The TVET Response to the Challenges of Sustainable Development: Towards a Synthesis

In the chapters exploring responses within TVET to the challenges of sustainable developed explored in Part I, the authors of Part II have outlined key opportunities and challenges within the context of a highly complex, rapidly changing, technologically based and uncertain world. Indeed, complexity and uncertainty emerge as key themes in these chapters. Two key sets of complexities are prominent: the enigmatic and complex nature of sustainable development as a concept; and the complex multiple roles and purposes of TVET that shape its response to the demands of addressing sustainable development. The authors have emphasized the changes and uncertainties of life and livelihoods that confront people in both developed and developing countries in the twenty-first century, including uncertainties in economic, socio-cultural, political and environmental circumstances. Striking a balance between these dynamic systems is embodied in the concept of sustainability (see Part 1). As Dhameja et al. remind us, sustainable development is an elusive term but an inclusive concept, embracing economic, environmental and socio-cultural concerns. For TVET to successfully address the challenges of sustainable development in the twenty-first century requires providers, in all their forms across nations, cultures and societal contexts, to review their orientation, priorities and obligations, pedagogies, curriculum and processes of curriculum development, as well as their commitment to and strategies for professional development of their staff. It also demands that TVET providers rethink their relationships with the broader community and connections with other education providers. Globalization and technological developments have led to the transformation of the nature of work and careers, as well as shifts in opportunities for employment, with a rapid reduction of jobs using unskilled labour. In analysing the notion of sustainability and the more dynamic notion of sustainable development, Thomas stresses the importance of developing people’s adaptability to changing environmental and socio-economic circumstances. Sustainable development should not