Global Statement on the Future of PTET
The World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics is pleased to announce the launch of our first ever ‘Global Statement’ calling on all vocational, professional and technical education and training institutions from around the world to coordinate an education, training and skills offer that speeds up economic and social recovery following the Covid 19 pandemic.
The statement was launched at the TKNIKA International VET Congress in San Sebastián, Spain on Thursday 11thNovember by WFCP President Dawn Ward to over 1000 vocational and technical education professionals from around the world.
The statement highlights the importance of professional, technical and vocational training in reshaping economies and ensuring that a post pandemic global landscape has the requisite skills, knowledge and competencies to rebuild the global economy increasing its resilience for the future.
In talking about the statement WFCP President Dawn Ward CBE said: “Covid 19 has disrupted the world impacting nearly all aspects of everyone’s lives. Significant lives have been lost and families have sadly been changed forever. This devastation, however, has not only been health related. Economies have suffered and sectors globally have all been hugely impacted by the pandemic. Our research shows that globally 144 million jobs were lost and 1.6 Billion informal sector workers had their livelihoods impacted by pandemic related closures.”
She continued: “Professional/Technical Education and Training can help readdress and reverse this impact. PTET providers around the world can up and re-skill current and future workers for the post pandemic world. PTET is a key enabler and driver of long term prosperity, it drives innovation and develops the workforce to meet future skills needs. Such an approach will also ensure that there is global PTET alignment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals reducing poverty and hunger, improving wellbeing and the quality of education and will drive the agenda for decent work, economic growth and will support innovation and infrastructure in industry”
The Global Statement suggests 6 priority areas where PTET systems globally must adapt in their response to the pandemic and 10 recommendations for PTET providers, Governments and other skills related stakeholders.
Background and Project Purpose
COVID-19 has had a disruptive impact on education across the globe. In line with the aims of the WFCP Strategic Plan 2020-22, the federation is developing a global statement on PTET to reflect its critical role for citizens and industry in economic and social advancement, regardless of the economic standing of a country.
The statement will be representative of all WFCP members and at the same time have application at national, sub-national and local levels. It should cast a forward-looking perspective as a response to COVID impacts. The statement should avoid being a simple collation of country responses and will reflect common themes that have resonance and influence with national and international PTET policy. Specifically, the statement will:
- Describe global trends pertaining to work and industry, community development and students where PTET drives success.
- Reflect on impacts at national and sub-regional levels, although not in a way that favours any political system.
- Outline the power of PTET (in its various structures) for individual, industry and community transformation.
- Draw out common attributes of effective PTET, policies and institutional structures and responses.
- Relate to the UN Strategic Development Goals, given their strong alignment with WFCPs mission.
- Outline tangible objectives and actions which can be used, as required, as a background document for WFCP members to advocate to governments and their stakeholders.
WFCP plans for the statement to be distributed as a statement of purpose and intent to WFCP stakeholders and will be used to raise the profile of the federation with multi-lateral organisations and for members to use bi-laterally with their own governments and stakeholders.
The statement is expected to assist with deeper policy and capability development of the federation to delivery of professional and technical education and training.
Learn more about our lead researchers and how to make a foresight contribution.
China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE)
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has been playing a significant role in supporting the socioeconomic development in China. So far, China has established the largest TVET system with more than 11,300 vocational institutions and schools enrolling over 30 million students in the world.
The Chinese government has undertaken active policy reforms with the goal to establish a comprehensive TVET system providing paths and choices among academic, professional, technical and skills education and training, and to improve public visibility and recognition of the sector.
China issued the National Implement Plan for TVET Reform in January 2019. The Plan called for establishing national standards for TVET and building up a modern and advanced TVET system with Chinese characteristics. For the first time, the Plan announced pilot of a 1+X certification system, which encouraged students to obtain occupational and competency-based certificates (X) in addition to higher vocational education diploma . The 1+X certification learning hours and outcomes will be counted as academic credits by the national credit bank system. The credit bank will support recognizing, accumulating and transforming various types of learning experiences and outcomes, and help lead to a lifelong learning society.
