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A succession of overviews of national vocational education and training (VET) systems are presented, highlighting diversity in the way different systems are structured and managed. An effort is then made to identify converging trends between countries with different cultural backgrounds and at different stages of economic development. It is argued that, in spite of such differences, countries reforming their VET systems face the same basic questions and often appear to be coming up with the same answers, for example, stronger links between institutional and on-the-job training, more recourse to alternating training in institutions and enterprises, and greater autonomy in the management and financing of VET institutions.
In the present economic environment--marked by the introduction and diffusion of new technologies, the internationalization of markets, fierce international competition and structural adjustment--a high quality workforce is a major advantage for both countries and enterprises.
Vocational education and training (VET) are indispensable instruments for improving labour mobility, adaptability and productivity, thus contributing to enhancing firms' competitiveness and redressing labour market imbalances. In order to adjust to the new environment, most countries, both developed and developing, are now in the process of reviewing, adapting and sometimes redesigning their education and training systems.
The situation and problems to be dealt with obviously differ widely from one country to another, and from one region to another. In advanced industrialized countries the challenge is to meet the requirements of an increasingly knowledge-intensive economy, while finding jobs for a growing number of unemployed. In the former socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe the collapse of the USSR and CMEA and the transition towards a market economy have led to a sharp downturn in production and a dramatic rise in the number of unemployed. Rebuilding their productive capacity on new foundations and fighting unemployment call for the adoption of a large-scale programme of further training and retraining together with a refocusing of educational and training policies. Developing countries grappling with economic crisis and structural adjustment programmes are confronted with a significant decline in formal sector employment and the growing importance of the informal sector. In consequence, these countries will probably have to scale down their state-financed vocational education and training systems and refocus them on the needs of the informal sector. By contrast, the newly industrialized countries of Asia, which are experiencing very high rates of economic growth, face a widespread shortage of skilled workers, calling for a general upgrading of their workforce in order to sustain the reorientation of their economies towards increasingly technology-intensive production.
Though the problems and the resources available to cope with them may differ, some basic questions are common to all countries:
--How can the quality of education and training be improved and the needs of the economy more effectively met?
--How can training systems be made more responsive to the rapidly changing, and often unpredictable, needs of labour markets?
--How can the efficiency of these systems be enhanced with the same, or often fewer, resources from the state?
Over time, countries have developed vocational education and training systems which obviously reflect their history and cultural traditions, their level of development, their industrialization strategies and relations between the various partners concerned, i.e., the State, enterprises and representatives of employers and workers. The purpose of this article is to examine how countries with different systems have addressed similar issues. In particular, it looks at the architecture of vocational education and training systems and the importance attached to institutional training, as opposed to on-the-job training, and to pre-employment training as opposed to continuing training. The article reviews a variety of experiences from industrialized countries, transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe, newly industrialized countries and low-income countries. and then tries to identify converging trends. There are indeed lessons to be drawn from this convergence and, equally importantly, from divergence in the reforms and strategies adopted by different countries to improve the efficiency of their training systems. Lastly, the article considers emerging trends in the management of vocational education and training systems and notes attempts to make them more flexible through decentralization and greater institutional autonomy.
STRUCTURE OF VET SYSTEMS
THE INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES
In industrialized countries VET systems are organized on the basis of various models. Some, such as Japan, emphasize enterprise-based training, while others, such as France, favour institutional training, and others still, such as Germany, on alternating dual training which combines theoretical training at a vocational training. centre and practical training in an enterprise. These systems have been shaped by the different industrial and socio-political history of each country and are influenced by the prevailing socio-economic context. They affect the functioning of labour markets and enterprise management methods, though their structure is also determined by them. VET is being called into question to varying degrees in each country, and its development potential depends largely on enterprise strategies and social factors.
