STRENGTHENING TVET PERSONNEL CAPACITIES FOR THE FUTURE OF WORK

The two-days event was attended by around 100 participants - policy makers, practitioners, and representatives of the private sector as well as experts from ASEAN and international organisations. They came together in Vientiane Capital to discuss the status quo of the digital transformation in TVET, especially how to best equip TVET personnel with personal and digital capacities for the digital transformation. Good examples from the countries were shared and implications of new trends like Artificial Intelligence (AI) for teaching and learning in TVET were reviewed by speakers and audience.

The event was honored by the opening remarks of H.E. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phout Simmalavong, Minister of Education and Sports, Lao PDR, Mr. Yodsapol Venukosess, Deputy Secretary-General of the Office of Vocational Education Commission (OVEC), Ministry of Education of Thailand - Chair of ASEAN TVET Council, as well as Ms. Adelene Audre is from Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) who was speaking on behalf of Team Europe.

H.E. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phout Simmalavong, Minister of Education and Sports, Lao PDR

The first day of the conference zoomed in on the topic of TVET personnel training in ASEAN from the global and regional perspective down to good and practical examples from the national level through contributions from SEAMEO VOCTECH, UNESCO, Brunei Darussalam, Lao PDR, Malaysia and Viet Nam.

Ms. Francesca Endrizzi who virtually presented the regional findings of the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report highlighted that even though there is rapid development in digital transformation in education in ASEAN the landscape is remaining diverse between countries. For example, in Singapore 96% of the students went to schools with online learning platforms, in Thailand 77% and 59% in Indonesia. Overall, more efforts and holistic approaches are needed to enhance access, equity, safety and regulatory frameworks for a sustainable digital transformation in the education sector. 

Dr. Paryono, Deputy Director for Professional Affairs and Research Manager at SEAMEO VOCTECH pointed out that TVET personnel is more than teachers alone and that a combination of practical skills, digital teaching methods, and technical expertise is needed to meet the demands of Industry 4.0 and a digitalized economy. He recommended that digital teaching skills should be included both during the pre-service and in-service teachers training programmes and referred to existing programs and tools available on SEA-VET.net, like the Smart Education Readiness Index (SERI) a self-assesment tool for TVET institutions to gauge their readiness level for industry 4.0.

The examples from the countries showcased the variety of approaches and levels of sophistication across ASEAN. In Lao PDR and many other countries, digital literacy of TVET personnel is remaining a challenge to enable teachers to use digital tools in classrooms, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bounseng Khammounty, Director General of Vocational Education Development Institute (VEDI), Lao PDR shared. For specific upskilling open-source training platforms, like Coursera are being widely used but also own e-learning offers have been developed.

The case of Vietnam, presented by Dr. Vu Quang Khue, Principal of Bac Ninh College of Industry showed how digital transformation in TVET affects the whole ecosystem of teaching and learning including a digital monitoring and assessment system as well as an e-learning studio at Bac Ninh College.

Dr. Aziyati Yusoff, Head of Digital Learning Unit at the Centre for Instructor and Advanced Skill Training (CIAST) of Malaysia highlighted the country’s long standing political aspirations and support for digital transformation in education and the economy. The areas of capacity development for TVET personnel CIAST is offering are ranging from skills testing and accreditation and a variety of online courses, to the use of AI, augmented and virtual reality applications. The examples from Brunei gave inspiration how digital transformation among teachers, trainers and learners can be incentivized. Mr. Haji Norjemee, Centre Director of SEAMEO VOCTECH emphasised on the positive effects of competitions, like the Brunei Info-Communication Technology Awards (BICTA) or the ASEAN Skills Competition as well as peer-learning groups like the Centre of Technology Enhancement Learning and the Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning. In the panel discussion the speakers stressed the importance of bite-size or micro learning and learner centric and problem- or project-based approaches, instead of the traditional lecturing approaches for effective and future-oriented teaching and learning for all.  

On the second day, participants and presenters discussed current trends in digital transformation, especially generative AI and its implications to teaching and learning. The topic was introduced by Ms. Ayu Pratiwi, Programme Officer at ASEAN Foundation. The organization implemented the AI Teach initiative with Microsoft, that was conducted in Malaysia and Indonesia. The program showed that AI can significantly reduce the administrative burden of teachers, freeing up time to focus more on other tasks such as creative teaching and meaningful student interactions. Still, boundaries need to be established to ensure AI supports but does not replace teachers – a common concern of teachers. The presentation was followed by a panel discussion that emphasised the importance of promoting the use of AI amongst learners and teachers alike, taking a step by step, learning-by-doing approach to show the practical use of the tools to support the learning journey. But still, a proper needs assessment with the private sector should be done to identify the concrete needs of the use to then develop national occupational and skills standards to align the curricula with the identified AI needs. Also, it was raised that emphasis is needed to develop AI tools in local languages and contexts to ensure relevance and accessibility to diverse communities across ASEAN.

The conference, which contributed to the ASEAN Workplan 2022-2025 and the Workplan of the ASEAN TVET Council was highly appreciated by participants and speakers alike. They acknowledged the high relevance of the topic and its rapid evolution that is accompanied by huge possibilities but also challenges. One of the main takeaways is a call for more collaboration and action. Even though a range of important regional frameworks and standards have been jointly developed there is still room for more collaboration amongst the ASEAN member nations to synergize and enhance digital transformation of the ASEAN TVET sector to assure accessibility, ensure quality, regulate embeddedness in formal curricula and measure effectiveness of digital learning offers. Especially concerning digital advancement, collaboration with industries is the key. On the one hand, for the public TVET systems to remain aligned with the rapid technological developments and to respond to the evolving needs of the labour market as well as for TVET personnel’s hands-on capacity building through industry placements. 

With this event the ASEAN chairmanship was passed on to Malaysia for their turn in 2025 which the country announced the  - ASEAN "Year of skills”.  

Further information can be found in the presentations and links below:

• Country Case Presentations

Country_Case_Brunei_Darussalam.pdf

Country_Case_Lao_PDR.pdf

Country_Case_Malaysia.pdf

Country_Case_Viet_Nam_.pdf

• References

Teach_AI_Initiative_ASEAN_Foundation.pdf

TVET_Personnel_Digital_Competencies_SEAMEO_VOCTECH.pdf

UNESCO_GEM_report_2023.pdf

SERI Tools