COL’s technical and vocational skills development (TVSD) partners in the Pacific have been busy since the Pacific technical/vocational education and training (TVET) Forum held in Tonga, in March 2013. New flexible approaches to skills training are being explored in Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Vanuatu.

The newly created Flexible and Open Learning Branch of the TVET wing of the Department of Education in Papua New Guinea brought together participants from six TVET institutions to work with facilitators from Australia’s Central Gippsland Institute of Technical and Further Education (GippsTAFE). They are building capacity to establish flexible programme offerings to increase access to skills training in the Port Moresby area. Three institutions are now developing pilot courses.