TVET for SD ? Opportunities and Challenges

About 70 technical and vocational education and training (TVET) experts from around Asia and several European countries gathered in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from 2-5 July 2006 to synthesise and extend current examples of international best practice in reorienting TVET for sustainable development.

The international conference on TVET for Sustainable Development Opportunities and Challenges was a contribution to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. It aimed to emphasise the importance of TVET for sustainable development as a key part of the agenda to be followed during the UN Decade.

In particular, the discussions focussed on:

Reviewing the nature, purpose and scope of development and sustainable development and the relevance of the changing international discourse for TVET,
Analysing invited case studies of best practice in reorienting TVET for sustainable development,
Analysing the opportunities for, and challenges to, reorienting TVET for sustainable development, and
Identifying strategies for building capacity in reorienting TVET for sustainable development.

The discussed conference papers (along with other commissioned contributions) will be published in the UNESCO-UNEVOC Book Series on Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, initially in English, with possibilities for other UNESCO languages (Chinese, French and Russian).

The book will address an international audience of policy makers, researchers and practitioners, especially within UNESCO member states and UNEVOC Centres. It will be widely distributed world-wide to UN partner agencies, international multi- and bi-lateral funding agencies, non-governmental organisations and other relevant individuals and organisations with an interest in TVET as well as in sustainable development. This wide scope will ensure that the important matter of TVET for sustainable development becomes a key part of the agenda to be followed during the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

UNESCO-UNEVOC jointly organised the conference with RMIT International University Vietnam and RMIT Melbourne. Co-sponsors included the Colombo Plan Staff College for Technical Education, the Korean Research Institute on Vocational and Technical Education, the Australian National Centre for Vocational Education Research, the Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Capacity Building International (InWent) and AusAID.

Documents

Background Paper (PDF, 220 KB)
Conference booklet (PDF, 970 KB)