In Japan the labour market for young people is dominated by the recruiting policies of large enterprises and the public sector. Large industrial and commercial firms offer lifetime employment and attractive wages, which they can afford only because these benefits are linked to heavy investment in continuing training and retraining of their workforce. Indeed, these enterprises have developed an internal labour market: they recruit young graduates, with no specific vocational training, on the basis of their general competence and without specifying for what type of job. Once these young people have been recruited, they are assigned to a succession of different posts and trained on the job or otherwise in order to acquire a wide range of general and practical skills in addition to a well-rounded knowledge of the enterprise (Ujihara, quoted by Inui, 1993, and Lauglo, 1993). A job applicant's general competence is assessed on the basis of school and university ranking, the results of a test set by the enterprise, and an interview in which personality traits and attitudes are judged. School or university ranking is generally considered to be the most reliable indicator of individual competence (Inui, 1993). Entry into these enterprises is fiercely competitive; the same goes for admission into those universities whose rankings are viewed as the most reliable, and into the corresponding preparatory secondary schools. A correlation between employment and training is much more likely at the level of work methods and attitudes than at the level of specific skills. It is consequently not surprising that vocational training for manual workers and intermediate-level technicians is provided by general secondary schools and university colleges. The best of these institutions receive direct employment offers from enterprises.
Not all employees find lifelong employment, however. Labour market flexibility is ensured by women, small and medium-sized enterprises, and subcontracting enterprises. The latter offer only temporary employment and lack both the resources and the expertise to train their workforce. Their training needs have led to the development of secondary vocational schools, which account for approximately one-quarter of the total number of students enrolled in the latter stage of secondary school, and specialized training schools at the post-secondary level. Influenced by the recruiting methods of the largest enterprises, the latter provide general training with a relatively low level of specialization.
In France training is essentially provided by schools. After seven years of general schooling--nine years in an increasing number of cases--students are directed towards vocational courses lasting two or three years and leading to a Vocational Proficiency Certificate (CAP) or Vocational Education Certificate (BEP) and, after another two years, a Vocational Baccalaureate. Vocational secondary schools serve two purposes: to prepare young people for work in skilled manual or white-collar jobs and to make up for the shortcomings of the general education system, which fails to motivate students--especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds--to pursue long academic studies. Despite this diversification, the French educational system favours comprehensive, general studies in preparation for the academic Baccalaureate examination--the main reference in the skills classification system--and, eventually, tertiary education. Students directed towards vocational studies are mostly those who have failed their basic subjects (French, mathematics). Yet, even graduation from vocational courses depends largely on the level of general education: many young people leave the educational system with no qualifications whatsoever, having failed the CAP or BEP theoretical examinations.
Enterprises, however, appear not to set much store by vocational diplomas. Of course, a jobseeker's employment prospects are closely linked to the nature of his or her diploma--the higher the diploma the smaller the risk of unemployment--but a great many workers are hired without a diploma and tend to be promoted on the basis of their length of service. "The qualifications of most French workers are the product of the jobs they have held and result from a combination of on-the-job training, vocational experience and length of service" (Mobus and Sevestre, 1991). The proportion of workers without vocational training in France is double that in Germany, though France has a higher proportion of workers holding diplomas. Conforming to the Taylorist rationale of labour organization, French enterprises tend to attach less importance to manual workers' skills and compensate for that lack by hiring more team supervisors, foremen and technicians. The significant wage differentials between manual workers and supervisors have also eroded the status of manual occupations and related vocational training.
Changing technology and awareness of the need to respond rapidly to shifting demand and to meet quality requirements are leading industrial and service sector enterprises to rethink their organization of labour, modify their skill structure and redefine their organization hierarchies. In reforming vocational training in France, vocational schools have been guided by anticipation of the expanding application of technology and the consequent increasingly abstract content of work. Vocational course content has been updated and the number of specializations reduced, with only around 20 vocational fields covered by REP courses, for example. There has been a rise in the number of students enrolled in BEP courses--which are broader and less vocationally oriented than CAP training--and in the number of those who put in the additional two years leading to a Vocational Baccalaureate. Lastly, in order to offset the lack of job-specific training and better adapt training curricula to job requirements, alternating training has been introduced at every stage in the process. Non-remunerated enterprise-based training helps to raise the quality of training and improves the employment prospects of young people. However, such alternating training depends on enterprises' ability to provide training opportunities and represents only a small part of training programmes. In this respect they differ from the German-style dual training system and from apprenticeships.
In view of the scale of unemployment among young people, the French Government--as other European governments--has developed, albeit with mixed results, a range of labour market entry programmes which occupy the middle ground between training programmes and employment policies. These increasingly represent a necessary step to obtaining a job. Similarly, major efforts are being made to upgrade the status of apprenticeships. Yet, these endeavours are meeting with resistance both from young people and their parents--owing to the low prestige of apprenticeships--and from enterprises, which have provided very little training since the closure of the apprentice training centres in the 1960s (largely in response to pressure from the trade unions). Even as regards continuing training, in which French enterprises do take an active part, training activities tend to be organized out-of-house. In some respects, this practice was reinforced by the 1971 Act which requires enterprises to finance continuing vocational training through a payroll tax.
