(Ron Hansen (Auth.), Dr. Rupert Maclean, David Wil PDF

International Handbook of Education
for the Changing World of Work

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD: UNESCO-UNEVOC
Handbooks and Book series
Editor-in-Chief:
Dr Rupert Maclean, UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and
Training, Bonn, Germany
Associate Editors:
Professor Felix Rauner, TVET Research Group, University of Bremen, Germany
Professor Karen Evans, Institute of Education, University of London, United Kingdom
Editorial Advisory Board:

Dr David Atchoarena, UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning, Paris, France
Dr András Benedek, Ministry of Employment and Labour, Budapest, Hungary
Dr Paul Benteler, Stahlwerke Bremen, Germany
Ms Diane Booker, TAFESA, Adelaide, Australia
Mr John Budu-Smith, formerly Ministry of Education, Accra, Ghana
Professor Michel Carton, NORRAG c/o Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva,
Switzerland
Dr Chris Chinien, Workforce Development Consulting, Montreal, Canada
Dr Claudio De Moura Castro, Faculade Pitágoras, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Dr Wendy Duncan, Asian Development Bank, Manila, Philippines
Dr Michael Frearson, SQW Consulting, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Dr Lavinia Gasperini, Natural Resources Management and Environment Department, Food and Agriculture
Organization, Rome, Italy
Dr Philipp Grollmann, Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BiBB), Bonn, Germany
Dr Peter Grootings, European Training Foundation, Turin, Italy
Professor W. Norton Grubb, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley, United States of
America
Dr Dennis R. Herschbach, Faculty of Education Policy and Leadership, University of Maryland, College Park,
United States of America
Dr Oriol Homs, Centre for European Investigation and Research in the Mediterranean Region, Barcelona, Spain
Professor Phillip Hughes, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Professor Moo-Sub Kang, Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Dr Bonaventure W. Kerre, School of Education, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya
Dr Günter Klein, German Aerospace Centre, Bonn, Germany
Dr Wilfried Kruse, Sozialforschungsstelle Dortmund, Dortmund Technical University, Germany
Professor Jon Lauglo, Department of Educational Research, Faculty of Education, University of Oslo, Norway
Dr Alexander Leibovich, Institute for Vocational Education and Training Development, Moscow, Russian Federation
Professor Robert Lerman, Urban Institute, Washington, United States of America
Mr Joshua Mallet, Commonwealth of Learning, Vancouver, Canada
Ms Naing Yee Mar, UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training,
Bonn, Germany
Professor Munther Wassef Masri, National Centre for Human Resources Development, Amman, Jordan
Dr Phillip McKenzie, Australian Council for Educational Research, Melbourne, Australia
Dr Theo Raubsaet, Centre for Work, Training and Social Policy, Nijmegen, Netherlands
Mr Trevor Riordan, International Labour Organization, Bangkok, Thailand
Professor Barry Sheehan, Melbourne University, Australia
Dr Madhu Singh, UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, Hamburg, Germany
Dr Manfred Tessaring, European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, Thessaloniki, Greece
Dr Jandhyala Tilak, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi, India
Dr Pedro Daniel Weinberg, formerly Inter-American Centre for Knowledge Development in Vocational Training
(ILO/CINTERFOR), Montevideo, Uruguay
Professor Adrian Ziderman, Bar-llan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
UNESCO-UNEVOC Head of Publications:

Alix Wurdak
Rupert Maclean · David Wilson
Editors
Chris Chinien
Associate Editor
International Handbook
of Education for the
Changing World of Work
Bridging Academic and Vocational Learning
123
Editors
Dr Rupert Maclean Professor David Wilson
UNESCO-UNEVOC University of Toronto
International Centre for Education Canada
Hermann-Ehlers-Str. 10
53113 Bonn
Germany
r.maclean@unevoc.unesco.org
Associate Editor
Dr Chris Chinien
Workforce Development Consulting
Montreal
Canada
ISBN: 978-1-4020-5280-4 e-ISBN: 978-1-4020-5281-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008930131
c Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009

No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording
or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception
of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered
and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.
Printed on acid-free paper

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Dedication to David N. Wilson
This International Handbook of Education for the Changing World of Work is

dedicated to Professor David N. Wilson. David Wilson contributed significantly to
the development of this handbook, from the planning stages and the process of iden-
tifying contributors, through to the assembly of completed chapters into a prototype.
It is very unfortunate that David did not live long enough to see the final product of
his hard and cherished labour. However, he will be remembered for his leadership
role and the important intellectual guidance he provided to this project.
David Wilson was an outstanding teacher and a world-class scholar in the field of
development education. He has trained and mentored many graduate students who
are playing key leadership roles in development education throughout the world,
be they policy-makers, researchers or practitioners. As a researcher, David has con-
tributed substantially to furthering our understanding of the field of comparative
education and of development education, particularly as it relates to education for
the world of work. His prolific scholarly contribution is a legacy left behind as a tes-
timony of his commitment and dedication to his profession and to the advancement
of knowledge and of humanity. David was firmly committed throughout his life to
international development and, as such, was very keen to use education as leverage
to improve human conditions with regard to poverty alleviation, improved equity
and justice, especially in developing countries.
Those who have worked with David over the years will unanimously agree that
he was not only a good collaborator, but also a good friend. David will be missed a
great deal, but his memory and sphere of influence will live on through his students
and through the legacy of his extensive range of scholarly works.
v
Preface
The idea of developing and publishing an ‘International Handbook of Education

for the Changing World of Work: Bridging Academic and Vocational Learning’
goes back to discussions between myself and David Wilson as early as 2001.1 We
commenced work immediately; nevertheless, it has taken some seven years to bring
the Handbook to full fruition.
Readers will not be surprised by the time it has taken to complete this project,
since this has been a mammoth, complex undertaking, involving some 218 authors,
197 chapters and a manuscript of 1.2 million words, which is now published in
six volumes. This Handbook is the first of its kind, bringing together leading edu-
cational researchers, policy-makers and practitioners from all parts of the world;
and from developed and developing countries. At every stage the aim has been to
develop chapters of the highest quality. Thus, the matter of quality assurance has
been at the forefront of our minds throughout the project. I hope that all who read
this Handbook will agree that the considerable time and effort involved has been
more than worth the trouble.
In 1991, the World Bank published a policy paper written by John Middleton,
Adrian Ziderman and Arvil Van Adams. This was widely interpreted (and also
widely misinterpreted) to say that school-based technical education was not a sound
investment. The consequences wrought by this policy paper had a strong impact
on TVET, earning the authors a reputation going well beyond their intentions. In a
gesture to redress this involuntary milestone, we invited one of these authors. Arvil
Van Adams, to write a prologue to this International Handbook on a subject of his
own choosing. He decided to discuss the non-governmental delivery of TVET in
Sub-Saharan Africa.
On behalf of the editors, I wish to acknowledge the contributions of the many
individuals who have worked so hard through all the different stages to bring this
Handbook to successful completion. Thanks are conveyed to all the authors for their
commitment to this project and for their well-conceived, scholarly contributions.
Recognition is also due to the section editors for helping to co-ordinate the work of
the authors and, most importantly, for their efforts to ensure content validity and the
high quality of chapters.
Secretarial and editorial work by staff in the UNESCO–UNEVOC International
Centre for Technical and Vocational Education, in Bonn, Germany, under the able
vii
viii Preface
leadership of the Head of Publications, Ms Natalia Matveeva, with assistance from

Joachim Lapp, was also an essential contribution to the successful completion of
this Handbook. Ms Matveeva’s work was subsequently taken over and brought to a
successful conclusion by Ms Alix Wurdak.
Special thanks are due to Associate Editor Professor Chris Chinien, who agreed
at short notice to become a joint editor of the Handbook, and so enabled its suc-
cessful completion after the untimely death of General Co-editor, David Wilson, in
October 2006. In addition to being a Section Editor and the author of several chap-
ters in the handbook, Chris made a substantial contribution to finalizing the content
and structure of the whole Handbook, especially with regard to quality assurance.
Special thanks also to John Fox for desk editing the entire manuscript so profes-
sionally, thoroughly and in a timely way.
Finally, we would like to thank Harmen van Paradijs and Marianna Pascale of
the publishers Springer for the considerable care with which they have assisted and
guided this project throughout the lengthy period of gestation.
UNESCO-UNEVOC, Bonn Rupert Maclean

Germany
Note
1. This Handbook is part of the larger ‘UNESCO-UNEVOC International Library of Technical
and Vocational Education and Training’, which consists of two Handbooks, a book series and
various other publications. Full details are provided on the following pages.
UNESCO-UNEVOC International Library
of Technical and Vocational Education
and Training
International Library of Technical and Vocational Education and Training
Work is a major feature in most people’s lives. Not only does it provide them with
the means to meet basic needs, such as food, clothing and shelter, but also the type of
work undertaken by individuals and groups has a major impact on their self-identity,
social status and standard of living. Technical and vocational education and training
(TVET) is concerned with the acquisition of knowledge and skills for the world of
work to increase opportunities for productive work, sustainable livelihoods, personal
empowerment and socio-economic development.
The UNEVOC International Library of Technical and Vocational Education and
Training is a series of publications that provide comprehensive information about
many cutting-edge aspects of TVET. The Library showcases best practices and in-
novative approaches to skills development for employability and seeks to create an
effective bridge between research, policy and practice. It is an on-going project and
publications prepared as part of the Library complement each other. Elements of the
Library are:
r UNESCO-UNEVOC International Handbook of Education for the Changing
World of Work: Bridging Academic and Vocational Learning;
r International Handbook of Technical and Vocational Education and Training Re-
search;
r UNESCO-UNEVOC Book Series ‘Technical and Vocational Education and
Training: Issues, Concerns and Prospects’;
r UNESCO-UNEVOC Discussion Papers;
r UNESCO-UNEVOC Annotated Bibliographies of Technical and Vocational Edu-
cation and Training;
r UNESCO-UNEVOC Case Studies of Technical and Vocational Education and
Training in Selected Countries.
Most of these publications are published by Springer Science and Business Media,
and some others by UNESCO-UNEVOC itself. The audience for the publications
in the Library includes policy-makers, practitioners, administrators, planners, re-
searchers, teachers, teacher educators and students, as well as colleagues in other
fields interested in learning about education for the world of work and TVET in
developed and developing countries, countries in transition and countries in post-
conflict situations.
ix
x International Library of Technical and Vocational Education and Training
UNESCO-UNEVOC International Handbook of Education

for the Changing World of Work: Bridging Academic
and Vocational Learning
General Editors: Rupert Maclean and David N. Wilson
Associate Editor: Chris Chinien
Springer — (2009)
English
The UNESCO-UNEVOC International Handbook of Education for the Changing
World of Work is the first reference tool of its kind. It provides a comprehensive
coverage of cutting-edge developments in research, policy and practice in TVET
within a single source and aims to assist those involved in TVET at any level in
making informed decisions and to further advance and improve the field.
The six volumes and nearly 200 chapters of the Handbook cover such topics
as: TVET policy and reform; financing TVET systems; TVET teacher education;
assessment in TVET; TVET research and curriculum development; participation
in formal TVET programmes; regional TVET profiles; information and communi-
cation technologies in TVET; TVET for youth and in ageing societies; TVET in
informal economies and in countries in post-conflict situations.
Some 220 TVET experts explore the prospects and challenges in each of these
areas from diverse perspectives. The authors are from developing and developed
countries, UN agencies, universities, national and international research centres,
leading training institutions, national and international statistical offices and min-
istries of education.
Order the International Handbook of Education for the Changing World of Work:
Bridging Academic and Vocational Learning from: http://www.springer.com/
education
UNESCO-UNEVOC Book Series ‘Technical and Vocational

Education and Training: Issues, Concerns and Prospects’
Series Editor: Rupert Maclean
Publisher: Springer
English
While the International Handbook of Education for the Changing World of Work
provides a survey of the field, the Book Series explores selected aspects of TVET
in depth and focuses on topics that require a more detailed analysis. The series
closely follows new developments and innovations in TVET and showcases these.
It presents best and innovative practices, explores controversial issues and uses case
studies as examples.
Topics covered in the Book Series include: the vocationalization of secondary
education; international perspectives on teachers and learners in TVET; TVET for
sustainable development; TVET in the informal sector; the transformation of TVET
International Library of Technical and Vocational Education and Training xi
in transition economies; how changing work situations form personal identities;

understanding learning for and throughout working life; TVET as a factor of life-
long learning; vocational content in mass higher education; self-directed learning in
TVET; modern apprenticeships and qualifications research.
Titles published to date (as of February 2009) are:
r Vocationalisation of Secondary Education Revisited, by Jon Lauglo and Rupert
Maclean (eds.), 2005.
r Meeting Basic Learning Needs in the Informal Sector: Integrating Education
and Training for Decent Work, Empowerment and Citizenship, by Madhu Singh
(ed.), 2005.
r Training for Work in the Informal Micro-enterprise Sector: Fresh Evidence from
Sub-Sahara Africa, by Hans Christian Haan, 2006.
r The Transformation of Vocational Education and Training (VET) in the Baltic
States: Survey of Reforms and Developments, by Frank Bünning, 2006.
r Work, Subjectivity and Learning: Understanding Learning through Working
Life, by Stephen Billett, Tara Fenwick and Margaret Somerville (eds.), 2006
r Identities at Work, by Alan Brown, Simone Kirpal and Felix Rauner (eds.), 2007.
r International Perspectives on Teachers and Trainers in Technical and Vocational
Education, by Philipp Grollmann and Felix Rauner (eds.), 2007.
r Work, Learning and Sustainable Development, by John Fien, Rupert Maclean
and Man-Gon Park (eds.), 2009.
r Rethinking Work and Learning: Adult and Vocational Education for Social Sus-
tainability, by Peter Willis, Stephen McKenzie und Roger Harris (eds.), 2009.
r Technology and Vocational Education for Sustainable Development: Empower-
ing Individuals for the Future, by Margarita Pavlova, 2009.
Order publications in the UNEVOC Book Series ‘Technical and Vocational Educa-
tion and Training: Issues, Concerns and Prospects’ from: http://www.springer.com/
series/6969
Handbook of Technical and Vocational Education and Training

Research
Editors: Felix Rauner and Rupert Maclean

Springer — (2008)
English
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) research has become a
recognized and well-defined area of interdisciplinary research. This is the first hand-
book of its kind that specifically concentrates on research and research methods in
TVET.
The book’s sections focus on particular aspects of the field, starting with a pre-
sentation of the genesis of TVET research. They further feature research in relation
to policy, planning and practice. Various areas of TVET research are covered, in-
cluding on the vocational disciplines and on TVET systems. Case studies illustrate
xii International Library of Technical and Vocational Education and Training
different approaches to TVET research, and the final section of the book presents
research methods, including interview and observation methods, as well as of ex-
perimentation and development.
This handbook provides a comprehensive coverage of TVET research in an in-
ternational context, and, with special focus on research and research methods, it is
a cutting-edge resource and reference.
Order the Handbook of Technical and Vocational Education and Training Research
from: http://www.springer.com/education
UNESCO-UNEVOC Annotated Bibliographies of Technical

and Vocational Education and Training
Editor: Natalia Matveeva

Published by UNESCO-UNEVOC
English
The UNESCO-UNEVOC Annotated Bibliographies of Technical and Vocational
Education and Training are a series of literature reviews on key issues in TVET
that provide information about the latest developments, current innovations and best
practices. The Bibliographies reflect the range of currently available literature, such
as articles, books, government reports, documents of UN agencies and donor com-
munities, research theses and other sources available on the Internet. They provide
bibliographical aid to policy makers, researchers and practitioners in TVET.
Titles published to date in print and electronic format:
r TVET for Sustainable Development, 2004.
r Women and TVET, 2004.
r Youth Unemployment: Meeting the Needs of Youth, 2004.
r Exploitative Work: Child Labour, 2004.
r Occupational Health and Safety, 2004.
Access or order the UNEVOC Annotated Bibliographies of Technical and Voca-

tional Education and Training free of charge from: http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/
publications
UNESCO-UNEVOC Discussion Papers
Editors: Rupert Maclean and Natalia Matveeva

English (some titles are available in other languages)
The Discussion Papers facilitate the dissemination of crucial research and inno-
vative ideas in technical and vocational education and training (TVET). They are
shorter documents that aim to stimulate debate about TVET issues and promote
the field. The topics covered in the Discussion Papers range from orienting TVET
International Library of Technical and Vocational Education and Training xiii
for sustainable development to establishing national qualifications systems and

analysing statistical data on access to formal TVET worldwide.
Most of these Discussion Papers are published by UNESCO-UNEVOC in col-
laboration with partner institutions. Titles published to date in print and/or electronic
format include:
r Orienting TVET for Sustainable Development, 2006.
r The Development of a National System of Vocational Qualifications (in co-
operation with the Scottish Qualifications Authority), 2006.
r The 6Es Plus Education Makes Seven: Why Is Education Central to the Youth
Employment Summit (YES) Campaign?, 2006.
r Research for TVET Policy Development, by Jon Lauglo (in co-operation with
InWEnt — Capacity Building International), 2006.
r The Bologna Declaration and Emerging Models of TVET Teacher Training in
Germany, by Frank Bünning and Alison Shilela (in co-operation with InWEnt —
Capacity Building International), 2006.
r Participation in Formal TVET Programmes Worldwide: An Initial Statistical
Study (in co-operation with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics), 2006.
r Approaches to Action Learning in Technical and Vocational Education and
Training, by Frank Bünning (in co-operation with InWEnt — Capacity Building
International), 2007.
r Education for Livelihoods and Civic Participation in Post-conflict Countries:
Conceptualizing a Holistic Approach to TVET Planning and Programming in
Sub-Saharan Africa, 2007.
r Why Do German Companies Invest in Apprenticeships? by Klaus Schaack, 2008.
r The Changing Status of Vocational Higher Education in Contemporary Japan
and South Korea, by Roger Goodman, Sachi Hatakenaka and Terri Kim, 2009.
r Why Is Skills Development for Work/Employability Essential if EFA and the
Dakar Framework for Action Are to Be Achieved? (in press).
Access or order UNEVOC Discussion Papers free of charge from: http://www.unevoc.
unesco.org/publications
UNESCO-UNEVOC Case Studies of TVET in Selected Countries
Editor: Efison Munjanganja

English
The Case Studies of TVET in Selected Countries provide in-depth information on
issues of specific importance in the TVET systems of selected countries and regions.
An initial collection of case studies from Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia
is in preparation.
r Revitalizing a Technical Training Institute in Kenya. A Case Study of Kaiboi
Technical Training Institute, Eldoret, Kenya, by John W. Simiyu, 2009.
xiv International Library of Technical and Vocational Education and Training
Access or order UNEVOC Case Studies free of charge from: http://www.unevoc.

unesco.org/publications
Other UNESCO-UNEVOC Publications
In addition to the publications that form the UNESCO-UNEVOC International

Library of Technical and Vocational Education and Training, UNESCO-
UNEVOC also publishes stand-alone publications both on its own behalf and jointly
with other organizations. These include newsletter, books, reports and brochures on
key TVET issues.
Newsletter (Bulletin/Forum)
Editors: Maja Zarini and Natalia Matveeva

The UNESCO-UNEVOC Bulletin is the newsletter of the UNESCO-UNEVOC
International Centre. It informs TVET experts about the activities of UNESCO-
UNEVOC, UNEVOC Network members and other agencies engaged in TVET. It is
the only international newsletter that brings together the major international agen-
cies involved in TVET in order to report on their activities.
The Bulletin contains a supplement called UNEVOC Forum. The Forum is dis-
tributed with the Bulletin, but is also available separately and on the web. Re-
searchers, policy-makers and practitioners from around the world are invited to con-
tribute their views in the form of a long article on a key issue, concern or proposal
regarding TVET. Both the Bulletin and Forum are available in print as well as in
digital format and are distributed to about 2,600 individual/institutional recipients.
The UNESCO-UNEVOC Bulletin and the UNEVOC Forum are published sev-
eral times each year. Both are published in Arabic, Chinese, English, French,
Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
Access or order the Bulletin and Forum free of charge from: http://www.unevoc.
unesco.org/bulletin
Learning To Do: Values for Learning and Working

Together in a Globalized World
UNESCO-APNIEVE Sourcebook No. 3 for Trainers, Teachers and Students
in the Area of Technical and Vocational Education and Training
(UNESCO-UNEVOC and UNESCO-APNIEVE)
Editors: Lourdes R. Quisumbing and Joy de Leo
Chinese, English
This book examines values education in the workplace. It is comprised of mod-
ules related to core values that are crucial for personal development. Integrated into
TVET, these values can prepare workers and citizens with the knowledge, values,
International Library of Technical and Vocational Education and Training xv
attitudes, behaviours and skills they need to be able to participate fully in their econ-
omy and work—effectively and responsibly in a globalized world.
This Sourcebook is conceived as a teacher’s manual. It follows the steps of a
holistic teaching/learning cycle and contains lesson plans that can be adapted by
TVET educators to be integrated into their own training packages, lessons and re-
source materials.
Shortly after the English version of the Sourcebook appeared in 2005, it was
translated and published in Chinese.
Access or order the Sourcebook free of charge at: http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/

publications
Agencies for International Cooperation in Technical

and Vocational Education and Training: A Guide
to Sources of Information
English
This Donor Agencies Guide has been conceived for key personnel engaged in
the development of projects and programmes. The guide provides an overview of
sources of Official Development Assistance by the twenty-two Member States of
the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD). Its focus is on technical and vocational
education and training. The Guide includes information on:
r Current trends in international co-operation policies;
r Potential donors and their policies;
r Donors’ requirements concerning project definition, project and budget manage-
ment, assessment and evaluation techniques, and reporting procedures.
Access or order one of the most frequently requested titles free of charge from:
http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/publications
Motivating for Skills Development: A Campaign Package
English, French, Portuguese and Creole (DVD with sound track)

English (booklets with texts, illustrations and transcript of sound tracks)
The aim of the ‘Skills Development Package for Learning and Working’ developed
by UNESCO-UNEVOC is to help facilitate the organization and implementation
of awareness and motivation campaigns for marginalized groups in least-developed
countries.
The idea behind the Package is to offer a platform and produce an environment
that would motivate people living in adverse economic conditions to enrol in TVET
courses and take up self-employment activities in order to improve their economic
situation.
xvi International Library of Technical and Vocational Education and Training
The backbone of the Skills Development Package for Learning and Working is
a set of DVDs. These are complemented by a series of documents that support the
material that can be viewed on the DVDs. The Package is in itself not a tool for skills
development, but rather an ‘eye opener’ and ‘discussion starter’. It is anticipated
that targeted groups will be encouraged to engage in tasks similar to those shown in
the DVDs.
Order the Package free of charge from: http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/publications
TVET Teacher Education on the Threshold

of Internationalisation
(UNESCO-UNEVOC and InWEnt)

Editors: Frank Bünning and Zhi-Qun Zhao
English
This book has been written as an outcome of the conference ‘Development and
Implementation of a Master Degree Standard for Teacher and Trainer Education in
TVET in East and South-East Asia’, which took place at the University of Tianjin,
China, in December 2005.
The conference represents an outcome of the close co-operation between
InWEnt – Capacity Building International of Germany, the Ministry of Education
(MoE), Beijing, China and UNESCO-UNEVOC, and it set a precedent for the fur-
ther development of master degree programmes in TVET.
This conference summary will be of service to both researchers and policy-
makers involved in teacher and trainer education in TVET in East and South-East
Asia, as well as for the broader context of joint initiatives in the area concerned.
Access or order free of charge from: http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/ publications
Special Issue of PROSPECTS, Quarterly Review

of Comparative Education
(UNESCO-UNEVOC and UNESCO-IBE)

Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish
Rupert Maclean, Director of the UNEVOC Centre, was Guest Editor of the Septem-
ber 2005 issue of the IBE journal PROSPECTS. This issue focuses on the topic of
‘Orientating Technical and Vocational Education for Sustainable Development’ and
contains eleven contributions dealing with its various aspects of this theme.
Order the Prospects from: http://www.springer.com/education
Vocationalisation of Secondary Education: The Come-Back?
Article, published in Education Today newsletter, UNESCO

International Library of Technical and Vocational Education and Training xvii
In 2005, UNESCO-UNEVOC made contributions to a major article (4 page-spread)

in the issue of Education Today, the newsletter of UNESCO’s Education Sector, on
‘vocationalisation of secondary education’.
Access or order a reprint of the article free of charge from: http://www.unevoc.unesco.

org/publications
Meeting Reports
UNESCO-UNEVOC publishes final reports of all the meetings it organizes on its

own behalf or in collaboration with other partner organizations. Copies of the reports
are usually sent to all meeting participants and to specifically interested parties.
Access or order the UNEVOC meeting reports free of charge from: http://www.
unevoc. unesco.org/ publications
Information on UNESCO-UNEVOC
To inform its public about the main areas of work of UNESCO-UNEVOC and of
activities undertaken during each year/biennium, UNESCO-UNEVOC regularly up-
dates and publishes the following materials:
r Mission statement
r UNEVOC in Brief (brochure)
r Flyers on areas of work
r Annual/biennial reports
Access or order these materials free of charge from: http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/
publications
For more information about the UNESCO-UNEVOC Publications Programme please

consult our website at http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/publications or send your
request to:
UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education

and Training
UN Campus
53113 Bonn
Germany
Tel.: +49 228 8150 100
Fax: +49 228 8150 199
info@unevoc.unesco.org
<www.unevoc.unesco.org>
Contents
List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxix
List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xlvii
Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lv
Foreword: TVET for the Sustainability of Human Kind . . . . . . . . . . . . . lxix
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lxxiii
Rupert Maclean and David N. Wilson
Prologue: Skills Development in the Informal Sector

of Sub-Saharan Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cxiii
Arvil V. Adams
VOLUME 1
Part I Overview
1 The Pedagogical Roots of Technical Learning and Thinking . . . . 5

Ron Hansen
2 A Conceptual Framework for Technical and Vocational

Education and Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Jay W. Rojewski
3 Towards Achieving TVET for All: The Role of the UNESCO-

UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational
Astrid Hollander and Naing Yee Mar
4 TVET Glossary: Some Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Jeanne MacKenzie and Rose-Anne Polvere
xix
xx Contents
Part II The Changing Context of Work and Education
Section 1 Changing Workplace Requirements: Implication for Education

Margarita Pavlova and L. Efison Munjanganja
I.1 Overview: Changing Economic Environment and Workplace

Requirements: Implications for Re-Engineering TVET
for Prosperity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
France Boutin, Chris Chinien, Lars Moratis and Peter van Baalen
I.2 The Right to a New Utopia: Adult Learning and the Changing
World of Work in an Era of Global Capitalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Budd L. Hall
I.3 Decent Work for All: From ILO Initiative to a Global Goal . . . . 111
Peter Poschen
I.4 Redefining Gender Roles in the Workforce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Karen F. Zuga
I.5 Anticipation of Skill Requirements: European Activities and

Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Manfred Tessaring
I.6 Redefining the Status of Occupations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Walter R. Heinz
I.7 Changing Work, Work Practice: Consequences for Vocational

Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Stephen Billett
I.8 Traditional and Transitional TVET Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Poonam Agrawal
I.9 Partnering to Meet the Needs of a Changing Workplace . . . . . . . 203

LuAnn Hiniker and Robert A. Putnam
I.10 Bridging the Learning Divide: A Study into Adult Learning

and Peer Mediation in the Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
David Johnson
Section 2 Education and Training in Informal Economies

Madhu Singh
Contents xxi
II.1 Overview: Education and Training in the Informal Sector . . . . . 235

Madhu Singh
II.2 Tinkering with the Tinker: Meeting Training Needs in the

Informal Sector of Chad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Joshua A. Muskin
II.3 The Traditional Informal Apprenticeship System of West

Africa as Preparation for Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
William Ahadzie
II.4 Initiatives to Link TVET to Self-Employment in Ghana . . . . . . . 277

Robert Palmer
II.5 Criteria for Training Policy in the Informal Sector: Demands

and Challenges in Latin America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Enrique Pieck
II.6 Informal Learning at Work: The Case of Working Children in

Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Laila Iskandar
II.7 Informal Learning and Work: From Genealogy and

Definitions to Contemporary Methods and Findings . . . . . . . . . . 319
Peter H. Sawchuk
II.8 New Learning Spaces in TVET: The Contribution of Social

Partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Terri Seddon, Kathleen Fennessy and Kathleen Ferguson
II.9 Social and Cultural Aspects of Informal Sector Learning:

Meeting the Goals of EFA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Madhu Singh
VOLUME 2
Part III Education for the World of Work: National and Regional
Perspectives
Section 3 Reforming National Systems of Vocational Education and Training

David Atchoarena and Peter Grootings
xxii Contents
III.1 Overview: Changing National VET Systems through Reforms . 365

III.2 Latin America’s Efforts in the Vocational Training of Young

People from Poor Backgrounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Claudia Jacinto
III.3 Accountability and Career Technical Education (CTE) Policy:

A Brief Review of Six States of the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
Joshua D. Hawley and Alexandra de Montrichard
III.4 The Regional Perspective of Vocational Education and Training 411

Mike Coles and Tom Leney
III.5 Vocational Education, Training Reform and Regional

Integration in the Middle East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Munther Wassef Masri
III.6 The Influence of Qualifications Frameworks on the

Infrastructure of VET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
Mike Coles and Patrick Werquin
III.7 Reforming Skills Development, Transforming the Nation:

South African Vocational Education and Training Reforms,
1994–2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
Simon McGrath
III.8 Reform of Vocational Education in the Russian Federation . . . . 469

Olga Oleynikova and Anna Muravyeva
III.9 Vocational Education in the Netherlands: In Search of a New

Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
Jan Geurts and Frans Meijers
III.10 Facilitating Policy-Learning: Active Learning and the Reform

of Education Systems in Transition Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
Peter Grootings
Section 4 National Initiatives for Reengineering Education

for the New Economy
Joshua D. Hawley
Contents xxiii
IV.1 Overview: Regional Reviews of TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515

Joshua D. Hawley
IV.2 To Vocationalize or Not to Vocationalize? Perspectives on

Current Trends and Issues on TVET in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
Moses O. Oketch
IV.3 TVET in the Asian Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects . . . 547
P.P.G. Lionel Siriwardene and Muhammad Ashraf Qureshi
IV.4 Transforming TVET Systems with the CPSC in the Asia and
Pacific Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
Man-Gon Park
IV.5 European Action Programmes for Lifelong Learning . . . . . . . . . 583

Johanna Lasonen
IV.6 VET in the Baltic States: Analysis of Commonalities and

Differences of Reforms in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania . . . . . . 597
Frank Bünning and Berit Graubner
IV.7 Education and Training Needs of Rural Communities: A

Situational Analysis of Selected Villages in Fourteen Provinces
of Fiji . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
Paula Cavu, Isimeli W. Tagicakiverata, Seveci Naisilisili and
Viliame Rabici
IV.8 Social Partnership in Vocational Education and Training in

Lithuania: Challenges and Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619
Lina Kaminskienė
IV.9 Integrating Education and Work: The Status

of Vocational Education in Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
Lucı́lia Regina Machado and Carlos Roberto Jamil Cury
IV.10 China’s Higher Technical and Vocational Education:

Development and Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649
Jing Mi and Aihua Wu
IV.11 The Adoption and Adaptation of the Work-Team Concept in

Urban Thai Workplaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659
Chitrlada Burapharat
xxiv Contents
IV.12 Globalization of the Labour Culture in the Republic of Korea:

What ‘Tripartite Relations’ Mean for Workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673
Phoebe Moore
IV.13 Involvement of Labour-Market Partners in TVET

in the Russian Federation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
Olga Oleynikova
IV.14 Strengthening TVET to Achieve Lifelong Learning for All:

Historical Snapshots and Recent Initiatives in Myanmar . . . . . . 703
Naing Yee Mar
IV.15 Technical and Vocational Education and Training and Rural

Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
Lavinia Gasperini
IV.16 An International TVET Programme Development by the

International Baccalaureate Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
Monique Conn
IV.17 A Profile of TVET in the Asia and Pacific Region: A Survey of

Progress, Innovations and Promising Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 749
Chris Chinien, Elspeth McOmish, Mohan Perera and Alex Chinien
Section 5 Learning for Employment and Citizenship in Post-conflict

Countries
David Johnson and Lyle Kane
V.1 Overview: Vocational Education, Social Participation and

Livelihoods in Post-Conflict Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 767
V.2 From Assessment to Planning: Hope for TVET in Uganda . . . . . 775

Bilal Barakat, Lyle Kane and Alex Inglis
V.3 Linking TVET to Economic Opportunities in Post-Conflict

Liberia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
Lyle Kane
V.4 Deepening the Divide: The Differential Impact of Protracted

Conflict on TVET Versus Academic Education in Palestine . . . . 799
Bilal Barakat
Contents xxv
V.5 Co-ordinated Programming for Skills Development and

Livelihoods in Post-Conflict Societies: What Promise Does
TVET Hold for Southern Sudan? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813
Zuki Karpinska
V.6 Vocational Training in Post-War Sierra Leone and Liberia . . . . 827

Andrew Benson Greene Jr.
V.7 TVET and Community Re-Integration: Exploring the

Connections in Sierra Leone’s DDR Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835
Julia Paulson
V.8 TVET, Women and Conflict: Palestinians in the Lebanese Civil

War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849
Rachel Yarrow
VOLUME 3
Part IV The Management of TVET Systems
Section 6 Policy and Management of TVET Systems

Rupert Maclean and Chris Chinien
VI.1 Overview: Navigating the Policy Landscape: Education,

Training and Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 869
Dennis R. Herschbach
VI.2 Research for TVET Policy Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891

Jon Lauglo
VI.3 The Reform and Governance of Public TVET Institutions:

Comparative Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905
Keith Holmes
VI.4 National Versus Regional Policy Dimensions of TVET . . . . . . . . 921

Peter Noonan
VI.5 Planning for Education and Work: Alternatives and Issues . . . . 939
VI.6 South African Technikons and Policy Contestation over

Academic Drift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
Andre Kraak
xxvi Contents
VI.7 New Policy Actions and Government Roles: China’s

Reconstruction of TVET Systems Since the 1980s . . . . . . . . . . . . 977
Deyu Sun, Jingwen Lu and Jun Li
VI.8 Some Generic Issues in TVET Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 989

George Preddey
VI.9 An Overview of Contemporary TVET Management Practice . 1003

George Preddey
Section 7 The Economics and Financing of TVET

David Atchoarena
VII.1 Overview: Issues and Options in Financing Technical and

Vocational Education and Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1029
David Atchoarena
VII.2 Education, Skills, Sustainability and Growth: Complex

Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1037
Kenneth King
VII.3 Financing Mechanisms and Instruments: A Conceptual and

Operational Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1051
Richard Walther
VII.4 Financing Training Through Payroll Levies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1075

Adrian Ziderman
VII.5 Financing Vocational Education and Training in South Africa 1091

Martin Gustafsson and Pundy Pillay
VII.6 Voucher-Financed Training for Small Businesses . . . . . . . . . . . . 1107

Félix Mitnik
VII.7 Employers’ Participation in Training Finance: An Example

from Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1123
Candido Alberto Gomes
VII.8 Funding Lifelong Learning from a Life-Course Perspective . . . 1137

Barry J. Hake
VII.9 Economic Perspectives on Technical and Vocational Education

and Training in Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1155
Gerald Burke and Christopher Selby Smith
Contents xxvii
Part V Teacher Education for Vocational Education and Training
Section 8 The TVET Profession

Stephen Billett
VIII.1 Overview: The Technical and Vocational Education and

Training Profession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175
Stephen Billett
VIII.2 Professionalization of VET Teachers and Lecturers and

Practices in TVET Institutions in an International Perspective 1185
Philip Grollmann
VIII.3 Teachers, Instructors and Trainers: An Australian Focus . . . . . 1203

Erica Smith
VIII.4 TVET Teacher-Training Requirements in the Russian

Federation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1219
Vasiliy P. Kosyrev, Petr F. Kubrushko and Andrei N. Kouznetsov
VIII.5 TVET Teachers and Their Professionalization in China: A

Problem Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1229
Zhiqun Zhao and Lianwei Lu
VIII.6 The Development of Training Modules for Instructors . . . . . . . 1243

Fred Beven
VIII.7 Literacy and Learning: Are TVET Professionals Facilitators

of Learning or Deliverers of Knowledge and Skills? . . . . . . . . . . 1259
Jean Searle
VIII.8 Vocational Education in the Private Sector in Brazil . . . . . . . . . 1271

Elenice Monteiro Leite, Marinilzes Moradillo Mello and Nacim
Walter Chieco
VIII.9 TVET and Teacher-Training Curricula: A Developed National

Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1285
xxviii Contents
VIII.10 Vocational Qualifications: The Role of Trade Unions as

Negotiation Fora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1293
Antônio Almerico Biondi Lima and Fernando Augusto
Moreira Lopes
VIII.11 Vocational Education and Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1307

Gaudêncio Frigotto, Maria Ciavatta and Marise N. Ramos
VIII.12 A Technical and Vocational Teacher-Training Curriculum . . . . 1319

Bonaventure W. Kerre
VIII.13 Transforming Teachers’ Practice Through Action Learning . . 1333

Stephen Billett
VIII.14 Professional Learning and TVET: Challenges and Perspectives

for Teachers and Instructors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1351
Christian Harteis
VIII.15 Industrial Attachments for Instructors in TVET Delivery . . . . 1367

Sarojni Choy and Sandra Haukka
VIII.16 I Hate Left-Handers or Occupational Health and Safety

Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1383
Richard Gagnon
VIII.17 The Bologna Declaration and Emerging Models of TVET

Teacher Training in Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1393
Frank Bünning and Alison Shilela
VIII.18 Standards for Occupation-Directed Professional Development

of TVET Personnel in Developing Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1407
Peter Gerds
VIII.19 Curriculum Research and Design as a Subject of TVET

Teacher Training: Practice and Experiences from Two
International Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1423
Joachim Dittrich
VOLUME 4
Part VI Education for Work: Research, Curriculum Development

and Delivery
Contents xxix
Section 9 Research and Innovation

Felix Rauner
IX.1 Overview: TVET Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1443

Felix Rauner
IX.2 Methods of TVET Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1461

Felix Rauner
IX.3 TVET Research as an Aid to Improved Policy and

Performance in TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1469
Christopher Selby Smith
IX.4 Repositioning the Role of Research in the Innovation

of TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1483
Anneke Westerhuis
IX.5 TVET Research as a Dimension of Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1495

Klaus Ruth
IX.6 Modellversuchsforschung: Pilot Project Research

in Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1505
Peter Dehnbostel
IX.7 TVET and R&D Evaluation: The Potential for Optimizing

TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1521
Ludger Deitmer and Lars Heinemann
IX.8 TVET Research Organizations and Scientific Communities:

Challenges to the Institutionalization of TVET Research . . . . . 1535
Wolfgang Wittig, Uwe Lauterbach and Philip Grollmann
IX.9 Qualifications Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1553

Felix Rauner
IX.10 Measuring Educational Quality in TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1563

Robert D. Renaud
Section 10 Curriculum Development and Delivery

Felix Rauner
X.1 Overview: TVET Curriculum Development and Delivery . . . . 1579

Felix Rauner
xxx Contents
X.2 The Mutual Shaping of Work, Vocational Competence and

Work-Process Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1593
Nicholas Boreham and Martin Fischer
X.3 Situated Learning and Cognitive Apprenticeship . . . . . . . . . . . . 1611

Michael Gessler
X.4 Curriculum Approaches and Participative Curriculum

Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1627
Georg Spöttl
X.5 The Deskilling and Upskilling Debate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1639

Ulrich Heisig
X.6 The Pedagogy of Apprenticeship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1653

Uwe Lauterbach
X.7 Approaches to Designing TVET Curricula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1669

Richard Huisinga
X.8 Collaborative Work-Related Learning and Technology-

Enhanced Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1687
Alan Brown, Jenny Bimrose and Sally-Anne Barnes
X.9 Action-Based TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1699

Hans-Dieter Höpfner
X.10 Vocational Learning: Contributions of Workplaces and

Educational Institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1711
Stephen Billett
X.11 Work-Based Learning: An English Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1725

James Avis
X.12 Language Mastery Development within TVET for Professional

Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1739
Andrei N. Kouznetsov
X.13 Why do German Companies Invest in Apprenticeship? . . . . . . 1747

Klaus Schaack
X.14 Workplace Learning: Metacognitive Strategies for Learning in

the Knowledge Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1763
Hugh Munby, Nancy L. Hutchinson and Peter Chin
Contents xxxi
X.15 Literacy, Design and Technology: New Contexts for Learning

and Skills Development in South Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1777
David Johnson
X.16 The Education Gospel and Vocationalism in an International

Perspective: The Promises and the Limits of Formal Schooling 1791
W. Norton Grubb and Marvin Lazerson
X.17 The Vocationalization of Secondary Education: The

Relationships between Vocational and Technology Education . 1805
Margarita Pavlova
X.18 Valuing Experience as well as Knowledge in Schools . . . . . . . . . 1823

Ron Hansen
Section 11 Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in

Vocational Education and Training
Maja Zarini, Tapio Varis and Naing Yee Mar
XI.1 Overview: The Growing Role of ICTs in Education
and Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1835
Maja Zarini, David N. Wilson, Naing Yee Mar and Tapio Varis
XI.2 The Pedagogical Framework for On-Line Learning . . . . . . . . . . 1847

Shyamal Majumdar
XI.3 A Short Method for Building Web-Based Teaching and

Learning Systems: the CPSC Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1863
Myong Hee Kim and Man-Gon Park
XI.4 ICT Application in TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1879

Boris Kotsik, Natalia Tokareva, France Boutin and Chris Chinien
XI.5 Technology and Leadership in the Fourth Wave of

Environmental Changes with Ubiquitous Technology . . . . . . . . 1895
Man-Gon Park
XI.6 Knowledge Workforce Development for Computer-

Supported Collaborative Work Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1911
Man-Gon Park and Myong Hee Kim
XI.7 The Role of ICTs and TVET in Rural Development and

Poverty Alleviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1923
Chiranjib Kumar Basu and Shyamal Majumdar
xxxii Contents
XI.8 Switched on: International Approaches

to Skills Development through ICTs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1935
Maja Zarini
XI.9 VOCED: The International Research Database on Vocational

Education and Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1947
Miriam Saunders and Radhika Naidu
XI.10 What are the Limits of ICTs and Media

in the Delivery of TVET? An Australian Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1959
Peter Kearns
XI.11 Education System Profile: South Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1971

Tracey Wallace
XI.12 Integrating TVET with Open and Distance Learning: Taking

Skills Training to the Doorstep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1989
Vinay Swarup Mehrotra and Avant Kumar Sacheti
XI.13 Distance Education: The State of the Art in Career and

Technical Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2003
Christopher J. Zirkle
VOLUME 5
Part VII Learning for Life and Work: Bridging Academic and Vocational
Education
Section 12 Participation in Formal Programmes of Learning and Skills

Development
Rupert Maclean and Hendrik van der Pol
XII.1 Overview: Participation in Formal Programmes of Learning

and Skills Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2025
Natalia Matveeva and Joachim Lapp
XII.2 Access to TVET for All: An Essential Basis for Education

for All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2039
Phillip Hughes
XII.3 The Challenges of TVET Global Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2053

Manuel Cardoso
Contents xxxiii
XII.4 Making Global Classifications of Types and Levels of TVET . . 2067

Andy Green, Moses O. Oketch and John Preston
XII.5 Trends and Issues in TVET across the Globe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2081

Moses O. Oketch, Andy Green and John Preston
XII.6 Statistical Overview of TVET across Educational Levels . . . . . 2095

Manuel Cardoso
XII.7 The Ethics of TVET Policy and Practice: Issues of Access and
Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2163
Richard G. Bagnall
XII.8 Special Needs Education and TVET: The Perspective from the
United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2177
Michael W. Harvey
Section 13 Education for the Changing Demands of Youth Employment

Karen Plane
XIII.1 Overview: TVET for Youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2197

Karen Plane
XIII.2 Skills Shortages, Over-Education and Unemployed Youth: An

International Dilemma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2211
Kenneth Gray and Sang Hoon Bae
XIII.3 New Directions for High-School Career

and Technical Education in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2229
Richard L. Lynch
XIII.4 Occupations in Demand/Youth Employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2247

Antoaneta Voikova
XIII.5 Pathways and Transitions from School

to Work: Australian Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2263
Annette Gough
XIII.6 School/Workplace Partnerships: A Case Study of Four

Vocational Studies Programmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2279
Marcelle Hardy and Louise Ménard
XIII.7 Vocationalized Secondary Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2295

Jon Lauglo
xxxiv Contents
XIII.8 Vocational Guidance and Career Counselling in the European

Union: Origins and Recent Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2313
Frederic J. Company
XIII.9 ‘White-Collar’ Work or a ‘Technical’ Career? The Ambitions

of Fiji Final-Year School Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2329
Pam Nilan, Paula Cavu, Isimeli W. Tagicakiverata
and Emily Hazelman
XIII.10 14–16 Year Olds Taking Vocational Courses in English

Colleges: A Dumping Ground for the Disengaged or a Real
Alternative? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2343
Norman Lucas
XIII.11 Reconciling the Competing Policy Platforms in TVET?

Promulgating ‘the 6Es Plus Education’ for Youth through
Social Partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2357
Karen Plane
Section 14 The Skills Debate in an Ageing Society

Tom Karmel and Rupert Maclean
XIV.1 Overview: TVET in an Ageing Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2375

XIV.2 Policy Framework on the Retraining for Reskilling of Older

Workers through Specialized TVET Programmes . . . . . . . . . . . 2385
Theodora Josue Tesoro Gayondato and Myong Hee Kim
XIV.3 Reskilling for All? The Changing Role of TVET in the Ageing
Societies of Developing Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2401
Margarita Pavlova and Rupert Maclean
XIV.4 The Changing Context of TVET

for the Workforce in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2417
Jagmohan Singh Rajput
XIV.5 The Reform of the TVET System in the Republic of Korea for
an Ageing Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2431
Hong-Geun Chang
XIV.6 Will We Run Out of Young Men? Implications of the Ageing

of the Population for the Trades in Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2445
Tom Karmel and Koon Ong
Contents xxxv
XIV.7 The Ageing Labour Force and the Retraining of Workers in

the Republic of Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2457
Jihee Choi
XIV.8 Technical Entrepreneurship Development for the Aged . . . . . . 2469

Man-Gon Park and Suresh Kumar Dhameja
XIV.9 The Ageing TVET Workforce in Australia: Issues and

Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2487
Hugh Guthrie and Phil Loveder
XIV.10 Working and Lifelong Learning among Older Workers (45+)

in Japan: Implications for TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2499
Toshio Ohsako
VOLUME 6
Part VIII Lifelong Learning for Livelihoods and Citizenship
Section 15 Adult, Continuing and Lifelong Learning

Chris Chinien and Madhu Singh
XV.1 Overview: Adult Education for the Sustainability of Human

Kind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2521
XV.2 The Emergence of ‘Workforce Development’: Definition,

Conceptual Boundaries and Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2537
Ronald L. Jacobs and Joshua D. Hawley
XV.3 The Challenge for ESD in TVET: Developing Core Sustainable

Development Competencies and Collaborative Social
Partnerships for Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2553
Chris Chinien, France Boutin and Karen Plane
XV.4 Key Competencies: Overall Goals for Competence

Development: An International and Interdisciplinary
Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2571
Dominique Simone Rychen
XV.5 Education and Training in the Context of Poverty Reduction . 2585

Bernd Overwien
xxxvi Contents
XV.6 Recognition, Validation and Accreditation of Non-Formal and

Informal Learning and Experience: Results of an International
Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2597
Madhu Singh
XV.7 Self-Directed Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2615

Stephen D. Brookfield
XV.8 New Learning Strategies and Learning Cultures in Companies 2629

Peter Dehnbostel
XV.9 PLAR, Training and Efficient Labour Markets: The Canadian

Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2647
Bill Empey and Christine Newton
XV.10 Transformative Learning Theory and TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2661

Karen Magro
XV.11 The Implications of Cognitive Style to Adult Distance

Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2679
Cindy Marie Isaak-Ploegman and Chris Chinien
XV.12 Competency, Meaningful Learning and Learning Styles in

TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2697
Richard Gagnon
XV.13 Workplace Essential Skills in Policy and Practice: A Canadian

Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2713
Erik de Vries
XV.14 Adult Numeracy for Work and Life: Curriculum and Teaching
Implications of Recent Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2731
Gail FitzSimons and Diana Coben
XV.15 An Innovative System of Vocational Training in the German

IT Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2747
Rita Meyer
Part IX Assessment of Skills and Competencies
Section 16 Recognition, Certification, Accreditation and Quality Assurance

in TVET
Karina Veal
XVI.1 Overview: Competencies, Qualifications and Recognition . . . . 2763

Karina Veal
Contents xxxvii
XVI.2 The Certification of Competencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2777

Danielle Colardyn
XVI.3 Modularization and Modular Delivery of TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . 2793

John Stanwick
XVI.4 Diverse Approaches to the Recognition of Competencies . . . . . 2811

Danielle Colardyn
XVI.5 How Do We Measure Up? Benchmarking

the WorldSkills Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2827
David Hoey
XVI.6 Validation of Educational Programmes: Comparing Models

and Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2841
Grazia Scoppio
XVI.7 Regional Accreditation and Certification of TVET

Institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2853
Ligaya Valmonte and Man-Gon Park
XVI.8 National Qualifications Frameworks: An Analytical Overview 2867

Michael F.D. Young
XVI. 9 Developing a National System of Vocational Qualifications . . . 2881

John Hart
XVI.10 National Qualifications Frameworks in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2899

Bonaventure W. Kerre and Astrid Hollander
XVI.11 Implementing National Qualifications Frameworks: Problems

and Possibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2917
Michael F.D. Young
XVI.12 Labour Mobility and Mutual Recognition of Skills

and Qualifications: The European Union and Australia/
New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2935
Chandra Shah and Michael Long
XVI.13 Quality Assurance in TVET in Romania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2953

Magdalena Balica
Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2971
Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3003

List of Figures
Introduction Technical and vocational students as a share of total secondary

enrolments, 1998 and 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lxxxiv
Prologue Conceptual framework: informal employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cxvii
Prologue Enterprises are active trainers world-wide (as a percentage of
total training) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cxxiv
1 Alternate philosophies for TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2 Visual representation of the conceptual framework for TVET . 25
I.1.1 The NCC competitiveness pyramid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
I.3.1 The four elements of decent work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
I.5.1 Estimated time lags(a ) between new skill requirements and job
market entry of the first cohorts with the new skill profiles (a)
dependent on national institutional, legal, formal, etc., factors. 148
II.6.1 The design of CID’s non-formal ‘schools’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
II.6.2 Waste Recycle Facilities Manshiet Nasser-el Mokatam . . . . . . . 315
II.7.1 Learning in working life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
III.7.1 Visualizing the Human Resources Development Strategy . . . . . 461
III.9.1 From training factory to career centre: two main dimensions
for re-design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
IV.2.1 Informal sector employment as a share of non-agricultural
employment, selected African countries (1990s) . . . . . . . . . . . . 542
IV.4.1 Population growth rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
IV.4.2 Comparative population growth in more- and less-developed
countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568
IV.4.3 Population density in the Asia and Pacific Region . . . . . . . . . . . 569
IV.4.4 Growth of the ageing population (60 years and above) . . . . . . . 570
IV.4.5 The number of people living on less than $1 per day, 1990,
1996 and 2001 (millions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572
IV.4.6 Components of the CPSC web-based teaching/learning system
(WB TLS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579
IV.7.1 Comparative levels of education (by gender) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
IV.7.2 Factors that determine training choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616
IV.8.1 Models of interaction of vocational activity with education
systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621
xxxix
xl List of Figures
IV.8.2 Model of the social partnership for developing vocational and

vocational training standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
IV.8.3 The organizational model for final qualification examinations . 627
IV.10.1 A diagram of the Chinese vocational education system . . . . . . . 650
IV.10.2 New student enrolments in technical and vocational education
in 1998 and 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651
IV.10.3 Total student enrolment in technical and vocational education
in 1998 and 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652
IV.10.4 Numbers of technical and vocational education colleges from
1998 to 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652
IV.10.5 Structures of technical and vocational education providers in
2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652
IV.11.1 The team as a bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662
IV.12.1 Three phases for the creation of a new labour-management
culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674
IV.12.2 Composition of the future-oriented labour/management
community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676
IV.14.1 Drop-out rates in primary schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709
IV.17.1 The planning and management of TVET in the Asia and
Pacific Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
IV.17.2 The involvement of developed, developing and least-developed
countries of the Asia and Pacific Region in TVET . . . . . . . . . . . 751
IV.17.3 Countries in the Asia and Pacific Region with various national
development plans for TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752
IV.17.4 An overview of the provision of TVET for All for designated
groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755
IV.17.5 The availability of TVET courses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760
IV.17.6 Mode of TVET delivery using ICTs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761
IV.17.7 New competencies acquired through TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762
IV.17.8 Measuring TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763
V.1.1 A conceptual model of the field of TVET and conflict studies . 770
VI.7.1 Trend of enrolments and entrants in vocational secondary
schools (1995–2004) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 979
VII.3.1 Common characteristics of the European vocational training
systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1064
VII.3.2 Common characteristics of the African vocational training
systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1065
VII.3.3 Common and specific characteristics of the systems . . . . . . . . . 1073
VII.6.1 Coefficient of diversification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1115
VII.6.2 Utilization of opportunities for diversification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1116
VII.8.1 A model of lifelong learning with a ‘learning gap’ . . . . . . . . . . 1141
VIII.2.1 Dominant TVET teachers’ formal qualifications . . . . . . . . . . . . 1188
VIII.2.2 Mapping development perspectives for vocational schools and
colleges for some European countries and regions . . . . . . . . . . . 1192
VIII.2.3 Direction of individual strategies of vocational teachers . . . . . . 1197
List of Figures xli
VIII.5.1 Types of TVET teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1232

VIII.5.2 Teacher education systems in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1234
VIII.12.1 An integrated school curriculum for the twenty-first century . . 1321
VIII.12.2 The technical and vocational education and training cluster
in Kenya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1322
VIII.16.1 The characteristics inherent in organized work in democratic
societies, showing the inevitable tensions that develop
between them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1384
VIII.17.1 The consecutive model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1399
VIII.17.2 The top-up model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1399
VIII.17.3 The blended model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1400
VIII.17.4 The Magdeburg model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1401
VIII.18.1 Qualification levels for TVET-teachers/trainers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1414
VIII.18.2 The complete system: thirty-six national TVET
teacher-qualification standards by combining nine core fields
of activities and four TVET teacher-qualification levels . . . . . . 1415
VIII.18.3 An example: the core field ‘assessment’ with its specific
standards on the four TVET teacher-qualification levels . . . . . . 1416
VIII.18.4 Flexible and coherent career pathways within the Ethiopian
standard-based national TVET teacher-training system . . . . . . 1417
VIII.18.5 Pathway I: coherent and full academic programme . . . . . . . . . . 1418
VIII.18.6 Pathway II: coherent academic four semester programme,
combined with in-service-teacher-training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1419
VIII.18.7 Pathway III: short-time-programme, combined with in-service
teacher training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1420
VIII.19.1 The four learning areas, from novice to expert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1429
IX.4.1 Interfaces between the traditional knowledge and innovation
chains (after Bruijn & Westerhuis, 2004, p. 7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1484
IX.6.1 The cyclical process of scientific monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1513
IX.7.1 Evaluation cycle of an actor-oriented programme evaluation . . 1529
IX.9.1 The interaction of education and training, work and the object
of work in analytic and design-oriented perspective as a topic
of research and teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1556
IX.9.2 Action-oriented professional interviews carried out in teams . . 1559
X.1.1 Knowledge and know-how in the tense relationship between
education and qualification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1581
X.2.1 Work-process knowledge of a German skilled worker . . . . . . . 1599
X.9.1 Interdependence of competence for action, structures for action
and execution of action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1700
X.9.2 The cycle of self-reliant/action-based learning and working . . . 1702
X.9.3 Different learning and work assignments require different
stages of self-reliant learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1706
X.9.4 A new didactic approach for TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1708
X.12.1 The seven-element model for the selection of language-
teaching contents for TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1743
xlii List of Figures
X.17.1 A model of ‘working technologically’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1816

XI.1.1 The number of pupils per computer and the number of
pupils per computer with an Internet connection in European
secondary education (ISCED 2 and 3), 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1840
XI.2.1 One-to-one or one-to-many relational . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1849
XI.2.2 Many-to-many . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1849
XI.2.3 Technology, learning objectives and instructional models in
three generations of distance education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1850
XI.2.4 On-line learning based on objectivism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1851
XI.2.5 On-line learning based on constructivism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1852
XI.2.6 Learning components based on the proposed eclectic model . . 1855
XI.3.1 Basic components of an e-teaching and learning system . . . . . . 1865
XI.3.2 The various components of the CPSC WTLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1866
XI.3.3 Sample page in the CPSC WTLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1866
XI.3.4 Registration form and log-in/log-out buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1867
XI.3.5 Outline of a theme paper presentation with VOD . . . . . . . . . . . 1868
XI.3.6 Lecture screen and video screeen of a VOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1869
XI.3.7 The use of the e-board for questions and answers . . . . . . . . . . . 1869
XI.3.8 An e-board for assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1870
XI.3.9 Multiple-choice type questions used in an on-line examination 1870
XI.3.10 Students’ general information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1871
XI.3.11 Score management: tasks, projects, examination . . . . . . . . . . . . 1871
XI.3.12 Creating multiple-choice type questions for on-line
examination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1872
XI.5.1 The concept of ubiquitous computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1897
XI.5.2 Electronic cyberspace and smart real space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1898
XI.5.3 Components of a ubiquitous home environment . . . . . . . . . . . . 1899
XI.5.4 Components of a ubiquitous living room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1900
XI.5.5 Components of a ubiquitous classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1900
XI.5.6 MIT’s Oxygen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1902
XI.5.7 TRON architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1904
XI.5.8 The u-Korea project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1905
XI.5.9 The 8-3-9 strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1905
XI.6.1 Components of collaborative work environments . . . . . . . . . . . 1913
XI.6.2 Workplace trends according to Bill Gates (2005) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1914
XI.6.3 Digital work style according to Bill Gates (2005) . . . . . . . . . . . 1914
XI.6.4 E-commerce model with multilateral work environments . . . . . 1918
XI.6.5 The model of knowledge workforce development . . . . . . . . . . . 1919
XI.6.6 Model with knowledge workforce development for CSCW . . . 1920
XI.9.1 The VOCED home page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1947
XI.9.2 A sample record resulting from a VOCED search . . . . . . . . . . . 1953
XI.11.1 Percentage distribution of learners in the education system . . . 1974
XI.11.2 Inequities among the provinces of South Africa in the
percentage of schools with computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1981
List of Figures xliii
XII.3.1 ISCED mapping diagram showing levels and destinations, and

UOE’s modified version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2061
XII.6.1 Regional averages for vocational gross enrolment ratios at
ISCED 2, 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2104
XII.6.2 Regional averages for VGERs at ISCED 3, 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . 2105
XII.6.3 Distributions of vocational gross enrolment ratios at ISCED
3, 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2106
XII.6.4 Regional averages for VGERs at ISCED 4, 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . 2107
XII.6.5 Distributions of vocational gross enrolment ratios at ISCED
4, 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2108
XII.6.6 Regional averages for gross enrolment ratios at ISCED 5B
programmes, 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2109
XII.6.7 Distributions of gross enrolment ratios at ISCED 5B
programmes, 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2110
XII.6.8 Regional averages for percentages of technical/vocational
enrolment in secondary, 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2112
XII.6.9 Percentages of technical/vocational
enrolment in secondary by GDP per capita
(logarithm), 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2113
XII.6.10 Percentages of technical/vocational enrolment in upper
secondary by GDP per capita (logarithm), 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . 2114
XII.6.11 Percentages of technical/vocational enrolment in secondary, by
overall secondary gross enrolment ratio, 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2115
XII.6.12 Percentages of technical/vocational enrolment in upper
secondary, by upper secondary gross enrolment ratio, 2002 . . . 2116
XII.6.13 Percentage of technical/vocational enrolment in upper
secondary, by its gender parity index, 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2119
XII.6.14 Percentage of technical/vocational enrolment in upper
secondary education, by its transformed gender parity
index, 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2120
XII.6.15 Gender parity index for the percentage of technical/vocational,
by the gender parity index for the total gross enrolment ratio,
upper secondary education, 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2121
XIII.2.1 The technical workforce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2212
XIII.2.2 The source of individual labour-market advantage . . . . . . . . . . . 2221
XIII.4.1 Enrolment in secondary general and secondary vocational
schools, 2004/2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2250
XIII.4.2 Percentage of an age cohort enrolled in vocational schools . . . 2251
XIII.4.3 The youth unemployment rate in Bulgaria, 2001–2004 . . . . . . . 2258
XIII.4.4 Public expenditure on measures designed for young people
(as a percentage of total expenditures on active labour-market
policies) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2258
XIII.5.1 Participation rates of full-time students aged 17 years . . . . . . . 2265
XIII.6.1 Typology of work experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2281
XIV.1.1 Population pyramids: age and sex distribution, 2000 and 2050 2376
xliv List of Figures
XIV.2.1 The world’s ageing population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2386

XIV.2.2 Rate of increase in the share of the population aged 60
and above . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2387
XIV.2.3 Growth of the older population in developed and developing
countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2388
XIV.2.4 Model of enabling agents for transformation of the older
person through retraining and reskilling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2390
XIV.2.5 Congruence model for retraining older workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2390
XIV.2.6 Essential qualities of a change leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2391
XIV.2.7 Sectors for policy formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2393
XIV.2.8 Proposed policy framework—global change leadership . . . . . . 2395
XIV.2.9 Key sector relationships for older worker retraining . . . . . . . . . 2396
XIV.2.10 Relationships between key sectors in older worker retraining . 2396
XIV.2.11 Proposed policy framework: local TVET application . . . . . . . . 2397
XIV.2.12 Global/national/local relationships and the older worker . . . . . 2397
XIV.3.1 Median age by region, 1999–2050 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2402
XIV.3.2 Projection for the population distributions for China . . . . . . . . . 2403
XIV.3.3 Projection for the population distributions for India . . . . . . . . . 2404
XIV.3.4 Comparison between and Canada and China by sex and age for
2000, 2025 and 2050 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2405
XIV.3.5 The structure of a human activity system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2410
XIV.3.6 The structure of learning activity for the elderly person . . . . . . 2411
XIV.5.1 Basic structure of the vocational competency development
system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2432
XIV.5.2 Scheme of lifelong vocational competency development . . . . . 2433
XIV.5.3 International comparison of participation in vocational
competency development programmes among adults (aged
25–64) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2436
XIV.5.4 Vocational competency development participation by company
size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2437
XIV.5.5 Vocational training participation rate by gender and age . . . . . . 2437
XIV.6.1 Commencements by age and sex, 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2446
XIV.6.2 Apprenticeship and traineeship commencement rates for the
trades (proportion of age cohort) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2448
XIV.6.3 Apprenticeship and traineeship cancellation rates for the trades
(as a proportion of commencements) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2448
XIV.6.4 Five-year net attrition rates for the trades (per cent of
employment) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2449
XIV.6.5 Impact of demographics on the supply of tradesmen . . . . . . . . . 2450
XIV.6.6 Age distribution of people in the trades, various years . . . . . . . 2451
XIV.6.7 Projections of employment in the trades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2452
XIV.6.8 Comparison of the average supply scenario and the base
demand scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2453
XIV.6.9 Comparison of the worst supply scenario and the base demand
scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2454
List of Figures xlv
XIV.7.1 Changes in age structure of the Korean population,

1960–2050 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2459
XIV.8.1 Science and technology entrepreneurs’ parks: the mechanism
for industry and TVET institute linkage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2481
XIV.8.2 Science and technology entrepreneurs’ parks: functions
and activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2481
XIV.9.1 Age profiles of TAFE teachers in 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2490
XV.2.1 Workforce development framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2545
XV.3.1 Capacity-building for sustainable development and learning
communities in VET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2566
XV.4.1 DeSeCo’s overarching conceptual framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2574
XV.8.1 Organizational typology of company-based learning . . . . . . . . . 2638
XV.8.2 Kinds of learning and knowledge in companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2640
XV.11.1 Dick and Carey’s model of instructional design
for practitioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2687
XV.11.2 Final model to bridge the gap of differential learning gain
across cognitive style in the context of adult distance
education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2688
XV.12.1 Certain characteristics associated with Kolb’s learning styles . 2703
XV.12.2 Teaching contents favoured by students of all learning styles
and their typical behaviour during a lecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2708
XV.12.3 Teaching contents favoured by students of all learning styles
and their typical behaviour during a role play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2709
XV.12.4 Teacher and learner assist each other in their personal and
professional development when the teacher takes into account
their respective learning style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2711
XV.13.1 Sample from an essential skills profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2721
XV.13.2 Example of authentic workplace materials (AWMs) . . . . . . . . . 2722
XV.15.1 Regulations on advanced vocational training in ICTs . . . . . . . . 2751
XV.15.2 The work processes typical of security management . . . . . . . . . 2752
XVI.3.1 Approaches to modularization across various countries . . . . . . 2797
XVI.5.1 Pie chart of visitors’ age profile at WorldSkills 2005
in Finland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2830
XVI.5.2 Form for subjective marking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2834
XVI.5.3 Raw results from four different competitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2835
XVI.5.4 Marks on a common axis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2836
XVI.5.5 Marks adjusted by standard deviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2836
XVI.5.6 Marks adjusted for 400–600 range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2837
XVI.6.1 Type of questions used in the AMSC validation questionnaire . 2846
XVI.10.1 Namibia: qualifications of the NQF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2909
XVI.10.2 Mauritius: qualifications of the NQF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2910
List of Tables
Introduction Desirable worker attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xcix

Prologue Persons employed in the informal sector: selected
countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (latest available year) . . . cxviii
Prologue Share of youth in Ghana (15–30 age group) who have
gone through an apprenticeship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cxxvii
1 Issues to consider when developing the curriculum
component of a conceptual framework in TVET . . . . . . . . 29
2 Contemporary approaches to teaching and learning in
TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3 Illustration of components and contents of a conceptual
framework for TVET from past, current and future
perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4 Possible components in TVET programmes based on
conceptual framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
I.3.1 Summary of suggested decent work indicators . . . . . . . . . 113
I.5.1 National skill requirement forecasting and early
recognition activities, as of 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
I.10.1 A summary of the research questions and techniques for
data collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
II.2.1 Education and training of entrepreneurs and apprentices . 250
II.2.2 Basic professional skills, knowledge and attitudes for
participation in the informal sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
II.3.1 Duration of apprenticeship in Ghana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
II.7.1 Livingstone’s agency and knowledge
structure dimensions of learning model (from
Livingstone, 2005, p. 981) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
II.7.2 Eraut’s typology of informal learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
III.3.1 Basic information on state education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
III.3.2 School information on career technical education in six
states (number of schools) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
III.3.3 Student information on career technical education in six
states . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
III.3.4 Basic information on career technical education . . . . . . . . 401
xlvii
xlviii List of Tables
III.3.5 Core indicators and sub-indicators: career and technical

education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
III.3.6 Achievement of core indicators by state (2003–2004) . . . . 406
III.4.1 Policy levers and the open method of co-ordination (OMC) 415
III.7.1 The National Qualifications Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
III.9.1 Remarks concerning the effectiveness and efficiency of
the qualifications structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
III.9.2 Implementation of strong learning environments . . . . . . . . 493
IV.2.1 The features of TVET in selected African countries . . . . . 536
IV.2.2 Percentage of TVE enrolments in secondary technical and
vocational education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538
IV.2.3 Percentage of technical and vocational education
expenditures in total education expenditures . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
IV.4.1 Population, population density and population growth
rate: selected Asian countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567
IV.4.2 Percentage of the older population by region in 2000,
2015 and 2030 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
IV.4.3 Number of Internet users in CPSC member countries . . . . 572
IV.4.4 CPSC-RING for technology transfer, education and
training services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577
IV.7.1 Training needs choices by province (female) . . . . . . . . . . . 614
IV.7.2 Training needs choices by province (male) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614
IV.7.3 The number of participants by gender and age groups . . . . 615
IV.7.4 Total participants by educational level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
IV.14.1 Intake by type of course in the government technical
institutes (GTIs) in 2003/2004 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
IV.14.2 Teaching staff and students in the government technical
institutes (GTIs) and government technical colleges
(GTCs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
IV.14.3 Teaching staff and student relationship in the State
agricultural institutes (SAIs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714
IV.14.4 Skills training in TVET institutions under various
government ministries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715
VI.3.1 FET transformations in South Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911
VI.4.1 TVET students 1995 to 2004, Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 934
VI.4.2 Annual hours by sex, 1995 to 2004, Australia . . . . . . . . . . 935
VI.6.1 Enrolments in higher education, 1993–2003 . . . . . . . . . . . 962
VI.7.1 China’s vocational education system, 2004 . . . . . . . . . . . . 979
VI.8.1 Differences between governance and
management roles for autonomous TVET
institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993
VII.1.1 Advantages and limitations of using payroll taxes to
finance TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1032
VII.3.1 Overall data for the four European countries . . . . . . . . . . . 1053
VII.3.2 Overall data for the four African countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1054
List of Tables xlix
VII.3.3 Major categories of activity financed by particular

financing sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1067
VII.3.4 The modes of intervention by public authorities,
companies and individuals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1069
VII.4.1 Mechanisms for encouraging enterprise training: strengths
and weaknesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085
VII.4.2 Payroll levies: advantages and limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1087
VII.4.3 Issues in levy scheme design and implementation . . . . . . . 1088
VII.5.1 Public spending on education and training, 2005 . . . . . . . 1092
VII.5.2 Public FET in colleges and in schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099
VII.6.1 Number of vouchers placed by the programme . . . . . . . . . 1112
VII.6.2 Composition of the demand for vouchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114
VII.7.1 FEMC sources of funding by unit, 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1131
VII.7.2 FEMC average annual expenditure per student and tuition
by unit, 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1132
VII.9.1 Overview of expenditure and participation
in education and training, Australia, 2003
(approximate figures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1157
VIII.2.1 Ideal types of the conceptualization of vocational
education core tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1195
VIII.2.2 A comparison of professionalization levels of vocational
teaching profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1198
VIII.5.1 DACUM-chart on China’s TVET teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1239
VIII.6.1 Comparative table of generic employability skills by
country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1250
VIII.6.2 Employability skills framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1251
VIII.8.1 The TVET market in Brazil: 1999–2000: estimate of
schools, students and budget of the main agencies . . . . . . . 1274
VIII.9.1 Comparison of Russian and American credit hours in
TVET teacher training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1286
VIII.12.1 Course descriptions in each option at the Department of
Technology Education at Moi University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1326
VIII.12.2 M.Phil. degree in technology education course design . . . 1327
VIII.12.3 Core, required and elective courses for an M.Phil. degree
in technology education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1328
VIII.12.4 D. Phil. degree in technology education course design . . . 1330
VIII.12.5 Elective courses for the D.Phil. degree in technology
education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1331
VIII.13.1 Perceptions of the utility of action learning . . . . . . . . . . . . 1343
VIII.13.2 Conditions that make action learning successful . . . . . . . . 1344
VIII.13.3 Conditions that inhibit action learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1344
VIII.15.1 Key barriers to maintaining vocational competence
through ‘return to industry’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1376
VIII.18.1 The nine core fields of TVET teaching activities assigned
to the four levels of qualification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1421
l List of Tables
IX.1.1 Twelve vocational disciplines as defined in the

international framework curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1447
IX.5.1 Structures of TVET in Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1501
IX.8.1 Grouping of TVET research associations into research
strands and disciplinary frameworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1536
IX.9.1 The six dimensions of practical knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1554
X.1.1 On the structuration of vocational curricula . . . . . . . . . . . . 1582
X.2.1 An example of a ‘Lernfeld’ for the industrial electronics
mechanic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1606
X.3.1 Situated cognition and situated learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1612
X.3.2 Cognitivism and social constructivism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1616
X.3.3 Cognitive apprenticeship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1620
X.4.1 Levels of vocational educational scientific research . . . . . 1635
X.9.1 Overview of the components of action competence . . . . . . 1701
X.9.2 Comparison of teacher-centred teaching and
trainee-centred teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1705
XI.1.1 The new schooling paradigm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1837
XI.2.1 Characteristics of Web-based training types . . . . . . . . . . . . 1859
XI.2.2 Desirable shifts required in various pedagogical
dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1860
XI.3.1 Main software tools used in the implementation of the
e-teaching and learning system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1873
XI.5.1 Trends in computing systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1897
XI.5.2 Eight new services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1906
XI.6.1 The traits of a twenty-first century knowledge-based
economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1912
XI.6.2 Deficiencies in the Gosplan workforce planning exercise
and the lessons to be learned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1916
XI.6.3 The roles that the New Zealand Government should assume 1917
XI.7.1 Income/poverty in selected regions in the world,
1981–2001: the percentage of people living on less than
US$1/day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1924
XI.7.2 Some initiatives in applying ICTs to rural development . . 1930
XI.12.1 Some typical courses provided by open and distance
learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1998
XII.3.1 An overview of different conceptions of ‘formal’,
‘non-formal’ and ‘informal’, as applied to education and
learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2055
XII.3.2 Definitions of programme orientations according to
ISCED and the UIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2057
XII.6.1 TVET provision by level and ISCED 5B programmes
(number and percentage of countries) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2096
XII.6.2 Index of diversification of TVET programmes, by region
(number of countries) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2098
List of Tables li
XII.6.3 Typology of TVET provision, by region (number of

countries) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2099
XII.6.4 Vocational enrolment at ISCED 4 by vocational enrolment
at ISCED 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2101
XII.6.5 Vocational enrolment at ISCED 5 following vocational
enrolment at ISCED 3 and 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2102
XII.6.6 Highest vocational gross enrolment ratios at ISCED 2,
2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2104
XII.6.7 Comparison of vocational gross enrolment ratios and
percentages of technical/vocational enrolment for selected
countries, 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2111
XII.6.8 Presence of vocation and 5B enrolments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2126
XII.6.9 Secondary education, ISCED 2 and 3: vocational
enrolments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2131
XII.6.10 Post-secondary education: non-tertiary vocational
enrolments: tertiary 5B enrolments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2143
XII.7.1 Matrix of key aspects of TVET of ethical concern . . . . . . 2168
XII.8.1 Career and technical education legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2179
XII.8.2 Special education legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2180
XII.8.3 Other significant federal legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2181
XIII.2.1 University enrolment as a percent of the age cohort: 1950
and 1993 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2215
XIII.2.2 Occupational groups ranked by earnings and net
opportunities (projected through 2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2219
XIII.2.3 Job shortages for each educational category in small- and
medium-sized businesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2220
XIII.4.1 Strengths and weaknesses of the State enrolment plan in
Bulgaria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2252
XIII.4.2 Unemployment in SEE compared with the EU average . . 2257
XIII.5.1 Apparent retention rates of full-time secondary students in
Australia, from Year 7/8 to Year 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2266
XIII.9.1 Form Six enrolments by race, 2003–2004 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2330
XIII.9.2 Form Seven enrolments by race, 2003–2004 . . . . . . . . . . . 2330
XIII.9.3 TVET enrolments by number of schools and gender
2003–2004 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2331
XIII.9.4 FIT franchise TVET enrolments 2003–2004 . . . . . . . . . . . 2331
XIII.9.5 Parents’ occupations (coded), expressed as a percentage . 2335
XIII.9.6 Student career ambitions (coded), expressed as a
percentage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2335
XIII.9.7 Favourite and least-favourite subjects by school, n = 1012 2336
XIII.9.8 Ranking of factors influencing personal career choice,
n = 1012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2337
XIII.9.9 Responses to ‘Have you ever met anyone with that job?’,
expressed as a percentage, n = 1012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2337
lii List of Tables
XIII.9.10 ‘Family or community member’ responses to ‘What is your

relationship to that person?’ expressed as a percentage,
n = 827 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2337
XIV.2.1 The four action Ps for older workers in the transformation
process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2392
XIV.3.1 Task categories and expected relationship of performance
with age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2409
XIV.5.1 Public expenditure on vocational training as a percentage
of GDP in selected OECD countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2434
XIV.5.2 Education and training expense rate to total labour cost
according to the number of people employed (unit:
thousand won) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2435
XIV.5.3 Directions of vocational competency system reform . . . . . 2439
XIV.6.1 Difference between demand and supply projections for the
trades, 2040 (+ indicates potential surplus; − potential
shortage), per ’000 persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2454
XIV.7.1 The year of reaching critical shares of the population aged
over 65, selected countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2458
XIV.7.2 Changes in the dependency ratios and median ages,
1970–2050 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2460
XIV.7.3 Trends in the labour-force participation rates by age
groups 50 years and older, by gender (%) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2461
XIV.7.4 Differences in the level of basic skills by age, gender,
educational attainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2462
XIV.7.5 Labour-market status of older people in Korea, 2000 (%) 2463
XIV.7.6 Participation in continuous education and training (CET),
by age, gender and educational attainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2465
XIV.8.1 The aged population in Asia and the Pacific
countries, 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2473
XV.1.1 Workers aged 25 to 54 years taking employment-related
training, 1994–1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2528
XV.3.1 Conceptual framework for sustainable development skills 2554
XV.3.2 Breakdown of KSAs identified for environment, society
and economy before the validation process . . . . . . . . . . . . 2555
XV.3.3 Breakdown of KSAs identified for environment, society
and economy after the validation process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2556
XV.3.4 Broadly transferable sustainable development competency
profile for the workforce (SDCP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2557
XV.8.1 Work-related learning models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2632
XV.8.2 Comparison of traditional and new learning cultures . . . . 2643
XV.9.1 Similarities and differences in PLAR among jurisdictions
in Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2652
XV.9.2 2002 Red-Seal statistics for plumbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2656
XV.14.1 Adult numeracy learning in Domains One and Two . . . . . 2734
XVI.3.1 Comparisons of approaches to modularization across six
countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2798
List of Tables liii
XVI.5.1 Technical description applying to each skill . . . . . . . . . . . . 2832

XVI.5.2 Aspects of criterion for ‘Snowman Building’ . . . . . . . . . . 2833
XVI.5.3 Proposed objective marking for Criterion A . . . . . . . . . . . . 2833
XVI.5.4 Criterion F broken down into aspects of criterion . . . . . . . 2834
XVI.6.1 Sample, returns and response rate for AMSC
validation study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2847
XVI.6.2 Sample, returns and response rate for PLQ validation study 2849
XVI.6.3 Sample, returns and response rate for OPME validation . . 2850
XVI.7.1 The APACC scoring level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2861
XVI.7.2 Distribution of points in the seven-point criteria . . . . . . . . 2861
XVI.7.3 The APACC accreditation levels and status awarded . . . . 2862
XVI.10.1 The national qualifications framework in South Africa . . . 2909
Contributors
Arvil Van Adams

World Bank, Washington, United States of America.
Poonam Agrawal
PSS Central Institute of Vocational Education, Bhopal, India.
William Ahadzie
Centre for Social Policy Studies, University of Ghana, Accra.
David Atchoarena
UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning, Paris, France.
James Avis
School of Education and Professional Development, University of Huddersfield,
United Kingdom.
Peter van Baalen
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam,
Netherlands.
Sang Hoon Bae
College of Education, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, United States
of America.
Richard G. Bagnall
Department of Educational Policy and Administration, Hong Kong Institute of
Education, China.
Magdalena Balica
Institute of Educational Sciences, Bucharest, Romania.
Bilal Barakat
Department of Education, University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
Sally-Anne Barnes
Institute for Employment Research, University of Warwick, Coventry, United
Kingdom.
lv
lvi Contributors
Chiranjib Kumar Basu

FAITH Healthcare Private Limited, New Delhi, India.
Fred Beven
School of Education and Professional Studies, Faculty of Education, Griffith
University, Brisbane, Australia.
Stephen Billett
Jenny Bimrose
Kingdom.
Nicholas Boreham
Institute of Education, University of Stirling, United Kingdom.
France Boutin
Département de linguistique et de didactique des langues, Université du Québec à
Montréal, Canada.
School of Education, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, United States of America.
Alan Brown
Kingdom.
Frank Bünning
Department of Vocational Education and Human Resources Development, Otto
von Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany.
College of Arts, Media and Technology, Chiang Mai University, Thailand.
Gerald Burke
Centre for the Economics of Education and Training, Faculty of Education, Monash
University, Melbourne, Australia.
Manuel Cardoso
UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Montreal, Canada.
Paula Cavu
Learning Centre, Fiji Institute of Technology, Fiji.
Hong-Geun Chang
Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training, Seoul, Republic
of Korea.
Nacim Walter Chieco
National Industrial Training Service, Brasilia, Brazil.
Contributors lvii
Peter Chin
Faculty of Education, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada.
Alex Chinien
Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
Chris Chinien
Workforce Development Consulting, Montreal, Canada.
Jihee Choi
Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training, Seoul, Republic
of Korea.
Sarojni Choy
School of Learning and Professional Studies, Queensland University of Technology,
Brisbane, Australia.
Maria Ciavatta
Fluminense Federal University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Diana Coben
Department of Education and Professional Studies, King’s College, University of
London, United Kingdom.
Danielle Colardyn
International Expert on Comparative Education and Training Policies, Paris,
France.
Mike Coles
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, London, United Kingdom.
Frederic J. Company
Blanquerna Faculty of Psychology, Educational Sciences and Sport, Ramon Llull
University, Barcelona, Spain.
Monique Conn
International Baccalaureate Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Carlos Roberto Jamil Cury
Department of Education, Pontifical Catholic University of the State of Minas
Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Peter Dehnbostel
Helmut Schmidt University – University of the Federal Armed Forces, Hamburg,
Germany.
Ludger Deitmer
Institute Technology and Education, University of Bremen, Germany.
Suresh Kumar Dhameja
Colombo Plan Staff College for Technician Education, Manila,
Philippines.
lviii Contributors
Joachim Dittrich
Institute Technology and Education, University of Bremen,
Germany.
Bill Empey
Prism Economics and Analysis, Toronto, Canada.
Kathleen Fennessy
Faculty of Education, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
Kathleen Ferguson
Martin Fischer
Gail FitzSimons
Gaudêncio Frigotto
University of the State of Rio de Janeiro and Fluminense Federal University, Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil.
Richard Gagnon
Faculté des sciences de l’éducation, Université Laval, Quebec City, Canada.
Lavinia Gasperini
Natural Resources Management and Environment Department, Food and
Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy.
Theodora Josue Tesoro Gayondato
Colombo Plan Staff College for Technician Education, Manila, Philippines.
Peter Gerds
Michael Gessler
Jan Geurts
Chair Pedagogics of Professional Development, The Hague Technical University,
Netherlands.
Chair on Youth, Education and Society, Brasilia Catholic University,
Brazil.
Annette Gough
School of Education, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
Berit Graubner
Freelance Slavist and Anglicist, Stuttgart, Germany.
Contributors lix
Kenneth Gray
College of Education, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, United States
of America.
Andy Green
Institute of Education, University of London, United Kingdom.
International Education and Resource Network, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Philip Grollmann
Peter Grootings
European Training Foundation, Turin, Italy.
W. Norton Grubb
Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley, United States of
America.
Martin Gustafsson
Research Triangle Institute International, Pretoria, South Africa.
Hugh Guthrie
National Centre for Vocational Education Research, Adelaide, Australia.
Barry J. Hake
Centre for Learning in Organisations, School of Education, Leiden University,
Netherlands.
Budd L. Hall
Office of Community-Based Research, University of Victoria, Canada.
Ron Hansen
Faculty of Education, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
Marcelle Hardy
Education Department, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada.
John Hart
Scottish Qualifications Authority, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Christian Harteis
Institute for Educational Science, Regensburg University, Germany.
Michael W. Harvey
Special Education Department, Teachers College, Ball State University, Muncie,
United States of America.
Sandra Haukka
Centre for Learning Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane,
Australia.
lx Contributors
Joshua D. Hawley
College of Education and Human Ecology, Ohio State University, Columbus,
Emily Hazelman
Lars Heinemann
Walter R. Heinz
Graduate School of Social Sciences, University of Bremen, Germany.
Ulrich Heisig
Institute Labour and Economy, University of Bremen, Germany.
Faculty of Education Policy and Leadership, University of Maryland, College Park,
LuAnn Hiniker
University of Minnesota Extension Service, Rochester, United States of America.
David Hoey
WorldSkills International, Haarlem, Netherlands.
Astrid Hollander
and Training, Bonn, Germany.
Keith Holmes
Sussex School of Education, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom.
Büro für Organisationsentwicklung und Berufsbildung, Berlin, Germany.
Phillip Hughes
Centre for UNESCO, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
Richard Huisinga
Department of Education and Psychology, University of Siegen, Germany.
Nancy L. Hutchinson
Alex Inglis
Cindy Marie Isaak-Ploegman
Learning Assistance Centre, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
Laila Iskandar
Community and Institutional Development, Cairo, Egypt.
Contributors lxi
Claudia Jacinto
UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning, Buenos Aires,
Argentina.
Ronald L. Jacobs
Center on Education and Training for Employment, Ohio State University,
Columbus, United States of America.
David Johnson
Lina Kaminskienė
International Relations Department, Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts,
Kaunas, Lithuania.
Lyle Kane
Tom Karmel
Zuki Karpinska
Peter Kearns
Global Learning Services, Canberra, Australia.
School of Education, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya.
Myong Hee Kim
Kenneth King
Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Vasiliy P. Kosyrev
College of Engineering Pedagogics, Moscow State University of Agricultural
Engineering, Russian Federation.
Boris Kotsik
UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education, Moscow, Russian
Federation.
Foreign Languages Department, Moscow State University of Agricultural
Engineering, Russian Federation.
Andre Kraak
Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa.
Petr F. Kubrushko
Moscow State University of Agricultural Engineering, Russian Federation.
lxii Contributors
Joachim Lapp
Johanna Lasonen
Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
Jon Lauglo
Department of Educational Research, Faculty of Education, University of Oslo,
Norway.
Uwe Lauterbach
Centre for Planning and Financing in Education, German Institute for International
Educational Research, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Marvin Lazerson
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States of America.
Elenice Monteiro Leite
TVET Consultant, São Paulo, Brazil.
Tom Leney
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, London, United Kingdom.
Jun Li
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada.
Antônio Almerico Biondi Lima
Ministry of Labour and Employment, Department of Qualification, Brasilia, Brazil.
Michael Long
Fernando Augusto Moreira Lopes
International Metalworkers’ Federation, Geneva, Switzerland.
Phil Loveder
Jingwen Lu
Huaibei Coal Industry Teachers College, China.
Lianwei Lu
TVET Teacher Training Center of the Province Shandong, Shandong University of
Technology, Zibo, China.
Norman Lucas
School of Lifelong Education and International Development, Institute of
Education, University of London, United Kingdom.
Richard L. Lynch
College of Education, University of Georgia, Athens, United States of America.
Contributors lxiii
Lucı́lia Regina Machado

UNA University Centre, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Jeanne MacKenzie
Rupert Maclean
Karen Magro
Faculty of Education, University of Winnipeg, Canada.
Shyamal Majumdar
Naing Yee Mar
National Centre for Human Resources Development, Amman, Jordan.
Natalia Matveeva
Simon McGrath
UNESCO Centre for Comparative Education Research, University of Nottingham,
United Kingdom.
Elspeth McOmish
Formerly Section for Technical and Vocational Education and Training, Education
Sector, UNESCO, Paris, France.
Vinay Swarup Mehrotra
Pandit Sunderal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education, National
Council of Educational Research and Training, Bhopal, India.
Frans Meijers
Chair Pedagogics of Professional Development, The Hague Technical University,
Netherlands.
Marinilzes Moradillo Mello
Secretariat of Education of Guarulhos, São Paulo, Brazil.
Louise Ménard
Education Department, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada.
Rita Meyer
Department of Education, Helmut Schmidt University – University of the Federal
Armed Forces, Hamburg, Germany.
lxiv Contributors
Jing Mi
College of Vocational and Technical Education, Tianjin University, China.
Félix Mitnik
Agency for the Economic Development of Córdoba, Argentina.
Alexandra de Montrichard
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, United States of America.
Phoebe Moore
European Studies Research Institute, University of Salford, Manchester, United
Kingdom.
Lars Moratis
CSR Academy, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Hugh Munby
L. Efison Munjanganja
Anna Muravyeva
Centre for Vocational Education and Training Studies, Moscow, Russian
Federation.
Joshua A. Muskin
United States Agency for International Development, Rabat, Morocco.
Radhika Naidu
Seveci Naisilisili
Christine Newton
Prism Economics and Analysis, Toronto, Canada.
Pam Nilan
Faculty of Education and Arts, School of Humanities and Social Sciences,
University of Newcastle, Australia.
Peter Noonan
Toshio Ohsako
Freelance Consultant, Stockholm, Sweden.
Moses O. Oketch
Contributors lxv
Olga Oleynikova
Centre for Vocational Education and Training Studies, Moscow, Russian
Federation.
Koon Ong
Bernd Overwien
Institute of Social Sciences and Historical-Political Education, Faculty of
Humanities, Technical University of Berlin, Germany.
Robert Palmer
Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Man-Gon Park
Division of Electronic, Computer and Telecommunication Engineering, College of
Engineering, PuKyong National University, Busan, Republic of Korea.
Julia Paulson
Margarita Pavlova
Griffith Institute for Educational Research, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.
Mohan Perera
Formerly Section for Technical and Vocational Education and Training, Education
Sector, UNESCO, Paris, France.
Enrique Pieck
Research Institute for the Development of Education, Ibero-American University,
Mexico City, Mexico.
Pundy Pillay
Freelance Economist, Randburg, South Africa.
Karen Plane
Centre for Research in Education Equity and Work, University of South Australia,
Adelaide, Australia.
Hendrik van der Pol
UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Montreal, Canada.
Rose-Anne Polvere
Peter Poschen
Policy Integration Department, International Labour Organization, Geneva,
Switzerland.
George Preddey
Tertiary Education Consultant, Wellington, New Zealand.
lxvi Contributors
John Preston
School of Education, University of East London, United Kingdom.
Robert A. Putnam
Department of Workforce Education and Development, Southern Illinois
University, Carbondale, United States of America.
Muhammad Ashraf Qureshi
TVET Consultant, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Viliame Rabici
India First Foundation, New Delhi, India.
Marise N. Ramos
Faculty of Education, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and Joaquim Venâncio
Health Polytechnic School of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Felix Rauner
TVET Research Group, University of Bremen, Germany.
Robert D. Renaud
Department of Educational Administration, Foundations and Psychology,
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
Jay W. Rojewski
College of Education, University of Georgia, Athens, United States of America.
Klaus Ruth
Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
Avant Kumar Sacheti
Pandit Sunderal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education, National
Council of Educational Research and Training, Bhopal, India.
Miriam Saunders
Peter H. Sawchuk
Klaus Schaack
Capacity Building International (InWEnt), Magdeburg, Germany.
Grazia Scoppio
Department of National Defence, Canadian Defence Academy, Kingston,
Canada.
Contributors lxvii
Jean Searle
Terri Seddon
Chandra Shah
Alison Shilela
Faculty of Education, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, United Kingdom.
Madhu Singh
UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, Hamburg, Germany.
P.P.G. Lionel Siriwardene
UNESCO Consultant, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Erica Smith
School of Education, University of Ballarat, Australia.
Georg Spöttl
John Stanwick
Deyu Sun
College of Educational Science, Anhui Normal University, China.
Isimeli W. Tagicakiverata
Manfred Tessaring
European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, Thessaloniki,
Greece.
Natalia Tokareva
UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education, Moscow, Russian
Federation.
Ligaya Valmonte
Tapio Varis
Faculty of Education, University of Tampere, Finland.
lxviii Contributors
Karina Veal
Antoaneta Voikova
Ministry of Education and Science, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Erik de Vries
Human Resources and Social Development Canada, Gatineau, Canada.
Tracey Wallace
Richard Walther
International Consultant, Saint-Rémy-Lès-Chevreuse, France.
Patrick Werquin
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris, France.
Anneke Westerhuis
Centrum voor Innovatie van Opleidingen, ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.
David N. Wilson
Wolfgang Wittig
Aihua Wu
Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China.
Rachel Yarrow
Michael F.D. Young
Maja Zarini
Zhiqun Zhao
Institute of Technology and Vocational Education, School of Education Technology,
Beijing Normal University, China.
Adrian Ziderman
Economics Department, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
National Dissemination Center for Career and Technical Education, Columbus,
Karen F. Zuga,
School of Teaching and Learning, College of Education, Ohio State University,
Columbus, United States of America.
Foreword
TVET for the Sustainability of Human Kind
The New Economy is creating new opportunities as well as new challenges and
uncertainties. Although the right to well-being is entrenched in the Universal Decla-
ration of Human Rights, millions of people today are living in conditions of extreme
poverty, which deny them the opportunity to exercise these fundamental rights. I
would like to draw from the reflection made by the Family Care Foundation regard-
ing what the world would look like if it were reduced to the size of a village of 100
people. According to their analysis: 80 people would live in sub-standard housing;
67 would be unable to read; 50 would be among the malnourished and one dying
of starvation; 33 would be without access to a safe water supply; 39 would lack
access to improved sanitation—and five would control 32% of the entire wealth.
This unequal distribution of education and wealth is the root cause of many of the
problems facing the world today. It is our business to remedy this situation before
we come to regret not having remedied it. Education and training have a key role to
play in this regard.
The former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, repeatedly
reminded us that education is the key to unlocking the cage of human misery; the
key to delivering the potential of every human being; the key to opening up a fu-
ture of freedom and hope. There is a general consensus that education can pave
the way to freedom from poverty and hunger. Even primary education by itself
has a number of positive effects on development: an increase in productivity in
the formal and informal sectors of the economy; a positive effect on innovation in
agriculture; a decrease in birth rates; and an improvement in health and nutrition—
educated people are healthier because they are more likely to eat a properly bal-
anced diet.
The Bonn Declaration on Learning for Work, Citizenship and Sustainability, re-
sulting from the UNESCO Conference ‘Learning for Work, Citizenship and Sustain-
ability’ in October 2004, states that technical and vocational education and training
(TVET) is the master key that can alleviate poverty, promote peace, conserve the
environment, improve the quality of life for all and help to achieve sustainable de-
velopment.
Work is a major feature in most people’s lives. Not only does it provide them
with the means of survival in terms of food, clothing and shelter, but the type of
lxix
lxx Foreword
work undertaken by individuals and groups also has a major impact on their self-
identity, social status, standard of living and quality of life. TVET is currently faced
with major implications posed by the displacement of the traditionally strong focus
upon so-called manual work in favour of mental work—the shift from the Industrial
Age to the Information Age. The meaning and practice of work are also changing as
globalized networks of production and trade spread across the globe. The boundaries
between manual and mental work are fading away and becoming problematic, as
many traditional forms of work, and preparation processes for learning to work,
undergo change.
TVET is concerned with the acquisition of knowledge and skills for the world
of work to increase opportunities for productive work, sustainable livelihoods, per-
sonal empowerment and socio-economic development in knowledge economies. To
increase their chances for employability, young people and adults need skills that are
adaptable and relevant to the demands of today’s societies, which require individu-
als to possess a combination of knowledge, practical and social skills and positive
attitudes and the ability to adapt to rapidly changing work environments.
There is a timely need to re-examine important matters relating to the changing
world of work, such as educational and training institutions, learning processes,
necessary competencies and effects upon labour markets, school-to-work transition,
the role of gender, matters of equality and equity, the respective roles of government,
business, industry and trade unions, the dominant didactics for learning a profession,
the assessment of competencies, declining birth rates and the ageing workforce,
amongst many others. This is merely a brief listing of aspects that are examined and
documented in this Handbook.
There are great expectations that TVET can contribute to the achievement of
the Millennium Development Goals relating to Education for All by overcoming
the long-existing disparity between North and South, reducing poverty and pro-
moting social inclusion. However, its widespread implementation requires consid-
erable investments. Consequently, when planning for TVET, policy-makers and
decision-makers must be able to make informed decisions that are supported by
evidence-based information. There is, unfortunately, a paucity of evidence-based
information about TVET. This Handbook, therefore, will start to fill that critical
information gap by re-examining the world of work and its diverse aspects and doc-
umenting them in order to provide the best answers and best practices to improve
TVET. It should assist those involved in TVET at any level in making informed
decisions.
For the first time in the history of TVET an important reference tool has been pro-
duced that provides a very comprehensive coverage of research, policy and practice
within a single source. Through this seminal contribution, the UNESCO-UNEVOC
International Centre has been successful in capturing much of the knowledge of
the world’s leading experts in the field for the benefit of future generations. As the
Assistant Director-General of UNESCO, I am very encouraged by this collaborative
scholarly effort. It is through initiatives such as these that the status of TVET will
be enhanced so that it can fully play its role as an enabling instrument for eco-
nomic prosperity and social development. I commend Rupert Maclean, Director of
Foreword lxxi
the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre, for spearheading this project which

also assists UNESCO in contributing to critical reflection in education and training
and to capture, preserve and share knowledge for the betterment of humankind.
Assistant Director-General for Education Nicholas Burnett

UNESCO, Paris
Introduction
1 Background: The Study of Work and Occupations
The interest of researchers in various academic disciplines of study, in work, oc-

cupations and employment-related areas is long standing. In the case of sociology,
for example, it has existed since the beginning of the discipline’s history in the
mid-nineteenth century. Emile Durkheim (1933), in his first major work entitled
The Division of Labour, first published in 1893, examined the relationship between
employment in modern industrial society and the creation of social order. It is both
natural and logical that this should be the case, because work is a central activity
in the lives of most people and all societies. However, it is only since the research
undertaken at the University of Chicago, particularly by Everett Hughes and his
associates from about the mid-1940s, that occupational sociology has achieved in-
dependent status as an area of study within sociology. Before this time, despite the
large and often rich body of empirical studies that had been accumulated over the
nineteenth century, the content of this area was decentralized amongst a wide range
of subject areas within sociology, such as industrial sociology, rural sociology or
demography.
In the United Kingdom and continental Europe interest in sociological aspects of
the world of work can be traced back over approximately two centuries, an exami-
nation of important aspects of this area being found in the writings of various social
philosophers, economists, historians and (later) sociologists. In 1776, for example,
the father of classical economics, Adam Smith (1937), published a book called An
Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of the Nations in which he ex-
plored the effect of the division of labour on the productivity of labour. As part of
his analysis, Smith examined the social impact of changed production methods on
various occupational groups and the broad society.
Some early sociologists, such as the founding fathers of the discipline, Marx,
Weber and Durkheim, examined work in a relatively broad sense, largely focus-
ing upon a study of the labour force and alienation, which they regarded as being
particularly important. Only to a limited extent did they undertake a study of any
particular occupation, trade or profession. Emile Durkheim (1933), in The Division
of Labour, examined and emphasized the importance of changes in the division
lxxiii
lxxiv Introduction
of labour and the effect this would have upon the move from a state of mechanical
solidarity to that of organic solidarity within a society; Karl Marx (1961, orig. 1846)
stressed the fundamental importance of labour in human history and in helping to
define the humanness and identity of mankind; and both he and Max Weber (1947,
orig. 1922) examined the relationship between work and alienation, Marx being
primarily concerned with the alienation of factory workers while Weber expanded
the concept of rationalization. Weber also undertook a detailed study of particular
occupations, including the political, the scientific, the professional and the Chinese
literati.
Some other precursors of modern sociology who showed a particular interest
in the study of work and/or occupations include: Frederic Le Play (1937) who,
in his mammoth six volume work entitled The European Working Classes, under-
took empirical studies of the life and working conditions of various occupational
groups; Charles Booth (1902) who organized investigations into the Life and Labour
of the People of London; De Mann’s (1929) studies of the manual worker; and
Dreyfuss’s (1938) work on the salaried employee.
In the United States, the development of the sociology of occupations appears
to have occurred almost as a by-product of the work of Robert Park (1925) and his
associates at the University of Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s. As part of their
major interest in the ecological and social integration of various groups living in
inner city, ghetto-type areas of Chicago (see Wirth, 1928), Park and his fellow re-
searchers studied a variety of low status, often marginal occupations such as the
hobo (Anderson, 1923), the prostitute (Donovan, 1920), the taxi-dance-hall girl
(Cressy, 1932) and the professional thief (Sutherland, 1937); and generally adopted
a social-psychological and social-interactionist approach to the occupation studied.
They were interested in what Everett Hughes calls ‘the dirty work in society’, and
the ways in which the practitioners of such work were able to overcome or control
the problems and tensions associated with it.
Some went beyond this narrow focus on low-status work to study various more
respectable occupations whose practitioners were not concentrated in the inner city
areas. Examples are the studies undertaken on sales staff in shops (Donovan, 1974a,
orig. 1929) and the school-teacher (Donovan, 1974b, orig. 1938).
Later studies undertaken by Mayo and Lombard (1943), and by those involved
with the famous ‘Hawthorn studies’, widened existing approaches to the study of
work and occupations. These studies were concerned with important aspects of in-
dustrial sociology, such as the study of work organizations, industrial relations and
human relations in industry; and they adopted a psycho-sociological approach to the
study of men and women working in groups.
Academic interest in and research about the sociology of work and occupations
waned in both Europe and North America from the late 1930s until after the Second
World War. Although there are no doubt many reasons why this eclipse occurred,
one could speculate that it was partly due to a reduced interest in and confidence
about the value of the empirical, largely descriptive studies of occupations that had
been generated; and was also due to the fact that despite the large number of studies
Introduction lxxv
accumulated, no truly satisfactory theoretical framework for the study of work and
occupations had been developed. It was not until the work of Everett Hughes, a ma-
jor intellectual figure at the University of Chicago whose influence was substantial
from about the 1940s onwards, that a coherent sociological approach and theoretical
framework within which occupational groups could be analysed was developed.
This framework evolved as a result of many diverse types of work being compared
in order to identify the common denominators.
It was only after a plausible theoretical orientation was accomplished that
occupational sociology achieved the academic status of becoming a sub-field of
sociology, being taught as a separate field of study in many European and Amer-
ican universities. The growing importance of and interest in this area was clearly
indicated when a major international journal, Sociology of Work and Occupations,
specifically devoted to this area, was founded in 1974.
Everett Hughes (e.g. 1937, 1949, 1952, 1958a, 1958b, 1971) is the pivotal fig-
ure in occupational sociology. Hughes states his goal as being ‘to learn about the
nature of society itself from the study of occupations’, the more immediate pur-
pose of his study being to describe and understand the behaviour of the people
who are involved in different kinds of work (Soloman, 1968). Hughes’ influence
on this area of study has been enormous, for apart from his own insightful and
voluminous research output, virtually all of the major figures in occupational so-
ciology, such as Oswald Hall (e.g. 1948), Howard Becker (e.g. 1952), William F.
Whyte (e.g. 1943), Blanche Geer (e.g. 1966), Julian Roth (e.g. 1963) and Dan
Lortie (e.g. 1975), were either students of Hughes or were clearly influenced by
his ideas and theoretical approach to the study of work and occupations. Hughes
and those influenced by his approach to the study of work were responsible for
extending and diversifying the body of studies on occupations to include doctors,
lawyers, teachers, dance musicians, white-collar workers, railroad workers, soldiers,
ministers, cleaners, nurses, librarians, salesmen, boxers, ‘quacks’ and real-estate
agents.
As a field of study, the sociology of work and occupations may be defined as
the application of the principles and concepts of sociology to a particular social
phenomenon—that of occupational life and people at work. Nosow and Form (1962,
p. 3) argue that, as a sub-discipline within sociology, the sociology of work and
occupations is organized around five substantive themes. These are: (a) the social
nature of work and related phenomena such as leisure activities; (b) the analysis
of occupational structure and the causes of changes within it; (c) the study of in-
dividual occupations in terms of such matters as recruitment, training and careers;
(d) the ways in which the occupational structure and individual occupations artic-
ulate with other segments of society, such as in the case of occupations and sys-
tems of social stratification; and (e) the study of a particular occupation in order
to highlight a problem in the broader society, such as those who are employed in
the mass media and the operation of the political structure. These five areas are, of
course, not totally self-contained for there are substantial areas of overlap between
them.
lxxvi Introduction
Occupations may be viewed as a cluster of skills belonging to those who also

perform similar roles (Nosow & Form, 1962). The thing which identifies the occu-
pational role—and separates it from other roles—is that it is a specific activity with
a market value which people are paid to perform.
2 Why Study Work and Occupations?
Several interrelated reasons may be advanced to explain why the study of work
and occupations warrants the serious attention of researchers, policy-makers and
practitioners.
Work is an important and highly pervasive activity in the lives of many people,
for a substantial part of men’s and an increasing percentage of women’s lives are
spent in work-related activities. In view of this, many people have an interest and
curiosity about the occupational world. In addition, since work consumes so large a
part of the waking hours of many people, it follows that it should be of major interest
concerning our understanding of human behaviour (Pavalko, 1972). The task of the
sociologist is to develop concepts and categories which will assist in an explanation
of the organization of society, and the behaviour of people within it, and so the study
of work and occupations is of importance if this is to be achieved.
Occupations are also social roles. As such, specific occupations serve to locate
their incumbents in a matrix of other social roles and link them to others through
work-patterned interaction. When Hughes (1958a) refers to the ‘social drama of
work’, he draws attention to the fact that, just like the playing of other social roles,
work involves the process of social interaction with others.
Occupations are a fundamental link between individuals and the larger society,
because occupational roles are an important element of social structure and so affect
one’s participation in other segments of society. A person’s occupational status is,
for example, the main factor which affects his/her entry into and location within the
social structure and stratification system of their society (Chinoy, 1955).
It can also be demonstrated that occupational roles are a major source of personal
identity, for the nature of work leaves a deep and lasting influence on the lives and
personality of people. Hughes (1958a) emphasizes that the social relationships into
which the practitioner’s work throws him or her has a great influence on their oc-
cupational personality; while Waller (1961, orig. 1936), in reference to the work of
the professional, puts it this way:
Those who follow certain occupations are continually thrown into certain kinds of social
situations. These social situations call for, or are best met by, a certain kind of reaction on
the part of the [worker . . .] long practice in the social techniques enjoined upon one in a
profession makes these the deepest grooves, and at length they grow so deep that there is no
getting out (p. 376).
Following on from this point, it may be said that occupational groups represent dis-
tinctive sub-cultures that have a variety of shared norms and values into which the
individual is likely to be socialized. The occupational culture can have a substantial
Introduction lxxvii
effect on the individual’s outlook and identity. Sorokin (1947), in referring to the
socialization of the individual into the culture of a particular occupation, says that
each occupation tends to remake its members in its own image—the longer the in-
dividual stays in the same occupation the deeper being the transformation. Thus, an
individual’s occupation can be a good indication, in broad terms, of the individual’s
likely social construction of reality, since a wide variety of attitudes, values and
behaviour are correlated with a person’s occupation.
The study of work also assists us to understand how social life is possible, be-
cause occupational differentiation and independence help to explain how order is
maintained in the social structure. Work is an important basis of social cohesion and
integration in society, and results in what Durkheim (1933) called organic solidarity.
For all of these reasons, the study of work and occupations is an area of consid-
erable importance which is of both theoretical and empirical interest.
3 Technical and Vocational Education and Training
One important area of work and employment consists of those occupations which
centre on the application of technical and vocational skills to the world of work. It
is estimated that some 80% of occupations are of this type (UNESCO-UNEVOC &
UNESCO-UIS, 2006).
The field of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has changed
throughout history, usually in response to the demands made upon it by the societies
it serves. The current term—TVET—requires both definition and differentiation
from other designations. Vocational education and training are probably as old as
humanity, and knowledge, skills and belief systems have been transmitted from one
generation to the next since the origins of humankind.
Over time, various terms have been used to describe elements of the field that are
now conceived as comprising TVET. These include: apprenticeship training, voca-
tional education, industrial arts, technical education, technical/vocational education
(TVE), occupational education (OE), vocational education and training (VET), ca-
reer and technical education (CTE), etc. Several of these terms are commonly used
in specific geographical areas. For example, in Europe the term vocational education
and training (VET) is in common usage, while in the United States the current term
is career and technical education (CTE). In addition, many in the field are advocat-
ing the use of continuing vocational education and training (CVET). There are also
several different dimensions that can be used to define vocational education and
training—for example: its venue (company-based, apprenticeship, school-based),
character (initial, continuing), etc.
At the second International Congress on Technical and Vocational Education,
held in the Republic of Korea in 1999, UNESCO and ILO (in consultation with
their respective Member States and partner agencies) jointly agreed upon using the
term technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in future in order to
unite the field. There has also been discussion to add TVET to the UNESCO ‘Educa-
tion for All’ (EFA) and ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ (ESD) initiatives.
lxxviii Introduction
Strengthening and upgrading TVET is also regarded as important for achieving the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The definition of TVET adopted at the
Korean Congress is:
Those aspects of the educational process involving, in addition to general education, the
study of technologies and related sciences, and the acquisition of practical skills, attitudes,
understanding and knowledge relating to occupants in various sectors of economic and
social life (UNESCO, 1999).
The many designations for the field are probably a by-product of practitioners’
responses to changes in demand over time for skills and technologies used in
workplaces, the globalization of production, the increasing utilization of infor-
mation and communication technologies (ICTs) and related matters. Similarly,
changes in TVET policy and practice reflect differences in opinion among prac-
titioners and researchers. What has not changed, and appears to be increasing, is the
growing emphasis on lifelong learning—and re-learning—associated with TVET.
Silvern (1968) focused upon this issue while delineating the differences between
education and training. He characterized education as ‘womb to tomb, erection to
resurrection’, which can be interpreted to mean lifelong and continuing. His def-
inition of training mirrored its perception at that time as being supplemental to
education and focusing upon procedural learning. Subsequently, we have witnessed
a convergence between these two—previously distinct—fields.
According to Finch and Crunkilton (1999, p. 14), TVET refers to education and
training that prepares persons for gainful employment. TVET can take place either
in formal schools (i.e. kindergarten through to grade 12 or 13), or increasingly in
post-secondary community and/or technical colleges, or informally by means of
training at the workplace and increasingly by distance media. Many TVET edu-
cators favour the integration of academic and technical/technological curricula. The
education and training of so-called knowledge workers suggests that this integration
trend will predominate in the twenty-first century. This is because learning sophis-
ticated technological concepts requires a sound foundation in mathematics, science
and communications skills, and also an understanding of technology.
The study of vocational education has a long-standing history, beginning in the
1880s when urbanization, mechanization and industrialization became the major
forces driving societies.
By the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, nations
established skill formation institutions and organizations, together with branches
and sectors. Often, these institutions established close links to business and indus-
try. Other institutions became part of the public domain. Well-developed systems
of stratified skill formation developed in public institutions during the twentieth
century in Europe, while in English-speaking countries connections with business
and industry became stronger. The growth of industrial society, and subsequently
post-industrial society, witnessed the changing role of education and training insti-
tutions.
In this Handbook the overarching term TVET will be used to refer to all elements
of this particular field of study and practice.
Introduction lxxix
4 The Return of TVET to the Development Agenda1
TVET has fuelled phenomenal economic growth in some countries and fallen short
of expectations in others. Globalization is prompting governments to take renewed
interest in this branch of education, still perceived by some as second-class.
It is every politician’s nightmare: unemployed youths hanging out in the streets
with little chance of finding a job or going to university. While the parents of those
youths may digest their own dashed hopes for a better life, frustration can reach
revolt when that bleak horizon confronts the next generation.
For governments—rich or poor—the solution seems straightforward. Catch those
individuals before they become alienated by teaching them skills in secondary
school to carve their niche in the labour market. Of course, reality is never so simple,
which partly explains why TVET does not achieve acceptance by all. Principals
and teachers point to the heavy expenses required to develop curricula, train staff
and equip classrooms for these specialized subjects, which generally cost three
times more than academic courses. Yet, for many parents and students it remains
a ‘second-class’ education. The truth is that TVET provides training but not the
guarantee of a job. Even the world’s most sophisticated and expensive programme
is doomed to fail if the labour market cannot absorb the students, despite their skills
and expectations.
This backdrop has led many experts and policy-makers to conclude that training
is best left to the workplace, especially after the radical policy shift by the World
Bank, which was once considered TVET’s staunchest supporter. The very first
World Bank loan for education, granted in 1963, was for TVET, which accounted for
about 40% of all educational loans in Sub-Saharan Africa up until the early 1980s.
But in 1991, the Bank reversed gears, thanks to a policy paper, co-authored by Arvil
Van Adams. Widely respected, Adams retired from the Bank in January 2008 with
a single regret:
people took us—the policy—too much at face value. The easy message of our policy was
that TVET is not a good investment but that ignores the nuance of what we said. We argued
for a shift away from heavy investment in workshops, instructor training and curriculum in
order to invest resources into policy development. The point was not to do away with TVET
but to reform the policy process (Adams in UNESCO, 2005, p. 2).
In view of the impact that the World Bank’s paper had in the following decade over
policy leading to loans for TVET drying up, Arvil Van Adams was invited to write a
Prologue to this International Handbook in which he reviews the non-governmental
delivery of TVET in Sub-Saharan Africa.
4.1 A Time-Bomb
But few appreciated the nuance of Adam’s analysis and TVET virtually disappeared
from the international aid agenda. The World Bank began investing heavily in pri-
mary education at the expense of TVET, which now accounts for just 8–9% of
lxxx Introduction
educational spending. International strategies intended to reduce poverty completely

ignored the need to develop skills. As Riordan of the ILO puts it:
We are now seeing a skills-divide emerging with the least-developed countries falling fur-
ther and further behind, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (Riordan in
UNESCO, 2005, p. 2).
To this may be added ‘a time-bomb waiting to happen as hundreds of thousands

more youth finish primary school and look for secondary education or work oppor-
tunities which do not always exist’ (Iwamoto in UNESCO, 2005, p. 2). In many
of the least-developed countries, pupils have little chance of either pursuing their
schooling or finding a job. ‘So we advocate a new vision of vocational education
that focuses on practical or “life skills” integrated at the primary or secondary levels,
depending upon the country’s resources’ (Iwamoto in UNESCO, 2005, p. 2).
4.2 A Growing Interest
In countries rich and poor there is a growing interest in TVET. ‘Countries realize
that it’s a means to jumping on the bandwagon of globalization. This is reflected by
the tremendous shift of employment from the United States and Europe to India and
China, where you have such highly skilled work forces. By substantially investing
in TVET, these countries laid a major plank in their economic foundations’ (Perera
in UNESCO, 2005, p. 2).
For UNESCO, TVET goes beyond the narrow confines of economic planning. It
is part of a larger vision for promoting sustainable development. Since its founding,
UNESCO has been developing recommendations and organizing policy debates,
while serving as a policy advisor for governments trying to reform or create voca-
tional education systems. As UNESCO notes:
In the past, there was a supply-side vision, which created serious problems for developing
countries. Either they invested heavily in trying to import foreign models of higher educa-
tion, which produced a surplus of white-collar expectations. Or they tried to set up highly
specialized training schools, which didn’t correspond to labour needs. Today, the goal is
to teach students to adapt to changing working conditions, instead of locking them into
specific jobs and skills (Perera in UNESCO, 2005, p. 2).
Unfortunately, these new directions do not come with any road maps. As Fred Fluit-
man of the ILO says: ‘secondary education systems are pretty much the same. But
every TVET programme is different and just about every government is constantly
trying to tinker with it’ (UNESCO, 2005, p. 3).
In short, constant innovation is a key ingredient in the reform process. If done
properly, the results can be spectacular.
The Republic of Korea is an example of how TVET can fuel stellar economic
growth. While no model should be emulated, the Korean experience offers key
lessons. First, the government took a sequenced approach to education. Money did
not start flowing into TVET until the country had nearly achieved universal pri-
mary education. By design or accident, major investing began in the early 1980s,
Introduction lxxxi
just as labour shortages started to pinch the economy. To make the ‘big push’ into
export-oriented manufacturing, construction and service-oriented sectors, the coun-
try needed a new stream of skilled workers.
At the same time, policy-makers in the Republic of Korea were beginning to
be alarmed by a growing appetite for higher education. People would become
‘over-educated’, expecting white-collar jobs in an economy thirsting for new sources
of skilled labour. By expanding TVET, the government planned to satisfy its fore-
casted labour needs while reducing pressure on universities to enrol more students.
Today, in the Republic of Korea, about 40% of secondary students are enrolled
in TVET. Yet, it is still perceived as a second-class education! So the government is
trying to open pathways to higher education. First, TVET students are now getting a
healthy dose of academic subjects so that they can apply for a place in university. In
some schools, academic and vocational students share as much as 75% of a common
curriculum. The government is also channelling public and private investment into
new post-secondary training institutes to kill the myth that TVET is an academic
‘dead-end’.
The ultimate challenge lies in keeping abreast with technological change. To keep
curricula relevant, the plan is to tighten links to the private sector. For example, the
Republic of Korea is now experimenting with its own version of Germany’s famous
‘dual system’, which traces its roots back to post-war reconstruction. It has opted
for a ‘2+1’ programme, combining two years of classroom studies with one year of
apprenticeship.
4.3 Promoting Partnerships
Similar reforms are taking place in China, where a third of all secondary students
are enrolled in vocational schools, according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
However, it is difficult to draw parallels between the two countries. Whereas a labour
shortage shaped the Republic of Korea’s policy reform, China is grappling with a
labour surplus, with job creation lagging behind the growing economy. And while
the Republic of Korea had the luxury of tailoring a new system to foreseen needs,
China must overhaul an antiquated machine.
To do so, China has found an ally in the private sector. Private companies are
providing finance, materials, apprenticeships and guidance as representatives sit on
school advisory boards. These partnerships reflect a key element of the Chinese
vision of lifelong learning: schools will develop and broaden students’ capacities
and the workplace will provide training (Hou in UNESCO, 2005, p. 3).
4.4 Open-Door Policy
Ironically, the great bastion of communism may be increasingly lured to the pri-
vate sector, while countries of the former USSR are not so keen to relinquish State
control of their TVET systems.
lxxxii Introduction
Here, the Czech Republic is doing well. This is one of the few countries where
vocational education enjoys a prestigious reputation. About 75% of secondary stu-
dents are enrolled in TVET, compared to 25% who attend purely academic schools.
Instead of abandoning the system to market forces, the government has given
greater freedom to principals and teachers to update curricula and introduce new
occupational fields, as opposed to the specific skills associated with a particular job
(Klenha in UNESCO, 2005, p. 3).
Another major selling point is the ‘open-door’ policy to higher education. All
secondary students can take the Maturita examination, which is a pre-requisite for
university entrance examinations. In addition, some of the new post-secondary train-
ing institutes (set up over the past ten years) allow students to transfer directly into
universities.
The Russian Federation is also planning to decentralize its TVET system, permit-
ting regional governments to administer their own programmes. But it is not an easy
task. Most of the schools can barely be called educational institutions. ‘But they do
keep youth off the street and provide at least one member of a family with a hot meal
every day. The State’s TVET schools are one of the few remaining welfare institu-
tions for young people and poor families’ (Grootings in UNESCO, 2005, pp. 3–4).
Previously two-thirds of Russian workers were trained in elementary vocational
schools and 22% of the population have a secondary vocational education, which is
1.5 times higher than those with a college education.
4.5 Finding Funds

Ways are being discussed to enable TVET students to pursue higher education or
training. New internship programmes might also dynamize the system. ‘The prob-
lem lies in finding the money. The private sector is too disorganized for any serious
partnership [and so] the State must invest in this generation and the country’s future’
(Grootings in UNESCO, 2005, p. 3).
Governments far poorer than the Russian Federation are doing just that. Botswana,
Ghana and Kenya have been shouldering the burden since World Bank loans dried
up in the 1990s. Instead of setting up a separate stream of specialized schools, these
countries have ‘vocationalized secondary education’. While the curriculum remains
academic in nature, between 15 and 30% of courses focus on practical subjects like
agriculture, management and entrepreneurialism.
The aim is to redress the imbalance between the aims of a purely academic sec-
ondary education and the needs of society.
4.6 Investing in Future Generations
UNEVOC has published a series of reports evaluating the impact of vocationaliza-

tion in Sub-Saharan Africa (Lauglo & Maclean, 2005). There has been tremendous
political support for these courses in Kenya, Ghana and Botswana. Botswana, in
Introduction lxxxiii
particular, has made huge investments to introduce information processing and com-
puter skills at the secondary level.
Ironically, the problem may lie with the high hopes and expectations raised by
these courses. Parents are rushing to enrol their children in classes that are supposed
to lead to jobs. Demand is so high that it is politically impossible to contain the
new curriculum to a few regions where it might be tested and refined. As a result
precious resources might have been spread too thin.
The bottom line is that about 80% of jobs in poorer countries require some form
of vocational skills. The urgent challenge is therefore to bridge the demand for jobs
with the actual needs of society. Politically, governments cannot afford not to invest
in the skills of future generations.
4.7 Example: Rebuilding in the Arab States
UNESCO is preparing plans to rebuild the vocational education system in Iraq once
the security situation has stabilized. Close to US$3 million in extra-budgetary funds
have been recently earmarked for this purpose and additional funds are promised.
UNESCO is also increasingly active with TVET projects in other Arab States,
which are trying to reduce their reliance on expatriate workers. For example, over
the past five years, UNESCO has been assisting Libya to vocationalize its entire
secondary education system and revise the curricula of post-secondary training in-
stitutes. In Bahrain, where 65–70% of secondary students are enrolled in TVET,
the government has financed a UNESCO project to create a ‘centre for excellence’,
providing specialized teacher-training services and lifelong-learning programmes
for adults.
4.8 Global Trends in Technical and Vocational Education

Globally, almost 50 million students were enrolled in technical and vocational edu-
cation in 2002. Nine out of ten were enrolled at the upper secondary level, typically
designed to serve youth aged 15–20 years.
The global average is that one in five upper secondary students is enrolled in
technical and vocational programmes. However, the enrolment rates vary widely by
regions. In Europe and East Asia, including China, such programmes account for 50
and 33%, respectively, of upper secondary enrolment. In the other regions, technical
and vocational enrolment is far less common. In Africa and South America, the
share is less than 20%, and in North America and West Asia less than 10 and 4%,
respectively (Fig. 1).
Nevertheless, it should be noted that, in the last decade, secondary enrolments
have skyrocketed world-wide. From 1998 to 2006 alone, the number of secondary
students grew by 15%. However, this growth is largely due to increases in general
secondary students.
Public/private partnerships and the involvement of the corporate sector in TVET-
related programme activities mounted by UNESCO are becoming increasingly
lxxxiv Introduction
60
55
1998 2002
50
50
47
% of upper secondary enrolment
40
34
30
22 23
18 19 19
20
16
10
10 9
4
m
0
Africa North South East Asia West Asia Europe World
America America
Note: m = missing
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Global Education Digest, 2005.
www.uls.unesco.org
Fig. 1 Technical and vocational students as a share of total secondary enrolments, 1998 and 2002
important. For example, in December 2008, UNESCO signed a four-year partner-

ship agreement with the United Kingdom-based StratREAL Foundation2 to co-
operate in the field of entrepreneurship education in the Arab States region. The
objective of this partnership is to support decision-makers in the development of
educational policies and programmes that integrate entrepreneurship education in
the education systems of the Middle East and North Africa. The activity represents
a significant and sustainable contribution to skills development for youth across the
Arab States region.
The StratREAL Foundation provided extra-budgetary funds to UNESCO. The
activity is being managed by the UNESCO-UNEVOC, which developed the pro-
posal and submitted it to StratREAL through UNESCO Headquarters. Skills devel-
opment for the world of work needs to be tailored to the needs of the economy and
the labour market, given that the private sector is the recipient of the TVET-trained
workforce.
5 A Short History of TVET

To trace the origins and development of TVET is a daunting task, because one
must simultaneously trace the origins and development of humanity. The approach
used here is to develop cross-cutting themes. Among the themes chosen are tools,
Introduction lxxxv
technology, culture change, cultural transmission, specialization and fabrication.

Researching and writing history is possibly the most inexact science, because the
researcher and author must largely rely upon previously published sources. The
danger in reliance on such sources is that of repeating the biases of their authors,
since ‘history is rarely written by the losers’.
The history of TVET is difficult to trace because it has been embedded in a
plethora of other histories. That is to say, until the Middle Ages and the Industrial
Revolution, what we call TVET today was not considered very important by histo-
rians. Therefore, the researcher must cull many historical accounts in order to glean
snippets of TVET history. Having said this, not everyone will share the same enthu-
siasm for those snippets selected and analysed here. This is because what is deemed
important by one person may not necessarily be deemed important by others. With
these ground rules, we can now proceed to examine the origins and development of
TVET, as perceived by the editors of this Handbook.
5.1 A Historical Continuum to Explain Technological Change

Alvin Toffler (1981) situated technological change on a historical continuum that is
helpful in setting the context for this chapter. His three ages, or ‘waves’, began with
the Agricultural Revolution, which took place from about 8000 B.C. to A.D. 1700.
We ourselves suggest that Toffler should have included a hunting and gathering
stage preceding his first wave. We also suggest that Toffler’s Agricultural Revolution
could be divided into a subsistence phase, prior to 8000 B.C., in which families,
clans and tribes consumed what they produced, a feudal phase, and then the family
farm phase, which is now being displaced by the new ‘industrial’ model of an agro-
business phase. Toffler neglected to consider that his ages/waves overlapped in time
and space. The domestication of animals is also a feature of the development of
agriculture to which Toffler may have not given sufficient emphasis.
A report from the HapMap project, which built on the decoding of the human
genome in 2003, attributed gene changes in East Asians and Europeans 6,000–7,000
years ago to the spread of agriculture to Europe from the Near East at around the
same time that the shift to rice farming became widespread in China (Wade, 2006).
Another useful approach to understanding the origins and development of TVET
is to trace the development of tools and technologies and relate these to education.
Durant (1954) has suggested that a ‘stone in the fist’ may have been the first tool.
He also posited that fire led ‘to the fusing of metals, and the only real advance in
technology from Cro-Magnon days to the Industrial Revolution’ (ibid., p. 96). He
continued by noting:
a rock—sharp at one end, round at the other to fit the palm of the hand—became for
primeval man [sic] hammer, axe, chisel, scraper, knife and saw. [. . .] Gradually these spe-
cific tools were differentiated out of the one homogeneous form: holes were bored to attach
a handle, teeth were inserted to make a saw, branches were tipped with the coup-de-poing [a
sharp rock] to make a pick, an arrow or a spear, the rough-surfaced stone became a file; the
stone in a sling became a weapon of war that would survive even classical antiquity (ibid.,
p. 95).
lxxxvi Introduction
A word about gender and gender differentiation of skills is necessary. From earliest
pre-history in most cultures males dominated the hunting of game while females
dominated the gathering of wild foods and garment-making. Tool-making may have
been dominated by males, perhaps due to their body strength. However, in settled
agriculture considerable cultivation was undertaken by females, although it is likely
that agricultural implements may have been fabricated by males.
Toffler’s second age/wave was the Industrial Age, which he dated from A.D. 1700
to 2000. Tjaden (1995) observed that an important characteristic of this period was
the separation of goods production from consumption. Eventually, another impor-
tant characteristic was the division of production into the fabrication and assembly
of components, which led to the development of assembly lines. This ‘industrial
model’ also influenced the structure and organization of the education system. It is
important to realise that the transitions from one so-called age to another are: (a) not
cut-and-dried; (b) slow rather than abrupt; and (c) neither continuous nor complete.
It should be borne in mind that, according to Rifkin (1995), The End of Work
may reduce demand for many occupations, but persons will continue to be needed
to fabricate, maintain and repair most of the attributes of our civilization, at least
for the foreseeable future. This salient fact suggests that, in the transition from the
Industrial Age to the Information Age, education systems must make provision for
the education and training of both ‘traditional’ and ‘knowledge’ workers, rather than
an ‘either/or’ proposition. The abrupt termination of one type of education and its
replacement is not an option; rather, a lengthy transitional phase is anticipated.
Toffler’s third wave, called the Information Age, was said to have begun in
the United States in the mid-1950s, when ‘white-collar and service workers out-
numbered blue-collar workers’, according to Tjaden (1995). It is argued here that
Toffler’s paradigm appears somewhat simplistic because what actually seems to be
happening is the merger of attributes of previous ages/waves.
5.2 The Evolution of TVET
Education and training began in pre-history with the transmission of knowledge and
culture from one generation to the next. Culture is defined here as the beliefs, values
and technologies shared by a discrete group of people. Hostetter (1974, p. 209)
wrote that ‘the teaching of technology as part of man’s knowledge began when early
cave man taught his son to master the skills needed for survival’.
The use of tools, beginning with those made from flint, evolved as humans
evolved. Recent primate research has found that tool-making exists among some
primates and is transmitted to their young. In the pre-historic hunting and gathering
society, skills were passed from parent to child as members of small, usually related,
migratory groups. The transition from this stage to the settled cultivation of crops
marks the beginnings of civilization—and with it recorded history. Tools made this
transition possible and grew more diversified because of the transition. The educa-
tion and training that occurred is best embodied in the Chinese proverb: ‘Give a man
a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.’
Introduction lxxxvii
Specialization in societies and cultures most probably began during the sub-
sistence phase of the Agricultural Revolution, when sufficient surplus food was
amassed to enable some persons to ‘work’ in areas other than cultivation, hunting
or gathering. The first two socio-cultural specializations were likely the clergy and
teachers. Specialization probably paralleled the development of settled agriculture
and settlements.
Gallinelli explained that:
Children learned the skills of their parents by watching carefully and imitating the process
until an exact duplicate could be produced. This method of conscious-imitation was the
methodology by which crafts were ‘taught’ in one way or another until well into the 1400s
(1979, p. 19)
While ‘at first all of the simple tools, weapons, and religious and domestic objects
were formed by the people for their own use’ (ibid.), differentiation between so-
called ‘academic’ and ‘training’ teachers likely commenced with further specializa-
tion into builders, potters, leather tanners, armourers, wool, flax and cotton-spinners,
tailors, etc. In some cultures separate castes developed for specific trades—e.g. in
India the patel caste of leather-workers—while in what became ‘Western’ cultures
separate guilds developed in the fabrication and commercial fields. Each specific
group, caste, guild, etc., designated certain persons as educators/trainers, later called
meister (or master) in Germany, to supervise the learning of new entrants to their
field, known as apprentices. In contrast, training for the clergy mainly comprised
a shaman, priest, rabbi or guru, who instructed a group of students. The former
group evolved into the skilled trades, while the latter evolved into religious and,
subsequently, academic groups. Gallinelli noted that:
In ancient Jewish culture, the law required parents to teach boys a trade. The boys were to
go to the Rabbis for religious instruction in the mornings and learn the father’s trade in the
afternoon (1979, p. 20).
As tools became more complex, and the knowledge and skills to use them became
more specialized, parents and/or elders were no longer able to teach their children
the sum total of their knowledge. Gallinelli observed that ‘new social developments
went hand in hand with new technology and people no longer had to be the jacks-of-
all-trades of earlier times’ (1979, p. 19). An Asian example of these didactic changes
is provided by Clark, who quoted the fifth century B.C. philosopher Lao-Tse (also
known as Lao-tzu):
‘If you tell me, I will listen. If you show me, I will see. But if you let me experience, I will
learn.’ And so began one of the first active learning philosophies (Clark, 1999).
Eventually, their offspring were apprenticed to craftspersons or artisans with the

specialized skills and tools for particular trades. These craftspersons would impart
the craft at which (usually) they were an expert in exchange for unpaid, or low-paid,
work. As the system developed, apprentices began to live with the craftsperson, and
received subsistence until becoming accepted as tradespersons themselves. Formal
apprenticeship may have begun as early as 2000 B.C. to train scribes in Egypt.
lxxxviii Introduction
Subsequently, rules governing apprenticeships were included in the Code of Ham-

murabi in 1760 B.C. in Babylon.
Barlow adds that:
The rise of Athens was accompanied by an increase in the practice of trades required by the
growing city. A definite occupational classification developed, regulating various workers
into a caste system. The industrial workers, although free people, were generally of the
second class. Yet the work of the artisan is our best evidence of Greek achievement.
Throughout a long history, the craftsmen and artisans of Rome were composed of a
mixture of slaves and freemen. They acquired their skill in the only way possible, that is,
through family apprenticeship (1990, p. 6).
While early Christian monks also divided their days between manual labour and
prayer, the early Benedictines organized this regimen into seven hours of labour and
two hours of reading. Gallinelli noted that:
This requirement [. . .] meant that some monks spent their labors copying manuscripts and
the writing, illustrating and binding of the manuscripts led to the development of the craft
of bookmaking (1979, p. 20).
Gray and Herr noted that:

Owning a set of tools, which were scarce and therefore valuable, and knowing how to use
them became an important alternative to agriculture or domestic service. It was during these
times that the term ‘journeyman’ [sic] evolved, indicating that an individual owned a set of
tools, possessed the skills to use them, and was free to ‘journey’ to various jobs (1998,
p. 6).
Craftspersons ‘were eventually brought together by their common interest in a craft

to form social groups—and out of these evolved the crafts guilds of the Middle
Ages’ (Gallinelli, 1979, p. 19). A number of sources provide information on the
nature, function and history of the guilds, such as:
Guilds were associations in which, from the 12th century, people who worked in the same
trade or craft joined together in a town or city. Guilds wrote their own bylaws, rules that
were binding upon all members of the guild. These rules and regulations defined how things
were to be made and set ‘consumer-friendly’ prices (CEDEFOP, 2004).
While Gallinelli wrote that ‘printing was not invented until the 1400s’, one may note
the interesting co-incidence between:
the invention of moveable metal type, jikji, in Korea in 1377, and then 78 years later by
Gutenberg in Germany. [. . .] One can only wonder if the Korean invention of moveable
metal type was communicated to Europe, resulting in its re-invention by Gutenberg. Such
speculation is facilitated by the proximity to Korea of Kaifeng in China, which was the
beginning of the Silk Road which facilitated trade with Europe (Wilson, 2003, p. 19).
Barlow observes that:

The Renaissance, a period of about 250 years, began in the fourteenth century with a great
revival of learning—for the few. [. . .] During the whole of this wonderful and terrifying
period of contrasts and conflicts, we may find the stabilizing influence of industry, trade,
and craftsmanship. Society became dependent upon the new burgher class and the arts-and-
crafts guilds (1990, p. 7).
Introduction lxxxix
Guilds functioned to control entry to occupations, thereby protecting the income

earned by their skilled labour.
Guilds [. . .] were an important part in apprenticeship as they established the quality stan-
dards for the product and practice. During the peak of the guild system, which occurred
between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, the yeomen were protected by strict regulation
of hours, tools, prices, and wages (Clark, 1999).
In addition:
A strict hierarchy held sway throughout Europe under the guild system: apprentice, jour-
neyman, master. The title of master was the only written evidence of competence, while
‘certificates of apprenticeship’ confirmed completion of the first stage of training; [while]
the family generally paid the master a fee to cover the apprentice’s food and lodging. The
apprenticeship generally lasted from two to four years, and longer in very specialised occu-
pations (CEDEFOP, 2004).
Apprentices were either paid nothing or a small percentage of the wage structure set
by the guild. A graduated percentage payment system later developed and became
enshrined in legislation. It may be noted that:
The period of apprenticeship ended without a specialised examination when the apprentice
was ‘discharged’. Each trade or craft had its own customs for this ‘discharge’ and for the
former apprentice’s acceptance into the community of journeymen. Journeymen’s voca-
tional qualifications were recognised in other countries. Generally without family ties, they
travelled from place to place, to augment and broaden their skills by learning from masters
in other countries: an early form of occupational mobility in Europe. After journeymen
had acquired sufficient experience, they would apply to a guild for admission as masters
(CEDEFOP, 2004).
The guilds of craftsmen and small merchants in almost all medieval towns developed this
training system in the 14th and 15th centuries across Europe. The Guilds lost their enormous
social and economic significance with the demise of feudalism and in the period of proto-
industrialisation in the early 19th century (Frommberger & Reinisch, 2002, p. 81).
In the centuries that preceded the introduction of machine-made parts, craftsmanship of a

high order was required to manufacture accurate, durable clocks and watches. Such local
craft organizations as the Paris Guild of Clockmakers (1544) were organized to control the
art of clock-making and its apprenticeship. A guild known as the Clockmakers’ Company,
founded in London in 1630, is still in existence (Clark, 1999).
The increasing fragmentation of both production methods and the social system led to the
dwindling significance of guilds in the late 18th century. Their internal dissolution and their
final abolition, sanctioned by the French Revolution, was a stimulus for new organizational
and institutional concepts of vocational training. Since all intermediaries between the State
and individuals had been removed, and as the traditional craft-trade training forms were not
competitive, the State was itself obliged to develop and realise new concepts of vocational
training (Meyser, 2002, p. 126).
The Industrial Age, defined by Toffler, transformed the fabrication of goods by

craftspersons into the fabrication of components for assembly by other, less-skilled,
workers. The earliest manifestation of these changes in production began in England,
where the textile industry developed and displaced French and Belgian hegemony,
thus marking the rise of British economic and, subsequently, military development.
xc Introduction
The Industrial Revolution, which began in England around 1760, completed a development
whose seeds, both intellectual and tangible, had been sown in the pre-industrial era. In the
face of the flourishing textile industry, the prescriptive strength of the old economic order
could not resist the sudden growth of capitalism, and the importance of an apprenticeship
as a prerequisite for working or managing dwindled.
It is noteworthy that the Elizabethan Statute of Apprentices that dated back to 1563,
which approved and sustained the seven-year training period stipulated by guild code, re-
mained in force, at least on paper, until 1814. It was only at the culmination of industri-
alisation, starting in 1812, that there was parliamentary debate on the retention of the old
English economic order which, in practical terms, had long since become defunct. The old,
professionally oriented crafts and the country’s conservative, romantic bastion took a final
stand against the representatives of liberal economic thinking (Deissinger, 2002, p. 33).
Legislation to govern apprenticeship arrangements began in the 1600s in England

with ‘laws providing relief for the poor’ who ‘were given an opportunity to become
apprenticed to learn a trade,’ according to Gallinelli (1979, p. 20). Increasingly,
State intervention in Europe and later in North America began to encroach upon
the control of the guilds. Gallinelli notes that: ‘France established a system of trade
and technical schools as substitutes for the apprenticeship system.’ He also noted
that the German ‘apprenticeship system was not nearly as affected as were those of
England and France’, remaining ‘firmly placed within the guilds’ (p. 22).
Although the guilds in France were abolished during the French Revolution in
1791, ‘modern’ vocational education and training may date from the establishment
of the École des ponts et chaussées by Jean-Rodolphe Perronet in France in 1747.
This pioneer institution was the model for The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in
the United States of America. After the Revolution, the École polytechnique was
established in 1794 and both institutions established the TVET path followed by
France. There are other early institutions whose history is less well-known. One
example is given by Derivianko, who traced the development of TVET in Russia,
noting that ‘on 14 January 1701 [. . .] the first school of mathematics and navigation
was opened in Moscow by decree of Peter the Great, the Russian tsar and reformer’
(2004, p. 159).
While better known as philosophers of education, Jean-Jacques Rousseau
(1712–1778) believed it important to learn a trade; Johann Pestalozzi (1746–1827),
who has been called the ‘father of manual training’, advocated combining school
with workshop learning; and Friedrich Fröbel (1782–1852) focused upon creativity
and self-activity when establishing kindergartens in the 1800s. Educational reform
at the turn of the twentieth century drew from the writings of Pestalozzi and Fröbel
and came to be called ‘The New Education Movement’.
Barlow noted that ‘it would be late in the 1880s before the idea of combining
trade and academic education in the school was tried seriously’ (1990, p. 8). The
study of TVET also has a long-standing history, beginning in the 1880s when ur-
banization, mechanization and industrialization became the major forces driving
societies.
Derivianko indicated that:
In 1866, the Russian Technical Society was founded. [. . .] One of the departments of this
society was entirely responsible for managing primary vocational education and assisted
Introduction xci
in opening specialist educational institutions for training master craftsmen and workers in
Russia. [. . .] The Imperial Russian Technical Society developed the principles of specialist
education; it also created a number of awards for technical and vocational education and
mobilised public support for maintaining existing and opening new specialist educational
institutions (2004, p. 160).
Victor Karlovich Della Vos (1820–1890), Director of the Imperial Technical College
in Moscow, may be designated as the originator of the task analysis method for the
sequentialization of working knowledge in vocational didactics, which eventually
became the basis for competency-based TVET.3 Della Vos drafted the rudiments of
this idea in 1868, when he decided to introduce a compulsory work placement for
his engineering students to compensate for their lack of practical experience before
starting studies. His system mandated that:
Students had to complete six sequential courses in wood-turning, model carpentry, forging,
metal-turning, mechanics and mould-making. Course sequences were based on job and task
analyses from various occupational fields. This form of vocational learning gained inter-
national renown at the 1873 World Exhibition in Vienna under the name ‘Russian system’
(Wiemann, 2002, pp. 141–42).
Apprentices began by learning to perform and master simple tasks. In a precisely predeter-
mined sequence, the tasks gradually became more challenging. After its presentation at the
World Exhibition in Vienna in 1873, this method spread to many other European centres of
education and training (CEDEFOP, 2004).
Subsequent to the transfer of Della Vos’ system to Germany, it spread to France and
North America:
The World Exhibitions in Philadelphia in 1876 and Paris in 1878 also gave considerable at-
tention to vocational training and contributed to the dissemination of the production school
concept and the instructional workshop method. Indeed, by 1920, specialised institutes with
workshops had been founded everywhere in Europe where industrial potential was to be
accompanied by such measures (Meyser, 2002, p. 130).
Field (2001, p. 109) attributes the development of programmed instruction to

behaviourism, which arose from Thorndike’s doctoral research. He wrote that
Thorndike’s stimulus-response model ‘followed important parallels to Pavlov’s ear-
lier animal experiments’. He further noted that ‘it has been argued that Pavlov’s
work was taken up by Victor de la Vos [. . .] who presented his ideas on task analysis
as a basis for curriculum design at the Philadelphia Exposition.’
France founded new commercial and technical production schools after the loss of the war
against Germany in 1870/71. By the early 20th century an extensive school-based vocational
training system on several levels was in place. These numbered the six Écoles d’Arts et
Métiers, four Écoles Nationales Professionnelles and 70 Écoles Pratiques (Meyser, 2002,
p. 126).
Hanf describes the impact of Della Vos upon TVET, as follows:

In 2003, 135 years later, several hundred courses across Europe evidently adhere to the
principles expounded in 1868. Undoubtedly, the ‘training course’ is the most successful
and effective learning system in the short history of industrial vocational training. Its di-
dactic concept has merited an unprecedented dissemination across all European industrial
countries (2002, p. 15).
xcii Introduction
Della Vos’ impact was also attributed by SENAI in Brazil to the serie metódica
ocupaçionais [shopwork methodical series] developed by Ricardo Mange in 1934
and adopted by the Serviço Nacional de Aprendrizagem Industrial (SENAI). SENAI
has been replicated in nineteen other Latin American and two Caribbean nations
since its founding in 1942.
By the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, nations
established skill formation institutions and organizations, together with branches
and sectors. Often, these institutions established close links with business and
industry. Other institutions became part of the public domain. Well-developed
systems of stratified skill formation developed in public institutions during the
twentieth century in Europe, while in English-speaking countries connections with
business and industry became stronger. The growth of industrial society, and subse-
quently post-industrial society, witnessed the changing role of education and train-
ing institutions, with the establishment of national training institutions, national
training boards and, later, the development of regionally responsive and flexible
centres of expertise and research.
Several sources provide information on the origins of the present German ‘dual
system’.
craft trades again became the normal models of occupational training, thanks to the Hand-
werkerschutzgesetz (Craft Trade Workers’ Protection Act) of 1897 and the support of
policies favouring SME expansion. [. . .] In contrast to the advanced industrial nations of
England and France, this mentality prevailing in Germany guaranteed the survival of the
Meisterlehre (apprenticeship with a master craftsman).
A second characteristic of the German [dual] system is that the institution of the
Berufsschule (vocational school) has been a fixture in the vocational training landscape
since the end of the 19th century. This has enriched training content but also formally
dovetailed theoretical education with practice in a company. The craft trades asserted that
companies were the ‘correct’ learning location for vocational training. Berufsschulen arose
[. . .] in which craft trades played a leading role as the ‘model of German vocational ed-
ucation’, and the successful attempt to rehabilitate the German education system with the
help of ‘classical German vocational training theory’. However, the dual system is not an
educational theory construct. It emerged from the practical consideration that in-company
vocational training needed to be complemented (Deissinger, 2002, pp. 30–31).
Elsewhere during the nineteenth century, apprentices often attended ‘continuation

schools’ in the evenings or on Sundays. These repeated the curriculum taught at pri-
mary schools and imparted the theoretical knowledge needed for particular trades.
By the end of the nineteenth century, these schools had developed into ‘vocational
schools’. In addition to vocational education and training, students were also taught
citizenship skills.
Today, both elements are still part of apprenticeship: learning on the job and in vocational
school. That is why it is referred to as the ‘dual system’ of training (CEDEFOP, 2004).
With the improvement of the steam engine by James Watt in Scotland in 1765,
and its initial applications to the railways and textile industries, the Industrial Age
began. This gave the United Kingdom the impetus to dislodge continental European
domination of production and trade. The CEDEFOP study noted that:
Introduction xciii
The guild system was abolished—along with the traditional seven-year apprenticeship. Un-
trained, low-paid labourers operated the machinery in the factories. For many years, the
rapidly growing industries had little need for skilled workers, so young people received no
training (CEDEFOP, 2004).
In England, North America, Australia and elsewhere mechanics institutes developed

in the early 1800s, along with ‘charity schools’ to educate the poor. Barlow noted
that ‘the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen, which was founded [in
1785], had by 1821 embarked upon a full-scale educational program’ (1990, p. 10).
Gallinelli observed that ‘the Boston Asylum and Farm School founded in 1814 was
one of the earliest of the charity schools, and it provided education for orphaned
boys.’ Instruction was also provided ‘in one of several trades’ (1979, p. 23). He
further noted that:
The mechanic’s institutes and lyceums provided further education for their members in
both day and night school programs. Technical institutes were also established, such as the
Rensselaer Institute founded in 1824 (ibid.).
Perhaps the most significant government initiative for TVET was the Morrill Act,
signed by the United States President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, to establish
land-grant colleges ‘to teach subjects related to agriculture and mechanic arts
in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes’
(Gallinelli, 1979, p. 24).
Gallinelli also noted that ‘one offshoot of the movement [in the U.S.A.] to train
engineers was the development of the Manual Training Movement by John Run-
kle of The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Calvin Woodward of
Washington University’. Barlow added William Harris, Superintendent of Schools
in St. Louis, Missouri, and E.E. White, President of Purdue University, to this group
of educators (1990, p. 15). Gallinelli wrote that while they ‘were developing pro-
grams to train engineers’, they:
discovered that the engineering students lacked rudimentary skills in the use of tools and
knowledge of basic mechanics. They were impressed by the methods used by Victor Della
Vos [. . .] which were demonstrated at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876 (1979,
p. 25).
We have observed university engineering students in Brazil being taught workshop

skills by SENAI instructors in SENAI schools, which has taken this system even
one step further.
Barlow noted that:
the first school to offer specific trade training with supplementary studies directly related to
each trade was the New York Trade School, founded [. . .] in 1881.
In contrast to the plan of instruction of the New York Trade School, the Hebrew Techni-
cal Institute, founded in New York City in [. . .] 1883, offered a greater range of subjects of
a general nature. It may be classed more properly as a technical school rather than a trade
school (1990, p. 18).
In Ontario, Canada, John Seath, who studied TVET systems in Europe and the
USA and later became Superintendent of Education and developed modern tech-
nical education; and Newton Wolverton, who inaugurated the first Manual Training
xciv Introduction
department in 1886 at Woodstock College, played a similar role to that of Runkle

and Woodward. It is interesting that Woodstock College eventually became Mc-
Master University, presaging the academic and mission drift that has been affecting
TVET institutions in the late twentieth century.
The respective national association(s) of manufacturers advocated on behalf of
TVET from 1895 in the USA and 1897 in Canada. Both initiatives led to the promul-
gation of federal legislation to develop TVET. In Canada, the Technical Education
Act of 1897 provided for the establishment of technical schools, or the addition of
technical wings to existing high schools. Landmark legislation in the United States
was the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, which stayed in force until 1963. The establish-
ment of the Toronto Technical High School in 1891 also resulted from lobbying by
the Canadian Manufacturers Association and the Dominion and Labour Council. A
similar initiative in Brazil in 1942 by the Confederação Nacional da Indústria led
to the development of SENAI, initially in São Paulo, and subsequently on a national
basis.
Other advocates for TVET in the USA during the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries included John Dewey, Charles Prosser, David Snedden (Gallinelli, 1979,
p. 28), E.L. Thorndike (noted earlier) and Frederick Taylor, the ‘founding father’ of
industrial management and workforce education. While these advocates disagreed
about the methods and mechanisms for the promotion of TVET, they were in agree-
ment about the value of TVET. For example, Prosser ‘believed that vocational edu-
cation courses should not be taught by general educators and that vocational educa-
tion should remain separate from general education’. Dewey rejected the notion that
‘what was good for industry was good for the people’. Instead, he advocated that
educators should ‘use industry to make schooling more active and more meaningful
to students’ and that ‘education should provide the skills and attitudes for living in
an era of science and technology’ (Gallinelli, 1979, p. 28).
Also, in Canada, Australia and the United States of America, the large-scale
training provided for workers engaged in munitions and materials production during
the First World War was followed by TVET programmes and legislation that set the
stage for TVET developments in the 1920s and 1930s. These nations also devel-
oped similar relief and training programmes to alleviate the effects of the Great
Depression during the 1930s. Similar war-time training initiatives took place during
the Second World War, followed by the development of post-war TVET legislation
and system-development in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United
States of America.
During World War I, a system was proposed for on-the-job training that would provide more
consistent and efficient training in order to more quickly produce trained workers. In 1917,
in response to the need of 450,000 new workers by the Emergency Fleet Corporation of
the U.S. Shipping Board, Charles R. Allen developed a way of training shipbuilders, which
involved four steps: (1) SHOW or prepare, (2) TELL or present, (3) DO or apply, and (4)
CHECK or inspect. From Allen’s work and from research done by the Army during World
War I several principles of training instruction were developed:
r Training should be done within industry by supervisors who should be trained how to
teach.
r Training should be done in groups of nine to eleven workers.
Introduction xcv
r The job should be analysed before training.

r Break-in time is reduced when training is done on the job.
r When given personal attention in training, the worker develops a feeling of loyalty
(McCord, 1976, pp. 32–36).
A great deal of training system design originated during the Second World War in
Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Many
of the antecedents of present-day TVET systems owe their origins to this period.
The post-Second World War expansion of community and technical colleges in the
USA and Canada utilized wartime TVET lessons to build effective non-degree post-
secondary systems.
During World War II, the need for a method of fast and efficient training became urgent.
Training Within Industry, an advisory service formed by the National Defense Advisory
Commission, developed the systematic on-the-job training method called JIT (Job Instruc-
tion Training). There were four steps to this method:
r First, prepare the learner. Put him at ease, explain what the job is, and explain the im-
portance of the job.
r Second, give a step-by-step presentation of the job. Explain the what, when, how, why
and where of the job, then demonstrate them. Have the learner explain each step, then
let the learner demonstrate each step.
r Third, do the performance tryout. Have the learner do the steps under supervision.
r Fourth, follow-up. Inspect the work regularly (Hardman, 1963, p. 97).
According to Hardman (1963), JIT is useful primarily in teaching manipulative

skills, but could be disappointing with more complicated tasks. An advantage of JIT
is its flexibility; one variation has the teacher and learner switch roles. In order to
be successful JIT requires adequate supervision and uniform application throughout
the plant.
5.3 Important Trends and Changes in TVET
History has been defined as the extension of the past into the future. Thus, the inten-
tion of this International Handbook of Education for the Changing World of Work is
to do precisely that. Jacques Delors wrote that ‘the concept of learning throughout
life [. . .] emerges as one of the keys to the twenty-first century’. He further noted that
the concept ‘goes beyond the traditional distinction between initial and continuing
education [and] meets the challenges posed by a rapidly changing world’ (Delors
et al., 1996, p. 22).
Another recent trend is enrolment of recent university graduates at community
and technical colleges, to add occupation-specific credentials to their bachelor of
arts degrees which have not led to their employment. Since many of these (mainly
liberal arts) graduates are choosing TVET courses in the community and techni-
cal colleges, this trend—called reverse transfer—is important and is quite likely to
become even more pronounced in the years to come.
One trend, noted earlier, has been the impact of academic and mission drift upon
TVET. While these phenomena have probably always been operative, what seems
xcvi Introduction
to have changed during the past few decades has been the pace of these phenomena.
Notably, the transformation of ninety British polytechnics into universities in 1995
is viewed as the beginning of this accelerated pace. The impact upon quality TVET
has not been viewed in a favourable light. This is because when there is a change
in status, prestige, funding, etc., priorities and quality also appear to change—often
not for the better.
The education and training of knowledge workers requires different educational
policies, facilities, curricula and, above all, teachers. Teachers must be transformed
from those who impart knowledge to those who facilitate learning. Curricula must
be transformed from mechanisms to deliver facts into mechanisms to promote and
facilitate learning and thinking. Some writers assert that a competency-based ap-
proach to curriculum development can facilitate this transformation. TVET curric-
ula have been in transition from its Industrial Age ‘mix’ of 50% theory and 50%
practical to one that is 80% theory and 20% practical, paralleling the transition from
the Industrial to the Information Age. This shift from a manipulative to a cognitive
focus accompanies the convergence of ‘academic’ and TVET curricula.
Knowledge workers may be defined as those who use logical-abstract thinking
to diagnose problems, research and apply knowledge, propose solutions, and design
and implement those solutions, often as a team member.
The impact of technological modernization upon many aspects of education—
and particularly upon curricula—necessitates basing the education of future knowl-
edge workers upon a firm foundation. This foundation should include provision
of a sound understanding of mathematics, science, technology and communication
skills. Rather than compartmentalizing knowledge, technology affects all aspects of
life and necessitates a broader understanding of what technologies are, how they
work, how they have been applied to real-world problems, and how they affect
our lives. This technological education foundation at the elementary and secondary
school levels should then be augmented with a broad-based curriculum, prior to
the commencement of specialization in post-secondary education. To avoid ‘clutter-
ing’ curricula, many education systems have adopted a cross-curricular approach to
infuse common themes in as many curricular areas as possible. Moreover, special-
ization has increasingly differentiated upward from the second to the third level of
education.
A policy encouraging continuous, lifelong learning should supplement the ‘basic
training’ of knowledge workers by the delivery of ‘just-in-time’ education and train-
ing when new knowledge is required at the workplace. Many assert that individuals
are likely to have three or more different occupations and/or careers during their life-
time. This necessitates workers learning how to learn in order to recycle themselves
when moving from one position or workplace to another.
In order not to overlap or duplicate work by other authors in this Handbook,
we will end our short historical examination at this point. The historical material in
other chapters complements this introductory chapter and enables other contributors
to bring our knowledge of the development of TVET up to the present.
Originally, the direct preparation for work was the main goal of TVET and this
remains prominent in many developing nations. However, with the technological
Introduction xcvii
revolutions and innovations in science and technology during the twentieth century,
new domains of knowledge and new disciplines have become important at all levels
of education and training. Further, the upward differentiation of TVET from the first
to the second level and then to the third level of education was an important develop-
ment of the twentieth century and set the stage for the twenty-first century. The cur-
rent focus is increasingly upon preparing knowledge workers to meet the challenges
posed during the transition from the Industrial Age to the Information Age, with its
concomitant post-industrial human-resource requirements and the changing world
of work.
TVET is currently faced with the challenges posed by the displacement of the
traditionally strong focus upon manual work in favour of mental work, or at least
the changing mixture of competencies required in the workplace. The boundaries
between manual and mental work are fading away, as many traditional forms of
work and the respective preparation processes for learning to work undergo change.
Key problems in the field of TVET include pathways and content leading to
generic or very specific professions and jobs. The dual system in Germany, for
example, is an artefact of the German Berufskultur concept, while in many other
countries a culture (or approach) developed to match labour-market needs with in-
dividual education and training in a mixed model of qualifications.
In addition to pathways and content in terms of generic and specific competen-
cies, and the way these goals are being justified at local, national and international
levels, new demands in terms of employability, re-training, lifelong learning, per-
sonal growth and flexibility, transferability and mobility are imminent.
The terms ‘education’ and ‘training’ also require elaboration. Essentially, the
goal of education is ‘to create independent problem solvers [with] sufficient depth
of understanding’. In contrast, the goal of training ‘is to teach people to follow pre-
scribed procedures and to perform in a standardized manner’ (Gray & Herr, 1998,
p. 159). What appears to be taking place in the changing ‘world of work’ is a con-
vergence between these two—formerly distinct—points of view. This convergence
is important for the future of education, particularly TVET.
Draxler and Haddad (2002, p. 4) observed that knowledge, ‘both basic and ap-
plied, is being generated very quickly and is growing exponentially’. They claimed
that ‘more new information has been produced within the last three decades than in
the last five millennia’. Their forecast was that ‘we should be poised for dramatic
technological advances and breakthroughs in the macro frontiers of the universe on
the one hand, and microscopic secrets of the human body on the other hand’.
6 TVET, EFA and ESD
The third goal of the Education for All (EFA) Framework for Action adopted in
Dakar, Senegal, in 2000 (UNESCO, 2000) stipulates that the learning needs of all
youth and adults should be met through access to appropriate learning and life-skills
programmes. Since this is basically what TVET does, the linkage between the two
thrusts already exists, but must be strengthened and broadened in the future.
xcviii Introduction
The fourth EFA goal seeks to increase adult literacy rates by 50% by 2015. The
adult and continuing education role played by TVET institutions has contributed to
the improvement of literacy in the past, and should continue to do so in the future.
Further, it must be recognized that ‘literacy’ itself also changes over time; and that
Education for All does not necessarily mean the same education for all. The literacy
requirements of both globalization and technological change necessitate enhance-
ment of literacy education and training to keep pace with these phenomena.
Fosen (2002) noted that the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre foci are
quite similar to these EFA goals. Therefore, ‘potential synergies’ were suggested
through integration and linkage. It was noted that the long-term UNESCO objectives
established at the Seoul Congress (UNESCO, 1999) were:
r To provide TVET for all;
r To orient TVET for sustainable development;
r To strengthen TVET as an integral component of lifelong learning.
Meanwhile, Atchoarena (2000) has advanced an emerging policy and research
agenda that included three areas:
r The transition from school to work, including the need to make TVET in-
stitutions more responsive to the needs of the labour market. This concern
motivates the global interest for apprenticeship schemes and work-experience
programmes.
r Reforming the institutional framework to finance and govern TVET—a key prin-
ciple being partnership with industry. The establishment of national training
boards and of national training funds represents an important trend in this effort.
r Promoting competency-based training and establishing national qualification
frameworks are also a significant trend in an increasing number of developing
countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The Center for Occupational Research and Development (CORD) in the United
States surveyed industries, commerce and governments in 2000 to identify desirable
worker attributes for the twenty-first century. CORD’s list includes:
r Basic skills, including English;
r Planning, decision-making, critical thinking and problem-solving;
r Inter-personal communications skills, sensitivity to workforce diversity and cul-
tural awareness;
r Ethics, management and leadership skills;
r Hands-on training in specific demand occupations;
r Computer training including Internet training.
Our own list is given in Table 1.
SEAMEO (2001) identified eleven important trends and directions for TVET in
its member nations, as follows:
r Clear national policies for TVET;
r The concept of lifelong learning;
Introduction xcix
r Competency-based training (CBT);

r Development of demand-driven TVET;
r Flexible TVET delivery systems;
r Encouraging a competitive spirit among TVET providers;
r Strong public TVET systems;
r Recognition of TVET;
r Quality output and outcome;
r Research and evaluation to improve TVET;
r Apprenticeship systems.
Table 1 Desirable worker attributes

Personal competencies Technical/professional Inter-cultural competencies
competencies
r The ability to communicate r Problem-solving; r The ability to operate in
effectively; r
r Tolerance for ambiguity;
Up-to-date technical
knowledge; r
other cultures;
r Demonstrated leadership. r Negotiation skills;

International job
r Strategic thinking/planning. r
experience;
Language capabilities.
Ability.
7 Key Issues and Challenges Concerning TVET
7.1 The Image and Status of TVET

TVET has consistently faced problems stemming from the negative image com-
monly held by students, parents and many sectors of societies. This issue is also
related to the lack of student motivation to enrol in TVET programmes. These dif-
ficulties must be met with a renewed effort to raise the public perception of TVET.
There are available some excellent examples of the promotion of TVET for employ-
ment. One aspect of this promotion has to do with the following issue.
7.2 After ‘Basic Education’, What?
As nations implement Universal Primary Education and proceed to consolidate nine

or more years of ‘basic education’, other countries have already achieved universal
access to secondary education and are increasing participation in post-secondary
education. This progression results in the upward differentiation of TVET from
primary to secondary and secondary to post-secondary levels of their education
systems. Issues of access to education and equality of treatment within education
become increasingly important. An important question concerns the fact that af-
ter nations have implemented basic education they must then effectively address
c Introduction
the question of student flows into ‘academic’ and/or TVET streams, which is also
an access and equity issue. In nations where unemployment is endemic, TVET,
particularly in areas fostering entrepreneurship and small enterprises, becomes in-
creasingly important for the future. Tilak (2003) characterizes TVET as an ‘equity
measure’ because it promotes ‘equity with a rural bias and serves the needs of rel-
atively poor people’, as well as being an ‘antidote to urban-biased elite education’
(p. 675).
7.3 The Promotion of TVET for Girls and Women
This is essentially an issue of access to TVET and, once girls and women enter
TVET institutions, how they are received and accommodated. While many exem-
plary programmes have been developed and implemented during the past several
decades, there still remains considerable work to be done. Changing the ‘macho’
image of TVET participants and workers has not been easy, but it has taken place.
One of the best examples was the programme developed by the Canadian Inter-
national Development Agency for SENAI in Brazil in the 1990s. The extension of
TVET to occupations that are relevant to girls and women has also contributed to the
increased participation of women and girls. Attracting more female instructors and
administrators into TVET is going to be a major challenge in the future. However, as
good as previous aid and development initiatives were, an evaluation of aid provided
by DANIDA (2002) noted ‘the weak involvement of women in Danish-supported
VET activities’. This suggests that these initiatives need to be increased in the
future.
7.4 TVET Planning

It is imperative to recognize that most UNESCO Member States are at different
stages of social and economic development. This has a direct bearing upon TVET
needs and training systems; therefore, each nation must plan relevant TVET in-
stitutions and programmes to meet its current and projected future needs. The
length of compulsory schooling, the percentage of participation in education, the
locus of TVET and many other factors reinforce the necessity to plan for the
specific conditions existing in each nation. Abrahart and Verme (2001) stress
that labour-market policies should ‘fit in with education priorities’ and ‘should
be directed towards basic education or towards adult re-education and retraining’
(p. 127).
Although there has historically been a time lag in the collection, processing and
analysis of labour-market information (LMI), the rapid pace of workplace change
necessitates its timely provision to TVET institutions in order to prepare workers
with new skills and to re-train existing employees. Moreover, the acceleration of
globalization and the outsourcing of both blue- and white-collar employment have
made both human-resource planning and TVET planning more difficult.
Introduction ci
Several developing nations have addressed problems of youth unemployment,

the vocationalization of secondary education and population growth by promoting
entrepreneurship education and training. The DANIDA evaluation carried out in
2002 noted that entrepreneurship training is an important activity in private-sector
development and much training is provided for this in DANIDA-supported pro-
grammes. They cite the Micro-Enterprise Development Project for the jua kali (in-
formal) sector in Kenya, the innovative Manufacturing Advisory Centre (MAC) in
South Africa, the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector in Uganda, includ-
ing the introduction of entrepreneurship curricula in both schools and polytechnics,
in collaboration with DANIDA and the Japan International Co-operation Agency.
Similar initiatives have been undertaken in Botswana by the Department of Voca-
tional Education in the Ministry of Education.
TVET institutions should improve their capacity to make use of LMI, includ-
ing market signals, indicators and intelligence, for planning and curriculum mod-
ernization. Governments should develop strategies to help TVET sectors respond
effectively to labour-market needs and to deliver training programmes to respond
to these needs. TVET institutions should also maintain and enhance their linkages
with employers and develop capacity to gather LMI to contribute to the curriculum
development process.
7.5 TVET Facilities and Equipment
A perennial problem in TVET is the high cost of construction, equipment, mainte-

nance and the provision of consumable training materials. Routine and preventive
maintenance have also constituted perennial problems. These issues have implica-
tions for TVET finance, instructor training, curriculum development and the deliv-
ery of instruction. If one of these attributes is diminished, the others are affected.
Many TVET systems have utilized cost-recovery, industrial levies, linkage with en-
terprises and employer participation mechanism to address this issue.
7.6 Workplace Health and Safety
The impact of HIV/AIDS upon youth and working-age populations is a major chal-
lenge to be faced by TVET. If the very youth and workers educated and trained in
TVET programmes are rendered incapable of working due to HIV/AIDS, then the
investment in their future is lost. Moreover, since teachers and instructors have also
suffered a high incidence of HIV/AIDS, the very educative process is in jeopardy.
The lack of sustainability for both populations is poignant. The DANIDA evalua-
tion mentioned above (2002) noted that ‘HIV/Aids awareness-raising activities have
been integrated into all DANIDA-funded VET programmes’. This newest challenge
has overshadowed traditional issues of workplace health and safety that have always
cii Introduction
concerned TVET personnel. However, all of these issues will continue to be of ex-
treme importance in the near future.
7.7 The Organization and Administration of TVET

There are many systems and variations for the organization, governance and admin-
istration of TVET. While the majority of TVET systems are public in nature, others
are para-statal and still others are private. Within some governments, the locus of
TVET has alternated between the ministries of education, labour and specifically
TVET. Dual systems merge public and private organization, administration, finance
and delivery. During the past two decades, an increasing number of national TVET
systems have been re-structured under the aegis of national training boards or au-
thorities. It is likely that this trend will continue in the future. The management
of change is important to ensure that TVET systems keep pace with technological
change and the needs of each nation. This is equally important in the organization
and administration of TVET to prevent ossification. CINTERFOR (2000) high-
lighted ‘the importance of management training’ for TVET administrators. Simi-
larly, the DANIDA (2002) evaluation noted ‘the shift in recent years in the focus of
VET programmes, from technical skills to organisational and management issues.’
This will continue to be an important issue in the future.
7.8 TVET Curriculum Reform and Development
In many nations TVET curricula have lost their relevance to the requirements of the
labour market. In other nations, for a variety of reasons, employers prefer to em-
ploy untrained youth or ‘academic’ graduates and provide on-the-job training. One
salient trend is the growing convergence between TVET and ‘academic’ curricula,
resulting from technological change. In addition, the ‘traditional’ curricular balance
between theory and practice has shifted in recent years. TVET curricula need to
respond to these trends by enhancing the ‘foundation’ provided to students in math-
ematics, science, communications and an understanding of technology. Some ex-
emplary new curricula have been developed in mechatronics, biotechnology, ICTs,
robotics, rapid prototyping and similar ‘new’ fields. A related issue concerns who
participates in curriculum development. If the needs of the workplace are to be met,
then workplace participation in curriculum development—through advisory boards
or other mechanisms—is even more relevant than in the past. Another curricular is-
sue is the movement to competency-based curriculum development and instruction.
7.9 Teaching and Learning

As TVET becomes increasingly more knowledge oriented, the role of the teachers
and instructors must change from the didactic imparting of skills and knowledge to
Introduction ciii
the facilitation of learning. This requires a quantum change on the part of TVET
teachers and instructors, but is an essential step in the education and training of
knowledge workers for the workplaces of the future. The changing role of TVET
instructors involves ‘linking occupational related (academic) studies with technical
subjects’, according to CINTERFOR (2000). The increasing use of ICT and other
media also contributes to this shift in teaching and learning methodologies. Since
many nations have developed dedicated institutions for training TVET and poly-
technic personnel, change should also take place in these institutions in order to
foster the desired teaching and learning methodologies.
7.10 TVET Teacher Education
UNESCO-APEID noted that the second International Congress on TVET in Seoul

(UNESCO, 1999) called for ‘a new breed of TVET teachers and a new paradigm of
training them’. The round-table held by UNESCO-APEID called for ‘the develop-
ment of prototype training materials that model effective and responsive content and
the application of learner-centred approaches’. The Philippine Technical Education
and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) highlighted ‘inadequacies in knowl-
edge, skills and industrial experience’ of TVET teachers and noted that they ‘must
be able to transmit to the trainees actual occupational and practical skills which
are relevant to present practices in the workplace’. Similarly, CINTERFOR (2000)
noted that ‘broadening the role for instructors will require changes in the way TVET
instructors are educated in teacher training courses.’ In addition to modernizing
pre-service TVET teacher education, increasing attention must be devoted to the
in-service education of existing TVET personnel, otherwise these desired changes
may not be achieved—and so will be lost.
7.11 TVET Teachers’ Conditions of Service
In some nations TVET teachers and instructors are not treated in the same manner
as are ‘academic’ teachers with regard to their various conditions of service. In
particular, issues of different terms for remuneration, promotion and benefits are
a source of frustration. This often leads to alienation and high teacher turnover,
especially when highly qualified TVET personnel can be tempted away by higher
salaries in commercial enterprises.
7.12 Relationship Between TVET and Enterprises
As has already been noted, employer participation in curriculum development

has become increasingly important. In addition, TVET personnel need to be en-
couraged to participate in industrial attachments in order to both maintain viable
civ Introduction
relationships with employers and to enhance their knowledge and competencies.

Similarly, the development of viable student attachments is increasingly impor-
tant. The improvement of linkages with enterprises can be accomplished in many
ways—one important mechanism being through public/private sector partnerships.
The DANIDA (2002) evaluation highlighted the importance of private sector devel-
opment programmes that link Danish enterprises with enterprises in partner coun-
tries in which DANIDA finances related training activities with up to 9% of the
total cost of training. This new departure in bilateral development assistance might
contribute much to addressing issues of industry/TVET linkages and finance in the
future.
7.13 The Growing Importance of ICTs for TVET
Information and communications technologies (ICTs) have become increasingly

important for TVET, both in terms of content and delivery. The addition of ICTs
to TVET programmes and curricula (preferably as part of a cross-curricular focus)
will assist modernization of the field. The use of ICTs to deliver TVET courses, in
both formal and informal settings, will assume even greater importance in the near
future. The ICT contribution to the development of teaching and learning resources
has been phenomenal and, if anything, is likely to continue to increase in the near
future. One important example is the increasing usage of simulation software, which
some claim can substitute for some of the ‘hands-on’ manipulative workshop train-
ing in TVET. Another important aspect of ICTs has been the exchange of TVET
information between nations through the UNESCO-UNEVOC network, the ILO
network and other multi-lateral and non-governmental networks.
7.14 TVET Finance
With even traditionally well-funded TVET institutions experiencing financial dif-

ficulties, it is and will increasingly be necessary to develop additional sources of
finance. The issue of public/private sector partnerships noted above is one avenue
for broadening participation in TVET funding. Cost-recovery has traditionally been
an available option and is becoming even more attractive in the new Information
Age. Abrahart and Verme (2001) stress the importance of ‘the use of student or
trainee fees for TVET’ with exemptions for unemployed and government-sponsored
trainees (p. 127). They are sceptical about rate-of-return studies, noting that higher
returns to general education ‘may say just as much about excessive costs and the
poor structure of vocational education systems as it does about the subsequent bene-
fits to students’. Here, they mirror our own scepticism about World Bank rate-of-
return-based policies favouring decreased investment in TVET. The traditional ‘levy
finance’ systems remain viable options. Many post-secondary TVET institutions
have developed new sources of finance during the past few decades. One example is
Introduction cv
the national training funds referred to earlier. Part of these initiatives also involves
donations of expensive and rapidly-obsolete equipment to TVET institutions by co-
operating enterprises. Tilak (2003) notes that TVET is ‘necessarily expensive’ and
cautions that ‘poor investments cannot yield attractive returns’.
7.15 Testing and Certification

While national systems of testing and certification remain necessary and continue to
require improvement, one salient impact of globalization has been the international
recognition of qualifications. The establishment of national training frameworks in
a large number of nations has begun the broader recognition of competencies and
qualifications. The UNESCO-APEID round-table referred to earlier identified many
important issues concerning the role of national occupational standards in TVET
curriculum development. These issues are also of major importance in the design
and development of testing and certification mechanisms and will continue to be of
importance in the future. The CINTERFOR (2000) and UNESCO-UNEVOC (2001)
small island States’ meetings added the issue of ‘accreditation framework(s) for
national, sub-regional’ and regional recognition of TVET qualifications. This is-
sue is related to the larger regional accreditation systems in Europe and else-
where. Both types of regional recognition will continue to be important in the
future.
The impact of international student testing—the International Association for
Educational Achievement (IEA), the Trends in International Mathematics and Sci-
ence Study (TIMSS) and the Programme of International Student Assessment
(PISA)—while more visible upon ‘academic’ education, is also influencing TVET.
Also, the desire of international/multinational employers to hire persons with rec-
ognized qualifications is affecting (and will increasingly continue to affect) hiring
practices. While this is current practice at the university level, it has also become
increasingly important at the technician, technologist and skilled-trades levels.
7.16 Some Other Important Issues
Other related issues include the Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR)
articulation between TVET and ‘academic’ institutions and programmes, ‘reverse
transfer’, the enrolment of degree-holders in community and technical college tech-
nical programmes and joint degree-diploma programmes. Academic drift and mis-
sion drift concern the conversion of polytechnics and other post-secondary TVET
institutions into universities. These newer trends are highly likely to increase in im-
portance in the future. In one respect, these issues are all related to the progression
to continuing and lifelong learning. These issues also relate to worker re-training,
upgrading and job change. The promotion of ‘a seamless educational infrastruc-
ture in collaboration with trade unions and employers’ organizations’ is noted by
ILO/CINTERFOR to be one of the major changes in TVET in the Caribbean
cvi Introduction
(CARICOM) nations. Similarly, the TechPrep initiatives in the United States have
developed a ‘seamless’ education and training infrastructure which begins in high
school Grade 10 and flows through completion of community and technical college
programmes.
8 Conclusion: Where Next?

There is a need to re-examine the world of work, with regard to: (a) its educational
and training institutions; (b) learning processes and necessary competencies; (c) its
effects upon labour markets; (d) school-to-work transitions; (e) the role of gender;
(f) principles of equality and equity; (g) the roles of government, business and in-
dustry; (h) the dominant didactics for learning a profession; (i) the assessment of
competencies; (j) the effects of flexible pathways and curriculum systems; (k) the
relationship between human capital formation and TVET systems—among other
features of the field. These are some aspects of the TVET field that need to be
examined and documented in order to provide the best answers and best practices
to improve TVET, and bridge the gap between vocational and academic education
in the twenty-first century. It is hoped that this Handbook will fulfil this role.
In developing the structure and content of this Handbook, the intention of the
editors has been to review developments that have occurred in the field of technical
and vocational education and training that contribute to the improvement of the
field. The Handbook is intended to reflect best and innovative practices concerning
research, policy and practice affecting TVET and education for the world of work
and, wherever possible, concrete case studies have been used as examples. The au-
thors who have contributed to the Handbook are representative of the various regions
of the world and of major international organizations involved in TVET. In addition,
the editors chose to balance contributions by academic authors with those by practi-
tioners, who have often not been able to participate in these discussions in the past.
The audiences for which the Handbook is designed include policy-makers, prac-
titioners, administrators, planners, researchers, teachers, teacher educators, students
and colleagues in a range of fields who are interested in learning about TVET, in
both developed and developing countries, countries in transition and countries in
post-conflict situations. The editors appreciate that this has been a tall order given
the enormous variations that exist worldwide in the structure and functioning of
economies, systems of production and of underlying education systems.
For example, one of the things that the World Bank learned in its work on TVET
more than ten years ago was that OECD models introduced into Africa did not work
because they were too expensive and could not link up with local labour markets
(which were mostly located in the informal sector). Some studies have explored the
transfer of TVET models from developed to developing nations and the difficulties
encountered which hindered successful transfers.
A recent World Bank study of TVET in Sub-Saharan Africa reinforces this view,
and documents the central role of employer training, which is in contrast to the high
Introduction cvii
performing Asian countries where well-managed and well-financed formal TVET

institutions have on the whole been effective.
In the light of such evidence, the purpose of the Handbook will be to provide
information on different models of TVET that occur in different parts of the world,
while not suggesting that such models are necessarily easily transferable or appro-
priate for countries at different levels of development and with different cultural and
socio-political backgrounds.
Notes
1. The material in this section of the chapter draws upon ‘Vocational education: the come-back?’,
in Education today (UNESCO, 2005) to which the authors of this chapter, and UNEVOC, made
major contributions.
2. <www.stratrealfoundation.org/>
3. It could be speculated that Della Vos may have been the descendent of one of the trades/
craftspersons brought to modernize Russia in the late 1600s by Peter the Great.
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Prologue
Skills Development in the Informal Sector
of Sub-Saharan Africa
Arvil V. Adams
1 Introduction
Since first recognized in the early 1970s, the informal sector of Sub-Saharan Africa
has become a growing source of employment for large numbers of youth, but also
for older workers pursuing entrepreneurial goals and others adjusting to structural
changes in the region’s employment (Bangasser, 2000; Liimatainen, 2002; Inter-
national Labour Organization [ILO], 2002a; Johanson & Adams, 2004; Becker,
2004; Haan, 2006; Fox and Gaal, 2008). Initially viewed as a safety net for those
unable to find employment in the modern sector, the image of the informal sector
has begun to change with time and the education of those entering it. More workers
have begun to view it not as a temporary stop while searching for employment in
the formal wage economy, but as a preferred destination offering opportunities to
those wanting to become entrepreneurs.
In countries throughout the Africa region, where job growth in the formal wage
sector has stagnated making it difficult to absorb rising numbers of new entrants
to the labour force, self-employment has opened opportunities for youths who are
acquiring higher levels of education and skills (Fox and Gaal, 2008). Rising levels
of education are producing higher earnings in the informal sector. In Ghana, using
household data from the 2005 Ghana Living Standards Survey, the comparison of
earning gains estimated with multiple regression analysis showed returns by level
of schooling for self-employed workers in the urban non-agriculture sector that ap-
proach or match those of wage workers in the urban non-agriculture sector (World
Bank, 2008).
A cursory look at countries in Sub-Saharan Africa shows that informal sector
activities maintain a significant and, in some cases, dominant share of their re-
spective markets covering mining, manufacturing, commerce, finance and other
sectors. Examples of this employment are seen on the streets and in home-based
activities in countries like Nigeria, Kenya and Senegal in the vending of food and
small merchandise, in health care by traditional healers, the tailoring of garments,
and the manufacturing of furniture and repair of automobiles. The size of the sec-
tor, estimated to account on average for 42% of gross domestic product (GDP) in
twenty-three African countries in 2000, is forcing governments to acknowledge its
cxiii
cxiv Prologue
existence and importance to the national economy and the welfare of those em-
ployed therein (Schneider, 2002). In South Africa, with a larger formal sector, the
informal economy still contributes between 7 and 12% of GDP (Devey, Skinner and
Valodia, 2006).
Confronted with evidence of the informal sector’s growing importance, this pro-
logue examines the question of how workers are prepared with skills for these jobs
and how governments are encouraging further investments in skills alongside a
menu of other interventions that would raise productivity and earnings in the sector.
It looks closely at the unique character of skills development in the sector and the
roles played by schools and employers as providers of skills. Unlike the formal
sector where workers may be specialized, those working in the informal sector must
have skills to perform multiple functions and few can afford long spells away from
work for training. These features set skills development for the informal sector apart
from that for the formal sector.
The chapter examines recent research covering measurement of employment in
the informal sector, impediments to investing in skills within the sector, and policies
and programmes to expand this investment. It extends earlier work on this topic
carried out under the auspices of the World Bank (Johanson & Adams, 2004). The
purpose is to examine what is currently known about these issues, identify gaps in
knowledge, and offer a strategy for expanding skills development in the informal
sector. Recent research, for example, like that mentioned above in Ghana show-
ing the changing character of employment in the informal sector and the prospects
of growing returns to skills, casts a new light on employment in this sector. Fur-
ther inquiry into the robustness of these findings is merited in other countries to
deepen our understanding of how skills influence the welfare of those who create
their own employment in the informal sector and how investment in skills can be
expanded.
While recognizing informality in the economy and the importance of skills to the
earnings of those employed in the sector, the chapter does not address incentives
for this informality or suggest ways in which the informal economy might be for-
malized. The chapter does attempt, however, to unravel differences in the informal
sector as a means to better understand how the welfare of those employed in the
informal sector can be improved through investments in their skills. It provides a
framework of questions for further study to meet this challenge. Finding ways in
which to improve the working condition of those employed in the informal sector is
part of a broader agenda defined for promoting decent work in the global economy
(ILO, 2002b).
2 Measuring the Informal Sector
The ILO first introduced a statistical definition for the informal sector in a January
1993 Resolution adopted by the fifteenth Conference of International Labour Statis-
ticians (ILO, 2002a). The attention paid to the measurement issue was generated
by interest in the size of the informal sector and its contribution to national in-
Prologue cxv
come and economic welfare. A decade later, this interest has grown to include the
increasingly precarious nature of employment in the formal sector, joining that in
the informal sector, as previously secure jobs and benefits were being threatened
by growing global competition. The result has been an effort to derive a broader
definition of informal employment. This was reflected in a subsequent Resolution
adopted in December 2003 by the seventeenth Conference of International Labour
Statisticians (Hussmanns, 2004). Interest in the two concepts—employment in the
informal sector and informal employment—has driven efforts to define and measure
the informal economy.
2.1 The Conceptual Framework
Just how are these concepts defined? The conceptual framework adopted in defining
employment in the informal sector and informal employment uses a building-block
approach that disaggregates total employment along two dimensions: type of job
and type of enterprise. Labour-force surveys have been a primary source of data for
measuring informal sector employment and informal employment. These surveys
are conducted on a regular basis in most countries and are used to produce data
on the two concepts by adding additional questions pertaining to the informal sector
and informal employment (Hussmanns, 2004). Household surveys identify informal
production units and then administer ‘enterprise’ modules as part of the household
survey, thus adopting a mixed household and enterprise survey approach to measure-
ment of employment in the informal economy. The two-step mixed survey approach
is considered superior in coverage to using separate household or enterprise surveys
(Roubaud & Razafindrakoto, 2007).
Within the household survey, the type of job held in the informal sector covers
the self-employed, own-account workers, contributing family workers, paid workers
and members of producers’ co-operatives. In the absence of an enterprise module,
the self-employed, own-account and contributing family workers are sometimes
used as a proxy for informal sector employment. Where an enterprise module is
used, informal sector enterprises are defined as unincorporated private production
units owned by individuals or households producing at least some non-agricultural
goods or services for sale or barter. Their size in terms of employment is below a
certain number threshold determined by national circumstances, but often defined
as under ten workers. These enterprises are not registered under specific forms of
national legislation and may be separated into production activities that are legal,
legal but underground or illegal.
Informal employment can also be found outside the informal sector and includes
unpaid family workers, workers with precarious employment in formal sector en-
terprises, and certain employment in households producing goods exclusively for
their own use or employing paid domestic workers. The sum of employment in in-
formal sector enterprises and that outside in these three categories defines informal
employment. For an illustration of the building-block approach to measurement of
formal and informal sector employment and also informal employment see Fig. 1.
cxvi
Fig. 1 Conceptual framework: informal employment

Source: Roubaud & Razafindrakoto, 2007.
Prologue
Prologue cxvii
While the study of employment in the informal sector is important for capturing
the contribution of this sector to national income and welfare, the separate study of
informal employment, going beyond the informal sector, has attracted the attention
of policy-makers concerned with the increasing precariousness of employment in
all enterprises. The ILO has expanded its traditional attention on employment in the
informal sector to include informal employment as part of its ‘decent jobs’ agenda.
Preceding the interest of the seventeenth Conference of International Labour
Statisticians in the informalization of employment, the ILO set out to measure
employment in the informal sector leading to the publication in 2002 of the ILO
compendium of official statistics on employment in the informal sector. The 1993
ILO Resolution on employment in the informal sector provided national statistical
agencies with a degree of flexibility in their definition of the informal sector and this
produced problems in international comparability. Following recommendations by
the Expert Group on Informal Statistics (the Delhi Group), a set of recommendations
was offered in 1999 for the harmonization of national definitions (ILO, 2002a). The
2002 ILO compendium contains harmonized measures of informal employment, but
for only seven countries globally, while also reporting measures based on national
definitions for another thirty-eight countries.1 Only one of the harmonized country
reports—Ethiopia—is from Sub-Saharan Africa.
While there is a growing awareness of the informal sector by governments and its
importance to national accounts and measures of economic activity and well-being,
national statistics capturing the concept continue to vary from country to country.
These differences are attributed to:
r Criteria used to define the informal sector, for example, employment size of the
enterprise, use of registration status;
r Branches of economic activity covered, particularly concerning the inclusion or
exclusion of agricultural activity;
r Inclusion or exclusion of paid domestic employees employed by households or
producers of goods for their own final use within their households;
r Inclusion or exclusion of persons with a secondary job in the informal sector;
r Inclusion or exclusion of persons engaged in professional or technical activities:
and
r Geographic coverage, some for urban areas only.
Caution, therefore, has to be exercised in making cross-country comparisons of
published informal sector data. Careful attention must be given to the concepts
and methodology used in each country in national statistics for the informal sec-
tor. One of the lessons drawn from this for further study of the informal sector is
the importance of benchmarking the definition and methods used by a country’s
national statistics agency, and if special surveys are undertaken, using the ILO’s
building-block approach to define carefully the concept used in each country in
order to harmonize definitions for comparison or to understand their differences.
While recognizing the importance of informal employment outside the informal
sector, this chapter is largely focused on issues of employment in the informal sector
and the skilling of its workforce. It does not address skills in the formal wage sector.2
cxviii Prologue
2.2 A Profile of Informal Sector Employment
The ILO’s 2002 report provides a glimpse of those employed in the informal sector.
Table 1, drawn from the ILO report, presents informal sector employment using
national definitions for countries reporting from Sub-Saharan Africa. The variation
in this table of the percentage employed in the informal sector reflects the differ-
ences in national definitions. The share of informal sector employment varies from
nearly 20% in Botswana to over 90% in Mali where agricultural employment is
included in the national definition. Though not reported here, the share of informal
employment in rural areas tends to exceed that in urban areas. Considerable churn-
ing of employment in the informal sector is noted in South Africa by Devey, Skinner
and Valodia (2006) with slightly over 44% of those employed in the informal sector
in September 2003 continuing to work in the informal sector in March 2004.
Table 1 Persons employed in the informal sector: selected countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (latest
available year)
Employment (’000) Employment as a percentage
Year Total Men Women Total Men Women
National definition
Botswana 1996 60.5 21.1 39.4 19.3 12.3 27.6
Benin∗ 1999 275.5 174.8 100.7 46 50 41
Cameroon∗ 1993 119 57.3
Ethiopia 1999 4814.8 1444.2 3370.6 74.2 56.4 85.7
Madagascar∗ 1995 239 57.5
Mali 1996 1176.1 485.6 690.2 94.1 91 96.4
South Africa 2001 3319 1572 1746 31 25.7 38.2
Tanzania 1991 2369.4 1531.1 838.3 22 28 15
Small or micro-enterprises (national definition)
Kenya 1999 1881 1090.4 790.6 36.4 43.9 29.5
Source: ILO, 2002a.
∗
= urban only.
Self-employed workers, most of whom are own-account workers and unpaid

family workers, are considered the major component of the rural and urban infor-
mal sectors. Becker (2004) estimates that 70% of the informal sector is comprised
of those who are self-employed with the percentage rising to 81% if South Africa
is excluded. The number of self-employed in non-agricultural activities, measured
by household surveys, has increased over the past two decades. Own-account and
family workers represented nearly two-thirds of the non-agricultural labour force
in Africa. Women’s share of informal employment is higher than that of men’s in
about half of the countries for which data are available.
Women comprise most of the unpaid family workers and are often under-
counted, since many are home-based. Trade accounts for a major share of informal
sector employment. From a survey of South Africa, Lund and Skinner (2003) report
that informal employment is concentrated in the retail and wholesale trade with just
over half of all informal sector workers located in this sector. A significant number
Prologue cxix
are also employed in construction, manufacturing and services. Over 10% of those
engaged in the informal sector have jobs in manufacturing and this is considered
low in comparison with other developing countries. Haan (2006) reports that trade
activities, including street vending and ambulant trading, are the most important
segments of the informal sector in Africa, usually constituting half and sometimes
up to 75% of employment.
The self-employed dominate employment in the informal sector. In a survey of
the characteristics of informal sector enterprises in Botswana, Kenya, Malawi and
Zimbabwe, Mead and Liedholm contend that on average almost two-thirds of all in-
formal sector enterprises are one-person businesses (quoted in Haan, 2006). Most of
these enterprises are labelled as subsistence level firms with only a small likelihood
of growing into larger enterprises. Earnings and profits in these small enterprises
are low by comparison with larger enterprises that hire other workers. These small
enterprises are sometimes referred to as the ‘working poor’.3
Still, evidence from a number of countries confirms that average incomes in the
informal sector are generally higher than official minimum incomes and earnings
from agriculture. Earnings of self-employed non-agricultural workers in Ghana in
2005, a proxy for informal sector workers, were 35% higher than those for self-
employed agriculture workers (World Bank, 2008). Fox and Gaal (2008) conclude
that earnings in the informal sector pull workers out of agriculture with average
incomes in the informal sector of most countries being at least 50% higher than
those in agriculture. The impact on poverty, they report, is positive with data from
a number of countries showing that households whose main economic activity is
in the informal sector have a lower rate of poverty—the highest poverty rates are
always in agriculture. Having a family member earn income in the informal sector
raises household incomes.
The education levels of those employed in the informal sector are generally lower
than those in the formal sector (Liimatainen, 2002). However, this pattern is chang-
ing as young workers are entering with more education. Low education levels limit
trainability and lead to modest skill levels. In a survey of five African countries—
Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe—Haan (2006) reports that about
half of informal sector workers have either no education or primary education, and
less than 5% have a post-secondary education. Slightly better results are reported
by Walther (2006) for South Africa. In contrast, a survey of those employed in the
informal sector of Nigeria found larger numbers with a post-secondary education
(14%), and some 45% with a secondary school certificate (NISER, 2007). Finding
ways to continue education and promote skills training forms an important challenge
to improving productivity in the informal sector and reducing poverty.
3 Building a Skilled Workforce in the Informal Sector
Skills for work are acquired in different settings in classrooms, workshops and on
the job. They are provided by public education and training institutions, private for-
profit and non-profit institutions, and employers through training in the workplace
and outside. Training may be taken to qualify for employment or to upgrade skills
cxx Prologue
and prepare for the introduction of new technology in production. For those working
in the informal sector, some or all of these approaches to skills may be used. Public
and private schools can play an important role in preparing individuals for creating
their own employment by providing them with a technical skill, usually through
a technical and vocational education curriculum. A commonly used approach to
self-employment is working for another employer and acquiring skills on the job,
either informally or through an apprenticeship, before leaving to set up one’s own
business. Each approach has strengths and weaknesses.
3.1 Public Technical and Vocational Education and Training
Public secondary and tertiary schools with technical and vocational education pro-
grammes have played a smaller role than might have been anticipated in preparing
workers for informal sector employment (Atchoarena & Delluc, 2001).4 Originally
developed at the time of independence in the 1960s to meet the expected skill re-
quirements of industrialization, these institutions have been slow to respond to the
structural change and growth of the informal sector (Brewer, 2004; Haan, 2006;
Liimatainen, 2002; NISER, 2007; Filipiak, 2007). Structural adjustment programmes
and tight government budgets contributed in the 1980s and 1990s to deteriorating
facilities and equipment and the inability of these institutions to update programmes
and respond to the shift to informal sector employment (ILO, 2002b; Johanson &
Adams, 2004).
Other impediments also stand in the way of the public sector’s response to meet-
ing the skills challenge of the informal sector. The training offered by the public
sector is considered theoretical in focus without sufficient opportunities for prac-
tice and biased toward white-collar jobs in the wage sector (Liimatainen, 2002).
Entry requirements and fees are often too high and the training methods used better
suited to a more literate population. The courses offered are considered rigid and
too standardized to meet the multi-skilling needs of the highly diverse informal
sector. Where public financing is used without accountability for results, these insti-
tutions have few incentives to reflect and adjust to changes in the demand for skills
(Ziderman, 2003). Weak accountability influences not only the responsiveness of
the public sector to special needs of the informal sector, but in a more general way
to the changing demand for skills in the formal sector.
The population targeted for this training and the mode of delivery are also fac-
tors behind the failure to reach out to the informal sector with skills. Public tech-
nical and vocational education programmes are largely focused on the full-time
student preparing for entry into the world of work and require sustained periods
of time in school. The focus on pre-service training is not matched by a focus on
in-service training for those already employed. This model has proved ill-suited to
those among the poor seeking to combine school and work in a part-time fashion
to provide families with income and, similarly, to meet the needs of older workers
who are unable to afford time away from work to undergo training. A more flexible
Prologue cxxi
approach is needed. Examples of this are found where schools have adopted modu-
lar, competency-based curricula that permit flexible entry to and exit from training
at hours not interfering with the workday.
The Kenya Jua Kali programme (Kiswahili for ‘work under the hot sun’), of-
fering training vouchers to those working in the informal sector in the mid-1990s,
provides an interesting window on the response of public training institutions to
the demand for skills that these vouchers created. The vouchers were observed to
produce a positive supply response to the demand created for skills, but mainly
from non-governmental organizations and from master craftspersons in the informal
sector. New programmes were developed tailored to the needs of voucher recipients
and offered during off-hours to fit work schedules. Public institutions showed little
interest in adapting their traditional programmes to respond to this new source of
demand (Adams, 2001). The motivation for responding to new sources of demand
like this with innovative programmes is diminished where public institutions are
unable to retain locally-generated income for quality improvements and incentives
for instructors.
The recent introduction of entrepreneurship education represents an innovation in
public secondary and tertiary education institutions that is relevant to the informal
sector. These programmes help develop attitudes favourable to starting one’s own
business and provide knowledge and skills for running a business, e.g. business law,
accounting and bookkeeping, credit and finance, and marketing.5 Farstad (2002) ex-
amined entrepreneurship education programmes in secondary and tertiary education
institutions in Botswana, Uganda and Kenya. He found instructors generally well
qualified, but observed no immediate impact on the numbers of students leaving
school to start a business.
The fact that students did not immediately start new businesses is not by itself
an indicator of failure on the part of these programmes. Farstad acknowledged that
the more traditional route to self-employment starts with an initial period of ap-
prenticeship or wage employment to gain practical experience and build profes-
sional self-confidence. In a comparison of graduates of general secondary education
programmes and those from technical and vocational education programmes, he
observed that the latter group was more likely to start businesses within a few years
of graduation. The technical education provided a skill that was then honed on the
job with an apprenticeship and wage employment before setting out to start a new
business.
Entrepreneurship education has encouraged schools to think outside traditional
patterns of pedagogy and classroom instruction. Periods of mandatory work place-
ment have been introduced along with compulsory development of a business plan
subject to examination and grading. In Kenya, entrepreneurship education is de-
livered with the assistance of small business centres attached to all public post-
secondary and some private technical and vocational education institutions. In
Botswana, students benefited from the requirement that they establish and operate a
student enterprise. Co-operation between training institutions and private enterprises
in curriculum development and training delivery was found to add value in the three
countries studied (Farstad, 2002).
cxxii Prologue
Other options for engaging public education and training institutions in skills
development for the informal sector are discussed below in the section on employers
and traditional apprenticeships. The low educational background of many of those
employed in the informal sector opens opportunities for greater attention of public
sector institutions to adult education and literacy programmes, and to the offering
of what is becoming known as second-chance education tailored to the needs of
those who have missed opportunities for early education (World Bank, 2007; Adams
et al., 2007). Where found, these programmes have provided low-cost education to
open doors for employment, but have not been carefully evaluated for their impact
on further training and earnings.
3.2 Private Providers of Skills
While the public sector has been slow to respond to the changes in demand for
skills brought about by growth of the informal sector, private institutions have been
more responsive to this demand (Brewer, 2004). These institutions are of two types:
for-profit and non-profit institutions (Bennell, 1999). The for-profit institutions have
grown in numbers in the 1990s with the decreased capacity of public providers
(Atchoarena & Esquieu, 2002). While many are registered trainers and follow offi-
cial curricula and prepare trainees for government trade tests like their public coun-
terparts, a large number are unregistered, small in scale and form part of the informal
sector themselves. They appear as storefront operations that can be observed in any
African city.
Tuition and training fees constitute the main sources of income for these institu-
tions, although registered institutions may receive subsidies from the government.
Largely dependent on fees, for-profit institutions are concentrated in urban districts
and less frequently found in rural areas. They are responsive to demands for skills,
adjusting quickly to changing needs. The programmes offered often require limited
investment in equipment and facilities and provide easy market entry and exit for the
providers. Commercial courses are popular, including IT programmes. Other soft
courses cover tailoring, driving schools, food preparation, auto repair, cosmetics,
etc. Programmes are often of short duration to fit the ‘just-in-time’ learning needs
of trainees.
Fees are kept low, but still are not affordable by the poorest of the poor. Quality
varies widely where standards are left to the provider (Johanson & Adams, 2004).
Private for-profit providers could play a larger role in the provision of training to
those in the informal sector. Their programmes are demand led. Their sometimes
modular short courses are well suited to a more flexible delivery of skills training
for those who cannot afford long spells away from their work. Expanding their role
will require attention to the capital market constraints they face and the incentives
needed to encourage more services in rural areas and to the poor. The promotion
of private training associations could also open opportunities for co-operation and
reduction of costs, while providing a framework for accreditation and quality assur-
ance. Examples of these associations merit further study.
Prologue cxxiii
The term non-governmental organization (NGO) generally refers to a range of

non-profit organizations that include providers of training (Haan, 2006). Churches
and international agencies play an important role in this capacity, along with na-
tional and local community-based organizations. NGOs include local branches of
strong international NGOs and national NGOs with wide coverage and smaller
‘community-based organizations’. Training by larger NGOs is sometimes linked
to other support services for small businesses, including micro-credit. Small busi-
ness incubators, operated by NGOs, often offer entrepreneurs a package of business
services, including training, but have not been carefully studied in Africa. Large
church-based training NGOs like Don Bosco and secular NGOs like Opportunities
Industrialization Centres (OIC) are found in a number of African countries.
Many of the smaller church-based NGOs and community-based organizations
maintain a strong social emphasis in their training outreach to the rural poor, mi-
norities, women and the handicapped. Their training activities tend to have social
and cultural rather than economic objectives with the result that their training is
of limited value in helping participants enter into self-employment (Haan, 2006).
They focus training on traditional trades. Curricula are outdated and the train-
ing offered is theoretical rather than practical. Quality is low. Services are gen-
erally free-of-charge, but with some beginning to charge minimal fees. These
NGOs serve the poor, but they offer little that translates into preparation for self-
employment.
What Haan (2006) calls ‘traditional training NGOs’ are larger in size and spe-
cialized in skills training. Don Bosco schools are an example. They benefit from
international assistance and tend to resemble training provided by the public sec-
tor with full-time, centre-based training of long duration directed at wage em-
ployment in the formal sector. In many respects they look like modern, better
equipped versions of public technical and vocational education schools. The qual-
ity of training offered in these traditional training NGOs tends to be better than
that found in public institutions, offering more practical experience, but still with-
out a focus on self-employment. These institutions are more likely to reach ru-
ral areas and serve the poor. Their financial base, however, is often limited and
insecure.
3.3 Enterprise Investment in Skills
Enterprises are a source of demand for and supply of skilled workers. They train
and provide needed skills and experience for employees to promote competiveness
and profitability. Some workers who are trained may choose later to take their skills
and create their own employment. The training offered by enterprises tends to be
short-term in nature and uses the firm’s own skilled workers or engages external
vendors for its delivery. The training may be offered on-site in the enterprise, such
as a typical apprenticeship, or off-site in an institutional setting. The World Bank
provides a profile of enterprise training in over 100 countries world-wide through
its Investment Climate Assessment (ICA) surveys. In Fig. 2, these surveys show
cxxiv Prologue
considerable variation in enterprise training across regions with enterprises in Sub-

Saharan Africa being active trainers.
An earlier version of the ICA surveys in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Regional Pro-
gramme for Enterprise Development (RPED), captured training by enterprises in
the mid-1990s and the correlates of this training (Biggs, Shah & Srivastava, 1995).
Enterprises found to be active trainers were large in size measured by employment,
active exporters, users of technology and beneficiaries of foreign direct investment
(Johanson & Adams, 2004). RPED surveys in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Zambia found
that the training of workers was selective, with those having higher levels of edu-
cation more likely to be chosen by the enterprise for training (Nielson, Rosholm &
Dabalen, 2007).
Smaller enterprises, especially those with less than ten employees—a proxy for
the informal sector—are less likely to train. In Kenya, Zimbabwe and Zambia, only
4.6% of firms with ten or fewer employees trained in comparison with 81% of firms
with 151 employees or more (Nielson, Rosholm & Dabalen, 2007). The impact
of this training was favourable on the output of enterprises and wages of workers.
A 1% increase in the workers trained from the sample average of 9% translated
into a 60% increase in value added for all firms and a 99% increase for micro and
small enterprises. Training was estimated to increase wages on average by 15–21%
(Biggs, Shah & Srivastava, 1995).
The returns to training for micro and small enterprises, noted above, raise the
question of why a larger percentage of these firms do not train. A number of factors
are offered to explain this pattern. Already observed is the fact that the education
Fig. 2 Enterprises are active trainers world-wide (as a percentage of total training)
EAP = East Asia and the Pacific; LAC = Latin America and the Caribbean; SSA = Sub-Saharan
Africa; ECA = Europe and Central Asia; MENA = Middle East and North Africa.
Source: Tan, 2006.
Prologue cxxv
levels of workers in the informal sector are lower than those in the formal sector.
With a small number of workers performing a wide range of tasks, multi-skilling
is required, which can be expensive. The time away from work by a single worker
in a small firm can be costly in foregone output. Small enterprises in the informal
sector also face cash flow constraints in paying for training and a lack of profes-
sional capacity from human resources officers who can define training needs and
design training programmes. For many in smaller firms, there may also be a lack of
awareness of the benefits of training.
While each of these factors requires careful consideration, one of the possible
solutions to constraints on training comes in the form of support for industry associ-
ations (Johanson & Adams, 2004). The formation of industry associations and their
engagement in training can offer solutions to a number of the problems above. These
associations can promote a greater awareness of the benefits of training among
small enterprises, help in defining training needs for members and the design of
appropriate training programmes, contribute to economies of scale in the delivery
of training, reduce the unit cost to the enterprise, establish training standards for
a sector and certify the skills acquired as a means to promote the quality of the
training offered. This role is already played by construction associations and many
others and could be expanded. There has been little rigorous examination of the
effect of these associations on skills development in the informal sector.
3.4 Employers and Traditional Apprenticeship
Traditional apprenticeships are by far the most important source of skills training
in Africa for the informal sector, with these apprenticeships concentrated in West
and Central Africa (Haan, 2006; Filipiak, 2007). Liimatainen (2002) estimates that
up to 70% of urban informal sector workers in Africa have been trained through
the traditional apprenticeship system. The Ghana Statistical Service, for example,
found 207,000 youths registered as apprentices in 2002, while in this same period a
much smaller number of young people, just over 50,000, was enrolled by public and
private providers (World Bank, 2008). Traditional apprenticeships in the informal
sector consist of private contractual arrangements between a parent or apprentice
and a master craftsperson who agrees to provide practical training in the workplace,
ranging from several months to three or four years in duration, and subsequently
certify the training in return for a fee or reduced earnings while learning.6
Traditional apprenticeships are distinguished from other formal apprenticeships
registered with a government agency, usually a ministry of labour, and adminis-
tered by employers and worker organizations. Traditional apprenticeships as indi-
vidual contracts are self-financing and self-regulating and provide practical, hands-
on training with good prospects for employment after the training. At the same time,
traditional apprenticeships suffer from the weak level of education of those enter-
ing apprenticeships. Few have passed beyond lower secondary education and many
will not even have completed primary education. Literacy is an issue. Choices of
trades follow gender biases. Master craftspersons, in turn, do not provide theoretical
cxxvi Prologue
knowledge alongside practical experience and, more often than not, teach out-dated
technologies. Pedagogy varies and there are few market standards available for judg-
ing the quality of the training provided (Johanson & Adams, 2004).
These apprenticeships are available in a wide range of trades, mostly in blue-
collar occupations, and are a substitute for school-based instruction.7 Most trades
offered by public and private training institutions can also be mastered through a
traditional apprenticeship. The flexibility of apprenticeships in combining work and
learning, their affordability and self-financing, their connection with future employ-
ment, and their generally lower entry standards make them attractive as a source
of skills to disadvantaged youth. Haan (2006) reports that apprenticeships are less
evident in Eastern and Southern Africa than in West and Central Africa with youth
sometimes described in the former merely as ‘helpers’. Still, in countries like Kenya,
Tanzania and Zimbabwe, he finds large numbers of youth who are acquiring skills in
informal enterprises under the guidance of a master. In Kenya, available information
indicates that some 40–60% of informal sector operators acquire their skills through
apprenticeships.
Household data from the Ghana Living Standards Measurement Surveys in
1991/1992 and 2005/2006 provide a profile of changes in apprenticeship over time.
Table 2 compares the share of youth aged 15–30 years who have gone through
an apprenticeship in each period. The share entering an apprenticeship has been
rising for young men and women, but with a higher growth rate for young women.
Apprenticeships are more evident in urban than in rural areas. Education levels for
youths are rising as a consequence of Ghana’s efforts to provide basic education
for all and the share of those following their education with an apprenticeship is
also rising at each level of education except post-secondary. While those with a
technical or vocational education are likely to acquire their skills in an institutional
setting, those with a general education are more likely to pursue skills through an
apprenticeship.
Studies of traditional apprenticeship in other African countries could examine the
robustness of these patterns. An apprenticeship opens opportunities for employment
in the informal sector, but also in other types of employment as seen in Table 2.
Those working in the private informal sector as self-employed or wage workers
are likely to have acquired their skills through an apprenticeship. Reflecting the
growing importance of traditional apprenticeships, 51% of youth in non-agricultural
self-employment in 2005 acquired their skills in this manner—a rate twice that of
the earlier period. With consumption levels used as a proxy for family income, ap-
prenticeships are accessible to all income groups, but favour those who are better
off. Those in the lowest consumption quintile demonstrate much lower rates of par-
ticipation in apprenticeships.
There is a question of whether traditional apprenticeships should form part of
a strategy for skills development in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is doubtful, for exam-
ple, that small firms in the informal sector acquiring their skilled workers through
apprenticeships will contribute in a significant way to the export-led development
strategies of many countries. Moreover, the ability to leverage large numbers of
apprentices is constrained by the number of skilled craftspersons available. These
Prologue cxxvii
Table 2 Share of youth in Ghana (15–30 age group) who have gone through an apprenticeship
1991/1992 2005/2006
Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total
Gender
Male 36.0 18.1 21.9 46.7 19.0 27.3
Female 21.1 11.1 13.9 40.7 20.1 26.3
Age group
15–19 10.6 5.2 6.1 30.9 6.9 11.1
20–24 34.5 16.4 20.8 44.3 24.4 31.0
25–30 28.8 21.4 23.7 46.2 24.3 31.9
Education level
No education 15.1 5.8 7.5 21.4 6.9 8.7
Some primary 16.7 15.9 16.0 42.1 16.6 21.4
Primary 25.4 10.5 13.3 54.1 25.5 32.6
Secondary (lower) 38.5 25.9 29.9 60.4 43.2 50.9
TVET 22.2 12.5 19.2 20.0 19.2 19.8
Secondary (higher) 14.7 13.5 14.3 29.6 17.5 25.7
Post-secondary 13.3 11.1 12.1 7.6 3.4 6.5
Type of employment
Wage public sector 9.1 12.7 10.8 12.4 10.9 11.9
Wage private sector formal 50.7 56.4 52.7 28.0 42.5 31.6
Wage private sector informal 53.8 57.5 55.2 36.0 49.6 41.2
Self-employed agro, paid 12.2 16.3 16.0 32.2 18.8 19.7
Self-employed agro, unpaid 16.2 7.6 8.4 22.1 8.4 9.2
Self-employed non-agro 27.0 24.2 25.7 56.8 44.1 51.2
Standard of living
Lowest quintile 12.1 8.4 8.6 30.3 9.4 10.9
Second quintile 6.9 10.3 9.9 36.2 15.2 18.3
Third quintile 25.9 14.0 16.4 35.9 25.1 28.0
Fourth quintile 27.0 17.1 20.3 43.4 31.5 36.7
Highest quintile 31.4 28.4 30.0 49.6 41.3 46.9
All 26.9 14.4 17.5 43.5 19.6 26.8
Source: World Bank, 2008.
considerations aside, improving traditional apprenticeships can contribute in a pos-

itive way to employment and poverty reduction. As shown in Table 2 for Ghana,
traditional apprenticeships are a source of skills for employment in both the formal
and informal sectors. Those employed in the informal sector earn more than those
in agriculture and improving their productivity with skills can further contribute to
poverty reduction (Fox and Gaal, 2008).
As presently structured, public vocational and technical education programmes
appear to have little to offer employment in the informal sector, but this could be
changed if public financing for these institutions is instead shifted to focus on out-
comes, such as their success in serving target populations of master craftspersons
and apprentices, rather than simply financing inputs, i.e. classrooms, courses of-
fered, instructors hired, etc. Performance-based budgeting for public institutions
could provide incentives to upgrade technical skills for master craftspersons and
cxxviii Prologue
improve the pedagogy they use (Ziderman, 2003). More attention and accountability
could be given to these institutions in partnership with traditional apprenticeships for
addressing the low levels of basic education that handicap the training of apprentices
and master craftspersons and for providing the complementary theoretical training
needed to accompany the practical training of apprenticeships.8
It is reasonable to question whether emphasis on skills alone will improve
the productivity and incomes of those who are employed in the informal sector
(ILO, 2000). The improvement of financial services and access to credit are often
listed as critical needs in surveys of small businesses, along with secure worksites
and access to new technologies and business services (Liimatainen, 2002; Riley
& Steel, 2000). NGOs play an important role in the provision of these services
to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, often offering a menu of services
alongside training. Working through informal sector employer associations, as al-
ready noted, can further assist in organizing services, particularly in skills train-
ing, by using their size to reduce the cost of training needs assessments, establish
competency standards, develop curricula and certify skills obtained in traditional
apprenticeships.
National training authorities (NTAs) in a growing number of countries through-
out Sub-Saharan Africa influence training policies and resources for training. Train-
ing funds operated under NTAs or independently, as described below, can play
a role in providing incentives for NGOs and industry associations to serve the
training needs of the informal sector (Ziderman, 2003). In Côte d’Ivoire, the Vo-
cational Training Development Fund helps NGOs organize training for informal
sector enterprises (Johanson & Adams, 2004). Chafa (2002) describes the Skills
Development Initiative of Malawi’s Technical Entrepreneurial Vocational Educa-
tion and Training Authority (TEVETA) and its efforts to obtain credit in the na-
tional training system for skills acquired through training in the informal sector.
There are few rigorous evaluations of these programmes available and more atten-
tion needs to be given to their impact on apprenticeship. The same can be said
for the impact of apprenticeships and other forms of training on employment and
earnings.
4 Policies Encouraging Enterprises to Invest in Skills
Government policies to encourage enterprises to invest in skills subsidize the cost of

this investment through various measures. The incentives may vary in their impact
on the actual amount of training done. Twenty-one countries in Sub-Saharan Africa
have introduced training funds financed by payroll taxes, while others, such as in
Namibia, have recently proposed such a scheme (Ziderman, 2003). These funds
reimburse enterprises for the cost of qualified training undertaken. Training vouch-
ers are also an instrument used by governments and training funds to subsidize the
cost of training by enterprises and individuals (Patrinos, 2002). Offered to master
craftspersons and workers in the informal sector, vouchers can help pay for training
Prologue cxxix
selected by the worker. The cost of training is also subsidized by governments by

allowing enterprises to deduct eligible training costs from their income for tax pur-
poses or providing tax credits for qualified training expenses.
The introduction of training levies on payrolls is used globally to mobilize addi-
tional resources for skills development (Ziderman, 2003). The fairness of the levy
is judged on the taxation principle that those who benefit from the resources spent
on training should be those who pay. Payroll levies have been used to finance the
provision of training by national training organizations, as is found in Latin Amer-
ica in such countries as Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela, but also training directly
by enterprises where a levy-grant system is adopted and administered through a
training fund. Enterprises are reimbursed in a levy-grant system for the cost of
qualified training expenditures by these funds. This is the dominant model found
in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The impact of these funds on training in the informal sector, however, is limited.
Most funds exempt smaller enterprises (below fifty employees) from the payment
of a levy because of the higher administrative cost of enforcing compliance on
the part of these enterprises. Dar, Canagarajah & Murphy (2003), in a review of
international experience with training funds, found that small employers do not
benefit substantially from these schemes. The financial incentives offered are in-
sufficient to offset the other factors mentioned earlier that deter training by small
enterprises. As a result, training funds with levy-grant schemes tend to favour larger
enterprises, particularly the training of more highly educated and skilled workers in
these enterprises.9
There are exceptions, however, as found in Malaysia and Singapore. Both coun-
tries recognized the low participation on the part of small enterprises in their levy-
grant funds and set out to address the problem. Among the solutions offered were
subsidies for conducting training needs assessments, pre-approved training courses
not requiring costly application and justification, and the use of excess training ca-
pacity of large enterprise by smaller firms. Singapore offered training vouchers to
enterprises with less than fifty employees that could be used to pay up-front training
costs to ease cash flow problems. The vouchers helped Singapore’s Skills Devel-
opment Fund reach 65% of enterprises with ten to forty-nine workers and 14% of
those with fewer than ten workers (Hirosato, 1997). Limited evidence is available
in Sub-Saharan Africa on the initiatives of national training funds to reach small
enterprises in the informal sector.
Other voucher programmes have been introduced to encourage training in the in-
formal sector (Johanson & Adams, 2004). The Kenya Jua Kali voucher programme,
described earlier, was successful in its pilot stage in expanding the supply of train-
ing to workers in the informal sector and lowering cost. There was evidence of its
positive impact on the earnings of participants and strengthening of the capacity of
local Jua Kali Associations responsible for distribution of the vouchers, but prob-
lems were encountered with corruption in scaling up that led to high administration
costs (Adams, 2001; Riley & Steel, 2000). A similar voucher programme targeting
informal sector enterprises was offered in Ghana in the early 1990s that largely
failed due to lack of attention in the design to the marketing and distribution of the
cxxx Prologue
vouchers (Johanson & Adams, 2004). The role of vouchers in training is an area that
merits further study in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Worldwide, countries allow enterprises to deduct the cost of training from their
income as a cost of business before taxes, but for the informal sector where small
enterprises may not earn sufficient income to pay taxes or may avoid taxes altogether
by not being registered, these deductions provide a limited incentive for training.
The same result may apply to tax credits that are targeted to selected enterprises
in return for agreed training and employment actions. Where the credit can be re-
funded to the enterprise in the absence of a tax liability, this may serve as an added
incentive for training and even registration of the enterprise, but once again may not
be sufficient to prompt small enterprises in the informal sector to train. As a general
conclusion, the impact of these various financial incentives on training is not well
documented for enterprises in the informal sector.
5 Moving the Skills Agenda Forward
Employment in the informal sector is now an important feature on the landscape

of Africa, accounting for a significant share of GDP and influencing the well-being
of a growing number of households. Its character has changed ever so slightly as
growing numbers of those who now enter this employment do so with higher levels
of education than those before them and with entrepreneurial aspirations that look
at this employment as a preferred destination for their future, rather than merely a
staging ground in the on-going search for wage employment in the modern sector.
Capturing the scale and characteristics of informal employment and its contribution
to national welfare and poverty reduction is a first step for many countries in defining
policies that can promote gains in productivity and incomes in this sector. Among
these policies are ones that would improve the skills of those employed in this
sector.
5.1 Elements of a Strategy
A strategy based on what is known about the informal sector for improving skills as
a means to promote its growth and productivity and improve the incomes of those
employed in the sector needs to include the following:
r Acknowledging the existence of the informal sector for policy;
r Raising the educational and literacy levels of those employed therein;
r Recognizing the complementarity of training with other small business services;
r Promoting sustainable financing for skills development;
r Strengthening traditional apprenticeships;
r Defining a role for public providers of skills;
r Building the capacity of industry associations;
r Monitoring and evaluating outcomes for skills development.
Prologue cxxxi
The informal sector has emerged as a reality and has to be recognized for policy
purposes. How it is treated by governments will probably influence its future as
an instrument for employment and poverty reduction. Forcing compliance with the
regulations and imposing the taxation of an industrial economy through stronger
enforcement measures is likely to drive it further underground or out of existence
altogether. Finding the right balance of regulation and taxation that recognizes the
higher risk and costs associated with operating a small business and providing the
incentives for expansion and formalization of its activities forms a challenge for
governments. Looking for ways in which government policy can support skills de-
velopment in the informal sector is one way to promote the growth of small busi-
nesses and improvements in household welfare.
The low education level of many of those employed in the informal sector im-
pedes the upgrading of their skills and their capacity for absorbing new technolo-
gies. Policies that promote adult education and literacy and that offer second-chance
education programmes enabling youth and adults to acquire non-formal education,
recognized as equivalent to the basic education offered by traditional education, can
open up opportunities and incentives for further investments in skills by workers and
enterprises (World Bank, 2007). Investments in skills, as noted earlier, are part of
a menu of services that are needed by small businesses, along with opening access
to credit and business services (ILO, 2000). Policies that open credit markets and
clear the way for non-governmental organizations to form and deliver these services
along with training can create a more favourable investment climate for enterprises
in the informal sector.
As suggested above, countries with training funds can adopt new approaches
like those used in Malaysia and Singapore that remove the barriers to investment
in skills faced by small businesses. At the same time, public expenditures on skills
development can be more effectively targeted through vouchers and tax credits to
improve the incentives for investments in skills by informal sector enterprises. Cost-
sharing is possible through these instruments. The Kenya Jua Kali programme, for
example, shows how these targeted expenditures can be expanded to subsidize and
improve the access of small businesses to technology and other business services,
and also that these businesses are willing to share the costs (Riley & Steel, 2000).
Traditional apprenticeships are observed to be a solution for skills development
that works well in the informal sector, but there are steps described earlier that can
be taken to improve the outcomes of this training without destroying what already
works well.
There are roles that can be successfully played by public education and train-
ing institutions to serve the informal sector, if financial incentives are in place
to encourage this. Emphasis on adult education and literacy programmes are part
of this process. The introduction of education equivalency programmes—so-called
second-chance education—is designed for those who have left traditional education
and are unlikely to return to this learning environment, but can be reached through
non-formal programmes of education. There are many examples of this in Latin
America, but fewer in Sub-Saharan Africa. Public technical and vocational educa-
tion through reforms adopting modular, competency-based curricula delivered in
cxxxii Prologue
a more flexible timeframe can teach students basic theories underlying a trade to
complement the practical skills taught by master craftspersons in traditional ap-
prenticeships.
Industry associations serving the informal sector are prevalent in many countries
throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Strengthening these associations so as to play a
more active role in advocating skills development by members, defining training
needs, designing and delivering short-courses, and engaging employers in setting
competency standards and skills certification, including those for apprenticeships,
can help address many of the issues that impede the investment of small enterprises
in skills. Skill certification may also be undertaken as part of national qualifications
frameworks and extended to cover apprenticeships (Johanson & Adams, 2004).
These are some of the elements of a skills strategy suggested by this review of how
skills are acquired for the informal sector. Refinement of this strategy and policies
supporting skills development for the informal sector need to be informed by regular
monitoring and rigorous evaluation of programmes.
There are interventions that do not seem to work well for further skills devel-
opment in the informal sector. Among them, training funds that are expected to
promote training carried out by enterprises show limited evidence of this as far as
small businesses are concerned. As suggested, there are tools that these funds could
use to encourage training by small enterprises, but examples in Sub-Saharan Africa
are largely absent. Treating training expenses as a tax deduction offers an incentive
for training in larger enterprises, but this policy is unlikely to have an effect on
training in smaller enterprises that operate at the subsistence level and pay hardly
any taxes. Tax credits may in turn be a more effective tool for smaller enterprises
in the informal sector. Smaller NGOs focusing on social and cultural skills rather
than economic ones do little to help beneficiaries create new employment. Finally,
public vocational and technical education that remains rigidly focused on skills for
the formal sector at a time when this employment is stagnating provides little benefit
to those who must find their employment in the informal sector.
5.2 The Role of Government
This chapter has reviewed the sources of skills development in the informal sector
along with their strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for improvement. It has
highlighted questions along the way where more research is needed to deepen our
knowledge of skills in the informal sector. An over-riding theme of the review is
the need for more data and information on the informal sector and its participants,
particularly how the numbers and characteristics of those employed in this sector
are changing with time and the factors affecting these patterns. From this review, it
has been possible to sketch the elements of a strategy for moving the skills agenda
forward for the informal sector. Fully developing the strategy, however, will require
filling many of the knowledge gaps that remain around employment and skills devel-
opment in the informal sector and adding to our confidence in other findings offered
by a small number of countries.
Prologue cxxxiii
What can governments do as part of this strategy? While governments need to

promote a more friendly investment climate for those who create their own employ-
ment, where skills are concerned their role in policy development and reforms to
promote a more equitable, market-responsive training system for all is of greater
importance than initiatives to provide or finance training for the informal sector.
Policies that open the market to private providers, including NGOs, are important
to expanding access to skills and reducing demands for public expenditure. Policies
that provide information to the market about the skill requirements of jobs available
and the quality and relevance of training offered by different providers can lead to
a more efficient allocation of public and private spending on training. Policies that
promote competition in delivery and financing and enforce accountability among
providers can together improve training outcomes and lower costs. These actions
by government serve the interest of all workers, not just those in the informal
sector.
Notes
1. The ILO (2002a) reports that more than sixty countries have started to collect and publish data
on employment and other characteristics of the informal sector.
2. For a review of skills in the formal sector of Sub-Saharan Africa, see Johanson & Adams (2004).
3. Bennell (1999) distinguishes between what he calls ‘survival’ enterprises and enterprises
with ‘growth potential’. He argues that the former require few skills and therefore it is dif-
ficult to see how ‘conventional training services could significantly increase productivity and
incomes’.
4. In a study of the informal sector in seven African countries, Filipiak (2007) estimates that
on-the-job training, self-training, and traditional apprenticeships account for 95% of training in
the informal sector. Senegal, for example, has some 400,000 youth in apprenticeships compared
with 7,000 in technical and vocational education and training. Monk, Sandefur and Teal (2007)
in Ghana, using a household survey, found that 80% of training is acquired through on-the-job
training and traditional apprenticeships.
5. While curricula for entrepreneurship education are often locally developed, other packages
have been developed and tested by donors, e.g. ILO’s Start/improve your business and GTZ’s
Competency-based economies through formation of enterprises (Haan, 2006).
6. Haan and Serriere (2002) estimate that fees for traditional apprenticeships average about US$70
per year. The ILO in 2006 estimated fees to average US$160, ranging from US$22 to US$616.
In 2005, Palmer (2007) estimated the average apprenticeship fee in the Ashanti Region of Ghana
to be US$42 with a range from $13 to $173.
7. In South Africa a new learnership scheme has been adopted to broaden the present appren-
ticeship system beyond traditional blue-collar trades to include white-collar occupations in the
service sector, as well as the informal sector (Gill, Fluitman & Dar, 2000)
8. The German dual system training provides an example where this complementarity has been
achieved, but it has proved difficult to accomplish in other settings where the roles and re-
sponsibilities of the public sector and employers for skills development are not defined in this
fashion.
9. Given the tendency noted earlier for large enterprises to train without subsidies, training funds
are subject to criticism for their high deadweight effects. That is, the funds pay firms to train
who would have trained without the subsidy. At the same time, these funds correct for a ‘free
rider’ problem that transfers the cost of training more evenly across firms of all sizes and types.
cxxxiv Prologue
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VOLUME 1
Part I
Overview
Chapter 1
The Pedagogical Roots
of Technical Learning and Thinking
Ron Hansen
1 The History of Technical Learning and Thinking
The early history of technical learning for the purposes of this account includes the
period from 700 BC to the Industrial Revolution. The earliest forms of ‘technical
being’ were associated with the controlling of fire. Through fire, humankind was
able to cook food, melt metals and shape simple tools. Eventually people became
miners, smiths, carpenters, masons, weavers and so on. Systematic learning, if there
was such a thing during this stage, is not well documented. It was a trial and error
process. The first evidence of organized learning came from groups who valued a
trade, skill or craft. In ancient times, the Jews, for example, sent their children to
school for religious studies in the morning and skill development in the afternoon.
Failure to give a Jewish boy an honest means of livelihood (manual trade) was ex-
cluding him from becoming a useful member of the community (Bennett, 1926).
Furthermore, the Jewish people felt that labour held religious significance. It was
regarded as a man’s [sic] duty.
At no point in the pre-Renaissance period is there evidence of what would be called a
system of instruction. Sons and daughters learned from their fathers and mothers. Their
goals were always survival and betterment for the family members and eventually for
larger communities of people. Even if a son was taught by someone other than his
father or mother, the relationship was a paternal one—master and apprentice.
During the Homeric Age (700 to 300 BC), handicrafts people in Greece occupied
a place of respect for their mechanical aptitude. Later, however, banausic or mechan-
ical arts lost their status. The beginnings of a stigma emerged. Manual arts were
thought to be for the peasant class and not fit subject matter for upper-class youth.
In 300 BC upper-class boys, according to Bennett,1 were taught drawing. The lower
classes continued to be apprenticed under a master as in earlier times. Interestingly,
the orators, lawyers, physicians and cooks of that time also employed the apprentice-
ship method in their training. Christian monks, much like the Jews, elevated manual
labour. Labour was required of everyone—weavers, carpenters, curriers and tailors.
Similarly, the Benedictines made manual labour a cardinal principle. Their thought
was that labour banished indolence (the enemy of the soul). For every moment in
the day that they celebrated the praises of God, they devoted one hour to labour, and
two to reading.
R. Maclean, D. Wilson (eds.), International Handbook of Education for the Changing 5

World of Work, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-5281-1 1,

C Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009
6 R. Hansen
The religious zeal and missionary enthusiasm of the Benedictines2 carried them
from Italy, north of the Alps, into Germany. Germany became filled with monas-
teries, each of which became a centre of civilization. Many of the church struc-
tures in Germany dating from 900 to 1200 AD are the work of the Benedictines.
Bookmaking and modernized buildings followed the development of the printing
press in 1450. The sole educational institutions of this period (900–1500) were
monasteries. Their subject matter was religious writing. Outside of these monas-
teries, participation in skilled labour was the principal means of education, though
not the kind of education which was recognized as such by schools. As trades and
crafts developed, i.e. became more differentiated and specialized, apprenticeship
included a large body of information, tools and techniques. The master was to teach
the recipes, rules, applications of science, mathematics, as well as the art of the craft.
The method was imitative and all instruction took place outside of school walls.
A new conception of the process of learning began to emerge in the 1400s—the
same spirit that led to the discovery of new methods for the schools. According
to Bennett, this period spawned two new fundamental ideas upon which modern
instruction in the manual arts has been built (1926, p. 30). The first is that the senses
are the basis of thought and, consequently, of knowledge. The second is learning by
doing. The idea that children could learn by working through a process and making
something by themselves, with tools, was seen as rational thinking. The placing of
handicrafts in schools followed.
It was Francis Bacon (1561–1626) who helped make the transition from learning
based on the writings of antiquity to learning based on nature and the arts of daily
life. Comenius followed (1592–1670) by advocating learning that starts with the
senses, then memory, the intellect, and finally the critical faculty. ‘The child per-
ceives through the senses; every thing in the intellect must come through the senses’
(cited in Bennett, 1926, p. 36).
British thinkers began to contribute to the technical learning story in the 1600s.
In 1663 Moxon published a volume entitled ‘Mechanik exercises or the doctrine of
handy works’. The subjects ranged from smithing to joinery and made extensive
use of illustrations. Locke (1642–1727) became the main spokesperson for the idea
that education should ‘fit a boy for practical life’ (Bennett, 1926, p. 61). Rousseau
(1712–1778) took Locke’s ideas a step further. He believed agriculture was the most
respectable of all arts and professions. Next to this came smithing and then carpen-
try. Bennett quotes Rousseau: ‘The great secret of education is to make the exercise
of the body and mind serve as relaxation to each other’ (1926, p. 80). Ultimately,
technical learning found its way into the school curriculum across Europe along-
side classic academic subjects, such as mathematics, science, language, history and
religion.
Four distinct movements, three in Europe and one in the United States, are de-
bated in the literature for their uniqueness and contribution to technical thinking and
learning. Each provides an important element in the evolution of a socio/experiential
pedagogy. Each shows how different cultures influenced or, adapted to, the Indus-
trial Revolution: the Russian system of workshop instruction; sloyd in Scandinavia;
manual training in Western Europe; and vocational education in the United States.
1 The Pedagogical Roots of Technical Learning and Thinking 7
1.1 The Russian System of Workshop Instruction
One of the first societies to analyse tool processes and construction methods em-
ployed in the mechanical arts was Russia.3 Progress in teaching mechanical arts had
been slow until the Russians institutionalized technical learning. Earlier student-
learning methods (prior to the 1800s), e.g. imitative or apprenticeship, were unsatis-
factory. The lack of an effective ‘system’ of instruction created a problem for which
a solution had not been devised. About this same time a Mr. Della Vos was appointed
to lead a new institution which became known as the Moscow School of Trades and
Industries (later decreed in Russia as the Imperial Technical School). He devel-
oped a six-year programme of instruction that would be considered college level
today.
The school was organized through instruction and construction shops. Large con-
tracts for development/project work were taken on by the school and carried out
partly by hired workmen and partly by the students. The machines they constructed
included steam engines, pumps and agricultural machinery. Students were permit-
ted to work in the construction shops only after completing required courses in the
instruction shops. The goals or ends of instruction were to teach the fundamentals of
mechanical arts in the least possible time, in large groups, with a strong knowledge
base and in steps that would allow the progress of each student to be assessed. Each
art or distinct type of work had its own separate shop, e.g., joinery, wood turning,
blacksmithing, locksmithing. Large display boards were used to provide enlarged
samples of wood joints, drawings, models, etc. The time devoted to joinery, as one
example, was fourteen hours per week for one year. Each student was required to
keep a ‘workbook’ recording the successive steps in each exercise, e.g. laying out,
squaring stock, cutting and planing. Students could master the elements of the arts
in a progressive sequence from easy to difficult. This separation of instruction and
construction shops, along with the development of sequential exercises, led people
to believe that mechanical arts could be taught in school settings. The way was
paved for technical instruction in schools—at least the perception that it could be
taught was beckoning and compelling (using the same methods as in the other school
subjects).
The Imperial Technical School provided a more economical and effective sub-
stitute for apprenticeship, or at least the early part of apprenticeship. Reference to
the developmental potential of project work in human terms is not mentioned in the
literature. Similarly, the Russian analysis does not mention how one mechanical art
might differ from another in terms of its fundamental nature and how that nature
might somehow define unique or distinct learning methodologies for each, or in fact
if either suited itself to being taught in schools.4 The issue of whether or not such
teaching or curriculum design was vocational or general was not an issue.
The literature also highlights the important contribution that the Russian dili-
gence and analysis made to tool and machine design. The word ‘design’ was not
one that was used in those early days. However, it was an important outcome of
the ‘system’ used in the many pioneering European schools that emerged through
the 1800s, including that of Pestalozzi. The transfer of knowledge and designs
8 R. Hansen
that were tested and refined is remarkable. The Diderot Encyclopedia5 is a testi-
mony of the contribution that European pioneers made to technical knowledge in
the 1800s.
In summary, the Russian system of workshop instruction and tool design proved
that mechanical arts could be analyzed and their fundamental elements arranged and
charted. It demonstrated that one instructor could successfully give instruction to a
large number of young workers and students at the same time. It also showed, after
years of trial and error, that whole-class instruction had to be supplemented with
one-on-one instruction, suggesting that learning of technical means is not always
viable in large-group situations. Furthermore, to ensure mastery of each step or op-
eration the teacher needed to evaluate the student’s progress, i.e. exercise diligence.
Without these safeguards or what Bennett called pedagogical procedures, lack of
patience and attention to detail often resulted in waste of materials and unsatisfac-
tory finished products, e.g. failed joints, awkward designs. Organizers and leaders
learned that the teacher must be an expert craftsperson in the work he or she is
teaching and must keep up his or her competence. Teacher credibility stemmed from
being able to demonstrate and inspire.
1.2 Sloyd: Scandinavia’s Contribution to Technical Learning
Sloyd (slojd, sloid) is a Scandinavian term that dates to the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries. It was the term used to describe what Nordic families did in the harsh and
dark months of winter to pass the time. Webster’s International Dictionary (Bab-
cock, 1971) defines it as a system of manual training developed in Sweden for train-
ing in the use of tools and materials, but emphasizing training in wood carving as a
means to this end. Another historical analysis of sloyd gives credit to Finland for its
origins. Kananoja, Kantola and Issakainen (1999) researched the archives and found
that Uno Cygnaeus, a Finlander, first founded sloyd. In either case, families would
sit beside the stone hearth fireplace in their cottages making tools and handicrafts
out of wood. At first the tools and handicrafts were those needed for survival on the
farm. Later they served an economic purpose as they could be sold to others in the
spring and summer months.
Home sloyd eventually died out and was replaced by school sloyd. Apparently,
the abuse of alcohol had resulted in a breakdown of the skill and character of young
Swedish men. The revival was prompted by a national education policy that intro-
duced it into schools as a subject of study. The history from that point on differs
across the Scandinavian countries. Each contributed something to the programme
and tradition known today in all Scandinavian schools as sloyd.
Finland was once a part of the Russian Empire. In grateful appreciation for
the loyalty of the Finnish people in helping him resist the onslaught of Napoleon,
Alexander II promised Finland a new and complete primary school system. The
designer of that system (1860s) was Cygnaeus. In his early years Cygnaeus acquired
considerable manual skill, thanks to his father, who took him to various workshops.
Also, for five years, he lived in Alaska where he learned about both the govern-
ing class and aboriginal people. He ascribed some of his thoughts on the need for
and character of popular education to these experiences. His philosophy was that
children, young and old, should be educated through the senses to appreciate the
aesthetics and functionality of independent artisanship and problem-solving. This
meant the use of one’s hands in building and making artefacts. In 1866 his plans for a
system of public or folk schools (as they were called) were enacted into law. He first
set up a teacher-training school at Jyväskylä. Student learning was divided among
book studies, domestic industries, and work in the garden and fields. He believed
that handwork should lead toward future practical efficiency, yet the school should
not become a technical or trade school. On these grounds, handwork was made one
of the fundamental subjects in the school established by Cygnaeus and in all folk
schools.
Meanwhile, in Sweden a successful merchant in Gothenberg, August Abraham-
son, retired to Naas (twenty kilometres away), a former hunting area of the King
of Sweden. Within this great estate were forests with oak and birch trees, pastures,
a castle and isolated villas. Abrahamson was a lover of nature and art, but with
an interest in bettering the conditions of the common people. Thus, in 1868, at his
wife’s suggestion, he opened a sloyd school. Originally this was intended for the
boys on the estate, but it quickly expanded and needed leadership. Otto Salomon
(1849–1907), a nephew and technical student at the Technical School of Stockholm,
was invited to operate the school. In 1872 an industrial school (Arbets-Skola) for
boys who had graduated from the folk school (the same concept as in Finland) was
established under Salomon’s direction. The course covered two years, fifty weeks
a year, ten hours a day (seven for sloyd, three for other subjects). In 1874 a similar
school for girls was opened. The need for capable teachers soon became evident.
Naas, as such, developed into a summer teacher education institution, with teachers
from all over the world attending to learn about the pedagogy (human development)
associated with handwork.
Though there is no evidence that Salomon was acquainted with Della Vos and
the Russian system of work instruction, he based his curriculum on a series of
tool exercises and elementary forms of construction. Unlike Della Vos, however,
he combined his exercises into the making of useful articles. There were three char-
acteristics of educational sloyd as developed by Salomon: making useful objects;
analyses of processes; and educational method. Salomon gave credit for the edu-
cational method characteristic to Cygnaeus. The pedagogical plan always included
working from the easy to the difficult, from the known to the unknown, and from the
interests and capacities of the children. Drawing or sketching often preceded project
work. First, he tried to make sloyd teachers out of artisans; later he spent more of
his effort in making sloyders out of teachers. Salomon believed that teachers should
use one-on-one instruction in their teaching. He admitted that whole-class teaching
was more economical but not sufficiently educational. Students from age 11 to 15
participated in sloyd.
In Denmark Ansel (Axel) Mikkelsen,6 a manufacturer, began in 1885 to teach
manual work to his apprentices, and a few other children. It wasn’t long before he
10 R. Hansen
heard of Salomon and Cygnaeus’s work. At his own expense, he started a sloyd
school in Copenhagen. What developed was the Danish sloyd system. The general
characteristics of Danish sloyd were: the starting point of all instruction should be
the natural interests of the child; the materials used should be wood and the tools
only those in common use; the course should be organized using a small or lim-
ited number of specific models and an unlimited number of co-ordinate (generic)
models; it should be flexible to meet the varying needs of individual pupils; both
whole-class and individual instruction should be used; tools should be selected or
constructed to suit the child’s size and strength.
1.3 Manual Training in Western Europe
The manual training movement is primarily a central and western European phe-
nomenon, although the idea found its way to North American shores where it
was renamed manual arts. More importantly, perhaps, it is a story of class differ-
ences, boyhood labour and schools as instruments of elitist beliefs. In France7 and
Germany,8 as in many European countries, manual training grew out of an earlier
type of workshop instruction, which was chiefly economic or industrial in its pur-
pose. Beiderman and Goetz were two prominent leaders who figured in the German
manual training movement.
Goetze took Biederman’s ideas and went a step further, writing an important
book entitled ‘Die Erganzung des Schulunterrichts durch praktische Beschaftigung’
[The completion of school instruction through practical activity]. Based on Bieder-
man and Goetze’s ideas, manual training in German schools began to flourish. First
a German Association for Boy’s Handwork (Leipzig Boy’s Workshop) was estab-
lished. Then in the summer of 1882 a course for teachers was established. Within a
span of ten years teacher training was provided at all major population centres across
Germany. Goetze was made director of a special teacher-training college in Leipzig
that was associated with the Leipzig Boy’s Workshop. Ultimately, the pedagogy
associated with manual training came to be known as the ‘Leipzig method’ and the
world-renowned German respect and valuing of technical learning in schools was
born.
The question of what form technical learning should take in the schools was
also addressed in the German story. Because of resistance to technical learning by
headmasters and other school leaders, Goetze raised the question of whether or not
manual training should be a servant to other school subjects or independent. Many
headmasters felt that technical learning should be offered in the curriculum if it
helped students learn natural history, geography or physics.
Is manual training to be admitted only on account of the service it renders to other branches
of education, or whether, by virtue of its peculiar educative influence, an independent po-
sition is to be assigned to it in the system of education? We [The German Association for
Boy’s Handwork] side with those who take the latter view. Manual training can neither do
its own work nor be an efficient auxiliary to other subjects unless it be methodologically
organized on an independent footing. Unless manual training is to become mere amateur
bungling, it cannot possibly depart from the natural method of proceeding from easy to
difficult (cited in Bennett, 1926, p. 178).
In England a different story was evolving and the principles upon which manual
training and the school system were to be founded were being fixed. Before the
Industrial Revolution, the ruling class in England, according to Bennett, accepted
the idea that, in an ideal society, it was essential for a large proportion of the people
be ignorant and poor. It took a hundred of years of debate to change this idea and to
adopt a system of elementary schools at public expense (1926, p. 220). Elementary
schooling would not be available and free to all children in England until 1905.
At the same time lower-class parents felt it was their right to profit by the manual
labour of their children. Many parents needed all the revenue that children could
earn. To correct this situation the church became involved, followed by schools of
industry. Volunteer teachers came to the rescue of poor children and a movement
known as the ‘Ragged Schools’ emerged. Out of the Ragged School Movement
came the polytechnics intended for the social, moral and educational improvement
of adults. Independently, from 1824 to 1848, the Mechanics Institute Movement
flourished with many of the institutes becoming technical schools. The technical
curriculum for England was being shaped. They [the mechanics institutes] were
intended to help mechanics learn about the principles behind mechanical objects,
tools and machinery. However, it soon became apparent that a minimal level of
language competence was necessary between people who were trying to convey the
principles and those receiving it. This experience helped precipitate the opening of
schools for children. Eventually, art and technical schools also came into being to
provide skilled workers for industry.
Fuelling the growth of technical schools was intense industrial competition
between England and Continental Europe. It was felt that Belgium, France and
Germany were gaining prestige over England in the race to industrial supremacy.
The issue of what kind or form of education was needed to propel and sustain in-
dustrial development was being debated. In the end, a system of elementary schools
provided instruction in basic literacy to age 10. Forms of handicraft were evident in
the schools—but sporadic. Needlework is identified in the literature as one promi-
nent craft. Early on, inspectors of needlework and drawing were appointed in Lon-
don. Coincident with the emergence of both schools and crafts in them, the problem
of child and juvenile delinquency was becoming prominent. The English solution
was to incarcerate them in schools where they could learn heavy crafts. Here was
a solution to the government’s need for public obedience and industry’s need for
workers. ‘Industry schools’ were born. Moral reform was twinned with technical
learning.9
In Scotland, a school quite different in character and with more egalitarian pur-
poses was giving shop work a serious place in the curriculum. Allan Glen’s Institute
in Glasgow was established in 1853 together with a free school for elementary edu-
cation. It eventually became a school of secondary and technical education. Articles
made by students were of their own selection and became their own property upon
payment for the material consumed. In Scottish tradition, once a student mastered a
12 R. Hansen
scale model of wood, he or she began to work for the institution. Eventually, shop
courses became a regular feature of schools in both England and Scotland, some
with wonderful traditions of excellence and spirit.
The debate about the function and form of technical learning in schools paral-
leled those on the European continent. Some school officials saw manual training
as a distinct and important subject area; others viewed it as an adjunct. The one
element that separated the English story from the rest of Europe was the role of
the City and Guilds Institute of London. In 1886 the City and Guilds of London
and the School Board formed a committee to plan the equipping of four schools
for woodworking. Classes were visited by many men and women interested in the
problems of education. Reports from the School Board of London for 1888 suggest
the students were highly motivated and inspired to stay in school because of these
classes.
Another influence that impacted on manual training in English schools came
from Naas in Sweden. Beginning in 1884, teachers from England began travelling
to Sweden to take courses in sloyd. Armed with Salomon’s models and techniques,
as well as an enriched summer experience, these teachers began to promote sloyd
in their schools. A group of sloyd workers took shape and the promoters of man-
ual instruction found themselves representing two more or less opposing groups of
teachers. One group depended on the City and Guilds, the other on sloyd philoso-
phy and practice. Finally, an experiment integrating the two approaches to manual
training was undertaken. The result was ‘English Sloyd’.10 The English system of
manual training in the elementary school was thus set. Unfortunately, the Education
Department was unable to reconcile the two factions, partly because they were more
focused on technical education. ‘It [the Education Department] could not catch
the full significance of manual training as a vital factor in elementary education’
(Bennett, 1937, p. 247). Ultimately, a teacher preparation syllabus was established
and teachers (some from other subjects and some artisans) were certified to teach
manual training as a subject. Handwork, in spite of the turmoil over philosophy and
means, became a staple in English elementary schools leading quite certainly to the
arts and crafts for which British craftspeople are now famous.
Technical education in England is a distinguishable but separate part of the whole
story. While the general education advocates won out in rationalizing elementary
school manual training as a non-trade oriented learning programme, the same fate
would not befall technical education. The term technical education and the contents
of classes under this name came to include: a group of general education subjects in
the elementary and higher schools, to very trade specific teaching, to higher instruc-
tion in science and engineering, and to commercial studies. One other backdrop to
the technical education story in England began in 1851 and lasted till the end of
the century. In 1851 the Great Exhibition was held at the Crystal Palace in London.
This was intended to showcase the superiority of British manufactured articles. It
did, except for the category of superior skill and refined design. In this area, France
was clearly superior. In 1855 the European countries met the British challenge by
inviting the United Kingdom to compete in the Exposition Universelle in Paris. This
revealed remarkable progress on the Continent. Again in 1862 in London, Britain
was confronted with a host of rivals. The Paris exhibition of 1867 provided further
evidence that the United Kingdom could no longer claim supremacy. The education
of continental workers was clearly superior.11
In the final analysis, the Great Exhibition of 1851 was a very significant turn-
ing point in the technical school learning story. Envy among nations clearly had a
significant impact on technical thinking and its position in schools during the mid-
nineteenth century. Its [technical learning and thinking] stock increased dramatically
in the public sentiment. But did it make any difference for technical teachers and
students in the schools? The evolution of schooling in the twentieth century would
surely prove, once and for all, how technical learning was central to both individual
development but also economic development.
1.4 The Vocational Education Movement in the United States
Bennett marks 1906 as being the beginning of the vocational education movement
in the United States (1937, p. 507). Manual arts had been expanding in the high
schools. Specific trades and apprenticeships were being identified by labour unions
and manufacturers. Students were looking for practical and profitable workplace
opportunities. Debates about social versus economic agendas took a back seat to
the government’s needs and wants. After much wrangling at the federal level, the
Smith-Hughes Act was passed (1917), paving the way for federal monies to be
spent on buildings and equipment for specific occupational training. The purpose
of vocational studies was to fit boys and girls for a job. Its integrity was tied to the
‘educative value of work’. Eventually, vocational guidance became a complimentary
force that cemented the movement, both in schools and in the work sector. Students
needed sound advice on which trade or occupation to choose.
Also taking a back seat was the issue of whether or not technical learning should
have cultural or industrial purposes. There was too much exciting work to be done
in the schools associated with teacher training, curriculum and facility design. Dis-
cussion of what form technical learning should take in schools was overshadowed
for the moment. Eventually many secondary schools and institutes would be known
(reflecting the vocational nature of studies in them) as vocational schools.
In his summation of the 1870 to 1917 period, Bennett traces the issues or interests
that gave technical learning and thinking in the United States its substance.
Throughout the years of effort to obtain the law [Smith-Hughes Act], there were three con-
stantly recurring and conflicting interests that had to be harmonized or at least propitiated.
One was between the manufacturer and the labor union; each wished to regulate vocational
training in order to control the labor market. Then there was the conflict of ideals between
those who feared that vocational training would lower the standard of cultural education.
And finally, when the need for vocational training was admitted, some believed that it could
be effective only when separated from the public-school work of general education; while
others insisted on the unity of control in public education and saw no good reason for a dual
system. The law passed was probably the best compromise that could have been obtained
at that time (1937, p. 550).
14 R. Hansen
2 The Irony of Displacing Technical Thinking and Learning
Regardless of whether or not technical learning and thinking is marginalized in the

school systems of most Western societies, it is useful to critically examine the model
that currently dominates and governs how children learn in school environments.
Increasing numbers of pedagogues point to the flaws in the classic academic model
of learning adopted in schools (Greenfield, 1993; McLaren, 1998; Rogers, 1997).
Acceptance of and reliance on the school-knowledge-acquisition model also raises
an important question. What are the limitations of that model of learning and think-
ing for technical teachers/students and for schools generally?
Debate about the validity of scientific knowledge seeking and ordering in recent
decades has been robust (Kuhn, 1962), but also ubiquitous. Seldom is any credence
given to a knowledge-generation model or theory that emerges from people who
value ‘doing’ as highly as ‘knowing’. Scholars point to the scientific method as a
source for deriving new knowledge and validating it. The knowledge-seeking and
validation process is known in the literature as ‘positivism’. Acceptance of posi-
tivism, even though it enjoys a nineteenth century history, has come under increasing
scrutiny. Kuhn’s challenge to positivism, along with that of Hooker (1987), points
to a renaissance of thinking regarding sources of knowledge. Missing from the
science-based knowledge-building model is a way of learning that recognizes tech-
nical knowledge and knowledge that comes from experience. Finnigan and Layton
refer to this in their annotated bibliography on teaching and learning in the third
culture.
So far as the schools are concerned, these developments [the recognition that technological
activity is fundamentally different from science] have a direct and practical implication.
If there is a distinct ‘technik’[technical thinking and learning], with characteristics which
distinguish it from the sciences and humanities, should it not have a place in the general
education offered by the schools? Are there, indeed, three cultures, not two as C.P. Snow
suggested, the third corresponding to the creative, problem-solving and productive activi-
ties of the engineer? Ought we not to recognize more clearly in curriculum terms that the
fundamental difference between science and technology is social, a difference in values
between a community whose sovereign value is ‘knowing’ and another whose ultimate goal
is ‘doing’? And if the answer to each of these questions is ‘Yes’, what problems arise in
relation to teaching and learning in the third culture? (1994, p. 2).
Questions about the validity and verification of knowledge as the featured commod-
ity of schools are also found in the field ‘sociology of knowledge’. Rogers (1997),
in her paper on new views of knowledge and its representation in schools, illustrates
the differences between subject-matter learning and disciplinary learning. She ex-
plores some of the problems posed by using disciplines as the primary source of
authority in shaping the curriculum, and goes on to propose a more radical, alterna-
tive model for thinking about the curriculum. The alternative integrates the influence
of the disciplines with other influences, such as the child’s world, the particulars of
context and the knowledge of professions. She argues that we should think more
broadly about the possible sources of influence and authority for the curriculum in
schools.
As nations and economies rush to claim a ‘knowledge-based’ lifelong learning

model, the need for technical education to have its true nature and form properly
recognized and valued, in and out of the formal learning institutions, is vital. Why
would anyone want to exclude knowledge from everyday life in a learning model?
A paper subtitled ‘Towards a sociology of lifetime learning’ (Rees et al., 1997)
challenges the normative focus on ‘the learning society’ as one that can and should
be driven by more than human capital theory. The authors conclude that a narrow
approach looking only at human beings as capital will detract from an adequate
theory of lifetime learning.
There is a classic question that plagues educational policy and thought. It may
also underscore why there was a lack of rebuttal from practical people who know
how they learn when solving everyday problems. Can schooling, when separated
from everyday reality, ever be relevant? Dewey writes: ‘Connect schooling to every-
day life and the curriculum will, of necessity, be relevant’. Layton underscores the
same point when he states that schools decontextualize knowledge (1993, p. 15):
‘A general characteristic of school technology and one which makes it different
from many other school subjects is its engagement with practical action in the
made world. No subject challenges the historic role of schools as institutions which
decontextualize knowledge quite so strongly as does technology.’ Buchmann and
Schwaille perceptively ask: Can knowledge be acquired and retained independent
of practical action, by observing and imitating others and by extracting knowledge
from experiences coded in text? Does learning in schools always have to be an
interpretation of reality rather than reality itself (1983, p. 11)?
Technicians and technologists who know how they learn through experience are
often not informed about where knowledge and the school curriculum comes from,
much less whether or not it is valid. And, even when they do, their voices and the
platforms from which they might express themselves are remote.12 The fact that
such knowledge and its dissemination was contrived or that something might have
been lost in the translation, or that it might be at least once removed from world or
human reality, as such, is not resolved. Sheridan writes: ‘schooling contributes to a
priority of legitimacy of literacy, and this denies the legitimacy of experience, which
is necessary for learning’ (2000, p. 23). School-teachers, unfortunately, technical or
otherwise are seldom fully informed of this dichotomy/irony.
3 Epilogue
The knowledge-oriented tradition that underpins schooling in Western societies

continues to enjoy an unquestioned place in the minds of most parents, policy-
makers and professional educators. At the same time, the importance and place
of experience versus knowledge as an orientation or tradition for learning awaits
definition and institutionalization. The literature overview in this chapter draws
out three important features of the academic versus experiential learning divide.
First, the need for a deeper understanding of what it means to be technical and
to think and learn technically in a human and social sense requires documentation
16 R. Hansen
and clarification. Second, how and what one learns when being technical is an elu-
sive but culturally significant pedagogical terrain. Third, technological learning, as
a cultural phenomenon that defines societies and governs economic prosperity, is
undistinguished.
A ‘first principles’ or critical analysis may be the only one that offers hope for
reform. And, ironically, the one place where answers and enlightenment are tra-
ditionally found, i.e. the school, is the genesis of the problem. Formal learning
institutions, thereby, are not likely to see it in their best interests to pursue a full
and honest analysis.
Teachers are not taught what Lindeman and other educational philosophers have
known for some time—‘education conceived as a preparation for life locks that
learning within a vicious circle. Youth educated in terms of adult ideas and taught
to think of learning as a process which ends when real life begins will make no
better use of intelligence than the elders who prescribe the system’ (1926, p. 3).
In other words, we have become habituated to a method of achievement that is,
in essence, antithetical to intelligence and to technical learning. Teachers are not
taught or given this important contextual information in their training/education.
The absence of this understanding and teachers who know nothing of the problem
lies at the root of a huge dilemma in schools. Ironically, this ‘missing understanding’
is spoken about informally in workplaces and around the kitchen table all the time
by families and people who trust their experience and life’s work ahead of what
they learned or did not learn in schools. Lindeman puts it bluntly: ‘Too much of
learning [in schools] consists of vicarious substitution of someone else’s experience
and knowledge’ (1926, p. 6).
In fairness it should be said that the ‘learned’ colonialists who attempted to
share and rationalize this new-found way to learn and think were probably scep-
tical and euphoric at the same time. Book learning would eradicate a perceived
and increasingly legitimized problem—illiteracy. Peasants and pagans who roamed
many regions of the world using oral forms of communication were thought to
be backward and their ways limiting. Settler and colonialist cultures felt that the
printed word leading to widespread reading and dissemination of information would
homogenize and standardize people and cultures. It did. The technical printing
press, among other things, paved the way for a single and widespread way of
transmitting important information and ultimately knowledge. What they [settler
cultures] failed to recognize was that both the oral and the written forms of in-
formation dissemination and the ways of learning that go with each are equally
significant and inextricably connected. Wisdom, it was thought, could be passed
on from one generation to another by book learning. Can it? Does experience not
intervene?
The fact that the two kinds of thinking and learning [academic versus techni-
cal] are very different may be one of the explanations why technical thinking and
learning have not found a home in formal teacher-education practices. There is a
resulting universal conundrum. The notion of constructing knowledge and creating
academic subjects for its dissemination is itself an anomaly. The pedagogical terrain
in recent years has been tempered by the introduction of design as a precursor,
if not a stand-alone component, of what is sometimes referred to as ‘Design and

Technology’ in the schools. The notion of designing is often so prominent that un-
dertaking a technical project and learning to be technical is discarded or deferred.
Design and technology serves as a reminder of what happens when technical think-
ing and learning is defined in a school general education context. It becomes what
McLaren (1998) calls another socially constructed subject.
Notes
1. Bennett was a professor of manual arts at Bradley Polytechnic Institute in Peoria, Illinois. He
devoted a good deal of his life to documenting a comprehensive history of manual training and
industrial education. His material provides a comprehensive review of the pioneers associated
with pedagogical thought about technical thinking and learning.
2. ‘Through the promotion of agriculture, the handicrafts, and art, along with religious instruc-
tion for all, and book learning for a selected few, the Benedictines became the civilizers of
barbarians and examples of enterprise, thrift, and Christian culture’ (Bennett, 1926, p. 20).
3. There is some debate about whether or not the French were engaged in systematic instruction
ahead of the Russians. Pannabecker (2004) found evidence of formal technical instruction in
Paris, France, as early as 1808, and certainly by 1828.
4. Two contrasting examples are joinery and blacksmithing (metal work).
5. The Diderot Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts, et des métiers
(1751–80) is a compendium of thirty-five volumes that is considered the centrepiece of the
Age of Enlightenment (Pannabecker, 1998).
6. Two authorities on Mikkelsen’s contribution to sloyd are Bent Illum and Benny Gaarde. The
National Institute for Sloyd Teacher Training, in Copenhagen, contains the documents that
record Mikkelsen’s contributions to Danish sloyd.
7. The following quote typifies how the French thought about manual training: ‘In France there
is absolutely no sympathy with any kind of manual instruction that pretends to aim at purely
educational results and entirely ignores the industrial condition of the country’ (cited in Ben-
nett, 1926, p. 107).
8. Thanks to Waldemar Goetze, leaders of the manual training movement in Germany were not
driven by the economic advantages of instruction in handwork but by its general educational
value. After apprenticing for a year, Goetze went to the University of Leipzig. There he was
able to study Friedrich Karl Biederman’s clear and democratic ideas on education.
9. The objective of the industrial work in those schools was ‘not to make profit of their labour,
but to help them acquire habits of industry, skill in some useful art, and such correct moral
habits as to render their service desirable’ (Bennett, 1926, p. 227).
10. It was shown that the instruction [City and Guilds curriculum] stimulated the intelligence and
improved the physique of the children; that the discipline was pleasant to the learners; and
that, whilst it gave reality to much of the abstract teaching of the school, it endowed the young
workers with manual skill and adroitness that remained with them a permanent possession for
life (Magnus, 1910). In 1892 an epoch-making book entitled ‘Woodwork’ detailed methods
of procedure in teaching woodworking. English sloyd differed from Swedish sloyd in that the
making of any object had to be preceded by the making of a working drawing.
11. John Mill, in a pamphlet entitled ‘What is industrial and technical education?’, summarized the
results of these world fairs as follows: ‘The Great Exposition of 1851, and those which have
been subsequently held, have given a rude shock to our insular pride and self-complacency by
showing us that our former excellence in numerous branches of manufacturing industry has
been lost’ (cited in Bennett, 1926, p. 277).
12. Hansen (1996) describes the apologetic nature of technological studies teachers in his teacher
socialization research.
18 R. Hansen
References
Babcock, P. 1971. The Webster’s New Third International Dictionary (unabridged). Springfield,
MA: G. & C. Merriam Company.
Bennett, C.A. 1926. History of manual and industrial education: up to 1870. Peoria, IL: Chas. A.
Bennett Co. Inc.
Bennett, C.A. 1937. History of manual and industrial education: 1870 to 1917. Peoria, IL: Chas.
A. Bennett Co. Inc.
Buchmann, M.; Schwaille, J. 1983. Education: the overcoming of experience. American journal of
education, vol. 92, pp. 30–51.
Finnigan, R.; Layton, D. 1994. Teaching and learning in the third culture? An annotated bib-
liography of issues in engineering education. Leeds, UK: Centre for Studies in Science and
Mathematics Education.
Greenfield, T.B. 1993. The man who comes back through the door in the wall: discovering truth,
discovering self, discovering organizations. In: Greenfield, T.; Ribbing, P., eds. Greenfield on
educational administration: towards a humane science, pp. 92–119. London: Routledge.
Hansen, R. 1996. Program equity and the status of technological education: the apologetic nature
of technology teachers (Editorial). Journal of technology education, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 57–63.
Hooker, C.A. 1987. A realistic theory of science. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Kananoja, T.; Kantola, J.; Issakainen, M. 1999. Conference proceedings: Development of Technol-
ogy Conference. Jyväskylä, Finland: University of Jyväskylä.
Kuhn, T.S. 1962. The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago
Press.
Lindeman, E. 1926. The meaning of adult education. New York, NY: New Republic Inc.
Layton, D. 1993. Technology’s challenge to science education: cathedral, quarry, or company
store? Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
Magnus, P. 1910. Educational aims and efforts: 1880–1910. London: Longmans, Green.
McLaren, P. 1998. Life in schools: an introduction to critical pedagogy in the foundations of edu-
cation, 3rd ed., pp. 171–98). New York, NY: Longman.
Pannabecker, J. 1998. Representing mechanical arts in Diderot’s Encyclopédie. Technology and
culture, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 33–73.
Pannabecker, J. 2004. Inventing industrial education: The Ecole d’Arts et Métiers of Châlons-sur-
Marne, 1807–1830. History of education quarterly, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 222–249.
Rees, G. et al. 1997. History, place and the learning society: towards a sociology of lifetime
learning. Journal of education policy, vol. 12, no. 6, pp. 485–99.
Rogers, B. 1997. Informing the shape of the curriculum: new views of knowledge and its represen-
tation in schooling. Journal of curriculum studies, vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 683–710.
Sheridan, J. 2000. The silence before drowning in alphabet soup. Canadian journal of native
studies, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 23–32.
Chapter 2
A Conceptual Framework for Technical
and Vocational Education and Training
Jay W. Rojewski
1 Introduction
Unprecedented changes in work, family, community and political life in the twenty-
first century—fuelled by myriad phenomena such as globalization, market deregula-
tion, the worldwide influence of capitalism, and a need for knowledgeable workers
skilled in information technologies—confront people in every region of the world.
While these phenomena pose significant economic, social and cultural challenges,
technical and vocational education and training (TVET) professionals are partic-
ularly challenged to develop, adapt or redesign strategies to address the needs of
workers and society.
But, what drives the changes and modifications made to TVET programmes?
Even more basic, what is the essential purpose of TVET programmes in an in-
creasingly global economy requiring highly-skilled and highly-educated workers?
Should TVET be viewed solely as a means for preparing people for specific types
of work or as a means of providing academic education for living in a demo-
cratic society? Should purposes differ at secondary and post-secondary levels?
Where is TVET headed in the foreseeable future, and what factors affect this
direction?
Answers to these questions—and many more—depend on any number of possi-
ble factors, not the least of which are the underlying philosophies, implicit assump-
tions and common vision held by those responsible for TVET. Presumably, this
information can be collected and coherently presented in a conceptual framework.
In this chapter, I attempt to articulate ‘a’ (rather than ‘the’) conceptual frame-
work for TVET. Because of differing views about the nature of TVET, a concep-
tual framework must accomplish several goals to be effective and useful, including:
(a) explaining the general purposes of TVET; (b) reflecting the underlying beliefs
and perspectives of its constituents; and (c) shaping current activity and future
direction—it cannot be developed in a vacuum. Many constituencies must be in-
volved to provide a comprehensive view of TVET and its applications in classrooms,
boardrooms, living rooms and factory floors. Therefore, this framework should be
viewed as an initial point of departure for discussion and debate rather than as an
arrival at the final destination.

World of Work, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-5281-1 2,

20 J.W. Rojewski
2 Nature and Role of Conceptual Frameworks
Theoretical and conceptual concerns regarding TVET have often taken a back seat
compared to changing political and economic landscapes dominated by shifting
governmental and international agency policies and initiatives. Any attempt to artic-
ulate a framework for TVET is also fraught with potential points of contention about
the ultimate purpose(s) of TVET, the diversity of countries and constituents served
and their sometimes conflicting needs, and the degree of reliance on governments
or international agencies to provide guidance and definition.
A conceptual framework contains: (a) principles or ‘generalizations that state
preferred practices and serve as guidelines for programme and curriculum construc-
tion, selection of instructional practices, and policy development’; and (b) philoso-
phy which ‘makes assumptions and speculations about the nature of human activity
and the nature of the world [and] helps vocational educators decide what should
be and what should be different’ (Miller, 1996, p. xiii). Conceptual frameworks
should accomplish several things, including: (a) establish the parameters of a pro-
fession by delineating its mission and current practices; (b) account for historical
events by allowing understanding of how we got to where we are; (c) establish the
philosophical underpinnings of the field and underscore the relationships between
philosophy and practice; and (d) provide a forum for understanding directions of the
field. A conceptual framework does not necessarily solve all problems or answer all
questions, but it should provide a schema for identifying critical issues and allowing
for solutions. Frameworks should be fairly stable, but have the capacity to change
over time and adapt to external factors.
Any conceptual framework for TVET must be flexible enough to allow for dif-
ferences in secondary or post-secondary programmes and accommodate changes in
various economies and countries, but at the same time identify underlying assump-
tions, beliefs and values that are consistent for all types of programmes and are not
readily subject to change. Not a small order!
3 Philosophical Underpinnings
In the United States, TVET emerged in the early 1900s in the midst of debate
about the nature of vocational training in public education. A general consensus had
emerged about the importance of establishing vocational training in public schools
as an alternative to a classical, academic tradition. However, a disagreement existed
about the specific design and implementation of public vocational education. Two
historical figures, Charles Prosser and John Dewey, have come to represent opposing
positions on the nature of vocational education.
Prosser’s views on social efficiency, while lacking the qualities of a formal philo-
sophic system (Miller & Gregson, 1999), posited that the major goal of school was
not individual fulfilment but meeting the country’s labour needs. A bulwark of so-
cial efficiency was the preparation of a well-trained, compliant workforce (Doolittle
2 A Conceptual Framework for Technical and Vocational Education and Training 21
& Camp, 1999). TVET was organized and rigidly sequenced, an emphasis was
placed on hands-on instruction delivered by people with extensive experience, and
programme funding and administration occurred via a system that was physically
and conceptually separate and distinct from academic education. While strongly
supported by a majority of TVET proponents at the time, Prosser’s approach to
vocational preparation has been criticized in recent years for being class-based
and tracking certain segments of society—based on race, class and gender—into
second-class occupations and second-class citizenship (Hyslop-Margison, 2000;
Lewis, 1998).
In sharp contrast, Dewey believed that the principle goal of public education
was to meet individual needs for personal fulfilment and preparation for life. This
required that all students receive vocational education, be taught how to solve prob-
lems and have individual differences equalized. ‘Dewey rejected the image of stu-
dents as passive individuals controlled by market economy forces and existentially
limited by inherently proscribed intellectual capacities. In his view, students were
active pursuers and constructors of knowledge’ (Hyslop-Margison, 2000, p. 25).
Dewey’s work is recognized as a significant part of the philosophy known as
pragmatism. In the last several decades, pragmatism has been identified as the pre-
dominant philosophy of TVET. Change and reactions to it are significant features
of a pragmatic philosophy (Miller, 1985, 1996; Miller & Gregson, 1999). Pragmatic
education seeks to prepare students to solve problems caused by change in a logical
and rational manner through open-mindedness to alternative solutions and a will-
ingness to experiment. The desired outcomes for pragmatic education are knowl-
edgeable citizens who are vocationally adaptable and self-sufficient, participate in a
democratic society and view learning and reacting to change as lifelong processes
(Lerwick, 1979).
Miller and Gregson cogently argued that a proactive stance to change in both the
profession and society best reflects contemporary thinking in TVET and should be
adopted. This position, known as reconstructionism, emphasizes the role of TVET in
contributing solutions to problems such as discrimination in hiring, the glass ceiling
experienced by women and members of minority groups, or poor working condi-
tions. ‘One of the purposes of vocational education should be to transform places of
work into more democratic learning organizations rather than perpetuating existing
workplace practices’ (1999, p. 30).
Another issue directly connected to philosophy is the relationship of vocational and
academic education. Not only has vocational education struggled with self-definition,
but also with determining how it fits with an academic curriculum. Miller and Greg-
son (1999) instruct us that public education in the United States has been influenced
historically by the blending of two fundamental schools of thought—idealism and
realism—into a philosophy labelled essentialism. Essentialism is characterized by an
emphasis on basic academics (the Three Rs), respect for the existing power structure
and nurturing of middle-class values (Sarkees-Wircenski & Scott, 1995).
Education from an essentialist’s perspective includes the notions that: (a) ideas,
concepts and theory should hold a more dominant place than preparing for a life role
as a worker and producer; (b) learning theory reflecting a behaviouristic approach
22 J.W. Rojewski
These three philosophical positions are applicable to TVET. Specific choices about
the nature and scope of TVET depend on the specific combination of philosophies
selected to define a particular programme.
Pr
ism
Purpose of TVET is to meet needs of Purpose of TVET is to fulfill individual
ag
labor market. Characterized by needs for personal fulfillment and life
m
ial
sequential organized curriculum, preparation. Characterized by an
instructors need extensive emphasis on problem-solving and higher-
at
nt
business/industry-related experience. order thinking, learning is constructed
ism
System separate from academic se from prior knowledge (Miller, 1985, 1996)
Es
education (Sarkees-Wircenski & Scott,
1995)
Pragmatism
(Reconstructionist strand)
Purpose of TVET is to transform work into democratic, learning

organizations. Proactive rather than perpetuating existing
workplace practices. Adopts a stance against injustice and inequity
in work issues (Miller & Gregson, 1999).
Fig. 1 Alternate philosophies for TVET
and memorization should build over the individual’s personal experiences; and (c) a
subject-matter should emphasize the so-called basic skills and preparation for col-
lege (Sarkees-Wircenski & Scott, 1995, p. 25).
How should the presence of several different philosophies in TVET be treated
from a conceptual standpoint? I suggest using a three-dimensional triangle to rep-
resent the prevailing philosophies, each side representing one of three prominent
philosophies found in the field: essentialism, pragmatism and pragmatism with a
reconstructivist strand (see Fig. 1).
Philosophy is at the core of any conceptual framework. The specific tenets repre-
sented by the three philosophies reviewed here hold different answers to questions
about the ideal nature and scope of TVET that, in turn, dictate the types of deci-
sions made on curriculum structure, instructional strategies, programme delivery,
etc. Identifying three influencing philosophies complicates matters, although the
field seems to be converging on the pragmatic (combined with reconstructionism)
position (Miller & Gregson, 1999).
4 Notions of the New Economy
Economic developments often have major influences on the content and direction
of curricula and programmes. Until recently, those developments had been grad-
ual, fairly steady and, for the most part, predictable. However, more recently, most
economists and labour analysts have identified a new economy emerging around
the world (globalization). While specifics about the new economy are sometimes in
dispute, most peoples’ understanding (e.g., Carnevale, 1991; International Labour

Organization, 2001; Mandel, 2000; Reich, 2000; U.S. Department of Labor, 2000;
Weinstein, 1997) of the emerging economy includes at least some of the following
core characteristics.
r Manufacturers, spurred by advances in technology, maintain an accelerated level
of growth in productivity. Businesses are in a continual production mode. How-
ever, the emerging system of production is shifting away from high-volume mass
production to high-value production, and from standardization to
customization.
r The globalization of business markets results in substantial increases in competi-
tion for manpower and goods. Competition is particularly keen for highly-skilled
workers. The largest manpower needs are for persons with innovative and cre-
ative methods for: (a) producing new products and services; or (b) promoting
and marketing these new goods and services to consumers (Friedman, 1999;
Reich, 2000).
r Information handling—e.g. storage, transfer and production—continues to in-
crease in importance in the new economy. Low overhead costs require workers
to be able to manipulate data and provide customized, rather than mass-produced,
information and services.
r Business management practices are undergoing extensive restructuring and can
be characterized by: (a) continued downsizing; (b) a premium placed on person-
nel who can manage knowledge as opposed to people; and (c) an increasing re-
liance on outsourcing for most work. ‘Managers will become brokers/facilitators;
there will be more technical specialists, more lateral entry, and shorter, flatter
career ladders. Instead of the old-style division of labor into discrete tasks, job
functions will converge, and work teams will consist of individuals who alternate
expert, brokering, and leadership roles’ (Kerka, 1993).
r Fierce competition will affect both for-profit and not-for-profit institutions, re-
sulting in pressure to be innovative and to do it all better, faster, cheaper and
continuously. Restructuring will occur frequently in order to achieve the greatest
efficiency and productivity.
What does all of this mean? Hawke observed that ‘the very essence of work has
undergone a massive transition within the last decade and, for vocational educa-
tion, this is having major implications’ (2000, p. 1). Smaller entrepreneurial groups
linked to trusted name brands are likely to be big winners in the new economy. To
remain competitive, the people comprising these enterprises must ‘continuously cut
costs, lease almost everything they need, find the lowest-cost suppliers, push down
wages of routine workers, and flatten all hierarchies into fast-changing contractual
networks’ (Reich, 2000, p. 6). The decentralization of decision-making and reorga-
nization of work structures around semi-autonomous, task-oriented teams will be
the norm.
Many of the implicit rules that have governed employment during the latter half
of the twentieth century—e.g. employees who expect steady work with predictably
rising wages, a clearly defined employer/worker relationship, and a clear separation
24 J.W. Rojewski
between work and family—are no longer in sync with the emerging reality of work
(Hawke, 2000). Instead, Reich (2000) foresees the end of steady work, the neces-
sity of continuous effort regardless of tenure or seniority status, and widening in-
equality in wages paid to top- and lower-level workers. The new economy requires
that workers possess a broad set of abilities, including both technical and interper-
sonal/communication skills. Higher-order thinking skills, such as decision-making
and problem-solving, as well as flexibility, creative thinking, conflict resolution,
and managing information and resources will also be expected (Carnevale, 1991;
Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, 1991).
Workers will also need to commit to lifelong learning, and organizations will
need to provide on-going retraining for the existing workforce to remain viable. The
International Labour Organization (2001) describes how the new economy is influ-
encing the methods of instructional delivery and types of learning most desirable.
Two consequences of this are, first, a shift in teaching methodologies away from
the transfer of facts to students as passive recipients and, instead, towards teaching
students how to learn and instilling in them the curiosity to do so. In short, how
people learn is becoming as important as what they learn. The second consequence
is observable in high-tech firms exposed to fast-paced competition. The ability to
learn, to transform existing knowledge into new knowledge is a source of competi-
tive advantage of increasing significance.
Changes in the economy will also influence family and community life in many
ways. In fact, Reich (2000) concluded that ‘rewards of the new economy are coming
at the price of lives that are more frenzied, less secure, more economically divergent,
more socially stratified’ (p. 8). The high-powered work force of the twenty-first
century requires more and more employees to work late, be available at all hours,
develop contacts and connections, and stay current with new developments. The
new economy is also beginning to fragment communities, countries and geographic
regions into those groups that have access to education, resources and the like, and
those that do not. Reich explains that the growing demand for high-skilled workers is
juxtaposed against the pressures of competition pushing the earnings of employees
in routine jobs down. Thus, disparities in earnings continue to grow.
TVET stands poised to affect positive change in terms of support, preparation and
guidance in the areas of people’s lives likely to be affected. However, to be relevant,
professionals must critically examine and modernize their underlying assumptions
about the world of work and family life, and be willing to reconcile ‘the way we’ve
always done things’ with emerging directions of the economy and needs of the work
force.
5 Components of a Conceptual Framework
5.1 What Does a Conceptual Framework Entail?