In 2021, a first-ever National Vocational Education Conference activated a few new actions to reinforce implementation of the Plan. One of the most significant measures is to upgrade the three-year diploma to four-year baccalaureate TVET programs and institutions. In 2021, the Chinese Ministry of Education released a list of 247 baccalaureate TVET majors.
Substantial cooperation and integration of industries, enterprises and educational institutions including course design and delivery, faculty training and coaching, and practicum and apprenticeship was also encouraged, so as to better match the supply of high-quality workforce with industrial demand.
Entering into a new five-year cycle of national strategic planning in 2021, TVET, now recognized as an equally important type of education, is a strong driving force for economic transformation and an impetus for preparing for future jobs.
Reference
- Gov.cn. 2021. 人人出彩，技能强国——我国职业教育改革发展成就综述_滚动新闻_中国政府网. [online] Available at: <http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2021-04/11/content_5598933.htm> [Accessed 2 July 2021].
- Moe.gov.cn. 2021. 2020年全国教育事业统计主要结果 – 中华人民共和国教育部政府门户网站. [online] Available at: <http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/202103/t20210301_516062.html> [Accessed 17 June 2021].
- Sun D., Lu J., Li J. (2009) New Policy Actions and Government Roles: China’s Reconstruction of TVET Systems Since the 1980s. In: Maclean R., Wilson D. (eds) International Handbook of Education for the Changing World of Work. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5281-1_65
Dr. Robert Christopher Nellis, Red Deer Polytechnic
It is no secret that this world, this home we share together, has undergone cataclysmic change over the last 18 months or so. Virtually no aspect of our lives has remained, if not radically disrupted, then at least unexamined. Moreover, these changes initiate ripple effects. We’ve seen first-order effects such as working from home, practicing social distancing, and wearing masks. These have led to second-order implications: fewer people on the roads and the rising pervasiveness of communication technologies such as Zoom. Third- and further- order changes ensue: many people losing their livelihoods, and new jobs moving in to take their place. It’s these further-order changes that perhaps most call us to examine our world and the ways we’ve organized it—for example, in addition to awareness of the need for a green recovery, perhaps the most glaring need is to address pervasive social, economic, and political inequality. Many of the jobs lost as a result of the pandemic have been lower paid, for example in retail. Moreover, the question of who performs these jobs reveals, perhaps for some, unacknowledged patterns of inequity—many of these jobs have been performed by racialized individualizes and are often highly gendered. Indeed, these growing awarenesses serve as signals for possible futures. Additionally, these signals are not discreet, isolated, or siloed. They reveal fluid, emergent, and thoroughly interconnected ecospheres. Patterns of resource extraction, production, supply chain and transportation, retail distribution, and consumer end-use all impact each other in interconnected and interdependent systems. Moreover, these interrelations exhibit a temporal character—they extend beyond the present. What I mean is, what is happening right now connects with both our recent past and the longer reach of history—as well as the future. Jennifer Gidley has written that “futures studies operates as a global academic field, on the assumption that consciousness has increased to embrace multiple future possibilities, and that we are free agents to create worlds of our choices and participate consciously in our own evolution”[1]. The unequal patterns of our world are a result of colonizing history and associated ideas, if not laws, governing race, sex, and gender relations; ways of looking upon the world as raw material, commodity for extraction. What is of interest to foresight is the way these pasts and presents also connect to futures and ideas of them: “The future does not exist in the present but anticipation does. The form the future takes in the present is anticipation”[2]. If we are going to influence these anticipated futures, we need to act in the present, and the action we take needs to be as complex and situated as the world in which it unfolds. Capacity to contribute in this way is at the heart of the strengths in our TVET practices, approaches, and ideas. Many of our institutions offer and combine work in trades and apprenticeships; continuing education; micro-credentials; digital credentials; academic upgrading; certificates and diplomas serving technology, healthcare, and community needs; fine arts practices; business; nursing; humanities and social sciences; natural sciences; transfer preparation to other institutions, and, in many cases, degree completion in a range of applied fields. As spaces of learning and knowledge generation, our institutions