Virtual conference report: UNESCO-UNEVOC TVeT Forum, 16 to 24 July 2018. The virtual conference on ‘Improving the image of TVET’ was organized on the occasion of the 2018 World Youth Skills Day. UNESCO-UNEVOC follows the United Nations’ stride in celebrating World Youth Skills Day every year on 15 July, which raises awareness about the importance of youth skills development.

While the importance of TVET is increasingly recognized in international discourse and policies, the image of TVET can be quite challenging when compared with other educational pathways such as higher, academic education. Even in countries where there is a high-quality TVET system, initial enrollment in TVET is declining and many students continue to prefer to go to follow the academic education track as their first choice. The low image of TVET is therefore a universal concern.

There are multi-dimensional reasons influencing the image of TVET: poor quality, weak linkages with stakeholders particularly the industries, social stigma, cultural barriers, and a lack of qualified and competent teachers all contribute to the image of TVET. In order to understand these multidimensional factors in a deeper way, UNESCO-UNEVOC organized a virtual conference on ‘Improving the image of TVET’. Participants explored the varying and similar reasons behind the image of TVET in their countries, whilst emphasizing the responsibilities of all stakeholders, from the government to the community, to address this universal concern.

Report of the UNESCO Mobile Learning Week 2018.

Under the theme ‘Skills for a connected world’, Mobile Learning Week 2018 examined the types of skills needed in and for a connected economy and society, with a focus on digital skills and competencies. Attendees presented and reviewed strategies and ways in which digital skills can be taught and assessed within the context of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) and the Education 2030 Agenda and Framework for Action.

Participants shared information and built knowledge - across countries and across regions - about the many ways governments, civil society, the private sector and individuals are using new and affordable digital tools to improve education. The programme featured 62 Symposium breakout sessions, 17 Workshops, 4 Strategy Labs and a day-long Policy Forum with Ministers of Education and ICT. Side events and interactive exhibitions ran concurrently throughout the week.

Mobile Learning Week 2018 was designed to expand the international knowledge base about digital skills education and facilitate actions to achieve the following objectives:
- Define and mainstream digital skills to promote an integrated approach to digital skill development that is relevant for self-fulfilment, financial well-being and social inclusion.
- Innovate skills and provide for jobs in the digital economy through strengthening institutional capacities and teachers’ digital competencies, bridging formal and nonformal provision, reinforcing capacity development initiatives, establishing ties with employers, ensuring affordability, availability and sustainability, and leveraging mobile technology.
- Close inequalities by ensuring inclusion and equity for all in digital skills development programmes to encompass all genders, cultures, skill levels and break financial and geographical constraints.
- Map and anticipate changing skill needs to measure and predict the changing needs for digital skills and to facilitate a continued adjustment of strategies and provision.

Resultados clave del Foro Formativo de la EFTP UNESCO-UNEVOC.

En la conferencia internacional de Tangshan celebrada en 2017 para examinar el progreso registrado en la EFTP desde el Tercer Congreso Internacional de Shanghái (2012), la UNESCO llamó la atención sobre los factores que van a configurar el futuro horizonte de la educación y formación técnica y profesional (EFTP), como la transformación del paradigma económico hacia el desarrollo sostenible, los cambios en tendencias demográficas, económicas, en el mercado de empleo y en los patrones de migración.

Organizado con apoyo del Ministerio Federal alemán de Educación e Investigaciones (siglas en alemán BMBF) y del Ministerio Federal de Cooperación y Desarrollo Económicos (siglas en alemán BMZ), y con colaboración de la Comisión Nacional Alemana para la UNESCO y los socios Grupo Inter-agencias para la EFTP y WorldSkills International, este Foro Formativode la EFTP UNESCO-UNEVOC titulado “Gestión de competencias en la era del cambio” atrajo a más de 100 participantes de todos los sectores de la comunidad EFTP, entre ellos centros de la Red UNEVOC Network de las cinco regiones del planeta.

En el siguiente informe se presentan los aspectos más destacados del Foro de Aprendizaje sobre EFTP de UNESCO-UNEVOC.

Les points marquants du Forum d’apprentissage de l’EFTP de l’UNESCO-UNEVOC.

À la conférence internationale organisée à Tangshan en 2017 en vue d’évaluer les progrès réalisés depuis le troisième Congrès international sur l’EFTP qui s’est tenu Shanghai (2012), l’UNESCO a mis l’accent sur les facteurs appelés à aménager à l’avenir le paysage de l’enseignement et de la formation techniques et professionnels (EFTP). Parmi ceux-ci figuraient des changements du paradigme de développement orientés sur la durabilité, de même que des changements au niveau de la démographie, des tendances économiques, du marché du travail et des schémas migratoires.

Organisé avec le soutien du Ministère fédéral allemand de l’éducation et de la recherche (BMBF) et du Ministère fédéral de la coopération économique et du développement (BMZ) et en collaboration avec la Commission nationale pour l’UNESCO de l’Allemagne et des partenaires du Groupe inter-agences sur l’EFTP et WorldSkills International, le Forum d’apprentissage de l’EFTP de l’UNESCO-UNEVOC «Gérer les compétences en période de disruption» a rassemblé plus d’une centaine de participants représentant tous les secteurs de la communauté de l’EFTP, dont des Centres faisant partie du Réseau UNEVOC dans les cinq régions du monde.