Germany has developed a dual vocational training system which is regarded as exemplary by many countries, not only in Europe. This system, replicated in such countries as Austria, Switzerland and Denmark, is based on a longstanding tradition of apprenticeship which is firmly rooted in corporate culture. It combines theoretical training, provided by public, state-administered vocational training centres (approximately one day per week), and practical, enterprise-based training (about four days per week). Apprentices sign an employment contract with an enterprise which provides them with an average of three-and-a-hall years of formal training under the supervision of a certified apprenticeship master. During their apprenticeship young workers are paid an allowance fixed by collective agreement for each branch of industry. On completing their training they receive a nationally recognized diploma, although differences may exist in the content of the training, according to the enterprise and specialization in which it is provided. The significance of this system stems from the fact that it attracts a large proportion of school leavers--nearly 70 per cent in 1987--and that the drop-out rate is very low (Mobus and Sevestre, 1991). Overall, the proportion of employed workers holding a dual training certificate is extremely high (59 per cent): the proportion of workers having undergone vocational training in Germany is double that of France. In theory, this dual system is intended for young people who have finished the ten years of compulsory schooling, though in practice it is open to all school leavers: a rising number of secondary-school graduates (36 per cent in 1987) are opting for an apprenticeship. In the banking sector, for example, most apprentices have completed their general secondary education.
Another advantage of Germany's dual system is that it provides access to continuing training at an advanced level, such as for obtaining a technician's certificate and even short engineering courses. As a result. recruitment for intermediate level positions is essentially based on promotion: the vast majority of foremen and technicians are products of the dual system as are some engineers. This feature helps to develop a common language that facilitates consultation and exchanges between production and design personnel. As a result of their advanced vocational training and familiarity with the workings of their enterprise, German workers are also relatively independent; they can maintain their own machines, thereby reducing the risk of breakdowns, and can ultimately switch from one production mode to another. It is tempting to link this professionalism on the part of manual workers, together with their good relations with design personnel, to the impressive results posted by the German economy and industry, particularly as regards exports of high-quality goods and services.
Another remarkable achievement of the dual system is that it undeniably improves the employment prospects of young people: in Germany the unemployment rate for this group is lower than in most other European countries.
The system does have its drawbacks, however. In particular, it is criticized for its great number of specializations, the cumbersome procedures involved in revising training curricula, insufficient theoretical training, and difficulties in coordinating theoretical training with practical enterprise-based training. Another source of concern is the relative lack of interest in this type of training among young people in former West Germany, where there is a surplus of available apprenticeship slots, while former East Germany suffers from a shortage of openings in relation to demand. There are plans to increase the amount of theoretical training provided at vocational training centres. In regions with too few enterprises or where enterprises lack the necessary resources, inter-enterprise training workshops have been set up. The main point is that, despite the above criticisms, the dual system is widely supported by the social partners, all of whom are eager to remedy its shortcomings. In fact, this explains why the system works so well. At the same time, however, this characteristic makes it very difficult to replicate the system in other countries where enterprises do not have the same sense of responsibility as do the large German enterprises--which are prepared to train more apprentices than they could possibly recruit--or lack their tradition of negotiation and consultation between the social partners.
CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
Countries in Central and Eastern European have a training system inherited from the Soviet Union. It is based on eight years of general schooling followed by a wide range of secondary education programmes. In Hungary as in the other countries of the region, students completing their basic education have four options: general secondary schools, which prepare them for university entrance examinations (approximately 20 per cent of the age group); vocational secondary schools, which prepare them both for university entrance examinations and for a technician's diploma (around 30 per cent of the age group); training courses for skilled manual occupations (around 40 per cent); and short vocational training courses. However, the sudden disintegration of the industrial fabric which supported many of the vocational schools, soaring unemployment, financial crisis and redefinition of the role of the State now call for structural reform and refocusing of the vocational education system. This system, designed to serve industry in a socialist economy, is in the midst of a deep crisis (Setenyi, 1993). There is doubt as to its rationale, because it was tailored to the needs of enterprises currently ridiculed for their inefficiency; its content, because it offers only very narrowly focused training to the detriment of general training; its structure, because it is oversize in relation to current labour market needs; and, lastly, its financial and institutional soundness, because the enterprises that used to finance practical training in their workshops and offer apprenticeship places have reduced their contributions considerably. The high unemployment rate among those completing these training courses (around 30 per cent) clearly indicates that this system no longer guarantees employment.
