Life-long learning SOFT SKILLS EDUCATION FOR PREPARING VOCATIONAL SECONDARY HIGH SCHOOL IN PRODUCING SKILLED GRADUATES

12. Breaking down the barriers between formal, non-formal and informal approaches This trend is in line with lifelong learning and education articulation whereby learners can have the opportunity and options to enroll in various learning avenues throughout their lives and their learning experiences can be recognized no matter where they learned it from UNESCO- UNEVOC, 2008. In Indonesia, the policy of multi- exit and multi-entry is in line with this trend.

13. Initiatives in response to current trends and

issues In response to the above trends and issues in TVET, this paper proposes some initiatives that can be grouped into the followings:

14. Integration of 21

st century skills This initiative is particularly in response to the trends and issues on ICT in TVET and relevancy of curriculum. This is also to promote lifelong learning and enhance competitiveness of TVET graduates. In this 21st century, expertise is a process, not a level of aptitude and TVET must incorporate meta-cognitive skills, which is part o the 21st century skills, “to allow self directed learners to continually improve, to allow coaches and mentors to better guide development, and to recognize a wide array of “spaces” in which learning might take place” Todd, 2010. There is also an increasing recognition that technical expertise alone is insufficient to ensure employability –“know how” must be accompanied by “know who” and “know what” – contextually embedded practices and networks, professional expectations, ethics, values and norms Inkson Arthur, 2001. The importance of 21st century skills, within which also include “good work cultures” is also stressed by prominent economist David Landes stating that these skills can be the determining factors for country’s development. “Although climate, natural resources, and geography all play roles in explaining why some countries are able to make the leap to industrialization and others are not, the key factors is actually a country’s cultural endowments, particularly the degree to which it has internalized the values of hard work, thrift, honesty, patience, and tenacity, as well as the degree to which it is open to change.” David Landes, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations as cited by Friedman 2005. The integration of 21st century skills in TVET curriculum has led to demands for broader forms of initial vocational education which lay the foundation for further learning. These essentials and foundations skills are very crucial for the 21st century. The response to this in many countries has been to readjust upper secondary vocational programmes to contain a larger element of general education and more generic forms of vocational preparation, where the latter prepares participants for a cluster of occupations in a given sector rather than for a single one Atchoarena, 2010. Figure 1. 21 st Century student outcomes and support systems 75