UNEVOC Network consultation for the 2023 GEM Report on technology and education

The annual Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM Report) is the world’s foremost publication on education. Since 2016, it has been monitoring the new post-2015 education goal and targets, which are part of the Sustainable Development Goals agenda.

The 2023 GEM Report will examine education challenges to which appropriate use of technology can offer solutions, at the same time recognizing that many of the solutions proposed may also be detrimental. The report will look at ways through which technology can help reach disadvantaged learners, while ensuring more knowledge reaches a greater number of learners in engaging and cheaper formats.

As part of the data gathering process for the upcoming report, UNESCO-UNEVOC and the GEM Report co-organized a consultation for UNEVOC Network members in October 2022. The 90-minute session centred on issues related to the role of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in the promotion of technological development and digitalization.

UNEVOC Centres from 11 countries and all 5 regions of the UNEVOC Network took part in the online consultation and discussed best practices in linking TVET systems with local/national technological development, updating curricula to promote technological development, and integrating digital skills in TVET curricula. The TVET experts also put forward the main challenges faced by the TVET sector in adopting a digital skills-enriched curriculum. The wide range of experiences, case studies and insights shared during the consultation, such as the ones highlighted below, will help to shape the chapter on TVET and technological development in the 2023 report.

The following examples were of particular relevance for the 2023 GEM Report:

• Brazil: As part of an overall reform to the school curriculum geared to digital and technology needs, Brazil has tried to connect its new curriculum to TVET and to the regular system. In the curriculum, they are including key and enabling technologies, entrepreneurship and innovation.

• Germany: Since 2016, the German Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) has developed a strategy linking TVET and technological development. Their strategy is based on several points, such as the screening of occupation and sectors to understand how digitalization affects certain sectors of the economy, training on media competencies for TVET staff, which includes not only teachers but also apprentices and trainees, the development of online communities to exchange on the requirements of digitalization in companies, and conducting research on how sustainability and digitalization affects the competencies in TVET that are needed, especially for young trainees and young students.

• United Arab Emirates: The country is working to embed technology in TVET by partnering closely with industry throughout all phases of provision. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country has developed a strong infrastructure, which has led to a significant improvement of the education system. In addition, the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs developed the UAE’s Fourth Industrial Revolution Strategy, which aims to strengthen the UAE's position as a global hub for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and to increase its contribution to the national economy by means of advancing innovation and future technologies.

Online consultation form (open to all)