Much, if not all, of the information needed to develop a coherent perspective of
the field has been addressed and is available through descriptions of the workplace
and work force, research, opinion and everyday practice found in national and in-
ternational arenas. Construction of the framework presented here, then, has capi-
talized on this information in an effort to synthesize and reflect current streams of
thought and practice, rather than devise a new vision. The conceptual framework for
TVET proposed here is offered as a graphic illustration of the relationship of major
components that shape the field (see Fig. 2). While relationships between various
components are given, the major function of the diagram is to serve as a starting
point for discussion about the conceptual underpinnings of the field.
The new economy Global pressures

Globalization and expectations
St
en
ud
sm
en
es
tp
ss
op
Curriculum
ta
ula
en
tio
Instruction and
ud
n
Programme Delivery
St
s
Options
Philosophy
Programme evaluation
Student learning, Community and

motivation, and societal expectations
achievement
Fig. 2 Visual representation of the conceptual framework for TVET
5.2 General Assumptions

TVET professionals hold certain beliefs and assumptions about the purpose of the
field, the curriculum and so forth. It is important that these often-unstated beliefs
be identified, so that confusion or misinterpretation about an articulated concep-
tual framework is minimized. To Miller (1985, 1996) philosophy is synonymous
with conceptual framework. It is mentioned here so as to acknowledge the per-
vasive role of philosophy on both our assumptions and implementation of TVET.
The assumptions listed here (adapted from several sources, including Copa &
Plihal, 1996; Hoachlander, 1998; and Lynch, 1996) are not exhaustive, but rather
serve as examples.
Assumption 1. The purpose of TVET is to enhance the vocational devel-

opment characteristics of an educated person. Vocational development is
a lifelong process of developing the capacity for assuming vocational re-
sponsibilities; that is, the expectations for accomplishments in social and
economic roles where individuals take responsibility to provide services or
26 J.W. Rojewski
produce products of value to themselves and others. Long-term career devel-

opment should be emphasized, rather than an exclusive focus on entry-level
employment.
Assumption 2. TVET must be dynamic and address the on-going changes found
in workplaces, homes and communities so as to serve the needs of the larger
society and interests of individuals it serves. The overarching structure con-
ceives of work broadly and in the long term, encouraging generalization of
learning and connections to work-based programmes and ideas.
Assumption 3. A knowledge base exists that under-girds all of TVET, regardless
of occupational specialization. A rigorous, coherent programme of academic
study exists and can be identified for all programmes.
Assumption 4. Changes in TVET must be concomitant with reform in academic
specializations, and with educational reform and renewal in general.
Assumption 5. Strong connections between high-school curricula and ‘the
full range of’ two-year and four-year post-secondary opportunities must be
forged.
Assumption 6. TVET should address the long-term needs of successful eco-
nomic and social development of individuals, and not the narrow, short-term
interests of special-interest groups, business or industry.
5.3 Past Conceptual Frameworks
Pratzner (1985) framed his discussion of the traditional paradigm in vocational

education around six primary components: subject matter; beliefs in theories and
models; values; methods and instruments; exemplars; and social matrices. This
framework reflects an enterprise that serves the interests of employers, provides
decontextualized instruction for specialized entry-level jobs, values job placement
and earnings, follows a rigid, prescribed curriculum, uses norm-referenced and stan-
dardized tests to assess student learning, and has a considerable support network of
professional associations and clubs.
More recently, Copa and Plihal (1996) challenged the existing paradigm in vo-
cational education, arguing for substantial change. They suggested a broad-field
approach to curriculum integration where vocational and technical education is
offered as a comprehensive subject for learning about work, family and commu-
nity roles and responsibilities. A major advantage of this approach is that ‘the
separate-fields structure fails to recognize the growing importance of the interac-
tion among work, family, and community responsibilities and interests’ (p. 103). A
major drawback to acceptance of Copa and Plihal’s proposal is that TVET would
need to be reconceptualized with the likelihood that firmly established (entrenched?)
traditions, organizations and structures would give way to new ones built on the prin-
ciples of one broad field of study. While these changes could provide TVET with a
focus needed to address emerging issues related to work, family and community, it
is doubtful that a wholesale change will occur.
Grubb (1997) advocated a shift from job-specific vocational preparation to a

more generic, academic-based approach similar to Dewey’s notion of education
through occupations. Four general practices framed Grubb’s new vocationalism.
First, the purpose of secondary occupational curricula should be more general
in nature rather than job specific. Second, traditional academic content would
be integrated into occupational courses while occupational applications would be
integrated in academic courses. Third, education through occupations would re-
quire a different school (institutional) structure designed to encourage curriculum
integration, such as the use of career academies or school-within-a-school de-
signs using career clusters as organizing themes. Fourth, several other elements
would need to be incorporated into teaching, such as: (a) the availability of var-
ious work-based learning activities; (b) a hierarchical connection of educational
and training opportunities; and (c) use of applied teaching methods and team-
teaching strategies that are more contextualized, more integrated, student-centred
and active.
Lynch (2000) describes a new vision for TVET that supports emerging aspects
of the new vocationalism. He proposed four major themes, including: (a) infusion
of career planning and development activities throughout the educational process;
(b) embedding TVET reform within the broad context of general education reform;
(c) development of contemporary programmes based on the needs of business and
industry; and (d) instituting a K-14 education model where all students are prepared
for post-secondary education. Six components are also outlined in Lynch’s frame-
work emphasizing both student achievement and school reorganization. They are to:
(a) organize programmes around major fields of study; (b) use contextual teaching
and learning; (c) infuse a work-based learning contributing to mastery of industry
standards; (d) use authentic assessment, (e) increase use of career academies, and
(f) implement successful models of tech-prep.
5.4 A Contemporary Framework
In Fig. 2, major components of TVET are represented by five categories: curricu-

lum; instruction and delivery options; student assessment; clientele; and programme
evaluation (accountability). Philosophy, whether implicit or explicit, provides the
motivation and impetus for actual practice and affects all areas. The influence of
internal and external forces on the field, such as the new or emergent economy
and globalization, the expectations of global institutions (e.g. World Bank, United
Nations, etc.) and transnational corporations, student learning, and the expectations
of society and local or regional communities are recognized.
5.4.1 Curriculum
Curriculum reflects the state of the field: what is considered important, what is being
taught and how it is taught (Lewis, 1999). Discussions surrounding required curricu-
lum components have shifted the debate from a narrowly defined set of academic
28 J.W. Rojewski
abilities toward a broader set of academic or general competencies, technical and

job-specific skills, interpersonal abilities and behavioural traits. Three core curricu-
lum issues are representative of the new vocationalism: (a) integration of academic
and career and technical education; (b) articulation of secondary and post-secondary
programmes; and (c) connections between school and the world of work.
Lynch (2000) identified four predominant schools of thought, each defining the
purpose of TVET according to the interests of primary stakeholders (see Table 1),
including:
1. Curriculum emphasis on ‘education through occupations’ (see also Grubb, 1997),

where TVET serves as the instructional (contextual) modality for teaching tradi-
tional academic content.
2. Focus on providing instruction around broad career clusters, along with special-
ized skills to the one-third of high-school graduates who are employment-bound
(i.e. have not prepared for, nor entered, post-secondary education immediately
upon graduation).
3. Provide TVET to the 8–12% of most educationally disadvantaged students who
need extensive (concentrated) job training to enter the labour market upon high-
school graduation.
4. Organize TVET programmes to be congruent with contemporary and successful
articulated models (agreements between a high school and a community or tech-
nical college). Provides ‘non-duplicative, sequenced study that integrates aca-
demic with career and technical education, uses work-based and
work-site learning, and leads to degrees, certificates and career placement’
(p. 17).
5.4.2 Instruction/Delivery Options

Biggs, Hinton and Duncan (1996) asserted that major changes in the educational
infrastructure are necessary to support and build a quality work-preparation system.
A number of contemporary teaching innovations have emerged or assumed a greater
role in TVET. Table 2 summarizes approaches to teaching and learning. Each ap-
proach requires new methods of pedagogy to accommodate teachers’ emerging roles
as collaborators, facilitators of learning and as lifelong learners, as well as familiar-
ity with the workplace and the ability to make school settings reflect workplace
environments (Naylor, 1997).
5.4.3 Student Assessment

The emphasis of many educational reform initiatives on higher-order thinking skills,
such as problem-solving, critical thinking, reasoning and so forth, and expressed
dissatisfaction with conventional testing approaches, demands that different ap-
proaches to assessing student learning be implemented (Johnson & Wentling, 1996).
Most educators refer to this new form of student evaluation as authentic, or
Table 1 Issues to consider when developing the curriculum component of a conceptual framework
in TVET
Four schools of r r TVET is modality for teaching
Employment through traditional academic content;
thought on TVET
occupation;
curriculum
r Employment-bound;
integration of academic and
vocational education;
r Educationally disadvantaged; r Instruction on broad career
r Tech-prep models. clusters, along with specialized
skills;
r Extensive job training to enter
labour market;
r Non-duplicative, sequenced,
and articulated secondary and
post-secondary programmes
integrating academic with
TVET.
Components of TVET r r Study of work, family and

Common core;
curriculum r Job-specific/content area
community as a composite of
vocational roles and
(workforce
specialties; responsibilities;
education)
r New vocationalism. r Focused on traditional
vocational subject areas;
r Broad array of integrated
academic (thinking skills,
personal qualities) and general
competencies, technical and
job specific skills, interpersonal
abilities, and behavioural traits.
r r Assessment;
Implications for
TVET teacher
Curriculum components r Curriculum framework
preparation (general education, common
programmes core, specialized workforce
education and workforce
preparation; knowledge of
learner, pedagogy, instructional
technology, and professional
education; and occupational
and educational experiences);
r Standards of knowledge and
practice;
r Philosophical
foundations/principles of
TVET.
30 J.W. Rojewski
Table 2 Contemporary approaches to teaching and learning in TVET

Approach Characteristics Strengths Challenges
Tech prep
r Articulation r Combines academic r Resistance to
agreement(s) rigour and applied career-oriented
between secondary instruction; concepts;
and post-secondary r Option to continue r Securing support
institutions;
r ‘2+2’ design (2 yrs
to baccalaureate
level (‘2+2+2’ r
from stakeholders;
Limited resources
secondary plus 2 yrs design);
post-secondary r Appropriate for r
(funding);
Uncertainty of
leading to associate nearly all career post-secondary
degree or certificate areas. curriculum reform;
r
in specific career); r Addition of
Common academic work-based
core. learning.
Integrated
r Modifications of r Uses TVET settings r Requires
vocational and academic and to apply and organizational
vocational reinforce change in schools;
academic
philosophies; academics; r
education
r Applied focus in r Life-relevant
Requires
interdepartmental
learning activities; education; co-operation and
r r collaboration;
Balances theory
with application;
Didactic instruction
replaced with r Design and
r Co-ordination activity-centred implementation
instruction and takes time;
between teachers
problem-solving; r
and counsellors.
r Appropriate for all
Need for
administrative and
students. community support.
Career
r School-within-a- r Career focus may r Scheduling
school run by team keep high-risk conflicts.
academies
of educators; students in school. r
r Career field focus
Requires
involvement of
rather than specific business and
job preparation; industry.
r Integrated academic r Requires
and vocational collaboration and
content; co-operation
r Includes workplace between academics
skills; and TVET
r professionals;
Employer
involvement.
r Limited
instructional
resources.
Table 2 (continued)
Approach Characteristics Strengths Challenges
Work-based
r Work experience r Creates a learning r Requires significant
youth and learning in situation that employer
industry; emphasizes the participation,
apprenticeship
r Linkage between skills and workplaces are
knowledge required transformed;
education systems
leading to high by the workplace. r Potential conflict
school diploma and between employers’
post-secondary and students’
diploma or needs.;
certificate; r
r Collaboration
Requires
collaboration
among groups; between schools and
r Modeling, employers.
scaffolding, fading,
coaching.
Co-operative
r Operated by r Students obtain r Lack of
traditional part-time jobs; co-ordination
education
programmes; r between students’
r Written training
Work-based
learning; school and work
agreements specify r Use as a screening experiences is
common;
what students will
learn and
device for new
employees.
r Use as a screening
employer’s device by employers
responsibilities. for new employees.
School-based
r Students produce r Students apply r Focus can shift to
enterprises goods or services academic production rather
for sale to knowledge to work than instruction;
customers. and gain r Lack of
understanding of understanding about
business;
r Instructors maintain
how learning occurs
in workplace.
control of
instruction.
Sources: Table structure and some content from Biggs et al., 1996. Additional content from
Kincheloe, 1999.
performance-based, assessment. Authentic assessment has three fundamental goals:

reforming curriculum and instruction; improving teacher morale and performance;
and strengthening student commitment and capacity for self-monitoring (Inger,
1993). At its core, authentic assessment is a reaction to the deficiencies perceived in
traditional approaches to testing. It requires students to demonstrate their grasp of
knowledge and skills by creating a response to questions or a product that demon-
strates understanding (Wiggins, 1990). This type of assessment reflects the com-
plexities of everyday life and a belief that learning is actively constructed knowledge
influenced by context (Kerka, 1995).
32 J.W. Rojewski
A variety of options are available for conducting authentic assessments in-

cluding: portfolios; exhibitions; checklists; simulations; essays; demonstrations or
performances; interviews; oral presentations; observations; and self-assessment.
Rubrics, scoring devices that specify performance expectations and various levels
of performance, are used to establish benchmarks for documenting progress and
provide a framework for ensuring consistency (Kerka, 1995).
5.4.4 Clientele
While the historic roots for vocational education were in providing job-specific
training to working class (non-college-bound) youth, the contemporary world of
work requires fewer of the manual job skills required a century ago. Today, am-
ple evidence shows that the work skills required in the twenty-first century include
higher-order thinking skills (reasoning, decision-making, problem-solving), flexi-
bility, interpersonal skills and technological literacy. Not only are cognitive skills
in demand, but many jobs now require some type of post-secondary education (less
than a baccalaureate degree) for entry-level.
Currently, TVET programmes serve several primary functions ranging from inte-
grated academics instruction to tech-prep to job preparation for employment-bound
and educationally disadvantaged youth. These diverse goals aim to achieve very
different ends and are often at odds with one another. Lynch (2000) suggests that
upwards of one-third of all secondary students in the United States enrolled in ca-
reer and technical education programmes are not college-bound. Another 8–12% of
students are identified as being educationally disadvantaged. Both of these groups
require job-specific preparation to transition from school to adult life. However,
recent trends to promote articulated secondary/post-secondary programmes may
overlook this substantial proportion of programme enrollees. And, when services
are available, they are often relatively low skilled, entry-level jobs that offer limited
advancement opportunities.
5.4.5 Programme Evaluation

Accountability has become a hallmark of educational reform initiatives in the United
States. Federal legislation requires that states develop evaluation systems to assess
four core indicators of student performance, including: (a) academic and vocational
achievement; (b) programme completion; (c) successful transition from school to
post-secondary education and/or employment; and (d) accessibility and equity. Al-
though programme evaluation is mandated, criticisms exist about the criteria and
methods used to collect data, and the usefulness of evaluation results (Halasz, 1989).
Indeed, collecting data to respond to these federal mandates can pose considerable
challenges.
Given current mandates and future projections, a conceptual framework in career
and technical education must include performance indicators that examine legisla-
tive mandates and the underlying philosophy, as well as specific outcomes, practices
and inputs. Halasz (1989) indicated that school culture and stakeholders’ needs
must also be considered. ‘A variety of information should be collected (personal,
instructional, institutional, societal and so on) from multiple sources (teachers, stu-
dents, administrators, parents) using multiple methods (survey, interview, partici-
pant observation, historical, archival)’.
6 Conclusions and Future Steps
6.1 Summary
Table 3 summarizes the main components of conceptual frameworks for TVET—

past, present and future. Historically, the conceptual framework of TVET has re-
volved around specific job training, clear distinctions between academic and vo-
cational education, and preparing adolescents to transition from school directly to
work. Curriculum and instructional approaches relied heavily on an essentialist phi-
losophy where students were viewed as products and taught in ways that reflected
the industries they were being prepared to enter.
In sharp contrast, the emerging conceptual framework reflects efforts at local,
state and national levels ‘to broaden vocational education—integrating the curricu-
lum more closely with rigorous academics, improving articulation to post-secondary
education (two-year and four-year), and stressing long-term preparation for produc-
tive careers that will be subject to increasing technological change and economic
reorganization’ (Hoachlander, 1998, p. 1). Secondary programmes will continue a
trend that focuses less on specific training for immediate entry-level employment
upon graduation. Rather, they will provide more general knowledge about the work-
force, offer career awareness and exploration activities in specified career clusters,
nurture higher-order thinking skills development, and support students in making
initial decisions about their career goals and plan post-secondary activities necessary
to achieve those goals. Post-secondary education, on the other hand, will remain in
the best position to prepare students for specific jobs.
6.2 Implications for the Curriculum
The implications of any proposed conceptual framework for TVET are substantial.
While myriad other arrangements or contextual structures can address the question
of specific content to include or exclude, a relatively simple, straightforward ap-
proach focuses on the types of instructional content needed in three areas: general
workforce education; content area specialties; and professional development. These
areas are broad enough to incorporate issues recognized as integral to the emerging
vocationalism (see Table 4).
6.2.1 General Workforce Education

Aspects of curricula that focus on general workforce education assume that a sub-
stantial portion of the knowledge and experiences that define TVET cross specialty
34 J.W. Rojewski
Table 3 Illustration of components and contents of a conceptual framework for TVET from past,
current and future perspectives
Components Past Current Emerging
r Social efficiency; r Pragmatism; r Pragmatism with
Purpose,
theories, r Essentialism; r Some aspects of reconstructivist
strand;
models
r
scientific method; progressivism
(Dewey); r Progressivism;
Serves employers’
interests; r Preparation for work r Critical perspective;
r Job training and and post-secondary r Preparation for work
preparation for less education and and post-secondary
than a baccalaureate training (mostly education and
degree. associate degree). training (all levels).
Teacher
r Work experience r College education r College education
education and job expertise focusing on general focusing on
paramount; and specific labour common core,
r market preparation; specialized content
Focus on job skills
preparation; r Focus on academic area(s), and
r Teacher-directed and vocational skills integrated
academics;
instruction.
r
instruction;
Emphasis on
r Comprehensive
contextualized / approach to learning
facilitated learning. using occupations as
modality;
r Emphasis on
contextualized /
facilitated learning.
Curriculum
r Narrow focus on r Four curricular r Multiple options,
entry-level, job strands; including curricular
specific skills; r strands currently
r Education through
available;
Separate vocational
content areas; r
occupations;
r Common core of
r Separation of
Integration of
academic and workforce education
academic and vocational for all regardless of
vocational education; post-secondary
r plans;
r
education;
Rigid prescribed
Job-specific,
entry-level training;
r Integrated
curricula. r Tech prep; (academic-
r Dual enrolment.
vocational)
curriculum;
r Career clusters used
to direct specialized
instruction.
Table 3 (continued)
Components Past Current Emerging
r Behaviourism; r Cognitive learning r Multiple options
Delivery options
r theory; available;
r
Applied academics;
r Tech-prep; r Democratic ideals
Co-operative
education. r Career academies; reflected in
r Work-based instructional content
and process;
apprenticeships.
r Separation between
school and work less
distinct.
Clientele
r Alternative track for r Different r Multiple
less academically programmes and constituency groups;
able students; purposes for r
r Increasing emphasis different student
Inclusion of all
students with
groups;
on special
populations. r Moderated emphasis
continuum of
outcomes available.
on special
populations
tempered with
phrases like ‘all
students’ and
renewed use of
quality standards;
r Multiple
constituency groups.
Student
r Standardized and r Standardized r Standardized
norm-referenced testing; testing;
assessment
testing. r Industry-based skill r Established
standards; alternatives to
r assessment;
Emergence of
alternative r Criterion-referenced
assessments (e.g. testing.
portfolios, authentic
assessment).
Programme
r Quality based on r In U.S., state plans r Quality based on
industry standards; following guidelines variety of factors
evaluation
r Job analysis. established in including dropout,
federal legislation; retention, graduation
rates, job placement,
transitions to
post-secondary
education;
r Occupational
analysis.
Note: Information for past components column adapted from Pratzner, 1985.
36 J.W. Rojewski
Table 4 Possible components in TVET programmes based on conceptual framework

General workforce Content area specialty Professional development
education
r Foundations and r Entrepreneurship; r Contextualized teaching

philosophy of TVET r and learning;
(including changing Knowledge associated
with career clusters; r Integration of academic
nature of work place,
new economy); and vocational
r Communication/ r Agriculture and r
education;
interpersonal skills environmental sciences; Work-based learning

necessary in work place; r (e.g. apprenticeship,
r Communication,
Arts and
communications; r
co-operative education);
interpersonal, and r Business, marketing,

Articulation of
secondary-,
leadership skills
required when dealing information post-secondary,
with various management; school/business
constituencies; r instruction;
r
Family and consumer
sciences; r Student assessment
Higher-order thinking
skills such as r Health services;
(formal, informal,
alternative methods)
problem-solving and
decision-making;
r Human services; and programme
r r evaluation;
School-to-work Manufacturing and
engineering technology;
r Working with diverse
transition issues for all
students; r student populations;
r
Technology education.
r Notion of lifelong
Balancing work and
family life; learning;
r r TVET teachers as
Employability skills
(workforce readiness); change agent in school
r Acquiring a sense of
and community.
social justice regarding

the effects of work on
individuals and society.
Note: Adapted from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 2001. While a use-
ful taxonomy, other organizational structures have also been proposed, e.g., the National Skill
Standards Board proposes fifteen large economic sectors to structure vocational specialization
(Hoachlander, 1998).
area boundaries. A common core of knowledge about the world of work is assumed
stressing topics such as: the function of work and family life in society; economics
and systems of production and distribution; cultural aspects of work, the family and
society; development and application of higher-order thinking skills; employability
skills; and job-seeking skills. The nature and underlying assumptions of general
workplace education topics suggest an integrated approach to instruction where
students from all vocational specialty areas are grouped together. This approach
should not only help students understand the need for a broad-based approach, but
also nurture a sense of professional commonality and shared purpose.
6.2.2 Content Area Specialty

Regardless of the specific structuring system used, some form of content area spe-
cialization will, in all likelihood, persist. While maintaining some aspect of tradi-
tional vocational education, teachers and students will increasingly be exposed to
something other than business as usual. Regardless of the specific curricula and
structure of TVET programmes, all must satisfy three essential requirements: They
must prepare participants to: (a) address long-term prospects, not just entry-level
jobs; (b) achieve high levels of academic proficiency and mastery of sophisticated
work-based knowledge and skill; and (c) access the full range of post-secondary
options for programme participants (Hoachlander, 1998). No small task.
6.2.3 Professional Development

TVET professionals must be able to incorporate an array of possible teaching
strategies in classroom, laboratory and work-based settings. Traditional teaching
approaches will need to be supplemented with greater emphases on emerging ped-
agogical approaches, such as integrating of academic and vocational education,
and contextualized teaching and learning forums. Knowledge about the diversity
of students and school settings will continue to be a critical element. The successful
implementation of changes to TVET programmes, and the field as a whole, requires
recognition of the slow and difficult process of reform. Teacher educators and train-
ers must be especially aware of and understand how to successfully negotiate the
change process.
7 Final Words
It seems appropriate to take stock in the future of TVET. Many authors have con-
tributed to an on-going dialogue about the nature of contemporary and future TVET.
Ideas and options have been proposed, articulated and studied. Yet, action is slow.
The development of any conceptual framework is of little value if action does not
result. Collectively, the field must be willing to tackle tough questions and debate
potentially contentious issues delineated in the professional literature to arrive at and
then maintain a clear and concise framework. Such a framework can guide funding
priorities, programme development, classroom instruction and relationships with
external constituencies. To do otherwise runs the risk of glossing over fundamental
issues and concerns, repeating the same arguments and issues for another century
or—perhaps worst of all—allowing others (e.g. national and regional governments,
funding agents, business and industry leaders) to make decisions for the field.
38 J.W. Rojewski
Acknowledgments Earlier versions of this chapter were published as ‘Preparing the workforce
of tomorrow: a conceptual framework for career and technical education,’ a monograph commis-
sioned by the National Centers for Career and Technical Education for presentation at the 2002
National Teacher Education Conference, Scottsdale, AZ (ERIC ED 461 771), and an abbrevi-
ated article of the same name published in the Journal of vocational education research, vol. 27,
pp. 7–35. Additional information was originally published in an article entitled, ‘Globalization and
the internationalization of research in career and technical education,’ published in the Journal of
vocational education research, vol. 28, pp. 3–13.
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Chapter 3
Towards Achieving TVET for All: The Role
of the UNESCO-UNEVOC International
Centre for Technical and Vocational
Education and Training
1 Introduction: TVET Related Issues and Concerns

within UNESCO
1.1 Understanding TVET
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is concerned with the ac-
quisition of knowledge and skills for the world of work. Throughout the course of
history, various terms have been used to describe elements of the field that are now
conceived as comprising TVET. These include: apprenticeship training, vocational
education, technical education, technical-vocational education (TVE), occupational
education (OE), vocational education and training (VET), career and technical edu-
cation (CTE), workforce education (WE), workplace education (WE), etc.
Within the context of UNESCO and according to the 2001 UNESCO Revised
Recommendation concerning Technical and Vocational Education:
Technical and vocational education is used as a comprehensive term referring to those as-
pects of the educational process involving, in addition to general education, the study of
technologies and related sciences, and the acquisition of practical skills, attitudes, under-
standing and knowledge relating to occupations in various sectors of economic and social
life. Technical and vocational education is further understood to be:
a. an integral part of general education;

b. a means of preparing for occupational fields and for effective participation in the world
of work;
c. an aspect of lifelong learning and a preparation for responsible citizenship;
d. an instrument for promoting environmentally sound sustainable development;
e. a method of facilitating poverty alleviation (UNESCO, 2005b, p. 7).
In this broad definition, the term ‘training’ is not explicitly highlighted, with greater
emphasis being placed on ‘education’. This simply reflects on the earlier division of
roles with regard to TVET within the United Nations system, whereby UNESCO’s
concern used to be centred on technical and vocational education, as part of the

World of Work, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-5281-1 3,

42 A. Hollander, N.Y. Mar
Education for All (EFA) initiative, while the International Labour Organization
(ILO) focused on aspects of training for employment at the workplace by stressing
the concept of decent work and the welfare of workers as a global demand to be
satisfied today. By giving prominence to joint efforts of promoting the world of
work, international participants at the second International Congress on Technical
and Vocational Training (Seoul, April 1999) clearly pointed out that:
The two most renowned international agencies in the field of vocational education and
training, UNESCO and ILO, need to address this issue seriously, so that we stop talking
different things about what should be the same thing, and stop insisting that UNESCO’s role
is vocational education, while ILO’s role is vocational training. This is not role splitting, but
rather hair splitting! (Masri, 1999, p. 13).
In the light of such international attention being paid to the need to share collec-
tive responsibility for workforce development, the term ‘training’ was included in
UNESCO’s terminology when referring to workplace and workforce education. In
addition, in aiming to promote the implementation (and realization) of TVET as a
fundamental human right, the concept of training for particular skills or appropriate
types of work-related practices over a period of time has been introduced as part
of UNESCO’s strategic objectives and activities. This makes sense, especially as
the notion of educating and training individuals to be fitted or matched to jobs
for life is being replaced by the necessity for lifelong learning. It becomes clear
that learning no longer takes place only in the form of formal school education,
but also in non-formal and informal settings, at the workplace, and through par-
ticipation in economic and social life, in partnership with the private sector and
employers.
1.2 Why is TVET Important?
The purpose of TVET is to make people (self-)employable and to be a vehicle of

transition for individuals to the world of work. Thus, in the ideal case, TVET leads
to (self-)employment and income-generation which is expected to contribute to the
individuals’ and their communities’ well-being. In line with this argument, TVET
is often considered as a mechanism for poverty alleviation and a vital contribution
towards the attainment of international development goals (such as the Millennium
Development Goals and Education for All) as well as towards sustainable devel-
opment. While this argument appears logical, it nevertheless needs to be used with
care, since a number of other factors have to be in place for TVET to actually have
an impact on phenomena such as poverty. In a situation of economic stagnation
or jobless growth, even the well-trained and best-educated have problems finding
employment and earning a living, let alone the poor and marginalized who often do
not even have access to education and training. For TVET to effectively contribute
to (self-)employment and poverty alleviation, there needs to be a labour market
which can absorb the TVET graduates and provide them with decent work and an
3 Towards Achieving TVET for All 43
income that allows them to live. In view of this, the purpose of TVET must per-
mit a concentration not only on poverty alleviation but also on (self-)employment.
There also is sufficient observational and research evidence to suggest that there
is a need to improve adjustments between the labour market and available human
resources.
Thus, the extent TVET should be focused on skills development depends on
the main policy set by countries (Lauglo, 2005, p. 4). Coombe (1988) explained
that economic goals were the main driver behind TVET policies, though personal
development goals and socio-political goals are also identified in some countries.
Overall, TVET should evolve through the educational process by initiating strate-
gic education planning which is ‘more analytical and less political’ (Wheelen &
Hunger, 1998, p. 3) and policy-oriented to foster all-round development of nations.
The 2004 World Bank Report on ‘Skills development in Sub-Saharan Africa’
sums this argument up clearly:
Getting the macroeconomic context right remains the essential first step in focusing on skills
development. Training does not create jobs. Skills are a derived demand and that demand
depends on policies for growth and employment creation (Adams & Johanson, 2004, p. xv).
Influencing the ‘demand’ by focusing on policies for growth and employment cre-
ation lies beyond the scope of the work of UNESCO. Instead, the organization
concentrates on optimizing the ‘supply’ of skilled labour. The general assumption
is that TVET can only make a better contribution to poverty alleviation if it is of
good quality, relevant to the demands of the labour market, and inclusive and ac-
cessible to all, especially the poorest of the poor. However, since there is ample
evidence to indicate that well-prepared and trained workers increase productivity,
one could argue that in the long-term the benefits of increased productivity will
lead to impact growth and employment creation (de Moura Castro & Verdisco,
2000, p. 46).
1.3 TVET within the Context of UNESCO

Originally, direct preparation for work was the main goal of TVET, and this remains
prominent in many developing nations. However, with the technological revolu-
tions and innovations in science and technology during the twentieth century, new
domains of knowledge and new disciplines have become important at all levels of
education and training. The current focus is increasingly upon preparing knowledge
workers to meet the challenges posed during the transition from the Industrial Age to
the Information Age, with its concomitant post-industrial human resource require-
ments and the constantly changing world of work. TVET systems are no longer
expected to educate and train for a stable job, but to produce individuals who are
innovative, capable of evolving and adapting to changing circumstances. There is
a shift from the concept of ‘TVET for employment’ to ‘TVET for employability’.
But within the context of UNESCO, TVET goes beyond even this concept; it is
also understood as a preparation for responsible citizenship and an instrument for
promoting sustainable development (compare the definition above). UNESCO sees

the role of TVET as educating the whole person, not just the worker. This implies
the adoption of a ‘holistic approach to skills development for employability and
citizenship by placing emphasis within skills training programmes on developing a
sense of values, ethics and attitudes to prepare the learner for self-reliance and re-
sponsible citizenship’ (Quisumbing & de Leo, 2005, p. v). This broad understanding
of TVET stems from the proposition formulated in the 1996 report to UNESCO by
the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century, Learning:
the treasure within, which postulates that education throughout life is built upon four
pillars: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together and learning to be,
and is based on UNESCO’s overall mandate ‘to build peace in the minds of men’.
While ‘learning to do’ seems to be the pillar most closely linked to TVET, the au-
thors of the report argue that the four pillars cannot stand alone, but are ‘four paths of
knowledge [that] all form a whole’(Delors et al., 1996, p. 86). It is this holistic view
that distinguishes the work of UNESCO in TVET from those of other organizations,
as it goes beyond the demand for TVET for purely economic purposes.
The notion of TVET differs from one UNESCO Member State to another and
between communities. Each country (and community) is characterized by its own
unique socio-cultural, political-legal, technological and economic context, having
a strong impact on the educational environment. These variables in societal envi-
ronments may not compromise the educational activities of a country in the short
term, but can, and often do, affect its long-term developments (Hellriegel, Slocum
& Woddman, 1998). In addition to these societal considerations, governments, local
communities, educational suppliers, learners and trends in labour markets directly
influence the effectiveness of education and, in turn, are affected by it. These are
multiple, contextual variables that need to be considered in order to best under-
stand human intentions and interactions in different cultural settings (Sirotnik, 2000,
p. 184). And it is UNESCO’s task to make sure that its work takes these contextual
variables into account.
TVET is dealt with at several instances within UNESCO as the Organization
aims to respond to the many diverse needs of its currently 193 Member States.
All parts of UNESCO that have an involvement with TVET are jointly responsible
for the successful implementation of the global TVET Programme. The specialized
TVET Section at UNESCO Headquarters is responsible for overall strategic plan-
ning and programme design in consultation with UNESCO-UNEVOC, and other
relevant Education Sector Divisions. It functions as the TVET focal point in the
Organization for contributions to the Medium-Term Strategy and the biennial Pro-
gramme and Budget; reports to the Organization’s top management and Governing
Board; strengthens strategic alliances with other multi-lateral organizations (such as
the International Labour Organization) with a view to anticipating and addressing
emerging policy issues in TVET; co-ordinates the implementation of UNESCO’s
normative instruments regarding TVET; responds to requests from Member States
for support; generates prototype resource material; provides technical support and
backstopping for field-office activities; and participates in programme monitoring
and assessment with UNESCO-UNEVOC.
The UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Ed-

ucation and Training is responsible for research on new trends in TVET, indepen-
dently and in co-operation with the other UNESCO education institutes; publishes
books and manuals; co-ordinates the UNEVOC Network; acts as a resource centre
for information on TVET systems; disseminates information to TVET stakeholders
worldwide; co-operates with multi-lateral partners at the research and implemen-
tation levels; implements activities in co-operation with field units and promotes
capacity-building for TVET policy-makers and practitioners in the Member States.
The various UNESCO field offices often have the closest contacts with the rel-
evant stakeholders in Member States and are therefore valuable partners for both
UNESCO Headquarters and UNESCO-UNEVOC in the implementation of activ-
ities at regional, sub-regional and national activities. In this article, however, the
focus will be on the work of the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Tech-
nical and Vocational Education and Training.
2 The UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre

for Technical and Vocational Education and Training
The UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Edu-

cation and Training (UNESCO-UNEVOC) assists UNESCO’s Member States in
strengthening and upgrading their TVET systems. It is at once UNESCO’s special-
ized centre for TVET and the hub of a worldwide network of TVET institutions,
the so-called UNEVOC Network. It acts as part of the United Nations mandate
to promote peace, justice, equity, poverty alleviation and greater social cohesion.
The Centre assists Member States in developing policies and practices concerning
education for the world of work and skills development for employability and citi-
zenship, to achieve:
r access for all,
r high quality, relevant and effective programmes,
r learning opportunities throughout life.
The Centre aims to contribute to increased opportunities for productive work,

sustainable livelihoods, personal empowerment and socio-economic development,
especially for youth, girls, women and the disadvantaged. Its emphasis is on help-
ing to meet the needs of developing countries, countries in transition and those in a
post-conflict situation.
2.1 Background
UNESCO has been active in the field of technical and vocational education for
more than thirty years. The idea to launch a comprehensive project on technical
and vocational education dates back to 1987. In that year, UNESCO held its first
International Congress on Technical and Vocational Education in Berlin, Germany.
At this congress it was proposed that UNESCO should support the establishment
of an international centre for research and development in technical and vocational
education. UNESCO Member States supported this proposal and identified TVET
as a priority area within UNESCO’s range of programme activities, recognizing its
enhanced capacity to emphasize the role of technology in society, including the
vocational aspects of that role. This new understanding stresses the importance
of non-formal (or non-institution-based) TVET for young people in developing
countries and particularly the need for TVET to seek actively the participation of
marginalized population groups. As explained above, the rationale behind this is the
assumption that TVET can play an essential role in promoting economic growth and
the socio-economic development of countries, with benefits for individuals, their
families, local communities and society in general.
As a consequence, in 1991, the General Conference of UNESCO decided to
launch the International Project on Technical and Vocational Education and Training
(UNEVOC). Two years later the UNEVOC Implementation Unit became opera-
tional in Berlin.
At the second International Congress on Technical and Vocational Education held
in Seoul, Republic of Korea, in 1999, participants requested UNESCO to further
strengthen and prioritize TVET within UNESCO’s work and supported the launch
of a long-term programme on TVET. In the same year, the General Conference
of UNESCO adopted a resolution authorising the Director-General to establish an
international centre for TVET in 2000. The Government of Germany generously
offered to host such a centre in Bonn. A Host Country Agreement between Germany
and UNESCO was signed on 12 July 2000. The UNESCO-UNEVOC International
Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training started its work in
September 2000 and was officially inaugurated two years later—on 8 April 2002.
2.2 The Mission of UNESCO-UNEVOC

The UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre acts as a key component of
UNESCO’s international programme on technical and vocational education and
training. It also works to support UNESCO’s mandate for Education for All and
Education for Sustainable Development by assisting Member States to improve and
integrate TVET as part of their educational planning, and align TVET with the
tenets of sustainable development. As the hub of the global UNEVOC networks,
the Centre has an additional, specific responsibility—to develop vibrant global net-
works of TVET professionals, organizations and institutes. It is in these three key
result areas that UNESCO-UNEVOC develops and implements its activities to assist
UNESCO Member States to elaborate policies and practices concerning education
for the world of work and skills development for employability and citizenship.
2.2.1 Global UNEVOC Networks
There is significant scope of countries to share their experience in technical and voca-
tional education. There is a need for mutual co-operative assistance between all countries,
regardless of their state of development. Provision should be made at the national, re-
gional and international levels for regular exchange, making use of contemporary infor-
mation and communication technologies, of information, documentation, and materials
(UNESCO, 2005b, pp. 49–50).
In line with this statement taken from UNESCO’s 2001 Revised Recommendation
on TVE, the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational
Education and Training acts as the hub of the worldwide UNEVOC Network.
It can be demonstrated that networks, as a vehicle for education reform, are vital
for enriching learning environments and for facilitating members to interact. As
such, specific networks serve as opportunities for learning and socialization, and
the necessity of building a TVET community via networks has become a recurring
theme in the reform literature (Keating, 2000).
The idea behind all networking initiatives of the UNESCO-UNEVOC Interna-
tional Centre for TVET is that educational reforms that have worked in one coun-
try or setting may well also work in another country if modified appropriately to
meet local conditions. Through access to information, countries can learn from each
other’s experience, whether they are success stories or disappointments.
The Centre also creates networks with its closest partners and creates synergies
with UNESCO Headquarters, other UNESCO institutes and centres and field of-
fices. It also works in close partnership with other relevant institutions, such as
specialized agencies within and outside the United Nations system, bilateral and
multilateral donors, national institutions, non-governmental organizations and the
private sector. This is an important aspect of the work of UNESCO-UNEVOC,
since the improvement of TVET worldwide can be achieved most effectively if
several agencies make a concerted effort through working together. It is also a way
to avoid duplication of efforts, and to make best use of available human and financial
resources.
2.2.2 UNESCO-UNEVOC’s Efforts in Achieving EFA

In the past decades, UNESCO’s focus in education was mainly on achieving univer-
sal primary education (UPE). While this is an essential goal, it has been recognized
that access to primary education alone is not sufficient and that basic education for
all is not synonymous with UPE.
It has become clear in all parts of the world that basic education can no longer be limited
to primary education. Currently, education systems do not allow young people to obtain
and strengthen the complex set of competencies for life, including technical and voca-
tional education. [. . .] Lack of technical and vocational education and training, including
entrepreneurship and training for creativity, hampers employability (UNESCO-IBE, 2004,
pp. 11, 13).
Especially since the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, in April 2000, there
has been extensive consultation and rethinking about the concept of Education for
All (EFA) and what is involved in achieving a basic education which prepares for
work and life. As more children and adults receive and complete elementary educa-
tion, it is important to offer them relevant further education and to teach them skills
for the world of work that enable them to work in dignity, supporting themselves and
their families, as well as being respected and effective members of a community.
TVET particularly contributes to achieving the EFA goals 3 and 6:
r Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through
equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes (Goal 3); and
r Improving all aspects of the quality of education, and ensuring excellence of
all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all,
especially in literacy, numeracy, and essential life skills (Goal 6).
The Dakar Framework for Action further specifies that ‘all young people and adults
must be given the opportunity to gain the knowledge and develop the values, at-
titudes and skills which will enable them to develop their capacities to work, to
participate fully in their society, to take control of their own lives, and to continue
learning.’ It continues by saying that ‘such opportunities should be both meaningful
and relevant to their environment and needs, help them become active agents in
shaping their future and develop useful work-related skills’ (UNESCO, 2000, p. 16).
TVET, or education for the world of work, is one of the providers of such learning
and life-skills programmes for young people and adults. With the change to work
patterns demanding higher skills, more technical and analytical knowledge and the
capacity to work productively in teams, young people must now have a preparation
that goes beyond basic literacy and numeracy and includes both vocational and so-
cial skills, together with values that help to build harmonious societies (UNESCO-
UNEVOC, forthcoming). TVET needs to be as dynamic as the economies and
communities it serves. Rapid changes in technology and employment patterns, in
demographic growth and social expectations, and many other factors drive the need
to reform as well as to expand TVET. Especially in countries of scarce resources,
the efficiency and effectiveness of TVET is of paramount importance.
Particularly since the 1999 second International Congress on TVE held in Seoul,
with its strong focus on TVET reform, and since the endorsement of the Re-
vised recommendation concerning technical and vocational education in 2001(see
UNESCO, 2005b), UNESCO has been assisting Member States with TVET re-
form within the framework of Education for All. Furthermore, the UNESCO-
UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training
is uniquely placed to provide technical assistance and advisory services to govern-
ments, training authorities and many TVET institutes in developing countries, coun-
tries in transition and those in post-conflict situations that are increasingly interested
in TVET reform.
2.2.3 TVET and Education for Sustainable Development
Finding approaches to development that balance economic and social progress, address cul-
tural difference, conform to global, national and local needs, and respect ecological values
and limits is the key to sustainable development (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2006, p. 5).
People in every country of the world must plan for, cope with and find solutions to
issues that threaten the sustainability of our planet. Sustainable development is not
a fixed concept; rather it is a culturally-directed search for a dynamic balance in the
relationships between social, economic and natural systems. Sustainability is a com-
plex concept and cannot simply be ‘prescribed’, but it can be taught and learned. It
is the aim of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development
(DESD) to use education at all levels to impart the competences and knowledge that
are necessary to address the global issues for sustainability that affect communities
and nations (UNESCO, 2005a).
DESD runs from 2005 to 2014 with UNESCO requested to lead activities and de-
velop an International Implementation Scheme (IIS) for the decade. The IIS fosters
collective ownership of the decade and emphasizes the importance of partnership
amongst and between those with an interest in furthering education for sustainable
development. Within this context, the alignment of Education for Sustainable Devel-
opment (ESD) into TVET has been nominated as one of the key areas for collective
UNESCO effort, and the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for TVET has
already assumed leadership for a number of initiatives. TVET is important in this
context as it affects attitudes towards sustainability held by future workers. The
changing nature of the world of work, especially due to globalization and techno-
logical change, demands that TVET develop a skilled, committed and motivated
workforce that understands how global changes impact upon local opportunities for
business and industry and how these changes impact upon the quality of local social,
economic and environmental conditions. The greater the exposure of trainees to sus-
tainability concepts, practices and examples, the more likely the desired workplace
culture change will take place in the future. TVET is a consumer and producer
of resources and therefore has many different concerns about sustainability, such
as over-exploitation of natural resources, ill-health and grinding poverty, which
threaten the ability of future generations to satisfy their needs and wants. TVET
needs to re-orient its curricula to imbue students and trainees with the conservation
and sustainable use of resources, social equity and appropriate development, as well
as with competencies to practise sustainable tasks at the workplace.
UNESCO’s guiding Revised Recommendations on TVE took into account the
notion of sustainable development, recommending that TVET should: (a) contribute
to the achievement of the societal goals of democratic, social and cultural develop-
ment, as well as the traditional emphasis on economic development; (b) lead to a
broad and, when necessary, critical understanding of science and technology; and
(c) empower people to contribute to environmentally sound sustainable development
through their occupations and other areas of their lives (UNESCO, 2005b, p. 9).
These three concepts are crucial to aligning TVET for sustainable development,
and they framed discussions at the International Experts Meeting on ‘Learning for
Work, Citizenship and Sustainability’ (Bonn, October 2004). The Bonn meeting,
together with the Bonn Declaration that came out of it, deliberately addressed these
forward-looking concepts. At that stage, the Decade for Sustainable Development
had not yet been launched, and the role for UNESCO in providing leadership on
educational issues was still unclear. Only eighteen months later, the concepts had
been adopted as a key plank in UNESCO’s 2006/07 Programme and Budget with
the request that TVET effort be directed towards assisting UNESCO Member States
align their national TVET systems to be consistent with the objectives of sustainable
development (UNESCO, 2004).
2.3 UNESCO-UNEVOC in Action
As mentioned above, UNESCO’s key functions are to act as a laboratory of ideas,

standard setter, clearing-house, human and institutional capacity-builder and cat-
alyst for international co-operation. The Organization sees itself as a forum for
intellectual co-operation that brings together experts and advises governments in
the field of education with the aim of achieving quality education for all. In line
with this, UNESCO-UNEVOC has developed a number of strategies, activities and
instruments that the Centre uses to work towards achieving progress in the three key
result areas identified above: TVET and EFA; TVET for sustainable development;
and strengthening the global UNEVOC Networks.
The Centre’s work especially focuses on:
r strengthening the policy-making capacity of Member States;
r improving the institutional capacity, especially of UNEVOC Network Members;
and
r fostering international co-operation.
The proposed activities constitute either direct support to Member States or support
of infrastructure and provision of services, and can be grouped under the following
headings:
r capacity-building and seminars;
r advisory services;
r knowledge sharing;
r research and publications; and
r global networking and promotion of partnerships.
As the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre is the hub of the UNEVOC Net-
work, most of its activities are targeted at and for the direct benefit of its UNEVOC
Centres. Since UNESCO is an organization of Member States, the activities are
always demand-driven and tailored according to the needs of the Member States or
target groups involved.
2.3.1 Capacity-Building and Seminars

The globalization process, which affects economies and labour markets alike, in-
creasingly requires staff involved in decision-making, planning, research and the
development of TVET to be aware of worldwide developments and of solutions
that are transferable and/or adaptable. Particularly, TVET experts from develop-
ing countries, countries in transition and those in a post-conflict situation often do
not have access to the latest developments in TVET or to the opportunity to fre-
quently up-grade their knowledge and abilities. Therefore, the UNESCO-UNEVOC
International Centre for TVET supports the development of human resources in
key positions through a range of instruments, such as national or regional policy
definition and capacity-building in planning, research and development. This sup-
port includes a range of modalities, such as workshops and seminars, small project
grants, mobile training teams, fellowships and the implementation of projects. Ex-
amples of key issues brought up by Member States include: improving the status
of TVET; HIV/AIDS and TVET; TVET for sustainable development; curriculum
reform; harnessing ICTs in support of TVET; promotion of public/private partner-
ships and labour-market orientation; reducing the drop-out rate; promoting inclusive
TVET; promoting quality assurance mechanisms for TVET; and assessing national
and regional future skill demands.
Some examples of concrete activities are described in the following text boxes.
Box 1. Learning and working: motivation campaigns for the informal

sector
In many countries, traditional forms of learning have improved in recent years.
Governments are making efforts to ameliorate the state of TVET and skills
development. Nevertheless, in many countries there are population groups
who do not have access to formal forms of training and learning opportunities
and are therefore often marginalized from economic life in their communi-
ties. These groups would benefit from developing their occupational skills.
UNESCO-UNEVOC therefore seeks to make skills development more at-
tractive and accessible through informal learning opportunities. Based on an
earlier UNESCO-UNEVOC activity pertaining to improving the status and
accessibility of TVET, and on materials developed by UNESCO as part of the
Global Action Programme on Education for All (Youth Project), UNESCO-
UNEVOC has developed the multi-media campaign package ‘Learning and
working: motivating for skills development’, to motivate young people to
acquire basic livelihood skills. Package I is a tool to facilitate the organization
and implementation of awareness and motivation campaigns for marginal-
ized groups in least-developed countries. The idea behind this campaign is
to offer a platform and produce an environment to motivate people living
in adverse economic conditions to enrol in TVET courses and/or to take up
self-employment activities in order to improve their economic situation.
The backbone of the package is a set of DVDs which show simple, tra-
ditional, but yet innovative ways to produce goods with low-cost materials
and very simple tools demonstrating that vocational skills can be acquired
and used to produce useful or marketable goods and services. The DVDs are
complemented by a series of documents that make it easy for those interested
in the running of the campaigns to have an orientation when implementing
campaigns at the local level.
The campaign package is in itself not a tool for skills development, but
rather an ‘eye opener’ and ‘source for ideas’. The targeted groups will be
encouraged to engage in tasks similar to those shown in the DVDs.
The package has generated a high level of interest, especially from organi-
zations from developing countries, where access to relevant learning resources
is often scarce.
Box 2. Social partnerships for TVET: Central Asia

Improved relevance and alignment of TVET with economic and employment
trends are of crucial importance for a successful TVET system. This can be
achieved, for example, through a closer involvement of social partners and
stakeholders in TVET policy, planning, administration and implementation.
Social partnerships for the development of TVET emerged as an issue of
high priority for TVET leaders from Central Asian Republics and UNESCO-
UNEVOC facilitated co-operation among UNEVOC Centres and candidate
centres in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan with partners
in Germany for a mobile training team (MTT) to address this issue. A MTT
is one of a number of instruments employed by UNESCO-UNEVOC to ad-
dress its goals with regard to capacity-building in developing countries and
countries in transition. Through the MTT, selected senior TVET specialists
from UNEVOC Centres can learn rapidly and reflect about innovative and
best practices on a given topic, while they are on a study tour in a country
offering such best practice.
In July/August 2005, four TVET specialists, one each from Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, came to Germany for a Capacity
Building International (InWEnt) training seminar on social partnerships in
TVET, with a special focus on assessment and certification. They also partic-
ipated in a number of field visits to German TVET institutions. Upon return
to their countries, the participants of the MTT organized national seminars to
share their newly acquired knowledge with other TVET specialists and social
partners, such as trade unions and employers’ organizations, and to identify
possibilities of applying the concepts in the respective national contexts.
The MTT led not only to a significant improvement of the skills and knowl-
edge of the four individual TVET experts who came to Germany but, through
the national dissemination workshops, had a much broader impact on the
countries involved. Through this activity, a foundation has been laid for the
building of social partnerships in TVET and UNESCO-UNEVOC urges the
UNEVOC Centres and their partners at the national level to take the necessary
further steps.
2.3.2 Advisory Services

Worldwide, countries are facing the challenge of improving the capacity of their
workforce to respond to their national development needs and to the demands of a
rapidly changing global economy, and are increasingly recognizing the role TVET
can play in addressing this challenge by equipping individuals with relevant skills
and knowledge. In order to play this role, TVET systems need to be reformed to
meet the needs and expectations of their clients. However, a large number of coun-
tries not only lack the funds, but also the capacity to manage and implement the
necessary reforms. In this case, they can seek technical assistance and advisory sup-
port services from UNESCO-UNEVOC. Through its technical assistance services,
the Centre can offer assistance to UNESCO Member States in:
r fact-finding, policy definition and national development plans;

r improving the institutional capabilities of UNEVOC Centres;
r formulating or reviewing TVET educational practice;
r facilitating co-operation between donors and recipients; and
r identifying experts for consultancy services.
Box 3. Guide to donor agencies in TVET

International co-operation agencies have different approaches, methodolo-
gies, planning horizons, communication levels, financial regulations and sub-
mission and reporting procedures. As UNESCO-UNEVOC receives many
requests from TVET institutions in developing countries with regard to re-
sources for funding, the Centre developed, in 2004, the ‘Guide to donor agen-
cies’. This publication provides an overview of sources of development as-
sistance by the twenty-two Member States of the Development Assistance
Committee of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD), which are major donors in development co-operation. It focuses es-
pecially on support services for technical and vocational education and train-
ing (TVET) and skills development.
It is intended to facilitate access to information on:
r current trends in international co-operation policies;
r potential donors and their policies;
r donors’ requirements concerning project definition, project and budget
management, assessment and evaluation techniques, and of reporting reg-
ulations.
It is perhaps the most frequently requested title of the current UNEVOC pub-
lications. It can also be accessed on-line through the UNESCO-UNEVOC
website.
2.3.3 Knowledge Sharing

UNESCO has an important role to play in promoting and sharing best and innovative
research and practices among countries. The need for greater knowledge manage-
ment and knowledge sharing, particularly with and among developing countries,
were amongst the main reasons to set up the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Cen-
tre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training. In developing countries,
there is a great need for concrete information on best and innovative practices. Ex-
perience shows that what works well in one country has a good chance to also work
well in other countries, with adjustments made to accommodate local conditions.
Such transfer of knowledge and experiences helps to avoid the wasting of resources
and is faster and easier to achieve than individual searches for solutions. Although
the main interest is in cases of best and successful practice, disappointments can
also be of help, as they give examples of what should be avoided.
UNESCO-UNEVOC has in the past mainly, but not exclusively, worked on a
sub-regional level. Such co-operation among neighbouring countries is important,
because in many cases these countries face similar difficulties and should therefore
look jointly for appropriate solutions. Additionally, UNESCO-UNEVOC enables a
transfer of knowledge from developed to developing countries. A major part of this
exchange takes place through the UNEVOC e-Forum, where relevant messages are
exchanged between more than 600 TVET experts from over 122 countries on an
almost daily basis.
Through its clearing-house function, the Centre collects and disseminates rele-
vant documentation on TVET. The clearing-house is designed to be a resource base
for ministries, policy-makers, educational institutes, international agencies, consul-
tants and others seeking information on TVET. The information and documentation
service fulfils the following functions:
r Enquiry and reference services: responding to requests for information;
r Research services: searching, retrieving and editing information using the mate-
rials available at UNESCO-UNEVOC and other resources (including the Inter-
net) and providing responses in the requested format;
r Distribution of UNESCO-UNEVOC publications.
One means through which UNESCO-UNEVOC facilitates access to information

is the Internet. Information about all of UNESCO-UNEVOC’s work, including its
activities and publications, is available on the Centre’s website. The website has
been re-launched in 2006 to offer more interactive features and a more user-friendly
navigation: www.unevoc.unesco.org
2.3.4 Research and Publications

UNESCO-UNEVOC is concerned with contributing to the international debate on
key aspects of TVET.
The Centre publishes the results of research related to TVET through its major
publication project, the UNEVOC International Library of Technical and Vocational
Education and Training, which is a series of publications that provides comprehen-

sive information about many ‘cutting-edge’ aspects of TVET. The library showcases
best practices and innovative approaches to skills development for employability
and seeks to create an effective bridge between research, policy and practice. Topics
covered include TVET reform, TVET in the informal sector, TVET teacher educa-
tion, etc. Discussion papers, annotated bibliographies, meeting reports and national
profiles of TVET are also produced.
While the Internet gains more and more ground in international professional ex-
change, print media still have an important role to play, particularly in countries
with limited access to modern information and communication technologies. The
Centre will apply an integrated concept for publishing and disseminating profes-
sional information; conventional forms of publishing will be harmonized with those
on CD-ROM and on the Internet.
2.3.5 Global Networking and Promoting of Partnerships

The major part of the above-mentioned activities, especially in the area of capacity-
building and advisory services, is addressing members of the UNEVOC Network.
While some UNEVOC Centres may primarily be beneficiaries of the international
exchange, others contribute actively to the development at national, regional and
sub-regional levels. In UNESCO-UNEVOC’s international activities the UNEVOC
Centres play a prominent role. Action is taken to up-grade the Network of UNEVOC
Centres through a range of means, such as the following:
r training seminars for key personnel in UNEVOC Centres;
r fostering national networks directed by UNEVOC Centres;
r increasing international co-operation between UNEVOC Centres through
regional and thematic clustering;
r increasing membership in the UNEVOC Network.
It is expected that through building networks in their own countries, a trickle-down
effect to other institutions and colleagues is taking place.
3 Conclusion
We, the participants in ‘Learning for Work, Citizenship and Sustainability’, a UNESCO
meeting of international experts on technical and vocational education and training, are
agreed that, since education is considered the key to effective development strategies, tech-
nical and vocational education and training (TVET) must be the master key that can alleviate
poverty, promote peace, conserve the environment, improve the quality of life for all and
help achieve sustainable development (Bonn Declaration—UNESCO, 2004).
This part of the Bonn Declaration, which was developed by the participants of the
international experts meeting ‘Learning for Work, Citizenship and Sustainability’,
expresses a very high level of expectation towards the role that TVET can play in
addressing and even overcoming some of the most pressing challenges the world
is facing today and will be facing in the future. It is the aim of the UNESCO-
UNEVOC International Centre for TVET to respond to these expectations and to
make a contribution to assist UNESCO Member States in achieving TVET of good
quality for all. Given the limited human and financial resources of the Centre, this
is an enormous challenge, which the Centre tries to tackle by concentrating on
activities that focus on a small group of persons in key positions and have a po-
tential multiplier effect. This idea is at the core of the Centre’s networking activities
and co-operation with other agencies and partners, and much of the success of the
Centre’s work in capacity-building and knowledge-sharing depends on its partners’
abilities to act as multipliers and to organize follow-up activities at the local level.
In order to take stock of the Centre’s work during its first five years of existence,
independent evaluators and TVET experts from Europe, Africa and Asia conducted
a review of the work of UNESCO-UNEVOC in 2005. As major achievements of
the Centre, the evaluators acknowledged: the networking activities of the Centre
through the UNEVOC Network and the e-Forum; the promotion of TVET reform
towards achieving the EFA goals; the contributions to the Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development; the promotion of best and innovative practices in TVET;
the high level of inter-agency co-operation; and the strong publications programme.
But the evaluation report also highlighted some challenges where further improve-
ments are necessary, for example, in the area of follow-up and outcome monitoring
and evaluation of the Centre’s activities. It is essential that UNESCO-UNEVOC in-
troduces quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods as part of its activities, oth-
erwise it is not possible to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the activities’
impact. Evaluation and monitoring should not be restricted to the actual UNEVOC
activity, but also examine the follow-up steps taken by the direct beneficiaries of
these activities.
As the Centre enters its second period of six-year planning (2008–2013), it is
timely to reflect back as well as to look forward. Successes, challenges and lessons
learnt need to be taken into account in order to strengthen UNESCO-UNEVOC’s
role as UNESCO’s major vehicle for progressing the TVET agenda and to achieve
its goal of becoming the pre-eminent global centre for TVET, in support of the
development of accessible and quality TVET all over the world.
Acknowledgments To a great extent, this article draws upon information available in a va-
riety of UNESCO-UNEVOC documents (e.g. UNESCO-UNEVOC brochures and flyers, bien-
nial reports, project documents and programme frameworks) as well as the Centre’s website
(www.unevoc.unesco.org). These documents are not explicitly referenced in this article.
References
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World Bank.
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Delors, J. et al. 1996. Learning: the treasure within. Paris: UNESCO. (Report of the International
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concerns. Paris: UNESCO-IIEP. (Second International Congress on Technical and Vocational
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Chapter 4
TVET Glossary: Some Key Terms
1 Introduction
The glossary in this chapter has been compiled to complement the Handbook and,
although not an exhaustive list, aims to reflect the terminology found in the recent
literature of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) research, pol-
icy and practice internationally. The most common and significant terms (including
acronyms) are listed and, in some cases, national and regional variations have been
included.
In compiling the glossary, the selection of terms was aligned to the aspects of
TVET examined in the Handbook. To maintain an international perspective, other
national and international glossaries and thesauri were consulted in conjunction
with current TVET literature from around the world. These sources are listed as
references at the end of the chapter.
The glossary is organized alphabetically for ease of use. The entries contain the
term, its definition and, where definitions have been written by other organizations,
the source of that definition. Unattributed definitions were created in-house at the
National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). For some terms,
where, for example, there are regional differences, more than one meaning has been
provided.
2 Sample Entry
Definition
Term in Transition from school or training to work providing the
English The process of transferring from school to the workforce or meaning of the
further study (Source: NCVER); May also be referred to as:
School to work transition (USA); Transition from school to
term
work (AUS)
Country National or
Origin of the where regional
information variation is variations
used

World of Work, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-5281-1 4,

60 J. MacKenzie, R.-A. Polvere
3 Glossary
Accelerated training
A period of intensive vocational training or retraining which enables workers to
obtain the necessary qualifications in a much shorter period than usual in order
to enter an occupation at the required level. (Source: VOCED)
Access and equity
A policy or set of strategies to make vocational education and training available
to all members of the community, to increase participation and to improve out-
comes, particularly focusing on those groups that have been traditionally under-
represented. (Source: VOCED)
Access to education and training
Conditions, circumstances or requirements (for example qualification, education
level, skills or work experience) governing admittance to and participation in
educational institutions or programmes. (Source: CEDEFOP)
Accreditation
The process by which a course or training programme is officially recognized
and approved. (Source: NCVER)
Accreditation (of skills and competences) See Certification (of skills and
competences)
Accrediting authority
An organization with the authority and responsibility for accrediting courses and
training programmes. (Source: NCVER)
Accreditation of prior learning (APL) See Recognition of prior learning
Active labour-market programme
A programme designed to increase the number of people in employment or to
improve the employment prospects of a target group, e.g. by the payment of
subsidies to businesses who take on long-term unemployed people.
Adult and community education (ACE)
Education and training intended principally for adults, including general, vo-
cational, basic and community education, and recreation, leisure and personal
enrichment programmes. These are delivered by the ACE sector, which in-
cludes the organizations and providers who deliver adult and community ed-
ucation programmes, including evening and community colleges, community
adult education centres, neighbourhood houses, churches, schools, technical
education institutes, universities (continuing education) and universities of the
Third Age.
Adult education
Education of adults; educational programmes designed for adults, often incorpo-
rating approaches to education which draw on the learner’s life or work experi-
ences, involve learners in planning the learning activities, encourage learning in
groups, as well as more self-directed learning. (Source: NCVER)
4 TVET Glossary: Some Key Terms 61
Adult basic education (ABE)

Remedial or school-level education for adults, usually with emphasis on the lit-
eracy, numeracy and social skills needed to function within the community or to
gain employment. (Source: NCVER)
Adult learning
The processes by which adults learn and build on their existing knowledge and
skills. (Source: NCVER)
Adult literacy and numeracy
The ability to read, write and use numbers and numerical information, specifi-
cally in adults.
Alternated training
Education or training alternating periods in a school/training centre and in the
workplace. The alternance scheme can take place on a weekly, monthly or yearly
basis depending on the country. Participants are not contractually linked to the
employer where they do their practice, nor do they generally receive remunera-
tion (unlike apprentices). (Source: CEDEFOP)
Apprentice
A person contracted to an employer, undergoing initial training for a recognized
apprenticeable occupation during an established period. (Source: VOCED) See
also Trainee
Apprenticeable occupation
Occupation for which apprenticeship has been officially approved, usually through
legislation. (Source: VOCED)
Apprenticeship
A system of training regulated by law or custom which combines on-the-job
training and work experience while in paid employment with formal off-the-job
training. The apprentice enters into a contract of training or training agreement
with an employer which imposes mutual obligations on both parties.
Apprenticeship contract
Verbal or written agreement binding a would-be apprentice and the prospective
employer. (Source: ILO)
Articulation
The arrangements which facilitate the movement or progression of students from
one course to another, or from one education and training sector to another. See
also Credit transfer system
Assessment (of skills and competences)
The sum of methods and processes used to evaluate the attainments (knowledge,
know-how, skills and competences) of an individual, and typically leading to
certification. (Source: CEDEFOP)
Assessor
A person qualified to carry out assessment. (Source: VOCED)
Awarding body
A body with the authority to issue qualifications (certificates or diplomas) for-
mally recognizing the achievements of an individual, following a standard as-
sessment procedure. (Source: CEDEFOP)
Basic skill
1. A fundamental skill that is the basis of later learning or is essential for em-
ployment. (Source: NCVER)
2. The skills and competences needed to function in contemporary society,
including listening, speaking, reading, writing and mathematics. (Source:
CEDEFOP)
Benchmarking
The process of comparing an organization’s performance, practices and proce-
dures with those of leaders in the same or a different field of activity, in order to
identify areas for improvement. (Source: NCVER)
Best practice
Management practices and work processes that lead to outstanding or top-class
performance and provide examples for others. (Source: NCVER) Used for: Good
practices. (ILO)
Career and technical education (CTE) (USA) See: Technical and vocational
education and training
Career counselling See: Guidance and counselling
Career development
The continuous planning carried out to advance a person’s career based on ex-
perience and on any training undertaken to upgrade qualifications or to acquire
new ones. (Sources: ILO; VOCED)
Career education
An educational programme conducted during secondary school to give students
informed guidance, counselling and instruction enabling them to make a suitable
choice of career and to help them prepare for it. (Source: ILO; VOCED)
Career guidance See: Guidance and counselling
Certificate
An official document, issued by an awarding body, which records the achieve-
ments of an individual following a standard assessment procedure. (Source:
CEDEFOP) See also: Diploma
Certification (of skills and competences)
The formal acknowledgement of successful achievement of a defined set of
outcomes. (Source: NCVER)
Communities of practice
Networks that emerge from a desire to work more effectively or to understand
work more deeply among members of a particular specialty or work group. They
focus on learning, competence and performance, bridging the gap between or-
ganizational learning and strategy topics and generating new insights for theory
and practice.
Comparability of qualifications
The extent to which it is possible to establish equivalence between the level and
content of formal qualifications (certificates or diplomas) at sectoral, regional,
national or international levels. (Source: CEDEFOP)
Competence
The individual’s demonstrated capacity to perform, i.e. the possession of knowl-
edge, skills and personal characteristics needed to satisfy the special demands or
requirements of a particular situation. (Source: VOCED; ILO)
Competency standard
1. An industry-determined specification of performance which sets out the skills,
knowledge and attitudes required to operate effectively in employment. Com-
petency standards are made up of units of competency, which are themselves
made up of elements of competency, together with performance criteria, a
range of variables, and an evidence guide. (Source: NCVER)
2. Statement developed by industry specifying the competencies required by
workers for each sector of the workforce. (Source: VOCED; ILO)
Continuing education
Educational programmes for adults, usually at the post-secondary level in per-
sonal, academic or occupational subject areas. (Source: NCVER)
Continuing vocational education and training (CVET)

Education or training after initial education or entry into working life, aimed at
helping individuals to improve or update their knowledge and/or skills, acquire
new skills for a career move or retraining, or continue their personal and profes-
sional development. (Source: CEDEFOP)
Co-operative vocational education

A combined programme of study and practice, applying originally to the United
States, whereby legal employment is provided for secondary school or university
students together with a regular school or university curriculum, organized on
an alternating schedule of half-days, weeks or other specified periods. (Source:
VOCED; ILO)
Credit
The acknowledgement that a person has satisfied the requirements of a module
(subject) or unit of competency either through previous study (credit transfer) or
through work or life experience (recognition of prior learning); the granting of
credit exempts the student from that part of the course. May also be referred to
as: Status or Advanced standing.
Credit transfer
The granting of status or credit by an institution or training organization to stu-
dents for modules (subjects) or units of competency completed at the same or in
another institution or training organization. (Source: NCVER)
Credit transfer system
A system which provides a way of measuring and comparing learning achieve-
ments (resulting from a course, training or a placement) and transferring them
from one institution to another, using credits validated in training programmes.
(Source: CEDEFOP) See also: Articulation
Cross-cultural training
Training in communicative, behavioural and attitudinal skills required for suc-
cessful interaction with individuals of other cultures. It is often given to personnel
about to undertake overseas assignments. (Source: ILO; VOCED)
Decent work
Sufficient, productive work in which rights are protected, which generates an
adequate income, with full access to income-earning opportunities and adequate
social protection. (Source: ILO)
Digital divide
The gap between those who can access information and communication tech-
nologies and use them effectively, and those who cannot. (Source: CEDEFOP)
Diploma
A formal document certifying the successful completion of a course of study
in the vocational education and training and higher education sectors. See also:
Certificate
Distance education
A mode of education in which students enrolled in a course do not attend the
institution, but study off-campus and may submit assignments by mail or email.
(Source: NCVER) May also be referred to as: Distance study or Distance learning.
Dropout
Withdrawal from an education or training programme before its completion.
(Source: CEDEFOP)
E-learning
Learning supported by information and communication technologies (ICTs).
(Source: CEDEFOP)
Education/industry relationship
Relationship between students, educational institutions and industry. (Source:
VOCED)
Education/work relationship
Relationship between educational programmes or courses of study and status or
opportunities in the workforce. (Source: ATED)
Emerging occupation
Occupation that is new or that consists of a new combination of existing skills
and knowledge, for which considerable demand exists or is projected. (Source:
VOCED)
Employability
1. The degree of adaptability an individual demonstrates in finding and keeping
a job, and updating occupational skills. (Source: CEDEFOP)
2. Relates to portable competencies and qualifications that enhance an individ-
ual’s capacity to make use of the education and training opportunities avail-
able in order to secure and retain decent work. (Source: ILO)
Employability skill(s)
The skills which enable people to gain, keep and progress within employment,
including skills in the clusters of work readiness and work habits, interpersonal
skills and learning, thinking and adaptability skills.
Employer-funded training (UK)

Training either institutional or work-based, involving delivery by external or in-
house training personnel and paid for by the employer; May also be referred to
as: Employer-sponsored training (USA, Canada).
Enabling course
A course designed to equip a student to take up a new subject or course by cov-
ering the gaps between the student’s existing knowledge and skills and the sub-
ject or course prerequisites and assumed knowledge. See also: Pre-vocational
course
Entry into working life See Transition from school or training to work
Entry-level skill
A skill required to commence employment in an organization or more generally,
to gain entry into the workforce. (Source: NCVER)
Entry-level training
Training undertaken to gain entry into the workforce or further vocational edu-
cation and training.
Entry-level qualification
The minimum qualification required for employment in a particular occupation.
Equivalence of certificates See Comparability of qualifications

Flexible delivery
A range of approaches to providing education and training, giving learners
greater choice of when, where and how they learn. Flexible delivery may include
distance education, mixed-mode delivery, online education, self-paced learning,
self-directed learning. (Source: NCVER)
Flexible learning
The provision of a range of learning modes or methods, giving learners greater
choice of when, where and how they learn. (Source: NCVER)
Formal education
Education or training provided in educational institutions, such as schools, uni-
versities, colleges, or off-the-job in a workplace, usually involving direction from
a teacher or instructor. (Source: NCVER)
Further education (FE)

Post-secondary education, including higher education, adult education, and vo-
cational education and training. (Source: NCVER)
Further education and training (FET) (UK, South Africa) See Technical and
vocational education and training
Further training
1. Global term for training subsequent, and complementary to, initial training.
(Source: ILO; VOCED)
2. Short-term targeted training typically provided following initial vocational
training, and aimed at supplementing, improving or updating knowledge,
skills and/or competences acquired during previous training. (Source:
CEDEFOP)
Generic skill
A skill which is not specific to work in a particular occupation or industry, but
is important for work, education and life generally, including communication
skills, mathematical skills, organizational skills, computer literacy, interpersonal
competence and analytical skills. (Source: NCVER)
Governance
The manner in which power and authority are exercized by both public and
private bodies; covers management, legal framework, accountability and trans-
parency. (Source: ILO)
Guidance and counselling

A range of activities designed to help individuals make educational, vocational
or personal decisions and carry them out before and after they enter the labour
market. (Source: CEDEFOP) Used for: Career counselling; Career guidance; Vo-
cational guidance
High-technology industry
An industry that employs a large number of scientists and engineers, invests
heavily in research and development, and has great potential for extremely
rapid growth through the emergence of new products and processes. (Source:
ILO)
Hybrid skill
A mixture of the skills and knowledge, possibly from different disciplines, gen-
erally required in sectors applying high technology. (Source: VOCED)
Industry training council

A body established by an industry or business sector to address training issues.
(Source: NCVER) Also: Sector Skills Council (UK)
Informal economy
Part of the market economy in that it produces (legal) goods and services for sale
or other forms of remuneration, covers informal employment both in informal
enterprises (small unregistered or unincorporated enterprises) and outside infor-
mal enterprises; not recognized or protected under existing legal and regulatory
frameworks. (Source: ILO)
Informal learning
Learning resulting from daily activities related to work, family or leisure. It is
not organized or structured (in terms of objectives, time or learning support).
Informal learning is in most cases unintentional from the learner’s perspective. It
typically does not lead to certification. (Source: CEDEFOP)
Information society
A society in which information technology, computers and telecommunications
are widely used to facilitate communication nationally and internationally and to
promote access to libraries, data archives and other stores of information held by
private organizations or in the public domain. (Source: ILO)
Initial vocational education and training
1. General or vocational education carried out in the initial education system,

usually before entering working life. (Source: CEDEFOP)
2. Pre-employment training for an occupation, generally divided into two parts;
basic training followed by specialization. (Source: ILO; VOCED) See also:
Entry-level training; also:Initial training
In-service training
Training and professional development of staff, often sponsored by the employer,
and usually provided during normal working hours. (Source: NCVER) Also: In-
plant training
Information and communication technology (ICT)

Technology that provides for the electronic input, storage, retrieval, processing,
transmission and dissemination of information. (Source: CEDEFOP) Also: In-
formation technology
Innovation
Making changes in something already existing, as by introducing new methods,
ideas, or products. (Source: Concise Oxford Dictionary)
Key competency
Any of several generic skills or competencies considered essential for people to
participate effectively in the workforce. Key competencies apply to work gen-
erally, rather than being specific to work in a particular occupation or industry.
(Source: NCVER)
Key performance measure (KPM)

One of a set of measures used to monitor or evaluate the overall efficiency or
effectiveness of a system, which may be used to demonstrate accountability and
to identify areas for improvement. (Source: NCVER)
Know-how
1. Practical knowledge or expertise. (Source: CEDEFOP; adapted from New
Oxford Dictionary of English)
2. Includes technological and managerial components. (Source: ILO; VOCED)
Knowledge economy
An economy that is driven by ideas and knowledge, rather than by material re-
sources, and in which the keys to job creation and higher standards of living
are innovation and technology embedded in services and manufactured products.
(Source: ILO)
Labour force
The economically active population, employed and unemployed. (Source: ILO;
VOCED)
Labour market
The system of relationships between the supply of people available for employ-
ment and the available jobs. (Source: ILO; VOCED)
Labour mobility
Refers to the movement of members of the labour force between areas or indus-
tries. (Source: ILO; VOCED)
Learning community
A community that promotes a culture of learning by developing effective local
partnerships between all sectors of the community, and supports and motivates
individuals and organizations to learn. (Source: CEDEFOP)
Learning organization
An organization where everyone learns and develops through the work context,
for the benefit of themselves, each other and the whole organization, with such
efforts being publicized and recognized. (Source: CEDEFOP)
Learning outcome(s)
The set of knowledge, skills and/or competences an individual has acquired
and/or is able to demonstrate after completion of a learning process. (Source:
CEDEFOP)
Learning region
A region in which all stakeholders co-operate to meet local learning needs and
devise joint solutions to local problems. (Source: CEDEFOP)
Learning society
A society in which learning is considered important or valuable, where people are
encouraged to continue to learn throughout their lives, and where the opportunity
to participate in education and training is available to all. (Source: NCVER)
Lifelong learning
All learning activity undertaken throughout life, with the aim of improving
knowledge, skills and/or qualifications for personal, social and/or professional
reasons. (Source: CEDEFOP)
Lifewide learning
Learning, either formal, non-formal or informal, that takes place across the full
range of life activities (personal, social and/or professional) and at any stage.
(Source: CEDEFOP)
Minimum competency
An essential skill for a given age, grade or level of performance. (Source:
NCVER)
Modular training
The breaking down of whole educational qualifications into useful sub-units
(modules) each of which has measurable outcomes that are assessed (and in
some cases certified) in their own right as well as contributing to a larger overall
educational outcome (primarily a qualification).
Multiskilling
Training workers in a number of skills, enabling them to perform a variety of
tasks or functions across traditional boundaries. Multiskilling may be horizontal
(broad skilling), vertical (upskilling) or diagonal (contributory skilling). (Source:
NCVER)
Mutual recognition of qualifications
The recognition by one or more countries of qualifications (certificates or diplo-
mas) awarded in one or more countries or across regions in one country. (Source:
CEDEFOP)
Non-traditional occupation
Occupations in which certain groups are under-represented; usually applies to
so-called male or female occupations. (Source: VOCED)
Occupational qualification
The combined aptitudes and skills which permit someone to take up a job.
(Source: ILO)
Off-the-job training
Vocational training undertaken away from the normal work situation; it is usually
only part of a whole training programme in which it is combined with on-the-job
training. (Source: CEDEFOP)
Online learning
Learning via educational material that is delivered on a computer via an intranet
or the Internet.
On-the-job training
Vocational training given in the normal work situation; it may constitute the
whole training or be combined with off-the-job training. (Source: CEDEFOP)
Pathway of training
Various combinations of education, training and employment activities that in-
dividuals may undertake over time to reach a certain destination, for example a
desired qualification or type of employment. (Source: ACER)
Planning of training
Regulations and arrangements adopted by governmental or other institutions re-
sponsible for vocational training. (Source: ILO)
Post-compulsory education
Education followed by an individual after the minimum legal school-leaving age.
(Source: CEDEFOP)
Pre-vocational course
A course designed to prepare people for vocational education and training or
work, including bridging courses, basic literacy and numeracy training, or train-
ing in job skills. (Source: NCVER) See also: Enabling course
Pre-vocational training
Training arranged primarily to acquaint young people with materials, tools and
standards relating to a range of occupations, to prepare them for choosing an
occupational field or a line of training. (Source: ILO)
Prior learning
The knowledge, know-how and/or competencies acquired through previously un-
recognized training or experience. (Source: CEDEFOP) May also be referred to
as: Prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR) (UK) See: Recognition of
prior learning
Private training provider

A non-government training organization, including commercial providers (pro-
viding courses to industry and individuals for profit), community providers
(non-profit organizations, funded by government or community sponsors), enter-

prise providers (companies or other organizations providing training mainly for
their own employees), and industry providers (organizations providing training
to enterprises across an industry). (Source: NCVER)
Qualification
1. Certification awarded to a person on successful completion of a course in
recognition of having achieved particular knowledge, skills or competencies.
(Source: NCVER)
2. The requirements for an individual to enter or progress within an occupation.
(Source: CEDEFOP)
Qualifications framework
A structure for setting out the levels at which vocational qualifications accredited
by regulatory authorities can be recognized.
Recognition of current competencies (RCC)

The assessment of a person’s current capacity to perform; it applies if an in-
dividual has previously successfully completed the requirements for a unit of
competency or a module and is now required to be reassessed to ensure that the
competence is being maintained.
Recognition of prior learning (RPL)

An assessment process that assesses the individual’s non-formal and informal
learning to determine the extent to which that individual has achieved the re-
quired learning or competency outcomes. May also be referred to as: Accredita-
tion of prior learning; Validation of informal/non formal learning.
Reentry student
An individual who returns to an education system programme or institution fol-
lowing an extended absence. (Source: VOCED)
Refresher training
Training to refresh skills and knowledge which may have been partly forgotten,
usually as a result of a temporary interruption in occupational life. (Source: ILO)
Retraining
Training to facilitate entry to a new occupation. (Source: NCVER). May also be
referred to as: Reskilling
Return on investment in training (ROI)

The measurable impact on an organization of training in terms of value adding,
productivity and profitability.
School to work transition (STW) (USA) See: Transition from school or training
to work
Short course
A course of vocational education and training which stands alone and does not
usually lead to a full qualification. A statement of attainment may be issued on
successful completion. (Source: NCVER)
Skill
An ability to perform a particular mental or physical activity which may be de-
veloped by training or practice. (Source: NCVER)
Skill development
The development of skills or competencies which are relevant to the workforce.
(Source: VOCED)
Skill obsolescence
Acquired aptitude and knowledge for which there is little or no demand or which
is out-of-date either through technological and scientific advances made in the
equipment used, a marked change in job requirements or through the gradual
disappearance of a trade or profession. Can usually be rectified by retraining or
skill upgrading. (Source: VOCED)
Skill shortage
Shortage of a particular skill in the labour market. (Source: VOCED)
Skill upgrading
Training to provide supplementary and generally higher-grade qualifications and
knowledge within the same trade or profession to enable the trainee to better
his/her work situation and eventually to make themselves eligible for promotion.
(Source: VOCED)
Skills analysis
An identification of the skills or competencies needed for each job. (Source:
NCVER)
Skills audit
An identification of the skills required and held by the workforce. (Source:
NCVER)
Special needs education

Educational activity and support designed to address special education needs.
(Source: CEDEFOP)
Specialist training
Advanced level training to broaden specialized knowledge of a particular task,
function or aspect of an occupation. (Source: ILO)
Student placement See: Work experience

Sustainable development
Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the abil-
ity of future generations to meet their own needs. (Source: UN/ISDR)
Teacher in VET
1. A person whose function is to impart knowledge or know-how to students or
trainees in a vocational school or training centre. (Source: CEDEFOP)
2. The vocational teacher’s functions tend to overlap with those of the trainer; the
teacher usually works in a school situation and gives both related instruction
and some, if not all, of the practical training. (Source: ILO)
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET)

Post-compulsory education and training, excluding degree and higher level pro-
grammes delivered by higher education institutions, which provides people with
occupational or work-related knowledge and skills. May also be referred to
as: Career and technical education (CTE) (USA); Further education and train-
ing (FET) (UK, South Africa); Vocational and technical education and training
(VTET) (South-East Asia); Vocational education and training (VET); Vocational
and technical education (VTE) (AUS)
Trainee
A person undergoing training or education with an occupational bias. (Source:
ILO) See also: Apprentice
Trainer
Anyone who fulfils one or more activities linked to the (theoretical or practical)
training function, either in an institution for education or training or at the work-
place. (Source: CEDEFOP)
Training allowance
Stipend or other payment made by an employer or from public funds to an em-
ployee undergoing training for a certain period, usually outside the normal place
of work. (Source: ILO)
Training course planning and design
A set of consistent methodological approaches employed in designing and plan-
ning training initiatives and schemes aimed at achieving set objectives. (Source:
CEDEFOP)
Training culture
An environment in which training is seen as important and is closely linked with
business strategy, particularly in creating competitive advantage for an enterprise.
Opportunities are given to all employees to participate in training to develop their
skills and competencies. (Source: NCVER)
Training evaluation
The systematic collection and analysis of data relevant to the development and
implementation of learning activities.
Training institution
Any body which imparts vocational training. (Source: ILO; VOCED)
Training investment
Expenditure of an organization on training for benefit; improvement factors in-
clude increased productivity, reduction of waste, improved employee retention
and improved profitability.
Training levy
Levy imposed on employers with a view to financing training activities.
(Source: ILO)
Training market
A system of competition among public and private providers in the provision of
vocational education and training.
Training of trainers
Theoretical and/or practical training for teachers or trainers. (Source: CEDEFOP)
Training policy
Combination of decisions, objectives and guidance emanating from an official
body to fix the goals and priorities for vocational training. (Source: ILO)
Training programme
1. Designed to achieve a specific vocational outcome, may include course, mod-
ule (subject) and on-the-job training. (Source: NCVER)
2. Training activities defined in terms of objectives, target population, contents
and results. (Source: ILO)
Training provider
An organization which delivers vocational education and training programmes;
may be public, private or non-governmental.
Transferability (of skills and competences)

The capacity (of skills and competences) to be transferred to and used in a new
occupational or educational environment. (Source: CEDEFOP). May also be re-
ferred to as: Transfer of training
Transferable skill
Skills that can be introduced in a different socio-cultural or technical environ-
ment, or that can be used in other occupations. (Source: ILO)
Transition from school to work (AUS) See: Transition from school or training to
work
Transition from school or training to work
The process of transferring from school to the workforce or further study.
(Source: NCVER). May also be referred to as: School to work transition (USA);
Transition from school to work (AUS); Entry into working life
Transparency of qualifications See: Comparability of qualifications

Validation of informal/non-formal learning See: Recognition of prior learning
Vocational and technical education (VTE) See: Technical and vocational educa-
tion and training
Vocational and technical education and training (VTET) See: Technical and voca-
tional education and training
Vocational education and training (VET) See: Technical and vocational education
and training
Vocational education and training in secondary school

Programmes allowing students to combine vocational studies with their general
secondary education and providing industry-specific training that gives them
credit towards a nationally recognized vocational education and training qual-
ification; the majority of programmes give students opportunities to do unpaid
work or vocational placement and, in some cases, the programmes involved paid
work. May also be referred to as: VET in Schools (AUS); tech-prep (USA);
School/industry programme.
Vocational education teacher See: Teacher in VET

Vocational guidance See: Guidance and counselling
Vocational preparation
Programmes designed to ease the transition from school to work, enhance the
employability of young people and teach them how to cope with the world of
work. (Source: ILO)
Vocational rehabilitation
Measures aimed at enabling a disabled person to secure, retain and advance in
suitable employment and thereby to further such person’s integration or reinte-
gration into society. (Source: ILO)
Vocational teacher See: Teacher in VET
Work-based training
Training provided by an organization primarily for its own employees using the
employer’s own staff or consultants. Work-based training can be conducted either
on-site or at an off-site location. (Source: NCVER)
Work experience
Unpaid work undertaken by secondary school students as part of their careers
education. May also be referred to as: Student placement (USA).
Workplace change
Changes in technology, changes in process and changes in the market and the
wider economy that affect workers, their tasks, the structure of the organization
and/or the product/service or the technology used in the organization. May also
be referred to as: Changing world of work.
Workplace learning
The process of learning through experience at the workplace, both formally and
informally, and through different forms of working arrangements, such as teams
or one-to-one. Also the creation of a learning environment in the workplace.
(Source: VOCED)
Sources
ACER Young people’s participation in post-compulsory education and training.

Camberwell, Australia: Australian Council for Educational Research, 1991.
ATED Australian thesaurus of educational descriptors, 3rd ed. Camberwell, Australia:
Australian Council for Educational Research, 2003.
CEDEFOP Terminology of vocational training policy: a multilingual glossary for an enlarged
Europe. Brussels: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities,
2004.
Concise Oxford Concise Oxford Dictionary. 10th ed. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Dictionary
ILO ILO Thesaurus. Geneva, Switzerland: International Labour Organization, 2005.
NCVER Knight, A.; Nestor, M. A glossary of Australian vocational education and train-
ing terms. Adelaide, Australia: The National Centre for Vocational Education Re-
search (NCVER), 2000.
UIE Glossary of adult learning in Europe. Hamburg, Germany: UNESCO Institute for
Education, 1999.
UN/ISDR Glossary. Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction. <www.passlivelihoods.org.uk/plow/default.asp?id = 5 >
VOCED VOCED Thesaurus. Adelaide, Australia: The National Centre for Vocational Ed-
ucation Research (NCVER). <www.voced.edu.au/thesaurus/index.php>
Part II
The Changing Context of Work
and Education
Section 1
Changing Workplace Requirements:
Implications for Education
Margarita Pavlova
Griffith Institute for Educational Research, Griffith University, Brisbane,
Australia
L. Efison Munjanganja
UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational
Education and Training, Bonn, Germany
Chapter I.1
Overview: Changing Economic Environment
and Workplace Requirements: Implications
for Re-Engineering TVET for Prosperity
1 Introduction
Globalization has created a new world order for doing business. New informa-
tion and communication technologies (ICTs) have dramatically changed the way
we live, learn and work, and even the way we think about work. The synergy
of combining globalization with new information and communication technology
has led to the emergence of the new economy. The new economy has created
new opportunities as well as new challenges and uncertainties. Many workers have
been displaced and dislocated, while a significant number of young people are
structurally unemployed or under-employed. Skills polarization between so-called
mind or knowledge workers and unskilled, low-knowledge workers has widened
the gap in income inequalities. Youth, women and older workers are the groups
most affected. While these changes have brought about considerable challenges
to TVET, they have created new opportunities for change and innovation (Chinien
et al., 2002).
This overview provides a brief definition of the new economy and highlights
its distinctive features. The crucial importance of human capital as a comparative
advantage in global competition is examined, as well as the effects of this new
economy on development and national prosperity. The effects of the new econ-
omy on jobs and skills are discussed and the strategies being adopted by countries
in various regions of the world to re-engineer technical and vocational education
and training (TVET) to respond to these opportunities and challenges are reviewed.
A brief summary of the all chapters included in this section is presented to conclude
this overview.
2 Demystifying the New Economy
Several conceptions of what has become widely known as the New Economy
have surfaced over the years. Many of these conceptions seem to acknowledge
that this new economy refers to an economic era that is characterized by a new
set of economic activities, economic volatility, new organizational architectures

World of Work, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-5281-1 I.1,

82 F. Boutin et al.
and paradoxes. Two global trends seem to particularly explain this new economy:
globalization and the widespread use of ICTs. Globalization has led to the pro-
liferation of market forces, freer trade and widespread deregulation, while ICTs
are creating new companies and new industries before our eyes (Shepard, 1997).
Castells (1996) speaks of the prevalence of intertwined global and information
features. It is informational because productivity and competitiveness of units or
agents fundamentally depend upon their capacity to generate, process and apply
knowledge-based information; it is global because the core activities of production,
consumption, and circulation are organized on a global scale (Castells, 1996, p. 66).
In summary, the new economy can be defined as a knowledge and ideas-based econ-
omy where the keys to job creation and higher standards of living are innovative
ideas and technology embedded in services and manufactured products; it is an
economy where risk, uncertainty, and constant change are not the exception but
the main rule.
3 The Network Economy
According to Shapiro and Varian (1999), the central difference between the old and
new economies is that the first was driven by economies of scale whereas the sec-
ond is driven by the economics of networks. The information technology revolution
has resulted in the development of advanced infrastructure technological networks.
These networks enable and induce global communication and information-sharing
at decreasing cost and increasing speed. Knowledge is being transferred through
these interconnected ICT applications, and it functions as the glue that holds net-
works together.
These information network routes have become the highways of the modern age,
akin to the railways, roads and canals of the industrial era. All sorts of intangible
goods can be processed, stored and distributed over the networks in an easy and
cheap way. Both information and communication technologies, together with the
global scope they create (and therefore knowledge), are central parts of the network
economy. The on-going process of globalization has resulted in the omnipresence
of business in the global marketplace. Many firms now have multiple production
sites, regional headquarters and numerous distribution channels at their disposal.
Just-in-time systems, computer-integrated manufacturing and integrated inter-firm
networks have contributed highly to the streamlining of production, de-massifying
of factories, inventories and supply chains (Webster, 1995).
The use of new technologies has resulted in the internationalization of core eco-
nomic activities, such as the functioning of financial markets, multinational enter-
prises and the production of highly-skilled personnel. This global interaction now
forms the basis for management, productivity and competition, which are expressed
in more divergent ways than has been the case in former times. These changes in the
economic landscape bring about different scope, different dynamics and a different
mode of organization in the business environment.
I.1 Changing Economic Environment and Workplace Requirements 83
4 New Organizational Models
In a network society that is heavily based on the importance of knowledge, facili-

tated by technological advancements, new organizational models are being created
in order to cope with current and future environmental challenges. We are wit-
nessing the restructuring of organizations according to principles of, among others
things, flattening and downsizing, business process re-engineering, subcontracting
and outsourcing of non-core activities, creating multifunctional project teams, em-
powering employees, increasing workforce flexibility (multi-skilled workers), ex-
panding the externalized workforce, replacing highly specialized machinery for
flexible manufacturing systems and developing multipurpose information systems.
The network organization symbolizes these new organizational models and can best
be defined as ‘long-term arrangements among distinct but related for-profit orga-
nizations that allow those firms in them to gain or sustain competitive advantage’
(Jarillo, 1988, p. 70; Alstyne, 1997). By means of complex outsourcing infrastruc-
tures and effective supply chain management, (scarce) resources can be allocated
wherever and deployed whenever necessary, in order to add value.
5 The Importance of Human Capital

in a Knowledge-Based Economy
While the new economy has challenged all nations, no matter how large or small, or
how rich or poor, various trade agreements and global investments which emerged
from this new world order have also created unlimited opportunities for growth and
development. However, the globalization of businesses and the orientation of pro-
duction around global value chains have created a very competitive trading environ-
ment (Industry Canada, 2007). In this new economic environment competitiveness
has become the mantra of prosperity.
Although, there is some controversy regarding an acceptable definition of com-
petitiveness, the OECD ‘defines national competitiveness as the degree to which
a country can, under free and fair market conditions, produce goods and services
which meet the test of international markets, while simultaneously maintaining and
expanding the incomes of its people over the long term’ (National Competitiveness
Council, 2006). In an economy that is increasingly based on knowledge, human
capital is considered as one of the most important comparative advantages to com-
pete successfully in the global market and knowledge is positioned as a competitive
resource.
Based on renewed interest in the human capital theory, there is now a general
consensus that a well-educated workforce is a key element to achieve competitive-
ness and prosperity. The management guru Peter Drucker once wrote: ‘The most
valuable assets of a 20th century company was its production equipment. The most
valuable asset of a 21st century institution, whether business or non-business, will
84 F. Boutin et al.
be its knowledge workers and their productivity’ (1999). The Conference Board of
Canada notes: ‘more than ever, employers depend on knowledgeable and skilful
employees to create value-added products and services, efficiently and effectively,
so that they can compete successfully’ (2001, p. 3). Economic prosperity in the
global economy is becoming highly dependent on an ability to develop, attract and
maintain a well-educated workforce.
Recognizing the importance of knowledge, the Lisbon Summit (CEDEFOP, 2007)
established an ambitious strategic goal for making Europe ‘the most competi-
tive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustain-
able economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion by
2010.’ Education was a centre piece of that strategy. This radical transforma-
tion is based on the recognition that human resources are the European Union’s
(EU) main asset and that investment in people is as important as investment in
capital and equipment to achieve growth and improve productivity: ‘Never be-
fore had the EU been so clear about the crucial role of education and training
in achieving economic progress and social inclusion’ (Otero & McCoshan, 2005,
p. 8).
As a result of these changes, the demand for skilled workers often exceeds the
supply in many sectors of the economy. While education is considered a key for
achieving economic progress and social inclusion, technical and vocational edu-
cation and training (TVET) is viewed as the ‘master key that can alleviate poverty,
promote peace, conserve the environment, improve the quality of life for all and help
achieve sustainable development’ (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2004). As a consequence,
there have been sustained efforts in all regions of the world to improve the education
and training systems, especially that of TVET.
6 The Miracle of Economic Development is within Reach
The 1990s saw Ireland move from being among the ‘poorest of the poor’ to be-
ing one of the most rapidly growing industrialized countries, earning the name of
the ‘Celtic Tiger’. Many factors have been invoked to explain Ireland’s economic
boom (Burnham, 2003). The consensus that emerges is that not one, but numerous
sensible policies, and internal and external situations, coalesced to contribute to the
achievement of the Irish Miracle, including investment in physical infrastructure and
human capital. Figure 1 shows the competitiveness pyramid model which helped to
propel the economic prosperity of Ireland. As illustrated, the human capital element
depicted by ‘labour supply’ is positioned as an essential enabler to achieve high
productivity and sustain economic progress.
Ireland initiated important educational reforms in the 1980s to improve the ef-
fectiveness and efficiency of its human capital. In the area of TVET, funds were
invested in the expansion the existing regional technical colleges. These institutions
now offer tailored and flexible programmes, targeted at regional industry clusters.
Ireland can now offer to investors a young, highly skilled and English-speaking
Fig. 1 The NCC competitiveness pyramid

Source: National Competitiveness Council, 2006.
workforce (OECD, 2006). Educational reform was an important enabler to the in-
credible success of the Irish economy.
It is noteworthy that sustainable growth is at the apex of the Ireland’s competi-
tiveness model. An important consideration: many people still believe that the goal
of sustainable development and that of economic development are irreconcilable.
Our ecological footprint suggests that our unsustainable approach to development is
causing major ecological disasters, contaminating the air that we breathe, the water
we drink, and causing other forms of irreversible harm to the environment. Re-
versing environmental degradation has become a global priority and world leaders
recognize that environmental protection cannot be achieved without due considera-
tion to economic and social development. The concept of sustainable development
emerged from this critical reflection regarding the interdependence and intercon-
nectedness between environmental protection and economic and social develop-
ment. Sustainable development is thus commonly defined as ‘meeting the needs
of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs.’ The Irish competitiveness model embraces this triple bottom-
line paradigm.
Education has the potential to equip the workforce with the critical skills that will
enable workers to contribute to the goals of sustainable development. These skills
clusters have been identified (Chinien et al., 2003) as follows: ethics and values;
integrated decision-making; responsible use of resources; valuing diversity; safety
and well-being; and continual improvement.
86 F. Boutin et al.
7 The Benefits of Education and Skills Development
Recent research shows that a one-year increase in average educational attainment of

the population can yield a 5% increase in short-term growth and an additional in-
crease of 2.5% in the long-term contribution to faster technological progress (Coun-
cil of the European Union, 2004). Research sets the private rate of return on one year
of education in terms of employment earning in the range of 7 to 15%, while the
rate of social return is approximately 7% (Sweetman, 2002). A study conducted by
the Australian National Centre for Vocational Education Research found a positive
association between highest education level and employment and wages (Karmel
& Nguyen, 2006). The 2006 assessment of the performance of the education sys-
tems of OECD countries also revealed that: ‘investment in education brings high
social and private return, with completion of upper secondary education bringing a
particularly large payback for individuals’ (OECD, 2007).
Although the connection between skills and economic progress probably exists, it
is less straightforward than sometimes assumed. ‘Skills are not the only, perhaps not
even the most important, competitive factor in Europe’ (Otero & McCoshan, 2005,
p. 8). The relationship between education and productivity is more complex than
presented in most public policies. For example, Canada’s productivity level is not
proportional to the share of the workforce with tertiary education. In contrast to
the United States, which is among the most productive countries of the world, it
achieves a high level of productivity using a small core of highly-skilled engineers
and technicians and a large segment of low-skilled workers. Paradoxically, a sig-
nificant proportion of university graduates in the United States are underemployed
(Gray, 2002). Consequently, ‘blanket upskilling’ of the workforce would not neces-
sarily yield higher productivity (Otero & McCoshan, 2005).
In spite of the general consensus that education contributes to productivity
which leads to prosperity and decent work, research conducted by Kusakabe (2005)
showed differential effects of education for low-income, high-income and OECD-
income countries. While primary education was important for lower- and higher-
income countries in the 1980s, the correlation is now getting weaker. Secondary
education is no longer a key determinant of growth in OECD countries as it used
to be during the 1970s. However, it became key determinant of growth for lower-
income countries during the 1990s. Finally, in the period 1990 to 2000, tertiary
education became an important determinant of growth for lower-income countries.
This observation has led Maria Torres to severely criticize the emphasis of donor
countries and other international organizations on literacy and primary education for
developing countries—as it became obvious both will not pay dividends in the short
term. Torres (2004) noted that countries of the North have realized the importance
of human capital for economic development and social cohesion and inclusion. The
‘haves’ are still taking massive action to ensure a skilled workforce that will drive
innovations and maintain competitiveness in world trade. These same countries have
a double standard for countries of the South by advocating literacy development at
the expense of skills development (Torres, 2004). The World Bank used to grant
up to 40% of its educational loans for the development of TVET in developing
countries. Today, educational loans for TVET account for only 8 to 9%.
8 Effects of the New Economy on Jobs
For some people, work over the past decade has become technologically complex,
demanding sophisticated work skills. Others, as a result of unemployment, have
been denied the satisfaction that comes from the challenge of work and the sense
of achievement gained. The job market and jobs have become sharply polarized
by a simultaneous increase in jobs requiring post-secondary education and casual
jobs for unskilled workers. This polarization of the labour force is widening the
inequalities between the haves and the have-nots and between the educated and
less educated. Tuijnman noted: ‘Alienation, social exclusion, unemployment and
slow productivity growth are among the consequences of limited capacity of some
countries to adapt and fully exploit the opportunities offered in the global knowledge
economy’ (1997, p. 4).
The ILO (2007) reports that 195.2 million people were unemployed worldwide
in 2006, despite strong global economic growth which has failed to translate into
significant reductions in unemployment or poverty among the working population.
There are 1.37 billion working people who are living on US$2 a day. Even the
developed countries have not been spared. Maxwell noted: ‘despite all the talk about
the explosion of knowledge-based economic activity and its contribution, 2 million
adult Canadians work for less than $10 an hour—about one in six employed people’
(2000, p. 1). Surprisingly, many of these people are well educated. One-third of
them have a post-secondary diploma or degree. The United States is experiencing
the same kind of phenomenon. The results of recent surveys indicated that the rate
of under-employment among four-year college graduates in the United States ranges
from 40% to as much as 50% in the social sciences. Underemployment is severely
taxing young, highly-educated workers (Gray, 2002).
The ILO analysis suggest that young people aged 15 to 24 represent nearly half
the world’s jobless, although they account for only 25% of the working-age popula-
tion. Halving the world youth unemployment rate would add at least US$2.2 trillion
to global gross domestic product, equal to around 4% of the 2003 value, according
to an ILO analysis (ILO, 2004). Moreover, whether they are young adults or adult
workers, ‘a high number of socially excluded people is a burden on economies and
limits growth and investment in innovative and future-oriented areas and sectors’
(Tessaring & Wannan, 2004).
9 Effects of the New Economy on Skills
Contrary to popular belief, the decline of industrial jobs in advanced economies is

only partially related to globalization. Technological change has had a more pro-
found impact on the labour market: ‘today’s workplaces are often in multi loca-
tions characterized by cultural diversity’ (Lynch, 2002, p. 7). Furthermore, in many
organizations, relationships among competitors, suppliers and customers ‘are com-
plex and boundaries have blurred between organizations and their environments’
(Hiniker & Putnam, 2002, p. 8). Advances in technology have helped to de-massify
88 F. Boutin et al.
production, reduce economies of scale and boost industrial productivity to the ex-
tent of de-industrializing the economies, thus causing a movement of labour from
industry to the service sector. There is a public perception that all service sector jobs
are low-skill and low-paying. In reality, however, many good and well-paying jobs
for highly-skilled workers have also been generated by the service sector, especially
in more advanced countries (Camdessus, 1997).
There seems to be no consensus regarding the impact of technological change
on the workplace and its effects on jobs and skills. Some believe that technology
is de-skilling jobs, while others argue that technology is up-skilling jobs. Tenets of
up-skilling would argue that, in this emerging knowledge-intensive economy, the
proletariat is being replaced by a ‘cognetariat’, where work is increasingly shifting
away from manual tasks toward symbolic processing (Toffler & Toffler, 1995). The
concept of ‘mind workers’ or knowledge workers has emerged from this transforma-
tion of work and it appears to be the fastest growing type of worker. An ILO study
indicates that the introduction of ICTs can contribute both to up-skilling and de-
skilling of workers: ‘On the one hand, ICT can downgrade skills and competence to
single-task machine-tending and, on the other, it can upgrade skills and competence
to multi-task work relying on greater creativity’ (ILO, 2001, p. 9). The European
Community’s ‘White Paper on education and training’ (1995) indicates that, with
the advent of new technologies, Europe is moving toward a ‘cognitive society’ in
which work content will be limited to tasks requiring initiative and flexibility on
the part of the worker. The re-engineered workplace expects workers to perform
‘more complex tasks, use new technologies, involve less direct supervision of work-
ers, and acquire the use of higher skill and knowledge levels in making-decisions
and solving-problems individually and as members of collaborative work teams’
(Frantz et al., 1996, pp. 1–2). In the same vein, Lynch (2002) reported that ‘less
than 20% of the workforce is in jobs classified as unskilled’ (p. 8) as opposed to
60% in 1959.
The synergy of combining new technologies with human skills in the post-
industrialized society has created a controversy regarding the effects of technology
on skills. Those who posit that technology has augmented skill requirements advo-
cate increased specialized job-skill training. On the other hand, proponents of the
de-skilling concept argue that many trade skills traditionally imparted in TVET are
no longer valued in the high-performance workplace. For this reason, they recom-
mend the development of solid, basic foundation skills as well as generic, broadly
transferable employability skills (Budke, 1988). This trend is more apparent in the
service sector where entry requirements are less well-defined (Quebec. Ministry of
Education, 1998). These conflicting messages ‘exacerbate a traditional split among
educators and policymakers concerning the appropriate role and function of job
training and vocational education’ (Budke, 1988, p. 11).
Technical knowledge has a short shelf-life and workers of the future may expect
to work on short-term assignments, on a contract basis, or within several project
teams. They may have to work for more than one employer at any given time or
even start new careers several times. Lifelong learning or continuing vocational ed-
ucation and training (CVET) is therefore an important element of the TVET system
for continuous upgrading to keep pace with changing skill requirements. Lifelong
learning is also desirable ‘in order to remedy the failures of traditional educational
and socialization processes’ (Gasskov, 2001), which can have major consequences
on employment prospects, labour productivity and decent work.
However, research indicates that people with a low level of education are left
behind in lifelong learning, while the more educated obtain more education and
training. In some instances, lifelong learning has become the exemplar par excel-
lence of the ‘rich getting richer’ (Myers & De Broucker, 2006). Furthermore, the
United States Bureau of Labour Statistics indicated that the amount of training pro-
vided by the employer varies according to gender, age group and type of occupation,
with workers in the service sector being less likely to receive training. This situation
exacerbates qualification differences by up-skilling the already most highly skilled,
rather than those that need it the most.
10 International Survey of TVET Reforms
There is some strong empirical evidence demonstrating that TVET can indeed
help to achieve economic growth by improving workers’ productivity (Malgen &
Hopkins, 1998). Almost all nations have modernized, or are in the process of
modernizing, their education and training system in order to ensure an adequate
supply of highly-skilled workers. Reform initiated in the United States began with
an open letter to the American people entitled ‘A nation at risk: the imperative for
educational reform’, which was followed by a series of other successive policy ini-
tiatives: ‘Workforce 2000: work and workers for the 21st Century’; ‘Investing in
people: strategy to address America’s workforce crisis’; ‘America’s choice: high
skills or low wages’; and ‘The Secretary’s Commission on achieving necessary
skills’. Canada responded by hosting a national summit on innovation and learn-
ing. A two-pronged innovation strategy emerged from that summit. The first was
‘Achieving excellence: investing in people, knowledge and opportunity’, which fo-
cuses mainly on creating and using knowledge as a national asset; strengthening
Canada’s science and research capacity and, finally, building an innovative econ-
omy. The second innovation strategy was ‘Knowledge matters: skills and learning
for Canadians’, which called for investment in people as a country’s most important
resource, strengthening skills and learning, and enhancing opportunities for all to
participate (Government of Canada, 2002a, 2002b.).
Within the framework of the Lisbon goals, the main thrust of the reform move-
ment of the European Union has been centred on: linking TVET to productivity,
employment and social cohesion; improving the quality of TVET; establishment of
national and European qualification frameworks; establishing a quality assurance
framework; developing occupational standards; benchmarking TVET; improving
the image and relevance of TVET; governance and financing of TVET; lifelong
learning; recognition of prior learning and foreign credentials; improving social di-
alogues between stakeholders; addressing the needs of youth, displaced and older
workers; and access and equity.
90 F. Boutin et al.
Developing countries are also uniting their efforts in using TVET to harness the
benefits of the knowledge-based economy. The African Union (AU) wants Africa to
take advantage of education to carve its way to prosperity in the knowledge-based
economy. In its Plan of Action for the Second Decade of Education (2006–2015),
the AU ‘recognizes the importance of TVET as a means of empowering individuals
to take control of their lives and recommends the integration of vocational training
into the general education system’ (African Union, 2007, p. 1). The AU also reports
on some TVET reform initiatives that have been very successful in Africa. For ex-
ample, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania and Zambia have all established
national training authorities and Ghana is in the process of establishing a Council
for Technical and Vocational Education and Training.
A survey conducted by UNESCO (2005) indicates that Botswana, Burkina Faso,
the Central African Republic, Gambia, Ghana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mau-
ritius, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Senegal, Tanzania and Togo have al-
ready adopted a national plan for TVET, while others—the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Eritrea, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, the Seychelles and Uganda—were
in the process of drafting or adopting a national strategy. Eight countries (Egypt,
Jordan, Kuwait, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Yemen) reported
having implemented national polices and strategies for the development of TVET.
The survey also revealed that two-thirds of the countries in the Asia and the
Pacific region have implemented a national strategy to govern policy formulation
and the planning and management of TVET. Over half of these countries have es-
tablished specific initiatives to ensure the relevance of TVET with the world of work
and to monitor the progress against some established benchmarks. This survey also
revealed that the great majority of developing countries were using the UN Millen-
nium Development Goals and UNESCO’s Education for All as the underpinning
foundation for TVET reforms.
Australia has also established a national strategy for the improvement of TVET
for the period 2004–10, which has very similar objectives to the Lisbon goals and
has been instrumental in achieving highly successful TVET reform in the coun-
try. The Australian success story in TVET is the result of successive and repeated
commitment to TVET demonstrated through various policies, planning and invest-
ment initiatives formulated in the key national strategic plans, namely: ‘Towards
a skilled Australia’ (1994–98); ‘A bridge to the future’ (1998–2003); and ‘Shap-
ing our future’ (2004–10). Since 1998, Australia has showed a real commitment to
fully develop and improve its TVET system. Today, the Australian TVET system is
‘recognized as among the best and most innovative in the world’ (McGauran, 2004).
11 Blueprint for Re-Engineering TVET
UNESCO and the ILO have both made some very concrete recommendations for
reforming TVET (UNESCO/ILO, 2002). A recent survey indicates that the great
majority of States are using these recommendations as blueprints in their reform
initiatives. The comprehensive national strategy adopted by Australia for improving

TVET from 2004–10 is show-cased here as it adequately captures various world-
wide initiatives for re-engineering TVET. The underpinning priorities of that Aus-
tralian strategy are:
r Increase participation in VET and improve performance of learners (particularly

employed people).
r Improve access to information, guidance and counselling.
r Raise the image of VET and improve public recognition of its employment
outcomes.
r Achieve equality in VET participation and learner attainment.
r Make sustained investment in technical and further education institutions (TAFE)
and other registered training institutions.
r Promote partnerships between training providers and industry to drive
innovation.
r Implement flexible funding models and planning and accountability approaches.
r Develop sustainable funding and encourage cost sharing.
r Strengthen industry’s role in anticipating skill needs and developing products
and services to meet them.
r Improve learning pathways and transition from school to work.
r Improve the quality of VET.
r Simplify access to international VET markets (NCRVE, cited in CEDEFOP,
2007).
12 Overview of the Contributions

To set the stage for the contributions included in this section, this overview has
painted a picture of the landscape within which TVET must reinvent itself so that it
can meet increasing expectations. Below is a brief summary of the nine chapters in
this section which will each provide a more in-depth treatment of the various issues
raised in this overview.
World of Work in an Era of Global Capitalism, by Budd L. Hall
The author discusses economic globalization as a form of global market utopia and
its impact on the lives and work of individuals. He then elaborates on possible re-
sponses to the form of this market vision, especially answers from the sphere of
education and training. He finally endorses the right to what he calls a new utopian
vision: ‘a vision which responds to the collective needs of the majority of persons
in the world, not simply the few’.
92 F. Boutin et al.
I.3 Decent Work for All: From ILO Initiative to Global Goal,
by Peter Poschen
Jobs have been polarized as good and bad jobs by the new economy. Peter Poschen’s
chapter deals with the concept of decent work, which has been developed and
applied by the ILO in recent years and which has been taken up by an increas-
ing number of governments, as well as development organizations and other in-
stitutions. He discusses the relevance of decent work as a goal and a frame-
work for policy formulation and gives examples of how the concept has con-
tributed to policy debates at both national and international level. Special atten-
tion is given to the role of technical and vocational education and training in this
context.
I.4 Redefining Gender Roles in the Workforce, by Karen F. Zuga
Women are often left behind in various aspects of economic development. This
chapter puts the focus on questions regarding redefining gender roles in the work-
force. Aspects are: the contemporary roles of women and changes in these roles
over time; issues and concerns that educators, trainers and society face as a result
of such change or lack of change; and the influence of policy on that change. She
finally discusses the question of how in particular vocational and technical educators
should react as a result of the changing roles of women in the workforce.
I.5 Anticipation of Skill Requirements: European Activities

and Approaches, by Manfred Tessaring
Forecasting labour-market requirements and skills needs has become a very chal-
lenging task in the context of the new economy. Modern societies are characterized
by rapidly changing social and economic conditions, increasing openness, perme-
ability, complexity and therefore uncertainty. This development results in a need for
new instruments that allow the early identification of skill requirements and facili-
tate updating and re-adjusting the design of education, initial vocational training and
continuing training. In his article, Tessaring gives an account of European activities
and approaches to deal with this situation.
I.6 Redefining the Status of Occupations, by Walter R. Heinz
Heinz’s contribution focuses on the controversy regarding the concept of ‘occupa-

tion’. While there is a lot of literature suggesting that the concept of occupation is
outdated, Heinz argues that ‘there is no end of occupation, but a transformation to-
wards a new constellation of training, competence, work and company organization,
due to a complex combination of economic, cultural and social changes’. His dis-
cussion focuses on Germany as a prototype for an occupation-centred society char-
acterized by a highly standardized system of vocational education and training.
I.7 Changing Work, Work Practice: The Consequences

for Vocational Education, by Stephen Billett
Billett’s contribution discusses the changing characteristics of work, work practice

and work requirements, and the impact they have on vocational education and train-
ing. His chapter provides an overview of different patterns of change to work and
working life and discusses policy and curriculum practice associated with each.
I.8 Traditional and Transitional TVET Systems,

by Poonam Agrawal
Various forces are transforming the TVET system. In his chapter, Agrawal deals
with the role of tradition when social and economic developments require education
systems to adapt. Agrawal argues that ‘whatever is transitional today may become
a tradition in times to come and something that had been a tradition may again find
a place in transitional and futuristic systems’. He concludes that tradition needs to
be viewed and discussed in the local context with in-built reference to the global
scenario.
I.9 Partnering to Meet the Needs of a Changing Workplace,

by LuAnn Hiniker and Robert A. Putnam
Best practice examples and lessons learned from various countries indicate that
social dialogues and stakeholders’ involvement and partnership are key elements
for successful TVET reforms. The chapter deals with partnerships between edu-
cation and industry. This can provide the technology and innovations necessary to
provide a flexible learning framework to meet the needs of today’s lifelong learn-
ers. Fostering collaborative and innovative partnerships will help enable business,
industry and higher education to transform in this high-speed information age. Na-
tionwide studies will provide the identification of key characteristics of the changing
workplace and evidence of the potential for successful new partnerships. The lack
of highly-skilled workers, the growing needs for access to education by lifelong
learners and the difficulty in forming fruitful partnerships are addressed in this
paper.
94 F. Boutin et al.
I.10 Bridging the Learning Divide: A Study into Adult

Learning and Peer Motivation in the Workplace,
by David Johnson
Finally, David Johnson’s chapter points out that there is a significant number of
working people with low basic skills and information technology skills who have
difficulties in accessing learning provision. Johnson argues that, while there is no
shortage of supply-side solutions to raising the skills levels of adult learners, there
appears to be a significant problem on the demand-side. The failure to bridge this
‘learning divide’ has created a wide training gap in the United Kingdom, which has
denied many adults access to learning and career opportunities. Johnson outlines a
research project which seeks to address the difficulty of engaging or re-engaging
working and other adults in learning opportunities through trade-union learning
champions and a methodology for studying the learning trajectories of those who do.
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Chapter I.2
The Right to a New Utopia: Adult Learning
and the Changing World of Work
in an Era of Global Capitalism
Budd L. Hall
We make, by art, in [. . .] orchards and gardens, trees and

flowers to come earlier or later than their seasons; and to
come up and bear more speedily than by the natural course
they do. We make them also by art greater much than their
nature: and their fruit greater and sweeter and of differing
taste, smell, colour and figure, from their nature.
Francis Bacon, New Atlantis, 1627.
I think economic life is for teaching our species it has
responsibilities to the planet and the rest of nature.
Jane Jacobs, The nature of economies, 2000.
1 Introduction
In this article I will do four things: examine economic globalization as a form of

global market utopia; discuss the impact of this project on our lives and on our
work; explore responses to the form that this market vision takes; and, finally, make
a case for new utopian visions.
John Carey, in his introduction to the Faber book of utopias (1999), tells us that:
‘Anyone who is capable of love must at some time have wanted the world to be a
better place, for we all want our loved ones to live free of suffering, injustice and
heartbreak.’ He goes on to say of utopian ideas that: ‘their imaginative excitement
comes from the recognition that everything inside our heads, and much outside,
are human constructs and can be changed.’ He ominously notes as well that: ‘They
[utopian projects] aim at a New World, but must destroy the old’ (p. xi). I have
found Carey’s views on utopias and his encyclopedic anthology of visions from all
ages and from all parts of the world fascinating and helpful. The idea of utopian
projects helps me to understand both the power of the current market dreams and
the importance of recovering our own right to create new utopias. Globalization
is a utopian vision. The creation of an integrated twenty-four hours per day eco-
nomic system that allows total freedom for investors to find cheap money to bor-
row and high returns on investment anywhere in the world—is a dream. That all
limits on corporate and individual profits would be removed—is a dream. That all
workers in all countries would be integrated into global networks of production


98 B.L. Hall
and consumption that produce untold profits for investors—is a dream. That re-
sponsibilities to shareholders could take precedence over health and safety and en-
vironmental concerns—is a dream. Evidence of the power and excitement of this
dream is that multinational corporations have joined with political leaders to pro-
mote this idea as the only dream leading to the possibility of making a better world.
Not only is globalization the way for individual investors to accumulate riches
beyond their wildest fantasies, but (thank heavens) the market utopia is also—its
architects would argue—the best hope we have ever had of reducing poverty and
creating a better world at home and abroad. The global market utopia is a dream,
but it may not be our dream. It may not be a dream for all. And bear in mind, as
I have earlier noted, that like all utopias this one ‘must destroy the old’ (Carey,
1999).
2 The Global Market Utopia

Globalization is being experienced through a variety of forms and practices. Im-
portant dimensions of globalization also include the economy, the State, commu-
nications, movements of people, sales of arms, and violence and crime. The most
dramatic financial figure, which illustrates the contemporary global market, is that
each day about one-and-a-half trillion disconnected dollars change hands in finan-
cial transactions totally apart from funds needed for global trade purposes. These
transactions have to do with currency speculation by private and public banks, with
investments of all kinds through the computerized stock markets of the world, with
bond undertakings at both private and State levels. Political leadership in most parts
of the world has joined the call for each of us to play our part in the competi-
tive global market. Products are assembled everywhere, sold everywhere, crossing
borders sometimes scores of time before finding an ultimate place of rest or sale.
And the movement of durable goods does not stop with sale. Within days, weeks
or years most of the goods produced in the contemporary world will be discarded
and our goods then rejoin the global search for another resting-place. If we live in
cities, we send our waste to rural areas. If our waste is poisonous or toxic, we will
send it to the furthest reaches of our countries or, failing that, to the poorest parts
of the world where countries fight over the right to become a dumping ground for
the waste of the rich. Jobs, health and safety conditions, environmental regulations,
human rights and immigration policies are thrown out as deregulation on a global
basis strips national legislation of its force.
The State itself has taken on global forms. The richest States of Europe now
work together in a powerful economic union where the restrictions and limitations
of individual governments are giving way to regional forms of State control. In
Asia, no serious economic decisions are taken by a single State government with-
out direct or indirect talks with governments of trading partners, such as Australia,
China, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan and, in-
creasingly, Malaysia and Thailand. The United Nations system and related regional
banking and development agencies are a further layer of an internationalized State
I.2 The Right to a New Utopia 99
function. These multi-lateral bodies have more power and influence in the medium
and smaller States, with institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank taking on nearly full control of economies in the least-powerful States.
Crime and violence are also disturbing features of our globalizing world. The
complex combination of rich country drug use and poor country weak economies
creates patterns of international activity taking advantage of all the modern means
of communications and money transfers. All of the world’s people are caught in
vicious patterns of cruelty and violence that spill over into each and every one of
our homes (Commission on Global Governance, 1995).
The arms trade is another dimension of globalization. While overall world expen-
diture on the military has declined since the 1989 accords between the former USSR
and the United States, the arms trade itself has taken on a new life. The United States
in particular has accelerated its sales from roughly $9 billion in 1987 to over $22
billion in 1992 to over $50 billion in 2000. In that same period the former USSR
has decreased arms transfers from $30 billion to $2.8 billion. According to the war
historian John Keegan:
Those who have died in war since 1945 by cheap, mass-produced weapons have, for the
most part, been killed by small-calibre ammunition costing little more than the transistor
radios and batteries which flooded the world during the same period (1994).
Among the low-cost weapons that cross our borders each day are landmines pro-
duced for a few dollars each and capable of killing or maiming a person with ease.
There are an estimated 100 million landmines distributed in roughly sixty countries
around the globe (Grimmett, 1994).
While money flows with the speed of light, goods and services at the speed of air
and sea transport, people are also more mobile than ever before. The combination of
economic destruction, civil conflict and positive inducements to move has created
global movements of people. In global terms, over 100 million people are refugees
against their choice, living in countries that they were not born in (UNHCR, 1995).
Of course, people do not move as easily as either goods or finance capital. Much
of the contemporary movement of peoples is involuntary movement as economic
and political refugees are forced to shift from their homes in search of security or
a means to survive. This is in spite of the fact that obstacles to the movement of
people from the poorer nations to the richer are exceedingly difficult to overcome. It
would seem that at least one vision of the ‘market utopia’ is that people will stay in
communities where low wages can be sustained while technology, tools and capital
will move freely. In Canada, for example, money can move between Mexico, the
United States and national financial institutions with ease, but for people it is more
difficult. The open capital market has not produced an open labour market. In spite
of the legal restrictions against movement between these three nations—partners
in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)—there are very large ille-
gal movements of people from Mexico to the United States, some illegal Canadian
movement into the United States as well, and vast displacements of persons from the
rural areas of Mexico, Canada and the United States to places where their chances
of finding jobs are better. As Miguel Darcy de Oliveira and Rajesh Tandon observe:
100 B.L. Hall
‘the weaker, the more vulnerable, the powerless, those who do not produce or con-
sume anything of value for the world market, those who can hardly be privatised or
internationalised, are becoming expendable’ (1995, p. 7).
3 Further Impact of the Global Market Utopia
3.1 On Children
Canadian scholars John McMurty and Teresa Turner, in a paper on the impact of
globalization on the world’s children, argue that: ‘In truth what unifies global cor-
porate investment patterns today is a ruling principle that is blind to the well-being
or ill-being of children’ (2000). Dependency on gross national product (GNP) and
similar economic indicators is obscuring a rising tide of social disintegration and
exclusion.
The cry is expressed on the ground with the unprecedented horror of families selling
their own children in exponentially rising numbers as sex-slaves into the new free market
economies, with tens of millions of children across the world now driven not only into
forced prostitution, but street beggary, slave labour and military enslavement as a conse-
quence of the impoverishment of their families in the globalization dynamics (McMurtry &
Turner, 2000).
3.2 On the Rise of Social Exclusion

The impact of globalization is not, of course, only on children or only in the majority
world countries. In 1999, the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation of
OECD came out with a study that examines the role of adult learning in overcoming
exclusion. In this study they draw attention to the report provided for the meeting of
Social Policy Ministers in 1998, which notes that:
The labour market has turned against low-skilled workers, who in all countries are more
likely to find themselves unemployed, non-employed or earning lower wages than their
better-educated colleagues [. . .] Unemployment remains high—35 million or 7% of the
work force [. . .] over half of all unemployed persons had been so for more than 12 months
[. . .] households where children are present are much more likely to have low incomes than
they were 10–20 years ago (CERI, 1999, p. 18).
Accumulated evidence from the ‘rich’ countries is that there are widening income
inequalities, worrying levels of unemployment and inactivity and growing poverty
often amid a general increase in affluence. In Ontario, Canada, household incomes
after taxes dropped from $43,500 in 1990 to $41,800 in 1997. For those in the poor-
est 20% of the income spectrum there was a 7.3% decline from $12,066 in 1995
to $11,185 in 1997. In the entire group of OECD countries, there are a growing
number of families where there are no wage earners, as well as a vast majority
where all adult members of the family are obliged to work. Indeed, one in five
of all households in OECD countries are now considered ‘work-poor’. They are
working, but at such low-income levels as to leave them below the poverty line in
their respective countries.
3.3 On the Environment
On 24 November 2000 we learned that the Global Conference on Climate Change

meeting in The Hague had failed to reach agreement on measures to be taken to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And this occurred just over one year after we
learned that two islands in the Kiribati Archipelago in the South Pacific were the
first to be submerged by rising sea levels due to global warming—others in the
area are also in danger. Canada, along with Australia, Japan and the United States,
was one of the countries that was reluctant in making an agreement that would in
any way slow down the super-heated production of automobiles or cut back other
industrial processes threatening the rest of the world. Canada has the highest per
capita consumption of energy of any country on Earth. But rather than take a creative
look at what we might do to provide leadership for greener options, the Canadian
government prefers to hold out for its vast forest areas to be considered as credits in
the global warming game for their role as global air filters.
The facts of the matter are that those kinds of life-styles and consumer patterns
that fuel the global market utopia are a cancer for the planet. In the insightful work
by Wackernagel and Rees, Our ecological footprint, they outline a method for de-
termining the percentage of the world’s resources that we use as individuals, as
communities or as whole nations. Their complex formula points out that if the entire
world were to achieve the same levels of development and growth that characterize
those of us who live in rich countries, we would need four entire planets worth of
energy resources to satisfy these demands. Clearly we are on an ecological collision
path between a utopia of the rich and the carrying capacity of a still fragile planet.
3.4 Effects on the Structure of Work
As capital has loosened itself from the restrictions of the nation-State, so too has
production. In Canada we assemble ‘American’ automobiles from parts that are
made in both Europe and Asia and flown in for ‘just-in-time’ assembly in the
auto plants of southern Ontario and Quebec. The tomatoes we buy in Canada (ex-
cept during our short growing season) are harvested by women workers in Mexico
where regulations on the use of toxic chemicals for production are lower. There
are few clothes now available for purchase in Canada that are made—to use that
old fashioned concept—‘at home’. On the North American continent, as in other
parts of the world, production has been growing dramatically in the border area
between the United States and Mexico. There, in what are called the maquilado-
ras, lower-paid Mexican workers, a majority of whom are women, live in company
dormitories, work in U.S.-owned factories and send money home to their families
102 B.L. Hall
in poverty-stricken northern Mexico. But, in a newer trend, we are also seeing, for
example, that New York City immigrant sweatshops can be as competitive on the
global market as similar workplaces in Thailand (Sassen, 1991).
I am indebted to a colleague, Brian Milani, for his book Designing the green
economy (2000) and its insights on the restructuring of work. Technological change
has had an extraordinary impact on production. The dominant tendency, however,
remains the one which has prevailed throughout the age of industrialization: that of
the de-skilling of direct production. Rifkin in his study of work change in the United
States estimates that 90 million jobs in the U.S. are vulnerable to replacement by
machines. More and more, we are finding that creative, fulfilling jobs are becom-
ing rarer and rarer: ‘islands in a sea of work degradation’ (Milani, 2000, p. 39).
The explosion in producer services has fed into a polarization not only between
nations, but also within nations as the fastest growing categories of workers are
janitors, sales clerks, fast-food workers and security guards. Contrary to popular
opinion or policy documents from governments, most new jobs are and will be
low-paid jobs. The U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics projected the greatest number
of jobs as cashiers, janitors, truck drivers, waiters and waitresses. In a recent report
from Statistics Canada, it was reported that the fastest growth in jobs for men in
Canada was as truck drivers. And at the same time the State continues to push for
more ‘flexibility’ in labour conditions. In the province of Ontario, the Conservative
Government introduced legislation that would make it legal for workers to work up
to sixty hours per week if asked by their employers, after a tradition of nearly fifty
years of a forty-hour work week.
At the same time, it is well documented that the pay of senior executives has
grown much faster than average earnings. Some 86% of executives in the top 500
companies in the United States received an average salary of $8 million dollars a
year in 1999. In doing so, they earned 60% more than any of their counterparts in
any other part of the world. They were compensated at a rate thirty-four times that
of the average factory worker. This compares with multiples of fifteen to twenty in
Europe.
If there has been a growth in low-wage work for those fortunate enough to work
in the larger globalizing companies of our rich countries, we are seeing a dizzying
variety of new practices in the workplace. As Foley notes in his book on strate-
gic learning: ‘As corporations and national economies compete for market share,
it is increasingly recognized that what makes the difference is the quality of an
organization’s human resources—its workers and managers’ (2001, p. 9). It follows
that there is a dramatic need to engage workers and managers in the goals, vision
and ambitions of the new enterprises if a given sector or company is to tap the
larger reservoir of worker-manager knowledge advance in the global market. The
attraction for the owners of twenty-first century businesses is the various approaches
from high-performing teams, learning organizations, spirituality in the workplace or
‘360◦ ’ training. Increased performance and productivity are the bottom line. If the
workforce can create more collective knowledge for company competitiveness, feel
more involved in the destiny of the company and generate massive profits for the
shareholders, so much the better.
4 Responses to Globalization
All present understood that the free market was another name for God, but then again,
when one got to thinking about it, the market, like God, didn’t always answer everybody’s
prayers. Lewis Lapham, The agony of Mammon, 1998 (p. 23).
Lewis Lapham is the editor of Harper’s magazine, a liberal publication in the United
States of America. Some years ago, he had an opportunity to take part as a journalist
in the Davos World Economic Forum, the club of 1,100 corporate and world leaders
who collectively drive the Global Market Utopia. His account of his experience has
been published in a book subtitled ‘The Imperial Global Economy Explains Itself
to the Membership in Davos, Switzerland’. What is particularly insightful about
this account of corridor conversations and as a witness to presentations by the most
powerful of our world are the huge layers of uncertainty. The overwhelming topic
of conversation (aside from remarks about the Monica Lewinsky affair which had
just been revealed) was about the search for security on the one hand and the search
for a moral grounding on the other.
On 6 November 2000, Business week, an influential business magazine in the
United States, published an article entitled ‘Global Capitalism: Can It Be Made to
Work Better?’ The writers noted that: ‘There is no point denying that multinationals
have contributed to labor, environmental and human rights abuses.’ They quote John
Ruggie, the then Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, as saying that:
‘The current system is unsustainable.’ And in one of the most chilling admissions I
have yet seen, they report that: ‘The downside of global capitalism is the disruption
of whole societies’
Eric Hobsbawn, one of the most respected western historians, in his seminal
history of the twentieth century notes that: ‘for the first time in two centuries, the
world of the 1990s entirely lacked any international system or structure’ (1994,
p. 559). He goes on to say that: ‘In short, the century ended in a global disorder
whose nature was unclear and without an obvious mechanism for either ending it
or keeping in under control’ (1994, p. 562). He closes his work with a plea to look
towards something new:
The forces generated by the techno-scientific economy are now great enough to destroy
the environment, that is to say, the material foundations of life. The structures of human
societies themselves including even some of the social foundations of the capitalist economy
are on the point of being destroyed by the erosion of what we have inherited from the past.
Our world risks both explosion and implosion. It must change (pp. 584-85).
Jorge Nef, a global security political scientist, in a study published by the Canadian-
based International Development Research Centre, cautions us that:
the seemingly secure societies of the North are increasingly vulnerable to events in the lesser
secure and hence underdeveloped regions of our globe, in a manner that conventional inter-
national relations theory and development have failed to account for
(1997, p. 13).
Nef continues adding that: ‘In the midst of the current crisis, the established flow of
information, ideas, science and worldviews is being shattered’ (p. 94).
104 B.L. Hall
Benjamin Barber, a political scientist based in the United States, has outlined his
views in a fascinating book called Jihad vs. McWorld.
Jihad forges communities of blood rooted in exclusion and hatred [. . .] McWorld forges
global markets rooted in consumption and profit, leaving to an untrustworthy, if not alto-
gether factitious invisible hand issues of public interest and common good that once might
have been nurtured by democratic citizenries and their watchful governments.
‘Unless we can offer,’ Barber continues, ‘an alternative to the struggle between Jihad
and McWorld, the epoch on whose threshold we stand is likely to be terminally
post-democratic’ (1995, p. 7)
What about geographers? The American author Herod notes in the introduction
to his book, An unruly world? Globalization, governance and geography, that: ‘One
might be tempted to proclaim at centuries end the emergence of an unruly epoch of
ungovernable, turbulent and disorderly global space’ (1998, p. 1)
Lester R. Brown, the respected director of the Worldwatch Institute, notes that:
‘In effect, we are behaving as though we have no children, as though there will not
be a next generation’ (1998, p. 19).
Daly and Cobb, in their powerful plea for an economics that reflects the environ-
mental and human realities of our planet, note that:
At a deep level of our being we find it hard to suppress the cry of anguish, the scream of
horror [. . .] the wild words required to express wild realities. We human beings are being
led to a dead end—all too literally. [. . .] The global system will change during the next
forty years, because it will be physically forced to change. But if humanity waits until it is
physically compelled to change, its options will be few indeed (1989, p. 13).
5 Responses from the Worlds of Adult Education and Training
Adult education and training are intimately linked to our daily lives, our work-
ing lives, our legislative and professional possibilities and, obviously, to the larger
political economic frameworks of our times. Adult educators and trainers have a
complex approach to the changing world that we are facing. Given the dominance
of the global market utopia, we might look at responses from the communities of
adult education and training as facilitating this utopia, at making the best of global
market implications or transforming relations of power. In fact, our adult education
and training policy frameworks quite often contain elements of all three educational
responses.
5.1 Facilitating a Market Utopia
The British Secretary of State notes in the foreword to the 1999 Green Paper on
Learning to succeed that:
The skill needs of the future will be different from those of today and it is clear that we will
not keep pace with the modern economies of our competitors, if we are unable to match
today’s skills with the challenge of the developing information and communication age of
tomorrow. As labour markets change, we must develop a new approach to skills and to
enabling people, and businesses, to succeed (United Kingdom. Secretary of State, 1999,
p. 2)
Indeed, there has been a dramatic growth in adult education participation in the past
ten to fifteen years. According to Belanger and Federighi, the percentage of the adult
population participating in some form of adult learning activities in 1994/1995 in the
industrialized nations ranged from 14% in Poland to 53% in Sweden, with Australia
and Canada at 39% and 38% respectively (2000, p. 6). The vast majority of this
provision is for labour-market learning in areas of new information technologies,
restructuring of larger enterprises and training related to lower-end employment op-
portunities. National adult education policies in Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, India,
Ireland, Slovenia, South Africa, the United States and Venezuela have emphasized
this important new requirement for global survival.
The provision of vocational education is, of course, also an area into which the
private sector has itself moved with the utmost vigour. Adult learning is not only
needed for the global market, but in many ways has become part of the global market
itself. Adult learning has been variously estimated to represent a huge potential
global market—if it could be fully privatized—of upward of US$90 billion. Prior
to 2001, in the province of Ontario in Canada, private universities had not been
legal. As a result of openness on the part of the government, however, some sixty
proposals in the Ministry of Education sought endorsement from private for-profit
universities waiting to move into the field.
5.2 Making the Best of the Market
Belanger and Federighi’s recent transnational study of adult learning policies, Un-
locking people’s creative forces, makes perhaps the most eloquent case for an adult
education framework that responds to both the economic as well as the individual
and collective demand for adult learning. Written in the spirit of the 1997 Hamburg
Declaration, of which Belanger himself was the architect, this book makes the case
for a broad vision of adult learning meeting a variety of needs:
In order to survive and improve their lives, adult men and women on every continent are
striving to develop the means to enhance their capacity to act and to understand the ways
of the world. Adult learning also has strategic importance for economic actors today. Risk
management strategies, economic policy, environmental and health policies all invariably
rely on continually raising people’s competencies and skills. Similarly, traditional and new
types of popular movements and national liberation projects call for strengthening and
spreading the capacity for initiative so that people can deal with the challenges facing them,
bring about change and take an active part in economic and social development (2000, p. 2).
One of the most creative approaches to taking up the global market challenge from
an adult learning and organizational change perspective that I have come across
is the recent work carried out by the Australian adult educator Griff Foley. Better
known for his work on teaching and learning processes and for his widely respected
106 B.L. Hall
writings on radical or social movement learning, Foley has in the past several years
entered fully into the world of the workplace, learning and change. In a book on what
he calls ‘strategic learning’, Foley outlines a vision for an approach to organizational
learning that he feels is both strategic and emancipator:
A ‘strategic learning’ approach rejects the attempt to recast adult education and learning
simply as an instrument for improving performance and productivity. It sees learning as
complex (formal and informal, constructive and destructive, contested and contextual). It
assumes that critical and emancipatory learning is possible and necessary. It asserts that a
first step to their realisation is an honest investigation of what people are actually learning
and teaching each other in different sites—workplaces, families, communities, the mass
media, social movements (2001, p. 20).
Foley also calls for a new foundation of workplace learning. He considers that an
appropriate analytic framework for workplace learning should include: (a) the na-
ture of and reasons for the long-running global economic crisis; (b) the character
and logic of the capitalist political economy; (c) the character and logic of work in
capitalism; (d) the experiential learning of people in changing workplaces; (d) the
unconscious dimension of workplace learning; and (e) gender relations in work-
places (p. 63).
5.3 Resisting and Transforming
It may be argued that more adults learned about the nature of global market
structures and the problems generated by them in the several days of the Seattle
demonstrations before the WTO meetings in 1999 than from any adult education
conference yet organized. There has been a dramatic increase in social movement
learning linked directly to the anti-globalization struggles. Young people, trade
unionists, activists from the majority world came together in Seattle, as they had
in lesser numbers in other cities before and as they have since then in Prague, Wash-
ington DC and Windsor, Ontario, Canada. A new global civil society is a reality.
The same computer networks, which support global flow of capital, are beginning
to support a more active flow of ideas for resisting and transforming the global
market frameworks. I would urge those interested to log on to the global web-sites
of the ICFTU (www.icftu.org) for a rich array of educational materials and ideas
for strategic thinking about all aspects of globalization and its transformation. You
will find language for policy documents and collective bargaining that goes beyond
the adaptation to global markets. Similarly, LabourStart, a project of the Labour
NewsWire Global Network (www.labourstart.org) is a sophisticated educational and
information service for trade-union educators and others interested in a labour per-
spective on the changing workplace.
The world of adult education networks itself has undergone substantial changes.
The International Council for Adult Education (ICAE), a global network of some
700 local and national NGOs interested in adult learning, organized a sixth World
Assembly of Adult Education in Jamaica in 2001, calling for global advocacy
towards adult learning for individual and collective transformation in the age of
globalization. One of the most effective regional groups affiliated with the ICAE
is the Asia and South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education (ASPBAE). Their web
site (www.aspbae.org) is another vital resource for a transformative vision of adult
education.
6 The Right to a New Utopia

The most powerful instruments for transforming the world that we have are our
own minds. UNESCO’s 1985 Declaration on the Right to Learn spoke, among other
things, of the right to imagine. We have the right to a new utopian vision, a vision
that responds to the collective needs of the majority of persons in the world, not
simply the few. We need to grasp the power of the utopic vision for ourselves. The
global market utopia is held in place by coercion and force, but it is most firmly
supported because we share at least a part of the dream that this global utopia speaks
to, but does not deliver. In part, we want to believe that by following the strictures
of the global market we will find our way to a more secure world.
Linda McQuaig, a Canadian journalist, in her recent book, The cult of impotence:
selling the myth of powerlessness in the global economy, notes that:
We have become convinced that we are collectively powerless in the face of international
financial markets. And with the widespread acceptance of this view the rich have proceeded
to create a world in which the rights of capital have been given precedence over and protec-
tion against interference from the electorate (1998, p. 283).
She argues that, in the case of Canada, we have been ‘sold’ a myth of powerlessness
because it serves the interests of the current ruling alliances—not because, in fact,
we do not have any power as citizens. I believe that her arguments hold true for
many parts of the world. We have both the ideas and the means of implementing
these ideas, if only our gaze could begin to be focused on new directions.
It is a time to claim back the power of the utopian vision. In claiming back
the power of a vision of the world that we want—as opposed to the world we do
not want—adult learning has an important role to play. In surveys conducted in
Canada, it has been found that adults already engage in, on average, eight hours
of autonomous informal learning on their own. The individual and social demand
for learning is a transformative force of the greatest power. The adult learning and
training world is further rich with already existing networks, websites, newsletters,
conferences and other structures of communications to support social demands for
adult learning. We have established approaches that research has proven to be effec-
tive in supporting adult learning in a variety of settings. It is time for the resources
and capabilities of the adult learning communities to support the search for new
utopian visions. New utopian visions are found in local community gardens, in
community shared agricultural schemes, in individual and family choices to live
more simple lives, in the large and still growing movement for ‘green economic
development’, for social economies of varying kinds and in the literally millions of
creative ideas that women and men are engaged in as ways to survive in a world
108 B.L. Hall
which they do not like, yet know not how to change. It is time for us to claim the
right to a new utopia in our workplaces. Adult education and training can support
the release of our creativity and imagination. We have the right, as Paulo Freire said,
to become agents in our own history.
For those of you who doubt the power of citizens working together, consider this
fascinating account in the Economist’s publication The world in 2001:
The anti-capitalists have been winning the battle of ideas [. . .] despite having no ideas
worthy of the name. In 2001, their influence on governments and in boardrooms is going to
increase.
Equally worrying is the influence that they are having with big western companies which
nowadays feel obligated to bow down before bogus nostrums of ‘corporate responsibility’.
And in another article in the same issue,

Activists have already seized the initiative on global trade. They succeeded in scuttling both
the OECD’s Multilateral Agreement on Investment in 1998 and the launch of the WTO’s
new global trade talks a year later [. . .] This means that at the very best trade liberalisation
is stalled (emphasis added).
In Which world: scenarios for the 21st century, Alan Hammond of the Worldwatch
Institute reports on a research project that extrapolates current global trends in three
different scenarios. This research suggests that, roughly speaking, the contempo-
rary context provides evidence for what he calls Market World, Fortress World and
Transformed World.
In Market World, we see the extension of the global free-trade agenda—what I
call the global market utopia. It is however a vision, which still contains nearly all
prevailing economic and political power and influence. Fortress World arises in the
scenario that sees market-led forces failing to redress social disparities, eventually
leading to stagnation and fragmentation. Resources are shifted rapidly to security
issues to contain growing violence and conflict. In Transformed World, also drawn
from existing trends and the beginnings of new global civil society movements,
we see a society with transformed values and cultural norms in which power is
more widely shared and in which new social coalitions work from the grassroots up
to shape what governments do. The market still exists, but it is balanced by other
needs. In reality, of course, the future, as the present, will contain aspects of all three
scenarios, but in what proportion, in what combination and for whom?
Ulrich Beck explains it this way: ‘There is no lack of ideas for changing society.
Today (just as in earlier revolutions) many contemporaries carry plans for changing
the world around with them in their breast pocket or their heart’ (2000).
Gandhi, according to Vandana Shiva (1998), elaborated the concept of swadeshi,
an economic self-reliance based on the conviction that: ‘people possess both mate-
rially and morally what they need to evolve and design their society and economy
and free themselves of oppressive structures.’
Indigenous knowledge, long suppressed, offers ideas for the future as well. From
the book by Sefa Dei, Hall and Goldin-Rosenberg:
We need to understand and move beyond the often genocidal effects of decades of colo-
nialism and maldevelopment practices [. . .] We need to call for locally defined models of
sustainability which will prevail the lived realities of local peoples with all their social,
cultural, political, spiritual, moral and ecological goals and aspirations (2000).
Samir Amin, the veteran majority world political economist, notes that: ‘a human-
istic response to the challenge of globalisation inaugurated by capitalist expansion
may be idealistic, but it is not utopian: on the contrary, it is the only realistic project
possible’ (1997, p. 10).
In closing, I am reminded of the late Julius Nyerere, the first President of the
United Republic of Tanzania, who had so much faith in adult learning. He set a
target for us in 1976 at the first World Assembly of Adult Education when he noted
that the primary goal of adult education was to convince people of the possibility of
change. All other goals can be achieved if we believe that change is possible.
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Chapter I.3
Decent Work for All:
From ILO Initiative to a Global Goal
Peter Poschen
1 Introduction
This chapter introduces the concept of decent work developed and applied by the
International Labour Organization (ILO) in recent years and increasingly adopted
by governments, by the United Nations system as a whole, by development orga-
nizations and other groups. It discusses the relevance of decent work as a goal and
a framework for policy formulation and presents examples of its contribution to
policy debates at national and international level. The presentation highlights the
inter-relations between technical and vocational education and training, develop-
ment priorities and decent work.
2 Decent Work: The Concept and Its Relevance
Work is a major part of the life of most people. It takes up much of their time and
energy, is one of the main forms of integration into society and an important factor
for creating self-esteem and identity. Work is also the main source of income and
livelihood for the vast majority of people. The nature of the work they do is thus a
fundamental determinant of their quality of life (Mehran et al., 2002; Sennet, 1998).
From the perspective of societies and economies, work is the driving force of
growth and development. Well-being, poverty reduction, social cohesion, the abil-
ity to adapt to the forces of globalization and to attain sustainable development all
depend to a large extent on work as a factor of production and distribution. For
individuals as well as for societies and countries, work thus plays a pivotal role for
sustenance and development. Social and economic outcomes for individuals, enter-
prises and economies are determined not only by the volume of work performed but
critically by its quality.
The central role of work and its quality was analysed by ILO Director-General
Juan Somavı́a in his first report to the International Labour Conference in 1999.
The report culminated in the introduction of a comprehensive concept of work and
the workplace which he called ‘decent work’. The report broadly defines decent

112 P. Poschen
work as: ‘opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work
in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity’ (ILO, 1999).
This definition captures the broad and varied dimensions of work in an expres-
sion that everyone can appreciate (Ghai, 2003). It encompasses four inter-related
dimensions as shown in Figure 1:
r Employment: the availability of an adequate number of productive, quality jobs
that include skills development as an essential ingredient.
r Social security: protection from work-related injury and from a lack of income
due to the loss of employment, to illness or old age.
r Rights in the workplace, in particular fundamental rights like freedom of choice
and equality of treatment.
r Social dialogue, i.e. the ability of workers to participate in making decisions that
affect them and to represent their interests collectively.
Decent work for all has since been adopted as the central goal for the ILO
and by governments, employers and workers’ organizations in the 180 member
countries of the organization. It has also become the organizing principle for the
ILO and much progress has been made with turning the notion of decent work
into a concept that can be applied to social and economic analysis and policy
formulation.
As one of the first steps, the components of decent work have been identified
in greater detail in order to be able to understand the inter-relations among them
and with other development concerns. Operationalizing the concept also required
making it amenable to measurement, so that goals can be set and advances towards
achieving them can be assessed.
Both purposes are served by a set of statistical indicators that has been suggested
by Mehran et al. (2002). Looking through the eyes of working people, ten general
characteristics of work have been identified which can be assessed by some thirty
specific indicators as shown in Table 1. They include skills training as Indicator 10
under the characteristic adequate earnings and productive work. The lack of data
on skill levels and development in many countries is an important limitation for
assessing the status and progress of this dimension.
Employment Social protection

+ income
Fig. 1 The four elements of Basic rights Social dialogue

decent work at work
I.3 Decent Work for All: From ILO Initiative to a Global Goal 113
The development and use of indicators of decent work is still incipient, but some
important insights have already been gained. These include the fact that it is possible
to capture most decent work dimensions in ways that are relevant for everyone.
Assessments can focus on actual outcomes and conditions for workers, such as the
Table 1 Summary of suggested decent work indicators

Indicators
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
1. Labour force participation rate
2. Employment/population ratio
3. Unemployment rate
4. Youth unemployment rate
Time-related underemployment rate
5. Share of wage employment in non-agricultural employment
UNACCEPTABLE WORK
6. Children in wage employment or self-employment (percent by age)
7. Children not in school by employment status (percent by age)
ADEQUATE EARNINGS AND PRODUCTIVE WORK
8. Inadequate pay rate (percent of employed below 1/2 of median hourly earnings or
absolute minimum, whichever is greater, by status in employment)
9. Average earnings in selected occupations
Excessive hours of work
Time-related underemployment rate
10. Employees with recent job training (percent with job training during last twelve
months provided or paid for by employer or State)
DECENT HOURS
11. Excessive hours of work (percent of employed, by status in employment)
12. Time-related underemployment rate (percent of employed persons working less
than hours threshold, but available and wanting to work additional hours)
STABILITY AND SECURITY OF WORK
13. Tenure less than one year (percent of employed persons who have held their main
job/work for less than one year, by age)
14. Temporary work (percent of employees who classify their jobs as temporary)
BALANCING WORK AND FAMILY LIFE
15. Employment rate for women with children under compulsory school age (ratio to
employment rate for all women aged 20-49)
FAIR TREATMENT IN EMPLOYMENT
16. Occupational segregation by sex (percent of non-agricultural employment in male-
or female-dominated occupations and index of dissimilarity)
17. Female share of employment in managerial and administrative occupations (ratio
to female share of non-agricultural employment)
Share of women in non-agricultural wage employment
Female/male wage or earnings ratio, selected occupations
Female/male ratios or differences for other indicators
114 P. Poschen
Table 1 (continued)
Indicators
SAFE WORK
18. Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 employees)
19. Labour inspection (inspectors per 100,000 employees and per 100,000 covered
employees).
20. Occupational injury insurance coverage (percent of employees covered by
insurance)
SOCIAL PROTECTION
21. Public social security expenditure (percent of GDP, separately for total, health
services and old-age pensions)
22. Public expenditure on needs-based cash income support (percent of GDP).
23. Beneficiaries of cash income support (percent of poor)
24. Share of population over 65 benefiting from a pension
25. Share of economically active population contributing to a pension fund
26. Average monthly pension (percent of median/minimum earnings)
Occupational injury insurance coverage
SOCIAL DIALOGUE AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS
27. Union density rate
28. Collective wage bargaining coverage rate
29. Strikes and lockouts (per 1,000 employees)
SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONTEXT
Output per employed person (PPP level)
Growth of output per employed person
Inflation (consumer prices where available)
Education of adult population (adult literacy rate, adult secondary school
graduation rate)
Composition of employment by economic sector (agriculture, industry, services)
30. Informal economy employment (percent of non-agricultural or urban employment)
Income inequality (ratio of top 10% to bottom 10%, income or consumption)
Poverty (percent of population subsisting on less than $1/day and less than $2/day)
Bold italics indicate cross-reference to indicator presented in another section.
actual application of regulations rather than the legal existence of provisions (for ex-
amples, see ILO, 2006). Skills development is one of the more difficult dimensions
in terms of outcomes. The proposed indicator measures training received, i.e. an
input, rather then the level, relevance or benefits of the skills acquired for the worker
and the enterprise.
The notion of decent work implies a particular concern for the poorest and most
vulnerable. It is therefore not so much the average value of an indicator that matters,
as its distribution, for example with respect to men and women. As will be seen in
the following, the more specific definition of decent work and relevant indicators
have been successfully applied to tackle a range of development problems.
3 Decent Work: An Aspiration, a Goal

and a Policy Framework
Decent work can be interpreted as an aspiration of people, as a goal that societies,
countries and the international community have set for themselves, and a framework
for shaping policies to achieve the objective of decent work for women and men
everywhere (Egger & Sengenberger, 2001).
As has been seen above, decent work takes on a specific meaning readily ap-
plicable to the work and life situation of individuals. It applies equally to women
and men, to young and older workers, to nationals and to migrants. Decent work
explicitly includes all working people and is not limited to employees who receive
wages or salaries. It is an aspiration that is equally valid, though often harder to
realize, for the self-employed, for farmers, for home-workers and entrepreneurs. By
the same token, it applies to rural and urban workers, to farms as well as workshops,
factories, offices and shops.
Over the last few years, the concept and the indicators have been used to assess
the situation of workers as individuals, of the workforce of enterprises and economic
sectors, in local communities, for entire countries and to shed light on international
phenomena like globalization.
While decent work is a new term, its content is rooted in international law and
agreements. Relevant international legal instruments include the Universal Declara-
tion of Human Rights (1948; in particular articles 22, 23 and 25), the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1996), the Declaration and
Commitments adopted at the World Social Summit in 1995, the ILO Constitution,
the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998) and the
body of International Labour Standards (ILO, 2001).
This rights perspective helps to understand that decent work is a universal aspira-
tion and goal whose precise definition will vary from country to country. It contains
both absolute values, thresholds, which are non-negotiable minimum standards for
decent work, and more ambitious objectives in keeping with the historical, economic
and cultural context of a country.
The minimum standards include in particular those enshrined in the ILO Dec-
laration. These include the freedom from forced labour and from child labour, the
realization of equality of opportunity and treatment at work, and the right to organize
and to bargain collectively over working conditions. Over and above this threshold,
decent work can be seen as a relative, evolving goal. Like the goal of sustainable
development, the notion of decent work is progressive and changes over time. As
a national goal, decent work can be defined in the light of national priorities and
circumstances and can be reached through different routes.
However defined, the goal of decent work is complex. Its four components of
rights, employment, social security and social dialogue are inter-related. As a social
goal, decent work both contributes to achieving other economic and social devel-
opment objectives and depends on them. This implies that decent work needs to be
integrated into the overall national development goals and policy agendas.
116 P. Poschen
Policies pursuing a set of national development goals can be mutually supportive

or at cross-purposes. This applies, for example, to economic policies, which condi-
tion the creation of employment opportunities. It is also relevant for national human
resource policies, which link health, basic education and employable skills to an
economic development strategy or to enterprise investments in skills to improve
competitiveness. The discussion of decent work and enterprise competitiveness in
Box 1 illustrates the point.
Box 1. Decent work, skills development and enterprise competitiveness

The continuous upgrading of technology, lower trade barriers, more integrated
markets and the growing importance of information and knowledge systems
have all led to a greater demand for skilled workers and renewed emphasis
on the skills and competence of the workforce. The motivation, skills and
organization of labour represent essential elements in competitive strategies
of enterprises. Wide recognition has been given to the training and upgrading
of workers’ skills to manage complex production or service systems, often
based on advanced computer and information technology, but it cannot work
as a stand-alone measure.
Enterprises will only invest in training if they can be reasonably sure to retain
the trainees. Workforce rotation and the drain of skilled workers are deter-
mined by job satisfaction, which includes objective factors, like wage levels
and benefits, but also subjective elements, like the fairness of treatment.
Training is only one dimension of enterprise competitiveness and is itself de-
pendent on an environment in which workers are motivated and enabled to
learn, innovate, and apply new technology at the workplace. This, in turn, is a
function of work organization, worker participation and working conditions.
Whether or not an enterprise will reap the benefits of skill development will
also depend on its organizational and managerial capacity to link technology
and skills to achieve the product quality, price competitiveness and to market
them successfully.
For a recent discussion of the role of human resources development for sus-
tainable enterprises see ILO (2006). Countries face similar challenges with
respect to skills development in tune with their comparative advantages, in-
dustrial development strategies and the risk of brain drain through migration.
Source: Adapted from Egger & Sengenberger, 2001.
Policy coherence is therefore critically important for the realization of decent

work for all. This applies to different levels of policy-making. Increasingly, deci-
sions that directly affect work places are made rather far away from their location.
If it is to make headway, the goal of decent work needs to be incorporated into
development priorities and pursued by coherent policies at international, national
and local level.
4 International Initiatives to Promote Decent Work for All
Globalization is not a new phenomenon, but has clearly accelerated over the last two
decades, increasing the role of supra-national institutions in shaping economic and
social development. Relevant institutions include the international financial institu-
tions, inter-governmental policy organizations, such as the World Trade Organiza-
tion, trans-national enterprises and investors, as well as civil society organizations.
The ILO has responded to the growing importance of the international level with a
number of initiatives.
4.1 The World Commission on the Social Dimension

of Globalization
In order to stimulate constructive dialogue and overcome the impasse in the debate
about globalization, the ILO Director-General established an independent World
Commission in 2002, jointly chaired by the Presidents of Finland, Ms Tarja Har-
lonen, and of Tanzania, Mr Benjamin Mkapa. The commission’s twenty-six mem-
bers were broadly representative of the diverse and contending actors in the debate,
including a Nobel laureate in economics, politicians, parliamentarians, social and
economic experts and representatives of business and multinational corporations,
organized labour, academia and civil society.
In spite of its diverse composition, the commission arrived at a consensus. Its
report (World Commission, 2004) acknowledges that globalization has immense
potential, but also observes that ‘there are deep-seated and persistent imbalances in
the current workings of the global economy, which are ethically unacceptable and
politically unsustainable. [. . .] Seen through the eyes of the vast majority of men
and women, globalization has not met their simple and legitimate aspirations for
decent jobs and a better future for their children’.
The commission took the view that the benefits of globalization can be extended
to more people and better shared between and within countries, with many more
voices having an influence on its course. It advocates ‘a process of globalization with
a strong social dimension based on universal values and respect for human rights and
individual dignity; one that is fair, inclusive, democratically governed and provides
opportunities and tangible benefits for all countries and people’. The commission
emphasizes that ‘people are most directly affected by globalization through their
work and employment. For the gains from globalization to be widely shared, coun-
tries, enterprises and people have to be able to convert global opportunities into jobs
and incomes’. Decent work for all is thus a pivotal objective for a fair globalization.
In its recommendations, the commission called for a ‘focus on people’, including
respect for their rights, cultural identity and autonomy; decent work; and the em-
powerment of the local communities they live in. It stressed the role of institutions,
including the State, productive and equitable markets, fair rules and accountability
to people of the public and private actors with power to influence the outcomes of
globalization.
118 P. Poschen
4.2 Skills for a Fair Globalization
The commission made an effort to do justice to this vast and complex subject and
rejected the suggestion that there are simple solutions. Education and training are
discussed as part of a complex problem calling for an integrated solution (see paras.
269-277, as well as 482-487 of World Commission, 2004).The commission identi-
fies education as one of the key elements to enable and empower people:
People can only contribute and benefit from globalization if they are in adequate health
and endowed with knowledge, skills and values and with the capabilities and rights needed
to pursue their basic livelihoods. They need employment and incomes and a healthy envi-
ronment. These are the essential conditions, which empower them to lead a self-determined
decent life and to participate fully as citizens in their local, national and global communities.
Education and skills are therefore at the centre of a fair and inclusive globalization
and broad access to opportunities is vital.
The commission notes that all countries that have benefited from globalization
have invested significantly in their education and training systems. It suggests that
education policies may have a stronger effect to offset the negative impacts of glob-
alization than labour-market policies. It advocates a plurality of investments and
incentives for training and the development of national qualification schemes. In
order to reduce the need for expensive infrastructure in tertiary education and in
vocational training, the commission recommends the extension of distance learning
in developing countries with support from the North.
One of the commission’s findings was that one reason why social goals, such as
employment, fail to be given priority at the global level is that international organiza-
tions with different mandates do not work sufficiently together. In order to overcome
this problem, the commission recommended ‘policy coherence initiatives’ by the
relevant organizations.
5 The Policy Coherence Initiative on Growth, Investment

and Employment
This initiative is the first to follow up on the recommendation. It brings together the
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the ILO, the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization
(UNIDO), the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN/DESA), the
World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Representatives of the In-
ternational Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and of employers’ organi-
zations also participated.
The goal of generating more decent jobs in the global economy is largely over-
looked in international policies. While there is general acknowledgement of the
importance of the issue in the mandates of international organizations, there has
been no concerted effort to address it. The Policy Coherence Initiative is an attempt
to improve upon the status quo by forging a consensus among relevant international
organizations about integrated policy packages for specific problems that would bal-
ance economic, social and environmental concerns.
The ‘benign neglect’ towards the employment objective has not been working
(ILO, 2004). Economic growth does not automatically translate into enough decent
jobs. High unemployment and under-employment remain serious problems in many
parts of the world. Rather than leading to discernible improvements in the global
employment situation, the last two decades of globalization have given rise to new
stresses in labour markets. Compared to the 1950s and 1960s, open unemployment
in the industrialized countries is significantly higher.
Data for developing countries are patchy and less reliable but, taken as a whole,
they do provide grounds for serious concern. Open unemployment rates are sur-
prisingly high in a number of these countries, contradicting the conventional wis-
dom that unemployment is not an option in developing countries without systems
of unemployment insurance. At the same time, there is evidence that precarious
and low-productivity employment in the informal sector has expanded as a share
of total employment. This reflects the slow growth of employment in the modern
sector. As a result, a high proportion of those who have jobs are working poor,
i.e. their income is insufficient to buy the basket of essential goods and services
that defines the poverty line. This poses a serious threat to the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals, but more importantly to social peace, stability and
democracy.
In the industrialized countries the link between employment and globalization
has mostly received attention because of anxieties over the transfer of jobs to the
developing world and the potential ‘race to the bottom’ in employment conditions
and labour standards in global production systems. While these issues have to be
dealt with in order to maintain support for globalization, they should not deflect
attention from the more important positive agenda of what can be done to enhance
the overall employment impact of globalization.
Constructive alternatives to a reversal of the process of globalization lie in find-
ing means to achieve a higher overall rate of employment creation, strengthening
the adjustment mechanisms for workers affected by dislocation, and adapting to
the new competitive pressures from developing countries. More generally, it is also
in the interest of the industrialized countries to support policies that contribute to
higher and more stable rates of growth in the global economy. This is likely to
boost growth and domestic employment creation in developing countries and hence
attenuate some of the pressures of a global competition for jobs.
Similarly, on the issue of the quality of jobs in global production systems, the so-
lution does not lie in impeding the growth of these systems, but in strengthening the
array of initiatives that are on the policy agenda for eliminating abuse and ensuring
steady improvements in productivity and the quality of jobs. This requires action
on several fronts. If the root problem is excessive market power enjoyed by trans-
national corporations and major buyers in these global production systems, then
issues of anti-competitive behaviour will have to be dealt with. At the same time, co-
operative solutions need to be found to mitigate any ‘race-to-the-bottom’ pressures
arising from the competition for foreign investment and jobs among developing
120 P. Poschen
countries. This needs also to be supplemented by action to strengthen compliance

with core labour standards and to promote collective bargaining within global pro-
duction systems.
6 Global Policy Challenges in Skills Development
Poverty reduction, a successful integration into global production systems or adap-

tation to changing global markets cannot be achieved by a single policy mea-
sure. They require coherent sets of policies to maintain effective demand, to stim-
ulate investment, to improve productivity and to distribute the benefits widely.
These policies include well-aligned exchange rates, safeguards against large and
sudden international capital flows and measures to smoothen the economic
cycle.
Policies also need to include measures to overcome barriers for those working
in the informal economy and for those affected by structural changes. In both sit-
uations, skills development is a vital element of a broader package of measures to
facilitate access to the formal economy, to adopt new technology and become more
productive or to reintegrate into expanding sectors of the economy. Box 2 sums up
the policy challenges for skills development in that context. More specific examples
of sets of measures, including appropriate technical and vocational education and
training, are discussed in the country case studies below.
Box 2. Decent work for all: global policy challenges in skills develop-
ment
r Investment in education and training. There is a critical need for a greater
overall investment in education and training, particularly in develop-
ing countries, for all people (including women and groups with special
needs, such as people with disabilities). Education and training investments
should be closely linked to economic and employment growth strategies
and programmes. Responsibility should be shared between the government
(primary responsibility), enterprises, the social partners and the individual.
r Basic education, literacy and core skills. Literacy and basic education can-
not be leapfrogged. Urgent reforms are needed to improve basic education
and the literacy of people in the poorest countries. The development of
‘core work skills’ (such as communication, problem-solving, etc.) is an
important part of the reform to prepare individuals for the knowledge and
skills-based society.
r Reforming vocational education and training systems. To make lifelong
learning for all a reality, countries will need to make major reforms
of their vocational and education and training systems. School-to-work
schemes for young people should integrate education with workplace
learning. Training systems need to become more flexible and responsive

to rapidly changing skill requirements. Reforms should also focus on how
learning can be facilitated, not just on training for specific occupational
categories.
r Recognizing an individual’s skills. Many people have acquired skills from
a wide range of non-traditional sources, but these go largely unrecognized.
It is critical that people should be able to have their skills recognized as
part of a national qualifications framework, irrespective of where the skills
were obtained.
r Promoting social dialogue on training. There is an urgent need to involve
the social partners more closely in discussions on training policy and skills
development, if the desired reforms and increased investment are to be-
come a reality. It is clear that governments can no longer be the sole voices
on education and training. The more successful training systems are un-
derpinned by a strong social dialogue process.
r Advocating labour market programmes for disadvantaged people. Promote
active labour-market programmes, including effective approaches to skills
acquisition and development, in formal and non-formal settings, for peo-
ple who are disadvantaged in the labour market—including people with
disabilities.
r Reforming employment services and promoting co-operative efforts
between public and private employment agencies. Public employment
services are usually the dominant government institution responsible for
providing a variety of active labour-market programmes, but their capac-
ity often needs strengthening. In addition, recent international trends in
the growth of private employment agencies and the outsourcing of pub-
lic services provide new ways for public and private agencies to work
together.
Source: ILO Global Employment Agenda, <www.ilo.org/public/english/
employment/skills/policy.htm>
The international forces of globalization notwithstanding, the national level re-

mains arguably the most important for shaping a response to the challenges and
opportunities of globalization and for realizing development goals, including that of
decent work for all.
7 National Initiatives to Promote Decent Work for All
As the World Commission pointed out: fair globalization starts at home. People
continue to live locally, within nation-States. While the forces of globalization are
the same everywhere, their impact is very situation-specific. Most of the decisions
that shape people’s work and life situations are still taken within countries.
122 P. Poschen
Strategies for national economic and social development therefore ought to differ
from one country to another. Stereotypical national responses to globalization are
not only less effective, but can have disastrous consequences. Witness the applica-
tion of the structural adjustment programmes and of uniform recipes for economic
growth in the 1990s (see, e.g. Stiglitz, 2002; Zagha, 2005). The ILO has therefore
worked with its member countries to put the concept of decent work into practice at
the national level.
One of these initiatives will be discussed here: the Decent Work Pilot
Programme.
7.1 The Decent Work Pilot Programme
The task of developing practical methods for promoting integrated approaches

to decent work policies at the national level was entrusted to a Decent Work
Pilot Programme (DWPP). The objective of DWPP was to test the relevance of
an integrated approach to meet national development goals and priorities, built
around all four components of the decent work agenda: rights, employment, so-
cial security and social dialogue. For a general discussion of the Programme
see ILO (2006) and Berar-Awad (2005); for more information please consult:
<mirror/public/english/bureau/dwpp/>
The DWPP operated from 2002 to 2005 and included eight countries: Bahrain,
Bangladesh, Denmark, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Panama and the Philippines.
These countries deliberately represented different regions, cultures and levels of
economic and social development
The programme was guided by a number of principles derived from the above
discussion of the concept of decent work:
(a) the entry points of the programme had to be defined at the country level in con-
sultation with the national partners and in line with the overall national policy
priorities in each country;
(b) the complexity of the world of work in the context of globalization required
multidisciplinary and integrated analysis and policy responses cutting across all
four strategic dimensions of decent work;
(c) actions to promote the four strategic objectives of decent work—i.e. rights at
work, employment, social protection and social dialogue—were more effective
and mutually reinforcing when cast into a single, coherent approach;
(d) practical solutions required integrated ILO support at the country level, mobi-
lizing resources and expertise, but also partnerships with other stakeholders.
The major thrust was therefore to define the specific decent work platform within the
framework of policy and reform agendas that were of prime concern to the country.
The decent work agenda proved to be a comprehensive and flexible policy plat-
form that can be defined nationally and can be applied in very different
socio-economic and political contexts. The focus and entry points of the programme
in each country are different and specific. Each represents a unique combination of
policy issues. Each programme also shows the value of a policy agenda that can
relate decent work to the national economic and social priorities at hand and engage
a broad range of stakeholders and build partnerships.
Looking across countries and the wide range of entry points that were retained,
three overarching themes emerge as the main policy preoccupations at the country
level. These are: (a) poverty reduction; (b) facing up to global competition; and
(c) democratization and realization of fundamental rights.
While these are not mutually exclusive goals, the hierarchy in priorities and focus
varies from one country to another, whether the overarching priority is a national
poverty reduction strategy, trade and financial liberalization policies, economic re-
structuring or the realization of human rights.
The outcomes achieved through this pilot effort have been very encouraging. In
all pilot countries, decent work has been adopted and used as the analytical and
operational framework by national partners. It has enabled partners and policy mak-
ers to appreciate the central role of decent work for realizing national development
priorities and for understanding the dynamic inter-linkages between economic and
social goals.
In all countries, integrated policies, action plans and strategies have been for-
mulated, adopted and/or implemented that link the four elements of decent work
and embed them in national policy frameworks. Kazakhstan, Morocco and Panama
have allocated substantial resources and are implementing policies and programmes
adopted with the help of the DWPP. Bahrain is implementing an integrated set of
labour-market reforms and the Philippines are field-testing an integrated approach
to local economic development. Bangladesh and Ghana have adopted policies and
integrated them into the poverty reduction strategies, the blue-prints for national
development in those countries.
8 National Decent Work Programmes
Skills development, technical and vocational education and training have been an
important element in a number of national programmes. The nature of the problem
and the context in which a solution had to be found varied significantly from one
case to the next, underlining the need for country-specific and integrated policy
responses.
In countries like Denmark, skills development is an integral part of an institu-
tionalized and well-resourced mechanism to keep a small and very open economy
competitive and to allow enterprises and the workforce to adjust to structural and
technological change. The close integration of social and economic policies has
been very successful, as documented by Egger and Sengenberger (2003) and sum-
marized in Box 3.
124 P. Poschen
Box 3. Decent work in Denmark: employment, social efficiency and

economic security
The Danish experience demonstrates how policies can achieve both economic
and social efficiency. The country is among the leaders in international rank-
ings for economic performance and competitiveness, but also for human de-
velopment, job quality and subjective job satisfaction.
Flexibility, equality, social security and broad social participation were ex-
plicit policy goals. The combination of goals and policies allowed the national
economy to remain open to world markets by strengthening the capacity to
adjust rapidly to the changing global situation and cushioning the negative
effects of external economic shocks.
Well-timed macro-economic policy and active labour-market policies have
been mutually supportive. Access to low-cost social services enables both
men and women to take up employment. A policy of wage restraint based on
the co-ordination of a decentralized wage bargaining system supplements the
gains in enterprise competitiveness from rising productivity. Strong employ-
ers’ and workers’ organizations and continuous dialogue with the government
at both national and local levels sustain this policy mix.
The Denmark study shows that objectives, which are often regarded as in-
compatible and subject to trade-offs, can be managed through an appropriate
policy mix. While there is little legal protection against dismissal and enter-
prises are rather free to adjust their workforce, there is a high level of income
security and an effective mechanism for reintegration into work.
Training plays a key role in this managed labour market mobility. Almost
one-fifth of the total workforce participates in a labour market training scheme
in any given year. The large income transfers and, in particular, the high level
of unemployment benefits do not act as a disincentive to gainful employment,
when combined with an extensive labour market policy that promotes obli-
gations as well as rights. Unemployment spells in Denmark are among the
shortest in Europe. Labour market flexibility need not be at the expense of
social security; rather the two can go hand in hand.
Source: Egger & Sengenberger, 2003.
The emphasis in Panama has been on matching skills development with demand
and labour-market opportunities in a country that suffers from falling competitiveness
and labour productivity, as well as from uneven access to education and training
(Brú & Del Cid, 2002; Egger, 2002).
The programme in Morocco was faced with a more specific challenge: restruc-
turing the textile and garment industry in the face of the expiry of the quota system
under international trade agreements. The sector is considered vital for the coun-
try’s development. A major export earner and highly labour intensive, the sector
represented 42% of total industrial employment in 2000 and 71% of the workers
were women. Entering the high end of the market with better quality, just-in-time
delivery and the social image of producers as a sales argument was seen as the most
promising strategy.
The action plan adopted and implemented by the social partners in the sector
and the government includes an investment in skills development. The effectiveness
of that measure does, however, depend critically on the ability to improve work
organization, working conditions, the resolution of conflicts in enterprises and on
extending improvements to the supply chain where conditions are often precarious.
A custom-made training programme was designed and widely applied in garment
enterprises to bring about the required changes in practices. At the national level, the
programme was instrumental in aligning the needs and responses of the sector with
those of the government’s industrial and human resources policies as well as linking
up with a large foreign aid project for vocational training. For more information see:
<mirror/public/english/bureau/dwpp/countries/morocco/index.htm>
The context for skills development in the Ghana Pilot Programme was totally dif-
ferent from the above. The focus of the programme has been on poverty reduction,
particularly in the micro- and small enterprises that make up the informal economy.
These enterprises are the bulk of all enterprises in Ghana and the single most im-
portant source of income for households. Many of those working in the informal
economy are poor. They face numerous problems to survive, yield a decent income
and grow. Shortages of vocational as well as entrepreneurial skills are among the
problems commonly encountered, but policy interventions have to address all bind-
ing constraints to bring about improvements. A single-minded focus on training
would not be effective. The programme has successfully tested a model of change
based on local economic development, which included various training components
as detailed in Box 4.
Box 4. Ghana: skills in the informal economy

Four out of ten Ghanaians are classified as poor according to the 1998/99
Ghana Living Standards Survey. That would be 8 of the 20 million people
in Ghana today. Poverty reduction has thus been declared the top national
development priority. Between 25 to 30 per cent of the people who depend on
the informal economy for their livelihood are poor, making them the second
largest group of poor after subsistence farmers. In addition to providing often
very low and unstable incomes, decent work deficits abound in the casual
works and micro- and small enterprises that make up the informal economy
in Ghana.
The Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) is the national framework for
policies, resource allocations and interventions to combat poverty. To con-
tribute to this process, the Decent Work Pilot Programme used a two-pronged
strategy: first, it enhanced the capacity of social partners to participate mean-
ingfully in the GPRS process and to place decent work on the policy agenda;
and, second, it has developed and tested an integrated approach to improving
126 P. Poschen
productivity, conditions and incomes in the informal economy at the local

level. This approach is to be incorporated into national policies to decentralize
initiatives for poverty reduction.
The revised GPRS II, renamed Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy, was
adopted by the government in September 2005 and endorsed by donors. It
identifies employment as a central objective and means of poverty reduction.
Priority sectors for investment and development have explicitly been selected
on the basis of their employment potential. Specific programmes concerning
the informal sector, local development, productivity and wages, as well as
skills development, in particular the Skills Training and Employment Place-
ment (STEP) programme of the government, are included in the text and the
policy matrix.
The local economic approach has proved to be a viable strategy for decentral-
ized, pro-poor growth, which is led by small enterprises assisted by national
and local government in a private/public partnership. It has led to improved
governance, improved efficiency of government spending, better revenue col-
lection, and small enterprise development benefiting poor groups, including a
large proportion of women.
It has also helped to identify ways skills development can be better targeted
and integrated. Orienting skills development to meet real needs and opportuni-
ties has been one of the main challenges. In the districts, training was provided
as part of a package supported by local and national government to upgrade
sectors with economic potential. It included both vocational skills linked to
quality requirements and improved technology and critical entrepreneurial
skills for the operators of small businesses. The training was made a precon-
dition for access to loans with which to finance the investments in improved
businesses.
The local economic development scheme is informing the government’s strat-
egy for the informal economy, which is currently being formulated by an
inter-ministerial group. It is to be replicated in other regions of the country
as part of a major youth employment programme and of the new employment
policy to be implemented as of 2006.
Source: Government of Ghana, 2005.
9 Conclusions and Outlook
As the preceding discussion has shown, decent work has proved to be a useful con-
cept for analysis and for policy formulation. Much of its strength resides in its ability
to reflect complex realities and to integrate relevant dimensions.
There has been growing momentum since its adoption in 1999 in many quarters
and parts of the world. A summit of African heads of State in Ouagadougou in
2004 embraced decent work as the best route out of poverty. The Summit of the
Americas in Mar del Plata in November 2005 adopted a detailed agenda to pro-
mote decent work on the Latin American continent. The European Commission has
issued a directive ‘Promoting decent work for all’ (Commission of the European
Communities, 2006). A crucial step towards making decent work a global goal has
been a Ministerial Declaration at the Economic and Social Council of the United
Nations in 2006 expressing ‘the urgent need to create an environment at the national
and international levels that is conducive to the attainment of full and productive
employment and of decent work for all as a foundation for sustainable development’
(United Nations, 2006)
Meanwhile, the ILO has been building on the experience of the Pilot Programme
and adopted Decent Work Country Programmes as its mode of co-operation with
individual member countries. Integration and policy coherence continue to be hall-
marks of these initiatives. They are particularly relevant for the effective use of
supply factors, like technical and vocational education and training.
Over a relatively short period of time, decent work has evolved from an ILO in-
ternal concept and initiative to a recognized key contribution to sustainable develop-
ment adopted and pursued by numerous institutions—nationally and internationally.
Vocational educational and training will be an essential input for realizing the goal
of decent work for all.
References
Berar-Awad, A. 2005. Decent work as a national goal: the experience of the Decent Work Pilot
Programme and other related initiatives. (Paper presented to the second South-East Asia and
the Pacific Sub-regional Tripartite Forum on Decent Work, Melbourne, Australia, 5-8 April
2005.)
Brú, E.; Del Cid, M., eds. 2002. Panamá: polı́ticas de empleo y trabajo decente para la década del
2000. San José, Costa Rica: ILO.
Commission of the European Communities. 2006. Promoting decent work for all. Brussels: Euro-
pean Union. (COM (2006) 249.)
Egger, P. 2002. Globalization and decent work: options for Panama. Geneva, Switzerland: ILO,
Policy Integration Department. (Working paper, no. 3.)
Egger, P.; Sengenberger, W. 2001. Decent work issues and policies. Geneva, Switzerland: ILO.
[Mimeo.]
Egger, P.; Sengenberger, W., eds. 2003. Decent work in Denmark: employment, social efficiency
and economic security. Geneva, Switzerland: ILO.
Ghai, D. 2003. Decent work: concepts and indicators. International labour review, vol. 142, no. 2,
pp. 113-145.
Government of Ghana. 2005. Growth and poverty reduction strategy II (2006-2009). Accra: Na-
tional Development Planning Commission.
International Labour Organization. 1999. Decent work. Geneva, Switzerland: ILO. (Report of the
Director-General, International Labour Conference, 87th session.)
International Labour Organization. 2001. Reducing the decent work deficit: a global challenge.
Geneva, Switzerland: ILO. (Report of the Director-General, International Labour Conference,
89th Session.)
International Labour Organization. 2004. Enhancing the employment impact of globalization.
Geneva, Switzerland: ILO. (Background paper for the second Technical Meeting on Policy
Coherence, 2-3 November 2004.) [Mimeo.]
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International Labour Organization. 2006. From pilot to decent work country programme: lessons
from the Decent Work Pilot Programme. Geneva, Switzerland: ILO, National Policy Group,
Policy Integration Department.
Mehran, F., et al. 2002. Measuring decent work with statistical indicators. Geneva, Switzerland:
ILO, Policy Integration Department. (Working paper, no. 2.)
Sennet, R. 1998. The corrosion of character: the personal consequences of work in the new capi-
talism. New York, NY/London: Norton.
Stiglitz, J. 2002. Globalization and its discontents. London/New York, NY: Penguin Books.
United Nations. 2006. Draft Ministerial Declaration of the High-Level Segment. Geneva, Switzer-
land: UN Economic and Social Council. (E/2006/L.8.)
World Commission. 2004. A fair globalization: creating opportunities for all. Geneva, Switzer-
land: ILO. (Report of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization.)
Zagha, R., ed. 2005. Economic growth in the 1990s: learning from a decade of reform. Washington,
DC: World Bank.
Chapter I.4
Redefining Gender Roles in the Workforce
Karen F. Zuga
1 Introduction
Watching television coverage of world events, we have become accustomed to im-

ages of women as police, in the military and on rescue teams. Women in non-
traditional roles have been slowly creeping into our subconscious. We are also
seeing more women in our communities working in professions that were dom-
inated by men. Gender roles are being redefined and this modifies our ideas of
women’s work. Public relations images of ‘Rosie the Riveter’, used during the
Second World War in the United States, purposefully recruited women into es-
sential war-time production jobs and just as quickly reconverted to images of do-
mestic women when the need had passed (Honey, 1985). But women did stay in
manufacturing jobs. Many females continued to work in industry. Today, every-
one is getting the message that work roles are changing. What are society and
those of us who are technical and vocational educators doing to facilitate this
change?
In this chapter I am going to discuss questions regarding redefining gender
roles in the workforce. These questions will include: What are women’s roles to-
day? Have women’s roles changed over time? What kinds of issues and concerns
face educators, trainers and society because of change or lack of change? How
does policy influence change? and What should vocational and technical educa-
tors be planning and doing as a result of the changing roles of women in the
workforce?
2 What are Women’s Roles in the Workforce?

