NEWS, VIEWS AND INITIATIVES FROM ACROSS THE ETF COMMUNITY ISSU

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Far from equality forwomen at work

Regional approach candeliver big benefits

Wicked problems and thework of the school

Taking Europe’seducation and cultureto the highest levelJan Truszczy ski, new ETFGoverning Board chairman

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Taking Europe’seducation and cultureto the highest levelJan Truszczy ski, new ETFGoverning Board chairman

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Live&Learn

Letter from the editorTHE TORINO PROCESSAs part of the ETF’s policy learningactions in its partner countries, thebiennial Torino Process attempts toencourage evidence based policymaking in VET and employment.

Its objective is to provide concise,documented analysis of VET andemployment reform in each country,including the identification of keypolicy trends, challenges andconstraints as well as good practiceand opportunities.

It has two goals:

� To strengthen policy makingcapability by improving the

effectiveness of policy analysisthrough self-assessment. In thefirst year of the two year process,the conclusions of the analysisare expected to validate thestrategic policy orientations andinform subsequent policyadjustments. The second yearwill concentrate on policy areaswhich are at risk if not addressedin a structural manner.

� To give a new impetus to ETFwork during the period 2010-2013.

The Torino Process aims tostrengthen or create institutionalpolicy platforms - national

institutional networks - in anattempt to enhance policy dialogueand coherent, consistent andintegrated policy making.

The ETF will assist and guide theprocess for as long as is needed andshould be perceived as a partner ofthe process – a kind of critical friendto key stakeholders in a country, bethey government, economic andsocial partners, civil societyorganisations or VET and labourmarket policy makers. The TorinoProcess proposes a corporateapproach to policy learning as aworking method and to policymaking as a field of action.

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THE ETF HELPS TRANSITION ANDDEVELOPING COUNTRIES TO HARNESSTHE POTENTIAL OF THEIR HUMANRESOURCES THROUGH THE REFORM OFEDUCATION, TRAINING AND LABOURMARKET SYSTEMS IN THE CONTEXT OFTHE EU’S EXTERNAL RELATIONS POLICY.

www.etfliveandlearn.eu

Please recycle this magazine whenyou finish with it.Cover Photos: ETF/EUP Images

The results of the first round of theTorino Process will document:

� ETF recommendations to theEuropean Commission for sectorprogramming and the projectcycle,

� ETF interventions in the partnercountries supporting policymaking in VET and employment,

� further capacity buildinginterventions, supporting policymaking, to be carried out directlyby the ETF or to be proposed tothe European Commission forexternal assistance.

Additionally, in the second year, theETF will work on those policy areasin need of urgent structuralassistance, as identified by theTorino Process. This will take theform of expertise communities whowill create, manage and shareknowledge with the respectivecountries.

Exceptionally, in 2010, the TorinoProcess will be carried out togetherwith a policy area examination ineducation and business cooperationwhich was requested by DG EAC.This cooperation must beimmediately analysed consideringthe high youth unemployment and

decreasing adult employment rates,the lack of trust business showstowards public education andtraining, and differences in supplyand demand.

Instead of conclusions, the Torinoprocess will help the ETF tounderstand country contexts betterand to manage them moreeffectively. It will seek a win-winsituation for the ETF and its partnercountries, ultimately benefitting theircitizens, and enhancing the relevanceof EU interventions in the field.

Madlen SerbanETF Director

Live&Learn 3

Live and Learn was in Brussels to speak to Jan Truszczyński, a Polish citizen, who has recently started work as the

European Commission’s new Director General of Education and Culture (DG EAC). What will be the new course for the

body that, with a staff of over 650 women and men and a budget of around �1,400 million, plays a leading role in

Europe’s education, training, culture, youth, citizenship, multilingualism and sport? And what will these changes mean

for the work of the ETF?

Mr Truszczyński joined DG Enlargement in 2007 just as the

new EU Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) was

being launched and he believes significant steps forward

have been made since that time.

“If I look back over the last several years, I can see good

progress on the education front and sometimes also in the

area of culture. The problems that were there in the

relationship between the former candidate countries and the

EU do exist to some extent between the EU and current

candidate countries, but these are the kind of issues that

accompany all relationships between partners. If I compare

IPA with the assistance the EU provided in the 1990s,

nowadays we are faster, nimbler and overall more efficient

and effective. The timeline between planning and the actual

disbursement of funds is shorter than it used to be. These are

all reasons to be pleased,” he said.

Some of the challenges facing neighbouring countries in

terms of human capital development are also to be found in

EU countries. However Mr Truszczyński identifies three key

differences: a weak capacity to design and implement policy

change; a lower level of economic development; and a bigger

and more complex mismatch between skills and the needs of

the labour market. “We need to use the financial instruments

Live&Learn4

“HELPING OUR NEIGHBOURS IS AN INVESTMENTFOR US“TAKING EUROPE’S EDUCATION ANDCULTURE TO THE HIGHEST LEVELAn interview with Jan Truszczyński, new Director-General ofEducation and Culture and chairman of the ETF GoverningBoard

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at our disposal to help neighbouring

countries to modernise their VET

systems and improve their ability to

forecast and plan ahead,” he says, “this

will allow them to better prepare their

education systems to respond to the

needs of their economies.”

“How you get on with your neighbours

matters to every country or regional

grouping; what makes the EU stand out

is the sheer volume of grants and

assistance that we offer our partners,”

he says, “we see this as an

investment.”

ETF work is unrivalled

In his new role, Mr Truszczyński is

looking forward to learning much more

about the work of the ETF.

Nevertheless his provisional verdict is

positive. “The ETF addresses what

needs to be addressed in terms of

changing how educational systems are

organised, analysing and assessing

labour markets and promoting

cooperation between the world of

education and business as well as

reducing the skills gap. I think its

priorities are well chosen, the ability to

draw on expertise is manifestly present,

there is a good working relationship

with CEDEFOP and the work of the ETF

in neighbouring countries is unrivalled in

Europe,” he says.

One area that Mr Truszczyński is keen

to examine when he becomes chair of

the ETF’s governing board is how well it

measures its own effectiveness. “With

every assistance mechanism you want

to make sure it really delivers and this is

best done through monitoring and

evaluation,” he says.

When asked whether the ETF could

contribute to promoting entrepreneurial

learning within the framework of the

EU’s 2020 strategy, Mr Truszczyński’s

reply is a resounding yes. “Where

neighbouring countries seek to achieve

similar goals to the EU, the ETF, with its

remit on business and education, labour

markets and VET, can probably do a lot

of good,” he says.

