live&learn issue 27

INSIDE THIS ISSUE04 Torino Process 2012 – the results08 Work-based learning16 The blessings of skills competitions18 Report from Skopje

ISSU

E //

27M

ay 2

013

JordanLand of opportunity – for those willing to learn

NEWS AND VIEWS FROM ACROSS THE ETF COMMUNITY

Live&Learn May 2013

CONTACT US

Further information can be found on the ETF website: www.etf.europa.eu

For any additional information, please contact:

Communication Department European Training Foundation ADDRESS Villa Gualino, Viale Settimio Severo 65, I – 10133 Torino, Italy TELEPHONE +39 011 630 2222 FAX +39 011 630 2200 EMAIL [email protected]

To receive a copy of Live&Learn please email [email protected]

The European Training Foundation is the European Union’s centre of expertise supporting vocational and training reforms in the context of the European Union’s external relations programmes.

Cover photograph: ETF/Juha Roininen – EUP & Images

Please recycle this magazine when you finish with it.

INSIDE

06 Figuring with figures

15 British Council–ETF Partnership in Ukraine

22 New Publications

08 Learning context matters

18 In Skopje, a new plan for an old problem

04 More inclusive governance, clearer vision for VET

16 Competing in competences

10 Country Focus: Jordan

20 Surveying migration

21 Digital Update

02

Live&LearnMay 2013 03

EVIDENCE IS KEY

Editorial

In the weeks ahead of us evidence will be the buzzword around the ETF.

On 8 and 9 May, we will host the second Torino Process conference. We will discuss progress in human capital development with several dozens of delegates from our partner countries who have worked hard to gather the evidence needed to make education and training policy more relevant to the needs of their citizens and their societies.

Like everyone else who takes strategic planning in education and training seriously, our partner countries need this evidence. Many of them can ill afford to experiment – neither with money, which is scarce, nor with time, which is just as scarce in the race to catch up with global competition.

We at the ETF also need evidence. We need to keep a finger on the pulse of our own work, constantly asking ourselves whether we are doing things right, whether we can do more, whether we can do our work better. How can we know, if we do not have the evidence on which to base our findings?

The 2012 round of the Torino Process gives us this evidence and, on the whole, it is very encouraging.

It tells us that reforms are happening. It also tells us that these reforms are increasingly sensitive to their context – owned by the countries themselves and not by us or a foreign donor. They increasingly build on local conditions, without losing sight of the changing global reality.

Visions are being shaped and translated into tangible endeavours, not just by national authorities, but increasingly in collaboration with others for whom education and training are essential: labour market partners, local governments, schools and citizens. Partnerships are developing.

The links between the world of learning and the world of work are strengthening. Private sector and social partners are being involved in VET and the gap that existed between the traditionally dominant public sector and the burgeoning private sector is being bridged through countless new initiatives.

This is very real progress indeed but it doesn’t allow us to sit back and relax, because the same evidence also clearly shows which areas need further attention. They are picked out by the cross-country analyses of the Torino Process 2012 and will dominate the discussions in Turin in May.

Invaluable as it may be, actual evidence is not the real milestone of 2012. The real milestone is that we now, for the first time, have two sets of data and as such are seeing the first contours of a powerful tool to track progress and even the effect of new policies and reforms that can be used by the whole gamut of people and institutions with a stake in VET. Because in the Torino Process, participation is the key element: participation of the partner countries in collecting the data and participation in the partner countries of as many relevant parties with a stake in education and training as possible.

Gathering all of these partners around the table is crucial for further progress, because only if all those with a stake in the output of education and training get a stake in the input of education and training can true relevance be achieved. ■

Peter Greenwood, Head of evidence-based policy

making, ETF

Peter Greenwood, ETF

Photo: ETF/Alberto Ramella – EUP & Images

Live&Learn May 201304

Progress has been mixed but nonetheless impressive since the Torino Process last took stock of the state of reform of vocational education and training (VET) in the ETF’s partner countries in 2010. Governance of VET systems and policy vision are two cases in point.

Vision and governance – together with external and internal efficiency and quality – are the two main areas that make up the building blocks on which Torino Process reviews are based. They will also be the main themes for the conference in Turin this May when

some 200 participants will join the ETF in debating where to go from here. Unsurprisingly, 27 participating countries are coming up with very different solutions to their specific problems and challenges but some general trends emerge.

VET in lifelong learning

The political vision for VET reform now tends to place VET squarely at the centre of the broader system for lifelong learning. Countries such as Croatia and Kosovo1 are opening up educational pathways

MORE INCLUSIVE GOVERNANCE, CLEARER VISION FOR VET

In policy making without a collective process, nothing will come to pass.

Photos: ETF/Alberto Ramella – EUP & Images

The Torino Process 2012 Results

1 This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence – henceforth Kosovo.


The evidence assembled through the Torino Process is a barometer

for policy development in education and training.

as part of their process of building a national qualifications framework. “In the Western Balkans you can definitely see VET being linked with other levels of the system such as post-secondary and higher education,” says Peter Greenwood, head of evidence-based policy making at the ETF. This forms part of an evolving approach to policy making which is more holistic, participatory and owned by the countries themselves. One which strives to work against fragmentation between institutional players.

These statements of intent also make a more explicit link between VET and economic competiveness. “In Kazakhstan or Ukraine there is a big push to make VET more economically relevant,” says Greenwood, “you can also see the development of work-based learning as a means of bridging the divide between schools and the workplace.”

One area which is often absent from this vision is that of social inclusion. Getting Roma children into school in the Western Balkans or more women into paid work in the Arab Mediterranean countries are sensitive areas where politicians may be loath to tread. “We get the feeling that in some places – rural areas of Central Asia for instance – people are still falling through the cracks,” says Vincent McBride, senior human capital development specialist at the ETF. How VET can promote active citizenship or give people key competences is another area which gets less attention than it deserves.

More open governance

When it comes to governance of VET, one striking trend is that governments are increasingly willing to relinquish some of their power and allow others into the

equation. Buffeted by the shockwaves of the Arab Spring, the Arab Mediterranean countries, where Tunisia and Egypt have plans for regional decentralisation, provide the strongest example. In Russia, where along with Belarus and Ukraine, traditions of centralised planning have held back the development of more flexible and accountable VET institutions, there are now plans for more regional autonomy.