Structural reforms are still under negotiation by the various parties concerned in Hungary. However, the Education Act of 1993 already provides for an increase in the duration of general education from eight to ten years. It is up to the local authorities, which own the various schools, to decide on the content of training courses, but they are reluctant to change their curricula in the face of the uncertainty caused by present economic difficulties. Thus, while institutions are technically independent, they are ill-prepared to cope on their own and tend to manage their affairs a day at a time. As a result, pupils all too often continue to be trained in specializations offering no employment prospects.
THE NEWLY INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES
The experience of the newly industrialized Asian countries shows the crucial importance of being able to adjust the development of VET systems to the needs of a rapidly changing economy. The Republic of Korea, Taiwan (China) and Singapore have all assigned priority to developing high-quality basic education. With the development and diversification of their economies, these countries, of which another common future is strong state control, have managed to adapt their educational systems in response to--or even in anticipation of--the changing needs of their economies.
The Republic of Korea offers a good example of this strategy (Jong Ha Han, 1993). In the 1960s, when its development was based on highly labour-intensive light industry with a limited need for skilled workers, the country favoured the development of primary education and, later, the first stage of secondary education with a view to raising the level of basic education of the workforce. By the end of the 1960s the Republic of Korea had achieved universal enrolment in primary education; and the first stage of secondary education was open to everyone by the end of the 1970s. When the economy shifted towards the development of heavy industry and the chemical industry during the 1970s, and, more generally, towards export-oriented industries, emphasis was placed on technical and vocational training. In the 1980s large numbers of vocational secondary schools were set up under the Ministry of Education, along with vocational institutes offering shorter and more vocationally oriented courses. Some of the latter are managed by public agencies, though most of them are privately run by major enterprises or, increasingly, by other authorized private centres. All enterprises have been encouraged to set up their own training centres; however, while major enterprises invest heavily in training their workers and supervisors, small and medium-sized enterprises appear to lack the incentive or resources to do so. Following the failure of a number of incentive schemes, an act was passed requiring enterprises with more than 300 employees to train a certain proportion of their workforce or pay a tax.
More recently, with industry shifting towards production processes requiring increasingly sophisticated technology, emphasis has been placed on post-secondary technical courses and advanced training, especially in science and technology. The number of pupils enrolled in vocational schools has since levelled off and is beginning to drop.
The example of the Republic of Korea highlights a number of interesting divergences by comparison with the strategies implemented by other rapidly industrializing South-East Asian countries. Thus, Taiwan (China), like the Republic of Korea, has relied heavily on vocational training in schools, though with a great deal more emphasis on training provided by institutions (Hay Woo, 1991). Singapore, by contrast, has opted for vocational training outside the educational system by placing initial and continuing training under the authority of a single independent, albeit state-controlled, body: the Vocational and Industrial Training Board (VITB), subsequently renamed the Institute of Technical Education. This approach is based on the assumption that a training scheme outside the educational system offers a more flexible and quicker means of meeting the changing needs arising from the country's industrial development. In particular, it facilitates coordination between a wide variety of training activities and methods, ranging from direct organization of training in various polytechnical centres and institutes to modular programmes of continuing training, enterprise consultancy services and incentives for encouraging enterprises to train their own employees. Following a decade of preparations, Singapore very recently decided to promote apprenticeship in some sectors on the model of Germany's dual system (Oliveira and Pillay, 1992).
THE LATIN AMERICAN SYSTEM
Training according to the so-called Latin American model is primarily institutionally based and designed both for working adults (upgrading and specialization courses) and for young school leavers (pre-employment training). A distinctive feature of this model is that the various training centres are run, independently of the educational system, by autonomous training agencies which maintain close links with industry through strong representation of employers on their governing bodies. Also important is the fact that they are financed on the basis of a payroll tax paid by employers. These organizational features have allowed them to provide high-quality training and respond dynamically and flexibly to the changing demands of the labour market. Recent changes point to diversification of these institutions' activities, while enterprises are encouraged through various tax incentives to provide more training themselves. The various training centres now offer consultancy and technology information services and help enterprises to conduct training programmes of their own.
