Live&Learn NEWS AND VIEWS FROM ACROSS THE ETF COMMUNITY
ISSUE 35 – FEBRUARY 2016
Interview with
Georgian Education Minister Sanikidze In depth – Development Goals | 08 Regional focus – Central Asia | 12 Country focus – Morocco | 16
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Meet Tamar Sanikidze, Georgia’s Minister of Education
CONTACT US
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NEETs falling through the net: How to break the cycle of social exclusion?
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Own the goals: UN Development Goals and the skills perspective
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A sense of community: Impacting VET from the ground up
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Public-private partnerships for employability: The future of VET is now!
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Entrepreneurship education: Good partnerships make good policy
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Five by ten: Entrepreneurial communities
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 info@etf.europa.eu
To receive a copy of Live&Learn please email info@etf.europa.eu 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. Print ISSN 1725-9479 TA-AF-16-035-EN-C PDF ISSN 2443-7433 TA-AF-16-035-EN-N @ European Training Foundation, 2016 Cover photograph: ETF/Andrea Guermani
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Editorial
FORWARD THINKING, INNOVATIVE, PROACTIVE: WELCOME TO 2016! Partnerships that promote growth, competitiveness and cohesion deliver results that exceed expectations. The ETF’s 10 Entrepreneurial Communities demonstrate this, inspiring our work as we hit the ground running in 2016. This issue’s Project Update looks at the impact and transformational change that the Entrepreneurial Communities have been making since their journey began in 2013. Fostering skills, innovation and job creation is at the heart of the initiative. The results? Local actors working together dynamically to create new approaches to learning, education and training, and delivering relevant skills for the world of work. As one chapter of this journey concludes, a new one opens – smart territorial development through human capital policies that foster growth, competitiveness and social cohesion. “Smart territories embrace the new era of skills dialogue, and respond to skills needs and gaps leaving no pocket of innovation underutilised,” says ETF Director Madlen Serban, who will help share the potential at the Local Skills Matter – Multilevel Governance and Entrepreneurial Communities gathering at the European Parliament in March. Aligning vocational education and training (VET) system reform with the demands of these geographical clusters of innovation interlinks with the skills dimension of migration, another ongoing focus area for the ETF in 2016. Also in this issue … We shine the spotlight on the needs of NEETs, young people not in employment, education or training. New ETF analysis shows that it is a much more serious problem in partner countries than the European Union (EU), and young women are three times more likely to fall through the cracks. Curbing NEET rates is the topic of conversation with the Georgian Minister
of Education, Tamar Sanikidze, for the Cover Story interview. Well aware of the problem, her government is engaging young people, particularly women and learners with disabilities. Providing work opportunities and quality education are included in the United Nation’s Global Goals – the new roadmap for sustainable development. The 17 goals are characterised by six elements: people, dignity, prosperity, justice, partnership, and planet. And, as we report, skills have a role to play across the board.
Speaking in the context of the “game-changing” Global Goals, European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica stresses the importance of building awareness to realise the vision. “We all share ownership of it and we all have a shared responsibility for its implementation.” In 2016, and beyond, the ETF continues its role to promote and support the development of good governance and VET to foster growth, competitiveness and cohesion. ¢
Promoting sustainable development, particularly in VET, is key to the ETF’s work in Central Asia. The School Development Initiative has given rise to 15 Communities of Practice in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Made up of vocational school directors, employers and other social partners, they are working to improve outcomes for teachers, trainers and students. Our Regional Focus visits three of these communities to see the impact on the ground. The path towards a sustainable and entrepreneurial world founded on security, justice and opportunity, requires active community involvement of public, private and third sectors. February 2016
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Interview
MEET TAMAR SANIKIDZE “Vocational education and training is a really powerful tool to decrease unemployment, which is interlinked with the country’s sustainable economic development,” said Georgia’s Minister of Education Tamar Sanikidze during a visit to the ETF in November with first deputy minister Ketevan Natriashvili. We caught up with Minister Sanikidze to find out more about what the government is doing to help young people not in employment, education or training – NEETs.
Georgia featured as a case study in new ETF research on the NEET phenomenon. Close to one third of young Georgians aged 15 to 24 fall into this category and half of those are VET graduates. How are you working to address this? The information was collected in 2013. At that time, the government already knew the state of the big picture. Since then, real improvements have been made.
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Education is a priority for building human capacity, employment and the economy. The government has increased the related budget by 55%. Special emphasis is on access to quality education at all levels. Improving physical, geographical and financial access is part of the long-term strategy and some results are already visible. The attendance indicator, for instance, tops 97%, even in schools where rates were half that just several years ago.
Up to 50% of students now receive state grants in higher education. In terms of NEETs, access to quality education and skills mismatch are factors. In 2015, the commission of the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs carried out a nationwide, systemic labour market survey. This will be an important factor in education policy making and will help to decrease mismatch in demand and supply of human capital to labour market.
We are also involving employers in vocational standards development and application of more flexible, work-based learning programmes that develop professional skills as well as key competences such as entrepreneurship, foreign languages and IT competency.
2013. It might not seem a large figure, but it came from zero, we even had to build the infrastructure.
Another focus for us is developing professional orientation and career guidance systems to support transitions within education levels and from education to work. According to tracer studies of vocational education graduates, unemployment has decreased by 5%. I am sure this can positively influence the NEET indicator. At the same time, women’s participation in vocational education has increased by 9%. It might not be huge, but it is a positive trend that shows what we are doing is delivering results.
Following the introduction of inclusive education, are you seeing a shift in employers’ attitudes towards hiring people with disabilities?
The research shows young women are more at risk of becoming NEETs than men. Is this a priority group for intervention? We have been designing support, motivation programmes and campaigns specifically for young women in education. For example, the San Diego State University, opened in Tbilisi in 2015, has a joint programme focusing on women. Following the success, we are applying the approach to vocational education, and it’s working! In special education as well. Women with special education needs are now applying to VET institutions. Implementing inclusive education at all levels is a priority. The achievements are more than visible. This is further inspired by the success of the ETF supported Entrepreneurial Community in the capital Tbilisi (featured in the last issue of Live&Learn). Mermisi College delivers 34 VET programmes to 700 students, and of these, more than 50 are learners with disabilities. It is one of six vocational schools spearheading the transition towards inclusive education. More than 400 students with disabilities have participated in these programmes since
So things are moving in terms of women’s participation. If we continue to make sustainable changes, the situation will keep improving.
Special needs students are working with professional orientation specialists to maximise their workplace participation and skills. Our Ministry of Education and Science has been a pioneer, offering job opportunities to these people. It is interesting for graduates to work in the departments that are working on inclusiveness, where there is very good room for cooperation. We want other agencies to follow suit. As a result of close cooperation, the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs now has hired agents for supportive employment. These are the specialists that will be trained by EU experts, supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, and will serve as intermediaries between employers and special needs graduates to facilitate employment. Your ministry, in cooperation with the ETF, held a workshop late October 2015 on NEETs. What are some of the outcomes you are now following up? The research aims to identify reasons for youth vulnerability and help policy makers to understand different NEET groups and come up with targeted policy interventions. In this regard, it was very important to learn who the beneficiaries are, and what the specifics are to design the right policies. Given the importance of the issue, and that we only have an initial analysis based on 2013 data, we look forward to continued cooperation to better understand the situation and address it.
When the country and political will exists to start to implement something, it’s positive. Having ETF support on all standing matters as we face them during implementation of the national strategy, is great. It would indeed be difficult for us to do this alone, especially when you have a partner like the ETF, which is experienced in working with countries at these important stages. We value the partnership now and look forward to working together in the future as well because we are arriving at a critical point where we have to start monitoring the results of the reforms. ¢ Photo: ETF/Andrea Guermani
Policy, partnerships and the ETF 2016 Georgia’s VET Development Strategy aims to increase VET enrolment by 400% by 2020. In order to meet the ambitious targets, the government is strengthening VET institutions, including enhancing the role of social partners and improving the quality of teaching and facilities. To support this, the ETF provided methodological advice and expertise in the area of governance and institutional arrangements. The ETF-led review identified specific actions for development, like redefining the role of social partners in policy dialogue and implementation and strengthening evidence-based policy making. The government has endorsed findings and begun work on a capacity development plan. Thanks to input from key stakeholders, and specific analysis on social partners and sectoral coordination mechanisms, the capacity development plan is underway. The ETF will work with the EU Delegation to provide support to Georgia in the implementation of the action plan.
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News and views NEETs
NEETS FALLING THROUGH THE NET: HOW TO BREAK THE CYCLE OF SOCIAL EXCLUSION? The number of young people not in employment, education or training, is a more serious problem within the ETF partner countries than the EU. And young women are typically three times more likely to be at risk, new analysis by the ETF shows. Education and socio-economic background are contributing factors, as well as the failure of education systems and poorly targeted policies. These are the key findings of the first in-depth look at the profiles and risk factors of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) in 18 ETF partner countries. Based primarily on labour force survey data, the NEET indicator includes early school leavers, unemployed people and family carers. The Eurostat definition covers those who are unable to work due to illness or disability, those discouraged from seeking employment as well as young people who are simply disaffected. Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo1, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova2, Russia, Ukraine, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Palestine3, Tunisia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are included in the study. The study highlights the very high incidence of NEETs in these countries, with more than one in four young people falling into this category in 13 of the 18 partner countries. Europe’s average NEET rate for 15 to 24 year-olds is 13%. Only Russia, Ukraine, Israel and Montenegro showed rates close to this at 15%. Armenia, Moldova, Serbia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Jordan, have rates around 20%. In Albania, Turkey, Georgia, Palestine and Tunisia, NEET rates are above 25%. While in Egypt, Kosovo and Tajikistan more than one in three young people, 35%, are NEETs. The report notes the impact of the financial crisis, particularly in the Mediterranean. It additionally highlights
the failure of education and training systems and poor functioning labour markets that do not generate employment opportunities that match skills.
