3. Regional TVET Conference - Lao PDR 2015

Background

Hosted by the Lao Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) together with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) the third Regional TVET Conference took place from 14-15 December 2015. It brought together key stakeholders from politics as well as senior representatives from the business community, international agencies and civil society. The aim of the conference was to create a platform for high-level policy and decision-makers to continue and further develop the Asia-wide dialogue in the field of vocational education and training within the context of the AEC integration as well as in the spirit of the process started in 2012 in Hanoi/Vietnam and taken further in Jakarta/Indonesia 2014.

Objective

• Promote technical debates and expert dialogues on inclusive and labour market oriented technical vocational education and training for the upcoming AEC;
• Promote transnational cooperation and regional harmonisation within the TVET sector in Asia and in ASEAN in particular (based on joint recommendations);
• Pick up recommendations from the conferences in Hanoi and Jakarta and share experiences; and
• Establish a mutual consensus for further developing and harmonising TVET systems in context of the AEC integration.

Participation Criteria

Participants included high-level Government representatives from TVET line ministries of ASEAN Member States, regional and national TVET specialists and organisations, private sector including chambers and business membership organisations, members of the civil society, freelance professionals and consultants, as well as international agencies such as the ADB, UNESCO and ILO.

Session Rationale & Methodology

Plenary sessions, group discussions and panel debates with employers and business representatives were conducted during the conference. The conference focussed on four key topics:

• TVET Governance (including a labour market oriented legal framework and financing of TVET)
• Inclusive Vocational Education
• Work-process and Employment-oriented TVET
• TVET Personnel

Key Discussion Questions

How far does ASEAN integration influence education, especially the TVET sector at the national and - more importantly –regional levels? 
 What reform processes or measures in TVET and labour market development should be implemented or supported at the national and regional levels? 
 What are the keys to success when introducing workplace related TVET in commercial and technical professions, and what are the challenges? 
 What concepts and experiences from Europe could be used to overcome obstacles and to solve problems in a sustainable manner? 


For more information, conference documentation including plenary sessions, background papers etc., please click ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ http://regional-tvet-conference-laos.tvet-rkp.net/en/topic/8.downloads.html