Delivering TVET through Quality Apprenticeships: Report of UNESCO-UNEVOC Virtual Conference, 15-26 June 2015
Author: UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (Germany)
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Apprenticeships,Delivery Systems,Vocational Education,Educational Quality,Videoconferencing,Discourse Communities,Communities of Practice,Youth Employment,Definitions,Innovation,Training Methods,Financial Support,Skill Analysis,Needs Assessment,Educational Needs,School Business Relationship,Partnerships in Education,Curriculum Development,Dropouts,Student Attrition,Work Experience,Prior Learning,Reputation,Institutional Advancement,Corporate Education,Program Design,Performance Factors,Best Practices,International Education

This virtual conference was the eleventh in a series of moderator-driven discussions introduced by UNESCO-UNEVOC in 2011. Conducted on the UNEVOC e-Forum--a global online community of over 4,000 members--and guided by an expert, these discussions provide a platform for sharing of experiences, expertise and feedback and wish to inspire people to take further action. The global youth employment crisis has brought apprenticeship back on the international policy agenda. In the face of large cohorts of unemployed youth and mismatches in skills and qualification levels, many countries wish to explore and introduce apprenticeship as a way to tackle youth unemployment and reduce future labour-market imbalances. In other countries &quot;informal&quot; and &quot;traditional&quot; apprenticeships exist and great efforts are being made to upgrade and formalize these apprenticeship schemes to increase the availability of quality training for youth. The general objective of the two-week virtual conference on &quot;Delivering Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) through Quality Apprenticeships&quot; was to increase participants' understanding of apprenticeship training, in particular formal quality apprenticeship schemes. The conference stimulated a knowledge-sharing process between participants on the key factors needed for effective quality apprenticeships. Likewise, it represented a forum where participants could share their questions, fields of interest, research and personal, institutional and national experiences. During the introduction round at the beginning of the conference, participants were asked to share their fields of interest and their main questions related to apprenticeships. Based on the ideas expressed by the participants during the online discussion and the issues identified in the background paper, twelve main discussion topics were identified for the virtual conference: (1) Definition of apprenticeship and how to put &quot;quality&quot; in apprenticeship; (2) Innovations and alternative forms of apprenticeship; (3) Financing apprenticeship; (4) Anticipation and identification of skills needs for apprenticeships; (5) Involving the industry; (6) Curriculum development for apprenticeship; (7) Non-completion of apprenticeship training, drop-out and attrition; (8) Documenting work experience and recognition of prior learning; (9) Social image and attractiveness of apprenticeship; (10) In-company training and trainers; (11) Architecture and success factors of apprenticeship; and (12) Further research areas. This report summarizes the main findings of the discussions and of participants' contributions. It also shares promising practices that emerged during the virtual conference. It concludes with a series of research questions and proposals shared by participants, as well as some of the most frequent challenges with apprenticeship expressed by participants. The report concludes with a series of recommendations on how to increase the understanding of apprenticeship and support the implementation of successful experiences. An Annex with the following is included: (1) Bibliography; and (2) Fields of Interest or questions raised by participants during the introduction round. [The conference was moderated by Alessandra Molz.]