Today, as in the past, women are still concentrated in service professions such as
teaching, health care and government service. In most countries, they do not stay in
school as long as men, suffer from occupational segregation, are more often found
in part-time jobs, have not achieved earning parity with men and hit a ‘glass ceiling’
(Blau, Ferber & Winkler, 2002). There is some change, however.
An overview of the condition of women and work reported by the United Nations
concludes:

130 K.F. Zuga
r Women now comprise an increasing share of the world’s labour force—at least
one-third in all regions, except northern Africa and western Asia.
r Self-employment, part-time and home-based work have expanded opportunities
for women’s participation in the labour force, but are characterized by lack of
security, lack of benefits and low income.
r The informal sector is a larger source of employment for women than for men.
r More women than before are in the labour force throughout their reproductive
years, though obstacles to combining family responsibilities with employment
persist.
r Women, especially younger women, experience more unemployment than men
and for a longer period of time than men.
r Women remain at the lower end of a segregated labour market and continue to
be concentrated in a few occupations, to hold positions of little or no authority
and to receive less pay than men.
r Available statistics are still far from providing a strong basis for assessing
both quantitative and qualitative changes in women’s employment (United Na-
tions, 2005d).
3 What Evidence of Change is Apparent?
Using data that was taken in 1970 and 1998, Blau et al. (2002) illustrate that, al-
though there is much variability from country to country, there has been an in-
crease in women’s participation in the workforce. Some of the variability is due
to the economic circumstances in each country at the time of data collection.
For example, there is a difference between developing and developed countries.
In some countries, there may have been significant growth in the participation
of women, but the starting point was so low that these rates still remain some
of the lowest in the world (World Bank, 2004). In other countries, such as Rus-
sia, the change in government and economic problems resulted in a decrease of
women in the work force (Blau et al., 2002). Regional differences also cause
cultural differences and attitudes with regard to women’s roles in society (World
Bank, 2004). However, the undeniable trend is that more women are working
than at any other time in history, and they are also entering non-traditional jobs
(Shackleton, 1995; Crompton, Gallie & Purcell, 1996; Blau et al., 2002). How-
ever, the change is slow and women still have a lower economic status than men
(Shackleton, 1995).
Data regarding the education of women show an increase in women completing
higher levels of education (Shackleton, 1995; United Nations, 2005c). The illiteracy
gap between men and women, even though acute in south central Asia, Sub-Saharan
Africa, the Middle East, and North Africa, is closing. Comparing data from 1960 to
2000, the more recent numbers reveal that in economically advanced countries and
those of the former Soviet bloc, educational attainment figures are close to parity,
while in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, women
I.4 Redefining Gender Roles in the Workforce 131
receive only 60 to 76 per cent as much schooling as men. However, these figures do
represent an improvement from 1960 (Blau et al., 2002; United Nations, 2005c).
Women benefit from education that goes beyond high school and involves college
and vocational and technical education. They have higher levels of employment and
higher wages as a result of increased levels of education. The growth in literacy rates
among women and the increasing investment in their education in many parts of the
world are encouraging for the future of women in the work force (Shackleton, 1995;
Blau et al., 2002). However, the cost of educating women often prohibits their access
to education when men are perceived to be the main wage earners in the culture
(Elder & Johnson, 2001).
Over the past twenty years there has been an increase in part-time work
(Gallie, 1996; Rubery, 1996; Bollé, 2001). The disturbing data regarding the in-
crease of part-time work for both men and women and the growth of women in
part-time employment is a change that echoes the late twentieth century concern
about the deskilling of work. It signals a change in the way business is conducted
and it could have far-reaching ramifications for all workers and their job security. In
all countries far more women are part-time workers than men.
Whether or not part-time employment is a benefit or a penalty has not yet been
determined, although part-time employment is on the rise. One outcome of this rise
could be an increase in the demand for vocational education and training as a more
insecure work force encounters a need for additional education.
Even though women have lower educational attainment, earn less, are in dif-
ferent occupations and hold fewer senior governmental positions than men, their
attainment and participation rates on all of these criteria have improved over the
past thirty years (Blau et al., 2002) as many countries focus policy on providing
educational opportunities and integrating women into the workforce.
4 What Education and Training Concerns are Relevant

to Women’s Roles?
Several problems identified above deserve further discussion as they relate more
closely to vocational education and training. The differentiated and lower levels of
education that women experience in some countries, the segregation of work that
occurs and the larger numbers of women in part-time jobs are all problems that are
related to vocational education and training.
4.1 Education
United Nations data provide the following conclusions regarding women and edu-
cation:
r The gender gap in primary and secondary schooling is closing, but women still
lag behind men in some African and Southern Asian countries.
132 K.F. Zuga
r Two-thirds of the world’s 876 million illiterates are women, and the number of
illiterates is not expected to decrease significantly in the next twenty years.
r Women have made significant gains in higher education enrolment in most re-
gions of the world; in some regions, women’s enrolment now equals or surpasses
that of men.
r More women than men lack the basic literacy and computer skills needed to enter
‘new media’ professions.
r In many countries, women represent a rapidly increasing share of Internet users
(United Nations, 2005c)
Developed nations have the greatest parity in educational attainment for women
and men. For example, United States’ data from 1999 show that at all levels of
completion, from less than four years of high school to four or more years of col-
lege, completion rates of men and women are within 2.5 percentage points (Blau
et al., 2002).
Basic education and the resulting literacy form a foundation for vocational and
technical education and training. Education and training help to open doors to
women in the work force, first, to work and, second, to work in non-traditional jobs.
The very first problem encountered with regard to the redefinition of gender roles in
the work force is a basic education or lack thereof. However, it is access to higher
education that helps women to advance beyond non-skilled work. A problem with
higher education for women is that it may be differentiated from higher education
for men (Shackleton, 1995), and if it takes the form of on-the-job training, women
are less likely to receive it (Shackleton, 1995; Gallie, 1996). Lack of training is one
contributing factor to the limited number of jobs available to women.
4.2 Occupational Segregation
Occupational segregation is consistent throughout the world; it exists everywhere

(OECD, 1998; Anker, 2001; Barbezat, 2003; Blau et al., 2002; Estlund, 2003;
United Nations, 2005b, 2005d). Essentially, women are segregated into jobs related
to health care (such as nursing), clerical work and social services (such as educa-
tion). Blau et al. state that:
women are more likely than men to be concentrated in clerical and service jobs, whereas
men are more likely than women to work in higher-paying jobs, such as skilled craft occupa-
tions. Similarly, although the representation of women in the professional category actually
exceeds men’s, men are more likely to work in lucrative professions such as law, medicine
and engineering, whereas women are more often employed in lower-paying ones, such as
elementary and secondary school teaching and nursing (p. 211).
Explanations of why occupational segregation persists are many and are often re-
lated to economic theories. Human capital theories relate occupational segregation
to choice and the labour market segmentation view relates it to institutionalized
discrimination (Shackleton, 1995). No matter what theory is used to explain the
phenomenon, what is important is the effect that occupational segregation has on
the economy, society and training. Anker (2001) states that occupational segrega-
tion ‘is wasteful of human resources, increases market inflexibility, and reduces an
economy’s ability to adjust to change’ (p. 129). Furthermore, he states that gender
stereotypes have negative effects on education and training and that this perpetuates
inequality.
With regard to education, women do not receive the opportunities that men do for
training, especially when it is company sponsored (Leach, 2000; Gallie, 1996), but
also when it is part of public vocational and technical education (National Women’s
Law Center, 2002; National Centre for Vocational Education Research, 2001;
Phan, 2001). Regarding the similarities and differences between men and women
with regard to skill, Gallie (1996) states that job qualifications and experience levels
were similar, but that: ‘The exception was training; men were more likely to receive
training’ (p. 155). Moreover, the National Women’s Law Center has issued a report
(2002) requesting the appropriate federal offices to investigate sex segregation in
vocational and technical education. As a result of their study, they found that:
Thirty years after enactment of Title IX, the patterns of enrollment in vocational and techni-
cal programs look shockingly similar to the patterns that existed prior to passage of the law.
Biased counseling, the provision of incomplete information to students on the consequences
of their career training choices, sexual harassment of girls who enroll in non-traditional
classes and other forms of discrimination conspire today to create a vocational system char-
acterized by pervasive sex segregation. Young women remain clustered in ‘traditionally
female’ programs that prepare them for low-wage careers and do not provide them with the
training or technical skills necessary to enter high-wage jobs. Young men, on the other hand,
fill a vast majority of slots in programs leading to higher-wage careers that can provide true
economic self-sufficiency (p. 3).
Associated with the occupational segregation of women is the lower income that
is endemic in jobs and professions dominated by women. In fact, the infusion of
women in fields such as public relations has had the effect of lowering the income
of the members of that profession! One way of dealing with the income dispar-
ity is to try to improve the status, hence the wages, of traditional women’s work
(OECD, 1998).
4.3 Part-Time Work

In most countries, women take up a larger share of the part-time labour market than
men (Elder & Johnson, 2001; United Nations, 2005a). In many cases, part-time
work has been encouraged by governments (Bollé, 2001). Part-time work can be a
benefit, but it can also be a trap when people are forced into it against their wishes.
While seen as a way to help young people enter the work force and allowing those
with families to work, the very groups that part-time work is intended to help—the
young and women—are over-represented in the part-time work force (Bollé, 2001;
Wajcman, 1996). Part-time work can have a negative effect on job advancement
and opportunities for job training, and can be viewed as under-employment. If the
choice is between no employment and part-time employment, then, it is a benefit.
134 K.F. Zuga
However, if the choice is between unemployment or under-employment, there is no

benefit.
Part-time work also contributes to disparities in income and benefits, further
widening the gap between the economic status of women and men. An Australian
study of vocational and technical education graduates found that women were more
likely than men to accept part-time work.
Although women participate in VET on an equitable basis with men, they still have not
achieved fully equitable employment outcomes on completion of their vocational training.
According to the 2000 students outcomes survey [. . .] After completing their vocational
training, women were much more likely than men to have part-time work (32.1% compared
to 13.3%) (National Centre for Vocational Education Research, 2001, p. 10).
There has been a growth in part-time workers in general and that growth can have
consequences for education and training. Again, this is a double-edged sword. On
one side, employers may not be willing to support training for part-time workers.
Part-time workers often lack security, job benefits and basic worker’s rights (Elder &
Johnson, 2001) which can block the opportunity to train. On the other side, part-time
workers may need to re-train more often. However, their training is more likely to
be at their own expense.
5 How are These Concerns being Addressed by Policy?
Policies are the result of economic and cultural constraints and they guide the work-
force and the path to the workforce—education. In many countries, religion plays a
major role in cultural constraints by forming the basis of a nation’s legal system and
creating defined roles for women. Education, in turn, carries out cultural mandates
and government policies by controlling workers’ destinies via educational opportu-
nity and reproducing cultural norms and values (Carter, 2004).
Policy regarding vocational education and training, from culture as a result of
values and norms, government as a result of legislation, precedent as a result of legal
action, business as a result of need, and education as a result of planning, all feed
into how we can address the changing role of women in vocational and technical
education. Not all policies work as expected and some agencies are more influential
than others. However, policy is seen as the main means for achieving a ‘convergence
between men and women’s human capital’ (Shackleton, 1995, p. 229).
5.1 Cultural Values and Norms
Culture plays the largest role in keeping women in their place. Cultural norms cre-
ate roles for women in society and they vary from region to region. They can be
liberating or inhibiting with regard to women. What is fascinating, though, is that
throughout history, even though cultural norms have limited the roles that women
could take on, women have challenged the limits to those cultural norms by going
to school and entering non-traditional jobs. As active members of society, they have
brought about change in cultural values.
When women push for change, there is often resistance. Frequently, women are
controlled through a culture of violence, making women dependent upon a male
protector and restricting their behaviour and access to all of the options provided to
men (Miller, 2001; Akhaluola, 1999). If women believe that they will be abused by
men when venturing into non-traditional places and activities, then they will stay
away from them.
The underlying idea of a dominant male plays out in occupational segregation
in the workplace (Miller, 2001) and in vocational education and technical training
(Lakes, 2004). Lakes offers us a view of how young males in traditional vocational
and technical education, threatened in the global economy by the lack of work like
their fathers had, engage in an array of exaggerated masculine behaviour. As young
white men become more threatened by their inability to obtain good pay, they be-
come more committed to the ideal of a traditional job, wife and family, blaming
minorities and women for their inability to achieve their expectations. When they
act upon their beliefs in classrooms and in the workforce, women and minorities
often suffer in these ‘hostile’ climates (Miller, 2001).
5.2 Government Policies and Legal Action
Government policies and educational opportunities have not always been effective
in countering occupational segregation. Estlund (2003), while discussing the role of
law and women’s roles in the workforce, makes a case for the ameliorating effect
of working together, daily, on the job by citing several studies and anecdotes of
‘co-operative interdependence’ (p. 90). A major part of her thesis is that:
The law has a well-established role in securing equal opportunity in the workplace [. . .]
Antidiscrimination law should be interpreted, applied, and if necessary reformed so as to
affirmatively promote workplace integration. [. . .] Workplace integration advances the com-
pelling societal goals of mending and narrowing social (and especially racial) divisions and
of promoting genuine equality on the basis of race, ethnicity, and gender (p. 145).
This is a critical point with regard to women transforming the workplace and voca-
tional and technical education. Women need to be in the workplace and in educa-
tional programmes in order to fuel the process of change. It is their presence that
encourages men to respect their abilities and contributions to the job at hand, as well
as the potential to do a non-traditional job.
One of the most common types of government-created laws regarding voca-
tional and technical training is the support of educational programmes via legis-
lation and government funds (Miller & Vetter, 1996). In the United States, the
initial federal vocational education act, the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, provided
the first government funding for vocational and technical education in that coun-
try. As general support for vocational education, this act and those that followed,
created the gendered system of vocational education that now exists in the United
136 K.F. Zuga
States. Continuing government policies which support general education are not
effective in increasing women’s enrolment in vocational and technical education
(Miller, 2001). ‘Gender-neutral subsidies to training may indeed lead to greater
increases in men’s access to training than to that of women’ (Shackleton, 1995,
p. 227).
As suggested by Estlund (2003), laws that prohibit discrimination are needed.
They help to create environments where women and men work together and, in
time, begin to change the culture. Internationally, these laws and policies are em-
bodied in key human rights documents, such as the 1979 International Treaty on
the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, often
initiated by the United Nations (Carter, 2004) and provide for the right to work and
education. These treaties often influence policy-making as many countries legislate
equal rights for women regarding education and work (Dyanko, 1996; Mboya, 1998;
Amao-Kehinde, 1999; Egbo, 2000; Lakes & Carter, 2004).
There is another legal approach to advancing the role of women in the work-
force that has to do with the upgrading and enhancement of traditional women’s
work by creating career paths, updating job classifications, reorganizing work and
promoting pay equity (OECD, 1998). Legislation to provide equal pay for substan-
tially equal work has been passed by legislators in several Western nations (Blau
et al., 2002). As in all legislated change, enforcement of the policy depends upon
the actions of citizens who can oblige compliance through the courts. That is the
point of Estlund (2003), who believes that legislation and court action combined
place women in non-traditional roles in the workforce so that change can begin to
take place.
Government agencies are another avenue for policies that foster change in the
roles of women in the workforce. For example, in the United States, National Sci-
ence Foundation Policies have helped to provide funding for projects that involve
under-represented groups. Boudria (2002) describes a National Science Foundation
funded programme that has encouraged female enrolment in non-traditional sub-
jects, such as engineering and computer technology. Small changes such as this
one, promoted by foundation policies, can help to spread change.
5.3 Business and the Economic Policy Evolution
As business leaders begin to appreciate growth in women’s economic capacity and

power as both workers and consumers, they have begun to shape policies that influ-
ence the role of women in non-traditional jobs.
From the early days of the Industrial Revolution, manufacturers realized the po-
tential of women and children as cheap labour. In Lowell, Massachusetts, in the
early 1800s young, single women were recruited for manufacturing work in the
textile mills. This tradition is carried on today by the maquiladoras on the Mexican
border of the United States, in clothing factories operating in Asia, and in the tele-
phone computer help centres in India. Over the years the concept has been the same.
Young women, desperate for employment, will work in jobs with repetitive tasks for
smaller wages than men and in ‘sweatshop’ conditions. Today, there is a new twist
to save the corporation money: part-time work, which in many cases eliminates the
need for employers to provide benefits.
Yet, it is this kind of work that women see as a means of getting into the work
force, getting ahead and becoming financially independent. Furthermore, it is their
financial independence and the growth of wealth in the hands of women that have
helped to raise the consciousness of corporate managers about the value of women in
leadership and management positions, to the extent that the advancement of women
in management is seen by the corporation as a ‘bottom-line’ with regard to corporate
success (Burke & Nelson, 2002, p. 4). The goal on the part of business and industry
executives is to ensure that women graduates and consumers will notice opportuni-
ties in management. Essentially, then, the use of women as workers leads to their
ability to become stronger consumers and, as consumers, they begin to influence
the policies of the corporation. In addition, they help to develop the economy of
the country by contributing to its growth. In the end, more women in the workforce
helps to improve a nation’s economy (Anker, 2001).
While there is a reason for business and industry leaders to invest in women’s
vocational and technical education, changes over the years in World Bank policies
have shifted from favouring public responsibility for vocational and technical ed-
ucation to specialized, private institutions and employer training (Leach, 2000). In
view of other data clearly indicating that women are not provided with equal access
to employer sponsored training, this policy change is disturbing. It could lead to
a problem for women to advance into all kinds of jobs, even when this is in the
best interest of business, industry and the economy. The reversal of the World Bank
policy is another indication of the confusion with regard to how best to redefine
gender roles in the workforce and the value of doing so.
5.4 Educational Policy

Educational policies for all citizens can form the foundation for improvement in the
number of women who access vocational and technical education. In most Western
countries there is a closer parity amongst women and men with regard to a basic
education, with women leaving basic education with an overall better achievement
than men (Shackleton, 1995). This foundation is an important first step in transform-
ing vocational education with the goal of enrolling more women. While improving
basic education for girls and women, several African researchers have indicated
that the priority in creating opportunities for women in vocational and technical
education is to provide for the basic education of girls and women (Mboya, 1998;
Amao-Kehinde, 1999; Egbo, 2000). In fulfilling this goal, they recommend a con-
certed effort to improve the quality of education for girls and women and this effort
would require an affirmative action programme to increase funding for separate but
equal girls and women’s schools and boarding facilities (Egbo, 2000).
Other suggestions from a group of African educators for reformed educational
policies include: (a) defraying the cost of education for girls and women, since
138 K.F. Zuga
the high cost will not be taken on by their families (Mboya, 1998); (b) providing
funding for women in literacy programmes in order to encourage their attendance
(Egbo, 2000); (c) providing business start-up funding for women to encourage them
to take advantage of educational opportunities (Amao-Kehinde, 1999); (d) reducing
the instances of early specialization since girls are subject to peer pressure at the
time when irrevocable choices are made (Mboya, 1998); and (e) conducting educa-
tional programmes for the public in order to help the public accept non-traditional
roles for girls and women (Amao-Kehinde, 1999). Clearly, there is a need to create
innovative educational policies that can improve the role of women in vocational
and technical education.
6 What Should Vocational and Technical Educators

do to Foster Change?
As noted in an Australian study, there is a tendency for the literature of vocational
and technical education to focus on women as the ‘other’, providing a perspective
of disadvantage rather than advantage (Butler & Ferrier, 1999). Education and em-
ployment data do indicate a disadvantage for women in the workforce, but there
have been policy changes in some countries that assumed that there was no dis-
advantage. In recent years, some governments have backed away from providing
policies and financial support for helping women to gain entry into non-traditional
jobs in the workforce (Culver & Burge, 2004; Lakes & Carter, 2004). In some cases,
people may have thought that the job was already done or, in other cases, they may
have objected on cultural grounds. However, these policy changes have not stopped
the slow, but consistent entry of women into non-traditional work. Vocational and
technical educators need to face the present reality of women in all types of work
and the need for women, especially those in poverty, to be able to enter any job
in order to provide a means of supporting themselves and their families. Getting
middle-class women into non-traditional and higher paying jobs is good, but getting
impoverished women into non-traditional and higher paying jobs is an essential
move towards social justice.
As a part of the wider society, vocational and technical educators need to address
the societal problems that inhibit the full participation of women in the workforce
(Kerka, 1999). There are a number of things that vocational and technical educators
can do to promote women in the workforce and speed the transition to full integra-
tion. These things all relate directly to their roles as teachers and are discussed, in
order of importance, below.
6.1 Teacher In-Service Education to Address Cultural Values
Many vocational and technical educators have pointed out that the vocational
and technical classroom is still a hostile place for girls and women (Culver &
Burge, 2004; Lakes, 2004; Pae & Lakes, 2004; Reid, 2004; Zuga, 1999) and that the
teacher has a large responsibility for helping to improve that climate (Reid, 2004;
Zuga, 1999).
Most important to the goal of transforming vocational and technical education is
providing in-service education to teachers so that they can address their own and the
peer-to-peer bias that exists in the classroom. Reid (2004) provides a list of cultural
competencies that adapt well for vocational and technical educators. They should:
r Ensure that they are aware of their own biases and limitations and are knowl-
edgeable about how these affect the guidance process.
r Recognize the range of social variables that lead to cultural differences and know
about the effects of oppression, racism, discrimination and stereotyping on them-
selves and others.
r Understand differences in communication styles and their impact.
r Be open about the guidance process and actively seek the client’s understanding
about the purpose of the interaction and their view about working together.
r Actively engage in training and educational opportunities to enrich their under-
standing and effectiveness for working with culturally different groups.
r Be aware of the impact of negative reactions and treatment experienced by cultur-
ally different groups and seek to understand this, and not devalue the experience.
r Understand how and why traditional and established approaches may be inap-
propriate and seek out research and other material that will enrich their under-
standing.
r Engage in outreach work with clients outside the normal work setting to broaden
their understanding.
r Respect clients’ beliefs, values and views about what guidance can offer and
what their community can offer, and be aware of any conflicting values they may
have.
r Value the language of the client and do not judge a language or manner of speech
as an impediment to the guidance process, and will refer to others when their
(practitioner’s) linguistic skills are inadequate.
r Recognize that institutionalized methods of assessment may be unhelpful and
create barriers.
r Be aware of discriminatory practices at the individual, social and organizational
levels.
r Make genuine attempts to advocate with, or lobby on behalf of, clients who over-
come relevant discrimination.
r Extend their communication skills so that they are not limited by a singular cul-
tural approach.
r Be open to alternative ways of helping, including using the resources of the
client’s community (Reid, 2004, pp. 178–79).
Implementing these competencies would be the first step in transforming vocational
and technical education to meet the needs of the increasing number of women and
minorities who want to become a part of the workforce. No other changes or efforts
can be successful if girls and women cannot feel comfortable in their classrooms
and laboratories while studying for a new career.
140 K.F. Zuga
6.2 Affirmative Action in Vocational and Technical Education
Once the teaching cadre is ready to address the needs of all students, there needs to
be affirmative action taken to provide women with gender-sensitive vocational and
technical education (Fenwick, 2004; Malik & Aguado, 2004; Amao-Kehinde, 1999;
Zuga, 1999). In some countries, that will mean separate and equal facilities
(Lasonen, 2004; Egbo, 2000; Amao-Kehinde, 1999), while in all countries it might
mean using a wide range of teaching strategies to address the needs of all stu-
dents (Malik & Aguado, 2004; Zuga, 1999). Malik and Aguado have provided a
comprehensive list of teaching strategies for career education and guidance that are
appropriate for all teachers.
r Experiment with varied grouping arrangements in order to encourage social co-
operation (e.g. ‘study buddies’).
r Provide multiple approaches to teaching to accommodate diverse learning styles
(verbal, visual and auditory materials, projects, collaborative work).
r Teach classroom procedures and norms directly, even things that are usually
taken for granted (e.g. how to get the teacher’s attention).
r Recognize the meaning of different behaviours for the students (e.g. how do they
feel when they are corrected).
r Stress meaning in teaching (ensure meaningful learning, e.g. making sure stu-
dents understand what they read, relating abstract concepts to everyday experi-
ences).
r Know the customs, beliefs, and values of students (e.g. analysing different tra-
ditions for common themes; discussing different ways in which knowledge is
constructed).
r Help students identify stereotypes and racist or sexist messages (analysing
curriculum materials, news from the media, etc.) (Malik & Aguado, 2004,
p. 66).
Implementing these teaching strategies will help all of the students in the class, no
matter what gender, ethnicity or level of educational proficiency.
Other affirmative action includes changing some of the structures and processes
of vocational and technical education. This would include actively recruiting and
making places for more girls and women in vocational and technical education,
providing adequate facilities such as appropriate toilets for women (Lasonen, 2004),
providing more web-based courses in areas where women have not had access to
non-traditional programmes (Aichouni & Othman, 2004) and providing financially
sponsored training for women who need assistance to return to school (Fenwick, 2004;
Mboya, 1998).
One can use very different circumstances and reasoning to encourage affirmative
action worldwide. In the United States, Conroy (1998) found that schoolgirls had
unrealistic expectations of their educational attainment leading large numbers of
them to opt for a four-year college degree that would result in graduates who could
not be absorbed by the labour market. She suggested that earlier exposure to career
education about opportunity for vocational and technical education could help to
avoid future under-employment of these young women. In Africa, Mboya (1998)

asserts that women need to have financial assistance as a necessary condition to
enable them to attend vocational and technical schools. Either families cannot afford
to send girls on to further schooling or women who have family responsibilities
cannot afford to go to school without assistance. For very different reasons, active
recruitment of girls and women and affirmative action with regard to vocational and
technical education is needed worldwide.
In addressing vocational and technical education for the informal economy where
there are more women employed than men, Singh (2000) stresses the need to view
this ‘as decentralized activity, in which local businesses and associations and com-
munity initiatives are a leading force in skills development’ (p. 617). He further adds
that this work needs to be done as close to the future employers as possible.
Evans (1996) suggests that there are several types of programmes that are
needed in order to increase women’s participation in vocational and technical ed-
ucation. They include bridging programmes that update women for re-entry into
the workforce, conversion programmes that help women to change direction, and
community-based, role-related programmes that are geared to local environments
and more traditional roles of women. The strength of this approach is that the pro-
grammes are tailored to the needs of groups of women in different contexts.
6.3 Critical Vocational and Technical Education

Vocational and technical education needs to adopt a more critical stance. Trapped in
an ideology that eliminates reflection in the effort to teach job skills, vocational
and technical educators need to question their practices and values more often
(Fenwick, 2004; Malloch, 2004; Irving, 2004). Irving provides a model of career
education that puts social justice into practice, but also models a critical stance
towards teaching. He provides three key dimensions:
r opportunity awareness (that looks beyond progression in education and employ-

ment through the inclusion of alternative pathways);
r self and social awareness (concerned with the development of a sense of individ-
ual, collective and cultural being);
r critical understanding (that examines and interrogates the various political, eco-
nomic and social discourses that influence the construction and distribution of
work, and impacts on how we might shape our lives) (Irving, 2004, p. 19).
If vocational and technical teachers were to implement these three dimensions in

their daily practice, then they would begin to develop and practice a more ques-
tioning and critical form of vocational and technical education. In this way, voca-
tional and technical education, social justice for all students—women and men of
all ethnicity—could evolve over time.
142 K.F. Zuga
6.4 Public Education for Gender Equity
Once the vocational and technical education community begins to improve its per-
formance in teaching women and diverse cultural groups in their classes, then it
will be ready to reach out into the larger community to provide advice and guid-
ance for the general public and managers and workers in business and industry.
A critical step in the transformation of the workforce will be to provide manage-
ment education for gender equity to business and industry managers (Dyanko, 1996;
Fenwick, 2004).
The evolving workforce is not just a vocational and technical education problem,
but a much larger one for those who participate in the workforce. Change can be
facilitated by vocational and technical educators if they have demonstrated their
ability to transform their own practice with regard to inclusion of diversity and social
justice. Training managers for equity would be a fitting final effort for vocational and
technical educators as they help to ease the inevitable transition of the workforce.
Helping parents and community members to learn about opportunities for women
to work in non-traditional jobs should help to continue the process of evolution with
regard to gender roles in the workforce.
7 Conclusion
While women in the workforce are still underpaid, segregated into ‘women’s work’
and often doing part-time jobs, there are more women in the workforce than ever
before. More women are receiving a basic education that, in turn, is fundamental to
advancement in the workforce. Their presence will create change and will lead to
women’s roles being redefined. Examples of that change are already visible through
the media and through the policy changes instituted by a number of countries.
Vocational and technical educators will need to meet the needs of more women as
they move on from basic education to vocational and technical education. In order to
meet the needs of women, traditional practices will need to be re-examined. Gender-
fairness and social justice in vocational and technical education will need to become
a part of daily practice. By preparing for and adapting to the growing numbers of
women in the workforce, vocational and technical educators will create better forms
of vocational and technical education that address the needs of all people.
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Chapter I.5
Anticipation of Skill Requirements:
European Activities and Approaches1
Manfred Tessaring
1 Introduction
In contrast to the rather rigid manpower supply and demand projections in the 1960s
and 1970s, the objectives and approaches of forecasting, in particular in the fields of
education, training and skills, have changed considerably. This is due to the fact
that industrialized societies nowadays are characterized by increasing openness,
flexibility, complexity and, therefore, also uncertainty. The ‘mega trends’ impacting
on education and training, e.g. globalization and internationalization of economies,
job markets and even of education and training systems, demographic transition
and the transformation towards an information and knowledge based society in the
context of lifelong learning, can be taken as familiar ground which need hardly be
discussed in detail in the context of this chapter. However, these trends affect the
education and training systems of European countries to a different extent: these
systems vary considerably across countries and so does the educational attainment
of populations.2
Against this background, the search for skills and qualifications that are ‘fit for
the future’ and how they can be designed and implemented in curricula and educa-
tional/training routes are increasingly gaining in importance. Appropriate measures
call for substantiated findings on skill requirements in a longer-term perspective,
as well as information on new qualifications, competences and requirements that
have not yet been defined by statistics and classifications. Early identification and
anticipation of future skill needs is of the utmost importance for educational and
training policies. This also becomes evident when considering the time lag between
the occurrence of an event (e.g. technological innovation) triggering new or sub-
stantially different skill requirements and the point in time when the first cohorts
leave the system with these new skill profiles. Depending on the training system of
the country in question and the relevant institutional, legal and formal regulations,3
there may be a time lag of as much as ten years (see Figure 1). This is also the
approximate time frame which projections should at least cover if their results
are to be policy-relevant and not arrive too late. More long-term projections are
necessary for fundamental reorientations or redesign of the education and training
systems.

148 M. Tessaring
Triggering event: New skill Time lag Cumulated

requirements (e.g. due to time lag
technological innovation)
0.5−1 year -
Recognition and identification
of new skill requirements
0.5−1 year 1−2 years
Design/revision of skeleton
curricula in initial training
1−3 years 2−5 years
Implementation in the training
system
0.5−2 years 2.5−7 years
Young people commence
training in the revised training
programmes
2−3 years 4.5−10 years
Completion of training, job
market entry of the first cohorts
with the new skill profiles
Passage through working life 35−45 years
Fig. 1 Estimated time lags(a ) between new skill requirements and job market entry of the first
cohorts with the new skill profiles
(a) dependent on national institutional, legal, formal, etc., factors.
Source: Tessaring 2003, based on Descy & Tessaring, 2002, p. 300.
At individual level and in the framework of lifelong learning, on the one hand, the
fundamental objectives of such efforts are the optimal design of individual life and
career biographies and pathways. Societal objectives, on the other hand, are preven-
tion of unemployment and inappropriate employment and avoiding the exclusion of
disadvantaged groups, which can be decisively achieved by means of future-oriented
and targeted education and training provision. And, finally, information on the fu-
ture requirements of work in enterprises is of central importance to human resource
development and continuing training within companies.
A majority of scientists and political and economic stakeholders agree that flexi-
bilization of work and working careers, the dissemination of information and com-
munication technologies in virtually all areas and the growing role of ‘knowledge’
are increasingly calling for flexible, broadly-based and transferable skills—in paral-
lel with and complementary to ‘traditional’ specialized skills and working qualities.
At the same time, however, openness, flexibility and the movement away from
(formal) ‘qualifications’ towards a more comprehensive understanding of ‘compe-
tence’ in many countries, which includes non-formal and informal forms of learning
and knowledge acquisition, is making it increasingly difficult to anticipate and de-
fine the knowledge, skills and competences required in the future.
I.5 Anticipation of Skill Requirements 149
Whereas it was previously a question of applying an ‘equilibrium approach’,

and detecting and forecasting functional and formal qualifications at a high level of
aggregation, today the focus is increasingly on more comprehensive and qualitative
approaches which are not intended to replace, but to supplement the ‘traditional’
methods and provide differentiated and exploitable information on changing trends
in work requirements.
It should be pointed out here that efforts to identify and forecast skill require-
ments decisively depend on the type of education and training system and the job
markets in the country in question: the question as to what is to be forecast and how
this forecasting is to be conducted will be seen in a completely different light in
vocationally-oriented labour markets with nationally defined training and qualifica-
tion standards than in countries with predominantly competition-based or internal
labour markets. Other factors which will play a role, to mention but a few examples,
are differences in planning and control and the participation of the various societal
groups (governance) at centralized, decentralized/regional or sectoral levels, as well
as the increasingly indistinct boundaries between general and vocational education
and training, continuing training and even between vocational training and higher
education in many countries.
2 Approaches to Identify Future Qualification

and Skill Requirements
A whole series of quantitative approaches to the forecasting of the supply and
demand of skills and jobs have been developed in recent decades, ranging from
macro-economic projections to surveys among enterprises and the workforce at mi-
cro and meso level, including the regional and sectoral level (for an overview see:
Tessaring, 1998, 1999; Wilson, 2001; Descy & Tessaring, 2002). However, although
they may be consistent within a given socio-economic framework and important for
fundamental long-range policy strategies in view of their long-term character, macro
approaches cannot provide detailed insights into specific and new qualification and
skill requirements. Furthermore, long-term projections are of only limited relevance
for individuals standing before educational/training or career decisions and expect-
ing information on employment prospects in the coming few years. Similarly, en-
terprises are more interested in short- and medium-term skill trends. On the other
hand, specific findings on skill developments at micro and meso level cannot always
be generalized. Moreover, they generally tend to refer to present skill requirements
or needs foreseeable in the short or medium term.
These are some of the reasons why European as well as other countries have
long been searching for methods, approaches and data from which they can derive
information on future skills and new qualifications not yet delivered by the education
and training system. In complement to quantitative approaches, qualitative methods,
e.g. Delphi or scenario methods, are increasingly applied, often ‘enriched’ by quan-
titative information relating to the various areas of relevance to the development
of education and training (e.g. demographic or macro-economic trends, job market
150 M. Tessaring
structures, social developments, etc.). By drawing on expert knowledge from various

areas, the aim of these approaches is to place possible and/or expected alternative
education and training trends in a wider context as a means of deducing appropriate
strategies and responsibilities.
The decisive difference between these and quantitative methods is not only that
trends on both the supply and demand side can be dealt with simultaneously, but also
that ‘anticipation’ is no longer based on calculations backed up by figures and sta-
tistical techniques, but takes place ‘in the minds’ of experts consulted and depends
on the strength of their knowledge and their sources of information. It is therefore
of decisive importance for the quality and relevance of these approaches that they
be theoretically substantiated, that the ‘right’ and relevant questions are asked and,
above all, that suitable experts are found from all fields of activity (research, politics,
business, social partners, etc.) and prompted into constructive co-operation.
The variety of approaches—also within given countries—raises a further, by no
means insignificant problem: how can the findings obtained via the different chan-
nels be collated, compared and rendered exploitable for policy action at national
or supra-/international level? There will always be contradictions between macro-
economic and specific sectoral or occupational projections or enterprise surveys.
The reasons for these contradictions lie in differences in the time horizon, the depth
of aggregation, the information and data basis and the methods. The question is:
how do those responsible for the planning and management of the education and
training system handle these contradictions? What can be done to place their deci-
sions in a reliable and reasonable framework that is not dominated by the interests
of individual groups? And, last but not least, what conclusions can be drawn for the
delivery of information to guide the educational/training and career decisions of the
individual?
These are questions that can only be briefly touched upon in the present context.
Instead, the following sections seek to provide an overview of relevant activities at
both European and national level.
3 Forecasting and Early Identification Activities
3.1 Activities at European and International Levels
At the European level, the European Commission has and continues to support a
number of related projects, particularly in its programmes Leonardo da Vinci and
Targeted Socio-economic Research (TSER) and their follow-up programmes, and
also within the framework of the European Structural Fund.
In 2002, the European social partners4 adopted a ‘framework of actions for the
lifelong development of competencies and qualifications’ (European Trade Union
Confederation, 2002). The first of the four priorities is to ‘identify and anticipate the
competencies and the qualifications needed’. The implementation of this objective
is envisaged at two levels: at enterprise and at national/sectoral level.
A number of forecasting activities conducted in recent years at both European

and international level are presented below:
1. In the ‘Employment in Europe’ reports, the European Commission/Eurostat pub-

lishes information on sectoral employment growth at irregular intervals. Those
sectors identified as sectors with high (previous and expected) growth are gener-
ally those in which the proportion of the lesser skilled is lower than elsewhere.
2. The Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), one of the institutes
of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, has presented a series
of—qualitative and quantitative—forecasting studies in recent years which also
touch upon aspects of education, training and skills.
In the framework of the ‘Futures’ project, launched in 1998, the IPTS pro-
vided insights into trends in the demographic, social, economic, skill and tech-
nology fields, as well as their impact on competitiveness and employment up to
2010. The reports drawn up in the framework of this project comprise analyses
and trends of various socio-economic aspects of European society, whereby the
focus is on their relationship with technological development. The conclusion of
future trends is not or only partially based on projections in the technical sense,
but is largely the reflection of estimates and assessments of the participating ex-
perts or takes the form of scenarios. The reports were discussed and summarized
in five panels: demographic and social trends; ICT and the information society;
natural resources and the environment; the political and economic context; life
sciences and the frontier of life. The panel study and the research reports are
published in the ‘Futures Report series’ (further details: <futures.jrc.es>).
In 2001, in conjunction with the Information Society Technologies (IST)
Advisory Group, DG Information Society and thirty-five European experts, the
IPTS published a series of scenarios on the future development of information
and communication technologies taking account of: (a) socio-political factors;
(b) enterprise and industrial models; and (c) the demand by key technologies for
‘ambient intelligence’. The scenarios also included aspects of learning, human
resources management and competences (European Commission. ISTAG, 2001).
3. The European Commission’s Forward Studies Unit conducted a project entitled
‘Scenarios Europe 2010: Five possible futures for Europe’ (European Commis-
sion, Forward Studies Unit, 1999). The project draws on the expertise of Euro-
pean Union (EU) officials in a process of brainstorming and reflection. The sce-
narios encompass all the important aspects of European development: markets,
the economy, employment and technologies; social, political, demographic, cul-
tural and changing values; globalization and EU enlargement; the role of national
and European organizations, social partners and NGOs, etc.
4. In view of the EU enlargement and the resulting challenges in the coming
decades, the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) prepared,
within the study ‘Four futures of Europe’, scenarios addressing socio-economic
trends within European countries and their implications for reforms and policies,
including labour market participation, investments in human capital and skill
demands (de Mooij & Tang, 2003).
152 M. Tessaring
5. In 1999, CEDEFOP, along with the European Training Foundation (ETF) and
the Max-Goote Expert Centre (University of Amsterdam), initiated a scenario on
vocational training in Europe with the participation of five EU Member States
and five central and eastern European countries.
The scenario is based on a Delphi survey among several hundred vocational
training experts per country, asked to indicate expected trends, strategies and
players in the field of vocational training. The findings provide an insight into
possible and probable developments of vocational training systems (up to ap-
proximately 2010), by examining trends in the following three important con-
texts:
(a) the economy and technology;
(b) employment and the job market;
(c) training, skills and knowledge.
The project also provides information on possible strategies and players in the
field of vocational training (van Wieringen et al., 2003).
6. CEDEFOP has, in early 2004, established a network Skillsnet on the early
identification of skill needs. The aims are to generate innovative solutions con-
cerning the early identification of skill needs and to transfer findings to educa-
tion and training policy and practice. The project looks for similarities across
territories, sectors or occupations in order to identify common European and
international trends, and also examines the needs of specific groups, such as
low-skilled people and small and medium-sized enterprises. In the context of
this network, conferences and workshops are organized or planned on specific
and topical themes (for example: skill needs in tourism and new technolo-
gies such as nanotechnologies). Conference proceedings and other papers are
available for download. A particular focus is attached to the transfer of find-
ings into education and training policies. The network is open to all; specific
sections are only accessible by network members. For more information see:
<www.trainingvillage.gr/etv/Projects Networks/skillsnet>. Publications so far:
Schmidt et al., 2003; Schmidt et al., 2004.
7. Several CEDEFOP publications in the recent years address issues of future skill
needs, forecasting and anticipation.
r The publication ‘European trends in the development of occupations and

qualifications’ features a summary of contributions to CEDEFOP’s ‘Cire-
toq’ network. It summarizes, among other things, the main macro-trends in
the development of occupations and qualifications; the socio-economic con-
text and systems development; development of supply and demand in ini-
tial vocational training; inter-enterprise and in-company developments and
local/regional competition; and EU programmes and outcomes of vocational
education and training research (Sellin, 1999; Sellin, 2000).
r Since 1998, CEDEFOP has been publishing regular ‘Reports on vocational
education and training research in Europe’ covering a wide range of issues.
The reports include a presentation and analysis of the latest forecasts on
skill supply and demand. The research reports consist of a comprehensive
background report with contributions from reputed scientists, as well as an

extended synthesis report, featuring a summary and a critical appraisal of this
and other research studies.
The first research report (Tessaring 1998, 1999) addresses the future of work
and skills, and presents approaches and findings of both quantitative and quali-
tative skill and job supply in various EU countries. The second research report
(Descy & Tessaring, 2002) provides a detailed overview of quantitative and qual-
itative forecasting activities at national level in various EU and non-EU countries
and of relevant activities at regional and local level. The contribution by Wil-
son (2001) also features a discussion of skill projections at enterprise level. The
synthesis report provides information on the latest forecasts and scenarios in Fin-
land, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom
and a number of central and eastern European countries.
8. In 1990, the OECD launched the ‘International Futures Programmes’, consisting
of four interrelated and mutually supportive elements:
(a) OECD Forums for the Future: a platform for informal, high-level meetings
with the aim of testing new ideas, developing fresh perspectives on problems
and advancing the understanding of strategic economic and social issues;
(b) OECD Futures Projects: targeted and multidisciplinary research and policy
analysis on certain subject areas, which are in particular from the Forum
conferences;
(c) OECD Future Studies Information Base: a documentation system (CD-
ROM) providing the key findings and conclusions of published and unpub-
lished literature worldwide;
(d) OECD International Futures Network: a global network of some 600 per-
sons from government, the economy, research, who share a mutual interest
in long-term developments and related policy aspects. More information on:
<www.oecd.org/sge/au/>
3.2 European Initiatives Anticipating

and Forecasting Skill Requirements
The following text provides a summary of selected activities relating to the fore-
casting and anticipation of skill requirements in a number of European and OECD
countries. These initiatives encompass a wide range of quantitative and qualitative
approaches at the level of sectors, occupations or qualifications, derived from statis-
tics or information drawn from enterprises and experts.
3.2.1 Frequenz.net, Germany: Early Identification of Qualification Needs

Within the framework of the ‘Initiative for early identification of qualification
needs’, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research set up a network
‘FreQueNz’ directed towards future-oriented issues concerning the development of
154 M. Tessaring
qualifications. Altogether eleven institutes participate in this network with specific

approaches and themes; all results are published. The information and communi-
cation platform (<www.frequenz.net>) provides information on projects, products
and services, partners, literature database, newsletter, events and links.
Part of the ‘FreQueNz’ network activity is the project ‘Qualification needs in the
OECD countries’ carried out by the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB).
The project analyses micro-economic models in a string of OECD countries and on
the basis of this information and other elements, carries out cross-country compar-
isons, in particular in a number of specific sectors (services, computers, health and
care).
3.2.2 National Observatory of Employment and Training,

Czech Republic: LABOURatory
The Leonardo da Vinci project ‘Regular forecasting of training needs: comparative
analysis, elaboration and application of methodology, “LABOURatory”’, sponsored
by the European Commission, was set up in 1998. The aim of the project is to draw
up forecasting methods applicable not only to western but also to eastern European
countries. The project is co-ordinated by the Czech National Observatory of Em-
ployment and Training.
The project’s first step was to take stock of forecasting activities in the Czech
Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia. The
second phase of the project involved the presentation of methods and models used in
forecasting training needs and their application in various countries: (a) quantitative
models and their application in the Czech Republic; (b) comparative analyses and
forecasting activities in Poland; and (c) regional and sectoral methods (case studies
for the hotel, catering and tourist trade in the Czech Republic, France and Slovenia).
The publications (National Training Fund, 1999, 2001) include an overview of the
methods, applications and findings as well as the conclusions on possible improve-
ments to the methods.
3.2.3 European Training Foundation: Regional Skill Needs

in Five Candidate Countries
In 2001, in co-operation with national partner organizations, the European Train-
ing Foundation (ETF) carried out a survey on skill needs in specific regions of
five candidate countries (north-west Bohemia/Czech Republic, southern Estonia,
the southern Hungarian plain, Lithuania and the Lubelskie district of Poland). The
purpose of the survey was to conduct an intensive qualitative assessment of emerg-
ing regional skill requirements in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs),
to examine demand-related perspectives in the context of the local infrastructure
supply and to prepare the development of intervention strategies. The survey in-
cluded 952 SMEs located in economies in various phases of the transition process
(Kerr, 2003).
3.2.4 Career Space Consortium: The Demand for ICT Skills in Europe
The Career Space Consortium, comprising a number of major electronic com-
panies alongside the European Commission, has set itself the aim of analysing
information on the situation and perspectives of skills and skill requirements in
the field of information and communication technologies in Europe and to draw
up appropriate recommendations for education and training policy—in particular
with a view to narrowing the current ICT skills gap (CEDEFOP, 2001; Curley,
2003).
3.2.5 Overview on Country Initiatives on Skill-Need Anticipation

and Forecasting
With no pretension that the information is exhaustive, up-to-date or correct in every
detail, Table 1 gives an overview of the institutions in Europe involved in skills
and occupational forecasting activities as well as the approaches applied. Further
information and source references can be obtained from the contributions in Schmidt
et al. (2003).
4 Summary and Future Co-Operation
Identifying and forecasting future skill requirements—at the level of individuals,

enterprises and society as a whole—and implementing these requirements in the
framework of the education and training system has long been the subject of in-
tensive research efforts and political discussion. Societies characterized by rapidly
changing social and economic conditions, increasing openness, permeability, com-
plexity, and therefore uncertainty, are seeking new, alternative or complementary
instruments for the early identification of skill requirements and their implications
for the design of education, initial vocational training and continuing training. Such
approaches consider the future skill requirements of target groups, enterprises, sec-
tors and regions, and increasingly incorporate options and alternatives for policy
and strategic actions.
In this context, the objectives of the early identification of skill requirements may
in fact differ substantially:
r Projecting future developments/trends of supply and demand of existing (formal)
qualifications;
r Forecasting changing skill profiles in a given occupation, sector or region;
r Identifying newly emerging skills and requirements;
r Analysing the increasing or declining significance of contents or elements within
specific qualifications;
r Detecting new configurations or bundles of skill elements in a given activity;
r Taking into consideration competences (acquired formally, non-formally or in-
formally) instead of formal qualifications, etc.
Table 1 National skill requirement forecasting and early recognition activities, as of 2002 (a )
156
Country Institution Approach/Method/Data sources Comments

Czech CERGE-EI Macro-economic projection model: extension, replacement and recruitment Based on the ROA and ESRI
Republic demand; those leaving the education/training systems; balancing supply and forecasting models;
demand; macro-economic forecasting model for the tourism sector in the region implemented within the
of north-west Bohemia. Leonardo project,
‘LABOURatory’.
Ministry of Integration of macro-economic forecasts in an ‘integrated system of typical In the set-up phase.
Employment positions’ (ISTP) to determine qualification requirements and training needs.
Denmark AKF Macro-economic projections of labour demand according to level of In the development phase.
education/training and sector at national and regional level; projection of labour
supply according to education/training categories based on demographic trends.
Regions Short-term forecasting of skill requirements in the regions, combination of
job-market data with panel data from surveys among enterprises and experts.
Germany IAB/Prognos Long-term macro-economic demand projections per sector, qualification level and
field of activity; carried out on an irregular basis since 1986.
IAB Projection of labour force supply and the those leaving education/training on the
basis of the educational accounting system (BGR) (on an irregular basis).
BLK Macro-economic projection of skill supply and demand (on an irregular basis). On the basis of various
projections (of e.g.
IAB/Prognos, etc.)
FreQueNz ‘Early identification of qualification needs’; sponsored by BMBF; eleven Further details in the relevant
participating research institutes. Approaches: job vacancy analysis; reference articles in this publication
enterprise surveys; examination of regional continuing training provision; or at the FreQueNz
examination of the skill supply of vocational schools and colleges; utilization of website:
the network of specialized associations and chambers; development of methods <www.frequenz.net>
for the on-going observation of skill trends; skill trends in the service sector;
identification of trendsetters; comparative international studies; skill structure
report; skills report and skill trends—online.
Spain FORCEM Observation of skill and training requirements, including at sectoral and
occupational level.
M. Tessaring
Table 1 (continued)
Autonomous regions Observatories to identify skill requirements at regional level.
OBINCUAL/ Ministry Network to identify key qualifications/skills and sectors and future trends in In the set-up phase.
of Employment occupations, jobs and occupational profiles; scenarios, Delphi surveys, etc.
France BIPE Macro-economic projections of skill and recruitment requirements per
occupational category, sectors and (to a certain extent) region; supplemented by
scenarios.
OREF Qualification needs at national, sectoral, regional and local levels; skill supply and
projection of school-leavers and those coming out of training; employment
perspectives.
Céreq Changing skill requirements based on expert/enterprise surveys and job market
analysis.
I.5 Anticipation of Skill Requirements
Finland Central Office for Projections of occupational and skill trends (supply and demand), since 1976.
Education
Ministry of Manpower supply and demand: short- and long-term trends.
Employment
National Board of Medium- to long-term macro-economic projections of manpower supply and
Education demand per educational/training and occupational category, combined with
scenarios and experts’ forecasts.
Ireland ESRI Regular macro-economic projections of skill requirements per sector.
FORFÁS/ Expert Short- and medium-term forecasting of the supply and demand of skilled
Group on Future manpower in certain sectors and areas, in particular ICT and research.
Skill Needs
Italy Government, network National surveys on short- and medium-term job and skill requirements per sector; Co-ordinated by the Ministry
surveys on regional and occupational skill needs; scenarios; annual recruitment for Employment and
needs; medium-term macro-economic forecasts. Social Affairs
Regions Various skill requirement projections.
Netherlands ROA Short- and medium-term macro-economic projections of skill supply and demand
according to sector; incorporation of mobility and substitution processes;
157
projection of school-leavers
Table 1 (continued)
158
Max-Goote Expert Scenarios of educational and training trends.

Centre
Poland Various organizations, Projection of skill requirements. Preparatory work; projection
government of global labour supply
available.
National Observatory Short- and medium-term projection of manpower requirements according to Implemented within the
sector, occupation and educational/training level, including a regional structure; context of the Leonardo
projection of those leaving the education/training system and manpower supply project ‘LABOURatory’.
Portugal Ministry of Surveys on the short-term training requirements of enterprises according to sector
Employment and region.
Slovenia HRDF Surveys on the training requirements of enterprises (in certain regions).
Development of the tourist sector and training requirements (in certain regions). Implemented within the
context of the Leonardo
project ‘LABOURatory’
Sweden Central Statistical Projection of recruitment requirements and transitions from education/training to
Office employment; balance of supply and demand.
Swedish Foresight Projection of long-term technical, social and economic trends (including
education and training) and their interaction on the basis of an expert panel and
additional information.
United IER Macro-economic long-term projection of manpower requirements according to
Kingdom qualification levels, including regional and local structures; forecasts of those
coming out of training; on a regular basis.
DfEE Compilation and analysis of job market trends, on a regular basis.
DfEE/Skills Task Skill requirement projections.
Force
NIESR Qualitative projection of training requirements.
QCA, London Scenarios on skill requirements in various sectors and regions. Partially in the set-up phase
University, etc.
M. Tessaring
a. The abbreviations are explained in Schmidt et al., 2003.

Source: Tessaring, 2003.
The channels and the approaches used in the various countries and by the differ-
ent scientists are extremely diverse. Some countries have already made consider-
able progress, whereas others are only at the beginning of the process—either due
to a lack of relevant experience and skills, or because the relevant organizational
infrastructure or support on the political level is not yet sufficient. Access to this
information is frequently difficult and co-operation across national borders—despite
a certain degree of progress in the recent past—is not yet well-developed.
From this perspective, the network Skillsnet established by CEDEFOP in 2004
could provide the starting point for future intensive co-operation—both between
scientists and research institutions from different countries, as well as between re-
searchers, policy-makers and practitioners. Both aspects are of the utmost impor-
tance: exchange of experience and transnational research co-operation should serve
as a driving force for the further development of methods and approaches. The in-
volvement from the very outset of policy-makers and practitioners—including the
social partners—is designed to raise awareness among the stakeholders of the rele-
vance of and the need for a future-oriented design of education and training—based
on concrete information and recommendations—and thereby encourages them to
provide support in terms of personnel, finance and organizational resources.
Notes
1. This is a revised version of a paper presented at the Conference on Early Identification of Skill
Needs in Europe, Berlin, 30-31 May 2002 (Tessaring, 2003).
2. Cf., inter alia, the analyses in CEDEFOP’s first two reports on vocational training research in
Europe (Tessaring, 1999; Descy & Tessaring, 2002) and the extensive bibliographies indicted
in both reports.
3. E.g. duration and permeability of training courses, involvement of the social partners, govern-
ment, chambers of commerce, etc., competence and implementing regulations.
4. European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC); Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confed-
erations of Europe (UNICE); European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of
Enterprises of General Public Interest (CEEP).
References
CEDEFOP. 2001. Generic ICT skills profiles: future skills for tomorrow’s world—Career Space.
Thessaloniki, Greece: Cedefop Panorama.
Curley, M. 2003, Addressing the ICT skills shortage in Europe. In: Schmidt, S.L. et al., eds. Early
identification of skill needs in Europe, pp. 122–127. Luxembourg: EUR-OP.
de Mooij, R.; Tang, P. 2003. Four futures of Europe. The Hague: CPB.
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Europe 2000—background report. Luxembourg: EUR-OP. (Cedefop reference series: vol. II.)
Descy, P.; Tessaring, M. 2002. Training and learning for competence: second report on vocational
training research in Europe—synthesis report. Luxembourg: EUR-OP. (Cedefop reference se-
ries.)
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for Europe. Brussels: European Union. [Edited by B. Gilles, A. Michalski and L.R. Pench.]
<europa.eu.int/comm/cdp/scenario/index en.htm>.
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IPTS. (Final report compiled by K. Ducatel et al.)
European Trade Union Confederation. 2002. Framework of actions for the lifelong development of
competencies and qualifications. Brussels: ETUC/UNICE/CEEP.
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Chapter I.6
Redefining the Status of Occupations
Walter R. Heinz
1 Introduction
In the past thirty years we have seen waves of re-assessments carried out on the
world of work in the wake of the declining industrial society: the degradation of
work (Braverman, 1974) was prominent in the 1970s; the end of the division of
labour and the upgrading of work (Kern & Schumann, 1984) in the 1980s; the
end of work (Rifkin, 1995) in the 1990s; and the end of the career (Moen &
Roehling, 2005) at the turn of the century. Will we witness the end of the term
‘occupation’ in the years to come? While Rifkin (1995) propagated the decline
of the labour force on a global scale in the post-market era, as the consequence
of massive job cuts in production and marketing of goods and services, Moen &
Roehling (2005) argue that the lock-step pattern of career is dissolving, that it never
existed for women and is becoming less and less the employment pattern of men.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, there is rising job insecurity, discon-
tinuous employment and the requirement to upgrade one’s skills, a structural shift
of the relationship between education, training and employment that has generated
the ‘contingent work-life course’ (Heinz, 2003). In this chapter, I shall argue that it
is not the end of the term occupation, but a transformation towards a new constel-
lation of training, competence, work and company organization, due to a complex
combination of economic, cultural and social changes. The following discussion
focuses on Germany, because it is a prototype for an occupation-centred society
with its standardized system of vocational education and training (VET) and a close
fit between certified skill qualifications and employment status and careers (e.g.
Schwarze, Buttler & Wagner, 1994; Solga & Konietzka, 1999). The extent to which
the status of occupations has to be redefined in post-industrial service societies
can be demonstrated by looking at the effects of structural and cultural changes on
Germany’s well-organized system of occupations.

162 W.R. Heinz
2 Occupation Defined
There are several forms of work: housework and career work; paid and unpaid
work; creative and routine work; dependent and autonomous work. One form of
work is occupational. Ever since the Reformation people were situated in society
by reference to their social origin and their occupation (Weber, 1976/1904). One
has an occupation—a nurse, a lawyer, an accountant. The assignation of people to
occupations, on the one hand, promotes the culture of a society because occupations
represent recognized and valued tasks and serve the economy by contributing to the
wealth of nations. On the other hand, however, occupations also indicate different
ranks, levels of prestige and participation rights in society. They mirror the structure
of social inequality, because they are coupled with social and ethnic origin, gender
and education.
For a first approximation, ‘occupation’ can be defined as a specific pattern of
labour, aptitude and competence, constituted by society and held stable over a cer-
tain historical period. When these patterns are formalized and regulated by insti-
tutions, they gain long-term validity and serve to orient people in their vocational
choice. From the perspective of social science, the notion of occupation has two
basic features: first, it reflects the social division of labour at a certain stage of a
society’s economic and cultural history; second, it is a matter of a person’s identi-
fication with a certain pattern of gainful activity. An occupation cannot be reduced
to vocational education and training, employment or working at a job, because it
is the core medium linking a person’s life-course to the political economy and the
work culture of society. This meaning has been fundamental to the understanding of
the material and symbolic aspects of occupations ever since the analyses of society
by Karl Marx and Max Weber. An occupation mirrors the location of an individual
(and his/her family) in the social structure of society and determines the individuals’
life-chances.
Traditionally, occupational work also implies a model of a division of labour
between a household and employment that reflects the gender relations in a society
(Hochschild, 1997; Krüger, 2003; Moen, 1992). With increasing participation by
women in service sector occupations, the issues of gender segmentation in the em-
ployment system and solutions to the problem of reconciling occupation and fam-
ily life have become urgent for social policy and for companies’ human resources
management.
The manifold aspects of an occupation, however, make it difficult to arrive at a
concise definition. In the context of capitalist democracies, an occupation implies
at least the following characteristics (Beck, Brater & Daheim, 1980; Dostal, 2002;
Jahoda, 1982):
1. Freedom to choose a certain occupation;

2. A source of social identity and life planning;
3. A focus for organizing human capital (knowledge and skills);
4. The allocation of rights and duties (social status);
5. The representation of society’s values (achievement; individualism/collectivism).
I.6 Redefining the Status of Occupations 163
In sum, an occupation is the point of convergence of skills and activities, work-

ing tools and procedures, social status and career mobility. This notion, for exam-
ple, informs the definition given by the German Federal Employment Agency (cf.
Dostal, 2002): An occupation is an integrated set of qualifications, a specific com-
bination of knowledge, practical and social competence (skill profile). It attaches
tasks to a set of qualifications and differentiates levels of activity (autonomy vs.
restriction) at work and is a major property of the stratification of society.
Entering an occupation requires education and training, a preparation that leads
not only to a certain skill profile, but also creates legitimate expectations concerning
working conditions and income. Having an occupation is a crucial prerequisite for
participation and consumption in society. Furthermore, an occupation is an indicator
of social (in)equality because it links the person with particular segments of the
labour market, where the exchange of labour power and wages is negotiated accord-
ing to employers’ requirements. This process of status allocation decides a person’s
life-chances; thus, it structures social stratification. An occupation also facilitates
the matching of skill supply and demand and reduces the costs of job search and
of recruiting employees. Last but not least, the notion of an occupation supports
the social integration of individuals in the context of the cultural and economic
institutions of society. Because of the close coupling among VET institutions, the
organization and conditions of work and social security, an occupation is a funda-
mental principle of social and economic structures—in its most developed form in
German-speaking societies.
The ideal model of occupation-centred work is built on the idea of a social con-
tract and champions a stable arrangement between the distribution of occupations,
the requirements of societal reproduction and individual needs—an arrangement
that is embedded in a system of industrial relations and social security (‘social mar-
ket economy’). This coupling of skills and employment has advantages for the em-
ployers with regard to training, recruitment, standards of good work and promotion;
for the employees, it conveys social identity and provides a long-term employment
perspective. Furthermore, through its connection to firms, work teams, unions or
associations, occupational work constitutes communities of practice that provide
social recognition and occupational commitment.
3 Redefining Occupation
In reality, the arrangements that represent occupation-centred work are thwarted

by economic interests, mainly business strategies such as cost-cutting, the creation
of lean organizations and competition on the labour market. These factors tend to
restrict the matching of skills and jobs and create less employment security and
continuity than the social contract would lead us to expect. Recent research (cf.
Kurtz, 2001) shows that there is a contradictory development. Occupational creden-
tials gain in importance by entering the labour market, while in fact they are los-
ing their exchange value for stabilizing workers’ identity in the sense of promoting
164 W.R. Heinz
their social integration. Since the shaping of one’s life-course is contingent on the
extent to which continuity of participation in the labour market is possible, the ac-
cumulation of human capital as a resource for negotiating job contracts becomes
more important, though employment careers cannot be taken for granted anymore
(Heinz, 2003). The accumulation of educational degrees and vocational certificates
becomes essential for succeeding in the competition for employment. This is a ma-
jor reason why most job-seekers and workers invest in education, VET and con-
tinuous training—they expect, as a result, opportunities for decent work, income
and advancement. The principle of occupation still legitimizes the validity of in-
dividual and social investments in the process of skill formation and, at the same
time, strengthens the education and training system as an institution contributing
to the reproduction of social inequality via differential access to the hierarchy of
occupations.
There are two questions that need to be dealt with: what are the consequences
of the new design of work and uncertain career prospects for the meaning that in-
dividuals attach to the notion of occupation? And to what extent will the linkage
between technical and vocational training, occupational certificates and employ-
ment be weakened? Answers are not easy to be found, because empirical data that
would permit us to analyse the interactive effects between structural change and
subjective response are scarce. The redefinition of occupation is an element of so-
cial change in the transition from an industrial to a service and knowledge society,
along with the decline of traditional agencies of social integration, such as family,
neighbourhood, workers’ solidarity and employers’ benevolence. This means that
living circumstances and life-course become more dependent on labour-market op-
portunities, and learning an occupation is a prime resource for social integration.
Certified skills are still the entrance ticket to good jobs; they facilitate access to
continuous employment, the upgrading of skills and retraining. The routes to an
occupation, however, are getting much more difficult to pass, because employers
are offering far less training places for occupations with prospects. This requires
that school graduates and job-seekers engage in much more exploration with an
increased risk of failing to land an employment contract. This creates an ‘individ-
ualized occupational orientation’ (Berger, Konietzka & Michailow, 2001), which
differs from the traditional concept of occupation by being ‘work in progress’—not
based on the expectation of a lifelong commitment to the occupation that has been
learned.
With rising unemployment and increasing numbers of working poor, the coupling
between occupation and employment has also become more tenuous in recent years
in Germany. There are two complementary developments that have weakened the
occupational model: massive lay-offs, outsourcing, franchizing as a form of fake
self-employment and non-standard work, on the one hand; and the demand for skill
profiles that are adaptable to the companies’ shifting organizational needs, which
tend to question the utility of occupational competence. When work time and tasks
become more mobile and less predictable, because companies are reacting to market
forces much faster than in the period of mass production, then the workers’ capacity
for coping with multiple demands gains in importance.
4 Global Competition, Local Institutions and Values
Occupations are embedded in the economic and social history of society leading
to the division of labour and the education system. Depending on economic and
technical developments, as well as value change in society, fields of occupation
may only be stable for a certain period; they constantly lose and gain in number
and importance. The decline of crafts and the rise of person-centred services is an
obvious example. In the transition to the service society, there has been an increas-
ing differentiation of national and transnational spheres of occupational work. The
expansion of financial services and of the media industries has created a number of
new highly skilled occupations.
There is no general pattern, however. Occupations show path-dependent modifi-
cations in response to global change. They adopt different directions in conservative,
liberal and social-democratic welfare societies (Esping-Andersen, 1990, 1996). De-
pending on the respective balance between markets, social services and the active
labour-market policy followed by the State, societies develop and maintain differ-
ent institutions for regulating training, labour-market entry and exit, and industrial
relations. These institutions can promote—but also impede—processes of adapting
occupations to economic and technological change, because they continue to shape
policy decisions and tend to reproduce the basic features of social structures and
occupations.
The Scandinavian countries, for example, have managed to increase women’s
employment by expanding the public service sector in combination with creating
occupations in the primary labour market. This policy has led to an upgrading
of skilled person-centred occupations and more gender equality in the division of
labour between family responsibilities and employment. An active labour-market
policy with job creation in the public sector also prevented a rise in the number of
working poor in the service sector, a trend characteristic of liberal welfare States
such as the United States of America and the United Kingdom. The (neo)liberal
strategy and the social democratic policy can be contrasted with the development in
countries with a mix of conservative welfare policy and stepwise deregulation of the
labour market, like Germany, where the information and communication technology
and new forms of work organization are implemented by creating new skill profiles
in a reform of its VET-system aimed at modern occupations. This kind of restructur-
ing, however, leads to an increasing risk of social exclusion for the unqualified and
those who cannot upgrade their qualifications because they lack social and material
resources, such as unskilled youth, single mothers, migrants and unemployed older
workers.
Because of the dynamic nature of occupations and social mobility, the empirical
monitoring of processes that are redefining the status of occupations on the national
level is difficult—and at the international level it is almost impossible. Thus, sys-
tems of classification must be kept open for future developments in job activity
patterns, which include at the minimum the variations in tasks, activities, means,
qualifications and social status. For international comparisons, it is important to
distinguish between references to employment occupations and to training occupa-
tions. For example, in Germany, there are about 30,000 occupational titles and 350
166 W.R. Heinz
recognized training occupations according to the federal Vocational Education and

Training Act. In addition, there are quite a number of school- and college-based
and academic occupations that belong to the expanding category of professions.
In the United States, there are no recognized VET occupations, but college and
university-based occupations linked to the BA degree (Grubb, 1999). Applied skills
are culturally unpopular and are not regarded as providing access to jobs and careers,
though the large enrolments at community colleges indicate that there is a demand
for intermediate skills. As comparative research shows (Büchtemann, Schupp &
Soloff, 1994; Heinz, 1999; Shavit & Müller, 1998), German institutions concerned
with transition from school to work provide certified, flexible and nationally recog-
nized skills that support the process of matching workers and occupations.
In order to grasp the impact of global competition on the extent to which occu-
pational change is occurring, the structure of occupations must be compared across
countries. Since nation-specific fabrics of institutions and local values define and
stabilize the respective employment systems and the cultural meanings of jobs, oc-
cupations and professions, conducting such a comparison is challenging. There are
international attempts, though, for classifying and comparing occupations that are
the starting point for answering the question of to what extent, and why, the status
of occupations is undergoing a transformation.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has been developing the ‘Inter-
national Standard Classification of Occupations’ (ISCO) since 1923 (see
Hoffmann, 1999) with an updated version in 1988. This classification serves as
a guideline for comparative research on the changes of occupations and labour
markets. ISCO is based on two dimensions of skills: (a) their level of complexity,
range of activities and degree of specialization; and (b) the kind of knowledge, tools,
equipment, materials, type of goods and services. This definition does not take into
account, however, the type and level of education and training necessary to qualify
for a certain occupation. Though there is a more or less close relationship between
the structure of skill levels, the complexity of work and educational levels, this def-
inition is meaningful only for those societies that have an elaborate system linking
VET with the structure of occupations and the labour market. ISCO-88 covers ten
major groups of occupation according to the respective level of skills, twenty-eight
sub-major, 116 minor and 390 unit groups. These categories descend from gen-
eral to more specific occupational details and can serve as a guide for categoriz-
ing and comparing national occupational structures. To complicate the comparison
of occupational change across nations, most post-industrial service societies have
their own system. In the United States, the ‘Standard Occupational Classification’
(SOC 1998) is more specific on the levels of the minor (‘broad’) groups (449) and
detailed occupations (821). In Germany, six occupational areas based on economic
sectors and twenty fields of occupations are distinguished. The obvious variations
for classifying occupations result from using the dimension of ‘level of specializa-
tion’ in different ways and by being silent in regard to the educational requirements
of occupations. More refined classifications for the purpose of assessing changes
that call for a redefinition are called for which combine economic sector and occu-
pational status with skill level, education and specialization. In the light of the trend
towards the ‘flexible specialization’ of work in post-industrial society (Priore &

Sabel, 1984), such a refined taxonomy could improve the collection of comparable
data on the extent to which occupations are shifting to multi-skilling (hybrid skills
profiles) in the context of required organizational flexibility and lifelong learning.
5 Reasons for Redefining Occupations
The causes, processes and consequences for the constitution, development and
modification—as well the vanishing—of certain occupations tend to be discussed
by referring to the economic and technological forces, globalization and the rise of
information and communication technologies. However, there is no deterministic
relationship between the progress of technologies, skill requirements and the re-
structuring of occupations (cf. Kurtz, 2001). The restructuring of occupations can
best be understood not as being driven by the economy or technology, but as a pro-
cess of social construction that involves the divergent interests of relevant agents—
companies, policy-makers, educators, unions, customers, bureaucracy and, last but
not least, the workers themselves.
The creation, consolidation and branching of occupations, as well as their modi-
fication, are based on a social process of negotiating the supply of skills and the
demand for workers. If this negotiation turns out to be successful, standards of train-
ing, membership and execution of tasks arise that regulate the interaction between
workers, employers and customers. Such a process may take several decades, as in
the setting up of crafts in the context of guilds in mediaeval Europe; or just a few
years, as in the creation of Information Technology (IT) and media occupations at
the turn of the twentieth century. New service occupations were established in order
to manage the implementation and use of computers, new care facilities, financial
transactions (analysts), information services (call centres), etc. The demand for IT
and media services continuously generates the need for employees with technical,
sales, and social and consulting skills. Such skill profiles define new occupations
that differ from their predecessors by being open to changes in their composition.
The fast expansion of technical and person-related services, however, did not gen-
erate well-defined occupations, but rather a range of jobs, from casual work to pro-
fessional work. The high-end occupations, as well as the less-qualified jobs, are
growing at the expense of traditional production, sales and office work.
These changes are resulting from a process-oriented organization of companies
and work situations that is supposed to be more efficient in responding to market
forces and customer demands than the occupational model of designing and per-
forming work. This new model is tied to a skill-based division of labour and pro-
motes primarily the execution of tasks, instead of planning and problem-solving
in the context of overlapping, multi-occupationally composed project teams. Such
flexible forms of organizing work come to characterize manufacturing and service
companies that require employees to be prepared for co-operation and self-control in
flat status hierarchies. This restructuring also leads to a much more flexible regime
of work-time, especially in businesses that depend upon customers and clients. This
168 W.R. Heinz
regime has been labelled the ‘24/7-work-week’ (Presser, 2003), e.g. twenty-four
hours a day for seven days a week. In the United States, almost half of the work
force is employed in non-standard time regimes, due to the constraints on service
jobs that dictate flexible work time. When work is performed under time pressure
in combination with new tools, new procedures and in company with co-workers,
employees cannot rely on their experience-based calculation of time frames for ser-
vices and innovative manufacturing activities.
These changes impact on the qualifications that are sought by employers: proce-
dural and technical skills must be combined with sensitivity for customers’ variable
wishes and the personality of colleagues. Based on their skill profile, employees
must perform multiple tasks, e.g. manufacturing, repairing, selling and customer
advice. Changing teams, locations and different customers require communicative
competence, role-playing and, increasingly, foreign language skills as well—usually
English. Competence requirements thus not only increase but are also changing in
their composition towards a mix of technical, sales and communicative skills in
order to solve hard- and software problems for IT users or to support families in the
care of ailing grandparents.
As OECD reports (e.g. 1996), there is a rising level of education in all post-
industrial service societies that is not just a response to new skill demands, but
reflects a cultural change towards post-secondary education and lifelong learning,
promising a working life that can be shaped according to individual talents and
goals. This trend towards a new political economy of education is also at the roots
of the ‘Bologna-Process’, which promotes the introduction of the Anglo-American
system of academic certification—the BA and MA—in Europe by the year 2010.
It is still a matter of academic debate whether these trends are evidence of the
knowledge society with increasing autonomy at work (Stehr, 2000) or a transforma-
tion of the supply and demand negotiation pattern towards a flexible employment
society (Sennett, 1998), which may endanger the image of occupation as a vehicle
of career continuity that used to provide social identity in the past.
There are only a minority of skilled workers who benefit from more autonomy
at work, because there is a widening gap between the educational accomplishments
of workers and their actual employment: under-employment and non-standard work
are widespread experiences for recent generations of job-starters (Livingstone, 1998).
The better qualified ones, however, tend to be integrated in social networks of alumni
and job-contacts, and thus are better prepared to cope with uncertain and discontin-
uous careers.
At present, there are two possible scenarios that may redefine the status of occu-
pation in post-industrial service societies: a decline in occupational commitment; or
a professionalization of occupations.
5.1 A Decline in Occupational Commitment

The reduction in regular employment and the requirement to engage in continuing
training, cope with wage cuts and the risk of long-term unemployment all contribute
to a creeping de-valuation of occupation as the key for entering and staying in the
labour market and as a marker for continuity in one’s life. When work contracts
become short-term and individualized, the employees must learn to behave like
entrepreneurs and act in a self-rationalizing manner, because they have to compete in
the labour market over and over again. Occupational skills are taken for granted, but
they are not enough to keep a job with prospects. Employees and job-seekers need
self-management skills in order to come to a rational and efficient arrangement with
the varied demands of firms in respect to time, location, content and conditions of
work. A new type of employee, the entrepreneur of one’s own skills (‘labour power
entrepreneur’), has been described by Voss (2000), an employee who can navigate
the work orientations and practices that correspond to the fast-moving and highly
demanding work situations in the IT, media and financial services fields. When a
loose coupling between certified skills and work activities becomes the norm, then
a person’s commitment to the occupation they once learned will weaken in favour
of optimizing job opportunities and taking chances by changing occupations, or at
least integrating new features into their skill profiles. This, however, means reshap-
ing one’s ensemble of knowledge and aptitudes on demand, corresponding to the
principle of ‘just-in-time’ in the manufacturing industry. Such a flexible orientation
towards content and the work context reduces commitment to one’s occupation and
may have long-term stressful effects on the worker’s self-identity.
5.2 From Occupation to Profession
The other scenario is the upgrading of occupations in a process of (re)professionali-

zation. Professions are one of the three forms of organizing work, together with
markets and administrations (Freidson, 2001); they are characterized by specific
expertise, self-organization and self-regulation. Prominent examples are lawyers,
doctors and architects. While in Anglo-American societies professions have devel-
oped from the bottom-up by gaining a strong position in society, in Germany and
France professions, similar to trades, were defined by the State and regulated by
education, training and certification institutions. Professions differ from occupations
by providing and requiring more autonomy in the design and practice of work and by
being based on an academic education. They create their own standards for assessing
their output and implement practices of self-control that tend to be core elements of
a code of ethics.
Professions can be regarded as providers of solutions for crucial service problems
of modern societies, in the sense that they command a field of knowledge that can
contribute to the regulation of crises (e.g. illness, crime and housing) in the context
of core social values like health, justice and safety. There are four central properties
that characterize a profession:
1) It is in charge of providing a socially important task through a set of special
knowledge, e.g. illness is cured by medical expertise.
2) It establishes a relationship with a central value of society.
3) Education takes place in an academic setting offering abstract knowledge and
communication skills.
170 W.R. Heinz
4) Formal knowledge and its certification, as well as continuing skill improvement,

is regulated by associations (in Europe in negotiation with the State), which or-
ganize and defend their monopoly of expertise by strategies of social exclusion
and control of the client market.
The wearisome dispute between the medical profession and the association of clini-
cal psychologists in Germany about the recognition of psychological psychotherapy
and its integration into the system of health insurance is an exemplary case.
In his seminal paper, Wilensky (1964) proposed a model of a stepwise generation
of a profession, a model which may also be applicable to the transformation of an
occupation into a profession. A job turns into a full-time gainful activity; a body
of skills is defined that can be learned; then a curriculum and educational providers
are established; a professional association is founded; finally, a code of ethics is
set up. Public recognition tends to be conferred in a process of licensing by State
authorities, which implies the definition of educational requirements.
The case of the semi-professions is instructive in regard to the redefinition of
the status of occupations, because it shows how occupations in the fields of person-
centred services, like caring, nursing, physiotherapy and social work, struggle for
recognition as self-responsible fields of expertise. They will only succeed when they
can convince the State authorities—as well as their clients—that they command the
formal and practical knowledge for analysing a problem (diagnosis), deriving a so-
lution (inference) and putting it into practice (action, treatment) (cf. Abbott, 1988).
The diagnostic competence is the feature that distinguishes a profession from a
semi-profession and an occupation; because this competence rests on abstract, the-
oretical knowledge—it requires an academic education.
There are indications that highly skilled production workers may experience a
re-professionalization by learning at work. Recent case studies in German auto-
mobile plants (Baethge-Kinsky & Tullius, 2005) show that flexibly standardized
manufacturing can generate learning-friendly work constellations that promote an
upgrading of workers’ knowledge and participation profile. Knowledge of the flow
of production and marketing processes, and for some workers also of IT and busi-
ness processes, develops from design-oriented settings. Such a learning process
improves not just productivity, but also workers’ satisfaction. Although we cannot
assume that all criteria of professional work are met, there is a pro-active redefinition
of the status of productive work that is based on occupational competence acquired
through TVET.
6 Is There a Discontinuity Between TVET

and the Employment System?
In the last decade of the twentieth century, a controversy in regard to the future of
the occupation in post-industrial society began, a debate which is less optimistic
about the prospects of transforming occupations into professions. Flexible employ-
ment and social skills are taking over from careers and technical skills, a tendency
that weakens vocationally-based work in favour of process-centred work requiring

readiness for a ‘constant flux’. In Germany, the system of occupations is still linked
to the VET-system, which passes on less theoretical than practical knowledge and
operates with rules and regulations that do not seem to adequately prepare the young
generation for rapidly changing work situations. Therefore, it is likely that many oc-
cupations that do not succeed in transforming themselves into professions will turn
from complex social and cultural units into a fluid mix of competence profiles and
activity patterns. If this scenario should become reality, such a shift would reduce
the occupation to its functional characteristics of employability. This could have
severe consequences for the allocation of life-chances in the context of the knowl-
edge society for those who cannot afford to invest time and money in a permanent
up-grading of their skill profile.
The growing importance of a highly skilled and flexible labour force leads to a
shift towards more individualized employment patterns, putting a premium on self-
guided and self-responsible decisions about the choice of an occupation. Depending
on the outcomes of a series of difficult decisions, apprentices and trainees cannot
expect to be employed by the company that trains them. For an increasing num-
ber of qualified job-seekers, the transition into employment has become protracted,
bridged by voluntary work, temporary jobs and spells of unemployment. Training
and labour market data (BMBF, 2004) show that, since the mid-1990s, firms have
reduced their intake of apprentices and tend to recruit people for positions at the
middle-management level. They do not train their own experienced skilled work
force, but prefer college graduates.
There are indications that employers’ recruitment strategies take occupational
qualifications for granted, but they do not regard them as a guiding principle for
hiring employees. The knowledge-intensive technical and person-centred tasks re-
quire that education and training experiences are equipping workers with a flexible
combination of cognitive, methodological and practical skills. Such skill profiles
tend not to be generated by the conventional TVET that has its roots in crafts, trades
and manufacturing. Therefore, a structural crisis of the German VET-system and
similar institutions in other societies is impending (cf. Baethge, 2001). The signs
of crisis cannot be denied. There has been a 20% decline in training places since
the 1990s; in financial services it is much steeper (30%). Instead of VET-graduates,
more college graduates are hired, which blocks the advancement of skilled workers.
In responding to the decline of occupational training, Germany’s dual system of
VET is re-forming itself by concentrating on basic or core occupations that pro-
mote a flexible approach towards innovative and challenging designs at the work
place. The main target is to improve workers’ capacity for occupational activities
in variable and unpredictable employment circumstances by work-process learn-
ing and continuing training. These are promising reforms that are also changing
the relationship between in-firm training and vocational schooling in the direction
of upgrading the quality of basic and continuing theoretical education in college
curricula. Such an institutional arrangement would create some similarity with the
vocational education provided at further education colleges in the United Kingdom
and at community colleges in Canada and the United States, albeit with the added
172 W.R. Heinz
value of a close coupling of in-firm training and nationwide recognized occupational

credentials. The extension and specification of knowledge and skills with a wide
range of utilization drives the reform of TVET curricula, which takes place hand-in-
hand with the reduction in the number of training occupations (‘core-occupations’—
Rauner, 2000). This modernization in numbers, content and form of TVET al-
ready occurred in other countries in the 1990s, where there was not the successful
legacy of an internationally profiled export industry (cars, machinery), such as in
Switzerland and Denmark.
7 Outlook
In post-industrial service society there has been a transformation from an

employment system based on a strong linkage between education, training and
occupation to a system which operates according to the criteria of employability,
cost-efficiency and flexibility. This leads to a diversification of types of employment
with an increase of service jobs, self-employment and contingent careers. These
developments are path-dependent and will take two possible routes in the future: a
devaluation of occupation on the labour market and as a signpost for life planning;
or a transformation of occupations into professions. It is likely that an enhancement
of a training-and-employment culture in the context of lifelong learning will not be
enough for a redefinition of the status of occupations that would benefit workers,
if it is not combined with a new social contract providing employment and social
security in the context of flexible work and discontinuous careers.
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Chapter I.7
Changing Work, Work Practice:
The Consequences for Vocational Education
Stephen Billett
1 Changing Work, Changing Workers
This chapter discusses the changing and emerging characteristics of work, work
practice and work requirements, and their consequences for vocational education.
Changing patterns in work and working life are proposed as comprising: (i) the
kind of work available; (ii) how individuals participate in work; (iii) what consti-
tutes competence within that work; and (iv) those participating in work. The conse-
quences for vocational education are systemic in terms of the kinds of occupations
that need to be developed, variations in and complexity of work requirements, shifts
in employer/employee relations, and the demographic shifts in those who will need
to be supported by vocational education. The chapter examines these patterns of
change to work and working life, and discusses policy and curriculum practice
associated with each. Overall, it argues that the changes to work make it more
demanding, and the frequency of change in work and how work is carried out de-
mands careful, comprehensive and targeted preparation and on-going development.
Moreover, with broader participation in the work force and longer working lives, the
arrangement for this preparation and on-going development will need to be targeted,
differentiated and sustained.
2 Changes in the Kinds of Work Available

In the last quarter of the twentieth century and continuing into this, there have been
considerable changes to the kinds of work available across and within countries
(Handel, 2005; McBrier & Wilson, 2004). Changes in the demand for particular
kinds of paid employment (occupations) are shaped by continuities and transforma-
tions in the requirements for vocational practice in particular countries or regions.
As these requirements are subject to constant change, the demand for particular
occupations transforms both the amount and kinds of available paid work. Through
this process, some occupations are reshaped, transformed or simply disappear. This
means that the availability, location and accessibility of particular kinds of paid
work also change. Although the character and scope of these changes differ across

176 S. Billett
countries and economies, there are some trends that are consistent across many
countries espousing Western-style economies.
These trends include a reduction in the demand for ‘semi-skilled’ and ‘unskilled
work’ and an increase in demand for professional, technical and administrative
work, and also service work—yet much of it ‘low skill’ (Noon & Blyton, 1997).
For instance, there has been a considerable decline in the number of workers en-
gaged directly in agricultural work, which impacts on farm workers and farming
communities. In the United States, the decline in farming employment commenced
in the early 1950s, and levelled off by the mid-1970s (United States of America.
Department of Labor, 2005). The agricultural sector and agricultural communities
experienced a decline resulting in only a fraction of the former numbers of people
employed in farm work. However, this sector remains a major source of employ-
ment. Because of the centralization and intensification of food production in the
United States, many more workers are employed in the processing and distribution
of farm products: ‘from the gate to the plate’. This change indicates a shift in the
forms of work required or available in this sector.
There has been a significant decline in employment within manufacturing in
many Western countries. Between 1940 and 2002, American manufacturing em-
ployment declined from 48% to 28% of the workforce (Employment Policy Foun-
dation, 2003); in Australia between 1983 and 1999 it declined from 18.1% to
12.8% (Pusey, 2003). Like agriculture, the impact of this decline impacts both
individuals who work in those sectors and the communities in which they live.
Some of this decline has been the result of labour-saving technologies and also
manufacturing work being exported to other countries. Thus, while manufacturing
work in countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States
has declined, it has grown significantly among the Korean labour force and now
constitutes the single largest category of employment at 32% (Korean Economic
Planning Board, 2005). Alongside this there is the centralization of specialized
manufacturing (e.g. aircraft, automobiles, shipbuilding), which sees particular forms
of high and specifically skilled employment restricted to particular locations and
countries.
Thus, in different ways, the transformation of economic activity through in-
creased use of technology, the export of jobs to other countries and emerging com-
munity needs is having a profound effect on the availability of particular kinds of
work. Yet, any claims of a general trend towards high-skill work are contradicted
by a burgeoning service industry sector in some countries, such as Australia, the
United Kingdom and the United States, where this kind of work is often low paid
and low skill (Carnoy, 1999). In these countries, there has also been some growth
in the allied health and community work sectors (e.g. community health and care
of the aged) that are emerging as responses to changing demographics. Yet again,
much of this work is characterized as low paid and low skill.
With the growth in employment being largely within professional, technical and
service work, there is a hollowing out of mid-skill work and polarization between
high- and low-skill workers. These patterns of growth, like those of manufacturing
and agriculture, are largely unidirectional indicating structural changes in the work
I.7 Changing Work, Work Practice: The Consequences for Vocational Education 177
available. For instance, in 1940, American managers and professionals made up

only 18% of the non-farm labour force, yet by 2002 they comprised 32% (Employ-
ment Policy Foundation, 2003). Barley and Orr (1997) claim that the number of
professional and technical jobs in the United States has increased over 300% since
1950, overshadowing increases in sales work (248%) and managerial work (182%).
Yet, other shifts in the labour market complicate this trend. During the 1980s, there
were significant declines in mid-level managerial positions in the United States. At
a time when many African-Americans were gaining middle management jobs, they
are claimed to have experienced declines in their careers more frequently and more
severely than their white counterparts (McBrier & Wilson, 2004). This suggests
another dimension of the hollowing out thesis, based on factors other than human
capital.
The reduction of manufacturing employment in Australia has been overshadowed
by the decline in private-sector employment (31% to 20%), matched by a compa-
rable increase in private-sector employment (Pusey, 2003). Although reflecting the
trend of strong employment in professional and managerial work, the shift from
public-sector to private-sector employment for such large numbers of Australian
workers would lead to significant impacts upon their work, careers and the course of
their lives. Thus, even within employment categories that are experiencing overall
growth, there can be quite different outcomes for groups of workers. Barley and
Orr (1997) claim that many jobs have been so transformed that the existing occupa-
tional categories no longer reflect the division within contemporary workforces. For
instance, transformations in the printing industry have seen a wholesale change in
the skills required as hot-metal printing processes were replaced by information-
processing and offset technologies. Clearly, as work requirements change, quite
different sets of skills are required to secure and maintain employment in these
sectors.
Significant patterns of change are occurring in the kinds of work available in par-
ticular countries, localities and in what constitute categories of occupations. There
are long-term consequences for these occupations, as well as for those people and
communities wishing to maintain secure employment in particular kinds of occu-
pations. The implications include the capacity to sustain a career throughout one’s
working life, and the prospect of dealing with shifts in locations, wholesale trans-
formations in work requirements and even the demise of particular occupations.
For vocational education, it means that, beyond initial preparation, there has to be
curriculum and certification arrangements that can facilitate occupational transitions
throughout a person’s working life.
3 Changes in Participation in Work
The ways in which individuals engage in work and the organization of that work
are being transformed—and in diverse ways. This has implications for the capaci-
ties that individuals require and how their skill development is assured throughout
178 S. Billett
their working lives. There are shifts to increasingly ‘non-standard’ forms of em-
ployment practices. These can comprise contingent forms of employment (e.g.
part-time, contract based and non-continuing) that, in the main, are involuntary
(Lipsig-Mumme, 1996). Across many Western-style economies, the number of
workers who are employed in these kinds of work arrangements is high and increas-
ing. In Australia, Pusey (2003) notes that full-time employment declined between
1985 and 2000 from 82% to 74% of the workforce. In the United Kingdom, the
percentage of employees working part-time increased from 21% in 1991 to 27%
in 2000 (United Kingdom Labour Force Survey, 2005). Similarly, temporary jobs
increased from 4% to 8% and self-employment rose from 7% to 11.6%. There
are also other forms of non-standard work that are reshaping the organization and
conduct of work, such as working from home or otherwise being remote from the
worksite. The advent of low-cost forms of information technology has provided
circumstances in which workers are less required to be physically located in a par-
ticular workplace. Yet, as with contingent work, these workers refer to difficulties
in maintaining their contact with and their understanding of what constitutes the
requirements for work, particularly as these are subject to change (Noon & Blyton,
1997).
As with the changes to the kinds of occupations that are available, these non-
standard forms of employment are deployed and experienced differently across
workforces. Involuntary contingent work arrangements are less likely to be expe-
rienced by highly-skilled or highly-paid workers, but are more likely among lower-
paid and low-skilled workers, such as those in the service sector (Bernhardt, 1999).
These employment arrangements are counter to orthodox labour-market practices,
as they are typical of times of high unemployment. Yet, in countries such as
Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, contingent work situations
have continued even within times of soaring economic activity and performance. All
this contradicts and stands in contrast to what was predicted for the contemporary
workforce.
In the 1990s it was forecast that most work in Western economies would become
highly skilled, increasingly self-managed and highly discretionary (Carnevale, 1995).
Yet such arrangements have only been accorded to a minority of workers (Bern-
hardt, 1999; Berryman, 1993). Highly-skilled professionals are most likely to ex-
perience these arrangements, but they remain a remote prospect for service and
retail workers. As Bernhardt (1999) suggests, some retail work is deliberately down-
skilled to secure low levels of pay and maximize opportunities for using part-time
and contingent workers. Technology, which is increasingly becoming a require-
ment of workplace performance, can be used to de-skill these workers, including
marginalizing their discretion. For instance, massive technological investment by
the retailer Wal-Mart has been used to keep inventories responsive to turnover pat-
terns. Here, some tasks are being transferred to the suppliers themselves, who can
re-supply stores based on access to records about product sales (Bernhardt, 1999).
Yet, these changes have been driven by technological and process innovation—not
on the basis of making work more expansive and skilled. Although these are not
‘high-performance workplaces’, their operations are highly profitable. Hence, it
is unlikely that retailers like these will engage in expanding employees’ working
opportunities.
The prospects for expansive work practices are based upon perceptions of the
complexity of work and the standing of workers. Darrah (1997) noted in a company
manufacturing computers that the system designers were seen to have the most high
status and were afforded greater levels of support and professional development.
Yet, analysis of the work conducted by production workers indicated that their skill
requirements were at least as demanding as those of the system designers. Nev-
ertheless, the production workers were rarely given opportunities to develop their
skills further, nor were they involved in organizational decision-making, even that
associated with production matters. Thus, perceptions about the standing of individ-
uals’ work can influence how they participate in and contribute to the workplace.
Moreover, the bases upon which employers support employees in their on-going
development throughout their working lives also appears to be marked by diversity.
Studies from America and across Europe indicate the same trend. Employers are
more likely to spend funds on and support younger, more educated, skilled and male
workers who speak the native language than those who are older, less educated and
skilled, female and who do not speak the native language (Brunello & Medio, 2001).
They are most likely to support the kinds of workers who are best able to fend for
themselves, probably because these workers are seen to be more valuable and less
replaceable.
Thus, consideration of expansive and high-performance workers needs to in-
clude the broader requirements for being able to perform vocational practice in
dynamic, intense and differentiated circumstances. This suggests requirements for
the development of workplace capacities that go beyond technical competence and
emphasizes how this knowledge might be applied, managed and used strategi-
cally in fluid and transforming work practices. Beyond the prospects of institu-
tional support (e.g. workplaces, educational institutions), the agency of individu-
als as learner-workers will be central to their effective on-going participation in
work.
4 Changes in the Requirements for Work
It follows from the above that the requirements for work performance will change
continuously throughout individuals’ working lives. Regardless of whether work is
up-skilling or down-skilling, the requirements for work are changing. This means
that individuals will need to maintain their workplace competence actively. These
changing requirements will be manifested in particular ways across workplaces and
will vary in terms of the breadth and scope of change. Yet, some requirements are
likely to comprise work that is more: (i) non-routine; (ii) specialized and diverse;
(iii) intense; (iv) conceptual; (v) discretionary; (vi) complex; and (vii) based on
interactions with others, tools and artefacts. Each of these has implications for vo-
cational education.
180 S. Billett
4.1 Work is Becoming Less Routine
Regardless of whether work is being up-skilled or down-skilled, it is increasingly

subject to change and transformation. This makes it less routine, demanding con-
tinuous learning. Production and service cycles are getting shorter (Bailey, 1993).
Technology brings about changes as it moves through cycles of introduction, growth,
stability and then further change (Bartel & Lichtenberg, 1987), with these cycles
becoming increasingly close together and overlapping. Consequently, workplace
competence premised on engagement with technology can be fleeting. A car me-
chanic claimed that each model of automobiles has particular nuances associated
with its operation, maintenance and mechanical problems. Beyond general mechan-
ical knowledge, familiarity with particular models of cars is central to mechanics’
workplace competence developed over time in working on these vehicles (Billett &
Somerville, 2004). However, the replacement of one model by the next nullifies the
value of existing nuanced knowledge. The mechanics must learn, through experi-
ence, the mechanical foibles of the new model. In this way, the frequency of change
that workers are subject to reflects the frequency with which they have to learn anew.
Some implications for vocational education are as follows. The degree to which
the requirements for work are different or new to the worker makes this learning
an easier or more difficult task. Learning about new requirements that are similar
to what has been experienced before are easier to learn because of the existing
knowledge base. Changing from one form of word-processing package to another
might not be too difficult. However, tasks that are novel to an individual can rep-
resent a significant learning task, with the danger of overwhelming their learning
ability. Importantly, beyond the objective requirements of the tasks to be learned,
the degree to which the task is novel is person-dependent. That is, what will be a
routine activity for one person may be non-routine for another. Women returning to
clerical work after being principal care-givers for their children are confronted by
significant transformations in the technological requirements of clerical work (e.g.
using word-processing, spreadsheets and electronic mail). For the worker whose
previous competence was with a typewriter, there is a requirement for considerable
skill development.
The degree to which learning tasks are novel to individuals is likely to determine
the level of support required to guide their effective work performance. Generally,
new learning or the adaptation of existing knowledge is the kind of learning that
would most likely require guidance by more expert monitors. This can include
demonstrating practices, elaborating concepts and assisting individuals’ access to
knowledge that they might not otherwise be able to learn.
4.2 Specialization and Diversification
A need for specialization or diversification—or both—arises as workplaces change.

Particular technologies require individuals to become specialized in their opera-
tion, because expensive equipment or complex processes require specific expertise.
Conversely, and particularly in workplaces that have reduced the number of work-
ers, the remaining workers are required to perform a wider range of tasks. Individ-
uals might need to be more broadly skilled and engage in a wide range of activities
that demand a broader range of work competencies. The motor mechanics referred
to above have noted the way that longer vehicle warranties have changed their work.
These warranties tend to wed car owners to the garage from which it was purchased
and mechanics’ jobs become concerned with maintaining close contact with and
providing a service for a client over a longer period (Billett & Somerville, 2004).
Mechanics may have to develop skills associated with communication, explanation
and being patient with clients’ complaints or requests.
Therefore, depending on the degree to which individuals are asked to develop
specific skills or to be more broadly skilful suggests different but particular kinds of
skills development. Both the scope and depth of work requirements demand partic-
ular kinds of vocational preparation: the broadening of the vocational base and the
development of specialization through richer procedural and conceptual knowledge
of particular domains of activities.
4.3 Intensity of Work
To provide high-quality goods and services, work is becoming more intense through
the need to compete locally and globally. For instance, changes to medical practices
have made nurses’ work more demanding. Hospital wards once contained recuper-
ating patients who required little intensive care by nurses, who could then focus
their attention on the sick patients who really needed their care. Now patients often
recuperate elsewhere (e.g. at home), leaving hospital wards for the really sick pa-
tients requiring the nurses’ attention. The latter’s work has become more challeng-
ing. Managing such work requires monitoring, prioritizing and conducting multiple
tasks simultaneously (Bertrand & Noyelle, 1988). This requires considering a range
of factors, making and enacting decisions and monitoring execution of a number
of tasks simultaneously. Higher order capacities are required to manage work that
is intense, and these capacities have to be developed for effective work practice.
Developing these kinds of capacities represents a key goal for vocational education,
yet such capacities are not likely to be easily developed through classroom-based
activities.
4.4 Conceptual Requirements
Work requirements might also become more opaque—difficult to comprehend and

increasingly reliant upon conceptual and symbolic knowledge—particularly where
technological requirements are high. There have always been conceptual elements to
working knowledge (e.g. force factors, process considerations). These are gradually
becoming a requirement for contemporary and emerging work practice. Technol-
ogy more often requires particular understandings on the part of workers premised
182 S. Billett
on conceptual and symbolic knowledge, than when individuals engage more di-
rectly with their work activities. Computer-controlled lathes, for instance, require
levels of symbolic and conceptual knowledge that are distinct from those required
for operating a manual lathe (Martin & Scribner, 1991). The former requires that
the operator utilizes digital co-ordinates and commands, that are more abstract
and may be more difficult to comprehend and learn than those from physical
engagement and observation (Zuboff, 1988). Similarly, while bedside computers
can ease nurses’ workload through performing routine monitoring tasks (Cook-
Gumperez & Hanna, 1997), this technology requires understanding operations and
functions represented in digital form, rather than those physically engaged with or
through observing a patient. Further, the separation between the operator and the
object upon which they are working makes the task of understanding more difficult
(Zuboff, 1988).
With increases in technology use, the requirements to work with forms of
conceptual and symbolic knowledge are likely to become more common, and
therefore a goal for vocational education. Because of the demands associated
with the learning of conceptual and symbolic knowledge, it may be necessary
to use specific instructional devices to secure understanding. Without specific in-
structional interventions this ‘hard to learn’ knowledge will not be successfully
learned.
4.5 Enhanced Discretion and Complexity in Work
Although the promise of high-discretion work has not been realised universally,
the discretionary qualities of many forms of work are increasing for many if not
all workers. Job expansion (e.g. cross-skilling) and changes to workplace prac-
tices, such as the flattening of organizational structures, often introduce increased
demands for workplace discretion (Noon & Blyton, 1997). These changes may
require workers to make more decisions and take into account an increased array
of work-related factors, thereby making the requirements for effective performance
more complex. Complexity refers to the number of compounding factors that need
to be considered or taken into consideration when enacting a work task. From the
examples above, work requirements are becoming more complex because of their
novelty, job expansion or specialization, the conceptual knowledge needed to be
exercized, and the broad range of discretionary qualities required. For many, the
demands for effective work performance are increasing. Ironically, this may not
be the intention of workplace management, who may even wish to simplify and
de-skill work (Danford, 1998). Yet, the range of factors that underpins much of
contemporary and emerging work, including the constancy of change, suggests
that—regardless of these intents—work itself is becoming increasingly demanding
about maintaining competence, because of the kinds of barriers that are erected to
subordinate and control, around which workers have to work to exercise their sense
of self as individuals and workers.
4.6 Workplace Interactions
In addition to the changing characteristics of work tasks as outlined above, the re-
quirements for workplace interactions with others and with technologies are chang-
ing and likely to increase. Across a range of occupations and kinds of work practice,
there seems to be a growing demand for individuals to work as teams, even if they
are not interested in or empowered through these arrangements (Darrah, 1997). Nev-
ertheless, the distribution of activities across groups of workers and flatter organiza-
tional structures premised on a reduction in direct supervision (McGovern, 1996)
demand increases in workplace interactions. These include requirements for ne-
gotiation and working with others in order for work to be commonly understood,
shared and conducted. Such requirements are complicated by the breadth of work
individuals engage in, the cohesiveness of teams and common understandings about
work (Billett, Smith & Barker, 2005). The ability to communicate and the capacity
to engage with others are emerging now as basic requirements for work. Beyond
being able to communicate orally and in written form, there are also work practice
requirements that are both a product of and premised on workplace interactions.
Moreover, and related to the requirements for developing the conceptual and sym-
bolic capacities required for work, there are the requirements to interact with tools
and artefacts, and with technologies of different kinds—and to communicate about
it. So, together, the growing requirements for interactions with others, tools and
technologies suggest that these aspects of work performance require particular ca-
pacities and, therefore, new forms of development.
Overall, the requirements for contemporary and emerging work practices are
more demanding than in the past. Yet, not all of these requirements are new. There
have always been new activities, specialization and diversification, intense forms of
work and conceptual underpinnings for effective work, discretionary qualities and
capacities. However, currently—and also probably in the future—there will be a
requirement for these capacities to be learned with greater frequency. The outcome
will result in making work more demanding and therefore requiring more thorough
initial preparation and continuity. It seems that initial vocational preparation will
need to be thorough and go beyond just work techniques and providing for the
on-going development of vocational practice.
5 Changes in Who is Participating in Work

Having identified changes in the forms of work available, their conduct and per-
formance requirements, there are also changes noticeable in those who are par-
ticipating in work; that is, in those who require initial preparation and on-going
development throughout their working lives. The most significant increase in many
Western countries is women’s participation in the labour force. Between 1970 and
2000, the proportion of women aged over 16 in the American labour force increased
from 43% to 61% (United States of America. Department of Labor, 2005) and is
184 S. Billett
currently at 47% of the total work force. This increase in women’s participation is
closing the gender gap, with female workers predicted soon to outnumber males.
In Australia, the percentage of women aged between 25 and 34 in the Australian
labour market has increased by three-quarters in just one generation: from 41% to
71% between 1970 and 1996 (Pusey, 2003). Similarly, in the United Kingdom their
participation has increased from 42% in 1980 to 47% in 2000. Being married now
has less effect on women’s participation in the workforce (McGovern, Smeaton &
Hill, 2004). In 1960, fewer than 20% of women with children under the age of 6
participated in paid work, yet in 2004 60% of these women and 75% of women
with school-age children are participating in paid work, which is consistent with the
overall level of participation by women (Jacobsen, 2004). American women are now
marrying and having children later. They have fewer children, can access childcare,
are less willing to interrupt education for marriage and more likely to have a career
before marriage (Jacobsen, 2004). Moreover, they have benefited from education
to secure better paid work (Loutfi, 2001). The increases in women’s remuneration
are believed to be based on: (i) women’s educational attainment, particularly in
post-graduate education; (ii) work experience and lifetime hours worked; (iii) re-
muneration in some female-dominated occupations and sectors that has modified
demand and supply; and (iv) measures to combat blatant forms of gender pay and
promotion discrimination (Jacobsen, 2004). Thus, across many Western countries,
women are participating more in the paid workforce than in earlier times. There
are variations in this trend, with women’s participation in paid employment being
the norm in northern Europe and Scandinavia, whereas in Japan women are still
expected to leave the workforce upon marriage.
However, despite increased levels of participation and work that is well remuner-
ated, women have failed to secure benefits comparable to those of males. Women
are more likely to be employed part-time than their male counterparts, leading to
truncated and unsatisfactory career options (Tam, 1997). The distribution of oc-
cupations in which women work tends to be quite narrow, often concentrated in
particular occupational fields. Some 25% of American women report being em-
ployed in administrative support positions, compared to only 5% of men. Only
2% of women against 20% of men report being employed in precision production
work (United States of America. Department of Labor, 2005). Similarly, even in the
relatively emancipated Nordic countries occupational segregation is relatively high
(Anker, 2001). Overall, women are also in receipt of lower levels of pay, although
the gap is closing (Jacobsen, 2004). It also seems that prospects for women remain-
ing competent and enjoying successful careers depends upon developing positive
work identities through workplaces that support their career trajectories. Yet, this
may not always be available to them.
The division between those who are highly skilled and paid and those who are
lowly skilled and paid is not distributed equally across national populations. In the
United States, African-Americans and Hispanic Americans disproportionately par-
ticipate in low-wage work encouraging the development of an entrenched underclass
perilously placed in evolving working life requirements, and whose employment is
often located in precarious service work (Bernhardt, 1999). Levels of education also
distribute work options, with workforces being characterized by increasing levels of

qualifications. In 1940, the majority of the US labour force (75%) had less than a
high-school education (Employment Policy Foundation, 2003). Yet, by 2002 those
who had not completed a high-school qualification were estimated at only 10% of
the adult labour workforce. So, recipients of lower levels of education may struggle
to secure effective and continuous employment.
Older workers are now a focus of attention in many Western countries. In the
United States, some have been required to stay at work longer because of lim-
ited public pension schemes. However, the phenomenon of older workers is now
predicted to be experienced more widely. Demographic changes in many countries
mean a requirement to work and remain competent far longer, as well as growth in
the provision of human services, including care for an ageing population (McNair
et al., 2004). There is little evidence to suggest that older workers become less com-
petent or capable (Baltes & Staudinger, 1996), although there is a decline in reaction
times and physical strength, which can affect some kinds of work performance. Spe-
cific training and older workers’ experience can compensate for some of these de-
clines (Sigelman, 1999). However, given the constantly changing character of work,
older workers may well need additional support to learn new requirements as their
existing capacities become redundant. They may need to reaffirm their competence
more often and at the cost of existing competence and identity. One view suggests
that, as older workers become an increasing component of workforces, employ-
ers will provide adequate support for their skill development. However, experience
calls for caution in supporting this optimistic view. Just as there is little evidence
of widespread employer-sponsored childcare to support workforce participation by
women with young children, there is no guarantee that employers will support older
workers. Instead, the privileging of younger workers may be accentuated by their
relative scarcity and they will likely remain the focus of enterprise support, rather
than older workers. Of course, this will be affected by circumstances.
Overall, opportunities at work and impacts of recession are likely to impact most
heavily on disadvantaged groups. These impacts are not wholly based on human
capital (e.g. educational levels and experience), with factors associated with race,
age and ethnicity apparently shaping opportunities. So, changes in participation
mean a need to develop and maintain work skills for a longer and potentially dis-
continuous working life as individuals move in and out of the workforce. There will
also be a need to focus on specific skill formation for workers at different stages of
their working life.
6 Changing Work, Changing Workers
Having identified changes to work, working life, work requirements and participa-
tion in work, it is important to understand and address the impact upon individu-
als. Workers will experience these changes. Ultimately, the enactment of work is
a human process and individuals will bring particular capacities, identities and a
sense of self to their work in different ways and in different measures throughout
186 S. Billett
their working life. Consequently, the changing requirements of work are engaged
with, negotiated and made sense of by individuals whose backgrounds and experi-
ences are diverse and differentiated. The inevitability of change brings with it not
only threats to existing competence, individuals’ standing and confidence, but also
individual’s different capacities to respond to those changes. In combination, the
capacities, identity and agency of people to engage with and secure appropriate de-
velopment, on the one hand, and the degree by which workplaces or other agencies,
including vocational education and training institutions, on the other, support that
development will shape the prospects for individuals to maintain their competence
throughout an increasingly long, but turbulent, working life. Yet, many vocational
education systems are premised on standard curriculum provisions and industry-
based requirements that serve to deny the importance of the relevance and tailoring
of these provisions to meet individuals’ needs. Thus, curriculum and instructional
frameworks that are responsive to the diverse requirements of learners, rather than
viewing them as having universal starting points, capacities, levels of readiness, etc.,
are likely to be required.
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Chapter I.8
Traditional and Transitional TVET Systems
Poonam Agrawal
1 Introduction
Human ingenuity, supported by an instinctive urge to explore and learn, manifests

itself in dynamic creativity. It transforms itself into a mechanism for transferring
‘acquired’ knowledge and accumulated experience to future generations. The whole
process of acquisition and evolution of knowledge and its transfer is covered by the
term ‘education’. It also covers various transitions, reforms and adaptations that are
taking place more frequently in the current context. The fast pace of development is
driving even ‘established’ societies to conduct a process of continuous review and
reforms. With respect to technical and vocational education and training (TVET),
throughout the world countries are constantly trying to adapt it to a new economic
and social order. However, whatever is transitional today may become a tradition
in times to come, and something that had been a tradition may again find a place in
transitional and futuristic systems. Tradition need not be discarded without scrutiny;
similarly, transition cannot be delayed or deferred. Yet, it needs to be viewed and
discussed in the local context with in-built reference to the global scenario. It is
relevant to carry out an overview of the manner in which education systems evolved
in different societies. For the purpose of this chapter, the focus will be on TVET
systems.
2 Ancient (Traditional) TVET Systems
Education, in its real sense, has always been perceived beyond literacy and numer-
acy. In India, in olden times, education was imparted in the ashrams
(Gurukuls) of rishis (saints). The students, irrespective of their socio-economic
backgrounds, lived together in the Gurukul from the age of 5 or 6 years until
the Guru adjudged them (each individually) fit for the responsibilities of life. The
education was wholesome, and neither differentiated into levels (primary, middle,
secondary or higher) nor forms (academic, religious, moral, career oriented). It in-
cluded knowledge, character-building and skill-training through the ashram’s day-
to-day work, e.g. cooking, cleaning, farming, gardening and cattle-rearing, amongst

190 P. Agrawal
others. The students were taught to develop qualities of self-reliance and to respect
mutual equality. This system also gradually spread into small villages and continued
for thousands of years. Some world-famous universities of India, such as Nalanda,
Taxshila (now in Pakistan) and Vikramshila, were based on this system of education
(Narottam, 2000).
Besides this, the two age-old methods of on-the-job learning (apprenticeship)
and learning within the family tradition existed in ancient cultures. In ancient and
mediaeval India, young children were exposed from childhood to the skills relating
to the family vocation, leading to intensive training within the family that gradually
made them masters of that vocation. It was also the responsibility of the elders in
the family to educate children about moral conduct and behaviour, and initiate them
such that they could face the challenges of life and assume responsibilities with the
appropriate level of preparedness.
Education within the family was also a tradition in Ancient Egypt. By precept and
example, parents would instil into children various educational principles, moral
attitudes and views of life from a very tender age. Parents familiarized children
with ideas about the world, their religious outlook, ethical principles and the correct
behaviour. Education covered both general upbringing and training for a particular
vocation. The children did not usually choose their own careers but adopted the
family vocation (Tour Egypt, 1999–2003).
Reverence for the gods, respect for law, obedience to authority and truthfulness
were the most important lessons to be taught. Girls were taught by their mothers.
They learned to spin, weave and sew. References to the Roman period contain some
interesting details about the training of girls to become weavers and spinners. At this
time, weavers usually sent their children to be taught by colleagues in the same trade.
The master undertook to return any payment if he failed to get his pupil through the
whole course (Tour Egypt, 1999–2003).
Later, around 200 BC, the Romans borrowed some of the ancient Greek sys-
tem of education. They began sending their sons to school outside their home
at age 6 or 7. Some girls also attended schools with their father’s permission.
The children studied reading, writing and counting. At age 12 or 13, boys from
the upper classes attended ‘grammar’ school, where they studied Latin and Greek
grammar and literature. At the age of 16, some boys studied public speaking at
the rhetoric school, as preparation for life as an orator (Encyclopaedia Britannica,
2006).
Thus, in ancient civilizations, before the advent of the industrial era, home and
apprenticeship were the main systems for educating children. In other words, vo-
cational education was an integral part of the system characterized by handwork
(manual work)—Ancient China being an exception. China is one of the oldest
countries with an education system. In the period 770 BC-476 BC, private schools
existed through which different schools of thought—e.g. Confucianism, Taoism—
were taught. These schools continued to exist although there were times when State
education became popular. Vocational education first appeared in China in isolated
schools around 1870 (Xinli Wu, 1991).
I.8 Traditional and Transitional TVET Systems 191
3 Transitional TVET Systems
As cultures progressed, the demands of development necessitated formalization of

education imparted outside homes in schools and colleges. The institutionalization
of education split societies into those who could take advantage of such education
and others, who remained disadvantaged and marginalized for various reasons. The
split was more evident in developing and under-developed countries than those of
the developed nations. People came to be differentiated between intellectuals and
working class, the latter remaining uneducated or educated to a very low level. An
overview of the development of education in different parts of the world brings to
the fore some characteristic features of the institutionalization of education. Firstly,
the pace of the development of education and ideologies was not uniform through-
out the world. Traditionally, the TVET systems in a country were determined and
influenced by factors such as demography, culture, the social system, extreme polit-
ical turmoil (external rule, world wars) and the struggle for survival. These systems
varied from one country to another, with some countries being closer to the norm
than others. Secondly, the integrated system of imparting knowledge about manual
work (skills) gave way to two distinct systems of education: general and vocational
(or technical) education.
Even today, general education aims to enhance general proficiency, is mostly
knowledge based and does not prepare the learner for any specific job or occupa-
tion. Vocational education, on the other hand, was specifically designed to develop
competencies associated with particular occupations. Traditionally, in many coun-
tries, general education and vocational education are conceptually and operationally
separated from each other; vocational students not being admitted to academic edu-
cation. Vocational education is usually offered at secondary or upper secondary level
(leaving school after the tenth or twelfth years of schooling, respectively) and termi-
nates with a certificate. There are some options for continuing vocational education
leading to a higher diploma, but it still remains at a sub-university level without any
articulation with academic education.
Vocational education and vocational training were also distinctly differentiated
from each other by their relative emphasis on knowledge and skills. Vocational edu-
cation programmes were designed to develop a considerable knowledge base along
with skill development, while in the case of vocational training there was often very
little, if any, theoretical content. The target groups, mode of delivery and management
also differed. The delivery mechanisms varied depending on comprehensive schools,
differentiated schools, polytechnics, technical colleges, Fachhochschule, technical
and further education (TAFE) institutions on the one hand, and training within industry
on the other. Some countries offer technical and vocational education in differentiated
schools, e.g. vocational schools that are separate from general secondary schools,
offering specialized courses preparing learners for specific vocations and are terminal
in nature. Malaysia, Philippines and the Republic of Korea are some examples of this
type of vocational preparation. In Europe, Germany stands out as a very strong and
successful example where skill training is provided by industry.
192 P. Agrawal
Some countries have focused on developing primary and secondary education,

while others prioritized higher education. Relative emphasis between general, tech-
nical and vocational education (and in the latter case between theoretical content and
practical experience, i.e. between education and training) also differed markedly.
Barring a few exceptions, vocational education was considered as an alternate ed-
ucational path for low achievers, school-leavers/dropouts, the less intellectual or
for children from lower socio-economic strata. It aimed at preparing the low or
middle order of the workforce by inculcating specific occupational skills. In this
chapter, we will come to see all of these variations as we study the TVET sys-
tems of different countries/continents, how these systems developed and also how
changes have taken place, such as dissolving distinctions and boundaries during
reforms.
In Latin America, during the period between these countries gaining indepen-
dence and the First World War, interest was more directed at developing higher
education, as the secondary education of elites took place through tutoring systems.
Educational content was copied from Spain and Portugal, although there were also
some British and French influences. Between the First and Second World Wars,
the basic role of secondary education was to prepare elites for privileged social,
economic and political positions as it was almost exclusively oriented towards ac-
cess to higher education. Vocational education, through schools of industrial art and
commercial education, was kept separate from secondary education and specifically
aimed at preparing people for manual work (Corvalán-Vásquez, 1988). By 1960,
technical and vocational education came to be recognized as part of secondary ed-
ucation, but still prepared students only to enter the world of work and, hence, was
regarded as low-status education. Nevertheless, countries like Brazil, Argentina and
Colombia significantly expanded their provision of technical and vocational edu-
cation. After 1960, developments, such as the realization that education was an in-
strument of modernization, the necessity of involving the middle and lower-middle
classes in political structures in order to enlarge its base and several educational
experiments led to diversification, which opened up entry to higher education in
universities to technical and vocational school graduates, provided they qualified
in entrance examinations. Needless to say, general secondary education remained
the main path for entry to university education and retained its higher social status
(Corvalán-Vásquez, 1988).
Among other factors, growing urbanization has also been an important influencing
factor. Argentina, Cuba and Costa Rica, with early urbanization, had relatively more
developed education systems as compared to other Latin American countries, and
represented higher enrolments in TVE (25 to 50%). Brazil developed a strong TVE
system owing to rapid industrialization (Corvalán-Vásquez, 1988).
A societal demarcation was evident in the United Kingdom through its grammar
school and regular school system, the former for the intellectual elite and the latter
for the masses (Ishumi, 1988). This two-track system appeared in Africa as a proto-
type in Nigeria and in its modified form elsewhere. In the United States of America,
Cooper Union, Pratt Institute, Hampton Institute and Tuskegee Institute were among
the pioneer trade schools in industrial, agricultural and home economics training,
initially for African Americans. The University of Minnesota established the first
regular public vocational secondary school in the form of an agricultural high school
in 1888. The federal government took a significant step to promote vocational ed-
ucation, passing the Morill Act (1862), in pursuance of which land-grant colleges
were established. After this, a number of acts and bills led to the development of
vocational training in the United States, which helped to upgrade the workforce.
Even in the nineteenth century, some kind of vocational and technical education
systems existed in most Asian countries. Certain countries, like India, were ahead
of the others. However, most of these countries, including India, had to start afresh
after attaining independence. In Sri Lanka, the TVET system has evolved over a
period of 100 years with rapid expansion after independence in the 1950s.
In India, the deep-rooted and celebrated system of education in the family
tradition and apprenticeship with a focus on working with one’s hands was strategi-
cally destroyed during the period of colonial rule. The implanted system forcefully
propagated by the British, commonly known as the ‘Macaulay System’ and intended
to prepare people ‘to serve the British rulers’, was not concerned with the growth
and development of India as a nation. This truth was realized by the great thinkers,
such as Mahatma Gandhi. His experiments in education in South Africa and In-
dia led him to conceptualize basic education (nai talim) in India. He visualized
education as a basic tool for the development of national consciousness and the
reconstruction of society. Character-building by education through good deeds, the
development of virtues, the ability to find solutions to problems and the development
of intellect through craft were the main elements of basic education. Gandhi stated:
‘In my definition of education, there is no wall of brick and cement separating in-
tellectual training from vocational training, but the latter includes the former, that
is, it provides scope for development of the intellect’. The visionary thoughts of
Mahatma Gandhi became reflected in recommendations of various commissions and
policies and are relevant even today. In India, vocational education was perceived
as a continuum of exposure, orientation, exploration and training. It was recom-
mended that students should be exposed to a variety of work of a practical nature,
to become oriented towards work, and be given time to explore various vocational
options before choosing their final field of specialization. With a view to linking
education and productivity, the Education Commission (1964–66), also called the
Kothari Commission, recommended that work experience should form an integral
part of general education. This concept was essentially similar to the philosophy
of basic education, although it was more broad based and included several modern
productive activities. Consequently, the National Policy of Education (1968–86) in
India reemphasized vocational education in schools, introducing work education
from classes I to VIII, pre-vocational education in classes IX and X, and vocational
education as a distinct stream in classes XI and XII. The work-oriented education
offered at elementary level under a variety of nomenclatures—e.g. work experience,
work education, life-oriented education, craft education, socially useful productive
work—is meant to prepare children to face life with a proper attitude, knowledge
and skills in relation to work. This is expected to promote social, personal and voca-
tional development and ultimately lead to a smooth transition to the world of work
194 P. Agrawal
(Agrawal, 2000). The policy document on Vocationalization of Secondary Educa-

tion (1976) is a landmark in the history of vocational education in India. However,
its success is ‘patchy’ and fresh debates are going on at present to introduce reforms.
The eighty-third amendment to the Indian Constitution has made eight years of
elementary education compulsory; however, it is yet to be achieved. A policy of ten
years of common school curriculum is pursued, after which streaming into general
and vocational or technical education begins. However, industrial training institutes
(ITIs) take both class VIII and X graduates and train them according to the needs
of specific industries, offering certificate courses of varying duration. Some states
in India, e.g. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, also run
technical schools after lower secondary stage (class VIII) in which, in addition to
the common curriculum, one vocational subject is offered. These schools mainly
feed the polytechnics. India has a chain of polytechnics (more than 1,300) provid-
ing broad-based education after class X in engineering and some non-engineering
areas. The polytechnics usually offer three-year programmes leading to a diploma
(Postlethwaite, 1995). Technical and vocational education in India is generally sep-
arated from academic (general) education and does not enjoy a reputable status,
except for higher education in engineering and technology which are fed from the
academic stream.
In 1972, the National Education Commission of Bangladesh, appointed immedi-
ately after independence, recommended the diversification of secondary education
from grade IX onwards. In China, although the history of vocational education
can be traced back about 130 years, the ‘Schooling System of 1902’ laid down
systematic regulations for vocational education. However, until 1949 progress was
slow until the People’s Republic of China was founded, after which vocational ed-
ucation witnessed substantial improvement and development. In the 1950s, thou-
sands of specialized secondary schools and skill-worker schools were established
(CIIC, 2004). In China, technical and vocational education (TAVE) is one of the
four distinct sectors of education. TAVE is mainly offered in specialized secondary
schools, skilled-worker schools, secondary vocational schools and advanced tech-
nical and vocational colleges. Nine years of compulsory education in China cov-
ers education up to the lower secondary level. Specialized secondary schools offer
four-year programmes for the lower-middle school-leavers, i.e. after nine years of
compulsory schooling.
In Japan, the first national Vocational Education Law, passed in 1894, marks a
long history of national support. However, the ideology is quite different. The ed-
ucation system is not built up around specialist vocational models. Mastery of one
subject area (skills) is not what the Japanese society or employment sector is looking
for. In general, Japan takes a ‘broader view’ rather than a ‘subject-specific’ approach
on technical and vocational education. Nine years of schooling is compulsory in
Japan. After six years of elementary education, students learn pre-vocational sub-
jects at lower secondary level, which is three-year education. Streaming into general
and specialized courses starts from upper secondary level (three years of full-time
schooling). However, a majority of students enrol for general education. This may
be because, in Japan, willingness to adapt to a concrete working situation (i.e. in
the employing company) and being productive is highly valued. On the contrary,
high priority was given by the Republic of Korea and Taiwan to specific vocational
education as they entered the industrial era.
In Australia, there are nine years of compulsory education. Most of vocational
education takes place in the TAFE system, the most accessible tertiary education in
Australia, with entry in principle after ten years of education; however, in practice,
it is now after twelve years of education. TAFE institutions offer a wide variety
of courses classified into the following six streams: professional, para-professional,
trades, other skilled, preparatory and adult or further education. Courses in the first
two streams lead to a diploma or associate diploma; in the third and fourth streams
to a certificate; the fifth and sixth streams offer less formal or shorter courses not
leading to any certified qualification. The majority of TAFE courses are conducted
on a part-time basis, concurrent with employment, but there is also a provision for
full-time study (Kurian, 1988).
The TVET systems in European countries show substantial diversity, despite
their developmental similarities. Education in the United Kingdom is compulsory
from 5 to 16 years of age (eleven years). Some vocational courses are offered in
comprehensive schools; some technical secondary schools also continue to exist;
however, most vocational education is given through a separate ‘further education
system’ called technical colleges or colleges of further education (Kurian, 1988).
There has been an effort in the 1980s and 1990s to give more technical and vo-
cational orientation to secondary education, and a course of technology, which in-
cludes craft and design, has been included as a compulsory ‘foundation’ subject. A
two-year programme of training for school-leavers is offered outside the school sys-
tem consisting of vocational, some general education and work experience, known
as the Youth Training Scheme.
In France, ten years of schooling is compulsory, after which streaming of sec-
ondary education occurs for general and technical high schools. There is also a
provision of technical higher education (two years) leading to a diploma. Unlike
Germany, technical and vocational education has never been considered an attractive
option in France.
Schooling is compulsory for nine to ten years in Germany. After four (or six)
years of primary education, there are three options for grade 5 (or 7) to 9. The
Hauptschule, the Realschule and the Gymnasium, as well as a comprehensive form
(Integrierte Gesamtschule). Among these, the Hauptschulen offer vocational ed-
ucation preparing students for entry into employment and are attended by most
young people. At tertiary level, Fachhochschulen, requiring successful comple-
tion of twelve years of schooling, train students in the practical application of
scientific knowledge. Every young person in Germany with nine years of general
schooling must attend some part-time or full-time professional qualification pro-
gramme. The specialized secondary schools include commercial secondary schools
(Wirtschaftsgymnasium), which offer some business subjects in grades 11 to 13
and technical secondary schools (Technisches/Berufliches Gymnasium or Techni-
sche Oberschule), which lead to higher education in technical fields. These are
slight variations of academic programmes only. The real vocational and technical
196 P. Agrawal
education, however, takes place in many different specialized schools. These are
part-time vocational school (Berufsschule), full-time vocational school (Berufsfach-
schule), the extended vocational school (Berufsaufbauschule), the specialized sec-
ondary school (Fachoberschule) and the technical school (Fachschule). Part-time
vocational schools are the most common vocational schools in Germany providing
compulsory part-time schooling with practical apprenticeship training leading to a
certificate. This dual system forms the usual route to trades for most young people.
However, there are opportunities for its articulation with advanced qualifications
through the Berufsaufbauschule, Fachhochschule, etc.
The Fachhochschulen are university polytechnics, established in Germany and
German-speaking countries—e.g. Austria, Switzerland—preparing students for a
variety of technical specialties and leading to good employment prospects.
Fachhochschulen are an important source of training for engineers, accounting in
1992 for two-thirds of the engineering degrees awarded in Germany. The govern-
ment has planned to divert more engineering students from universities to Fach-
hochschulen, to develop a more highly skilled workforce and to boost the economy,
especially in the former East Germany. In addition, Germany has two- or three-
year higher education programmes in vocational academies (Berufsakademien),
which integrate practical training in industry with theoretical education in a lo-
cal university (National Science Board, 1996). The Fachhochschulen differ from
polytechnics in other countries as they are unique examples of higher vocational
education offering not only a diploma but also bachelor’s and master’s degrees (no
doctoral programme, however). In India also, vocational courses have been intro-
duced at bachelor’s degree level since 1994, but these are far from comparable to the
Fachhochschulen. A number of countries, such as India, Indonesia, Japan, the Re-
public of Korea and Singapore, have polytechnics and technical colleges forming an
important component of the post-secondary vocational education system.
Greinert (2004), while analysing European vocational training systems, suggests
that VET has evolved quite differently, even in countries that have experienced sim-
ilar economic and social development. The process of European industrialization
did not produce a uniform model, but rather more or less destroyed the age-old,
roughly homogeneous craft/trade-based vocational training methods. Three general
types of VET systems are identified: the liberal market economy model in the
United Kingdom; the State-regulated bureaucratic model in France; and the dual
corporate model in Germany. The three countries have different priorities in the
area of industrial relations and labour law. In the case of the British liberal model,
the market directs the supply and demand relationship, the qualification demands
depend on their possible application in the labour market. The bureaucratic, State-
regulated model, first implemented in France, uses the education sub-system to
create a political, power-based relationship between capital and labour. The ‘dis-
advantaged’ workers are ‘qualified’ with the help of a State-regulated and financed
education sector, including vocational training. The dual model of Germany uses a
new independent, self-referral system of vocational training linking labour, capital
and the State. Mainly run by industry, companies are the primary learning loca-
tion for vocational skills. The learners also attend a vocational school financed by
the public sector. Although largely isolated from the general education sector, its
success can be understood by the fact that in Germany even small enterprises are
highly organized, training is viewed as a long-term investment for industry and
the education sub-system (the dual system) is a ‘normal track’ for the majority
of youth. This is in contradiction with several other countries where vocational
education and training is considered to be an alternative option for low achievers.
Thus, if this model were to be successfully replicated in other countries, it would
demand pre-conditions typical of Germany. Various other vocational education
and training models in European countries arising throughout the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries are modifications, variations and/or combinations of these three
models.
4 The Contemporary Context and Reforms
Traditionally, historical, cultural, political and sociological features affected the

