UNESCO-UNEVOC: Price Loyd Besorio under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO
Most countries in the Asia-Pacific have introduced measures to prepare TVET students for the transition to a digital and/or knowledge economy
Identification: 83% of Asia-Pacific TVET stakeholders surveyed in 2020 said that their country regularly conducts national skills forecasts that pay explicit attention to the new skills required in a digital economy. However, a much lower percentage (50%) said that their country’s national skills forecasts pay attention to the new skills required in a knowledge economy. (UNESCO-UNEVOC 2020)
Integration: Nevertheless, most Asia-Pacific governments have made formal commitments to promoting the integration of ICT in education. National policies on ICT in education usually consist of general principles, guidelines and strategies, with short- to medium-term targets (e.g. 5- to 10-year plans) aligned with longer-term goals and objectives. They often apply to the education sector as a whole, rather than to TVET specifically, although measures targeting TVET may be implemented. (UNESCO 2016)
Implementation: As early as 2015, most governments in the region had put policies in place to prepare TVET students for the transition to a digital and/or knowledge economy by: offering training in electronic and/or digital technologies; emphasizing innovation-related (STEM) skills in the TVET curriculum; and integrating electronic and/or digital methods and technologies across the TVET curriculum. These policies have had a positive impact on employers’ regard for TVET graduates’ digital skills. (UNESCO 2016)
Moreover, the IT and innovation-related skills of TVET graduates in the East Asia sub-region seem to be among the best in the world. East Asian students – in particular, those from Republic of Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan – regularly top the charts in OECD PISA assessments for skills such as creative problem solving. They are also frequent winners of World Skills competitions in areas such as IT software solutions for business, manufacturing team challenge, and mobile robotics. In the high-income East Asian countries, students’ success may be partly attributed to ICT-enhanced education having been institutionalized at primary and secondary education levels. (UNESCO 2016)
Key facts
UNESCO-UNEVOC/Amitava Chandra
75%
of employers across four Asia-Pacific countries (Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Philippines) surveyed in 2021 reported a growth in demand for new hires with digital skills over the past five years.
(ADB 2022)
UNESCO-UNEVOC/Amitava Chandra
UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre
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53113 Bonn, Germany
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53.4%
of homes across the Asia-Pacific had Internet access in 2019, just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but this was lower than the global average of 57.4%.
(ITU 2021)
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UNESCO-UNEVOC/Amoda Nilnuwan
Over 1/4
of Asia-Pacific TVET providers had never delivered training remotely prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
(ILO-UNESCO-World Bank 2020)
UNESCO-UNEVOC/Amoda Nilnuwan
UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre
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56%
of current employees in five South-East Asian countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam) are forecast to have their jobs replaced by robots over the next 20 years.
(UNESCO 2017)
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Some countries in the region have made slow progress in adapting TVET training to technological advances.
Challenge
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Some countries in the region have made slow progress in adapting TVET training to technological advances.
Most low-income and lower-middle income countries in the region have only recently begun introducing ICT in TVET, while most high-income and upper-middle income countries have been incorporating ICT in their TVET policies, strategies and national development plans over a long duration. One reason for this divergence is that responding to technological change, including incorporating ICT in TVET, is expensive: from the initial costs of investing in the telecommunications infrastructure and retraining teachers and trainers, to the ongoing expense of updating training materials and purchasing new equipment to keep abreast of changes in industrial standards and practices. (UNESCO 2016)
Access to ICT at secondary school level differs markedly across the region. While all secondary educational institutions in Singapore, Korea and Hong Kong have broadband internet access, fewer than 10% of schools in Bangladesh and Nepal have internet connectivity. (UNESCO 2017)
When asked what challenges their country faces in preparing TVET students for the transition to a digital and/or knowledge economy, TVET stakeholders from low-income and lower-middle income Asia-Pacific countries surveyed in 2015 most frequently cited financial issues. However, many also cited a lack of trained staff with relevant knowledge and expertise and lack of an adequate IT, technological and/or physical infrastructure. The least-cited challenge was negative attitudes towards new technologies and/or resistance to change, suggesting that TVET institutions are willing to adapt to technological change, but financial, technical and structural issues are blocking progress. (UNESCO 2016)
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In sectors with high increase in digitally-driven services such as hospitality and tourism, training providers must develop strategies to become more responsive to emerging digital trends
Challenge
Image by The Yuri Arcurs Collection
In sectors with high increase in digitally-driven services such as hospitality and tourism, training providers must develop strategies to become more responsive to emerging digital trends
The hospitality and tourism sector is undergoing a digital transformation. This article presents what digital skills trends are observed in the sector and what are the challenges in ensuring learners are digitally prepared.
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Digitalization has the potential to improve the accessibility of TVET education.
UNESCO-UNEVOC/RenTao Zhang
Partnerships at local, national and international levels are key to overcoming the financial, technical and infrastructural barriers to ICT integration in TVET that lower-income countries face
Opportunity
UNESCO-UNEVOC/RenTao Zhang
Partnerships at local, national and international levels are key to overcoming the financial, technical and infrastructural barriers to ICT integration in TVET that lower-income countries face
Partnerships with industry experts are vital for making ‘great leaps forward’ in terms of integrating new technologies in TVET in innovative ways. They also offer the potential for attracting funding to TVET for ICT-related programmes and activities. (UNESCO 2016)
Similarly, ‘pooling’ resources with other TVET providers – for example, sharing the costs of upgrading ICT facilities and/or retraining TVET teachers, and/or engaging in knowledge/ technology transfer – can increase TVET institutions’ material and technical capacities in a cost-effective manner. (UNESCO 2016)
Governments should ensure that national policies and strategies promote the integration of ICT in education and encourage the development of ICT-enhanced innovative pedagogies in TVET to prepare learners for a technologically advancing and progressively knowledge-based economy. They should also consider sharing costs and pooling resources with other governments and/or private sector partners to meet the high costs of improving the ICT infrastructure and/or gathering data on rapidly changing skills needs. (UNESCO 2016)
International donors should, where possible, offer financial and/or technical assistance to low-income and lower-middle income countries in the region to help them to ‘catch up’ and compete with countries that are at a more advanced stage of integrating ICT in TVET. (UNESCO 2016)
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