This training mode was gradually introduced in a number of low-and middle-income countries in other regions (e.g., Kenya and Tanzania), recently with the support of the World Bank and other technical assistance agencies. Yet, it is still too early to judge the extent to which projects have been implemented as planned and how successful they have been.
LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES
The predominant model found in low-income countries is school based. It was originally imported, with little adjustment, by former colonial powers. After they gained independence, in the 1960s and 1970s, these countries set up large numbers of vocational schools and training centres, mostly with the support of international aid agencies. The economic crisis, followed by the implementation of structural adjustment programmes and economic and financial reforms in many of these countries, have exposed the inadequacies and inefficiency of many training institutions. As a result of a public-sector recruitment freeze and the privatization and/or restructuring of major public and parastatal enterprises, many school and training centre graduates have been unable to find employment. Micro-enterprises and the emerging private sector appear to prefer multi-skilled personnel trained on the job rather than highly specialized workers, and recruit very few vocational school graduates.
Faced with widespread unemployment among graduates, sometimes coupled with a shortage of skilled workers for specific occupations, and the high cost of vocational training--while many children are denied primary education for lack of resources--economists are recommending that the scale of government-funded, institutionalized training be sharply reduced and that more responsibility for initial training be transferred to enterprises and private centres (Middleton et al., 1990, and Middleton and Demsky, 1988).
Some developing countries appear to be adopting this approach. In several African countries, the number of students enrolled in technical and vocational secondary schools has declined sharply, while enrolment in private institutions has increased rapidly, especially in non-industrial courses. Some countries have decided to discard vocational and technical courses at secondary level, and to invest instead in academic secondary schools, reinforcing science and technology teaching at that level (Kenya, Trinidad and Tobago) or introducing practical subjects in the curriculum (Zimbabwe). They leave it to the enterprises to provide specialized and practical training on the job and/or turn their technical schools into more specialized training centres for young people and working adults.
In view of the growing proportion of people working in the informal sector and the poor prospects for the development of the formal economy, low-income countries are having to adopt a two-pronged approach consisting in training workers for self-employment and improving the productivity of the informal sector.
What role should general education play in this context? Everyone agrees on the need to begin by strengthening basic education in primary schools so as to ensure that workers entering the informal sector can read, write and count properly. But should pre-employment subjects such as technology and management also be introduced in these programmes? What should be the role of initial or continuing vocational training? Which institutions are the best equipped for operating in this sector? For the time being, these questions are still difficult to answer. In African countries, however, the best form of initial training for the informal sector appears to be apprenticeship under the supervision of a small-scale entrepreneur in this sector (Fluitman, 1989; World Bank, 1992). Vocational training centres could then play a major role in strengthening and supplementing specific aspects of training provided on this basis. This requires a great deal of flexibility, and it is so far the NGOs which have achieved the best results in this field.
CONVERGING TRENDS
From the examples given above it is quite clear that there is substantial diversity in the way countries, even at similar levels of economic development, orient or re-orient their vocational education and training systems. The way a system evolves largely depends on the social relations which prevail in the country and on the behaviour of the different actors involved: enterprises, of course. but also trade unions, students, parents. teachers and higher education institutions. Enterprises obviously have a direct influence over training systems. but they also have an indirect influence which stems from their recruitment policy. wage payment practices and investment--or lack of investment--in the training and development of their staff. While the complexity of workers' assignments and the number of workers to be trained both increase with a country's level of economic development, it does not necessarily follow that specific training models correspond to the different stages of development. Similarly, it is not possible to predict that what works in a particular country--in the Republic of Korea or Singapore, for example--will necessarily work elsewhere. Lastly, it is easier to reform a relatively young system in a growing economy than a long-established one in the midst of a recession.
Looking beyond these differences, however, there are a number of converging trends that deserve to be highlighted with a view to the design and implementation of future reforms.
RISING LEVEL OF GENERAL EDUCATION
The minimum level of general education required for admission to vocational and theoretical training courses is rising in all countries. The number of years of education required to enter most vocational schools has increased. While many vocational institutions training skilled manual workers used to enrol pupils at the end of their primary education, most of them now require completion of secondary education or, at the very least, eight or nine years of basic education. This trend is common to developed and developing countries alike and stems from the fact that it is obviously easier to teach vocational skills to students who have some foundation in languages, mathematics, science and technology, in addition to such basic skills as reading, writing and numeracy.
