TVET, skills development and the world of work: researching institutions, policy frameworks and policy change

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

The importance of Technical Vocational Education and Training and Skills Development (TVET/SD) is being increasingly recognised in global agendas and associated goals (King 2017). The prevalent challenges of unemployment and underemployment, dehumanising working conditions and rampant inequalities in the access to education and training among the young and adult population, particularly in low and middle income countries, require national governments and the international community to rethink the current design, funding and delivery of TVET/SD. The neoliberal development paradigm and the human capital orthodoxy that have largely dominated labour and education policies in TVET/SD have received wide criticism from political economy, human development and social justice approaches (Avis 2007; Allais 2012; McGrath 2012; Tikly 2013), leading to a shared understanding that alternative institutional arrangements and policies are needed to improve the educational and labour market opportunities of the most marginalised.

This panel seeks a deeper understanding of the institutional factors that shape current dynamics of skills formation, the absences and shortfalls in the design of TVET/SD policies, and the drivers and barriers to policy changes in the sector. The panel combines contributions from different analytical traditions (historical institutionalism, political economy, policy studies), methods (literature review, documental analysis, interviews) and world locations (Africa, Latin America, North America, Europe and the Middle East). Through the different presentations and the dialogue between them, the panel aims to answer the following questions:
1) How institutional complementarities and path-dependencies shape the relationship between education, training and the world of work in different national contexts?
2) What are the potential and limitations of the policy designs that try to coordinate the provision of opportunities across education/training/work for the most marginalised?
3) What are the discursive and material drivers and barriers for the adoption of alternative policy frameworks in TVET/SD policymaking?

References:
Allais, Stephanie. 2012. “Will Skills Save Us? Rethinking the Relationships between Vocational Education, Skills Development Policies, and Social Policy in South Africa.” International Journal of Educational Development 32 (5): 632–642.
Avis, James. 2007. Education, Policy and Social Justice: Learning and Skills. Bloomsbury Publishing.
King, Kenneth. 2017. “Lost in Translation? The Challenge of Translating the Global Education Goal and Targets into Global Indicators.” Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education 47 (6): 801–817.
McGrath, Simon. 2012. “Vocational Education and Training for Development: A Policy in Need of a Theory?” International Journal of Educational Development 32 (5): 623–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2011.12.001.
Tikly, Leon. 2013. “Reconceptualizing TVET and Development: A Human Capability and Social Justice Approach.” Revisiting Global Trends in TVET: Reflections on Theory and Practice, 1–39.

List of papers:
1) Conceptualizing Skill Formation Systems in Developing African Countries. Stephanie Allais, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
2) Towards an Integrated Education-Training-Work Continuum: Comparative Analysis of Schemes in 18 African Countries. Michel Carton, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Switzerland
3) Dual study programs and their transfer potential: Beyond Germany? Justin J.W. Powell, University of Luxembourg; and Nadine Bernhard, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. 
4) Limitations of the Rights-Based Approach to Education: Evidence from TVET policy Reforms in Chile. Oscar Valiente and Adrian Zancajo, University of Glasgow, UK

*Signatures in support of the establishment of a new SIG on the topic of TVET and Skills Development will be collected among those attending this panel.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Maia Chankseliani, University of Oxford

Individual Presentations

• Improving the Relevance of Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Kenya: Lessons for Developing Economies in Sub-Saharan Africa and Beyond - Saki Malose, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Zina Gabriella Noel, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Janet Shin, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Evan Townsend, Harvard Graduate School of Education

• Conceptualizing skill formation systems in developing African countries today - Stephanie Matseleng Allais, University of the Witwatersrand

• Dual study programs and their transfer potential: Beyond Germany? - Justin J.W. Powell, University of Luxembourg; Nadine Bernhard, Humboldt University of Berlin

• Limitations of the Rights-Based Approach to Education: Evidence from TVET policy Reforms in Chile - Oscar Valiente, University of Glasgow; Adrian Zancajo, University of Glasgow

Discussant

• Antoni Verger, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona