Margarita Pavlova

Towards using transformative education as a benchmark for clarifying differences and similarities between Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development

The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) charges educators with a key role in developing and ‘securing sustainable life chances, aspirations and futures for young people’. Environmental Education (EE) and ESD share a vision of quality education and a society that lives in balance with Earth’s carrying capacity, even as they differ in terms of expectations of how that vision is realized, and what might need to be balanced. Rather than treat EE and ESD as sparing partners or fellow travellers towards the same destination, this paper analyses EE and ESD from the perspective of transformative educational goals. Using these goals as a benchmark transcends immediate problems with either form of education, while also helps to clarify policies and practise formations, appropriate to a diversity of educational contexts.

TVET as an important factor in country’s economic development

Education and training for productive employment is vital for economic and social development in Asia and the Pacific. Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is viewed as a tool for productivity enhancement and poverty reduction in the region. As there is a strong correlation between the proportion of TVET students at the post-secondary level and per capita income, many countries have taken steps to strengthen policy guidance and regulatory frameworks for TVET and to improve partnerships with private sector and employers. However, there is a difference between developed and less developed countries in terms of their first priorities regarding TVET. [The author] brings together a number of areas of strategic development for Hong Kong stated in the 2014 Chief Executives policy address namely: economic development; innovation and technology industries; vocational education; and environmental protection. High performance in increasingly competitive global economies combined with the need to address global challenges posed by climate change and carbon emissions, environmental degradation and pollution, health, and poverty, require successful countries to adapt innovation-driven strategies for growth that should be supported by TVET.

Skills development for employability (TVET) in higher education: Issues and challenges

Historically, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and higher education (HE) emerged from opposing traditions, with the universities providing academic knowledge and TVET providing skills for employability. Mass and elite HE and vocational institutions have developed complex relationships in many countries. Even European Union capitalist countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom have different approaches to HE and TVET. With the trend of the massification of HE, universities are increasingly moving away from the tradition of mainly producing and transmitting academic knowledge and are putting emphasis on skills development for employability. This has resulted in a move towards the vocationalization of HE and the bridging of academic and vocational learning. In this article, Luhmanns theory of society is used to consider the relationships between TVET and HE. These can be analysed in terms of a self-organizing (autopoietic) system that was developed by Luhmann in 1984. In accordance with this theory, satisfaction of industrys needs through the development of personal skills by means of university training would be harmonized through the function of stabilization in the time dimension. The dynamics of this are developed through communication. Luhmann (1984, Soziale Systeme. Grundriß einer allgemeinen Theorie. Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp (Translated version printed in 1995)) specified that the relations between the social communication system and what he called ‘individual consciousness systems’ (i.e. actors) are ‘structurally coupled’: the social communication system cannot operate without individuals who communicate, but only the message (i.e. the action) and not the actor is communicated. The action will thus have different meanings for the sending actor, for the receiving actor and for the social communication system, since they are different systems of reference. The social system has its own dynamics and gradually universities could be harmonized with the market economy. This article refers to the current discourses on vocation and HE relationships that can be viewed on four levels – political, economic, epistemological and human development.

Vocationalisation of Secondary and Tertiary Education: Challenges and Possible Future Directions

This chapter analyses social and economic debates and the ways economic competitiveness is viewed in relation to human resource development including some implications for vocationalisation. It argues that change from an education-driven to a functional-driven model of skills development within secondary schooling is observed in the Asia-Pacific region. It has been argued that such trends as expansion of the basis for vocationalisation, merging of TVET and general education, quality and delivery of vocationalisation and moves from specific job-skills training to flexible training are typical for the region and need to be taken into account when developing policies and implementation practices for vocationalisation. The degree to which vocationalisation occurs and its nature depends on the level of economic development and on cultural traditions. Social, economic and technology rationales are used by governments to decide on particular vocationalisation policy. The vocationalisation of postsecondary and higher education is analysed through the different levels of debate, and the issue of whether tertiary education is becoming too focused on preparing individual for employment is also discussed.