The move to set up skills councils in Turkey, Croatia, Egypt and Morocco to name but a few is another sign of the trend towards more participative ways of governing VET. In all regions, schools are gaining more autonomy to implement reform and strengthen their links with the community, especially businesses.

In Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, diversifying sources of funding for VET is a priority – “this is a region where VET is underfunded yet EU targets are high”

says Greenwood. Central Asia is trying the same and many countries are introducing new funding mechanisms such as voucher schemes or training funds.

No matter where you go, governance and vision are inextricably linked and rightly so. “You can’t implement the one without the other,” says Greenwood, “experience has shown us that you can develop all sorts of super sexy policy statements, but if these are not the result of a collective process, you can be fairly sure that nothing will come to pass.” ■

Words: Rebecca Warden, ICE

FIND OUT MORE:The Torino Process http://ow.ly/kc8IQ


FIGURING WITH FIGURESThe Torino Process, the ETF’s biannual review of vocational education and training in the partner countries, relies on a set of key indicators – the data which help measure the state of play and progress. How this information was collected and analysed? What are the conclusions? Here is the report.

The evidence assembled through the Torino Process is a barometer for policy development in education and training. If we can map demographic and economic trends, we can adjust human capital development to future needs. And if we can map the consequences of these adjustments we can better calibrate them to optimise education and training to the needs of society and the economy.

It sounds so blatantly obvious, but if gathering this evidence was easy, the Torino Process would not exist, except perhaps to benchmark national achievements against international trends.

The reality is that gathering this evidence is hard work. It calls for a lot of capable people who can analyse and translate data compiled by other capable people. This data must in turn be collected from a host of institutions of very different purpose and nature: sector councils, local authorities, employment agencies, schools, tax offices and many others.

At the ETF, the statistical team is the engine of data identification and collection under the Torino Process. Martiño Rubal Maseda was one of the six people involved in the definition and collection of the 2012 key indicators.

“For us, the two greatest challenges of the process were first to simply get the data we wanted and second to get data that could be compared across different countries,” Rubal Maseda says.

“Some of the information we need is quite widely available, such as general statistics on education access and attainment, but when you try to go into detail, a lot of information is much harder to find. This applies in particular to data related to vocational education and training.”

Tricky comparisons

“Comparability is even trickier, because the slightest difference in measuring variables can distort the picture. Different countries, for example, use different age ranges for otherwise similar indicators,” he says.

For general indicators, the comparability issue can be solved by using existing international sources, such as the ILO, the World Bank and the OECD. But these do not typically break figures down to the level of detail needed if data is to be used for vocational education and training policy development or, more generally, for lifelong learning.

“We use these broad indicators, such as unemployment figures, attainment levels, GDP and education spending, to put vocational education and training into a broader perspective. Obtaining these from international sources also means that we only need to ask the partner countries for the data that goes into more of the detail we are interested in and which is not publicly available.”

The Torino Process 2012 Results

Participation in VET (% of upper secondary)


The Torino Process places a lot of demands on the partner countries and the ETF is aware that a balance must be struck between pushing for detail and not burdening them with excessive requests.

“Some countries are keener to use international classifications,” according to Rubal Maseda. “Countries in the Western Balkans that are preparing for accession will have to match some of their data collection to EU requirements. This greatly improves data availability and comparability. But in other countries, it can still be very difficult to get data that is comparable. For example, when we are given unemployment rates that are broken down by educational attainment, the education levels used tend to follow national standards rather than ISCED. This makes them difficult to compare.”

Martiño Rubal Maseda was mainly involved in collecting data from the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries. One of the region’s figures that struck him most was the high rate of youth unemployment. This is particularly significant because the region has extraordinarily young populations. The other was the low activity rate of women. The latter is particularly striking when set off against women’s educational attainment, which is very similar to that of men throughout most of the region.

“Looking at these figures, one can only draw the conclusion that resources are being wasted. Governments invest in education for all, but only half of this investment is returned in the form of economic activity.”

The analysis becomes even more interesting when this knowledge is set off against the job prospects of graduates from different education segments.

“Participation in VET as a percentage of total upper secondary education is generally low. Yet different studies suggest that VET students find jobs more easily than students who went to university. But in many of these countries, higher education is socially important, so universities remain the first choice. A comparison of such fairly basic data yields a strong signal that these countries need to develop vocational education because it appears to be more efficient at providing people with opportunities for work.”

But raw figures can only say so much about the reality on the ground. Quality and relevance, some of the most important variables in education, are

infinitely more difficult to measure than access and attainment.

The OECD’s PISA studies have made tremendous progress in mapping actual cognitive achievement, but they cover only a fraction of the partner countries and the real litmus test for local relevance is the performance of students after graduation.

“Countries may increase their education spending, but they have to improve the way they spend it too,” says Rubal Maseda.

So does a statistician think that we need more qualitative information too?

“We have to make a clear distinction between two things here: one is data about the quality of education, the other is qualitative data about education. We need data on the quality of education to know whether an education system works or not and to find out if its quality is improving or not. On the other hand, policy making improves when it is based on evidence, and this evidence may be both qualitative and quantitative. Combining the two is important, but extracting qualitative information should not be at the expense

of gathering quantitative data. Facts and figures are indispensable ingredients for good policy making.”

Statistics: handle with care

Expenditure on education can be a strong indicator of the priority a government gives to human capital development. However, the figures also have their limitations. Kyrgyzstan’s education budget of 6% of GDP obviously constitutes a very different level of opportunity for creative change than Israel’s 5.8% of GDP. After all, GDP per capita in Kyrgyzstan is only 2,434 USD (purchasing power parity), while in Israel it is more than ten times that figure.

There is also tremendous variation among the EU countries. While public spending on education in Slovakia amounted to 4.1% of the country’s GDP, in Denmark the rate stood at 8.7% in 2009 (source: World Bank). Similarly, in February 2013, 7.7% of young people were unemployed in Germany, at a time when the youth unemployment rate exceeded 50% in Greece (source: Eurostat). ■

Words: Ard Jongsma, ICE

Data not available

Data not available

Data not Data not availableavailable

Data not Data not availableavailable

Youth unemployment rates (%, 15-24)

Public expenditure on education (% of GDP)


Work-based learning improves employees’ quality of work, professional status, career development, and job satisfaction.

