Submission Deadline: 2^nd May 2025

Guest Editors:

            Dr Alan Johnston, York St John University, York, UK

            Dr Steven Cock, York St John University, York, UK

            Ms Susie Walsh, York St John University, York, UK

Queries and submissions to a.johnston@yorksj.ac.uk

In 2018, the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for TVET (Billet, 2018) published a report focussing on improving the image of TVET training programmes and emphasised the relevance of such discussions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), notably Goal 4, highlighting the importance that TVET has to play in improving the future prosperity of countries and industries across the globe (Bhattarai, 2020). As such, TVET should be fundamental to governmental industrial strategies that often emphasise the need to raise overall productivity and address key skill gaps and shortages (Fayyaleh andFogarty, 2024). In the current global economic climate, what does the future therefore hold for Degree Level Technical and Vocational Education and how will this impact on workforce development over the coming decade? 

This special issue is an opportunity to reflect on the impact that TVET has on skills development within the workforce on a global scale, as many modern economies and industries struggle with raising skills and competencies in their workforce. Over the past 10 years there has been a significant amount of research on addressing the skills agenda, and the role that TVET has to play in addressing it.  Most of this research has focused on the delivery of TVET programmes. This special issue seeks to focus on the outcomes of TVET from either the organisational perspective or that of the student / graduate.  The special issue will seek contributions from those involved in Degree Level TVET programmes from both academic and practitioner perspectives, with the primary focus to bring together a collection of papers which provide critical insight into the effectiveness of process, based upon examining and understanding the relative success of TVET outcomes from different key stakeholder perspectives.

List of indicative topic areas includes but is not limited to:

• ●Employer perspectives of TVET provision and outcomes
• ●Part time and full time dilemmas
• ●Student experience of undertaking the TVET programmes. 
• ●The duality of student and employee
• ●Organisational benefits of TVET: productivity, effectiveness and quality.
• ●Employer – Provider partnerships and workforce development
• ●TVET and Organisational Learning: Learning Cultures
• ●Government approaches to TVET

Word count:

Journal article: 5000- 8000 words

Perspectives paper: 2000 words

Timeline:

2^nd May 2025 Deadline for article submission

23^rd May 2025 Reviewed and decisions made - feedback given

4^th July 2025 Deadline for papers version 2

25^th July 2025 Reviewed and amendments suggested and sent back out (or accepted)

11^th August 2025 Deadline for papers version 3 (if required)

1^st September 2025 All copy editing done and ready to be published

References

Billett, S. (2018) Virtual conference report on Improving the image of TVET. UNESCO-ENEVOC TVeT Forum. 16-24 July 2018.

Bhattarai, P.C. (2020) Reforming Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Sector: What next? International Journal of Multidisciplinary Perspectives in Higher Education.  5 (1) 106-112

Fayyaleh, N. and Fogarty, L. (2024) Transforming Vocational Education in Palestine by integrating 21^st Century Skills.  Journal of Education in Muslim Societies. 5 (2) 31-47