TVET systems in a country. Later, the pace of urbanization and industrializa-
tion, technological revolution and labour demands impelled expansion and reforms.
However, in the most recent decades, globalization, the emergence of a knowledge
society, liberalization and employment equations in free economies have necessi-
tated rethinking the policies and long-existing structures of education and training.
Concerns for gender equity, social equilibrium and justice have placed demands
on policies and programmes for specific social groups. The mandate is to reach
all and build human resources for all areas of need within emerging global society
(Agrawal, 1999).
There is a renewed emphasis on the development of skilled but adaptable human
resource in the international arena. The Delors Report projects four pillars of ed-
ucation, in which ‘learning to do’ essentially represents vocational education and
training (Delors et al., 1996). In the present context, TVET is being seen as a major
human resource development strategy.
In the Asian region, there is a common realization of the importance of skills in
socio-economic development, as reflected in the conference report on case studies
on TVE in Asia and the Pacific in 1996: ‘The future international competitiveness
in trade and increases in national productivity will only occur by having a skilled
work force capable of meeting the technological changes of the 1990s and beyond’
(NIER/UNESCO, 2002).
In Indonesia and Malaysia, the reforms that took place in 1984 were meant
to make students more employable and entrepreneurial, while preparing them for
lifelong education. This led to creating a better image of TVE with the result that
enrolment increased (Wilson, 1991). The modernization process in China, carried
out since the 1980s, led to rapid expansion of TAVE, accounting for about 45% of
total enrolment at the upper-secondary level.
To cope with global changes and sustain competitiveness, Germany has enacted
a Vocational Training Reform Act in 2005. This act aims at securing and improving
training opportunities of high quality for all young people, irrespective of their social
198 P. Agrawal
and regional origins. The success of vocational training within industry is enhanced
by training support programmes for disadvantaged trainees, e.g. those with learning
disabilities, socially disadvantaged trainees, disabled trainees and those with lan-
guage difficulties (immigrants).
In recent years in the United States, corporations and labour organizations have
established the majority of new vocational and cultural centres. Public high schools
have placed a renewed emphasis on students to meet general academic standards
and also learn a trade.
5 Lifelong Learning, the Role of Industries and Trade Unions
Nowadays, merely acquiring knowledge and skills is not enough. Liberalization,

globalization and rapid technological changes have substantially changed the world
of work. Traditionally, formal training aimed at preparing a worker for a lifetime
of employment. Now the trend is towards frequent and multiple career changes,
part-time and casual work. This necessitates continued lifelong learning and train-
ing strategies that are able to cope with changing technology and employment
demands. The work force needs to be flexible and adaptable. The emphasis is
on competitiveness, interpersonal skills and the ability to sustain employment by
adapting to changing job requirements and circumstances. Traditional concepts
are being redefined and the relationship among and between knowledge, infor-
mation, training, learning, qualifications, skills and employment are being under-
stood afresh. The distinction between education and training is not as clear-cut as it
used to be.
Different countries have responded to this situation in different ways. The Aus-
tralian approach is to develop competencies essential for work in all young people
and to lay the formation for their continuing vocational education and training. The
TAFE colleges and other publicly-funded infrastructures already have wide cover-
age but, in order to cope with future demand, the Australian Government is pro-
moting an open training market called ‘User Choice’ in which a learner can select
preparation from any registered training organization, be it public, private or solely
an enterprise. Chile is also following a similar pattern of privatization. Countries like
China, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Republic of Korea are focusing their attention
on creating a new breed of highly skilled employees, equipped with skills such as
communication, teamwork, problem-solving, the ability to handle information, etc.
The objective is to make a niche in the global market. Singapore has developed a set
of such key competencies called ‘critical enabling skills’ (ILO, 1999).
Expenditure on continuing training in European Union countries has registered
significant increases (65% in Belgium since 1987; multiplied by four in Greece
between 1988 and 1990), while handling joblessness for the long-term unemployed
through vocational training is a top priority with many countries (Münch, 1996).
In Asia and the Pacific the concern for employment is even more vital. Global-
ization adversely affected the employment scenario in East Asia. The situation in
countries like Indonesia, Philippines, the Republic of Korea and Thailand, became
quite alarming (ILO, 1999). Asian and African countries anticipate tackling the
problem of unemployment through the global migration of labour.
Training also has to address the concerns of the informal sector. The ILO (1999)
suggests that efforts to generate training and employment should aim to create an
environment conducive to income-generating activities, provide skill training, busi-
ness training and access to credit, particularly for socially disadvantaged groups.
The relationship between pre-service and in-service vocational training varies
from country to country. In Spain, continuing vocational training also covers basic
general education, while in countries like Belgium and the Netherlands it is not
covered. In Denmark, general in-service training is a part of continuing vocational
training, while in countries like Ireland and Portugal it is not. A clear distinction
exists in countries like Germany, Denmark and Luxembourg between initial and
continuing vocational training. In Portugal and Greece, initial vocational training
for adults is part of continuing vocational training (Münch, 1996). These differences
can be attributed to the initial training itself. In Germany, for example, there is an
important system for preparing the majority of young people for skilled employ-
ment, but this is not the case with most other countries.
Trade unions have a crucial role to play in retraining and updating the workforce
and are also geared up to cope with changes, renewed requirements of vocational
training and the need to ensure greater and better participation on the part of indus-
tries. In some instances, trade unions determine the training needs, negotiate with the
government, create suitable upgrading and updating programmes for the workforce,
motivate the workers to undergo training and, in certain cases, also manage the
training programmes and the institutions. In Argentina, trade unions offer vocational
training with a significant coverage. In Brazil, major union federations and their
affiliates run training programmes. In Mexico, unions are involved with the certifi-
cation of occupational competencies. Some central unions in Venezuela, Argentina
and Brazil are think-tanks for workers’ organizations and give research input on
training aspects (ILO, 1999). The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has established
a training company that delivers training in various specific areas—e.g. electronics,
hydraulics and core skills—leading to certification. It also acts as a broker for its
members.
Despite certain differences, enterprises play a major role in providing continuing
vocational training and it is generally well understood that it is a crucial factor for
sustaining and facing the challenges of a fast-changing economy and technological
advances, as well as answering the concerns of social equity. In China, skilled-
worker schools are run by enterprises and professional organizations, with State
guarantee of employment (Postlethwaite, 1995).
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has recently renewed its objec-
tives and strategies to promote skill development as a priority industrial issue. ACTU
is seeking to maintain an industry-led vocational education system that responds to
employment needs, develops strategies to give equitable access to VET opportuni-
ties to non-standard workers and to disadvantaged people within the labour market,
and improves the TAFE system to respond to industrial needs, employees and the
200 P. Agrawal
community (ACTU, 2005). Prior to the 1990s, Australian industries were not taking
a keen interest in employee training, but the situation thereafter has changed to some
extent.
Various employer groups in the European Union understand that offering op-
portunities for initial and further vocational training in keeping with the needs of
industry is in the interest of both the employers and the employee. Nowadays, not
only vocational training but regular and appropriate further training and lifelong
learning throughout a person’s entire working life is crucial to maintaining effi-
ciency, productivity and the employee’s employability (ECEG/EMCEF, 2004).
6 Open and Distance Learning (ODL) Strategy in TVET
ODL, mainly referring to pedagogical aspects, has wide-ranging implications not

only for delivery but also on the instructional design, reach, impact and quality of
education. As well as being advocated as a means of reaching a large number of
learners at one time, it is also viewed as a strategy for gender equity and social
justice. The flexible mode of delivery offering possibilities for lifelong learning,
learner-centred approaches and high adaptability to changing demands are added
advantages. However, issues of quality have been a concern with ODL and this has
to receive special attention if it is to accrue real benefits.
Australia is a country with probably the greatest number of courses and degrees
offered through distance learning. The Australian Flexible Learning Framework
for Vocational Education and Training, 2000–2004, a collaborative commonwealth-
state strategy, elaborates nationally agreed goals, principles and actions designed to
give a boost to flexible learning (Australia. DETYA, 2001).
In Turkey, vocational and technical open education high schools offer educational
opportunities and teach vocational knowledge and skills through distance education.
The Ministry of National Education projected that, in 2000–2001, more than 77,000
students received vocational education through these schools.
Distance education in China started in the 1950s as correspondence education,
with education via satellite taking shape in the 1980s. In the 1990s, developments
in information technology led to faster delivery of distance education, which is
serving as a strong mechanism to offer programmes for vocational and technical
education and training (CERNIC/CERNET, 1998–2000). India initiated correspon-
dence courses in teacher education in the early 1960s. Now a strong network of
ODL through a central open university (Indira Gandhi National Open University)
and state-level open universities has been established that also offers vocational pro-
grammes. At school stage, the National Institute of Open Schooling offers about sev-
enty vocational courses of various levels and duration through the correspondence-
cum-contact mode.
This, in fact, has been the global trend. ODL started primarily with correspon-
dence courses and accelerated with the satellite system. With the advent of the era
of information technology, a form of e-learning has been made possible that is being
seen as a strong strategy to bring within the fold of education those who for various
reasons have been left out of the regular school system, as well as for training and
retraining employment seekers and the employed, according to the changing job
profiles.
7 Conclusion
Society constantly reinvents itself through education. It is a process by which the
young generation builds its roots and becomes prepared for the future. In a dynamic
surrounding, nothing that is growing or that facilitates growth and development can
be static. Education is a facilitator of growth and development and, hence, cannot
afford to be static. It demands a constant change without compromising with conti-
nuity. The key is to strike the right balance between ancient and modern, ideal and
real, while neither the key nor the balance are ever static. Consequently, designing
education is a continuous endeavour of exploration, experimentation, invention and
reinvention; with a pace that the society demands.
The proverbial rigidity of education systems reflected in resistance to change
has to vanish in the face of fast global transformation. Education is the key to
understanding the current scenario, but it has to be relevant and effective. While
knowledge is necessary, it becomes functional only when supplemented with com-
petencies and skills. Never before was there as strong a need as today for TVET
to adapt itself to serve as a critical binding force between society, productivity and
sustainable development.
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Agrawal, P. 2000. Vocationalization of agriculture education and gender issues. Indian journal of
vocational education, vol. 3, no. 2; vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 30–34.
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Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2006. <www.britannica.com>
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Wilson, D.N. 1991. Reform of technical-vocational education in Indonesia and Malaysia.
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Chapter I.9
Partnering to Meet the Needs
of a Changing Workplace
1 Introduction
Knowing how our profession is evolving can help us position ourselves for the fu-
ture. Some of the trends we describe are already emerging; others can be foretold
from current and emerging events. All are supported by data and demographics
gleaned from many sources, both academic and industrial. Two major forces—
global competition and rapid technological advances—have profoundly changed,
and will continue to change, the nature and content of work in the workplace of the
future.
The world of work has entered a new economic era that has no precedent in
the past. This new economic age is the result of many shifts that have happened in
the global socio-economic, industrial and political environment. These shifts have
created new paradigms based upon technology, people and industrial organizations,
which differ significantly from those that we have relied upon for decades. These
shifts are happening continuously and at an ever-increasing pace. In today’s business
environment, the only constant is change. This new economic age is challenging in
many ways, but it also provides us with new opportunities as individuals, organi-
zations, nations and the world. But for businesses to prosper in this ever-changing
world, they must completely rethink how and why they do what they do, and pre-
pare their members well to work in this new environment. In other words, the new
economy will require new paradigms in how we educate, train and develop the
workforce (Hartanto, 1993). Sustainable competitive advantage is no longer based
on technology or machinery. Corporate leaders are saying that people are our most
important advantage. Through downsizing, restructuring and reorganizing, many
organizations are creating high-performance work systems and transforming them-
selves into learning organizations. They are giving more responsibility to workers,
who have been asked to do more with less (Bassey, 1990). The American economist
Lester Thurow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has reminded us that:
‘in a global economy of the twenty-first century the education and skills of a
workforce will end up being the dominant competitive weapon’ (Thurow, 1993).
Similar admonitions have come from Carnevale (1991), Reich (1992), Judy &
D’Amico (1997) and others. In this brave new world, Shield (1995) reminds us,

204 L. Hiniker, R.A. Putnam
education and training systems must not be based upon knowledge acquisition at the
expense of knowledge application; upon past practice; or upon theoretical models
with little or no consideration of application, data-based needs analysis, or planning
for quantitative or qualitative evaluation.
2 The History of Work-Based Education

One of the first models to be put in place, first in manufacturing but later extended
to all industries, was Frederick Taylor’s The principles of scientific management
(1911). With authority, it was argued, a manager could get anything done. Systems
were created, developed and implemented by management. Workers were only there
to run the system under the supervision of management, while productivity prob-
lems were the result of failure to follow procedure. It was argued, therefore, that
workers really did not need to know very much. When this centralized planning
method proved unsuccessful—as it almost always did—jobs were ‘dumbed down’
leading to even less worker involvement and, inevitably, to a cycle of industrial
decline obvious in the late 1970s and the 1980s. These centralized planning ax-
ioms developed under Taylorism suggested that management goals were specifi-
cations for performance. Actually, when used to reduce or replace worker input,
they were primarily tools for shifting blame away from management when the cen-
trally planned systems didn’t work—which they seldom did (Bradley, 1993). To-
day, ‘scientific management’ has been largely discredited. In a survey of employer-
sponsored training in the United States, Lakewood Research (1995) found that
54% of all budgeted training dollars were aimed at programmes for managers
and professionals rather than for workers. In addition, 64% of training managers
reported that they expected their budgets to remain the same or be cut for the
next fiscal year, despite an increase in training requests from their organizations
and increased corporate profits. A more recent report by Lakewood Research on
the Dun and Bradstreet organizations (2001) shows that, despite the fact that the
non-exempt employees greatly outnumber managers and exempt professionals in
the American workforce, only 36% of training spending is directed at them. An
argument could be made, perhaps, that workers do benefit indirectly from the train-
ing their bosses get. It would appear that a considerable amount of research-based
analysis is needed in education and training policy in both the public and private
sectors.
The purpose of this chapter is to suggest a starting point for the development of a
work-based learning system, which will serve a motivated, highly-skilled and well-
educated workforce. This system must be developed using the tools at our disposal,
while working under real-world constraints. Innovative partnerships, as discussed in
this chapter, may help achieve this goal.
Albert Einstein reminded us that: ‘the mere formulation of a problem is far
more essential than its solution. [...] To raise new questions, new possibilities, to
regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and makes real
I.9 Partnering to Meet the Needs of a Changing Workplace 205
advances in science’ (Fields, 1993). We suggest that the first step is an understand-
ing of the problem using the elements of good research as suggested by Ander-
son (1990), Bassey (1990) and Hammersley (1992): determine the question, collect
data and then conduct a systematic, critical inquiry in order to explain, generalize
and predict. A good place to begin our investigation into what work-based learning
should be is to try to understand what the workplace of the future will be like and
who will work there. What do emerging trends and current and projected data tell
us about the work organizations and demands of the future? What about the people
who will work there? What will their needs be?
3 The Workplace of the Future
Analysis of a review of the literature revealed six major areas of structural organiza-
tional change that will have a significant impact on development-oriented practices
in and intended for the workplace. In a study commissioned by the American Soci-
ety for Training and Development (McLagan, 1989), it was found that the pressures
for workplace productivity will intensify, and that the pace of change will continue
to accelerate with organizations and industries looking beyond obvious efficiency
gains to more systematic ways of being low-cost producers of high-quality products
and services. Research by Grant Thorton LLP, a major international accounting firm,
found that 78% of mid-sized companies surveyed are reducing cycle times and that
ultimately, speed and agility will become the critical requirements for survival for
mid-sized manufacturers (Cantwell, 1996). Work will continue to change rapidly
because of advances in technology and, according to Peter Drucker (1994), time
has become the most valuable business resource. In a study of best practices by
industry leaders in the United States and Canada, researchers identified the practices
of quantifying and measuring reductions in cycle time, employees’ recognition of
their responsibility to continuously improve their work processes, and employees’
understanding the compelling need for change as a major difference between high-
performing and low-performing companies (Yearout, 1996). Further evidence of this
trend is found in the report by Lakewood Research (1995) that 84% of businesses
reported measuring the reactions to training provided by the employer, 60% reported
evaluating behaviour when they returned to the job, and 43% reported measuring
the business results of training provided—all a dramatic change in the past few
years. The useful life of information was estimated at ten years in 1980 by the
software industry, at two years in 1995, and estimated at fifteen months in 2002
(Olson, 2002). Recent anecdotal information from a variety of sources in manufac-
turing and service industries, both in the United States and Europe, confirms this
trend. The ‘do more with less’ refrain will be a dominant theme in work organiza-
tions in all industries in the future.
The second clear structural change occurring across industrial sectors is that more
people continue to do applied knowledge work. According to the National Center
for Education Statistics (NCES) in 1950, 60% of all jobs in the United States were
classified as non-skilled; in 2000, only 15% were.
Virtually every group of adults examined increased their participation in adult education
between 1991 and 1999, often in ways that reduced disparities in participation that had
existed in 1991. Although the widespread increase in participation in adult education has
been accompanied by an elimination of some inequities, in many cases the highly educated
and high status groups that have been the traditional beneficiaries of adult education remain
the main beneficiaries today (NCES, 2002).
Workers will continue to have greater access through technology to the informa-
tion needed to do their jobs, and are therefore less dependent on hierarchy and
structures. As cycle times decrease and change accelerates, the ability to apply
skills quickly and effectively is becoming more important than simply having skills.
Technology is continuing to take over a category of jobs, which do not require
critical thinking. Automation engineers use the rule of the ‘three Ds’ to deter-
mine which jobs will be automated: dirty, dangerous and dumb. In the emerg-
ing work environment, knowledge skills such as judgement, flexibility and per-
sonal commitment are now the most valuable skills to the organization (Yearout,
1996).
A third very clear trend is that work organizations in all industries and sectors will
continue to shift their focus to the customer and quality. It will be pervasive because
it is a key competitive characteristic. In tomorrow’s work organization, customer
and quality focus will continue to permeate the organization, with every employee
clear about the value he or she adds internally, as well as for external customers.
One of the greatest differences between high-producing and low-producing compa-
nies identified in recent research was that employees in high-producing companies
understand the link between their tasks and the organizations’ strategic plans and
goals, and that change in the high producers is driven by customer needs and expec-
tations (Yearout, 1996). The pervasiveness of this trend can be seen by the variety
of work organizations that have endorsed the quality movement. Within the past
decade, the United States Department of Defense, Organizational Dynamics, Inc.,
General Motors, Ford Motor Co., Daimler–Chrysler, Kroger Food Stores, Ameri-
can Telephone and Telegraph, General Electric, Proctor and Gamble, health-care
organizations, schools, hotel chains and many other organizations have proclaimed
their conversion to quality. Lakewood Research (1995) reported that 70% of those
surveyed from the Dun and Bradstreet list of organizations in the United States em-
ploying 100 people or more are providing employer-supplied training in at least one
of the current quality initiatives. They also noted that 82% report providing train-
ing intended to develop a customer focus, and 74% of manufacturers report adopt-
ing total quality management, with 50% reporting transitioning to a teams-based
structure. In 1995 the Baldridge Quality Award, the equivalent in the United States
of the Japanese Deming Quality Award, was piloted with health care and educational
organizations. An emphasis on customers and quality is obviously not an issue in
only a few industries and sectors, but has become a way of conducting work in most
industries within the realm of new technological advances. The Lakewood Research
report (2001) states that 37% of all employer-sponsored training in the United States
is devoted to teaching computer skills.
In the work organization of the future, a fourth major and clearly developing
trend is that in many organizations the arena for planning and action will be global.
McLagan (1989) predicted that markets, resource pools, competition, partnerships—
or all of them—will cross national lines. For some, competitors are suppliers or
even customers. Relationships are complex and boundaries have blurred between
organizations and their environments. One study indicated that in the automobile
industry, Japanese and American management attitudes became remarkably simi-
lar with each national group acquiring some of the other’s philosophy. A study by
Yauas (1995) of Asian managers and American managers in the electronics industry
showed a great deal of ‘convergence’ in management attitudes and practices in the
entire Pacific Rim. The International Standards Organization has also greatly ho-
mogenized practices of management and production through its ISO 9000 standards
and sub-standards. In addition, the pressures created by international trade unions
and agreements, such as the European Union (EU), the North American Free-Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), will
intensify internationalism in all industrial sectors and in both the industrialized and
the non-industrialized world.
In the work organization of the future, business strategies will become more de-
pendent on the quality and versatility of the human resource. As McLagan (1989)
noted, whether they rely on improved productivity, quality or innovation, the strate-
gies of the future will not be delivered if the organization’s human resources are
not capable and committed. Organizations that apply only money and technol-
ogy to problems, without bringing the people along, will not survive; especially
in industries in which knowledge, skills and willingness to change are critical to
competitive advantage. Confirmation that the message is clear to competitive indus-
tries is demonstrated by expenditures. Total dollars budgeted for formal training in
1998 by United States organizations with more than 100 employees was US$52.2
billion; an increase of 3% from 1994 and the 2001 report indicates US$56.8 bil-
lion dollars budgeted for formal training (Lakewood Research, 1995, 2001). Shawn
Miller of Eastman Kodak could have been talking to every work organization in
the future when he gave the advice ‘train everyone’ (Miller, 1995). Training has
become so important that the Baldrige Award criteria, ISO 9000, QS 9000, ISO
14000 standards and MRP II (the Eastman Kodak total quality standards) all have
a category or requirements for a formal training plan and a disciplined approach to
training.
Finally, all of our data and sources agree that work structure and design will
change dramatically. In most major industries in all sectors, hierarchies have al-
ready begun to melt into or have been replaced by a flatter and more flexible orga-
nizational design. The boundaries between individual jobs are blurring, with more
team accountability, flexible and multi-skilled job designs. Major downsizing and
other initiatives that emphasize doing more with less have also had a great impact
on worker flexibility. As large companies, such as Sears and IBM, which tend to
represent their industrial sectors, continue to move to a more decentralized work
environment, this trend, already strong, can only accelerate.
4 The Impacts of Change
The next task is to ask what these projections and our interpretation mean for
the development of work-based learning. What will the workforce needs be in the
work organization of the future? How will the changes in the workplace affect the
workforce? What knowledge and skills will workers need? How will these impact
work-based learning?
Each of the six identified areas of major organizational structural change dra-
matically increases demands upon the people who work within the organization. As
these changes occur, demands made upon any work-based learning system will also
change. It would be of value to examine each of the changes to see what they mean
in terms of the skills and knowledge that will be required.
Pressures for workforce productivity will intensify and the pace of change will
continue to accelerate. Organizations are still downsizing and still expecting workers
to do more with less. Overall, 31% of United States industries employing over 100
people reported downsizing in 1998, but in industries employing 100,000 or more,
the percentage was 56%! Another 25%, but as high as 46% in some sectors, reported
increasing the use of ‘outsourcing’, up from 14% in previous years, and 21% overall.
As high as 30% in some sectors reported increasing the use of ‘contingent’ workers.
‘Reengineering’ was also popular, with 35% overall, but as high as 59% in some
sectors being involved. Of the US$56.8 billion total dollars budgeted for formal
training in 2001, the amount of US$19.3 billion will go to outside providers of
training products and services (Lakewood Research, 1995, 2001). In slimmed-down
organizations, with fewer workers to do the work, and the nature of the work chang-
ing rapidly, those fewer workers are going to need to learn to do additional tasks
frequently, and to work more effectively. Obviously, any future-oriented work-based
learning system will have to be grounded in solid fundamentals, close to or linked
to its application, and emphasize ‘learning to learn’.
More people today are doing applied knowledge work, which requires judge-
ment, flexibility and personal commitment rather than submission to procedures
(Carnevale, 1991; Marshall & Tucker, 1993; Judy & D’Amico, 1997). Creating
competent knowledgeable workers who can apply what they know with the ability to
keep pace with rapidly changing technology will be a key challenge. The emphasis
will not be what the worker knows, but what he or she can do with it (Drucker, 1994).
The Hudson Institute reports that net job growth between 1994 and 2005 is greatest
in three categories: professionals, service workers and technicians. ‘The high-paying
“professional specialty” occupations are expected to grow by 25 per cent between
1994 and 2005, faster than any other major occupational category. On the other
hand, the low-paying “service occupations” are also slated to grow by 23 per cent
in these years’ (Judy & D’Amico, 1997, p. 77).
Organizations will continue to shift their focus to quality and customers. Of
the nine current industrial trends identified by Lakewood Research (1995), six
were quality or customer driven. Overall, 58% of the organizations, but as high
as 80% in some sectors, report adopting ‘total quality management’. Overall, 50%
of the organizations, but as high as 69% in some sectors, report development of an
‘organizational vision’. Overall, 78% of organizations report ‘teaming’ with 61%

of the total workforce involved. The largest change from 1994–95 was an increase
from 34% to 44% of organizations who report that they now ‘partner’ with suppliers
and customers. The change to a customer-oriented, group-centred and broad-based
responsibility and application in a total quality environment has tremendous impli-
cations for traditional work-based learning, which has stressed isolated and intensive
skill acquisition and single practitioner application in narrowly defined parameters
of responsibility.
The arena for planning and action will be global. Any successful work-based
learning system must be prepared to serve clients who work in a global setting.
Flexibility and adaptability are no longer merely desirable, but are required. In-
dicative of this is that 53% of United States companies with over 100 employees
provided training in ‘diversity’; 51% provided training in ‘strategic planning’, and
16% provided training in a foreign language (Lakewood Research, 1995). Also,
72% of mid-sized United States manufacturers recently surveyed by the accounting
firm Grant Thornton reported that they planned to increase their emphasis on de-
veloping foreign markets as a result of various regional and world trade agreements
(Cantwell, 1996). Diversity is now a dominant feature of all work, while teaching
the skills required to function effectively in diverse work settings must become a
major thrust of work-based learning.
Business strategies will become more dependent on the quality and versatility
of the human resources. An anecdote might be an appropriate example here. A
technician was summoned to a company to repair a major piece of manufactur-
ing equipment. The plant manager looked on anxiously, as the production line was
stopped. The technician removed the metal inspection cover, then, shaking her head,
replaced it. She then walked to the rear left side of the machine and tapped it with a
hammer. The machine lit up, reset itself and began operating again. Before leaving,
the technician presented an itemized bill which read: ‘Tapping the machine with
hammer, $1.00, knowing where to tap, $999.99’ (Burban, 1995). A look at the rele-
vant literature indicates that many organizations are getting the message. Lakewood
Research (1995) reported that 72% of United States organizations employing 100
or more people provided training in ‘leadership’, 60% provided training in ‘deci-
sion making’ and ‘listening skills’, 58% in ‘quality improvement’ and ‘delegation
skills’, and 57% in ‘problem-solving’ and ‘managing change’. Between 19% and
35%, depending on sector and size, provided some form of ‘remedial training’. The
2001 report by Lakewood Research reports that the most frequently offered training
sessions focus on computer applications for end-users, technical skills/knowledge
and customer service, while training for computer systems/programming, executive
development and sales is far less frequently provided. ‘The training most frequently
provided on a weekly or monthly basis consists of new employee orientation, prod-
uct knowledge, customer education and new equipment operation’ (Lakewood Re-
search, 2001, p. 48).
Work structure and design are changing dramatically. As organizational hier-
archies become flatter, the result is more flexible work organization designs. In-
creases in responsibility and accountability for many workers have also increased.
As organizations become leaner, clear lines between jobs begin to blur and the fewer
workers must acquire more skills to accomplish more tasks. Teams carry out com-
plex operations and everyone must work more effectively. An effective work-based
learning system in this environment must have maximum flexibility in content and
delivery.
5 The Workforce of the Future
Now that we have some understanding of what the workplace and work organization
will be like, and some understanding of the demands that will be made on the people
who work in these organizations, our attention must be turned to the people who
will work in these organizations. Any effective work-based learning system must
meet the needs of the learners it serves. What are their needs likely to be? What
unique problems must the system address? What resources will be needed? What
challenges must be met to prepare the workforce of the future for the workplace of
the future?
When we examine the data, the first thing that they tell us is that the workforce is
changing as fast as the work organization, but not in the same way, and not for the
same reasons. One similarity, however, is that the changes are structural. This means
that the changes have begun and will continue and intensify through all industrial
sectors. An advantage is that since some of the changes have already taken place,
we can examine some impacts of those changes.
The first of three structural changes in the workforce that the research identified is
that it is rapidly becoming more diverse. In the United States it will be more female
and non-white than male and white in the future (Johnson, 1987; Carnevale, 1991;
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1994; Judy & D’Amico 1999). In Western
Europe, judging from recent events, this also appears to be the case. Literacy gaps
will widen, with increasing proportions of the adult population classified as ‘func-
tionally illiterate’ as the demands of technology accelerate skill requirements. In-
ability to function adequately in the language of the workplace is another emerging
problem (Chissman, 1993; National Center for Education Statistics, 2002). When it
is considered that that the birth-rates of all the Western industrialized democracies
have remained relatively low for some time, the challenges that relate to an older
workforce are added. The South to North and East to West migrations in all parts
of the world accelerate the multiculturalism of the workforce and add even more
diversity. It is clear that to educate and train the future workforce, management
practices, communication processes and development issues must be addressed
forcefully.
The second major workforce change reflects a value shift: people will expect
meaningful work and involvement. They will see their skills as resources to be used.
They will have access, through technology rather than hierarchy, to more of the in-
formation they need to do their jobs. They will expect to participate in decisions, as
well as in the wealth they help create. Studies by Hatcher and Hill (1993) involving
regional industries in the United States noted that, for several years, workers had
been exhibiting increased work ethic scores on measurement instruments as com-

pared with workers in the region in comparable industries of a generation ago. Pro-
ductivity indicators, however, did not always rise. Closer investigation revealed that
the workers, while believing that they should always do their best, were sometimes
reluctant to do so if they believed that their input was not valued by the organiza-
tion and that they would not benefit from their increased effort. These findings are
consistent with the literature of the past forty years, which consistently identified
worker involvement as one of the more important motivators. As Breisch (1996)
notes:
In the 21st century, people will gravitate toward organizations that add a unique valuable
dimension to their lives. [...] The choice is clear: You can either compete by offering high
salaries and wages or work to create an environment that makes people beat down your
door to get in. The only way to survive in the 21st century is to build a dynamic, creative
environment that motivates people.
It should also be noted that employee empowerment is a prominent feature in all

total quality initiatives. Any work-based learning system designed for tomorrow’s
workforce must emphasize the concept of the worker as a value-adding human re-
source.
Finally, a shift is occurring in the nature of the contract between organizations
and their employees. Merit is replacing loyalty as the basis of the bond between
the worker and the work organization. Evans (1976) observed that as the skills of
a worker became noticeably improved, their loyalty tended to shift toward the skill
area, and away from the employing organization. The effects of continuing massive
industrial plant relocation, outsourcing even in knowledge industries and profes-
sions, the dominance of the knowledge professions in compensation, and extensive
corporate downsizing in all industrial sectors have now made this a major structural
change in the workforce.
Technology is changing the way we live, work, play and learn. Successful
partnerships between education and industry can provide the technology and in-
novations necessary to provide a flexible learning framework to meet the needs
of today’s lifelong learners. Fostering collaborative and innovative partner
ships will help enable higher education to transform in this high-speed information
age.
6 Types of Partnerships
The National Alliance of Business has been instrumental in examining and promoting
partnerships. In their report ‘Partnership planning structure for business/education/
government partnerships’, they outline the following categories for partnerships and
indicate that most partnerships fall under one of these areas:
1. Partners in public policy

These partnerships are collaborative efforts at the national, state or local level,
among businesses, schools and public officials that shape the public and political
debate, bring about substantive changes in state or federal legislation or local

school governance, and affect the overall direction of the education system.
2. Partners in systemic educational improvement.
Systemic educational improvement partnerships are those initiatives in which
businesses, education officials and other community leaders identify the need
for reform or improvement in the education system, and then work over the long
term to make those major changes happen in the system. These partnerships
generally affect a large number of youth, combine and channel resources in a
different way, and bring about lasting institutional change.
3. Partners in management
Management assistance partnerships provide school officials with management
support and business expertise in a broad range of areas. Some management
partnerships address administration and organization reform in matters such as
increased principal or teacher autonomy, labour management relations, flexible
personnel and incentive systems, purchasing efficiencies and plant and equip-
ment issues. Others address such areas as management information systems,
strategic planning and goal setting, legal insurance, finance, accounting and tax
assistance, organization development, performance standards and productivity,
public relations and school-building management.
4. Partners in teacher training and development
Businesses involved in teacher and counsellor training and professional develop-
ment provide opportunities for school personnel to update, upgrade or maintain
their skills. For example, to learn the latest developments in science or math-
ematics, or learn more about the labour market, industries and business in the
community, workplace needs and career opportunities.
5. Partners in the classroom
Classroom partners are business volunteers who improve the learning environ-
ment by bringing their business or occupational expertise directly into the class-
room for students and teachers, or bringing the classroom to the business. The
activities are planned and co-ordinated with the school staff, generally are tied
to the school year or semester and can focus on the needs of the school or of the
individual students.
6. Partners in special services
Special-service partnerships provide short-term, project or student-specific ac-
tivities or resources to help with a specific problem or need, such as awards,
recognition programmes, scholarships and other incentives, professional mem-
berships, fund-raising, donating or sharing equipment or educational material,
sponsoring career fairs or book fairs, hosting receptions, sponsoring student
teams, etc. These partnerships can include both financial and staff support,
but are generally shorter term, are confined to one school, one teacher or one
class, and they involve less business time and money (National Alliance of
Business, 2001).
In an earlier report ‘The fourth R: workforce readiness’, the National Alliance of

Business gives detailed information regarding the types of activities involved in all
types of partnerships, as well as the amount and type of resources that are neces-
sary, the commitment and leadership of top management, the focus of the activity
and scope of involvement and investment. The major focus of these partnerships is
identified under the following categories: public policy, systemic education reform,
leadership, professional development, classroom enrichment and special projects
(National Alliance of Business, 1987).
7 Learning Partnerships
Technology learning partnerships can provide a flexible learning framework to meet

the needs of today’s lifelong learners. Fostering collaborative and innovative part-
nerships will help enable higher education to transform in this high-speed infor-
mation age and provide new e-learning opportunities for the adult learner to help
address the needs for today’s highly-skilled workforce.
Electronic networks and the Internet increase an individual’s opportunity for
gaining an education in a variety of new modes. Students are no longer differentiated
by manner of attendance and learning is distributed across networks, geographic
areas and age spans. ‘Learners expect seamless, lifelong, affordable, asynchronous,
interactive diverse, customized, specialized, learner-centered higher education’ (Hill
Duin, Baer & Starke-Meyerring, 2001, p. 59). The challenge to educators remains
that of assisting students to achieve learning from today’s diverse information-rich
environment.
E-learning incorporates courses that are web-based, as well as those delivered
through video-conferencing and combinations of the two. Innovative e-learning is an
exciting and challenging endeavour for business educators and trainers. It is critical
that e-learning courses adhere to the same standards and quality as those courses
taught in the traditional classroom, yet they provide additional flexibility to place-
bound learners.
In a report from Berg, manager of education programmes at WMX Technolo-
gies, it is reported that businesses want to form partnerships, such as: return on in-
vestment/results orientation, school accountability, positive image/public relations,
good communication, school reform. Companies learn what they do not even know
they are going to learn, such as: what it is to be a teacher today. While businesses
want partners who want to learn, grow and change (1995). The report goes on to
explain how a partnership should be started. Universities need to think about the
important benefits to their students when entering into partnerships and I believe
a very important aspect of this report is the section on what students need from
partnerships:
1. To be able to connect what they are asked to learn in school with ‘real life’
applications. Business can provide a ‘sneak preview’ of the world of work and
give students a reason to study and do well.
2. To take responsibility for their own learning.
3. To understand that they must be lifelong learners. Finishing high school or col-
lege is no longer enough.
4. To be proficient in technology, especially computers. Waste management garbage
trucks now have on-board computers. Students can no longer say to themselves:
‘Well, I can always be a garbage truck driver if I drop out of school.’
5. To be exposed to a variety of career options and understand the educational and
experiential paths to various careers.
6. To figure out what they have a natural aptitude for, enjoy doing and could develop
into a career.
7. To be exposed to real-life success stories and role models.
8. To set higher personal goals (Berg, 1995).
8 Internship Opportunities through Partnerships
The United States Department of Labor predicted that 18 million graduates will
be competing for the 14 million college-level jobs in the year 2005. Former Sec-
retary of Labor Robert Reich pointed out that 80% of these jobs will require some
vocational training, according to the Watson study (as cited by Gault, Redengton &
Schlager, 2000). Experience is a major issue when it comes to the job search. Practi-
cal experience is a key attribute that entry-level professionals can offer as structured
work experience related to career interests. The National Society for Experiential
Education reports that one out of three four-year college students worked as an
intern prior to graduating. The research states that work-experience programmes
are more likely to receive increased research attention and faculty support when a
clearer link is established between on-the-job experience and career development
(Gault et al., 2000).
Higher education research has focused on improving teaching methods and
modalities and pedagogical processes, which operate in the classroom setting. There
is a lack of research into the efficacy of internships, which diminishes the perceived
legitimacy of field experience programmes, and as a result they remain marginal to
academic programmes (Migliore, 1990; Gault et al., 2000).
There are three terms that are commonly used to describe higher education
programmes that pertain to learning through employment in industry: there are
co-operative extension programmes, which refer to state-sponsored agricultural
work experiences; co-operative and internship are the two university names most
often used to describe field experience opportunities for students. Co-operative
students tend to work full-time while internship students tend to be part-time (Gault
et al., 2000). In their study of internships, DiLorenzo-Aiss and Mathisen (1996)
describe a typical internship programme as being characterized by four criteria:
(1) a specified number of work hours; (2) the work may be paid or unpaid;
(3) credit is awarded; and (4) oversight is provided by a faculty supervisor or
co-ordinator or other university representative and a corporate on-sight
supervisor.
Interns are expected to be novices, not experts. They are very different from
consultants. When consultants are hired, they are expected to be experts in their
respective fields. Also, it is intended that through the internship experience students
gain knowledge in an area where they have received academic training. The intern
may be a student or faculty intern and is expected to gain specific skills pertaining
to tasks in which they already possess general knowledge (Peak & O’Hara, 1999).
There is little information in the literature regarding predictors of internship suc-
cess and outcomes of successful internships. According to Beard & Morton, there
are six predictors of internship success: ‘These include: (a) academic preparedness;
(b) proactivity/aggressiveness; (c) positive attitude; (d) quality of worksite supervi-
sion; (e) organizational practices and policies; and (f) compensation’ (1999, p. 42).
9 Summary and Conclusions

In this chapter we have presented the necessity for the development of a work-based
learning system that will prepare a motivated, highly skilled, well-educated and self-
directed workforce for the work organization of the future. In order to present the
elements and challenges the system must face, we have outlined six major structural
changes in the work organizations of the future revealed by our research. We have
also analysed what these changes will mean in terms of demands upon the people
who will be working in them. We next turned our attention to the four structural
changes that are occurring in the workforce itself, then attempted to interpret the
meaning of these. We provided a discussion on partnerships between business and
industry and higher education that may help to fill the needs of today’s lifelong
learners. It is beyond the scope of this chapter to factor analyse the workplace orga-
nization and the people who will work in and operate it; such a task must be left to
future research. Two major conclusions, however, can be drawn:
1. The escalating pressures of productivity, change and technology, combined with

increasing diversity from many directions in the workforce, make it imperative
that in order to maintain our standard of living, a true work-based learning ‘sys-
tem’ must be developed built upon co-operation between all stakeholders. This
must include education, government, labour and industry. All levels of public
and private education must be articulated, and education and training (specific
task-oriented training as compared to general multi-purpose education) must be
moved closer to or linked with its applications as a result of accelerating change.
2. The total quality demands of the workplace combined with the changing values
of the workforce make it imperative that the quality model be nurtured along with
industry and educational partnerships. Innovative partnerships will help to meet
the challenges of a work-based learning system needed for the future. Elements
of this system must include:
r Clearly understood and agreed upon goals;
r A focus on customers, both internal and external;
r Commitment to excellence in which all functions focus on continuous

improvement;
r Commitment to teamwork;
r Decision-making based upon measurement and data;
r Commitment to lifelong learning;
r Partnering to meet the needs of a work-based learning system.
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Chapter I.10
Bridging the Learning Divide: A Study
into Adult Learning and Peer Mediation
in the Workplace
David Johnson
1 Introduction: The Learning Divide

As we enter the twenty-first century, it has become clear that the rapidly changing
nature of our working lives, public lives and private lives requires us to engage
continually in new forms of learning. It is now accepted wisdom that everyone
needs to be able to learn throughout life, both to remain employable and to fulfil
his or her potential. The problem has been accentuated as the United Kingdom,
like elsewhere in Europe, moves rapidly towards a knowledge-based economy and
it is becoming clearer that, in many communities, a significant number of adults
are disengaged from learning and have poor basic skills. There are also significant
numbers of working people with low basic skills and information technology skills
who have difficulties in accessing learning provision. But, while there is no shortage
of supply-side solutions to raising the skill levels of adult learners, there appears to
be a significant problem on the demand side. It seems that efforts aimed at engaging
in learning programmes those adults identified as having learning or skills deficits do
not take account of how the trajectories and life histories of adults and young adult
learners influence their dispositions towards learning. This arises, in part, from the
limited use of methodologies for gaining insights into the learning histories of adult
and young adult learners and, in part, from the limited conceptual understandings
applied to the nature of learning.
Our failure to bridge the learning divide between those who want to and can
access learning provision, and those who are unwilling—perhaps because of their
prior, and possibly unsatisfactory, experiences of learning—has created a wide train-
ing gap in the United Kingdom, which has denied many adults access to learning
and career opportunities. The National Skills Task Force (2000) reports that over
half the workforce has no qualifications above National Vocational Qualifications
(NVQ) level 2 and that one in three employees say that their employer has never
offered them any training. A particular concern is with levels of basic literacy, nu-
meracy and information technology. The Moser Report (Moser, 1999) showed that
one in five adults have such poor reading skills that they would not be able to find the
entry for ‘plumbers’ in the Yellow Pages. A recent survey in the West of England
showed that 33% of employers with five or more employees in Bristol identified

220 D. Johnson
skills gaps1 in their organization. The most frequently mentioned shortages included
basic literacy and numeracy, basic IT skills, technical and specialist skills, and work
ethic and motivation. The most frequently occurring skills shortages in basic literacy
and numeracy, technical and specialist skills and basic IT skills were found in the
transport and communications sector.
But it is not only the workforce that we should be concerned about. There are
strongly held views amongst social reformers that learning throughout life is neces-
sary as the United Kingdom becomes more plural and socially diverse. Indeed, there
is evidence from the Cantle Report (United Kingdom. The Home Office, 2002) that
community/social cohesion is threatened when there is a high incidence of poverty
and unemployment and low levels of education and skills. Yet, many communities
on the ‘wrong side’ of the learning divide are vulnerable and tentative in their con-
sideration of further learning. Importantly, traditional outreach methods have not
had much success in bringing them into learning provision.
As noted above, there is no shortage of policy imperatives to address the prob-
lems of low basic skills within the workforce and in the poorest communities.
Following the publication of the Moser Report on basic skills in March 1999, the
Basic Skills Agency was asked to set up a task force to look at how to encourage
3.5 million adults to improve their basic skills. The learning agenda appeared to
be shaped by concerns of ‘falling standards’ and ‘illiteracy’ and ways needed to be
found to ‘remedy’ the problem, ultimately to create a workforce able to compete in
a global economy and informed citizens participating at all levels in society.
In 2001 Skills for life: the national strategy for improving adult literacy and
numeracy skills was published (United Kingdom. Department for Education and
Employment, 2001a). It set out the governments’ strategy to raise standards of liter-
acy, language and numeracy among the adult population. A key strand of this strat-
egy was to provide each learner with access to a high-quality learning experience
recognized by national qualifications. By early 2001 a new teaching and learning
infrastructure had been developed comprising a set of national standards for literacy
and numeracy, core curricula for literacy and numeracy, a standardized screening
tool—Fastrack, a set of national tests for literacy and numeracy at levels 1 and 2.
A second policy document, Success in adult literacy, numeracy and ESOL provi-
sion (United Kingdom. Department for Education and Skills, 2002) places individ-
ual learners at the heart of the ‘Skills for Life’ strategy. It sets out a clear statement
of entitlement which confirms that all adult learners should expect to have: (a) free
access to impartial advice and guidance on how to improve their skills; (b) a con-
fidential report based on diagnostic assessment which identifies their strengths and
weaknesses in literacy, language and numeracy; (c) an individual learning plan that
identifies realistic milestones and targets; and (d) a relevant programme of learning
which has been developed using national standards matching their aims and ambi-
tions to their current abilities and future potential.
It is clear that these policy strategies are important and that they underline a
political will to tackle the issues. However, there appears to be a central problem, as
already pointed out above—the failure of traditional outreach methods in bringing
those who have disengaged from learning into meaningful learning provision. One
I.10 Adult Learning and Peer Mediation in the Workplace 221
strategy, keenly pursued by the government to strengthen the United Kingdom’s

competitiveness and improve the employability and adaptability of the workforce,
is making available information and advice about what learning opportunities exist
and how to gain access to them. Central to this strategy is the provision of ‘drop-in’
information, advice and guidance centres, several of which are located in the centres
of many British cities. While these centres report some success in putting those
seeking new learning opportunities in touch with learning skills providers, it is not
altogether clear whether this is sufficient to break what is increasingly seen as a
vicious intergenerational cycle of learning ‘poverty’ and unemployment. To address
this problem, a research team, consisting of members of information, advice and
guidance centres, trade-union learning units and members of the academic commu-
nity, has advanced an innovative experimental research initiative aimed at bringing
members of the workforce and of ‘learning poor’ communities into ‘activity set-
tings’. By activity settings, we mean a space in which people engage with each
other in meaningful, structured activity (Engestrom, 1999).
The activity settings are made up of trade union ‘learning champions’ who re-
cruit workers, like themselves, into a forum for discussing opportunities to learn
and advise about gaining access to such provision. The use of trade union learning
champions is an important innovation in promoting lifelong learning in the work-
force and is recognized as such by the government, as the following quotation from
the ‘White Paper on Enterprise, Skills and Innovation’ shows:
We are committed as a government to ensuring that union learning representatives can play
a part in both the competitiveness of the enterprise and the personal investment and gains
for the individual employee from lifelong learning. These representatives, trained through a
partnership between the TUC [Trades Union Congress] and government, have been particu-
larly successful in encouraging adults to learn who have not had any education and training
since they left school. We will consult on how to give statutory backing to the network of
union learning representatives (United Kingdom. DfES, 2001b, p. 3).
Thus, the study proposes that the use of peers who have had experience of engaging
in learning opportunities and who are ready to ‘champion’ the idea are more likely
to be able to break down resistance to learning. Further, the activity settings will
provide a unique opportunity to study the complex nature of adult learning directly,
especially such considerations as decision-making, internalization of information
and advice, transforming knowledge and externalizing action. The research initiative
is discussed here and, whilst no data are available at this time, we feel that the
rationale, design and methodology are worth sharing and perhaps testing in other
contexts.
2 New Directions for Research into Adult Learning
The experimental research proposal discussed here responds to two major concerns.
The first is a concern to provide an intervention that will bridge the learning divide,
i.e. to (re-)engage disaffected adults excluded from learning and the economy. The
second is to develop a better understanding of the nature of adult learning.
222 D. Johnson
The research builds upon and extends the work of previous research projects
funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) of the United
Kingdom, specifically those within its Teaching and Learning Research Programme
(TLRP). In particular, it takes account of the work of Rees et al. on learner iden-
tities (1997) and seeks to extend the questions raised by them in respect of creat-
ing a learning society. The proposal also draws on the work of the Transforming
Learning Cultures in Further Education Project (TLCFE) funded under Phase II
(Bloomer and James, 2002), which is concerned with transformation at both the
level of individuals and at the level of collectives (including both formal and infor-
mal structures). The study discussed here seeks to further explore the conceptual
issues around ‘mediating learning through interaction and participation in common
learning practices’ highlighted by Bloomer and James. There is a good synergy be-
tween this and the project under discussion, both in terms of method and the devel-
opment of theory and its application. The TLCFE is assessing the utility of a range
of theoretical constructs (including ‘communities of practice’, ‘learning cultures’,
‘activity theory’) for understanding the authentic practices around learning (see, for
example, James, 2002). Further, the work of the ‘Improving Incentives to Learning
in the Workplace’ research project of the TLRP is also of key importance to the
research discussed here, particularly the data that are emerging on the relationship
between hidden abilities (or tacit forms of key competencies) and positive or neg-
ative socio-biographical experiences. The study will build on these understandings
in developing new insights into how learners’ biographies influence their attitudes
to learning. Its aims are simple:
r To increase access to and sustain participation in learning in community and
workplace settings through peer mediation.
r To enhance learning outcomes (basic skills, or ‘new’ literacies) through peer
mediation and guided participation.
r To gain a deeper conceptual understanding of how adults learn in informal and
work settings.
3 The Research Problem
The project will seek to extend the debate on what constitute basic skills and
test a new approach to providing information, advice and guidance through peer
mediation—the use of learning champions in workplace activity settings.
With regard to the first point, the project contends that conceptions of the litera-
cies needed to develop an active competitive workforce are outdated and do not take
account of recent shifts in forms of production. According to Gee et al.:
There is now a shift towards forms of production which employ new ways of making goods
and commodities, serving more differentiated markets, or niches, through segmented retail-
ing strategies. There is now a great deal more attention paid to the selling environment at
every level of production, from design to distribution (1996, pp. vii-viii).
This shift to ‘new ways of working’ has meant new demands in the literacies re-
quired ‘to do the job’ (Johnson et al., 2002). Street (2001) argues that in these
new ‘project-focused’ work orders, members of the team combine to design, ne-
gotiate and develop products for sale and distribution. To accomplish this they need
to be equipped with such discursive skills as negotiation, persuasion, the ability to
present and listen to arguments, develop material for presentation on communication
devices, such as slide projectors, multimedia projectors and computer displays. A
number of authors (Johnson & Kress, 2003; Kress & Van Leeuwen, 1996; Heller
& Pomeroy, 1997) argue further that reading and writing practices are only one
form of literacy. To be literate in the current world of work, learners also need
control of iconic systems such as those found in the ‘Word for Windows’ environ-
ment, with combinations of signs, symbols, boundaries, pictures, words, texts and
images. In the public sphere social and community relations are also subjected to
radical change (Johnson et al., 2002). The United Kingdom is a diverse and plural
society and new literacies and discourses are necessary to help us build stronger
communities and to empower individuals to engage more effectively with others in
community and society.
In respect of the second point, there is a growing body of evidence showing that
information, advice and guidance services are making a difference to the lives of
individuals (Bysshe et al., 2002). However, it has also become clear that there is not
much research on the nature of guided participation and its effects on adult learning
(Hughes, 2002). In particular, little is known about how peers and professionals
might mediate the ‘biographical experiences’ of learners as they construct meaning
within and between a range of formal and informal life experiences. Little is known
also about the ways in which learners adopt (internalize) learning gained through in-
teractions with others, and indeed how these are adapted (transformed) and applied
to different situations (externalized).
Research to date draws attention to the fact that learner identities are shaped
through their different experiences of learning. Learning occurs across a range of
contexts, such as the formal (traditional education and training institutions), non-
formal (learning that takes place alongside the mainstream provision at the work-
place, clubs, etc.) and informal (learning processes which are not intentional) (Alheit
& Dausien, 2002). It is the cumulative experiences of learners that we are interested
in and propose that, through a process of guided participation, these experiences and
biographies will be revealed and used as a basis upon which to build new learning
experiences. We argue that it is through engaging in shared activity with others that
the subjects of the research interpret their experiences and generate biographical
meaning (Alheit & Dausien, 2002, p. 11).
4 Research Questions
From the theoretical framing of the problem discussed above, the research team
proposes to explore the following propositions:
Proposition 1: Through eliciting the learning biographies of adult learners, we
will develop a better understanding of the personal, interpersonal, situational
and cultural factors that promote or inhibit their participation in lifelong
learning.
224 D. Johnson
Proposition 2: Learning dispositions, including motivation, self-image, esteem

and self-confidence, are enhanced through guided participation and media-
tion offered by learning champions.
Proposition 3: Learners acquire basic skills and ‘new’ literacies through situ-
ated learning, and transform and extend these.
5 Research Design
This is an intervention study that sets up activity settings in two contexts: the com-
munity and the workplace. It then studies the activity settings. In the main, it is
oriented to looking at how people participate in socio-cultural activity (interactions
between new learners, learning champions, learning providers, employers, etc.).
Through observing and tape recording these interactions we will seek to identify
how the participants mediate each other’s understandings of the social world. In
particular, we are interested in how participants use their biographies and narra-
tives to achieve this. Because we are studying these interactions over time, we
will be in a position to determine changes in individual understandings brought
about through guided participation as we study the changing discourses and nar-
ratives. Through analysing the continuing discourse, we should be able to identify
points in the activity cycle where internalization (adopting information or ways of
doing things), transformation (critical self-reflection) and externalization (seeking
solutions) occurs.
6 The Intervention
6.1 Establishing Activity Settings
In order to explore these propositions, the research adopts an intervention strategy

(Cole, 1995; Wertsch, Del Rio & Alvarez, 1995) that is discussed below.
Working in collaboration with a range of partners in the post-compulsory sector
(the Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) networks, the Trades Union Congress
Learning Services, the Learning and Skills Council, the Guidance Council, commu-
nity education services, workers education associations, amongst others) the project
will establish ‘activity settings’ (Engestrom, 1999) in some of the most disaffected
communities in the West of England and in a range of workplaces. An ‘activity
setting’ is defined as a particular community or workplace setting in which ‘new’
learners are paired or work in groups with more experienced social partners and
work out how to manage a new situation on the basis of their own and shared biogra-
phies. In the workplace activity settings, the more experienced social partners are
Trade Union Learning Champions who will promote the value of learning through
offering information, advice and support to their colleagues, particularly those most
distant from learning.
In establishing community-based activity settings, the research project will seek

to influence those communities with the lowest levels of participation in education
and employment in the West of England. It is worth noting that six out of thirty-four
wards in the city of Bristol are amongst the worst deprived (education and em-
ployment indices) in England (United Kingdom. Department for the Environment,
Transport and Regions, 2000). Here, community learning champions will be trained
and deployed. The community learning champion as an enabler or learning friend
is an emerging innovation and the research project will serve to test its efficacy in
reaching the ‘hardest to reach’ communities. To underscore the importance of this
innovation, a community-based organization, The Community Learning Service,
has received £1.1 million from the West of England Learning and Skills Council
(LSC) to develop a framework to enable disengaged adults and disaffected young
adults to take their ‘first steps towards learning’. Part of the remit of the Community
Learning Service is to recruit and train community learning champions from these
communities and interest groups, which may include single mothers or refugee
communities. This organization will work with the research project in deploying
and supporting community champions.
The project aims to set up activity settings in ten communities and ten small,
medium and large companies in the West of England. Twenty community learning
champions and twenty workplace learning representatives will be introduced into
community and workplace activity settings. These learning champions form the
basis of the outreach and support model we seek to study.
Each learning champion will recruit up to five disengaged adult learners into
the activity setting. Our partners suggest that this is realistic and evidence from
the trade unions shows that, typically, workplace learning champions assist eight
to twelve colleagues a month. We thus envisage a total of 200 learners recruited
through learning champions, participating in activity settings.
As new learners engage more and more with learning opportunities, other oppor-
tunities will arise in the activity system for them to be provided with more structured
guidance in their learning choices and possible employment options. The activity
setting will then be expanded to include IAG workers who are trained for this task.
The learning champion will, however, continue to meet with the learner on a regular
basis, which is once every eight weeks over the two years of the activity cycle.
6.2 Researching the Activity Settings
In the activity settings, new learners will be encouraged to share their histories, fears
and anxieties about learning. Learning champions will mediate the understandings
of new learners by sharing their own biographies and learning histories, as well as
providing them with information about new learning opportunities.
The interactions between learning champions and newly recruited learners, as
well as the interactions between learning champions, new learners and others in
the activity settings, such as learning providers or employers, will be recorded and
documented over a two-and-a-half year period.
226 D. Johnson
Every eight weeks, learning champions and new learners will meet more for-
mally. At this time, the learning champion will conduct a semi-formal conversa-
tional interview with the learner. The research team will carry out conversational
analysis (Sacks, 1992; Potter, 1996) on up to 200 narrative accounts and other evi-
dence of interactions in the activity settings.
6.3 Addressing the Research Propositions

and the Nature of Data
Proposition 1: Through eliciting the learning biographies of adult learners, we

will develop a better understanding of the personal, interpersonal, situational
and cultural factors that promote or inhibit learner participation.
Research questions: How are learners’ identities shaped by educational and
training experiences? How do learners’ biographies influence their attitudes
to learning?
The study aims to document the stories of 200 new recruits to learning. The tech-
nique we propose to use is broadly known as narrative enquiry.
Narrative enquiry is a methodology that places participants centrally in the re-
search process (Bishop, 1996). According to Te Hennepe (1993) their lived ex-
perience and their ways of knowing and sharing knowledge brings validity to the
research process. Narrative enquiry maintains and respects the integrity of story-
tellers and the knowledge and culture they represent. It allows the researcher and
the researched to co-construct narratives of the research process. According to
Glynn (2002), it offers an approach that might highlight how the research process
and outcomes may be understood through the agency of the key research partici-
pants, rather than through the agency of the researcher alone.
The method outlined here is sensitive to capturing the discussions and interac-
tions arising out of guided participation. Bishop (1996) defines narrative enquiry
as a process based on a series of semi-structured interviews, which are recorded
and transcribed. Transcripts serve as a basis for further enquiry through reflective
discussion and collaborative validation. Bishop describes how participants revisit
the issue under discussion through spiral discourse.
In this study, community learning champions and workplace learning champions
will be provided with tape recorders to record the ‘stories’ of the adult learners they
are working with as they navigate their way through new learning journeys. The
stories will thus be both backward looking (historical) and current.
Through the recording, we should be able to derive both quantitative data (num-
ber of learning opportunities engaged with, over what period of time, etc.), as well
as qualitative information (how good were these experiences? were they different
from earlier experiences of learning? etc.).
Learning champions will record all interactions, including telephone and face-to-
face conversations, where possible. Where recording interactions are not possible,
the learning champions will make diary notes onto their tape recorders.
Proposition 2: Learning dispositions including motivation, self-image, self-

esteem and self-confidence are enhanced through guided participation and
mediation offered by learning champions.
Research questions: How can learners’ motivation be maximized? How can
learners’ image and self-confidence be enhanced?
6.4 The Story-Line Method
During the formal interview conducted every eight weeks during the research pe-
riod, learning champions will use a semi-structured interview schedule to ask learn-
ers to recount their experiences since the last meeting. These discussions will be
recorded. Learning champions will use the interview schedule to probe specifically
whether learners feel their self-confidence is growing, their self-esteem and self-
worth is altering, and whether they are more motivated. At the end of the interview
the learning champion will ask learners to evaluate their experiences and events
by marking a position on a seven-point Lickert-type scale. Over time, these points
will be linked to produce a story line. There are three ideal typical story lines. A
progressive line might show an increase in motivation and self-confidence over the
two-and-a-half year period. A stability line might show periods where respondents
feel there has been no change. A regressive line shows a negative change in dispo-
sitions.
Advantages of the story-line method include that it is quick and easy to make,
and may be perceived by respondents as an interesting and creative mode of self-
expression. Another advantage is that respondents evaluate experiences and events
themselves. This can be very difficult with other narrative research methods. A
further advantage is that subjective evaluations of experiences and events can be
quantified.
In order to establish the reliability and validity of story lines, the research team
will match the completed story line with a transcript of the narrative in order to de-
tect which events or experiences might have produced a positive or negative change
in learning dispositions.
Proposition 3: Learners acquire basic skills and ‘new’ literacies through situ-
ated learning, and transform and extend these.
Research questions: How do learners apply what they have learned and trans-
form knowledge?
A central aspect of the research is to gather data on how information is internalized,

transformed and applied. Rogoff (1995) uses the term ‘participatory appropriation’
228 D. Johnson
in contrast to internalization to refer to the process by which individuals transform

their understanding of and responsibilities for activities through their own partici-
pation. Engestrom (1999) further elaborates on the idea that human beings do not
simply soak up new information and knowledge, but actively transform it in the
‘activity cycle’.
We will seek to operationalize the concepts of internalization, transformation
and externalization by analysing the continuing discourses and conversations in the
activity settings. We will use the techniques of conversation analysis (Sacks, 1992).
Conversational analysis (CA) is used as an analytic approach to interpersonal en-
gagements in a variety of settings, including conversations in casual, didactic or
workplace settings. Central to this concept is the view that talk is a communicative
act and situated in a social and cultural context. In discussing the methodologi-
cal significance and social application of CA, Hutchby and Wooffitt argue that ‘an
essential feature of CA is that concepts are developed from, securely rooted in,
empirical observations of recorded, naturally occurring talk-in-interaction’ (1998,
p. 8.). Speaking of the relation of CA to other forms of discourse analysis, Wood and
Kroger write that ‘CA is an extremely rich source of ideas about actions, structures,
and devices that can serve as analytic resources’ (2000, p. 200).
7 Additional Data Sets
The project will develop a number of additional data sets in collaboration with
partner organizations. These data sets will serve as measures of comparison and
evaluation and are described below:
7.1 Baseline and Outcomes Surveys
A household survey will be conducted by the Learning and Skills Council at the start
of the project and will act as a baseline. It will be repeated after three years. It has
been agreed that we work with the survey team in identifying questions, including
those that give an indication of confidence in applying for jobs, motivation to learn,
current uptake of learning and work opportunities, etc., against which we will later
contextualize the findings arising from our interventions. The survey is normally
conducted as a household survey in which enumerators are employed to interview
one in every six households.
7.2 Measures of Literacy and Basic Skills

Measures of literacy, numeracy and information technology will be collected
through the learning providers. The Fastrack screening tool will be used as a
Table 1 A summary of the research questions and techniques for data collection
Research questions Techniques Data Type of Type of
collected data analysis
by
1. How are learners’ Narrative Learning Qualitative Content
identities shaped by enquiry champions
educational and
training experiences?
How do learners’
biographies influence
their attitudes to
learning?
2. How can learners’ Story line Learning Quantitative and Descriptive
motivation be champions qualitative
maximized? How can
learners’ image and
self-confidence be
enhanced?
3. How do learners apply Conversational Research team Qualitative Conversational
what they have learned analysis analysis
and transform
knowledge?
Additional data sets
Measures of comparison Household Learning Quantitative Descriptive;
surveys and Skills correlations
Council
Basic skills and literacy Tests Adult Basic Quantitative Profiles
Skills
Strategy
Unit
Outcomes Economic Consultant Quantitative Regression
modelling analysis
baseline measure of adult literacy and learners will be asked to take formal tests.
This process will be managed by the Adult Basic Skills Strategy Unit.
7.3 Economic Analysis
An economic analysis will be undertaken. The proposed economic model is tuned

into assessing the intermediate outcomes for individuals involved in the project.
This includes enhanced job or further learning search strategies, higher take-up and
retention in learning and work opportunities. It also assesses longer-term outcomes
for the individual in relation to their communities, such as enhanced quality of life,
citizenship and democratic participation in community affairs. Finally, the model
looks at longer-term outcomes for the economy, including a reduction in skills, gap
shortages and enhanced levels of income.
230 D. Johnson
The data required to run the economic model will be collected in the West of
England area at the time of the first baseline survey, and again in the outcome
survey to be conducted towards the end of the project. Individual data, including
characteristics of individual learners will be collected within the activity settings.
Table 1 provides a summary of the research questions and techniques for data
collection and analysis.
8 Outcomes
The data sets described above will be subjected, where possible, to a multi-theoretical
analysis (Cumming & Wyatt-Smith, 2001). We have already indicated how, through
conversational analysis, we will derive data from interactions in the activity settings.
These data will be discussed in a fashion that integrates perspectives arising from
psychological theories of cognitive development with analyses drawing on theories
of ‘learner voice’ or social and cultural capital, or cost-benefit analysis.
The multi-theoretical, integrated nature of the analysis reflects the essence of
a socio-cultural approach. According to Engestrom (1999), an activity system is
a multi-voiced formation. In it we hear the different viewpoints and approaches
of various participants. To study it therefore requires a particular methodology
that is not reducible to a single technique (Scribner, 1985). Both Cole (1995) and
Rogoff (1995) show how multiple, interrelated levels of analysis overcome the
limitation imposed by traditional disciplinary divisions. The question is no longer
whether a research effort falls into psychology, sociology or anthropology—rather,
the desire and need to address complex issues without being hamstrung by tradi-
tional disciplinary boundaries or, indeed, the unhelpful boundaries between research
and practice.
9 Conclusions
This paper argues that there is a significant learning divide in the United Kingdom
and that this is helpful neither for its projected economic growth trajectories, nor for
its aims to achieve social cohesion. There are several policy initiatives that increase
opportunities for learning in the workplace and in the community. The real problem
is encouraging a wider uptake. We have argued here that more traditional outreach
methods, such as ‘drop-in’ centres, have limited success. We have proposed a more
innovative method for engaging (or re-engaging) those who have dropped out of
learning and for studying the complex nature of adult learning. Whilst there are no
findings to share, we hope that the design experiment outlined here will provide
some thoughts for those grappling with similar concerns about how to bridge the
learning divide; and to encourage the learning poor to become the learning rich.
Note
1. Skills gaps are defined in the WESTEC survey as the gaps between the skills currently available
within an organization’s workforce and the skills that the organization needs to achieve its
objectives.
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Section 2
in Informal Economies
Madhu Singh
UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, Hamburg, Germany
Chapter II.1
Overview: Education and Training
in the Informal Sector
Madhu Singh
1 Introduction
This section is based on selected contributions to the theme of learning and work.
It deals with using work as a means of gaining insights into learning, education and
training and pedagogical processes in different cultural and ideological contexts and
countries. Two contexts are important. On the one hand, the chapters point to the
effects of certain economic trends, such as the increasing importance of knowledge
for the economy. The other can be said to be contexts characterized by poverty, pre-
carious work conditions, informal economic activity and rampant unemployment,
coupled with social inequalities and exclusion.
However, while skills development and human capital formulations are as impor-
tant for an enterprise as are human development strategies that stress the importance
of knowledge for new economic and production thinking, it is equally important
to acknowledge the alternative or community perspectives, and to recognize the
growing and alarming patterns of economic and political inequality that seemingly
underpin the move towards the ‘knowledge economy’.
Addressing this integrated agenda means that economic growth must be accom-
panied by measures addressing social sustainability. And this means recognizing
that both the informal economy and formal sector are significant in production; it
also means a new role for a government that oversees the relationship between the
market and civil society; and that justice depends upon recognition and capability
development, as well as equity and redistribution.
The discussions on informal and non-formal learning suggest important linkages
and shared concerns that hint at possible areas contributing towards bridging the
research agendas between the different worlds. Given the supposed economic inter-
linking underway as part of the globalization process, it is important to find ways
and means of overcoming the gaps in the research agendas and to include the absent
voices.
Whether in developing countries or in the developed countries, sweeping reform
programmes are being introduced that predict a growing interrelationship between
knowledge, skills and the labour market. Everywhere it is being argued that a
World of Work, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-5281-1 II.1,

236 M. Singh
competent workforce is not only a prerequisite for economic health, but is the most
important ingredient in arriving at an appropriate policy mix for economic survival.
Underpinning these policy prescriptions is recognition of the changing nature
of work and work organization, as well as the interests of those from a more ped-
agogical and training background. The new emphasis on continuous learning and
personal and professional development has led to a mainstream focus on widening
provision for those adults and young people with minimal skills and qualifications.
Whether young workers or school-leavers are in or out of work, attention has been
intensified on the reasons and causes of low or non-participation in training or
educational opportunities. In many countries, new partnerships between the State,
individuals, employees, employers and communities are assuming greater respon-
sibility for ensuring ‘employability’ in the future. Though education and training
remain key areas of attention and concern, they are now being subsumed within a
lifelong learning perspective. Lifelong learning has been used to define the impor-
tance of learning as opposed to education and training, and its on-going nature, as
opposed to its completion when young. Bridges and collaborations between formal,
non-formal and informal learning and between enterprises and the training institu-
tions are seen as important and are being announced via new innovative partnership
arrangements.
2 Training Needs in the Informal Economy
One of the big problems in developing countries is that national technical and vo-
cational education and training (TVET) programmes have little in common with
the true needs of the economic sector. The result is that sizeable populations of
the educated can be found among the unemployed, the consequence of which is
deep social disenfranchisement, most notably among young people. At the same
time, there is also a clear lack of appreciation for vocational training among young
people, because it is considered to be of low social standing. As a result, the best
students choose to follow academic education.
Many governments in developing countries have begun to respond to this training
deficit with strategies and policies based on a ‘demand-driven’ approach to TVET
that stimulates the ‘production’ of trainees with competencies, defined explicitly
by the employment sector. In some countries, this has included greater attention
to training that occurs in the informal production, service and commercial sectors.
Emphasis is being put on raising the quality of training and performance in order
to strengthen simultaneously the economic welfare of individual artisans and their
families and of the nation. An implicit goal of such a process is the eventual ‘for-
malization’ of the informal sector, in order to raise the economic and social benefits
of the sector.
II.1 Education and Training in the Informal Sector 237
II.2 Tinkering with the Tinker: Meeting Training Needs

in the Informal Sector of Chad, by Joshua A. Muskin
Muskin examines the potential of the informal sector to contribute to the readjust-
ment of national TVET strategies and policies, drawing on research conducted in
Chad in the mid-1990s. Following other researchers, Muskin has tried to reveal
the ‘quality’ of skills required to operate productively in the informal sector, even
though the levels of attainment of the collection of generic and technical skills,
knowledge and attitudes, vary widely across the many entrepreneurs and trades.
The training needs include: fundamental theory; elements of basic design; tech-
niques and basic knowledge; specific products and services; basic business skills,
attitudes and habits; organization of operations; fundamental cognitive skills; and
basic school-related technical skills. The basic challenge of training for informal
sector participation is to prepare both future and current owner-operators with satis-
factory competence equally as technicians and entrepreneurs, covering each of these
eight categories. Training has to take into consideration the diverging training needs
in terms of content, as well as delivery of the ‘low’ and ‘high’ end of the informal
micro-enterprise (IME) sector.
The analysis yields four broad recommendations for improving training in Chad’s
informal sector. The first is that an institutional capacity should exist to assist the
informal sector’s members, individually and collectively—particularly through re-
lated trade associations—to assess and articulate their specific training needs. The
second recommendation is to adopt policies and initiate strategies designed to im-
prove the quality of apprenticeship training. The third one concerns professional
skills up-grading for owner-operators. Finally, while training may be a potent cat-
alyst to the sector’s development, other factors, such as credit, material and other
inputs, equipment and markets, comprise the individual elements necessary to en-
able new technological capacity. This capacity must, in turn, transform into greater
performance, both in the sector and in the overall economy.

Africa as Preparation for Work, by William Ahadzie
In close association with the pervasive informal sector is the increasing interest
in the system of traditional apprenticeship. The interest is not only on the part of
academic research and in professional disciplines, but also as an active policy issue.
This is not surprising, given that this system has proved to be an enduring and an
effective source of skills for many developing countries. The apprenticeship sys-
tem is an important system of knowledge transfer in the process of human capital
238 M. Singh
formation. Equally important is its contribution to how individuals are socialized

into the cultures associated with the acquisition of skills in an informal setting.
Perhaps a more convincing argument for the reappearance of interest in traditional
apprenticeship is the inability of formal systems to deliver the types of skill sets
that are required to ensure employability of the ever-increasing new labour market
entrants and to contribute to overall poverty reduction.
In this chapter, Ahadzie examines apprenticeship as an emerging model for think-
ing about learning. Apprenticeship entails a learning process in which we not only
learn to do something, but we learn also to understand the principles of operation to-
gether with that knowledge which informs what we are doing. Without this essential
understanding we would be unable to vary the activity.
Ahadzie traces the historical development of apprenticeship in West Africa and
shows how it has a different trajectory from that of systems in Europe and elsewhere.
The source of apprenticeship in West Africa is to be found in the form of institutions
that have evolved to solve problems of training in a society where technology is
essentially static and where the utmost importance is given to indigenous education,
which is concerned with the systematic socialization of the younger generation into
the norms, religious and moral beliefs and collective opinions of the wider society.
It also places a strong emphasis on learning practical skills.
Ahadzie emphasizes the importance of State and non-State actors in removing the
constant risks of eviction or police harassment that craftsmen experience, and calls
upon improving the efficiency of the basic education system and formulating com-
prehensive national policies on technical and vocational training. He suggests a re-
engineering of existing institutional, legal, financial and instructional arrangements
and recommends that occupational standards should be developed for the crafts in
the traditional apprenticeship system. Moreover, workshops should be identified and
developed into centres of excellence and the instructional abilities of craftsmen in
the informal sector should be improved. He suggests financial reforms and inno-
vative funding mechanisms. He also argues for undertaking research studies, espe-
cially on the transition between acquiring skills and entry into self-employment, on
the high mortality rates in micro-enterprises in the informal economy, as well as on
the set of skills delivered by each craft. Continuous research on female apprentice-
ship and institutional and cultural practices should also be undertaken.
II.4 Initiatives to Link TVET to Self-Employment in Ghana,

by Robert Palmer
In addition to traditional apprenticeship models, there are attempts to provide pre-

employment skills training through short-term training programmes. These aim to
transfer skills for self-employment quickly. Palmer analyses two of these initiatives
in Ghana. One is the integrated Community Centres for Employable Skills (IC-
CES), and the other is the Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP).
While these programmes have had an important role to play in Ghana and in other
countries in the African continent and elsewhere, they have failed for many rea-
sons. Parents and youths continue to prefer academic education; most graduates
from these short-term programmes find it very hard to utilize their acquired skills in
the labour market; there is often decreasing support from the local community; the
training is of poor quality; governments have not supported these programmes with
adequate finances and policy and regulatory frameworks. Finally, programmes have
been badly managed. Palmer argues that in order for skills acquisition to be more
effectively translated into skills utilization, more attention needs to be paid to de-
veloping conducive learning environments. Programmes need to be accredited only
and when they meet the required standards of good delivery and quality learning
and training.

and Challenges in Latin America, by Enrique Pieck
Poorly educated, unemployed youth—particularly those from socially and econom-

ically disadvantaged communities—have become a grave problem in developing
countries. Not only is basic education not accessible to many of them, but often the
quality of education is so poor that even receiving a full primary education is not a
guarantee that one will have acquired basic competencies. Formal basic education
has not been providing the skills and competencies needed to prepare school grad-
uates for their incorporation into the world of work. In this context, the articulation
of skills development with basic education becomes crucial.
While schools can play a positive role for working children and adolescents,
the traditional school concepts have so far resulted in their exclusion. The question
that arises, therefore, is how young working people acquire competencies and what
competencies are crucial for their lives and work. Considerably more young people
acquire occupational competencies through an informal apprenticeship than would
be possible through government or NGO-run programmes. The Delors Commis-
sion Report is also appealed to regarding the necessary shift away from knowledge-
dominated learning to a focus on the abilities of the learner.
In his paper, Pieck proposes a two-pronged strategy. On the one hand, non-formal
strategies, such as bridge courses, are needed to prepare children for entry into
schools and remedial learning centres which provide pedagogic support to con-
solidate school performance. On the other hand, many government programmes
highlight the need for multiple ways of delivering schooling and regard educational
programmes outside the formal school system as suitable for ‘balancing work and
education’ and thereby for addressing the reality of work in the lives of poor chil-
dren. In both strategies, however, the stated intention is to address the question of
equivalence with the formal system. The impact of these policy debates and trends
has meant that the importance of social as well as economic outcomes is being
emphasized in TVET. The focus on technical and vocational learning is being ex-
tended to embrace and support community development.
240 M. Singh
II.6 Informal Learning at Work: The Case of Working Children

in Egypt, by Laila Iskandar
In the context of the realities of adult poverty in economies with high unemployment
rates, as well as poor-quality vocational education and still poorer returns on basic
education, the question arises of what can be done in the context of that reality for
working children to make them acquire a measure of learning and equip them with
market-based vocational skills, basic educational skills and learning that will help
them live in sustainable ways and contribute to the development of their communities.
In her chapter, Iskandar explores the case of two learning sites for working chil-
dren. One is the case of brick factories in Egypt and the other is that of recycling.
In both the cases, training and education have been incorporated into traditional
economic activities originating from the local cultural and social environment itself.
Not only is learning linked to the reality of work, but the learning organization of
non-formal education is flexible, community-based and extends to the home and
the street; it is social, fluid and involves earning by learning, as well as experience
that is filled with dignity and respect, and one that values, for instance, the waste
recyclers as individuals. The teaching methods are participatory; learning is experi-
ential; the school environment is democratic and self-financed; learning schedules
are flexible; instructors come from the neighbourhood; assessments are individu-
alized; and learning is self-paced. As a consequence of this approach, this type of
non-formal education is able to achieve greater learner involvement, ownership and
commitment. It is clear from this example that education and training programmes
for very poor young people and adults need to offer very clear, concrete and imme-
diate reasons to justify enrolment and ensure perseverance.
Iskandar concludes by calling upon educators, policy-makers and the industrial
sector to revisit the issue of working children and their learning needs within the
present reality of informal workshops that provide a basis for their vocational edu-
cation. She also suggests that policy-makers should combine the dual role of non-
formal education in informal workshops with the provision of basic learning needs,
health and occupational safety, business skills, etc. for children and youth in that
sector. She advocates a curriculum based on a reading of the popular economy.
And, finally, she argues that teachers should be trained to be ‘facilitators of learn-
ing’ and that they should be professionals in the non-formal vocational sector of
education.
II.7 Informal Learning and Work: From Genealogy

and Definitions to Contemporary Methods and Findings,
by Peter H. Sawchuk
As we develop our educational and training systems for lifelong learning, the dis-
tinction between education and training becomes increasingly blurred. Whereas
some skills are learned at school, others may be acquired in non-formal adult
learning programmes, at work or in the local community. Informal learning activities

are also gaining in importance. This enlarged view of learning emphasizes the infor-
mal acquisition of skills on the job and in social movements of popular education.
All this is relevant from the point of view of developing flexible lifelong learning
policies for informal economies, in situations where many young people and adults
have not received good initial schooling.
For the lifelong learner, it is not important whether the learning situation is clas-
sified as education or training or whether training should be added to education,
or vice versa. What matters for such a learner is—instead—the education of the
whole worker, not because it is required for production alone, but because it affects
him or her as a unique being with a social and cultural understanding of the world.
Work cannot be reduced only to what people do to earn a wage. Work also includes
the value that people add to organizations and society more broadly, including in-
dividual, social and historical features. The broader notion of work also includes
housework, voluntary work and informal learning activities. Work has to be seen in
this inter-connected way that penetrates all social spheres.
Just as the expanded notion of work has challenged the dominance of paid em-
ployment, in the same way informal learning challenges the hegemony of institu-
tionalized formal and structured education.
In his chapter, Sawchuk reviews leading models of learning and work, which
when taken together demonstrate the basic genealogy of informal learning: (a) di-
rect engagement in the world rather than internal thought alone, as represented in
Aristotelian thought; (b) each model demonstrates how the learning it describes
is flexible and inclusive of diverse knowledge forms in relation to the original
UNESCO imperatives; (c) learning is political—it has to do with control which
expresses the spirit of the critiques of the likes of Freire and Illich; and (d) each
model attempts to establish the value of, and thus the motivation for, building
more clearly articulated assessments of informal learning as represented by the
more recent policy initiatives to recognize prior learning. All these non-formalized
ways of learning contribute to how we understand informal learning and work
today.
Finally Sawchuk reviews a major critique of the informal learning concept, be-
fore turning to the leading methods of investigating informal learning and work and
the key findings they have offered to date.
II.8 New Learning Spaces in VET: The Contribution of Social

Partnerships, by Terry Seddon, Kathleen Fennessy
and Kathleen Ferguson
To promote citizenship and democracy, as well as to rebuild civil society, it is neces-

sary to create spaces and opportunities within society so that citizens may actively
participate in it. NGOs, social movements, community development associations
and trade unions are taking charge of these spaces and demanding that others be
242 M. Singh
created. In most of these places, learning had always occurred but had not been
formalized or recognized through the mainstream policies and practices of education
and training.
Although these new learning spaces have a well-defined relationship with gov-
ernment, they are nonetheless autonomous from the government. They give an op-
portunity to the participants to negotiate their position actively and deliberately
vis-à-vis centralized government and policy processes, as well as in relation to
the education and training system and to agencies and community networks. The
appearance of a growing number of new learning sites is a reflection and manifes-
tation of a transformation in institutionalized relationships between State, market
and civil society. Most importantly, new learning sites are an opportunity for local
communities to partner with the government.
In their chapter, Seddon, Fennessy and Ferguson look at social partnerships as
a type of new learning space that is informed by a community development ori-
entation in education policy. They document the character of social partnerships
and their contribution and implications for TVET. They define social partnerships
as localized networks that connect some combination of local community groups,
education and training providers, industry and government to work on local issues
and community-building activities. Social partnerships in TVET are categorized into
three different types: enacted partnerships, community partnerships and negotiated
partnerships.
Social partnerships support learning both at the level of the partnership, where
participation in partnership supports an educative process for participants, and
at the level of the learning initiative, which supports learning by beneficiaries
to enhance their educational and employment pathways. Youth and young adults
benefit not only through the promotion of their vocational education and train-
ing, but also through engaging in interactions and activities inherent in partner-
ship work. This relational learning develops their self-knowledge, self-awareness
and self-management. Relational learning is a fundamental asset for the transi-
tory workforce. They offer a particular kind of pragmatic and experiential learning
which challenges and transforms fundamentally the specific and situated learn-
ing goals of institutional learning spaces. Social partnerships make a distinctive
contribution to TVET, extending beyond the kind of skill formation that charac-
terizes traditional vocational learning to embrace lifelong development as citizen
actors.
Partnerships are fundamental to moving away from a top-down governmental
approach towards multilateral governance. Partnerships are crucial to this gov-
ernance context because they are sites where skills and other resources can be
shared and where experts can engage with community members. It is claimed
that localized partnerships benefit industry, governments and communities. Sed-
don, Fennessy and Ferguson conclude by pointing out some contradictions that are
inherent in the concept of new learning spaces. Even if new learning spaces ex-
ist outside established education and training institutions, this does not necessarily
mean that productive relationships with a local school cannot be realized by social
partnerships.

Meeting the Goals of EFA, by Madhu Singh
Although much of the attention and energy, especially in partnerships, between
workplaces and educational and training agencies are directed at the development
and maintenance of initiatives with the enterprise, there are others who are more
interested in trying to understand the wider societal linkages and the practice of
work and learning. There is a strong move towards situating learning as part of
a culturally embedded aspect of human action. In order to understand and study
learning, it is necessary to consider the local practices of the learner and to situate
these practices against the unfolding lives of learners in different contexts. Such an
approach not only opens up appreciation of what counts as learning, but also in-
corporates concerns about informal and non-formal learning outside the traditional
formal system.
In her chapter, Singh argues that if vocational training and education are to cater
for the informal sector, then they need to take into account the traditions and values
of the system of vocational learning in working life and be interwoven with basic
education. Education for All (EFA) goals are paramount in this respect. If we are to
achieve these goals, the multiplicity of social and cultural contexts in which learning
takes place should be also taken into account. Openness to intercultural dialogue is
an important condition for meeting the goals of Education for All. At the same time,
there should be sensitivity to incorporating foreign experience into existing domestic
practices. The very philosophical foundations of various educational theories that
are being propagated should be questioned in the light of the diverse social and
cultural experience.
Acknowledgments The editor responsible for this section would like to thank two of her interns,
Evgeny Postnikov from the Russian Federation studying at the International Bremen University,
and Anna Philippi from Regensburg University, Germany, for their assistance with editorial work.
Chapter II.2
Tinkering with the Tinker: Meeting Training
Needs in the Informal Sector of Chad
Joshua A. Muskin
1 Introduction
Without wading into debates on cause and effect or on the transferability of models,1
it is widely asserted that where economic development has taken root, national rates
of literacy, education and training are relatively high (Cummings & Dall, 1995, p. 5;
Lockheed & Verspoor, 1990, p. 1). This occurs, particularly in developing coun-
tries, despite the custom of national TVET programmes to train to standards that
have little in common with the true needs of the economic sector—in other words,
the ‘supply-driven’ approach. The result is educated unemployment co-occurring
with many unfilled technical positions or the presence of foreign skilled workers2
(Middleton, Ziderman & Van Adams, 1993, pp. 51–66).
Many developing country governments, with their international donor partners,
began to respond to this training ‘short-circuit’ in the 1990s with strategies and
policies based on a ‘demand-driven’ approach (Middleton et al., 1993, p. 101;
Wilson, 1996). They stimulated the ‘production’ of trainees who matched more pre-
cisely the worker profiles, in numbers and, especially, competencies, defined by the
employment sector. In some countries, this has included greater attention—official
or not—to training that occurs in the informal production, service and commercial
sectors, albeit following different strategies.
This phenomenon, notably the potential of the informal sector to contribute to
the readjustment of national TVET strategies and policies, is the topic of the present
chapter, drawing from research conducted in Chad in the mid-1990s. Formal TVET
tends to be highly selective, a consequence of the few places and the high unit cost.
In many countries, this situation results in recruiting graduates who have at least
one more degree than that required for enrolment. By definition, this relegates a
large portion of a country’s youth to unemployment or underemployment, while
technical jobs remain unfilled. The TVET sector continues to suffer from criticism
that its programmes are not adapted to the real needs of the workplace, that students
are trained in theory but fail in practice and that the graduates lack both suitable
workplace behaviours and acumen for independent employment.
The study in Chad, as well as similar experiences in other countries, provides
strong reasons to look to the informal sector to fill this gap. Quantitatively, the num-
ber of ‘spaces’ available is exponentially greater and the cost of training enormously

246 J.A. Muskin
less. And, as training occurs in the workplace, the question of relevance also
disappears—while that of quality clearly remains. Certainly, looking to the informal
sector to replace formal TVET is ridiculous, but equally certain is the inability of
the TVET sector to meet the demands of the workplace. Consequently, it seems
legitimate to study the prospects of training within the informal sector as a way of
strengthening linkages with the formal sector.
2 Characterizing the Informal Sector
The informal sector has long been where the bulk of employment, production and
domestic consumption occur in the developing world. Illustrating this point for
Kenya, King & Abuodha (1991, p. 10) assert that:
The informal sector [. . .] is the ordinary economy in which the bulk of Kenyans gain
their livelihood. It is not the informal sector that is somehow special and extraordinary,
but the formal sector, which encompasses such a small portion of the economically active
population.
Based on United Nations (1996, p. v, 13) figures for all of Africa at the time, the
informal sector comprised up to 70% of non-agricultural employment and 34% of
non-agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Birks et al. (1994, p. 22) trace the concept of the ‘informal sector’ in Africa to
Keith Hart’s coining of the term in 1965 and to the prominent International Labour
Organization study in Kenya (ILO, 1972). (Similar studies at the time occurred in
Sri Lanka and Colombia.) After about a decade of relative inattention by donors,
governments and practitioners—despite the sector’s unabated vibrancy and growth
worldwide and persistent international research (King, 1996, p. 8)—international
interest bounded to renewed prominence with Hernando de Soto’s book, The other
path (1989). Not without controversy,3 this work captured a consensus view that
the micro- and small enterprise sector contributes critically to national economic
well-being.
In their work Skills acquisition in micro-enterprises: evidence from West Africa,
Birks et al. (1994) describe the contemporary strategic interests of the international
donor community in the informal sector. Looking at training needs and practices
in the urban informal sector settings of four countries, the authors find what many
other studies4 have also found: a robust, active, widely varied set of activities and
actors. This assessment relates equally to the sector’s production and commercial
aspects as to the nature of the training methods and challenges found there. The
present chapter aspires to follow in the tradition of this work by Birks et al., adding
the particular case of training in the informal sector of the Chad, based on a study
conducted for the World Bank in 1996–97.
Specifically, the present analysis begins with a brief overview of the informal
sector, highlighting its inherent heterogeneity and offering a basic profile of its
participants. Turning to its substantive focus, the investigation covers: (a) what
one needs to know to operate and evolve successfully in the informal sector; and
(b) how artisans acquire information, skills and attitudes, both as apprentices and
II.2 Meeting Training Needs in the Informal Sector of Chad 247
as active entrepreneurs. The chapter concludes with a series of four recommen-

dations offered to raise the quality of training, and therefore performance, in the
sector and, consequently, to strengthen simultaneously the economic welfare of
the individual artisans and their families and of the nation. An implicit goal of
such a process is the eventual ‘formalization’ of the informal sector, with the un-
derstanding that such a process must be gradual and natural, as a forced process
would jeopardize the integrity, and thus the economic and social benefits, of the
sector.
3 The Informal Sector: A Study in Heterogeneity

A central obstacle confronted by this and virtually all studies of Africa’s informal
sector is the sector’s prodigious heterogeneity (cf. Birks et al., 1994, p. 23). Such
diversity may be attributed to a few discrete factors:
r the nature of activity: production, service or commercial;
r the nature of the technologies used: modern or traditional;
r the number of people: from no or few apprentices or workers to several, and even
paid workers;
r the level of interaction with formal sector institutions: including financial, train-
ing and business; and
r the level and type of education and training, of the artisan/entrepreneur, appren-
tices and paid workers: from no formal or non-formal education or training to
high levels of both.
The different definitions of the sector range from casting the participating firms
and entrepreneurs as frequently illicit, unorganized activities (e.g. de Soto, 1989),
to their portrayal as small but commonly officially registered businesses (Birks
et al., 1994, p. 22; King, 1996; Muskin, 1991). What most descriptions tend to share
are their smallness of size, their reliance on limited, mostly rudimentary technology,
the local nature of the clientele, a high degree of competitiveness with uncontrolled
entry by new participants,5 and apprenticeship as the major means for transmitting
skills and knowledge.
The present chapter deals with the sector’s heterogeneity in two ways. First, it
limits the field by concentrating on the production and service sub-sectors, excluding
merchants and petty vendors. This decision is due mostly to the central purpose of
researching technical training needs and provision, especially apprenticeship-based,
which aspects pertain minimally to strictly commercial activities (Birks et al., 1994,
p. 56). As such, subsequent references to the ‘informal sector’ in this chapter should
be understood as excluding the informal commercial sector.
Second, the chapter includes sector participants across trades with small, medium
and large operations and exhibiting varying degrees of formality in their training,
organization, finances and entrepreneurial relations. This broad stroke approach
is important quite precisely because of the lack of uniformity in defining the in-
formal sector. More strategically, it permits a more functional reflection on what
248 J.A. Muskin
an evolution from informality to formality might look like. This last comment re-
quires the strong caveat that such a continuum will likely be very different from
one context to another and from one trade to another, as demonstrated by King &
Abuodha (1991) in their comparisons of candlework artisans to other trades. In this
regard, a broad stroke may also cast some light, even if dim, on what factors are
likely to be most context-sensitive.
4 The Context of Chad

Based on the 1995 Human development report (UNDP), Chad ranks 162nd out of
174 countries on the human development index. As in many countries, this extreme
poverty can be traced largely to a recent history of armed conflict, including both
a civil war and subsequent war with Libya that consumed the country before and
throughout the 1980s. However, though formally ended in 1990 with the forceful
accession to power of Colonel Idriss Déby, the effects of the conflicts endured,
afflicting the country physically, socially, psychologically and, of course, economi-
cally (cf. Nolutshungu, 1996, p. 297–300; Ouadoua, 1996, pp. 38–40).
More directly concerning the vocational training sector, these impacts were vis-
ible in the loss of educational infrastructure—none of the government’s vocational
training or professional education institutions survived the fighting—a withdrawal
from training by the government and private businesses (concerned more with their
immediate survival than with long-term growth), and an increased, albeit modest,
role for private institutions (mostly non-governmental organizations) in providing
vocational training.
Beginning with a joint government/donors round-table, held in Geneva in 1985,
Chad situated the development of its human resources among its most important
national priorities. The participants focused on three spheres of activity—basic
education, technical and professional training, and wage-earning work—which
constituted together ‘the principal motor of Chad’s potential’. The topic of sub-
sequent round-tables held in N’Djaména in 1989 and 1990 and again in Geneva in
1993, the responsibility for achieving this development fell to a high-level inter-
ministerial commission (Comité national pour l’éducation et la formation en liai-
son avec l’emploi—CONEFE). In particular, the commission was charged with the
creation and initiation of a strategy to bring Chad’s education and training policies
and programmes into harmony with the priority needs of the employment sector, to
which the donor community devoted significant resources (Chad. Ministère du Plan
et de la Coopération, 1993).
5 Chad’s Informal Sector and Its Participants

Focusing on the informal sector within a formal education and training for employ-
ment framework might appear counterproductive. Yet it is highly relevant in Chad
where informal economic activities play such a crucial role in the national economy.
This is true equally at the macro and micro levels. Panhuys (1990, pp. 3–5) attributes
this importance to both employment and national income factors, counting in 1988
up to 70,000 individuals working in N’Djaména’s informal sector alone. He con-
trasts this with an estimated 45,000 workers employed nationwide in Chad’s formal,
modern sector. In N’Djaména, Panhuys estimates that the informal sector employs
around 70% of the total economically ‘active’ population, placing N’Djaména’s in-
formal sector among the most significant of all sub-Saharan African cities. These
workers operate primarily in the commercial sector (63.2%). Of the balance, 27.4%
operate in the service sector and 9.4% in production activities. He counts a further
12,300 micro-enterprises, of which 700 are artisanal workshops, 550 service opera-
tions, 200 transporters and 10,900 shops.
Looking at the financial ‘bottom line’, using figures from 1984, Panhuys reports
that the informal sector accounted for 28.4% of Chad’s GDP, of which artisanal
production accounted for 5.7%. If one excludes the portion of GDP attributable
to agro-pastoral production, the relative importance to national income of the in-
formal sector in 1984 leaps to 62.5% (1990, p. 5). While these figures refer to
a date over twenty years ago, both conditions in Chad and trends for the in-
formal sector across Africa (United Nations, 1996; ILO, 1991) offer little rea-
son to believe that the sector’s relative importance has changed significantly. To
the contrary, extrapolating World Bank (Webster & Fidler, 1996, p. 12) figures
from some years ago—1994—that estimated the informal sector’s contribution to
GDP of 66% for all of Africa, one may suppose that the sector’s significance has
grown.
The research upon which the present chapter is based was performed for the
World Bank and Chad’s CONEFE in 1996. The data and analysis derive from a
study of a representative sample of 399 informal sector entrepreneurs—also referred
to here as ‘artisans,’ ‘tradesmen/women’ and ‘entrepreneurs’—and 1,454 appren-
tices distributed over Chad’s five major cities (Abéché, Faya-Largeau, Moundou,
N’Djaména and Sarh) and operating in eighteen major vocational categories,6 di-
vided among the modern and traditional sectors. The sample included approxi-
mately 10% women, virtually all in traditionally women’s trades.
While an analysis of differences between women and men artisans must await
a future study, Birks et al. (1994) anticipate that significant differences are likely.
Looking at tailoring, one of the rare trades (with hairstyling) in which both men and
women operate (other than commerce), they note that ‘on average, female tailors
are more highly educated than their male colleagues’ (p. 46). Further, women’s
entrepreneurial behaviour is distinct in switching ‘between work and domestic du-
ties’ and with an ‘average life of [. . .] enterprises [that] is shorter than that of male
tailors’ (ibid.). As regards training, more women have formal backgrounds in an-
other vocation (p. 52) and only 25% of women (versus 75% of men) ‘have ap-
prenticeship experience’, which tend to be shorter than men’s (p. 61). Nevertheless,
Birks et al. found ‘relatively little difference in the desire for training by gender,
and no significant difference in the types of skills demanded’ (p. 52). These and
the other differences point to clear disadvantages for women ‘with respect to [. . .]
“more attractive” [economic] activities’ (p. 61), which situation they attribute to
250 J.A. Muskin
structural issues of gender that extend well beyond the domain of training and trade.
Clearly, more and separate study and analysis are warranted.
A general profile of the common owner-operator and apprentice in Chad’s in-
formal sector reveals an endemic poverty both financially and technologically. This
situation is immediately obvious in the frequently dilapidated state of the associated
infrastructure and the penury and poor condition of the equipment and materials
used. This poverty is found also in the low quality of products and services they
offer and the artisans’ slim profit margins, also observed by King & Abuodha in
Kenya (1991, p. 97).
Limited technical ability, as well as the other shortcomings observed, surely
trace, at least in part, to the persistently low levels of education, literacy and math-
ematical ability of the entrepreneurs and their apprentices, as well as by the pre-
ponderance of those with little or no formal professional training (see Table 1). For
example, of the 349 entrepreneurs providing this information, 26% have no formal
schooling and 22% have no more than four years. The average level of schooling at-
tained for the 74% with any formal education was about seven years. Barely 20% of
the entrepreneurs reported having prior formal professional training, in this case for
an average period of three years. The vast majority have learned their trade entirely
through the traditional apprenticeship system, lasting an average of about 5.7 years.
Under normal circumstances, one could expect that the apprentices, representing
a newer generation, would exhibit more favourable levels of education—a conclu-
sion that Birks et al. (1994 p. 46) derive from their study. This does not appear to be
the case in Chad; which distinction may be attributable to the war, as indicated above
(cf. Ouadoua, 1996; Esquieu & Péano, 1994). On the contrary, a larger proportion
of the 1,454 apprentices surveyed (29%) have no schooling at all, with only 19%
having completed four years. The average level of schooling for those with any for-
mal education is 6.7 years, slightly lower than that of their employers. Of the current
group of apprentices, the average time they had spent with their employer was 4.1
years, while a full 25% reported having been ‘in training’ in the same enterprise for
six years or more.
The idea that an apprentice needs over six years to achieve professional com-
petence is highly unlikely—unless the quality of instruction is completely abject.
Table 1 Education and training of entrepreneurs and apprentices

Entrepreneurs Apprentices
Level of schooling achieved Average–7 yrs Average–6.7 yrs.
None 26% 29%
1 – 4 years 22% 19%
Completed primary school (CEPE) 26% 27%
Completed junior secondary school (BEPC) 15% 11%
Completed senior secondary school (Baccalaureate) 3% 1%
Koranic schooling 35%
Professional training 20% (3 yrs average) 26% (3.8 yrs average)
Yrs of apprenticeship training, average 5.7 yrs 4.1 yrs
(for former apprentices, average) 3.1 yrs
Indeed, the entrepreneurs indicated almost unanimously that apprenticeship train-

ing, regardless of their profession, should not exceed three years. The prevalence
of such long tenures in apprenticeship training in Chad may be explained by the
two factors: (a) it is extremely difficult to launch a new business due primarily
to the absence of start-up capital, with few reasonable credit options available to
informal sector operators, who lack the requisite collateral and influence; and (b)
most apprentices are related to the owner-operator, so their status of apprenticeship
after a few years of training might more appropriately be that of family worker.
Birks et al. (1994, p. 61) add to these explanations that time spent by a ‘former’
apprentice as a worker may be viewed as a complement to his/her training.
6 Operating in Chad’s Informal Sector:

What One Needs to Know
Training-needs studies, typically undertaken by economists, have tended to focus

on quantitative assessments of the employment sector, calculating the number of
openings for specific job categories based on some manner of manpower planning
or forecasting methodology. Among other shortcomings, these assessments com-
monly ignore the particular labour needs and opportunities of the informal sector.
In more recent studies (e.g. Birks et al., 1994; King, 1996; King & Abuodha, 1991;
Muskin, 1997), researchers looked directly at the informal sector to try to reveal the
‘quality’ of skills required to operate productively along with the methods by which
these skills are transmitted, acquired and upgraded. The present study was designed
and conducted within this more recent tradition. More specifically, the researchers
sought evidence by which to determine the combination of knowledge (savoir),
know-how (savoir faire) and affective dimensions (savoir être) associated with pro-
ductive performance and prospects for evolution within Chad’s informal sector.
One fundamental limitation facing the study was the common difficulty infor-
mal sector artisans have in describing the technical requirements of their respective
trades. While they easily explain what they need to know how to do, they are less
articulate concerning what they need to know on a more fundamental, functional
level as regards the manipulations and tasks they perform daily. (This same con-
clusion may be drawn from the findings of Birks et al., 1994, pp. 53–54, albeit
indirectly, and King & Abuodha, 1991, p. 97.) As such, an artisan’s actions appear
to be dictated much more by a combination of rote repetition and trial and error than
by a studied, conceptual mastery of the many technical functions that comprise her
or his trade. Approximation and aesthetics prevail over precision and consistency,
resulting in products and services that are acceptable mostly because they are cheap
(cf. Muskin, 1991, pp. 218; Muskin, 1997). The related conclusion is that informal
sector entrepreneurs are handicapped in the quality of their work and, consequently,
in their prospects for professional evolution;7 although most express overall satis-
faction with their level of basic knowledge and skills, at least within the present
impoverished national economic environment. This sentiment does not, however,
252 J.A. Muskin
prohibit them from asserting a desire to receive training (as shown below)—albeit
as a lower priority—in what Birks et al. (1994, pp. 52–53) call ‘generic’ or en-
trepreneurial skills employed in all trades and in new technologies.
Notwithstanding the limited ability of informal sector entrepreneurs to identify
explicitly their major training needs, the present researchers revealed by means of a
more implicit analysis several technical and operational requirements. Specifically,
the researchers uncovered many of the major actions, techniques, tools, equipment
and products in order to generate a basic list of the skills, knowledge and attitudes
necessary for the mastery of each vocation (see Table 2). The purpose of this in-
quiry was not to produce an ‘average’ list of training needs, nor to prepare specific
job profiles for each trade. Rather, the table represents an illustrative enumeration
of what should be mastered for successful vocational performance across trades.
Therefore, the analysis benefits particularly from having observed those artisans
who appeared to be most accomplished professionally. It should be noted that this
list surpasses in both breadth and depth what a similar list compiled for workers
in the formal sector would include, where specialization and the high division of
tasks is the norm, especially between the production and business dimensions of an
enterprise.
Similar efforts to articulate basic competencies for successful artisanal perfor-
mance appear elsewhere, including: Birks et al., 1994; King, 1996, 1977; King
& Abuodha, 1991; McLaughlin, 1989, 1979; Muskin, 1997, 1991, among several
Table 2 Basic professional skills, knowledge and attitudes for participation in the informal sector
Fundamental theory associated with a particular trade, such as electronics, combustion me-

chanics, design and basic physics.
Elements of basic design by which to represent in two dimensions, in writing and/or verbally

a final product or series of steps in the accomplishment of a product or service, both as a
simple rendition and as a creative process.

The range of techniques and basic knowledge required to operate the specific tools, ma-
chinery and other equipment associated with a particular trade, including their operation,
maintenance and repair, as appropriate.

Knowledge of the range of techniques and properties associated with the manipulation and
transformation of a particular profession’s basic materials and other inputs necessary to
create a product or perform a service.

Specific products and services, or a variety of qualities, designs and purposes suited to a
range of clients of a particular trade, especially more contemporary versions.

Basic business skills, knowledge and habits, such as simple accounting, savings, costing,
advertising or marketing, negotiations (with clients and suppliers), and strategic partnering
(or sub-contracting).

Organization of operations, both internal, as regards specific productive activities of a trade
and the broader management of an enterprise, and external, as pertains to co-operation with
other entrepreneurs from the same or different related trades or areas of economic activity,
and interactions with other institutions, including financial entities, again according to
production and management-related matters.

Fundamental cognitive skills necessary for basic and more advanced problem-solving, in-
cluding the analysis and diagnosis of a problem or situation, the articulation of a sequence
of logical steps and, ultimately, creativity and innovation.

Basic school-related academic skills, notably functional literacy and numeracy.
others. These other studies often dissociate skills, knowledge and attitudes within
broader sub-groupings. Birks et al. (1994, p. 53), for example, distinguish between
‘technical’ (or ‘craft-specific’) skills and ‘generic’ (or ‘non-craft’) skills, with the
latter group’s referring to ‘basic business skills, knowledge and habits’ and the ‘or-
ganization of operations’. Technical skills refer to the theoretical, design, manipula-
tion, material, equipment and product aspects of an artisan’s repertoire, which differ
from one trade to another.
Concerned more by the technical realm, McLaughlin (1979, pp. 164–68) attributes
difference to the ‘nature’ of the skills required by an artisan, proposing a spectrum of
skill combinations, ranging from the rudimentary, largely repetitive ‘non-symbolic
activity’ (e.g. changing a car tire) to a ‘knowledge component made up of symbolic
information’. Such skill requires substantial analytical effort and ‘sophisticated di-
agnostic skills’, such as fixing a car. However, such heuristic nuances typically
escape the awareness of the practising artisan. Rather, he/she is likely not to differen-
tiate between non-symbolic and symbolic knowledge, assigning both types of ability
to innate intelligence and persistence (Muskin, 1991, pp. 294, 413). In other words,
professional skills and knowledge cannot be learned or transmitted abstractly but
derive from a native ability and evolve through practice, practice, practice.
This perception is central to the training methods that dominate the sector, as
shown in the next section. It also sheds considerable light on why it is so difficult
for those who have evolved in the informal sector to move successfully to a more
formal, more secure professional status.
The levels of attainment of the collection of generic and technical skills, knowl-
edge and attitudes, whether symbolic or non-symbolic, of course varied widely
across the many entrepreneurs interviewed, as it surely does for artisans gener-
ally. Similarly, the importance of these abilities to an individual’s economic success
differs significantly across trades and, maybe more importantly, for individual en-
trepreneurs with different market aspirations. (This observation reflects the context-
specific orientation of Ashton and Green’s (1996) argument—see note 1—though
at the micro-level.) Finally, even complete mastery of one, a group or all of these
competency categories offers no guarantee of success by an owner-operator. Rather,
he/she may still suffer from poor market performance within Chad’s moribund
national economy. This, of course, must be another major consideration for artisans
as they consider their own and their apprentices’ on-going training. Still, an en-
trepreneur’s prospects for succeeding and progressing in his/her vocation are surely
extremely slim if he/she does not have adequate control over the full set of profes-
sional aspects, both technical and generic, that comprise her/his work.
7 The Provision of Training in the Informal Sector
The basic challenge of training in the informal sector is to prepare future and current
entrepreneurs with competence as technicians and as entrepreneurs, covering each
of the categories presented in Table 2. The level of this competence will ideally suit
the individual’s professional aspirations and the public’s demands.
254 J.A. Muskin
The gap between ‘actual’ and ‘ideal’ vocational capacities is considerable. This
is due to a variety of factors, such as access to technology and training, general
market poverty, the national and sectoral policy environment, and individual lev-
els of education and factors affecting information, inputs and markets. While Birks
et al. (1994, pp. 52–55) found that ‘entrepreneurs generally desire a blend of tech-
nical and managerial’ skills training, the following analysis focuses on the technical
dimensions.
This research bias is matched by the artisans’ and apprentices’ ignorance of busi-
ness matters. It is unclear whether this resulted from their own ignorance or to inter-
preting the researchers’ interests as predominantly technological. Notwithstanding,
the study does not completely exclude the business, and many of the training modal-
ities that the respondents described pertain to generic skills.
Thus, the acquisition of skills occurs almost exclusively through apprenticeship.
Indeed, apprenticeship has been one of the most defining characteristics of the
informal sector since its ‘discovery’ in the early 1970s. McLaughlin (1989, p. 6)
describes this institution as follows:
Apprentices learn by observing the master and more advanced apprentices, by asking ques-
tions, and then by attempting to perform the routine themselves. Training is intensively
practical; no instruction in a school sense is ever given. Because training tends to focus
on the immediate problems of the work itself, apprentices in highly technical trades usu-
ally develop little theoretical knowledge [. . .] except when their training is supplemented
through a repair manual or personal textbook. This often results in proficiency in assembly,
disassembly, and replacement procedures, but rather unsystematic and random diagnostic
procedures and unfamiliarity with the most efficient technology for the purposes at hand.
A similar portrayal emerged from the present study. Indeed, this contrast highlights,
along with the work of others (e.g. Birks et al., 1994, pp. 56–59; Fluitman, 1989;
Muskin, 1991), the diversity in apprenticeship. This divergence might be explained
by family links between apprentices and entrepreneurs, which the entrepreneurs
claimed to be the case 63% of the time, with another 11% being the children of
family friends.8
The actual stages identified in training apprentices were remarkably similar,
with distinctions arising from unique technical aspects. In 81% of the cases, the
owner-operator claimed full responsibility for instruction, while 9% alleged to as-
sign this role to an assistant. It should be noted that 18% of entrepreneurs had only
one apprentice, and over two-thirds (68%) had between one and three. Despite the
entrepreneurs’ claim as exclusive trainers, the apprentices indicated that their peers
usually played some role in their training, where older apprentices existed.
Clearly predominant were ‘hands-on’ training strategies, with the most widely
identified method being the apprentice’s observation of work being performed by
others. With regards to ‘supervised work’, the actual level of supervision varied
depending on the particular stage of the apprentice’s training and the complexity of
the task.
The relative absence of formal instruction methods, such as technical documents,
lessons and complementary training bespeaks bluntly its rote, repetitive, static na-
ture. Clearly theory plays at best a minor—and usually no—role in the training.
There is a transfer of the motions, the aesthetic and, to a lesser degree, the intuition
of a vocation, reflecting the strong valuation of innate knowledge, which cannot be
taught but can be practised. What they do not (and generally cannot) transmit is a
vocation’s science. Similarly, the rarity of outside training and of practice on mock
products reflects a lack of attention to more advanced manifestations of ‘symbolic
knowledge’. Ultimately, this translates into inability (and maybe disinterest) of fu-
ture artisans to innovate.
A basic strategy of ‘observe, imitate and repeat, repeat, repeat’ clearly prevails,
seemingly attributable more to a lack of mastery of the basic concepts by most
entrepreneurs than to a decision to emphasize praxis over theory. The majority ap-
pears simply ill-equipped to provide more than a rudimentary, practical training.
As a consequence, the next generation of informal sector artisans is destined to be
similarly constrained.
Despite the image of consistency in the informal sector, neither the government
nor the particular trades have developed rules or standards to guide vocational train-
ing. In only 39% of the cases did entrepreneurs claim to use set standards in training
their apprentices. On the other hand, over 80% of those interviewed affirmed that
they would like to see accepted standards applied.
The lack of standardized norms pertains equally to the levels of technical knowl-
edge, know-how and competence expected of the trainee at the end of the pro-
gramme. Artisans either employ intuitive judgement to determine the readiness of
an individual trainee, or the apprentice makes this decision independently. The latter
scenario may depend as much, or even more, on economic factors as on technical
ones. Virtually all of the entrepreneurs say that they use firm criteria to assess an
apprentice’s success. Not surprisingly, no theoretical, experimental or creative ele-
ments were evoked, let alone business skills. One consequence of this is the wide
variation in the length of apprenticeships.
This largely anarchic situation results in a broad range of quality in the prepa-
ration of apprentices, just as it yields diversity in the products and services they
will eventually provide. Given the one admitted commonality of training—the vir-
tual absence of theory and basic technical comprehension—it may be assumed that
the range of vocational preparation falls mostly at the low end of the spectrum,
between mediocre and barely acceptable (with the marketplace eliminating the
unacceptable).
However, even given the harshness of this critique, this is not intended as an
indictment. Rather, considering the current economic and social context of Chad,
most citizens would not be able to afford the greater costs associated with an
improvement.
The methods the entrepreneurs reported to employ to improve their own perfor-
mance demonstrate a similar emphasis on praxis over theory. The most common
approach is trial-and-error. Artisans tinker (bricoler in French) and persist until all
the pieces go back together, the object performs properly or a specific problem is
overcome. For artisans, this ‘experimentation’ can result in innovations, but gener-
ally there is little motivation to do this given the limited purchasing power of the
marketplace. One major exception is when a new technology appears from outside,
256 J.A. Muskin
usually imported. In this case, artisans try to acquire some outside source of in-
formation or instruction. They rank highly ‘consultation with other entrepreneurs’.
When such options are unavailable, the owner-operator must resort to bricolage. The
virtual absence of both government and private institutions as sources of training and
technical assistance bespeaks loudly both the poverty of the sector technologically
and the crucial importance of intervention that the government was pursuing at the
time with the World Bank, the International Labour Organization and other donor
partners. Indeed, reflecting the findings of Birks et al. (1994, p. 54), Chad’s informal
sector entrepreneurs indicated a strong interest in receiving training in innovations
and business aspects.
It is difficult to affirm whether self-reliance in professional development is due
primarily to a lack of interest, of anticipated rewards, of time, of money, of opportu-
nities or of some other factor. However, the findings suggest that the lack of oppor-
tunity may be most important given the nearly unanimous (94%) interest evoked by
the entrepreneurs in formal technical training. The strength of this interest is evident
further in the artisans’ willingness to devote time and money to their own voca-
tional development. Specifically, they indicated they would spend an average of 9.6
months in training (not full-time), with over half (54%) proposing a training of one
to six months. Equally strong confirmation appears in the acceptance by 85% of the
group to ‘put their money where their mouth is’—ready to pay for formal training.
Despite this interest in training, it is important to note that entrepreneurs assign
relatively low importance to formal training when compared to other factors, mostly
economic (cf. Webster & Fidler, 1996, chapter 3). They placed greatest importance
on better access to credit, materials, tools and equipment, electricity and transporta-
tion, among others. As a land-locked country with limited natural resources,9 Chad
faces both much greater prices for imported goods and has few means by which
to substitute for them. The cost of electricity in Chad provides a shocking illustra-
tion, which, at the time, was over six times greater than in neighbouring Nigeria
(Webster & Fidler, 1996, p. 14). A natural consequence of these higher prices is
the importation from neighbouring countries of cheaper (and often higher quality)
items. Several entrepreneurs alleged that the government facilitates external com-
petition. Other factors identified included the unregulated, massive entry of new
participants into the sector and the extremely low purchasing power of the national
population.
Clearly training alone offers only a very partial response. Yet, the enumeration
of these other factors also underscores the importance of the ‘generic,’ managerial,
financial and others skill areas—in addition to the technical ones.
Appraising the overall picture of skills acquisition and transfer for apprentices
and artisans, the provision of training may be characterized as ‘enclaved’, largely
closed off from outside influences. This refers most basically to the widespread
absence of complementary training, of other information sources, and new tech-
nologies to expand professional expertise. It refers also to a lack of vision, both
individual and sectoral, for independent innovation and progress.
The obvious result of this sectoral closed-mindedness (whether voluntary or
imposed) is strong conservatism, leading to technological and commercial inertia.
There is little external motivation or capability for the sector’s participants to ad-
vance in their methods, resources and performance. Consequently, they remain
‘locked’, as Birks et al. (1994, p. 51) state, ‘into the technologies and ideas of
previous generations’. However, the detrimental effects of this attitude seem to be
recognized—due to the efforts of the government and NGOs. This evolution is ap-
parent in the eagerness of entrepreneurs to pursue outside technical training. At the
time, capturing this self-professed enthusiasm had become one of the priority chal-
lenges undertaken by the government, supported by its international development
partners. The task is formidable.
8 Implications for Policy and Practice
Two basic conclusions seem to emerge from the analysis of the present study. First,
the quality of skills and knowledge, and their transfer (by apprenticeship training
and professional skills upgrading) in Chad’s informal productive and service sec-
tors is extremely low. This situation constrains both current productivity and profits
and the prospects for professional evolution. It shackles the growth of the overall
economy, and consequently the broader arena of social development.
Second, and more optimistically, apprenticeship training may represents a major
approach for creating future producers and service providers in what was, and likely
remains, Chad’s most important economic sector. This represents the major message
from the study. Interventions to improve training in the informal sector are clearly
and strongly warranted as a means to raise overall quality and efficiency. Insofar
as such improvements yield better products and services for clients and increased
income for entrepreneurs (and higher tax revenues and import-substitution opportu-
nities for the government), they should translate into increased income and welfare
beyond the sector as well. This effect should spill over to the formal economic sec-
tor, due both to stronger operational linkages with the informal sector (primarily in
the form of outsourcing) and to the provision of skilled labourers. Indeed, the study
found that approximately 20% of apprentices having completed training ‘graduated’
to wage employment in the formal sector. With higher quality training in the infor-
mal sector, and with more reliable standards in assessing completion, the potential to
increase this percentage is attractive from the perspectives of both logistics and eco-
nomics. More particularly, the analysis yields four recommendations for improving
training in Chad’s informal sector.
1. An institutional capacity (public, private or, more likely, mixed) should exist to
assist the informal sector’s members, individually and collectively to assess and
articulate their specific training needs.
2. Policies should be adopted and strategies designed to improve the quality of
apprenticeship training. A growing economy demands that apprentices receive
better theoretical foundation and a greater mastery of the knowledge, know-how
and affective dimensions of their vocation.
258 J.A. Muskin
3. Any improvements to apprenticeship training should be matched with efforts

to provide professional skills up-grading to the entrepreneurs. Given that the
current population of informal sector entrepreneurs will comprise a significant
portion of the sector’s operating capacity for many years to come, any sectoral
improvements will surely be postponed if this group is not included.
4. These three recommendations imply greater co-ordination and co-operation
across the informal sector and within the individual vocational areas. One mea-
sure of improved performance is the achievement of greater efficiency. As such,
the many members of the informal sector and each vocation may wish to move
to greater coherence in the definition of the skills, as well as in the methods by
which to attain, transfer, maintain, expand and certify them. The preceding rec-
ommendations also suggest the value of further developments in the participation
by governmental and non-governmental agencies, as well as the private sector,
in supporting the informal sector. This approach may represent the best chance
for the informal sector to emerge from its present inertia as it is the most likely
way to introduce ‘new blood’ into the system; particularly where international
partners are involved.
9 Conclusion
Training is clearly a logical place to initiate a process for improving the informal
sector, as the sorts of strategic interventions proposed for the sector’s and the gen-
eral economy’s overall development—technological, organizational, financial—all
imply increased capacity on the part of the owner-operator and his/her apprentices.
However, as both Ashton and Green (1996, p. 39) and King & Abuodha (1991,
p. 97), among others, caution, changes in training and education are only part of
a much more complex structural dynamic, with political, cultural, economic, and
other dimensions. Without complementary evolution in these strategic domains, the
impacts of any education and training reform are likely to be greatly limited, nil or
even contrary to those sought.
As pertains more directly to the entrepreneurs in Chad’s informal sector, while
training may be a potent catalyst to the sector’s development, other factors, such as
credit, material and other inputs, equipment and markets, comprise the individual
elements necessary to enable new technological capacity and this capacity must in
turn transform into greater performance. This dynamic association is one to which
the entrepreneurs in the sample were especially sensitive. Without these comple-
mentary elements of a comprehensive, integrated strategy, entrepreneurs will likely
suffer both from lower motivation and opportunity to pursue further training, as
well as from decreased means by which to translate training into economic benefit.
‘Training for what result—for training’s sake or for profit?’, they rightfully asked.
Within the informal sector’s and Chad’s overall present context of economic poverty,
training without other initiatives would constitute for most the proverbial tree falling
in the forest: it is uncertain that it makes a sound if there is no one there to hear it.
Notes
1. For example, Ashton and Green (1996) assert that it is ‘incorrect to assume a linear and auto-
matic connection between skill formation and economic performance’ (p. 3). For the purposes
of the present chapter, the author addresses only peripherally issues of equity and overlooks
altogether the informal sector and micro-entrepreneurs.
2. For example, in both Togo and Haiti, there is a strategy of bringing in skilled technicians and
production managers from abroad (in Haiti, as far as from the Philippines).
3. The controversy rests primarily with the degree to which the informal and formal sectors are
integrated, with Marsden (1990) and King & Abuodha (1991, pp. 72–86) describing stagnation
among informal sector firms, with no viable links to the formal sector.
4. Among the many oft-cited works that comprise such studies of the informal sector are: King
& Abuodha, 1991; Fluitman, 1989; Haan, 1989; ILO, 1972, 1985; Jarousse & Mingat, 1990;
King, 1977, 1989, 1996; McLaughlin, 1979; Moser, 1978; Peattie, 1987; Peil, 1970, 1979; and
Rathgeber, n.d.
5. King (1996, p. 184) observes that the assumption of ‘ease of entry’ is not always true: ‘Because
of these community [and family] specializations in trade and commerce, it is by no means clear
that the informal sector [in Kenya] can be characterized as having “ease of entry”, as was argued
by the original [ILO] Kenya Employment Mission in 1972.’
6. Modern sector jobs fall roughly within ten major categories: barber/hairdresser; welding/metal
construction/auto body work; sewing (clothing); electronic repairs; electrical installation/repair;
masonry/construction; two-wheel mechanics; carpentry; photography; and auto repair/electrical
systems. The traditional sector jobs divide among eight basic categories: jewellery; leather work
(tanner, shoemaker, etc.); blacksmithing; pottery; food transformation; basketry/bamboo furni-
ture making; sculpture; and knitting.
7. King & Abuodha (1991, pp. 72–86) describe this same phenomenon in Kenya, referring to an
artisan’s ‘technological confidence’, capturing his/her ability and experience with production
shifts and machine-making.
8. It should be noted that the data concerning this issue are somewhat contradictory. Nonetheless,
the conclusion that most apprentices are related to their master holds true.
9. Both the government and its international partners are hoping this situation will change soon
for the better, the result of efforts to exploit significant oil reserves.
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Chapter II.3
The Traditional Informal Apprenticeship
System of West Africa as Preparation
for Work
William Ahadzie
1 Introduction
The traditional apprenticeship system in West Africa is gradually beginning to

attract increasing interest not only for academic research and in professional dis-
ciplines but also as an active policy issue. This is not surprising given that this
system has proved to be an enduring and an effective source of skills for much
of West Africa. But its resilience is also attributable to its positive association with
the equally pervasive informal sector of West African economies. Perhaps a more
engaging argument for the resurgence of interest in traditional apprenticeship is the
inability of formal systems to deliver the types of skills that are required to ensure
employability of the ever-increasing new labour market entrants and to contribute
to overall poverty reduction (Fluitman, 2005).
This chapter examines the nature of traditional apprenticeship in West Africa
from both historical and current perspectives. It focuses on a number of pertinent
issues. These include: (a) describing the genre of apprenticeship systems operating
in West Africa, both in the formal and the informal milieux and how these interact
with each other; (b) the social background of apprentices and craftsmen; (c) the
conditions under which apprenticeship occurs; (d) the impact of kinship ties in the
functioning of the apprenticeship system; (e) the gender dimensions of apprentice-
ship; and (f) the factors that inhibit the efficient operation of the traditional appren-
ticeship system. The bulk of the material in this chapter comes from a review of the
existing literature. The remaining part is from a survey on informal apprenticeship
undertaken by the author in Ghana.
2 Conceptual Considerations
Socialization is a lifelong process (Parsons, 1951, p. 208). Therefore, socializa-

tion experienced by a person in childhood is not sufficient to enable him or her
to play all the roles expected in later years. Primary socialization creates the ba-
sic structure of personality. To this must be added secondary socialization pro-
cesses that provide the context in which, through imitation, the individual’s role

262 W. Ahadzie
behaviour is influenced (Musgrave 1967, p. 18). Many young people come into
apprenticeship already equipped with elements of primary socialization and there-
fore undergo behaviour change associated with secondary socialization. The so-
cializing process of the apprenticeship system seeks to prepare them for adequate
performance of their social roles under some implicit assumptions. These indi-
viduals are perceived as moving along normal developmental gradients and it is
generally assumed that they are motivated to change and that the essential task
is to provide the appropriate learning opportunities. Other conditions in most of
their life situations are generally presumed benign and are unlikely to impede their
development. This perspective of the conceptual framework is anchored on this
explanation.
Thus, the concept of occupational socialization involves not only imparting spe-
cific job-related skills to a person, but also teaching a set of values and ethics that
applies to his or her work and the unofficial rules that new entrants and senior work-
ers in an organization are expected to observe in relating to one another (Calhoun,
Light & Keller, 1994, p. 122). Merton (1957, p. 41) had earlier described occupa-
tional socialization as the process through which the neophyte is transformed into
a regular member of a profession. Oyeneye (1979) provides an illustration of this
process of transformation by stating that after a neophyte has been recruited, he/she
starts to learn the necessary skills and techniques peculiar to his/her future occu-
pation. Through contacts with senior members in the occupation, colleagues and
clients, the neophyte begins to identify himself/herself with the work, developing an
occupational self-image. The transformation process is usually conceived in terms
of stages along a career path on which the neophyte is evaluated regularly and given
increasingly difficult tasks as he/she continues his/her training. Such evaluations are
based on the mastery of extrinsic skills and techniques related to the work and a set
of intrinsic qualities that the neophyte is expected to show as an aspiring member of
that occupation. The process is completed when the neophyte is fully accepted into
the community of practice.
3 The Development of Traditional Apprenticeships

The historical development of apprenticeship in West Africa shows a different tra-
jectory from that of the systems in Europe and elsewhere. Lane’s (1996) historical
account of the English system suggests that apprenticeship in England was regu-
lated initially by guilds and later through legislation. She notes that the most endur-
ing piece of legislation on apprenticeship in England was the Statute of Artificers
formulated in 1563 from the rules of the mediaeval craft guilds. The act was in-
tended to control apprentices’ status, training and personal freedom until the term
was complete; they were to be dependent on their masters for the essentials of life
(food, shelter, clothes) and to live with the master as part of the family. Lane’s (1996)
account suggests that the English apprenticeship system collapsed during the late
nineteenth century.
II.3 The Traditional Informal Apprenticeship System of West Africa 263
The source of apprenticeship in West Africa is to be found in the form of insti-

tutions that have evolved to solve the problems of training in a society where tech-
nology is essentially static. In discussing the philosophical foundations of what they
term indigenous education, Bray, Clarke and Stephens (1986) argue that African
philosophy tends to define people in terms of the social context to which they be-
long. In this sense, one cannot deliver effective education to an individual without
establishing a direct link between the goals and content of education and community
aspirations (Ocitti, 1993, p. 36).
Quoting Durkheim, Bray et al. (1986, p. 103) assert that a great deal of the con-
tent of indigenous education consists of moral education. Morality here is a system
of rules and actions that predetermine conduct. An essential element of morality
is the spirit of discipline, which in turn presupposes the existence of organization
and authority. To act morally is to act in the light of a collective interest, since the
domain of the moral is indistinguishable from the social domain.
Indigenous education, however, has not only been concerned with the systematic
socialization of the younger generation into the norms, religious and moral beliefs
and collective opinions of the wider society. It also placed a very strong emphasis
on learning practical skills. It was not considered sufficient to develop a set of so-
cial goals for the education system. The institutions and modes of transmission of
knowledge were regarded as equally important.
The operation of secret societies is not significantly dissimilar to that of the
training of religious specialists and occupational skills. The Fon of Benin and the
Creoles, Mendes, Temnes, Konos and Sherbros of Sierra Leone (Bray et al., 1986)
have a long history of using secret societies for training. In Benin, priests and medi-
ums are taken into isolated and remote training centres, similar to seminaries and
convents in orthodox Christian faiths, and are transformed into new personalities.
The transformation involves the learning of a new language or dialect, the assump-
tion of a new name and the shaving of the hair. Bray et al. (1986, p. 106) note
that, in addition to religious instruction, the recruits learn practical skills like how
to make priestly garments and such items as necklaces, mats and baskets for sale to
the common people. They are also given extensive training in the healing powers of
herbs, plants and roots. This is intended to make them apply spiritual and material
healing principles in the treatment of the sick. A traditional doctor is expected to use
not only his familiarity with the healing properties of plants, herbs and roots, but
also his knowledge of the spiritual universe that enables him, among other things, to
release the hidden powers of the medicine. Training such diviners can stretch over a
considerable period of time.
Among other things, these cases underscore the inter-generational linkages that
the institution of education creates. The transmission of appropriate attitudes, beliefs,
rituals, work ethics, skills and communal attitudes makes the institution a force of
social integration and cohesion (Bray et al., 1986, p. 112).
Such purely traditional forms of education and training are no longer as perva-
sive as they were many years ago. Processes of social change provoked by colonial
experiences have altered the nature of society that allowed such forms of education
264 W. Ahadzie
to flourish. In the place of these indigenous training agents appeared the type of tra-
ditional apprenticeship systems we find in most West African countries today. These
systems have assumed many of the socializing functions of the indigenous educa-
tors. Current cultural induction and instructional practices that combine skill train-
ing with moral upbringing take their source from the indigenous education systems.
4 The Types and Nature of Apprenticeship
4.1 Formal Training

A wide range of training systems in West Africa operate in both formal and informal
settings. Acquiring skills in these diverse systems is conditioned by different sets
of factors. Formal training systems are largely supply-driven and ‘without knowl-
edge of or concern for labour market realities’ (Fluitman, 2005). They tend to target
the wage sector and they are offered mostly at job-entry level; they are essentially
pre-service types of training. Other variants include in-service training for workers.
Formal training systems are time and occupation-bound as, for instance, a three-year
course in masonry in a technical institute. Institutions offering formal training are
both government-sponsored and private-for-profit institutions.
The current formal training system in West Africa has been unable to deliver the
skills in demand on the labour market and therefore has not made any considerable
contribution towards eliminating youth unemployment. Its marginal effect on the
employment situation derives from a number of factors. First, formal training lacks
relevance and has not been able to address the realities of the low absorptive capacity
of the wage sector, under-employment and low performance at the work place. Links
between training institutions and potential users of skills are weak or non-existent
and therefore generate no feedback.
Second, organized training is accessible to a relatively small number of those
who need it. The limited coverage also means, in effect, that in-service training
opportunities do not exist for people in employment to upgrade their skills. An
equally important factor that has reduced the effectiveness of formal training in
increasing employment rates concerns equity. Access by different social groups is
unequal. Disadvantaged groups, such as women and the disabled, encounter social
barriers as they seek access to organized training. The generally low educational
backgrounds of women and girls places them at a disadvantage in their bid to secure
formal training.
The fourth point is the low quality of training offered in formal institutions.
Achieving quality training requires sufficient qualified instructors, adequate and
appropriate training materials and high student participation rates. Even though per
capita costs are relatively higher in training institutions than in schools, the figures
show a more rapid decline in financial allocations to formal TVET institutions. This
affects the maintenance of equipment and the purchase of training materials, lead-
ing to the compromising of practical training. Inadequate investments in instructor
training and in maintaining salaries at competitive levels have caused a migration of

staff to industry. All this translates into poorly prepared trainees.
Formal training remains a major agency to deliver the manpower requirements
of modern industry and to spearhead the drive to bridge the digital divide, as well
as for the promotion of information and communications technology. But its impact
on the labour market, however, is slight. The gap is filled by the enterprise-based
training that occurs in the traditional informal apprenticeship system.
5 The Traditional Apprenticeship System
5.1 Common Features
The traditional apprenticeship system accounts for the largest proportion of skills
acquisition in the informal sector in West Africa. The World Bank (1993, p. 8) esti-
mates that approximately 55% of informal sector operators acquired their skills from
informal apprenticeship. The estimate is 84% for French-speaking West Africa. In
spite of linguistic and geographical differences, traditional informal apprenticeship
systems in West Africa show similar basic characteristics, as follows:1
r Apprenticeship emphasizes a hands-on, practical approach to training.
r Apprentices learn their craft by observing then imitating the master-craftsman at
work.
r Apprenticeship is offered in traditional trades, such as tin-, gold- or black-
smithing, leather work, weaving, and ‘modern’ trades such as auto-mechanics,
carpentry, welding, etc.
r Apprentices begin work on simple tasks and move on to more complex tasks
when basic skills are mastered.
r Trainees work with master craftsmen for an unspecified length of time that can
vary, depending on the context.
r Training in the informal sector is product specific; apprentices may not learn
the whole spectrum of skills associated with a craft, but rather the discrete steps
involved in making a product.
r Because many trainees do not learn a craft completely, they are considered semi-
skilled at best after completing traditional apprenticeships.
r Apprentices receive little or no remuneration (some pay a fee to the entrepreneurs),
although some are provided with meals and shelter.
5.2 Social Background of Apprentices
The system recruits its trainees broadly from low-income groups. For these people,
apprenticeship is the best way of achieving self-employment. It also serves as a vehi-
cle for social mobility. This is more evident in the traditional crafts that are situated
within specific rural communities of one or two dominant ethnic groups. Closely
266 W. Ahadzie
related to the low-income background of apprentices is the matter of educational

qualification. Even though the trend points to apprentices having increasing levels
of educational qualifications at the point of entry, the general levels are still low. A
third of those in apprenticeship dropped out of basic education as a result of many
factors, including poverty. It is difficult to claim that the 51% who have completed
basic education possess sufficient literacy and numeracy skills to enable them to as-
similate types of knowledge that new changes in technology are introducing. Entry
into apprenticeship does not follow from success in the basic education system. On
the contrary, apprenticeship appears to be responding rather to the weakness of the
education system. Articulation between basic education and traditional apprentice-
ship has become an enforced link instead of an officially formulated one. A weak
basic education system, therefore, undermines the rate and quality of knowledge
and skill absorption in the traditional apprenticeship system.
The importance of education in skill-building was emphasized by the master-
craftsmen themselves. Poor as the quality of educational attainment of apprentices
is, education features significantly in the decision of craftsmen to recruit appren-
tices. Some 64% of entrepreneurs prefer to recruit apprentices who have completed
basic education. This is particularly true for modern crafts. What they are essentially
looking for is the ability of an apprentice to reason and work out solutions to a prob-
lem rapidly with minimal supervision. As basic education becomes universalized,
the training system will benefit from recruiting only educated apprentices.
5.3 Age of Apprentices
Like that of the craftsmen, the age of entry into apprenticeship is also rising slowly.
The upward shift of the average age of entry has not only resulted from both le-
gal and constitutional provisions, but also from changing expectations and cultural
practices. The practice of recruiting children at a very early age into apprentice-
ship has been surpassed by the desire of parents to raise literate children and also
by the growing aspirations of children themselves to acquire higher levels of ed-
ucation. Even in the largely traditional Kente weaving setting of Bonwire, where
tradition upholds the early introduction of children into adulthood, the emphasis
on children acquiring education prior to entering into apprenticeship is becoming
widespread.
5.4 Recruitment Processes
The recruitment process is a cost-effective system based more on a referral sys-

tem than on a commercially driven arrangement. In both the traditional and modern
crafts, apprentices are recruited mostly through personal contacts. The differences
between the methods of recruitment are in the degree of openness. In the traditional
crafts, masters tend to recruit apprentices whose sponsors they know, or whom they
are related to. Craftsmen are wary of the social sanctions that would come in the
form of product/service boycott if they accepted a ‘stranger’ apprentice over the one
recommended or introduced by a member of the lineage or the larger ethnic group.
In contrast, recruitment for the modern crafts operates on more open principles.
Recruitment is dictated by factors other than consanguinity and social pressure. The
possession of a specified minimum level of education and financial resources are
key considerations.
As a secondary agent of socialization, the apprenticeship system has evolved
practices that initiate novices into the craft and facilitate the internalization of
knowledge, attitudes and skills throughout the apprenticeship period. Induction of
initiates in some crafts involves a ritual that is characterized by a combination of
solemnity, festivity, celebratory activities and legitimization processes. It has as-
sumed the form of a rite of passage offering the young apprentice a transition into
adulthood. The mark of religiosity reflects expectations of divine presence in the
transfer of skills from the master to the apprentice. That attribute also functions as a
means of social control. Consenting to abide by the rules spelt out during the induc-
tion ceremony is considered a serious commitment, especially if it is accompanied
by invocations expressed in an esoteric language. The process strikes terror into new
recruits in the apprenticeship system.
Compared to formal training programmes, drop-out rates in traditional appren-
ticeship are very low. The use of traditional conflict resolution approaches and the
fear of stigmatization account for the high persistence rates in this form of skill
acquisition. Even in situations where the master has abandoned the induction cere-
mony in favour of a cash payment from the apprentice, a time is set aside to orientate
the apprentice to the demands of training and the expected conduct. For traditional
crafts, the induction ceremony presents an opportunity for reaching verbal agree-
ments. And these, by all accounts, are as binding as the agreements made during
admission rituals. Inculcating the fear of the supernatural into a neophyte is an
attempt to reinforce the forms of religious worldview that the apprentice received
during the period of primary socialization at home and in the larger community.
5.5 Contracts and Fees

The making of a formal written contract is largely limited to modern crafts where
the relationship between the craftsmen and the apprentice is not based on blood ties.
The types of written contracts examined during this study are intended to bond the
apprentices to the craftsman. They contain no clauses stating the content or sub-
stance of training and, in some cases, not even the actual duration of training. A lot
of discretionary authority has therefore been assumed by the craftsman. An equally
significant weakness of the written contracts for the informal sector is the fact that
these documents do not have the type of legal backing that formal sector appren-
ticeship contracts have. This makes the former largely unenforceable in courts of
law. Even if they could constitute the basis of litigation, there are several alternative
268 W. Ahadzie
traditional mechanisms that are easily invoked to resolve training disputes, therefore
rendering the written contract null and void. Above all, there is the view that the
master is infallible. In this sense, the apprentice is obliged in all cases of dispute
to submit to the authority of the master. Violations of written contracts as a result
of the unassailable position of the craftsman do not make the contract work in the
interest of the entire apprenticeship system.
Weaknesses in contractual arrangements have resulted in arbitrariness with re-
spect to the charging of fees, the duration of apprenticeship and the substance of
training. This study found that the fees charged are a function of several factors,
including the type of craft, the disposition or financial expectations of the crafts-
man, the geographical location of the training setting, and the relationship between
the master and the apprentice. It may also be noted that the craft associations are
beginning to assume a major role in setting the upper limits for the fees that may be
charged. Craftsmen are left with the discretion of charging the full fees or revised
rates.
Generally, fees for traditional crafts, with the exception of gold-smithing, are
lower than those charged for modern crafts. In Bolga and Tamale, most apprentices
hardly paid any fees at all. There was rather an up-front contribution that came in the
form of the items requested for the induction ceremony. The non-payment of fees is
explained by the fact that the apprentices and masters are of the same lineage. The
inheritance factor becomes the driver of the training relationship. In these contexts
also, the master acts in loco parentis, in the sense that the apprentice stays in the
same house with the master and provides household services, as a child would do
for his parents.
For modern crafts, fee-paying is still widespread. Craftsmen in the modern crafts
consider training as a complementary income-generating venture and therefore do
not waive the payment of fees. Where the apprentices are too poor to pay the initial
deposit, he or she is nonetheless taken in on a mutually agreed payment schedule.
The arrangement of providing apprentices with feeding allowances during the
entire training period appears to work for the benefit of the apprentice. Alongside
the fear instilled in apprentices during the induction ceremony to ensure completion
of the apprenticeship, the feeding allowance is another inducement for persistence.
The cost of food received by apprentices during the entire training period ultimately
exceeds the nominal amount paid as fees. This is especially so when the craftsman
has also provided the apprentices with tools. The exact levels of excess for the dif-
ferent crafts have not yet been empirically established but, given the observations
made, it can be asserted that the feeding allowance, the tools and even the time
expended in instructing apprentices represent a recuperation of the apprenticeship
fee by most apprentices. This, in effect, means that it is the craftsman who subsidizes
training.
If the fees vary, the working conditions are just as diverse. This study has found
that the working conditions of apprentices are problematic. Working hours are long
and unregulated and therefore give extensive latitude to entrepreneurs to exploit the
labour of apprentices. On average, apprentices work close to ten hours per day. For
the new apprentice, a lot of the day’s work includes valet and other services for the
craftsman and senior apprentices. This reduces the actual time-on-task to about a
tenth in the first six months when the apprentice is under probation. Much as this
may remotely have some justification, it exerts an adverse effect on the duration of
apprenticeship and the amount of knowledge that is internalized. There is thus an
inverse relationship between the amount of valet services rendered and the level of
competence attained.
5.6 The Working Environment
The physical working environment also poses health and safety risks to both ap-
prentices and masters. The working environment is totally devoid of any ergonomic
considerations, a factor that accounts for the high annual rate of ill health suffered by
apprentices. Lack of protective clothing has led to injuries (in some cases, permanent
disability) by apprentices. It has also been found that the gender-neutral facilities
provided at the workshop inhibit access by girls to non-traditional vocations. The
poor physical environment reduces the effectiveness of instruction and therefore
fails to enhance optimization of skill acquisition.
5.7 Instructional Approaches

The study has found that the instructional process itself does not conform to the
sequenced pedagogical approaches that facilitate skill training in the technical and
vocational training system. The most common approach to skill acquisition revolves
around observation, imitation and later repetition. This closed-circuit approach to
training derives from the fact that the pedagogical knowledge of master-craftsmen
is in-bred and therefore is incapable of expanding beyond the system’s limits.
Apart from the lack of pedagogical skills, the typically haphazard training also
derives from the absence of training standards and training guides for most informal
sector crafts throughout the sub-region. In Ghana, craftsmen in dressmaking, tai-
loring, electrical installations, especially those with some level of education, were
found to be using a training curriculum that had been adapted from those of the
National Vocational Training Institute and the Ghana Educational Service, either
by the craftsmen themselves or by their trade associations. The need to train to
given standards is motivated by the fact that the apprentices in some of these crafts
are encouraged to take trade tests administered by these institutions. The pass rate
obtained by those apprentices who take the trade tests suggests some measure of
internal quality control. For a training system that is hardly evaluated by external
assessors, developing training standards that are amenable to regular review in re-
sponse to changing technologies will increase its internal and external efficiencies.
5.8 The Socializing Role of Traditional Apprenticeship

An important observation is the nature of occupational socialization for apprentices.
In traditional crafts, the mechanisms employed are closer to those used for primary
socialization, while in the modern crafts the tendency is towards those orientation
270 W. Ahadzie
practices used in formal bureaucratic organizations. Occupational socialization oc-

curs in the concrete situation of the workplace, irrespective of the type of craft.
Through anticipatory socialization, the apprentices acquire risk-bearing and man-
agement skills that are critical to entrepreneurship in the informal sector. Contrary to
perceptions of a chaotic work environment in informal sector operations, this study
found the existence in the traditional apprenticeship system of undocumented rules,
regulations, procedures and patterns of social relationships that provide the means
by which apprentices are made to share the common goals of the workshop. The
attitudes and values appropriate to the roles and status they will acquire after com-
pleting training are obtained in real-life situations and are guided by these unwritten
norms of the workplace. How much of it is internalized is dependent on the level of
assertiveness of apprentices and on the openness of the workshop environment.
6 The Duration of Apprenticeship

Unlike mediaeval Europe, where the Statute of Artificers regulated the duration of
apprenticeship, the length of apprenticeship in West Africa is influenced by age,
the ability of the apprentice to assimilate lessons and achieve skill competence, the
length of the probationary period, the financial status of sponsors and by the speci-
fications in written contracts concerning apprenticeship fees. Therefore, widespread
variations in duration exist within and between the trades.
In Table 1, the shortest average length of apprenticeship is twenty-eight months
recorded for masonry and the longest is for gold-smithing. It took an average of
sixty months to complete a full apprenticeship in gold-smithing.
In a minority of cases, intelligence and respect for authority have a role to play
in when an apprentice completes training. Smart apprentices are graduated within
set training times. Apprentices perceived by the master to be of low or intermediate
abilities, or who are slow learners, took longer to acquire skills. Usually, such ap-
prentices are made to serve a probationary period of up to six months. During such
times, the master’s temperament, the apprentices’ commitment to learn, punctuality
and regularity at work are assessed. Good conduct but weak ability extends the
length of training for some apprentices. Intelligent ones who exhibit problematic
behaviour are either cautioned or eventually expelled before the agreed training
Table 1 Duration of apprenticeship in Ghana

Trade Duration in months Trade Duration in months
Weaving 34.3 Auto Mechanics 40.1
Leatherwork 36 Electrical Installation 41.3
Blacksmithing 54 Carpentry 36.1
Gold-smithing 60 Masonry 28
Gun-smithing 57.1 Tailoring 30.5
Welding 39.2 Dressmaking 36.1
Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2000.
duration is reached. Cases have been noted in which craftsmen have been asked
by sponsors of apprentices to extend completion as a result of inability to meet
completion costs.
The observation here is that where written indentures are absent, the duration
of apprenticeship among apprentices learning the same craft can vary greatly. Even
where written contracts with fixed training duration are entered into, only a few
masters graduated their apprentices within the stated periods.
6.1 The Completion Phase
Some mysticism is attached to the disengagement of apprentices from a master.