Only in three countries – Armenia, Jordan and Kyrgyzstan – does higher education provide a smoother transition into the labour market.
“Rather than contain and counteract the challenges, education systems tend to reinforce and amplify existing inequalities in society,” says ETF migration expert Ummuhan Bardak, who co-authored the report with Martiño Rubal Maseda and Francesca Rosso, other ETF experts.
In the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Egypt, Palestine, and to a lesser extent Ukraine, post-secondary education does not decrease NEET. In fact young people with lower education outcomes are more likely to find work.
Gender imbalance: The female reality of NEET
In order to mitigate NEET phenomena, the report calls for preventative and targeted national policies and modernised VET systems.
Unlike EU countries, where the gender difference of NEETs is small, young women in partner countries are typically three times more likely to be outside of the workforce and education than men, and far more likely to be in a carer role. The gaps are particularly staggering for 15 to 24 year-olds in Egypt (43% vs 7%), in Jordan (29% to 5%) and Palestine (31% to 3%). A candidate country for EU accession, Turkey’s young male employment rate is twice that of young females (43% vs 21%), Armenia, Georgia and Tunisia have rates that compare. The gap, however, is much smaller in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine and Israel. Higher education, a guaranteed path to employment?
The critical role of VET and public policy
NEET phenomena affect many more young people than the ‘unemployed’ who tend to be the focus of youth-related policy discussions, says Ummuhan Bardak. “Governments need to deliver more effective and targeted public policies in areas that can influence outcomes: childcare, education, VET, healthcare and housing.” High NEET rates are also interpreted as signs of failing policies in education, training and employment, she says. “In this regard, VET systems have an important role to play. They support young people in acquiring the skills that enable them to compete for jobs in the labour market and thereby break the cycle of disadvantage.” ¢ Text: Susanna Dunkerley, ETF Infographic: Article 10
Education is often a pathway to employment. However, the study shows that for many partner countries secondary education has little impact on decreasing the risk of NEET.
View the full report at: www.goo.gl/iVhbWR
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.
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Hereinafter ‘Moldova’.
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This designation shall not be construed as recognition of the State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual positions of the EU Member States on this issue.
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In depth Development Goals
OWN THE GOALS The United Nations recently committed to 17 Global Goals designed to achieve three things: end extreme poverty, fight inequality and justice, and fix climate change. Skills have a role to play in all of them.
The Sustainable Development Goals, which replace the previous Millennium Development Goals, are characterised by six elements: people, dignity, prosperity, justice, partnership, and planet. Anyone who attended the ETF’s Torino Process conference in June 2015 will recognise these themes from
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the extensive discussions, ideas and keynote speakers.
on governance and partnerships – core to the ETF’s work.
Fifteen of the goals cover three broad areas: meeting basic human needs, promoting viable growth and good economic practices, and preserving the environment. The remaining two focus
While the ETF’s work connects to all seventeen goals, it is particularly present in Goal 4 Quality Education and Goal 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth.
in-tune with the UN’s new emphasis on partnerships. Synergies are evident in phrases like “enhance international support for […] capacity-building”, “enhance policy coherence” and “respect each country’s policy space and leadership”, Goal 17 (targets 9, 14 and 15). Got people? Educate, empower, and employ them! At the heart of the Global Goals is the fundamental belief that people are the solution, not the problem, when it comes to preserving the planet’s resources. This demands of the international community that it enables safe, meaningful lives for all.