are often the most comprehensive of our communities and countries. In this way, our institutions most reflect, live, and breathe analogously to the very complexity and integrated nature of the world in which they are situated to serve as part of a fluid, attuned, and expansive understanding of our work. We offer skills training for job-ready entry into the workplace, and part of how we do this is in conversation with the needs of that workplace. Industry understands and needs to understand the contexts in which it operates and develops. The Royal Bank of Canada report Humans Wantedstudied skills development and employment needs thoroughly situated within their broader social, cultural, and political contexts. These understandings of employment and skills development are anything but narrow. We, industry and our institutions, each bring insights and capacities to the conversation. As colleges and polytechnics, we bring our strengths in teaching and learning, supporting learners, and developing and improving curricula and programs. And we similarly undertake these roles in a rich, complex, and contextually integrated manner. Everything we do as leaders, staff, faculty, and learners supports this work. We lean into the full spectrum of its diverse character, offering so much more than a narrow conception of curriculum delivery. We develop knowledge, insights, and capacities to serve and support our own work but also the broader world in which this takes place. In short, we undertake research and scholarship oriented towards solving real world problems and needs. Looking to the future, what might this look like, and what are some issues of which to be aware? I suggest a need to continue taking a rich, contextualized, expansive, and integrative approach. Research and scholarship are not one kind of thing. There are many different methods, needs, questions to ask, ways of pursuing responses to those questions, as well as ways to know and evaluate if the answers yielded are effective. As Sir Ken Robinson has suggested, we need to think about the world in all the ways that we experience it. To build an inclusive future, we need work drawing upon insights from the natural sciences, statistical analysis, fine arts, stories, and understanding people’s diverse lives and experiences. The home we need to build for ourselves will require all of our contributions. And we, as colleges and polytechnics, perhaps more so than many other groups within our communities, will continue to bring them. [1] Gidley, J. (2017). The future: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press, p. 4. [2] Miller, R. (Ed.). (2018). Transforming the future: Anticipation in the 21st century. UNESCO; Routledge, p. 2.Denise Amyot, President and CEO, Colleges and Institutes Canada
With case counts dropping and one of the best vaccination rates in the word, Canada is finally starting to return to a state of normalcy after a long pandemic. There are many reasons to be optimistic, but we can’t deny that the impacts of this unprecedented crisis will stay with us for some time still. As we look to a post-pandemic recovery, we must make sure that displaced workers and all those whose livelihood was affected can re-enter the labour market quickly, and with the skills they need to succeed. This means colleges and institutes, and in fact all post-secondary institutions, will have a critical role to play in the months ahead.
The job market was already evolving before the pandemic, with advances in technology and the impacts of climate change pressuring traditional employment, and an aging population creating labour shortages. COVID-19 has only compounded these disruptions, creating a new sense of urgency. In fact, according to the World Economic Forum “automation, in tandem with the COVID-19 recession, is creating a ‘double-disruption’ scenario for workers”.
It is also important to note that this pandemic has been especially hard on already vulnerable individuals whose employment situation was less stable or who, by serving in essential positions, found themselves at higher risk working on the front lines. Among the most affected were people with only a secondary-school credential, women, racialized minorities, and youth. Upskilling is going to be especially important for those segments of the population, so we must focus on removing barriers to training when planning for a post-pandemic recovery.
Given the urgent needs, it is critical that we provide flexible pathways for learners, which has always been one of the great strengths of the Canadian college and institute system. CICan members offer more than 10,000 programs including a large diversity of degrees and certificates, microcredentials, as well as part-time and accelerated program options. These short-cycle training opportunities are becoming especially popular in Canada and help support a culture of life-long learning which is by far the best way to protect ourselves from disruptive technologies, or a sudden crisis like the pandemic.