Mr Truszczyński adds that he is “not

convinced that the EU is such a paragon

of virtue that we can automatically act

as a role model for others.

Neighbouring countries will not stand

idly by as we try to modernise, but will

draw their own lessons and implement

change at a more decisive and faster

pace. It is here that the ETF - with its

expertise gained in Europe, its network

of contacts and its good relations with

the governments of neighbouring

countries - can step in and do more.”

Promoting democracy

“You have to be realistic about the

extent to which education and training

can bring stability and democracy; I

know of no country where the mere

provision of assistance has resulted in

the further anchoring of the values that

prevail in Europe. This depends to a

large extent on whether beneficiaries

are willing to invest their political capital

and energy in making sure the

assistance really benefits their society

and economy. In the desert, money

alone will not make lush greenery

appear,” he says.

Moving on to the theme of future

cooperation between education and

business, Mr Truszczyński says that

“there is a huge untapped potential

here. The entrepreneurial culture in

higher education has to be developed

more and there should be more

dialogue between business and

universities on the future needs of the

economy.”

Mr Truszczyński is looking forward to

preparing a new generation of projects,

one of the largest being ‘Youth on the

Move’, a programme targeting

education, youth policy and international

mobility. He would like above all to see

the new programmes “smoothly

launched and implemented” and to see

them gain acceptance from both

beneficiaries and Member States.

“My job is not the easiest in the

European Commission but it is not so

difficult either… education is a

fascinating field,” he concludes. �

Live&Learn 5

by Paul Rigg, ICE

More and more women are getting educated. In the European Union, 60%of university graduates are women and female

students routinely outperform males at secondary schools. But when it comes to using this education to get a good job,

the situation is very different. For a host of reasons, women are still finding it hard to turn their achievements in

education into tangible benefits on the labour market. No matter which yardstick you use –salaries, participation rates

or the number of women at the top of their profession – in most countries, women still lag considerably behind men.

The ETF brought over two hundred

women and men from around the world

to Turin to consider why this is so at an

international conference on Women and

Work on 7 – 8 March. Participants were

asked to pay special attention to three

aspects of gender equality in the

workplace; how women make the

transition from education to work, what

is needed for the full social inclusion of

women and what are the barriers

women face when they wish to set up

a business.

In its search for fresh ideas, the ETF

decided to use fresh tools to facilitate

the debate by harnessing the power of

social media. Last January saw the

launch of an online forum looking at

global women’s issues to prepare for

the conference

(http://womenandwork.ning.com/).

Moderated by social media specialist

Silvia Cambie, it has continued to attract

debate and comment in the months

since the event took place and currently

has a total of 83 members.

Twenty members of the forum, many of

whom actively blog on women’s issues

in their countries of origin, attended the

first day of the Women and Work event.

They discussed why women do not

always get a fair deal in the workplace

and hammered out a list of

recommendations on how to improve

the situation. As the day progressed,

they kept a wider online audience in

touch by blogging and tweeting as they

went along. The bloggers also produced

three short videos summarising their

Live&Learn6

“CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY“

STILL FAR FROM EQUALITY FORWOMEN AT WORKETF uses social media to facilitate women’s day event

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recommendations which were shown to

policy makers and representatives of

NGOs on the second day of the

conference and which are still available

on YouTube.

The factors that prevent women from

achieving parity with men in the

workplace are many and varied,

according to the bloggers, and start

operating from very early on. Many

young people work as volunteers and

trainees as a way of gaining work

experience. “I’ve noticed that male

trainees are given more substantial

and interesting tasks than young

women who are given mainly

communications and administrative

tasks,” said Lebanese blogger Paola

Salwan, “after these first jobs, men

can more easily find a substantial

position, while women will be hired as

assistants, no matter how many

degrees they have.”

The fact that women have children, and

will need time off when they do, can

make employers less willing to take on

young women in the first place. “Leaving

university comes at a time when women

may also want to start a family,” said

Italian student Alice Averone, “women

are always asked by employers about

their personal lives and their future plans

in a way that men never are.”

Sometimes women’s attitudes can be

part of the problem; many suffer from

low self-esteem and do not aim high

enough in the job market. “Women tend

to self-select by thinking that they are

not capable of certain jobs,” said French

student Florie Lefevbre.

Much can be done to give women a

fairer deal at work according to the

bloggers but improving the situation

calls for the involvement of many

different actors. Their

recommendations were aimed at policy

makers, educators, employers, the

media and individuals and ranged from

improving childcare to encouraging

mentoring schemes for professional

women or ensuring would-be

entrepreneurs get access to capital and

know-how.

Helping to make this a reality is up to all

of us – both women and men – said

Viviane Reding, European

Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental

Rights and Citizenship, in her keynote

speech to the conference. It is also up

to all of us to ensure that gender issues

do not get swept aside in these times

of economic crisis. “This is not only

because accepting anything less than

equal rights for half of the world’s

population is morally indefensible but

also because leaving the tremendous

potential of women underexploited is

something we simply cannot afford,”

she said. �

Live&Learn 7

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Jung Chang

Discussions at the conference were strongly inspired by the Chinesebest-selling author Jung Chang, who presented her personnel experienceof a life in education under suppression in China. Jung Chang encouragedall governments to ensure free and accessible education for all.

Jung Chang, best know for her family autobiography, Wild Swans, stated inher keynote speech to conference delegates that "free and open educationwith equal rights for men and women is a fundamental right".

by Rebecca Warden, ICE

Live&Learn8

How social media can empowerwomen

Social media can empower women, according toSilvia Cambie, director of Chanda Communicationsand the driving force behind the Women and Workonline forum. It can do this by giving women a safeplace to meet and share problems. It can alsoprovide a platform for campaigning and for attractingthe attention of opinion leaders she says. “The moreconservative a society is, the better organised andthe more committed you will find the women are,”says Cambie, “Saudi Arabia has some great womenbloggers.”

Social media can contribute to women’s professionaladvancement by facilitating international networksand mentoring. “Women definitely need to join astructure - we are still a minority in the labour marketso a structure helps you deal with the problems thatminorities have,” says Cambie, “it acts as a kind ofscaffolding throughout your career.”

But while women are very good at social networking,they are often less adept when it comes to usingnetworks to advance their careers. “Women makethe mistake of thinking that the corporate world is ameritocracy and it isn’t. They think if we focus on thetask in hand and do it well, we will be noticed andthat is not always the case,” says Cambie, “men arebetter at focusing on the power games and thepolitics that go with the corporate dynamic.”

