Skills are central to the capacity of countries and people to thrive in a rapidly changing world. Recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic will require countries to co-ordinate interventions to help recent graduates find jobs, reactivate the skills of displaced workers and use skills effectively in workplaces.

Skills are the key to shaping a better future, enabling countries and people to thrive in an increasingly interconnected and rapidly changing world. Megatrends such as globalisation, technological progress, demographic change, migration, and climate change, and most recently COVID-19, are reshaping work and society, generating a growing demand for higher levels and new sets of skills.

This comprehensive book presents emerging research findings and promising reform practices in the field of teacher education, curriculum, assessment, teaching and learning approaches, pedagogical innovations, and professional development in educating the next generation of globally competent students. It reflects the current trends and highlights contemporary teacher education programs in twenty greater Asian countries and regions. It offers insight into improving teacher education in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia, Brunei, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, and Macau. The handbook contains chapters written by experienced international teacher educators who draw on their experience and expertise to perennial issues and formidable challenges in teacher preparation and meaningful school reforms. This volume is a valuable resource and essential companion for teacher educators, faculty members, staff developers, trainee teachers, undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers, school leaders, policy-makers, and professional learning communities to refresh their knowledge and improve their understanding. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in evolving issues in teacher education.

This report comes at a time when policy makers are challenged by the COVID-19 crisis that is generating a profound reflection on economic and social well-being. Before COVID-19 hit, Indonesia had experienced remarkable economic growth, making substantial progress in poverty reduction and gains in employment. However, there are large differences in outcomes across Indonesian provinces, which often reflect the quality of local infrastructure, services, education, and jobs.

Understanding the effects of both climate change and green growth policies on jobs and people is thus essential for making the transition in Southeast Asia an inclusive one. The study explores these issues, with emphasis on the potential effects on labour of an energy transition in Indonesia, and of a transition in the region’s agricultural sector, illustrated by a simulated conversion from conventional to organic rice farming.

Skills are the key to shaping a better future, enabling countries and people to thrive in an increasingly interconnected and rapidly changing world. Megatrends such as globalisation, technological progress, demographic change, migration, and climate change, and most recently COVID-19, are reshaping work and society, generating a growing demand for higher levels and new sets of skills. The OECD Skills Strategy offers a strategic and comprehensive approach to assessing the skills challenges and opportunities of countries and regions for the purposes of helping them build more effective skills systems. The foundation of this approach is the OECD Skills Strategy Framework, which allows for an examination of what countries and regions can do better to: 1) develop relevant skills over the life course; 2) use skills effectively in work and in society; and 3) strengthen the governance of the skills system. This report, OECD Skills Strategy Southeast Asia: Skills for a Post-COVID Recovery and Growth, applies the OECD Skills Strategy framework to assess the performance of countries in Southeast Asia, identifies opportunities for improvement and provides recommendations based on in-depth desk analysis and consultations with stakeholder representatives.

The 2023 edition discusses the region’s economic outlook and macroeconomic challenges at a time of great uncertainty and a slowdown of the global economy, in particular owing to inflationary pressures, capital flow volatility and supply-side bottlenecks. The thematic chapters focus on reviving tourism after the pandemic.

This report explains why Southeast Asian countries need to design pandemic recovery policies that hit both ambitious socioeconomic and environmental goals. The third in a four-part series, the report considers the impact of COVID-19 on Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand to show how a green recovery can help safeguard against future health crises. Analyzing areas including agriculture, cities, and oceans, the report lays out policy measures designed to identify, create, and finance green growth opportunities. It shows how COVID-19 has presented countries with a chance to hit the reset button and build a socially, economically, and environmentally resilient future.

The regulation of health practitioners is an essential strategy to minimize instances of patient harm in health services by enabling access to practitioners who meet minimum criteria for patient safety. Although the models of regulation vary, regulatory functions include the following: defining and enforcing education standards; defining the minimum levels for competence and conduct of health practitioners; investigating complaints and enforcing discipline; and informing the public about regulated practitioners. Health practitioner regulation also has the potential to advance other health system priorities and objectives, such as workforce availability, equitable distribution and improved performance. This guidance aims to inform the design, reform and implementation of health practitioner regulation and to strengthen regulatory systems and institutions. It highlights the contemporary issues in health practitioner regulation, discusses challenges in implementing regulatory policies and articulates policy considerations for the design, reform and implementation of regulation. Finally, it highlights evidence gaps and identifies a research agenda.

Routledge Handbook on Labour in Construction and Human Settlements presents a detailed and comprehensive examination of the relationship between labour and the built environment, and synergises these critical focus areas in innovative ways. This unrivalled edited collection of chapters analyses problems and presents possible solutions related to the employment and conditions of workers in the construction industry. It provides comprehensive coverage of the relationship between the global workforce and the built environment and is divided into four topical areas: how labour and the built environment relate to development; employment generation in the built environment; quality of employment in the built environment; and the impact of the built environment on labour in other sectors. Underpinning the entire book is the premise that the way the built environment is produced, and its main products – buildings, cities and towns – have an impact on large numbers of workers. At the same time, the quality of the built environment requires construction workers who are well trained and with good working conditions. While cities and towns are the engines of economic growth, they will not be able to fulfil their economic potential if poverty in the workforce is not addressed. Those who are unemployed, underemployed or work in unfavourable conditions cannot fully contribute to production, and at the same time are limited in their ability to purchase goods and services – therefore limiting economic growth and restricting improvements in their living standards. In addition, investments in infrastructure, housing and inner-city redevelopment cannot be sustainable if labour issues – i.e., poverty – are not addressed. This book aims at analysing this complex set of issues comprehensively and will be essential reading to a wide range of researchers across the interdisciplinary intersections of construction, business and management, economic development, urban studies, sociology, political science and project management.