Microcredentials in particular are in growing demand across Canada, and the majority of our members now offer them either online or in person. They do remain quite varied, however, which is why our association recently launched a national framework on microcredentials, including guidelines and a common definition that is supported by all our regional counterparts across the country.
This framework defines a micro-credential as a certification of assessed competencies that is additional, alternate, complementary to, or a component of a formal qualification. It also articulates the leadership role colleges and institutes are playing in offering micro-credentials, largely in response to the needs of employers in their communities.
Thanks to these wonderful upskilling and reskilling opportunities, as well as a variety of formal credentials, including joint degrees, diplomas and certificates, Canadian and international students have access to many diverse pathways to achieve their education and career goals. Meanwhile, thousands of articulation agreements between colleges, institutes and universities facilitate transferability between post-secondary institutions.
COVID-19 has also forced us all to rethink education delivery by making online-learning the new normal. While the efforts of colleges and institutes have been nothing short of miraculous, transitioning tens of thousands of courses online, including many that traditionally involve hands-on training and work-integrated learning opportunities, and supporting students throughout the process, the current crisis has also exposed significant gaps.
Access to broadband internet remains uneven across Canada and security concerns are still a challenge for both institutions and students. Upgrading digital infrastructures should be a cornerstone of recovery efforts and recognize the importance of providing as many people as possible with the means to access learning opportunities. Again, this is a way to make post-secondary training easier to access, by multiplying the options available and allowing individual learners with as much flexibility as possible.
Many challenges remain, and we will have to be creative in the months ahead to support learners and help relaunch our national economies in a way that is both fair and sustainable. But that has always been the purpose of Canada’s colleges and institutes, and they have shown over the past year that they are stepping up to support their students, and their communities.
Dr. Larry Rosia, President and CEO, Saskatchewan Polytechnic
Like many global post-secondary institutions that focus on applied education and research, Saskatchewan Polytechnic is committed to ensuring that our learners graduate with the skills that employers want and need. This is especially true for members of underrepresented groups, such as Indigenous peoples. Canada’s Indigenous population is its fastest growing segment, accounting for nearly 5 percent of total population in 2016 compared to 3.8 percent in 2006 and 2.8 percent in 1996. [1] In Saskatchewan, the percentage is even higher—16.3 percent. [2] With 19.5 percent of our student population identifying as Indigenous, [3] Saskatchewan Polytechnic places great value on the success of our Indigenous learners. The Indigenous student experience is central to our Indigenous Student Success Strategy. It is imperative that Indigenous students feel welcome, inspired and empowered, and to know that our campuses are places where they can know they belong. Each of the Indigenous Student Success Strategy’s four goals—belong, welcome, inspire, and empower—contribute to achieving this overarching goal and to improving the Indigenous student experience. As a polytechnic, we deliver quality hands-on, technical, industry-focused, and industry-driven training. We understand that employers are eager to hire our Indigenous graduates for several reasons, including a desire to build more diverse workforces, with employees who are representative of the communities where business operations are located. To these employers, and to others across Canada, the growing Indigenous population represents incredible opportunities, from increasing diversity to recruitment for jobs. Because of this, it is important for our institution to not only offer programs, courses, and training for entry level positions, but also to enable those in existing workforces to upskill and reskill. One example of a relevant new program to address the latter is our new Indigenous Leadership Skills applied certificate program. Offered through our School of Continuing Education, the program is designed to share