In the developed and newly industralized countries, this later-entry phenomenon is related to a rise in school-leaving age and the need for a more educated population, capable of living and working in an increasingly complex society. With the spread of information technology and new forms of work organization in industry and services, machine operators and employees need to be more versatile and to master increasingly complex and abstract tasks. As a result, theoretical knowledge is becoming more important. In fact, more and more courses are being organized at post-secondary level. This rise in the level of training also stems from the unpredictability--in an unstable labour market and a changing technological environment--of tomorrow's jobs and skills. By delaying vocational choices and specialization, training can be made more flexible.
In developing countries the higher level of education required for admission to vocational courses is explained by two other factors. First, the deteriorating quality of education is such that school leavers do not necessarily master the basic skills of literacy and numeracy after five or six years of studies; and, second, a growing number of school leavers are unemployed. Given the very limited number of job openings in the formal sector, many of the students completing the first stage of secondary school then queue up for a place in a vocational school, thereby encouraging training institutions to set tougher admission requirements. Primary-school leavers and drop-outs have no prospect of entering the formal sector and therefore turn to the informal sector without having received any formal training; they then proceed to learn the necessary skills on the job or by working as apprentices.
If general education and theoretical knowledge requirements are too high, a large number of students with poor academic records could be denied access to vocational training and eventually be excluded from the primary labour market and forced to accept unstable, poorly paid jobs. Moreover, while a growing number of enterprises--even in developing countries--are more interested in personal attitudes, such as an aptitude for troubleshooting or teamwork, rather than specialized knowledge, it remains to be seen whether general, academic education is really the best answer. The vocational skills needed to cope with complex and varied work situations call for a balance between technical knowledge and know-how gained through experience and induction. This, for example, appears to be the reason why the dual system and alternating institutional/enterprise-based training succeed.
DIVERSIFICATION OF VET SYSTEMS
It appears that countries in which enterprises are the keenest to train their own staff are those in which youth unemployment is the lowest and adaptive capacity the most satisfactory. Most governments therefore try through tax incentives and other measures to encourage enterprises to provide training.
Yet, no country can rely on enterprises alone to train its workforce. In fact, most countries--except, perhaps, the least developed--have evolved mixed systems where state vocational and technical schools operate alongside private schools, vocational training centres and enterprise-run training schemes. In countries like Japan or Germany, where much training is provided by enterprises, the State has intervened to strengthen such training and to provide supplementary training.
Most countries have preferred to maintain vocational training schools and/or centres, because, in spite of incentives, enterprises are not always willing to provide training and, when they do, they tend to focus narrowly on their own needs or on training for a specific job. If the short-term economic outlook is unfavourable, enterprises are even more reluctant to train workers. Very few firms around the world are--like major German enterprises--concerned with improving the skills of their workforce regardless whether they benefit from them directly or not.
In most advanced and newly industrialized countries initial training for employment is still provided both in secondary schools and in specialized centres outside the educational system. Despite recent debate, secondary technical and vocational schools are unlikely to be closed down in the foreseeable future. It would indeed be difficult to provide broader access to secondary education without diversifying its content and without preparing school leavers for employment. As shown below, however, the current tendency is to give such schools greater institutional autonomy.
At the other end of the spectrum, in the informal sector of the least developed countries of Africa, training primarily takes place on the job, through informal apprenticeships. Efforts are being made to regulate such training (eligibility, duration, remuneration, etc.) either by law--though this has not proved very successful--or by self-regulation within groupings of craftsmen, and to provide additional training to the self-employed, craftsmen and small-scale entrepreneurs.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ALTERNATING TRAINING SYSTEMS
There is wide recognition in countries which organize pre-employment institutional training that such training does not provide adequate entry-level skills, either in terms of technical know-how, or in terms of social attitudes and behaviour It is therefore felt necessary to supplement whatever is taught in schools or centres with on-the-job training.
To many observers, Germany's dual system appears to offer one of the best solutions, but it is difficult to implement. Indeed, it depends on the existence of a wide--and solid--industrial base and on enterprises' commitment to training as a long-term investment in human resource development. It also requires the practical part of the course in the enterprise to be well organized and supervised by a qualified tutor. Not all these conditions can be met in developed countries--and even less so in most developing countries. Even Singapore has managed to introduce this system only in certain sectors, and after a long period of training of the skilled workers who were to serve as tutors in the enterprises (Oliveira and Pillay, 1992).