It also has clear connections with Goal 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Goal 10 Reduced Inequalities, and Goal 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities – particularly in the interrelationships between them. Also Goals 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions and 17 Partnerships, which aim for the “effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels” and “multi-stakeholder partnerships that
mobilise and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources.” Does that last ambition sound familiar? It is part of the ETF’s Entrepreneurial Communities initiative, featured in this issue of Live&Learn. There is much about the transition of this initiative – from its exploratory and learning phase into its new focus on human capital policies – that support territorial development, and chime
Of course, the key to all of this is education – even if it has been said so many times that it risks becoming a cliché of global proportions. Given the widely acknowledged complexity of twenty-first century life, education needs to be broadly defined. We must add an equally broad definition of employment, one that covers the increasingly diverse arrangements through which human generative agency is expressed. A number of the stated targets under each of the Goals directly relate to the work of the ETF in promoting better vocational education and training. They also relate to areas of interest for the ETF’s experts, partner countries, policy makers, and other stakeholders. Goal 4 – “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’ – covers aspects of both initial and continuing
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In depth ď‚˝ Development Goals
vocational education and training. The targets include the provision of “equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university,â€? and making a substantial increase in “the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.â€? A deadline of 2030 is set for all but two of the Goal’s 10 targets. The phrase “relevant skills‌ for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship,â€? directly links the root concepts of VET with the expanding concept of what a vocation is, and how people relate to vocational matters throughout their lives. It recognises the change in emphasis that is underway, from the sale of a person’s labour as a means of survival, to the embracing of every person’s creative power in becoming the author of her or his own life. This may be an ambitious overall objective, but the steps towards it are particularly clear in Goal 8 – “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.â€? With 12 specific targets, this Goal provides the closest articulation of what are the intended outcomes of more or less everything the ETF does. These examples require little further explanation: “Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of
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micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises.� “By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities.� “By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training.� “Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment.� “By 2020, develop and operationalize a global strategy for youth employment and implement the Global Jobs Pact of the International Labour Organization.� Many agencies will see their field of practice as pertinent to these targets. It’s no surprise that the Interagency Group on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (IAG-TVET) has already held meetings with a range of donors, implementers, facilitators, and analysts, including the ETF, to assess cooperation and coordination in the delivery of TVET components of the Goals. Horizontality: The new perspective In their broad sweep across industry, innovation, infrastructure, and inequalities, Goals 9, 10 and 11 contain targets that are touched on by specific ETF initiatives: “Develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and transborder
infrastructure,” “facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies,” and “strengthening national and regional development planning.” They speak directly to the agendas of, inter alia, the new phase of the Entrepreneurial Communities Initiative, migrant support measures from an employment and skills perspective, and the Torino Process. Threaded through all the Goals are global themes of good governance, quality assurance and multilevel partnership. Indeed, there seems to be a new buzzword in town – horizontality – which Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of world-leading creative industries company WPP, mentioned in his recent keynote speech to the Committee of the Regions’ European Conference on Public Communication. In Sir Martin’s world, “horizontality” refers to the strategic leveraging of cross-cutting issues that affect his business – issues that are very similar to those in the UN’s world. Moreover, his concept of “defragmented digital horizontality” among the vertical industry operations owned by WPP may not be as remote as he might suggest from the direct democracy and social relationships-based horizontality of people-power and anti-globalisation movements. Both seem to seek structures that allow personal autonomy within socially maintained frameworks of equality and development. Both, we might venture, can play a constructive part in the delivery of the Global Goals.
As ever, the big question is how. How do we get from where we are now to the world described in these 17 Goals, with their combined 169 targets? Critical voices have already emerged to call the Goals too ambitious, too complex, and too expensive to be delivered on time. Goal 17 itself provides one of the answers, with its focus on global partnership. That means global not only in the geographic sense, but also in the sectoral sense. One of the strongest messages to emerge from commentary on delivery of the Global Goals is the central importance of partnership between government, NGO and civil society bodies, and the private sector. To take just one example, Andrew Devenport, chief executive of the Youth Business Initiative, wrote: “the role of the private sector in development has been re-imagined… there is a clear role for companies in the implementation of the SDGs.” He goes on to point out that, the specific inclusion of entrepreneurship represents the first time in history that it has been “recognised at global level as one solution for development.” Tell everyone The historic nature of this recognition reflects a view that the adoption of the Global Goals is a step-change in the field of sustainable development. This is how European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, saw it, writing just ahead of the September UN General Assembly session and describing it as “a landmark event and achievement, one in which I’m proud to say the European Union has played a crucial role, supported by its Member States, the EU institutions and key stakeholders.” Describing the 2030 Agenda, of which the Global Goals are part, as a “game-
changer,” Commissioner Mimica points out that “this new agreement is universal. It applies to all countries. We all share ownership of it and we all have a shared responsibility for its implementation.” The path towards a sustainable and entrepreneurial world founded on security, justice and opportunity for all requires, as a necessary if not sufficient condition, the active involvement of public, private and third sectors. At least one other thing must be present, and is very much a shared responsibility – spreading awareness that these Goals exist. Every business, every agency, every individual has a responsibility to tell others about the Global Goals and to share how they, and their organisation, are helping to deliver them. Leading figures from the business world including Richard Branson, Virgin; Paul Polman, Unilever; and Mark Cutifani, Anglo American, have pledged to align their business strategies to the Goals. In the words of Katja Iversen, CEO of global advocacy organisation, Women Deliver, now is the time for “business as unusual,” or, to quote Norwegian Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, who was paraphrasing Elvis Presley, we need “a little less conversation, a little more action.” As it says on the Global Goals website – tell everyone, take action! ¢ Text: Ezri Carlebach Infographics: United Nations
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Regional focus Central Asia
A SENSE OF COMMUNITY: IMPACTING VET FROM THE GROUND UP Vocational school directors, teachers and trainers, are on the frontline when it comes to delivering skills for the labour market and society. VET performance is closely linked to the quality of VET staff, their initial education and continuous professional development.
