Defining TVET and STEM-related TVET.

 

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)- related technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has a potentially significant role to play in providing the skills and competencies required to support innovation, productivity and international competitiveness as well as areas of social development including health and education. It is thus an important driver for achieving a range of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and contributing to inclusive and sustainable societies. STEM skills and knowledge can be required for both ‘traditional’ and ‘emerging’ occupations; STEM-related careers are often referred to as the ‘jobs of the future’, driving innovation, inclusive growth and sustainable development. The World Economic Forum in 2018 explains that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is changing the world of work, largely driven by technological advancements. The report shows extensive evidence of accelerating demand for a variety of wholly new specialist roles related to understanding and leveraging the latest emerging technologies: artificial intelligence and machine learning specialists, big data specialists, process automation experts, information security analysts, user experience and human–machine interaction designers, robotics engineers and blockchain specialists. Even as STEM subjects and skills are becoming more essential in today’s world, gender disparities are prevalent in these fields. In recent years, much has been done to help inspire girls and women to study and work in technical fields. But girls and women continue to be excluded from participating fully according to the United Nations. Long-standing biases and gender stereotypes are steering girls and women away from STEM-related fields, which means that a large pool of potential skills that could contribute to economic development remain untapped. It can put major constraints on the individual lives of women and contribute to transmitting gender inequalities across generations. This has several negative consequences for (future) economic and social development. First of all, from a rights-based perspective, the underrepresentation of girls and women in these fields means that they will continue to be denied the same opportunities as boys and men to develop careers in potentially lucrative existing and emerging areas of the labour market. In its Does the EU Need More STEM Graduates? report, the European Commission (2015) projects that employment in STEM occupations in the European Union (EU) (for all levels) will increase by 12.1 per cent by 2025: a much higher rate than the projected 3.8 per cent increase for other occupations in the region. It is expected that in 2025, 46 per cent of STEM-related occupations will require medium-level qualifications which are mostly acquired through upper-secondary-level TVET. A differentiation in wage and wage growth between the STEM workforce and the total workforce in Europe is also evident, and shows the relatively high demand for professionals in the STEM sector. STEM professionals in the EU earn on average 19 per cent more than other groups. If girls and women are profiting less than boys and men from these relatively large employment- and income-generating opportunities, existing inequalities in STEM-related TVET can be seen to perpetuate wider gender inequalites in labour market opportunities and income. Second, from an economic perspective, various studies 1 have shown that combined and diverse teams in organizations in which women and men bring different skills, attitudes and perspectives to the workplace are beneficial for innovation and the development of organizations. In other words, diverse workplaces boost creativity and innovation, thus improving business performance. A study  found that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on their executive teams were 21 per cent more likely to experience above-average profitability. At the same time, companies with low numbers of women and other under-represented groups were 29 per cent more likely to underperform on profitability. STEM-related TVET fields miss out on this advantage as gender disparities prevail. There has been increasing concern among policy-makers and practitioners about the under-representation of girls and women in STEM education. This has been reflected in recent reports launched by UNESCO including Cracking the Code: Girls’ and Women’s Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and A Complex Formula: Girls and Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in Asia. Taken together, these previous studies indicate the following:

•  Gender differences in STEM education participation at the expense of girls are already visible in early childhood care and education and become more visible at higher levels of education.
•  Girls appear to lose interest in STEM subjects with age, and lower levels of participation are already seen in advanced studies at secondary level.

 In higher education, women represent only 30 per cent of all students enrolled in STEM-related fields of study based on a global average (data for 2014 to 2016). 

•  Gender differences also exist in STEM disciplines, with the lowest female enrolment observed in engineering, manufacturing and construction (8 per cent); information, communication and technology (ICT) (3 per cent); and natural sciences, mathematics and statistics (5 per cent). 
•  Girls and women leave STEM disciplines in disproportionate numbers during their higher education studies, in their transition to the world of work and even during their career cycle.

