From Freirean praxis to fragmented skills provision: TVET, informality, and labour-market misalignment in Guinea-Bissau

Abstract

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is widely promoted as a key instrument for addressing youth unemployment and supporting economic development in low-income countries. Yet evidence of its effectiveness remains uneven, particularly in fragile contexts characterised by informality and weak state capacity. This paper analyses the structure, governance, and labour-market articulation of the TVET system in Guinea-Bissau, a country where vocational training has received sustained policy and donor attention despite persistently limited employment outcomes. This paper builds on both contemporary and historical perspectives on skills formation, including early post-independence educational experiments inspired by Freirean pedagogy. Drawing on an historical account supported by interviews, secondary statistical data, policy and institutional documents, and case studies of two NGO-led training centres, the paper examines why TVET struggles to function as a pathway to stable employment. The analysis shows that the limited impact of TVET is rooted not primarily in deficiencies of training provision, but in a structural misalignment between internationally promoted training models and labour markets dominated by informality, low productivity, and fragmented governance. NGO-led initiatives partially compensate for gaps in public provision but remain constrained by weak integration into national qualification and employment frameworks. The findings challenge supply-driven approaches to skills development and highlight the need to situate TVET reforms within broader strategies of labour market formalisation and institutional strengthening, where the transformative skills education proposed by Freire has been abandoned. The paper contributes to debates on skills formation, pedagogical models, informality, and education policy in fragile economies.