The need for more work-based learning

In 2012, an ETF survey revealed that the vast majority of partner countries consider work-based learning (WBL) an area of growth in education and training reform in the next five years. Currently, vocational education and training (VET) systems in most partner countries are strongly school-based. The lack of WBL – or indeed of any practical training at all – is frequently highlighted in reports, including those prepared as part of the Torino Process.

However, new policies and practices in WBL are emerging and gaining ground. Some countries have realised the importance of WBL and have already started to modify their VET policies to take this into account (e.g., Morocco, Algeria, Ukraine, Turkey and Kazakhstan), while others have at least recognised that VET must pay more attention to the realities of employment and labour market demands.

WBL is not meant to exclude or replace school-based learning in VET. Both modalities are most effective when they complement rather than compete with each other. What policy makers and social partners need is a thorough understanding of what WBL means: the economic, social and educational benefits it can offer, its potential in the context of development, and the obstacles that stand in the way of its implementation.

The actual proportion of learning that takes place in a real workplace can vary considerably, ranging from high-intensity and high-frequency work-based activities (e.g. apprenticeships, in-company training) to the opposite (e.g. internships, work-life familiarisation).

Benefits for learners

The key advantage of WBL is that students develop expertise not only through the acquisition of technical skills

and personal and social competences, but also through socialisation in the workplace. WBL also facilitates the transition from school to work.

Studies have shown that employees regard their workplace as the most important venue for learning. Involvement in WBL improves employees’ quality of work, professional status, career development, and job satisfaction. WBL can also generate benefits for vulnerable young people and the unemployed. Many reintegration or re-training programmes already use WBL to offer participants a route back into formal education or to facilitate their transition to employment.

Benefits for employers

WBL has the potential to offer employers a variety of benefits. These range from financial benefits (i.e. increased productivity) to soft benefits (i.e. increased staff morale), and from immediate benefits (i.e. acquisition of skills needed in the workplace) to medium-term (i.e. lower staff turnover) and long-term benefits (i.e. enhanced profitability and improved business performance). However, many employers are unaware of the potential benefits for their business and the incidence of WBL also varies by sector and company size.

Benefits for society

The impact of WBL even goes beyond the immediate effects on individual learners, employees and employers. WBL produces a broad range of relevant skills and fosters employability. Cross-country comparisons show that countries with strong apprenticeship systems have better youth employment patterns and lower youth unemployment rates. WBL also makes sound economic sense because the costs of achieving learning outcomes are transferred from publicly-funded education institutions to enterprises, thus reducing public expenditure and freeing up funds for other priorities.

Opinion

LEARNING CONTEXT MATTERS

Helmut Zelloth.

Photo: ETF

What is work-based learning?

WBL is learning that takes place in a real working environment through participation in the work process, irrespective of whether the learners are young people, students, unemployed people or employees, or whether they are paid or unpaid. Some definitions encompass forms of classroom-based learning – e.g. simulations, virtual firms – or see WBL as a component of a broader learning programme including theoretical lessons and classroom learning.


Obstacles for WBL

In general, WBL is more complicated to organise than school-based learning owing to the involvement of a higher number of actors and, in particular, to the significant roles of the private sector and employer representatives. It is also subject to the regulations governing not only education and training but also employment (i.e. labour law, health and safety).

The main obstacles relate to:

� the availability of WBL opportunities and coordination / involvement of employers and social partners;

� poaching risks (some firms invest in training, others compete with higher wages);

� the lack of a legal structure and public policy support (incentives);

� the quality of WBL (i.e. learning conducive environment, quality of trainers and mentors);

� the negative perception of WBL and poor working conditions;

� the risk of reproducing existing patterns of employment segregation (by gender, social class etc.).

However, overall, benefits of work-based learning by far outweigh the disadvantages.

More information can be found in the latest ETF publication ‘Work-based learning: benefits and obstacles. A literature review for policy makers and social partners in ETF partner countries’. ■

Helmut Zelloth, Team Leader of the ETF’s Innovation

and Learning project ‘Learning Context Matters’

In work-based learning students develop expertise also through socialisation in the workplace.

Photo: ETF/Ard Jongsma


Immigrants take manual jobs while graduates emigrate and women barely figure: Jordan’s challenging labour market.

Visit a building site in Amman, the Jordanian capital, and look carefully at the workers: the bricklayers, roofers, tillers and general labourers are mostly Egyptian.

Go to any decent four or five-star hotel and take note of who serves you: the hostesses who hover in the lobby offering you coffee, soft drinks and food. Filipinos, Indians, other nationalities. You’d be hard pressed to find a Jordanian among them.

Walk the streets of the jumbled sprawl that is downtown Amman on a Thursday evening as the weekend begins to a cacophony of car horns, calls to prayer from the ubiquitous mosques and a babble of voices on the sidewalks in the coffee houses and glass-fronted bakeries, windows

groaning with sticky sweet baklava and other delights; the waiters are all men and there is barely a woman to be seen.

Welcome to a snapshot of Jordan’s labour market where hundreds of thousands of foreign workers – Egyptians, refugees from Syria, Iraq and Palestine – perform low-skilled jobs that many Jordanians refuse, while some 700,000 highly qualified university-educated locals leave the country to work abroad in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Gulf.

Jordan has the lowest representation of women in the working population of any country in the region – figures vary between 12% and 15% compared with 63% for men – but at the same time women make up the majority of

university students, many of whom – men and women alike – struggle to find work on graduation. While one out of five young men is jobless, the female youth unemployment rate is at staggering 44.9% according to the World Bank.

It’s a young country – 37% of the population is under 15 and 60,000 new job-seekers enter the labour market every year. Between 2010 and 2015 Jordan needs to create 385,000 new jobs just to absorb the demand.

And it is a country with virtually no natural resources where the vast majority of new jobs being created are either low skilled or manual, practical trades for which the academically inclined universities do not prepare graduates.

