Live&Learn Issue 33

Live&Learn NEWS AND VIEWS FROM ACROSS THE ETF COMMUNITY

ISSUE 33 – JUNE 2015

Interview with

Commissioner Thyssen Torino Process – Five takeways for skills policy makers | 06 Country focus: Turkey | 08 My vocation: Passion for lifesaving machines | 16

INSIDE 04

Interview with Marianne Thyssen, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility

06

16

08

18

The Torino Process comes to town

Country focus: Turkey

12

Photo story: a vocational school through the lens in Uzbekistan

A vocation for lifesaving machines

Building a quality assurance culture in vocational education and training

20

Developing vocational teachers

CONTACT US Further information can be found on the ETF website: www.etf.europa.eu For any additional information, please contact: Communication Department European Training Foundation ADDRESS Villa Gualino, Viale Settimio Severo 65, I – 10133 Torino, Italy TELEPHONE +39 011 630 2222 FAX +39 011 630 2200 EMAIL info@etf.europa.eu

To receive a copy of Live&Learn please email info@etf.europa.eu

14

Multilevel gathering

21

How to support migrants: the ETF pools global experience

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-14-033-EN-C PDF ISSN 2443-7433 TA-AF-14-033-EN-N @ European Training Foundation, 2015 Cover photograph: European Union Please recycle this magazine when you finish with it.

02

Live&Learn

June 2015

Editorial

READY, SET, TORINO PROCESS Ensuring bright futures for the younger generation is critical for a country’s economic growth and political stability. Young people are all too often left behind, risking alienation and social exclusion.

Engaging policy makers early on will create the right conditions to connect young people with society and their own futures.

In an interview with Live&Learn, Marianne Thyssen, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility talks about how the European Union is supporting young people to get back into employment, education and training as well as how the EU supports human capital development in the ETF’s partner countries.

Vocational education and training (VET) can offer young people one route to employment, but it is often a second, if not a last, choice. Madlen Serban, the ETF Director reflects on why reform is necessary to meet the needs of today’s complex and evolving workplaces, to make VET the first choice for today’s youth.

Live&Learn looks inside a vocational school in Uzbekistan and hears from a student in Lebanon who is challenging the

norms at a vocational school in a Beirut suburb. From Turkey, we report on how women and young people are at the heart of enterprises.

Harnessing the potential of young people by channelling their energy into vocational skills or an enterprise startup will pay dividends in the future for them and society as a whole. ¢

The role of entrepreneurs in fostering economic growth and employment opportunities cannot be underestimated.

We report back from a conference showcasing seven entrepreneurial communities and the valuable lessons for policy makers on how partnerships flourish in very different settings.

Lessons have quite literally been on the agenda for the Governance for Employability in the Mediterranean project as representatives of national authorities, trade unions and employers from countries across the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean joined study visits to vocational schools in Romania and the Netherlands for a closer look at systems that shape VET quality assurance.

Alastair Macphail, Head of Communication, ETF

June 2015

Live&Learn

03

Interview

INTERVIEW WITH MARIANNE THYSSEN EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR EMPLOYMENT, SOCIAL AFFAIRS, SKILLS AND LABOUR MOBILITY Marianne Thyssen took up her post as European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility in November 2014. In an interview with Live&Learn, she shares her views on EU priorities and activities in this area.

The new Commission is fully committed to putting Europe back on the path of sustainable job creation and economic growth.

Photo: European Union

04

Live&Learn

June 2015

Photo: European Union

The economic downturn struck a Europe already challenged by ageing societies, inequality and barriers to job creation. Young people are among the hardest hit by the crisis. What are your political priorities and how will they help them?

The new Commission is fully committed to putting Europe back on the path of sustainable job creation and economic growth. Our economic and social policy is based on boosting investment, pursuing fiscal responsibility and advancing structural reforms. The Youth Guarantee is one of the most important reforms on the agenda, aiming at providing every person under the age of 25 a good quality job offer, apprenticeship, traineeship or education within four months of leaving formal education or becoming unemployed. My priority is to further its implementation and this is why I’ve proposed to advance around €1 billion in payments from the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI). Member States facing budgetary constraints have found it more difficult than expected to advance the money to start measures on the ground.

With the substantial increase in YEI pre-financing, they will be able to speed up the process and so give immediate support to up to 700 000 young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs), in those regions suffering most from youth unemployment. Skills are another core part of my portfolio. We need to equip young people with those skills that are or will be most needed by employers. In this sense I’ll continue working to promote vocational education and training, apprenticeships and lifelong learning. Finally, the Commission will

continue to facilitate mobility for those young people who are willing to explore training and work opportunities abroad.

Labour markets are increasingly globalised. To have effective employment and skills policies, we need to look beyond Europe’s borders.

How can the EU be a “stronger global actor” in human capital development?

In a globalised world the EU looks beyond its borders not only in terms of trade and investments, but also when it comes to mobility, migration, decent jobs and last but not least – social and political stability.

The human capital dimension of all these policy priorities is an important one. On the supply side, the lifelong development of individuals’ skills and competences, including entrepreneurship, are at the top of the EU’s priorities and objectives in education and training. The Commission wants to ensure that these aspects are part and parcel of the economic governance process we have launched in the Western Balkans.

A second priority is to support policies for change through system reform and modernisation of vocational training, in labour market policies and employment strategies and links with vocational education and training (VET). In the G20, the EU has, for example, actively promoted quality apprenticeships and this year will contribute to discussions on how to better link education and the labour market. The Commission works with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the International Labour Organisation on the Youth Guarantee and with strategic partners on

skills development. The EU contributes to the promotion of decent work and social investment in the world as this strengthens the resilience of people and societies. These are important answers to the global challenges.