Throughout West Africa the belief is held that craft practice for a newly qualified
craftsman would be unsuccessful if he or she did not undergo graduation rites or if he
or she absconded without permission. Graduation or passing-out ceremonies, during
which rituals are performed, are these days being commuted to a cash payment
by some craftsmen or are performed by others without any religious observances.
In such instances, they take the form of purely secular celebrations signifying the
acceptance of the apprentice into the craft as an independent member.
Where it is held, the graduation ceremony is usually a time for feasting and
merry-making. It has social significance for the apprentice, but also creates a nos-
talgic environment for the craftsman himself. Food and drinks are provided by the
apprentice and his sponsors for all the invited guests. The guest list includes family,
friends, other craftsmen, members of trade associations or craft guilds and the gen-
eral public. Prayers are offered by any member of the clergy present—imam, guild
head or an elder. The high point of the ceremony occurs when the master confers his
blessings and well wishes on the new craftsman. At this point the latter is formally
‘freed’ or ‘unbound’ by his master of many years. If he exhibited good conduct
and diligence during training, he may receive a gift of working tools and/or a cash
donation from his master as a parting gift. These are intended to help him start off
as an independent craftsman.
Certificates are not given in the traditional crafts, especially where the apprentice
is a member of the family lineage. But for modern crafts, it is at this time that
the graduate is presented with a certificate. Those who take external trade tests
also receive their certificates at this ceremony (if the certificates are ready!). The
certificate bears the name of the apprentice, the number of years spent in training, a
photograph, his signature and that of his master.
6.2 Beyond Training
Two options are open to the newly qualified craftsman: starting out as an indepen-
dent craftsman; or seeking wage employment. As much as 69.4% of apprentices ex-
pressed interest in starting their own business once they completed apprenticeship.
272 W. Ahadzie
Almost 19% intended to seek wage employment outside their immediate locality.
Some 11% indicated they would stay with their masters for up to two years to
‘master the job’. Of those making up this last group, the bulk (82%) were in auto-
mechanics, welding and electrical installation. This is understandable given that the
graduating craftsmen may not have learnt how to deal with all the conceivable prob-
lems they would encounter in actual practice. The remaining 18% is made up of
apprentices in gold-smithing and gun-smithing. The findings, however, show that
more than 43% of apprentices continue to serve as journeymen with their masters
for average periods of three years.
High start-up costs, the unavailability of land and hostile planning policies tend
to obstruct the ability of newly qualified craftsmen to set up on their own. A tracer
study will yield detailed information about the time taken to transit from graduation
to establishment as an independent craftsman.
7 Policy Implications
Policy intervention can affect the apprenticeship system externally or affect the
training domain. Expanding the traditional apprenticeship system depends on pur-
suing policies that reduce the costs of training and improve access to credit, raw ma-
terials, technology and markets for the craftsmen. These are beyond the immediate
control of the craftsmen themselves. The responsibility to formulate such policies
falls essentially on State and non-State actors outside the apprenticeship system.
Collaboration among all partners will create the appropriate policy intervention for
expanding the training system.
A major policy intervention that can guarantee the survival of the apprenticeship
system is the removal of the constant threat of eviction or police harassment for
craftsmen who have violated planning laws in the locations of their workshops.
A third policy intervention that is exogenous and yet related to the traditional
apprenticeship system is that of improving the efficiency of the national basic edu-
cation system. It has been argued that adding vocational elements to primary school
curricula or ensuring that basic education school-leavers are literate and numerate
is the best way of preparing them for further training and also making them ready
for the world of work.
The second category of policy interventions occurs within the domain of train-
ing. Here, the emphasis is on the formulation of comprehensive national policies
on technical and vocational training. Existing policies are fragmented and limited in
scope. So far, the formal training sub-sector attracts the largest proportion of govern-
ment support. This supply-driven system is exclusive, inefficient and unresponsive
to labour-market needs. A national training policy should be all-embracing.
Fluitman (1989, p. 211) states that policy intervention in the apprenticeship sys-
tem would be successful if it paid attention to:
r Addressing the specific needs of the apprentices and master-craftsmen;
r Promoting a hospitable working environment through reducing all forms of hos-
tility to informal sector operations;
r Introducing a system and mechanisms that would facilitate co-ordination and

linkages between the formal and informal sectors of the economy;
r Creating opportunities for intended beneficiaries to be part of the decision-
making process;
r Promoting the technological advancement of the informal sector, which in turn
will drive the apprenticeship system;
r Supporting the development of training standards for the apprenticeship system;
r Creating the appropriate legal and institutional structures to support the tradi-
tional apprenticeship system;
r Facilitating access to post-training support that encourages easy start-up of
businesses.
8 Recommendations
The recommendations here suggest a re-engineering of existing institutional, legal,
financial and instructional arrangements in lieu of promulgating an entirely new
national policy on the development of the apprenticeship system. The following
could be seen as short-term measures.
Institutional reforms: The stigmatization of vocational training as being re-

served for the academically weak needs to be changed through a sustained
civic education campaign.
Legislative changes: The existing legislative instrument should be revised to
contain clear provisions empowering the National Apprenticeship Council
to mobilize resources to encourage, promote and facilitate the formation of
functional national trade associations in support of the informal sector;
Pedagogy related reforms: The problems of relevance of the curriculum, in-
structional methods and instructor quality and quantity can be solved in the
long-term if current approaches are changed.
Occupational standards: It is recommended that, in order to achieve standard-
ization in training across the country, occupational standards should be de-
veloped for crafts in the traditional apprenticeship system. Such an approach
will eliminate the problems of variable training standards. The stakeholders
include industry, employers’ associations and trade associations among oth-
ers. Some workshops should be identified and developed into centres of ex-
cellence in all districts and used to validate training standards. A programme
of training in pedagogy should be introduced to improve the instructional
abilities of craftsmen in the informal sector. Government regulations on ap-
prentice training should be made available to all craftsmen.
Financial reforms: Traditional apprenticeship should benefit from governmen-
tal funding. The sources of funding for both the public and private train-
ing systems should be diversified through a continuing search for innovative
funding mechanisms. A tax-exempt training levy system is recommended for
274 W. Ahadzie
national adoption. Resources should be mobilized from both local and inter-
national sources for the development of the sector. In-depth studies providing
the basis for identifying and assessing the key needs of the sector should be
undertaken.
9 The Research Agenda
In spite of the findings of this and other studies, a lot remains to be learned about
the traditional apprenticeship system. A comprehensive policy on the system will
require more detailed information on key aspects of its operation than is currently
available. Given the existing emphasis on employment generation, there is a need
to undertake studies on the transition between acquiring skills and entry into self-
employment. A tracer study of apprentices who completed training within a cut-off
period would be an appropriate approach. Such a study will establish not only the
factors that promote or inhibit entrepreneurship, but also give an indication of tran-
sition rates between the completion of apprenticeship and becoming a craftsman.
The intervening factors will be useful in formulating policy on bridging the time
and resource gaps.
Closely associated with the above is a study on the causes of the high mortality
rates in micro-enterprises in the informal economy. The factors may be exogenous
or endogenous. The results will also help in identifying the specific policy initiatives
that should be pursued to prevent early exit from micro-enterprises. Such premature
deaths reduce training opportunities for young people.
A major area of focused study in the apprenticeship system is that of the con-
tent of training by trade. It will be useful to undertake a study of the set of skills
delivered by each craft. Such a study will aid policy-makers in determining what
the shortcomings are and what is needed to offer standardized training for appren-
tices in the informal sector. It will help in recommending how much the average
skill-acquisition time should be.
One major area that requires continuous research is that of females in apprentice-
ship. Traditional apprenticeship is still male dominated and the current conditions
under which apprenticeship is offered to girls outside the traditional female crafts are
not favourable. Obstacles derive both from cultural perceptions and physical barriers.
Studies into the traditional apprenticeship system should not be sporadic and driven
by the research interest of individuals. In the face of the need to reach development
paradigms that are founded on indigenous institutional and cultural practices, studies
into apprenticeship should be undertaken at the institutional level over time. Panel
data are required to give a broader picture of the operations of the system.
Note
1. This is taken from <www.adeanet.org/wgnfe/publications/abel/abel3.html>

References
Bray, M.; Clarke, P.; Stephens, D. 1986. Education and society in Africa. London: Edward Arnold.
Calhoun, C.; Light, D.; Keller, S. 1994. Sociology, 6th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Fluitman, F. 2005. Poverty reduction, decent work and the skill it takes. In: Beveridge, M. et al.,
eds. Reintegrating education and skills and work in Africa. Edinburgh, UK: Centre for African
Studies.
Ghana Statistical Service. 2000. Ghana living standards survey: report of the fourth round. Accra.
Lane, J. 1996. Apprenticeship in England, 1600–1914. London: UCL Press.
Merton, R.K. 1957. Social theory and social structure. New York, NY: The Free Press.
Musgrave, P.W. 1967. Towards a sociological theory of occupational choice. The sociological re-
view, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 33–46.
Ocitti, J.P. 1993. An introduction to indigenous education in East Africa. Bonn, Germany: Institut
für Internationale Zusammenarbeit des Deutschen Volkshochschul-Verbandes.
Oyeneye, O.Y. 1979. The role of education in development with particular reference to the ap-
prenticeship system in Nigeria’s informal sector. Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham.
[Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation.]
Parsons, T. 1951. The social system. New York, NY: The Free Press.
World Bank. 1993. Ghana 2000 and beyond. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Chapter II.4
Initiatives to Link TVET to Self-Employment
in Ghana
Robert Palmer
1 Introduction
In Ghana the main system for technical and vocational education and training
(TVET)1 for self-employment is the traditional apprenticeship system. Then there
is the school system with its vocationalized aspirations; the long-standing political
and policy concern over the high levels of youth unemployment have led to re-
peated attempts by the government to make the education system more orientated to
the world of work by promoting school-based TVET (Palmer, 2006b). In addition,
there have been other attempts, though with less longevity, to provide long-term
pre-employment skills training in vocational training institutes (VTIs), short-term
skills-upgrading for traditional apprentices and master-craftsmen, and short-term
skills training for the ‘unemployed’. The long-term schemes parallel, for example,
Kenya’s Youth Polytechnics or the Botswana Brigades, and the short-term schemes
parallel any number of short-term emergency initiatives aiming to transfer skills for
self-employment quickly. This chapter will analyse briefly some of these initiatives
that have attempted to link TVET to self-employment in Ghana, and will assume
the following structure.
First, we will briefly examine the history of attempts in Ghana to link education to
self-employed work by making the school curriculum more vocational. We will note
that since the mid-nineteenth century there have been repeated attempts to promote
TVET as a major solution to youth unemployment.
Second, we examine an example of a long-term (three year) pre-employment
vocational training programme; the Integrated Community Centres for Employ-
able Skills (ICCES). We will note that the ICCES programme has remained on
the sideline of Ghana’s TVET system almost ever since it was initiated in the late
1980s. Today, the training delivery context of ICCES is poor and graduates’ em-
ployment outcomes are disabled through lack of post-training support. Nonetheless,
many graduates are working, though usually in low-end informal micro-enterprise
activities and often not using the skills they have acquired.
Third, we examine an example of a short-term skills training programme; the
Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP) which was initiated in
Ghana as a result of an unemployment exercise in late 2001 and has provided some

278 R. Palmer
25,000 people with skills. However, having suffered a series of set-backs it has since
been ended ahead of time.
Finally, we conclude that one of the key problems faced by graduates of self-
employment orientated TVET programmes, like ICCES and STEP, is that it is of-
ten difficult to utilise productively skills that have been acquired through training,
and that more enabling environments need to be promoted, especially for informal
micro-enterprises in rural areas.
2 The Historical Framework of Linking Education

to the World of Work
Philip Foster’s classic Education and social change in Ghana (Foster, 1965a) exam-
ines over 100 years of educational reforms and showed that in Ghana since the late
nineteenth century there have been repeated attempts to promote school-based tech-
nical, vocational and agricultural education as a ‘solution’ to unemployment (partic-
ularly of young school-leavers). In fact, since the 1847 Education Committee of the
Privy Council, there were repeated attempts in British colonial educational policy in
Africa to make the school curriculum less ‘bookish’ and more relevant to the world
of work. Since the publication of Foster’s monograph in 1965, there have been four
further attempts to reorient the education system better towards employment, and
particularly self-employment. The 1966 Kwapong Educational Review Committee,
the 1972 Dzobo Educational Reform Committee and the 1986 Evans Anfom Com-
mittee and, most recently, the 2004 White Paper on Education Reforms all sought
to make the school curriculum more relevant to work (Palmer, 2005, 2006b).
The underlying assumption of the Ghanaian skills development agenda has
been the provision of vocational skills to young people—making them employ-
able, equipping them with the skill and know-how to enter and/or progress in self-
employment and, ultimately, reducing poverty through raised incomes. But there is
really very little research evidence to back up this optimism. Indeed, internationally,
there is not a great deal of evidence linking skills training with poverty reduction
and/or growth.2
For example, the assumption that by orientating the curriculum more towards
vocational subjects graduates will be more ‘employable’ and be able to access
work opportunities more easily was a main reason behind the vocationalization
of the junior secondary school in the 1986/87 reform (Palmer, 2005, 2006b,).
Nevertheless, as we note above, there is little evidence to back up this assumption. In
a discussion of the vocationalization of the junior secondary school, Akyeampong
comments that he:
did not find empirical studies conducted in Ghana that support the economic benefit ar-
gument of vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum—for preparing students
for paid and self-employment. Many simply assume this to be the case—an assumption
which is firmly imbedded in the discourse of TVE in Ghana at both school and policy level
(Akyeampong, 2005, p. 9).
II.4 Initiatives to Link TVET to Self-Employment in Ghana 279
The most recent educational reform in Ghana, as outlined in the White Paper on the
Report of The Education Reform Review Committee (Government of Ghana, 2004a),
outlines a number of changes to the education system and carries the implicit
assumption that something must have gone wrong with Ghana’s education and
training system—that is why there are so many unemployed school graduates
(Palmer, 2005).
Among other things, the White Paper proposes to extend senior secondary school
from three to four years and diversify it into four streams: vocational, technical, agri-
cultural and general education (cf. Palmer, 2005). The government, in the planned
diversification of senior secondary school level and the attempts at providing skills
for youth (e.g. ICCES and STEP), is following the same logic as it has in the past:
providing skills to young people will lessen problems of under-/unemployment.
Those skills programmes that have been evaluated were externally funded, like
the World Bank’s Vocational Skills and Informal Sector Support Project (VSP)
(1995–2000), which was focused on skills upgrading for master-craftsmen and tra-
ditional apprentices (Palmer, 2007, 2006b).
In contrast to these donor-evaluated projects, the majority of Ghanaian pro-
grammes that target self-employment creation in the informal sector have not been
evaluated in depth. Two such government-funded skills programmes are the ICCES
and STEP schemes, which we will examine in more depth below. The employment
outcomes of both of these programmes have never been evaluated.
The paradox of Ghanaian education is that, in spite of these repeated policy at-
tempts to expand TVET, it remains weakly developed in practice. This has led some
to observe that TVET has been neglected by the government.
However, Foster (1965a) has argued that, in fact, it is not the government that
has placed a low priority on school-based TVET, but the parents and students them-
selves. As noted, since 1847, there have been numerous white papers and reforms
trying to promote TVET. But this has been countered by repeated efforts, on the
part of the parents and youth, for a more general curriculum that could better ac-
cess the emerging, if limited, occupational opportunities in the colonial exchange
economy, or later in Ghana’s formal sector.3 While Gold Coast/Ghana educational
policy, therefore, has been very much concerned with the development of technical
and vocational skills training, public opinion and demand have shaped an education
system that, in practice, has remained largely academic.
While repeated attempts have been made to promote school-based TVET since
the late nineteenth century, there has not been a similar emphasis on TVET delivered
in VTIs or in on-the-job traditional apprenticeship training, although some projects
have supported VTIs and on-the-job training. Nonetheless, the TVET system—as a
whole—in Ghana today remains weak and disconnected (Palmer, 2005,
2006b).
We will not discuss any further the many attempts that have been made to pro-
mote school-based TVET (promoted in the hope of orientating youth towards man-
ual work), but rather the more recent efforts made at promoting pre-employment
skills training in VTIs and short-term skills training for the ‘unemployed’. As we
noted earlier, we shall examine two such programmes: the Integrated Community
280 R. Palmer
Centres for Employable Skills (ICCES); and the more recent Skills Training and
Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP). In each case we shall look at the history of
these initiatives, their main objectives and scope, the problems that have been expe-
rienced and which have constrained the training delivery context, and what evidence
there is, if any, on self-employment outcomes from these initiatives.4
3 Integrated Community Centres for Employable Skills
Introduced in the late 1980s as part of recent educational reforms, the Integrated
Community Centres for Employable Skills (ICCES) is now an agency under the
Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment (MoMYE) comprising a network of
about seventy, predominantly rural, vocational training centres around the country
(cf. Palmer, 2006b).
The central concept for ICCES has been to ‘train the youth [. . . ] with a view
to making them employable, preferably self-employed within and around their own
communities’ (ICCES, 1996, p. 5). ICCES offers students a three-year vocational
course in traditional trades such as carpentry, masonry, dressmaking and hairdress-
ing, and leads to a National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) trade certifi-
cate. Illiterate/semi-literate ICCES students have the option of taking a non-written
competency-based proficiency test with the NVTI. Trade teaching includes both
practical and theoretical courses, supplemented by other subjects, principally math-
ematics, English, agriculture, public education and entrepreneurial skills. ICCES is
essentially designed as pre-employment training for the informal economy and it is
expected that students will become employed, mostly self-employed in enterprises,
upon completion.
In 1986 UNICEF supported the Ministry of Education (now the Ministry of
Education, Youth and Sports) in the establishment of twelve pilot ICCES centres
around the country. Support was substantial during the UNICEF period, with this
agency providing support for administration, equipment, workshops, transport and
follow-up support. After the end of the UNICEF support in 1992, the government,
lacking the financial resources to continue the level of support UNICEF had pro-
vided, turned over the funding of ICCES to the communities, essentially converting
ICCES into a network of community-supported VTIs. The ministry took on a fa-
cilitating role, but gave very little financial support to centres. In passing ICCES
over to the communities, the government essentially stripped back ICCES from its
original form—the provision of training integrated with other support services—to
the provision of training alone. In other words ICCES provides an interesting case
of a heavily financed donor programme (which included post-training support and
provision of tools in twelve pilot centres) that was later stripped of these features
by the government, expanded nationwide (handed over to the communities) and has
consequently become a quality-starved pre-employment provider offering training
alone.
In 1995 ICCES was moved to the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare
(now the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment). By the mid-1990s ICCES
was in crisis—community support had dwindled; local artisans (recruited as train-
ers) were not being paid; and national service (i.e. military) personnel were brought
in to fill the gap. In practice, the expected financial support from communities, chiefs
and so on was not forthcoming and many centres collapsed. Those that survived had
some form of external financing (e.g. the Ghana Education Service supporting Nere-
behi ICCES, Ashanti) or had strong community links (e.g. Tetrefu ICCES, Ashanti).
By 1998 about forty centres had collapsed. Between 1999 and 2001 ICCES centres
around the country were in a very precarious position and, apart from receiving
some tools from the directorate, very little government support was provided. Since
January 2002 the government has become more involved in ICCES by starting to
pay the salaries of instructors (but still with no other support for materials, running
costs, etc.).5
ICCES is supposed to have a key role in the current government’s skills drive,
with the stated intention of having at least one ICCES centre in all 117 districts
of Ghana. Since 1986, ICCES has expanded from twelve to some sixty or seventy
ICCES centres around Ghana, but they are still suffering severe quality constraints
and have virtually no follow-up support.
The practical training at ICCES centres usually takes place in situ at the training
centre, but can sometimes involve on-the-job learning. This occurs either when the
centre does not have enough material for practical lessons and the instructor takes
some trainees away from the centre to help with his private work, or when the centre
has an outside contract to work on. Centres are sometimes given contracts, usually
by the District Assembly, to build a nearby school classroom block for example. In
this case, the masonry and carpentry trainees would get some work experience out-
side the school setting. However, these contracts are infrequent. These opportunities,
however, exclude the female ICCES trainees due to the nature of the work. Unlike
traditional apprentices, therefore, ICCES trainees—especially if female—spend the
majority of their time learning in an institution, far removed from the on-the-job
training experiences apprentices should expect.6
ICCES centres suffer from a number of constraints that hinders the delivery of
quality training. We shall note some of these below (see also Palmer, 2006b).
The first constraint is lack of financial support from the government and lack of
managerial competency on the part of the ICCES Directorate, leading to, some-
times acute, shortages of textbooks, as well as tools and materials for practi-
cal classes. As we noted above, since 2002 salaries have been paid by the gov-
ernment. However, remuneration is low and frequently delayed, leading to prob-
lems of recruiting and retaining qualified instructors. The government covers the
salaries of five instructors per centre, but centres often have more than this num-
ber. Infrastructure, equipment and running costs are supposed to paid for by the
collection of training fees and through funding partnerships between ICCES
and other agencies. However, these funding partnerships are weak (Box 1) and the
training fees collected are often insufficient.
282 R. Palmer
Box 1. Funding partnerships and ICCES running costs

Despite being called the Integrated Community Centres for Employable
Skills, ICCES as it operates at the moment might be more appropriately called
the Independent Community Centres for Employable Skills; centres largely
have to rely on their own initiative and skills to generate finance for running
costs (other than salaries), equipment and infrastructure. Numerous ICCES
centres around the country have received bilateral support from different orga-
nizations including: foreign embassy small-grants schemes (principally from
the United Kingdom and Japan); the supply of expatriate volunteer teachers
(from Britain’s VSO, Japan’s JOCV, SYTO and, formerly, the United States
Peace Corps);∗ or other bilateral financing from ad hoc overseas trusts, or
Ghanaian/International NGOs (e.g. World Vision). These bilateral partner-
ships might help to develop individual centres, but do little for the overall
development and functioning of ICCES nationally. ICCES remains a very
weak and chronically under-funded agency in Ghana. The ICCES Directorate
should take the lead in co-ordinating partnership support to ICCES centres,
but it lacks the capacity to do this. As a result of lack of guidance, support
or training on how to manage relationships with supporting agencies, indi-
vidual ICCES centres are usually not fully aware of how to manage their
partnerships—if they are lucky enough to get them in the first place! Particu-
larly, ICCES centres are usually not aware of the reporting requirements for
grants and this has led to a breakdown in the relationships between ICCES and
agencies, such as the British and Japanese small-grants schemes, as well as
with volunteer agencies such as VSO, JOCV and the Peace Corps. The actual
sourcing of partnership support by individual ICCES centres is made worse
both through the lack of training of centre managers, and the lack of accessi-
ble, easy-to-follow guidelines from the agencies themselves. The precarious,
and often ad hoc, nature of the partnerships between individual ICCES centres
and various agencies does not go far enough to raise the overall quality of
ICCES training provision. ICCES centres provide low-quality training in an
unco-ordinated environment. The employment outcomes of ICCES graduates
are not known to the government, as there are no evaluations in place at the
Directorate, but undoubtedly the weak partnership arrangements do not con-
tribute to quality employment outcomes.
∗
VSO—Voluntary Service Overseas; JOCV—Japanese Overseas Co-
operation Volunteers; SYTO—Student and Youth Travel Organisation
(SYTO, based in Accra, partners with the British BUNAC—British Univer-
sity North America Club—to send British volunteers for, usually, short-term
placements of three to six months).
Secondly, the rural locations of ICCES makes them undesirable work places for
instructors, most of whom are from the larger towns or cities, since there is a general
absence of amenities, services, entertainment, infrastructure and housing. Moreover,
many of the students at ICCES centres come from poor (farming) backgrounds and
sometimes find it hard to pay the fees. This leads to a general deterioration of overall
quality since the fees raised are supposed to pay for all running costs—other than
salaries.
The third problem arises from the fact that ICCES is serving a dual function: it is
terminal for many, but the NVTI certificates that graduates leave with can be used
to gain entry to further formal education or training. However, pupils place great
emphasis on gaining these certificates and hence instructors teach aspects of certain
trades more with examinations—rather than self-employment—in mind. Indeed,
practical training frequently suffers and often does not receive as much attention as
was intended in the design of ICCES. It is passed over in favour of more academic
and theoretical subjects useful for the examinations. As we noted earlier, one of
the reasons why TVET in Ghana has never developed fully in practice, in spite of
repeated attempts by the government, is that students and parents demand more aca-
demic subjects. The desire of many ICCES trainees is to undertake further (prefer-
ably) formal training after ICCES; hence the focus on passing NVTI examinations.
This means that the practical vocational training objective of ICCES is often sub-
verted as a result of pressure from trainees and their parents for more academic and
examination-orientated teaching. In one recent survey in 2005/2006 of 162 ICCES
graduates, it was found that 42% had studied after ICCES, the majority of whom
had undertaken formal City and Guilds training, and a further 20% had pursued
apprenticeship training. It is usually the male graduates (who have taken courses
like masonry or carpentry) who are most likely to continue their training in formal
VTIs to achieve higher certificates, with a view to gaining formal employment, of-
ten teaching. The latter pathway—where ICCES graduates pursue apprenticeship
training—suggests that the training received at ICCES is not of sufficient practical
orientation to allow graduates to become self-employed (Palmer, 2006b).
On graduating from ICCES with ‘employable skills’, ICCES trainees receive
no post-training support, no assisted access to credit facilities and, generally, have
weakly developed enterprise networks. This makes it all the more difficult for many
of them to navigate their pathway into the labour market (Palmer, 2006b).
With such a disabling training delivery environment, the labour-market outcomes
of ICCES trainees are thus very mixed. Nonetheless, new evidence points towards
most graduates finding some form of income-generating activity, albeit in low-end
informal micro-enterprise activities, including farming.
The government has not been able to collect any data on the employment out-
comes of ICCES graduates. This has been replaced by anecdotal evidence, observa-
tion and assumption. However, a recent study of 110 ICCES graduates who were not
in further training showed that 85% were reportedly undertaking some form of paid
work. Some 15% were described as ‘not working’, but it is likely that they were as-
sisting on their family farms. About 33% (36 out of 110) of all the ICCES graduates
284 R. Palmer
were working in informal self-employment (excluding farming), 36% (40/110) in

informal wage employment and 14% (16/110) in the formal sector.7 If we assume
that those reported as ‘not working’ were actually working on their family farm,
a further 16% (18/110) of the group can be said to be working informally. Another
17/110 were reported to be ‘not working’, while only one was actually reported to be
‘working on the family farm’. Informal employment, therefore, accounted for some
85% of all graduates’ work (49% informal self-employment, including farming, and
36% informal wage employment). However, female graduates appeared to be sig-
nificantly disadvantaged compared to their male counterparts; 40% of females in the
study were categorized as ‘not working’8 (compared to 5% of male graduates), with
a further 44% of female graduates in informal self-employment (excluding farming)
(compared to 28% of male graduates) (Palmer, 2006b).
The disabling post-training environment means that many ICCES graduates are
unable to use the skills they have acquired; 30% of all graduates (21% of male
graduates and 50% of female graduates) were not using their skills in their current
employment activity according to Palmer (2006b). These figures assume that those
classified as ‘not working’ were indeed working on their family farms.
4 Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Programme

Another example of an initiative from Ghana that aimed to link TVET to self-
employment creation is the recent Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Programme
(STEP).9 This was very high on the government’s skills training agenda between
2003 and 2005 and followed directly from its unemployment exercise in late 2001.
STEP was essentially a short-term (three to nine months) pre-employment voca-
tional training based largely in rural areas and aiming to provide those registered
as ‘unemployed’ with the skills needed to become self-employed. The objectives of
the STEP programme were:
r To offer a short (between three and six months) demand-driven competency-
based vocational/technical training;
r To make trainees self-employable, instead of relying on the central government
to offer them jobs, which are hard to come by due to budgetary constraints;
r To stem the drift from rural to urban areas in search of non-existent jobs;
r To reduce the endemic poverty and create awareness for wealth creation (Ofori-
Att, 2004).
Very little has been written on the STEP programme to date (mostly internal or con-
sultancy evaluation reports, e.g. Preddey, 2005), and not, to the author’s knowledge,
for a wider audience.10 And yet it provides some useful lessons about providing
training only—STEP was meant to be complemented by micro-finance, but this has
been very slow in becoming a reality.
Following the 2001 unemployment census in Ghana, which revealed that most of
the unemployed wanted to acquire skills enabling them to become self-employed or
employable, STEP was initiated—a government-supported training programme. It

was intended to reduce poverty by providing employable skills and other assistance
(including access to micro-finance) to the unemployed enabling them to become
productively employed, mainly self-employed in the informal economy. Funding
was made available by allocations from the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)
Fund for three principal components:
r Skills training delivered through vocational training providers: As of March
2005, about 25,000 unemployed people have undertaken STEP training through
formal public and private training providers. STEP training courses run for three
to twelve months in fifty-eight training areas (see Box 2).
r Skills enhancement for master-craftsmen and skills training delivered through
apprenticeship placements: Master-craftsmen go through a few days’ training
with Ghana Regional Appropriate Technology Industrial Service (GRATIS) to
make them more effective trainers. Skills training is then conducted by attaching
up to ten trainees to a master-craftsman to undertake a workshop-based appren-
ticeship for up to twelve months.
r Micro-finance component: This component, launched in December 2004, was
intended to provide start-up and working capital to enable those trained under
the STEP programme to set up their own enterprises. Funding was to be made
available from HIPC funds to micro-finance institutions (MFIs) for on-lending
to qualified trained STEP graduates. Two MFIs are participating: the Women’s
World Banking Ghana (WWBG); and the rural bank network under the Associ-
ation of Rural Banks APEX (ARB-APEX).
Box 2. STEP training courses
r Three-month courses in twelve training areas, including:

Bamboo processing; batik tie and dye; bead-making; bicycle repairing;
food processing; floral works; hospitality and tourism (ten weeks); print-
ing; rural craft; steel bending; textiles; and soap production.
r Six-month courses in forty-two training areas, including:
Ashanti cloth-designing; auto-body repairs; auto-engineering; auto-
electrical; building and construction; beautician; basketry and
bead making; cane/basketry; carpentry and joinery; carving;
carpentry/furniture-making; cosmetology; dress-making/tailoring;
electrical; electronics; food-processing; food-processing technology;
food-processing materials packaging; hairdressing; jewellery; in-
formation and communications technology (ICT); Kente weaving;
leatherworks; machining; painting and decoration; multimedia production;
perfumery/detergents/hair-care; plumbing; pottery/ceramics; radio and
television; photography and video production; production of concrete;
refrigeration and air-conditioning; tailoring and apprenticeship training;
286 R. Palmer
traditional cloth-weaving; traditional footwear-making; textiles+medi

printing; weaving; wood processing; welding and fabrication.
r Twelve-month courses in four training areas, including:
Apprenticeship training scheme; draughtmanship and construction;
foundry; garment construction.
Source: Preddey, 2005.
There were meant to be three training phases to the STEP programme: phase 1
commenced in February 2003; phase 2 in December 2003; but phase 3 was dis-
continued. There have been other constraints hindering the outcomes of the STEP
programme (Palmer, 2006b):
1. Lack of demand for these types of skills: The STEP programme is highly cen-
tralized: skills-needs assessments are conducted at NVTI Headquarters in Accra.
There has been no real attempt at establishing demand for skills and product
types at the local level, and district assemblies sometimes complain about STEP
delivering ‘useless’ courses. There is a danger of market saturation as too many
are being trained in similar trades in the same area.
2. Microfinance: Representatives of STEP training providers are unaware of whether
any loans had been taken up. WWBG and ARB-APEX view the capacity of
STEP graduates to understand the conditions of lending as inadequate. WWBG
considers that providing micro-finance to STEP graduates is a social programme
and is not commercially viable. STEP borrowers are a higher risk than other
borrowers, being new ‘customers’ with low educational attainment. Anecdotal
evidence points towards difficulties in STEP graduates accessing loans and, in
some cases, the VTIs that provided the training are asked to act as guarantors on
loans made. Obviously, VTIs are not in a position to do this.
3. Weak training environment: Many entrepreneurs who were given apprentices to
train could not provide a decent training environment, i.e. protective clothing,
etc., and were ill-resourced in tools and equipment. In return, the entrepreneurs
complained about receiving insufficient funding to adequately train apprentices.
The duration of training is not considered long enough, especially in trades like
welding and carpentry, leading to the creation of ‘half-baked’ apprentices. Train-
ing has been criticized as having a traditional approach to production—one that
is not competitive and not productive.
4. Employment outcomes unknown: Except for anecdotal evidence, no one really
knows what has happened to the substantial number of STEP graduates since the
programme’s inception. The indications, from those who implemented the STEP
programme at village-level, have been that STEP graduates feel the programme
has helped them to acquire useful skills. However, while the STEP trainees have
been able to acquire various useful skills, being able to utilise them in the labour
market appears to be proving difficult. Indeed, there is concern that many (if not
most) STEP graduates are not faring well in the labour market and not using the
skills they have acquired.
5. A numbers game between planned and actual people trained, and between the
total reach of STEP and total demand: The proposed STEP budget for the second
phase provided for 1,000 proven master-craftsmen to undergo skills enhance-
ment so that they could take on 5,000 new apprentices. The actual outcome,
according to GRATIS, was that 1,140 STEP apprentices were placed with 120
master craftsmen who had received limited pedagogical training provided by
GRATIS from their own resources. The total number trained under STEP to date
is about 25,000, a small percentage of the annual approximately150,000 junior
secondary school graduates who finished school and cannot enter further formal
training.
6. Other problems: STEP suffers from management problems. Post-training sup-
port is inadequate. There was a significant risk for the government that the origi-
nal programme title—Skills Training and Employment Placement—implied that
STEP has a large capacity to place unemployed persons in jobs. But STEP was
not meant to be a job-creation programme—rather it was meant to empower un-
skilled or low-skilled unemployed persons to find or create work by themselves.
Hence, the title of STEP was changed to Skills Training and Entrepreneurship
Programme in the GPRS II.
A further issue relates to the delivery of the STEP training, which was done through
existing VTIs throughout the country, including ICCES discussed above. In the case
of ICCES delivering the STEP programme, registered STEP trainees ‘enrolled’ for
the period of their training at a particular ICCES centre. STEP training, which was
meant to be kept separate from regular ICCES training, was often delivered by
ICCES centres to all the students, regardless of whether they were STEP trainees
or regular three-year ICCES students. This cross-over had both positive and nega-
tive repercussions. On the one hand, existing ICCES trainees were able to benefit
from the STEP training being conducted; e.g. ICCES dress-making students bene-
fited from learning batik or soap-making intended for the STEP trainees.11 On the
other hand, however, it is likely that the training quality was reduced as the centres
were only supplied by the government with sufficient materials to cover the STEP
trainees—and not any extra bodies.
5 Conclusion
We noted at the beginning of this chapter that since the late nineteenth century and
right up to the most recent proposed education reforms (2004) there have been re-
peated attempts to make education more relevant to the world of work in Ghana.
We also noted that these attempts have failed in the past as parents and youth have
consistently preferred academic schooling offering greater possibilities for finding
better paid employment. Even in VTIs that are geared towards providing youths
with practical skills in an effort to promote self-employment, low-quality training
288 R. Palmer
environments (due to resource constraints) and youth and parents’ preference for
continuing formal education have often subverted the intention of these VTIs and
made them more ‘academic’ in nature.
Youth and parents are well aware of the occupational realities of the Ghanaian
labour market and that most people do actually work in informal micro-enterprises.
The problem facing most youth as they graduate from self-employment orien-
tated TVET programmes, like ICCES or STEP, is that while they have acquired
skills during their training (even if the quality of the skills taught might be low) most
find it very hard to utilise these skills productively in the labour market. Indeed, the
environment in which most graduate trainees find themselves is quite disabling.12
In order for skills acquisition to be more effectively translated into skills utilization,
more attention needs to be paid to developing policies that enable, rather than con-
strain or disable, informal micro-enterprises—and especially those in rural areas.
Notes
1. TVET in this chapter refers to school-based TVET, vocational training centres/institutes and
on-the-job skills training provided in both the formal and informal sectors. This definition
largely corresponds to the government’s Draft TVET policy framework for Ghana (Govern-
ment of Ghana, 2004b).
2. See King and Palmer (2006b) for a state-of-the-art review of skills development and poverty
reduction.
3. This is because parents and students see academic schooling as more ‘vocational’ than voca-
tional education proper (Foster, 1965a, 1965b). For a recent ‘revisiting’ of Foster’s vocational
school fallacy, see King and Martin (2002) and Foster (2002).
4. For a general, recent overview of employment outcomes from education and skills training in
Ghana, see Palmer, 2006a.
5. Personal communication to the author by the Director of the ICCES, 18 November 2004.
6. Though traditional apprenticeship training is known to have many weaknesses (see World
Bank, 2004), on-the-job training does at least help youth develop social and enterprise net-
works that are crucial to accessing support for subsequent enterprise start-up (Palmer, 2006b).
7. Informal wage employment usually takes the form of informal contracts with formal construc-
tion companies. Male graduates in building and construction trades are most likely to get this
type of work, paid on either a per-day or per-month basis and typically lasting only part of the
year. Construction companies often do not officially register these workers (Palmer, 2006b).
8. Although, as noted above, it is more likely that they were working on their families’ farms.
9. STEP initially stood for Skills Training and Employment Placement Programme when it
started in 2003, but was later renamed in the Growth and poverty reduction strategy (GPRS)
II (cf. Government of Ghana, 2005) as the government was concerned that those trained
under the STEP expected the government to provide them with employment after training
(Palmer, 2006b).
10. But see Palmer (2007) for an earlier summary. See Palmer (2006b) for a detailed discussion
on STEP.
11. Personal communication from the ICCES/STEP co-ordinator for the Ashanti Region, May
2004.
12. For a discussion of the types of enabling environment that enable or disable education and
training outcomes, see King, Palmer & Hayman (2005) and King & Palmer (2006a). For
a review of education, training and poverty reduction outcomes in the context of the en-
abling/disabling environments in Ghana, India, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and South Africa
see Palmer et al. (2006).
References
Akyeampong, A. 2005. Preparing students for work in Ghana: is vocationalization of secondary
education working? (Paper presented to the eighth Oxford International Conference on Edu-
cation and Development, ‘Learning and Livelihoods’, 13–15 September 2005, New College,
Oxford, United Kingdom.)
Foster, P. 1965a. Education and social change in Ghana. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Foster, P. 1965b. The vocational school fallacy in development planning. In: Anderson, C.;
Bowman, M., eds. Education and economic development. Chicago, IL: Aldine.
Foster, P. 2002. Commentary: the vocational school fallacy revisited—education, aspiration and work
in Ghana, 1959–2000. International journal of educational development, vol. 22, pp. 27–28.
Government of Ghana. 2004a. White Paper on the report of the Education Reform Review Com-
mittee. Accra: Vice-President’s Office.
Government of Ghana. 2004b. Draft TVET policy framework for Ghana. Accra: Ministry of Edu-
cation, Youth and Sports.
Government of Ghana. 2005. Growth and poverty reduction strategy (GPRS II). The coordinated
programme for the economic and social development of Ghana (2006–2009). Accra: National
Development Planning Commission.
Integrated Community Centres for Employable Skills. 1996. Integrated Community Centres for
Employable Skills ICCES: background information. Accra: ICCES Directorate. [Mimeo.]
King, K.; Martin, C. 2002. The vocational school fallacy revisited: education, aspiration and work
in Ghana, 1959–2000. International journal of educational development, vol. 22, pp. 5–26.
King, K.; Palmer, R. 2006a. Skills development and poverty reduction: the state of the art. Edin-
burgh, UK: University of Edinburgh. (Post-basic education and training working paper, no. 7.)
<www.cas.ed.ac.uk/research/projects.html>
King, K.; Palmer, R. 2006b. Education, training and their enabling environments: a review of re-
search and policy. Edinburgh, UK: University of Edinburgh. (Post-basic education and training
working paper, no. 8.) <www.cas.ed.ac.uk/research/projects.html>
King, K.; Palmer, R.; Hayman, R. 2005. Bridging research and policy on education, training and
their enabling environments. Journal of international development, vol. 17, no. 6, pp. 803–17.
Ofori-Att, A. 2004. (Keynote Address by the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Manpower De-
velopment and Employment on the second Graduation Ceremony of STEP Programme at the
City Educational Complex, Bohyen, Ghana, 17 March 2004.) [Unpublished document.]
Palmer, R. 2005. Beyond the basics: post-basic education and training and poverty re-
duction in Ghana. Edinburgh, UK: University of Edinburgh, Centre of African Stud-
ies. (Post-Basic Education and Training, working paper series, no 4.) <www.cas.ed.ac.uk/
research/projects.html>
Palmer, R. 2006a. Education, training and labour market outcomes in Ghana: a review of the
evidence. Edinburgh, UK: University of Edinburgh. (Consultancy report for a DfID-funded
research project.) (Improving the Outcomes of Education for Pro-Poor Development, working
paper, no. 1.)
Palmer, R. 2006b. Tinker, tailor, farmer, trader: skills development, the enabling environment
and informal micro-enterprise in Ghana. Edinburgh, UK: University of Edinburgh, Centre of
African Studies. [Doctoral thesis.]
Palmer, R. 2007. Skills for work? From skills development to decent livelihoods in Ghana’s
rural informal economy. International journal of educational development, vol. 27, no. 4,
pp. 397–420.
Palmer, R. et al. 2006. Educating out of poverty? A synthesis report on Ghana, India, Kenya,
Rwanda, Tanzania and South Africa. Edinburgh, UK: University of Edinburgh, Centre of
African Studies. (Draft report for DfID.)
Preddey, G. 2005. Skills Training and Employment Placement (STEP): the programme document
and performance appraisal, and proposals for enhancement. Geneva, Switzerland: ILO, Skills
and Employability Department.
World Bank. 2004. Skills development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Chapter II.5
Criteria for Training Policy in the Informal
Sector: Demands and Challenges
in Latin America
Enrique Pieck
1 Introduction
The concepts ‘literacy’ and ‘schooling’ raise a number of questions concerning their
relative importance, ranging from what is understood by literacy and schooling to
what their purpose is in today’s world and what their relationship is to the labour
market. What are the benefits of schooling? To what extent does school prepare
one for life? What are the implications of not being schooled or literate in this
modern world? Schools are supposed to impart a variety of basic skills that will
allow individuals to function adequately, both socially and in the market place.
To what extent have schools accomplished this? These are some of the questions
addressed in this chapter on educational and training issues in the Latin American
context.1
The focus is on several pivotal questions. If the lowest schooling levels and early
insertion in the labour market occur in the lower-income sectors, how well-prepared
are these sectors to function adequately in the labour market? In terms of basic skills
training, what are the challenges that face the formal school system and training
and vocational institutions? What educational and occupational strategies have been
implemented to help youth, adults, women, peasants, indigenous populations, mi-
grants and other disadvantaged segments of the population to become productively
integrated into the labour market? What lessons have we learned from them?
In order to address each of these basic questions, this chapter has been divided
into several sections. A brief introductory overview of a number of educational
indicators in Latin America is followed by the challenges that skills training ini-
tiatives must address in this region. A third section briefly outlines the trend that
has accompanied the recent concern with making occupational training programmes
available in deprived sectors, with special emphasis on young people. In closing, this
chapter addresses the pivotal issue, namely key considerations for the formulation
of productive insertion policies inspired by lessons and contributions emerging from
various projects undertaken in the region.

292 E. Pieck
2 The Shreds of Literacy and Schooling in Latin America
Despite the important progress made in the 1990s, education in Latin America is
still a rather depressing affair. While basic education coverage has been recognized
as near universal, important gaps in universal coverage still remain, particularly in
rural areas. At present, education systems seem more concerned with the quality
of education and ensuring its relevance and capacity to deliver the skills that are
necessary to fare well in life. However, statistics are not encouraging in this area.
Brunner (2000), who synthesizes the educational problems affecting the region,
helps us to gain some perspective and reflect upon the challenges that have yet to be
met. Some of the typical problems are as follows:
r At the regional level education lags behind, is underdeveloped or partly devel-
oped in the best of cases.
r In some countries coverage is incomplete and exclusion is high.
r The capacity to compensate for the cultural deficits of children and youth from
underprivileged homes is weak.
r High repetition and drop-out rates translate into substantial wastage.
r Learning outcomes are poor.
r There are limited human resources and educational materials, which are usually
mismanaged and/or misused within the system.
r Articulation mechanisms among and between the various levels of the education
system and its environment are weak, particularly when it comes to the labour
market.
r The educational level of the labour force aged 25 or older is mediocre (averaging
five years) and 14% of the population is still mired in illiteracy.
r There are marked differences in education between the richer 10% (eleven years
or more) and the poorer 30% (fewer than four years) of the population.
r The generation of knowledge aimed at improving the teaching/learning processes
and promoting public policies for the sector is weak.
In light of a substantial increase in educational coverage in a large number of
countries, the percentage of the population currently accessing the middle level
of education—a level that in many countries represents the upper threshold for
most—has also risen.2 The implications to be drawn from this fact seem fairly
straightforward. Since this level frequently represents the last rung on the educa-
tional ladder, at least in terms of the lower socio-economic sectors, the challenges
it poses and the support it calls for are quite evident. Research conducted in Mex-
ico has revealed that while 12% of non-poor youth between the ages of 20 and 24
have completed tertiary education, in the case of disadvantaged youth this figure
drops to 7.3% (Pieck, 2000). The challenge therefore lies essentially in providing
basic skills training that facilitates successful performance in the workplace and
in reinforcing this middle level through training focusing on minimal occupational
skills, which would help to improve early insertion in the market place. Clearly,
investing in human resources training while the individual is still in the second
cycle of formal education makes considerably more sense than investing later in
II.5 Criteria for Training Policy in the Informal Sector 293
compensatory education (ECLAC, 2000b, p. 109). Research findings on functional

literacy levels point to the lack of quality that is evident in the delivery of basic
and secondary education. Some have gone so far as to claim that completion of
the school cycle does not necessarily guarantee that the individual will have a real
mastery of reading, writing and mathematical skills, which means that the teaching
imparted at schools is insufficient to cope with the demands imposed by the school’s
own environment (Infante, 2000, p. 181).
What, then, is the good of receiving an education? What problems prevent the
education system from fulfilling its primary mission, namely delivering minimal
basic skills? Additionally, if no guarantee can be given that schools do perform
this basic function, what can we expect from sectors of the population that do not
have access to education, or those that are forced to resort to a marginal source of
education of dubious quality?
3 Educational Equity and Productive Insertion

Seen from the perspective of equity, students from lower-income families tend to
exhibit the lowest levels of academic achievement. In the context of the existing
relationship between education and the replication of poverty, studies show a pos-
itive correlation between the education of parents and that of their children. In
other words, the likelihood of acquiring or not acquiring adequate minimal edu-
cation is closely linked to the parents’ educational background and income level
in poor households. It has been found that parents of 80% of urban youths have
completed less than ten years of schooling; in fact, between 60 and 80% of these
adults fall short of the basic educational threshold required to access well-being
levels (ECLAC, 2000b, p. 101). What, then, are the chances for individuals to
forge ahead? Today only 20% of young people whose parents did not complete
primary education finish secondary education. However, among individuals whose
parents completed at least ten years of education, this percentage rises to more
than 60%.
Data from another regional research project (Gallart et al., 1996), conducted
in five Latin American countries, point to the impact of poverty on the academic
achievements of young people. The data highlight that the attendance rates, the aver-
age school years completed and the percentage of individuals with secondary educa-
tion are substantially lower among the poor than the non-poor. Attaining seven years
of basic education is no small achievement in the region. However, here again the
differences between the poor and the non-poor are dramatic: approximately twice
as many disadvantaged individuals have failed to complete more than six years of
education. The poor also bear the brunt of unemployment, experiencing double or
more than double unemployment rates.
One of the major challenges is to facilitate the productive insertion of groups
living in deprived areas. This requires that one reflect on the restrictions that cur-
rently exist in the formal labour market and question the extent to which the
294 E. Pieck
formal education system prepares an individual for the world of work and the rel-
evance of the skills acquired. It also evokes the traditional concern with the clas-
sic incoherence between the supply of education and the demands of the labour
market.
A glance at the relationship between education and work reveals that a large
portion of the gainfully employed population is not sufficiently educated to move
beyond the income levels associated with the lower occupational categories. Also,
even if educational inequities are high among social strata in the region, they are
nevertheless lower than inequities regarding income levels (ECLAC, 2000a). An
important question is how much schooling is needed in order to ensure a productive
insertion that allows one to break away from the poverty cycle and move beyond the
lower levels of occupational income? According to the Economic Commission for
Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), ten years of schooling represents the
minimal threshold required if education is to play a significant role in breaking this
cycle. Based on estimates prepared by ECLAC, it takes twelve years of education to
have a 90% chance of staying out of—or moving beyond—poverty (ECLAC, 2000b,
p. 105). However, as pointed out earlier, achieving seven years of basic education in
the region is already no small achievement (Gallart et al., 1996). Where does hope
lie for these populations?
From the above it can be said that, in connection with the question of basic skills,
the warning lights are flashing for the underprivileged segments of the population.
This draws attention to the acute problems in the education system that prevent
schools from assisting individuals, especially those from lower income groups, in
acquiring basic skills. It also highlights the fact that there are large segments of the
population that never go beyond basic education and groups that are already part of
the educational gap, having dropped out of school, or exhibit critical deficits in basic
skills acquisition and, thus, find themselves in dire need of the skills that would
ensure their insertion into productive activities. It has become painfully clear that
the limited access of lower income groups to good quality instruction has restricted
access to better paying jobs. It has also become clear that there is a need to formulate
training, occupational and educational strategies to compensate for the educational
deficits characteristic of these groups. How are we to deal with these challenges?
What strategies should be used?
4 Two Orientations Guiding Skills Training Policies

The desire to impart critical basic skills implies that one must first distinguish be-
tween two groups: (a) those who are already part of the formal education system;
and (ii) those who are not part of that system—that is, those who have dropped out
and lag behind others from an educational point of view. Regarding the educational
needs of the first group, the focus needs to be on basic skills and those abilities
derived from the processes of globalization and technological development. Regard-
ing the second group, it is necessary to update basic skills and impart occupational
training, since it is ultimately—though not solely—the labour realm that determines

the educational demands and needs of this group.
For those attending school, especially for more vulnerable groups, the challenge
is to establish a set of measures at the basic level of education. In recent years, a
number of programmes aimed at enhancing the quality of education have been for-
mulated as a strategy to rid the education system of inequality and inequity. Many of
these strategies have been guided by a positive discrimination—giving more to those
who have less—as a means of equalizing the educational status of large groups of
the population. In this field of education various initiatives have been undertaken by
private stakeholders, popular education movements and NGOs, as well as by gov-
ernmental institutions. The strategies adopted reflect the different ways the problem
has been perceived. While some programmes have attempted to compensate for the
impoverishment under which schools in lower income areas operate by upgrading
their infrastructure, equipment and materials, others have been geared towards the
teacher as a way of spurring better educational practices; still others have sought
to incorporate curricular innovations; finally, there are those that favour economic
support initiatives (scholarships, school breakfasts and so forth) intended to mitigate
the dearth of resources afflicting these groups and to help prolong the permanence of
the student population in the education system by lowering repetition and drop-out
rates (Jacinto, 1999).
On the subject of quality and equity of the education system, it may be said
that educational reforms may prove insufficient if limited exclusively to the in-
ternal curricular, administrative and financial aspects of a school. To assess their
real impact and counteract the negative effects produced by poverty, wider links to
social policies are needed (ECLAC, 2000c). Given the economic needs of lower
income households, improving the quality of education alone is enough neither to
keep young people from dropping out nor to prevent them from repeating.
Basic education initiatives seek to counteract the condition of exclusion and ne-
glect that has been imposed on some groups of the population living in poverty.
Experiences such as Fe y Alegrı́a (Faith and Happiness), Colombia’s Escuela Nueva
and the educational activity of Mexico’s Consejo Nacional de Fomento Educativo
(CONAFE) represent alternative and compensatory modalities intended to offer
these segments of the population a higher quality of educational provision and ex-
pand coverage in isolated areas.
For those who have dropped out of the formal education system, lack of liter-
acy and schooling problems surface as severe deficits when it comes to the use
of basic skills. Again, this condition affects essentially disadvantaged groups that
face a different set of challenges regarding their integration into the labour market.
Productive integration into the market represents a major and immediate challenge
and entails in turn the provision of basic skills and occupational training. Therefore,
any mention of schooling and literacy points to the need to educate members of
these groups in life-skills; that is, in abilities that bear specifically on work.
With regard to this group, initiatives have been advanced in the realm of non-
formal education and training programmes and within vocational training institutes.
The major task of these educational modalities is to facilitate the successful insertion
296 E. Pieck
of young people and adults from lower income groups into productive activities.
What has been done in this area? To what extent have occupational training strate-
gies focused on the lot of the underprivileged?
5 In Search of Training Strategies for the Disadvantaged

Training programmes designed to meet the needs of young people and adults from
lower income populations are not plentiful (King, 1988). These sectors have tradi-
tionally been excluded from such programmes. While vocational training institutes
have neglected these sectors in their programmes, adult education has failed to incor-
porate the work component into its activities. With very few exceptions, and apart
from a new-found concern on the part of some institutions to bring occupational
training closer to the poor, this kind of training has become a veritable ‘no man’s
land’ in underprivileged sectors (Pieck, 1998). Occupational training initiatives have
been targeted primarily at the formal sector of the economy, forgetting that vast
numbers of Latin Americans live in poverty (40% in Mexico, 80% in Honduras, to
mention just two instances) and engage in some kind of economic activity, essen-
tially in the informal sector. However, past failures have shown that programmes are
urgently needed that are suited and responsive to the necessities and characteristics
of the contexts of disadvantaged sectors (Leonardos, 1999; Pieck, 2000). Unfortu-
nately, as pointed out by Bennell (1999), the role that technical and vocational train-
ing may play in eradicating poverty has been underestimated within the framework
of social strategies adopted by developing countries, even if rhetoric acknowledges
technical training as an essential component of public policy.
In recent years—perhaps to counteract the structural adjustment programmes
that typified the past decade—greater interest in developing programmes for these
vulnerable groups has been evinced. These programmes range from those of an
essentially compensatory nature to the more comprehensive initiatives that aim to
incorporate these populations into their national development plans.3 In time, the
lessons learned have overcome narrow-minded views whose only strategy was to
rely on mere training, the idea being that technical courses would have the neces-
sary power to link the population to their labour world. These traditional occupa-
tional training projects have raised questions about the short-sightedness of training
strategies, both in terms of programme design and objectives, especially in the con-
text of volatile markets. Another matter of concern is the need to acknowledge that
the demand for qualifications through training programmes has become insufficient
as the sole criterion of positive discrimination, particularly in markets where the
greater complexity of production technologies does not necessarily go hand-in-hand
with higher qualification requirements (Valdés, 2001).
The need to think of professional training in a broad sense and not simply as
occupational training alone has emerged from both past successes and past failures.
Growing importance is being attached to focusing on cultural issues. Emphasis is
being placed on teacher training and on the need to design comprehensive curric-
ula. Part of this new-found holistic approach derives from the need to integrate the
objectives of occupational and social inclusion. In the past, there was a tension
between concerns of occupational objectives and those associated with housing,
health, education and other social welfare concerns that are crucial for the success
of training and productive strategies. There is a need to adopt a comprehensive ap-
proach to the actions undertaken and to establish co-ordination mechanisms among
the various levels and stakeholders.
6 Some Criteria for Policy Design

Some criteria can serve as guiding principles for developing training policies in de-
prived sectors. The following considerations are derived from experiences in various
countries in Latin America.
6.1 Diversity, Equity and Quality

The different kinds of populations, their cultural and social diversity and the nature
of their learning demands require a more accurate definition of what is commonly
understood by ‘disadvantaged groups’. Diversity in the types of training interven-
tion is necessary. In recent years, the importance of addressing the heterogeneity of
the population making up the underprivileged sectors has been pointed out repeat-
edly. While some initiatives carried out by the government and non-governmental
organizations have used focal strategies as a key criterion in the elaboration and
development of programmes, a more global, longer-term strategy is needed that
includes structured plans and actions, as well as a clear view of the target population
and the features each programme should include in order to respond adequately—
both in the long and the short terms—to the educational needs of disadvantaged
groups, be they peasants, migrants, rural women or urban youth. It implies the
need to enrich the programmes with a view to maximizing their impact on each
of the target groups. Furthermore, it demands a clear understanding of require-
ments based on the needs and characteristics of the subjects and their environments.
Clearly, a programme aimed at the occupational training of disadvantaged urban
youth will require educational re-insertion and comprehensive vocational training
strategies, complementary social programmes in fields such as health and recre-
ation, as well as in work-support programmes. Likewise, programmes aimed at
attaining the productive insertion of indigenous women will need an accurate de-
scription of their contexts and potential, their age range and the nature of their
expectations. It also requires the co-ordination of these programmes with their daily
activities.
Educational policies thus conceived fall within the realm of positive discrimi-
nation and are underpinned by differential strategies (Schmelkes, 1996). In other
words, they should take into account approaches that offer the lower income popu-
lation a chance to access a quality educational supply that is sensitive to their needs
298 E. Pieck
and interests, while granting them an opportunity to advance by means of higher

education and occupational training initiatives.
In this way underprivileged segments of the population would benefit from mul-
tiple educational opportunities through access to: (a) diverse programmes and alter-
natives in the various contexts; (b) the possibility of moving freely among them; and
(c) viable mechanisms to advance to higher levels of education.
6.2 Education and Training: Everywhere, Anytime

Permanent education implies the establishment of education and training systems
that favour lifelong strategies and are linked to the development of educational and
training paths at various levels. It points to the necessity of filling a number of voids
within the system—for example: by creating vocational training and general edu-
cation paths beyond the compulsory stage; introducing work-related experiences at
the compulsory stage; designing modular systems so that courses given at different
levels and through modalities of education and training may be combined; establish-
ing secondary education that allows for technical and academic achievement; and
opening diversified paths to higher education that interconnect with other systems
and levels. Of crucial importance here is the development of technical education, an
issue undoubtedly still unresolved in numerous countries and calling for the incor-
poration of important components of occupational training and culture into main-
stream education. It suggests the importance of generating flexible and diverse artic-
ulations between the formal and informal sectors that are sensitive to the educational
and occupational trajectories of underprivileged groups. Proposals of this sort are ur-
gently needed in the region, particularly where vast segments of the population lack
basic skills training and where the last years of basic education are nowadays the
upper threshold in a large number of countries before people join the labour force.
6.3 Two Dimensions, Two Strategies
Concern for formative strategies, such as basic education aimed at productive inser-
tion, needs to be seen in the context of the dichotomous world where globalization
and polarization coexist. There are two essential dimensions to the problems that
socially disadvantaged groups have to confront: (a) international competitiveness
and globalization; and (b) social integration and exclusion (Gallart et al., 1996;
Jacinto & Gallart, 1998). On the one hand, the mutations of the labour world re-
sulting from the advent of new technologies and production patterns demand that
special emphasis be given to an education that promotes skills and aptitudes fa-
cilitating both insertion into the labour market and social mobility. On the other,
spiralling unemployment, a precarious labour market and endemic poverty levels
point to the essential task of developing the skills that will allow men and women
to become productive members of society. In developing countries, it is not just a
question of finding work but also one of guaranteeing sustenance and sustainable
livelihoods to all concerned.
In view of these two scenarios, the tasks that fall to technical and vocational
training and education in underprivileged sectors should focus on: (a) adapting
and responding to the various contexts and needs of marginalized sectors by mak-
ing available relevant and high-quality education; and (b) facilitating access to
new skills and technological literacy in order to promote employability among
low-income sectors and to prevent the emergence of further social exclusion pro-
cesses. On the one hand, the idea is not to keep underprivileged groups from
accessing new skills. Rather, they should be given the opportunity either to join
the formal labour market or to continue on to higher levels of education. On
the other, every effort should be made to offer lower income groups the tools
they require to facilitate their productive insertion by providing them with high-
quality basic education and training that is congruent with local needs and labour
characteristics.
6.4 Catering to the Impoverished Sectors: What Does it Entail?
While most training programmes reflect the demands of the formal economy and
market, attention must be paid to the fact that a large percentage of people, par-
ticularly the young, eventually settle in the informal sector of the economy. This
sector calls for a very specific type of learning that training programmes will have
to confront.
Among the underprivileged segments of the population, the labour world takes
on a specificity of its own that will ultimately define the characteristics that any pro-
gramme should have if it wishes to meet the training needs of this sector. Work ac-
quires a specific meaning in poor areas, especially in rural areas, where it is closely
linked to the physical environment and to survival strategies. In this distinct setting,
productive insertion demands relevant training programmes capable of satisfying
their particular economic survival (Pieck, 2000).
This type of strategy, particularly when directed at a population’s underprivileged
groups, makes necessary a reformulation of the notions of work, employment, em-
ployability and productivity. These terms do not necessarily follow the logic of the
formal labour market, nor do they imply that the skills being promoted are neces-
sarily linked to the technologically oriented sectors. The strategies must consider
the characteristics and needs of specific groups, and programmes must heed the
nature and features of their contexts—as well as the particular training needs of
the populations living in impoverished areas. Clearly, at this level quality becomes
directly equated with the relevance of the contribution the programmes make to the
specific needs of the various population groups. In other words, the success of a
programme will be contingent upon how relevant the acquired skills actually prove
to be in the workplace and whether individuals use these skills in economically
productive ways (McLaughlin, 1990).
300 E. Pieck
6.5 Problems Associated with Small Business Endeavours
On the subject of promoting small businesses in the informal sector, some reserva-
tions are in order, since training in the informal sector raises some questions worth
reflecting upon. One of them has to do with the reproduction of self-employment
under precarious conditions. We are well aware of its limitations in terms of age,
work experience, lack of capital, limited social networks, etc., which often trans-
late into high-risk and unrealistic ventures for low-income youths (Ramı́rez, 2000;
Messina, 2001). Be that as it may, it is important to recognize that, given the restric-
tions of the formal labour market, a large number of young people will enter the
informal sector one way or another. This implies that training programmes need to
incorporate curricular elements designed to impart interdisciplinary skills that are
common to both the formal and the informal markets.
In the case of adults, where there is a greater chance of finding technical skills and
practical experience, training programmes must adopt on-the-job training strategies
and be closely linked to the particular needs of the economic/productive activities of
that sector of the population (Vielle, 1995). A training strategy thus conceived has
the capability of responding to the actual concerns of the people, a feature not too
often found in training programmes.
6.6 The Integral Dimension of Every Economic/Productive Activity
The integral dimension of any productive insertion endeavour is an essential compo-

nent of any occupational training strategy. Meeting a project’s immediate demands
(e.g. loans, specific courses) will not accomplish much in the absence of a diagnosis
that can provide a holistic solution to the problems affecting the various projects
of a specific population. In this regard, addressing these projects from the point of
view of dimensions, such as organization, production, commercialization, technical
processes, accounting systems and division of labour, regardless of the magnitude
of the particular business endeavour, is of paramount importance. In some cases,
support may come to small operators in the guise of technical assistance, in others it
may translate into accounting services for projects under consolidation. As a result,
technical training becomes a training/consultantship effort, which approaches po-
tential projects from an integrative perspective. That is to say, it does not merely of-
fer an immediate response to a project’s technical or economic need but emphasizes
the way in which the support or funds are being efficiently used. In other words, it
becomes a response based on an integrated analysis of the economic and productive
activity, and results in an improvement plan designed to contribute solutions capable
of steering any business pursuit in the direction of an economic development project.
The integrated perspective of training programmes evinces the insufficiency of tech-
nical training initiatives and funding strategies, taken as isolated components. This
basic premise—an integral view of projects—has been conspicuously absent from
the development of technical training programmes aimed at deprived sectors. This
has resulted in an educational supply that elicits no interest beyond the boundaries
of the course itself and, on occasion, appears irrelevant and apathetic to the impact
of the promoted courses.
6.7 Articulation of Training with Basic Education
A key consideration in occupational training for deprived sectors is the importance

given to basic education conceived as a pre-requisite for occupational training and
as the cornerstone of lifelong education. Basic education is the chief guarantee of
the skills demanded by employability. In this regard, it is important that occupa-
tional training programmes include school re-insertion strategies, especially when
one considers the deficits exhibited by youths from vulnerable sectors. It is im-
portant to articulate occupational training initiatives with basic education and to
devise plans that create linkages between the different educational strategies and
schools, so that students who are undergoing training may, at the same time, com-
plement their basic education. In this respect, articulation strategies between both
systems are indispensable. While this is a foremost preoccupation of the literature
and research, much of the road still remains untraveled. Few undertakings have
cared to incorporate basic education components into their curricular strategies and
plans. In other instances, this has been accomplished through informal institutional
agreements whereby students fill in their basic education voids while involved in
occupational training programmes. Building bridges between initiatives by both
types of institutions—educational and training—are essential to the drafting of such
agreements.
6.8 The Necessary Confluence between Sectors

Among the training strategies aimed at underprivileged groups, the co-ordination of
programmes with institutions from different sectors is currently considered a sine
qua non. In fact, it is the driving force behind the manifold possibilities of technical
training. It is through co-ordination activities with institutions concerned with fi-
nance, organizational matters and commercial activities that the knowledge acquired
through training will lead to productive insertion and the creation and development
of small business endeavours. This crucial factor guarantees that the various pro-
grammes will have a positive impact on the expansion of economic activities and
help in turn to improve the target population’s living conditions. The importance
of addressing the training of deprived sectors from an inter-sectoral perspective
is supported by the basic premise that training in and of itself is not enough, and
through the recognition that the promotion of social inequality is not restricted to
the educational domain. Thus, the importance of dealing with problems from various
fronts (Valdés, 2001) is highlighted.
Along these same lines—and on the assumption that any educational process
will be intertwined with various dimensions—integration becomes an indispens-
able component of training policies. Integration also points to the importance of
302 E. Pieck
acknowledging that the inherent complexity of the groups involved requires a multi-
faceted approach whereby health, housing, recreation and so forth are also taken into
account, since training alone or simple insertion in the labour market will neither
guarantee social insertion nor the outcomes that training programmes anticipate. A
case in point is the design of occupational training programmes aimed at marginal
urban youths relying on co-ordination efforts with social programmes to ensure that
the curriculum will also contribute to the resolution of social and cultural issues.
It is not simply a matter of integrating them into technical training courses, but
one of seeking the participation of different sectors and organizations in the fields
of education, labour and health. This becomes indispensable just as much as the
creation of links to women, youth and peasant organizations, trade unions, etc. The
idea is to formulate joint strategies and offer integral answers to problems that must
necessarily be dealt with from various fronts.
6.9 Tensions between Efficiency and Equity
A distinct tension found in programmes is that generated by efficiency versus equity.

The process of selecting young people who will participate in training and support
programmes represents a typical case. It is a common practice that the filters used in
the selection process—for the sake of the efficiency of the programme—place prior-
ity on youths who are not necessarily from the poorer sectors (Messina, 2001). Thus,
it is not unusual to find that the rational criteria adopted by institutions, programmes
and funding agencies are at cross-purposes with the guidelines for integrating dis-
advantaged young people. The rationales run counter to each other and call into
question the scope and objectives of equity promoting programmes.
6.10 Practical Innovations: Upgrading Non-Formal Education
While non-formal education programmes contribute to alleviating the harsh eco-

nomic conditions that prevail in these communities and may prove interesting to
some target groups (such as women), the marginal nature of these programmes has
prevented them from both acquiring the required level of quality and becoming legit-
imate sources of occupational training. An interesting feature of these programmes
is that they lie on the borderline separating what constitutes occupational training
from what does not—a fact that may lend the efforts needed to cross from one side
to the other a certain amount of appeal and viability. All this should be part of a
strategy intended to advance occupational training in these sectors starting from
what is already there.
It could be argued, however, that innovations in the field of vocational and techni-
cal training and education could simply entail: (a) rethinking non-formal educational
programmes; (b) relying on local support; and (c) joining efforts through the combi-
nation of complementary services (Leonardos, 1999). This could well be the case of
non-formal education in deprived areas—a marginal modality and the only training
alternative in rural areas that is being imparted to low-income groups, involving

courses of a domestic nature (cooking, handicrafts, beautician) or trades (carpentry,
blacksmithing), and are imparted to low-income groups usually in rural areas.
Raising the quality of these programmes demands inter-institutional collab-
oration involving the revision of learning programmes, curricular models,
teacher-training initiatives and an improved infrastructure. This would facilitate the
improvement of the profiles of graduating students and the generation of links that
ensure continuous technical training, as well as the development of productive activ-
ities backed by financial, business, organizational and marketing assistance. These
could be valid alternatives that reach out to those living in that ‘no man’s land’ rep-
resented by today’s occupational training efforts in the poorer regions (Pieck, 1998;
Bennell, 1999). Through their relationship with various institutions—health, early
and basic education, nutrition, etc.—these programmes, rather than serving a merely
social and political function, would take on real significance as a legitimate, rele-
vant and useful educational supply, especially for rural and marginal urban women
(Pieck, 1996).
7 Conclusions
This review of some experiences and indicators for designing educational and train-
ing programmes for disadvantaged segments of society suggests a set of consid-
erations in connection with sine qua non aspects of policy formulation and with
the myths surrounding such programmes. We have seen that basic education or
enhancing the quality of training courses is simply not enough. Neither the mere
delivery of technical training courses nor the positive discrimination criteria that
ignore contextual variables is alone sufficient.
The lessons learned make it clear that an integral approach is indispensable.
They highlight interventions in different sectors, and articulations among the dif-
ferent systems and sub-systems. They also imply a greater appreciation of the
role played by occupational training in responding to such antithetical needs as
modernization and poverty. They also stress the importance of taking into ac-
count the nature of and needs inherent in impoverished environments, as well
as the urgent need for programmes to be relevant—particularly when the educa-
tional supply is being directed at deprived areas. Perhaps one of the vital elements
of these initiatives is the importance of combining the context with the learn-
ing needs. The inescapable conclusion is that occupational training in these sec-
tors requires intervention mechanisms different from those intended for the formal
market.
Finally, the evidence of deficits in basic skills and the resultant lack of employ-
ability make it mandatory that any occupational training programme includes artic-
ulations between technical and basic skills as part of its curriculum. Likewise, they
emphasize the importance of developing links between educational and technical
training systems, as well as between formal and non-formal modalities, in order to
respond to flexible and shifting itineraries characteristic of a population that moves
304 E. Pieck
between one system and another, a population that has no other way of harmonizing
its own educational and labour trajectories.
Clearly, what is needed today is a strategy capable of reconciling policy in the
fields of education, occupational training and employment. Today’s problems sug-
gest the need for occupational training councils that would include the following
among their key functions: (a) orienting and co-ordinating the initiatives of the var-
ious institutions that relate to this field; (b) setting up links between institutions of
the various sectors (NGOs, the private sector, public organizations); and (c) helping
to design methodologies and strategies capable of meeting the training needs of the
informal sector. This strategy would seek to quantify the conception and practice
of occupational training on the basis of the confluence of actions and actors who at
present neither identify themselves with this activity nor are part of it.
Notes
1. Some parts of this chapter were originally published in Singh, 2005.

2. The middle level is that level of schooling that follows the completion of an average of ten years
of formal education.
3. Some examples of this type of initiatives are Honduras’s Programa de Educación para el Trabajo
(POCET); Costa Rica’s public workshops organized by this country’s Instituto Nacional de
Aprendizaje; Uruguay’s training centres; and Colombia’s SENA initiatives.
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Chapter II.6
Informal Learning at Work: The Case
of Working Children in Egypt
Laila Iskandar
1 Introduction
When poverty is widespread in urban pockets and severe in rural areas, unemployed
and under-employed adults seek solutions to macro-economic changes in several
ways: they have to survive for long periods without income; send their children out
to work; pull girls out of school; seek assistance from religious institutions; and lean
on family relationships (if they have maintained them). Female-headed households
are more exposed to deprivation and, therefore, are more likely to send their children
out to work. Recent studies refer to the need for a multi-dimensional approach to
respond to the particular needs of working children. The International Labour Or-
ganization (ILO) estimates that the worldwide number of child labourers between
the ages of 5 and 17 is 256 million. Out of these, 171 million work in hazardous
occupations, while 110 million are below the age of 12 (www.ilo.org/childlabour).
These data distinguish between working children and child labour, to accommodate
the reality of children in low-income countries and in economies in transition. They
point to the need of going beyond aggregated statistical data in order to understand
working children and their families.
While poverty in the South is an overarching reason for child labour, other
reasons also account for the phenomenon: the declared and hidden costs of ed-
ucation, as well as income lost when children do not work. In cultures where
child labour is accepted and where social protection policies do not exist for fam-
ilies in financial and economic distress, greater numbers of children go out to
work.
2 How to Engage Working Children with Learning?
The debate around working children in the South and their learning needs has
continued among practitioners in the field of education and development, who may
have been playing a catalytic role in that field. They are now poised to transfer
lessons learned and influence policy decisions springing from their understanding
that Egypt’s working children today will be Egypt’s working youths and adults in

308 L. Iskandar
the next decade. Hence, the need to invest in them as Egypt’s human capital while
eliminating barriers to their full development.
The debate centres on the following points:
r While countries have legislation against working children and in favour of com-
pulsory basic education, the reality is adult poverty in economies of the South
with high unemployment rates, as well as poor vocational education and still
poorer rates of return on basic education.
r What can be done in the context of that reality for working children to make
them acquire a measure of learning and equip them with market-based vocational
skills, basic education skills, and learning that will help them live in sustainable
conditions and contribute to the development of their societies?
3 Creating Social Partnerships

and Enlisting Community Support
So far, we have witnessed the introduction of only fragmented and partial solutions,
which point to the urgent need for learning from concrete actions in community-
based experiments relying on a reading of the context in which these actions have
been carried out. NGOs have been implementing projects that address the learning
needs of working children directly in the neighbourhoods providing employment
opportunities for children in local workshops. Some children are employed in par-
ticularly hazardous occupations, such as leather tanning, pottery making (i.e. kilns),
car repairs and garbage collection. While designing models for non-formal learning,
NGOs have also provided alternatives that improve the working and living environ-
ments of these children. The context of poverty dictates an approach recognizing
that children cannot be forced out of employment when their parents are unable to
be gainfully employed. A common vision and understanding should recognize that
separate actions cannot provide fragmented solutions to unrelated phenomena. In
most cases, the symptoms testify to the existence of serious socio-economic prob-
lems, deeply rooted in the lives of vulnerable and deprived children and youths.
Approaches tested in Egypt have shown that some mechanisms can work effectively;
they are described below (Ministry of Social Affairs/World Bank, 2004).
Non-formal learning for working children is effective when community sup-
port exists. This support can help in, for example, offering literacy classes or
establishing one classroom schools. The local council (municipality) and locally
elected members of parliament can actively work towards obtaining and officially
providing health care for working children through government health clinics. They
can establish programmes in youth clubs, combined with vocational training. In
collaboration with community leaders and the local city council, working children
who were not enrolled in school or who have dropped out are supported in ac-
quiring official documents (e.g. birth certificates) so that they can then be enrolled
in formal schools. Community leaders endorse the call to avoid children being
employed in hazardous occupations. Local mosques also advocate this message.
II.6 The Case of Working Children in Egypt 309
Another important measure is collaborating with local workshop owners to influ-

ence working conditions so that children are prevented from undertaking hazardous
work. For this reason, contracts with workshop owners include clauses to guarantee
the provision of safe working conditions for children.
Another solution to protect children is to provide them with alternatives. They
may, for instance, be given safe jobs within the same workshop or may be with-
drawn from one workplace altogether and given training in safe occupations. Job
training takes place in local workshops specifically designed to employ children
in these new, safe occupations after their apprenticeship periods have ended. This
model requires that alternative workshops should be established and equipped, if
they do not already exist in a particular neighbourhood. Families receive financial
compensation for withdrawing their children from hazardous occupations, while
comprehensive educational programmes are designed for these children.
It is important to work closely with the parents of working children by, for in-
stance, conducting awareness campaigns and providing parental education. Other
measures include recreational field trips for working children and their families,
which combine activities with parental guidance and education.
Collaborating with neighbourhood schools is also important as it helps to:
(a) train teachers in local schools to use child-friendly teaching methods; (b) train
social and psychological counsellors to support children who are experiencing diffi-
culties in education and are unable to pay school fees; (c) provide alternative educa-
tion in one-classroom schools; and (d) extend social outreach services to vulnerable
and deprived families.
Activities undertaken by NGOs are of fundamental importance in improving the
situation of working children:
1. Networking with influential supporters, such as local members of parliament, the
under-secretaries in the Ministry of Health, the head of the local administration,
the head of the local council, and the directors of the local departments of youth,
social affairs and labour.
2. Informing the mass media about the phenomenon through orientation sessions,
press conferences and special workshops, and therefore receiving support from
journalists.
3. Establishing community committees and recruiting community leaders to con-
sider measures for tackling local needs and problems and for mobilizing com-
munity resources.
4. Establishing a network of partners to support efforts for training in, for example,
public and/or private training centres and industries.
At present, no formal mechanism exists at local community level for the design
or provision of learning opportunities for working children. A large number of
community-based models exist that are worthy of consideration for replication and
up-scaling at the national level. The proposed Community and Institutional De-
velopment (CID) model (see Fig. 1) accepts the current economic context which
obliges children living below the poverty line to work, and introduces learning for
the marketplace integrated with learning for life-skills and basic education. This
310 L. Iskandar
THE BUSINESS THE DEVELOPMENT

PROJECT
Learning linked to the
Life skills - community
market – vocational and
learning
business skills
1. Standardization 1. Justice
2. Quality control 2. Build on existing
3. Prices and wages skills
4. Design 3. Linking the rich to the
5. Diversification poor
6. Creativity 4. Conscientization
7. Customization options
8. Exclusivity 5. Income generation
9. Sales policies 6. Social well-being
10. Marketing strategies 7. Health and hygiene
THE SCHOOL
Basic education needs
1. Learning by doing
2. Individualized
instruction
3. Literacy
4. Hygiene
5. Critical thinking
6. Problem solving
7. Socialization
8. Recreation
9. Excellence
10. Co-operation
Fig. 1 The design of CID’s non-formal ‘schools’

Source: Adapted from Iskandar, 1994.
model draws on resources at both central and community levels that can be mobi-
lized and integrated into a cohesive system.
CID has been working with communities where there are a large number of
working children. Typically, their way of life has the following features: (a) a high
incidence of work-related injuries; (b) they come from families where their siblings
work as well; (c) earnings are handed to their families thus pooling resources and
contributing to the family income; (d) they are illiterate; (e) they would like to par-
ticipate in recreational and sports activities; and (f) they suffer from malnutrition
and stunted growth.
4 Exploring New Learning Sites: The Case of Brick Factories
Brick manufacturing is an ancient activity in Egypt, particularly in Upper Egypt.

There are nearly 2,000 brick factories in Egypt (Environmental Management and
Technology Fund/Egypt Environmental Initiatives Fund, 2002).
4.1 Working Conditions in the Brick Factories

The location of kilns is determined by the proximity of the factories to the clay
source, water and workers. The employees lack education and suffer from poor
health and hygiene facilities, lack of social protection and occupational hazards.
Brick factory workers usually come from villages in Upper Egypt—the South—
where a declining economy, increasing family size and static land holdings have
forced many people to migrate. Poverty in the rural governorates of Upper Egypt
encourages a large number of migrant workers and their children to work in the
brick factories of greater Cairo. Their skill in brick-making already acquired in their
villages of origin is an asset in finding employment in urban brick-making factories.
Families send their children north with older brothers, uncles or neighbours seeking
work. Most of the work in brick factories requires little or no extra training, which
means that there is always room in any given factory, on any given day, for wan-
dering day labourers searching for a livelihood. Thus, the brick-making industry in
Egypt has come to be a sort of guaranteed last resort for children, men and youths
seeking work. Their market is the low-skilled and unskilled sector. Employment reg-
ulations in this branch of the economy are informal—to say the least (Community
and Institutional Development, 2003a).
These children are not enrolled in schools and will become illiterate workers in
adolescence and adulthood. They are thus in dire need of non-formal educational
opportunities in order to break the cycle of poverty from perpetuating itself in the
next generation.
Working conditions in brick factories are harsh and take their toll, especially
on children. The long hours of exposure to the scorching sun, the poor quality of
drinking water, poor sanitation and poor nutrition result in ill-health for all workers.
The absence of clinics nearby and affordable primary health care further exacerbate
the situation of workers, particularly children. Most brick factories are far removed
from clinics leading to a slow response to emergencies, accidents and injuries. Water
consumed by the workers is delivered by water merchants in containers that are of-
ten rusted and in poor hygienic condition. Water supply is irregular and sometimes
workers have to wait half a day without water. This has an impact on children’s
occupational health as they are exposed to long hours of work under the scorching
sun. The absence of sewage networks in both rural and urban homes has resulted
in people building pit latrines in an unsupervised manner with inevitable insanitary
conditions. Children, women and men often lack many essential legal documents,
which means that they cannot benefit from any form of social assistance or health
insurance.
312 L. Iskandar
Brick production is fraught with occupational hazards resulting from careless

practices in the handling of bricks, donkey carts, machines and kilns. On-site acci-
dents or health problems of varying degrees of severity are quite common, often
resulting from unsafe practices or the heavy weights carried on workers’ backs
leading to deformation of the spine, kidney stones (or gallstones) and heat stroke.
Children inhale dust and smoke from the kilns, leading to respiratory problems.
Cuts are common injuries as workers are required to handle the fragments of broken
fired bricks with their bare hands. Cuts and bruises are typical of barefoot workers
who walk over debris on the ground. Children frequently fall off stacks of bricks or
the back of a truck, but the greatest numbers of accidents that happen to children
involve donkey carts. A fully-loaded cart can cause serious injury if it runs over a
child. Donkeys kick and bite and are notorious for unpredictable behaviour.
The link between animal health and human health is strong and greatly impacts
children’s health, as they have to deal with donkeys more than any other group of
workers. Thus, veterinary care of animals should be considered a priority as sick
animals can infect workers, spread skin diseases and delay production. Animal pens
are in need of attention too.
Migrant workers in the factories live in clusters of dusty and untidy overnight
rooms, each housing approximately eight to twelve people with uneven floors and
poor ventilation. Toilet facilities consist of an empty room with what would have
been a pit for a latrine (if it had ever been completed).
4.2 Learning for Children in Brick Factories
The learning model for children working in brick factories revolves around a rights-
based approach focused on improved living and working conditions for working
children and youths. It integrates non-formal learning around health, literacy, brick-
making skills, construction skills, life-skills, business skills and advocacy for work-
ing children’s rights. A non-formal learning programme, therefore, cannot be lim-
ited to basic education in the traditional sense or to life-skills. It must link the
vocational aspect of brick-making (in this instance) to all aspects of learning and
advocacy for working children’s rights.
The curriculum has to offer lifelong learning opportunities in the context of the
brick-making trade: all the years invested in brick-making know-how would be lost
if working children were pulled out of the factories and directed to school learning
that is totally unrelated to the market place. Obviously, education and development
practitioners do not deliberately plan to be concerned with children who are work-
ing. Yet, the fact that these children are encouraged to enter the brick-making trade
by their parents, and the certainty that they will not learn any other trade in a better
way in vocational schools, presents a strong argument for providing them with on-
site learning opportunities. Their life chances will also be improved if this education
is carried out before they reach adulthood.
An innovative approach to the design of learning links engineering technology
transfer with environmental learning and life-skills for children, youths and adults.
It considers the engineering and vocational aspects of the production process indi-
visible from the content of non-formal learning. In the specific case of brick-making
in Egypt, the non-formal learning model is linked to a technology transfer from the
use of oil fuel in the kilns to a cleaner energy source—natural gas. This is part of
a Climate Change initiative that strikes deep into the heart of local brick-making
communities—it provides a model of how Kyoto can be brought all the way to
Cairo.
The following strategies have been proposed for the implementation of non-
formal learning:
1. Use of a rights-based approach. Factory owners are informed that they have a
primary responsibility towards their workers, being answerable for the present
conditions in which they live and work. While not threatening to penalize owners
for employing children, the former must be made to recognize their responsibility
towards the education of the children working in their factories. They are thus
enjoined to partake in the vocational upgrade of learning inside their factories.
They must therefore address some of these inequities and conform to human
rights standards through contributing financially to these inputs.
2. Establish a potentially replicable model that can be extended to all brick factories
in the region and possibly in all of Egypt. It focuses on community mobilization
strategies through training and/or education and leads to advocacy.
3. The design of the non-formal learning programme ensures children’s access to
rights and social protection networks.
4. Design of the learning model is based on a developmental as well as an educa-
tional approach: community-based initiatives inside factories form the core cur-
riculum. Participation/inclusion is observed by enabling the voices, interests and
initiatives of those living in poverty. They participate in upgrading their physical
space, as well as organizing interventions. They are engaged in this way as stake-
holders as well as learners in the development, implementation and evaluation
of initiatives that are meant to help them. At every step the principle of local
ownership of initiatives by brick factory workers is observed and strengthened.
5. Ensure that learning strengthens communication and information flows to chil-
dren to create an environment where dialogue, negotiation and consensus are
reached.
6. Build the curriculum on the existing and long-standing experience of other
community-based organizations and initiatives in the area of curriculum design,
teachers’ guides, learners’ workbooks, etc. It integrates vocational learning rel-
evant to brick making and relevant to the technological conversion from the use
of oil as a fuel to natural gas.
The outcome of implementing these measures will become a model for improved
living and working conditions for workers in other brick factories (children, young
people and women) integrating non-formal learning around health, literacy, life-
skills, business skills and advocacy skills. This will result in learning and teaching
materials/manuals for brick-factory children. Teachers are trained from among the
young people working in the brick factory.
314 L. Iskandar
Non-formal vocational education is, therefore, offered to working children within

their present context. It not only improves their knowledge of trade and vocational
skills but also intends to break the cycle of deprivation for future generations through
formal basic education. It is proposed as a national vocational policy in contrast to
vocational education at present dispensed through formal structures and leading to
the acquisition of skills of inferior quality unrelated to the job market.
5 New Learning on Recycling Sites
Mokatam recycling neighbourhood records an estimated 500 recycling workshops

employing children and youths (ICED, 2005) (Fig. 2). These workshops purchase
locally produced recycling equipment and provide workers with vocational skills
linked to the market, which is fraught with occupational hazards. As in the previous
case, the non-formal learning models used in the recycling sector do not seek to
remove working children from such situations. Rather, they seek to protect children
from the most dangerous work, promote their contribution to the environmental
benefits accruing from recycling, increase the vocational learning offered in the re-
cycling workshops, augment the income opportunities offered by such a sector, and
add the basic education and development learning that empowers working children
to becoming full citizens in their society and economy.
Every one of these workshops is a vocational training centre in its own right.
While aspects of occupational safety are missing and courses are not presented in
ways that lead to structured, self-paced, individualized lessons, learning processes
can be converted into such programmes. The point is that they provide an immense
base of vocational learning for working children and youths in a trade that is not
offered in any vocational training institute. Furthermore, this trade has multiple
benefits as it recycles materials from the entire nation and performs actions that
are positive for the environment, reducing the need for landfill and the danger of
materials being left exposed in open dumps.
The educational solution proposed has been implemented at the community level
in Mokatam’s rag recycling and paper recycling ‘school’ for girls and women, and
plastics recycling ‘school’ for boys (Iskandar, 2002). It combines informal education
for working children and young people deprived of a formal education and creates
a curriculum focusing on education for sustainable development. It is based on the
assumption that children working in these sectors are perfectly able to learn and that
this rich reservoir of knowledge about labour markets, trading, credit, local technol-
ogy, survival strategies, social capital, community solidarity, etc., should be the basis
for designing non-formal content and a curriculum. This knowledge is owned by the
vast number of people involved in this sequence of waste collection and recycling.
For them, waste is a valuable resource and a major means of livelihood.
Conversely, waste management has traditionally been perceived as a technology,
management and engineering issue. Keeping towns clean is viewed as a challenge,
rather than as an opportunity to employ thousands of rural migrants and unemployed
Fig. 2 Waste Recycle Facilities Manshiet Nasser-el Mokatam

Source: Community and Institutional Development.
and unskilled workers who flock to urban centres on a daily basis. Municipalities in
the South have spent millions of dollars introducing capital intensive, culturally un-
suited technologies transferred from countries of the North. Few officials have been
able to perceive it as a people-centred issue or a non-formal learning opportunity
for the masses of unemployed, unskilled and illiterate populations of the South. On
the contrary, waste management in the cities of the South is a highly people-centred
issue. It is a rich field for designing non-formal learning for the vast numbers of
urban poor and justifies a second look from planners, officials and decision-makers
(Iskandar, 2005).
Since only the poorest of the poor engage in this work, it is better for governments
to improve their standard of living and maintain their learning in the non-formal
sector of education rather than destroy their livelihoods. In this way, we would be
making the first attempts to break the cycle of poverty perpetuated across genera-
tions while addressing the out-of-school learning needs of working children in the
informal sector—not just the recycling sector—in an innovatory manner. With the
help of the appropriate ministry and the support of the municipal authorities, this
sector can provide enormous non-formal learning opportunities. These actors are
crucial in turning the learning from recycling into ‘decent work’ based on guidelines
of the International Labour Organization (Anschutz, Scheinberg & van de Klundert,
2006).
Once more, community-based initiatives have successfully engaged recyclers in
income-generating activities that have been rich in learning content focused on
316 L. Iskandar
product-based recycling, marketing and sales, business maths, community credit

systems, vocational skills revolving around locally produced recycling machines,
maintenance of machinery and upgrading of technical vocational skills (Community
and Institutional Development, 2003b).
Although the informal sector has played a crucial role in turning waste into a
resource and providing a non-formal learning opportunity for the largely unskilled
and illiterate population of working children and youths, there is a new wave of
privatizing waste management in the urban centres in the South. This jeopardizes
a whole world of learning as learners in that sector are now being made redundant
by powerful interest groups. This policy clearly demonstrates the failure of policy-
makers to connect their macro-economic actions and the potentially huge oppor-
tunities to transform the informal economy into an equally huge vocational sector
while providing education for the working children of marginalized workers. This
is an opportunity to overcome child labour for the next generation. The Mokatam
recycling schools for girls and boys vindicate this view because mothers can send
their children to that ‘school enterprise’. Indeed, they even seek early childhood
care in the neighbourhood for their pre-school children. Policy implications can be
summarized in the following way.
Maintaining access by the poor to work in recycling is in essence the same
thing as maintaining access to learning opportunities. Privatizing this work to
multinational companies using new machinery, therefore, takes away access to
this critical learning resource. This means that non-formal learning is not an iso-
lated sector with no connection to any others. In fact, non-formal learning is a
vibrant sector wherever there are working children. Before they make decisions that
may seem to have little or no impact on education, policy-makers need to review
their perception of the various sectors of the economy and revisit the potentially
strong learning content that can be generated by various industries, sectors and
trades.
Using appropriate labour-intensive and semi-mechanized technologies increases
vocational learning opportunities for the poor, while importing high-tech machines
would take away learning channels for the illiterate and unskilled in the informal
economy.
Mergers, which tend to consolidate enterprises, further destroy vocational learn-
ing opportunities for working children and young people. Politicians need to re-
search how to protect market aspects of the informal economy, which includes more
actors and responsive markets than formal ones.
Since so many learning and employment opportunities are provided to the poor
through vocational skills in the informal market, policy measures need to look se-
riously at how to dignify work in that sector and teach young workers aspects of
occupational safety.
Evictions and forced relocations of workers destroy social capital and community
learning. Upgrading living, housing and working conditions provides a wealth of
opportunities for non-formal and lifelong learning in areas of health, credit, rights,
vocational and technical skills, community organization and business skills, among
other things.
6 Raising Some Crucial Questions

r Would it not be better for non-industrialized countries to design economic sys-
tems based on the education and development aspects of the economy, instead of
just on the macro-economic indicators of income and growth?
r Would it not be better for policy-makers to view informal sector workshops as
vast and potential fields for vocational training and adopt incentives for workshop
entrepreneurs to enrol the children in their workforce into non-formal learning,
instead of harassing them unsuccessfully with laws that are not enforced?
r Would it not be more effective to design non-formal vocational education pro-
grammes that take place in the workshops of the informal economy, rather
than import expensive donor-driven vocational programmes based on high-tech
economies that target a pitiful handful of learners when compared with the
masses of workers in the informal economy?
r Would it not be better for non-industrialized countries to design systems based
on socially constructed models of production, engaging working children in vo-
cational learning within the context of traditional systems, rather than importing
irrelevant economic development models from the North?
r How can we educate policy-makers to take non-formal education seriously and
appreciate the critical role it plays in education for sustainable development, as
well as its inextricable links with all aspects of the economy?
7 Conclusion
In conclusion, we invite educators, policy-makers and the industrial sector to:

r Revisit the issue of working children and their learning needs within the present
reality of informal workshops to experience a paradigm shift in how these work-
shops can be made into potential vocational education training centres;
r Examine the informal and popular economy with a view to understanding the
way it is organized to respond to markets and also its ability to meet employment
generation needs for vast numbers of the urban poor. It does so in a way that
the formal economy has been unable to satisfy for the past few decades in the
countries of the South.
r Encourage the redesign of national policies towards working children to combine
a dual role for non-formal education in informal workshops and thus provide
these children and young people with basic learning needs, health and occupa-
tional safety, business skills, etc.
r Plan for a curriculum design in the non-formal sector of education based on a
thorough understanding of the distribution of working children in specific sectors
of the informal economy, e.g. agriculture, brick-making, metal-working work-
shops, recycling, leather tanning, etc.
r Train teachers to be ‘facilitators of learning’, to establish teachers’ credentials
and the professionalization of educators in the non-formal vocational sector.
318 L. Iskandar
References
Anschutz, J.; Scheinberg, A.; van de Klundert, A. 2006. Addressing the exploitation of children in
scavenging: a thematic evaluation. Geneva, Switzerland: ILO/IPEC.
Community and Institutional Development. 2003a. Baseline report on socio-economic conditions
of brick factory workers in Arab Abou Saed, El Saff District, Giza, Egypt. Cairo: Egyptian Envi-
ronmental Initiatives/Fund Canadian International Development Agency. <www.cid.com.eg/>
Community and Institutional Development. 2003b. Final report on youth against exclusion. Paris:
UNESCO.
Environmental Management and Technology Fund; Egypt Environmental Initiatives Fund. 2002.
Operational manual for clay brick manufacturing in Egypt. Cairo: Ministry of State for Envi-
ronmental Affairs.
International Center for Environment and Development. 2005. Integrating community based waste
management. Cairo: ICED. (Report submitted by Community and Institutional Development
on the Business Development Component of the Italian Debt for Development Programme.)
Iskandar, L. 1994. Mokattam garbage village. Cairo: Community and Institutional Development.
Iskandar, L. 2002. Ecological education in the living environment. In: Hautecoeur J.-P., ed. Ecolog-
ical education in everyday life, Alpha 2000, pp. 21–43. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto
Press, and UNESCO Institute for Education in collaboration with the Canadian Commission
for UNESCO.
Iskandar, L. 2005 (Paper presented at the tenth Sardinia International Landfill Symposium,
Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy, 3-7 October 2005.) [Unpublished.]
Ministry of Social Affairs; World Bank. 2004. Social Protection Initiatives Program implemented
among seven NGOs in Egypt. Cairo: Ministry of Social Affairs.
Chapter II.7
Informal Learning and Work:
From Genealogy and Definitions
to Contemporary Methods and Findings
Peter H. Sawchuk
1 Introduction
Informal learning and work is a topic that over the last decade or so has exploded
onto the research scene. It is increasingly the subject of myriad large and small-scale
empirical efforts, as well as policy and practice across governments and a range of
organizations. In this chapter I review the key issues relevant to developing a com-
prehensive understanding of informal learning and work. To do so, I present a brief
history of the origins of the informal learning concept arguing that key principles—
namely, the importance of personal experience, flexibility, local/indigenous knowl-
edge, control/power and learning recognition—embedded in this genealogy still in-
form scholarship today. Following this, I review leading models of learning and
work (from Livingstone, Eraut and Illeris) endorsing an eclectic range of theoretical
points of emphasis which sees formality and informality as a continuum and not
dichotomous categories. I take some time to review a major critique of the informal
learning concept, before turning to a review of the leading methods of investigating
informal learning and work and the key findings they have offered to date. Before
getting started, however, it is important to begin with a brief discussion of the con-
cept of work itself.
2 Expanding Concepts of Work

Although history shows work has had a range of meanings, today, under capital-
ism, work is regularly considered to be what people do for a wage; and, thus, as
Williams (1983, p. 335) points out, work in this common-sense meaning actually
refers to a specific social relationship. However, as David Livingstone and members
of the Centre for the Study of Education and Work (CSEW) at the University of
Toronto have perhaps most persistently articulated, this common-sense approach is
inadequate for fully understanding both the creation of value that human beings add
to organizations and society more broadly and it is inadequate for understanding
the character of paid work in terms of its full range of features (individual, social
and historical). In other words, learning that takes place within and beyond the

320 P.H. Sawchuk
paid workplace is deeply interwoven and mutually constituting. Livingstone (e.g.

1998, 2005; Livingstone & Sawchuk, 2004) argues that in the same way informal
learning has emerged to challenge the hegemony of ‘formalized education’, so too
must an expanded notion of work challenge the hegemony of paid employment as
constituting work-based learning:
The main reason for the change in thinking about ‘work’ is that with the expansion of
commodity production and wage labour into more and more service areas of life, it becomes
harder to ignore or deny that those still performing similar domestic and community services
without pay are doing important work. The increasing participation of married women in
paid employment puts pressure on them to do less domestic labour, on their partners to do
more and on both of them to recognize and renegotiate divisions of this labour. Declin-
ing time for and interest in volunteer work beyond the household has also accentuated the
centrality of this sort of labour for sustaining community life (Livingstone, 2005, p. 977).
What researchers like Livingstone (2005), Eichler (2005), Schugurensky and Mündel
(2005) have recently articulated, supported in some ways by ‘social capital’ per-
spectives of the likes of Putnam (2000) and in particular by the seminal work
of Waring (1988), is what many, though not all, of us know: that housework and
voluntary work and the myriad, unrecognized informal learning activities that sup-
port them are work, albeit unpaid; vital to society on their own, and overlapping
with the world of paid work as well. In Canada, for example, Jackson (as cited
in Livingstone, 2005) establishes that the monetarized value of housework was be-
tween 31% and 46% of the country’s gross domestic product. But this is not simply
a question of credit and, in some sense, social justice. I argue that even where we
confine ourselves to discussions of paid work, an awareness of all forms of (paid
and unpaid) work allows us to see the interconnections, or overlapping and inter-
penetrating effects that multiple social spheres produce. Before moving on to review
further research on informal learning and work in conceptual and then methodolog-
ical terms, however, it makes some sense to try to understand a bit more about the
origins of informal learning.
2.1 Genealogy of Informal Learning and Its Significance for Work
Informal learning as a concept applied to paid work has in fact only emerged in
the last decade and a half. Nevertheless, this emergence has been a long time com-
ing. It has its roots in both political and intellectual projects. In this section, I will
demonstrate that most, though not all, of the themes that orient scholars of informal
learning and work today have origins in specific historical periods and contexts.
To begin, it is not hard to argue that the history of informal learning is con-
nected to the history of epistemology from Ancient Greece to the early twentieth
century. For example, Andersen, Boud and Cohen, (1995) outline in their discus-
sion of Aristotle’s argument for the role of experience over ‘pure thought alone,
uncontaminated by the world’; John Locke’s extolling of experience as that which
teaches what reason cannot; John Stuart Mill’s positive distinction between formal
instruction and self-education; and John Dewey’s faith in the organic connection
II.7 Informal Learning and Work 321
between education and personal experience. Without further detailing their discus-
sions of Maria Montessori, Kurt Hahn and A.S. Neill, we see that the distinction
between ‘pure thought’ and education as opposed to learning through experience
has a long history.
In the contemporary context, according to Colley, Hodkinson and Malcolm
(2003), the notion of ‘informal learning’ is largely rooted in the term ‘non-formal
education’. Beginning as part of UNESCO’s 1947 report dealing with developing
countries, non-formal education was positioned, at that time, as a partial solution to
achieving capitalist economic development, liberal democratic order, a modern State
and rising standards of living. They point out that non-formal education was seen
as an alternative to the massive State formal schooling infrastructures of advanced
capitalist countries. Moreover, it was thought to be flexible and responsive to the
population, integrating local/indigenous forms of knowledge.
Colley et al. (2003) go on to address further developments past the immediate
post-Second World War period, including the work of the famous literacy educator
Paulo Freire (1973) in South America (i.e. the slums of São Paulo). His work articu-
lated the direction of a whole movement of popular adult education that was highly
politicized, aware of power relations, sided with the poor, underprivileged masses,
and linked to the distinction between formal ‘banking’ education models and less
formalized learning vis-à-vis ‘conscientization’. At about the same time, parallel
concerns arose in scholarship as diverse as Illich’s De-schooling society (1971) and
Tools for conviviality (1973) and Allen Tough’s seminal studies of ‘self-directed
learning’(1967, 1971). In both cases, the issue of control is highlighted (though
political elements were obviously dealt with quite differently). These politicized
elements of the historical origins of informal learning were, of course, not without
their contradictions.
Partially in response to these earlier periods, there emerged in a number of
countries around the world an interest in recognizing the full range of formal
and non-formal education that people undertook. Notably, paid work became rat-
ified as an important element of the conversation. This is expressed, for example,
in the British context through the National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) sys-
tem in 1987. Elements of the non-formal education critique, already partially resi-
dent in vocational and apprenticeship programming, had become established at the
policy-level of State training systems (cf. Foley, 1995 [Australia]; Bjørnåvold, 2000
[Europe]).
These key periods and elements are not merely interesting points of history.
While unevenly articulated in scholarship, all contribute to how we understand
informal learning and work today. As the saying goes: ‘we may be through with
history, but history isn’t through with us’.
2.2 A Comparison of Models

In a series of articles published since the late 1990s, driven by both the need to
understand the nature of informal learning in relation to other forms of learning and
322 P.H. Sawchuk
an interest in generating aggregate estimates of levels of activity across the Canadian

population, Livingstone eventually offered this set of definitions (e.g. 1998, 1999,
2005):
When a teacher has the authority to determine that people designated as requiring knowl-
edge effectively learn a curriculum taken from a pre-established body of knowledge, the
form of learning is formal education, whether in the form of age-graded and bureaucratic
modern school systems or elders initiating youths into traditional bodies of knowledge.
When learners opt to acquire further knowledge or skill by studying voluntarily with a
teacher who assists their self-determined interests by using an organized curriculum, as is
the case in many adult education courses and workshops, the form of learning is non-formal
education or further education. When teachers or mentors take responsibility for instruct-
ing others without sustained reference to an intentionally-organized body of knowledge
in more incidental and spontaneous learning situations, such as guiding them in acquir-
ing job skills or in community development activities, the form of learning is informal
education or informal training. Finally, all other forms of intentional or tacit learning in
which we engage either individually or collectively without direct reliance on a teacher
or an externally-organized curriculum can be termed self-directed or collective informal
learning. In the most expansive conceptions of human learning, self-directed learning may
be seen as coterminous with life experience itself (Livingstone, 2005, pp. 980–981).
He summarizes this definitional system in a figure, reproduced here as Table 1.
Table 1 Livingstone’s agency and knowledge structure dimensions of learning model (from
Livingstone, 2005, p. 981)
Primary agency
Learner(s) Teacher(s)
Knowledge Pre-established Non-formal Formal schooling
education Elders’ teachings
Further education
Structure Situational Self-directed Informal education
learning Informal training
Collective untaught
learning
The Livingstone model emphasizes issues of agency or control against the media-
tion of learning (in all forms) by knowledge/skill artefacts (e.g. curriculum, lessons,
tricks-of-the trade, etc.) that are primarily established either in the situation of learn-
ing itself or imported from elsewhere. Informal learning and informal education
are largely defined, in this model, in terms of the character of the knowledge form
or structure as ‘situational’ (as opposed to ‘pre-established’). He includes amongst
these both taught and untaught learning carried out either in self- or collectively-
directed ways or with the guidance of an expert other (e.g. mentor, teacher, coach,
etc.).
This model, while useful for introducing us to the concept of informal learning, is
but one of many competing models. Indeed, like all available models it has generated
criticism (e.g. Colley et al., 2003). Here I contrast it with the model offered by
Eraut (2004) (see Table 2). Eraut’s model, like Livingstone’s, provides an overview
Table 2 Eraut’s typology of informal learning

Time of focus Implicit learning Reactive learning Deliberative learning
Past episode(s) Implicit linkage of Brief, near- Discussion and review
past memories spontaneous of past actions,
with current reflection on past communications,
experience. episodes, events, events, experiences.
incidents,
experiences.
Current experience A selection from Noting facts, ideas, Engagement in
experience enters opinions, decision-making,
episodic memory impressions; problem-solving,
asking questions; planned informal
observing effects learning
of actions.
Future behaviour Unconscious Recognition of Planning learning
expectations possible future opportunities;
learning rehearsing for future
opportunities events.
Source: Eraut, 2004, p. 250.
of what he terms the formal/informal continuum, but unlike Livingstone it places

in the forefront issues of time and levels of cognitive information processing from
unconscious and implicit processing to conscious, goal-directed problem-solving. In
Eraut’s basic model issues of control figure less prominently, while his assessment
of the range of information processing is much more nuanced than Livingstone’s.
Eraut’s model, modified from his earlier work (2000), demonstrates the many
dimensions of informal learning involving different functions of memory, reflec-
tion, discussion, engagement and planning. On an individual basis, the model offers
a coherent orientation to the full range of cognitive (conscious and unconscious)
responses embedded within the informal learning process.
The Livingstone and Eraut models both contrast with another approach in the
field. Illeris & Associates (2004) offer a model directed specifically at the range
of learning that takes place in, through, or in some other way related to the paid
work process. Their collective approach is summarized in Figure 1 (reproduced from
Illeris & Associates, 2004, p. 31; drawn from the work of Jørgensen & Warring).
Neither as direct in addressing issues of control, nor as explicit in addressing
the different types of cognitive information processing, the Illeris and Associates
model is however particularly strong in its emphasis of broad mediating factors that
shape all learning. Specifically, the model suggests that learning at work is me-
diated by three key classes of factors (technical-organizational, social-cultural and
individual) that are always in tension and mutually acting on one another. Technical-
organizational learning environment factors include the division of labour, au-
tonomy and application of qualifications, and the organization of opportunity for
communication/interaction. In the Illeris model, social-cultural learning environ-
ment factors refer to such items as communities of interest/practice, workplace
culture, political dimensions of work and labour relations, and so on. Finally, in-
dividual employee learning potential expresses both cognitive and socio-emotional
324 P.H. Sawchuk
Individual Level INDIVIDUAL LEARNING POTENTIALS
COGNITION PSYCHODYNAMISM
WORK
IDENTITY
WORK
THE TECHNICAL- PRACTICE THE SOCIAL-
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURAL
LEARNING LEARNING
ENVIRONMENT ENVIRONMENT
Social Level WORK
Fig. 1 Learning in working life

Source: Illeris & Associates, 2004, p. 67.
(psycho-dynamic) dimensions as they relate to individual skills/knowledge, indi-

vidual education/training, motivation and life-history, factors that integrate learn-
ing across paid work and other social spheres. The triangular connections between
points as well as the arrows emphasize how these factors mediate one another.
Taken together, these models offer distinctive examples of the three basic orienta-
tions that make up the scholarly work on informal learning and work today. Indeed,
again when taken together, these models demonstrate remarkable continuity with
the basic genealogy of informal learning we began with in the previous section:
r Direct engagement in the world rather than internal thought alone as represented
in Aristotelian thought;
r Each model demonstrates how the learning it describes is flexible and inclusive
of diverse knowledge forms in relation to the original UNESCO imperatives;
r Learning is political—it has to do with control which expresses the spirit of the
critiques of the likes of Freire and Illich;
r And, finally, each model attempts to establish the value of, and thus the moti-
vation for, building more clearly articulated assessments of informal learning as
represented by the more recent policy initiatives to recognize prior learning.
Informal learning at work is the product of the interaction of all of these factors over
time producing skills, knowledgeability and expertise leading to accommodation,
co-operation as well as intransigence, resistance and revolt. Across the three models
it is important to heed the clarification that Colley et al. (2003, p. i) have made in
their seminal effort at comparative integration:
Learning is often thought of as ‘formal’, ‘informal’ or ‘non-formal’. This report suggests
that these are not discrete categories, and to think that they are is to misunderstand the
nature of learning. It is more accurate to conceive ‘formality’ and ‘informality’ as attributes

present in all circumstances of learning.
2.3 The Challenge to Notions of ‘Informal Learning at Work’

I will return to the situated/socio-cultural approach to learning again in the following
section, but here I wish to emphasize its role in a powerful critique of informal
learning that has emerged from one of the leading voices in work and learning anal-
ysis today, Stephen Billett. Situated/socio-cultural approaches to learning, broadly
speaking characterized by the works of Scribner (1985), Lave and Wenger (1991),
Engeström & Middleton (1998), Wenger (1998), are summarized in many ways by
the work of Billett (e.g. 1995, 2002; Billett & Somerville, 2004). In particular, his
work in Billett (2002) lays out the most direct confrontation of the informal learn-
ing at work question where he rejects the adequacy of the concept altogether. He
shares with Eraut (2004) and Colley et al. (2003) a resistance to seeing informal and
formal learning as categories. Billett, however, goes further to argue that describing
learning through work as being informal is ‘negative [i.e. it indicates what it is not
rather than what it is], inaccurate and ill-focused’ (p. 58). All learning, whether it is
in a school or a workplace, is participatory and goal-directed; to arbitrarily establish
boundaries of informality/formality expresses what he terms ‘situational determin-
ism’. Importantly, drawing on, amongst others, the work of Lave (1990), Billett
goes on to say that ‘although not intentionally stated in a syllabus, the pathways of
activities in workplaces are often inherently pedagogical, as well as focusing on the
continuity of practice through learning’ (Billett, 2002, p. 59).
Certainly, there is much that is correct in the Billett (2002) position, particu-
larly as it might apply to those analysts rushing to categorize and measure different
species of learning, such as in the international lifelong learning policy community.
Likewise, the concept of mediated practice, which is central to Billett’s critique, as
I also argue in Sawchuk (2006), does, in fact, help overcome the structure/agency
problem. However, this does not necessarily mean the demise of the concept of
formality/informality. Clearly, there are different social arrangements within orga-
nized instructional and non-taught learning situations (Sawchuk 2003a). Moreover,
the origin of knowledge/skill artefacts (i.e. imported from the outside or indige-
nous to the social group or situation) matter. In addition, we might also note that
formal/informal distinctions may be linked to socio-political relations of institu-
tional legitimacy/illegitimacy. That is, in keeping with the knowledge/power the-
sis of the Livingstone model (see also Livingstone & Sawchuk, 2004), relations of
legitimacy/illegitimacy are always a function of communities of interest as ratified
through their linkages with (dominant or insurgent) societal institutions. While cer-
tainly not all informal learning is illegitimate and linked to insurgent, oppositional
communities, just as certainly we know that there is no formal learning that is not
legitimated from the perspective of some organized, articulated political project.
Thus, as always, power matters, and formality/informality may be a portal into rec-
ognizing such relations.
326 P.H. Sawchuk
3 Methods and Key Findings

for Studying Informal Learning and Work
3.1 Case Studies, Ethnography and Interview Research
Case study, ethnographic and interview research are by far the most prevalent forms
of research carried out on informal learning and work. This is to be expected since
the term informal learning has not been around very long and, in this context, re-
search will tend to be inductive and exploratory as opposed to deductive and based
in hypothesis testing.
Colley et al.’s (2003) review of case studies summarizes major findings. In terms
of definitions, the authors conclude that the characteristics of formality and infor-
mality are present in all learning situations in one way or another and meaningful
conceptualization might revolve around the balance of these characteristics rather
than the analytic isolation of them. Importantly, emancipatory or oppressive pro-
cesses or outcomes are not exclusively linked with any type of learning.
Likewise, Eraut (2004; Eraut et al., 2000) provides a review of research methods
to do with informal learning and work. They remark, similar to Colley et al. (2003),
that interview studies are the most common. Eraut notes that interviews on the sub-
ject of informal learning and work are not, in fact, particularly easy to conduct.
To begin with, interviewees do not regularly recognize their informal learning,
the resultant skill/knowledge is ‘either tacit or regarded as part of a person’s gen-
eral capability rather than something that has been learned’, and that learning dis-
course is dominated by ‘codified, prepositional knowledge’ (Colley et al., 2003,
p. 249). According to Eraut (2004), interview research on informal learning has
made use of a variety of organizing ideas including: self-directed learning projects
(e.g. Tough, 1971); key lifetime events (e.g. McCall, Lombardo & Morrison, 1988);
recent life-changes (Fox, Mazmanian & Putman, 1989); and critical situations
that called for new learning (Slotnick, 1999). To these we can add the learn-
ing life-history (Livingstone & Sawchuk, 2004) and the biographical approaches
(Dominice, 2000; Doray & Bélanger, 2002) which, like the approach in Eraut’s
own studies, do not necessarily seek out extraordinary events but rather focus on
on-going agency in context. This list is far from exhaustive, but it should be clear that
there are those methods that seek to analyse informal learning and work based on
breaks in routine (e.g. critical incident) or through the flow of everyday life with or
without such breaks. Either way, though the quality of analysis varies, illuminating
one typically leads to a better understanding of the other.
The political dimensions of interview and ethnography research on informal
learning and work is brought out perhaps most coherently in Livingstone & Sawchuk
(2004, Chapter 1), where it is added that in the case of interviewing manufactur-
ing and services workers specifically (Eraut’s own studies have focused on pro-
fessionals), there are a range of political and cultural issues at play. Moreover, in
Sawchuk (2003b, pp. 23–25 and Chapter 6), it is demonstrated that the language
of learning and education—including informal learning and work specifically—is
used very differently across social groups. Together, these effects are referred to
as a hegemonic/historic block of presumptions (universalism, individualism, peda-
gogical, cognitive) that, in particular, pervade interviewee’s accounts of their own
informal learning at work making it difficult to assess accurately.
3.2 Survey Research
Disturbingly, Colley et al. (2003), as well as Eraut (2004) appear to suggest that
survey research may not be particularly useful for the study of informal learning at
work. At the very least, they each argue that it is premature to measure informal
learning before a better understanding of the concept is established. Despite these
misgivings, as Livingstone (2005) has noted, there have been a number of attempts
to assess informal learning and work using survey methodologies.
In reviewing survey methodology from recent studies in Finland, the United
Kingdom and Canada, Livingstone notes that most questions of informal learning
appear to follow after those addressing initial schooling. Moreover, the surveys he
reviewed also tended to dichotomize learning in organized courses and learning
done on one’s own. Together, Livingstone argues, these factors may produce a bias
toward under-reporting, as respondents are made to pre-framed activity in terms of
its formal characteristics. He goes on to criticize many survey studies for producing
superficial rather than deep accounts of informal learning.
Nevertheless, internationally, we can see from the reviews produced by Living-
stone (2005) that there are many important findings that survey research on informal
learning and work has yielded, for example:
r though content may differ, there is no significant difference in the incidence of
informal learning activity across social groups;
r there is no strong relationships between the amount of time spent on informal
learning and prior educational achievement;
r though school drop-outs may discourage students, they are not discouraged
learners when informal learning is taken into account;
r a person’s age had little impact on the amount of informal learning that they do.
Livingstone notes that, in the last decade, the most extensive surveying of informal
learning has been conducted in Canada. These include the 1998 New Approaches to
Lifelong Learning (NALL; n=1,562) and the much larger 2004 Work and Lifelong
Learning (WALL; n=9,063) surveys (Livingstone, 1999; and Work and Lifelong
Learning, 2005 respectively). A summary of the comparison between the two sur-
veys in WALL (2005) shows job-based, housework-based, volunteer work-based,
and general interest informal learning dropped in Canada since 1998 resulting over-
all in a 4.1 hours per week difference (16 hours per week in 1998 versus 11.9 hours
per week in 2004). This difference was linked to rising total paid work hours.
Presumably the critique of authors such as Colley et al. (2003) is related to the
lack of clarity in the relationship between how people understand and articulate their
328 P.H. Sawchuk
responses (i.e. how they interpret the questions unevenly across the sample) and
the actual changes in behaviour, though the comparative dimension (1998 versus
2004) at least partially deals with this source of variance. My point here is that,
certainly, findings like this are relevant to the study of informal learning and work.
Surveys can set the stage for furthering the cycle of inductive/deductive research
on informal learning and work. Clearly, they produce results (e.g. the drop in total
hours per week or that hours per week reported tend to be comparable across socio-
economic groups, etc.) that demand explanations, and thus contribute to a broader
social scientific knowledge-building process.
3.3 Micro-Analysis
Finally, we turn to what I will refer to here as situated micro-analytic approaches to
the study of informal learning and work. For this it is important to note that each
of the approaches looked at up to this point has tended to presume rather than em-
pirically demonstrate the inner workings—that is, the active process—of informal
learning at work. That is, how exactly do we know ‘informal learning at work’ when
we see it? Interview researchers rely on interviewee’s accounts of his or her infor-
mal learning, and as such the data is an expression of discourse and not the actual
informal learning practice itself. Even most ethnographic research employs what
ethno-methodologists have called glosses for actual practices of informal learning.
As Jackson (2005; see also Suchman & Jordan, 1990; Barab & Kirshner, 2001;
Sawchuk, 2003a, 2003b) has pointed out in her discussion of research methods
and informal learning at work, there is a very real need to clearly articulate ‘what
constitutes the actual’ of informal learning at work.
Generally speaking, while situated micro-analytic approaches take these mat-
ters seriously, at the same time they have tended to eschew the term learning
itself. The traditions from which they originate—including pragmatics, communi-
cations, ethno-methodology, conversation analysis, cultural or socio-cultural (i.e.
non-experimental) psychology, symbolic interactionism and anthropology—tend to
use terms like speech-exchange systems, distributed cognition, participatory accom-
plishments, and perhaps above all the term social practice. At the conceptual level,
clearly these approaches have had influence on scholars of informal learning and
work (e.g. Fenwick, 2001; Billett, 2002, etc.), however, rarely has this influence
extended to the use of micro-analytic methods. As Engeström & Middleton (1998)
and Luff, Hindmarsh and Heath (2000) note, typically fine-grained analysis is done
on strips of recorded interaction and talk in natural settings within situated micro-
analytic research. These settings have included airline cockpits, airport control tow-
ers, subway control centres, court-rooms, child development centres, purchasing
offices, banks, science labs, and just about any other setting imaginable; wherever,
it seems, quality recorded data of actual participatory events can be accessed.
Analyses of this type have discovered the local invention and reproduction of
mindful practice on the individual and collective levels; how expert practice comes
about on an everyday basis. Much of the research is interested in the role of work and
technological design; how everyday environments actually shape communication

and cognition at work; how, for example, the use, misuse and alternative uses of
computer artefacts leads to the reproduction as well as change in workplace cultures;
how interaction at work is either organized or dis-organized by changing goals and
objects of work; and so on.
4 Conclusion
I began this chapter by noting the importance of expanding our conception of work.
This expansion was in many ways expressed in the three key models of work and
learning discussed in which past learning and broader areas of social life nec-
essarily shape practice in the paid workplace. The models exemplified issues of
power/control, broad processes of cognitive information processing including socio-
emotional and unconscious elements, and how informal learning is mediated by
technical-organizational and socio-cultural spheres. Indeed, collectively these mod-
els express similar features established historically in the emergence of the informal
learning concept. Minimally, what we can note is that people come with learning
histories, and workplaces are embedded in broader institutional networks that are
economic, cultural, political and historical. Finally, we saw that there are a range of
different methods and epistemological matters to consider when addressing issues
of informal learning and work. Too frequently, the full range of methods and con-
ceptual approaches are foreclosed by individual researchers. Reversing this trend
undoubtedly will serve analyses of informal learning and work into the future.
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Chapter II.8
New Learning Spaces in TVET:
The Contribution of Social Partnerships
1 Introduction
In our times of rapid technological, economic and cultural change, new learning
spaces are emerging as a significant aspect of international public policy. They in-
clude workplaces, small businesses, community settings, private and community
training providers, learning networks, and even commercialized units within pub-
lic education and training. These new learning spaces are distinctive because they
are not simply positioned and co-ordinated as an extension of centralized gov-
ernment and established educational providers and institutions (or ‘old’ learning
spaces) but are in a definable relationship with the government as a consequence
of deregulatory trends and decentralized governance that is apparent on a global
scale. While undoubtedly influenced by State policy and resource imperatives, the
defined relationship with government means that new learning spaces have some
kind of autonomy from the government. They create a space for their participants
to consciously negotiate their relationship to centralized policy processes and main-
stream education and training provision, and to other agencies and community net-
works. In this respect, the emergence of new learning spaces is a manifestation
of shifting institutionalized relationships between State, market and civil society
that, in principle at least, enables communities to work in partnership with the
government.
This chapter provides a window on new learning spaces in Australia by fo-
cusing on the contribution that ‘social partnerships’ make to technical and voca-
tional education and training (TVET). These social partnerships operate as learning
networks by linking localized groups with external organizations operating across
different scales (global, national, regional, local, city, workplace, family) to form
decentralized and potentially powerful networks for tackling localized social and
economic issues. They provide distinctive opportunities for active, collaborative
learning at the local level and link communities of learners with networks of ex-
ternal educational and employer bodies. In this way, they consolidate an area-based
capacity for action and decision that has been harnessed to address issues of social
exclusion and deprivation, and community building through improved economic and
educational development (Green, 2002; Green, Wolf & Leney, 1999; Geddes, 2005,
p. 18; Smyth, Reddel & Jones, 2005).

334 T. Seddon et al.
We begin by considering new learning spaces in general and the conditions that
have privileged learning and led to the diversification of sites in which learning is
supported and recognized. Our argument is that new learning spaces are an effect
of deregulatory agendas in education and training, and the specific kinds of new
learning spaces reflect the way education and training have been co-opted into the
economic and social development agenda. We then focus on social partnerships—a
specific type of new learning space. Drawing on our research into the way social
partnerships in TVET have been formed and developed in the Australian context,
we document different types of social partnerships, how they are framed, formed
and maintained, and the kinds of learning that are supported through them. The
final section of the chapter comments on the contribution of social partnerships to
TVET.
2 Approaching New Learning Spaces
Our point of departure in analysing ‘new learning spaces’ is the pattern of cen-
tralized education and training that developed throughout the twentieth century in
Australia. The broad parameters of this history of education are similar in many
countries around the world. In Australia, this institutional design emerged in the
late nineteenth century when the previous mix of voluntarist and market-based
educational provision was brought within the domain of government through the
formation of public education systems. This shift in co-ordination progressively
formalized learning in specialist education and training institutions with a dedi-
cated bureaucracy and professionalized workforce. The partnership between State,
bureaucracy and professional workforce established an institutional distance be-
tween the worlds of education and the worlds of work and family life. All children
were compelled by law to attend school and for most children this meant attend-
ing local public schools that structured learning in increasingly distinct pathways
(sometimes offering particular work-related learning, e.g. professional education,
technical education) to work and adult life.
This centralized educational design accomplished important learning achieve-
ments, but also institutionalized selection and sorting processes in terms of edu-
cational outcomes. Post-1945, this structure of learning diversified to accommodate
different social groups (e.g. extending technical and university provision, increasing
the proportion of the age group in education, attending to cultural diversity). From
the mid-1980s, the character of this diversification began to move away from the
assumption that centralized public education was the primary principle in educa-
tional design. Instead, there was pressure for diversification that recognized learn-
ing in sites other than institutionalized education and training (e.g. in workplaces,
communities, families), affirmed private educational provision and actively dereg-
ulated existing education and training institutions and workforces along business
lines through the implementation of corporate managerialism. These trends were
partly driven by broad changes in work and society, but also by fiscal pressures
II.8 New Learning Spaces in TVET 335
in an education system that provided for more and more people. These drives
were accompanied by policy/public rhetoric that affirmed the importance and ben-
efits of learning sites beyond schools, technical and further education (TAFE) in-
stitutes, and universities. These ‘new learning spaces’ were acclaimed as being
more flexible, friendly and more able to provide localized solutions to problems
of school-to-work transition, work-related learning and adult retraining for work
than the centralized public education system with its mix of education and training
institutions.
These learning spaces appeared ‘new’ in contrast to the ‘old’ learning spaces
forged, throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as liberal (and later
social) democratic government built a centralized collective capacity to organize
and co-ordinate learning across nation-States. In practice, they were mostly places
where learning had always occurred but had not been formalized or recognized
through the mainstream policies and practices of education and training. In work-
places, community settings, families, churches and popular movements (e.g. po-
litical or environmental movements), learning had always been one dimension of
the activities. Mostly, this learning was not the primary focus of the setting but
occurred in an incidental and embedded way as part of being a worker, or a mem-
ber of a community, church or family. Sometimes there was explicit instruction,
for instance in workplace training or religious education, but this focused learn-
ing was generally oriented towards the induction of participants into that commu-
nity, its place and culture. Such learning did not lead to credentials or structured
learning pathways that gave access to particular education and employment op-
portunities or career mobility but, rather, helped to socialize and consolidate peo-
ple’s membership and sense of belonging within localized networks and to build
social capital.
Despite their prior existence and their distinctive contribution to socialization,
these new learning spaces have taken on features of a more focused and reified
approach to learning. In some cases, existing patterns of embedded learning have
been brought within the formalized qualification structure that publicly recognizes
and accredits competency. For example, young people working in their family’s
business or farm can have their skills acknowledged to obtain a nationally recog-
nized qualification, transferable across Australia, within the Australian Qualifica-
tion Framework. In other cases, enterprises and community agencies have become
formally accredited as providers and have delivered training programmes leading to
national TVET qualifications. Sometimes, dedicated groups have arisen to provide
specific training programmes in a niche market. Taking advantage of shifts in the
regulation and funding of learning, such groups have formed small-scale private
or not-for-profit training providers that support particular learning pathways (e.g.
offering training in particular industries, providing language instruction to inter-
national students, assisting older community members to develop computer skills).
Existing education and training institutions have also participated, forming com-
mercial units and being accredited as training organizations, as a way of addressing
shortfalls in public funding for public education, or providing particular commu-
nity services. For example, the Methodist Ladies College, one of Victoria’s most
prestigious private schools, is a registered training organization (RTO) and offers

community education programmes to local residents. Equally, in many state schools
the school council or parents and friends committee has argued for community
education activities and courses run through the school. The generalization of in-
formation and communication technologies (ICTs) and the Internet mean that new
learning spaces exist, increasingly, not only as tangible places of face-to-face learn-
ing but also as technologically mediated spaces where learning occurs via web-
based training, discussion forums, web logs and games.
Our point is that new learning spaces are a historically-specific development
arising as an aspect of wider social, economic and cultural changes. The interactive
effects of globalization and the ICT revolution, economic restructuring that drives
privatization and deregulation, and economic integration that is liberalizing mar-
kets for capital, labour, goods and services provoke their emergence and shape their
character. Their significance is disputed as analysts and activists debate the practical
implications of globalization and the best way of assessing impact (either using
aggregate measures at national or global level or impact on particular groups of
people at the local level). These debates become controversial as policy and practice
is questioned by sceptics who argue that the concept of globalization is being used
ideologically to drive change in ways that support aggressive right-wing capitalism
(Held & McGrew, 2003).
In education, these contradictory developments have privileged partnership with
the government and active choice-making and self-management by individuals and
groups. These trends are advocated by global policy agencies, like the Organiza-
tion for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Bank and UNESCO,
and by national governments as supporting mature service delivery (OECD, 1994a,
1994b). While market mechanisms were initially emphasized throughout the 1990s,
especially since the Asian and other financial crises, resurgent interest in poverty
and its conceptualization and measurement have begun to shift the policy focus.
Concerns about growing global poverty and the limitations of structural adjustment
programmes in developing countries have been complemented by concerns about
economic reform and the widening gap between rich and poor in developed coun-
tries. This is drawing greater attention to the contribution of education and training
in social cohesion (Stegliz, 2002; OECD, 2005).
Poverty, it was argued, is not one-dimensional but requires action on: (a) income
and basic needs amongst the poor; (b) human development focusing on health, ed-
ucation, longevity and other human capabilities of the poor; (c) social inclusion
addressing social dialogue, political participation and a voice amongst the poor;
and (d) jobs necessary for growth and sustainable livelihoods. Addressing these
integrated agenda means that economic growth must be accompanied by measures
addressing social sustainability. And this means recognizing that: (a) both the in-
formal economy and formal economy are significant in production; (b) government
governs in relationship with the market and civil society; and (c) that justice de-
pends upon recognition and capability development as well as redistribution (Chen,
Vaneck & Carr, 2004, pp. 5–6; Fraser, 1995; Sen, 1999).
The effect of these policy debates has reshaped, in small ways, the image of the
good society that sits behind public policy processes from those established in the
heyday of market reform. In TVET, the importance of social as well as economic
outcomes is being reaffirmed. The focus on technical and vocational learning, which
became narrowly employment-related through the 1980s and 1990s, is being extended
to embrace and support community development as a critical policy lever in realiz-
ing development goals. This community focus acknowledges the contributions of
families, communities, public enterprises and firms to global productivity, as well
as the need to mobilize these resources by building local capacity for action and
decision-making that addresses economic development, jobs and growth, supports
human development, and facilitates social inclusion and participation, particularly
amongst those who are ‘at risk’. These discursive shifts have begun to reframe TVET,
acknowledging the way learning is integral to sustainable work, life and citizenship.
3 Social Partnerships and TVET
Social partnerships can be defined as localized networks that connect some combi-
nation of local community groups, education and training providers, industry and
government agencies to work on local issues and community-building activities.
Within the Australian context, social partnerships in TVET can be broadly catego-
rized into three different types, according to their origins and purpose (Seddon &
Billett, 2004; Billett, Clemans & Seddon, 2005). These are:
r Enacted partnerships. These partnerships are initiated by external agencies but
their goals are congruent with those of the local community. For example, the
Commonwealth-funded Enterprise and Career Foundation (ECEF) was estab-
lished to promote school-to-work transition by providing schools in the partner-
ship with support and funding. This arrangement developed interdependencies
between partners and was thus valued both by local and government participants.
In Victoria, Local Learning and Employment Networks (LLEN) were established
by the government to facilitate partnership between local community agencies in
providing education and training services for young people, especially for youth
outside the school system who were disengaged or at risk.
r Community partnerships. Originating in the community, these partnerships con-
nect with external agencies to secure the support and resources needed for ad-
dressing specific local problems.
r Negotiated partnerships. This type of partnership is longer-standing than ei-
ther the enacted or community partnership models described above, which have
developed relatively recently in response to specific concerns at the local level.
Although negotiated partnerships also address local concerns, they are formed
between partners with reciprocal goals to secure a service or support from out-
side the community. This requires effective negotiation of the partners’ differing
interests and agendas as the following examples demonstrate.
Social partnerships in TVET are formed to address local capacity-building. They

commonly develop particular learning initiatives to support learning by specific
groups of identified beneficiaries. Yet, through the work of building the partnership
and designing and negotiating learning initiatives, participants gain new skills and
the ability to deal with issues of concern to the community. Social partnerships
support learning at two levels: (a) at the level of the partnership, where participation
supports an educative process for participants; and (b) at the level of the learning
initiative, which also supports learning by beneficiaries to enhance their educational
and employment pathways. Where beneficiaries learn as a consequence of designed
work-related learning experiences, participant’s learning-through-participation di-
versifies learning outcomes beyond specific work-related knowledge, skills and dis-
positions, and potentially enlarges an individual’s capacity for civic engagement and
active citizenship.
3.1 Framing Social Partnerships
Since the 1980s, decentralization has shaped educational delivery, representing a

paradigm shift from centralized and hierarchical authority residing in the govern-
ment to more horizontal decision-making and localized governance. More recently,
governments have adopted whole-of-government approaches that bring different de-
partments together across portfolios within particular geographic areas to address
intractable social problems and to promote social and economic development. In
Australia, these area-based social partnerships in education are commonly targeted
at youth and young adults who are considered ‘at risk’ of becoming marginalized or
excluded from social participation because they have not found a place within either
formal education or structured training, or gained employment.
Early school-to-work programmes were essentially top-down government-funded
initiatives that focused on encouraging local communities to assume greater respon-
sibility for shaping vocational training opportunities for young people. Government
departments in education and training worked with schools and TAFE providers to
develop structured programmes and credentials. These programmes were based on
the old democratic welfare-state partnership model, which meant that social welfare
provision was the responsibility of bureaucratic government, organized capital and
labour. These old forms of partnership emphasized shared institutional goals and
ways of thinking. Within the partnership, consensus was assumed and any conflict
was resolved by administrative provisions or through recognized industrial relations
processes and procedures.
Social partnerships, on the other hand, bring together a coalition of stakeholders
to provide access to vocational education and training that may or may not be pro-
vided by or within organized TVET agencies. These partnerships presume individu-
alism and self-regulation, whereby social obligation is mediated through individual
choice, consent and personal accountability. The assumption is that individuals are
actors, not passive subjects, and that they have the capacity to make a tangible dif-
ference to social life. Social partnerships emphasize local solutions and focus on
supporting networks through which individuals collaborate to provide opportunities

that not only meet immediate local needs but also potentially enable beneficiaries
to engage in the wider world. Formed to address local concerns, their longevity is
directly related to the achievement of short-term goals and specified outcomes.
The shift towards local decision-making means that new social partnerships are
pluralist in character and also transient by nature. In this scenario, the government’s
role is redefined as a facilitating rather than a controlling agency. The government
continues to steer policy and practice less by command and more by creating con-
texts within which decisions about vocational education and training are made.
Instead of being accountable to the sovereign and unifying authority of the State,
new social partnerships encompass multiple voices and interests, and are based on
a mix of tacit understandings and contractualized agreements, more than formally
defined obligations that are lived on a day-to-day basis. This is a decision-making
situation that is described as ‘governance’ rather than government (Jessop, 1998;
Rhodes, 1996).
In these respects, new social partnerships are both more singular and complex
than older forms of either voluntary organization or government partnership. They
entail a deliberate negotiation of different interests in the construction of partnership
capacity for action and decision-making. This partnership formation and mainte-
nance is an achievement realised through distinctive practices of partnership work
which achieve shared goals agreed by members of the partnership and also support
learning through participation by those who become involved.
3.2 Constructing Partnership Capacity
In Victoria, thirty-one LLENs were established between 2001 and 2002 in response
to a government inquiry into post-compulsory education (Kirby, 2000). The LLENs
were expected to revitalize localized, co-operative approaches to vocational educa-
tion and training, and to help realize the government’s objective of retaining young
people in education or training until they completed Year 12 or its equivalent. Al-
though the LLENs had very different experiences in their early stages of partnership
building, they now form an important part of education and training provision. They
have strengthened links between education and training providers, increased col-
laborative planning and delivery, engaged industry and community partners and
attracted resources, including funding, to support disengaged or ‘at risk’ youth
(Victorian Learning and Employment Skills Commission, 2005, p. 4).
The LLEN were initiated by the government and formed according to a cen-
tral design: they are incorporated bodies separate from the government but reliant
upon it for policy direction, support and some funding. The Victorian govern-
ment defined the boundaries for the geographic distribution of the LLENs across
the state and stipulated governance requirements. Having a modest budget, the
LLEN depend upon local volunteer support. Rather than actually providing voca-
tional education and training, the LLEN acts as a brokering agency, forming net-
works and connections between employers, schools, TVET providers and other
community agencies, to better address the learning needs of young people, par-
ticularly for local youth who might not complete secondary schooling. The estab-
lishment of LLENs brought a new organization into the prevailing framework of
increasingly decentralized educational provision and area-based networks of youth,
education, training and employment agencies. It left the LLENs in a somewhat
ambiguous situation and existing providers sometimes viewed them suspiciously.
To address this positioning and realize their purposes, LLEN organizers had to
work hard to build relationships of trust and collaboration amongst local agen-
cies. Inevitably, the insertion of a new social partnership into an existing set of
relationships engendered tensions for the individuals involved and between par-
ticipating agencies, which invariably competed for scarce resources (funding and
volunteers) even though they shared a commitment to working with young people.
Learning how to navigate conflicting interests and agendas for the good of young
people distinguished the LLENs both as new social partnerships and learning spaces
in TVET.
The process of LLEN development entailed the construction of a capacity for ac-
tion and decision-making amongst multiple interests. Other social partnerships have
different genesis to the LLENs, but the process of building capacity to realise a set
of concerns or goals that have to be identified, agreed and met collectively is com-
mon to them all. The formation of social partnerships depends upon constructively
collaborating with others to secure resources, align needs and accomplish goals.
This capacity development encompasses more than organizational development be-
cause it must also engage with the overall context within which the partnership and
its participants interact and operate. Participants typically describe this process of
capacity development as building trust in others as a basis for effective engagement
and participation. We have called this process of building relationships of trust to
construct capacity for action and decision-making ‘partnership work’.
Partnership work is the interactive and collaborative process of working together
to identify, negotiate and articulate goals, and to develop processes for realising
and reviewing those goals. Effective partnership work embraces and harnesses the
contributions of local partners and external agencies, their interactions and transfor-
mations in collective work. These processes of working together allow communities
to identify and represent their needs and to secure quality partners and partnership
arrangements that will enable them to achieve their objectives. They also allow
the government and non-governmental agencies to understand and respond to local
needs, to utilize local resources and enhance capacity for local governance. Our
research on Australian social partnerships has identified five dimensions of partner-
ship work. These are:
1. Cultural-scoping work involving identifying, reviewing and refining the part-

ners’ interests and concerns, and developing a framework for collectively realiz-
ing goals, identifying achievements and renewing commitment.
2. Connection-building work, which involves building trust and commitment, en-
couraging participation, and developing processes that are inclusive and
respectful.
3. Capacity-building work with partners in developing the infrastructure, resources

and skills needed to achieve collective goals.
4. Collective work, which involves constructing consistent, transparent and work-
able procedures for partnership and developing effective communication and
leadership.
5. Trust-building work, which means establishing effective processes for engaging
and informing partners, and encouraging co-operation and collaboration.
As an executive officer at a Victorian LLEN observed, it takes a ‘lot of work’ to

build relationships of trust and get ‘everything right’. Constructing a social environ-
ment where people feel at ease and able to contribute involves hard, labour-intensive
work that makes considerable demands on people’s interpersonal skills, their capac-
ities for cross-cultural communication, and their willingness to engage in emotional
labour.
In this way, partnership work is never complete. Participants must continue to
work at building relationships and realising outcomes if trust is to be maintained
between the partners. This ongoing work is commonly sustained for a while but
then undercut because resources become scarce, people move on and skills are lost.
The formation and maintenance of social partnerships is a significant social
achievement, through which volunteers and paid employees construct local capacity
for action and decision-making in a governance context. The examples illustrate
that this work is rarely straightforward, but it can achieve outcomes and participants
commonly report a sense of being energized through their involvement. In prac-
tice, the actual capacity developed by social partnerships is inevitably variable. It is
limited by the knowledge, skills and experiences of participants, the sustainability
of funding and other resources, the endurance and energy of volunteers who often
do partnership work in addition to their main job, and the willingness of partners,
including the government, to endorse the process of working together. It is also
affected by the prevailing ethos of competition that exists between many agencies
and the patterns of conscious or unconscious inclusion and exclusion that prevail.
Yet, despite these challenges, social partnerships act as one type of new learning
space, supporting localized learning initiatives for specified beneficiaries and also
providing a context for self-reflective and dialogical learning through participation.
3.3 Learning through Participation

By their very nature, social partnerships in TVET are sites for work-related learning
that aim to improve the life chances of the partnership’s beneficiaries, whether dis-
engaged youth or adults undertaking vocational education and training. In addition
to these explicit educational objectives, social partnerships are also spaces in which
participating partners engage in new learning through the interactions and activi-
ties inherent in partnership work (Fennessy, Billett & Ovens, 2006). This relational
learning is described by participants in terms of:
r developing self-knowledge, self-awareness and self-management;

r nurturing democratic values: trust, respect for others, civic and personal ethics,
intimacy, care, empathy and tolerance;
r improving interpersonal and social skills: observing, listening, interacting, plan-
ning, experimenting, problem-solving, negotiating and appraising;
r understanding personal/local needs in the context of broader social, political and
economic processes and systems;
r adapting and using social and political procedures/processes for local benefit;
and
r developing resilience: the capacity to remain committed and to adapt to changing
circumstances.
While these kinds of learning are important for securing a social partnership’s pro-
cedural goals, they are also distinctive. Within and through a partnership’s inter-
connected contexts, participants construct meaning through their relationships with
others. This process of learning through partnership work engages participants in
developing attitudes, values and skills that can build social capital and democratic
citizenry. The pursuit of shared goals develops reciprocity, which in turn creates a
web of networks founded on shared values that can build social trust (Putnam, 2000;
Field, 2003). In partnerships, participants learn how to exchange views and tolerate
diversity, and to respect sameness and difference in others. This learning process
has the potential both to enrich individuals and enhance their collective capacity
for civic commitment and action. Like other forms of deliberate civic education,
partnership learning can encourage future civic engagement by reinforcing respect-
ful egalitarianism and by shaping skills in co-operation, negotiation and dissent
(Gastil, 2004; Martin, 2003). Conversely, if participants fail to build relationships
based on trust and mutual respect, democratic behaviours and values may be dis-
couraged rather than fostered.
Our research into Australian social partnerships suggests that this relational
learning supports learning outcomes that traditional educational institutions do not
generally emphasize. By fostering learning about the self and the self in relation-
ship to others, and encouraging learning through active engagement with others, the
social partnerships in our studies became transformative learning spaces for partic-
ipants.
Specifically, these new learning spaces seemed to help participants to position in
ever-expanding and intersecting networks so they learned ‘how to be’ as much as
‘how to do’ (Bauman, 2002, p. 40). They supported personal and cognitive learning
that extended beyond the individual or personal to wider cultural and social levels.
Emphasizing contextual and embedded learning, the social partnerships developed
enhanced individual competence and agency, and brought about collective learn-
ing, which is more complex than the aggregate of individual learning processes
(Delanty, 2003, p. 601). This learning increased capacity for action and responsibil-
ity, and helped participants develop a perception of self as a social actor shaped by
their relations with others. And by enlarging capacity for action and sense of respon-
sibility, relational learning facilitated the individual’s active participation and may
encourage the collective cultural learnings that underpin citizenry and strengthen
civil society.
Forming cohesive and inclusive learning spaces, the social partnerships we re-
searched valued collective rather than individual performance (Billett et al., 2005).
For many participants they provided a respectful and supportive setting through
which people could find a sense of belonging. However, they could also be ex-
clusionary and insular spaces. By valuing ‘we’ so highly, participants established a
strong sense of ‘us’, as opposed to ‘them’ outside the partnership’s boundaries or
networks. Participants need to consciously develop self-awareness and empathy to
nurture the partnership as an inclusive learning space. One participant expressed this
as ‘walking the talk’ and displaying ‘profound grace’ towards one another. Another
reflected that it took time and patience to foster the mutual respect implicit in being
willing to tolerate opposing views.
The shared process of learning about relationship shapes social partnerships as
collaborative and co-operative learning spaces. Participants described it as an en-
ergetic and empowering process of working together and building trust. Learning
was neither didactic nor incidental, but instead it was embedded in the process
of ‘coming to a common view’. As a citizenship learning process, this builds the
individual’s self-esteem, self-respect and autonomy. The collaborative process of
working together serves to encourage flexibility, helping participants to become
more pragmatic and capable of adapting external policies to local needs. Participants
explained that it allowed partners to develop workable solutions and to realise that
there was ‘no set way to solve problems’. As a learning domain, social partnerships,
like other forms of civic engagement, can endow individuals with affective capac-
ities that enhance readiness for learning, including formal education. By building
self-awareness, a sense of belonging and identity, partnership work can empower
the individual and strengthen personal agency. By building a sense of community, it
can generate collective learning, which may then transfer into a process of social or
cultural change.
3.4 Partnerships Contributing to TVET

Contemporary policy acknowledges that there has been a shift from top-down gov-
ernment towards multilateral governance. In this context, the government remains
the locus of power, only intervening to add value, but policy becomes the domain
of chosen experts and those in community consultation (United Kingdom. Cabinet
Office, 2000, p. 7). Partnerships are fundamental to this governance context because
they are sites where skills and other resources can be shared and where experts
can engage with community members. Each partnership constitutes a distinctive,
localized nexus in which diverse knowledge flows converge. They are places where
knowledge-sharing strategies can generate innovative ideas, shared understandings
and agreed solutions to intractable problems. If partnerships vary in their roles, mix
of interests and efficacy, their specifically local nature is central to future planning
strategies (OECD, 2001).
It is claimed that localized partnerships benefit industry, governments and com-

munities (Nelson & Zadek, 2000). They create value for industry by enhancing
community and client networks, boosting information sharing, publicizing corpo-
rate goals and products, and permitting intelligence gathering by firms, especially in
relation to recruitment. There are financial benefits because greater cohesion means
better productivity, and less time and resources spent on managing disputes. For
governments, partnerships present the challenge of moving from a ‘command and
control’ state to a more complex, enabling position, which offers greater political
legitimacy through consultation. Such ‘joined-up governance’ emphasizes dialogue
and sustainable outcomes, and partners become more committed to projects they
were instrumental in effecting. For communities, partnerships are seen to endow
a sense of ownership by building trust amongst diverse groups and enabling lo-
cal control. Competency gained through managing local affairs assists communities
and individuals to interact with corporations and government with greater personal
ownership and collective capacity. Local groups become active agents capable of
exerting their influence over the political actors working alongside them. In this
way, partnerships are seen to support the kind of personal development and skills
acquisition that build civic processes (Kosky, 2002).
The extent to which social partnerships actually realize these policy claims is
disputed. One set of concerns relates to the complexities of partnership work and the
difficulties in realizing goals and aspirations. Research shows that the challenge of
negotiating shared goals amongst many different partners and building capacity for
action and decision-making is compounded by funding and accountability frame-
works, and by the expectations of host organizations. Cultural difference, patterns of
tacit knowledge, disputes about professional expertise, factionalism and protective
self-interest can undermine effective partner relations. Inexperience in governance,
lack of constructive feedback and no effective policy-making structures can reduce
the capacity of partnerships to operate successfully and achieve their goals (Seddon
& Billett, 2004, p. 20; Clegg & McNulty, 2002; Jones & Bird, 2000; Rees, 1997).
Some critics argue that area-based initiatives such as social partnerships have
never worked in a consistently effective and sustainable way (Power, Rees &
Taylor, 2005). They are intrinsically problematic because they tend to work in op-
portunistic and pragmatic ways, and are vulnerable to the effects of short-term fund-
ing and participant burnout. Other commentators maintain that social partnerships,
as well as addressing some kinds of social inclusion, create social exclusion. For ex-
ample, by targeting individuals to reduce exclusion in areas of high unemployment
and low literacy, particular groups may be stigmatized and a culture that depends
upon those most in need being obliged to demonstrate their deserving status may
be fostered. Policy intervention can then become a means of disempowering the
local community (Gibson & Cameron, 2001, p. 12; Peel, 2003). The parameters of
funding schemes can also accentuate exclusion. For instance, a partnership required
to report particular performance targets may optimize success by enrolling learners
who do not have severe social or learning disabilities. In any case, a partnership’s ca-
pacity to orchestrate or provide services is inherently constrained, which inevitably
means that potential beneficiaries or potential partners may not be included. While
partnerships create a sense of agency among participants, actual empowerment only

happens when people feel able to change their lives.
For some critics, social partnerships are mostly associated with reduced state
responsibilities, shedding influence and activity to local interests, rather than with
the emergence of new local governance structures. It is argued that, as instruments
of neo-liberal governance that promote self-governing, responsible neo-liberal sub-
jects, social partnerships are used by the state to manage the disruption and social
breakdown accompanying deregulation, privatization and the erosion of the welfare
state (Geddes, 2005; Whitty & Power, 1997; Lawn, 2001; Robertson & Dale, 2002).
4 Conclusion
Our own sense is that social partnerships are inherently contradictory new learning
spaces. They are clearly deregulatory in their effects because they do provide means
of organizing learning activities beyond established institutions of education and
training. They undercut the traditional universalistic ethos of public education by
enabling particular learning support for targeted groups. Yet, our research shows
that they can also form productive relationships with local schools, TAFE institutes
and universities, bringing agencies together to support skill formation and other per-
sonal, relational and civic learning amongst particular groups of young people and
adults, and in ways that enhance the range of provision to accommodate multicul-
tural diversity. The linking up of different agencies can be particularly productive,
leading to shared understandings of the commitments and constraints in agencies,
which can enable resource sharing and innovative problem-solving.
Partnerships are, by their nature, highly localized and reach into local community
networks, feeding information flows, supporting consultative processes and legit-
imizing policy initiatives and local implementation. These features benefit industry,
government and the community, and can enhance community capacity-building.
Yet, partnerships are also a policy device that can be used by government to show
that something is being done. They are a means of addressing local concerns and
advancing social as well as economic outcomes, but they are also a cheap and small-
scale option. While promising forms of associational democracy, they tend to priv-
ilege some voices over others. They are not always able to address the construction
of an appropriately horizontal communication and policy structure to support local
governance.
Ultimately, social partnerships do construct and consolidate social exclusion as
well as social inclusion. This is true of every policy instrument. Even the ostensi-
bly universalistic public education systems have served some more than others—
confirming disadvantage as well as addressing it. Social partnerships do seem to
encourage individuals to become deeply committed to a group and its cause while
the partnership functions. At its best, the affective, relational learning that indi-
viduals experience develops understanding of self and other, and fosters a sense
of belonging and community. At its worst, this sense of belonging may endorse
exclusionary attitudes and behaviours, if partnership work is not guided by demo-

cratic procedures, if participants lack respect for difference, and if trust is absent or
remains undeveloped. This tension between inclusion and exclusion is problematic
for participants, but learning how ‘to be’ in a network of relationships and within
shifting boundaries is an inherent part of partnership learning. As an educative pro-
cess, partnership work has the potential to enlarge the individual’s sense of self as
a member, as a citizen, and increase their capacity for civic engagement and active
citizenship.
Relational learning developed through participation in partnerships is transfer-
able to other group-learning contexts. It is a fundamental asset for the transitory
volunteer workforce that many social partnerships rely upon. It is this kind of learn-
ing, rather than the procedural or declarative learning associated with the desig-
nated outcome of a partnership arrangement in vocational education and training
that distinguishes social partnerships as distinctive new learning spaces. They offer
a particular kind of pragmatic, experiential relational learning that challenges and
reformulates the specific, situated learning goals of traditional learning spaces. In
this way, social partnerships make a distinctive contribution to TVET, extending
beyond the kind of skill formation that characterizes traditional vocational learning
to embrace lifelong development as citizen actors.
Acknowledgments This chapter draws upon material and ideas developed within a larger research
team, which also includes Stephen Billett, Allie Clemans and Carolyn Ovens. We also thank the
Australian Research Council, the National VET Research and Evaluation Program, and the De-
partment of Education and Training Victoria for their support in funding the projects that inform
this chapter.
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Chapter II.9
Social and Cultural Aspects of Informal Sector
Learning: Meeting the Goals of EFA
Madhu Singh
1 Introduction
Statistics reveal that in most of the developing world more than 50% of the pop-
ulation is engaged in unorganized work, in household production and service or-
ganizations that constitute the so-called informal sector. The informal sector is
characterized by micro-enterprises that require small investments, often combine a
household with production, and enjoy minimal State regulation because of the high
cost of legislation. The establishment of one’s own enterprise represents a viable op-
portunity for overcoming poverty and providing work to others (Sethuraman, 1976).
The ILO World employment report says that the majority of new jobs in developing
countries are being created in the informal sector, which employs about 500 million
workers (ILO, 1998). A lack of skills for a large section of the labour force, as
well as a lack of sufficient job growth in the formal sector of the economy, has
resulted in growth for the informal sector. The informal sector is making an enor-
mous contribution to national economies, but remains a weak area for governmental
policy. In the field of education, people in the informal sector are characterized by
low levels of formal schooling, high drop-out rates from school and lack of access
to tertiary education. This is particularly so in the case of women, who make up
almost two-thirds of all those employed in this sector.
In this chapter, it is argued that if vocational training and education is to cater
to the informal sector, then it needs to take into account the traditions and values
of the system of vocational learning in working life and be interwoven with basic
education. Education for All (EFA) goals are paramount in this respect. But if we
are to achieve these goals, the multiplicity of social and cultural contexts in which
learning takes place should also be taken into account.
Firstly, in this chapter the key characteristics of the informal sector are discussed
in the light of various socio-cultural contexts. Secondly, the framework of EFA is
suggested as a prerequisite for responding adequately to the needs of learners in the
informal sector. Thirdly, the pathways to integrating TVET and EFA are suggested
and concrete policy recommendations are drawn. A brief conclusion summarizes
the main points.