Latin American experience with formal apprenticeship and the dual system has not been very successful. The number of trainees in formal apprenticeship has declined steadily over the years (CINTERFOR, 1990). Many enterprises, especially small and medium-sized ones, are not taking on apprentices in spite of their legal obligation to do so. Even vocational training centres have been placing less emphasis on apprenticeship programmes, which they consider to be costly and difficult to manage. In order to revitalize its apprenticeship programme, the Colombian Government, for example, is considering lifting some of the restrictions imposed on employers and simplifying procedures. But this may create other problems. Many other countries are currently trying to develop, reinforce or revitalize formal-sector apprenticeship systems by introducing various tax or wage incentives (e.g., by reducing the wages paid to apprentices). Their experiences should be followed closely.
Other systems involving alternate periods of practical and theoretical training, such as alternating courses and traineeships in enterprises, may be easier to organize, but not necessarily as effective.
TOWARDS STRONGER LINKS BETWEEN INSTITUTIONAL AND ON-THE-JOB TRAINING
The need to create linkages between vocational training institutions and industry is being stressed almost everywhere. This is to be done both at the central level and at the local level. Enterprises and social partners are being asked to participate in the formulation of this policy. At the local level, training institutions are encouraged to sign contracts with local enterprises with a view to retraining their labour force and upgrading its skills; providing technical assistance to small and micro-enterprises; and training entrepreneurs. This, as we shall see, requires that more autonomy--administrative, financial and operational--be granted to them.
COMPLEMENTARITY OF PRE-EMPLOYMENT AND CONTINUING TRAINING
Also widespread now is the (merited) importance accorded to continuing training and the provision of both pre-employment training and continuing training by the same institutions.
Industrialized countries recognize that continuing training and life-long education are essential to raising labour productivity, occupational mobility and labour market flexibility. In the present environment, marked by great economic uncertainty and sweeping technological change, future labour and skill requirements are impossible to forecast accurately. It is therefore vitally important to organize an efficient system of continuing education. Pre-employment education and training must lay an adequate foundation of general knowledge and transferable skills, while continuing education must be much more specialized and specific. In newly industrialized countries it must also upgrade the skills of the entire workforce so as to assist the transition from growth based on labour-intensive techniques to more technology-intensive methods of production. In countries which used to be centrally planned extensive further training and retraining are needed to rebuild productive capacity on new foundations and to fight unemployment.
Enterprises also have understood that competitiveness depends to a large extent on how rapidly they can adapt, modify their skill structure and upgrade the skills of their workforce. The State, for its part, tends to encourage enterprises to train their workers--sometimes even by obliging them to provide such training, as in the Republic of Korea--or at least to make them pay for training through a tax.
In Western and Eastern Europe an increasing number of short training programmes are being organized with state support in order to retrain unemployed workers and help them find employment. The success of such programmes, however, also depends on the adoption of other labour market measures to encourage enterprises and local authorities to recruit workers. Training for non-existent or non-foreseeable jobs is always risky. So is training for self-employment, which requires accompanying measures, such as credit facilities. In the informal sector of developing countries experience suggests that a more efficient option is to provide training for people who are already self-employed.
In developing countries, especially the least developed, institutionally based pre-employment training has been considerably scaled down for lack of resources and because of the limited number of job openings in the formal sector. This policy is tantamount to recognition that training essentially serves an economic purpose and that it is not efficient to train people for non-foreseeable jobs. Short training courses for unemployed primary-and secondary-school leavers are also organized, but on an informal basis, by NGOs, local authorities or private institutions. In urban areas a large proportion of school leavers become apprentices in the informal sector: this is where they learn the necessary technical skills and the "tricks of the trade". Training courses in these countries are increasingly focused on in-service and further training for adults working in the formal or informal sectors. Self-employed workers and small-scale entrepreneurs are trained in a number of specific fields, according to their needs. Another group of workers is receiving increasing attention in these countries, namely the large number of civil servants and employees of public and parastatal enterprises who have lost their jobs. The main question is whether conventional training centres, tailored to the demands of the formal sector, are really capable of meeting their needs. Are they sufficiently flexible? Are their training programmes appropriate?
Whatever the structure of a vocational education and training system, whether it is based on schools, training centres or both, the important factor is that it must be able to adjust quickly and as often as necessary to the changing demands of the labour market. Such adaptability depends not only on the system's institutional structure and aims but also on its management. In this connection it might be useful, by way of conclusion, to draw attention to a number of pitfalls and how to avoid them.