How can the ETF help achieve the EU’s objectives in this area?

The ETF supports EU enlargement and external policies in the countries of the European Neighbourhood. And it has been doing so for 20 years. I would like to use this moment to congratulate Ms Serban, the ETF director and her colleagues on the 20th anniversary of the ETF, which was celebrated recently, and to express our full appreciation for their highly professional and efficient work. Throughout the years, the ETF has played the role of reliable mediator and contributor at the intersection of the EU’s internal and external policies and the partner countries’ endeavours in human capital development. I trust they will continue this good work.

As Commissioner, I have been charged with improving the ties between employment, skills and job creation and I see an important role for the ETF to help pursue this objective in the countries they work with. ¢

June 2015

Live&Learn

05

Torino Process  News and views

THE TORINO PROCESS COMES TO TOWN The ETF’s Torino Process raises important questions about how we organise learning, and manage the way it connects with employment. Here we share some issues from the analysis, and talk to ETF Director Madlen Serban.

On 3 and 4 June 2015 the ETF hosts the Torino Process conference, bringing together leading figures in education, training and employment from international agencies, EU member states, and many of the ETF’s 30 partner countries. It’s a biennial, evidence-based process that reviews transformations of, and reforms in vocational education and training (VET) across most of the ETF’s partner countries against an agreed analytical framework and related set of indicators. The analysis is based on the active participation of a range of actors, with evidence drawn from sources that indicate how well each country is progressing with VET reforms.

However, the Torino Process is not just about tracking progress. It is also a policy learning facility and, crucially, it is owned by participating countries, with the ETF facilitating the growing number who conduct the public policy progress analysis themselves. The ETF provides differentiated support, based on countries’ respective interests in these areas. Established in 2010, the Torino Process is producing intriguing results that could challenge established thinking about VET, general education, and the labour market.

Turn it upside down In the future everyone will learn faster and more flexibly to gain skills for jobs that might last months not years. Most will work later into their lives, sometimes for an employer and sometimes for themselves. They will exploit their talents productively whether they spend their life in one village, or live and work in different countries. In this future, policy support for education, training and employment systems will, more than ever, determine success in delivering social cohesion and competitiveness.

If this sounds challenging for the economically powerful countries of the

06

Live&Learn

June 2015

European Union, it is even more so for those in the EU’s neighbourhood, some of whom are coping with conflict, political instability, and the legacy of past ideologies.

“What we need to do in this context is turn the traditional way of looking at education, training, and employment on its head,” says ETF Director Madlen Serban. “In any given country we need to see the structure of the education system as being a result of the human capital – the knowledge, skills, talents, and behaviour – that the country needs.

Not the other way around.”

The ‘emancipation’ of vocational education and training For years VET has been considered only as remedial education, aimed at bringing back those who are economically and educationally marginalised. This is both an institutional and a reputational issue, but it is changing. “I think this is why in many countries where they exclusively work with VET from this perspective, VET has been considered by the learners, and their families, as being the second, if not the last choice,” says Serban.

Yet in countries with positive mid-term prospects for economic development, evidence shows that VET is guiding the human capital development agenda.

Not only can these countries report prosperity, they can also demonstrate a positive human capital development perspective in which people take control of their careers – if there are no local jobs, they take their talents elsewhere.

“But it’s an informed decision,” Serban adds, “and enabling people to make informed decisions is the central purpose of everything that we do.”

This sense of VET’s emancipation from an outdated legacy is not new. But the Torino Process is showing that skills

achievement, skills formation, and skills use are becoming greater priorities.

“What we are observing,” Serban points out, “is that unless we create a chance for citizens to do something with their learning we are going to be confronted with a lot of social problems. So the public policies in skills development have to be considered from the perspective of social consequences, not exclusively from the perspective of economic impact.” However, she cautions, “we can’t pretend that VET alone can perform miracles. There has to be proper economic governance.”

Painting a new landscape VET’s ‘neighbours’ in the context of formal learning delivery are upper secondary education on the one hand, and higher education on the other.

Increasingly, it must build relationships with primary and lower secondary education too, because, as Serban stresses, “VET starts at around 15 years old. If I’m taking in this information at 15, then I have to see how our education systems are capable of delivering results.”

This puts the spotlight on learning outcomes at a stage where VET is presumed to start in a majority of partner countries, as PISA results show. Young citizens, as they progress towards upper secondary education, may choose a VET pathway and still experience friction with those advocating ‘traditional’ academic pathways. While there are growing concerns about its relative cost and public value, higher education is now rarely seen as incompatible with VET. “That’s why I’m saying VET should be redefined. Because if a higher education graduate should take employabilityoriented study programmes, delivered with the closer cooperation of business, then what is that if not VET? To be clear,

“We need to see the structure of the education system as being a result of the human capital that a country needs,” says Madlen Serban.

Photo: Juha Roininen

I am not saying vocational education and training should exclusively fill the vacancies.”

should only produce entrepreneurs; sole traders, for instance, as well as startup creators, are growing in importance.

The evidence shows that in the Torino Process countries where the cycle of education improvement doesn’t match the expectations of citizens or of businesses there is a growing trend for employers to create ‘parallel’ provision.

“You cannot blame the citizens,” Serban notes, “if instead of going to the public system they go to systems set up by business.” But the risk is that it’s education and training that end up paying the cost, because a parallel system means additional spending so less is available from general taxation.

Moreover, increasing the cost but ignoring the limited capability of public policy to deliver results will not help.