valuable Indigenous leadership approaches towards maintaining resiliency and building leadership capacity. The certificate can be leveraged by industry to broaden specialized, culturally relevant leadership skills within their workforces or by individuals preparing for their next career move or entrepreneurial venture. Using real life case studies focused on exceptional Indigenous leaders in an interactive format with fellow learners and instructors, the applied certificate is delivered entirely online to maximize accessibility and flexibility for learners. The program includes eight courses that requires approximately 240 hours to complete. Six of the courses explore standard leadership skills, while two delve deeper into traditional Indigenous leadership and approaches to business-building. Course materials and teaching methods align with Indigenous values, providing a safe, culturally relevant environment for learning. In this program Saskatchewan Polytechnic partnered with Indigenous Works Canada, a non-profit organization that offers engagement strategies and prosperous partnerships to increase Indigenous engagement in the economy. In-house staff developed the program with the advice and knowledge of Indigenous Chiefs and Knowledge Keepers from across the country. Among its highlights, the curriculum examines historical and contemporary examples of Indigenous business, entrepreneurship, economic development, and leadership. It also explores the similarities and differences between traditional Indigenous and western leadership styles. As an institution, we acknowledge generations of Indigenous learners, staff, faculty, and leaders as integral to our post-secondary community. We are also committed to holistically integrating Indigenous ways of knowing, being, teaching and learning throughout all institutional practices, procedures, and services. Student success and access to education are core principles of membership within the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics. I am proud of the role that Saskatchewan Polytechnic has in serving Canada’s increasingly important and growing Indigenous population. We would welcome the opportunity to share our commitment to Indigenous learners with other colleges and polytechnics around the world who are working to ensure that the educational needs of underrepresented groups in their jurisdictions are being met. To download a copy of our Indigenous Student Success Strategy, or to learn more about the Indigenous Leadership Skills Applied Certificate program, visit saskpolytech.ca. [1] 2016 Census, Statistics Canada [2] 2016 Census, Statistics Canada [3] 2019-2020 Saskatchewan Polytechnic Annual ReportRob Slane, VP Global Marketing, Emsi Burning Glass
After more than a year of extraordinary disruption, the shape of the world of work emerging from the turbulence is still far from certain. Take the hospitality industry, for instance. In Britain, an exodus of foreign workers post-Brexit is being blamed on the fact that hospitality businesses are really struggling to find workers. Yet as the Washington Post reports, the same situation is being played out across Europe and the US. It appears that the effects of the Covid crisis are playing a big part not only in the restructuring of businesses, but also in changing the attitudes of job seekers in terms of the type of work they are prepared to undertake. For Technical and Vocational Education and Training providers (TVETs), it is both an unnerving time and also a time of exciting opportunities. Unnerving, because 18 months of uncertainty has undoubtedly left its mark, and setting out a curriculum to meet employer demand in a very changed labour market is somewhat daunting. Yet also exciting, because education and training providers really are at the forefront of driving recovery in their region. For this opportunity to be grasped, however, providers will need to be well acquainted with emerging employer demand. We don’t have a crystal ball to forecast what things are going to look like in the coming years, but we can look at the growth in employer demand for jobs and skills over the last year, to identify emerging trends. In the charts and analysis below, we use our Job Posting Analytics data to highlight some of these, and although it is UK-specific, many of the trends will no doubt be taking place in other developed economies. We’ve split the data into three different categories:- High skilled (typically graduate level and above)
- Middle skilled (those which generally require a Level 2-3 vocational certificate)
- Low skilled (those which usually require a Level 1-2 certificate).
