The University of South Africa (UNISA) will be hosting its first hybrid international conference on technical and vocational education and training (ICTVET2024), during 25 – 27 September 2024 at the Protea Hotel, Marriott Stellenbosch Conference Centre, Western Cape Province, South Africa. The conference will be organized in close partnership with the South African Public Colleges Organization (SAPCO – organization that represents 50 public TVET colleges in South Africa), supported by the Education Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority (ETDP SETA), the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). The theme of the conference is: Advancing TVET for Digitalized World, Youth Skilling, Employability and Sustainable Development (National, Regional, and International)”.
Global disruptions such as climate change, digitalization, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), demographic change, and migration are changing the way we live, work, and learn. New technologies are emerging, remote forms of working and learning are becoming commonplace, and workers need new skills such as problem-solving, ICT, entrepreneurship, and STEM, while continuing to require traditional skills and knowledge.
TVET systems must therefore rise to the challenge of supporting learners to prepare them for the workplace of the future. Improving the future-readiness of TVET systems is crucial for assuring their relevance and, ultimately, their survival. To prepare learners for future competencies and industry requirements, TVET teaching staff /trainers must possess these essential competencies and qualities themselves. Therefore, this hybrid conference sought to collect input from the wider technical and vocational and training (TVET) community on how TVET systems can be better organized to deliver the skills demanded in a rapidly changing and increasingly complex labour market. However, many countries have made tremendous strides in several areas to shape the future of TVET systems.
More broadly, the objectives of conferences are to: gather knowledge, experiences and practices on the steps that TVET systems should take at policy, institutional and practitioner levels to prepare teachers and trainers to deliver the skills needed in the 21st century and beyond, gather insights and evidence from TVET community about where TVET systems stand when it comes to ensuring inclusiveness, with special focus on particularly vulnerable groups; share practical ideas to empower youth and adults with relevant TVET skills for employment, decent jobs, and entrepreneurship; gain insights from private sector, and employer stakeholders about the changes in job profiles and skills that TVET should provide to support sustainable development.
Specific sub-themes for delegates might want to consider include, but are not, limited to the following:
- TVET promise – Youth skilling, pathways for employment, skills for business entrepreneurship; entrepreneurship education (EPE) and the use of information and communication technology (ICT).
- Inclusive TVET – re-orientating current TVET policies towards inclusivity and excellence, expanding the skills pathways for migrants and disadvantaged youth.
- TVET for digitalized world – creation of policies that help TVET teachers and trainers to be equipped with relevant skills to facilitate teaching/training in a digitalized world; initiating ICT-related thematic programmes in areas related to Artificial Intelligence, Open Education Resources (OERs) and mobile learning.
- TVET network - strengthening and enlarging network of national, regional, and international TVET stakeholders, promoting network and peer learning among TVET institutions, fostering collaboration.
- TVET for climate action - understanding how TVET institutions are transitioning to renewable energy and mainstreaming climate change responses (advancing the Green TVET Agenda).
- Energy Security and Transition - Along with climate change, countries must address energy security and transitions. Diversifying energy sources, generating renewable energy, increasing energy efficiency, preventing energy waste, and educating the public about environmental issues are proposed as several strategies.
- Private sector engagement – understanding initiatives taken to aligning existing TVET programmes to industry demand.
- TVET research and knowledge base - advancing TVET through knowledge exchange, research studies and research (national, regional and intranational).
- Articulation - Advancing sustainable development through higher education requires proper planning, including the articulation and differentiation of the system. What are the supportive roles that other entities and stakeholders should play to advance articulation into and between qualifications in higher education.
- Work-Integrated Learning (WIL): Work integrated learning (WIL) experiences such as placements, apprenticeships or internships offer great opportunities for students. They develop their relevant skills and knowledge, while providing experience in a real working environment. These opportunities may contribute to the solution to employability of young people. Universities, colleges, and educational institutions are increasingly offering these opportunities to students. However, WIL can be time and resource heavy considering their administrative requirements. Then how best the modern technology can be utilized to address the current practice of WIL.
- Quality Assurance – mechanisms for quality assurance in TVET
- Innovation, and sustainable leadership: elements vital in TVET in the 21st century, the transformational age.
- Sustainable curriculum in TVET: sharing of ideas about the type of curriculum that can make TVET Colleges more relevant and thus contribute to the sustainable development of the country. Curriculum that equips learners with the knowledge, skills and understanding necessary to make decisions based upon their full environmental, social, cultural and economic implications.