UNEVOC Centres from the North America Cluster meet in Ottawa, Canada

On 3 December 2012 a regional Network meeting of UNEVOC Centres of the North-America cluster was convened by the Canadian Commission for UNESCO in Ottawa, Canada. As a follow up to the third International TVET Congress in Shanghai, China and the International Forum held at the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre in Bonn, Germany, the meeting was organized to deepen communications and strengthen the collaboration among UNEVOC Centres in the region. UNEVOC Centres from Canada and the United States participated in the meeting, namely: the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC), the Centre of College Studies Baie des Chaleurs, the Centre for Aboriginal Human Resource Development Inc. (CAHRD), the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culture and the Culture and Heritage Institute of Centennial College, and the U.S. Centre on Education and Training for Employment.

David A. Walden, Secretary-General of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, delivered a welcoming speech in which he highlighted the growing role of TVET in addressing current issue of youth unemployment from education perspective. The meeting revolved around exploring the potential of the UNEVOC Centres in the North American region in fostering TVET development, and the opportunities to expand its outreach to Europe and the Caribbean and Latin America.

In light of the Shanghai Consensus and the recommendations made at the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Forum, representatives of the UNEVOC Centres proposed to promote education for ‘green’ economies and ‘green’ societies as part of TVET qualifications and programmes in the region, with the aim to further the greening TVET agenda towards sustainable growth and development. The representatives also underlined their commitment to contribute to the development of effective policies aimed at improving teaching and learning processes, in particular policies and frameworks for professionalizing TVET teachers and strengthening teaching standards at all levels.

Hiromichi Katayama from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics delivered a presentation in which he argued that the lack of international standards for international comparison is an issue and advocated for more dialogue with policy-makers.

The meeting provided a great opportunity to strengthen the UNEVOC Network in the North American region, and deepen an understanding of the role of partnership in global TVET development.