However, while the number of new startups in partner countries is impressive, their lifecycle is not. “They are dying quickly,” Madlen Serban observes. “Why? In the majority of cases, according to our analysis and observation, it’s because during the life of the startups the right training is not available for the people who are building them.” While there are many other factors, policy learning from the Torino Process suggests that a lifelong learning approach for entrepreneurs must be supported with appropriate training. “Policy makers have to create those associations, those networks, those platforms that can really empower people during the starting up and growth of micro- and small businesses, to ensure sustainability,” says Serban.

The new entrepreneurs The ETF’s broad definition of ‘entrepreneurial’ allows a continuum from policies to education and training institutions, individuals, and whole communities to be entrepreneurial.

Entrepreneurial learning is about developing attributes such as the ability to undertake critical analysis, to understand and mitigate risk, and to look proactively for opportunities. This does not imply that education and training

Think Torino Process, act glocal Madlen Serban sees sustainability and sustainable development frameworks as key, arguing for a development model in each country relevant to its circumstances, not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. “This is the debate at the UN post-2015 development agenda, and it has a lot of meaning for me. I hope that

we are not just engaging in rhetoric, and we really do have a holistic debate. If we want to have a future, all of us together, we have to be realistic and committed to the shared goals.”

The Torino Process is all about building the evidence base and supporting policy makers to conduct effective analysis, and design and implement good public policy.

But nobody is suggesting it’s easy. Public policy makers need talent, knowledge, and empathy as well as statutory instruments. “That’s why the ETF is there for them in this policy learning process, and we put our expertise at their disposal,” Serban states. “But if someone were to ask me if I would like to go to any of the countries and be a policy maker, I would have to ask for time to think about it! Their job is not an easy one. However, I have a strong opinion that I will follow up if requested to act. A policy maker should work for the societal benefits of human capital policies, not in an ‘ivory tower’ but in partnership with the key actors in the country and be, and remain, accountable for results. And a reminder: achieving results takes time and continuity in the work for mid-term strategic goals.” ¢ Text: Ezri Carlebach, Communication Consultant

June 2015

Live&Learn

07

Country focus  Turkey

TURKEY AIMS FOR A KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY WITH ENTERPRISE AT ITS CORE European Union strategies for dynamic and flexible job creation are being taken to heart by education and training professionals in the world’s 18th largest economy.

Ahmet Çetin knows that political challenges may long remain an obstacle to Turkey’s long-standing hopes of joining the European Union.

“Achieving EU standards of economic, social and cultural life is important for us; entry to the EU is not.”

Human capital

But like many Turks, Çetin, the director of an Ankara hotel and tourism vocational training school, sees ambitions to adopt European business and entrepreneurial practices as valuable in their own right. Çetin is a former Ministry of National Education official who was appointed head of Ankara’s IMKB Vocational Technical Anatolian High School in 2002.

The school has 650 students aged 1519 who run a fully-functioning onsite three-star hotel and 200-seat restaurant alongside classroom and practical studies in well-equipped kitchens, mock-up cafes and hotel bedrooms.

Economic sense Profits from the hotel’s €1.4 million annual turnover help subsidise the purchase of school equipment, teachers’ salaries and costs for students who undertake summer work placements at hotels and restaurants in Turkey’s popular seaside resorts.

“There are five schools like this in Ankara and 130 throughout the country and still we cannot satisfy the demand for training for the hotel and tourism industry in Turkey,” Çetin says, “we have virtually full employment for our graduates.”

Encouraging Turkey to adopt EU economic policies makes economic sense regardless of whether EU accession talks, opened in 2005, ever come to anything, he believes.

08

Live&Learn

June 2015

While such issues remain a major political stumbling block to EU accession, Turkey’s pivotal geopolitical position between the EU and the Middle East, and its standing in the world – it currently holds the presidency of the G20 – makes supporting human capital development a key aim.

“2015 will be a year where the G20 will focus its efforts on ensuring inclusive and robust growth through collective action,” said Turkey’s prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu in an official document outlining Turkey’s priorities for 2015 during the G20 presidency.

“This can be formulated as the three ‘I’s of the Turkish Presidency: inclusiveness, implementation and investment for growth.”

Promoting entrepreneurial learning and encouraging young people to set up their own businesses in a country with a population of more than 80 million people and the world’s 18th largest economy, has long been at the heart of government policy.

A raft of policy initiatives, encompassed

by Turkey’s Strategic Vision 2023, are aiming for the following result: “By 2020, Turkey is a socially cohesive knowledge-based economy with reduced regional inequalities and a proactive entrepreneurial young and female workforce, driving the high-tech, low-tech, and high capability agenda.” It foresees

coordinated employment, education and social cohesion policies that anticipate labour demand and provide “high quality human resources” to meet that.

Social cohesion It is certainly ambitious, but judging by the evidence presented by a wide range of government, public and private sector education specialists at a jointly run ETF and SEECEL (South East European Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning) workshop in Ankara in mid-February (see over), it may not be unrealistic.

The workshop, which gauged progress on the implementation of the Small Business Act for Europe in Turkey since a benchmark survey by European Commission’s Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW) in 2012, found broad progress on all key indicators for entrepreneurial learning and the development of small and mediumsized enterprises.

Unemployment among young people, is officially 16.9%, compared to the EU average of 23.1%. The remaining challenge is to increase female engagement in the labour market, which currently stands at 29.6%.

