unesco-unevoc qatar centre research fellow college of north atlantic … · 2019-02-14 ·...

TVET, 21st Century skills and relevance for Learning Cities

Dr. Leone Wheeler, EdDUNESCO-UNEVOC Qatar Centre Research Fellow

College of North Atlantic - Qatar

Outline of Presentation:

1. UNESCO’s Learning City Framework - UNESCO UIL2. Learning in and for the Workplace, with particular reference to TVET and 21st

Century Skills3. Reflections on Relevance for Learning Cities

A learning city promotes lifelong learning for all

• effectively mobilizes its resources in every sector to promote inclusive learning from basic to higher education;

• revitalizes learning in families and communities;

• facilitates learning for and in the workplace; • extends the use of modern learning technologies; • enhances quality and excellence in learning; and• fosters a culture of learning throughout life.

UNESCO defines a learning city as a city that

In doing so, it will enhance individual empowerment and social cohesion, economic and cultural prosperity, sustainable development.

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Presentation Notes

You might be familiar with this definition which came out of the first International Conference on Learning Cities in Beijing in 2013. Within this definition learning for and in the workplace is placed within a socio-cultural context. Learning here is more than a process within a workplace; it happens with a society and culture that values and promotes learning and enhancing the knowledge and skills required for the workplace. As Billet notes learning in the workplace are rich, complex and difficulty to avoid. Technical, vocational education and training traditionally has had an emphasis on the acquisition of knowledge and skills for the world of work and so is an important part of the skills development mix. Workplaces and for that matter projects in communities offer transferable vocational knowledge and thus the world of work has traditionally served as the foundation for stability and social advancement for most families and communities.

The Key Features of Learning Cities

4http://www.uil.unesco.org/lifelong-learning/learning-cities

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Learning for and in the workplace is one of the major building blocks of a learning city and you can see clearly that the context of workplace learning is within a sociey. This is also being linked to UN Sustainability Goals, specifically The Learning Cities as a whole is aligned to: Goal 4: ensuring inclusive and quality education for all and promoting lifelong learning Goal 11: to make cities resilient, safe, inclusive and sustainable Learning for and in the workplace strongly aligns to goal 8 to promote inclusive and sustainable eeconomic growth, employment and decent work for all.

Decent work and entrepreneurship; within a healthy, green, inclusive and equitable learning city is now a central focus for action.

Source: UNESCO UIL, 2017

Learning Terms from UNESCO UIL 2015, 2017, Unlocking Potential of Urban Communities Vol I & II

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I skimmed through key words from the case studies of the 28 cities that have won UNESCO learning city awards that I found related to learning, and employment. Many examples covering formal, informal and non-formal learning.

Range of Activities and Places done in PartnershipActivities:• Literacy and numeracy courses• Learning exchange sharing skills and knowledge• Online learning (MOOCs)/Social Media• TVET training aligning with industry in local area• Youth guarantee• Enterprise Education• Free Technical Assistance to Farmers, Fisherman• Targeted skills training – women, young people, migrants• Technology Training to Small Business• Career Planning• Learning festivals• Professional development within companies• Pathways to learning and employment• International dialogues (PASCAL’s EcCoWell)

Places• Parks• Learning Organisations• Museums• Libraries• Homes• Technology Park• Enterprise Learning Region• Learning Lighthouses• Learning Hubs• Community Centres• Vocational Colleges• Higher Education/ Universities• Training centres within business

Source: UNESCO UIL 2015, 2017, Unlocking Potential of Urban Communities Vol I & II

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Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) – (Applied Learning)

• TVET at all levels has a critical role to play in sustainable development and greening of economies (Maclean et al, 2018, Pavlova, 2018)

• TVET as a way of providing learning cities with a model to “facilitate effective learning for an in the workplace” is under-researched (Pavlova, 2018)

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Where does TVET as part of a broader education system fit in. It provides the bridge from the informal/non-formal to formal learning. There is a body of research on TVET and sustainable development. TVET at all levels has a critical role to play in sustainable development and the greening of economies. There is also a clear connection between skills development and economic, social and sustainable development. There is also an extensive body of research on learning for and in the workplace, for example, one of the key researchers I studied in my doctoral work was Stephen Billet – Learning in the Workplace – Strategies for effective practice (2001) including using a scaffolding or mentoring approach to learning. Pavlova (2018) acknowledges that p341 although the importance of TVET for green economic development has been widely accepted, many aspects are under-researched. For example, there is no model that can support learning cities to facilitate “effective learning for and in the workplace” In fact, in a recent critique on learning cities in the International Journal of Lifelong Education (2018), Roger Boshier, an adult educator from British Columbia recommends a much stronger connection between theory and practice. Learning cities provide evidence of practice that should have a stronger connection to theory and this is one area, in particular, about how learning cities better embrace stronger connections between informal, non-formal learning and formal learning for and in the workplace?

