Thursday, 09 February

Calgary, Canada

Experts in the field of education called for more collaboration to ensure inclusive and quality technical and vocational education and training (TVET) for all in Canada during a workshop organized by Bow Valley College, UNEVOC Centre, and UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre.

The workshop took place from 8 to 9 February in the College’s campus in Calgary in the frame of Canada’s International Development Week (5 to 11 February, 2017). The theme of this year’s week is ‘Leave no one behind: Canada contributes to global goals!’ and puts the spotlight on Canada’s efforts to achieve the goals laid out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development agreed upon by the international community in September 2015. “Canada will continue to show global leadership in bringing people together to help achieve lasting progress” the Prime Minister of Canada Mr Justin Trudeau said in his statement to mark the Week.

The workshop brought together twenty TVET experts from around Canada to discuss the steps to be taken to ensure that Canada contributes to the realization of the TVET related targets and objectives under Sustainable Development Goal 4 on education. The Goal namely calls on countries to “ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning”.

To promote Canadian collaboration requires knowledge of international TVET-related developments; to this end the workshop informed participants about the UNESCO Strategy for TVET (2016-2021), amongst other developments. The experts exchanged views on these global happenings and also familiarized themselves with the UNEVOC Network, an international platform that enables TVET institutions to collaborate. The workshop discussed how the participating institutions, including those who were not part of the UNEVOC Network, could contribute to the global platform through the three Canadian UNEVOC Centres.

UNEVOC Network in Canada

Canada counts itself as one of the most active countries in the UNEVOC Network, thanks to the activities of its three UNEVOC Centres. The Bow Valley College has been a UNEVOC Centre since 2016, and is the largest community college in the province of Alberta. Over 15,000 students are taught and over 20,000 people seek to update their knowledge and skills at the College’s various campuses every year. Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles, campus de Carleton-sur-Mer (CEGEP) has been a UNEVOC Centre since 2004 and offers training to 300 students. The centre also conducts research activities that seek to document teachers’ good pedagogical practices in a context of distance learning. Colleges and Institutes Canada (CiCan) has been a UNEVOC Centre since 2012 and is the national organization representing colleges and institutes in Canada and internationally. 135 public post-secondary institutes of applied learning and applied research are part of the network.