TVET is a key factor for the development of Vietnam’s economy towards environmental sustainability and green growth. To integrate cross-occupational green skills in training programmes, a basic module on environmental protection, energy and resource efficiency was developed and will be piloted at the Centre of Excellence for Green TVET, the Vocational College of Machinery and Irrigation (VCMI), with the support of the Vietnamese-German Programme “Reform of TVET in Viet Nam”. The advantage of this module is that it can be flexibly integrated into any vocational training programme nationwide.

To raise awareness about this important new module, the conference on the „Launch of the Basic Module on Environmental Protection, Energy and Resource Efficiency” was organized in Ho Chi Minh City on 23 November 2018. Participating in the launch were representatives of the Directorate of Vocational Education and Training (DVET), DoLISA Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Association of Vocational Education and Training & Social Work (VAVET & SOW), VCMI, business associations, enterprises and TVET institutes. In his welcome remarks, Dr. Nguyen Hong Minh, Director General of DVET stated “Green aspects are already part of standards and learning outcomes, therefore I look forward to the multiplication of the basic module on environmental protection, energy and resource efficiency across the country in the earliest future”.

Based on the feedback of the industry, the module contains three stand-alone lessons: efficient use of energy and resources, waste management and proper and eco-friendly handling of hazardous substances. Each lesson contains a full package of a lesson plan, lesson outline, teaching materials, PowerPoint slides, teaching aids, forms and templates and a multiple-choice test for end-of-lesson assessment.  

A team of 18 teachers of VCMI, other TVET institutes and business representatives of companies jointly developed the module with the support of Dr. Klaus-Dieter Mertineit, international expert for Green TVET. Describing the development process of the module at the conference, Dr Mertineit emphasised “I am very impressed by the commitment of VCMI teachers and management. They have fulfilled a great amount of work, on the top of their teaching workload, to learn about the subject matter and develop the package for this basic module”.

Ten of the teachers are trained to be multipliers for the module and are able to train teachers of other TVET institutes. Mr. Nguyen Van Lam, Vice Director of Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Ho Chi Minh City said “We surely will implement this module in TVET institutes in Ho Chi Minh City. Green skills are a must for any worker if we want to transfer into a green economy. We will plan, jointly with DVET, Programme Reform of TVET in Vietnam and VCMI, to implement the module”.

According to the implementation experiences and feedback from TVET institutes and enterprises, further adaptations and improvements of the module will be made. Once being finalized to best meet the requirements of the industry and TVET institutes, the basic module will be submitted to DVET for further multiplication across the nation.