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With global development discussions focusing on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), TVET has come to the fore with 2 goals (SDG 4 & SDG 8) explicitly highlighting its importance. SDG 4, in particular, proposes a transformative education vision, aspiring to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.

Youth around the globe continue to face challenges in accessing the labour market. Theserealities are a direct result of mismatches between skills and competencies young people gain through education and training and those required by the labour markets.

The ILO estimated that globally 73.4 million (13.1%) young people were unemployed in 2015, and this figure is expected to increase in most regions by 2017. Besides those unemployed, there is a number of youth who are underemployed, work in precarious conditions or are facing institutional obstacles to developing their full potentials.

Providing youth with skills development opportunities, for example through quality TVET, is critical to give them future perspectives. TVET has direct links to the labour market and therefore helps mitigate structural unemployment by providing training programmes that match current and future labour market needs. This also includes promoting entrepreneurial and innovative skills for selfemployment. TVET also contributes to personal development and empower individuals to become active citizens.

Despite the benefits of TVET on personal, professional and national development, a recurring issue has been its relative unattractiveness of visvis the academic education for students. Education systems in many developing countries, in particular, have TVET often placed as a second choice or "second rate" education. On the whole, education systems are not meeting the needs of the labour market.

Urgent action must be taken to improve transferability in education systems and to enhance the status of vocational education and training.

Background information

Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning

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Changing nature and role of vocational education and training in Europe

In 2016, CEDEFOP launched the project The changing nature and role of VET in Europe tounderstand how vocational education and training is changing in the 28 member states of the European Union as well as Iceland and Norway. It takes as a starting point that traditional vocational education and training at the upper secondary level is under considerable pressure in some countries. At the same time we observe that vocationally oriented education and training is frequently delivered by institutions outside the traditional TVET sector pointing towards a broader and more diverse definition of TVET being applied.

The increasing importance of TVET in higher education and the extensive and important roleplayed by continuing vocational education and training adds to this complexity and makes the task of judging the character and boundaries of TVET in Europe increasingly more difficult. The project, over a threeyear period, analyses how vocationally oriented education and training has developed and changed in the last two decades and on this basis point to the main challenges and opportunities facing the sector today.

This is addressed from two angles:

TVET is defined by its position in the overall education and training system. The expansion of general and academic education has in some countries created an imbalance potentially undermining the ability of the TVET system to serve the labour market and society.

TVET is directly influenced by external factors, notably demographic developments and labour market trends driven by technological and organizational change.

The research clarifies how TVET is defined and understood by stakeholders at national level, how this evolved over time and, notably, how it has been translated into political strategies, institutional solutions and didactic approaches.

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Part one: Opening ceremony and panel debate

Workshop programme

Opening session08:00 09:00 Registration and refreshments

09:00 09:05 Introduction and welcome

Dr Zubair Shahid, UNESCOUNEVOC International Centre

09:05 09:35 Welcome messages

Dr James Joachim Calleja, Director, European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop)

Dr Shyamal Majumdar, Head of Office, UNESCOUNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training

Mr Jos de Goey, Vice President, WorldSkills International

09:35 09:40 Announcement of the winner of UNESCOUNEVOC SkillsinAction Photo Competition

Researchers meets practitioners09:40 09:45 Introduction to the discussion and the panelists

Ms Simone Lankhorst, Journalist

09:45 10:05 Attractiveness of TVET : Identifying what matters

Dr Loukas Zahilas, Head of Department for VET Systems and Institutions, European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop)

10:00 10:25 Changing role of VET in the 21st Century

Dr Jens Bjornavold, Senior Expert, European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop)

10:25 10:45 Tea/Coffee break

10:45 12:15 Panel discussion and debate

Practitioners

Dr Jefferson Manhaes de Azevedo, Rector, Fluminense Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology, Brazil (member of CONIF)

Dr Funmilayo Doherty, Yaba College of Technology, Nigeria

Dr Hendrik Vo, Head of Unit, Department of Vocational Training and Education, German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH), Germany

Ms Kalliopi (Kelly) Manoudi, CEO, Youth in Advancement 18 / Hellenic Youth Participation, Greece

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Discussants

Mr Moatasim El Alfy, Director, ITC Ministry of Education, Egypt

Prof Lazaro Moreno Herrera, Researcher, University of Stockholm, Sweden

Mr Richard Roolvink, WorldSkills Champion, Netherlands

Mr Tobias Becher, WorldSkills Champion, Germany

Mr Dennis Lizano, Programme Manager, POSSIBLE, Costa Rica

Dr Young Saing Kim, Senior Research Fellow , KRIVET, South Korea

Dr Volker Rein, Federal Institute for Vocational Educational and Training (BiBB), Germany

12:15 12:45 Questions and answers / open discussion

12:45 12:55 Concluding remarks

Mr Oliver Haas, Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

Ms Birgit Thomann, Head of Department, Director, Federal Institute for Vocational Educational and Training (BiBB), Germany

12:55 13:00 Wrapup

13:00 13:05 Group picture

Diversity of TVET and improved permeability and mobility across learning pathwaysModerated by Gerald Thiel and Miki Nozawa

As the comparative research being conducted by CEDEFOP indicates, the role and characteristics of TVET have been changing in Europe to better meet the requirements of the labor market and society. There are trends towards increasingly diversified provision of TVET and more flexible progression between different types of education and training. We also observe that a number of countries in different parts of the world are taking steps to reduce the segmentation of education and training and allow for better mobility, should it be vertical (e.g. from secondary vocational education to higher education) or horizontal (e.g. between academic and vocational streams). One of the main reasons that TVET was considered unattractive to learners and parents was often the perception that TVET was deadend; these new policy directions and practices are expected to increase opportunities for TVET learners and to have impact on the attractiveness of TVET.

During this session, experts will present experiences of selected countries from different regions in removing barriers that may have restricted TVET learners options and choices and in creating learning pathways to move vertically and/horizontally. To the extent possible evidence of how these policy measures may have affected attractiveness of TVET will be shared as well as suggestions on potential areas for further research in this area, in particular from the perspective of enhancing the status of TVET.

14:00 14:15 Introduction to the session: scope and format

14:15 14:50 Presentations on Country Experiences and policy frameworks

Mr Moatasim El Alfy, Director, ITC Ministry of Education, Egypt

Part two: Technical consultation workshop

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Dr Isabelle Le Mouillour, Head of the Unit for Basic Issues of Internationalization / Monitoring of Vocational Education and Training Systems Unit, Federal Institute for Vocational Educational and Training (BiBB), Germany

Dr Young Saing Kim, Senior Research Fellow , KRIVET, South Korea

Dr Jefferson Manhaes de Azevedo, Rector, Fluminense Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology, Brazil (member of CONIF)

14:50 15:20 Discussions

15:20 15:40 Tea/Coffee break

Engaging social partners in policy development and coordinated strategic planning and its impact on the attractiveness of TVET Moderated by Loukas Zahilas and Zubair Shahid

Engaging different stakeholders, including enterprises, employer organizations, unions etc. in governance and provision of TVET, has been receiving much attention as a strategy to strengthen the TVET sector and to improve the quality and labor market relevance of training provided, which leads to raising the attractiveness of TVET. Among the trends include establishment of TVET coordinating bodies that engage economic sectors in TVET in the policy dialogue and in the steering of TVET; in some countries, we also observe establishment of sector skills councils to serve as an instrument for meeting the demands for a trained workforce in diffe