Del i serien Routledge Research in International and Comparative Education

Learning for Livelihoods in the Global South

Nyhet

Theoretical and Methodological Lenses on Skills and the Informal Sector

Häftad, Engelska, 2026

AvLesley Powell,Adam Cooper,Trent Brown,Simon McGrath

839 kr

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This edited volume explores how youth and informal sector workers in the Global South are pioneering learning and livelihoods that exist at the intersections of, and beyond, the boundaries of the state, market, and other formal institutions.Underpinned by research undertaken in the Global South, this book discusses how we might better theorise, conceptualise, and critique what skills and vocational education and training mean for young people with diverse livelihoods - people who rely substantially on the informal and social economy. Rather than envisioning education and skills as oriented towards profit-making or increased productivity, chapters offer fresh perspectives that move beyond the dominant neoliberal and human capital orthodoxies. This book features chapters that are global in approach, uses case studies from contexts as diverse as India, South Africa, West Africa, and Colombia, and focuses on how education can be used to empower people, strengthen livelihoods, and expand human agency, skills, personal growth, and the capability for voice.Issuing a clarion call, it appeals for recognition of the ways in which learning, working, and living take place in the informal sector in the Global South, arguing that this matters for the vast majority of the world’s population. This book will be of relevance to scholars, academics, and postgraduate students in vocational education and training, skills development, the informal sector, international and comparative education, international development, and adult education.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2026-05-22
Mått156 x 234 x undefined mm
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
SerieRoutledge Research in International and Comparative Education
Antal sidor280
FörlagTaylor & Francis Ltd
ISBN9781032650937

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Lesley Powell is Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.Adam Cooper is chief research specialist in the Equitable Education and Economies Research Division, Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa.Trent Brown is Associate Professor at Tokyo College at the University of Tokyo, Japan.Simon McGrath holds the established chair in Education at the University of Glasgow, UK.

Foreword1. Skills, the informal sector and global south youth: theory and methods to break the silencePART 1. THEORISING: RETHINKING THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING2. A relational capabilitarian approach for wellbeing livelihoods: Reframing and making alternative education, skills and work for young people3. Subsumption, Alienation, and Questions of Meaning in Informal Sector Skills Training4. Supporting youth livelihoods in an informal “sub-field” in the global southPART 2. CONCEPTUALISING: CONCEPTUAL TOOLS FOR UNDERSTANDING INFORMAL SECTOR SKILL ACQUISITION IN PRACTICE5. Shifting informal geographies and the hustle for a better future6. A typology of informal sector workers – heterogeneity and the complexity of skills development responses7. The potential role of ICT in facilitating learning for livelihoods among informal apprentices in the automotive trade in Ghana8. Highly educated migrants in platform-mediated food delivery work in the Netherlands: The absent presence of skills and its social effects PART 3. CRITIQUING: UNDERSTANDING CONSTRAINTS AND WEAKNESSES IN DOMINANT APPROACHES9. Exploring ‘valuable’ knowledge, skills and attitudes: Perceptions of young people in an informal settlement in Pietermaritzburg10. Critiquing the concept of 'self-reliance' in informal sector training: A case study of Afghan refugee women in India11. Gendering decent work: Rethinking the connections between informality, TVET and gender through the ‘Decent Work’ agenda in Sierra Leone and CameroonPART 4. ADVOCATING: TOWARDS REFORM OF POLICY AND PRACTICE12. Financing Skills and Lifelong Learning in the Informal Sector13. Exploring the intersectionality of green skills, innovation and livelihoods in the informal economy in Harare, Zimbabwe14. Recognising Colombian waste pickers as public service providers and producers of knowledgePART 5. CONCLUDING: MOVING FORWARD15. Skill and livelihoods: some concluding ideas

‘Learning for informal sector livelihoods is highly relevant worldwide; yet, we know little about the topic from a scientific perspective. This book makes major contributions to closing this research gap. It is a “must read” for scholars and practitioners focused on skill acquisition in the Global South.’Matthias Pilz, Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences, University of Cologne, Germany