The NORDYRK 2025 conference theme highlights the opportunities, challenges and dilemmas for vocational education and training (VET) that arise from discussions on sustainability. These possibilities and dilemmas can be social, economic, or related to environmental issues.
Ensuring Competence and Well-being in Nordic VET
The Nordic countries aim to produce a competent and skilled workforce through different models of vocational education and training that enable educational and geographical mobility. The varying rural and urban development of Nordic societies also needs to be considered. However, the models must also pay attention to the well-being of the students during their education and later in their working lives. The theme of the NORDYRK 2025 conference is therefore related to the diversity of students, which raises questions about didactic and pedagogical choices for education for active participation in the workplace and society in general in the democratic welfare state. Such perspectives relate to social sustainability.
Sustainable Perspectives in Vocational Education
The conference theme also draws attention to evaluation and quality systems that promote sustainable perspectives from a global, regional and local perspective. In the context of vocational education and training, sustainability can relate to teacher training and work from a lifelong perspective, including institutional development and the impact of sustainability and policy regulations on different vocational sectors. Some occupations, such as construction, industry and fashion, are experimenting with new technologies and materials to focus on recycling. Others, such as agriculture and car manufacturing are facing new regulations on their production to reduce emissions. Retailers and shops are predicting new buying patterns from customers. As a result, vocational teachers, teacher trainers, and vocational higher education teachers will need new skills, and vocational colleges will need new production equipment, increasing the economic costs of organising education. At the same time, sustainability is increasing interest in traditional crafts.
Collaborative Research
VET and higher education institutions are increasingly involved in collaborative research projects that support the transition to sustainable societies. Research and development projects are also incorporating sustainable perspectives into designs and methodological choices to develop new production models through cooperation between research, VET institutions, private enterprises, and public institutions developing VET. These partnerships aim to increase retention and make VET attractive to young people and adults. The diversity of adult learners' careers results in a diversity of needs, aspirations, motivations, and learning conditions that adult education needs to address. In addition, higher vocational education and training is closely linked to societal economic development and production conditions and their transformation towards sustainability.
VET and Sustainability in Nordic Education
The conference organizers are calling for participants to examine the connection between Vocational Education and Training (VET), higher vocational education, and the sustainability agenda, as well as the potential opportunities, challenges, and dilemmas that may emerge. Participants are encouraged to present research that sheds light on the current state of Nordic VET and its evolution in developing future skills, learning methods, and work practices. Questions to consider include the necessary competencies for teachers, the development of teacher education, strategies for increasing student involvement, and the role of VET in advancing towards a sustainable future.
The NORDYRK Steering Committee and the conference organisers look forward to active participation, lively discussion, and exchange of ideas at the 2025 conference. Contributions that explore different aspects of the theme and align with the overarching goals of the NORDYRK network are particularly encouraged.