technology, teacher capacity, industry partnership, production and management, and quality assurance and evaluation), offered as a direction for future empirical validation rather than as a finalized framework.