World Report on TVET The Promise and Potential of ICT in TVET

Abstract

This chapter of the World Report considers the global evidence for the efficacy of the use of ICTs in the delivery of technical and vocational education and training (TVET). During the last decade there has been increased focus on the use of ICT for the management and delivery of TVET in both developed and developing nations. Countries are in different stages of development from the industrial to the information age and are establishing strategies to reform TVET to meet the changing demands of the knowledge economy. The concept of knowledge economy is used here to mean “an economy where knowledge is the main engine of economic growth” (Chen & Dahlman 2005). This is a position to which many countries, both developed and developing, aspire. The European Union’s strategic goal, agreed in Lisbon in 2000 was that ten years later, Europeans will live in the most competitive, and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world. Many countries expect the ICT revolution to spur their economic development and transition to knowledge economies. The knowledge economy is underpinned by information technology – those systems which collect, enhance and commodify knowledge to support high value services and processes. In parallel, a wider ‘knowledge society’ is expected to develop, with knowledge being used to improve public services such as health and education.