High Skilled Jobs
Although most vocational training leads to jobs in low to middle skilled jobs, it is worth beginning by looking at the high skilled, as there are some particularly interesting trends that have emerged over the last year, which will inevitably effect the economy as a whole. The interactive chart below shows the Top 25 fastest growing job titles and hard skills in terms of employer job postings over the past year (note: we have only used those jobs and skills where the growth in postings exceeds 500 in the 12 month period, to avoid elevating low-volume cases). Looking at job titles first, we can see some positions that have grown out of the Covid crisis. For example, demand for Online English Tutors has seen a rise of 542%, whilst Cybersecurity Engineers has risen by 138%, much of which has been driven by organisations needing to bolster their online presence. We can also see a number of emerging jobs connected with the Green Economy, such as Geotechnical Engineers (130% increase) and Energy Advisors (118%). Looking at in-demand hard skills, we can really begin to see a number of growth skills coming through, which tie in with what we hear in the media and anecdotally about the future of work. For instance, the second fastest growth skill being demanded by employers is Sustainability (110%), whilst Artificial Intelligence (80%), and Automation (64%) have also seen a big jump in demand.Middle Skilled Jobs
Looking at middle skilled jobs, there has been big growth in demand for jobs connected with hospitality, such as Wait Staff (398% increase in demand), Line Chefs (375%), and Chef Apprenticeships (285%). Much of this growth will be down to the rebound after the hospitality sector was closed for so long, but the large volume of postings for these positions may also be an indicator of what we mentioned above, namely that employers in the sector are really struggling to find staff since reopening. Another point of interesting is the growth in demand for Gas Engineers (224%) and Installation Engineers (95%). Reports in recent years have suggested that a lot of the Gas-Safe workforce is coming up to retirement age, and this increase in demand could well reflect their being a real scarcity of such people in the workforce. This is therefore something education and training providers should be looking to focus on training in the coming years, and really shows the value in interrogating the data. As for demand for hard skills within middle skilled jobs, a lot of the skills clearly relate to some of the jobs we’ve just looked at. For instance, in the Hospitality sector, Food Safety (130%), Restaurant Operation (95%), and Food Preparation (88%), have all seen significant growth, as have skills connected with Gas and Installation Engineers, such as Boilers (109%), Pumps (101%), and Oil and Gas (97%). There are also a number of skills showing through which are either directly connected to the Covid crisis – for instance, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) (86%) – or more indirectly – such as Warehousing (75%).Low Skilled Jobs
Finally, looking at the low skilled jobs, we can again see a large number of hospitality jobs being demanded by employers, including Kitchen Team Members (420%), Baristas (269%), and Bartenders (182%), as well as a number connected with the shift to online shopping, which has seen a boom in demand for Van Drivers (115%), and HGV Drivers (95%). There is less of an obvious trend in the skills data, although once again skills connected with hospitality are showing through, such as Food Services (179%), Restaurant Operation (124%) and Food Safety (107%).Summary
What this brief look at employer demand data shows, is that there is significant growth in a number of different type of jobs and skills, particularly including the following:- Those which saw an initial collapse in demand during the Covid crisis (eg. Hospitality)
- Those that are directly connected with the health aspects of the crisis (eg. PPE)
- Those which have emerged more indirectly as a consequence of the crisis (eg. Online Tutors)
- Those which are connected with emerging sectors (eg. “Green Economy” and Automation).
Dr. Don Zoellner, University Fellow, Charles Darwin University
UNESCO reports that Anglosphere countries generally demonstrate that a market with multiple ‘private and public training VET providers of greatly varying quality reduces the value and recognition’ of the sector’s qualifications.[1] For example, Australian researchers report that primary and secondary school students hold negative views of VET that strengthen in the latter years of schooling in preference to higher education. [2]English studies have shown that many thousands of PTET qualifications have ‘little value’ for young persons and employers in the labour market. [3] And it has been shown that in lower income countries that ‘donor agencies have [historically] not valued and invested in vocational education’ contributing to further disadvantage. [4]Globally, vocational education has a relatively low status ‘particularly when compared to academic routes leading to higher education’.[5]
The results of a recent set of international surveys by the OECD [6] into the current pandemic’s implications for Vocational Education and Training (VET) show that professional technical education and training (PTET) provides the cornerstone of youth transition into the labour market. In addition, health-related responses to the COVID-19 crisis by various governments have ‘revealed how much the jobs for which vocational education and training prepare are the backbone of our economies’.
