A Scientometric Analysis of the Intersection between Circular Economy and Technical & Vocational Education

Abstract

Ensuring the integration of circular economy principles into Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) education is essential to provide a skilled workforce for the future. Therefore, there is a need for a comprehensive scientometric study of the intersection between circular economy and TVET education, despite the fact that the number of studies in this field continues to increase. Using a scientometric approach, this study reveals significant research patterns and identifies areas of inadequacy in the current literature on the integration of circular economy principles into TVET education. A total of 2177 datasets obtained from Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus were analyzed using VOSviewer and ScientoPy. Since the 1990s, there has been a steady increase in the amount of literature related to the circular economy and TVET education. In 2021, a large number of publications across both databases, totaling 71, were documented, indicating a growing interest in this topic. It was found that most of the articles in this field were published by authors from developed countries, majority from the United States, China and Germany. The subject "Vocational education" has reached the highest position, with 260 publications. The top five keywords associated with this subject are "vocational education", "sustainable development", "professional education", "employability" and "training". In terms of theory, "Vocational Skills Queuing Theory" and "Sociocultural Theory" have received significant attention over the past few years, especially in 2022 and 2023. While the models that have received the most attention from most researchers are "Learning model" and "Circular business model". The scientometric study has revealed that research at the intersection of the circular economy and TVET education has received consistent and ongoing academic attention. This study recognizes the need for future research to explore different frameworks that explain the relationship between circular economy practices and TVET education.