350 M. Singh
2 Informal Sector Learning
Vocational training and education of people working in the informal sector have long
been neglected. The colonial power’s legacy in the field of technical and vocational
education in many developing countries prevented vocational education from re-
flecting local approaches (Crane, 1965; Watson, 1994). Vocational education failed
to support local socio-economic development, especially in the informal sector.
Multilateral assistance to vocational and technical education in developing coun-
tries has often concentrated on physical facilities for formal technical vocational
schools and to the diversification of secondary education through the integration of
pre-vocational education in general education (World Bank, 1991). Local cultures
have been totally disregarded in the transfer of technologies. Technical assistance
has also completely overlooked the problems that have arisen in many developing
countries because of massive migration from the countryside to the cities and the
growing informal sector. The vocationalization of the rural curriculum has not been
made attractive enough to promote a demand for vocational education in rural areas.
Rather, it has been used to stabilize traditional agricultural life by providing a ‘sec-
ond chance’ solution to the problem of students who drop out of school without
occupational skills (Grubb, 1985). What is more, the issues of diversification and
vocationalization of secondary education have been dealt with in purely economic
terms (earning opportunities, better jobs and higher technical fields).
Since the mid-1980s there have been some attempts by international institutions,
churches, foundations and other sponsors to provide vocational training in order to
prepare young people for work in the informal sector (Fluitman, 1989). The discus-
sion on vocational training and education for special target groups from the infor-
mal sector has particularly engaged agencies involved in development co-operation,
many of whom are now modifying their sector concepts in the light of the expand-
ing informal economy (NORRAG, 1996; Lohmar-Kuhnle, 1992). However, the ten-
dency up to now has been one of promoting State-sponsored vocational education
and training for the formal and modern sector and a project-oriented approach for
the informal sector. As a result, formal vocational training and education continues
to cater to only a very small sector of the economy (Boehm, 1997) and does nothing
to meet the learner’s needs for basic education.
However, one must not forget that this issue should not be regarded solely as
a means of improving the macro-economic climate of a country, but also as an
important way of bringing personal enrichment to informal workers in terms of
creating awareness about one’s own choices and opportunities. For this reason, in-
tegrating basic education and vocational training in a holistic way appears to be
crucial. Despite the growing acknowledgement of this fact, the issue of integrating
basic education with vocational training has not been given due attention so far.
Moreover, overall trends point to the fact that public technical and vocational educa-
tion institutions have often not had a good record in efficiency and flexibility and are
sometimes far removed from local cultural and social—as well as market—realities.
One of the major obstacles here is the absence of a linkage between vocational
education and the country-specific patterns of basic education. Therefore, placing
II.9 Social and Cultural Aspects of Informal Sector Learning 351
particular training programmes within a broader framework of basic education pro-

vided through informal learning (e.g. literacy classes at the work place) should be
seen as one of the ways to overcome this obstacle.
To sum up, it is necessary to learn from the informal sector, especially as we
are living in a time of major changes in the context of a more competitive global
economy. The resulting concerns are not simply ones of employment but also of
attaining secure livelihoods and the right to work for all (Lawrence, 1998). There is
a whole sector of people outside the formal labour market who neither have access
to regular jobs at present, nor the promise of permanent jobs in the future, nor are
finding other solutions to the problem of work. Their learning needs too must be
given due consideration. But that should be done while keeping in mind the variety
of socio-cultural contexts in which learning takes place so as to reach every learner.
The next section looks at the patterns of socio-political and cultural differences
that exist in the informal sector and how they affect the basic educational needs
of learners.
3 Social and Cultural Contexts and Basic Learning Needs

The basic learning needs of people in the informal sector are influenced by the
actual socio-economic and political conditions operating in the informal economy.
The informal sector is highly heterogeneous, including production units providing
different services in a wide range of economic activities. Typically, three categories
are distinguished in the informal sector (ILO, 1998, p. 167): (a) the small or micro-
enterprise sector is the strongest and most dynamic sub-sector; (b) the household-
based sub-sector, where most of the activities are carried out by family members;
and (c) the service sector, which comprises domestic helpers, street-vendors, etc.
Basic learning needs of individuals and communities differ according to their
perceptions of these needs. Often the very poor and illiterate communities involved
in the informal economy are excluded from information and knowledge since their
learning needs are assumed to be limited in scope. Participants in the informal sector
in developing countries are very likely to be poor and have low literacy rates and
skill levels. While young people and adults at the ‘upper end’ of the informal sector
may have some degree of education (a minimum of primary or secondary educa-
tion), those in the ‘lower end’ are often illiterate. In the Asian and Arab contexts,
the majority of young people and adults acquire the essential skills for performing
an informal sector activity outside the school system. This generalization cannot be
made for the Latin American context, however, since there the system offers more
than four years of schooling to more than 50% of the population (Córvalan, 1997).
Existing data indicate that children, youth and adults in the informal sector have
unmet basic learning needs. Such needs vary according to age, gender, context and
culture. Women need to be singled out as a specific target group in the informal
sector, as they are over-represented. In Asia and Africa their share in the informal
sector is estimated to be typically 60–80%. This is an underestimation, however,
since unpaid family help and home-based workers have been excluded from this
352 M. Singh
calculation, and it is in these categories that women make up the largest percent-
age. In Latin America, self-employment generates nine out of every ten new po-
sitions for women, but since they require few qualifications, these positions are
also marked by greater instability in employment and a lack of social protection.
Silveira and Matosas (2005) found that in Latin America 49.7% of female employ-
ment was informal while for men the figure was 43.8%. Domestic work accounts
for 22% of the new jobs for women generated between 1990 and 1998. Women are
under-represented as employers in the micro-enterprise sector. However, the authors
also point out that a number of new fields—such as new technological services,
phone sales, consultancies, Internet, out-sourced manufacturing, small-machine as-
sembly and many other activities that have to do with the transfer to the produc-
tive field of many domestic activities—have been added to the traditional tasks
of clothing and textile services, and these generate new educational and training
requirements.
The informal sector is also the predominant employer of child labour in devel-
oping countries. Conservative estimates suggest that 20 to 30 million children work
in South Asia alone. Iskandar (2005) points to the existing economic factors that
instigate child labour in Egypt: female-headed households are often among the most
vulnerable and rely largely on child labour as a source of income. Therefore, the
only realistic way for working children to attain literacy and other basic education
skills is to receive proper training at the work place.
The informal sector also tends to be exposed to a high degree of injury, although
there is little or no formal health insurance mechanisms. When layoffs occur in the
formal sector in urban areas, the poor, who are most likely to lose their jobs first,
go to swell the ranks of the urban poor in the informal sector. The growing number
of drop-outs from the school system makes up the pool of cheap labour; they are
absorbed in the informal and domestic sectors, where the terms and conditions of
work are extremely limited. By their very nature, informal enterprises are especially
vulnerable to dynamic changes in the economy, such as changes that result in tech-
nological redundancy.
Given the absence of formal safety net mechanisms, informal sector households
must find ways to reduce vulnerability by tapping into informal group-based net-
works that have been developed over the years. Overwien (2005) argues that there
is a close connection between these social networks and the existence of social
movements and learning processes that can support productive potential through co-
operative economic activities. He says that the learning processes linked with such
social networks have been neglected in earlier investigations. However, in recent
studies researchers have begun to trace the links between educational approaches
imposed by the government and a practical approach based on people’s need to
survive.
In general, the literature has tended to view the informal sector in developing
countries as a fallback option to gain a livelihood by those who cannot participate
in the formal sector. While such a view has some basis, it ignores the growing
evidence that certain people prefer to work in the informal sector. First, informal
sector jobs can offer flexibility in participation and, second, for many it offers the
promise of higher returns because in most developing countries certain markets are
inadequately serviced by formal enterprises, such as small repair services for all
kinds of mechanical and electrical devices—from watches to cars. While it is im-
portant to bear in mind this dual picture of the informal sector, the fact remains that
overwhelming numbers of the poor are concentrated in this sector. Their work in the
informal sector by no means enables them to escape from poverty (Singh, 2005).
4 EFA and the Needs of Learners in the Informal Sector

As already been mentioned, vocational education is usually guided by the logic of
improving the country’s macro-economic indicators. But it should not be forgotten
that very often learners in the informal sector lack not only useful occupational skills
but also basic education. Vocational training as such does not deal with learners’
basic educational needs. What is lacking here is a more learner-oriented approach.
As many observers have pointed out, today educational planners proceed from the
objective needs and not from the potential of the learner. Learning is perceived as
one of the ways to make the labour force more useful (cf. Overwien, 2005, p. 45).
Therefore, it seems to be highly important, first, to meet the new goals of EFA
that emphasize the significance of basic education; this would not only enhance
vocational training in the informal sector but also create an additional incentive
for further learning and a chance for smoother entrance into the formal system of
education.
The Jomtien Declaration on Education for All (WCEFA, 1990) introduced the
concept of ‘basic learning needs’, which refers to the basic needs of individuals,
groups and societies. It identified seven areas of basic learning needs common to
children, youth and adults: surviving; developing one’s full capacities; living and
working in dignity; participating fully in development; improving the quality of life;
making informed decisions; and continuing to learn. The Dakar World Education
Forum (2000) alluded to the Delors Commission’s four pillars of learning—learning
to be, learning to do, learning to know and learning to live together—and in addition
reaffirmed that education should be geared to tapping each person’s talents and po-
tential, as well as developing learners’ personalities, so that they can improve their
lives and transform their societies. The UNDP’s notion of basic learning needs is
related to human development goals. According to it: ‘The most basic capabilities
for human development are to lead long and healthy lives, to be knowledgeable, to
have access to the resources needed for a decent standard of living, and to be able to
participate in the life of the community’ (UNDP, 2001, p. 9). The Memorandum on
Lifelong Education of the Commission of the European Communities states (2002,
p. 5): ‘The knowledge, skills and understanding that we learn as children and as
young people in the family, at school, during training and at college or university
will not last a lifetime.’ It mentions that high-quality basic education for all is an es-
sential foundation, as well as learning-to-learn skills and a positive attitude towards
learning. According to CONFINTEA-V, the fifth International Conference on Adult
Education (Singh, 1998b, p. 2):
354 M. Singh
The objectives of youth and adult education, viewed as a lifelong process, are to develop
the autonomy and the sense of responsibility of people and communities, to reinforce the
capacity to deal with the transformations taking place in the economy, in culture and in
society as a whole, and to promote coexistence, tolerance and the informed and creative
participation of citizens in their communities, in short to enable people and communities to
take control of their destiny and society in order to face the challenges ahead. It is essential
that the approach to adult learning be based on people’s own heritage, culture, values and
prior experiences and that the diverse ways in which these approaches are implemented
enable and encourage every citizen to be actively involved and to have a voice.
Literacy is a foundation and remains at the heart of both the most basic and the most
sophisticated competencies. But the concept and scope of literacy have changed
over the past decades. The renewed vision of literacy emphasizes it as a social re-
sponsibility and that it is acquired in broader socio-economic interventions: literacy
goals include literacy acquisition, development and effective use, and literacy can
only be made sustainable by creating literate environments and literate societies.
The international community no longer sees these basic learning needs as com-
partmentalized but as part of the broader aim of learning and the lifelong learning
process, where basic learning is embraced as a social and cultural practice shaped by
the context of daily life. Education today is seen as having two main objectives: ‘ed-
ucation for living and education for making a living’ (Nathan, 2005, p. 129). That is
why the need to integrate vocational education and EFA seems to be indispensable.
Vocational training in the informal economies has already been given a con-
siderable amount of attention. This chapter argues that proper attention should be
given to individuals and their learning needs. As has been correctly pointed out by
many observers (cf. Nathan, 2005), the success of training depends a lot on a broad
foundation of basic education. This would also strengthen vocational education as
individuals who possess basic educational skills can situate themselves better in the
labour market. It has been noticed (cf. Silveira & Matosas, 2005) that any working
activity nowadays requires that an individual should be able to determine his/her
course of action, to make use of his/her own resources and capabilities and be aware
of his/her own limitations. Indubitably, such an individual is unthinkable without
having basic educational skills. That is why the purpose nowadays is to marry vo-
cational training in the informal sector with the goals of EFA to tackle the learners’
needs more efficiently and to enable them to engage more fully in the learning
process. This should be the rationale behind educational planning in the informal
sector.
This goal, in turn, needs to cater to the requirements of local development and
be based on an understanding of the kinds of competencies people in the informal
sector want, need and utilize, the socio-economic and cultural contexts within which
they work, and how they cope and what skills, capabilities, attitudes and values are
required in order to sustain their livelihood strategies. It is believed here that the
concept of EFA is more sensitive to the socio-cultural contexts in which learning
takes place as it acknowledges the existing cultural and linguistic diversity, stresses
the importance of local knowledge and traditions, and emphasizes education through
intercultural dialogue.
5 Pathways to Reconciling TVET and EFA
The aim of the present chapter is to outline the measures needed to integrate voca-
tional training with the EFA goals and then draw some policy recommendations to
put the new integrated model in practice.
As has been discussed earlier, openness to intercultural dialogue is an impor-
tant condition for meeting the goals of EFA. It has been noted that EFA, due to its
essence, is the concept responsive to a variety of socio-cultural contexts and, thus,
has an added value in the pursuit of cultural openness by different governments.
Nonetheless, the major finding that needs to be taken into account in the course of
policy formulation is the need to remain sensitive to incorporating foreign experi-
ence into existing domestic practices. The very philosophical foundations of various
educational theories that are being propagated should be questioned in the light of
the diverse social and cultural experiences. As Elias and Merriam have poignantly
described it:
To understand adequately a philosophy of education then, one must analyze it within
the context in which it originated and developed. This does not mean that the particular
theory cannot be adapted to other cultural situations with some degree of success. But
there are problems with these attempts at application to differing cultural contexts (2005,
p. 12).
The research conducted in the area of informal sector learning should be closely
associated with the participation of people actually employed in the informal sector
so as to have a clearer picture of what their needs are with regard to basic education.
People employed in the informal sector represent a very heterogeneous group and
their needs for vocational and basic education will certainly vary accordingly. In
order to reach every learner we need more elaborated methodologies that would em-
phasize such techniques as: (a) survey research and in-depth interviews allowing for
a thorough investigation of individual preferences; (b) micro-analytical approaches
demonstrating what actually constitutes informal sector learning; and (c) action re-
search that aims at the exploration of new forms of learning, such as self-directed
learning, key lifetime events, critical situations, etc.
Learning from the periphery is another crucial component that needs to be taken
into account for the successful integration of vocational training and basic educa-
tion. The whole variety of local approaches to vocational education and training
should be given due attention when implementing the EFA goals. The central de-
sign of new educational strategies needs to be augmented with local knowledge,
traditions and languages to make basic education more attractive for those employed
in the informal sector in order to meet the goals of EFA.
Equally important is the development of informal institutions and organizations
as they focus attention on people’s empowerment and the active participation of in-
dividuals in their communities. The input of informal organizations in informal sec-
tor learning will increase awareness about the importance of the social and cultural
context as people’s direct participation in those institutions promotes communica-
tion and mutual learning. In this way learning becomes a part of the fabric of every-
day life closely associated with the social practices exercised in everyday situations.
356 M. Singh
Informal institutions and organizations, being community-oriented, well-disposed

and participatory, promote and strengthen social partnerships among different stake-
holders and orient people in the informal sector towards direct engagement in the
design of learning strategies and educational policies so that they may define their
basic learning needs and their preferences may be taken into account.
Finally, it needs to be recognized at the State level too that a bridge has to be built
between formal education and vocational training for skills development. Politicians
should realize that there is no successful work performance detached from literacy
and basic education skills, and that adequate educational programmes need to be
designed having this rationale behind them. Education systems need to be open to
the informal sector, so as to release its economic potential and satisfy people’s needs
for learning in a broad sense.
6 Conclusion
This chapter has discussed key issues concerning informal sector learning and tried
to relate them to the institutional, economic, social and cultural influences operating
in peripheral economic sectors. These sectors have been neglected by both official
and international vocational education and training programmes. It has proposed a
vocational educational strategy oriented towards a conception of the individual as a
whole, and her or his social and cultural context. It has sought to relate systematic
learning, based on prior competencies, to the positions individuals occupy within
society’s structures and to institutional and cultural influences. First, the concepts
of teaching and learning that have relevance for the informal sector, as well as the
social and cultural contexts of vocational learning, were examined. Then, it was
argued that meeting the goals of EFA is an important prerequisite for responding
adequately to the needs of learners in the informal sector. Based upon these argu-
ments, recommendations for the design of adult vocational training and education
systems that would integrate TVET and EFA were proposed.
It has been argued that our present notion of vocational education and train-
ing institutions preparing human capital is too narrow an approach to training. It
concentrates too heavily on individuals in educational institutions and in this sense
it ignores the wider social context within which much learning takes place, and
puts too much emphasis on vocational training at the expense of basic educational
skills.
Therefore, integrating EFA and vocational training would be an effective way to
achieve the goals that are behind any educational practice: personal development
in terms of creating awareness about one’s own choices and opportunities, empow-
ering, and valuing human rights. This, in turn, should contribute to the unveiling
of a new, genuine humanism, which is not hegemonic, rhetorical or concentrating
on absolute truths, wielded by victors or representatives of some cultures, but ori-
ented toward the recognition of a multiplicity of lived experiences, various forms of
knowledge and cognitive justice.
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358 M. Singh
World Conference on Education for All (WCEFA). 1990. World Declaration on Education for All.
Paris: UNESCO.
World Education Forum. 2000. Dakar framework for Action. Paris: UNESCO.
World Bank. 1991. Vocational and technical education and training. Washington, DC: The World
Bank. (A World Bank policy paper.)
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Contents
Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lv

Arvil V. Adams
VOLUME 1
Part I Overview

Ron Hansen

Jay W. Rojewski


v
vi Contents


for Prosperity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Budd L. Hall
Peter Poschen

Karen F. Zuga

Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Manfred Tessaring

Walter R. Heinz

Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Stephen Billett

Poonam Agrawal


David Johnson

Madhu Singh
Contents vii

Madhu Singh

Joshua A. Muskin

William Ahadzie

Robert Palmer

Enrique Pieck

Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Laila Iskandar

Peter H. Sawchuk

Partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Madhu Singh
VOLUME 2
Perspectives

viii Contents


Claudia Jacinto





1994–2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
Simon McGrath


Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

Peter Grootings

for the New Economy
Joshua D. Hawley
Contents ix

Joshua D. Hawley

Moses O. Oketch
Pacific Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
Man-Gon Park

Johanna Lasonen


of Fiji . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
Viliame Rabici

Lina Kaminskienė



x Contents

Phoebe Moore

Olga Oleynikova

Naing Yee Mar

Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
Lavinia Gasperini

Monique Conn


Countries



Liberia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
Lyle Kane

Bilal Barakat
Contents xi

Zuki Karpinska


Julia Paulson

War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849
Rachel Yarrow
VOLUME 3



Jon Lauglo

Keith Holmes

Peter Noonan

Academic Drift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
Andre Kraak
xii Contents


George Preddey

George Preddey

David Atchoarena

David Atchoarena

Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1037
Kenneth King

Richard Walther

Adrian Ziderman


Félix Mitnik

from Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1123

Barry J. Hake

Contents xiii

Stephen Billett

Stephen Billett

Philip Grollmann

Erica Smith

Federation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1219


Fred Beven

Jean Searle

Walter Chieco

Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1285
xiv Contents

Moreira Lopes



Stephen Billett

Christian Harteis


Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1383
Richard Gagnon


Peter Gerds

Joachim Dittrich
VOLUME 4

and Delivery
Contents xv

Felix Rauner

Felix Rauner

Felix Rauner


of TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1483
Anneke Westerhuis

Klaus Ruth

in Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1505
Peter Dehnbostel

TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1521


Felix Rauner

Robert D. Renaud

Felix Rauner

Felix Rauner
xvi Contents


Michael Gessler

Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1627
Georg Spöttl

Ulrich Heisig

Uwe Lauterbach

Richard Huisinga



Stephen Billett

James Avis

Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1739

Klaus Schaack

Contents xvii

David Johnson


Margarita Pavlova

Ron Hansen

and Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1835

Shyamal Majumdar



Man-Gon Park


xviii Contents

Maja Zarini


Peter Kearns

Tracey Wallace


VOLUME 5
Education

Development


for All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2039
Phillip Hughes

Manuel Cardoso
Contents xix



Manuel Cardoso
Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2163
Richard G. Bagnall
United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2177
Michael W. Harvey

Karen Plane

Karen Plane


Richard L. Lynch

Antoaneta Voikova

Annette Gough


Jon Lauglo
xx Contents

Frederic J. Company

and Emily Hazelman

Alternative? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2343
Norman Lucas

Karen Plane




Hong-Geun Chang

Contents xxi

Jihee Choi


Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2487

Toshio Ohsako
VOLUME 6


Kind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2521



Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2571

Bernd Overwien
xxii Contents

Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2597
Madhu Singh


Peter Dehnbostel

Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2647

Karen Magro

Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2679

TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2697
Richard Gagnon

Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2713
Erik de Vries

IT Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2747
Rita Meyer

in TVET
Karina Veal

Karina Veal
Contents xxiii

Danielle Colardyn

John Stanwick

Danielle Colardyn

David Hoey

Grazia Scoppio

Institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2853

Michael F.D. Young

John Hart


Michael F.D. Young

New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2935

Magdalena Balica
Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2971
Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3003

VOLUME 2
Part III
Education for the World of Work:
National and Regional Perspectives
Section 3
Reforming National Systems
of Vocational Education and Training
David Atchoarena
UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning, Paris, France
Peter Grootings
European Training Foundation, Turin, Italy
Chapter III.1
Overview: Changing National VET Systems
through Reforms
1 Introduction
The future of technical and vocational education is generating heated debate nearly
everywhere in the world. Of course, this concern is not new, but globalization, the
collapse of planned economies and the failure of development policies in the fight
against poverty have put it back at the centre of national and international policy
debates. As a result, vocational education reform constitutes a vibrant area of public
policy and research.
In many countries the issue is no longer about partial and isolated change
measures but rather about changing overall systems. This means not just addressing
all the different building blocks of national systems (system-wide), but increasingly
even how vocational education and training systems are functioning (system-deep).
The role and place of vocational education and training as part of overall lifelong
learning systems is on the agenda, even though individual countries are at different
stages of readiness to face the challenge.
This section gives an overview of some of the key issues and developments in vo-
cational education and training around the world at the start of the twenty-first cen-
tury. It looks in particular at what exactly drives current attempts to change national
systems and makes an attempt to identify some commonalities. The section will pay
special attention to more recent approaches and initiatives that countries are using
to trigger off system-wide and system-deep reforms, such as the development of
national qualifications frameworks, regional co-operation and knowledge-sharing,
improving accountability and making better use of research. The section includes
also a number of country case studies to illustrate the extent to which the various
general and specific drivers operate in particular country contexts.
Together, the chapters of this section provide evidence for the fact that every-
where there is not just one specific but a complex constellation of drivers at work that
include economic, technological, political but also—and perhaps increasingly—
educational ones. The emphasis given to each of these differs from country to coun-
try depending on existing institutional and political environments and, of course,
also on outcomes of past policies. However, even though there is no easy way
to identify what works best, there is still a lot to be learned from other coun-
tries. The chapters that follow have been selected within such a policy-learning
perspective.
World of Work, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-5281-1 III.1,

366 D. Atchoarena, P. Grootings
2 Old, New and Continuing Issues and Their Changing Contexts
At the turn of the twenty-first century, some of the old contextual issues that
launched vocational education and training policy debates have re-emerged, such
as: youth unemployment in developed countries and poverty in developing ones;
the low status of vocational education as compared to general and higher education;
and the need to adapt curricular programmes to new learning requirements.
Some new issues have emerged as well, such as: (a) the need for reform of vo-
cational education in transition countries; (b) the impact of globalization; (c) demo-
graphic developments leading in most industrialized countries to a rapidly ageing
workforce, (d) in many developing countries, an increasing number of young people
seeking access to education and work; and (e) the discourse on developing lifelong
learning systems in response to these overall challenges.
Indeed, some issues seem to be everlasting, such as: (a) the need for occupational
flexibility given changing product markets, technologies and work organizations;
(b) the role of the State versus that of the private sector; and (c) the need to secure
relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of vocational education and training gener-
ally. But old and new policy issues are now arising in completely different policy
environments and will therefore also be discussed and treated differently.
3 Short-Term Versus Long-Term Objectives
Governments’ interventions in the field of vocational education and training have

always been motivated by a mix of short- and long-term motives, with the short-
term issues often becoming dominant simply because they are political priorities.
This has happened in many European countries where the fight to combat youth
unemployment during the 1970s and 1980s frequently led to series of ad-hoc mea-
sures to get young people away from the labour market. Improvements of overall
quality, relevance and status of vocational education became difficult because of the
dominant concern for reducing school drop-out and providing basic qualifications to
low school achievers. These measures have taken place in many countries at the cost
of developing a high-quality overall vocational education and training system that
would provide in a balanced way qualified people at all levels of ability. Sometimes,
the—certainly unintended—effect of many short-term measures has been to further
decrease the status of vocational education by signalling that training is really for
those who do not succeed in education.
Nowadays, in many—impoverished—transition countries, there is a similar
tension between short-term attempts to preserve the social welfare function of vo-
cational schools and the long-term one of addressing the reform of their qualifica-
tion function. A dramatic lack of resources forces countries to make choices—and
choices are by necessity focused on issues of immediate concern. As a result, in
many cases, public vocational schools find themselves increasingly trapped in a
vicious cycle of becoming schools for children of the poor without being able to
provide them with the knowledge, skills and competences to prevent or escape from
III.1 Changing National VET Systems through Reforms 367
poverty. Also here, overall improvement of qualification levels and a balanced pro-
vision of qualifications that emerging labour markets are demanding is not properly
addressed. Also here, vocational education—already of low status—finds it increas-
ingly difficult to be seen as an attractive alternative for general and academic higher
education.
Most developing countries are still caught in the middle between a plethora of lo-
cal, NGO-driven and often unsustainable development initiatives, regularly includ-
ing training and national education policy reforms advised by international donors.
Both regularly lack local ownership and are dependent on resources and capacities
offered by donors. The importance given to vocational education and training has
changed over time in international donor policies with periods of heavy investments
in large public training systems (basically buildings and equipment) followed by
market-driven short-term training measures aimed at satisfying the needs of the pri-
vate sector. None of these approaches has as yet been able to properly address the
varied learning needs of people working in different positions in either the formal
or informal economies of the countries.
4 Reform Histories
Some countries have gone through various waves of vocational education reform
since the 1970s when the first period of extensive industrialization came to an end
and traditional vocational education and training systems that prepared for highly
standardized and—often very simple—occupations sought to adapt to changing eco-
nomic and employment conditions. Some have been more successful than others.
A number of countries, in particular those in which vocational education was well
established and respected, both among employers and students, have kept their sys-
tems fairly stable and have merely sought to gradually optimize what existed.
Yet others have missed out on the need to adapt to modernization needs dur-
ing the 1970s, such as many developing countries and all of the centrally planned
countries of Eastern Europe and the former USSR. Whereas the latter are cur-
rently undergoing a difficult process of systemic reforms of their systems, many
developing countries have remained highly dependent on educational policies and
priorities provided by international donor institutions that had become increasingly
anti (public) vocational education and training.
In the same period, on the other hand, several countries in South-East Asia have
managed to establish effective ways of developing the knowledge, skills and com-
petences of their populations.
5 Common Trends and Developments but No Convergence

This great diversity of contexts, objectives and histories makes it complex to assess
vocational education policies, but it seems that there are nevertheless some com-
monalities in current reform thinking. There is an increasing attention to embedding
vocational education and training in local or regional development, for mobilizing

and continuously improving competences and, hence, for improving the quality of
learning processes and outcomes.
There is also an increased appreciation for the fact that a new balance needs to
be found between local development and innovation, on the one hand, and overall
national quality assurance frameworks, on the other. In addition, there is a growing
concern, motivated by globalization and migration trends, that the reforms of national
vocational education and training systems need to be placed in an international
perspective. The international dimensions of vocational education and training are
becoming more and more important—in a way similar to what has already happened
with higher education and, indeed, employment systems and labour markets.
Finally, and perhaps only in embryonic forms, there is increasing attention and
concern for those for whom education and training is in the end all about: learners,
and the teachers and trainers that assist them in developing the knowledge, skills
and competences that they need. This new concern is very much based on a better
understanding of why so many of the previous attempts to reform vocational edu-
cation and training systems have not brought the anticipated results. They usually
were designed for people and not with them; they also tended to focus on structures
and institutions rather than on the people involved.
These common strands are present in most of the policy debates and develop-
ments in vocational education and training around the globe, though not in the same
ways and not to the same extent. They also do not point in any way to convergence
of systems and policies. While the challenges become increasingly similar, policy
responses remain specific.
6 Back to Core Business?
The increased attention to learners and learning approaches mentioned earlier is

only one element in the current discourse on vocational education and training re-
form. However, it is important to note that this return to what can easily be called the
‘core business’ of education and training systems follows earlier reform initiatives
that focused on other aspects: (a) their governance (through increased involvement
of social partners); (b) administration (through decentralization and increased ac-
countability of education and training institutions); (c) funding (involving the pri-
vate sector and students and their parents in financing arrangements); (d) assessment
(giving more attention to learning outcomes and separating assessment from teach-
ing and learning); (e) quality assurance and transparency (such as through devel-
oping national qualification standards and frameworks); (f) mobility, openness and
pathways (such as through recognition of prior learning and restructuring of educa-
tional sub-systems); and (g) curriculum reform (making curricula more flexible and
competence based).
A return to the core business of education and training also signifies increased
attention for those who are actually learning and helping them to learn. This is
remarkable, since the earlier reforms have concentrated on the roles and respon-
sibilities of other actors and stakeholders: social partners, administrators, assessors,
people working in educational support institutions and professionals outside the

schools. In fact, in several countries, earlier reforms were directed at making the
outcome of vocational education and training less dependent on teachers and train-
ers, such as by moving from so-called input-based to outcomes-based standards, by
stressing involvement of the private sector, giving greater importance to work-based
learning and separating learning from assessment.
Currently, there seems to be a reversal of this trend—or at least a remarkable
shift in emphasis. Teachers and trainers are increasingly becoming recognized in
their dual role of educational professionals and of stakeholders in reforms. They
are again seen to be important for organizing learning processes, but the nature
of learning processes has changed from being teacher-centred to student-centred.
They also become appreciated as stakeholders in reform and without whose con-
tribution nothing would really change in the classroom. One of the major chal-
lenges that countries are facing, therefore, is to bring these different stakeholders
and focuses of attention together in an overall and coherent reform policy that
will enable education and training systems to help people develop the knowledge,
skills and competences that are needed to survive and prosper in a globalizing
world.
7 From Partial to Overall System Reforms?

The issue of developing overall and coherent reform policies has yet another dimen-
sion that needs to be examined. The increasing need to pay attention to the quality
of learning contents and processes does not mean that this can be simply added on to
the list of policy measures undertaken so far. On the contrary, focusing on learners,
learning processes and those who should enable and facilitate learning may well
require a fundamental rethinking of those aspects of education and training systems
that have until now in most countries been given priority.
For example, decentralization becomes more than merely giving more admin-
istrative autonomy to lower levels in the system. It will also imply improving the
capacity for schools to dialogue and co-operate with other organizations involved in
education and training at the local level and to be able to identify and cater for the
learning needs of divergent groups of people. Moreover, it will require developing
capacities at school level for initiating and implementing innovations in response to
the education and training needs of the local communities that they are part of. This,
in turn, will have implications for the functioning of national and often centralized
support institutions, as it will have consequences for the ways in which national
authorities fund and promote such school-based innovation and development work.
But decentralization of this kind can only be successful and productive when it is
framed by overall national qualification standards and frameworks that can secure
adherence to agreed quality standards across the country, or groups of countries.
Otherwise, decentralized initiatives may put the very existence of transparent na-
tional systems with open pathways at risk. Obviously, for these very reasons in
many countries the move towards new learning contents and approaches is a heavily
debated one.
Generally, awareness of ‘whole-system’ reforms has undoubtedly increased,

however, and the search is for those interventions that can ‘drive’ overall reform by
triggering off related changes in how the vocational education and training systems
operate in a particular context.
Changing individual aspects of vocational education and training systems will
have little impact if other aspects remain untouched. This understanding has been a
strong factor in the current drive for system-wide or whole system reforms. It has
also led to a rethinking of the logic or rationale along which systems were structured
and functioning. This, as a matter of fact, appears to be the most difficult dimension
of education and training reform as it implies fundamental redefinitions of the roles
that key actors and stakeholders are playing. Successful reforms therefore require
that sufficient space, time and resources are devoted to enabling reform learning to
take place. Neither institutions, organizations nor individuals change from one day
to the next.
8 Balancing Major Reform Drivers
Carnoy determines the global challenges for educational planners in this way:
Globalization together with new information technology and the innovative processes they
foment are driving a revolution in the organisation of work, the production of goods and
services, relations among nations, and even local culture. These changes put a lot of pressure
in education to change (1999, p. 14).
He also identifies three types of reform as responses to the pressures of globalization

by the education sector: competitive-driven reforms; finance-driven reforms; and
equity-driven reforms (1999, p. 37).
r The basic characteristics of the competitive-driven reforms are an emphasis on
the macro issues of the education system. Changes are introduced in the area
of administration and management (decentralization, privatization, management
of resources). Emphasis is put also on the issues of meeting the standards of
achievement, and on teacher recruitment and training. The main purpose of this
type of reform is to increase the quality of education in order to produce a better
educated labour force.
r Finance-driven educational reforms have as a main target the reduction of public
expenditure on education and making the use of public funds more efficient and
effective. These reforms are advocated by the International Monetary Fund and
the World Bank, in particular with regard to developing and transition countries,
and try to shift funding from secondary to basic education, expand the secondary
sector through privatization, especially its technical and vocational part, and to
reduce the cost of public education by increasing the teacher/pupil ratio.
r Finally, equity-driven reforms place more emphasis on equality of educational
opportunities and on basic education, with the latter taking on a wider meaning
than basic literacy only. These reforms aim at integrating marginalized groups in
society and at reducing social exclusion and poverty.
It is probably true to say that since the 1970s equity-driven reforms (including the
ones that focused on reducing youth unemployment) have increasingly made way
for reforms driven by finance and competition considerations, or combinations of
the latter. This is equally true for developed countries as for developing countries,
where reforms have been driven largely by the international donor community. It
has also been the case for the reform of VET systems in transition countries that
have found themselves in the same ‘receiving’ situation, at least until very recently.
The challenge that most countries are facing now, however, is to find a proper bal-
ance between all three types of reform: (a) they need to develop a well-educated
labour force in order to secure sustainable growth and welfare; (b) they also need
to make their education and training systems affordable in the mid and long terms;
and (c) they need to secure social cohesion through education and training in order
to develop a certain degree of political stability.
9 Specific Drivers Remain Country Specific
Whereas globalization forces increasingly create an overall environment of policy

challenges to which all countries have to respond, priorities and emphasis on par-
ticular aspects continue to differ. However, there is also an increased interest in
international or regional co-operation and exchange. Indeed, one of the most excit-
ing developments is exactly the growing interest of countries to learn from others.
But changes are occurring here as well.
Even though short-term action may often still be dominant, there is a growing
tendency to consider whole-system reforms instead of addressing isolated aspects
by single and unco-ordinated measures. This has necessitated, as mentioned earlier,
a broader involvement of stakeholders at all levels of the system, including those
working inside schools and training centres. Moreover, the very need for owner-
ship, fit-in-context and sustainability has also led to a review of traditional inter-
national assistance and co-operation that was largely based on policy copying and
best-practice emulation. Instead, active policy-learning, local capacity-building and
approaches that aim at helping-countries-to-help-themselves have emerged as part
of the international co-operation rhetoric.
Having said this, it is clear that countries differ in the extent to which they have cre-
ated favourable conditions—such as through earlier reform initiatives—to address the
new challenges. For example, there are countries that have traditionally or as a result
of recent reforms given schools high levels of autonomy, improved the dialogue with
social partners, strengthened innovative and development capacities of schools and
teachers, created open pathways for everybody all through their education and training
systems and have sufficient budgets to continue further development and innovation.
These countries are clearly better equipped to face the challenge of improving the
quality of learning and learning processes than those countries where reforms have
aimed at different objectives having no immediate relation with organized learning.
The latter will have to combine the development of an enabling environment with
seeking to improve the quality of learning processes and outcomes.
This also reminds us that giving emphasis to particular aspects in one country
may not have the same ‘driver’ impact as in another country. An example of this is
the current discourse on learning outcomes.
In countries where there has been a strong tradition of paying attention to the
quality of learning processes, such as in countries that favour vocational didac-
tics, giving more emphasis to learning outcomes may in fact contribute to im-
proving their quality even further. In countries that have given more weight to
assessment processes and where there is little or no tradition in the profession-
alization of vocational teachers and trainers, this may result in a further refine-
ment of assessment criteria and procedures and a continued neglect of learning
processes.
Thus, drivers do not have automatic trigger effects, nor are the effects that they
may generate always the same. Also here, the existing context plays its role. Of
course, these are not natural laws and an understanding of possible impact and
unintended effects may very well help to achieve success even though the exist-
ing environment is not optimal. Placing past and on-going reform experiences in
their proper context of time and space may therefore lead to better national reform
policies in the future. This is what policy-learning is about.
This section presents contributions that cover some of the more recent debates and
developments on vocational education and training reform from different parts of
the world. The chapters that follow provide illustrations of how different drivers
for change operate in different contexts and may—or may not—prompt related
changes in the overall system of vocational education and training of a country.
They include analyses of a variety of country-specific developments, of thematic
issues and of reform strategies and approaches. They neither cover the whole world
nor all the key thematic issues. We have had to be pragmatic and selective. Together,
the chapters do give a reasonably good overview of the key aspects that will need
to be taken into account for long-term VET reform policies in any country in the
world.
The analyses provided should not be seen as presenting best practices that can
easily be copied or emulated elsewhere. On the contrary, and we have stressed
this already several times before, these are all context-bound reviews and case
studies from particular environments and specific periods in time. Nevertheless,
they contain valuable experiences that may function as eye-openers and provoke
policy-learning. Above all, they show that different aspects of vocational education
and training are intimately interconnected and that isolated and partial measures
may have undesirable—even if unintended—consequences if the overall challenge
of any reform of vocational education systems is not firmly kept in mind. The ob-
jective is to have a system in place that enables people to learn the knowledge, skills
and competences that are useful and relevant for them to live a decent life through
decent work.

People from Poor Backgrounds, by Claudia Jacinto
Across the world, youth unemployment remains a sensitive issue. In a context of
global educational expansion, early school-leavers face an increased risk of exclu-
sion. School-to-work transition constitutes a fertile research field for investigating
social and educational change. It also constitutes an active domain of public policies.
But education is only one of the variables that determine school-to-work transition.
Social characteristics, such as ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status or rurality,
have a significant impact upon the work prospects and the life experiences of young
people.
As illustrated by the experience of Latin America, targeted programmes are
sometimes implemented as part of broader social policies for youth. In this re-
gion, many youngsters leave school with few or no qualifications. In the context
of an overall increase of educational levels, the costs of dropping out are higher
than ever because—as in other parts of the world—employment opportunities for
the unskilled have diminished. While increasing participation in vocational courses
cannot be an end in itself, VET is sometimes used as a strategy that helps to keep
children and youth off the streets. The large numbers who are neither in education,
work nor training are increasingly seen as contributing to the incidence of juvenile
crime, teenage pregnancy and drug abuse.
There is currently an extensive debate regarding the focus of these programmes
and their contribution to the social integration of young people. Many people are
asking themselves whether: (a) it would be better to reintegrate these young people
into a formal education system so that they can be guaranteed access to twelve
years of education; (b) vocational training alone may create an opportunity for these
young people to find a decent job, or produce livelihoods with enough income to
pull them out of poverty; (c) the initiatives have been adequately linked to a range of
public policies; (d) it has been possible to overcome the tendency to create ‘supply
side’ courses that do not take sufficient account of the actual demands of the labour
market; and so on. The central question for the author is to what extent and by which
means these initiatives can contribute to generate a valuable ‘second opportunity’
for young people from low-income households with low educational backgrounds.
The answer is a cautious ‘yes’, but only if these measures lead people into quali-
fying paths that provide access not only to work, but also to further education and
training.
III.3 Accountability and Career Technical Education (CTE)

Policy: A Brief Review of Six States of the United States,
by Joshua D. Hawley and Alexandra de Montrichard
These authors address accountability, an issue that has come to the fore as part of
the ‘new public management’ discourse and the reform of the state and the public
sectors for which it used to be responsible, including in many countries vocational

education and training.
Accountability is a critical issue for state and federal government in the United
States. The approach under the current policy regime is to consolidate the require-
ments for accountability under the Consolidated Annual Report (CAR) framework.
However, there are continuing problems creating an appropriate accountability
framework for career and technical education (CTE), as vocational education is re-
ferred to in the United States. The development of academically oriented CTE under
the most recent legislation has forced states and the federal government to confront
the contradictory goals of preparation for the labour market (career development)
and further studies (college preparation). As an academic programme, CTE needs
to be responsible for ensuring that all young people have basic skills, while also
being adequately prepared for success in the labour market.
Accountability is the practice of holding schools, districts and teachers respon-
sible for providing quality education and holding students responsible for their per-
formance. As part of the push to hold school systems accountable, standards and
(to varying degrees) accountability systems were developed both at the state and
federal levels. This is a development that has also taken place in many other coun-
tries, for example through the change from so-called input to outcome standards as
the basis for funding. The big question everywhere remains how a system can be
developed that measures outcomes in such a way that this also leads to improve-
ment of the educational process: what educators would call a formative assessment
approach.
III.4 The Regional Perspective of Vocational Education

and Training, by Mike Coles and Tom Leney
Coles and Leney argue that actions taken to strengthen regional co-operation are
among those that shape national VET systems. An important reason for this is
the fact that, increasingly, countries in a region (such as Europe) are confronted
with similar pressures for change. As the authors also stress, it is probably not the
case that common pressures would lead to common responses through reform. The
country or regional context will require bespoke solutions. However, the elements of
changing VET infrastructure might be expected to show some commonality and the
process of change itself could have features that are created through policy-learning
from reforms and trials in other countries and regions.
First experiences with a co-ordinated approach to policy-learning, the European
Union’s Open Method of Co-ordination (OMC) and a review of a number of more
specific cases, including the European Qualifications Framework, illustrate some of
the obstacles that are to be found on the way towards making regional co-operation
transform itself into knowledge-sharing and policy-learning.

Integration in the Middle East, by Munther Wassef Masri
Chapter 5 takes the issue of regional co-operation to a more operational level based
on recent experiences from the Middle East, a region that has traditionally profited
from the presence of regional agencies and projects. There are a number of ‘do’s’
and ‘don’ts’ that emerge from that experience, especially in terms of ensuring that
regional co-operation leads to local ownership and context-fit of reform initiatives.
National stakeholders rarely have the means or capacities to initiate or co-
ordinate knowledge-sharing and joint involvement in projects and are therefore de-
pending, as is the case with the European Union countries, on supra- or international
agencies. The Arab world has developed its own regional institutions and there are
yet other multilateral and bilateral ones as well. Even so, as is clear from history,
the mere presence of such agencies does not guarantee effective reforms. But the
growing need for VET reform within countries may also lead to a better use of the
opportunities that such regional institutions offer for better policy development and
implementation.
III.6 The Influence of Qualifications Frameworks

on the Infrastructure of VET, by Mike Coles
and Patrick Werquin
Chapter 6 examines the ways in which the existence of a qualifications framework

influences several structural aspects of VET, such as management of the supply and
demand for skills, the institutional arrangements, the financing of VET and the way
the VET system interfaces with other learning systems and VET in other countries.
Given this potential impact, developing national qualifications frameworks can pro-
vide strong tools for reforming national VET systems.
The authors illustrate how this may work: qualification frameworks make explicit
the relationship between qualifications. They aim to increase transparency and to
show potential progression routes; they can become the basis of credit-transfer sys-
tems. They are overarching tools that can be used to engage all stakeholders in de-
veloping and co-ordinating the qualifications system. Often they are used as tools for
regulation and quality assurance. At the same time, a qualifications framework can
open opportunities to potential learners, because it makes progression routes clear
and can offer the opportunity to rationalize qualifications by reducing the overlap
between them. In all of these ways, frameworks create an environment where the
whole qualifications system can be reviewed. This means that the management of
the qualification framework can be used as a tool to enhance many policy responses
that countries are adopting in response to the lifelong learning agenda—of which
VET is a very important component. It is rather a decisive component when it comes
to global economic performance and coping with emerging issues.

1994–2005, by Simon McGrath
However, national qualifications frameworks (NQF) do not always easily fulfil these
promises, as is shown by the case of South Africa.
In an era where vocational education and training reform is common, South
Africa provides one of the most striking national case studies of the complex in-
terplay between international discourses of both economic change and VET reform
and historical and contemporary forces at the national level. Moreover, the twin
imperative of economic and social focus for VET is made particularly complex and
challenging by the legacy of apartheid.
The author concludes from his review that the transformation of the VET sys-
tem in South Africa has proved far more complex than was realized at the point
of departure. Developing new institutions, creating a workable NQF, transforming
funding and delivering new programmes have all been attempted at the same time as
expanding the system and radically reforming access. Inevitably, too, South Africa
has found itself faced with many of the tensions that affect VET systems glob-
ally, most particularly the difficulty of balancing social and economic imperatives
and of ensuring that national departments of education and labour work together
effectively.
The country now faces the challenge of reviewing the whole process in such a
way that the key successes are allowed to continue. The elements of the system
that need radical overhaul can be identified or abandoned. Honest self-reflection
needs to be carried out with maintenance of public support for the system. If such
a process can be successfully negotiated, McGrath argues, then the South African
skill revolution may come to a truly successful conclusion.
III.8 Reform of Vocational Education in the Russian

Federation, by Olga Oleynikova
and Anna Muravyeva
The Russian Federation has not yet reached this point, as the authors of Chap-
ter 8 make clear. Tensions between the qualifying and social protection role of
vocational education and training institutions remain one of the big challenges yet
to be solved. Moreover, only fairly recently, wider reform requirements have be-
come understood after an initial phase in which the inherited VET system was
merely allowed to survive while administrative responsibilities were transferred
to regional levels, without the necessary financial, institutional and human re-
sources to enable the system to adapt to radical changes during the transition
period.
The authors end on an optimistic note. There may not have been much of a na-
tional VET reform policy until now, but at the same time a wealth of experience has
been acquired at local levels, where schools have been forced to act, often profit-
ing from international assistance. Given the wide range of good practices that exist
in individual VET schools that could serve as a resource for developing modern
and effective models of VET in the country, the authors argue that networking of
VET schools should be encouraged to enhance information exchange and sharing
of good practices. This seems to be the only feasible way to envisage a continuation
of on-going reforms and modernization efforts.
III.9 Vocational Education in the Netherlands:

In Search of a New Identity, by Jan Geurts
and Frans Meijers
Chapter 9 provides a review of VET reforms in the Netherlands, including many

of the issues dealt with by other authors in preceding chapters. It is a story of try-
ing to learn from the past while looking across borders. It is also a story where
structural change and pedagogical innovation come together in the growing un-
derstanding that the role of the school, as an institution, needs to change funda-
mentally from being an industrial education factory towards becoming a career
centre.
Such a change implies that learning to change as a result of instruction must
become a process of knowledge construction. It also implies a change from making
available standard one-size-fits-all programmes towards developing personal com-
petences based on the capacities and interests of learners. Support for these devel-
opments that are currently transforming the Dutch VET system are also found in
so-called new-learning theories that are based on constructive instead of traditional
behaviourist or cognitivist approaches.
III.10 Facilitating Policy-Learning: Active Learning

and the Reform of Education Systems in Transition
Countries, by Peter Grootings
Grootings argues that statements regarding local ownership and fit-for-context have
become more and more popular in the donor community, but that in practice tra-
ditional policy transfer or policy copy of presumed best practice and conditional
assistance have continued to dominate.
He explores the opportunities for applying active or constructivist learning prin-
ciples for educational reforms in transition countries. There are four aspects to be
considered: (a) the question of ‘why’ these new principles have any relevance at
all; (b) the implications of new learning for ‘what’ education reforms should cover;
(c) the process of educational reform itself and in particular ‘how’ reform policies
are developed and implemented; and (d) (typical for all active-learning approaches)
the tensions and contradictions between the ‘how’ and the ‘what’ when trying to
implement active learning.
Seeing policy-makers as (policy-)learners, international policy advisers should
consider themselves as facilitators of policy-learning processes, similar to the new
roles that teachers are developing as facilitators of learning processes. The current
debates about learning processes, learners and new teacher roles, therefore, are also
of immediate concern for policy-makers and their advisers. Policy reform is a learn-
ing process for the simple reason that no blueprints exist.
Reference
Carnoy, M. 1999. Globalization and educational reform: what planners need to know. Paris:
UNESCO-IIEP.
Chapter III.2
Latin America’s Efforts
in the Vocational Training of Young People
from Poor Backgrounds
Claudia Jacinto
1 Introduction
Many of the social programmes developed within the framework of the struggle
against poverty and/or unemployment in Latin America since the 1990s were fo-
cused on improving the entry of young people from low-income and low-education
households into the workforce. The method most often used was to offer short vo-
cational training courses, hoping that this would help place these young people in
an occupation at a basic level.
There is currently an extensive debate regarding the focus of these programmes
and their contribution to the social integration of young people. Many people are
asking themselves whether: (a) it would be better to include these young people into
the formal education system so that they can have at least twelve years of education;
(b) vocational training alone can create an opportunity for these young people to find
a decent job and lead lives with enough income to pull themselves out of poverty;
(c) the initiatives have been adequately linked to a range of public policies; and (d) it
has been possible to overcome the tendency to create ‘supply side’ courses, which
do not take into account the actual demands of the labour market, etc.
This chapter intends to contribute to this debate by summarizing the approaches
of the programmes that began in the 1990s, their strengths and weaknesses, and
some recently created models attempting to provide new answers to the difficult
question of how to introduce young people from impoverished backgrounds into
the labour market.1 We look at training models and their links to the job market
(particularly their focus on formal employment or the informal sector, including
the creation of micro-enterprises); their generally poor links to formal education;
the association mechanisms they propose between public and private institutions;
the profiles of the targeted population; and achievements in cases where sufficient
information is available.
The central question we intend to clarify is to what extent and by which means
these initiatives can contribute to generating a valuable ‘second opportunity’ for
young people from low-income backgrounds, taking into account the process of
devaluation in qualifications which is happening simultaneously, changes in the
content and types of employment, and the scarcity of the latter.

380 C. Jacinto
2 Inserting Young People into the Workforce
Differences in educational and employment opportunities, as well as an unbalanced

income distribution, are clear structural phenomena in the region. Globalization, the
opening of markets and the structural adjustments initiated in the 1990s add to this
background of exclusion and have reinforced a productive heterogeneity. Although
a certain technological and organizational modernization has taken place inside the
leading productive sectors in recent decades, productivity in informal small and
micro-enterprises still remains stagnant and, in many cases, outdated forms of pro-
duction persist.
Between 1990 and 2004, economic growth could be considered deficient and
erratic, and gave rise to growing unemployment, an increase in low-quality jobs and
widespread emigration (CEPAL, 2005). The proportion of the informal sector in the
urban job market jumped from 42.8% in 1990 to 46.7% in 2003. At the same time,
differences between the average income in the formal sector and the informal sector
increased from 59% to 72% (CEPAL, 2005). While the formal salaried employment
sector varies according to annual economic growth, there is clearly a duality in the
self-employment sector: one part survives under precarious, low-income conditions;
while the other, less important, is composed of more efficient productive units—
in many cases small businesses profiting from certain jobs outsourced by large
companies.
This job-market decline and increase in segmentation did not impact equally
on every population group. One of the most affected was certainly young first-job
seekers.
As a matter of fact, demographic tendencies, as well as the expansion of school-
ing towards universality of primary education and large, but nationally very differ-
ent, increases in secondary education, led many to believe that the relative position
of young people in the workforce would improve during the 1990s. A range of
developments, however, contributed to prevent that belief from becoming reality.
On the one hand, secondary education enrolment rates meant that participation
in the educational process is still falling short of universality. Even in the countries
of the southern region of Latin America (el Cono Sur), with high rates of schooling
for children, more than half of young people do not graduate from the secondary
level. The most critical problems still existing include high rates of repetition and
drop-out, and in many cases a poor quality of educational supply. Simultaneously,
the basic qualifications required to obtain quality jobs drift upwards towards com-
pletion of secondary education, whereas the region shows a devaluation of degrees,
certificates or diplomas as the average educational level of young people rises.
On the other hand, erratic economic growth coupled with increasing unemploy-
ment affected young people particularly, since first-job seekers and employees with
a high turnover are mostly young. Compared to the total workforce, the unemploy-
ment rates for the young are double. For example, while at the end of the 1990s
the general urban unemployment rate was 10.2%, the average unemployment rate
for young people aged 15 to 24 was 19.5% (Weller, 2003). These figures add to
deteriorating recruitment conditions and low salaries.
III.2 The Vocational Training of Young People from Poor Backgrounds 381
Whereas the position of young people in general is difficult, the situation for
those from poor backgrounds and/or with low educational attainment is still worse.
Unemployment rates increase notably among those who are poor and as educational
levels drop. Women, especially those with low formal educational levels, encounter
the biggest problems to enter the job market. In fact, among the low qualified, young
women show unemployment rates surpassing by more than 50% those of their male
counterparts, while in the group with the highest educational level (thirteen years or
more) this gap is ‘only’ 20% (Weller, 2006).
In an environment demanding completion of secondary education as a necessary
but not sufficient requisite to obtain a good job—or even just a job—what can be
expected from learning programmes focused on specific vocational training and im-
mediate placement in the job market? Very often the limited effects of ‘one time’
training programmes have been questioned and the need is emphasized for projects
targeted to the most disadvantaged—i.e. the young—to surpass the purely assistance
approach and to be linked with integral policies of development and social integra-
tion (CINTERFOR/ILO, 1998; Jacinto, 1999; Gallart, 2000). The specific training
approach, however, has been a model followed by many programmes, and this still
continues to be the case.
3 The 1990s: Traditional Approaches and New Training Models

In a context of structural transformations, whose effects on the labour market have
just been summarized, social expenditures—with financing by the co-operation
agencies—tended during the 1990s to be oriented toward compensatory measures,
placement and vocational training programmes, many of them intended for young
people who had dropped out early from secondary (or even primary) school. These
programmes adopted various forms of management. Among the outstanding ones,
three are predominant within collective procedures focused on the training of disad-
vantaged young people:
1. There are still some vocational training measures based on regular, public train-
ing establishments, managed by tripartite authorities of professional training or
departments/ministries of education;
2. New types of supply through ad hoc programmes were implemented, delegat-
ing training to diverse institutional agents, many of whom are private non-profit
organizations (known as organizaciones de la sociedad civil—OSCs) or private
training institutes. These new types of supply through ad hoc programmes in-
clude:
2.a) Programmes adopting competitive ‘open-market’ models through bidding
for the selection of training institutions and courses;
2.b) Programmes granting subsidies to organizations working with disadvan-
taged groups.
382 C. Jacinto
However, both inside the regular supply of vocational education and training, as well
as with the new models, certain common tendencies can be observed, such as the
establishment of public/private alliances and a profound decentralization favouring
regional organizations and local governance. Below, we will analyse in detail these
different types of occupational training for unemployed young people, especially
those from poor backgrounds with low levels of education.
3.1 The Traditional Supply of Vocational Training

In the regions, the supply of vocational training for young people not completing
secondary education has since the 1950s been under the responsibility of the tri-
partite institutes of vocational training or the training institutions dependent on the
relevant departments/ministries of education. Programmes bearing the name ‘ap-
prenticeship’ constituted the first public policy for training and employment directed
specifically at young people (Casanova, 2004).2 The groups being enrolled in many
of these conventional centres were not, however, generally the most disadvantaged,
but learners who—at least potentially—could find places in the formal sectors of
the economy. It was only at the beginning of the 1970s that programmes started
to be implemented specifically for the informal sector; for instance the SENA of
Colombia, the POCET in Honduras and the talleres públicos de capacitación-
producción (public learning and production workshops) in Costa Rica. Financed
and maintained by public funds and with instructors employed as civil servants,
these institutions implemented a valuable know-how and provided a low-resource
population with vocational training, counselling and, sometimes, loans to start up
micro-enterprises (Gallart, 2004). Under these circumstances, timetables tended to
be flexible and the training programmes adapted to the perceived needs. Very often,
these training centres maintained a close relationship with community associations
and diverse OSCs offering parallel services locally. Within the participating pop-
ulation, young people received training to start work in specific jobs (generally
in traditional occupations) under self-employment conditions or, in some cases,
as entrepreneurs. As will be discussed later, the general lack of work experience
among young people weakens their possibilities to establish themselves as micro-
entrepreneurs.3
3.2 Ad Hoc Occupational Training Programmes
As already mentioned, beyond these offers of traditional institutions, the 1990s wit-
nessed the frequent implementation of social programmes and ad hoc measures
against poverty, oriented towards providing vocational training to disadvantaged
young people who did not normally have access to institutions of formal training.
Many of these programmes were designed by the State, with a great deal of financing
from co-operation agencies and multilateral banks, and were implemented by many
different institutions and organizations.
The two predominant models (see above) within these ad hoc programmes will
be examined next.
3.2.1 The ‘Open-Market’ Model

The most important programme model was developed principally by the ministries
of labour and/or employment, and financed by the Inter-American Development
Bank (IADB) and, in some cases, by the World Bank. The ‘open market’ model
adopted consisted in the outsourcing of courses to what were basically private in-
stitutions (there were also some public ones) by means of bids. The institutions
supplied flexible, work-based training oriented to the formal labour market, includ-
ing placements in companies, and were responsible for course design and for finding
placements for the young people. Another method corresponding to the open-market
model is the system of ‘vouchers’ allowing workers to select their own training
courses according to their needs.
Inside this training model, a range of training courses in various occupations
were sub-contracted to a wide range of institutions and organizations, both public
and private, such as trade unions, technical OSCs (some with an extensive expe-
rience in the field, and others recently created) and private training centres. One
example of implementation of this open-market model is the national training pro-
grammes for disadvantaged youth carried out in several Latin American countries
(Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Peru, Uruguay), known as the Chile Joven
(‘young Chile’) model. Some traditional vocational training institutions also partic-
ipated in public bidding for training courses of this type, for example, the SENAI,
SENAC and SENAR of Brazil.
These programmes exemplify a short and reasonably inexpensive training, com-
bined with stages of training ‘at work’ through placements. In some cases, these
programmes have reached better labour market entry results, slightly superior to
those of other agencies, because their courses were more oriented toward concrete
opportunities in the labour market. It was clear, however, that their positive impact
was closely dependent on the general buoyancy of the labour market and the individ-
ual size and design of the programme. In Argentina, for instance, a grand-scale pro-
gramme (its goal was to train 200,000 young people under age 30) was conducted
during a period coinciding with a massive increase in unemployment figures. Con-
sequently, its effects on the entry of these young people into the labour market were
almost nil (Devia, 2003). In Uruguay, by contrast, where the programme operated
on a much smaller scale and with various designs adjusted to different sub-groups
of young people, the relative results for the young participants were satisfactory
(Lasida, 2004).
One weakness in this category of programmes was its poor contribution to en-
hancing training institutions. Many of the participating training centres in these
short-term programmes for the disadvantaged developed more flexible approaches
than the traditional institutions, but lasted only a short time and were hardly
sustainable.4 The desire to develop an alternative model to the traditional institu-
tions, capable of overcoming bureaucracy and to avoid providing training courses
not related to the actual demands of the labour market, seem to have affected the
384 C. Jacinto
sustainability and promotion of institutional learning. One of the dilemmas for voca-
tional training supply is still how to create outsourcing conditions that stimulate ex-
perimentation, generate stable technical teams and institutional sustainability, at the
same time establishing links with the labour market and leading to acceptable results
after completion of the training (Jacinto & Bessega, 2001; Lasida & Berrutti, 2002).
The bidding approach for courses specifically focused on the needs of unemployed
young people continues to be the model implemented during the last ten years in
countries like Peru and Uruguay, and also Colombia where SENA is still active as
the national vocational training authority.
3.2.2 Subsidized Programmes for Organizations Working

with Disadvantaged Groups
Another type of ad hoc programme was developed within the framework of the
Ministries of Social Development and/or institutes for young people, and financed
in many cases by multilateral agencies. Under this scheme, OSCs, foundations,
churches (particularly the Catholic Church), national training institutions, local
governments, etc., received subsidies from the State to provide the learning pro-
grammes. The training in these cases is geared toward the informal sector, self-
employment and/or the creation of micro-enterprises.
Usually, these social programmes encourage alliances between different public
organizations, including health services, education and training institutions and pri-
vate agencies enhancing social well-being, such as banks awarding micro-credits,
youth centres, etc. Subsidizing organizations working with poor populations often
allows the adoption of more flexible strategies, adjusted to the individual charac-
teristics and expectations of the young people themselves, and for longer periods.
In many cases, these programmes tend to develop a more complete approximation
of training and combine the learning of technical skills with social competences
(also in the broad sense; for example, training for citizenship), skills in seeking
work and work guidance. These programmes, however, showed low concern for the
technical quality of the courses and lacked clarity regarding the expected results
(Jacinto, 2002). There was little emphasis in the placement of learners and little
guidance toward concrete occupational opportunities, even in the informal sector.
Occasionally, these training courses were oriented to the development of en-
trepreneurial capabilities in general, without having any link with the learning of
particular technical skills, nor specific follow-up to a business sector. They did not
take into account whether or not the selected young people had the experience and
the personal characteristics to manage their own enterprises (Jacinto, 2002).
Nevertheless, another relatively significant part of these social programmes fo-
cusing on young people promoted the setting up of micro-enterprises, using a more
specific and complex approach. In these cases, mechanisms of selection, training
and post-training guidance were included. However, these programmes were more
demanding (sometimes including micro-credits) and frequently excluded the poor-
est, as the enrolment conditions required the participants to already possess a busi-
ness and/or a secondary qualification (Jaramillo Baanante, 2004). To be successful,
some evidence was required that the young people had a certain level of business
initiative, either experience in salaried work, entrepreneurial skills or an idea for a
business plan (Lasida, 2004).
3.3 Achievements and Limitations of the Strategies from the 1990s
To sum up the general procedures developed in the 1990s within the framework of
programmes targeting the inclusion of young people from poor backgrounds into
the labour market, the following features can be noted:
r More flexible training approaches were adopted, as the implementation of courses
and projects was carried out by sub-contracting public and private agencies of-
fering various types of training, rather than traditional vocational training institu-
tions. Whereas a certain consensus can be observed about the need to start mod-
ifying the State’s preference to organize social policies (i.e. its institutions, hu-
man resources, equipment and infrastructure) from the supply side, the adopted
mechanisms, both the ‘open market’ model and the subsidized programmes, did
not lead to efficient vocational training corresponding to the needs of the young
people, the demands of the job market or socio-economic developments. Instead,
they resulted in haphazard action with more or less quality and efficacy, accord-
ing to individual cases.
r In spite of its diversification and flexibility, the training organizations experi-
enced difficulties with the design and implementation of the learning. First, they
had to confront new duties related to curricular design, institutional management,
interaction with other institutions and with the labour market, and they did not
necessarily know how to respond to these challenges. Secondly, many organi-
zations revealed their weaknesses in administrative and financial management.
They also showed knowledge deficiencies about strategies for institutional plan-
ning and internal communication (Jacinto, 2001).
r One weakness was that almost none of the actions taken established links with
existing formal education. The certificates that were awarded did not imply any
recognition or equivalencies in formal education or regular vocational train-
ing, even though the majority of the young people enrolled did not possess a
secondary qualification, and although one of the outcomes of enrolment was that
almost 30% of these young people returned to formal education (Jacinto, 2004).
r As mentioned earlier, considering how difficult it was for young people, particu-
larly the most economically and socially disadvantaged, to find quality employ-
ment, the programmes tended to foresee entry into the formal (salaried) labour
market. However, programmes that promoted the creation of micro-enterprises
and/or self-employment also played a relevant role. In his analysis of thirty-seven
programmes, for example, Jaramillo (2004) identifies twenty-two that were ex-
clusively oriented toward self-employment and another fifteen that included mea-
sures for salaried employment and self-employment at the same time. While the
impact of the programmes, measured by access to formal employment, differs
386 C. Jacinto
among countries, in most cases it can be said to be very limited and only pro-
duced slight improvements in some sub-groups (Jacinto, 2004). Concerning the
results of the programmes that might have promoted micro-industry and self-
employment, these also tended to be very sparse, considering the small percent-
age of new companies that were able to survive their first year. In addition, the
programmes with the highest potential (i.e. including training, follow-up and
micro-credits) tended to exclude young people from the most disadvantaged sec-
tors (Jaramillo, 2004).5
r Although training has sometimes been linked with other formative and cultural
actions, these links do not seem to be vital in the selection or evaluation of
courses by the central management of programmes. The broadest approaches,
linking the training programmes to other local or sector development projects
and to the social integration of young people, remained generally restricted to
small-scale experiences with little coverage (Jacinto, 1999).
Generally speaking, these measures reveal an attempt to provide greater opportu-

nities to young people confronting increasingly exclusive social contexts and more
complex labour markets. Its most relevant aspects are precisely the fact that they
express the urgent need for a programme and the permanent improvement of its
strategies, increasingly emphasizing the use of concrete job opportunities.
Many of the initiatives, however, proved to over-simplify the problem of young
people entering the labour market, particularly those belonging to the most dis-
advantaged groups. On the one side, they emphasized the question of low skill
levels without sufficiently taking into account the role formal education plays in
the job-market selection, and the exclusion tendencies of the labour market itself. In
addition, the basic view of young people tends to be short-sighted if it fails to cover
the social and cultural issues than constitute the fact of ‘being young/adolescent’,
nor taking into account the heterogeneity of social and educational situations that
characterize disadvantaged young people within geographic, local and family con-
texts. In fact, it turns out that the situations of the young people targeted are very
diverse: from groups very marginal and isolated (indigenous people, homeless chil-
dren, etc.), to those from poor urban districts or rural young people.
Finally, beyond the diversity of the measures, we should not lose sight of the
fact that these initiatives covered only a small fraction of the potential population
composing all of the young people who dropped out of school without any qualifi-
cations. Indeed, in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras,
most young people aged 18 to 25 do not complete secondary education. In recent
years, only in Argentina and Chile did a majority of the young population com-
plete secondary education. Meanwhile, in Brazil, Paraguay and El Salvador, more
than 60% of young people did not complete secondary education; this percentage
is more than 75% in Costa Rica and Honduras. In all of these countries there are
significant inter-regional differences, with young people living in large metropolitan
areas being the ones most likely to complete secondary education (SITEAL, 2005).
4 Testing New Ways
The expansion of formal schooling and the introduction of new technologies, partic-
ularly in the information and communication sector, affect not only working prac-
tices but also everyday life. It is also clear that an occupational strategy for the
disadvantaged based exclusively on vocational training for traditional jobs has its
limitations, as has been shown in most of the experiences mentioned. Despite these
limitations, many of the measures have followed those same patterns. More recent
programmes are now trying new models as a response to some of the limitations
or weaknesses of the traditional approaches. One aspect that has received partic-
ular emphasis is to achieve a better integration of the formative and inter-sectoral
approaches. We can differentiate the following strategies in this field:
4.1 Initiatives Promoting Alternative Educational Paths

During recent years some social and employment programmes have encouraged
young people and adults to finalize their basic and/or secondary education through
learning strategies (in many cases, part-time schooling) that attempt to respond in
a more pertinent way to their needs and interests more than traditional educational
services. Some initiatives of this type in Argentina, Brazil and Chile have gained
momentum in recent years, as well as in other countries.
Among the experiences of this type, the example of Chile is probably the one
that has been most systematically implemented and evaluated. The flexible and
free method of promoting training forms part of Chile Califica (Chile Qualifies),
a programme under the auspices of the ministries of education, labour and econ-
omy/finance. The World Bank finances 50% of the loans and State contributions
cover the other 50%.
This pattern is structured in learning blocks and envisages both classroom and
self-learning activities. It works with cost-free books supplied by the Ministry of
Education. The State also evaluates the students’ progress and awards certificates.
Between 2002 and 2004, using this system, 42,000 persons acquired a basic edu-
cation certificate and 74,000 a secondary education certificate. An interesting aspect
of this programme is that it achieves better completion rates than those of traditional
educational paths for adults (Letelier, 2005). Some studies have reported positive re-
sults in income and occupational level, especially among women and young people.
4.2 Integral Experiences Linking Training with Job Integration
One example of a recent programme that decided to focus on training and job-entry
for occupations in new technologies is the so-called ENTRA-21 (2005). This pro-
gramme supports training developed by OSCs and youth employment projects in
ICTs with a fund of US$20 million, co-financed by Fundación Internacional para
388 C. Jacinto
la Juventud (FIJ) and the Fondo Multilateral de Inversiones (FOMIN) from the
Inter-American Development Bank. The programme subsidizes projects of approx-
imately US$375,000 for up to three years. Until July 2005, ENTRA-21 had carried
out twenty-four projects in sixteen countries, reaching 11,227 disadvantaged young
people.
Some interesting aspects concerning the design and execution of this programme
are worth mentioning. First, its focus was on occupations using new technologies
with a broad approach to training that included not only learning about technical
abilities but also personal and social skills, as well as job placement. It also em-
phasized public/private co-operation in design and implementation, in order to join
resources and facilitate job integration after training. This last aspect represents the
most outstanding point of the programme: its commitment to job entry from its very
inception. Consequently, mechanisms to assist young people during the job-entry
process were put into place. It intends to be not just another VET programme, but a
job-integration programme including training. The job-placement results for young
people have been satisfactory, achieving rates between 40% and 68% of entry into
the job market within six months after training.
4.3 Programmes Using ‘Positive Discrimination’ Mechanisms
These practices include:
r Programmes that stimulate the enrolment of young people facing the greatest
difficulties, such as first-job seekers in Brazil;
r Other programmes in other communities have created ‘sheltered’ job opportuni-
ties in the public sector. This means reserving jobs or activities for young unem-
ployed people who otherwise would not have the opportunity to enter the labour
market if it were not for this strategy, as in the case of the city of Montevideo.
This practice demonstrates an interesting strategy of positive discrimination that
focuses on creating job opportunities for the most disadvantaged young people.
Obviously, this strategy is not without controversy: critics point out deficiencies
in the services; trade unions argue that the young are taking jobs away from other
workers.
5 Some Reflections on the Future Course of Action
Obviously, the problem has multiple facets, tied to national development and growth
strategies in a broad sense. Within a region where social inequalities are extreme
and poverty has increased, these hard-fought programmes have made progress in
consolidating a system of education, training and social guidance for those young
people with minimal opportunities. Some strategies attempt to go beyond the more
limited visions of vocational training by creating better links to formal education,
promoting entry into the labour market and a more equitable distribution of employ-
ment opportunities.
Some points must be outlined regarding opportunities for young people in disad-
vantaged situations:
r Since the period of formal schooling has expanded, and a long period of educa-
tion continues to be the best option in terms of finding a job, becoming part of
society and conducting a career, we can draw at least three major conclusions
about formal education:
– Young people dropping out of school face increasingly disadvantaged situa-
tions in a labour market where secondary education may not be entirely suffi-
cient, but is absolutely necessary for entry into the labour market. There is a
need to reinforce incentives for young people to remain in school and promote
the return of drop-outs into the education system.
– During their time in school, all young people should acquire the general basics
and fundamental skills for work and social integration. In this respect, the
pathetic results of formal basic and secondary schooling and the differences
among socio-economic groups clearly indicate the need for change.
– Bridges between and within different educational paths and learning environ-
ments (formal schooling, vocational training, workplace) need to be created
and/or reinforced to encourage the social significance of education for young
people entering the labour market.
r Concerning programmes and/or measures specifically designed to improve the
entry of young people into the job market, it should be noted that there is no
evidence of positive results from unselective mass programmes. Consequently,
it seems advisable for these programmes to be specific, directed at specifically-
selected categories of young people, carefully evaluated and adjusted to spe-
cific niches or sectors of the economy. Inevitably, the broad heterogeneity of
young people in the region must be taken into account. Their problems are dif-
ferent according to socio-economic levels, gender, educational level, ethnicity,
etc. Therefore, it is necessary to identify this diversity in order to formulate
proper solutions. More generally, it can be recommended that vocational training
programmes in this region should:
– be dual, that is to say, they should include components of school training as
well as on-the-job learning (internship/placements, etc.);
– have an integral design, apt for promoting the development of not only tech-
nical, but also personal and social skills;
– be able to follow-up the integration of persons into the labour market; and
– only for some carefully selected groups of a population, promote self-
employment and the creation of small enterprises, supporting them with fi-
nancial services, training and counselling.
As evidence shows, account must be taken of the fact that these measures will re-
flect general trends in employment closely. One remaining issue is to profoundly
390 C. Jacinto
reinforce the links between the various educational services and programmes. In
Latin America, formal education and vocational training represent two distinct paths
that co-ordinate neither their functions nor their resources. They depend on differ-
ent sectors of public administration, or operate even on a private basis, and are far
removed from constituting a unified system (Jacinto, 2002). One of the greatest cur-
rent challenges seems to be the design of a strategy leading the population to qual-
ifications. The strategic objective would be the implementation of national systems
that could link education, vocational training and diverse mechanisms of learning
and entry into the labour market. Better links are not only needed to increase efficacy
and efficiency; they also drive the broader field of equity, prophesying in this way a
wider system of lifelong education, able to cope with social, cultural, economic and
technical changes and offering access to diverse training options.
Acknowledgments I am grateful to Victoria González for her assistance in researching and to

Veronica Diyarian for her collaboration in writing this text.
Notes
1. Based on the results of regional research covering five in-depth case studies of training pro-
grammes for young people in various Latin American countries undertaken in 1999/2000
(Jacinto, 2002). Comments on the most recent developments come from data compiled on
several case studies of programmes in recent years, available online at: <www.redetis.iipe-
ides.org.ar>
2. Training programmes leading to a qualification, usually lasting two years, and including work
placement in industry.
3. Moreover, training supply for micro-entrepreneurs tends not to recognize their internal het-
erogeneity: from subsidized micro-enterprises with little viability in the market place to self-
employment with a potential to grow, or even competitive micro-enterprises in certain market
niches. According to Gallart (2004), the programmes focused on disadvantaged populations
trying to make the weakest micro-enterprises more competitive, even though most of the time
this is just not feasible.
4. Many were created just to participate in the programmes (Jacinto, 1999).
5. The promotion of self-employment experiences and/or micro-enterprise opportunities for young
people from low socio-educational backgrounds seems to require extensive follow-up,
including measures like: support in the selection of viable niches for products or services;
training in management, marketing and skills related to the activity; access to loans; and tech-
nical assistance for an extensive period, including psycho-social support (Ruétalo, Lasida &
Berrutti, 1998).
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Chapter III.3
Accountability and Career Technical Education
(CTE) Policy: A Brief Review of Six States
of the United States
1 Introduction
Accountability concerns are at the top of the list of issues that career technical ed-
ucation (CTE) administrators are currently forced to deal with. As it has evolved
in the United States, state CTE policy is trying to juggle missions that include
preparation for careers with current efforts to improve the academic achievement of
youth. This focuses attention at the state level on the articulation of public policies
that ‘thread the needle’—allowing students to master both occupational content and
academic skills.
The United States Federal Department of Education’s (DOE) web-site for CTE
reflects the three themes CTE is trying to balance for career and technical education:
r Increasing academic achievement;

r Fostering post-secondary transitions; and
r Preparing students for high-skill, high-wage careers.
This emphasis on a variety of outcomes for CTE is reflected in the academic and
policy literature. One recent report from the Association for Career and Technical
Education stresses the critical role that academic skills play in current CTE prac-
tice. The policy paper lays out a framework for CTE in the twenty-first century
suggesting that CTE programmes offer both rigorous academic and vocational con-
tent. The authors described the issue as follows: ‘we believe that CTE courses and
instructional methodologies have a place in the high-school environment, and that
there should not be an artificial split between academic coursework and vocational
studies’ (Association for Career and Technical Education, 2006, p. 3).
Additionally, the long-standing programme from the Southern Regional Educa-
tion Board emphasizes the importance of academic skills for improvements in the
quality of CTE coursework. The recent empirical work done by High Schools that
Work illustrates the gains when students in CTE achieve high levels of academic as
well as vocational content. Bottoms and Young (2005) provide data that if students
take at least four credits of maths or college preparatory English as part of a CTE
programme, 80 to 90% did not need remedial coursework in college.

394 J.D. Hawley, A. de Montrichard
This focus on accountability has come to a head while the Federal Government’s
main policy on education, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), faces continued
resistance from states. They continue to object to the appearance of unfunded man-
dates within the legislation.
The difficulty persists when developing performance measures related to curricu-
lum standards. A 1999 report on state-level accountability strategies asserts that:
most of the measurement issues related to the conflicting purposes of vocational education
(school reform versus workforce development) and governance/system delivery (central-
ized versus decentralized) are quite complex. All states are working on parts of the sys-
tem or systems. It is hoped that the parts eventually sum to a whole (Rahn, O’Driscoll &
Hudecki, 1999).
Nevertheless, states have historically developed strategies to measure and assess
the performance of high-school vocational education in each of these areas. The
current debate centres on expanding the accountability systems defined by NCLB,
but balancing those accountability demands that are unique to CTE programmes.
2 Accountability and Federal Policy
Accountability is the practice of holding schools, districts and teachers responsible

for providing quality education and holding students responsible for their own per-
formance. As part of the push to hold school systems accountable, standards and, to
varying degrees, accountability systems were developed both at the state and federal
levels. As of the 2003/2004 school year, with the exception of Iowa, all states have
developed standards for all their core subjects (English/language arts, mathematics,
science and social studies/history), as well as school report cards available to the
public (The Editors, 2004).
The 1990 and 1998 Carl D. Perkins Vocational-Technical Acts (Perkins II & III)
required states to set up accountability systems for their local vocational pro-
grammes. Perkins III also added incentive performance funds for states. These
frameworks have guided contemporary accountability systems in the sample states,
but the debate at the federal level threatens to derail this progress. The various pro-
posals from the White House, Senate and House of Representatives offered very dif-
ferent visions of career and technical education accountability systems. The Council
of Chief State School Officers reported that President Bush’s 2005 Budget Request
expanded achievement and accountability goals from the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act (ESEA)—renamed the No Child Left Behind Act—to CTE. This
movement, if it occurred, would emphasize achievement of academic outcomes, but
still require states to demonstrate workplace preparedness.
The Senate and House of Representatives versions of the current Perkins’ Leg-
islation do not extend the accountability goals to CTE in a wholesale manner, but
focus on allowing states to define the accountability system that CTE programmes
must meet. This legislation at the secondary level focuses on defining the types of
indicators that states must meet and requires continuous improvement in educational
progress of career-focused students (Association for Career and Technical Educa-
tion, 2005).
III.3 Accountability and Career Technical Education (CTE) Policy 395
The future of CTE accountability is therefore in question, but only in terms of

emphasis. The key question is: will CTE accountability remain divided between
labour-market outcomes and academic success, or focus narrowly on the academic
outcomes?
3 What is an Accountability System?
Before reviewing state-level accountability, we focus on describing the definitional

issues behind accountability systems. The following paragraphs describe the current
literature/focus on accountability at the state level.
The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) did a review of
state accountability and large-scale assessments in 2001 and outlined the essential
elements shared by state assessment systems (National Association of State Boards
of Education, 2001). According to NASBE, effective assessments systems:
r have rigorous and detailed standards that are specific enough to determine what
needs to be evaluated;
r are designed to address specific goals and purposes (such as student remediation
or school district assessment);
r balance validity, reliability and efficiency;
r inform instruction and have consequences;
r have mechanisms to encourage schools and districts to align their instruction and
evaluation with the standards; and
r have a clearly articulated relationship with national measures of student perfor-
mance.
Most scholarly literature on accountability evolved in recent years to focus attention
on this broad interpretation of accountability to include standards systems, testing
and curriculum frameworks, as well as numerical standards for achievement. In the
context of CTE, the research on accountability varies considerably.
4 Issues Raised in the Literature on Accountability and CTE
Our literature review identified three key areas of concern: the integration of
vocational education and general education accountability, the quality of CTE pro-
grammes and the integration of federal, state and local accountability.
4.1 Accountability of Vocational Education and General Education
CTE is affected by both school reforms, such as No Child Left Behind, and work-
force development reforms such as the Workforce Investment Act. In their report
on state-level accountability strategies, Rahn, O’Driscoll and Hudecki (1999) argue
that this creates a tension in purpose, standards, accountability systems and gov-
ernance structures, which plays itself out differently in various states. Measures
that might be called ‘school reform’ items and are used by many states include
the percentage of students scoring at below a specific level on an academic test, or
the percentage of students enrolled in college preparatory coursework. Secondly,
measures that might be called workforce development are represented by other in-
dicators, such as the percentage of students passing certifications/licensure exams
or the percentage placed in a job related to the training.
School reforms have spurred the development of accountability standards and
systems for general education focused on core subjects (English/language arts,
mathematics, science, and social studies/history). However, the degree to which
vocational education accountability standards are integrated into more general edu-
cational standards varies. As of 1999 this had only happened in a few states (Rahn
et al., 1999; Stasz & Bodilly, 2004).
4.2 Quality CTE Programmes
The 2004 National Assessment of Vocational Education (NAVE) report focuses on

the priorities set out by Perkins III and identified strategies that would help im-
prove secondary vocational programme performance. These include strategies for
academic achievement, increased occupational and technical skills and workforce
outcomes. To enhance academic achievement the report suggested making this a
more explicit focus in Perkins, supporting curriculum development to strengthen
the academic content of vocational courses, integrating academic and vocational
education, focusing funding to programmes with proven academic content, and in-
vestment in focused teacher training to improve teacher quality.
The report quotes a study not yet released that indicates: ‘states have begun to
reference or encourage academic content in vocational course guidelines [. . .] States
spend the highest share of state leadership funds—nearly 20 per cent nationally—to
promote integration’ (White et al., 2004). However, at the school level integration is
still not widespread and the report lists a series of barriers to this integration.
To raise occupational and technical skills in high schools the authors suggest that
challenging content and performance standards are required for vocational courses,
linked with end-of-course technical assessments and that rewards and sanctions be
in place for programmes based on performance. Finally, to improve employment and
earnings, particularly for non-college-bound students, the recommendations are to
encourage implementation of vocational programme course sequences and promote
work-experience programmes.
Other areas identified as key to programme quality and improvement include
the linkages between secondary and post-secondary education, which NAVE finds
are strong among CTE faculty, enhancing the use of technology and employer
involvement.
4.3 Integration of Federal, State and Local Accountability
In accountability there is a potential conflict between federal, state and local needs.
Federal requirements tend to focus more on programmatic accountability and ag-
gregated measures that allow cross-state comparisons. Local accountability systems
may be more useful to schools for programme improvement, whereas more stan-
dardized data collection facilitates comparisons across schools and districts at the
state level. ‘The result is a patchwork of “systems” at the local and state levels, each
moving toward accountability with different data and reporting requirements’ (Rahn
et al., 1999).
One early report argues that:
vocational education is particularly susceptible to ineffective, high-level policy-making be-
cause local conditions play such a large role in program planning and performance. Pro-
grams are planned with an eye toward local economic needs, and program performance is
measured in terms of placements, which are found primarily in the local area (Stecher &
Hanser, 1992).
This report thus focused on the need to ‘understand local accountability mechanisms
and their relationship to more highly aggregated state policymaking’. The authors
found that ‘local accountability systems exist, although they are often informal and
unsystematic’ (Stecher & Hanser, 1992). They identified four key components that
account for much of the variation in the quality of local accountability systems:
measures, information, feedback loops and change mechanisms
The level at which accountability data is collected at the state also varies depend-
ing on whether they have centralized or decentralized governance structures and/or
delivery systems (Rahn et al., 1999).
5 Methodology
5.1 Sample
The six states studied and visited included Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan,
New Jersey, New York and Ohio.
The states selected for this study are different from each other. The population
size, labour-market composition and unemployment rates vary. All but two of the
states are governed by the State Board of Education; in the other two cases it is the
Higher Education Board that has legislative responsibility for CTE.
Table 1 shows that the states vary from smaller north-eastern states, such as Mas-
sachusetts, to larger mid-western states like Illinois. All of the states have designated
CTE systems.
Table 2 shows that the states have a variety of mechanisms for implementing
vocational education. In the case of Illinois, for example, of the 665 public high
schools in the state, there were only twenty-six schools offering CTE, and these were
Table 1 Basic information on state education

Year IL MA MI NJ NY OH
Total enrolment 2002 2,084,187 982,989 1,785,160 1,367,438 2,888,233 1,838,285
in public 2000 2,048,792 975,150 1,720,626 1,313,405 2,882,188 1,835,049
schools 1995 1,943,623 915,007 1,641,456 1,197,381 2,813,230 1,836,015
(Student 1990 1,821,407 834,314 1,584,431 1,089,646 2,598,337 1,771,089
numbers)
Diploma 2002 116,657 55,272 95,001 77,664 153,879 110,608
recipients 2000 111,835 52,950 97,679 74,420 141,731 111,668
(Student 1995 105,164 47,679 86,180 67,403 136,234 109,418
numbers) 1990 108,119 55,941 100,522 69,824 146,307 114,513
Total state 2000 18,441 9,515 16,701 16,323 34,837 16,024

expenditures 1995 — 6,524 — — — —
for education 1990 9,867 5,024 9,623 9,208 — 9,206
($ millions)
Sources:
1. National Center for Education Statistics: <nces.ed.gov/ccd/>
2. National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortia: <www.
careertech.org/reference/states/stateInfo.asp>
Table 2 School information on career technical education in six states (number of schools)
IL MA MI NJ NY OH
All public high schools 665 280 763 311 852 826
Public schools offering CTE 26 – – – 98 –
– Comprehensive high schools – 60
– Vocational high schools – –
– Regional/area 26 38
vocational/career-technical
centres
Public schools offering solely 26 45 29 50 25 76
vocational instruction according
to the National Association of
State Directors
Public vocational education 0 43 12 38 25 68
schools in 2001–2002 according
the NCES
Sources:
1. National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortia: <www.
careertech.org/reference/states/stateInfo.asp>
2. State sources:
r Illinois: <www.isbe.net/career/pdf/avc directory.pdf>, <www.isbe.net/research/pdfs/quick
stats03.pdf>
r Illinois and New York internal state documents.
r Correspondence with state director’s office in January 2004.
3. Hoffman, 2003.
organized as regional vocational technical centres. In contrast, New York had 852
public high schools, ninety-eight of which were offering CTE. Within New York’s
system, however, sixty high schools were comprehensive in nature and offered vo-
cational schooling as a part of their programme while thirty-eight were regional
vocational technical centres.
Table 3 shows both the number of secondary and post-secondary students en-
rolled in CTE in the six states. The proportion of students in CTE at the secondary
level varies from a low of 18% in Ohio, to a high of 55% in Illinois. While 79% of
post-secondary students in Illinois are classified as CTE students, in Massachusetts
only 39% of students are focused on vocational areas.
Table 3 Student information on career technical education in six states

IL MA MI NJ NY OH
Students in public high 550,301 233,179 471,950 310,010 708,456 534,536
schools
Secondary students enrolled 302,631 46,071 205,020 79,838 256,295 95,253
in CTE
% of secondary students 55.0% 19.8% 43.4% 25.8% 36.2% 17.8%
enrolled in CTE
Students at public 339,151 80,070 186,847 132,808 245,842 179,077
community colleges
Post-secondary students 268,604 31,842 151,459 65,710 143,397 165,839
enrolled in CTE
% of post-secondary 79.2% 39.8% 81.1% 49.5% 58.3% 92.6%
students enrolled in CTE
Source: National Association of States Directory of Career Technical Education Consortia:
<www.careertech.org/reference/states/stateInfo.asp>
Several contextual issues surround the issues of accountability and curriculum

in these states. Firstly, both Perkins’ legislation and state implementation leave an
enormous range of variation in how programmes are established and how a voca-
tional completer/concentrator is established. These are important contextual issues,
because they govern the scope of a vocational programme. In most cases the in-
terviews show us that states have very inconsistent views on the definition of a
CTE programme or the designation of a vocational completer. Current efforts by the
federal Department of Education Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE)
and others to better define these categories go to the heart of decisions about what
unit to assess in vocational education.
5.2 Data Collection
Every state except one was visited by a researcher. An interview protocol was de-
veloped by staff familiar with career and technical education and state policy. It
was reviewed by key members of the research team and served as the basis for the
discussions with the respondents. At one site the respondents were interviewed by
telephone.
The focus of this study was a comparison of accountability systems for CTE pro-
grammes. The study documents the basic characteristics of accountability systems
in each state by determining:
r What are the standards for CTE programmes?
r How are these standards measured?
r What types of tests are used to measure CTE student performance?
r How are the results of these tests used?
Additionally, we focused on documenting state by state:
r the level of CTE and academic curriculum and accountability integration;
r the effects of school reform legislation, specifically No Child Left Behind, on
CTE programmes.
Respondents from six states were interviewed individually or in groups for about
11/2 hours each. A total of sixteen people participated in the interviews. Addition-
ally, the states supplied us with copies of their accountability plans, the current state
plan for CTE, and other studies that helped inform our data collection efforts. Each
interview was taped and transcribed. The transcription was imported into a com-
puter analysis programme—N’Vivo. These files were the main source of data for
the analysis.
5.3 Data Analysis

From the transcripts generated for this study the researchers developed a set of ini-
tial codes using N’Vivo software. These codes were based on the interview proto-
col, producing an initial list of twenty-three codes. These twenty-three codes were
grouped into five folders, representing data collected on the following key categories
of information: CTE administration; CTE programme requirements and definitions;
measures and assessment systems; CTE links with occupations and industry; cur-
riculum; and current legislation. A coding report was printed from N’Vivo software
for each of these categories. The codes were applied to specific sets of text on the
basis of a reading of the transcripts and subsequent analysis.
6 Results
6.1 CTE Organization and Administration
Overall, CTE forms an important component of the state secondary education sys-
tems across our six states. While the country has a federal Department of Education,
constitutionally the education systems are state level responsibilities (Fowler, 2003;
Table 4 Basic information on career technical education

IL MA MI NJ NY OH
Type of governance State Board Authority
structure
Post-Secondary Governing
Board.
Funding strategy Funding based on student
participation
Cost reimbursement
Instructional units
Student weights
State Foundation grants
States with dual enrolment • • • • •
policy
High-school graduation Graduation contingent on
requirements performance on
state-wide exit or
end-of-course exams
Curriculum requirements * * * * * *
Note: Ohio states that it will carry out graduation testing requirements and curriculum requirements
connected with the Ohio diploma; students must meet both requirements in order to earn an Ohio
diploma after 15 September 2006.
Sources: Karp et al., 2004.; Klein, 2001, p. 13.; Krueger, 2004; Silverberg et al., 2004; National
Assessment of Vocational Education, 2004; The Editors, 2004, p. 109.
Stasz & Bodilly, 2004). This implies that the provision and co-ordination of voca-
tional education is the responsibility of the states. The states we studied vary in a
wide range of governance and administrative responsibilities (Table 4).
In terms of overall state-level co-ordination of CTE, there are effectively two
major models: control through the K-12 education system; or the post-secondary
system. In the case of our six states, all but two are administered through the tra-
ditional K-12 education system. Only New York and Illinois are controlled through
the post-secondary system. This difference is crucial, illustrating the bias towards
secondary-level vocational schooling. In recent years, however, other states, such
as Alabama and Kentucky, outside of our sample, have retooled their vocational
education systems to integrate economic development into the administration of
vocational schooling (Grubb et al., 1999).
Moreover, state funding of vocational schooling varies considerably. As de-
scribed in a recent study of vocational funding, there are markedly different funding
mechanisms that states have in place to provide for vocational services (Klein, 2001).
The amount of money states have available from the federal government for
state-level accountability has declined as a percentage of Perkins’ funds, and there
is some evidence that this has affected the ability of states to shift accountability
systems (Stasz & Bodilly, 2004). In our six states, there is no predominant model of
funding, with some operating on a per pupil basis and others on a state grant basis.
In all cases, the state administration extends its control to curriculum frameworks
and in many of them this includes matched tests to assess student performance.
What this implies in the national context is a core curriculum requirement that
needs to be met by all secondary school students regardless of curricular focus,
as well as specific vocational competencies that are typically industry or field spe-
cific. The long-term outcome of the push for accountability, however, has driven
more and more states to require a high-stakes test during high school as a mech-
anism to ensure that all students attain a minimum level of skills. Of our sam-
ple states, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Ohio all require CTE students to pass
a graduation test, while New York also requires the Regents Tests (Bishop &
Mane, 1998).
The following section examines the perspectives on accreditation and programme
design in the six states participating in qualitative interviews. It then moves on to a
consideration of how states define CTE completion.
6.2 Programme Accreditation/Approval

As described in the definitional section, CTE requires detailed understanding of
school-level performance, as well as a focus on student achievement. Schools are to
be judged as systems under the NCLB Act.
In each of the six states, CTE systems are governed by a local legislative sys-
tem that defines the CTE programme and student, and in some cases specifies the
accountability provisions that the programmes must meet in order to remain in com-
pliance. Of the six states, the state of New York and the state of Illinois provide for
interesting contrast in contemporary programme approval processes. In the case of
New York the programme approval process for CTE includes the following:
1. An internal review that takes into account the opinions of the teachers, as well as
employers in the locality;
2. An external review that includes both employers and community or post-secondary
education partners;
3. Articulation agreements;
4. A defined work-based learning programme; and
5. Identification of industry-based tests.
The New York programme process seems distinctive for two reasons. First and fore-
most, it includes a state mandate for articulation. Second, the state is focusing on
encouraging work-based learning. While most CTE programmes will include work-
based learning, it is usually left to instructors and schools to decide how best to carry
it out. Moreover, the interview with the state director’s staff stressed the positive role
that businesses play in determining demand for the programme by actively engaging
in the programme design and proposal process.
The Illinois programme approval process is different, but offers an alternative
vision of how CTE programmes should be developed. As defined by the state leaders
in CTE, the programme approval process is as follows:
1. Programmes are defined and proposed based on the local labour market (Em-
ployment Regional Delivery Systems), which allows programmes to reflect local
labour-market demand.
2. Schools outline the potential post-secondary careers for individual students (both
career and educational).
3. Programmes describe the industry certifications or tests; and
4. Provide course descriptions.
There are some striking differences when the Illinois programmes are compared to
New York. The Illinois programme focuses on assessing demand in the labour mar-
ket, but the specific employer role is quite difficult to discern. In contrast, the New
York programme appears to require more detailed external review. Moreover, the
Illinois programme still includes an emphasis on CTE that connects to secondary-
only programmes, while the New York criteria appears to require some linkage with
post-secondary education.
6.3 Other Programme Criteria

State programme criteria for CTE programmes appear to be quite similar. States all
have criteria for curriculum and staffing. What varies is the current move in some
states towards providing more specificity around the type and level of employer
involvement. The New York criteria, in particular, offer some hope that states are
recognizing that the role of an advisory committee needs to include requirements
for employer assessment of programmes, rather than leaving this decision up to the
local administrators or teachers.
6.4 Definition of a CTE Concentrator
The definition of a CTE concentrator is not common across the states. There is a
wide variation in state regulation about the types of criteria that go into a concentra-
tor definition. Firstly, as the description shows, some states define concentrator by
the number of credits or hours they have taken in CTE, while others focus on the
level of schooling (11th or 12th grade). A third strategy is to designate all those who
reach the last level of vocational schooling as concentrators. The following example
comes from Michigan and represents one of the most specific attempts to define
concentration in CTE coursework:
Concentrator: A secondary student that has successfully completed 60% of a state-approved
career and technical education program must have a minimum of 7,200 minutes per year,
except for trade and industry programs that must have a minimum of 14,400 minutes per
year. The threshold level would vary depending upon the sequence of courses and number
of courses and number of minutes for each individual occupational program.
Moreover, there are differences in the ways states characterize students who com-
plete CTE coursework—or completers. The most common characteristics of com-
pleters include the following: finishing an approved sequence of courses in a CTE

concentration; completion of a set of courses as defined by state regulations to
satisfy Perkins’ requirements; or enrolment in a programme for at least two years
that meets the common criteria set by the state for career and technical education.
The following definition comes from Ohio and clearly represents one of the most
elaborate completer frameworks:
Completer: Secondary program completer—a student who has enrolled in and completed
an approved workforce development program (typically 450 hours) AND has demonstrated
sufficient mastery of their vocational and academic subject matter to prepare them for their
career and lifelong learning goals as set forth in their individual career plan AND is no
longer enrolled in secondary school.
Recent work carried out on the definition of a secondary vocational education con-
centrator leaves no doubt that the states intend to come up with a firm definition that
can be applied nationwide (<www.edcountabilty.org>, Summer 2005 Workshop).
Some of the most contentious issues are the following:
r State or local role in determining sequence of courses: Should there continue
to be a state-mandated sequence of courses that determine attainment of a voca-
tional concentrator, or should this be a locally determined set of courses?
r Threshold for deciding when someone is a concentrator: As revealed in the inter-
views, states use different cut-off points (number of credits completed, entrance
into last class in sequence) on when to decide if someone has become a concen-
trator.
7 CTE Standards
Following the discussion of accountability and CTE in the background section, we
studied individual state implementation of CTE standards in six states. The basic
issues that we see in this section are the standards that states use to measure the
quality of CTE, the trend in terms of performance on the current federal standards,
and the current debates around federal CTE standards.
7.1 State CTE Measures
Interviews and a review of the basic legislation confirm that states utilize the same
system, called the CARS (Consolidated Annual Report) measures, to evaluate the
performance of CTE. These measures are divided into four core indicators: stu-
dent attainment; credential attainment; placement and retention; and participation
in and completion of non-traditional programmes. Table 5 lists these standards and
includes both somewhat traditional measures of student success, such as academic
achievement, as well as more difficult-to-measure items, such as post-secondary
placement and retention.
Table 5 Core indicators and sub-indicators: career and technical education

Core Indicator 1. Student attainment
This indicator seeks to assess student attainment of the challenging state-established academic
and vocational and technical skill proficiencies at both the secondary and post-secondary
levels.
1S1—Secondary Academic Attainment;
1S2—Secondary Vocational and Technical Skill Attainment;
1P1—Post-secondary Academic Attainment;
1P2—Post-secondary Vocational and Technical Skill Attainment.
Core Indicator 2. Credential attainment
This indicator seeks to assess student attainment of a secondary school diploma or its recognized
equivalent, a proficiency credential in conjunction with a secondary school diploma, or a
post-secondary degree or credential.
2S1—Secondary Completion;
2S2—Proficiency Credential with Secondary Diploma (Not required for 2000/2001);
2P1—Post-secondary Degree or Credential.
Core Indicator 3. Placement and retention
This indicator seeks to assess vocational and technical education student placement in, retention
in, and completion of post-secondary education or advanced training, placement in military
service, or placement or retention in employment.
3S1—Secondary Placement;
3S2—Secondary Retention;
3P1—Post-secondary Placement;
3P2—Post-secondary Retention (Not required for 2000/2001).
Core Indicator 4. Participation in and completion of non-traditional programmes
This indicator seeks to assess student participation in and completion of vocational and technical
education programmes that lead to non-traditional training and employment.
4S1—Participation in Secondary Non-Traditional Programmes;
4S2—Completion of Secondary Non-Traditional Programmes;
4P1—Participation in Post-secondary Non-Traditional Programmes;
4P2—Completion of Post-secondary Non-Traditional Programmes.
States are currently allowed the authorities to decide which indicators will be
used to assess the achievement of these measures.
The approaches states take to determine which indicators are appropriate to mea-
sure success vary substantially. In terms of the academic achievement measures,
state-level definitions of CTE academic achievement suffer from the same problems
as the achievement measures for secondary education overall. For example, Michi-
gan, New Jersey, Ohio and Massachusetts use their state-generated tests as a way
of determining if CTE graduates are meeting academic achievement goals. New
York uses the Regents Exams as a measure. In contrast, Illinois uses graduation or
completion of schooling as the academic measure.
The indicators used to assess the vocational achievement measure vary more
substantially. While New Jersey and Illinois continue to utilize the same indicators
of graduation or course completion, programmes in Ohio and Massachusetts use
achievement of specific vocational competencies, such as a state-specific test for
vocational subjects, to show achievement of vocational subjects. Michigan and New
York based the state indicator of achievement of a specific grade-point average in

vocational subjects. New York measures the percentage of CTE completers who
attain a high-school diploma.
Finally, states assess the effectiveness of post-secondary completion through
various strategies which currently vary substantially, from use of student surveys
conducted by local schools in Massachusetts or Michigan, to use of state-level ad-
ministrative records to determine employment or educational status of students after
graduation in New Jersey or Illinois.
7.2 State CTE Performance
Given the variation in the measurement systems adopted by the states, it is no won-
der that a review of the most recent data shows such a wide variation in achievement.
Table 6 shows the current achievement levels for the six states. It is remarkable that
some states maintained a 95% or better measure in any of the indicators.
The variation in the achievement of academic measures ranges from a low of
68.12% in Michigan to a high of 95% in Illinois. Interestingly, the results in Table 6
do not correspond to the most stringent measures. For example, while New York’s
Regent Exams present a substantial challenge to high-school students, and having
77% of CTE graduates pass those tests seems significant, it is more difficult to judge
why only 68.2% of Michigan youth in CTE in the 11th grade reach the state-defined
threshold level of career and technical education. This measure is a less rigorous
one than the Regents Exams.
Secondly, it is interesting to note that states that use unemployment insurance
data to measure the placement rate reported fewer students with successful place-
ment rates. Illinois and New Jersey have lower placement rates, while states that
use locally-generated surveys, such as Ohio or Massachusetts, have close to 95% of
CTE students reported with successful placement. This result supports the empirical
literature that suggests using unemployment insurance data as a way to investigate
student outcomes.
Table 6 Achievement of core indicators by state (2003–2004)

Illinois Massachusetts Michigan New Jersey New York Ohio
Academic 95% 70.59% 68.12% 93.05% 76.87% 94.61%
achievement
Vocational skills > 95 92.42% 87.75% 90.52% 81.09% 59.19%
Diploma/equivalent/ > 95 92.42% > 95 > 95 > 95 > 95
degree/credential
Total placement 76.36% > 95 94.82% 81.95% > 95 92.22%
Note: >95 = actual performance of this indicator is greater than 95%.
Source: <www.edcountability.net>
7.3 Perspectives on the Accountability Measures
Interviews with the state staff responsible for CTE showed that states are aware of
drawbacks to their current systems. While the state systems currently have helped
in terms of understanding the implementation of Perkins, there is a more tenuous
linkage to the use of these systems for performance improvement. When asked di-
rectly about how the CARS data are used in the state, respondents described that
they are used in assessing local programme performance, but indicated that state
capacity to judge if local programmes are effective is hampered by the lack of staff
to evaluate programmes or the fact that local education systems are accountable to
local authorities rather than to state departments.
There are states that are moving towards using data for performance improve-
ment on a more systematic level. One state started doing regional workshops where
districts learn about the data that was collected and focus on how to use it.
7.4 Perspectives on Data Quality
There is a widespread understanding that the data used to measure the effectiveness
of CTE at the local level needs extensive review before they can be used to assess
programmes. The most common system is for states to require that Perkins’ data or
other state accountability information is entered locally and forwarded to the state
department. This situation introduces a lot of potential error into the measurement
of student attendance, graduation or testing. In addition, among those states that rely
on local authorities to survey graduates, schools potentially can produce inaccurate
estimates of student success because of poor knowledge of data collection practices
among local school professionals.
8 Other Indicators of Accountability

It is critical for accountability to include data that can improve performance rather
than simply assessing programme success or failure. In this light, our qualitative
study asked state administrators about the measurement of classroom practices,
like work-based learning as well as career counselling. In both cases, the states we
surveyed varied considerably on the assessment of work-based learning, but none
actually collected data on career counselling centrally. They left open the possibility
that this information is potentially available at the local level. However, it reveals
that a large part of what might be considered CTE is not documented by the states.
Work-based learning data is available in a number of states, because it is mea-
sured as part of the attainment of advanced vocational competency. In one state, for
example, the state laws require that students completing a co-operative programme
get an assessment at the school level. These assessments, however, are not integrated
into the state level accountability system, but are assumed to be available for local
teachers and administrators to improve performance.
However, another respondent pointed out that some important changes had been
made to the co-operative system, including providing professional standards for co-
operative education co-ordinators. This still implies a relatively passive accountabil-
ity system in this one state, where the state may set broad criteria for professional
conduct but does not monitor the operation of work-based learning.
To a certain extent, other states brought up the issue of work-based learning.
However, none of the states built work-based learning into their accountability pro-
cess as far as can be concluded from the interviews. Work-based learning becomes
more important, however, as internships and other forms of school and work inte-
gration become popular in general and vocational schooling.
8.1 Curriculum Frameworks

Because of the continuing evolution of CTE and, in part, due to the influence of the
standards movement, states have often aggressively increased the level of occupa-
tional competency required, as well as focusing on formally building academic and
vocational integration through curriculum frameworks. This aggressive push has
meant increased academic performance among CTE students, and opens the door
for better occupational performance through integrated activities.
Sometimes the curriculum frameworks, which are proposed often at the state
level, run up against local control of curriculum. For example, states mentioned
continued resistance among schools, but noted that this had decreased over time.
9 Conclusion
Accountability and curriculum reform are increasingly impacting state career and
technical education systems. The Perkins III legislation focused state-level energy
on the larger questions of how to define indicators that will allow them to account for
spending of Perkins’ funds. This shift in accountability follows decades where vo-
cational schooling has both led other education systems in monitoring the outcomes
of schooling, but largely fallen behind the K-12 system in crafting state-level tests.
In part, this is due to the nature of vocational school curriculum and testing,
where both academic and vocational skills are integral parts of the educational en-
terprise. This is also, unfortunately, due to perennial problems with staffing short-
ages and possibly an implementation problem at the state level. While many staff
have left CTE at the state level and have not been replaced, there remain difficulties
implementing the new vision of integrated workforce development systems at the
state level (Kister, 2001).
A review of the current accountability framework under Perkins and of state
indicators revealed some important differences among states in how they approach
accountability. It is significant that while a number of states extended the testing
from K-12 high schools to vocational programmes, such as New York, a number
still use different measures, such as graduation. It is important to note that these
measures are not weak in terms of data, but if they are not used consistently this
means they cannot be compared effectively against more academic measures.
Similarly, state assessment of occupational knowledge is variable. While a num-
ber of states have invested in centralized testing systems, others rely almost solely
on teacher-developed tests or industry assessments. While the latter offer some as-
surance that completers are consistently being evaluated, the former offer no such
comfort. Moreover, the data are not comparable between states, and the Data Quality
Institute Report in 2005 did not propose a possible solution to this problem.
In terms of curriculum, the current trend is clearly to move to career clusters.
While many states have curtailed in-house curriculum development staff, most
maintain active staff working with local schools and districts to develop a high-
quality curriculum for vocational programmes. The framework adopted by all the
states studied in this chapter focuses on career clusters. There are differences, how-
ever, as some states (such as Ohio or New Jersey) have moved ahead quickly and
use the clusters as the basis for all curriculum, programmes and career counselling.
States and other national governments can gain something from this brief review.
The following suggestions follow from the state comparisons:
1. Academic indicators. While some states are distinguished by having outcomes

based on labour-market performance for employment after graduation, states
need to be careful to measure the academic performance of graduates rather
than relying upon the graduation rates as indicators of performance. The current
strategy of relying on graduation rates or completion rates to compute students’
success might be compared against the approach of using a standardized test to
measure achievement. Given the labour-market value of basic skills, this would
seem to be an important concern.
2. Vocational competencies: The potential solutions for vocational competencies
are more problematic, but looking at Ohio’s home-grown testing system might
be useful, as it uses career clusters to define potential outcomes. States often
use industry-generated tests, but these are frequently not comparable. One other
possibility is simply to use a common test that measures completion of certain
general competencies, such as teamwork or technology, which are shared across
different vocational fields.
Acknowledgments This study was commissioned as part of a larger review of vocational educa-
tion by Rutgers University and the State of New Jersey under contract to the Center on Education
and Training for Employment at the Ohio State University. We appreciate the generous funding
and also the insightful comments from both groups. This manuscript represents the opinions of the
authors. Thanks are also due to Dr Christopher Zirkle and Ms Hyo Sun Kim for helping with data
collection, preparing the tables and providing feedback on the study design.
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assessment of vocational education. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of
the Under-Secretary.
Chapter III.4
The Regional Perspective of
1 Introduction
The trading of goods and services is not necessarily constrained by geographical,

social, cultural and political differences. Markets are often diverse in nature and
goods and services are usually tailored to meet specific needs of the marketplace and
of potential customers. There is also a market for people with skills: people engage
in training and move to places where they are more likely to sell their skills through
work. Vocational education and training (VET) is mostly localized in terms of where
people develop their skills, but is generally more wide ranging in the transfer of
those skills.
Whatever the specificity of training, a notion has grown everywhere that a person
may increase the value of their skills by using opportunities to apply them more
broadly. Nowadays, this extends beyond local, regional and national boundaries,
so that the supply side of VET is now at least partially responsive to the wider
geographical market. On the demand side, there is now better articulation of the
skills that are needed in the work place and this is communicated through various
markets—some local, some further afield. Thus, it is clear that, through this inter-
action with skills markets, VET is an integrating factor with the potential to bring
about greater levels of articulation across geographical, social, cultural and political
boundaries.
Looking at VET from a different angle, we can see that it is shaped by actions
taken to strengthen regional co-operation. Economic factors, such as the availability
of natural resources, regional economic strengths and weaknesses, inward invest-
ment, and environmental and safety factors, all shape the form of VET. Institutional
arrangements have a powerful influence on the quantity and quality of VET. Global
markets for goods and services also influence the general level of VET activity.
Some factors are within the control of a region or country—others are not. These
diverse influences mean that VET systems cannot develop in isolation from other
VET systems and some kind of regional integration is inevitable.
A good example of regional co-operation in terms of the supply and demand for
VET is in North-Eastern Europe. At first the Nordic Council of Ministers, for whom
education, training and labour market issues are an important dimension, was con-
cerned only with Finland and the Scandinavian countries. More recently, the Baltic

412 M. Coles, T. Leney
countries have become closely involved, and the network is expanding, perhaps as
far as the St Petersburg region in Russia, as well as in Poland. This example clearly
shows how zones of mutual trust can grow quite rapidly in continental regions,
helping to extend the mobility of labour. Numerous global regions are looking at
the possibilities of co-operation of this kind.
A consequence of VET being honed to meet specific needs and used as a tool for
regional integration is that it has taken on a wide range of forms. Other chapters in
this book will engage with these different forms of VET.
2 Common Challenges
What are the pressures on VET systems that tend to lead to greater unity be-
tween regions and countries? Organization for Economic Co-operation and Devel-
opment studies (2006) and research into progress towards the Lisbon Goal (Leney
et al., 2005) identify, not surprisingly, economic pressures as the main driver act-
ing on VET systems. Countries want to strengthen the link between the education
system and employment and point to the discrepancies between skills needed in the
workplace, job training and qualifications. Economic pressures arise in response to
global economic trends, as well as local and national economic situations, such as
the need to be responsive to innovation, the development of work organization and
of human capital. These generic pressures act as a force for regional integration
in VET since they focus attention on responding to common skill-supply issues.
Vocational qualifications systems are also believed to have potential for improving
the link between education and work, for establishing new pathways from education
into employment and for reducing barriers to learning, for example by using new
forms of pedagogy and assessment.
Economic needs are perceived to drive innovation in production. Research shows
that innovation often takes place via continuous learning on the part of people in the
workplace and that forms of learning at work are changing; for example, there is an
increasing effort to organize on-the-job learning and utilize self-directed learning.
Consequently, learning structures in the workplace are becoming more complex. In
particular, the focus is no longer solely on acquisition of technical knowledge, but
has widened to include softer skills, new values, new codes of behaviour and the
remodelling of past experience. This has resulted in expansion of training provision
across regions and greater use of more diverse recognition systems.
Some countries emphasize assessment of vocational ability, recognized through
qualifications, as important for employment stability, improved remuneration, and
quick and efficient recruitment. Recognition of vocational ability is also expected
to reduce risks related to employment, on both the employer’s and the employee’s
side, by preventing mismatches engendered through poor information about work-
ers’ skills. Many countries report that rapid economic growth has produced skills
shortages and this has exerted pressure to develop the VET system by creating
more-efficient and faster responses to changes and emerging needs in the labour
market.
Another pressure on VET systems arises from the potential advantages of mobil-
ity of labour and the expectation that they should deliver international recognition
of skills, including the recognition of formal, informal and non-formal learning that
has been carried out in other countries. Among the European Union (EU) countries,
there is a commitment to increase mobility of workers and learners across country
boundaries. This requires transparency in VET systems and encourages countries
to build education and qualification structures that are consistent with other coun-
tries in the Union. Recent proposals for a European Qualifications Framework are
designed to make it easier for one national qualifications system to articulate with
another, without superseding national systems. The European Qualifications Frame-
work will also provide a further means of comparison through the referencing of
national qualifications to a single set of levels.
In many countries, low population growth coupled with increased demand for
high skills has focused attention on growing skill shortages. This means that older
people need to be provided with learning opportunities reflecting change in working
practices, a policy challenge to which many countries have been slow to respond.
Clearly, the outflow of older skilled workers, resulting in a waste of knowledge and
expertise, can also lead to pressures on labour markets, and this is exacerbated in
most European countries by recent trends for earlier retirement, particularly among
males. The demographic shift has had an impact on the need for (re)training older
people, on retirement schemes, pension funding and family life.
Several countries highlight the challenges VET systems face as a result of im-
migration flows. These pressures include the need to identify skills gained in other
countries compared to the national skills recognition system, as well as the need
to accept learning that has not been previously recognized through qualifications.
There is pressure for more flexible vocational education and training systems for
people in disadvantaged situations as a means of improving social inclusion through
education and subsequently work.
Social and cultural issues are therefore not divorced from the economic, demo-
graphic and immigration issues noted above. At the same time, it is generally recog-
nized that people engage in learning for economic reasons, to improve employment
prospects, and for personal development and social reasons—social status, better
citizenship and so on. These pressures also include a perception of the need to
broaden the current provision of education to include such aspects as values, be-
haviour and citizenship. There is also a requirement to offer learners more choice
and more flexible ways of gaining credit for their learning. The need to give recog-
nition to informal and non-formal learning also falls into this category.
Technological innovations and the global spread of information and communi-
cations technologies are creating pressure for countries to be using the most up-
to-date methods of production and service provision. The move towards leaner
production systems and working organizations—and the risk of rising unemploy-
ment rates—brings with it a need for enhanced training and retraining in the use of
new technologies. This means that qualifications systems need to adapt to allow the
recognition of new knowledge, skills and wider competences related to the use of
new technologies.
The pressure to develop learning opportunities means that, in some countries,

providers have been required to differentiate course offerings in response to more
selective demand. This pressure has had a strong impact on the growing amount
of VET provision at post-secondary and higher education levels in many countries
over recent years. This demand is expected to grow as lifelong learning provision
expands and develops the need for even more learning (Leney et al., 2005). De-
veloping VET as part of lifelong learning requires examination of the structure of
provision, including: (a) the links between working life, schools and higher edu-
cation; (b) the content of programmes; (c) the quality and relevance of provision;
(d) resource provision and management; and (e) the roles and responsibilities of
different partners and stakeholders. Countries in an OECD study (2006) accept
that there is an argument for allowing scope for lifelong learning goals to shape
the way the education and training system operates. Stronger linkages are needed
between learning at different stages of life and between the formal and the in-
formal structures. Countries suggest that more diverse settings for learning will
be needed and different partnerships between funders, providers and qualification
bodies will be needed leading to more integrated provision. In future, departures
from the existing VET infrastructures are likely to be substantial, at least for some
countries.
The fact that all of these pressures on VET systems are common to many coun-
tries might be expected to add impetus to their reform agendas. It would probably
not be the case, though, that common pressures for reform would lead to common
responses. The country or regional context will require bespoke solutions. How-
ever, the elements of changing VET infrastructure might be expected to show some
commonality and the process of change itself could have features that result from
policy-learning about reforms and trials in other countries and regions.
3 Instruments from the EU Experience

The European Commission—working with the member states—has a remit for the
development of some policies in the field of education and training. In certain policy
areas, member states have transferred responsibility to the EU so that the Union can
use ‘hard’ methods of co-ordination, but for other policy areas, such as lifelong
learning, including VET, subsidiarity prevails. This means that member states re-
tain responsibility for legislation, policy development and implementation. In VET,
therefore, the European Union cannot mandate but has to find ‘softer’ policy tools—
involving voluntary co-operation. Obviously, this limits the policy instruments avail-
able at the European level that have an impact on an area such as VET, for which
governments are determined to retain their autonomy. The range of policy levers that
could (but may not) be used for the European level development of VET is shown
in Table 1.
Table 1 shows that in the case of lifelong learning (including VET) subsidiarity
means that mandates and inducements have limited use. The EU can create leverage
in some circumstances through capacity-building and systems changing, as the use
Table 1 Policy levers and the open method of co-ordination (OMC)

Policy instrument Policy assumptions and Lever for EU under the rule
expected effects of subsidiarity?
Mandates Capacity to demand No
Rules intended to produce compliance. Most will
compliance. comply but maybe not all.
Inducements Sufficient funding provided No
Transfer of money in to generate results; funding
return for certain actions. drives change, also with
unintended outcomes.
Capacity-building Some funding to initiate To a limited extent
Transfer of money for change: Expect/hope that
purposes of longer-term best practice models
investments. produce cascade or
‘pump-priming’
innovation.
Systems changing New entrants to old Indirectly—e.g. in-sector
Transfer of authority to institutions that are not reforms through
alter system of delivery. producing results generate encouraging social
change or reform. partner activity or
Leonardo programmes.
Hortation Assumes players are Yes. The Lisbon process
Use of proclamations, motivated by images, and OMC.
speeches, public relations symbols or values.
campaigns to exhort people
to take the needed action.
Deliberative change Relies on collaboration in Yes. The Lisbon process
Voluntary and experimental activity and and OMC.
collaborative change the identification and
processes—bottom-up voluntary exchange of
reform, usually encouraged good practice, etc.
from higher up.
of European structural and regional funds demonstrate. The reform of VET and
further education in Ireland is a case of EU capacity-building, in that consolidation
funding—which is the additional funding made available to Ireland, Spain, Greece
and Portugal when they first joined the EU—made a significant contribution to re-
forms. However, ‘hortation’ and ‘deliberative change’ are the main policy instru-
ments used to drive education and training policy at the European level.
The ‘soft’ method of European co-ordination for VET and several other policy
areas is a form of co-operation between governments, social partners and other
European stakeholders. It is known as the open method of co-ordination (OMC),
which is intended as a means of spreading best practice and encouraging greater
convergence towards the main EU goals. The four key stages agreed for the open
method of co-ordination, as they apply to education and training, are:
1. identifying priorities and benchmarks;

2. conducting benchmarking exercises to gauge the progress of the EU member
states towards the identified benchmarks;
3. identifying instances of good practice and best practice;

4. through peer review, finding effective and practical ways to share best practice.
At the time of writing, the OMC is still a young policy instrument for education and
training in the European Union. As a ‘bottom up’ method for sharing and developing
best practice, it is being relied on to generate innovation in VET. This depends on
the willingness of the stakeholders to make progress, rather than respond to ‘top
down’ mandates and inducements. In the first two or three years of operation, OMC
in education and training has concentrated on the first stages—identifying priori-
ties and benchmarks; conducting benchmarking exercises within the constraints of
available data, and beginning to identify good practice, particularly in aspects such
as quality assurance, advice and guidance, the recognition of informal and non-
formal learning, and developing a European Qualifications Framework as a point of
reference. With lifelong learning, including VET, identified as of high importance to
the development of a knowledge society and a knowledge economy, the fourth stage
of OMC—called variously peer review, policy-learning and bench learning—now
has to play a key role. Such a process across nations and systems is by no means
straightforward. Different traditions, drivers and barriers may frustrate the attempt
to identify the extent to which good practice can readily transfer from one system to
another.
4 Benchmarking to Bench Learning
It is the pressures to change VET systems, and the instruments in place to support
the process of creating greater articulation between the systems in different countries
and regions, that have created an awareness of the need to move away from com-
parative performance to a greater focus on understanding the dynamics of system
change in different country settings. In the past, the setting out of high-class bench-
marks based on the best-known country practice was thought to have the potential to
stimulate VET performance in countries with lower performing systems. A respect
for the knowledge of local conditions (opportunities and constraints) was probably
amongst the motives for such an approach. These local conditions were thought
to be the dominant determinant of the shape of reforms. There were probably po-
litical pressures too arising from the dangers of explicit interference by European
development programmes with the governance of processes within European Union
member states or regions.
The focus has shifted to a more mature policy of sharing, co-operation and mutual
support for national and regional reforms across borders, as witnessed by the co-
operation programmes led by the Education and Training Foundation in the Euro-
pean Union candidate and accession countries. Policy-learning is a well-researched
tool that defines a process where the experience gained in different country contexts
for reform is of value to outside observers. It is now accepted that the various pro-
cesses of policy-learning are more likely to lead to stable and effective outcomes
of reform processes than the simplistic notion of policy borrowing. Contextual
differences in countries and regions are not something that can be controlled as in
a scientific experiment. They are powerful, pervasive and valued and are therefore
generally non-negotiable. The process of VET reforms can be enhanced by ensuring
that key players have exposure to the advantages and disadvantages of different
models of VET systems and access to experts who can interpret the evidence for
policy-making, whilst respecting national infrastructures and resisting over-complex
solutions and simplistic, rapid routes to decisions. Interaction with managers and
policy-makers from other jurisdictions can safeguard and optimize the impact of
the exposure phase. Similarly, interactions with models of implementation, such as
scenarios (Leney et al., 2004) of VET reform and implementation over different
time-scales, are also potentially useful tools. The third stage of policy-learning is
adaptation of features of other VET models to the national setting. This stage brings
the opportunity for consultation and developing of ownership of the emerging model
and a first clear sight of major obstacles to implementation. Finally, policy-learning
can use the opportunity to conduct evaluation of the preferred model by using
international experience of VET design. In summary, policy-learning can play a
useful role in VET reform by providing a network of external reference points for
informing decision-making.
Some writers have suggested that the most fertile ground for policy-learning be-
tween countries exists where there are strong similarities between systems. This is
not necessarily the case. For example, Finland’s education and training systems have
‘borrowed’ effectively from similar systems (comprehensive schooling, learned
substantially for the Swedish model in the 1980s) and from dissimilar systems
(competence-based qualifications for adults in the workforce, adapted from a United
Kingdom innovation in the 1990s). Rather, it is important to identify the kind of
policy-learning that is appropriate to particular problems and challenges. Based on
work developed in the Scottish Further Education Unit (McCann & Donald, 2005),
which adapted ideas about technology transfer to the world of VET, we can distin-
guish at least three forms of collaborative innovation for VET. These are:
1. Knowledge transfer initiation. This refers to a situation in which activity cre-

ates new approaches, services or products that can create innovation. This could
take place by way of collaborative research and development, resulting in new
solutions to common problems. Long-term development.
2. Knowledge transfer adoption. This occurs when an agency engages with an ex-
isting knowledge base (perhaps a tool, policy or strategic approach being used in
another country) in order to achieve some specific change. This approach may be
close to the model envisaged in the European Commission’s peer learning pilot.
An obvious danger to avoid is the simple trap: ‘policy borrowing’. While there
are examples of success through policy borrowing, there are many examples
of failure. The purpose remains ‘policy-learning’ in most cases. Medium- and
perhaps short-term development.
3. Knowledge transfer capacity-building. This refers not to a specific product but
to building the capacity for change. Activities in this area emphasize building
the drivers for change, overcoming barriers and building capacity, rather than
zooming in on particular initiatives. Medium to long term.
Beyond these formal mechanisms, the reflective outcome of exploring different
approaches to similar issues or problems may itself create an environment for
innovation.
5 Facilitating and Managing Regional Learning
Having set out the factors that are driving changes to VET (and by implication
VET delivery systems), together with a description of the processes in place in
Europe for facilitating co-operation, it is useful to examine some case studies of
how such processes actually work. Five short case studies follow that are selected
to cover the different levels of co-operation that are possible. The Maastricht study
provides an opportunity to examine (from a European perspective) national policy
goals, progress towards those goals and research evidence that might be useful in
shaping future policy responses. The second case study examines the methods used
to support national reforms with information and expertise on an on-going basis
for countries in the process of VET reform. The third case study examines the
ways the infrastructure of the proposed European Qualifications Framework (EQF)
can support national reform. Moving to a level closer to the workplace, the fourth
case study examines attempts to facilitate policy-learning across enterprises within
a sector. Finally, a case study is included highlighting some issues at the level of the
individual when mobility of labour across borders is encouraged.
5.1 The Maastricht Study and Communiqué

The Maastricht study (Leney et al., 2005) was the first comprehensive overview
of developments and trends in vocational education and training in the thirty-one
European countries that agreed to the Copenhagen Declaration on enhanced Euro-
pean co-operation in VET in 2002. The study assessed the contribution of VET to
achieving the Lisbon Goal from an economic and social perspective.
The study concluded that initial VET is well developed in most countries and
can be seen as contributing to the EU benchmark of young people completing upper
secondary education. However, the study suggested that attention must be given to
improving the quality and flexibility of initial vocational education and training if
it is to continue to attract adequate numbers of young people in the future. Better
links to general and higher education are also needed, as well as flexible pathways
encouraging young people to improve their range of competences and progress to
higher levels.
Continuing vocational training is reported as an area of major concern. Too few
Europeans participate and their existing levels of skills and educational attainment
are lower than their counterparts in competing countries. Continuing vocational
training should support the competitiveness of the European economy by upgrad-

ing the competences of the whole workforce, and especially the low skilled, who
currently receive very little training. Continuing vocational training also needs to
address the problem of the ageing European workforce, and the training of older
workers so as to encourage them to remain longer in employment. Immigrants will
also need training to take their places in communities. Facilitating learning at the
workplace itself is essential in all of this.
Finally, the report suggests that innovation in teaching and learning needs to
become a major action. This important aspect has been omitted from European
co-operation in VET thus far, and reinforced attention should be given to the train-
ing and competence development of VET teachers and trainers, and to their frag-
mented profession. In other respects, the blend of current priorities and actions
resulting from the Copenhagen Declaration are found by Member States to be
appropriate.
Commenting on the study, EU Commissioner Jan Figel concluded that:
The findings of this study influenced the Maastricht Communiqué and in particular inspired
the priorities set at national level. [. . .] The study brings to our notice factors that will
influence our VET systems profoundly in the coming years. [. . .] In the spirit of cultivating
the Open Method of Co-ordination, this study is rich in examples of good practice, used to
illustrate where countries are innovating and doing well (European Commission, 2004)
In 2006, the European Commission organized a follow-up to the Maastricht Study,

to coincide with the VET priorities of Finland’s presidency of the European Union.
5.2 Institutions for Catalysing Knowledge-Sharing

in VET Practices
There are many organizations and networks that facilitate knowledge-sharing be-
tween countries. Universities, professional bodies and international businesses are
good examples. Research organizations also facilitate exchange, such as the Eu-
ropean Centre for Educational Research, the Vocational Education and Training
Network and the International Vocational Education and Training Association.
However, whilst all of these organizations serve to inform policy directions in one
way or another, and offer the possibility of capacity-building, they do not offer di-
rect, on-going practical advice that is relevant to policy-makers. This challenge is
taken up in the main by two EU-funded bodies that engage in a co-ordinated way in
supporting VET reform.
The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP),1
established in 1975, is the reference centre for vocational education and training.
It does this by providing information on and analyses of vocational education and
training systems, policies, research and practice. CEDEFOP’s tasks are to:
r compile selected documentation and analyses of data;
r contribute to developing and co-ordinating research;
r exploit and disseminate information;
r encourage joint approaches to vocational education and training problems;

r provide a forum for debate and exchanges of ideas.
The Education and Training Foundation (ETF)2 works with developing economies
(candidate countries, South-Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and
the Mediterranean region) in promoting knowledge-sharing and expertise develop-
ment in the belief that education and training can make a fundamental contribution to
increasing prosperity, creating sustainable growth and encouraging social inclusion.
The ETF has a clear agenda for promoting integration through VET and in promoting
integration by means of VET reform and policy-learning. For example, its priorities
are to:
r assess progress and future priorities for reform in partner countries in vocational
education and training and its links to socio-economic development;
r design, monitor and assess projects at the request of the European Commission;
r build capacity so that policy-makers and practitioners in partner countries play a
full role in modernizing their vocational education and training systems;
r contribute actively to international debate on reform in transition countries. In
particular, it may draw on relevant experience in the EU to pilot innovative ap-
proaches to reform in partner countries;
r facilitate dialogue amongst stakeholders by developing international, national
and local networks.
It is difficult to describe the impact of these two bodies because their span of activ-
ities is large and the networks associated with them are vast. The time-scales over
which knowledge capital develops also vary enormously, making impact difficult
to measure. However, the authors believe that these two bodies make a substantial
impact on European and national policy development and implementation, research
knowledge, skills capacity, workplace development and European co-ordination and
integration. Both centres offer serious levels of support to VET professionals, the
infrastructures of enterprises, and training and policy planners. Working in the field
of VET over the last twenty years has created a knowledge base that can support
policy-learning through making available resources (expertise) and helping with the
management of projects and reforms. Thus, CEDEFOP has built up expertise in
areas such as cross-country sectoral development and e-learning, while the ETF
provides expert analytical and developmental support in forging links between VET
and labour-market reform.
5.3 The European Qualifications Framework—EQF
The interface between one VET system and another is most obvious when the qual-
ifications of trained people are compared. If skilled people are to be able to move to
new positions in different systems to fill vacancies, and if recruiters are to look out-
side their ‘home’ market, it is essential that qualifications systems can articulate one
with another. The existence of a translation device, such as the proposed European
Qualifications Framework (EQF), makes this articulation possible.3 The EQF also
sets out a series of progressive steps in qualifications that cross the boundaries be-
tween schooling, higher education and work-based education and training. In this
way the EQF is a framework for lifelong learning.
The EQF is a meta framework—it works on the basis that each country, region or
employment sector has its own qualifications framework or frameworks. These local
frameworks are the means of recognizing qualifications that support local people
and enterprises because they are built to play a part in a training infrastructure. It
is possible for all VET systems to link qualifications frameworks to the EQF and,
therefore, by using the EQF levels, it becomes possible to compare one framework
with another. The market for skills and jobs is potentially larger as a result. Thus,
the EQF is at the same time respectful of local qualifications systems and opens up
frameworks for use outside countries, regions and sectors.
The EQF proposals have been developed through close scrutiny of current prac-
tice in countries, regions and sectors. It draws on the strengths of different VET
systems and, therefore, is a tool for the exchange of good practice in terms of qual-
ification levels for VET. This is an important dimension for one system to influence
another.
The EQF proposals ask questions of countries and sectors. The proposals are
constructed on the basis of learning outcomes.4 In order to compare a framework
to the EQF level, it is helpful if the local framework levels are described as out-
comes too. This is often not the case and therefore the EQF applies an integrating
pressure for all qualifications frameworks to be clear in terms of learning outcomes
from the qualification process, instead of simply defining the learning inputs and
the infrastructure that makes these inputs possible. This pressure to use learning
outcomes is a powerful tool for enabling examination of the qualification systems
from the viewpoint of learners (What is it precisely that I will learn? How does this
compare to what I have already learned?) and the enterprise (Is this qualification
level from country X what I need? Do these learning outcomes equate with the
work practice I intend to establish?). The content, supporting infrastructure and the
efficiency become more transparent within the country and to outsiders. This brings
with it the possibility of evaluation and reforms that will improve the quality of VET
and the system that delivers it.
The EQF proposals are based on eight levels (Coles & Oates, 2004). Countries
with more or less than eight levels in their frameworks may find pressure to adapt
to an eight-level approach so that articulation with the EQF and, consequently, the
frameworks in other countries is more straightforward. In this way, the EQF is not
likely to be an entirely neutral translation device. The EQF proposals make it clear
that, in addition to all else, it is a means of fostering change. This change is in the di-
rection of the Lisbon Goal of a better market for skills that will offer more and better
jobs for European citizens. The EQF is potentially a powerful integrating influence,
not just within Europe but also in its articulation with markets and qualifications
systems around the world.
5.4 Sectoral Development
The sectoral dimension is a key focus for co-operation at the European level. Some
sectors have been quick to take initiatives in this respect. European co-operation
taking up the theme of ICT penetration and sectoral convergence serves as a good
example.
ICT penetration and sectoral convergence is an important driver for a European
sectoral approach to skills and qualifications. In a sector like manufacturing, which
is highly regulated with clear occupational profiles, technological changes—and
especially ICTs as a driver of change—are eroding existing qualification profiles.
In services, developments such as e-commerce also impact on jobs at all levels. In
sectors such as ICTs a perceived slow response level in public education and training
systems has spurred sectoral initiatives. In 2002/2003 CEDEFOP commissioned a
series of studies on innovation of qualification profiles and curricula in Europe in
ICT-user industries.
The European Monitoring Centre on Change has also recently commissioned a
number of studies in fields such as finance, fishing, media and graphics, textiles
and the automobile industry, all of which show the same tendencies. Similarly, the
Leonardo da Vinci programme has initiated a number of projects to develop sectoral
training modules, assessment standards, and certificates and diplomas.
5.5 Mobility across Borders
The 1990s saw immigration trends and patterns emerge with new flows coming
from the countries of Eastern Europe and movements resulting from social insta-
bility in the Balkans. Migratory flows today are composed of various categories of
persons: asylum seekers, displaced persons, persons requiring temporary protection,
members of the family of an immigrant already established in the European Union,
migrant workers and persons involved in business migration (of whom the numbers
are growing) or tertiary/higher education.
In 2004, the EU embarked upon a further round of enlargement, accepting ten
new member states, predominantly from Central and Eastern Europe. Only the
United Kingdom, Ireland and Sweden did not set up temporary arrangements for
restricting labour market migration, thus allowing free movement of workers from
the new EU Member States.
Current research has broadly confirmed this movement as making a positive con-
tribution to those labour markets open to workers from the wider EU, although there
is a developing trend of failure to recognize the full value of qualification of migrant
workers in many sectors (Anderson et al., 2006). However, sectoral co-operation and
EU-funded programmes are likely to place emphasis upon improving recognition.
Successful introduction (and further development) of measures such as the Euro-
pean Qualifications Framework, the European Credit System for VET (ECVET), the
European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) and EU mobility schemes have played an
important role in the EU’s Integrated Programme for Lifelong Learning. Schemes
such as Europass aim to increase transparency between the education systems of

the EU countries by providing a single structure for the recognition of qualifica-
tions and competences across Europe. It seeks to aid mobility in education and
will incorporate five already-existing recognition-based initiatives into one coherent
framework. It demonstrates a commitment to lifelong learning and new technologies
by placing Europass on the Internet where users can update it as and when they
gain new qualifications. The five existing programmes that will be absorbed into
Europass are: the European CV; the European Language Portfolio; the MobiliPass;
the Certificate Supplement; and the Diploma Supplement. Other similar instruments
may be added to Europass in future.
Regionalization of VET structures also facilitates cross-border mobility by cap-
italizing on the trust that develops between all partners in education and training
systems that are common and therefore more fully understood.
6 Towards Lifelong Learning Policies
In 2005, the education and labour ministries of thirty-two European countries,

including the twenty-five EU member states, submitted national reports to the
European Commission on the state of development and implementation of their
lifelong learning policies. The resulting Communication, ratified by the European
Parliament and Council, and the accompanying report provide a careful stocktaking
analysis of the state of development across six major aspects of lifelong learning,
including the comprehensiveness of lifelong learning policies in the EU member
states, funding, VET and higher education. The Communication makes clear rec-
ommendations for further progress at European and national levels.
For VET, the following conclusions are reached:
The implementation of the instruments and tools developed under the Copenhagen process
is at too early a stage for countries to be able to present concrete results, but countries have
established priorities for implementation at national level. In most countries, improving the
attractiveness of VET is a key concern and a range of policies and measures are being
actively implemented to improve the infrastructures and funding, to put in place or consol-
idate pathways and reduce obstacles to transfers from one type of provision to another, to
modernise the curricula and create flexibility in its delivery and to adapt teacher training.
A second crucial approach, which is receiving substantial attention, concerns strengthen-
ing links with the stakeholders, social partners and enterprises. Guidance and counseling
systems are undergoing development in some countries, but this issue still needs more con-
certed attention.
It is clear from the reports that a large majority of the countries express concerns with
the needs of low-skilled citizens and disadvantaged groups and are implementing a range of
policy approaches. However there is a lack of information on the non-formal and informal
sectors, which makes it difficult to assess the full range of measures in all the countries. The
European Inventory on validation of non-formal learning should help alleviate this problem.
The participation of older workers in training is not showing marked improvements.
However, an increasing number of countries are putting in place measures for the valida-
tion of prior learning and experience and for non-formal and informal learning. In order
to achieve the Lisbon goals in this respect, more consideration and a higher priority level
will be necessary. Increasing the relevance of VET by reforming and improving the links of
VET with the labour market, the social partners and other stakeholders is of core concern
for a large majority of countries. In most of the countries, there is an ongoing process of
reviewing and adapting procedures and structures, which includes setting up tripartite or
sectoral mechanisms to underpin the process of developing and updating qualifications.
The early identification of skills and needs raises challenges for vocational education and
training which are difficult, complex, costly and of longstanding. Overall the reports do not
provide sufficient information to make it possible to determine the extent to which countries
are developing mechanisms for anticipating skills shortages, gaps and deficiencies.
In relation to the major challenge of increasing the access to training and professional
development for VET professionals, measures which are being taken for VET teachers
should be adapted and extended to trainers who currently seem to be the group most in
need of attention (European Commission, 2005, p. 51).
As we have indicated, lifelong learning is accorded a key role in Europe’s agenda

for competitiveness, employment growth and social inclusion/cohesion as part of the
Lisbon Goals, and VET is a major component of lifelong learning in many Euro-
pean countries. Therefore, it is worth noting the key conclusions that the report and
communication reach about the current state of development and implementation
of lifelong learning policies at the national level across Europe. Progress has been
made towards the agreed goal that lifelong learning strategies should be put in place
in all Member States by 2006. Many—but by no means all—countries have now
developed lifelong learning policy statements; for example, strategy documents or
national action plans. Others have put in place framework legislation. It is still the
case, however, that strategies remain imbalanced. There is a tendency either to focus
on employability or on re-engaging those who have become alienated from educa-
tion. It is encouraging that some countries, like Sweden, Denmark, Finland and
Norway, are well on their way to achieving a national approach which is coherent
and comprehensive, and are making strong progress on implementation. Even so,
many countries still have much to do to achieve the agreed benchmarks for education
and training.
7 Conclusion
Vocational education and training has been traditionally viewed as most relevant
to the micro setting—where workers engage with specific tasks in enterprises and
services. The internationalization of markets has gradually transformed VET into a
system with a much stronger dependence on interacting with markets outside local
communities and beyond national boundaries. This has led to a greater level of re-
gional co-operation in developing people with the skills needed in this wider market.
Recruitment has also stretched across boundaries and has been another factor for
regional co-operation. Within the European Union, political, financial and social
structures have developed which are designed to optimize the value of VET from
the regional perspective.
Notes
1. <www.cedefop.eu.int>
2. <www.etf.eu.int>
3. <www.europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/educ/eqf/>
4. Learning outcomes are statements of what a learner is expected to know, understand and/or be
able to demonstrate after completion of a process of learning
References
Anderson, B. et al. 2006. Fair enough? Central and East European migrants in low-wage employ-
ment in the UK. York, UK: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Coles, M.; Oates, T, 2004. European reference levels for education and training: an important
parameter for promoting credit transfer and mutual trust. Thessaloniki, Greece: CEDEFOP.
European Commission. 2004. The future priorities of enhanced European cooperation in voca-
tional education and training (VET). Brussels: European Commision. (The Maastricht Com-
muniqué.) <ec.europa.eu/education/news/ip/docs/maastricht com en.pdf>
European Commission. 2005. Communication from the Commission: modernising education and
training: a vital contribution to prosperity and social cohesion in Europe. Brussels: European
Commission. (10.11.05.COM(2005) final.)
Leney, T. et al. 2004. Scenarios toolkit. Thessaloniki, Greece: CEDEFOP. (Dossier series 8.)
Leney, T. et al. 2005. Achieving the Lisbon Goal: the contribution of VET. Brussels: European
Commission.
McCann, J.; Donald, G. 2005. Initiating, adopting and building knowledge transfer in Scotland’s
colleges. Stirling, UK: SFEU.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2006. Qualifications systems: bridges
to lifelong learning. Paris: OECD.
Chapter III.5
Vocational Education, Training Reform
and Regional Integration in the Middle East
1 Introduction
With the onset of globalization and escalating technological developments, com-

bined with local, regional and international networks and interconnections, mainly
in the economic and technical fields, pressure is increasing on VET systems in the
Arab Region to better respond to or even to anticipate in some respects, new socio-
economic requirements and labour market needs (Lasonen, 1999).
Increasing competitiveness on the local, regional and international levels has
already resulted in growing demands for improving qualification standards in the
workforce. But labour markets and vocational education and training systems are
ill-prepared to respond to these challenges. On the labour market, we witness a
relatively high rate of youth unemployment and low participation rates of women,
side-by-side with increasing regional labour mobility. Prevailing VET systems still
need to be transformed from predominantly supply-driven into balanced supply-
demand-driven systems. VET systems are relatively expensive and overall funding
and efficiency remain problematic. There are also still weak linkages and channels
with higher education within the concept of lifelong learning. Finally, the role of
the private sector in the planning and implementation of VET programmes, as well
as human resources and development (HRD) programmes in general, is very weak
(Wallenborn et al., 2003).
A regional approach to VET in the Arab region has been going on for a long time,
although at a modest level. Until recently, such regional efforts took place either
on a bilateral basis or through regional organizations (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 1998).
Organizations playing an active role in the field of HRD in general and VET in
particular included the Arab Labour Organization (ALO), the Arab League Educa-
tional, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO), the Arab Union for Tech-
nician Education, and the Arab Universities Union. More recently, international
organizations became more active in their regional approach to VET issues and
needs. Such organizations also included UNESCO-UNEVOC, the International
Labour Organization (ILO), the European Training Foundation (ETF), the Deutsche
Gesellschaft für technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) and other bilateral donor agen-
cies. The overall impact, however, has been limited and very uneven in individual
countries.

