Over 140 TVET stakeholders from over 35 counties met in Bonn, Germany, to discuss the role of youth skills development in transitions to sustainable economies and societies. In line with UNESCO’s new Strategy for TVET (2016-21), the meeting provided an opportunity for the global TVET community to gather and explore areas for future collaboration.

The Strategy was officially launched on 15 July to mark World Youth Skills Day (WYSD) which was recognized by the UN as an official day of advocacy for youth skills development. The launching of the Strategy on this day was not a coincidence since one of its priority areas is fostering youth employment and entrepreneurship together with promoting equity and gender equality, and facilitating transitions to green economies and sustainable societies.

TVET highlighted as a tool for achieving sustainable development

To reflect on the role of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in achieving the goals set in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, David Atchoarena, Director of the Division for Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems at UNESCO, stressed in his opening remarks that ‘TVET holds a vital place for achieving the 2030 education goal and its 10 targets’.

This message was reinforced by Roland Lindenthal, Head of the Education Department at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), who pointed out that ‘TVET is not merely a tool for acquiring skills for employment, but a tool for empowerment’.

In a video message, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova reiterated that “TVET stands at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – with a focus on skills, on access, on outcomes in terms of employment and on eliminating gender disparities”.

Discussions provide insights into reforms and attractiveness issues

The programme included a panel discussion of senior representatives from Germany, Nigeria, Costa Rica, Morocco and Serbia presenting governmental responses aimed at transforming TVET systems for youth employability and sustainable development.

Peter Thiele, Deputy Director for VET Policy Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), explained how the German TVET system, known for its strong practical skills component, continues to adopt innovations in lifelong learning, flexible learning pathways and permeability in TVET and higher education, as well as in the recognition and validation of skills and experiences of low-skilled youth with no formal qualifications.

Innovative approaches to improving the image of TVET in Nigeria, Serbia, Costa Rica and Morocco were also presented. Masa'udu Adamu Kazaure, Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Board of Technical Education, highlighted initiatives in Nigeria to promote the use of ICT in TVET, while Victor Hugo Diaz Mora, Head of International Cooperation at the Instituto Nacional de Aprendizaje (INA) in Costa Rica commented on the development of tripartite partnerships (governments, social partners and employers). Jamal Eddine El ALOUA, Secretary General of the Department of Vocational Training of the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training in Morocco stressed the importance of lifelong learning and school-to-work transitions and Snežana Marković, Assistant Minister for Secondary Education and Adult Education of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development in Serbia noted the role of knowledge and entrepreneurship in enhancing TVET.

In the second panel discussion of the day, the focus was on youth.

Barthélémy Deutsch, a World Skills Champion from Belgium, Alia Wedderburn, winner of UNEVOC’s Skills in Action competition from Jamaica, and Mohammad Issa, a young entrepreneur from Lebanon shared their experiences of TVET and challenges related to its poor image.

James Joachim Calleja from the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) gave an insight into reasons underlying the poor image of TVET. The private sector perspective to enhancing TVET attractiveness was provided by Hendrik Voß from Germany who highlighted that TVET students have good opportunities to be employed after graduation. Marie-Josée Fortin from CICan, a network of community colleges in Canada, stressed the importance of youth engagement in enhancing the image of TVET.

The session highlighted the importance of TVET as a ‘tool for empowerment’, demonstrated by the inspiring stories shared by the youth participants emphasized this point.

The programme also showcased skills of three World Skills Champions and one young person from Festo Didactic who gave presentations of aquatronics virtual reality, patisserie, technology and pedagogy, and cocktail preparation.

Sessions explore issues related to the Strategy’s three priorities

Participants from the UNEVOC Network, international and European organizations including the ILO, World Bank, UNIDO, World Skills International, European Commission, European Training Fund (ETF), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Cedefop, as well as national ministerial players including from the German Federal Government and youth representatives, participated in various side meetings and events that were hosted during the occasion, including a meeting of the Inter-Agency Group for TVET held on 13 and 14 July.

In three breakout sessions on 15 July, participants discussed issues related to the three priority areas of the UNESCO Strategy for TVET, namely:

• Fostering youth employment and entrepreneurship;
• Promoting equity and gender equality;
• Facilitating transition to green economies and sustainable societies.

The session on green transitions focused on the potential of job creation in new sectors. The session highlighted the importance of skills development to minimize the risk of skills mismatches but stressed that besides fostering new green skills and occupations there was also a need to top up existing skills and transform existing jobs.

The session on gender equality emphasized the need to go beyond access to TVET to include discussion on issues of gender stereotypes in certain fields, access to the labour market, and so on. In this regard, the use of new technologies was mentioned as having the potential to provide flexible learning opportunities and promoting gender equality.

The session on youth employment and entrepreneurship highlighted the need for greater collaboration between employers and providers, and the importance of giving youth a say in the development of entrepreneurship programmes.

Youth engagement key to promoting TVET

In his closing remarks, David Atchoarena stressed the importance of young people playing an active role in designing policy responses. Youth engagement can help improve the image of TVET but successful approaches need to be shared in raising the social recognition of TVET.

Here, increased partnership was emphasized, and the fact that so many key stakeholders took part in the day-long programme epitomized the potential of partnerships, knowledge sharing and coordinated actions in TVET.

UNEVOC Network in action

On 14 July, 38 UNEVOC Network members and UNESCO field staff from five UNESCO regions met with UNESCO-UNEVOC regional focal points to identify regional and cluster needs to align resources with identified priorities. The programme successfully mapped proposed activities and highlighted the role of Network members in supporting their countries’ transition to sustainable societies.

In addition, World Youth Skills Day 2016 was celebrated by several Network members. Eleven UNEVOC Centres hosted youth-related activities. More information on how they marked the day can be found here.

More information

• More information on the programme and its documentation, including videos of some plenary sessions, can be found here.
• UNESCO’s Strategy for TVET 2016-2021 can be downloaded here.
• For more information on World Youth Skills Day, please visit here.
• UNESCO’s news item on WYSD celebrations can be read here.