Education TODAY No. 132

IIt is every politician’s nightmare:unemployed youths, hanging out inthe streets, with little chance of find-ing a job or going to university. While

the parents of those youths may digesttheir own dashed hopes for a better life,frustration can reach revolt when that bleakhorizon confronts the next generation.

For governments, rich or poor, the solutionseems straightforward. Catch those kidsbefore they fall into the cracks by teachingthem skills in secondary school to carvetheir niche in the labour market. Of course,reality is never so simple, which partlyexplains why technical and vocational edu-cation and training (TVET) can be a dirty

word. Principals and teachers point to theheavy expenses required to develop curric-ula, train staff and equip classrooms forthese specialized subjects, which generallycost three times more than academiccourses. For most parents and students, itremains a ‘second-class’ education. The truthis TVET provides training but no guarantee

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Technical and vocational education and training has fueled phenomenal economic growth in some countries and fallen short of expectations in others. Globalization is promptinggovernments to take renewed interest in this branch, still perceived as second-class.

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Reproduced from Education Today, No 13, April-June 2005, with the permission of UNESCO Paris

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Europe to India and China, where you havesuch highly skilled work forces,” commentsPerera. “By substantially investing in TVET,these countries laid a major plank in theireconomic foundations.”

For UNESCO, TVET goes beyond the narrowconfines of economic planning. It is part of alarger vision of promoting sustainable devel-opment. Since its founding, UNESCO has beendeveloping recommendations and organizingpolicy debates, while serving as a policy-advisor for governments trying to reform orcreate vocational education systems.

“In the past, there was a supply-side vision,which created serious problems for develop-ing countries,” says Perera. “Either theyinvested heavily in trying to import foreignmodels of higher education, which produceda surplus of white collar expectations. Orthey tried to set up highly specialized train-ing schools, which didn’t correspond tolabour needs.” Today, the goal is to teachstudents to adapt to changing working con-ditions, instead of locking them into specificjobs and skills.

Education TODAY No. 13 3

behind, particularly in sub-Saharan Africaand South Asia.”

Add to this “a time-bomb waiting to happenas hundreds of thousands more kids finishprimary school and look for secondary edu-cation or work opportunities which do notalways exist,” says Wataru Iwamoto, Directorof UNESCO’s Division of Secondary, Technicaland Vocational Education. In many of theleast developed countries, pupils have littlechance of either pursuing their schooling orfinding a job. “So we advocate a new vision ofvocational education that focuses on practi-cal or ‘life skills’ integrated at the primary or secondary levels, depending upon thecountry’s resources,” says Iwamoto.

A growing interest

In countries rich and poor, Mohan Perera,Head of UNESCO’s Section for Technical andVocational Education, sees a growing inter-est in TVET. Countries realize that it’s ameans to jumping on the bandwagon ofglobalization. “Look at the tremendous shiftof employment from the United States and

for jobs. Even the world’s most sophis-ticated and expensive programme isdoomed to fail if the labour market cannotabsorb the students, despite their skills andexpectations.

This backdrop has led many experts and pol-icy-makers to conclude that training is bestleft to the workplace, especially after theradical policy shift in the World Bank, whichwas once considered TVET’s staunchest supporters. The very first Bank loan for education, granted in 1963, was for TVET,which accounted for about 40 per cent of alleducational loans in sub-Saharan Africauntil the early 80s. But in 1991, the Bankreversed gears, thanks to a policy paper,co-authored by Arvil Van Adams. Widelyrespected, Adams retired from the Bank inJanuary with a single regret: “people tookus – the policy – too much at face value.”

“The easy message of our policy was thatTVET is not a good investment but thatignores the nuance of what we said,” insistsAdams. “We argued for a shift away fromheavy investment in workshops, instructortraining and curriculum in order to investresources into policy development. Thepoint was not to do away with TVET but toreform the policy process.”

A time-bomb

But few appreciated the nuance of Adam’sanalysis and TVET virtually disappearedfrom the international aid agenda. The Bankbegan investing heavily in primary educa-tion at the expense of TVET, which nowaccounts for just 8 to 9 per cent of educa-tional spending. International strategiesintended to reduce poverty completelyignored the need to develop skills, accordingto Trevor Riordan, of the InternationalLabour Office (ILO).

“We are now seeing a skills-divide emerg-ing,” says Riordan, “with the least developedcountries falling further and further Y

Vocationalizing secondary educationVocationalisation of Secondary Education Revisited, a newpublication by the International Centre for Technical and VocationalEducation and Training (UNEVOC), takes a concise look at the prosand cons of educational innovations to prepare young people for theworld of work. By focusing specifically on reforms underway in sub-Saharan Africa, the book provides valuable insight and hard data forpolicy-makers, educational planners, teachers and administrators.