Students of Hotel Training Institute in Salt, Jordan. Overall only 14% of

eligible youngsters take up VET in Jordan, according to figures collated

in 2008.

Photo: ETF/Marcin Monko

Country Focus Jordan

JORDAN, LAND OF OPPORTUNITY – FOR THOSE WILLING TO LEARN


Community colleges and vocational training schools hardly fill the gap; this sector suffers from a generally negative public image and many schools, although open to both girls and boys, are not attractive to the young women who might learn marketable skills there.

That’s if they come from families that don’t look down on practical, skilled work, regarding it as something Jordanians don’t do – a prevalent cultural attitude.

It is a challenging picture for those working with policy makers in VET and the labour market.

Outi Karkkainen, the ETF’s country manager for Jordan, understands this all too well.

“There are many problems; a young and growing population, gender inequality, a rural/urban divide, high unemployment rates and low labour market activity rates,” she says.

Quality vs. quantity

The VET system is not up to the task. “The quantity is there, the quality is not. VET needs to be improved,” she adds.

There is a lot of good work going on both in the public sector – where the Ministry of Labour, backed by no less a figure than HM King Abdullah II – launched a National Employment Strategy in June 2012, and where there is now a trend to move from a supply-driven model of VET to one based on demand, with an emphasis on outputs rather than inputs.

A multitude of donor-backed NGOs are running some innovative and valuable projects, building links between

VET schools and employers, raising awareness of the value of applied learning and tackling entrenched prejudices.

But there is little cohesion or coordination across sectors and between government agencies, employers, VET schools and social partners, Karkkainen observes.

“There needs to be a better career guidance system – at the moment where it exists it is largely psychological counselling; [benefitting] those with good grades for training as doctors or lawyers. Opportunities and aptitudes rarely figure” she says.

“What Jordan needs now is to develop training and education that is more relevant to the needs of the economy and the labour market. Of course you need a commitment from the government. But at the moment a national vision is missing,” Karkkainen adds.

The Employment, Technical and Vocational Education and Training or E-TVET Council, set up in 2010 under the chairmanship of the Minister of Labour, is one body that is addressing these issues.

The image of VET

“The main challenge is that the younger generation tends to look down on VET; they are all looking for graduate-level jobs,” says Nadera Al-Bakheet, head of the council’s secretariat.

Overall only 14% of eligible youngsters take up VET in Jordan, according to figures collated in 2008.

Fragmentation in the sector remains a major issue, she adds.

POSITIVE TRENDS

In Jordan, significant efforts in education show in statistics. Enrolment in lower and upper secondary education is 94.9% and 74.2% respectively – well above the results in the country’s neighbours. And the rates are improving: school life expectancy for new school entrants is now 13.1 years, compared to population’s mean years of schooling of 8.6 years. Jordan beats its Arab peers also in literacy scoring 92.2%.

Nadera Al-Bakheet, head of secretariat of the E-TVET Council.

Photo: ETF/Juha Roininen – EUP & Images

“Even with an E-TVET council that was designed for this, we have a problem with connections between the different elements.”

She is also aware of the critically low participation rates of women in the labour market.

“The job opportunities being created in Jordan are mostly of a lower level and educated women generally are highly qualified. Unemployment in this group is high,” Al-Bakheet adds.

It is a complex issue that is not just about increasing participation, but also about improving retention rates. ■

Words: Nick Holdsworth, ICE

12

TOURISM TRAINING LEADS THE WAYThere is progress. The ETF has been working in Jordan for 10 years. Recent projects include developing a national qualifications framework and focusing on improving governance in VET.

Other agencies are also doing their bit. Siyaha, the USAID-funded Jordan Tourism Development Project, is working in a sector which has the potential to create 25,400 new jobs over the next five years.

If Jordan wants to improve employment prospects for its own young people rather than migrants, it is in the country’s interest to train its young people for these jobs. Susanne Grigoleit, a German hotelier who has lived in Jordan for 13 years, is a tourism workforce development specialist at the project.

She sees the beginning of a shift in attitudes from the families of students who have opted to train for the hotel and hospitality trade at the Vocational Training Corporation’s network of 13 schools, which the USAID tourism project has been involved in upgrading – both facilities and curricula.

“Although it remains difficult to employ women in the tourism industry we are doing our best to overcome cultural objections,” she says, noting that to the vast majority of the parents of the 6,900 students trained in the project since 2006 (72% of which have found jobs) “the world of a five-star hotel is totally unknown.”

UPGRADING INFORMAL LEARNING IN JORDAN

Amman. Young men in front of the mosque, offering ready for hire for daily jobs in painting, repairs and other handiwork for 20 dinar a day.

Photos: ETF/Juha Roininen – EUP & Images


May 2013Live&Learn

Some 67% of Jordanian workers work informally, according to a recent World Bank report1, and such workers are likely to be young, male, from poor backgrounds and with little schooling. Many start their working lives in informal apprenticeships, which do provide training for work but typically have no social protection and few prospects for moving up the professional ladder.

13

WOMEN IN THE JORDANIAN WORKFORCE: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

No more than 15% of women of working age are employed in Jordan. Acutely aware of the waste of human resources this figure represents, the kingdom’s government has made increasing female participation in the labour market a priority. Twenty million Jordanian dinars (Euro 21.5 million) have been set aside annually to subsidise the costs of maternity leave, a key obstacle to employing women for many businesses.

Maha Shawareb, vice-president of Amman-based NGO Business Development Centre (BDC), which has trained more than 11,000 mostly university graduates, 70% of them women, in finance, entrepreneurial and other key business skills, says companies can do more to make the workplace more attractive for female employees.

BDC is working with Copenhagen-based centre for gender, equality and ethnicity KVINFO and 10 Jordanian firms to address this issue. Representatives from five of the companies will travel to Copenhagen in April to learn about the Danish approach.

But it is not just about getting more women into the workforce. According to Hala Ghosheh, a freelance gender development specialist, it is as much about retention as increasing the numbers. Keeping women in the labour market raises complex social and cultural issues in Jordan.

