Education is fundamental to achieve sustainable development. To positively impact all layers of societies, educational programmes should be adapted to all human environments and groups, as well as to the different sectors of the economy, including tourism. Education is key for tourism businesses and its workers as it can increase opportunities for career growth and development and provide the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the field. The tourism sector provides opportunities for direct and indirect jobs for vulnerable groups, in particular youth and women, who should benefit through educational means
There are seven targets within SDG 4 that are deemed to have a stronger and direct link for tourism to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. These targets have been selected to base the potential project indicators.
TARGET 4.3
BY 2030, ENSURE EQUAL ACCESS FOR ALL WOMEN AND MEN TO AFFORDABLE AND QUALITY TECHNICAL, VOCATIONAL AND TERTIARY EDUCATION, INCLUDING UNIVERSITY.
Target 4.3 addresses the importance of equal access to affordable technical, vocational and higher education. It is imperative to reduce barriers to skills development and technical vocational training and to provide opportunities to everyone including youth and women. The provision of technical, vocational and tertiary education should be made progressively available and accessible. Tourism’s contribution to this target will help reduce barriers to skills development. Furthermore, having a well-trained and skilful workforce is essential for successful tourism businesses for tourism to prosper.
Potential indicators in this target are grouped by the following Theme and sub-theme
Legal frameworks, policies and rule of law / Tourism human resources policy
Legal frameworks, policies and rules / Tourism policies and strategies
Education and training / Capacity building
TARGET 4.4
BY 2030, SUBSTANTIALLY INCREASE THE NUMBER OF YOUTH AND ADULTS WHO HAVE RELEVANT SKILLS, INCLUDING TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL SKILLS, FOR EMPLOYMENT, DECENT JOBS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP.
This target aims to increase the number of people with relevant skills for employment, jobs and entrepreneurship. For this, equitable access to technical and vocational skills training needs to be expanded. Emphasis must also be placed on acquiring beyond-work specific skills, such as problem solving, teamwork and communication skills, which can be used across a wide range of occupational fields. In this regard, tourism’s contribution to the target can be seen through its multi-dimensional role as the sector has a wide-ranging value chain. The challenge for training providers and industry associations is to develop a system that ensures the training content is aligned to address the tourism sector’s shortage of skills, future skills and future employment and career progression.
Potential indicators in this target are grouped by the following Theme and sub-theme
Legal frameworks, policies and rule of law / Tourism human resources policy
Education and training / Capacity Building
Tourism value chain / Standards and certification
TARGET 4.5
BY 2030, ELIMINATE GENDER DISPARITIES IN EDUCATION AND ENSURE EQUAL ACCESS TO ALL LEVELS OF EDUCATION AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOR THE VULNERABLE, INCLUDING PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND CHILDREN IN VULNERABLE SITUATIONS.
Target 4.5 calls for the elimination of all discrimination in education and to ensure everyone, including persons with disabilities, irrespective of age, sex, race, colour, ethnicity, has access to inclusive, equitable and quality education and skills development opportunities. On this note, the opportunities the tourism sector provides for direct and indirect jobs for youth, women, and vulnerable groups, including the provision of infrastructure and training skills needed for the sector contributes to the essence of Target 4.5.
Potential indicators in this target are grouped by the following Theme and sub-theme
Legal frameworks, policies and rule of law / Tourism human resources policy
Education and training / Capacity Building
TARGET 4.7
BY 2030, ENSURE THAT ALL LEARNERS ACQUIRE THE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS NEEDED TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, INCLUDING, AMONG OTHERS, THROUGH EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLES, HUMAN RIGHTS, GENDER EQUALITY, PROMOTION OF A CULTURE OF PEACE AND NON-VIOLENCE, GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP AND APPRECIATION OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND OF CULTURE’S CONTRIBUTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.
Target 4.7 stresses the importance of education for sustainable development and global citizenship. It is important to strengthen education’s contribution to sustainable development as well as the fulfilment of human rights, peace, gender equality, health, etc. Tourism education in this regard would need to be responsive and better aligned to industry’s needs to contribute to this target. Education providers need to develop a more comprehensive curriculum taking into account the tourism sector findings on skills development including work ready and future-ready skills (e.g., digital capability), knowledge of international tourism standards and practices, language and cultural training. It is important to include Global Citizenship Education (GCED), and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) to ensure that, future tourism workers would be able to have adequate information on sustainable development in harmony with nature.
Potential indicators in this target are grouped by the following Theme and sub-theme
Legal frameworks, policies and rule of law / Tourism human resources policy
Education and training / Capacity Building
TARGET 4.a
BUILD AND UPGRADE EDUCATION FACILITIES THAT ARE CHILD, DISABILITY AND GENDER SENSITIVE AND PROVIDE SAFE, NON-VIOLENT, INCLUSIVE AND EFFECTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS FOR ALL.
Target 4.a addresses the need to build and upgrade inclusive and safe schools. It touches upon the requirement for infrastructure that is physically safe, inclusive and provides an environment which is conducive for learning for everyone. Tourism can contribute to this target by ensuring appropriately built a safe tourism education facilities are available, providing inclusive environments that nurture learning for all, regardless of background or disability status.
Potential indicators in this target are grouped by the following Theme and sub-theme:
Crisis management / Disaster risk reduction
Crisis management / Crisis strategies and plan
Education and training / Capacity building
Health / Health protection
Health / Access to medicines and vaccines
TARGET 4.b
4.B BY 2020, SUBSTANTIALLY EXPAND GLOBALLY THE NUMBER OF SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, IN PARTICULAR LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES AND AFRICAN COUNTRIES, FOR ENROLMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION, INCLUDING VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY, TECHNICAL, ENGINEERING AND SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMMES, IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES AND OTHER DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.
Target 4.b touches upon the value of expanding higher education scholarships for developing countries. Scholarship programmes are important in providing opportunities for young people and adults who would not have been able to continue to further their education otherwise. To this end, tourism stakeholders such as the donor community, international organizations and tourism businesses can support the creation of programme(including scholarships, traineeships, internships, workstudy programmes) which can be structured to build the capability of the developing country. This could give students earlier access to the corporate environment and in turn demonstrate employment opportunities in tourism and for tourism businesses.
Potential indicators in this target are grouped by the following Theme and sub-theme:
Education and training / Tourism education support programmes
TARGET 4.c
BY 2030, SUBSTANTIALLY INCREASE THE SUPPLY OF QUALIFIED TEACHERS, INCLUDING THROUGH INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION FOR TEACHER TRAINING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, ESPECIALLY LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES AND SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES.
Target 4.c relates to increasing the supply of qualified teachers in developing countries. Good teachers are key to achieving quality education and thus fundamental in achieving all SDG 4 targets. The equity gap in education is exacerbated by the shortage and uneven distribution of professionally trained teachers especially in disadvantaged areas such as in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). In this regard, tourism stakeholders, including the donor community, international organizations and tourism businesses can support the creation of programmes (e.g., internships, work study programmes, traineeships, scholarships) that provide training and access to educators/trainers and to the corporate environment at the same time, providing distinct benefits for tourism businesses, as well as demonstrating employment opportunities in tourism.
Potential indicators in this target are grouped by the following Theme and sub-theme:
Education and training / Capacity building