“Entrepreneurship and self-employment can be a factor in greater social cohesion,” Selem Keres, an expert with 16 years’ experience at the Ministry of National Education’s DG VET, told Live&Learn, “economically developed countries have more self-confident citizens.” ¢ Text and photo: Nick Holdsworth, ICE

“Achieving EU standards of economic, social and cultural life is important for us; entry to the EU is not,” says Çetin.

A mixed picture in education Turkey acts upon key indicators in the area of human resources development set out in the Europe 2020 Strategy and the Education and Training 2020 Strategic Framework. Turkey’s strategic targets reflect European priorities, such as increasing educational attainment, the employment rate and participation in lifelong learning. Recent reforms have resulted in positive changes, but challenges remain.

Benchmark figures from 2013 show that Turkish tertiary education participation, at 19.5%, is lower than the EU28 average of 35.8% and school dropout rates at 37.5% well exceed the highest EU rates which stand at around 24%. Employment at 53.4% is close to the employment rates of the EU’s worst performers, although employment rates for recent graduates at 62% is higher than rates in the EU’s worst but still below the EU average (75%) and far off the 90% achieved by the best performing EU economies.

June 2015

Live&Learn

09

Country focus  Turkey

TURKEY: PUTTING WOMEN AND YOUNG PEOPLE AT THE HEART OF ENTERPRISE Progress on adopting the EU vision for flexible, innovative and vibrant small businesses as the backbone of economic development was made clear at a recent meeting in Ankara.

Turkey’s drive to increase economic strength and social cohesion is evident in a wide range of policies and initiatives designed to create a better trained, more autonomous and innovative workforce.

The national focus on encouraging the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurial learning was vividly captured midFebruary at an Ankara workshop organised by the European Training Foundation (ETF) and the Zagrebbased South East European Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (SEECEL).

The meeting, hosted by KOSGEB, the Turkish SME development organisation, logged progress in implementing the EU’s Small Business Act (SBA).

Participants included officials and experts from the ministries of education, industry, social security and labour, universities and the public and private sectors.

The SBA is a policy instrument to promote a European enterprise economy.

It involves the 28 EU member states, many of the accession states and members of the EU’s Eastern Partnership Armenia, Belarus, Georgia and Ukraine.

The workshop’s 45 participants demonstrated the progress Turkey is making in the field. Guided by Anthony Gribben, ETF’s project leader for enterprise and entrepreneurship, and SEECEL’s Thomas Farnell, delegates looked at developments in policy partnerships, funding, monitoring and evaluating training, entrepreneurial learning, good practice and e-learning.

Stellar performance The evidence, scores and examples of good practice will be made public next year when a benchmark regional report on the Western Balkans and Turkey is published by the European Commission’s DG GROW. 10

Live&Learn

June 2015

Tuba Çıkrıkçı, an İŞKUR expert, said more needs to be done to create cohesion between the different players.

More people found jobs in 2014 With a rising population and growing numbers entering the labour market every year there is “pressure on the country’s capacity to create more jobs and absorb available or potential work resources,” according to the 2014 Torino Process report on Turkey. Turkish education, employment and social agencies are working to implement policies to address that challenge.

Eurostat figures for 2014 show an overall decreasing unemployment rate among 15-64 year-olds, with youth unemployment rates (15-24 year-olds) at acceptable levels (16.9%, almost twice the general unemployment rate of 8.6% for the 20-64 age cohort) and a much lower level compared to the EU28 average figure of 23.4%.

Esra Atas, KOSGEB (Ankara-based entrepreneurial learning support body) and Abdullah Yildiz of the Ministry of Education

A star performer was Turkey’s VET system, which has long integrated entrepreneurial learning into curricula, school management and teacher training.

With around two million students in a system producing 300,000 graduates each year, it is estimated that up to 30% of leavers set up or attempt to start their own businesses or become selfemployed.

Although many of the new measures on small business development and lifelong entrepreneurial learning were as new to the EU as its partner countries, Anthony Gribben praised Turkey’s progress.

Another is the National Industrial Strategy that brings together the Ministry of Education, universities and the Turkish National Employment Agency İŞKUR with representatives from the Turkish Chamber of Commerce, employee and industry organisations to coordinate policy initiatives. İŞKUR has facilitated the training of more than 30,000 women on three-day courses in entrepreneurial and small business skills since 2014 in cooperation with universities, vocational schools, NGOs and the private sector. But Tuba Çıkrıkçı, an İŞKUR expert, said more needs to be done to create cohesion between the different players.

New paradigm “This is quite a new paradigm and it is still not tested anywhere,” Gribben said.

“The education system needs to be connected up to build on what is created in other parts.”

One example of joined-up thinking is KOSGEB’s partnership with YÖK, the Turkish higher education association, which seeks to formulate and propose joint policy proposals to government departments.

“This conference was a chance to understand what others in the field are doing”, Çıkrıkçı told Live&Learn, “there is no unique umbrella organisation supporting enterprise across sectors in Turkey.”

Training women The political will is there: Turkey’s 2023 Vision aims to make the country one of the world’s top ten economies. Four years ago, then prime minister and

now president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced a national “entrepreneurship roadmap”. Özden Anik Tekir, manager of the Centre for Entrepreneurship at Istanbul’s Özyeğin University, says that women and young people are at the heart of the strategy.

The private university, founded in 2008 by self-made billionaire Hüsnü Özyeğin, has a reputation for attracting some of the brightest, most innovative young minds in the country.

The centre participated in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Scheme, helping to send 400 Turkish women for special training, and it works with recognised private sector programmes such as the Steve Blank Business Model Generation.

“We are working to improve our entrepreneurial skills,” Tekir says, “we are a very young country – the average Turk is just 30 years old – and we need new employers to employ people.