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Live&Learn 9

FIND OUT MORE:

ETF “Women and Work”Conference - Turin - March2010 - part 1 -http://bit.ly/9yF9JR

ETF “Women and Work”Conference - Turin - March2010 - part 2 -http://bit.ly/d4AoCW

ETF “Women and Work”Conference - Turin - March2010 – part 3 -http://bit.ly/azKEme

Cooperation with the world of work is one of the most universally agreed needs in education. And yet, it is also one of

the hardest to satisfy. For decades, the two parties that ought to collaborate to prepare people for life and a career

have been kept apart by mutual suspicion. Employers accuse the education sector of not keeping pace with

developments in the real world. Schools argue that education is more than just a production line for workers.

Both have a point. But can we not find

some middle ground? Can cooperation

be implemented effectively to the

satisfaction of all stakeholders involved?

The European Training Foundation is

joining the ranks of organisations that

have contributed to the ongoing debate

by preparing a study that maps the

current status of cooperation among

business and education in its partner

countries. From this, it hopes to distil

recommendations that can take such

cooperation a step forward.

Finding common vocabulary

A launch event for the study in Turin on

29 and 30 March suggested that one

important reason why it is difficult to

get structured cooperation off the

ground is that the worlds of education

and work are just so different.

“Although much progress has been

made in recent years, we still do not

talk the same language,” said Olga

Oleynikova, Vice-President of the

International Vocational Education and

Training Organisation.

She was backed up by Mohamed Slassi

Sennou, Vice-President of the

Moroccan General Federation of

Enterprises, who said that the

suggestion that cooperation was a

matter of getting the two parties to sit

at the same table is rather

oversimplified.

“However much the worlds of business

and education depend on each other,

they are both extremely different. And

not only that – each of the two is

extremely diverse in itself,” he said.

This makes speaking the same

language difficult and some might

suggest that finding a common

vocabulary, rather than speaking the

same language, should be the aim of

any efforts to bring education and

business closer together.

Speaking from a policy-making

perspective, Sjur Bergan of the Council

of Europe said that “education must

take in the needs of the market but

cannot be entirely market-led. While

education must improve employability it

should also prepare for democratic

citizenship and promote personal

development.”

Intermediary role

These things do not necessarily

contradict each other. But despite

plenty of European experience

proving the opposite there remains a

stubborn fear among many

educationalists that employers’

influence on curricula will degrade

these to mere preparation for

employment. And there remains a

stubborn prejudice among many

employers that the education sector

has no real desire to meet current

labour market needs. This deadlock

calls for an intermediary to play a role

Live&Learn10

“FINDING COMMON DENOMINATORS MAY NOTBE AN EASY TASK“

PLOTTING A BETTER COURSEETF starts mapping education and business cooperation

in facilitating discussions between

what should be natural partners.

In countries that have found successful

formulae for forging the qualities of

industry and education into stronger

matter, this lead role has often been

taken by the authorities. A practical

example from Spain showed how

contracts between all parties involved

could oblige partners to cooperate while

leaving them sufficient independence to

creatively and flexibly steer their own

course.

Countries following a dual system where

internships take a prominent role in

regular education have found that

making students commute between

education and work benefits all: the

students, their schools, their teachers

and companies. But in dual system

countries, once again it is the authorities

who play a leading role as mediators

between education and business.

This led a number of participants at the

launch event to conclude that regulation

and legislation are needed in order to

make cooperation work. While this

seems applicable – at least for the

moment – in countries that have a

history of strong central command,

such as those that have emerged from

the former Soviet Union, in other

regions a key factor is the extent to

which employers are organised. Where

small and medium-sized enterprises are

responsible for the bulk of economic

activity but are not able to negotiate

with one voice, collaborating with

employers can be extremely difficult.

Good practice

In many of the ETF’s partner countries,

education and business cooperation is

still in its infancy and repeated calls

were therefore made to include ample

good practice in the final documents.

This can be found in education sectors

that have traditionally had strong links

with their counterparts in the world of

work, such as tourism, agriculture,

medicine and engineering.

ETF director Madlen Serban confirmed

that good practice must be shown in

the study, but also pointed out that its

main perspective will look to the future.

“This means that there may not always

be good practice to draw from,” she said.

The study is likely to show diversity

more than anything else and, according

to the ETF’s Ulrike Damyanovic, the key

challenge will be to synthesise

individual country reports due this

summer into four regional studies in the

autumn and a cross-country overview

that is scheduled for publication in early

2011.

“We are sure to encounter incredible

diversity and finding common

denominators may not be an easy

task,” she said.

The project has been designed so as to

allow each country to write its own

overview, with the ETF providing a

critical review of these. The final

product can then be fed back to each

country to serve as a basis for

improvements.

The country reports will be drawn up

with the help of focus groups

representing as broad an array of

stakeholders as possible.

“Partnership is key in this exercise,”

said Madlen Serban, also replying to the

many calls for government regulation.

“Such partnership cannot be bought

with legislation,” she said, “what is

needed is a change of culture and

mindset. This can only be achieved if all

stakeholders work together and

acknowledge the urgency of the

matter.” �

Live&Learn 11

by Ard Jongsma, ICE

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A major review of Lebanese vocational education is underway in two major ETF initiatives co-funded by the Italian

Trust Fund.

The Torino Process – a system-wide

analysis of Technical Vocational

Education and Training (TVET) in

Lebanon – will improve understanding

of the efficiency of the sector and help

frame better policies for the future.

The Education and Business Study will

analyse the connections between

training institutes and enterprises and

see where policy changes can improve

these links.

Backed by the Minister of Education

and Higher Education (MoEHE), the

studies are being led by Dr Soubhi Abou

Chahine, Torino Process Co-ordinator

for Lebanon.

A Professor of Communication and

Electronics at the Beirut Arab

University, Dr Abou Chahine is also a

member of the Higher Education

Committee and Advisor to the

Minister.

Dr Abou Chahine, who began working

with the ETF in late March, says the

intensive process will be rolled out in

the coming months with initial reports

back to the MoEHE expected within a

few months.

The Education and Business Study will

look at current practice in both TVET and

higher education sectors in Lebanon.

Two focus groups, made up of between

six and ten experts drawn from the

sectors, will carry out a review of how

closely business and education work

together, what impact this has on

training and how well qualifications

match the needs of the Lebanese

labour market.

“It is a question of collecting and

analysing the data and we expect to

have a draft report ready by the end of

June,” Dr Abou Chahine told Live and

Learn.

Live&Learn12

COUNTRY FOCUS: LEBANON

LEBANON BEGINS TORINOPROCESS AND EDUCATIONAND BUSINESS STUDY

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Dr Abou Chahine: lebanon has astrong history of TVET

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The Torino Process is a bigger project.