“Women are disadvantaged because they are not plugged into the social network, the wasta,” she says. Many women who do manage to find work, particularly those from rural areas, have little control over what they earn; it is handed over to their husbands, creating a further disincentive to stay in the labour market. “The fundamental issue is the economic independence of women,” Ghosheh says.

Words: Nick Holdsworth, ICE

Live&LearnMay 2013

A new project on upgrading informal apprenticeships run by the International Labour Organization (ILO) is aiming to improve their chances.

The project aims to improve the learning value and outcomes of informal apprenticeships in two sectors of the Jordanian economy; printing and car maintenance.

Since September last year, project workers have been busy researching the conditions of informal apprenticeships by organising meetings with employers’ associations, trade unions and the government and holding focus groups with owners of small companies, craftsmen, skilled workers and apprentices. “We are looking at what is the current practice and how could it be improved,” says Yasser Ali, national project co-ordinator at the ILO in Jordan.

This will culminate in a workshop this summer to present the findings and to identify 20 to 30 small companies to participate in the second stage. These will be given short training courses and weekly support from a coach as they test out the recommendations for upgrading informal apprenticeships. The project will look at opening up more skills choices for young women and men but will also address employers’ concerns on trainee liability and the risk that today’s apprentice could become tomorrow’s competitor.

Raising awareness of training needs in the informal sector will be another aim. “We want to make some impact on the key decision makers in this sector which has been neglected for years,” says Ali.

While the informal sector exists in many countries – a typical country of the region produces one-third of its GDP and employs two-thirds of its workforce informally according to the World Bank – governments usually have few policies which actively engage with it. “The informal sector is sometimes used as a scapegoat because they don’t follow the rules, pay social security and so on, but it does act as a cushion against poverty, especially in times of crisis,” says Ummuhan Bardak, senior labour market

expert at the ETF, “if policy makers were to act against the informal sector, they would reduce job opportunities for the poor so they tend to be wary of attacking it.”

Most informal employers are micro enterprises operating under the official radar. “It is very difficult to cover them with any kind of policy” says Bardak. Informal apprenticeships, based on a social rather than a written contract, also call for careful handling. “The approach must be very carefully thought out otherwise you might risk destroying something instead of improving it,” says Helmut Zelloth, senior specialist in VET policies and systems at the ETF, who thinks that the ILO approach is a good one.

“If you simply try and turn an informal apprenticeship into some kind of formal training, this could make employers wary about poaching,” he warns, “why should they invest in training someone if others may tempt them away with better salaries or conditions?”

Most government programmes focus on formal training to which marginalised populations may not have access, says Patrick Daru, senior skills and employability specialist at the ILO Regional Office for Arab States. But a bottom-up approach to upgrading existing informal training, such as the one already piloted by the ILO in Africa and currently being adapted for Jordan and Egypt, has great potential.

Zelloth, Bardak and Daru believe any approach to informal apprenticeships must take into account the wider, complex environment in which informal companies operate – focusing not only on training but also on issues such as access to capital and productivity and the vulnerable status of trainees. It should include incentives for both apprentices and employers. And these will necessarily be different – for instance tax breaks mean nothing to a company which does not pay tax, but a small allowance for daily transport might make all the difference to an apprentice from a poor background. ■

Words: Rebecca Warden, ICE

1 Gatti et al., Striving for Better Jobs: The Challenge of Informality in the Middle East and North Africa, World Bank, 2011.

14 Live&Learn May 2013


Your Excellency, your career has centred on the development and growth of the Jordanian economy, where do you see the education fitting in the context of your country’s development?

Jordan is unique among its neighbours as it is not particularly rich in mineral resources and 80% of its territory is desert. Our main treasure therefore is our people and their skills. If you take some of the growth industries we are developing – tourism, IT, pharmaceuticals – human capital is crucial. So, whichever way you look at education – as a human right or as an economic factor – it is hugely important for development. And in general education is about giving opportunities to people: the opportunity to work or the opportunity to do business.

In the Arab world, the past decades have witnessed a great expansion of education. More people can read and write. More girls go to school. More students enter universities. Yet, education systems often seem to produce frustration rather than prosperity.

Indeed, these gains in education are not being translated into gains in employment. Why? Because nowadays technological advances are increasing demand for highly skilled, innovative, and adaptable employees, while outdated school systems and obsolete curricula are preventing our young people from realising their potential. The result is an imbalance between the skills students have and the competencies employers seek. This is true all over the world. But it is especially difficult for me as an Arab, because over 60% of people are under 25 years old, and one in four of them is unemployed.

In your opinion what makes it so difficult to change education and adapt it to the needs of the economy and society?

The beauty of education is that it is so pervasive in society – young and older people learn all their lives in different contexts. So, changes in education involve many people and institutions: students, families, teachers, governments, and the private sector. They also cost money. Maybe that is why education in the development agenda often yields to economics and health where results can be seen more quickly. But if you have good intentions and a clear vision, education has probably the biggest power to transform people’s lives and draw them out of poverty.

Last September the European Training Foundation convened Arab ministers of education and employment in Jordan. Their answer to the problems you talked about was to make vocational education and training more attractive, improve the quality of education, and inspire entrepreneurs. Would you agree?

I would add this: work with partners, with business, and with civil society. Governments must create an enabling environment for the private sector. The private sector must bridge gaps between schools and job markets. Schools must increase the quality of education they provide. And young people are not passive here. They must explore new ways to gain experience: entrepreneurial, voluntary, vocational. I was happy to take part in the ETF’s conference on entrepreneurial learning in 2012 and this is the way to go. We need to help young people to rewrite their CVs with words which resonate with employers; or to instil in them the values, attitudes and skills needed to start their own businesses. In Jordan and in other Arab countries there is a lot of energy, and education can make it positive energy. ■

PEOPLE – OUR INDISPENSABLE RESOURCE

Interview with His Excellency Dr Montaser Oklah Al–Zou’bi, Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the European Union.

Dr Montaser Oklah Al–Zou’bi, Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the European Union.

Photo: ETF/Juha Roininen – EUP & Images

15Live&LearnMay 2013

How the ETF and the British Council pooled their expertise to create a positive change for learners and workers in Ukraine.

