From Green Skills to Sustainable Workforce: Mapping Two Decades of Research on Vocational Education for Sustainability Transition

The global shift toward a green economy has repositioned vocational education as a central mechanism for sustainable workforce development. This study maps two decades (2005-2025) of research on green skills and sustainability transition in vocational education to identify publication trends, thematic structures, and emerging research directions. Using a bibliometric approach, 527 Scopus-indexed documents were analyzed through VOS viewer and the Bibliometric R package to produce co-occurrence networks, thematic maps, and temporal evolution visualizations. The findings indicate a clear shift from early studies focused on human capital, labour markets, and technical training toward sustainability-oriented and eco-digital competencies. Five dominant thematic clusters: green skills, vocational education, workforce development, innovation policy, and Industry 4.0, demonstrate the growing intersection between digital transformation and environmental sustainability. European countries, especially the UK and Germany, continue to lead global scholarship, while increasing contributions from Asia reflect expanding contextual diversity. Overall, this study highlights how vocational education has transformed from an economic instrument into a strategic platform for sustainability transition. The convergence of digitalization and green competencies forms the basis of emerging eco-digital TVET, underscoring the need for integrated pedagogical and policy approaches, particularly in developing countries.