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On the occasion of its tenth anniversary, [Canadian Policy Research Networks] CPRN brought together 144 young Canadians aged 18 to 25 years, randomly selected, for a deliberative dialogue and a summit with 40 decision-makers from government, business, labour, and the not-for-profit sectors. The event took place in Ottawa on November 24-27, 2005. Young participants were invited to talk together about the kind of Canada they want, what choices and trade-offs they are prepared to make as citizens, and what they and others need to do to make their vision happen. Dialogue participants talked about four issues that the Advisory Committee on Engaging Young Canadians and other youth had identified as especially important: learning, work, health, and the environment. This document reports on the discussion of learning issues, and particularly, the elements of the dialogue that touched on post-secondary education. In the context of their overarching vision for Canada and the values they endorsed to guide their thinking - accountability and transparency, long term sustainability and prevention, equity and efficiency - young Canadians articulated their own vision for education in Canada around seven pillars: education is for life, not just for a job; Canada is a bilingual (multilingual) country; Canada is a diverse country to discover; assessment and upgrading skills opportunities should be given to all educators; access to post-secondary education and training should be guaranteed to all who qualify; non-university, vocational and trades paths should be valued and supported; students should be able to focus on learning. Under the main thrust of their vision, ‘No-one must be left behind’, young Canadians went further on specific post-secondary issues: they stressed the importance of valuing different learning paths to work, in addition to college and university, and to find some balance to the exaggerated reliance on academic performance; they emphasized that all forms of education beyond high school should be made accessible to, and affordable for, all qualified and motivated individuals; and they called for all learning systems to be integrated and coordinated nationally, with similar levels of support provided to students and educators throughout the country.

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Sustainability is a growing concept and a genuine concern for both public and private vocational education and training (VET) organisations. Using [Technical and Further Education New South Wales] TAFE NSW as a case study, this project aimed to highlight the practices in place across TAFE NSW institutes with relation to sustainability and to discover which were most important for successful implementation. The primary objective was to gain an understanding of the impact of the key influencers across different levels of the organisation. The study adopts the definition of the term ‘sustainability’ and ‘sustainability education’ as provided by the National VET Sector Sustainability Policy and Action Plan 2009-2012 (National VET Sector Sustainability Action Group and Ministerial Council for Vocational and Technical Education 2009, p.2): ‘interconnectedness of a healthy environment, social justice, equity and economic vitality; and ‘green skills’ for professional, vocational and generic skills required for green jobs and greening existing jobs’.

The paper highlights the following key factors for advancing the sustainability agenda in a VET organisation: (1) for successful implementation of sustainability practices, sustainability needs to be a vision across the organisation; (2) while sustainability needs to be supported by institute leaders, individuals who act as ‘levers’ between leaders and practitioners play an important role in implementing sustainability practices and supporting leaders and practitioners with changes; and (3) by being committed to education and sustainability, an organisation also has the ability to influence how students engage with sustainability.

Excerpts from publication.

As part of the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) Building Researcher Capacity Scheme, a community of practice scholarship program has been created to encourage a culture of research in vocational education and training (VET) organisations. With the guidance of an experienced mentor, VET practitioners without any formal research experience undertake their own work-based research project. The scholarship also provides participants with an opportunity to have their research peer-reviewed and released by NCVER in VOCEDplus. Show less

This report explores the potential employment and economic impacts of an EU transition to a low-carbon economy by 2030 - on the EU, and on other regions of the world. It analyses the impacts across sectors and occupations, with a particular focus on manufacturing. The report highlights that the impact of such a transition is positive for the EU as a whole, although with considerable variation between sectors. The positive impact on employment is largely due to the investment required to achieve this transition, along with the impact of lower spending on imported fossil fuels. The consequent shift in production has implications for labour market demand. The analysis is carried out using the E3ME macro-econometric model, which provides information on sectoral impacts, together with the Warwick Labour Market Extension model for occupational analysis. Further analysis of the employment developments in Europe is undertaken using Eurofound's European Jobs Monitor.

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The aim of this study is to link this action on youth unemployment with the longer term European action on energy and resource efficiency, aimed at driving the development of new and transformative production models and consumption patterns towards sustainability. The ‘greening’ of the European economy entails changes in the labour market, in terms of types of jobs and skills required. Young people - the workforce of the future European economy - will need to carry out tasks and apply skills to adequately address the radical climate changes that may take place and the resulting changes to European economies and societies which climate change and resource scarcity may provoke in the future.

This study aims to highlight trade union action in collectively addressing youth unemployment and sustainable development issues in order to inform the further development of union strategies in this area. The project will consider how trade union initiatives on youth training and job placements can be linked to the growth of new green industries and transformation (greening) of the existing traditional sectors.