Designed as a rolling review of policies

and systems to be conducted in

two-year cycles, the idea is that it

eventually becomes integrated into the

self-assessment practices of the TVET

system.

Lebanon has a strong tradition of TVET

and its network of schools has survived

war and political instability.

Currently there are 364 TVET schools in

the country, 70% of which are private.

Some 50,000 students are studying in

the private sector and 44,000 in public

institutions.

The system teaches 135 specialities

with an emphasis on business,

computing, accountancy and business

administration, although industrial

disciplines such as electronics and

mechanics and service, health sector

education and social services are also

taught.

Gathering the data for the Torino

Process will be a longer process but Dr

Abou Chahine expects the raw figures

to be ready by the autumn.

By working with all stakeholders – in

TVET and across the MoEHE strategic

sectors in general education and higher

education, as well as with non-profit

organizations, the Association of

Lebanese Industrialists and unions – a

detailed picture of the existing structure

of TVET, its physical assets, equipment,

student and teacher numbers and

policies, will be produced.

Entrepreneurship education – the ETF is

currently working on this subject with

the general and higher education

sectors in Lebanon – is not specifically

part of the TVET review, but Dr Abou

Chahine is keen to include it within his

work.

“It makes sense to look at ways of

incorporating entrepreneurship

education into the TVET system as

professional education students are

closer to this than most,” Dr Abou

Chahine said.

Aziz Jaouani, the ETF's Country Manager

for Lebanon, said: "Entrepreneurship

education is a key competence. We are

keen to inject this mindset into the

vocational sector too." �

Live&Learn 13

by Nick Holdsworth, ICE

FIND OUT MORE

Torino Process -http://www.etf.europa.eu/web.nsf/pages/Torino_Process_EN?OpenDocument

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Live&Learn14

After years of conflict, the re-emergence of relative political stability in Lebanon following the 2008 Doha agreement

between rival factions and the election of a coalition government in November 2009 presents the EU with an

opportunity to engage in a key country of the Mediterranean region.

The ETF has been fast to respond and is:

� working with the Lebanese Ministry

of Education and Higher Education

(MEHE) to design a national

qualification framework (NQF);

� acting to incorporate

entrepreneurship as a key

competence within the curriculum

across general, vocational & technical

and tertiary education;

� supporting the MEHE on career

guidance counselling;

� enhancing the involvement of the

country in ETF regional projects such

as the Euro-Mediterranean Charter

for Enterprise and the development

of e-learning within the VET system

and lifelong learning;

� and launching the Torino Process and

education and business study which

will analyse the efficiency of VET

systems and foster evidence-based

policy making.

“It’s still early days but the process is

underway”, says ETF Country Manager

for Lebanon Aziz Jaouani.

Moroccan-born, Aziz has wide

experience of working both within the

VET sector and in business. That is of

particular use in Lebanon where

business has continued to thrive

despite the hardships of war.

“The Lebanese have a strong culture of

enterprise. It is now our job to formalise

this within the education system,” Aziz

says.

With a political system that divides

ministerial and sector responsibilities

along religious and factional lines, it is

not always an easy process but one

which enjoys the full support of the

Lebanese Ministry of Education.

Coordinating Committees have been

set up by ministerial decree for the

NQF and entrepreneurship education,

with activities and action plans agreed

and capacity building started. ETF

support is provided on the mapping of

Lebanese qualifications, while plans

for study visits to France for NQF

partners in July and another EU

country for the entrepreneurship

education group in September are

being made. Work has also started on

familiarising stakeholders in Lebanon

with the Torino Process and the

education and business study through a

focus group. �

�

The Lebanese have a strongculture of enterprise by Nick Holdsworth, ICE

PEACE ACCORDS ANDPOLITICAL STABILITY OFFER ETFWINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY INLEBANON

COUNTRY FOCUS: LEBANON

Abdelaziz Jaouani, the ETF’s Country Manager for Lebanon, brings a wealth of experience in education, training,business and entrepreneurship to his job.

A trained engineer who specialised intextiles and clothing at Lyons’ HigherSchool of Textile Industries in France, healso has an MSc in physics andchemistry from Mohammed V Universityin Oujda in his native Morocco.

Aziz – as he is known – has worked as avocational institute teacher and trainer,project manager, policy advisor and hasbeen in charge of projects to set up fivetextile training institutes, a higher

education institute and a number ofspecialist training centres in Morocco.

The experience gained there laid thefoundations for a move away fromeducation and into business, when forsix years between 2000 and 2006 Azizwas co-owner and co-manager ofNovacote, a Casablanca-based textilescompany that produced knittedwomen’s and children’s pullovers forexport.

With an annual turnover of 1.5 millionand 160 employees, Aziz’sresponsibilities included staffrecruitment, training and wage policy.

It was the sort of hands-on experiencein business that is invaluable now in hiswork with the ETF – which he joined asa human capital development specialistin September 2007 – whereencouraging entrepreneurial activity inpartner countries is a key priorityalongside core training, lifelong learningand labour market reform policies.

Aziz, who was also project manager on a�75 million EU MEDA II project onsupporting human capital developmentin Morocco’s textile, tourism and ICTsectors during his time with the textilefirm, says his experience of bothbusiness and training gives him thepractical experience to work with a widerange of stakeholders in ETF projects.

“I have experience both of the supplyand demand side of the labour market,which helps me understand the point ofview of all stakeholders, negotiate withemployers and deal with ministries ofeducation and labour,” he says. �

Live&Learn 15

TEXTILE BACKGROUNDKNITS TOGETHEREDUCATION ANDBUSINESS EXPERIENCE

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by Nick Holdsworth, ICE

A new ETF project is looking at how to develop regional qualifications for the building and tourism trades in Egypt,Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.

A builder from Cairo is hoping to find abetter job by moving to Amman inJordan. A Tunisian hotel receptionist isaiming to find work in a five-star hotel inMarrakesh in Morocco. Just imaginehow much easier things could be forthese individuals and for their futureemployers if they could only take theirqualifications with them.

The need for regional qualifications -something which could act as a kind ofprofessional passport for people across

four countries of the Mediterranean - isthe driving force behind a new ETFproject which began with a launchevent in Tunis in December 2009.

The six-year initiative will facilitate thedevelopment of internationallyrecognised qualifications in sectorswhich are seen as priorities for theregion, starting with the sectors oftourism and construction. “We aretrying to benchmark qualifications, seeif they are comparable and see if we

can move towards a commonunderstanding of what a regionalqualification could look like,” said EvaJimeno Sicilia, the ETF’s Deputy Headof Operations for ENP South.