The Skills for Employability project started in Ukraine in 2009 as a response to the national skills agenda. Employers voiced their concerns regarding skills gaps in the labour market and the lack of a coherent national skills strategy, which would inform education decisions at all levels. The project brought together the Ukrainian government, education, industry and international partners to rethink vocational education from the perspective of skills for growth and personal development.

The European Training Foundation (ETF) has been our international partner of choice ever since the project started. As an agency of the European Union, the ETF helps Ukraine – a country in transition – to harness the potential of its human capital through the reform of education, training and labour market systems. This has been very much our agenda as well: Skills for Employability has focused on employers’ engagement with education and it has explored the UK’s TVET system in operation.

The two organisations – the British Council and the ETF – have pulled their expertise and resources for shared purposes and priorities: development of Ukraine’s qualifications system linked to the European Qualifications Framework; establishment of sector skills organisations capable of making employers’ voices heard by other stakeholders, including educators; and development of skills for growth strategies.

In 2012 and 2013, the ETF and the British Council have complemented and supported each other in the following areas:

� capacity building for key stakeholders in Ukraine,

� support to institutional reform which introduces new roles in a competence-based TVET system – sector bodies, awarding bodies and the regulator,

� change of teaching and learning paradigms in a competence-based education and training system.

Skills for Employability has also supported the ETF’s Torino Process in the country by contributing to the national debate on what Ukraine needs to do to develop an efficient and effective TVET system. The project benefited from international consultations organised by the ETF on the role of sector skills councils in October 2012, recognition

of prior learning in November 2012, and professional advice from ETF experts – Timo Kuusela, Olav Aarno and Arjen Deij.

This cooperation has been vital to the success of the project: a variety of thoughts, ideas, sources of expertise, and points of reference has played a key role in initiating and supporting positive change in Ukraine. ■

Elena Gorsheniova, Country project manager,

British Council

BRITISH COUNCIL–ETF PARTNERSHIP IN UKRAINE

Kiev.

Photo: David Holt London / Flickr Creative Commons

Partner’s Perspective

The British Council is the United Kingdom’s organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. The ETF has cooperation agreements with the British Council and other organisations active in the area of vocational education and training in ETF partner countries.


COMPETING IN COMPETENCESCan competitions boost the image of vocational careers?

A 13% jump in applications from one year to the next would be a dream scenario for any vocational school. But this is the reality for Aarhus Tech in 2013 and it gives much of the credit to the Danish national skills competition that Aarhus hosted in January. The event introduced tens of thousands of young Danes to VET as an alternative to the much more popular general secondary education streams. Such an instant local response suggests that skills competitions have considerable potential as tools for boosting the image of VET.

The idea of competing in competences was conceived in Spain in the 1940s in response to a desperate need for skilled workers. It caught on internationally. Already in the 1950s the first international skills competitions were organised and today World Skills is a huge and

prestigious biennial event. Central European countries compete intensely in crafts. South Korean students are released from military service if they take home a gold medal. Now, Russia is gearing up to participate in World Skills for the first time in Leipzig in 2013.

Finland has successfully exploited the potential of skills competitions in recent years. Its national events attract huge crowds and have helped to boost enrolment in VET from one-third of the relevant age group to 50% over the past two decades.

Before joining the ETF, Petri Lempinen was involved in both national competitions in Finland and in hosting the 2005 World Skills competition in Helsinki.

“It’s not just show business,” said Lempinen. “There are very real benefits besides the increase in VET enrolment. Our competitions create opportunities

for schools to work together in local and regional preparations. They also offer kids specific examples of the use of vocational skills.”

Many of the young visitors in Aarhus seemed to agree.

“It is nice to have so many different things in one space,” said 15-year-old ninth grader Line Pedersen. “Our normal internships show you only one profession that you often knew to begin with.”

Pedersen has also visited education fairs, but she thinks that the competition is better.

“At fairs I always feel as if they are trying to sell me something. Here you can see more kids of your own age and talk to them.”

Ulla Groth of Danske Erhvervsskoler, one of the driving forces behind Skills Denmark, knows from experience that the experience from Aarhus is not unique.

“The first time we organised Skills Denmark in Odense, we saw increases of up to 10% in the city and 5% slightly further out. More importantly, this intake was sustained the following year.”

Feature Skills competitions

Judge at a skills competition in Aarhus, Denmark. The idea of skills competitions was conceived in Spain in the 1940s in response to a desperate need for skilled workers.



“..we think of ourselves as artists. It’s a unique profession where you need both your brains and your hands,” says Eskil Duus, a young thatcher.


While promoting VET is an important reason for Russia to enter World Skills, it is not the only one. Pavel Chernykh of World Skills Russia says that benchmarking is equally important.

“As Russia increasingly engages in an internationally competitive market, we need to review our professional standards,” said Chernykh. “World Skills provides a unique means of exchange and comparison of world-class competence standards in industrial trades and services.”

Participation in World Skills challenges every aspect of education and training and the effect reaches remarkably deep into the systems of participating countries: qualification rounds start at schools and in regional contests and confront the participants with different demands for skills than they may be accustomed to.

“Take the example of mechatronics,” said Chernykh. “In World Skills it does not cover exactly the same content as it does in Russia. We do not necessarily need to change it, but this forces us to think about why we do things the way we do them and that is good. It also forces schools to talk about these things with each other and with industrial partners. This is good too.”

When it comes to addressing some of the classic problems in VET in ETF partner countries, skills competitions can kill quite a few birds with the one stone. They can raise the profile of VET, adding an element of excitement to a field that is often considered void of such. They are a powerful tool for stimulating cooperation, both between schools and between schools and labour market partners. And they can play a role in career guidance, helping young people to make informed choices about their futures.

Skewed skills

Skills competitions can serve as a useful shop window for niche professions. In Aarhus, one of the best examples of this could be found at the far end of the most remote hall: the thatchers.

“We’re a bunch of old people that desperately need new blood,” said Per Keis, who has spearheaded Danish efforts to promote education for young thatchers. He is proud of his three students and they are proud of their choice.

