Skill up, stay ahead: TVET for employability

Webinar series September – October 2025

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How TVET can strengthen employability worldwide

Digitization, automation and the transition to greener economies are reshaping jobs and the skills they require. To stay ahead, workers need to adapt quickly. Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) can actively contribute to meet these challenges and to equip individuals with the right skills.

Yet, in many parts of world, TVET institutions face challenges such as inadequate funding and weak alignment with industry needs. This often limits TVET’s effectiveness in enhancing learners’ employability. To unlock TVET’s full potential, it is essential to foster knowledge exchange, peer learning and regional networking.

The UNESCO-UNEVOC webinar series ‘Skill up, stay ahead: TVET for employability’, ran from 30 September to 21 October 2025, and offered a space for the global TVET community to share insights and innovative practices. Across four sessions, experts and practitioners from around the world discussed how TVET can strengthen employability.

The TVET community’s response was overwhelming. Each webinar hosted up to eight speakers from different countries and institutions as well as between 200 and 340 participants from all over the world. Their contributions helped create a more connected, informed global TVET network, better equipped to address future challenges.

The webinars yielded valuable insights and take-away recommendations for TVET policy and practice.

Episode highlights

In the opening discussion, Stephanie Allais, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, and Gonzalo Graña, ILO Cinterfor, noted that employability is a multifaceted concept. Its connection to TVET is complex and not always direct. Unemployment often results from not only skills gaps but also from structural issues. The skills required by industries are sometimes unclear or difficult to translate into curricula. Therefore, TVET policies should align with broader public policies, such as labour market policies, that ensure access to decent work opportunities.

The first episode showed that work-based learning depends on close cooperation between TVET institutions and employers, ideally organized through an intermediary institution. Regulatory frameworks and stable financing mechanisms, such as a vocational training tax, ensure sustainability.

Dual TVET was the topic of the second episode, with virtual visits to Instituto Nacional de Aprendizaje (INA), Costa Rica and Bosch company in Serbia. Human resources representatives in both countries stressed the need for a qualified workforce as a key motivator for engaging in dual training programmes. Students, in turn, valued the combination of classroom learning and hands-on experience, which enables a more complete understanding of their fields and increases their confidence. Discussions emphasized that dual TVET systems work best when adapted to local legal, institutional and pedagogical contexts. Encouraging company participation, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises, requires clear legal frameworks, well-trained in-company trainers and supportive regional networks that facilitate peer learning.

In the third episode, attention turned to career guidance and mentoring. Speakers outlined four success factors: understanding each mentee’s individual needs; engaging mentees in planning their own development paths; working collaboratively in mentoring teams rather than in isolation; and ensuring continuous professional development for mentors.

The question of how to include vulnerable groups was a recurring theme. Participants agreed that community-based institutional approaches are vital, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Effective strategies involve close cooperation with families, communities and social services, as well as offering personalized learning pathways that meet diverse needs. The use of accessible, low-tech tools was also recommended to ensure that learners with limited resources are not left behind.

The final episode explored TVET-industry partnerships for professional teacher and trainer development. Speakers highlighted the importance of structured engagement through intermediary bodies, such as chambers of commerce, national networks or professional associations, and emphasized the value of meaningful social dialogue to uphold labour standards and promote shared goals.

The series ended with participants expressing their wish to take part in more peer learning activities in the future.

Episode overview

Under the overarching topic ‘employability’, the following thematic areas are covered in the four episodes:

Episode 1: Work-based learning
30 September 2025, 16:00 – 18:00 CEST, Agenda

Discover how real-world experience transforms education. This episode explores apprenticeships, internships and on-the-job training as powerful tools to boost employability.

Presentations:

Alternate Training in Tunisia: Model for the Employability of Youth, Dr. Fayçal BEN BRAHIM,
Applied Work Integrated Learning (AWIL Programme), Priscilla Davis-Ngatai, WINTEC, Waikato Institute of Technology, New Zealand

Interactive Session Whiteboard

Zoom Whiteboard: Questions / Ideas / Topics (pdf)

Supported by:

Episode 2: Dual TVET systems
7 October 2025, 16:00 - 17:30 CEST, Agenda

This episode blends expert discussions with a virtual tour of best practices, highlighting how the integration of classroom learning and workplace experience enhances the relevance and quality of TVET.

Supported by:

Episode 3: Career guidance and mentoring
14 October 2025, 16:00 - 17:30 CEST, Agenda

How do we help learners transition from training to meaningful work? This episode highlights mentoring and career guidance strategies that empower informed decision-making.