NQFs

Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisiahave already begun developing nationalqualifications frameworks (NQFs) overthe past five years with the help of theETF. The new regional project will run in

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“MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES AIM FOR REGIONALQUALIFICATIONS FOR TOURISM AND CONSTRUCTION“REGIONAL APPROACH CANDELIVER BIG BENEFITSHow to manage the Mediterranean labour market together

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parallel and will feed into the nationaldebate. “The important thing is to workwith the NQF so that it isn’t just a wayof recognising qualifications in a givencountry, but can also be used as a toolfor consensually managing the region’slabour market,” Mongi Bédoui,Tunisia’s Secretary of State forVocational Training, told the meeting inTunis.

The project will act as a forum forstructured exchange on topics ofinterest to be defined by the countriesthemselves. Future activities willinclude seminars, workshops, studyvisits and peer reviews as needed. Inthis process, it is the representatives ofindustry who will take the lead.

Tourism industry

Employers as well as politicians see theneed for this kind of initiative and hopeit could upgrade workers’ skills and helpthem develop new ones. “Tourism is avery labour intensive industry and thetastes of tourists are changing – wenow need to talk about newtechnology, health and eco-tourism forinstance – so the need forcompetences is both varied andurgent,” said Loïc Gogue,representative of the MoroccanNational Tourism Federation.

The Arab Contractors Group works in23 countries as well as its native Egypt.“When we work abroad we use localworkers for less important jobs, but wetend to send the management team

from Egypt,” said Anis Zakhary, Advisorto the Chairman, “but it is hard to findthese very qualified people.” Hebelieves the barriers to workersbecoming more internationally mobileare often cultural – such as beingunable to speak the language - ratherthan the lack of technical skills.

The two days in Tunis launched thedebate on how to proceed. Whether tocreate new qualifications for the twosectors or concentrate onbenchmarking existing ones was a bigissue. People also discussed whetherthe pilot should target traditional jobs orsome of the newly emerging ones.What became clear was thatemployers’ federations in countriessuch as Egypt and Morocco havealready done a lot of work onoccupational standards and this canprovide useful building blocks for thenew initiative.

Mutual trust

What was also clear was thatparticipants could see significant gainsin adopting a regional approach. It couldfacilitate mutual learning and buildmutual trust between industry and

education stakeholders and betweencountries they concluded. “It couldallow us to become a kind ofobservatory on the region,” said FatmaBennour of the Federation of TunisianHotels, “we can build a commonframework and then allow individualcountries to fill in the rest according totheir specifities.” It could also facilitatethe mobility of workers therebysatisfying the needs of labour marketsand relieving demographic pressures.“If we work together, it will be easier toexploit the relative strengths ofdifferent countries and we will be ableto achieve more with less,” said Filippodel Ninno of the ETF. �

Live&Learn 17

FIND OUT MORE:

EQF -http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc44_en.htm

Two days in Tunis launcheddebate on qualifications

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Why regional qualifications?

People have always migrated in search of a better life, but until recentlyqualifications have remained a strictly domestic affair, losing their currencyonce people venture abroad. Now globalisation and the correspondingincrease in mobility of workers have led to moves to link up qualificationssystems and frameworks and make them understandable, and thereforeuseable, across borders.

The European Qualifications Framework, adopted in 2008, is the primeexample, but parallel developments are underway in Asia and the Gulf.“Where labour markets are globalised so workers’ competences need tobe too,” said Jean-Marc Castejon, team leader of the ETF’s regionalqualifications project. Politicians in the Mediterranean region are all tooaware of this. November 2008’s meeting of EuroMed ministers of labourand employment in Marrakesh called for more regional cooperation onqualifications and this project is a response to that request.

by Rebecca Warden, ICE

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Migration is on the increase in the

Republic of Moldova; during 1999 just

under 100,000 people left the country

to work abroad, but by 2005, the total

had shot up to just under 400,000.

Many may wish to come home after a

few years and a new European

Training Foundation project is aiming

to smooth their path to skills

recognition when they do.

As part of its contribution to the

Mobility Partnership between the

Republic of Moldova and the European

Union, the ETF is working to help these

returning migrants get the skills they

have acquired abroad recognised when

they return home - for their own benefit

and for the benefit of the Moldovan

economy as a whole.

For skills to be useful, they have to be

easily understood by employers and

measurable against national standards.

But if people learn these skills in

another country or in another context

outside of formal education – such as

through work or personal experience or

both - then recognising those skills

becomes a much more complex affair.

During 2009, the ETF has been tackling

this question in two ways. First it has

been developing a methodology for

assessing the competences of adult

workers against European occupational

profiles – that is an agreed set of skills

needed to do a specific job. In order to

do so, the ETF has drawn on its recent

experience in Egypt and has adapted its

approach to the Moldovan context.

Second, it has started working on a

methodology for recognising prior

learning – learning which has usually

been acquired informally either at home

or abroad. Getting this far has only been

possible with the involvement of, and

active contributions from, a wide range

of stakeholders from education, the

ministries and industry.

2010 will see the ETF develop more

occupational standards with the help of

social partners and relevant national

institutions (the reference group). The

resulting methodologies will then be

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“REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA SUPPORTS RETURNINGMIGRANTS“MOOTHING SKILLSRECOGNITION FOR PEOPLEWHO WISH TO COME HOMEWork on skills contributes to Mobility Partnership

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and returning migrants’ competence,

targeting agriculture and construction –

two key sectors of the Moldovan

economy.

This operational work will be

complemented by a second focus on

policy development, namely designing a

system for validating prior learning hand

in hand with the Moldovan Government,

employers and trades unionists as well

as incorporating the results of the work

on occupational profiles into Moldova’s

adult learning system.

A special policy dialogue group,

comprising representatives from the

Ministry of Labour, Social Protection

and Family, the National Employment

Agency, the Ministry of Education and

employers’ associations and trades

unions, will tackle the issue of

certification. The idea is to look for

ways of certification which are flexible

enough to encompass non-formal and

informal learning. Stakeholders will also

discuss the related issues of funding,

quality assurance and which

institutional arrangements will be

needed to oversee this new practice.

Making skills recognised, visible and

portable should benefit several groups

of people – returning migrants whose

skills will be valued and people aiming

to migrate as making the move with

certified skills should encourage them

to opt for legal forms of migration and

improve their situation while abroad. It

will also benefit the Republic of

Moldova as a whole by making its

labour market more attractive and

transparent. �

Live&Learn 19

by Cristiana Burzio, ETF

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What is the Mobility Partnership?