As this Foresight Article is being written, Australia’s largest city (Sydney) is subject to a raft of restrictions intended to reduce the mobility of residents in an effort to limit the spread of the COVID-19 Delta Variant. The intention is for all residents to stay at home except to exercise alone, get medical treatment including vaccination, to acquire basic necessities such as food and toilet paper or to attend work if they are designated as authorised workers.
The New South Wales State Government [7] has published a list of these authorised workers who are allowed, indeed, encouraged to attend work in order to keep critical sections of the economy operating in order to provide the population with essential goods and services. Presumably, these industry sectors and their qualified workers are, as suggested by the OECD, the backbone of the Sydney economy. This list of authorised workers has been analysed to determine how many occupations are listed and then separated into two groups, those requiring a higher education qualification for entry and those who are most likely to hold a PTET qualification in order to do the job.
Ten critical industry sectors have been identified by the state that require authorised workers despite population-wide stay at home orders. These (and the number of specific jobs in each) include:
- Administrative and support services (1)
- Agriculture (1)
- Education (2)
- Electricity, gas, water and waste services (6)
- Health care and social assistance (10)
- Information media and telecommunications (4)
- Manufacturing (6)
- Public administration and safety (10)
- Retail trade (23)
- Transport, postal and warehousing (15)
These 78 jobs in the ten industry sectors can be divided into the 73 whose main certification comes from PTET and the remaining 6 that require higher education qualifications. This much smaller group includes some teachers (where their schools are open to look after the children of essential workers), some legal system workers, doctors/nurses/pharmacists and information technology specialists. Clearly in this period of pandemic-induced crisis, the New South Wales Government has confirmed that the state’s economic spine is constructed from workers that are trained through the VET system. However, the most recent review of this state’s training system found that many students ‘believe that VET is not accorded equal status [to higher education]’ and they ‘do not attach much value to VET’ credentials undertaken at school. [8]
In more normal times, the sorts of jobs (and the PTET qualifications leading to them) that are being performed by these authorised workers are undervalued and considered to be of lower status than those occupations that require a university degree. However, this simple analysis of the types of workers that are required to keep the economy and society operating at a base line level in an emergency produces a very different assessment of esteem and value. Let us hope that for those who make and implement public policy lessons from this pandemic that there is an acknowledgement that these crucial roles have an equally, and numerically more, important role than the formal professions and that PTET qualified occupations should be publicly and programmatically recognised and encouraged. The pressure testing example used here produces clear results that should be used to appropriately recognise and value a nation’s socially and economically vital skills system.
[1] Toner, Phillip. 2011. Workforce skills and innovation: an overview of major themes in the literature. Paris: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry. P. 51.
[2] Hargreaves, Jo, and Kristen Osborne. 2017. Choosing VET: aspirations, intentions and choice. Adelaide: National Centre for Vocational Eucation Research. P. 2.
[3] The Independent Panel on Technical Education. 2016. Report of the Independent Panel on Technical Education (the Sainsbury Review). London: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. P. 8.
[4] Wheelahan, Leesa, and Gavin Moodie. 2016. Global trends in TVET: a framework for social justice. Brussels: Education International. P. 37.
[5] Ibid, P. 15.
[6] Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2021. Implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for vocational education and training. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. P. 4.
[7]New South Wales Government. 2021. “Authorised workers.” New South Wales Government. Accessed 23 July 2021.
[8] Gonski, David, and Peter Shergold. 2021. In the same sentence: bringing higher and vocational education together. Sydney: New South Wales Government. Pages 6 and 28
Foresight Contributions
As part of its first Global Statement on Professional Technical Education and Training (PTET) the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP) welcomes contributions of Foresight articles.
The invitation is open to members of WFCP to contribute Foresight articles which point to the future of PTET within a country or across the globe.
Expectations for the article are:
- That it explores current or future issue(s) of relevance to PTET and the role of WFCP members
- Sets guidance or challenge for PTET at the global, country or institute level
- Can take the form of an opinion piece presented in the first person
- Can be attributed to an individual, institution or association
- Should be no more than 1000 words
- Should be footnote referenced, where relevant
- Can be presented in author’s native language.