In Central Asia, the status of teachers is low. They rarely receive relevant preservice or in-service training. Improving this situation, and VET outcomes, was central to the ETF’s School Development Initiative, which kicked off in 2009. The three-year programme gave rise to 15 Communities of Practice in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Made up of vocational school directors, employers and other social partners, the communities continue to work at local, national, and regional levels to improve VET outcomes for teachers, trainers and students. In late 2015, the ETF re-visited these communities to see the impact they continue to have on the ground. The top three developments – one from each country – were recognised at the VET Academy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in October 2015. The Academy is a new regional platform that brings together participants of the programme, as well as policy makers, international experts and donors, to further develop outcomes. These are their stories. Teaching for the future: Kazakhstan Kazakhstan is undergoing speedy social, economic and technological change. The manufacturing industry is developing alongside advanced technology and sophisticated
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equipment. This requires highly skilled, highly competent workers. Vocational teachers, in turn, need very high technical knowledge to deliver the hands-on practical training. Karaganda State Technical University has been improving the quality of student teachers, providing them with both the pedagogical and practical skills they need. Galina Smirnova, head of Engineering Pedagogics, says that it is thanks to the ETF’s School Development Initiative, which she has been involved in since 2009. “I have used what I learned to encourage other staff to establish a link between the needs of enterprises
and the content of the teacher training course,” she says. Working with her colleague, Svetlana Udartseva, head of the school’s Vocational Training Department, they have introduced a supplementary qualification into the Bachelor of Vocational Training course, including hands-on training in materials processing technology and industrial practical training inside enterprises. “Working closely with the enterprises, future teachers can understand what their students need as soon as they graduate. Companies gain a lot from this too as they get the fully prepared specialists. Everyone gains!”
Margherita Rakova, professional turner and practical teacher at Karaganda State Technical University, Kazakhstan.
The typical age of students is 15. Undergoing practical training with business leads to apprenticeships and employment.
Moving forward together: Kyrgyzstan Car mechanics is a popular profession among youth in Kyrgyzstan, which has experienced a recent influx of modern cars to the market. Nevertheless, auto mechanic graduates have not been meeting employers’ requirements for working with modern vehicles, with computerised fuel injection, electronic brakes and automatic transmissions.
barriers, but the ETF initiative is helping establish beneficial partnerships with employers. “Working together, we soon came to the conclusion that without involving employers, the problems highlighted could not be solved,” she says.
Professional Lyceum No. 87, Naryn City and Professional Lyceum No. 14, in the Issyk-Kul region, joined forces to find a solution.
“Employers are often unaware of the vocational education system and frequently take workforce from the street. They also raise questions about the lack of qualified personnel for the maintenance and repair of modern cars. Removing the barriers has been a challenge.”
School Director Tursun O. Kochkorbeava says obsolete facilities, resources, infrastructure, and curricula have been
Analysing the local labour market, they quickly identified the Naryn Automotive Service Association, and 13 other
employers, as partners. Traction is being gained. Automotive technicians are now conducting master-classes with students, local business is providing spare parts to the school for training, and is helping to develop curricula. Ms O. Kochkorbeava says the community of practice continues to develop links with employers and improve school management practices. “We are now able to find potential partners, identify their needs, and show them how we all benefit from cooperation. Vocational schools can only be developed in cooperation with partners.”
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Regional focus ď‚˝ Central Asia
Sharshenbek Toktomushev, mechanics theory teacher, is working with local private companies to develop relevant curriculum, Naryn, Kyrgyzstan.
Students at Professional Lyceum No. 87 now receive up to two months hands-on training in companies, working on new model engines, Naryn, Kyrgyzstan.
Students and teachers at Vocational Lyceum for Agriculture are participating in hand-on training at the Kulob District Energy Company, Tajikistan.
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Based on the success of the community of practice, the Kulob District Energy Company is keen to cooperate with other schools in the region.
Planning for success: Tajikistan The Vocational Lyceum for Agriculture, Dahana village Kulob District, Tajikistan, was set up in the Soviet era to train agricultural workers. Facilities, resources, infrastructure, and curricula are outdated, and have been barriers to quality vocational education. School Director Amirkhon Nazriev, and Deputy Director Rakhmon Karimov, have been collaborating with the rural town’s electricity grid company to improve the situation. The local electricity company is helping to train the school’s teachers and students – the next generation of electricians. Kulob District Energy company owner Safarov Nuralmad, says all have been eager learners.
