Full issue 20
Governance of TVET is a major issue and precondition for the ongoing development of TVET systems, especially in the era of digitalization and sustainable development. In the 2010 Guidelines for TVET Policy Review, UNESCO defines TVET Governance as being “concerned with how the funding, provision, ownership and regulation of TVET systems are coordinated, which actors are involved, and what are their respective roles and responsibilities, and level of formal competence – at the local, regional, national and supranational level.”

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Full issue 16
TVET personnel – teachers and trainers in companies, vocational schools and other educational contexts – are crucial for enhancing and assuring the quality of vocational education and training. Yet vocational teacher education has been facing challenges over the past few decades. Whereas the need for qualified TVET personnel is indisputable, many countries face a severe shortage of qualified TVET personnel and have therefore implemented various pathways to enter this profession. However, these personnel need to be equipped with future-oriented competencies to provide action-oriented and work-based learning. They also need to be broadly diversified and multi-professional, and able to bridge the gap between vocational theory and practice (Lipsmeier 2013). They also need to develop the specific competences required to integrate learners from different educational, social and cultural backgrounds.

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Full issue 13
The development of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) systems in Asia and worldwide increasingly aims at strengthening the cooperation between the formal TVET system, which is often represented by state-run vocational schools and colleges, and employers, who provide work-based learning at the in-company workplace, which is sometimes enhanced through work-oriented learning in practical training centers. Hence, the Dual System acts as a kind of meta-concept for the practical implementation of a variety of practical and systemic related programs in the TVET sector such as the new apprenticeship program that gained attention in recent years. As a consequence many different kinds of dual systems were established across countries, which sometimes even differ within one country as it is the case in Germany for example.

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Full issue 8
The year 2015 marks the beginning of ASEAN Economic Community, which is affecting the lives of 622 Million people and creating the third largest economy in Asia. TVET is the educational sector that vastly contributes towards the quality of living and societal development. Regional TVET systems need to continuously develop and readjust to a changing environ­ment in globalized competition on national and regional level. Relevant issues such as emerging TVET programmes, readjustment of curriculum contents, quality assurance, labor market information, recognition of qualifications across country and region, and sustainability are some areas that need special attention. 

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Full issue 5
Vocational teacher education is a relevant field of continuous development in Asia and in other world regions. Concepts, initiatives and declarations on the professional development of TVET personnel have frequently been issued by relevant stakeholders at a number of signifi­cant international meetings. Among them are the following:

Ten years ago the UNESCO International Meeting on Innovation and Excellence in TVET Teacher/Trainer Education was held in Hangzhou, China. This meeting recom­mended developing TVET into an internationally acknowledged scientific community in order to professionalize TVET teacher/trainer education and to integrate TVET as sustainable, reproductive and innovative scientific systems in national approaches to innovation. To implement TVET Teacher Education study programs at the Masters level were considered one of the necessary steps.
The First World Congress on Teacher Education for Technical and Vocational Educa­tion and Training held in 2008 in Bandung, Indonesia reaffirmed this request by recommending that TVET teacher/trainer education should encompass “studies in the analysis, design and evaluation of (a) vocational learning, educational and qualifica­tion processes, (b) occupational work and business processes, (c) technology as an object of work and learning processes, and (d) critical pedagogy for social change”. The Bandung declaration in addition asked for the establishment of “frameworks for promoting the continuing professional development of TVET practitioners”, a request implicitly included in the Hangzhou declaration.

Full issue 6
The importance of building ecologically sound economies (greening) in order to address climate change and other pressing environmental issues is widely acknowledged by govern­ments around the world. A notable example is the recently held 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris/France where 195 countries adopted the first universal climate change agreement. Although the outcome of the conference, the Paris Agreement, requires ratification by national governments, it demonstrates the strong will of the attending nations to address the pressing issue of climate change, to adopt the outcomes to their own legal systems and to sign the agreement.

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