TVET for Sustainable Development

People, planet, and prosperity all rely on inclusive societies, a healthy environment and jobs that preserve these aspirations. This is underpinned in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As countries accelerate their efforts towards achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, there is an urgent need to develop the knowledge, skills and competencies to meet the professional and societal demands, whilst seizing the employment and lifelong learning opportunities offered in the transition to a more sustainable economy and society.

A recent ILO report highlights how the green economy serves as an enabler of poverty reduction and improved livelihood for millions of people. It estimates potential job losses that could be compensated by the projected creation of 24 million new jobs– given the right policies and skill development opportunities in place.

The smooth transition to green societies and economies relies on policies, investments, technology, jobs, engagement and workforce competencies that all need to come into play. Education and training are key to bringing all these elements together. Effective education and training for sustainable development pivots on governance and vision, and the ability to empower people in an inclusive manner to act in favour of sustainable development. It also relies on the ability to train, upskill, reskill and empower those that can take advantage of the job growth and job creation potential in a changing economy. These abilities lie with formal or non-formal institutions, businesses, organizations, leaders, teachers, civil society and stakeholders of community and local government.

UNESCO, with the launch of its new Education for Sustainable Development 2030 Roadmap, will continue to support Member States in prioritizing and stimulating transformative actions in policy, learning environments, educators’ capacities, youth mobilization and local level actions. The roadmap serves as the new blueprint for the implementation of ESD and renews the importance of translating policy and strategic frameworks into actions in the TVET sector.

UNEVOC’s Guide to Greening TVET

Greening TVET towards transformative action

TVET plays an important role in steering the transition to a low-carbon economy and climate-resilient society. It is carried out through the traditional roles of TVET in preparing learners for occupational fields and increasing their participation in the world of work. These traditional roles are facing new expectations, including calls to adapt to better align with emerging green jobs and qualifications and contribute to the development of skills and competencies that power a more circular economy and sustainable culture, as opposed to the common take-make-dispose culture that prevails. Over the course of the last decade, UNESCO-UNEVOC has promoted transformative actions in TVET.

Why invest in greening TVET?

• Greening TVET helps advance more environmentally conscious practices;
• A ‘green’ worker is a more employable worker, a ‘green’ workforce will enhance the profitability of the enterprise;
• National governments need to seize the potential for job creation by providing skills for new green sectors;
• Disadvantaged groups in the labour market require targeted support to develop their potential knowledge and skills for green jobs.

Within the UNEVOC MTS-II, UNEVOC actions are implemented through partnership & collaboration, capacity building, network peer learning & best practice sharing.

Partnership

It has worked with its partners, including the Inter-Agency Working Group on Greening TVET and Skills Development, to actively coordinate actions and co-develop policy guidance documents and think-pieces (e.g. 2013 Policy recommendation for G20 Development Working Group, Reflections from COP21) that provides technical expertise, recommendations and input from multiple developmental organizational perspectives. The Platform for Advancing Green Human Capital, which was comprised of selected IAG-TVET members along with French partners, developed a framework for policy analysis and guidance for developing green human capital, targeted for consideration of decision makers.

Capacity building

In order to help steer institutional responses to green skills demand, a tool to support institutional capacity building and actions was developed in 2017.

The UNEVOC Greening TVET – practical guide for institutions provides a guiding framework for implementing a whole-institutional approach to ‘greening TVET.’ The approach proposes TVET-oriented actions for embedding sustainability in campus, curriculum and training, engagement with community and workplace, research and the overall institutional culture.

UNEVOC organizes sensitization activities, seminars, workshops and supports study visits.

As of 2020, over 30 countries have reported the use of the UNEVOC tools as a guidance framework.

Network peer learning and practice sharing

UNEVOC has created several platforms to bridge learning opportunities across the network and beyond.

Education day at COPs

Leaders network sharing

Teachers network sharing

Youth network learning

Learning from others’ experiences in implementing strategic policies, training standards and curricula, building the capacity of teachers and educators to organize learning and deliver contents, and engaging youth, are at the heart of the green TVET transformation.

Even though the regional, national and institutional contexts may vary, but they serve as methodical guidance and blueprint of inspiration to others.

Knowledge development and resource sharing

UNEVOC has published reports and developed analytical studies aimed at sharing new knowledge and information with the TVET community.

Greening TVET in the context of climate change

Greening TVET for qualification needs

Greening TVET in Latin America

Contact

UNESCO-UNEVOC is committed to supporting TVET actors to implement the greening TVET action areas mentioned in the guide. For any questions about the guide or its implementation, please contact unevoc.greeningtvet(at)unesco.org.

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