“We’re all a bit nuts,” said Eskil Duus, one of the three students. “I used to play New Orleans jazz. One of my fellow students came straight from a pub. But we think of ourselves as artists. It’s a unique profession where you need both your brains and your hands.”

For the likes of the thatchers, who need a few students per year in an entire country, participating in fairs is far too expensive. The skills competition gives them the exposure they otherwise would have lacked. ■

Words: Ard Jongsma, ICE

“WE CANNOT ALL SIT ON OUR CHAIRS AND BE LITTLE EINSTEINS. WE NEED YOUNG PEOPLE

WITH HANDS AS WELL AS BRAINS.” Birger Lomholt, a teacher at Herningsholm Erhvervsskole, accompanying the competitors in civil construction


Career guidance, reforms in education, especially to the VET system, practical classes in secondary and in higher education – these are the most important pillars of the first action plan to focus on youth employment in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia since the country’s independence in 1991. The aim is to bring about a better balance between the available workforce and the real needs of the labour market.

The rate of unemployment in the country has been among the highest in Europe for more than a decade now. On average, one-third of the work force is unemployed and young people make up the largest group among them. In August 2012 the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy created the first ever action plan for youth employment.

The plan, based on a methodology from the International Labour Organization, will start fighting youth unemployment in 2013. It will run until 2015 and could have an impact on the prospects of 135,000 young people.

For Mladen Frchkovski , a counsellor in the labour market unit at the ministry

who worked on the action plan, there is no “magic wand” that can solve the unemployment issue quickly.

“Foreign direct investments can be a solution. Another would be encouraging young people to invest in innovative new businesses,” he says.

IN SKOPJE, A NEW PLAN FOR AN OLD PROBLEM

A student searching online for an apprenticeship on a train in Skopje.

Guest Writer Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia


Comfortably unemployed

Reactor, a think tank based in Skopje, released its research on youth (un)employment two months before the action plan was announced, the first of its kind as well.

A telephone survey was conducted with 1,204 young people aged between 15 and 29 from all regions in the country. The study shows that the so-called NEETs (not in employment, education or training) is the biggest group – one out of four young people. Family responsibilities (21%) and insufficient demand on the labour market (27%) are the two most common reasons why many young people are not even looking for a job. Ethnic Albanians amount for almost half of the NEETs. The survey also shows that 37% of the employed got their job through friends and relatives, highlighting the place of social networks as the most important factor in job search.

“We wanted to see how the active measures of the State Employment Agency are reaching unemployed young people and those who are searching for a job,” says Neda Korunovska, president and researcher at Reactor.

Results in four or five years

When asked when the results of the plan can be expected, Frchkovski says: “When we manage to compare labour market needs and the labour force available, we’ll get the real results of the action plan. The initial results will be evident next year, but the real results will come after maybe four or five years”.

But Korunovska believes that in four or five years’ time, the situation with youth unemployment will have deteriorated still further. “I don’t predict a bright future. And I see potential for social unrest because the youth unemployment issue will quickly become an issue of the different

nationalities who live in the the country,” she warns.

Since 2007, the government has undertaken various active employment measures. Under the latest one (2012-13), the government is providing financial support to SMEs, subsidising employment measures for agricultural workers and running training for IT skills and business start-ups.

Even though unemployed for over four years, Daniel Atanasov, 30, from Skopje who has a Master’s in law is not searching for a job at the moment. He does frequently check online job portals. “I’m investing in my education because I think this will get me a better paid job. I’m waiting for a good opportunity,” he says, adding he is not aware of the government’s initiatives for boosting employment. ■

Words and photos: Ljubica Grozdanovska

Dimishkovska, ICE

WHAT JOBS DO YOUNG MACEDONIANS PREFER?

Source: Reactor, youth and the labour market 2012.

Ljubica Grozdanovska Dimishkovska is a freelance journalist, media consultant, analyst and researcher based in Skopje.


Ph

oto

: ETF

Project Update

Survey results shed light on the link between skills and migration, prompt debate and provide input for better policies.

The findings of a study of Moroccan migrants were released by the ETF in Rabat on 26 February. This is the largest research on migration ever carried out in the country – 2,600 potential emigrants and 1,400 former migrants were interviewed. The results were immediately picked up by the Moroccan media.

The focus of the study was on the skills-dimension of migration: what skills migrants have, how they use them before, during and after migration, and how this benefits the sending and receiving countries, as well as the migrants themselves.

The purpose of the study was to contribute to the improvement of migration policies, both in the EU and Morocco, by providing high-quality data and analysis. The ETF has carried out similar studies in Albania, Egypt, Tunisia, Ukraine and Tajikistan (2006-08) and Armenia and Georgia (2011-12).

More facts and figures from the ETF study “Migration and skills” in Morocco

� Moroccans prefer long-term emigration: 53% of returnees stayed abroad for more than seven years.

� The economic situation is the main declared reason for migration, but propensity to migrate is not correlated with the level of economic well-being.

� Most migrants work in hotels and restaurants, construction and agriculture.

� 60% of returnees and 46% of potential migrants had a job at the time of the survey.

� Some 45% of migrants worked abroad without a contract, which limited their entitlement to welfare benefits or pensions.

� Returnees are more entrepreneurial: 26% of returnees had their own businesses (compared to 20% among the rest) and 20% employed workers (compared to 7% among the rest).

� There is little awareness of the government’s programmes for migrants.

� Only 9% of potential migrants have proper information, documentation and funds to emigrate.