Qatar National Research Fund ProjectImproving and Enriching the Human Capital of Qatar through the Identification and Development of 21st Century Skills for Sustainability and Employability (2018-2021)

21st Century Skills

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Maclean and Fien discuss a number of such competency frameworks in Australia, for example, the Mayer Committee Key Competencies 1992 –– and there are many similar ones in other countries –– all part of the search for employee flexibility and wider employability skills. Education for life skills, global citizenship, entrepreneurship and digital literacy are parallel developments, reflecting responses in general education and TVET to other social and economic changes. Today, these are coalescing into the 21st Century Skills movement, although this concept is not yet being widely discussed in TVET. However, an NCVER report by Kearns (2001) discusses the history of these changes in Australia and is a very good contribution to thinking in the field

Numerous frameworks, for exampleWays of Thinking 1. Creativity and innovation2. Critical thinking, problem solving, decision making 3. Learning to learn, metacognition Ways of Working 4. Communication5. Collaboration (teamwork)

Tools for Working 6. Information literacy (includes research on sources, evidence, biases, etc.)7. ICT literacy Living in the World 8. Citizenship – local and global 9. Life and career10. Personal and social responsibility – including cultural awareness and competence

Griffin, P. et al. (eds.) (2012) Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills,

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I found this definition was most closely related to a broader range of skills that relate to learning cities. Binkley, M. et al. (2012). Defining Twenty-First Century Skills. In . M. B. Griffin P., Care E. (eds) Assessment & Teaching of 21st Century Skills, Springer, Dordrecht. Professor Patrick Griffin was the leader of this research team.

21st Century Skills

Critical thinking

Motivation

Creativity

Problem Solving

Self-efficacy

Conscientiousness

Grit/perseverance

Lamb, Doecke and Maire (2018)

Metacognition

Proposed Qatar Framework Higher Order Thinking1. Learning to learn. 2. Creativity and innovation 3. Critical thinking, problem solving, decision

making

Technological Generic Skills 9. Digital literacy10. Mathematical and spatial reasoning 11. Use of monitoring equipment and

interpretation of data.12. Adapt to new technologies

Personal and Social Skills4. Personal presentation and self-awareness5. Conscientiousness and perseverance6. Communication7. Collaboration (teamwork)8. Leadership

Skills for Sustainability13. Citizenship – local and global14. Cultural awareness and competence15. Perspective taking and fair-mindedness16. Environmental awareness

Source: Fien & Guevara, 2018

Relevance for Learning Cities:Preparing for Drivers of Change, for example:

The FourthIndustrial Revolution

Increased requirement for minimum Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)… and what our research project has labelled 21st Century Skills

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This recent report on the implications of technological disruptions on Australian TVET and also a series of reports on the future world of work ‘new work smarts’ published by the Young Australia Foundations talk about the increasing need for basics in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) and for the soft skills that we have identified.

Addressing big issues locally ……• 617 million children and adolescents worldwide are not

achieving minimum proficiency levels (MPL) in reading and mathematics (UNESCO UIS, 2017)

• 64 million unemployed youth worldwide (ILO, 2018)• 145 million young workers living in poverty (ILO, 2018)……

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Addressing big issues locally is what I think learning cities doe best. Vocational education is an important part of the mix. At a recent International Experts’ meeting on TVET for sustainability and employability, I was staggered by the numbers quoted by the CEO Plan International – a not for profit organisation dealing with youth unemployment and gender equality. How can you prepare young people for the 4th industrial revolution if they do not have minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics? The examples I talked about earlier show that the framework provided by learning cities, based on learning, does have methods and local actions for dealing with such issues.

“Lifelong learning is about work and life, success in work that benefits the community, and the future of our young people who will enter the labour market;” Delors, 2013

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What will that labour market look like? What are we preparing young people for?

Challenge:

To find ways that TVET research into skills development (including 21st Century Skills) can contribute to a model for learning cities to facilitate effective learning for and in the workplace.

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Presentation Notes

As Boshier and Pavlova remind us there needs to be a much stronger connection between theory and practice. Learning cities provide evidence of practice that should have a stronger connection to theory and this is one area, in particular a how can learning cities better embrace stronger connections between informal, non-formal learning and formal learning for and in the workplace? The pockets of good practice must become more widespread.

Acknowledgement

This paper refers to the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) Project: Improving and Enriching the Human Capital of Qatar through the Identification and Development of 21st Century Skills for Sustainability and Employability (2018-2021) (NPRP ID. 10-1212-160022). The team members would like to thank QNRF for their generous support of this research through the National Priority Research Project. Any opinions, findings, conclusions and recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Qatar National Research Fund. QNRF has not approved or endorsed its content.

Partners• Partners in the QNRF project are the College of North Atlantic – Qatar (CNA-Q),

RMIT University, Qatar University, the University of Oxford, the Education University of Hong Kong, and Qatar Green Building Council. The Lead Principal Investigator is Dr. Rupert Maclean. The Principal Investigators are: Professor John Fien and Associate Professor Jose Roberto Guevara (RMIT), Dr Leone Wheeler, (Project Manager) and Dr. Ziad Said (CNA-Q); Dr. Darwish Abdulrahman H Al-Emadi (QU); Associate Professor Margarita Pavlova (EUHK); Dr. David Johnson (Oxford); and, Dr. Alex Amato and Dr. Cynthia Skelhorn (QGBC).

• CNAQ also partners with Al Wakra Municipality, National Commission for Education, Culture and Science (Ministry of Higher Education); UNESCO Office in Doha on its Learning City project.

unesco-unevoc qatar centre research fellow college of north atlantic … · 2019-02-14 ·...

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