Innovation and Excellence

At the UNESCO International Meeting on Innovation and Excellence in TVET Teacher/Trainer Education, TVET experts agreed on standards and a framework curriculum for a university-based master degree for teachers and lecturers in TVET. Among the participants were representatives from UNEVOC Centres in different countries in Asia. The meeting took place in Hangzhou, China, 8-10 November 2004 and was organised by UNESCO-UNEVOC in collaboration with the UNESCO Beijing Office and the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO.

The participants defined twelve vocational disciplines within the context of the master degree. There was a special emphasis on facilitating the international exchange of students and lecturers. International co-operation in TVET research and development will benefit from such co-operation.

Up to now, such exchange has been virtually impossible due to highly diverse traditions and modes of the education of TVET teachers and trainers.

At the meeting, a network on innovation and professional development in TVET was founded as an umbrella organisation for TVET research and teacher/trainer education. It is also meant to support the national accreditation of master level courses in TVET and ensure the quality of the education of teachers, trainers and lecturers in TVET.

Worldwide, 60 to 80% of the workforce are trained and educated in institutions for technical and vocational education and training for the intermediate employment sector. The qualifications of skilled workers and technicians are regarded as a key issue for competitiveness of companies and economies all over the world.

Pekka Kämäräinen, representative of the Vocational Education and Training Network (VETNet), a section of the European Educational Research Association, stressed the positive impact of the Hangzhou convention on the possibility to overcome the highly heterogeneous traditions in TVET teacher and trainer education also in European countries. He anticipated the development of a European programme for the implementation of a European standard for master degrees for TVET teachers and lecturers during follow-up conferences in Dublin and Budapest. The Hangzhou convention contributes to the Bologna process (a European Union initiative) through the design of university-based study courses for TVET teaching personnel.

Rupert Maclean, Director of the UNESCO–UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training, pointed out that university-based education of vocational pedagogues and vocational research and development will lead to a new quality of co-operation between the members of the UNEVOC Network.

The Chinese National Commission for UNESCO in Beijing, who was the local organiser of the meeting, as well as representatives of corresponding masters programmes, referred to the Chinese national effort to extend academic TVET teacher education as well as to the rising interest in international co-operation in the field of TVET research and development.

The meeting produced the following major outcomes:

• The Hangzhou Declaration on Strengthening and Upgrading TVET Teacher/Trainer Education, for consideration by UNESCO-UNEVOC and UNESCO Beijing;
• A draft recommendation to UNEVOC regarding the possibility of establishing an international Network of TVET trainers; and
• A recommendation to UNEVOC for a framework for various study courses in TVET, including a Masters level course.

Separate working session was organised to discuss issues of mutual interest concerning the strengthening and upgrading of the worldwide UNEVOC Network. As next steps, the network is addressing the detailed design of the modules of the masters study course while paying special attention to structuring the study content of the 12 vocational disciplines.

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