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This report presents the findings of a joint research project into leadership for sustainability. One research strand was conducted by a team from the Education for Sustainability Programme at London South Bank University (LSBU) and the other by Forum for the Future. The research project aimed: to build understanding of catalysts and blocks to leadership for sustainability in the learning and skills sector; to test the inseparability of good leadership from leadership for sustainability; to inform the [Centre for Excellence in Leadership’s] CEL’s strategy for supporting the development of leadership for sustainability. Our findings are that most participating leaders understand why a more sustainable way of life is necessary and that the sector has a responsibility to help realise that way of life. Many, however, feel themselves on a steep learning curve. With reference to CEL’s Leadership Qualities Framework (LQF), the research found that effective leaders demonstrated many of the key change management skills necessary for sustainability. Unsurprisingly, however, given the newness of the agenda for many leaders in the sector, there are some skills and knowledge in the LQF which need to be strengthened if sustainable development is to be embraced. A number of recommendations for CEL emerged from the research.

Excerpts from published executive summary. Show less

In response to a large sectoral skills, network and knowledge gap, the Fellow, a leatherworker and designer, undertook an exploration of leather making, tanning and design through Italy. In this report, comparisons of teaching styles, methodologies and techniques are made, while the historical and cultural impact of leatherworking traditions, and more broadly artisan crafts, are examined. The report seeks to highlight the widespread value of leatherworking and specialised trades, encourage industry growth in production and design, and makes the recommendation for an inclusive Australian leatherworking training program.

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The theme of this year's workshop was 'Beyond new normal, towards the transition: TVET for resilience'. We are at an inflection point of new transitions, such as the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, climate change, and the 4th Industrial Revolution. We call it the 'Great Transition'. To respond to the Great Transition, building a diversified international cooperation network and developing the power of individuals and society is essential. The workshop enabled attendees to discuss vocational education and training innovation, solutions to the mismatch between the labor market and individual capability, measures to revitalize lifelong education, and green technical and vocational education and training (TVET) to develop the ability to respond flexibly to the age of the Great Transition.

This report includes the following papers: (1) Recent trends in the development of vocational education and training in the context of sustainable development and scenarios for cooperation among the members of the UNEVOC Network: with special attention to the involvement of the business sector / Harry Stolte; (2) The institutional changes on digital reform for the quality TVET / Wu Jianxiao, Kangchunxiao and Huang Chunlin; (3) The use of innovative technologies in TVET / Paryono Paryono and Hartini Mashod; (4) Can skills framework bridge TVET to frontier competencies? / Anderson Tan and Goh Hin Lan; and (5) Linkage of school education and TVET sector using vocational classroom / Rangsan Thepmondhri.

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The Spanish economy is recovering from both the global financial crisis of 2008 and the sovereign debt crisis that affected the country in 2011. Following ten consecutive quarters of contraction, the economy started to rebound at the end of 2013 and is expected to grow by around 1.5 per cent in 2014. While this report welcomes the recent reductions in unemployment, it also highlights the importance of taking further action to ensure there are sustainable improvements in employment and social conditions: actions to nurture enterprise growth and economic diversification; a coherent set of measures to help jobseekers remain in the labour market, acquire new skills and obtain employment; balanced reforms that facilitate hiring and boost job quality; adequate social protection.

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Understandings of 'literacy' broadened after the United Nations Development Decade of the 1960s. The corresponding research into the benefits of literacy also widened its focus beyond economic growth. The effects of adult literacy and its correlates appeared diffuse with the rise of New Literacy Studies, and the scholarship on consequences seemed less essential to advocates following the rise of a human rights perspective on education. In 2016 the agenda for literacy research has returned - but at a higher level - to concern over its benefits. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have reintegrated literacy research within an agenda to understand the channels through which literacy skills might effect change.

This article briefly reviews progress in adult literacy, touches on existing perspectives on literacy, and then illustrates four recent sources of information useful in the revitalised agenda offered by the SDGs. Data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) study conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Values Survey (WVS), and the World Bank's Skills Toward Employment and Productivity (STEP) study are now available to researchers wishing to link educational change with attitudinal and behavioural change. Another important resource are the emerging data on mobile learning. By integrating literacy into the SDGs, literacy researchers can reveal the channels through which literacy can contribute to social welfare and transformation.

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This chapter assesses currently popular rationales for technology education, suggesting that technology, like any part of a formal curriculum, should contribute not just to students’ skill and knowledge but also to their capacity to develop moral perspectives and social wisdom. It illustrates the importance of linking technological education to changes in social and economic structures. Finally, the author suggests that broad social support for technology education will come only when educators see their mission as providing learners with opportunities to develop a personal sense of technological integrity.

The volume from which this chapter is taken is indexed at TD/IRD 88.427. Individual chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 94.722 to TD/TNC 94.755. Show less