While much of the focus to date has been on the participation of girls and women in school and university STEM education, there has been relatively little attention paid to the participation of girls and women in STEM-related TVET despite the significance of this sector. This report provides an overview of the findings of a first scoping study on the availability of data and information on gender disparities in STEM-related TVET for ten countries 2 . It addresses important gaps in existing data and literature related to this topic while aiming to complement and build on existing initiatives in the area of gender and STEM led by UNESCO. Ten case countries across the world were selected to be covered in this study, thanks to the collaboration of members of UNESCO’s global platform of TVET institutions, the UNEVOC Network. These countries were identified based on the interests expressed by the member institutions, their experiences designing and implementing initiatives that addressed STEM-related TVET and gender equality, and their commitments to contribute to the study. While attention has been given to ensure broad geographical distribution, by covering all five global regions, the study team, coordinated by UNESCO-UNEVOC, is aware that these selected countries do not necessarily represent the respective regions. The aim of collecting country-specific information was therefore not to make a comparative analysis between the countries, but was rather to provide examples from selected countries across the globe. The report synthesizes existing available (global) literature and data with country-level data collected by ten members of the UNEVOC Network. 

The specific objectives of the report are to:

• Synthesize evidence concerning: » The participation of female and male students in STEM related TVET
•  The performance of female and male students in STEM related TVET » The proportion of women and men who progress to STEM-related occupations 
• Explore the individual, parental/peer, school-level and societal influences on girls’ and women’s enrolment, learning achievement and progression to STEM-related occupations
•   Identify areas of successful practice in increasing the participation and performance of girls and women in STEM related TVET, and initiatives to improve the participation of women in STEM-related occupations
•   Make recommendations for policy and for future research in this area

Coming to a universal definition of STEM-related TVET is complicated by differences in the ways countries define: 

•  STEM, e.g. disciplinary versus interdisciplinary understanding 
• TVET, e.g. differences across country contexts and levels 
•  Indicators to collect gender-aggregated data on participation, achievement and transition This report aims to contribute towards a working definition of STEM in TVE

TVET comprises education, training and skills development relating to a wide range of occupational fields, production, services and livelihoods. It is not consistently referred to and is provided at different education levels in many countries around the world. As part of lifelong learning, TVET can take place at secondary, post-secondary and tertiary levels and includes work-based learning and continuing training and professional development that may lead to qualifications. It can also be referred to as apprenticeship training, vocational education, technical education, technical and vocational education, occupational education, vocational education and training, career and technical education, workforce education, and workplace education, to name but a few. In most countries, formal TVET takes place at upper and postsecondary levels. These correspond to International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) levels 3, 4 and 5, i.e. upper secondary education, post-secondary non-tertiary education and short-cycle tertiary education. This is the situation in all of the case study countries included in this scoping study, although in some systems such as the Netherlands, Germany, Australia and Lebanon, pre-vocational courses or tracks are also offered at lower secondary level (corresponding to ISCED level 2). More information about the education and training systems in the ten countries represented in this study can be found in annex 1.

This report is concerned with STEM education and training, but, given the context of TVET, it is perhaps more accurate to say that the study is concerned with TVET for STEM careers (which may be different). Generally, the term STEM is used as shorthand for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and it includes but is not limited to the natural sciences (biology, chemistry and physics) and technologyrelated subjects including computing and, for example, computer applications technology and mathematics.

 Definitions of STEM and STEM education vary between countries. Table 1 below provides an overview of the definitions of STEM education and STEM-related TVET as used in nine of the ten case study countries. These definitions can be formalized (for example by a country’s ministry of education), but can also be informally used as ‘working definitions’ within the educational sector of the respective country.

Table 1 not only highlights that countries have different definitions for both STEM education and TVET education, but it also shows that definitions of STEM-related TVET are often not available. Definitions of STEM in other types of education are more common. One potential reason is the fact that many policies and initiatives for improving the participation of girls and women in STEM education are aimed at girls in primary and secondary education, when girls and women are choosing their further study and career path. In general, the vision for STEM education is of an interdisciplinary approach in which students apply STEM as appropriate to solve real-world problems, thus reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of the work of STEM professionals. It may involve any combination of STEM disciplines, or a STEM discipline and another school subject; the main characteristic is that it is an integrative approach. The STEM approach is described as follows:

This approach is seen as something which promises to engage students (in schools and colleges) because it involves solving real-world challenges such as energy, health and environmental issues. While the vision for STEM education can be similar, its application can vary from country to country. This was also reflected in the ten case study countries. In Jamaica, for example, STEM is grounded in an inquiry-based/project-based approach facilitated by the 5E methodology. The Ministry of Education takes an integrated view of STEM education in which learning shows the functional relationship between the disciplines. This perspective argues for a combination of academic and technical skills. This integrated approach supports the incorporation of STEM in TVET, and STEM is seen as an effective way of ‘rebranding’ technical and vocational programmes to make them more attractive and relevant. Similarly, STEM education is described in the Education Sector Plan (Planning Institute of Jamaica, 2009) as an approach to teaching and learning that integrates the content and skills of the STEM disciplines and other disciplines. STEM therefore embodies an interdisciplinary and applied approach to teaching that focuses on the development of transversal competencies as well as STEM skills. 

Given the diversity of STEM careers across different country contexts, it is difficult to provide an overarching list of STEM careers. For example, the Occupational Information Network (O*NET, 2019), which is the primary source of occupational information in the United States, categorizes STEM careers as follows: managerial; post-secondary teaching; research, development, design and practitioners; sales; and technologists and technicians. In Australia, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research provides a more comprehensive list of STEM-related occupations and skills packages linked to various occupations. These include farmers and farm managers; specialist managers; arts and media professionals; design, engineering, science and transport professionals; health professionals; ICT professionals; technicians and trades workers; engineering, ICT and science technicians; automotive and engineering trades workers; construction trades workers; electro technology and communications trades workers; food trades workers; skilled animal and horticultural workers; and other technicians and trades workers.

In some countries, STEM careers are named differently, although there is considerable overlap in meaning. In the Netherlands, for example, STEM education is mostly called ‘technical education’, ‘beta education’ or ‘beta-technical education’. Graduates are said to have received a ‘technical diploma’. Techniekpact (a coalition of key stakeholders in the provision of technical education in the Netherlands) sees technical students as students that ‘use one or more technical skills “practically” or realistically. They work as a researcher, instrument designer, ICT developer, industrial designer, plumber, engineer, operator or analyst. They have the technical knowledge to build machinery and maintain installations’ (Nationaal Techniekpact, 2020). In Germany, the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training uses the term MINT occupations as defined by the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Federal Employment Agency). According to the agency’s definition, MINT occupations include all activities that require a high proportion of knowledge and skills in mathematics, informatics, natural sciences and/or technology. In addition to highly qualified MINT occupations, the MINT occupation group also includes so-called medium-qualified MINT occupations. This means that both academic occupations and training occupations belong to the MINT occupations category. What the above discussion illustrates is the importance of context in understanding what is considered a STEM discipline. These differences may in part be linked to differences in labour market needs which relate to different economic trajectories between countries. Global definitions of STEM, while important, also need to take these differences into account. The above discussion of what counts as STEM is also largely influenced by the way that STEM has come to be understood in high-income contexts. It is important to be aware, however, of the influence of different stages of development on how STEM can be interpreted and understood. In low-income contexts, for instance, it is also necessary to take account of the importance of STEM-related skills in the informal as well as formal sectors of the economy, given the importance of the informal sector for livelihoods. The necessary skill set might be different for both sectors. For example, in most low-income countries, an informal automotive sector includes a multitude of small repair workshops where workers need to be able to do all-round repairs to all types of cars. Specialized or high-tech computer-based repair and maintenance is less prevalent for these shops. While some STEM careers, such as being an actuary or an architect, generally require university degrees, many STEM careers can be catered for by qualifications such as diplomas offered by TVET colleges, such as engineering, software development and data management. In the context of education for STEM careers in TVET, the STEM approach outlined by Ng (2016) makes sense and perhaps has potential to provide a rich learning experience for students. It is important to recognize that education for STEM careers is more than teaching STEM subjects, both in their traditional silos and using an integrated approach. It should, and usually does, involve developing and bringing together a range of cognitive and affective skills and competencies including foundational literacy (e.g. numeracy), socio-emotional skills (e.g. resilience, curiosity and empathy), higher-order cognitive skills (e.g. critical thinking and creative thinking) and technical occupational skills (e.g. coding, design and construction) (Siekmann, 2016). There is a strong overlap here with socalled twenty-first-century skills, such as problem-solving, collaborative working and communication skills, which are considered essential for economic development.