VOCATIONAL EDUCATION: THE COME-BACK?
	Education specialists tend to prescribe technical and vocational education and training as a recipe for jobs for young people. But experiences around the world tend to show that this is not always the case. Focus, a four-page dossier, reports.

EDITO - Ethiopia’s new Vice-minister for Education Mr Wondwossen Kiflu told a recent UNESCO mission to his country that technical and vocational education and training was the only way forward if his country was to develop infrastructures such as village electrification and road construction. Ethiopia is just one example of countries’ renewed interest in technical and vocational education and training (TVET). Often considered as a second-class education compared to the mainstream academic branch, TVET is increasingly seen as the master key to poverty alleviation and social cohesion and a chance for countries to jump on the bandwagon of development and globalization. The shift in blue-collar employment from the United States and Europe to India and China, described in this issue of Education Today, reveals the high returns on investment that a proficient labour force provides. In China, for example, where skilled labourers represent the backbone of the current economic expansion, one third of all secondary students are enrolled in vocational schools. But at the other end of the spectrum, many nations are still struggling to create those indispensable bridges between education and the world of work. UNESCO is assisting them to breathe new life into their technical and vocational education programmes and entrepreneurship training. For many countries, TVET is not an option. It’s a necessity. With primary school leavers on the rise throughout the world, the need to expand further learning opportunities is urgent. Yet, many secondary school systems are unable to absorb these large numbers and jobs are even harder to come by. And ultimately, young people with new expectations but few opportunities are the ingredients of a social time-bomb. We need to respond to these demands. The urgent need of the hour is the development of policies that will lead to new TVET strategies. Young people need skills that are flexible and relevant to the demands of a constantly evolving, globalized labour market. Aïcha Bah Diallo Acting Assistant Director-General for Education