“Our common goal is to prepare better qualified students for the electrical power system of the region,” he says. “This country needs qualified specialists; it would be good for all schools to collaborate with local companies.” Mr Nuralmad is part of a new taskforce that is developing qualification standards and new syllabi with the school. Deputy Director Rakhmon Karimov says the school has also revamped its laboratory and installed relevant electrical network control panels.
“We have put into practice the knowledge and skills acquired during the training courses and achieved concrete results.” Down up model for school development These examples demonstrate how local vocational schools are working with local stakeholders to provide better vocational education and training. It is part of ETF’s holistic approach, bringing key actors together to achieve the ‘Down up Model’ for school development. ¢ Text: Susanna Dunkerley, ETF
“Our vocational students along with school foremen and staff from the electricity company now participate in emergency operations in our village.”
Photos: Jo Anstey, ETF
The stories feature in a series of short films on the ETF’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/etfeuropa
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Country focus Morocco
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS FOR EMPLOYABILITY: THE FUTURE OF VET IS NOW! The Automotive Industries Training Institute in Morocco is one of a growing number of publicprivate partnerships providing the skills that industry needs. Run by industry sector associations and business, and with start-up capital provided by the state, these partnerships represent a new vision of demand-driven VET.
The Automotive Industries Training Institute is an example of the public-private partnerships driven and shaped by industry needs.
Employability is the keyword, so says Abdelhak Mounir, Director General of the IFMIA in Morocco. Unlike most of the state-run training centres in the Mediterranean countries, this is a public-private partnership matching skills to labour market needs. Its Casablanca centre welcomes 100 new students into its two-year post-secondary training programme each year. A further 100 students, soon to be 150 students, join the three-year, secondary-level courses. The IFMIA does not just cater for students. It retrains 250 long-term unemployed people each year and runs training programmes for 1,300 enterprise trainees. 16
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It is about bringing supply and demand for skills under one roof, says Mr Mounir. “We tailor our courses to the needs of industry, to recruit trainers who have real hands-on experience in the business and select students who are motivated and have an aptitude for the job.” Students alternate their time between the training centre and one of the 60 enterprises the institute partners with.
protective footwear; work to quality standards and productivity targets; and comply with health and safety rules and codes of conduct. A model for success? The proof of the pudding is in the eating, says Mr Mounir, noting that close to 95% of the students get jobs. “If not 100%, because some go on to further study.”
Much of the training focuses on soft skills, says Mr Mounir, “behaviour more than professional competences.”
And demand is high. For every study place there are close to 30 applicants.
The culture of the workplace permeates that of the training centre: students clock in and out; they wear work overalls and
The appeal? The mix between theoretical and practical learning; the alternation between school and work-based learning;
and most importantly, that what is learned is 100% relevant to the students’ future jobs. Younes Kadmiri, 23, is one such student well-placed to comment. He already has a professional diploma from a state vocational school. “This place is much better equipped,” he says. “The trainers have real industry experience, and they’re young!” He laughs. “In my old school the trainers were all really old. What can you learn from someone who hasn’t set foot in a factory for decades?”
Demand for training places is high. Close to 100% of graduates find relevant work.
“They are close to us,” adds Zakari Zini. “They are more like friends than teachers.” Youssef El Bachiri is typical of the teaching staff. He has a technical diploma in mechanical engineering and master’s degree in quality engineering. He joined IFMIA’s in-service training department with eight years of industry experience leading quality assurance at Leoni, an international producer of automotive wiring systems. Now he oversees the automotive wiring training – a fast-growing sector in Morocco.
Close ties to industry means the equipment, training and working methods, are easily transferred to the workplace.
“The equipment we have here is identical to what you find in industry. We train staff according to industry working methods and to industry standards of productivity and quality.” “We keep close links with industry. We follow up on how our students are performing in the workplace and adjust our training accordingly.” The number of young women taking part in traditionally male-dominated courses also helps to set the IFMIA apart. Oumaima Mechkouri, 19, switched to the automotive maintenance course after a year studying biology at university. “I was looking for a course that would give me a real prospect of a job,” she says.
Oumaima Mechkouri, 19, is proud to be among the institute’s female students helping to break down barriers to traditionally male-dominated professions.
“I was also attracted by the challenge of doing something people think of as a man’s job. Here I’m treated the same as the boys.”
The Moroccan government set a target for the centre to be 50% self-financed by 2017. It has well exceeded this.
Funding model
Set up as part of the Moroccan National Pact for Industrial Emergence, the concept is central to the national VET strategy, says M’Barek Khaldoun of the Moroccan Ministry of Education and Vocational Training.