Education is key to encouraging those with the entrepreneurial spirit.” ¢ Text and photos: Nick Holdsworth, ICE

June 2015

Live&Learn

11

Photo story ď‚˝ A vocational school through the lens

UZBEKISTAN In December 2014 the ETF commissioned a local photographer, Elyor Nematov, to document a day at a vocational school in Uzbekistan. Elyor visited the Domestic Service School in Vobkent, a town with a population of 18,000 in the province of Bukhara, 500 km west of the capital city Tashkent. The city of Vobkent was founded in ancient times, and is now a minor textile and food industry centre.

Students listening to their instructor.

Photos: Elyor Nematov/ETF/EUP/Images 12

Live&Learn

June 2015

A student walking in front of the portraits of Tolagan Khojamiyorov, Abdulrauf Fitrat and Saidahmad Siddiqiy, leading figures of Jadidism, an education reform movement in early 20th century Central Asia.

After their lessons, students rest in the school’s park.

Students preparing for their class.

Elyor Nematov was born in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, and currently works as a freelance photojournalist.

He also conducts documentary photography workshops, training students to produce stories relevant to Central Asia. Previously, he worked as photo editor, photographer and reporter for business and sports magazines in Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Classroom banner with an inspirational motto: the craftsman never becomes poor.

June 2015

Live&Learn

13

Entrepreneurial communities

MULTILEVEL GATHERING The Minsk business incubator was one of the entrepreneurial communities featured at the ETF conference.

The ETF conference ‘Local Skills Matter: Multi-level Governance and Entrepreneurial Communities’, Turin, 19-20 November 2014, taught valuable lessons from the seven entrepreneurial communities presented and provided policy makers and actors from all sectors with a chance to learn how partnerships can flourish within very different settings.

The magnificent seven ride again Some 90 delegates from ETF’s partner countries and representatives of EU institutions, member states and regional bodies met to revisit the seven partnerships of the ETF’s Entrepreneurial Communities project. Delegates were welcomed by ETF Director Madlen Serban, Vice-President of the Committee of the Regions, Luc van den Brande, and João Santos, Deputy Head of Unit at the Directorate General for Employment, before ETF project lead Pirita Vuorinen presented key findings of the entrepreneurial communities 14

Live&Learn

June 2015

study. “There’s no strict definition of an entrepreneurial community,” she said, “which is actually a good thing as it gives us flexibility in deciding who to work with”.

Introducing the first two case studies, Tommaso Grimaldi from the European Vocational Training Association invited participants from the Magical Village in Banja Vrujci, Serbia, and the Amal Group multi-disciplinary high school of Hadera, Israel, to the stage. In the ensuing discussion delegates probed the reasons behind the strong link with national policy makers enjoyed by a rural children’s ecoexperience centre in the former, and the

commitment made by global companies to support high school kids developing iPad apps and biomed products in the latter. Friederike Sözen from the Education Policy department of the Austrian Economic Chambers introduced the Entrepreneurial House of Ungheni, Moldova, the Minsk business incubator in Belarus, and Lebanon’s Injaz partnership.

The thread connecting all three was the importance of establishing the right kind of link with local and national authorities, given each country’s wider conditions.

Introducing the communities in Algeria and Jordan, ETF Head of Operations

Anastasia Fetsi stressed the novelty of the whole project for the ETF. Instead of facilitating in-country initiatives and programmes, the ETF visited partnerships which had originated independently, and so engaged with and learnt from groups other than its usual stakeholders. In both Algeria and Jordan this was very clearly the case – the former being El-Argoub, a farmers’ network in a remote rural region; the latter, MENA Apps, a dynamic urban business accelerator operating as a forprofit concern. Both served to deepen the ETF’s understanding of multi-actorship, as noted by ETF governance specialist Manuela Prina.

Brains on planes For the second day, Anastasia Fetsi introduced a different emphasis on exploring research frameworks, pointing out that the ETF is now engaged in analysing lessons from the entrepreneurial communities and sharing them across its policy networks. A fascinating talk by international expert Frank Neffke, currently based at Harvard University, revealed that one significant driver for regional approaches is that, as he put it, “it’s easier to move brains than to move knowledge into brains”. In other words, industries looking to get established or to grow in particular regions are more likely to bring in high-level skills in the form of migrant workers than to build those skills within the local labour market.

This still benefits local communities, he asserted, because each highly-skilled job is estimated to produce five supporting jobs that are filled locally, representing ‘role symbiosis’. It wasn’t necessarily an aspiration that delegates most wanted to promote, despite the compelling case Neffke made.

The discussion raised challenges to the analysis in light of questions about political will, and the impact of globalization trends driven by a particular world-view.

A valuable counterpoint rooted in local action was then put forward by Maria Berger-Senn of the Ministry for Culture, Youth and Sport in the German region of Baden-Württemburg. She described the educational networks that operate in the federal structure, illustrating the variable nature of each as a partnership

depending on local needs and resources.

There is funding from state and federal authorities for these networks, which are allowed some leeway in determining curricula for their schools. Berger-Senn also emphasized the multilevel aspect, noting that networking on the horizontal dimension is represented by different institutions interacting with individuals at specific life stages, whereas networking at the vertical level is seen in the links between institutions that interact with individuals throughout all life stages.

The penultimate session of the conference saw a panel discussion featuring three policy makers from countries with widely divergent circumstances who nevertheless articulated a number of important commonalities in their experience. Mohamed Yazid Gazel, Director of the Sectoral Training Centre in Energetics, Djerba in Tunisia; Oleksandr Demchyk, Chief of the Department for Education and Science in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine; and Othmane Rahmani, responsible for vocational training in Tangier, Morocco, spoke about connecting formal, non-formal and informal opportunities for learning, regional autonomy in curriculum matters, and approaches to bringing industry and education systems closer together.