Released in March, the book is edited by Jon Lauglo and RupertMaclean and published by Springer.

Based in Bonn (Germany), UNEVOC has four main functions:to develop an international network of centres promoting TVET;to disseminate best practices and innovations through publications, databases and an electronic clearinghouse; to develop the human resources of TVET specialists at the sub-regional level and to encourage inter-agency cooperation.

Contact: Rupert Maclean, UNEVOC E-mail: r.maclean@unevoc.unesco.org • www.unevoc.unesco.org

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To do so, China has found an ally in the pri-vate sector, according to Dingyong Hou,Senior Education Officer for the World Bank.Private companies are providing financing,materials, apprenticeships and guidance asrepresentatives sit on school advisoryboards. For Hou, these partnerships reflecta key element of the Chinese vision of life-long learning: schools will develop andbroaden students’ capacities and the work-place will provide training.

Open-door policy

Ironically, the great bastion of communismmay be increasingly lured to the privatesector, while countries of the former SovietUnion are not so keen to relinquish statecontrol of their TVET systems. Here, theCzech Republic gets the highest marks.

This is one of the few countries where voca-tional education enjoys a prestigious repu-tation. About 75 per cent of secondary stu-dents are enrolled in TVET, estimates VaclavKlenha, a specialist of the European TrainingFoundation (ETF), compared to 25 per centwho attend purely academic schools. Insteadof abandoning the system to market forces,the government has given greater freedomto principals and teachers to update curric-ula and introduce new occupational fields asopposed to the specific skills associatedwith a particular job.

Another major selling point is the ‘open-door’ policy to higher education. All second-ary students can take the Maturita exami-nation, which is a pre-requisite for takinguniversity entrance exams. In addition,some of the new post-secondary traininginstitutes (set up over the past ten years)allow students to transfer directly into universities.

The Russian Federation is also planning todecentralize its TVET system, permittingregional governments to administer theirown programmes. But it is not an easy task.Most of the schools can barely be callededucational institutions, according to PeterGrootings of the ETF. “But they do keep kidsoff the street and provide at least one mem-ber of a family with a hot meal everyday. Thestate’s TVET schools are one of the few

alarmed by a growing appetite for highereducation. People would become “over-edu-cated”, expecting white collar jobs in aneconomy thirsting for new sources of skilledlabour. By expanding TVET, the governmentplanned to satisfy its forecasted labourneeds while reducing pressure on universi-ties to enrol more students.

Today, about 40 per cent of secondary stu-dents are enrolled in TVET. Yet it is still per-ceived as a second-class education. So thegovernment is trying to open pathways tohigher education. First, TVET students arenow getting a healthy dose of academic sub-jects so that they can apply to university. Insome schools, academic and vocational stu-dents share as much as 75 per cent of a com-mon curriculum. The government is alsochannelling public and private investmentinto new post-secondary training institutesto kill the myth that TVET is an academic‘dead-end’.

The ultimate challenge lies in keepingabreast with technological change. To keepcurricula relevant, the plan is to tightenlinks to the private sector. For example, theRepublic of Korea is now experimenting with

their own version of Germany’sfamous “dual system”, which tracesits roots back to post-war recon-struction. It is opting for a “2+1”programme, combining two years ofclassroom studies with a year ofapprenticeship.

Promoting partnerships

Similar reforms are taking place inChina, where a third of all secondarystudents are enrolled in vocationalschools, according to the UNESCOInstitute for Statistics (see box p. 7).However, it is difficult to draw paral-lels between the two countries.Whereas a labour shortage shapedthe Republic of Korea’s policyreform, China is grappling with alabour surplus, with job creation lag-ging behind the growing economy.And while the Republic of Korea hadthe luxury of tailoring a new systemto forecasted needs, China mustoverhaul an antiquated machine.

Unfortunately, these new directions don’tcome with any road maps. As Fred Fluitmanof the ILO explains, “secondary educationsystems are pretty much the same. Butevery TVET programme is different and justabout every government is constantly try-ing to tinker with it.” In short, constantinnovation is a key ingredient in the reformprocess. If done properly, the results can bespectacular.

