Skills for Green and Just Transitions

Given the urgency of the climate crisis, there seems to be no alternative to a transition to a green and just economy on a global scale. Such a transition harbours both opportunities and challenges, particularly in the Global South.

Great importance is attached to vocational education and training in terms of training new occupational fields, but also to cushion the expected massive job losses in some sectors. However, particularly in the Global South, vocational education and training systems are confronted with a variety of challenges, such as resource constraints, inadequate infrastructure, weak labour market relevance and, last but not least, low social status.

Against this background, a broad discussion and a large number of different approaches to the role of VET in the transition to a green and fair economy have emerged and it is important to recognise the diversity of these approaches. The range of possible measures should be seen as a continuum, encompassing both small steps embedded in existing economic structures and more radical, transformative measures. The latter tend to go beyond the traditional understanding of VET as serving an industry-based economy with formal employment. Instead, they call for a look at the complexities of the real world of work, which is characterised by informal, precarious, subsistence and unpaid work for families and communities, especially in the Global South.

In this context, OeFSE’s work focuses on the question of how vocational education and training can help to ensure that economically weak and disadvantaged sections of the population are not left behind in the transition to a green and just economy.

For more information contact:

Ms. Margarita Langthaler
Senior Researcher
Tel.: +43 1 317 40 10 – 112  
E-Mail: m.langthaler@oefse.at
 
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