Drawing on a recent experience in Tunisia set out by Mohamed Yazid Gazel, there was a useful discussion of surveys and other methodologies, both quantitative and qualitative, for providing policy makers with a picture of existing provision that is sufficiently accurate to inform credible policy decisions. ETF expert and session chair Marie Dorleans highlighted the need for sustainability in capacity building, for example in establishing intermediary bodies to help micro, small and medium enterprises interface with policy dialogue.

Othmane Rahmani explained that it took two years to stabilise a working group for SMEs in Morocco, adding that “now it’s operational it should have a say in the policy-making process”.

partnership, like a diamond that needs to be found, modelled, and polished in order to realize its true potential. “Every city, every territory, has its diamonds,” she said. “We have to dig for those diamonds, enhance their value, and let the territory – city or region – enjoy the benefits.”

As shown by the seven examples from ETF’s partner countries presented at this ground-breaking event, entrepreneurs can be people creating economic opportunity, or they can be creating cultural, social, or environmental opportunity – or indeed some combination. They may be operating within complex eco-systems that include incubator and accelerator programmes, business plan competitions, academic and vocational courses, competitive pitching sessions, mentorship networks, and a variety of investment sources from individual ‘angels’ to sovereign wealth funds. Or they may be operating mostly on their own, forming partnerships with a range of support systems depending on their needs.

The four elements that are widely identified as fundamental to entrepreneurial eco-systems are talent, networks, infrastructure, and capital. By investing in these enablers and helping citizens to realize their entrepreneurial potential ETF’s partner countries can mine the diamonds within their own territories.

The conference closed with the official launch of a second call for applications to participate in the Entrepreneurial Communities project. Details of the successful projects will be published later this year. ¢

Text: Ezri Carlebach, Communication Consultant Photo: ETF/A. Ramella

Diamonds are forever In summing up the conference Anastasia Fetsi referred back to an analogy made by Luc van den Brande, that each of these entrepreneurial communities is a special June 2015

Live&Learn

15

My vocation

A VOCATION FOR LIFESAVING MACHINES Tina Ishak is one of a small but growing band of young Lebanese women pushing the boundaries of career choices for women. where she will probably spend a fair percentage of her working life in hospitals monitoring medical equipment and in her own words “lifesaving machines”.

Her father encouraged her to visit the institute and see what it could offer. “I had heard about medical engineering once when some career consultants visited our high school” she says. Tina is interested in all things technical and particularly loves electronics; “I like to do things with my hands.”

“In recent years we are seeing more interest in vocational education in Lebanon. Also we are finally seeing female students taking on technical courses, something we rarely saw before.

Still only 37% of our students are female and they mainly go for less technical subjects,” Nidal Domat, head of the institute, explains.

Most of his students work part time in nearby workshops or in unrelated low paid jobs. The institute charges reasonable fees in comparison to private vocational schools. “Still it is not easy for most students to afford,” Ayman, a classmate of Tina, says. Tina had to pay around €275 for her enrolment. “My father paid the tuition fees, but I give private maths classes to children in my area to earn some extra money,” she says.

Dressed in urban chic and chunky boots, Christina Ishak, a 22-year-old Lebanese woman takes herself every afternoon to the Higher Technical Industrial Institute in Dekwaneh, a northern suburb of Beirut, to study how to make and maintain medical equipment.

Tina, as family and friends call her, is the middle sister in a family of three girls.

She lives 30 minutes’ walk away in the impoverished Sedr Al Bousharia area.

In the institute’s cafeteria before her electronics class, Tina sits with her classmates. “I am waiting for Eyad and 16

Live&Learn

June 2015

Ayman, the three of us are working on an artificial hand project,” Tina says. “The idea is to replace disabled hands with high tech ones that work.”

For the past three years Tina has been the only female student in her class at this public vocational education institute.

“My father inspired me – he believes in my sisters and me,” she says. “I always wanted to become a paediatrician but it is not easy nor cheap to study medicine.”

After an unsuccessful term at university, Tina decided to opt for a vocational course specialising in medical technical support

“I used to attend a girls only high school and would stay away from boys but now this has changed. I realised that boys and girls are the same and we can work well together on any subject. I am even better than many male students when it comes to the practical projects,” she smiles.

Her teachers think Tina has a bright future; “she is an achiever, dynamic and an eager learner,” says Sameer Saman, a teacher in vocational technical education since 1999.

“Sometimes the guys try to distract her but she manages to get on with the work in class. I would certainly describe her as attentive,” he adds. “Sometimes when

Tina heard about medical engineering from career consultants who visited her high school.

there is a fuss, I just make sure I relocate Tina within the classroom and then all concentration is back,” he laughs.

When asked how she sees her future, after a few moments of silence, Tina replies: “I think it would be very difficult for me to run my own business and be a boss, but I see more and more women bringing down the gender barriers and competing with men in the workplace for the best jobs. I know of a friend who managed to get a top position in the company where she works as the head of the technical team.”

Tina might not be aware of the changes she and other female students are gradually fostering in Middle Eastern society, but she is very clear about how her education choices now will help her get ahead in her working life in the future. ¢ Text: Razan Rashidi, ICE Photos: Mouna Abou Asali, ICE

In Lebanon, there is growing interest in vocational education.

