Vocational education and training for African development: a literature review
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Date
2019-11-05
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Informa-Taylor & Francis
Abstract
The SDGs mark the clearest global acceptance yet that the
previous approach to development was unsustainable. In VET,
UNESCO has responded by developing a clear account of how
a transformed VET must be part of a transformative approach
to development. It argues that credible, comprehensive skills
systems can be built that can support individuals, commu nities, and organisations to generate and maintain enhanced
and just livelihood opportunities. However, the major current
theoretical approaches to VET are not up to this challenge. In
the context of Africa, we seek to address this problem through
a presentation of literatures that contribute to the theorization
of this new vision. They agree that the world is not made up of
atomized individuals guided by a “hidden hand”. Rather, reality
is heavily structured within political economies that have
emerged out of contestations and compromises in specific
historical and geographical spaces. Thus, labor markets and
education and training systems have arisen, characterized by
inequalities and exclusions. These specific forms profoundly
influence individuals’ and communities’ views about the value
of different forms of learning and working. However, they do
not fully define what individuals dream, think and do. Rather, a
transformed and transformative VET for Africa is possible.
Description
Keywords
VET, Development, Africa