ESD through Technology Education: Contextualisation of Approaches

Abstract The importance of addressing education for sustainable development (ESD) through technology education has been argued by a number of researchers; it appears increasingly in curriculum document statements; and some resources have been developed for use by teachers. However, when the concept of sustainable development is discussed within technology education it is mainly focused on the ecological design of products with a major emphasis on limiting the environmental impacts of those products. This article examines the nature of sustainable development and argues for the basis of ESD in technology education. The ethics of weak anthropocentrism and a focus on the human condition are suggested as a guiding framework for the underlying philosophy of technology education. Value change and technical fix are proposed as interlinked approaches for the development of learning activities. The article proposes some applications of the above principles in technology education classrooms. Environmental and social emphases are identified as possible priorities within different contexts. The argument was supported by the UNEP analysis of challenges confronting countries internationally in terms of reducing per capita ecological footprint or increasing the human development index. Examples of classroom activities illustrate how the above differences could be addressed in the classroom.

Green Skills as the Agenda for the Competence Movement in Vocational and Professional Education

This chapter explores the nature of green skills/competencies and the ways they are included in vocational and professional education in several Asian countries. It argues that the development of a green economy – one that recognises the importance of holistic integration between environment and development – is viewed by many regions and countries as a future-oriented approach; thus green skills should be considered essential competencies to be incorporated into vocational and professional education. The chapter puts forward an approach towards the classification of generic green skills/competencies and presents a model for greening formal vocational and professional education. It argues that although multiple examples of green skills’ inclusion into the curriculum – as well as some emphasis on attitude development – can be identified in the existing practices of vocational and professional education providers, there is a need to implement a holistic framework for greening vocational and professional education based on the suggested model. To achieve greening, a particular emphasis on the development of values and attitudes is required; thus sometimes narrowly interpreted competence-based training should be broadened. A reorientation of vocational and professional education programmes towards the needs of a greener economy (both current and future), would mean that individuals and societies could augment students’ general awareness of environmental issues and develop their readiness for green restructuring.

Advancing Employability and Green Skills Development: Values Education in TVET, the Case of the People’s Republic of China

The development of employability skills is an essential component of TVET, and the list of skills varies across countries. However, they are all related to general skills valued by employers and the ones that help individuals gain employment and succeed at work. The emergence of a green economy agenda within the framework of sustainable development makes additional requests on the composition of employability skills. A green economy requires development of generic green skills (among other skills) that are in demand in almost any occupation (Pavlova, M. Economic competitiveness and ‘green skills’ development: issues and concerns for research. Presented at the international conference, Green Korea 2011, Seoul, 15 Sept 2011, 2011). These skills help the workforce to understand issues of green growth, to interpret environmental legislation and to increase energy and resource efficiency to enable the processes involved in greening the economy. This chapter examines the types of values that could underpin ‘enriched’ employability skills and discusses experiences and practices in China to illustrate a way of including values in TVET to address a green skills agenda.

Technological culture: Its representations and potential for theorizing technology education