Le rapport suivant présente les points marquants du Forum d'apprentissage sur l'EFTP de l'UNESCO-UNEVOC.

The publication focuses primarily on the interaction between government ministries and agencies at national and subnational levels, examining how governments can work to coordinate technical and vocational education and development (TVET) and skills development across relevant policy domains. The overarching research question which is being asked is: Does the adoption of interministerial coordination mechanisms assist in the achievement of TVET and skills development policy objectives?

This publication attempts to answer that question through synthesizing evidence on interministerial TVET coordination mechanisms from a range of countries, using a combination of desk research and country case studies. In doing so, it sets out six broad models. Two country case studies are developed for each. They examine instances where responsibility for TVET and skills development is:
- Type 1: led by the ministry of education (MoE) or equivalent body, as in the Russian Federation and Turkey.
- Type 2: led by the ministry of labour (MoL) or equivalent body, as in Malawi and Tunisia.
- Type 3: led by a dedicated TVET ministry, as in India and Burkina Faso.
- Type 4: led by a TVET focused government agency or non-departmental public body, as in Jamaica and the Philippines.
- Type 5: overseen by a coordinating council or similar body placed higher than the relevant departments, as in France and Bangladesh.
- Type 6: disaggregated across line ministries without a permanent centralized coordination mechanism, as in the Republic of Korea and Canada.

The purpose of the case studies was first, to identify the specific trigger points that lead to changes in the use or effectiveness of inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms, and second, to assess the extent to which these inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms have played a role in strengthening the foundational requirements of an effective TVET and skills development system in each country.

Insights from PISA

Teachers are the most important resource in today’s schools. In every country, teachers’ salaries and training represent the greatest share of expenditure in education. And this investment in teachers can have significant returns: research shows that being taught by the best teachers can make a real difference in the learning and life outcomes of otherwise similar students. Teachers, in other words, are not interchangeable workers in some sort of industrial assembly line; individual teachers can change lives – and better teachers are crucial to improving the education that schools provide. Improving the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of schooling depends, in large measure, on ensuring that competent people want to work as teachers, that their teaching is of high quality and that high-quality teaching is provided to all students. This report, building on data from the Indicators of Education Systems (INES) programme, the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), explores three teacher-policy questions: How do the best-performing countries select, develop, evaluate and compensate teachers? How does teacher sorting across schools affect the equity of education systems? And how can countries attract and retain talented men and women to teaching?

Part of the Africa Development Forum Series. This book lays out a range of policy and implementation actions that are needed for countries in sub-Saharan Africa to meet the challenge of improving learning while expanding access and completion of basic education for all. It underscores the importance of aligning the education system to be relentlessly focused on learning outcomes and to ensuring that all children have access to good schools, good learning materials, and good teachers.

It is unique in characterizing countries according to the challenges they faced in the 1990s and the educational progress they have made over the past 25 years. The authors review the global literature and contribute their extensive new analyses of multiple datasets from over three dozen countries in the region. They integrate findings about what affects children's learning, access to schooling, and progress through basic education. The book examines four areas to help countries better align their systems to improve learning: completing the unfinished agenda of reaching universal basic education with quality; ensuring effective management and support of teachers; targeting spending priorities and budget processes on improving quality; and closing the institutional capacity gap. It concludes with an assessment of how future educational progress may be affected by projected fertility rates and economic growth.

The primary audience for this book are policy makers in Africa, practitioners, and partners concerned about building the knowledge capital of sub-Saharan Africa.

Education at a Glance addresses the needs of a range of users, from governments seeking to learn policy lessons to academics requiring data for further analysis to the general public wanting to monitor how its country’s schools are progressing in producing world-class students. The publication examines the quality of learning outcomes, the policy levers and contextual factors that shape these outcomes, and the broader private and social returns that accrue to investments in education. Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators is the authoritative source for information on the state of education around the world. It provides data on the structure, finances and performance of education systems in OECD and partner countries.

With more than 100 charts and tables, Education at a Glance 2018 imparts key information on the output of educational institutions, the impact of learning across countries, and worldwide access, participation and progression in education. It also investigates the financial resources invested in education, as well as teachers, the learning environment and the organisation of schools.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is interacting with other socio-economic and demographic factors to create a perfect storm of business model change in all industries, resulting in major disruptions to labour markets. New categories of jobs will emerge, partly or wholly displacing others. The skill sets required in both old and new occupations will change in most industries and transform how and where people work. It may also affect female and male workers differently and transform the dynamics of the industry gender gap.

The Future of Jobs Report aims to unpack and provide specific information on the relative magnitude of these trends by industry and geography, and on the expected time horizon for their impact to be felt on job functions, employment levels and skills.

En este informe se muestra que, en lo que respecta al futuro laboral, la geografía es importante. El riesgo de la automatización del trabajo es mayor en algunas zonas que en otras. Las modalidades de empleo que no se ajustan a los estándares y que son facilitadas por la tecnología, también muestran notorias diferencias entre un país y otro, e influyen en las oportunidades de tener acceso a un empleo de calidad.

Las políticas nacionales armonizadas con acciones emprendidas por los gobiernos regionales y locales pueden ayudar a promover la automatización y la digitalización para mejorar la productividad, pero no a expensas de reducir la inclusión.