The work of the ETF forms part of a wider EU project – StrengtheningMoldova’s capacity to manage labour and return migration – which iscurrently being coordinated by the Swedish Public Employment Service. Allthis is taking place under the Mobility Partnership, a new instrument for thejoint management of migratory flows which was signed by the MoldovanGovernment and the European Union in June 2008.

The Mobility Partnership aims to promote practical improvements whichwill allow the EU and its partner country to manage migration in a moreco-ordinated and responsible fashion. It is striving to provide a moreefficient framework for legal migration and for the reintegration of returningmigrants by tackling issues such as social protection, border management,remittances and what information is provided to potential and returningmigrants. When Moldovan and EC officials and ETF Director MadlenSerban attended a meeting in Brussels last November, they drew somevery positive conclusions about the effectiveness of this approach to date.So much so that plans are now afoot to launch a similar partnership withGeorgia.

Links between research and policy making in the Western Balkans have yielded some impressive results in recentyears. Reforms are in progress, but more research evidence is needed to inform policies and links between researchanalysis centres and the policy world need to be developed. Recent efforts to promote ETF-commissioned researchresults to a political audience may hold clues to how such links can be strengthened.

Information and policy go hand in hand.Information is needed to feed policydevelopment, to monitor policyimplementation and to evaluate theeffect of policies. But in the short term,information costs both money and time.This can jeopardise its popularity amongpolicy makers who work with stringentbudgets and relatively short politicalmandates.

“The Western Balkans haveexperienced deep crisis andpost-conflict trauma where the logic offirst planning and then implementingevidence-based policies in educationhas been displaced by the need totackle urgent issues,” according to LidaKita, who works in the ETF OperationsDepartment on projects related to theWestern Balkans.

“Most policy making is done in a verydisorderly, ad hoc and often highlyimprovised way. Countries often do notknow to what extent the policies theyimplement achieve their objectives andif they do know that objectives were

not reached, they lack the evidence toexplain why,” she says.

In other parts of the world this may bebecause of a lack of research capacitybut not so in the Western Balkanswhere the biggest hurdle is the weaklink between research centres and thepolicy world.

The ETF helps to mobilise localresearch capacity and link it to policy

making. In the Western Balkans, arecent flagship example of this hasbeen its work in promoting inclusiveeducation. This project used localresearch capacity in all countriesinvolved, overseen by theBelgrade-based Centre for EducationPolicy.

One of its focal areas was teachers’competences for inclusive education.The ETF has now used its networks

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“THE FACT THAT WE’RE HERE TELLS US THAT POLITICIANSARE AWARE THAT WE SHOULD BE INVOLVED“MAKING POLICY AS GOOD ASITS WORDETF promotes evidence-based policy making in theWestern Balkans

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and lobbying force to promote abetter link with policy making inprecisely this field, most recently bypresenting the results of the study toa regional ministerial conference onteachers’ transversal competences inBelgrade on 25 and 26 January.

The meeting revealed many signsthat the political will to involve theresearch community more closely inpolicy making is there.

“At least the fact that we’re heretells us that politicians are aware thatwe should be involved,” said NatashaPantic of the Centre for EducationPolicy. She had been invited as alocal representative of the ETFproject.

But listening to researchers is onething. Heeding their advice is adifferent thing altogether and moreoften than not, new policies areintroduced on the fly because anurgent need arises and neither timenor money is available to researchdifferent options. Ms Pantic,however, does not believe politiciansalone are at fault.

“Many researchers work in isolationand without much awareness ofcurrent agendas. Also, they typicallydo not approach research from aninterdisciplinary angle, while this isquite badly needed. In that respectresearch from NGOs often bettermatches current policy making.”

Borèo Aleksov of the Ministry ofEducation and Sciences in the FormerYugoslav Republic of Macedonia hasanother reason why it can be tricky forpoliticians to consult traditional researchcommunities.

“Much of the research we need directlyaffects the sector in which theresearchers that carry it out operate.When we looked at ways of depoliticisingthe teaching profession, all we receivedfrom the academic community wasrubbish. In the end, the entire reform wasdeveloped within the ministry.”

While other authorities have had moresuccess with involving the researchcommunity, incidental examples ofgood practice are no guarantee that theuse of evidence in policy making willyield the desired results, according toPawel Zgaga, director of the Centre forEducational Policy Studies at theUniversity of Ljubljana.

“In most countries you can see goodexamples of research-based policydevelopment. But more often than not,the proposed policies are being blockedin parliament. So what you get is thatpolicy planning is OK, but theimplementation is thwarted becausehighly specialist issues are decided onby relatively lay people in nationalparliaments.”

So what does Mr Zgaga think is needed?

“Historical luck,” he laughs, beforecontinuing on a more serious note.

“We need time. When the sameexperts can work on the same issuesfor some time you can see results.”

“Yet, in the real world there will alwaysbe certain policy processes that won’tfollow a rational model,” says Lida Kita.

“Solutions may precede problemdefinition and important players mayhave good reasons for lobbyingsolutions that are unrelated to declaredstrategic policy outcomes. Externalfactors or stakeholders may alsoimpose policy directions.”

In spite of that simple fact of politicallife, the ETF will continue to strive tosupport research communities in theWestern Balkans to better preparethem for a more proactive role in policymaking.

According to Lida Kita, this meansgenerating focus because there is aclear tendency to continually realignboth research and policy to differentdonors’ priorities.

“We also need more formalmechanisms to help researchcommunities to interact withauthorities. And because the topicsdiscussed are so specialist, anotherpriority in the immediate future will beto link these communities withinternational research networks.Regional cooperation gives themstrength in numbers, better access toinformation, more visibility, and morecredibility for informed policies bygovernments and donors.” �

Live&Learn 21

by Ard Jongsma, ICE

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Natasha Pantic: researchersshould not work in isolation

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Pawel Zgaga: Proposed policiesare being blocked in parliament

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Stephen Murgatroyd does not sufferfools gladly.

With more than 30 years’ experience atthe top in universities in Britain, Canadaand Dubai, a couple of dozen books tohis credit and nearly twenty yearsrunning a communications consultancy,his blunt assessment of schools is thatthey are “failing organisations” run by ademoralised profession that hasbecome little more than an army oftarget-obsessed box tickers.

Witnessing a presentation by DrMurgatroyd, who delights in the title ofChief Scout of MurgatroydCommunications and Consulting ofEdmonton, Alberta, Canada - other titleswhen the firm was set up in 1992 includedChief Explorer, Outfitter and Cartographer– is a lesson in kinetic energy.

