Labor markets, SDG4 and vocational education and training

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals scheduled for completion by 2030 stand as a beacon to the international community of a collective hope for quality life on the planet. They are especially important as we face enormous issues like climate change, migration and unbridle capitalism and globalization. Addressing each of the 17 goals is a challenge that has replaced the once equally bold, MDGS (UN, 2015) which ended unsatisfactorily in 2015. The 17 goals expand greatly the dreams of the 6 MDGs and show our collective energy and will to meet Agenda 2030. In Goal 4 and its ten targets, the UN (UNESCO, 2016) named its hope that it would “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. This education or lifelong education goal became the focus of UN agencies like UNESCO which have heightened capacity in this area. However, they have not forgotten that the accomplishment of Goal 4 is deeply connected to all the goals, especially decent work (Goal 8), gender equality (Goal 5), poverty reduction (Goal 1), and health and well-being (Goal 3) (English and Mayo, 2019). This chapter focuses primarily on Goal 4 and its targets as the way forward to reaching sustainability in 2030. A key piece of Goal 4 is that it is, unlike the MDGs which focused on children in school, inclusive of adult education. Despite the optimism of a lifelong learning approach, researcher Elfert (2019) offers a caution to the hope for adult education found in the SDGs. Her careful appraisal draws attention to the overall global prioritization of the education of children, the general lack of funding for adult learning and education, and the negligible interest in educating marginalized groups. Her analysis is clear and convincing, and supported by robust data. Yet, Goal 4 and the other 16 SDGs are the planet’s best means of fulling its global commitment to sustainable development. Education bears a major responsibility and is arguably, due to its reach and its centrality in the global knowledge economy, the main goal. [Excerpt]