Please submit your article via e-mail to the WFCP Secretariat at secretariat@wfcp.org. Articles will be reviewed by a small editing committee and will be published on our website.
Meet the Lead Researchers
Joel Mullan
Joel Mullan is a freelance consultant and policy expert, focused on education policy and research in low- and middle- income contexts. He has particular expertise in skills/vocational education & training and EdTech. Joel previously worked on skills policy development and evaluation for the Mayor of London, held senior strategy roles at the EdTech company Jisc, and set up and ran the UK’s Higher Education Commission. He is the lead author of a systematic review of skills development for the informal sector in India, and a forthcoming UNICEF report on digital approaches to school to work transitions for refugee and displaced youth.
Charlynne Pullen
Charlynne Pullen is an experienced skills policy and research consultant. Since setting up Charlynne Pullen Consulting Ltd in April 2020, she has completed work for the Gatsby Charitable Foundation looking at Institutes of Technology and higher technical education, as well as a skills response to youth unemployment. Other work has included an evaluation of action learning sets for professional development and a review of an adult education service. Previously, Charlynne was the Head of Research and Evaluation at the Education and Training Foundation, and has worked in research at City & Guilds, Universities UK, and the National Foundation for Education Research.
Global Statement Workshops
The World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP) hosted a series of workshops as part of its development of the Global Statement of Professional Technical Education and Training (PTET). These workshops offered a key opportunity for participants to share their perspective on the role that professional technical education and training plays in their country and influence the development of our Global Statement.
Workshops
Making training accessible for everyone – June 28, 2021 (10:00 am EST)
The pandemic has created new inequalities in access to training, particularly digital learning, building on existing inequalities where barriers exist for women, those with disabilities, those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and older workers in accessing training. The recovery provides an opportunity to reduce those inequalities by increasing access to training. This workshop will discuss the ways that training providers, employers and governments can make training more accessible. Making training more accessible could mean changing the curriculum to enable shorter courses, changing the setting to reach more of the excluded, or something else – we want to hear your examples, plans or thoughts.
Support for entrepreneurs, innovation and small businesses – June 30, 2021 (6:00 am EST)
Small businesses have often been able to adapt swiftly during the pandemic. Many countries anticipate a growth in small businesses, through entrepreneurship and innovation, as a way of building back better in the recovery. This workshop will focus on how professional and technical education and training (PTET) can support those entrepreneurs and small businesses. Do you know of examples in your setting, or are planning new types of training for this group? Do you have thoughts on how PTET can support innovation in specific sectors or settings? Join us for this workshop.
Retaining and/or reframing digital learning – July 13, 2021 (10:00 am EST)
Digital learning has seen significant growth around the world in the last 18 months with most countries closing schools and asking children and young people to learn from home. This has been particularly challenging in vocational and technical education as practical training settings closed their doors to stop the spread of the virus. In recovery, what should we keep, and what should we leave behind, from the digital learning developed for the pandemic? Are there great examples you want to tell us about, or plans to reshape the curriculum to incorporate more digital learning? And what do learning providers need from employers, governments and others to deliver these changes? Join us in this workshop to discuss these questions.
What future jobs should training be for? – July 15, 2021 (6:00 am EST)
The recovery from the pandemic provides an opportunity to reshape national economies and global demand. There are many questions on future jobs: will more working from home in future make local high streets rather than cities a place for growth; will developed countries start to reshore middle-skill jobs and what does that mean for countries losing those jobs; how will green and sustainable jobs grow around the world? In thinking about these questions, how can professional and technical education and training (PTET) provide the best opportunities to train for these future jobs, and what differences might exist between country plans across the world? Join us to discuss how countries, employers and training providers can train young people and adults for future jobs.
For any assistance or if you have questions, please contact Lyne Dalby at secretariat@wfcp.org.