When the 59-year-old ETF consultantpresented his paper on ‘Wickedproblems and the work of the school’ atan early November symposium at VillaGualino, Turin – one of nine that will bepublished in a special edition of theEuropean Journal of Education, guestedited by the ETF in June 2010 – it wasmore science museum open day thaninternational one-day conference.

Ignoring the standard room setting of alarge desk with ranks of chairs in frontand a screen behind, Dr Murgatroydstrode out to the front of the desks and,bouncing with enthusiasm for his topic,launched into a brief survey of Alberta’ssocial and economic geography.

Against a map of the province showingmajor centres of population, naturalresources and statistics on educationand employment, he argued that mosteducational policy remains stuck in the20th century and fails to address whatwill be needed two generations hencein the second half of the 21st century.

“Schools can be seen as permanentlyfailing organisations that never achievethe outcomes expected, being pulled inso many different directions byemployers, parents, publishers,

pressure groups, universities,government, health services, teachersand unions,” he says.

“We need to re-think teacher educationand professional development. Weneed to find ways to substantiallyenhance student engagement.”

One way is to stop teaching subjects,give back autonomy and responsibilityto teachers and, to borrow a conceptfrom the world of design – work withwicked problems that encourageteamwork, inclusiveness and criticalthinking across disciplines.

Wicked problems are those that “tendto have tentacles” – the further onegoes into them the more complex theybecome.

He illustrates this by reference to realissues put before school students inCanada and Britain.

In Canada a class was asked to workout ways to permanently reduce waterconsumption in their community by20%. Using a real life problem thatwent beyond the school walls and thatobliged them to use different disciplines– environmental science, geography,

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“ONLY BY SEEING SCHOOLS AS ‘FAILING ORGANISATIONS’CAN MEANINGFUL CHANGE BEGIN“WICKED PROBLEMS AND THEWORK OF THE SCHOOLAdvisor to Canadian provincial education minister thinksoutside the box

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maths, communication skills – gave achallenge and focus to the students.

In Britain at a Royal Society of Artsschool in Cheshire students were askedto find ways to reduce loneliness facedby elderly people in their community.

It is these sorts of complex problemsthat today’s young people will have tograpple with in their adult lives, DrMurgatroyd argues.

Talking to Live & Learn after giving hispresentation, he expanded on hisphilosophy.

When in 1992 he set up the world’sfirst online MBA programme for theAthabasca University - Canada’sleading distance learning institution –the internet as we know it today didnot exist. That did not stop himconnecting distant groups of studentsvia computer-based seminars wherethe first assignment was to look at foursets of company accounts and explainwhy you would invest in them. Andthat was before the students hadreceived a single lecture on businesseconomics.

Only by engaging students in real lifeproblems can thorny issues such as thehigh drop-out rates in education for post16 year olds in Alberta, be tackled, DrMurgatroyd believes.

The approach is also useful fordeveloping innovative andentrepreneurial thinking – a key issue ina country where 92% of businesses areSMEs and 60% of these will changehands or close down within the nextfour years as their current owners growolder.

As an advisor to David Hancock,Alberta’s progressive Minister ofEducation, Dr Murgatroyd believes hehas a unique window of opportunity toinfluence the province’s educationallandscape for the next decade or more.

Under an agreement with teacherunions that stipulated no collectivebargaining until 2011 in return for fillinga pensions gap, the education ministerhas the opportunity to make someradical changes.

“We have to take a futurist perspectiveand make changes now that will benefit

the next couple of generations,”Dr Murgatroyd says.

And about those job titles when he sethis firm up? People always ask aboutthat, he says with a smile.

Chief Scout is the managing directorwho goes out drumming up work; ChiefExplorer works on developing concepts;the Outfitter is the operations managerand the Cartographer maps outcompany strategy.

Simple really. �

Live&Learn 23

Brief Profile of Alain Michel, chair of the editorial boardof the European Journal of Education

A leading educational researcher, policy advisor and thinker, Alain Michel,the Paris-based chair of the editorial board of the European Journal ofEducation is looking forward to the ETF special issue due out in June 2010.

The nine papers by ETF experts and consultants on human capitaldevelopment – education for change, sustainability and social gains will bethe first time the peer-reviewed, research-based journal has been givenover entirely to writers from one institution.

The papers mix studies drawing on ETF experience and practice in partnercountries and more theoretical papers on how teaching approaches caninfluence change.

“The main idea of the special issue is how the ETF can both contribute toimproving human and social capital and at the same time sustainabledevelopment,” Mr Michel says.

by Nick Holdsworth, ICE

FIND OUT MORE:

The Murgatroyd Blog -http://themurgatroydblog.blogspot.com/

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Live&Learn24

Entrepreneurial education is increasingly a part of lifelong learning plans in European Union partner countries as keystakeholders in the public and private sector face the challenge of economic and social change.

An impressive range of projects,initiatives, programmes and policiesbeing implemented in countries ofSouth Eastern Europe, Turkey and theMediterranean region suggest that EUplans to create a strong and flexibleknowledge society in the comingdecades already have foundationsbeyond its borders.

A two-day high level reflection panel onentrepreneurship education jointlyhosted by the European TrainingFoundation (ETF), the EuropeanCommission (EC) and the Croatiangovernment in Zagreb mid-March,brought together leading policy makers,government officials and educationalistsfrom 11 non-EU member states toshare experience, promote cooperationand plan for the future.

With Europe still reeling from its worsteconomic recession in 70 years andgrowing global competition fromemerging economies such as India andChina bringing new challenges, thepressure to create an enterprise culturehas never been greater, participantsagreed.

Peter Baur, Deputy Head of Unit in theCommission’s DG Education and

Culture, underlined the importance of ameeting that followed four similarpanels last year involving EU membercountries.

“It is essential to open up educationand training to other countries and toencourage cooperation. It is extremelyimportant to share good practice andpolicies. Our problems are similar; it iscritical to see if we can find commonsolutions,” Mr Baur said during themeeting held at Zagreb’s DubrovnikHotel.

Equal footing

Marko Curavic, Hhead of Uunit at, DGEnterprise and Industry, stressed thekey position of entrepreneurshipeducation within the EC’s strategicvision for improving economiccompetitiveness.

“We don’t see any difference between[EU member states and] the countrieshere. It is a learning process that we areparticipating in on an equal footing,” hesaid.

That message was underlined by ETFDdirector Madlen Serban who praisedthe work being done in Croatia – where

entrepreneurship learning has been akey feature of the education system forthe past decade.

