The ever changing world of work demands new educational approaches, such as a stronger action focus in TVET and in initial TVET teacher training.

This publication, jointly published by UNESCO-UNEVOC and Capacity Building International (InWEnt), outlines the principles of action learning as a discipline and explores implications for this approach to teaching in TVET. It introduces action-theoretical models and provides an overview of selected action-learning teaching concepts.

Action learning provides a method of accelerating learning that enables people to handle difficult situations more effectively. This approach to learning is considered by some to be one of the most important ideas to have emerged in management and organizational development in the last 40 years.

Action learning advocates questioning and reflection to prompt a deeper level of analysis, to test assumptions, and to explore possibilities. Within a group, work-based problems are discussed and reframed in a learning context. Through sharing experiences and advice, action is suggested and solutions discussed. In this way, learning from shared experience provides innovative solutions and assists individuals and organisations adapt to a rapidly changing world. Subsumed into the learning activities, this method provides enhanced possibilities for personal and professional development of the individual, and can also help improve economic productivity and stimulate economic development.

The purpose of this publication is to motivate and enable teachers to integrate the methodological concepts discussed into their own teaching. The practical examples offered as a support to the discursive elements lend relevance to this publication.