June 2015

Live&Learn

17

Project update  Governance for Employability in the Mediterranean

BUILDING A QUALITY ASSURANCE CULTURE IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING Improved quality assurance in vocational education and training (VET) governance can increase VET relevance and attractiveness to young people. This is one of the messages that representatives from government institutions, employer organisations and social partners from Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries heard on recent study visits to Romania and the Netherlands.

Going Dutch Representatives of national authorities, trade unions and employers from Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Libya and Egypt went to the Netherlands in February 2015 to see for themselves how the country’s quality assurance in initial VET works. Participants visited institutions that shape and carry out Dutch quality assurance.

promoting, assuring and assessing quality and relevance in VET. Qualifications are designed, updated and validated by the tripartite bodies and approved by the Ministry of Education in order to ensure quality and relevance. An independent inspectorate is responsible for ensuring the quality of public and private accredited training providers and of the process of qualification development.

The Netherlands was chosen for its highly decentralised VET system and strong involvement of social partners in

Besides, there is a strong cooperation between VET colleges to promote their quality assurance system, and the ministry

supports various initiatives to promote the quality and relevance of training provision.

“The decentralisation of the Dutch VET system took at least 10 years from 1996”, said Stan Plijnaar, manager at the department for credential evaluation at the SBB, a body that brings together vocational training providers and labour market partners. “Only now do we feel the advantages, giving different parties responsibilities and ensuring the same quality of education in all regions of the Netherlands.”

In the Netherlands there is strong cooperation between VET colleges.

18

Live&Learn

June 2015

Vocational education and providers are highly independent in the design and implementation of their quality assurance system guaranteeing regular assessment of education, measures and instruments to safeguard the quality of teaching staff.

The quality of VET providers is ensured through the proportional supervision of the Inspectorate of Education, the mutual cooperation through the VET council and the JOB monitor, a bi-annual survey in which student satisfaction about vocational education is assessed.

In addition to the employer and teacher reviews organised by the VET colleges themselves, a national monitor for employer and teacher satisfaction is now being developed.

The participants visited the training company Royal Dahlman, the VET College ROC Mondriaan, and the RDM Campus to learn more about the Dutch dual system.

This flexible approach combines the work-based pathway (on average 20% at school, 80% at work) with the schoolbased pathway (on average 20% at work and 80% at school) that VET providers offer to students, and involves high interaction between training companies and colleges.

In each location, students and trainers were on hand to talk about their visions and career interests and aspirations.

Romanian lessons In October 2014, participants from Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia took part in a study visit to Bucharest.

“We identified Romania as the destination for the study visit because it has developed a quality assurance approach, legal framework and system that is based on the cooperation of different institutional actors and involves stakeholders at many levels,” said Mounir Baati, qualifications systems specialist at the ETF and member of the Governance for Employability in the Mediterranean (GEMM) project team.

The visit included meetings with institutions representing different stakeholders in the national quality

There is strong involvement of social partners in assuring quality and relevance in VET in the Netherlands.

assurance framework. These included the Ministry of Education, the National Centre for the Development of VET, the Agency for Quality Assurance in Preuniversity Education and the National Group for Quality Assurance. Participants also visited the Colegiul Tehnic “Airinei” Bucuresti and the Collège technique de l’énergie to hear first-hand about the practical implementation of quality assurance processes. Throughout, a special focus was given to the importance of partnerships in developing and implementing quality assurance systems.

Also of interest is the use of pilot schools, of which the Colegiul was one. Dana Stroie, from Romania’s National Group for Quality Assurance, explained: “When we developed the system, we did it step by step, through pilots. First we tried in 22 schools, and then in 122 schools. All the time, we revised the system. As we developed processes, we made sure that we involved teachers, as well as quality assurance experts. If we had only used experts, we might have had the best system possible, but one that would be too difficult to implement.”

quality assurance culture overnight. It can only be built when there is commitment, and the right partners, involved.

The study visits are part of the GEMM project, a project funded by the European Union and implemented by the ETF. The overall aim of GEMM is to improve the employability of young people and women in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean. Within the project, quality assurance has been identified as a priority area for reform. The study visits are used to build the capacity of the various stakeholders involved in VET governance, providing the opportunity to investigate different approaches, systems and tools for quality assurance and their impact on employment and employability.

They also encourage cooperation and dialogue among policy makers and social partners, who are vital for effective VET governance. ¢ Text: Marcin Monko, ETF Photos: ETF

The visits underlined one key lesson for all participants: it is impossible to create a June 2015

Live&Learn

19

Project updates

DEVELOPING VOCATIONAL TEACHERS Snezana Markovic, State Secretary at the Serbian Ministry of Education launches the ETF project in Belgrade in March 2015.

The ETF has recently launched a new project to support the continuing professional development of vocational teachers and trainers in the countries of South Eastern Europe, Turkey and Israel. The launch took place at an event in Belgrade in March that brought together experts and policy makers from across the region.

Snezana Markovic, state secretary in the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, who opened the meeting, said the project would provide opportunities to exchange experience and to work with policy makers, experts and teachers from other countries. “Our country is developing its economy and labour market, and we need new profiles of teachers,” she said. For this to happen, “teachers must develop, they must learn new pedagogies and new technologies.”

Continuing professional development of teachers and trainers has been identified as a priority in national policy documents and in the Torino Process and Bruges reports. EU policy statements also

20

Live&Learn

June 2015

emphasise it as a tool for reforming education and training. Moreover, a considerable body of research points to the crucial importance of maintaining and developing the skills and knowledge of teachers and trainers, especially in vocational education.