Croatia was a founding partner in theZagreb-based South East EuropeanCentre for Entrepreneurial Learning,which brings together leadingstakeholders in the field from Albania,Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, theformer Yugoslav Republic Macedonia,Kosovo (as defined under UNSCR1244), Serbia and Turkey.

Participants in the panel, which wasopened by Croatia’s education ministerand heard a keynote address fromTajana Sapic Kesic, State Secretary atthe Ministry of Economy, Labour andEntrepreneurship, identified key areaswhere networking and cooperationcould help ensure better and moresustainable policies and implementationof entrepreneurship education.

Examples of best practice includedTunisia, where since 2005 theUniversity of Sfax has been introducingan institution-wide policy ofentrepreneurial education thatintegrates the principle into all studyprogrammes through purpose-builtteaching modules.

“ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION REQUIRES A NATIONALVISION WITH STRONG LEADERSHIP“ETF PARTNER COUNTRIESDEMONSTRATE ENTERPRISE CULTUREHigh level panel discussion on entrepreneurship educationhosted in Zagreb

Live&Learn 25

Coordinated via an Entrepreneurshipand Placement University Centre,(known locally by its French name theCentre Universitaire d’Insertion etd’Essaimage de Sfax) the university’smission to make its graduates moreemployable and promote an enterpriseculture and validation of research intothe area has proven so successful that,with the backing of the ministry ofhigher education, it is now beingadopted across all of Tunisia’suniversities.

The proportion of students citing settingup their own businesses among theirtop three post university career plans,has risen steeply from just 3.8% in2004 to 46% last year, when a third ofall Sfax graduates stated that becomingan entrepreneur was their key aim.

Validating projects

“We still have more to do. We need toimprove implementation and for thatwe need ideas,” Professor saidLassaad Mezghani, Associate Professorof Economics at Sfax,said, adding thatone way to share good practice wouldbe to agree methods for validatingprojects that could be adapted tocountry-specific needs.

The extent to which entrepreneurshipeducation could be promoted indifferent countries depended on manyfactors – political, structural and culturalparticipants agreed.

In countries such as Bosnia andHerzegovina, where a federal structuremeant that educational policy wasdecided at a local (canton) level,achieving a common approach was achallenge. In other countries, such asIsrael where there is no nationalstrategy for entrepreneurshipeducation, a strong enterprise culturehas encouraged the establishment ofsmall businesses, particularly in hightechnology fields.

Delegates the meeting agreed thatcontinued cooperation, networking andsharing of best practice would enablethe momentum to be maintained.

Tony Gribben, the ETF’s team leaderfor entrepreneurial learning, noted: “Ifwe are going to move forward withentrepreneurship education in anykind of strategic way it requires anational vision with strongleadership.”

Leaders in business, education andgovernment ministries needed to worktogether with other stakeholders tocreate societies whereentrepreneurship becoames part of theculture.

Ivana Pulitz, Director of the CroatianEducation Ministry’s Directorate forInternational Cooperation and EuropeanIntegration, stressed that whileentrepreneurship education remained“an evolving area in policy terms” itwas one where partnership could onlystrengthen it.

Suggesting a follow- up meeting in oneyear’s time, Mr Curavic of DG Industryand Enterprise, urged participants toconcentrate on sharing “good practiceand indicators based on pragmaticexperience.”. �

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by Nick Holdsworth, ICE

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The rapid pace of technologicalchange, increasing competition andchanges in patterns of consumptionare driving new modes of productionand manufacturing in Turkey. This isincreasing the demand for highlyqualified workers who have thenecessary skills and ability to adaptto change.

But the VET schools - whose job it is totrain this workforce - are struggling tokeep up. Such is the speed oftechnological change that even thoseschools which are well-equipped andhave good teachers at their disposal canfall behind in a matter of years.

This creates a difficult situation both forVET graduates who find their trainingdoes not equip them for the world ofwork and for employers who cannotfind the kind of workers they need andmay be obliged to spend time andmoney retraining people as aconsequence.

For many, the solution lies in helpingVET schools to build a closer workingrelationship with industry as the bestway of producing a better fit betweenthe training they provide and the needsof the labour market. Șișli Technical andVocational Secondary School in Istanbulprovides an interesting example of howthis can be done.

An early adopter, the school began tobuild its links with the Turkish car industryback in 1992 when it began cooperatingwith Toyota. The resulting trainingprogramme aims to produce qualifiedtecnical personnel who can provide aftersales service. Agreements have sincebeen signed with a wide range ofcompanies from the sector includingMercedes-Benz Türk, Doðuþ OtomotivServis ve Ticaret, Toyotasa ToyotaSabancý Pazarlama ve Satýþ, OtomotivSanayi Türkiye, Efsane Motor ServisTicaret, Honda Türkiye, Mengerler TicaretTürk, DENTUR- Deniz Turizmini VeDenizciliði Geliștirme Derneði, TOFAȘTürk Otomobil Fabrikasi. Agreementstypically include enlisting the help ofcompanies in setting up laboratories atthe school which are then used to trainstudents from 10th grade upwards.

Law helps schools work withcompanies

The idea of promoting cooperationbetween schools and industry is

nothing new in Turkey. The legalframework was established as far backas June 1986 by the Apprenticeship andVocational Education Law. The lawbecame known as the VocationalEducation Law in June 2001. It aims topromote a closer relationship betweenthe two actors as a way of reducing thecurrent skills mismatch and helpingschools today to anticipate what theneeds of the labour market could betomorrow. Cooperation is formalised bymeans of education cooperationprotocols signed between theDirectorate General of TechnicalEducation for Boys and schools andcompanies. So far 172 suchagreements are in force but,considering the size of the Turkish VETsystem, there is room for a lot more. �

TURKISH VET SCHOOLBUILDS LINKS WITH CARINDUSTRYSchool - industry cooperation key to reduce skillsmismatch

by Mustafa Ozcan, ȘișliTechnical and VocationalSecondary School

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Torino Process

The Torino Process is a participatory review of progress in vocational education and

training policy carried out every two years by all ETF partner countries with the

support of the ETF. Launched in January 2010 it began with a review exercise and

the preparation of reports to be discussed at national level. Live & Learn will speak

to partner country stakeholders and ETF staff involved in the Torino Process about

their involvement and what they feel works or could be done differently.

Country Focus: Croatia

With Croatia looking forward to a future as an EU Member State, Live & Learn

takes this opportunity to investigate ETF involvement in the country. Country

Manager Vaclav Klenha will talk about his role and experience and the spotlight

will fall on the challenges of economic change facing the country and how an

entrepreneurial mindset can help turn skills and ideas into jobs and

employment.

Live&Learn 27

IN THE NEXT ISSUE…

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