This book takes stock of contextual demands and recent policy trends from around the world and identifies an expanding disconnect between the external demands of economic growth, social equity and the sustainability of development and the skills being supplied.
The authors, IBE Director P.T.M. Marope, B. Chakroun and K.P. Holmes from the Technical and Vocational Education and Training unit of UNESCO ask, ‘What would it take to unleash the potential of TVET systems?’. In response, an integrated analytical approach is proposed through which economic growth, social equity and sustainability perspectives can be strategically combined so as to address contemporary policy concerns such as youth unemployment, gender disparities and climate change. Policy-makers and other stakeholders may use this approach for the analysis and assessment of TVET systems, to identify appropriate strategies and key enablers for their transformation.
The book calls for the transformation of current TVET systems to enable them to respond in a sustainable and effective fashion to the demands of their contexts. Because contextual demands in the twenty-first century are rapidly changing, this transformation should enable the systems to acquire the agility to stay current and responsive. Unleashing the potential of TVET systems will therefore require not only their expansion, but even more importantly, their dynamic and continuous transformation into lifelong learning systems.