� Moroccans return to their country mainly for family reasons (26%); only 5% come back to invest. ■

SURVEYING MIGRATION

FIND OUT MORE:Morocco migrants survey http://ow.ly/kbqQp

Words: Marcin Monko, ETF


DIGITAL UPDATE

YOUNG MEDITERRANEAN LEADERS AT THE ETF

The ETF hosted a meeting of Young Mediterranean Leaders (YML) in Turin. Thirteen young professionals from the Arab countries of the Mediterranean, met to learn about the work of the ETF. They discussed how they could contribute to policy reforms and improve the learning and working opportunities of young people. The objective of the YML initiative is to give outstanding young people the opportunity to contribute their ideas and shape the future of the region. http://ow.ly/inUoF

ETF SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH THE REGIONAL COOPERATION COUNCIL

Madlen Serban, director of the ETF, and Goran Svilanovic, the newly appointed Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council, signed a cooperation agreement. The signing was done in Brussels on 24 January. The Regional Cooperation Council, officially launched in 2008 as the successor of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, functions as a focal point for cooperation in the region.http://ow.ly/inVFtP

ho

to: E

TF/J

uha

Roi

nine

n –

EU

P &

Imag

es

WHAT SCHOOLS FOR SOCIAL INCLUSION

A project, in which the ETF has joined forces with the researchers of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), tries to understand the barriers and opportunities for building inclusive and equitable VET systems in the Western Balkans, Turkey and Israel. It investigates the school as an integral part of the local community, and assists stakeholders, to enhance the role of VET in promoting the right skills, socialisation and civic values. ‘VET can be a force for good, for inclusion, but if you just neglect it can also be force for exclusion,’ said William Bartlett from LSE, who oversees the academic aspects of the project. http://ow.ly/jV9vc

Ph

oto

: ETF

/Alb

erto

Ram

ella

Ph

oto

: ETF

/Alb

erto

Ram

ella

– E

UP

& Im

ages

READ ALL ETF STORIES, COMMENT AND SHARE THEM ON SOCIAL MEDIA

ETF Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/etfeuropa

ETF Twitter page at https://twitter.com/etfeuropa

Online communities for education professionals at http://ow.ly/kc7N0

On the Web


Off the Press

NEW PUBLICATIONSTHE ARCHITECTURE OF INNOVATIVE APPRENTICESHIP

Current and former ETF experts – Søren Nielsen, Arjen Vos, Manfred Wallenborn and Helmut Zelloth – contributed their research to a new book on innovative apprenticeship. The book, entitled The Architecture of Innovative Apprenticeship (Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Issues, Concerns and Prospects),

was published in January 2013 by Springer, a leading global scientific publisher. The interest in apprenticeships and work-based learning is growing across the world as practitioners and policy makers look for better ways of linking the world of education and the world of work. http://ow.ly/inSvi

NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORKS: CONTRIBUTING TO BETTER QUALIFICATIONS

Around the world 142 countries have embarked on developing national qualifications frameworks, including 27 of the ETF’s 31 partner countries. National qualifications frameworks, or NQFs, classify qualifications according to a hierarchy of levels in a grid structure. Each level is defined by a set of descriptors indicating the learning outcomes relevant to qualifications at that level. NQFs are part of a wider search for international solutions in education and training. The ETF’s new policy briefing, prepared by Michael Graham,

specialist in qualifications systems at the ETF, explains:

� the ETF approach to national qualifications frameworks in its 31 partner countries;

� how NQFs are implemented already or how they could be implemented in future;

� how NQFs can help to make qualifications more relevant and support wider education and training reform. http://ow.ly/inRWZ

SHORT-CYCLE POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Post-secondary education operates at a crossroads of the main types of education and training within the formal education system. It covers advanced vocational training qualifications, master of crafts qualifications, and partial academic courses. “To satisfy economies’ increasing needs for intermediate professional or vocational skills, more short-cycle post-secondary education must be provided,” writes Rosita Van Meel, senior

specialist at the ETF and the author of the new policy briefing. The document underlines the importance of this type of education. “Intermediate short-cycle post-secondary qualifications are important in supporting key policy objectives, including increasing access to tertiary education, promoting equity, delivering labour market-oriented skills and reducing the number of dropouts in tertiary education.” http://ow.ly/inSmY

TRAINING FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS: AN IMPERATIVE FOR GROWTH AND JOBS

This policy briefing, based on strong evidence, argues that women’s entrepreneurship needs urgent attention from governments and society at large as a still tremendously underused source of growth and national competitiveness. From the perspective of the ETF, development of women’s entrepreneurship should be seen through the lens of economic growth and jobs.

Unlocking the potential of women through training and mentoring support is one of the keys to strengthening their participation in business activities. The author of the policy briefing is Olena Bekh, specialist in entrepreneurship and enterprise skills development at the ETF. http://ow.ly/jTmlD ■


CROATIA – ROAD TO ACCESSION

On 1 July Croatia will become the 28th Member State of the European Union. Once in the club, it will cease to be an ETF partner country. We look back at more than a decade of our relations with the country – from the early beginnings in the wake of the Yugoslav wars to our last months of cooperation for a smooth entry into the EU. We’ll also present the results of the Bruges Process 2012, the last snapshot of vocational education and training before accession.

IN THE NEXT ISSUEComing up

BELARUS – A LOOK BEHIND THE CURTAIN

The European Union is pursuing a policy of critical engagement with Belarus. EU assistance to Belarus is currently limited in scope and focuses directly and indirectly on supporting the needs of the population and democratisation. In the next issue we’ll try to answer some questions. What does the ETF do in Belarus? With whom we work and what topics we deal with. What are the main education and employment challenges in the country?

OPINION: ETF APPROACH TO CAPACITY BUILDING

“Capacity building” is one of the buzzwords of the international development community. But what does it mean in fact? In short it is the ability of people, organisations and society as a whole to manage their affairs successfully. How does it apply to human capital development? What capacities is the ETF trying to build in the partner countries? Our expert answers questions about the capacity-building dimension of the ETF’s work.

SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT IN CENTRAL ASIA

The new phase of the ETF’s school development project in Central Asia focuses on the management of schools and training centres. Our experts are training school directors and other people involved in school management in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The programme aims to develop the potential of schools to be innovative, dynamic, efficient and well integrated in their local communities. ■

Ph

oto

: ETF

Ph

oto

: Mar

c Ve

raar

t / F

lickr

Cre

ativ

e C

omm

ons

Ph

oto

: ETF

/Mar

cin

Mon

ko

TA-A

F-13

-027

-EN

-CHOW TO CONTACT US

For information on our activities,job and tendering possibilities pleasevisit our website:www.etf.europa.eu

For other enquiries please contact:

Communication DepartmentEuropean Training FoundationVilla GualinoViale Settimio Severo, 65I – 10133 Torino

T +39 011 630 2222F +39 011 630 2200E [email protected]

live&learn issue 27

Documents