Design Thinking in TVET: Perspectives, Opportunities and Challenges
Keywords:
Design Thinking, TVET, 21st SKILLS, Problem-solving, CreativityAbstract
Design thinking, a human-centred problem-solving approach emphasising empathy, collaboration, and iterative prototyping, has gained considerable attention in various domains, including education. The article discusses Design Thinking as a process and mindset for collaboratively finding solutions to wicked problems in a variety of educational settings. Through a systematic literature review, the article collates case studies, reports, theoretical reflections and other academic work to deepen our understanding of the purpose, context, benefits, limitations, affordances, constraints, effects and outcomes of Design Thinking in education. Specifically, this paper explores three questions: (1) What are the characteristics of Design Thinking that make it particularly effective in education? (2) How can Design Thinking be applied in different TVET contexts? (3) What tools, techniques and methods characterise Design Thinking? The purpose of this article is to describe the current knowledge base to better understand the role of Design Thinking in TVET, to enhance the exchange of research and discussion of best practice approaches, and to map out near-term pathways for research and practice.