The Republic of Korea is a shining example ofhow TVET can fuel stellar economic growth.While no model should be emulated, theSouth Korean experience offers key lessons.First, the government took a sequencedapproach to education. Money didn’t startflowing into TVET until the country nearlyachieved universal primary education. Bydesign or accident, major investing began inthe early 1980s, just as labour shortagesstarted to pinch the economy. To make the“big push” into export-oriented manufac-turing, construction and service-orientedsectors, the country needed a new streamof skilled workers.

At the same time, policy-makers in theRepublic of Korea were beginning to be

Education TODAY No. 134

Vocational education: the come-back?

Rebuilding in the Arab StatesUNESCO is preparing plans to rebuild thevocational education system in Iraq once the security situation has stabilized. Close to 3 million dollars in extra-budgetary funds have been earmarked for this purpose andadditional funds promised.

UNESCO is also increasingly active with TVETprojects in other Arab states, which are tryingto reduce their reliance on expatriate workers.For example, over the past five years, UNESCO is assisting Libya to vocationalize its entiresecondary education system and revise thecurricula of post-secondary traininginstitutes. In Bahrain, where 65 to 70 per centof secondary students are enrolled in TVET, thegovernment has financed a UNESCO project to create a Centre for Excellence, providingspecialized teacher-training services and life-long learning programmes for adults.

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therefore to bridge the demand for jobswith the actual needs of society. Politically,governments cannot afford not to invest inthe skills of future generations, says Pereraof UNESCO.

Ironically, the problem may lie with the highhopes and expectations raised by thesecourses. Parents are rushing to enrol theirchildren in classes that are supposed to leadto jobs. Demand is so high that it is politi-cally impossible to contain the new curricu-lum to a few regions where it might betested and refined. As a result, says Lauglo,precious resources might have been spreadtoo thin.

The bottom line is that about 80 per cent ofjobs in poorer countries require some formof vocational skills. The urgent challenge is

remaining welfare institutions for youngpeople and poor families.”

Previously two-thirds of Russian workerswere trained in elementary vocationalschools and 22 per cent of the populationhave a secondary vocational education,which is 1.5 times higher than those with acollege education.

Finding funds

Experts like Grootings are discussing waysto enable TVET students to pursue highereducation or training. New internship pro-grammes might also dynamize the system.The problem lies in finding the money. Theprivate sector is too disorganized for anyserious partnership, says Grootings, whoargues “that the state must invest in thisgeneration and the country’s future.”

Governments far poorer than the RussianFederation are doing just that. Botswana,Ghana and Kenya have been shouldering theburden since World Bank loans dried up inthe 1990s. Instead of setting up a separatestream of specialized schools, these coun-tries have “vocationalized secondaryeducation.” While the curriculum remainsacademic in nature, between 15 and 30 percent of courses focus on practical subjectslike agriculture, management and entrepre-neurialism.

“The aim is to redress the imbalancebetween the aims of a purely academic sec-ondary education and the needs of society,”says Rupert Maclean, Director of the UNESCOInternational Centre for Technical andVocational Education and Training (UNEVOC).

Investing in future generations

UNEVOC has just published a series ofreports evaluating the impact of vocation-alization in sub-Saharan Africa (see box p. 5).There has been tremendous political sup-port for these courses in Kenya, Ghana andBotswana, says the report’s co-editor, JonLauglo, a former World Bank expert on TVET.Botswana, in particular, has made hugeinvestments to introduce information pro-cessing and computer skills at the second-ary level.

Education TODAY No. 13 5

Global trends in technical and vocational educationGlobally, almost 50 million students were enrolled in technical and vocational educationin 2002. Nine out of ten were enrolled at the upper secondary level, typically designedto serve youth aged 15 to 20 years.

The global average is that one in five upper secondary students are enrolled intechnical and vocational programmes. However, the enrolment rates vary widely byregions. In Europe and East Asia, including China, such programmes account for 50 percent and 33 per cent, respectively, of upper secondary enrolment. In the other regions,technical and vocational enrolment is far less common. In Africa and South America,the share is less than 20 per cent, and in North America and West Asia less than 10 percent and 4 per cent, respectively.

In the last decade, secondary enrolments have skyrocketed world-wide. From 1998 to2002 alone, the number of secondary students grew by 15 per cent. However, thisgrowth is largely due to increases in general secondary students. As a result, the shareof technical and vocational students has declined since 1998 by 4 percentage points,from 23 per cent down to 19 per cent. This downward trend is observed in all regions,especially in East Asia.

Technical and vocational students as a share of total upper secondary enrolments, 1998 and 2002

Note: m= missingSource: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Global Education Digest 2005.www.uis.unesco.org

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