05 Jul 2012
TVET for a Changing World: Global Developments, Local Resonance
By Qian Tang. After a period of neglect, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is now firmly on the agenda of governments around the world. Youth unemployment, social exclusion and poverty have led many decision-makers to refocus their attention on providing skills development opportunities that respond to evolving social and economic demands. Far from... Read More
02 Jul 2012
Towards a New Global World of Skills Development? Or to Boldly Go Where TVET has Gone Before?
By Robert Palmer and Kenneth King. A few decades ago technical and vocational education and training (TVET) formed a central part in the development strategies of many developing countries and development partners. Due to the emphasis on basic education from 1990, TVET became marginalised within the educational landscape, and constrained by negative perceptions, which portray... Read More
23 Jun 2012
Why Professions and Higher Education (HE) Matter for Development
By Simon McGrath. Whilst the attention of the development field has been on Rio+20 this week, I have found myself reflecting on a far less fashionable, but I believe crucial, aspect of development: the role of professions and HE in development. On this blog, we have recently been arguing that any model of global development... Read More
07 Jun 2012
The Post-2015 Bus: Is there Room for Education?
By Michel Carton. On June 1st, a NORRAG–UNDP workshop, hosted by IHEID in Geneva, and attended by a range of international organisations (see below), took place to discuss the place of education in the post-2015 agenda. The combination of NORRAG, UNDP and IHEID in a place like Geneva – which houses many UN and international... Read More
04 Jun 2012
The Post-2015 Agenda: What Room for Education and Skills?
By Kenneth King. This was the title of the joint NORRAG-UNDP 1st June 2012 workshop in Geneva hosted by the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. It was very well-attended by participants, including from WEF, UNRISD, WHO, IIEP, UNECA, ETF, INEE, AKF, ICRC, IFRC, Plan, SDC, UNESCO, and NORRAG. Getting into the queue for... Read More
31 May 2012
3rd TVET Congress Shanghai May 2012: A Milestone towards a New Global World of Skills Development?
by Kenneth King. NORRAG is finally taking the plunge into the brave new world of the blog-pool. We hope it will help to fill the six months’ gaps between our regular special issues of NORRAG News, and engage our 4000 members with some more of the rapidly changing debates in international education and training. And... Read More
31 May 2012
The UNESCO World VET Report and the Purposes of VET
by Simon McGrath. One of the most important contributions of the UNESCO World Report on VET is its argument that the purposes and performance of VET should be viewed through three policy lenses. The economic lens is the most conventional one used to analyse VET, but the equity lens is also very well-established in some... Read More
31 May 2012
Ensuring the Relevance of any International Education Agenda Beyond 2015
As we approach the target date set for Education for All (EFA) and education-related MDGs, global and (UN-led) national processes are being initiated to review experience thus far and to begin defining the possible shape of the post-2015 development and education agenda(s). In doing so, it is important to start by highlighting the issue of... Read More