03 Nov 2014
The Elephant in the Post-2015 Education Room: What about the Global Governance of Education and Training? (Part 1) by Kenneth King and Robert Palmer
By Kenneth King and Robert Palmer, NORRAG. Since at least 2012 there has been a significant amount of discussion and debate about what the post-2015 education and training focus should be, and about the content and wording of a possible education goal and its targets. With less than one year to go until the September... Read More
28 Oct 2014
From EFA post-2015 to EFA 2030: A Reflection on the Asia-Pacific Regional Education Conference By Manzoor Ahmed
By Manzoor Ahmed, BRAC University. The first of the UNESCO-organised regional consultations planned to be held in different regions leading to the World Education Forum in Incheon, Korea in May 2015 took place in Bangkok between 6-8 August 2014 for the Asia Pacific Region. This is to be followed by consultations for Latin America and... Read More
23 Oct 2014
Human Resource Development Strategies and Structure in South Africa: Planning, Plumbing, or Posing? By Stephanie Allais
By Stephanie Allais, University of the Witwatersrand. Governments who are attempting to develop education policies and systems that meet the needs of their economy are constantly exhorted to ensure that different aspects of policy ‘join-up’ with others. Having a national ‘peak structure’ constituted by ministers, senior labour representatives, and senior people from industry and business... Read More
13 Oct 2014
Slowing Education? By Mònica Serlavós
By Mònica Serlavós, NORRAG, Geneva. « Should we prepare the students to be intelligent and revolutionary but unemployed or alienated producers-consumers? »[1] Legros and Delplanque (2009) From the 2nd – 6th September 2014 more than 3,000 people from 74 different nationalities gathered in Leipzig (Germany) for the 4th International Conference on Degrowth[2] for Ecological Sustainability and Social... Read More
09 Oct 2014
Learning and Working in the Informal Economy – What do we Know and What Should we Do? A German perspective By Léna Krichewsky
By Léna Krichewsky, The Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg. The share of self-employed workers and employees without regular work contracts is rising globally, reaching over 70% of the workforce in African countries like the Ivory Coast, Mali or Zambia, and over 60% in Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua or Paraguay. The problems associated with informality – poverty, precarious work... Read More
06 Oct 2014
Sustaining Literacy in Africa: Developing a Literate Environment By Peter B. Easton
By Peter B. Easton, Florida State University. The goal of achieving widespread and durable literacy in Africa and other target areas of Education For All is not likely to be attained – even by the next international deadline chosen – if equivalent attention is not given to ensuring that the basic skills school leavers and... Read More
02 Oct 2014
Africa Must Invent its Own Economic Model By Albert Damantang Camara
By Albert Damantang Camara, Minister of Technical Education, Vocational Training, Employment and Labour, Guinea. Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) hosted the Third Ministerial Conference of the Inter-country Quality Node on Technical and Vocational Skills Development (ICQN/TVSD) from 22nd to 23rd July 2014. [La version originale de ce blog a été écrit en français et apparaît ci-dessous] Like... Read More
30 Sep 2014
Training without a Soul By Claudio de Moura Castro
By Claudio de Moura Castro, Positivo, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Brazil shared the traditional disdain of Iberian countries towards working with one`s hands. SENAI had a decisive role in reversing prejudice and creating a well-prepared labor force. Being a private agency, run by industrialists and funded by a levy on industrial payroll, it had what it... Read More
24 Sep 2014
Back to the 'Vocational Education' Drawing Board: Do we Need Some Serious Re-visioning? By Salim Akoojee
By Salim Akoojee, South Africa and Hong Kong. An August 2014 article in the Economist referred to the vocational sector as being the ‘detritus of an industrial era rather than the handmaiden of a new economy’. Citing the ‘twin curses of low status and limited innovation’, the Economist cites the McKinsey report in which students... Read More
22 Sep 2014
The Post-2015 EFA Agenda: UNESCO and the New Global Education Network By Maren Elfert
By Maren Elfert, University of British Columbia. The run-up to the next round of Education for All (EFA) and development goals lends itself to a reflection about the political-economic underpinnings of the discussion about the future of EFA. The report of the high-level panel of eminent persons on the post-2015 development agenda emphasizes the role... Read More