The needs of teachers and trainers According to the ETF, vocational teachers and trainers often lack pedagogical skills and up-to-date knowledge or experience of industrial or commercial practice.

Their capability to meet new demands for example, working with employers, applying new technologies, meeting new expectations of students and school managers, must be improved.

At the same time teachers’ needs are not met with appropriate professional development opportunities.

The components of the ETF project Over the next three years, the ETF will map the demand and provision of continuing professional development by reviewing policy documents, recent initiatives as well as interviewing key people who have a stake in the field.

Based on the findings, the ETF will provide opportunities for policy makers to review and develop policies.

Finally, the ETF will support demonstration projects that will test out new policies on a small scale and provide feedback. ¢

HOW TO SUPPORT MIGRANTS – THE ETF POOLS GLOBAL EXPERIENCE In 2014, the ETF completed an inventory of migrant support measures in the area of employment and skills (MISMES). This catalogue of some 300 examples of policy measures, accompanied by five in-depth studies of countries neighbouring the EU, is the ETF’s latest contribution to the policy dialogue on migration, skills and employment.

Background and main outputs

Policy recommendations

In past years the ETF has conducted studies on migration and skills and this earlier research provided, among other things, evidence on how migrants’ skills are underutilised abroad and upon return. It also showed the need for policy measures to support migrants to improve jobs and skills matching for the benefit of the receiving countries, countries of origin and the migrants themselves.

Based on these findings and conclusions the ETF has made the following tentative policy recommendations.

The result of the MISMES project is a worldwide inventory of policy measures, a typology of these measures in 13 models and various migration phases (pre, during and post), implemented in migrantsending countries. The five in-depth studies were conducted in countries with mobility partnerships with the EU: Armenia, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Morocco, and Tunisia.

The project was carried out by a team of researchers at the Migration Policy Centre at the European University Institute and experts at the ETF. To collect information, authorities in the countries of origin as well as relevant international organisations, such as the International Labour Organisation and International Organisation for Migration, were contacted.

For the purposes of the project, migrant support measures from an employment and skills perspective were defined as specific policy interventions, aimed at improving the labour market integration of migrant workers or improving their skills matching. Such a policy intervention should mobilise specific budget resources to achieve labour market integration or skills utilisation, regardless of who funds or implements. This excludes general policy measures and regulations such as bilateral labour agreements, international conventions on the recognition of qualifications and social security agreements.

Migration policies, sustainability and institutional capacity building Migrant support measures will only create win-win situations if they are locally owned. Interventions should to a greater extent aim at supporting institutional capacity building in the countries of origin to create sustainability and ownership. All phases of migration should be tackled for a successful labour market reintegration.

Enhancing mobility To boost mobility of skills and qualifications, countries need to enhance the quality and transparency

of their education and qualification systems. Migration policies should be aligned with related policies in education and the labour market and involve national employment and vocational education and training bodies.

Impact assessment In order to monitor and assess the impact and efficiency of migrant support measures, support for the collection of data needs to be set up and built into projects. These data need to be made available for impact assessment. To measure the impact for beneficiaries over the long term, systems for tracer studies need to be developed. ¢ Text: Marcin Monko, ETF Photo: ETF

Main findings and conclusions Migrant support measures are still a minor instrument in the toolbox of a policy maker who manages migration.

Skills-related measures, such as validation and skills development, are still underused.

The measures implemented in a given country often overlap and duplicate, and there seems to be a lack of coordination across measures or their alignment with national migration policies.

Migrant support measures normally benefit a small number of potential, current or former migrants.

The involvement of employers in destination countries seems to be

a factor for success and the more integrated migrant support measures are within a country’s general institutions and programmes, the more effective they seem to be.

The lack of relevant information makes it impossible to assess the cost efficiency of migrant support measures or to evaluate their impact.

That would only be possible with further research and tracer studies.

The general challenge is sustainability of migrant support measures and local ownership. As most of these are project-based, funded and implemented by international donor organisations, the problem lies in the transfer of practices and learning between projects or interventions.

June 2015

Live&Learn

21

Off the press and on the web

NEW PUBLICATIONS PUTTING SKILLS ON THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENDA: A GOVERNANCE ISSUE Human capital development is a key asset for regional and local socioeconomic development. Many countries now harness regional and local efforts towards developing skills, relying on the involvement of actors at a local level. This policy briefing examines how approaches

to governance can be developed to foster regional and local skills development, drawing on the ETF’s experience in supporting partner countries at a national and, more recently, regional level. http://ow.ly/Pn5t7

LEARN MORE... ON THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EUROPEAN TRAINING FOUNDATION In 2014, the ETF marked 20 years of helping countries develop through learning. A commemorative book, ‘Learn More…’ was published, telling the story of the ETF and its achievements against the

backdrop of the political and social history of the past 20 years. http://ow.ly/MH2Ky

DIGITAL UPDATE KEEPING YOUNG PEOPLE IN EDUCATION, TRAINING, OR EMPLOYMENT Improving the situation of young people at risk will come from the combined actions of many stakeholders, not just governments. This was one of the conclusions from an ETF workshop on keeping young people in education,

training or employment, held in Turin in March. http://ow.ly/MHevl

PUSHING THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AGENDA IN THE SOUTHERN MEDITERRANEAN An ETF review of progress in promoting entrepreneurial learning and skills for small enterprises in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean underlines both challenges and opportunities for the

22

Live&Learn

June 2015

countries in accommodating the human capital dimensions of the Small Business Act for Europe. http://ow.ly/MHg3e

Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union

June 2015

Live&Learn

23

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

TA-AF-14-033-EN-N

HOW TO CONTACT US