In this article, technological culture is considered through a prism of comparative analysis as a way of contributing to a theoretical understanding of technology education. Two major representations of technological culture are the technocratic and humanistic approaches. Contrasting Russia and the West (with some emphasis on England) provides an opportunity to highlight the differences in these approaches. In the Russian context, the concept of technological culture has a very positive connotation. It is considered as an important concept in theorizing technology education and as a means of humanizing technology and incorporating broad sociocultural issues. In Western countries, on the other hand, technological culture is not associated with the inclusion of humanistic understanding or moral values in technical phenomena. Technocratic ideology, instrumentalism and rationality, and the view that technology represents a threat to humanity are often associated with technological culture.Although these views characterize technological culture in very different ways, they illustrate the universal quest to identify key features for incorporation into technology education. The author argues that technology education should be value inclusive, should create possibilities for reflection, and should overcome the purposive-rational approach to technology.RésuméCet article se penche sur la culture technologique, vue ici à travers un prisme comparatif, afin d’offrir une contribution au discours théorique sur l’enseignement des technologies. Les deux principales représentations de la culture technologique analysées sont l’approche technocratique et l’approche humaniste. Une opposition entre la Russie et l’Occident (en particulier l’Angleterre) fournit l’occasion de mettre en évidence les différences entre ces deux approches. Dans le contexte russe, la notion de culture technologique a des connotations très positives. Elle est considérée comme un concept important dans l’élaboration théorique en enseignement des technologies; elle est vue comme un moyen d’humaniser cet enseignement et d’y intégrer des questions socioculturelles de vaste portée. En Occident, la culture technologique ne se caractérise par aucune notion de compréhension de type humaniste ni ne se préoccupe de la valeur morale des phénomènes techniques. Au contraire, l’idéologie technocratique, l’instrumentalisme et la rationalité, et l’idée que les technologies représentent une menace pour l’humanité, sont des traits qu’on associe souvent à la culture technologique. Cette séparation nette entre les technologies et la culture est évidente dans de nombreux documents qui traitent des curricuiums en enseignement des technologies.Le fait d’utiliser la notion de culture technologique comme moyen d’humaniser l’enseignement des technologies en Russie, et le fait de ne pas l’utiliser en Angleterre, peut avoir pour conséquence qu’on conceptualise l’enseignement des technologies selon deux perspectives opposées: d’une part la possibilité d’être responsable et réfléchi, de développer des technologies appropriées et de mettre en pratique certaines valeurs (y compris morales), et d’autre part une absence de réflexion, une approche instrumentale et le développement d’une intelligence pratique (plutôt que critique). Cependant, la préoccupation sous-jacente est celle de définir les aspects clés d’un bon enseignement des technologies. Celui-ci doit se pencher sur les valeurs, fournir des occasions de réflexion et rejeter l’approche rationnelle comme fin en soi. Le discours théorique sur l’enseignement des technologies doit refléter le principe qu’on ne peut accorder au rationnel (défini comme efficacité et économie) le même degré de priorité qu’aux autres valeurs. II est nécessaire de

Transitions: Conceptualization of individual educational pathways

This chapter examines the importance of individual educational pathways (IEPs) for transitions from school to further study, or work, within the paradigm of lifelong learning. A pathway, or trajectory, in lifelong learning recognizes the autonomy of an individual, which is bounded to a large extent by external structural and social constraints, mediated by an internalized view of the value and availability of opportunities. The chapter focuses on the ways IEPs can be conceptualized. A number of factors that influence the development of IEPs in the context of lifelong learning are considered, and the role of pedagogy in the formulation and realization of IEPs is highlighted. The chapter examines personal characteristics required by students for the development and implementation of IEPs and concludes by discussing the advantages of IEPs in ensuring smooth transitions in lifelong learning and in formulating criteria to ensure the quality of IEP development.

Stepping into the World: Transitions to Post-school Life

Concerns about the relevance of educational systems to the economic and social needs of countries are growing internationally. Countries in Asia are confronted with the realities of economic development, technological change, urbanisation and demographic issues that require governments to design specific policies and strategies that enable them to invest in human capital and tackle these challenges. The considerable mismatch between the supply of skills and labour market demand is a common problem in the region, meaning that there are around 33 million unemployed young people across the Asia and Pacific. Therefore, the issue of transition from school to work is among the major concerns for the governments. This chapter serves as an introduction to issues associated with transitions and discussed in the book through the analysis of the experiences of different countries, such as innovative approaches in policy and practice, issues of selectiveness and inclusiveness, integration of transversal competencies, the vocationalisation of secondary schooling, approaches to bridging skill gaps and emerging models of student support.