Trainings for the private and public sector helps to finance the IFMIA. It also receives state funding for its initial VET courses, which are offered free to students.
“This is the face of the future for VET in Morocco.” ¢ Text and photos: Alastair Macphail, ETF
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Project update Tunisia
ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION: GOOD PARTNERSHIPS MAKE GOOD POLICY The 2015 Nobel peace prize recognised the effectiveness of partnerships and participatory dialogue in creating stability in Tunisia amidst the turmoil of the Arab Spring uprisings. The recipient, the Tunisian national dialogue quartet, a coalition of unionists, employers, lawyers and human rights activists, worked to maintain democratic aspirations in 2013 when neighbouring countries delved into chaos.
Tunisia recognises the value of consensus-based solutions to a wide range of challenges.
The government, unsurprisingly, is continuing to promote a participatory approach across the board, including in the area of vocational education and training (VET) and entrepreneurship. It is working to strengthen partnerships between the ministries, social partners, civil society and the private sector that deliver entrepreneurship programmes, and formulate a national approach to learning entrepreneurial skills. Entrepreneurship has the potential to be a powerful driver of economic growth and a source of job creation and reduce youth unemployment, says Youssef Naouar from the Ministry of Vocational Training and Employment. “There’s no doubt about the importance of entrepreneurial learning. It reinforces the employability of young people and the autonomy of young Tunisians. It helps them to become more adaptable to labour market needs.” The ETF has been working with the government to develop its approach in this area. The project is based upon the principles of the EU’s Small Business Act, which seeks to drive economic competition by creating more favourable conditions for SME growth. Drawing on the ETF’s entrepreneurial learning good practice platform, the government has captured examples from Tunisia’s community of entrepreneurial 18
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training providers to see how they can inform policy making. “There are no set answers to respond to today’s problems in Tunisia. Good practice will give us new ideas and new lessons,” says Mr Naouar. “Using good practice gives policy makers valuable insight into what works, what does not work, and at what cost.” In 2016, the government will develop a national charter on entrepreneurial learning that will embody the Tunisian approach to entrepreneurship skills. The aim is to define the crucial role of partnerships in building skills through formal and non-formal learning, and underpin how enterprise skills should be taught across VET systems. Strong partnerships are central to the success of the project and the government
is making sure partners stay connected. In November 2015, the first forum for policy makers and practitioners took place. As Zied Ladhari, Tunisia’s Minister of Vocational Training and Employment, puts it: “Entrepreneurship is a priority for Tunisia. Through training, we can help to change the attitude of young people so that they embrace entrepreneurship.” “If past experience is anything to go by, good partnerships and good practice are set to inspire Tunisia’s next generation of young entrepreneurs and employees.” ¢ Text: Claire Bose, ETF Photo: ETF
Project update Entrepreneurial communities
FIVE BY TEN How the ETF’s 10 Entrepreneurial Communities are moving forward with five drivers of transformational change.
Paving the way for private sector development by fostering an ecosystem of start-ups created by young entrepreneurs in Belarus.
In 2013, an innovative programme exploring special partnerships – Entrepreneurial Communities – began.
yet they reveal some important similarities.
support sustainable growth in their cities, localities, and regions.
Since then, the ETF has paid a visit to 10 of them, located across the European Union’s neighbourhood regions.
Among the key characteristics are innovative approaches to job and wealth creation; a flexible, more-or-less informal attitude to partnership building; and a focus on action at local levels.
The journey continues…
The concept was inspired by the European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) project of the Committee of the Regions, which awards regions that demonstrate outstanding, future-oriented entrepreneurial strategies.
It is important to note that the communities are working in the context of partner countries, where policy dialogue is very much driven at the national level.
The aim of the ETF’s initiative is to explore examples of good practice in partner countries, and in doing so, learn how the partnerships form, what they can produce and affect, and how they are able to inform policy. The people, places, and organisations of the 10 Entrepreneurial Communities are operating in very varied circumstances,
However, in the case of Entrepreneurial Communities, the presence of supportive policies and governance models enables each community to have an impact that extends to the wider community – a catalyst for transformational change. From local and regional to national government, it is recognised across the policy arena. It offers inspiration to other actors looking for new ways to
The 10 communities are the subject of a full report and brief documentary video, and feature in the Local Skills Matter: A Journey Through Entrepreneurial Communities publication. They will be the focus of a special ETF conference in early March, 2016. The publication concludes the learning journey of the ETF initiative, opening up a new phase of support for smart territorial development through human capital policies. Partnerships that put human capital development at the centre of an integrated and open approach to growth, competitiveness, and cohesion frequently generate results that exceed expectations, as the ETF’s 10 Entrepreneurial Communities demonstrate. February 2016
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Project update ď‚˝ Entrepreneurial communities
Reducing business costs and driving competitiveness by closing gaps in ICT VET provision in Jordan.