MANAGEMENT OF VET SYSTEMS AND INSTITUTIONS
The lack of responsiveness and the inefficiency of existing VET institutions can often be attributed to the bureaucratic manner in which they are run and to the rigid administrative framework which prevents them from opening or closing courses as necessary, or receiving funds, for example. As a result, institutions tend to organize courses in certain trades simply because they have the necessary teachers and workshops, not because there is an objective need for workers trained in that trade. Another reason is that managers are not motivated to run their training institutions in an efficient way. Indeed, it makes no difference to them personally, or to their training centres, whether or not the people they train find employment. Many of them do not know what happens to their former trainees. Often, they are not even expected to know. A third reason is the general lack of information on employment in many developing countries.
In order to correct these and related deficiencies reforms are being introduced in a number of countries of Eastern and Western Europe, in Africa and in the United States. By and large these reforms are aimed at decentralizing the management of vocational education and training institutions, by giving regional and local authorities responsibility for determining training requirements and for financing institutions in their respective areas. These reforms are also intended to increase the administrative, financial and operational independence of individual institutions. Ultimately, institutions should be able to establish contacts with local businesses so as identify their training and labour requirements; open new courses and close others according to the needs thus identified; recruit trainers as required, including among the best professionals in local industry; update their curricula regularly; sell various services to local businesses, such as training services, technical assistance and technological information; place their students and graduates in entreprises and follow up such placements; cooperate with industry, associations and local authorities to assess training needs and evaluate the impact of their work on local development and labour market conditions.
In order to countercheck this independence, mechanisms must be established for evaluating the performance of individual institutions and making them accountable, e.g., through performance-related resource allocation. Such a mechanism, however, is difficult to implement: should an institution's performance be judged on the basis of what the students learn, or on the basis of how many find a job? How often should such an evaluation take place? A fine balance must be maintained between accountability and the basic stability an institution needs to teach properly and develop. Another crucial question is to whom institutions should be made accountable--to a national training authority which sets broad national-level policy, to a training fund, to regional or local authorities? The different reforms envisaged in Africa suggest that different answers can be found. Yet, the idea of developing central bodies, such as a vocational training fund or vocational training board, as in Singapore or Cote d'Ivoire (Atchoarena, 1994), appears to be gaining ground.
For the sake of efficiency some form of coordination must also be introduced between the various components of the overall system, i.e., between general secondary and vocational education, between pre-employment and continuing training and between training organized by various local authorities, administrations--ministries and other agencies, including those of the private sector--and by individual institutions.
Lastly, proper monitoring of the system is essential. Accordingly, the central training authority--whatever its nature and regardless of whether it is integrated with a training fund or not--should set up the necessary infrastructure to carry out labour market research and analysis and provide guidance to training institutions in the light of the results of such research.
The viability and success of these training systems depend on a number of conditions being met, namely an adequate and relatively stable system of finance; training resources and facilities for training local officials, the heads of institutions, teachers and trainers, so as to ensure that they can cope with their respective duties. incentives to motivate heads of institutions and teachers, in the form of salary increases, career prospects, etc.; and a legal framework defining the status of teachers. Mechanisms for consultation between the various partners concerned--enterprises, local authorities, trade unions and local organizations--must be set up at every stage of system design and implementation.
In many cases the implementation of these reforms is only just beginning. They will require a great deal of financial and technical support from governments and aid agencies. There is, indeed, a considerable risk that decentralization policies may amount to nothing more than a way for central governments to rid themselves of a nagging problem and that they will not pay sufficient attention to the question of financial resources nor to that of human and technical resources. Another danger is that personnel at the local or institutional level may be incapable of reforming training curricula or, more generally, reluctant to take initiatives, as observed in a number of Central and Eastern European countries. The last risk inherent in the decentralization process is that the implementation of reforms may depend on the resources and commitment of local political authorities. This would inevitably give rise to regional inequalities. Basic central supervision must therefore be ensured. Finally, the success of these reforms will depend on a degree of political stability in the environment in which they are implemented, for it will take a long time to change entrenched attitudes and overcome administrative and psychological obstacles. The quality of tomorrow's labour is at stake.
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Francoise Caillods, International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), UNESCO, Paris.
Copyright International Labour Office 1994