The digitization of TVET and skills systems

Abstract

The affordances of digital technologies are such that when deployed in a context of stakeholders with a propensity for change, they will facilitate new opportunities and also create challenges for the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector. This report provides a global, high-level snapshot of the digitalization of TVET and skills systems in a set of countries and international organizations. The primary data are derived from a set of semi-structured interviews with experts and practitioners in the TVET and education sectors, as well as a desktop literature review. The data provide insights into TVET and skills systems in Brazil, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, New Zealand, Slovenia, Turkey and the United States. They also include the views of the labour market and representatives from global organizations such as the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). To deconstruct and review technological developments impacting the digitization of TVET and skills systems, we developed a conceptual framework for digital transformation in TVET, using elements of the 2015 UNESCO recommendation concerning TVET and interfacing these with the three core concepts of digital innovation, adaptation and acceleration.1 We then applied the framework to develop the interview plan and structure the wave of analyses from data generated by the literature review, case studies and interview transcripts. There exists increasing evidence that while the digitization of TVET comprises multiple policies and actions at all levels of government, it often does not represent a unitary coherent strategy. Much innovation in digital TVET is institutionally driven, with the labour market following innovation pathways that are not filtering into TVET curricula or the operations of TVET institutions. Yet digitization is frequently positioned as the driving force behind lifelong learning and flexible learning pathways. Case studies indicate that technology is also transforming traditional apprenticeships by facilitating more informal variants, as well as internships and other mentored-learning programmes, if the initiatives in many countries continue to be conceptualized, sponsored and driven by governments as opposed to industry. We argue that low-level or mature digital technologies, when taken globally, still hold the most potential for transformation of the TVET sector in the short term. Digital TVET increases dramatically in cost with increases in the complexity and sophistication of the offering. Moreover, digitization is viewed with scepticism by a significant segment of the educational establishment – and TVET institutions in particular. The overall digital competence of teachers and trainers will continue to be a key limiting factor in the affordances of digital TVET crystallizing over the next five years. If the affordances of digital TVET are to crystallize, the fundamentals of TVET as a three-way collaboration between employers, students (or employees) and educational institutions have to be improved and, in some cases, kickstarted, with the support of government as the policy-maker. We find that digital TVET increases the strength of – and need for – these interlinkages. In the process, it is also accelerating the hybridization of tertiary education. Yet despite these advances, we find that ethical implications of digitization are receiving insufficient attention.