Introducing young people to the world of work and the entrepreneurial mind-set in Lebanon.
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Breaking administrative boundaries, increasing public resources and focusing on women in business in Serbia.
In the publication’s preface, ETF Director Madlen Serban, writes: “The journey continues, with the ETF offering its expert support where partner countries are willing to engage in empowering territorial actors to unlock their potential and become entrepreneurial.” She goes on to introduce the five core capabilities that make the communities so successful, and which can serve as a beacon to partnerships in all partner countries: “visionary, connected, innovative, impactful, smart.” In their own words … ALGERIA “This informal partnership is an illustration of experimental leadership.” BELARUS “The Business Incubator is a skills coalition built on multi-level collaborative advantage.” GEORGIA “A win-win situation involving VET school graduates with disabilities and a large number of local employers gets enthusiastic support from policy makers.”
ISRAEL “Create a generation which changes things… in every dimension of life.” JORDAN “Providing relevant local mentors for women entrepreneurs could see the creation of businesses that will change the entire region.” KAZAKHSTAN “The focus is on supporting new entrepreneurs and businesses in order to diversify the economy.” LEBANON “The connections go beyond CSR – it’s about creating shared value.” MOLDOVA “The Free Economic Zone, a joint project of the Entrepreneurial House and the Mayor’s office, employs more than 2,000 people.” MONTENEGRO “Partnership working and fiscal stimulation are closing the skills gap.” SERBIA “Kreativa is a grass-roots initiative that has built a complex network of horizontal and vertical relations.”
networked partnerships can do more than just deliver improved skills – they can strengthen economic prospects for whole populations and promote social cohesion. And while local authorities are not always major players in the communities, their involvement in smart territories is crucial because of their strategic role in shaping local economic ecosystems. Whether working with grass-roots partnerships, supporting national priorities for economic diversification, or through involvement with social inclusion in employment and skills, local authorities can trigger the multiplier effect that sees local actors become more than the sum of their parts. Ultimately, the test is whether all the relevant actors show sufficient willingness to share the vision and take the actions that, together, bring about real, sustainable change. ¢ Text: Ezri Carlebach
Five by ten equals more
Photos: ETF
Entrepreneurial Communities, like these, demonstrate that open, dynamic and
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Off the press and on the web
NEW PUBLICATIONS
INFORM 23: THE ETF APPROACH TO PROMOTING QUALITY ASSURANCE IN VET Technological advancements and the global market economy demand upskilled, adaptable and mobile workforce. Modernising VET is part of the solution,
which requires a focus on quality assurance. More info in this policy briefing. www.goo.gl/SL5m7h
YOUNG PEOPLE NOT IN EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION OR TRAINING (NEET): AN OVERVIEW IN ETF PARTNER COUNTRIES The report aims to raise awareness of the extent of the NEET phenomenon in partner countries, the determining factors and potential policy
actions to address it. www.goo.gl/iVhbWR
THE ROLE OF EMPLOYMENT SERVICE PROVIDERS – GUIDE TO ANTICIPATING AND MATCHING SKILLS AND JOBS VOL. 4 The latest in a series of guides on skills anticipation and matching by the ETF, the International Labour Organisation and the European Centre for the
Development of Vocational Training. www.goo.gl/02siUn
MEDIUM-TERM DELIVERABLES FOR THE CANDIDATE COUNTRIES UNDER THE RIGA CONCLUSIONS 2015 The new set of medium-term deliverables for vocational training, agreed to by relevant ministers from EU member states and candidate countries,
explained in a leaflet. www.goo.gl/BuroQa
PRIME: PROJECTING REFORM IMPACT IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING The PRIME methodology helps countries choose policy actions with a reasonable guarantee of success. This leaflet explains how PRIME works,
and the benefits. www.goo.gl/ftKvMR
PRIME 2014: MONTENEGRO An analysis of VET policy measures related to the employability of citizens, skills and qualifications,
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conducted between June and December 2014. www.goo.gl/ol0Sgn
TUNE IN ON THE TUBE Catch our latest videos on the ETF YouTube channel. www.youtube.com/etfeuropa
Did you know there are 170 mini movies uploaded already? We’ve coordinated two playlists to complement this edition of Live&Learn.
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMMUNITIES www.goo.gl/bF66Z9
SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT IN CENTRAL ASIA www.goo.gl/ihncom
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For information on our activities, job and tendering possibilities please visit our website: www.etf.europa.eu For other enquiries please contact: Communication Department European Training Foundation Villa Gualino Viale Settimio Severo, 65 I – 10133 Torino T +39 011 630 2222 F +39 011 630 2200 E info@etf.europa.eu
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