428 M.W. Masri
More emphasis on regional co-operation and exchange therefore would undoubt-

edly help individual countries in the region to develop appropriate responses to the
challenges they are facing. There are some lessons to be learned, however, from
regional projects that have been implemented so far.
2 Regional Priorities
It is worthwhile emphasizing here that many of the issues, fields and challenges of
VET benefit well from a regional approach with the possibility of high potential
returns—both technically and economically. The areas that can benefit most from
such approaches, while maintaining the diversity and specificity of offerings, in-
clude practically all key areas of vocational education and training.
r Occupational classifications and standards: The regional feasibility of this area

is further supported by the need for regional, as well as international, compati-
bility of such classifications and standards.
r Testing, certification and qualification frameworks and standards: This is be-
coming more and more important from a regional perspective due to increasing
labour mobility, as well as the pressures of competitiveness and globalization.
r Curriculum development: Regional efforts in this area would deal mainly with
methodologies, the exchange of experience, standards and labour-market rele-
vance criteria. This does not exclude the utilization of common curricula and
education/training material, as was the case for some efforts in the past.
r Teacher education and training: This area is concerned with pre-service sys-
tems for the preparation of VET instructors, as well as their in-service training.
It can also be concerned with the in-service training of enterprise supervisors,
who are expected to undertake some training functions for trainees, apprentices,
new recruits, etc. The training of trainers is another relevant area of concern that
warrants the availability of regional and excellence centres to offer services to
the concerned countries (Grootings & Nielsen, 2005).
r Career guidance, counselling and employment services: The importance and
general nature of such services would warrant a regional approach, especially
with the introduction of on-line systems.
r System development: This area would deal with such topics as governance, fund-
ing sources, legislative tools, school-based versus co-operative (dual) systems,
etc. The fact that there are great similarities among Arab VET systems renders
credibility to any regional approaches to VET system development.
r Publications: the importance of this area stems from the fact that, apart from
textbooks and formal training material, publication efforts in the field of VET in
Arabic language are relatively modest. Needless to say, a pool of such publica-
tions for the use of learners, instructors and researchers would be beneficial in
supporting the VET mission, locally and regionally.
III.5 Training Reform and Regional Integration in the Middle East 429
3 Principles and Criteria
To ensure relevance and credibility to a regional approach to the development of

VET, activities and programmes should be carefully designed and implemented. A
number of principles and criteria should guide regional co-operation.
First of all, there has to be real commitment in individual countries at the pol-
icy level by the relevant governmental and private agencies. There also has to be
involvement of experts and/or agencies from the various member countries in the
planning, implementation and utilization stages. This should secure sufficient levels
of ownership by the relevant national agencies in the public and private sectors.
Regional projects and programmes also need to be relevant to the countries’ needs
and the latter should clearly see the benefit and added value of engaging in regional
projects. Finally, an important dimension of any regional project has to be the sus-
tainability of outcomes through the continuous availability of human and material
resources to ensure impact and follow-up on developments.
To be successful, VET projects should be designed using a regional approach.
This means that the dimension of ‘regionality’ at the planning, implementation and
utilization stages of the relevant activities should be defined and highlighted. This
can be ensured by identifying issues that are of common interest to the member
countries, and from which regionally relevant activities and specific projects can be
derived. Experts and officials from the participating countries should be involved
in this process in order to ensure commitment at the implementation stage later on.
This should happen both at the operational and policy level with a view to securing
sustainability and continuity. After all, the aim of regional projects is to assist in
national-level changes.
To be adequately utilized, regional VET projects should be owned and sustained
by the relevant agency or agencies in each country. After a regional project has
come to an end, focal institutions in each country should therefore follow-up on
the utilization of the outputs of projects and submit assessment reports accordingly.
They should also undertake studies to evaluate the degree of utilization and the
impact of project outputs in individual countries. By establishing networking ca-
pacities among the national institutions, the sharing of experiences at the regional
level could have an additional positive impact on developments in national systems.
The nature and objectives of VET—essentially preparing learners for employ-
ment in private as well as public enterprises—make it of prime importance that
public/private partnership be enhanced and adopted as one of the criteria for choos-
ing projects. Such partnerships can be enhanced at the planning, implementation
and utilization stages (Gill, Fluitman & Dar, 2000).
At the planning stage, public/private partnership can be enhanced through the
active participation of employers’ representatives in all planning activities at the
policy and management levels. On the other hand, public/private partnership should
have an impact in the objectives set for the chosen activities and projects. This is
mainly ensured through the relevance of projects to labour-market needs. Further-
more, employers would be expected to participate in the funding, governance and
sustainability of projects after implementation.
430 M.W. Masri
At the implementation stage, public/private partnership can be enhanced through

the same channels and activities referred to at the planning stage. In addition, em-
ployers’ representatives should participate extensively in expert groups involved in
the implementation of activities and projects (e.g. designing curricula, setting stan-
dards, etc.).
At the utilization stage, enterprises should display ownership as well as involve-
ment in making use of the outputs of projects. Follow-up and evaluation efforts,
including impact studies, help to assess the level of private-sector ownership and
involvement.
3.1 Evaluation and Assessment Considerations
The design of any activity or project should, at the planning stage, identify the
evaluation and assessment processes and techniques to be carried out during and
after implementation. For this purpose, a number of factors should be taken into
consideration.
Evaluation and assessment activities should, as far as possible, be undertaken by
neutral experts or agencies to ensure credibility and accuracy. They should cover
outputs, outcomes and, as much as possible, the impact of projects. External evalu-
ation does not exclude the need for internal or self-evaluation, which should clearly
be shown in the design of projects. Some activities and projects, by their nature,
benefit more if external evaluation is not left to the final stages of implementation.
Evaluation efforts during implementation help to introduce any necessary and useful
amendments at the appropriate time.
3.2 The Economics of Activities and Projects
The economics of implementation and operation is one of the important dimen-

sions that should be taken into consideration when choosing and designing projects
(Masri, 1994). All the relevant financial and funding aspects should thus be carefully
assessed with the objective of maximizing outcomes and impact. There are also some
other factors that should be taken into consideration. Funding should, of course, be
appropriate to the aims of the project, but should also be available in a balanced way to
all the countries involved, possibly and preferably matched with counterpart funding,
either in cash or in kind. The contracting international experts and consultants should
be kept to a minimum. This has the double advantage of economizing on expenditures
and enhancing capacity-building efforts in the partner countries.
3.3 Securing Impact for System Development
System development can, in general, be realized by catering for one or more of

the three groups of components that characterize education systems. These are the
inputs, the processes and the outputs.
In the case of VET systems, as in other education systems, the inputs include
such sub-components as curricula, instructors, administrators, learners, physical fa-
cilities, governance, legislative tools, evaluation, etc. The processes, on the other
hand, comprise such sub-components as teaching/training methodologies, adminis-
trative styles, learners’ out-of-class activities, etc. The outputs and outcomes include
such sub-components as the level of knowledge, skills and attitudes attained by the
learners, as well as the relevance to national developmental needs and to life in
general, including the labour market.
4 Regional and International Organizations: Roles and Efforts
In what follows, a number of international organizations that are relevant to regional

efforts and projects in the field of VET are briefly explored. These organizations all
share similar aims that are of benefit to individual countries. They provide exter-
nal assessment of VET systems and policies from the perspective of other regional
and international experts and organizations. By doing so, they also improve mutual
knowledge and understanding of VET systems, reforms and issues in other coun-
tries. All of them also establish channels and linkages that facilitate the exchange of
experiences on the regional and international levels and promote co-operation and
linkages at regional and international levels.
We shall present the key regional and international organizations that are cur-
rently active in the region and follow this up with a brief case study of a bi-lateral
co-operation project in vocational education and training.
4.1 Regional Organizations
4.1.1 Arab Labour Organization

The Arab Labour Organization (ALO) has its headquarters in Cairo. It is concerned
with labour issues, including skill and human resources development, mainly at the
informal occupational levels that comprise skilled workers and craftsmen. Activities
and projects in the field of skills and HRD development are undertaken through the
ALO technical arm, the Arab Centre for Human Resources Development (ACHRD)
which is located in Tripoli (Libya).
To promote the TVET mission through a regional approach, the ACHRD under-
takes such activities as:
r Regional conferences, workshops and seminars.
r Issuing publications on VET issues in the Arabic language, authored by writers
from different Arab countries. About thirty such publications have been issued
since 1990.
r Training workshops for teacher-trainers and officials involved in the implemen-
tation and governance of TVET systems.
432 M.W. Masri
r Networking among stakeholders in the Arab Region, through on-line and off-line
material and contacts.
4.1.2 Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization

ALECSO, which is the Arab counterpart of UNESCO, is an Arab League organiza-
tion that is concerned with education, culture and science. It has its headquarters in
Tunis, and although its mandate in VET is not markedly different from that of the
ALO, the diversification of its mandate leaves limited room for VET, with emphasis
on the formal systems that are usually school-based and institutionalized.
4.1.3 Arab Union for Technician Education

AUTE is mainly concerned with technical and vocational education, with most
of its activities directed towards intermediate university education that is usually
offered by post-secondary institutes and community colleges. It has its headquar-
ters at present in Tripoli (Libya). While the mandates of ALO and ACHRD are
concerned with the basic occupational levels in VET, that of AUTE deals more
with intermediate occupational levels for the preparation of technicians and sub-
professionals. The scope and type of activities are, nevertheless, similar for both
organizations.
4.1.4 Union of Arab Universities

As its name implies, the Union of Arab Universities (UAU) is mainly concerned
with university education. It has its headquarters in Amman (Jordan), and the UAU
role in VET is manifested in three areas: (a) scientific research and studies that deal
with the various VET issues, including post-graduate studies and theses; (b) pre-
service and in-service education and training for VET instructors; and (iii) design
of university admission standards and criteria for graduates of VET institutions and
programmes.
4.2 International Organizations
4.2.1 UNESCO-UNEVOC Network and International Centre for TVET

The UNEVOC Network covers the world and comprises specialized institutions
in technical and vocational education and training (TVET). These institutions are
called UNEVOC centres. The general objective of the network is to support devel-
opments in national TVET systems through:
r Enhancing regional and international co-operation through the diffusion and
sharing of information and best practices;
r Promoting experimentation and innovation; and
r Supporting a dialogue among researchers, policy-makers and practitioners who

work in the field of technical and vocational education and training.
UNEVOC was established in 1992 by UNESCO to act as a platform for regional

and international co-operation in the field of TVET. At present there are more than
220 UNEVOC centres in more than 155 UNESCO Member States. In 2002, the
and Training was inaugurated to strengthen the UNEVOC network. It is based in
Bonn, Germany.
Although the UNEVOC network is international in scope, the great majority of
its activities are of a regional nature, implemented under the umbrella of UNESCO’s
regional and field offices. In the Arab Region, such offices exist in Beirut (Lebanon),
Cairo (Egypt), Amman (Jordan), the Gulf, etc. UNEVOC centres can be found in
some Arab countries.
More recently, a UNESCO-UNEVOC e-Forum was established, providing a free-
of-charge e-mail list service to those joining the forum: (a) to help them to connect
with experts in TVET from around the world; (b) to identify partners for regional
and international co-operation in research and development that targets TVET issues
and topics; (c) to pose questions on TVET and obtain authoritative answers from
experts in the field; (d) to obtain essential information on TVET development in
such fields as curriculum, instructor training, etc.; and (e) to share thoughts and gain
access to useful information about TVET.
4.2.2 The European Training Foundation

The ETF is an agency of the European Union that started its operations in Turin
(Italy) in 1994 with a mission to assist partner countries in developing quality ed-
ucation and training systems and to enable them to reform their VET systems. The
ETF partner countries include many in the Arab Region, mainly along the south and
east coasts of the Mediterranean, through the MEDA programme.
ETF shares expertise and advice on policies in education and training across
regions and cultures. Each year, its work programme comprises a group of projects
that are implemented in the partner countries to facilitate the reform of VET and em-
ployment systems. A regional approach is frequently utilized in such programmes
and projects. Such an approach, when deemed feasible, helps to spread experience in
the development of VET systems, in addition to maximizing outcomes and returns
on the relevant projects.
The areas of concern of ETF up until the present cover many themes that are rele-
vant to VET, such as VET policies, teacher and trainer training, training for poverty
alleviation, adult and lifelong learning, employment and the labour market, national
qualifications frameworks, etc. In addition to its annual Yearbook, ETF publications
cover a wide variety of topics that reflect national and regional developments and
experiences in the field of VET. On the regional level, expert meetings, peer reviews,
seminars, etc., help to exchange experiences and establish contacts and channels of
434 M.W. Masri
communication that assist practitioners, decision-makers and policy-makers in their

plans to develop the various aspects of VET systems (Grootings & Nielsen, 2004).
In the Arab Region, ETF projects helped some countries to benefit from the ex-
periences of other countries in such areas as human resources information systems,
VET indicators, etc.
5 Case Study: Arab-German Co-operation in VET
This project which was launched and funded by GTZ and was planned from the
outset to support the development of VET systems in five Arab countries—Egypt,
Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria—through regional co-operative efforts and in-
volvement. Thus, it was originally planned with a regional perspective at the policy,
management and operational levels.
This project is in many respects an interesting one from a regional perspective.
First, the regional approach to VET development was comprehensively and institu-
tionally adopted and incorporated at the planning stage with the explicit objective
of developing national VET systems with major involvement from regional sources.
This approach was formalized through agreements between GTZ and each of the
concerned countries. Finally, the structure and governance of the project ensured
relevance and provided the utilization of the resulting benefits to be maximized by
national VET systems.
Below we list some of the key characteristics of the project that have contributed
to its positive impact on the development of TVET systems from a national and
regional perspective.
r The relatively long duration of the project, spanning the period 2003–2011, helps
to secure the sustainability, impact and credibility of monitoring and evaluation
efforts.
r The project has been designed to facilitate the identification and choice of sub-
projects that are considered by policy-makers and practitioners as priority areas
and are of common interest to member countries.
r Although the scope of the project covered five Arab countries, the outcomes
of sub-projects are potentially relevant to all other Arab countries, especially
taking into consideration the great similarities in their VET systems and the
common language background. It is worthwhile noting here that some VET areas
are language sensitive and socially influenced, such as classification systems,
glossaries, etc.
r Networking among VET institutions and experts is a major feature of the project,
thus facilitating the exchange of experiences to the benefit of national VET sys-
tems. The structure and governance of the project, as described below, shows
how such networking is secured.
r At the operational level, a relevant focal point is chosen in each country to
be responsible for the implementation or supervision of the relevant activities
and sub-projects at the national level. Focal points varied in their nature from
one country to another. Autonomous VET agencies or VET departments in the

Ministries of Education or Labour are examples of such focal points.
r A regional office in one of the concerned countries (Jordan) with a project office
manager, hosted by a national institution, provided the secretariat for the project,
undertaking the co-ordinating and networking functions.
r The continuous contacts and communications among focal points in the imple-
mentation of sub-projects provided useful channels and frameworks whereby
experts and decision-makers in the concerned countries benefited to develop their
own VET systems.
r At the middle-management level, project governance is taken care of by a Re-
gional Management Committee (RMC) composed of two senior officials, one
from the public sector and one from the private sector from each country. The
RMC holds its meetings in turn in one of the five countries twice annually to
choose sub-projects from among a pool of project proposals submitted by the fo-
cal points in the concerned countries. The RMC submits its recommendations on
the choice of projects to a Regional Higher Council, referred to below, in addition
to undertaking the function of following up procedures for the implementation
of decisions taken by the Council.
r At the policy (macro) level, project governance is taken care of by a Regional
Higher Council (RHC) composed of three senior officials—two from the public
sector and one from the private sector—from each country. The RHC holds its
meetings in turn in one of the five countries as it is required to take decisions on
the final choice of sub-projects, to assess their implementation and utilization,
and to discuss policies and strategies for the regional project.
r As in the case of the Regional Management Committee, the Regional Higher
Council, through its meetings and functions, provides a forum for policy-makers
and senior officials to exchange views and experiences on national VET is-
sues and developments on the one hand, and on identifying areas for fur-
ther regional co-operation and common approaches in the field of VET on
the other.
r The way in which sub-projects are implemented depends upon their nature and
other practical considerations, such as the availability of expertise and technical
resources. Two such models have already been utilized in this project and are
described below.
Model 1
The project is implemented exclusively by an institution or group of experts in one

country. In this case, regionality is ensured through one or more of the following
procedures: (a) establishing a regional steering committee that meets periodically
to follow-up and guide the stages of implementation; (b) choosing a counterpart
institution or group of experts in each of the other countries not involved in imple-
mentation, to be consulted frequently at the various stages of implementation; and
436 M.W. Masri
(c) holding periodical regional workshops to discuss and approve the work at the
different stages of implementation.
Model 2
The activity or project is divided into parts, and each part is implemented by an
institution or group of experts in one country, thus paving the way for more than
one country to participate in the implementation. Although the regional dimension
is thus assured, homogeneous outputs of the various parts are difficult to guaran-
tee. To minimize such shortcomings, co-ordination efforts are needed through the
following measures: (a) periodical meetings/workshops of the expert groups; and/or
(b) establishing a regional steering committee that meets periodically to follow-up
and guide the stages of implementation.
6 Conclusion
One major conclusion of the review presented here is that efforts directed at re-
gional co-operation and integration can promote and stimulate changes and devel-
opments in national TVET systems through channels and venues of co-ordination,
peer-reviewing, policy-learning and exchange of experiences. Needless to say, co-
operation in VET issues can facilitate similar co-operation in other areas.
Furthermore, national developments in VET are expected to face the need for
regional co-operation due to such factors as worker and student mobility, recognition
of qualifications, lack of capacities, etc. In other words, national reforms in VET can
pragmatically lead to regional co-operation and integration.
References–English
Gill, I.; Fluitman, F.; Dar, A., eds. 2000. Vocational education and training and training reform:
matching skills to markets and budgets. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Grootings, P.; Nielsen, S., eds. 2004. ETF Yearbook 2004: learning matters. Turin, Italy: ETF.
Grootings P.; Nielsen, S., eds. 2005. ETF Yearbook 2005: teachers and trainers: professionals
and stakeholders in the reform of vocational education and training. Luxembourg: European
Communities.
Lasonen, J., ed. 1999. Workforce preparation in a global context. Jyväskylä, Finland: Institute for
Educational Research-University of Jyväskylä.
Masri, M.W. 1994. Vocational education: the way ahead. London: Macmillan.
UNESCO-UNEVOC. 1998. Vocational education and training in Europe on the threshold of the
21st century. Paris: UNESCO.
Wallenborn, M. et al. 2003. Human resources development in school-based and company-based
technical and vocational education and training (TVET)-Egypt and selected MEDA/MENA
countries. Mannheim, Germany: Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung GmbH.
References–Arabic
Chapter III.6
The Influence of Qualifications Frameworks
on the Infrastructure of VET
1 Introduction
It is likely that most vocational learning resulting from formal schooling is not
officially recognized in qualifications. Informal and non-formal learning are proba-
bly the dominant forms of vocational education and training (VET). However, the
recognition of learning through qualifications is probably dominant in shaping the
formal VET system because qualifications are one of the most tangible outcomes of
VET for people and enterprises. The financial and social returns to qualification lev-
els are also widely appreciated. It is not surprising, therefore, that the ways in which
qualifications are organized exert a powerful influence on the vocational learning
system. In this chapter we examine the ways in which the existence of a qualifi-
cations framework influences several structural aspects of VET. These structural
aspects include the management of the supply and demand for skills, the institu-
tional arrangements, the financing of VET and the way the VET system interfaces
with other learning systems and VET in other countries. Before this analysis begins,
the diverse nature of qualifications frameworks is examined.
2 The Nature of Qualifications Frameworks
The idea of a qualifications framework that shows how qualifications relate to one
another is not new. For many centuries the trade organizations in many countries
have exercised control over the right to practice a trade and control how progression
in skills is defined and managed. Before this, universities had set down common
patterns of recognizing progress within higher academic learning. What is new is
the interest of governments in developing overarching frameworks that incorporate
qualifications representing the learning outcomes from school, work and higher edu-
cation. Importantly, the new frameworks are often linked to lifelong learning policy
and are intended to capture learning from experience that the learner wishes to have
recognized.
A qualifications framework is a classification of qualifications according to a
set of criteria reflecting the levels of learning achieved. This set of criteria may

440 M. Coles, P. Werquin
be an implicit characteristic of the qualifications themselves or made explicit in

the form of a set of level descriptors. In the simplest form of classification the
qualifications themselves are arranged in a hierarchy of demand or standard, the
lowest level of qualifications rises through a series of steps to the highest level.
The qualifications in these hierarchies are sometimes further classified into qual-
ification types (e.g. higher-education qualifications, school qualifications, work-
based qualifications). The second kind of classification uses explicit levels that
are each defined by criteria—these are often termed level descriptors or level
indicators.
The scope of frameworks may be comprehensive for all learning achievement and
pathways or it may be confined to a particular sector, for example initial education,
adult learning or an occupational area such as agriculture. Some frameworks may
have more design elements and a tighter structure than others; some may have a
legal basis, whereas others represent a consensus of views among social partners.
However, all qualifications frameworks establish a basis for improving the linkages
between qualifications and the quality, accessibility and public or labour-market
recognition of qualifications within a country and internationally.
Some countries established comparative levels for qualifications in the 1960s
(e.g. France) and others more recently (e.g. New Zealand). In Scotland the qual-
ification framework has evolved over the last twenty years or so. It was not until
1985 that the first significant attempt to develop an international framework ap-
peared. CEDEFOP developed a five-level framework (CEDEFOP, 2001) for voca-
tional qualifications to facilitate the comparability of qualifications in the context
of an anticipated growth in the mobility of labour. These levels had little impact
and European Union (EU) countries made little effort to align their vocational
qualifications systems with these levels. More recently, the European Commis-
sion has proposed a European Qualifications Framework (EQF)1 that is intended
to operate as a meta-framework.2 The EQF proposal suggests that the most ef-
fective way for nations to articulate with the European framework is through a
national qualifications framework (NQF). Evidence suggests that this request is re-
ceiving a positive response from the majority of European countries (Bjørnåvold &
Coles, 2006). See Coles (2006) for a full review of national qualifications frame-
works.
NQFs have various forms and functions, but all have four generic aims:
r to establish national standards for learning outcomes (competences);
r to promote through regulation the quality of education and training provision;
r to act as a way of relating qualifications to each other; and
r to promote access to learning, transfer of learning and progression in learning.
It is often the case that NQFs have policy purposes that go beyond these four aims.
The development of an NQF can be used to integrate parts of the qualifications
system (for example, professional education delivered via further and higher edu-
cation) or to modernize parts of the education and training system (for example,
to change the regulation of the quality of qualification processes or to change the
way public funds are used to support education and training). These wider effects
III.6 The Influence of Qualifications Frameworks on the Infrastructure of VET 441
of qualifications frameworks on the infrastructure of VET are the principal focus

of this chapter and in the following sections some of these effects are discussed in
more detail.
3 Managing the Supply of Skills
Vocational education and training arrangements in a country are always complex

because of: (a) the many forms of learning that are considered as VET; (b) the wide
range of institutions that deliver VET; and (c) the interaction and overlap of sectors,
occupations and enterprises. The complexity of the system can make it difficult
to adjust programmes so that training leads to the competences that are required
in the workplace, particularly when work practices and technology are leading to
changes in competence requirements. It is generally the case that VET competences
are defined, delivered and evaluated by means of collaboration between stakeholder
groups (usually governments, providers, enterprises and employee organizations). It
can be argued that the better the collaboration between stakeholders, the better the
modernization process is likely to be. One way in which the collaboration process
can be supported is to make sure that labour-market information and information
about the qualification process (such as pedagogic methods) are freely available
for analysis. Qualification frameworks can make this information easier to use, for
example by:
r classifying the levels of qualifications in a commonly understood way;
r requiring the expression of qualification in terms of learning outcomes;
r showing how qualification structures relate to the needs of sectors by defining
categories of the content of qualifications;
r quality assuring the qualification process through the use of regulation and ac-
creditation criteria; and
r making transparent the way qualifications at one level can lead to the next level.
There are other ways in which a national set of benchmarks in terms of levels can
be used to make statistical analysis of skills requirements easier to express and use
across a wide range of sectors.
Qualifications frameworks act as a classification device. This function is impor-
tant, but it is increasingly common for a framework of levels to be considered as
the basis for a classification of units of qualifications (partial qualification), as well
as for whole qualifications. By breaking down whole qualifications into units it is
possible to modernize a qualification relatively easily by developing a new unit to
replace an out-of-date unit. Whilst this can be achieved without a framework, it
is usually the case that a unitized system of qualification can become unwieldy
and opaque without a classification system. Thus, through the location of units of
different content at different levels, it is easy for collaborators defining skills needs
to identify the required competences and to provide institutions to deliver them to
learners.
These unitized approaches also offer the advantage of easier transfer of credit
from one sector to another, particularly in the case of transversal skills, such as
communications, team management and health and safety. Thus, modernization of
these transversal units of qualifications can improve the quality of training across
many sectors.
Qualifications frameworks generally classify qualifications that arise from dedi-
cated training programmes. However, because levels and content are often defined
more clearly for qualifications in a framework, usually through learning outcomes,
it is easier for an individual to appreciate that they have competences that have
developed non-formally (e.g. through work) or informally (e.g. through managing
a family) that can meet the requirements of a formal qualification. Recognition of
non-formal and informal learning can be facilitated and can go some way to meet
skills needs in a region or an enterprise.
All of these examples are specific ways a framework can lead to better articula-
tion of knowledge, skill and wider competence requirements. In addition to improv-
ing this articulation, it is possible for frameworks to modernize the supply side of
VET, for example by improving the efficiency of delivery.
4 Articulating the Demand for Skills

If VET is ‘education and training that aims at equipping people with the knowledge,
skills and competences that can be used in the labour market’3 then qualifications
frameworks will impact on the infrastructure of VET whenever they impact on the
skills and competences produced by VET that are or can be used in the labour mar-
ket. There are many reasons to believe that this is going to be the case on the demand
side of VET competences because qualifications frameworks:
r can bring transparency;
r can be durable and provide stability;
r can provide consistency;
r can bring confidence;
r can allow for a coherent statistical monitoring by qualification level; and
r are essentially based on learning outcomes.
All these arguments are linked to each other to a large extent. For example, confi-
dence in qualifications may grow because there is transparency of the qualifications
system and they therefore reflect a widely recognized system (backed up by main
qualifications authorities, such as the ministry of education). Thus, users of quali-
fications, such as employers, know exactly which competence(s) they are about to
hire. Confidence may also arise because there is stability over time making invest-
ment in the system—learning how to use it and for improving it—worthwhile in the
medium and long term. As a consequence, employers may be more motivated to
hire graduates from the VET system and to promote VET itself since they can be
sure exactly what recruits know and can do. Greater transparency of VET systems
will lead to a more effective use of VET by employers that will waste less time in
recruiting due to a more effective search for appropriate skills.
In some countries, such as Spain, Greece, the Czech Republic or Japan, qualifi-
cations frameworks are associated primarily with VET (OECD, 2007). As a classi-
fication device, a qualifications framework organizes all the qualifications that are
delivered in a particular country. Thanks to the concepts of levels and descriptors,
qualifications frameworks provide a planning tool for employers who are constantly
demanding [new] skills. This additional transparency, brought about by qualifica-
tions frameworks, helps employers to identify the skills that they need for the good
functioning of the enterprise leading to a better economic performance. What a
framework does that did not exist so clearly before is to put a clear label on a quali-
fication and to position this qualification in the big picture by relating qualifications
to one another in terms of level. As a consequence, recruiters or people having a
demand for skills are better informed about what they are looking for and what
is available. They can better compare existing qualifications and therefore better
organize their demand for skills.
Beyond that, qualifications frameworks help to articulate the demand for skills with
that of supply. This will happen because individuals (typically workers or applicants
for a job) will eventually receive strong signals about the skills that are most in demand.
This will happen whatever the recruiting scenario the employer decides to opt for:
(a) they may look for the competences internally and organize the move/promotion
of insiders if adequate competences are available internally; or (b) whether the
competences are available internally or not, they may decide to recruit externally.
In both cases, whether using internal mobility or external recruitment, employers
may realise that the skills they demand are not available or not available at the
expected level. As a consequence, they may organize their own training strategy
to promote insiders or send a strong signal to the training authority for them to
provide the appropriate training. Individuals themselves will receive all of these
signals through more-or-less formal circulation of information within the enterprise
or, for outsiders, through using the public employment service for example, or any
other usual channel—including, probably, word of mouth. As a result, supply and
demand of skills are likely to reach a better match if a framework exists providing
transparent information regarding qualifications and qualification levels. In turn, this
mechanism is likely to impact back on the infrastructure of VET, which will have to
adjust to meet the needs of a better informed demand.
A typical consequence one might anticipate is that VET will have to evolve at a
faster pace than before since the labour market and the demand for skills are also
evolving ever faster as a result of technological changes. Another possible conse-
quence is that this impacts on curricula in the formal VET sector; so that they are
formulated to describe what student should know or should be able to do at the end
of their training to better match with the concept or learning outcomes widely as-
sociated with the concept of qualifications frameworks. In addition, to allow for the
demand for skills to be appropriately planned, whether using external recruitment
or internal mobility and/or promotion, qualifications frameworks will improve the
confidence of the actors demanding skills toward the VET system.
By the same token, since qualifications frameworks can be heavily based on

learning outcomes rather than input (duration of the course, for example) and since,
again, many VET competences are not produced in the formal system, qualifications
frameworks will help recruiters to appreciate the skills available and to plan their
future utilization of VET competences.
Making obvious the demand for skills through the use of levels and qualification
types is a clear added value of qualifications framework. Beyond, and thanks to,
transparency, confidence will be built so that the main actors in the demand for skills
will have greater trust in VET competences that appear clearly in the qualifications
framework.
The French qualifications levels represent an attempt to use qualifications levels
for economic planning and for better organizing the supply and demand of skills.
This system was created as part of French economic planning and went beyond
forecasting skills needs by enabling the education and training system to meet busi-
ness needs by supplying sufficient numbers of people skilled to appropriate levels in
appropriate occupations. It was a tool for developing active educational policies di-
rected at increasing and standardizing vocational training in order to guide and pro-
mote French economic development (Bouder, 2003). The classifications system led
to the setting up a qualifications agency (Commission technique d’homologation)
that is responsible for positioning all diplomas and maintaining an up-to date clas-
sification according to labour-market innovations. One aspect of the classification
system is that it is deeply embedded in social hierarchies and goes beyond a simple
classification of diplomas and training programmes. However, in the case of France,
it did not really work because the form of manpower planning that it was based
on did not take into account the practice of enterprises that may have promoted or
retrained workers internally. In that sense, the French qualifications levels, despite
being deeply embedded in social hierarchies and going beyond a simple classifica-
tion of diplomas and training programmes, do not constitute a framework. This is
probably because it was too heavily based on qualifications delivered by the formal
system where a qualifications framework is closely linked to the concept of learning
outcomes. The new classification system, introduced in 1994, attempts to classify
any training programme regardless of its level, mode of learning, field of application
or social use, including personal development activities and leisure programmes.
Like other frameworks, this initiative aims to de-compartmentalize the education
and training system and form links between formal education, vocational education,
university education and professional education.
5 Frameworks and Institutions
Education and training systems often evolve into complex networks with differences
between institutions that include:
r dependence on public or private funding;
r licences to operate in an occupational sector;
r licences to operate across a specified number of levels of qualification;

r the nature of enterprises in a catchment area;
r the geography and transportation in an area;
r the type of governance employed; and
r size and the capacity to offer programmes.
There are many more dimensions of difference, and from a consumer point of view
both for individuals and enterprises. These differences can lead to confusion and
wasted investment of time and money. For example, a qualification programme
offered in one institution can differ markedly from that provided in another and
yet they can lead the learner to the same state of readiness for employment. How
can a choice me made? How can the most efficient use of prior learning be ac-
commodated? Qualification frameworks have the capacity to reduce complexity.
This happens not simply by means of the classification of qualifications but also
by requiring that every qualification in a framework is described in terms of what
a learner is expected to know and do at the end of a programme of learning. Thus,
we see a common requirement of transparency for every qualification that is not
dependent on any institutional factors.
A consequence of this is that qualification programmes across different types
of institution (e.g. initial VET and general education; professional education and
higher education) become comparable and points of overlap are evident. This can
have the effect of encouraging helpful differentiation between programmes and in
facilitating co-operative arrangements to deliver certain programme content. For
some time, policy-makers have been concerned with the potential overlap between
higher education programmes and high-level VET. The concern stems from the be-
lief that higher education programmes have the potential to deliver programmes that
meet the needs of enterprises better than VET.
Thus, institutions (schools, colleges and universities) can both define a qualifica-
tion framework and be defined by one. By means of making the purposes, structure
and content of qualifications explicit through associating them with learning out-
comes, it is possible to see opportunities for one kind of institution being able to
make contributions to the traditional territory of others. This is not to suggest that
the traditional patterns of qualifications programmes are faulty in some way—it
simply opens up the possibilities for making more dynamic links between parts
of the system which could render decision-making by learners a little easier, thus
increasing the efficiency of the system. With increasing use of information and
communications technologies in educational development (e.g. distance learning,
knowledge management) the potential for these kinds of inter-institutional links are
likely to increase.
The institutions that have mainly management roles in the qualifications system
can also be affected by qualifications framework development. These institutions
include government departments (education, labour and sectoral ministries, such as
a ministry of agriculture), qualifications awarding bodies, quality assurance agencies
and funding bodies. It is often the case that social partners have important roles.
The manner in which the processes are agreed for setting up and managing a NQF
can increase or decrease the influence of different types of stakeholder groups on

the education and training system. Two rather obvious examples are worth consid-
eration since they are commonly found in increasing numbers in countries where
frameworks are being developed. The first example is the tightening of control
by government of the qualifications system so that it can be more easily used in
government-led reforms. Countries where centralized control is increasing might
want to use the framework to introduce new qualifications routes that provide access
to qualification for those social groups who are often excluded (or exclude them-
selves). The second example is where there is an intentional shift of the balance
from the supply side of training to the demand side for competences. The role of
employers, employees and their representative bodies could be given a stronger role
in system management, while that of the providing institutions becomes weaker.
Providing institutions can also be directly influenced by the introduction of a
qualifications framework. It can have some associated operational characteristics. A
good example is quality-assurance arrangements. Whilst not evident in any frame-
work diagram, the framework may only allow qualifications to be registered on it
if the qualifications—and the providers that deliver it—meet certain criteria. So
the framework becomes a powerful regulatory tool and a benchmark for national
standards. These criteria can require institutions providing programmes and qualifi-
cations to change their practices to conform to standard protocols.
It is now clear how frameworks can influence institutions and therefore can be
used to drive VET reforms. Frameworks can also be powerful co-ordinating tools
capable of changing the VET landscape so that specific reforms can flourish.
6 Financing VET Provision
The existence of qualifications frameworks is likely to have a strong impact on the

way VET provision is financed. Framework developments can be expensive. Clearly
the scope of the NQFs and their intended purposes directly affect the costs of im-
plementation and on-going maintenance. This distinction between implementation
costs and maintenance costs is important. Whilst it is common for NQFs to be es-
tablished in order to bring co-ordination to existing structures and qualifications, the
development of the basis for agreement on an NQF requires:
r policy analysis;
r consideration of experience elsewhere;
r development of options;
r modelling of the favoured option(s);
r engagement of leaders of stakeholder groups;
r specialist task groups;
r consultation; and
r communication with main institutions and the general public.
The implementation phase could also involve piloting technical procedures and full-
scale trials. As discussed above, a national body is often established to manage the
implementation phase and the on-going maintenance. Making estimates of costs
therefore requires anticipating large-scale systemic change that includes these ele-
ments and others.
The central administration costs related to the NQF can be relatively small. Even
in countries where large agencies are responsible for the NQF, the costs (mainly
staff costs) associated only with the NQF can be low. However, where such things
as quality assurance procedures, curriculum and assessment monitoring, reviews of
employment standards and establishing benchmarks corresponding to other national
or international qualification frameworks are involved the costs can rise steeply.
NQFs take the place of informal structures and co-ordinate existing VET provi-
sion. It is likely, though difficult to quantify, that there will be some cost savings
through this process. It is also likely that in a co-ordinated qualifications system
there will be co-financing of some procedures such as the development of employ-
ment standards.
Some NQFs are explicitly quality assurance mechanisms and the title national
qualification is reserved for those qualifications accredited to the NQF. Quality
controls on these qualifications can be extensive and therefore expensive. They
are intended to develop maximum confidence in users of the qualifications. Where
education and training is funded by governments, there is a good case for seeking
a return on the investment in quality assurance of national qualifications and conse-
quently public funding favours these qualifications above others.
Another characteristic that has a direct impact on cost and therefore financing
is the fact again that qualifications frameworks are essentially based on learning
outcomes and also because most of vocational education and training competences
are learned outside the formal system. As a consequence, the burden of the cost
may move from learning to assessing the real competences of the individuals. The
financing will need to be carefully reviewed.
Given the international context, with the existence of meta-frameworks—such
as the European Qualifications Framework—and international benchmarks, qual-
ifications frameworks may also have an impact on the way governments and
policy-makers communicate about the destination of public money, and therefore
on all spending. All countries have national benchmarks and quality standards
and policymakers need to show that their financing practice for qualifications and
learning programmes is prudent. Therefore, they may use the international bench-
marks as a way of showing that they met the international standards in their own
countries or even that they have done better, justifying at once the use of public
money.
From the point of view of quality assurance, the international context also sets
some forms of benchmark because all processes leading to a qualification usually
receive scrutiny in a country and all the major international developments, especially
at the European level, have quality assurance processes associated with them (higher
education framework in the Bologna process; the Copenhagen process common
principles for quality assurance).
More generally, all the elements that the existence of qualifications frameworks
has brought into the picture are important in terms of financing because they al-
ways intrinsically lead to cost-effectiveness analysis. In many countries, the world
of qualifications is subject to debates about the over-supply, for instance, of very
similar qualifications—which is inefficient. A qualifications framework is a very
useful tool to eliminate duplication if it shows that several qualifications are at the
same level. The possibility of removing redundancy has just been given to countries
such as Poland, for instance, where the number of qualifications has been reduced
from 1,000 to 400. A qualifications framework is therefore an important tool for
effective financing practice and updating of the qualifications pool.
Using qualifications frameworks can also be useful to bring private invest-
ments to the world of qualifications because they represent a mechanism for in-
volving employers. The reason for that is because qualifications frameworks are
based on learning outcomes in essence and learning outcomes bring visibility.
Therefore, employers will be less keen on formulating their most frequently heard
complaint about the lack of transparency and the confusion in the qualifications
system.
As a consequence, there must be a role for sponsors, but this role has to be clear
or they will not embark on financing qualifications; especially if they feel this is the
duty of the government in the first place. To that extent, it is useful to take an inter-
national perspective and look for good practice to spot the possible role of private in-
vestors in qualifications. Russia is an example of a country where pilot projects and
experimentation with the basis of a qualifications framework is privately sponsored.
This has arisen because employers in the hotels and catering sector in Russia believe
the qualifications system is not delivering the skills entrepreneurs need. It does not
necessarily mean that they want to be involved in the delivery processes themselves
(teaching, etc.), but they want to be involved in setting standards beforehand. There
is a cost to that and this why employers find it acceptable to put money into the
system.
Finally, it should not be forgotten that the major reforms likely to occur in the
infrastructure of VET due to the implementation of qualifications frameworks will
take time. Therefore, financing ought to be carefully planned in the medium or long
term.
7 More Flexible Credit-Transfer System
Overcoming compartmentalization of the education and training system has been a

goal in many countries. In the late 1980s in New Zealand various independent re-
ports signalled the need for a radical overhaul of the qualifications system that it was
felt was hampering participation, achievement and New Zealand’s competitiveness.
After a series of reforms to various parts of the education and training system, an
NQF and a formal system of establishing recognition of qualifications based on unit
standards (learning outcomes) were established. A national validating authority (the
New Zealand Qualifications Authority) was also set up requiring the assessment of
learning programmes to be drawn up against unit standards and to be subject to

a series of quality-assurance procedures, including the accreditation of providers.
The NQF was both a product of the need for widespread reform and a tool for
maintaining a reformed system. The NQF regulatory requirements are a means for
bringing increased commonality to different parts of the education and training sys-
tem, whilst preserving the integrity of those separate systems and the roles of key
agencies within them. So employment sector bodies, schools, community groups,
private providers and higher education all have separate procedures for develop-
ing unit standards and maintaining the quality assurance requirements of the NQF.
Universities are not part of this process and there are qualifications that are not suf-
ficiently based on unit standards to be part of the NQF. A comprehensive register of
qualifications has been set up to include all qualifications—the NQF qualifications
are a subset in this listing.
The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) also developed in
a way that reduced barriers between parts of the education and training system.
However, it also has taken on the task of sustaining systematic transfer of credit
at the level of units of qualifications. The SCQF developed as a result of a series
of innovations in the education and training systems covering school, vocational
and higher education. Each innovation reinforced the SCQF as a means of securing
greater coherence in the qualifications system. At the same time as these substantial
changes were being implemented, knowledge of system-wide features was shared.
Credit transfer was seen as a means of increasing the flexibility of qualifications
and the SCQF was identified by its partners as having the potential to accommodate
the common principles necessary for its implementation. One of the functions of
the SCQF is the credit rating of units of qualifications. The rules for good prac-
tice can be agreed centrally, but a prerequisite for credit transfer is that the units
of assessment in learning programmes have to be rated in terms of the volume
of learning. Making judgements about learning volumes involves close scrutiny of
the curriculum and some attention being paid to pedagogy and resource provision.
Thus, the providers closest to the programmes are enabled to carry out this process
and the influence of the SCQF is extended deep into the education and training
process.
8 A Tool for Reform
Policy-making for lifelong learning in the arena of qualifications systems is difficult,

underdeveloped and possibly undervalued. Establishing a qualifications framework,
in the same way as providing credit transfer, optimizing stakeholder involvement
in the qualifications system, recognizing non-formal and informal learning and cre-
ating new routes to qualifications for example, seems to be a powerful mechanism
to trigger more and better lifelong learning from within the qualifications system
(OECD, 2007). This chapter suggests that it is useful to consider the role qualifica-
tions frameworks may have on the infrastructure of VET in particular.
An example of a framework being used for purposes that lie outside the education
and training system is given by the EQF, having as its principal aim a strong link to
the Lisbon Goal of more and better jobs for all European citizens and the creation
of Europe as a top-performing knowledge economy. The Maastricht Communiqué
(European Commission, 2004) states that the EQF:
will improve permeability within education and training, provide a reference for the valida-
tion of informally acquired competences and support the smooth and effective functioning
of the European, national and sectoral labour markets [. . .] and should facilitate the vol-
untary development of competence-based solutions at the European level enabling sectors
to address the new education and training challenges caused by the internationalisation of
trade and technology.
The EQF design, which is essentially based on learning outcomes and a set of levels
aimed at corresponding with the labour-market job structures, should facilitate this
aim. The EQF also has an objective to support and promote change in national qual-
ifications systems. This is a clear signal that the reforming power of national qual-
ifications frameworks can be enabled by the existence of a high-status overarching
framework that is respected by trading partners, even if the European Qualifications
Framework is by no mean a template and remains a meta-framework.
More generally, countries have made attempts to reform education and training
systems in order to bring about more and better lifelong learning. Some of these
policy responses bear directly on qualifications systems (cf. OECD, 2004). This is
the case for the following points:
r to increase the flexibility and responsiveness of the qualifications system;
r to motivate young people to learn for qualifications;
r to link education and work through qualifications;
r to facilitate open access to qualifications;
r to make qualifications progressive;
r to make the qualifications system transparent;
r to review funding and increase efficiency of the qualifications system; and
r to better manage the qualifications system.
For VET in particular, it is possible to use qualifications frameworks as a policy

tool and to review present and future policy on qualifications and qualifications sys-
tems, to test the robustness of the latter and see if the benefits they promised have
been delivered. For instance, there seems to be reasons to believe that qualifications
frameworks can change the landscape because they impact on:
r the provision of VET;
r curricula in the formal VET system;
r barriers to the development of VET;
r the link between VET and the labour market; and
r benefits for VET graduates and participation in, and access to, VET.
They impact on the provision of VET because a close look at all qualifications at
their respective level within the qualifications framework provides a clear picture
of the qualifications available in a country and therefore will help spot the gap in
provision at a given level or for a given qualification.
They impact on curricula through the simple fact that qualifications frameworks
are often linked to the concept of learning outcomes and, therefore, the formal VET
system will not be able to avoid the discussion about defining the curricula in terms
of what learners can do and not about how long they have been studying a subject.
This may well be one of the biggest challenges for reforming VET programmes in
the years to come.
VET has traditionally suffered from low esteem and, in some countries, is even
regarded as the only solution for those students that cannot follow the academic
tracks. The development of VET has therefore been hampered by issues not directly
linked to the programmes it provided but to the way they are seen in the wider public
and, sometimes, among employers. The creation of a qualifications framework may
help lift some of the barriers by providing transparency, encouraging employers to
hire individuals leaving the VET system and removing dead ends—therefore always
offering the possibility for reaching a higher level qualification from within the VET
system.
Another typical example about how qualifications frameworks may help improve
participation, self-esteem and remove some inequities is by breaking the ‘glass
ceiling’ that seems to exist between the regular VET system and the higher VET
system; meaning that individual learners often cannot continue to higher educa-
tion when they graduate from the initial VET system. A good example is given
by Romania where the scheme put in place with levels did not seem to work as
transition between levels 3 and 4 was regarded as too great a jump for graduates
of the VET system at level 3. Soon after the system was implemented, it was
necessary to create a level 3+, in between levels 3 and 4, to accommodate VET
graduates.
For all the reasons given above, the existence of a qualifications framework may
help more adequately—and therefore more effectively—in linking the VET system
and the labour market. In addition, some feedback can be organized so that pieces
of information about what employers need are brought into the organization of the
VET system. For the same reasons, it will also bring more and better benefits to the
VET graduates and may end up in more people choosing this path.
9 Concluding Remarks
Research needs to be carried out into the impact of qualifications frameworks on the
infrastructure of VET. More work remains to be done also to link the levels in the
framework to the labour market issues or occupations (OECD, 2004).
Qualifications frameworks make explicit the relationship between qualifications.
They aim at increasing transparency and showing potential progression routes; they
can become the basis of credit transfer systems. They are overarching tools that can
be used to engage all stakeholders in developing and co-ordinating the qualifications
system. Often they are used as tools for regulation, financing and quality assurance.
At the same time, a qualifications framework can open up opportunities to poten-

tial learners, because it makes progression routes clear and can offer the opportunity
to rationalize qualifications by reducing the overlap between them. In all of these
ways, frameworks create an environment where the whole qualifications system can
be reviewed. This means that the management of the qualifications framework can
be used as a tool to enhance many policy responses that countries are adopting to re-
act to the lifelong learning agenda, of which VET is a very important component—
rather decisive when it comes to global economic performance and coping with
emerging issues.
Notes
1. <ec.europa.eu/education/policies/educ/eqf/index en.html>
2. A meta-qualifications framework is a classification system for levels of qualification where the
criteria for levels are written in a highly generalized form. This enables the meta-framework to
relate to all more specific (national or sectoral) qualifications frameworks. The EQF is thus a
meta-framework that will act as a translation device between different national qualifications
systems. As a meta-framework the EQF does not take over any of the established roles of
national systems.
3. <www.cedefop.europa.eu/>
References
Bjørnåvold, J.; Coles, M. 2006. The development of qualifications frameworks in European coun-
tries. (Paper presented to the European Commission Conference on the European Qualifications
Framework, Budapest, 27–28 February 2006.)
Bouder, A. 2003. Qualifications in France: towards a national framework? Journal of education
and work, vol. 16, no. 3, September.
Coles, M. 2006. A review of international and national developments in the use of qualifications
frameworks. Turin, Italy: European Training Foundation.
CEDEFOP. 2001. European structures of qualification levels, vols 1, 2 and 3. Thessaloniki, Greece:
CEDEFOP.
European Commission. 2004. The future priorities of enhanced European cooperation in voca-
tional education and training (VET). Brussels: European Commission. (The Maastricht Com-
muniqué.)
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2004. The development and use of
‘qualifications frameworks’ as a means of reforming and managing qualifications systems. In:
Mernagh, E.; Murphy, A.; Simota, T., eds. Final report of the Thematic Group 1 of the OECD
activity on The Role of National Qualifications Systems in Promoting Lifelong Learning. Paris:
OECD. <www.oecd.org/edu/lifelonglearning/nqs>
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2007. Qualifications systems: bridges
to lifelong learning. Paris: OECD.
Chapter III.7
Reforming Skills Development, Transforming
the Nation: South African Vocational Education
and Training Reforms, 1994–2005
Simon McGrath
1 Introduction
In an era where vocational education and training (VET) reform is common, South
Africa provides one of the most striking national case studies of the complex inter-
play between international discourses of both economic change and VET reform,
and historical and contemporary forces at the national level. Moreover, the twin
imperative of economic and social focus for VET is made particularly complex and
challenging by the legacy of apartheid.
In particular, the new, democratic South Africa has been faced with abnormally
high levels of inequality and unemployment, and the pressing need to break down
racial inequities in education, skills and work.
In this chapter I will consider first some of the detail of the apartheid legacy in
skills development before turning to a consideration of policy developments since
1994. I will finish with an analysis of key tensions that continue to play at the heart
of South African VET policy.
2 South African VET before 19941
Internationally, skills development systems tend to reflect and reinforce broader do-
mestic power dynamics. This is particularly apparent in terms of class and gender,
which are powerful organizing principles for access to particular programmes and
for the resourcing and status of such programmes.
Since the beginnings of formal vocational education and training in South Africa
in the second half of the nineteenth century, these forces have been powerfully over-
laid with the effects of race, and, to a lesser extent, supporting dynamics of migration
and ethnicity.
In its early involvement with the Industrial Revolution, during the late nineteenth
century, South Africa obtained skilled labour largely from the United Kingdom,
as immigrant miners and other artisans came into the country. As a formal voca-
tional education and training system began to emerge, it was largely English- rather

454 S. McGrath
than Afrikaner-dominated, reflecting the continued industrial predominance of the

English-speaking community.
Whilst this reliance on imported skilled labour declined (though never disap-
peared) during the twentieth century, the South African system of skills formation
became increasingly distorted by the political economy of race. For most of that
century, there was a legally enshrined bifurcation of work and skill (and, of course,
income, residency, enfranchisement, etc.) between white and black.2 White workers
were skilled by the colour of their skin, whilst blacks remained largely incapable of
skilled status until 1981, regardless of their levels of knowledge and experience.
This bifurcation had massive implications for the system of skills development.
White workers were socialized into a powerful vision of their right to be either a
labour aristocracy or professionals. Over time, growing prosperity led to a strong
upward shift of white employment into service and professional activities, but there
was no mechanism to allow public VET institutions or trades to respond by induct-
ing a new wave of black artisans prior to the 1980s.
African workers were treated as eternally unskilled. Moreover, their official sta-
tus as migrants, either from neighbouring countries or from the system of homelands
within South Africa, encouraged the sense of them as interchangeable, homogenized
labour.
Thus, there was no real impetus towards VET for Africans as participants in
a modern industrial economy. Instead, VET for Africans was seen as a blend of
‘appropriate’ education for those deemed incapable of benefiting from an academic
schooling and equally low-level practical skills development for local needs in the
homelands.
By the 1970s, this model was beginning to fall apart. Even under a system of
import substitution, many employers were becoming increasingly concerned that
technological change at the international level required South Africa to upskill. The
early 1970s also saw the beginning of a new and persistent wave of African trade-
union activism and a growing worker drive for skills upgrading as part of a move
for higher wages and better conditions. To this mix was added a serious drain on
white skill through the increasingly hot war South Africa was fighting with many of
its neighbours, and the apparently urgent need for a new political approach after the
bloody response to student protests in Soweto in 1976.
All of this led the apartheid regime to attempt to reform VET as a key strand
of its search for a workable strategy that could maintain and entrench white power.
In 1979, the Wiehahn Commission began developing a new approach to training
that would lead to Africans being indentured as apprentices (Wiehahn, 1981). The
following year, the de Lange Commission sought to propose a new education sys-
tem that would go some distance towards de-racialization of education, but which
saw the most appropriate route for African learners as lying in vocational education
(Human Sciences Research Council, 1981).
It quickly became apparent that a new bifurcation between the approaches to
skills in the workplace and in schools and colleges was being enacted. Although
with much contestation and taking more than a decade to come to real fruition,
there was a fumbling towards a new consensus between elements of capital and
III.7 South African Vocational Education and Training Reforms, 1994–2005 455
labour about the needs for a de-racialized model of skill that would improve pro-
ductivity, efficiency and competitiveness, on the one hand, and pay and conditions,
on the other. This model would necessarily be largely built on the capabilities of
black South Africans. Thus, both employers and unions began to focus strongly
on the upskilling of the already employed, addressing the functional competencies
necessary for performing existing jobs and beginning to develop a way of looking
at career paths for these workers as they became more skilled.
Reforms in education were harder to push forward, particularly where they ap-
peared to threaten the segregation of facilities and undermine white privilege. Thus,
what happened in practice was the growth of separate VET facilities for different
racial groups, although whites-only facilities still remained in the majority and were
far better resourced.
Moreover, the quality and relevance of public VET was undermined by the grow-
ing delinking of colleges from employers. As in the United Kingdom, technical col-
leges had emerged as a means of providing part-time theoretical training for those
who were already employed as apprentices. However, by the start of the 1990s,
the apprenticeship system was in decline, whilst the new black colleges were often
situated far from industrial centres and lacking in links to employers.
Thus, by the early 1990s, there was a relatively powerful coalition for change
in workplace skills development, but colleges lacked champions. Never linked to
non-racialized trade unionism, they were increasingly seen as an irrelevance by em-
ployers. Moreover, the low status of colleges within the education system and their
limited political significance meant that the State had little real passion for driving
radical change in the sector.
On assuming power in 1994, the incoming government was faced with a divided
and divergent system that was in radical need of overhaul in order to respond to
a triple challenge: (a) racial integration was a socio-political imperative; (b) the
legacy of apartheid also meant that there was a pressing need to respond to poverty
and inequality; and (c) the global environment into which the new South Africa was
entering meant that VET also needed to provide part of an economic response to
rapid liberalization and insertion into the global economy.
3 Policy Responses, 1994–2005
African National Congress (ANC) policy on education and training at the time of
the 1994 elections called for an integrative response to the legacy of the past. The
de-racialization of institutions and systems was an indisputable part of the ANC
vision. However, the integrative notion was taken further to include a commitment
to an Integrated Department of Education and Labour and a National Qualifications
Framework (NQF). Both were seen as essential to ensuring that the progress that
had been made by the trade-union movement in the field of training would be carried
over into the education system and to expanding the training vision itself to make it
more oriented towards developing citizens and not just workers.
456 S. McGrath
However, due to higher strategic considerations related to the composition of a

new Government of National Unity, it was decided to keep the two departments
separate. This was unanticipated by ANC education and training officials. However,
the notion of the NQF still remained and would have to assume greater responsibility
as the glue that would stick together the policies of the two departments (Badroodien
& McGrath, 2005).
3.1 The National Qualifications Framework
The importance of this role for the NQF was given further symbolic weight when
the South African Qualifications Authority Act (Republic of South Africa, 1995)
became the first new piece of legislation to emerge in the post-apartheid period. This
set up a South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) to oversee the translation
of all qualifications into awards according to a new NQF. SAQA was to report to
both ministers, although it was seen as primarily under the authority of the Minister
of Education, one of the first fault lines to emerge in the new system.
SAQA was to have a relatively small staff that would work with and oversee
a large number of (largely) new standard-setting and quality-assurance bodies. It
was to be governed by a council representing a wide range of relevant stakeholders.
Through this mechanism, and stakeholder membership of the range of new commit-
tees, it was intended that the system would become far more responsive to demand
(McGrath, 1996; Kraak & Young, 2001; Allais, 2003). Table 1 shows what the NQF
looked like.
Table 1 The National Qualifications Framework

NQF Sector Qualification type
level
8 Higher education and training (HET) Post-doctoral research degrees
7 Doctorates
6 Masters degrees
5 Professional qualifications
Honours degrees
National first degrees
Higher diplomas
National diplomas
National certificates
Further Education and Training Certificate (FETC)
4 Further education and training (FET) National certificates (the level 4 certificates would
3 be the terminal qualifications of both schools
2 and colleges)
General Education and Training Certificate (GETC)
1 General education and training (GET) Grade 9/Adult Basic Education and Training
Level 4
National certificates
3.2 The Department of Education’s Policies3
3.2.1 The Further Education and Training Act, 1998

Beginning in 1996, the Department of Education embarked on a process leading to a
new act governing public and private colleges, now designated as further education
and training (FET) colleges, in line with the NQF structure.
The Further Education and Training Act (Republic of South Africa, 1998a)
sought to find a balance between an emphasis on the economic importance of FET
and the social, cultural and humanistic elements. It sought to address boundary
issues between FET colleges and universities by proposing a joint committee to
examine these issues involving the Council for Higher Education and the National
Board for Further Education and Training. Colleges had long been involved in pro-
grammes that were now defined as higher education by the NQF, which, typically,
provided education below the university level. Nonetheless, the White Paper was
very clear about its opposition to ‘mission drift’ and the need for FET institutions to
focus primarily on their ‘core business’ of FET provision.
The relationship with schools remained difficult for the White Paper to address.
However, in its conceptualization of the implementation trajectory for the new pol-
icy, it went into far more detail about an integrated vision of the FET level than
had previously been attempted. It suggested a phased approach spreading out from
colleges eventually to encompass the whole FET sector. It was stated that, by the
end of the third year after the adoption of the act, a framework for incorporating
senior secondary schools into the FET system would have been developed. By the
end of the fourth year, a decision on the future of senior secondary schooling would
have been taken and, from the fifth year, incorporation, if agreed upon, would begin.
Regarding linkages with the Department of Labour’s programmes, it was clearly
stated that steps should be taken ‘to fast-track the introduction of learnerships in
FET colleges’ (Republic of South Africa, 1998a, p. 26).
The act also introduced procedures for the establishment of the new colleges,
focusing particularly on the legislative process leading to mergers of existing
institutions. It set out new governance and financial arrangements; and stressed the
role of quality assurance. It also considered the place of private providers.
3.2.2 The National Strategy for Further Education and Training, 1999
Once the FET Act was passed, the FET Branch of the Department of Education
turned its attention to a strategy for its implementation. This was completed in 1999
(Department of Education, 1999). Central to this process was a set of proposals
about funding. It argued that a new funding system should be introduced over time.
This should include a core of programme-based funding with additional special-
purpose funding. The programme-based element should itself be largely based on
the notion of full-time equivalents (FTEs), but it was recommended that there should
also be an outcomes-related component to encourage efficiency. It was envisaged
that special-purpose funding should be directed at the development of management,
458 S. McGrath
staff and learner-support systems, and for the development of new learning support
materials. It was recommended that fees would be progressive, but it was made clear
that there would be no public funds for student financial aid, unlike higher educa-
tion. It was strongly expected that FET institutions would have access to significant
amounts of funding out of the new levy system established by the Department of
Labour (see below).
3.2.3 The New Institutional Landscape, 2001

It was clear to the Department of Education throughout this process that the cur-
rent number of colleges, and the disparities between them, were untenable. In
2001 the department published its strategy for responding to this challenge after
a series of provincial analyses, overseen by a national task team. A new institu-
tional landscape for public further education and training colleges (Department
of Education, 2001) envisaged a series of fifty large institutions grounded on nine
attributes:
r large, multi-site institutions;

r increased autonomy;
r a mixture of specialization and multi-purpose institutions;
r a new quality-assurance framework;
r an increased focus on open and distance learning;
r a greater focus on access for learners with special needs;
r better articulation and collaboration with higher education;
r a commitment to improved student support services; and
r a stress on partnerships with government and the private sector (Department of
Education, 2001, pp. 16–20)
The report reinforced the requirement for the staffing of colleges to be more rep-
resentative. It reiterated the need for curricular reform and for a wider range of
programme offerings, supported by a new funding mechanism. It envisaged a tran-
sition over time in the degree of autonomy as colleges developed sufficient capacity
to manage themselves, and stressed the need for a capacity development effort to
support such a growth in powers.
3.2.4 Overviewing FET Policy Development and Implementation

Important elements of the FET policy recommendations of the last decade have
been realized in a set of practices, including the transformation of the institutional
landscape through the merger process. However, it is striking that a number of policy
recommendations remain at best partially acted upon. These include the areas of
finance, curriculum, articulation (with schools, higher education and skills develop-
ment) and addressing both social and economic needs.
3.3 The Department of Labour’s Skills Development

Strategy4
Meanwhile, in 1997 the Department of Labour published the Green Paper on a
skills development strategy (Department of Labour, 1997). This has formed the basis
for subsequent skills policies. The Green Paper called for: (a) a levy-grant system
aimed at increasing the investment and involvement of employers in the training
of their workforce; (b) new sector education and training authorities; and (c) the
introduction of learnerships (the model to succeed and extend the apprenticeship
system). These recommendations led to the Skills Development Act (Republic of
South Africa, 1998b) and the Skills Development Levies Act (Republic of South
Africa, 1999a).
3.3.1 Skills Development Act, 1998

The act created a new institutional framework for skills development in which
there is a high level of co-ordination at the national level (via the National Skills
Authority—NSA) and at a sectoral level (via the twenty-five Sector Education and
Training Authorities—SETAs).5 The new SETAs’ role includes the evaluation of
workplace skills plans (WSPs) and the development of sector skills plans; develop-
ing and registering learnerships; quality assuring training provision; and managing
and administering the grants received through the training levy (legislated by the
Skills Development Levies Act). At the national level, the NSA is responsible for
developing a macro-skills development policy for the Minister of Labour on a four-
yearly cycle.
At the programme core of the new system is the new notion of learnership. Learn-
erships are legislated by the Skills Development Act to include complex contractual
agreements for a fixed period between the learner, the provider and the employer.
The contractual agreement provides a framework for formalizing the relationship
between these three parties in carrying out the qualification. Beyond the formality
of the agreement, this relationship requires high levels of co-operation to ensure
the smooth planning and operation of the learnership. Learnerships are located at
the core of the Department of Labour’s macro-strategy for skills development. They
are intended to move beyond the narrow confines of conventional apprenticeships
and seek to build learners from disparate levels of prior learning to a situation
of competence necessary for meaningful social and economic participation. This
requires high levels of investment of resources to provide sufficient support to learn-
ers, both within the theory provider and within the workplace (Akoojee, Gewer &
McGrath, 2005a).
Learnerships are not just for those who are already employed. There is also a
strong commitment to learnerships for the pre- or unemployed. In this model, the
employer commits to a period of employment during the time-span of the learner-
ship, but not to subsequent employment.
In addition to establishing the legal framework for learnerships, the Skills Devel-
opment Act also made provision for the development of skills programmes, which
460 S. McGrath
would comprise an occupationally-directed learning programme leading to a credit

towards a qualification rather than a full qualification. The purpose of the skills
programmes is to allow learners access to short programmes that could be combined
towards a complete qualification, thus allowing more flexibility and mobility.
3.3.2 The Skills Development Levies Act, 1999

The funding regime for this radical new approach was legislated in the Skills De-
velopment Levies Act (Republic of South Africa, 1999a). Beyond a certain size, all
enterprises were required to pay 1% of payroll (0.5% in the first year) as a skills
development levy.
Some 80% of these funds would flow through the South African Revenue Service
to the relevant SETA. A range of criteria were developed governing how enterprises
could claim back the majority of these funds through evidence of training activities
linked to their WSPs.
The remaining 20% of the total levy income was set aside for strategic and devel-
opmental interventions, including a specific focus on skills development for small,
medium and micro-enterprises. These moneys are managed by the National Skills
Fund, located within the Department of Labour.
3.3.3 The National Skills Development Strategy,

2001 and 2005
In the National Skills Development Strategy of 2001, the Department of Labour
set twelve targets for the skills-development system, with three cross-cutting equity
targets, to be met by March 2005 (Department of Labour, 2001). Most of the in-
dicators have been reached, and it is clear that the department has achieved much
in its attempted skills revolution (McGrath & Paterson, 2006). However, there are
still concerns about the performance of the system in terms of equity and broader
impact. A new National Skills Development Strategy was launched in March 2005,
which largely seeks to continue along the path of the first strategy (Department of
Labour, 2005).
3.4 The Human Resources Development Strategy, 2001
As a further way of building intra-departmental coherence between education and

labour, in 2001 the two departments jointly produced a Human Resources Devel-
opment Strategy—HRDS (Department of Education/Department of Labour, 2001)
(Fig. 1).
The first element of the Human Resources Development Strategy, ‘building the
base’, is concerned with early-childhood development, which is the responsibility
of various departments, most obviously those concerned with health and education.
The second element, the ‘supply side’, is seen largely as the role of the Department
4. GROWING THE FUTURE

National capacity for Innovation, Research
and Development
2. SUPPLY
SIDE 5. HRD STRATEGY 3. DEMAND SIDE
Improving Increasing employer
the supply of Enhancing the linkages participation in
high-quality between the other four lifelong learning
skills strategic objectives
1. BUILDING THE BASE

Improving the foundations for human
development
Fig. 1 Visualizing the Human Resources Development Strategy

Source: Department of Education/Department of Labour, 2001.
of Education, albeit with the involvement of other departments, most notably those
concerned with labour and (at the higher education level) science and technology.
The third element, ‘demand side’, is primarily the responsibility of the Department
of Labour, although here the work of trade and industry in encouraging a high-skills
approach is particularly relevant. The fourth element, ‘growing the future’, is an
overlapping responsibility of the Departments of Education, Science and Technol-
ogy and Trade and Industry in particular.
The strategy itself and the continued enhancement of linkages between the other
elements of the approach is driven by the Departments of Education and Labour,
who jointly own the HRDS and who jointly convene the national Human Resources
Development Co-ordinating Committee.
4 Analysing the Policy Transformation Process

and the Remaining Tensions
In the second half of this chapter I will consider the dynamics inherent in the policy
process outlined above and the tensions that remain unresolved. I will do so under
three headings. First, I will consider the ways in which the principles of coherence
and integration have been interpreted in the development of a new South African
approach to education and training. Second, I will explore how tensions in this re-
gard relate to other unresolved issues regarding the nature of responsiveness. Third,
I will deepen this discussion by shifting into an examination of the way that the
institutional logics of departments and conflicting visions of responsiveness relate
to differing and inconsistent models of the relative roles of the State, market and
people in the decision-making process.
462 S. McGrath
4.1 Coherence
Earlier in this chapter I recounted how the original ANC plan to have an integrated
Department of Education and Labour had been abandoned. Of course, SAQA and
the NQF were supposed to be the mechanisms for ensuring a common vision be-
tween education and training. However, it quickly became apparent that the two
departments’ institutional logics, and the ways that these intersected with overall
government policy, meant that there was a complex set of forces preventing integra-
tion. At times, the two departments appeared to have genuine common visions and
interests and be pulling together. However, there were clear examples from early in
the process that their different interests could also serve to pull the system apart (Mc-
Grath, 1996; Akoojee, Gewer & McGrath, 2005a; Badroodien & McGrath, 2005).
As in many other national contexts, Department of Education officials tended to
stress the educational and social aspects of VET’s role and to downplay the eco-
nomic ones. Equally typically, Department of Labour officials, on the other hand,
tended to focus on what could be agreed upon by employers and trade unions and
showed a willingness to dilute educational considerations when these appeared to
get in the way of agreement on training reforms.
In spite of a range of working groups and public protestations about collaboration
between the two departments, it remained clear that there was little real agreement
between them beneath the most general level when it came to the rules of the new
game. Thus, learnerships began to develop largely with private providers whilst col-
lege qualifications were still predominantly education/supply-led. Education has not
yet managed to really access any of the funding ‘owned’ by labour; whilst labour
lacks the set of provider institutions ‘owned’ by education.
The limits of coherence were also made apparent by the process of reviewing the
NQF and SAQA, which began in 2001. Responding to an independent review of
the system (Department of Education/Department of Labour, 2002), the two depart-
ments spent eighteen months in arriving at a workable compromise (Department of
Education/Department of Labour, 2003), which essentially allowed the two depart-
ments to strengthen control of ‘their’ segments of the system, whilst maintaining a
weakened SAQA as a largely symbolic point of articulation between the different
parts (Akoojee, Gewer & McGrath, 2005a). After a consultation period ending in
October 2003, which resulted in widespread external criticism of the compromise,
the two departments continued to seek a revised model that could satisfy everyone.
However, this has still not been achieved at the time of writing—more than two
years later. In the meantime, SAQA is left weakened by inadequate funding and
uncertainty about its future, and is not in a position to drive integration without
serious departmental and ministerial support.
4.2 Responsiveness
All education is supposed to be responsive to broader individual, community and
societal needs. Moreover, it is argued that this is particularly true for VET. Recent
international work on VET systems has shown, however, that there are multiple
versions of responsiveness to which these systems are supposed to react (Ashton

& Green, 1996; Crouch, Finegold & Sako, 1999; Brown, Green & Lauder, 2001;
King & McGrath, 2002; Wolf, 2002; Cosser et al., 2003; Akoojee, Gewer & Mc-
Grath, 2005b).
The experience of South African VET since 1994 highlights a set of tensions
regarding responsiveness. In the public FET college system, it is apparent that there
are internal tensions within the Department of Education’s position regarding their
responsiveness. The FET Act sought to make it clear that social responsiveness and a
focus on equity and redress were more important than a focus on preparation for the
economy. However, the HRDS, jointly developed with the Department of Labour,
places emphasis on the need for colleges to respond to shortages in certain areas
of skills. The latter argument is clearly the dominant one in the government’s most
recent Programme of Action (Republic of South Africa, 2004).
Moreover, the Department of Education’s own practices appear to go beyond the
language of its policies in stressing the primacy of economic factors. Although the
New institutional landscape (2001) reflected the department’s vision for the sec-
tor, its implementation came to be dominated by the funding and technical support
given by the corporate sector through the National Business Initiative. Thus, the
key support given to colleges in the vital period of mergers was from a highly
market-oriented think tank, which stressed the need for colleges to become more
efficient and focused on business partnerships. Moreover, this process was given
significant support by a series of initiatives from the British Council, which resulted
in a strong influence at the institutional level from a managerial reading of the re-
forms that the British college system had undergone since 1992. To use Argyris and
Schön’s (1978) useful concepts, it appeared in the early part of the current decade
that the Department of Education’s theory-in-use of responsiveness was at some
variance from its espoused theory.
I have argued elsewhere (McGrath, 2000, 2005a, 2005b) that the Department of
Education has a very weak view of what economic responsiveness really means.
Whilst the HRDS stressed the importance of targeting older learners who were al-
ready employed and of focusing on scarce skills, FET policy appears to be more
concerned in practice with the ‘problem’ of what to do with those 14–19-year-olds
who are not deemed suitable for higher education. This has led the department to
plan to expand the size of the system massively and, at the same time, to reduce the
target-learner age-group.
Moreover, the department has proved very reluctant to address the challenge of
the informal economy. In spite of approximately one-third of the economically-
active population being engaged in informal work (International Labour Office,
2002), it is difficult to find anything but the most passing mention of the need to
support skills development for the informal economy in departmental policies.
At the level of practice, there are examples of colleges that are trying to develop
localized and nuanced readings of the challenge of responsiveness. However, there
is also evidence that many colleges are developing strategies that threaten to under-
mine access and educational worth in the search for economic advantage.
The Department of Labour too has faced problems in trying to develop its own
account of responsiveness. Although emerging largely out of compromise between
464 S. McGrath
organized business and the trade unions, the department’s policy attempts to bal-
ance a focus on economic growth and competitiveness with a concern for social
inclusion and redress. Some sense of the tensions that the department has been try-
ing to manage can be seen in the subtitle of the first National Skills Development
Strategy: ‘Productive citizenship for all’ (Department of Labour, 2001) and in the
vision statement for the second strategy: ‘Skills for sustainable growth, development
and equity’ (Department of Labour, 2005).
In spite of its stated concern to balance these different considerations, the de-
partment has been criticized for its failure to do enough to support the skills de-
velopment needs of the smallest and most informal enterprises (King, 1998; King
& McGrath, 2002; McGrath, 2005a, 2005b) and for its performance on supporting
equity (Badroodien, 2003; McGrath & Paterson, 2006).
Although responsiveness has been seen as a vital part of the new system, it ap-
pears that the notion remains too vague and inconsistent to be of much practical
use. In the FET sector, the vacuum created by State vagueness in this area has led
to the major practical influence of the views of business and the alleged example
of the British college sector. In skills development, some progress has been made in
broadening access, but the system remains hugely shaped by the particular dynamics
of various industrial sectors (McGrath & Paterson, 2006).
4.3 State, Markets and People
Internationally, VET systems have been encouraged to move away from State con-
trol and towards responsiveness both to market forces and to the wishes of local
people. In developing countries, both of these dynamics have been heavily driven
by international development co-operation agencies.
In response to and largely driven by the policies of international co-operation
agencies, VET systems have adopted new modes of governance, including national
training agencies and institutional governing bodies (Johanson & Adams, 2004;
Akoojee, Gewer & McGrath, 2005b; McGrath, forthcoming). Examples of this can
be seen in South Africa in new public FET college councils and in the establishment
of SAQA and the National Skills Authority.
However, it is important to ask whether a set of global policy certainties neces-
sarily work in the ways intended in a context as unique as that of South Africa.
The case of FET college reform in South Africa provides little support for the
argument that decentralization of policy, governance and management necessarily
brings about meaningful and sustainable benefits. Rather, the South African case
may be one in which the ability of a legitimate State to effect necessary social
change has been undermined by a diffusion of power and capacity across nine
provinces and, increasingly, fifty institutions.
The national department has taken the view that institutional autonomy can only
be developed over time and cannot simply be granted on grounds of ideology. This
is an important point to bear in mind in other national contexts. However, the South
African case also emphasizes the need to be consistent both in public statements and
in developmental activities in supporting the eventual development of institutional
capacities if this is indeed a policy goal.
The South African college sector also provides an important lesson in terms of
the need to approach public-sector reform as a particular area of expertise distinct
from private sector management. In spite of the Public Finance Management Act
(Republic of South Africa, 1999b) and the attempts to adapt the King principles
for corporate governance for the public sector (McGrath, forthcoming), there has
been too little practical support to the college sector regarding what good gover-
nance means for a public institution. Instead, there has been too much advice given
by large international management consultancy firms, lacking a real grounding in
public sector issues.
Work on school democracy in South Africa (e.g. Sayed, 1999; Karlsson, 2002;
Bush & Heystek, 2003) has shown that local-level democracy does not simply come
into existence because it is legislated for. Although there was a degree of genuine
democratization of decisions about schooling, there have been three difficulties that
are likely to affect colleges too. First, more equitable access to membership of gov-
ernance structures does not mean that old and new power imbalances in society are
overthrown. Second, it also does not mean that the new governors are receiving sup-
port to develop the necessary tools for good governance. Third, as Karlsson (2002)
notes, school governance reform has ‘over-reached’ in terms of what was expected
of governing bodies.
There are also grounds for caution in judging the impact of stakeholderism at
the national level. The National Board for Further Education and Training has been
almost entirely ineffectual. The SAQA Council has not proved a sufficiently robust
and influential body to ensure that the National Skills Authority itself has had the
resources to do its job and sufficient autonomy from ministerial interference. Finally,
the National Skills Authority has struggled to develop capacity, to get beyond the
sectional interests of its stakeholders and to construct a working relationship with
the department’s officials.
The role of the market in the reformed system is also less than clear. Whilst there
has been a language of responsiveness and the favouring of a demand-led approach,
it is clear that the South African State takes a rather sceptical view of the primacy
of the market, both in the skills field and more generally. As regards skills, the State
takes a strong view of the need to overcome the market’s failure to produce the right
quantity and quality of skills for the right people. Essentially, it has been attempting
an institutional approach to transforming the market for skills in terms of both equity
and effectiveness.
This view is mirrored at the overall policy level by the increasing tendency of
the State to espouse developmentalist positions that seek to intervene strategically
in bringing about better outcomes than would happen if left to the market alone
(Southall, 2005).
There are grounds for questioning the consistency and detail of the State’s vision,
but there is fairly widespread acceptance in South Africa that the market cannot
be left to decide on skills or on policy areas more generally. However, the greatest
466 S. McGrath
concern about a more development approach concerns the State’s capacity to deliver
on its aspirations (Southall, 2005; Paterson, 2005).
5 Conclusion
It is easy to argue from today’s vantage point that the first decade of VET in demo-
cratic South Africa saw far too much change, delivered at a pace that outstripped
the capacity of new officials and institutions to adapt to a hugely ambitious vision.
However, such an argument fails to acknowledge the massive and multiple pressures
that there were at the outset for a transformation that was both radical and rapid.
What is clear is that the transformation has proved far more complex than was
realized at the point of departure. Developing new institutions, creating a workable
NQF, transforming funding and delivering new programmes have all been attempted
at the same time as expanding the system and radically reforming access. Inevitably,
too, South Africa has found itself faced with many of the tensions that affect VET
systems globally, most particularly the difficulty of balancing social and economic
imperatives and of ensuring that the Departments of Education and Labour work
together effectively.
There have been many successes along the way, but the greatest challenge in the
second decade may be in managing a review process that: (a) allows the key suc-
cesses to continue; (b) identifies the elements of the system that need radical over-
haul or abandonment; and (c) which combines honest self-reflection with mainte-
nance of public support for the system. If such a process can be successfully negoti-
ated, then the South African skill revolution may reach a truly successful conclusion.
Notes
1. A more detailed discussion of this history can be found in McGrath et al., 2004.
2. I follow the official South African practice of using racial classifications as a means of under-
standing how the effects of race continue to shape people’s lives without subscribing to any
view of the essential nature of racial classifications. In keeping with South African practice, I
use ‘black’ as a collective term to refer to African, Indian and coloured people.
3. This sub-section on FET policy draws extensively on my previous writings, especially
McGrath, 2000, 2004 and Forthcoming.
4. This section draws on King & McGrath, 2002; McGrath, 2005a and Forthcoming, as well as
Kraak, 2004a and 2004b.
5. The list of SETAs is under revision at the time of writing, with some mergers identified and
other changes under consideration.
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Chapter III.8
Reform of Vocational Education
in the Russian Federation
1 Background
The reform processes for Russian vocational education and training (VET) started
in the early 1990s when the former USSR split into independent states, and the
Russian Federation became a nation consisting of eighty-nine regions, each with
a considerable degree of autonomy. In the field of education this autonomy was
reflected by the rapid adoption of regional legislation on education, even if based on
the Federal Law on Education.
The Federal Law on Education reflects the provisions of the Constitution of the
Russian Federation, laying down in Article 42 universal access to free-of-charge
pre-school, general and vocational education. The same Article (paragraph 5) also
stipulates that national education standards are set by the Federal State. In Section II,
Article 9, vocational education and training is subdivided into two levels—initial
and secondary VET.1 Access to both levels of VET is open for general secondary
(nine-year compulsory education) and complete or full secondary school-leavers
(eleven years). For school-leavers who do not possess a full general secondary ed-
ucation certificate, vocational curricula at both levels are supplemented by a cur-
riculum of complete general secondary education. Thus, in principle both levels
of VET provide open access to higher education (Russian Federation. Ministry of
Education, 1996)
VET, and especially initial VET, has always played a two-fold role, namely that
of preparation for work and of providing some kind of a social security net for
children from disadvantaged families (as of now, about 70% of initial VET students
come from low-income and single-parent families) (Russian Federation. Ministry
of Education and Science, 2005). The social support role of VET that goes back to
the Soviet days has, obviously, been transformed by the new market economy con-
ditions, although VET has tended to retain this important social function. However,
it has clearly been weakened by insufficient financial support for education from
the State. In Russia the share of GDP spent on education amounts to only 3.6% (as
against France 5.8% and Germany 4.5%) (National Observatory for VET, 2003).
Tensions between the qualifying role and the social protection role of vocational
education and training institutions remain one of the big challenges yet to be
overcome.

470 O. Oleynikova, A. Muravyeva
2 Processes of VET Reform and Modernization
2.1 The Initial Years of Transition
VET reform in Russia has passed through two stages: an initial one that can be
broadly termed liberalization lasted until 2002, when it was followed up by attempts
to introduce modernization.
Modernization has been accompanied by a structural change in the organization
of the VET system (National Observatory for VET, 2004). During the administra-
tive reform of the federal and regional governing bodies in 2004, the Ministry of
Education, responsible for vocational education, was transformed into the Ministry
of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. This ministry is in charge of
both VET segments, as well as of the system of so-called supplementary education,
which is in fact a prototype of what is usually referred to as continuing vocational
education and training (CVET).
Thus, vocational education and training delivered by VET schools, VET centres
attached to enterprises and State providers of supplementary education is currently
under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education and Science and its two affili-
ated agencies, namely of the Federal Education Agency and the Federal Inspection
Service. Vocational training of the unemployed, however, is the responsibility of
the Federal Employment Service. This agency either contracts training courses with
VET schools or provides labour-market training at its own training centres. The
latter issue their own certificates which are recognized by employers.
In initial VET, worker training takes place either directly at enterprises or within
the State-run initial VET schools or lyceums. Unfortunately, since 1993 there have
been no official figures made available on the in-service training of workers. Sec-
ondary VET programmes are available at technicums and colleges (Russian Feder-
ation. Ministry of Education, 1999). Within each level of VET differences between
types of schools depend on the type of programmes—either basic or advanced—and
differ in the content and composition of curricula and qualifications.
To fully perceive the scale, scope and problems of the reform and moderniza-
tion effort in Russia, it is worthwhile bearing in mind that we are talking about a
VET system embracing around 3,790 initial VET schools and lyceums (with about
1,649,300 students), 2,600 State-run and municipal secondary VET institutions
(with about 2.5 million students), and over 200 private colleges (Russian Federation.
Ministry of Education and Science, 2005). These VET institutions are scattered all
over the country’s eighty-eight regions2 that differ not only geographically, but also
in terms of the level of economic development. Regions are subdivided into ‘donor’
regions, considered to be doing relatively well economically, and ‘recipients’ who
benefit from additional equalizing subsidies from the federal government.
The overhaul of relations between education and production in the country in the
early 1990s resulted in VET schools severing their former links with enterprises.
Traditionally, these links included mandatory provision of work-experience place-
ments for VET students, jobs for VET graduates and other forms of support. Given
that the only form of ownership of enterprises in Soviet times was State ownership,
III.8 Reform of Vocational Education in the Russian Federation 471
and given the planned character of the national economy at that time, matching
demand with supply used to be part of the overall VET administrative system. The
introduction of labour markets has also changed this aspect of the system.
In the early days of the transition period (accompanied by an economic crisis),
the VET reform effort was—besides trying to preserve institutions—directed largely
at overcoming the ‘rigidity’ of the system and at liberalizing content and regulations.
Hence, the catchwords of those days were diversification of curricular content and
increased autonomy of VET schools at all levels. The biggest achievement of this
stage was the first generation of VET standards that, for the first time in Russian
history, introduced a differentiation between a federal and a regional component.
This was meant to provide the regional levels with a certain degree of autonomy
that would allow them to address local specificities, including the structure of their
labour markets. These VET standards still had to be approved by sector ministries
and the Ministry of Labour before their final adoption by the government, but in
itself this was a major step forward.
During this period private colleges of secondary VET also emerged, and contract-
based training was permitted. This opened up an opportunity for VET schools to
raise money to supplement the meagre budgets provided by the State and to broaden
their services to embrace different target groups of learners—in particular unem-
ployed and employed adults.
It is noteworthy that contract-based training has served as ‘litmus paper’ reveal-
ing the entrepreneurial spirit of some schools—and its absence in others. Proactive
‘entrepreneurial’ schools managed to re-establish links with enterprises and receive
money that they have used for research and development, as well as to support
teachers’ salaries. Unfortunately, at the federal level no notice has been taken of this
development and of the crucial factors behind it. A proper analysis of the motives,
actions and contexts of proactive schools could have resulted in models that would
have been beneficial for the whole VET system.
2.2 Revision of Strategies and Priorities
With the gradual development of the national economy and under the influence of
globalization, the emerging goals of the knowledge-based economy and discus-
sions about European integration, the constraints of the initial reform efforts be-
came obvious and have led to the strategy and priorities being revised. This was
reflected in a number of policy documents, including the ‘National Doctrine of Ed-
ucation’ (Russian Federation. Ministry of Education, 2000), the ‘Concept of Mod-
ernization of Education in the Russian Federation’ (Russian Federation. Ministry of
Education, 2002), and the most recent document ‘Priorities for the Development of
Education in the Russian Federation’ (Russian Federation. Ministry of Education,
2004).
From then on, VET modernization has addressed the following new issues:
(a) development of a new generation of VET standards; (b) establishment of an
independent quality assessment and certification system; (c) development of a
methodology and infrastructure for the identification of the current and future de-
mand for labour; and (d) development of social partnerships in the sphere of VET.
These objectives were further specified in 2004 in the ‘Priorities for the Develop-
ment of Education in the Russian Federation’. This document sets down the strategic
goals of the country’s educational development, which include: (a) improvement
of the well-being of its citizens; (b) the promotion of social stability, security of
the State and its citizens; (c) the development of civil society institutions; (d) the
maintenance of the social and cultural integrity and civil identity of Russian soci-
ety; (e) the provision of a qualified work force for the labour market; and (f) the
development of a national innovation system enhancing the competitiveness of the
Russian economy (Russian Federation. Ministry of Education, 2002, 2004).
For VET the main goals are: (a) the development of an up-to-date system of
continuing vocational and higher education; (b) enhancing the quality of VET and
higher education; and (c) making the education system more attractive for investors.
In order to develop an up-to-date system of continuing vocational education and
training, it was deemed necessary to: increase the number of VET providers; to
establish a system of external assessment and accreditation of programmes and
competences; and to facilitate the academic mobility of students. To enhance the
quality of VET it was necessary to restructure the system of initial and secondary
VET, to create conditions for the innovation-based development of VET, and to
better integrate education and training, research and practice. Finally, in order to
make the education system more attractive for private investments it was suggested:
to increase the financial autonomy of schools by promoting wider diversity in their
organizational and legal status; to reduce investment risks for educational investors
by promoting stakeholder involvement in the governance of educational establish-
ments; and to introduce new principles for the financing of VET schools.
As of the time of writing, tangible outputs can be observed along two axes of
modernization. Firstly, the second generation of VET standards developed in 2002
has seen a broader participation on the part of social partners. And secondly, social
dialogue has begun to develop, reflecting both the internal processes at work in
the regions, as well as the impact of international projects implemented in Russia,
such as those supported by the European Commission and the European Training
Foundation.
However, due to the absence of occupational standards in most of the economic
sectors, VET standards have not taken full account of employers’ perspectives and
remain largely based on educational inputs instead of the outcomes. Nevertheless,
in the preparation for the third generation of VET standards now under way, em-
ployers’ needs are receiving more attention. There is also a growing interest on the
part of employers in developing sector-wide occupational standards. Such intentions
have been clearly voiced by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs,
the biggest association of employers in the Russian Federation. To add weight to
its intentions, this union has established a National Agency for Promotion of Qual-
ifications bringing together all relevant stakeholders to create common ground for
enhancing the quality of the workforce by expressing their viewpoints in order to
reach a consensus. In 2006 the Government of the Russian Federation approved
an action-plan addressed to the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry

of Economy and the Ministry of Health and Social Development setting out con-
crete measures to develop a national qualifications framework, competence-based
VET curricula, occupational standards and VET standards based on the latter. This
action-plan is a breakthrough in terms of the conceptual perspective underlying the
modernization effort.
Since 2002, the rhetoric of VET policymakers has also visibly shifted towards
quality—in terms of relevance to the labour market—regarded both as an objective
and outcome of social partnership. Thus, since that time, the VET discourse has been
enriched by such notions as social partnership in VET, multi-level multi-purpose
VET schools, optimization of the network of VET schools, decentralization of VET
governance, per capita financing of schools, lifelong learning and continuing educa-
tion and training. Furthermore, the discussion about the Bologna and Copenhagen
processes has put additional pressure on the system and, in a way, has acted as a
catalyst for further modernization efforts (Oleynikova, 2005).
While the preceding overview offers a somewhat static picture of VET modern-
ization effort in Russia, below we take a look at active on-going processes involving
various interest groups and stakeholders. Finally, we summarize the main achieve-
ments and list some of the remaining challenges.
2.3 Contract-Based Training
The first event was the development of contract-based training. For example, in
initial VET schools about half a million adults are trained under contracts with
enterprises, employment agencies or under individual contracts. It is interesting to
note that the largest number of contracts is signed with individual citizens (around
60% as against 40% in both of the other groups taken together) (Russian Federation.
Ministry of Education and Science, 2005), which indicates a high level of interest
in education and training among individuals and recognition that education is the
key to a successful career and self-fulfilment. On the other hand, paid tuition is
distorting the VET system, often tempting schools to launch programmes that may
be attractive to individuals, but have little relevance to the labour market. The most
typical examples are programmes in law, economics and accounting that can be
found even at initial VET schools.
2.4 Competence-Based Curricula
The second process that is currently coming to the fore is the introduction of the
competence-based approach to VET curricula. This implies a further transition to
new quality-assurance mechanisms and streamlined institutional mechanisms of so-
cial partnership in VET.
The development of competence-based VET has been largely triggered by inter-
national projects, including the ‘VET reform in the North-West of Russia’ Project
and the recent European Union-funded Delphi II project that ended in 2005 with
the publication of a set of manuals on the development and delivery of competence-
based modular curricula. These have been approved by the federal Ministry of Ed-
ucation and Science and are currently being piloted in a number of VET schools.
In one region that is very development oriented (Sverdlovsk Oblast), the regional
VET standard component has been developed based on learning outcomes (compe-
tences). It is therefore unfortunate that an independent system of quality assessment
has not yet been put in place and assessment remains within the jurisdiction of
VET schools. Clearly, until the outcome-based approach has fully taken root, an
independent assessment and certification institution has little chance of succeeding.
2.5 Quality Assurance
Nevertheless, certain processes towards improving quality assurance can be ob-

served. Some VET schools have taken the initiative into their own hands. They have
opted for ISO certificates in quality management and others have piloted the self-
assessment model developed by the Copenhagen Technical Working Group. The
second group of schools are working together with a view to submitting proposals
to the federal Ministry of Education and Science on the relevance of this model
for the Russian VET system. Some VET schools—though few in number—have
adopted a modified total quality management model that serves as the basis for the
National and Regional Competitions for the Quality Award, initiated by both the
federal and regional governments.
2.6 Continuing Vocational Education and Training

Another important process at work in the VET system is the spread of continuing
vocational education and training (CVET), despite the fact that the CVET sector
is not yet officially institutionalized. However, at the conceptual level, steps have
been taken towards integrating all forms of post-initial VET and adult education,
ensuring coherence of qualifications, and enhancing the diversity of pathways to ex-
tend access to education and training for all age-groups. Under the Delphi II project,
a planning model for CVET at the regional level has been developed that has been
recommended for use by all regional VET administrations (Muravyeva, 2005). VET
schools are increasingly involved in CVET delivery and will be even more so in the
near future, with young cohorts dramatically decreasing due to demographic ageing
of the population.
There is also a growing need for up-skilling and retraining of the workforce as
a result of rapid technological change. It should be stressed that the demographic
aging3 of the population creates new challenges for the VET system in terms of
knowledge updating, as it is the young generation, namely recent graduates from
the education system, who are familiar with and use up-to-date knowledge and
technologies. With the ageing of the population, the inflow of young people into the
work force is slowing down and the age structure of the population group that is most
active economically and socially (aged 20 to 60) is undergoing dramatic changes.
2.7 Optimization of the School Network
Another on-going process concerns the optimization of the network of VET schools.
This reflects other processes, such as the decentralization of VET governance and
the need to increase the cost-effectiveness of VET systems (Butko, 2004). Priorities
established by the federal Ministry of Education and Science for the reform of the
network of VET schools envisage a systemic integration of schools of different lev-
els in establishing larger complexes, including those based on universities, as well
as multi-level multi-purpose VET schools/centres. In addition, organizational and
curricular continuity between levels of VET and professional education should be
established, and qualification profiles and volumes of training should better match
the requirements of the labour markets.
The Concept of Optimization of VET Schools, adopted by the federal Ministry
of Education and Science foresees (St. Petersburg Department of Education, 2005):
r Choosing a selected number of VET schools to form multi-level and multi-

purpose centres of excellence that will remain under federal jurisdiction and de-
liver training in occupations of importance for the national economy (high-tech
sectors, defence industry). These schools will pilot innovations, both techno-
logical and methodological. Geographically, such federal centres of excellence
will be located in smaller cities having few VET schools. By the end of 2008
about 300 schools of this type will have been established implementing initial
(IVET), secondary (SVET) and continuing (CVET) curricula in occupational
profiles relevant for each region;
r Modifying IVET and SVET schools into multi-profile and multi-level VET cen-
tres under the regional jurisdiction will concern about 40% of the total amount
of these schools. Already most SVET colleges have introduced training for two
or three new occupations on top of the traditional ones to address the changing
needs of the labour market and are implementing IVET and CVET programmes;
r Establishing the so-called resource centres on the basis of the best regional VET
schools. Many regions have opted for this model in order to restructure their
school networks. The concept of a resource centre, which is quite complex and
requires further development, has been thoroughly analysed and piloted in a
number of regions in the World Bank financed Education Reform Project. There
is a danger that a resource centre becomes just a better-equipped VET school
or a methodological and research ‘repository’, but is not a training centre with
advanced technology and equipment that can be used collectively by all regional
and inter-regional customers for the practical training of students.
The first outcomes of restructuring the VET schools network are witness to the
reorganization of 130 VET schools of different levels into twenty-four university
complexes and nineteen multi-profile colleges. This move has reduced the number
of legal entities—recipients of public funding—and contributed to the elimination
of redundancy in training profiles within a region, streamlining the governance and
procedures and resulting in an improvement in cost-effectiveness.
It is expected that the restructuring of school networks will require new organi-
zational and legal formats for VET schools. The rationale behind these proposals
is that a new legal status will promote employer involvement in VET school gover-
nance, and will thus improve financial support for VET schools.
2.8 Decentralization
The federal policy on the decentralization of VET governance aims at better ad-
dressing the regional and local needs of the economy and the population. It also
aims at involving regional administrations in VET development as well as activating
the participation of employers and professional associations in VET governance.
Decentralization means the transfer of VET schools into regional jurisdictions with
a redistribution of decision-making powers between the federal and regional author-
ities. As of January 2005, the responsibilities of VET management and financing
for most IVET schools were devolved from the federal to the regional level. The
SVET schools are also being gradually transferred to regional jurisdictions. To date,
about 92% of IVET schools and about 460 SVET schools have been transferred to
the regional jurisdiction. In spite of the fact that decentralization, as such, is a very
positive development, the financial situation of VET schools may deteriorate, pri-
marily due to the constraints resulting from very different regional priorities. Plans
to streamline regional disparities through targeted federal subsidies for VET schools
are under discussion. The transfer of IVET and SVET schools to the regional juris-
diction would require the development of a legal framework empowering the federal
ministry to maintain control over the quality of VET, while the infrastructure is
devolved to the regional jurisdiction. Thus, a model of VET governance is to be
created that would delineate powers and competences, functions and responsibilities
of schools and local governments between the regional and the federal authorities.
In preparation for such optimization, the regions of the Russian Federation are
modernizing their VET infrastructure by setting up regional centres for labour-
market monitoring, for quality assurance and integrated systems for up-skilling
(CVET). Some have also started to improve vocational guidance and counselling
systems. In certain regions (e.g. in Samara Oblast), stipends and additional bene-
fits have been introduced for students to stimulate training in occupations that are
needed by the economy but are not popular. Some regions have started establishing
regional centres for the certification of qualifications using international experience.
Without the co-ordination and guidance of federal authorities, such issues as the
transfer of certificates across regions and the lack of nationally agreed standards
may undermine the viability of centres and thus affect their survival.
Regional VET systems are also involved in maximizing the regional element in
VET standards so as to improve the labour-market relevance of education and train-
ing. To this end, various forms of councils have been set up with the participation
of social partners. In some regions VET schools’ licenses are reconfirmed only if
their training profiles address the regional labour market needs. Employers, regional
employment service agencies and students must also speak out positively about the
school.
2.9 New Financing Mechanisms

Alongside the decentralization and optimization processes, new financing mecha-
nisms have been devised, including per capita financing of IVET and SVET schools
differentiated according to the profile of training (in terms of its relevance for the
economy) and the costs of the programme. The development of per capita financing
(often referred to as norm-based financing) has been under way for quite a few
years but no final model has yet been approved. The decentralization process has
also engendered a model of co-financing of VET schools under medium-term target
programmes from both federal and regional budgets.
The development of decentralization and optimization mechanisms has revealed
a number of bottlenecks in the VET system, including the lack of capacity to analyse
demand and the need for a legal framework for CVET, including new organizational
forms and their financing. Experience so far has also shown that there are problems
motivating VET school principals to become actively engaged in the modernization
process. Most principals are baffled or even scared by the on-going changes and fail
to react. Only a very few of them are able to be pro-active and anticipate changes.
Management and leadership skills of VET administrators and managers at all levels
have to be further developed to cope with all the challenges of decentralization.
3 Main Reform Achievements and Remaining Challenges

Summing up this short history of VET reform and modernization in Russia, it can
be concluded that some progress has been made:
r The State has recognized the importance of vocational education and training
as a prerequisite for the country’s economic growth and competitiveness, and is
committed to its development and support.
r Measures have been devised and implemented to improve the network of VET
institutions and set up multi-level and multi-purpose integrated VET schools and
VET centres of excellence.
r VET schools are increasingly involved in training the adult population, including
the unemployed.
r There is an increased awareness both among VET policy-makers and practition-
ers of the need to develop outcomes-based VET standards and programmes.
r VET schools are adopting a methodology of skill-needs analysis that is con-

ducive to enhancing social partnership in VET, alongside other mechanisms of
social partnership instituted on the regional and municipal level.
At the same time, the development of the VET system in general has been slowed
down by a number of unresolved issues that have not received sufficient attention,
even though they have been known about for many years by VET partners and
stakeholders. What has been achieved has mainly been stimulated by international
projects and has therefore been largely restricted to the community that has been
involved in such projects.
Social dialogue on VET remains underdeveloped. As such, social partnership
is recognized and practised by pro-active schools, largely by those that have been
exposed to international projects. On the system level, there are various councils set
up to co-ordinate the efforts of the VET system and social partners, however it is too
early to speak about their impact, given that they have primarily focused on intake
figures and profiles of training. The major recent development is the setting up of
sector skills councils initiated by the international Delphi II project that focuses on
competence standards for VET graduates, effective work placements for students, as
well as on updating the contents of programmes and the assessment of competences.
On the whole, however, it should be stressed that, in spite of the modernization
efforts, there is a pronounced lack of a culture of social partnership on both sides.
There remains great reluctance on the side of employers to interact with vocational
education (partially because of a lack of appropriate incentives for enterprises).
There is also little recognition on the side of regional administrations of a possible
role for vocational education as an agent in economic development.
Skill mismatches continue to exist. According to employers—supported by un-
employment figures—the competences of VET graduates are irrelevant for the
labour market. About 20.7% of the unemployed population have a secondary VET
diploma and about 16.4% have initial VET diplomas. Among the economically ac-
tive population, 7.7% of SVET diploma holders and 6.2% IVET diploma holders
remain unemployed (Federal Statistics Service, 2005). Unemployed VET graduates
have to make contact with the employment services to receive re-training which,
apart from negative social and psychological implications, entails extra costs for the
State.
Vocational education programmes also remain largely input-based. There is still
an absence of updated occupational standards and the existing classification of
labour-market occupations has not yet been revised. In practice, this means that
outdated and obsolete occupational profiles are still used as a basis for many
programmes provided by VET schools. At the same time, there is no generally
accepted methodology and communication system for anticipating skills demand.
VET institutions have no guidelines on which they could base new initiatives and
often follow the most recent fashion. One of the outcomes of this process is the
so-called ‘qualification loop’. New occupations on the labour market requiring dif-
ferent or higher qualifications in a new market segment (i.e. finance) remain vacant
due to the lack of school graduates having the required knowledge and skills. The
rigid dependence in awarding diplomas and qualifications on duration and type of

programmes in formal education is paralleled by the absence of mechanisms and
instruments to recognize prior learning from non-formal and informal settings.
Drop-out from VET schools remains high as well. It is highest in agricultural and
fishery occupations, reaching about 35%; in natural sciences occupations it amounts
to 25% and in teaching occupations about 15%. There is a mix of factors that may
explain high drop-out rates, including perceived lack of relevance of programmes
for obtaining employment, traditional emphasis on general subjects at the cost of
practical vocational education, overloaded curricula and old-fashioned teaching ap-
proaches. The quality of teaching is also deteriorating rapidly, amongst others things
due to an increasing shortage of qualified teachers and practical training instructors.
The shortage of instructors amounts to more than 40%, with about 14% of practi-
cal training instructors having qualifications that are lower than the qualifications
awarded to VET school graduates. This development can be accounted for by the
low social prestige of teaching and instruction jobs in vocational education and to
the miserably low salaries. The prospective introduction of outcomes-based VET
may in fact further aggravate the shortage of VET teachers and instructors, as those
who are still working in schools may not be motivated enough to adjust to on-going
changes. The situation is made even worse by the rapid ageing of the teaching
force.
Translating these weaknesses into practical steps that would be in line with the
goals and objectives set down in the Priorities for the Development of Education in
the Russian Federation, it would seem first of all necessary to clarify the division
of power and responsibility between the federal and regional levels in the system of
vocational education and training. Some of the measures currently being discussed
will be presented below.
In general terms, the improvement of VET governance should aim at transform-
ing regional VET systems into a resource for social and economic development.
Thus, the regional level should become responsible for:
r providing access to VET for all population groups, with special regard to the
disadvantaged and individuals with special needs;
r the development and updating of VET standards;
r the organization of in-service training of teachers and practical training instruc-
tors; and
r the development of a legal framework for social partnership in VET.
The central government should be responsible for:

r creating the conditions for the free development of the market of VET providers;
r an overall quality assurance system;
r setting the financial mechanisms for the VET systems, including a legal frame-
work for student loans and the participation of employers in co-financing of
student loans; and
r initiating measures to encourage employers to participate in VET (e.g. tax bene-
fits for enterprises investing in VET).
Increasingly, there is an awareness of the need for structural changes in the overall
VET system and in particular for better integrating the different levels, types and
forms of vocational education and training, such as initial and secondary VET, and
supplementary and adult training, including training of the unemployed. This would
also make it necessary to develop an independent system of quality assessment,
ensuring an integrated national education space and enhanced objectivity in the
assessment of learning outcomes. Such a system could be based on autonomous not-
for-profit organizations authorized to carry out examinations and the certification of
learning. At the same time, they could also be responsible for the accreditation of
programmes and the issuing of certificates.
Finally, there is also an understanding of the need to change financing mecha-
nisms and their principles. Schools should become more financially autonomous.
This would imply a radical change of existing itemized funding principles. It would
also require increased accountability for the results that schools achieve. Therefore,
financing of VET schools should be based on outcomes that have been clearly iden-
tified, formulated and agreed. To enhance overall efficiency of financial schemes it is
proposed to introduce new mechanisms that include target figures, educational cred-
its and medium-term programmes. Under the latter programmes, priority financing
will be provided for developing up-to-date teaching and learning infrastructures,
such as computer networks, education databases, e-libraries, teaching and learning
materials, systems of quality assessment and a system of certification and accred-
itation of curricula, as well as software packages in educational management and
governance.
In October 2006 the federal government expanded the National Priority Project
on Education to support innovations in VET. In years to come tens of millions
of dollars will be granted to VET schools to upgrade their equipment, facili-
ties and to modernize training programmes. It is important to analyse and learn
from the experience accumulated in international projects with a view to ensur-
ing that these new investments will complement what the regions are already
doing. The beneficiary institutions will receive incentives to work and share the
results with other institutions. Past experience suggests that equipping and sup-
porting individual schools does not represent a sustainable long-term solution to
the problems of the VET system. Before moving ahead with this initiative, the
government would need to develop a long-term vision for the development of the
VET sector that takes into account the rapid changes taking place in the work-
place as a result of the introduction of ever-more sophisticated technologies and
the demand by entrepreneurs for graduates with flexible skills and the capacity to
learn fast.
As can be seen from our review, there is a long list of needs and suggestions. The
key challenge is to implement some of them. Given the wealth of good practices
existing in individual VET schools that could serve as a resource for developing
modern and effective models of VET in the country, networking of VET schools
should be encouraged to enhance information exchange and the sharing of good
practices. This seems to be the only feasible way to envisage a continuation of on-
going reforms and modernization efforts.
Notes
1. These titles may be confusing. The term ‘initial vocational education’ in the Russian tradition
refers to education for basic, i.e. lower, levels of occupations. However, as workers used to be
able to upgrade their qualifications through courses, ‘initial vocational education’ also provided
a basis for continuing vocational education and training. The term ‘secondary vocational edu-
cation’ should not be associated with the secondary level of the education system but refers to
post-secondary education and is aimed at training medium-level specialists for all sectors of the
economy.
2. In 2005, two regions of the Russian Federation were merged into one, thus bringing the overall
number of regions down from eighty-nine to eighty-eight.
3. In some regions of the Russian Federation the average age of the working population is around
50. The current demographic development in Russia is a combination of low birth rates and
low average life expectancies, resulting in the ageing of the population. According to the State
Statistics Committee, the size of the population decreased from 148.3 million in 1992 to 144 in
2004. This trend is expected to continue in the coming years.
References
Butko, E. 2004. Education and economic strategies of IVET schools in contemporary conditions.
Moscow: Ministry of Education.
Federal Statistics Service. 2005. Education in the Russian Federation: annual statistics. Moscow.
Muravyeva, A. 2005. Competence-based VET. Journal ‘Specialist’, no. 5.
National Observatory for VET. 2003. VET stocktaking report. Moscow.
National Observatory for VET. 2004. VET update. Moscow.
Oleynikova, O. 2005. Outcomes of the Delphi II project. Journal ‘Specialist’, no. 11.
Russian Federation. Ministry of Education. 1996. Law of the Russian Federation on Education.
Edition of January 13, no. 12.
Russian Federation. Ministry of Education. 1999. Programme of Development of Secondary VET.
Moscow.
Russian Federation. Ministry of Education. 2000. National Doctrine of Education in the Russian
Federation. (Papers from the conference of education workers.) Moscow.
Russian Federation. Ministry of Education. 2002. Concept of Modernisation of Education in the
Russian Federation. Moscow.
Russian Federation. Ministry of Education. 2004. Priorities for the Development of Education in
the Russian Federation. Moscow.
Russian Federation. Ministry of Education and Science. 2005. Education in the Russian Feder-
ation: annual collection of statistics. Moscow: Federal Statistics Service, Federal Education
Agency.
St. Petersburg Department of Education. 2005. Papers from the Conference ‘Decentralization of
VET Governance’.
Chapter III.9
Vocational Education in the Netherlands:
In Search of a New Identity
1 Introduction
Students’ motivational problems in combination with new occupational demands

(which resulted from the transition from a primarily industrial to a more service- and
knowledge-oriented economy) triggered an identity crisis in vocational education in
the 1990s. The search for this new identity will be analysed in this chapter. First
of all, we will evaluate the urgency of the problem. In the first section we will
show that increasing amounts of criticism were directed at the functioning of the
vocational education system during the 1990s. The national qualifications structure
was the primary object of criticism, the response to which was the development
of competence-based vocational education. In section 3, we will describe the main
characteristics of this kind of education, and we will connect this to the concept
of the vocational education school as a career development centre. Even though
this concept was mainly developed outside the vocational education system (i.e.
by academics, social partners and the government), a centrally directed national
innovation policy has not really been the preferred option, for political as well as
substantive reasons.
Instead, it was agreed that competence-based vocational education should be
realized through a variety of regional innovations, managed by the schools them-
selves. In other words, a ‘bottom-up’ approach to innovation has been chosen. In
section 4, we will critically review this approach taking on the role of a ‘critical
friend’. Recent research into the development of competence-based learning will
receive special attention in section 5. In the sixth section, we will conclude our
chapter with a look into the future. In our opinion, vocational education has to focus
its search for a new identity through an increase of its own ‘professionalism’, as a
basis for self-direction. The central government can support the growth of personal
professionalism and the professionalization of vocational schools by stimulating
opportunities for locally initiated experimentation. One way to do this could be by
creating a national innovation fund with agreed key goals for innovation. However,
proper support for the self-direction of schools requires adequate steering by the
government.

484 J. Geurts, F. Meijers
2 The Qualification’s Structure Under Fire
The qualification’s structure that was developed during the late 1980s for non-
university vocational education had four levels. Every level is associated with a vo-
cational education programme with two major variants: one school-based, whereby
the amount of practical training is between 20% and 60%, and one work-based,
where this percentage is greater than 60%. The lowest qualification level is one for
simple operational tasks, with the associated assistant-level training. The highest
level is for autonomous task implementation, with either broad areas of application
or specialization, with an associated intermediate- or specialist-level training.
The keys to the qualification structure are the so-called learning outcomes, or
‘end-results’, that are determined by ‘knowledge centres vocational education busi-
ness’, that exist for each sector or branch. In a first step, the social partners (employ-
ers and union representatives) establish occupational profiles for key occupations in
their industry or branch. They describe—per occupation—the core tasks and the
necessary knowledge and skills, taking future developments into account. The so-
cial partners then formulate the qualifications and the corresponding ‘end results’,
derived from one or more occupational profiles. They also determine which training
variant can be offered, whether the training must be fee-based or free of charge, and
to what extent qualifications need to be legitimized by an external, independent in-
stitution. At this point, the Advisory Commission on the Education-Labour Market
(ACOA), established by the Minister of Education, will be asked to advise whether
the qualifications and end results adhere to the legal requirements. After accep-
tance by ACOA, the Minister of Education ratifies the end-results and the approved
education and training variant will be entered in the vocational education central
register (the CREBO). From that moment on, educational institutions are allowed
to develop—on the basis of the ratified end terms—curricula for the programmes
that they are willing and able to offer. Educational publishers translate—sometimes
in co-operation with educational institutions—the end results into practical train-
ing material. Finally, arrangements are made with enterprises concerning the scope
and implementation of the practical training parts. The entire procedure (from end-
results to training materials) is regulated by the Educational and Vocational Training
Act (WEB).
During the 1990s, there were increasing concerns about the effectiveness and
efficiency of the WEB. In Table 1, derived from Geurts (2001), we present the
conclusions of a number of studies concerning the functioning of the WEB. In
terms of effectiveness, there now exists a plethora of strongly differentiated and
narrow-function profiles. Efficiency also has room for improvement. A bureaucracy
has been developed to maintain the qualification structure and—as a result—there
is again limited responsiveness to the labour market. Moreover, the qualification
structure insufficiently stimulates increases in knowledge production, because the
WEB allows all parties (schools, knowledge centres and support institutions) to
simply implement the WEB without reflecting on ways for improvement. Espe-
cially, little thought has been given on relating the agreed qualifications to pedagogic
goals. The WEB does not stimulate schools and other parties to actively consider
III.9 Vocational Education in the Netherlands 485
Table 1 Remarks concerning the effectiveness and efficiency of the qualifications structure
Effective: doing the right things Efficient: doing things well
r too one-sided attention to the demand r bureaucratic procedures with (too) long
side;
r structure not up-to-date: obsolete occupa- r
durations;
insufficient connection with initial- and
tional profiles;
r qualifications not broad and durable
tertiary levels of vocational education and
training, leading to unnecessary delays;
enough: too narrow function profiles; r
r much overlapping in qualifications;
too little involvement and communication
between interested parties;
r too many, too differentiated qualifications r qualification structure is developed in rel-
(approx. 700): not transparent; ative isolation;
r blind spots: new occupations are not given r too rigid role distribution between inter-
enough attention; ested parties;
r confusion in the demarcation between ini- r lack of clarity in description of end-terms;
tial and post-initial education; r
r deterioration of educational goals.
actors use their own opportunities for im-
proving interfaces insufficiently.
and apply the qualification structure, possibly offering modifications and improve-
ments from their own perspective. Because they see little opportunity to utilize their
own experience, educational institutions have generally not developed a positive
relation with the qualification structure. They have, in fact, never viewed it as an
instrument to improve the quality of their own work. As a result, the qualification
structure is generally used in a defensive manner, namely as an instrument to legit-
imatize themselves towards government, the inspectorate, businesses and their own
teachers.
The quality of vocational education became a subject of increasing contention
between employer organizations and the government, certainly after the European
Council agreed in Lisbon in 2000 that the European economy needed to transform
itself within ten years into the world’s most competitive and dynamic knowledge
economy. The transition to a service/knowledge economy requires qualifications
other than those currently provided and a more responsive system of vocational
education. The rise of a service/knowledge economy is accompanied by three mega-
trends (Korbijn, 2003, p. 45 ff):
1. The market is becoming increasingly demand-driven: customers want (at the

lowest possible price) custom-made products, i.e. products tailored to their own
specific wishes and needs. Customers are increasingly demanding that producers
take all aspects of the products’ life cycle into account. This implies that the
importance of ‘absolute quality’ (i.e. quality according to industrial criteria) is
decreasing, and the importance of the relative quality is increasing. Durability is
becoming less important than functionality and usability.
2. The speed of globalization is increasing: customers, partners and competitors
are spread over the entire globe. This trend also accentuates the importance of
relative quality, while time-to-market is becoming decisive. For companies to

remain competitive, the time between product development and the moment of
actually placing it in the market place has to become shorter and shorter.
3. The world is also becoming increasingly dynamic: technology becomes obso-
lete more quickly and marketplace demands are changing just as rapidly. This
increasing dynamism forces producers to place new products in the marketplace
at an increasing tempo.
The effect of these mega-trends is that the market is changing continuously in an

unpredictable manner, the ability to innovate is becoming an increasingly important
competitive factor and knowledge is becoming of key importance. To survive in
this hectic environment, businesses have to innovate constantly and at the same
time apply ‘concurrent engineering’. The organization of their production processes
has to be structured in such a way that employees can work on various different
product innovations and, at the same time, work in multidisciplinary teams, applying
integrated design for specific innovations. This means that the organization of an
enterprise has to become less hierarchical and to utilize all of the knowledge and
skills available from its employees.
3 The School as a Career Development Centre
Businesses are under pressure to become flexible ‘learning’ organizations, which

means that they not only have to invest in knowledge management, but also that
their employees must become entrepreneurial themselves: they have to be able to be
‘self-directing’, that is able to manage their own work, take initiatives and make
appropriate decisions when needed. The solution for generating self-direction is
primarily sought through continuing education and training for experienced em-
ployees, and by broadening the qualification structure for new employees. The key
idea in current educational innovation is ‘competence-based education and train-
ing’. This, however, turns out to be an extremely vague concept and includes not
only occupational skills but also attitudinal and behavioural characteristics (Thi-
jssen & Lankhuijzen, 2000). In practice, this results in more attention being given
to the development of occupational skills—mainly in the form of experiential learn-
ing by means of problem-driven training—often to the detriment of abstract and
theoretical knowledge. In a certain sense, therefore, the generalization of voca-
tional education during the 1950s is being reversed, without reverting to the narrow
industrial-oriented training of that era. In modern competence-based education, as
opposed to vocational education and training of the 1950s, attention is paid to self-
direction on the basis of reflection, thus to the formation of a reflective practitioner
(Schön, 1983).
In the meantime, it has become clear that it is extraordinarily difficult within ex-
isting training and educational structures to motivate young people and employees
to become self-directing. Existing structures force schools, as well as their sup-
port institutions, to define self-direction in terms of knowledge that can, in turn,
be validated by means of the qualification structure and can be transmitted to stu-

dents. For this reason, self-direction is usually defined in terms of meta-cognitive
and information-processing skills, and in terms of emotion and affective regula-
tion (Meijers & Wardekker, 2001). It is undeniably true that these competences are
important for surviving in a turbulent environment. However, when these are used
with an emphasis on technical-instrumental skills, the very essence of self-direction
is missed, namely, the competence to identify oneself with (i.e. to voluntarily and
durably commit to) society or at least parts if it, such as the work situation (Meijers
& Geurts, 2002). Becoming self-directed in the area of work and employment means
attaching meaning to one’s own work, thereby developing a work-identity (Meijers
& Wardekker, 2002).
From this perspective, in the scientific and policy discussion over (the future
of) vocational education, as well as in concrete innovation projects, competence-
based learning has recently been explicitly understood to be authentic as well as
self-directed (Collins, Brown & Newman, 1989; Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989).
By authentic we mean that an explicit and well-thought-out connection between
theory and practice has to be made during training, in order for students to develop
the competences to become a professional. In the traditional, subject-based edu-
cation and training model, traineeships were intended for this purpose. Research
has shown, however, that there is little connection between theory and practice in
traineeships, and there is certainly no systematic development of a work-identity
(Meijers, 2004). Therefore, modern competence-based education attempts to create
a learning environment in as realistic a manner as possible. Students learn, during
their training, to act as professionals and thereby experience the relationship be-
tween occupational practice and vocational theory.
Learning must be self-directed as well as authentic if it hopes to produce compe-
tent practitioners in a service/knowledge-based economy, according to the construc-
tivist school in educational psychology (e.g. Duffy & Cunningham, 1996; Simons,
Van der Linden & Duffy, 2000). Constructivism assumes that individuals actively
construct knowledge by interpreting new information on the basis of pre-existing
knowledge and experience. Knowledge transfer—at least in the manner that people
have always assumed—is therefore impossible. Students can only construct knowl-
edge when the information presented to them can be transformed into something
personal (Wardekker, Biesta & Miedema, 1998). This explains why ‘knowledge
transfer’—as intended by the school system—often achieves only limited success.
Constructivist learning approaches argue that students must be activated as much as
possible to enable them to construct their own knowledge. Students do not always
have to construct knowledge on their own; co-operation with other students can also
play an important role because it forces students to be active. For example, students
may have to explain something to others, or to compare their ideas with those of
others (see e.g. Simons et al., 2000). Teaching then becomes the creation of an envi-
ronment whereby learners are stimulated, helped and supported in their personal
construction (possibly together with the help of others) of valuable knowledge-
content and skills. This is expressed in the well-known saying: the teacher shouldn’t
transfer knowledge, but rather coach the learning process. Traditional educational
innovations, such as those based on the theories of Montessori and Dalton, are also
based on this idea. It is interesting, however, to note the zeal with which these ideas
have been grasped by Dutch vocational education in recent years.
Geurts (2001) has integrated the educational developments around authentic
and self-directed learning in a model that attempts to illustrate the process of re-
designing traditional, content-oriented education in the direction of a system more
concerned with personal, competence-development, and based upon constructivist
learning-theory (see Fig. 1). Re-designing of VET proceeds, according to Geurts,
along two dimensions: the what and the how.
The what-dimension primarily concerns the contents of VET programmes. Are
we concerned with a standard programme or are we more interested in flexible,
tailored-made programmes? Questions about narrow and/or broad training arise at
the level of school organization. Schools may choose to develop programmes not
as a funnel, but rather as a (hand-held) fan. With respect to the ‘fan’ metaphor, the
student doesn’t have to explicitly choose a specific occupational specialization at
the beginning. Rather, it is important that the student has the opportunity to become
familiar with many aspects of the occupational reality, and during the course of their
training—and depending upon their own interests and ambitions—they can ‘fan out’
over the various (work-relevant) specializations. Of course, this fan metaphor does
not preclude participants from immediately choosing a narrow education if they
wish to do so. In any case, multi-sectoral skill development—as opposed to mono-
sectoral—is given priority. For the individual, it is important that, in organizing
the curriculum, emphasis is placed upon offering students a training trajectory with
Construction
New School as
didactical career
practices centre
H
o
w
?
What? Development
Standard
of personal
programme
competences
Industrial
Personalized
educational
education
factory
Instruction
Fig. 1 From training factory to career centre: two main dimensions for re-design
Source: Guerts, 2001.
optimal career guidance. The school becomes then more of an organization that
offers individual learning trajectories, instead of standardized courses.
Didactics are the primary concern of the how-dimension. The main thrust here is
that vocational education has to make the transition from learning-from-instruction
to learning-by-construction. The learning cycle has to be inverted: theory must not
precede practice any longer, but practice must guide theory (which then has to be
presented just-in-time and just-enough). This idea is being implemented on a larger
scale at this moment via various forms of problem-driven education, whereby occu-
pational work-related problems are presented by companies which then need to be
solved by students. In this way, there is a guarantee that the occupational problems
to be solved are relevant and realistic. Problem-driven learning (and certainly in
its most developed form, also known as practice-driven learning) gives vocational
education the possibility to develop its own pedagogical methods, with learning-by-
doing and constructive learning as important didactical principles. It is clear that
the division between learning and working, and between school and business, has
to become less pronounced. In this new didactical vision of learning, there is more
interaction between the three parties: student, school and business. Each party has a
responsibility for their own, active contribution to occupational training seen as part
of professionalization. It is assumed that this process will become more efficient,
effective and pleasant when the three essential actors optimally co-operate. This
requires, at the very least, committed (regional) co-operation with the purpose of
optimizing individual careers.
In the lower left of Fig. 1, traditional vocational education is characterized as an
industrial training factory. We see a standardized programme with clear diploma re-
quirements, with instruction as the primary learning method. Opposite to the school
as factory, upper right, we see the school as a centre for optimal career develop-
ment. The starting point for achieving a recognized qualification is the interests and
capacities of the students. Students develop their own unique set of abilities via
a flexible programme, with individual, customized training as the terminus. Con-
struction as opposed to instruction is the primary form of learning. Upper left and
lower right, we see intermediate forms of education. New didactical practices such
as problem-driven education are to the upper left. At this moment, new practices
are almost always placed within traditional, standardized programmes. Lower right
refers to the modular organization of existing educational programmes. This à la
carte education is similar to custom-made education, but is not innovative in the
didactical sense.
4 Bottom-up Innovation
The transition from an industrial diploma factory to a career centre is something

schools will have to navigate on their own. Since the end of the 1980s, the educa-
tional policy of the government—in reaction to the visible boundaries of the wel-
fare state—has been deregulation and decentralization. As opposed to the industrial
era, during which the national government (i.e. the Ministry of Education) almost
completely determined daily affairs in the classroom, nowadays schools are granted
more autonomy. The main reason for this radical shift is—at least with respect to
educational policy—the recognition of the fact that the educational innovations for
a service/knowledge economy cannot be developed on a drawing board and subse-
quently implemented—top-down. The ‘school as career centre’ can only be the re-
sult of inside-out innovation, if only for the reason that teachers and school managers
need to develop their own new professional identity (Geijsel & Meijers, 2005). The
central government limits itself to providing framework legislation directed toward
quality requirements and enforcement.
This process of deregulation and decentralization will, of course, take place over
a number of years; there will naturally be a period of inconsistencies and confusion.
In addition, decennia of ‘industrial educational policy’ have resulted in the disap-
pearance of almost all innovative ability in the schools today. During the last few
decades, innovation has rarely meant the development of new didactical practices
on the part of teachers, but rather almost always the incorporation of new scientific
knowledge into the teaching materials. School managers used to have primarily an
administrative task, and not an innovative one. In short, schools have difficulties
in making the transition from being an executor of government policy to that of a
developer of their own policy. The result is that they tend to fall between the two
roles.
Schools experience the disadvantage of a larger distance to the government
without being fully able to harvest the fruits of their own, new-found autonomy
(Engberts & Geurts, 1994). Geurts (2001) believes that inspirational school leader-
ship can strike the correct balance between external demand and internal ambitions
and competences. It is, however, a problem that this leadership is often lacking; one
has to make do with a bureaucratic leadership culture. Apparently, school managers
are still mainly pre-occupied with implementing existing legislation and regulations.
According to Van Emst (2002), there is a real possibility that schools will even
express a growing need for new rules and regulations. Turbulence increases the
craving of the school management for even more control. This results in a great deal
of ‘paper’ and red tape: detailed descriptions of tasks, privileges, responsibilities,
rights, rules, regulations and organizational schemes, so that everyone knows what
his/her place is. In practice, however, hardly anyone pays much attention to such
arrangements. In response, school management then enforces the rules even more
rigorously. It is not uncommon that the desired control actually leads to stagnation.
No one is any longer interested in investing energy in school innovation and renewal.
In governmental policy aimed at increasing school autonomy, ‘lump sum’ financ-
ing plays a large role. A decreasing portion of resources are explicitly reserved for
specific purposes. This means that schools have to develop their own policy-making
ability so as to make good use of their increasing autonomy. In order to strengthen
this ability, the government has decided to implement its innovation policies in the
form of projects. For educational innovation that the government considers to be
important, an amount of money is made available administered by a (often specially
created) non-governmental organization (NGO). This NGO then invites interested
parties to submit proposals for innovative projects, which are then evaluated by
independent experts. The idea is that the most promising proposals (and thereby
also the most innovative contexts) may be identified and rewarded.
After funds are granted for an innovation project, a cycle of research and evalu-
ation begins, conducted under the supervision of the NGO involved. In this cycle,
‘good practices’ assume an important role, in addition to traditional evaluation re-
search. The idea behind this is that an evaluation procedure can only be viewed as
truly meaningful when the assumptions—as well as the approach—are intended
to promote the continuous improvement of the knowledge development process
within the school itself. The innovation projects are therefore considered based on
the principles of the ‘learning organization’: the projects are viewed as ‘learning
projects’ that are inherently, continuously concerned with improving their own qual-
ity (Geurts & Pouwels, 2001). Learning organizations require that parties involved
utilize the experience derived from quality-assurance systems, such as the Inter-
national Standard Operating Procedures (ISOP) and the European Foundation of
Quality Management (EFQM). Such quality-assurance systems attach great impor-
tance to a systematic approach to monitoring project progress and quality control.
They also utilize principles of self-evaluation, such as internal auditing and self-
direction and correction. From the viewpoint of the philosophy of self-evaluation, a
(continuous) process of quality improvement must be seen as a joint responsibility
of all parties involved (the NGO, the school, and the external researcher/evaluator
contracted by the NGO).
Thus, the evaluation of an innovation project has to be a co-production of all
parties involved, and be characterized by an open and communicative (and thereby
a ‘learning’) policy style. This co-production can be realized by requiring schools
to reflect on the project’s progress on the basis of a template developed by the in-
volved NGO. In this manner, Axis, for example, an NGO that was founded in 1998
to stimulate students to enrol in technical and science studies, required schools to
write so-called ‘good practices’ that were to be subsequently published on a website.
Writing a ‘good practice’ forces the project to go into ‘slow motion’ and to clarify
(mainly for themselves): (a) which ‘practical theory’ they adhere to; (b) what people
have done (as inspired by this practical theory) in terms of product or process devel-
opment; (c) whether they have achieved the results predicted by the practical theory;
and (d) what can be learned from the project results up to that moment (Geurts &
Oosthoek, 2004). The ‘good practice’ descriptions give the external researchers an
opportunity to monitor the quality and progress of the projects in such a manner that
the evaluation process also contributes to the development of knowledge. In other
words, the evaluation is not based on abstract criteria from scientific discourse but
rather on the ‘good practices’ written by the school itself.
The reports from the Axis project evaluators (Geurts, 2004; Meijers, 2003a;
Onstenk, 2004; Sanden, 2004) demonstrate that a ‘learning’ evaluation style could
not easily be realized. A number of different reasons were found. First of all, there
exists an educational culture in which evaluation has never been connected with
learning. The consequence is that many project leaders began their projects with
enthusiastic support of an active, learning evaluation but were rather hesitant about
someone ‘looking over their shoulder’. In other words, people were hardly prepared
to admit that mistakes may have been made. A second reason involves a culture of
innovation in which people are accustomed to initiating short-term projects that usu-
ally are not integrated in a long-term innovation, but are carried out because external
funding happened to be available. All too often, the fortuitous availability of funding
determines innovations. Thirdly, most projects function in an environment with a
poor history of reflection—something which is associated with the previous two
points. People are not used to examining their own actions and have therefore not
developed a tradition of doing so. Due to all this, it was very difficult to obtain hard
evaluative data for any of the projects. The data were simply not available; all energy
was expended in the development of new products and processes. However, during
the course of monitoring and evaluation of these projects, due to active co-operation
between researchers and project leaders, trust between the two groups developed. It
became increasingly clear during this process that writing up good practices had a
demonstrable positive added-value for the progress of these projects. Due to these
developments, the willingness to invest in good practices increased and in a number
of cases there has actually been an effort made to obtain hard data concerning the
innovation.
5 Between Dream and Reality
Bruijn, Leeman & Overmaat, (2006) recently published the results of eleven case
studies of strong learning environments in vocational education. A strong learn-
ing environment is defined as having: (a) constructivist programme characteristics
(career identity is the basic principle of the programme; it is oriented towards au-
thentic learning; and there is an integrated thematic and subject-based approach);
(b) students participate in cognitive processing activities (mainly construction and
reflection), (c) teacher guidance activities (adaptive instruction, coaching and the
promotion of self-regulating skills); and (d) evaluation (functional testing of knowl-
edge, insight and skills, as well as assessment of broad competences in situated
action). In Table 2 we present the results of this analysis.
Table 2 includes averages of the eleven investigated training programmes for
the ten characteristics of a powerful learning environment in decreasing order of
implementation. In addition to the means, the number of programmes having a
score greater than or equal to 2.5 (a neutral score) are also indicated. As can be
seen, the characteristics ‘adaptive instruction’ and ‘professional identity’ were rel-
atively strongly developed in a large number of programmes. This is probably due
to the fact that those characteristics are easily combined with traditional educational
concepts, yet are not at odds with competence-oriented education. More innovative
characteristics, such as ‘authentic/functional learning’ and ‘assessment of broad
competences’, are less prominently present. The level of a programme’s authen-
ticity remains limited and seems to be dependent upon fortuitous events, such as
the commitment of the instructor. Relatively few programmes demonstrate system-
atic reflection by the students upon their own results and learning processes and a
coaching style by the instructors.
Table 2 Implementation of strong learning environments

Ten characteristics of strong learning environments in order of decreasing implementation
N=11 mean 2.5 or more
Adaptive instruction 2.48 N=8
Professional identity as basic principle 2.32 N=6
Integrated thematic/subject-based education 2.30 N=3
Constructive learning 2.18 N=5
Functional tests 2.07 N=4
Promotion of self-regulating skills 2.05 N=4
Authentic/functional learning 1.98 N=4
Assessment of broad competences 1.93 N=4
Coaching by exploratory learning 1.84 N=2
Reflective learning 1.81 N=1
Total score: strong learning environment 2.10 N=3

1 = weak; 2 = more weak than strong; 3 = more strong than weak; 4 = strong
Other research confirms the picture that, until now, schools have been mainly
investing in structural change as opposed to cultural change (see e.g. Meijers, 2003b;
Severiens & Joukes, 2001; Boer, Mittendorff & Sjenitzer, 2004). Specifically, there
has been little change in the manner in which people communicate within a school
(i.e. between students and teachers, between teachers themselves, and between
teachers and management), as well as between the school and its environment.
Within the school, there remains a situation in which students may contribute little
or nothing to the content, the progress or the evaluation of their learning process.
‘Construction’, in other words, remains a foreign concept. The relation between
schools and their environment (and especially local businesses) usually reflects a
divided rather than a shared responsibility (Meijers, 2004).
Even though the principles of competence-oriented education (i.e. involving an
authentic learning environment and self-directed learning) have achieved broad sup-
port during recent years, the implementation of those principles seems to be more
difficult. This resulted in extensive criticism of ‘new learning’ in the Dutch me-
dia in 2005. The criticism has focused on two arguments: the ideological charac-
ter of the proposed educational renewal; and the idea that ‘new learning’ would
threaten the quality of education, because self-directed learning would demand too
little of students. Both criticisms are not without their faults (Volman, 2006). The
main point is that the opponents of ‘new learning’ ignore the problems presently
confronting vocational education, namely, too little motivation, high drop-out rates
and the limited transfer of theory to actual practice. The criticism is perhaps better
understood as an attempt of the middle class to retain the selective function of edu-
cation in which their offspring optimally profit in terms of status, income and power
(Bernstein, 1975). Geurts (2005) argues, therefore, in favour of filling up the present
pedagogical vacuum surrounding the future of vocational education. If one wants
the relevant parties to become interested in innovation, there will have to be more
discussion and debate about pedagogical principles, about vocational education’s
rich societal responsibility, and about how the parties involved can together ensure
real improvements. This debate about the essence of this societal responsibility and
how it may be best achieved is presently hardly taking place at all.
6 The Future
The vitality and achievements of schools will, in the future, increasingly depend
on the extent to which school management is able to develop and utilize the skills
and ambitions of their staff in order to satisfy the wishes and needs of their stu-
dents and local businesses (the demand side). Until now, all parties have assumed—
probably as an automatic reaction to vocational education being supply-oriented—
that achieving a more demand-driven education required that schools would retain
a passive role. In recent years, therefore, there have been many discussions—in and
outside educational circles—concerning how students and social partners could take
an active role. More recently, there has been a swell of opinions arguing that schools
should take a more pro-active stance (WRR, 2004; Van den Brinke et al., 2005).
The proponents of this pro-active stance argue that allowing the content of ed-
ucation to be solely determined by the needs and wishes of students and regional
employers would only lead to a qualitatively emaciated supply. First of all, most stu-
dents and many employers are not able to articulate their intermediate-term wishes
and needs. Secondly, some of the interests of employers and students may not co-
incide. And, thirdly, neither students nor employers are homogeneous with respect
to their needs and wishes. The wishes and needs of students and social partners can
therefore only partially determine what a good educational ‘supply’ would be. For a
good balance between supply and demand, the professionalism of the school itself
has assumed a central role. The school should not only react to external wishes and
needs but also take a more pro-active attitude in the development of qualitatively
good vocational education. This conclusion, according to Zee (1997), places the
reflective competence of the school management and staff at centre stage.
Whether schools for vocational education ever succeed in becoming career cen-
tres will primarily depend on the degree to which school managers and staff get
the opportunity to develop a new professional identity, based on reflective compe-
tence. In the Netherlands, there exists no stimulating innovation structure or culture
with respect to the renewal of vocational education. The main reason for this is
that the withdrawal of the central government does not in itself create room for
educational innovation. The opposite seems to be more likely the case. Whereas
before, power used to be clearly concentrated at the Ministry of Education, those
wanting to rejuvenate education are now confronted with various, rapidly chang-
ing power cliques, inside as well as outside their school (Geurts, 2004). Inside
the schools, those desiring innovation are in the minority and they are confronted
with a school management that displays little educational leadership. The project-
based innovation policy of the government in such a situation often results in ‘edu-
cational isolation’. Meijers and Reuling (1999) and Meijers (2001) demonstrated
that innovation-oriented teachers were merely tolerated to implement innovative
mentoring projects because they were subsidized by the Ministry of Education. The
school management was, in those cases, not inspired by a clear vision of the future.
That, however, was also not necessary because such a vision was not required in
order to be eligible for project funding. Moreover, project subsidies were in addition
to regular funding, so that the school was not required to make substantive choices.
The consequence was that the innovations implemented by the projects slowly dried
up after termination of the funding, because—in addition to the absence of a clear
vision—there was hardly any attention devoted to letting those achievements ‘sink
in’ to the rest of the regular educational organization.
Geurts & Corstjens (2007) demonstrate that, in technical and vocational edu-
cation, some lessons have been drawn from these experiences. In the context of
the renewal of higher technical vocational education, an innovation programme has
been developed in which a direct connection is made between innovatory activities
and school policy. Innovation is seen as an institutional choice and the programme
supports this when it contributes to goals determined at the national level. In this
particular case, that would be an increase in the number of engineers in the country.
Those interested in educational innovation are also confronted with a battle-
ground outside the school walls on which the various interest groups articulate
their wishes, without having to relate them to the wishes and desires of others.
Because the central government has (partially) withdrawn from this arena, these
interest groups have increased their relative influence, such that they cannot easily
be ignored. In addition, school managers have never really learned to manifest them-
selves as a pressure group and to negotiate on that basis. One of the consequences
is that school management (and the individual teacher) is confronted with contra-
dictory imperatives. In such a situation, it is understandable that schools generally
assume a passive role.
In order to resolve this stalemate, two conditions need to be met: (a) more active
support from the central government for the needed structural renewal of vocational
education; and (b) the replacement of the incidental project-based policy by the
establishment of structural innovation funds. Government support should not take
the form of (compulsory) rules and regulations, but rather the (temporary) suspen-
sion of rules and regulations so that more opportunity is created for schools to at-
tempt real experimentation. Schools must have the opportunity to generate creative
solutions for the most important problems that vocational education is presently
facing. The government must, in turn, exercise some patience and not immediately
strive for standardization. The structural innovation funds, initially championed by
Geurts & Van Oosterom (2000), must not only be financially supported by the
government but also by employer organizations and unions. The purpose of this
public/private co-operation is to force all interested parties to reach a common
agenda with respect to the educational innovations deemed necessary and to sub-
sequently invest in the choices made. The funds must be constructed in such a way
that a virtuous cycle of knowledge development can be reinforced. Investments are
not only needed for the development and implementation of educational innovations
but also for their evaluation, so that all parties can contribute to improved designs in
the following phases of innovation.
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Chapter III.10
Facilitating Policy-Learning: Active Learning
and the Reform of Education Systems
in Transition Countries
Peter Grootings
1 Introduction
Multilateral and bilateral donor agencies increasingly issue declarations that refer
to the need to contextualize knowledge and secure ownership of development poli-
cies by involving local policy-makers and other stakeholders in policy development
and implementation. Yet, policy transfer through imposing or copying (selective
knowledge about) policies and models taken from other contexts still dominates
the day-to-day operational practices of the donor community (King, 2005; King &
McGrath, 2004; Grootings, 2004; Ellerman, 2005).
Development agencies and their staff often act as classical school-teachers who
have the right knowledge and know best what has to be done. True knowledge
just needs to be transferred to (or made accessible for) partners who do not know
the truth (yet) and partners should implement measures that are presented to them
as best practice. Local policy-makers and local stakeholders are regarded as pas-
sive receivers of knowledge and instruction, who do not possess any relevant prior
knowledge and experience. Development or reform is seen as a process of social
engineering that will be successful, if properly managed technically. In reality, most
reform projects are short-lived because they do not fit in context and there is no local
ownership. Reforms are often not sustainable. On the contrary, they tend to come
and go with the donors and their agencies.
One reason for the gap between declaration and actual behaviour is a particular—
some would say erroneous—understanding, often only implicit, of why and how
people learn and develop new knowledge and expertise. There are many other rea-
sons, of course, and some of them may be even more important—at least in the short
term—such as the fact that policy assistance is usually part of a large financial aid
package and accepting and implementing policy advice are part of the conditions
for receiving these funds. But even when conditions disappear, the policy transfer
approach is likely to remain dominant.
The standard assumption underlying most traditional learning approaches is that
someone (of course, the donor representative) possesses the right knowledge and
learners who do not have this knowledge (of course, the local policy-makers and
other stakeholders) should simply listen carefully and then do what they are told.
Carrots and sticks are available in many variations to provide the incentives to make

500 P. Grootings
learners listen and do what their teachers tell them to do. However, carrots and
sticks often fail to motivate. The donor’s truth has not necessarily been heard (or
not properly understood, as the donor would argue), nor has it led to the desired
and foreseen action (due to lack of ‘political will’ or—more positively—insufficient
capacities as donors would conclude). New learning theories, instead, argue that
learners are more successful in acquiring, digesting, applying and retrieving new
knowledge when they have been actively engaged in these processes. Facilitating
active policy-learning rather than policy transfer may therefore have better chances
to contribute to sustainable reformed systems.1
Section 2 below will summarize briefly what active or new learning is about. It
will also indicate wider implications of active learning for formal education sys-
tems, informal learning and the roles and responsibilities of the main stakeholders,
in particular teachers and learners. Section 3 will present the systemic nature of ed-
ucational reforms in transition countries and the role that international donors play
in assisting such reforms. Section 4 will introduce the concept of policy-learning
as a translation of the principles of active learning to the field of reform policy
assistance. Section 5 will present some practical implications and contradictions of
the policy-learning concept. It will argue for a different role for donor agencies and
consultants based on similarities between the roles of teachers and policy advisers
in facilitating learning. Section 6 will suggest that knowledge-sharing should be an
integral aspect of policy-learning.
2 Active Learning
Engaging students in successful learning has always been a key problem for educa-
tionalists since the development of formal education systems providing standardized
obligatory school-based educational programmes. Some teachers manage to survive
the system and some students as well, but many do not. There has been talk about
bad systems, bad schools, bad teachers, bad learning environments and bad students.
Sometimes attention was simply focused on the good students, while the bad ones
were left to their own devices or were given shelter in special lower-rated forms
of education and training. In many countries vocational education and training has
been the second—or last—choice for students who failed ‘la route royale’. Hence,
there have always been debates about causes, consequences and possible solutions.
In looking for solutions, countries have increasingly tried to borrow from more suc-
cessful countries.
The policy debates have been coloured by the dominant understanding of why,
what, where and how people learn and how people can be motivated to learn at all.
The traditional behaviourist and cognitive approaches on which much of standard-
ized (formal and non-formal) education has been based have assumed that learning
is basically a steady accumulation of discrete entities of knowledge and skills that
can be presented to learners as if filling empty vessels.2 Hager (2004, p. 411) has
pointed at five further assumptions that follow from this understanding of learning:
III.10 Facilitating Policy-Learning in Transition Countries 501
r There is one best way of learning;

r Learning is essentially an individual activity;
r Learning which is non-transparent is inferior;
r Learning centres on the stable and the enduring;
r Learning is replicable.
In contrast, by seeing learning as a continuous—and highly selective—process of

exchange between individuals and their environment, constructivist approaches ar-
gue that people give their own meaning to information. They do so based on what
they already know and framed by how they have become accustomed to see the
world around them. They select and retain what is relevant for them. In so doing
they construct their own understanding of reality as a basis to intervene and act.
Different people therefore may give different interpretations to the same thing, may
retain different aspects and may act differently on the basis of the same information.
Constructivists also argue that: (a) there are many ways through which people can
learn, apart from someone else passing on pieces of expert knowledge (Verloop &
Lowyck, 2003); (b) learning is foremost a social activity (Lave & Wenger, 1991;
Wenger, 1998); (c) there is a lot of tacit learning taking place which is not easy
to categorize and demonstrate, but which is there when needed (Schön, 1983);
(d) learning is dynamic and very much context-bound; and (e) good learning there-
fore depends on meaningful learning environments (Kolb, 1984; Simons, van der
Linden & Duffy, 2000). In combination, these insights are now known as new learn-
ing or active learning. While there are currently many attempts to introduce—often
on an ad-hoc basis—active learning techniques in traditional educational settings,
a more holistic active learning approach has developed into something like a new
paradigm. Based on the principles of active learning, several countries, including
the Netherlands, are now reforming parts of their public education systems.
Obviously, much of what is now receiving attention as new learning has been
around for decennia in the writings of school innovators, such as Dewey, Montes-
sori, Froebel, Steiner, Freinet and others, and has been practised in schools that fol-
low their pedagogical approaches. Until recently, attempts that combined different
learning outcomes and alternative ways of learning have remained marginal to main-
stream education and training. Most public education became characterized by the
single model of expert teachers and trainers passing on bit-by-bit their knowledge
and skills to pupils and students who knew nothing or at least not enough. The emer-
gence of an increased interest for the new learning paradigm during the 1990s is
the combined result of fundamental changes occurring in the labour market, which
have done away with employment security and created a need for lifelong learning
(OECD, 1996). Moreover, declining public budgets have also contributed to attempts
to make education more efficient and effective. Neo-liberal policy agendas on the
left and the right have placed the responsible and autonomous citizen back on stage
again. Changes in organization of work within companies also build on responsi-
ble workers able to foresee and prevent rather than to react ex-post or too late. The
overall economic and political climate of the 1990s has been very receptive for active
learning insights. Active learning is more than a scientific approach to learning.
502 P. Grootings
New insights and research results from a whole range of disciplines that are
dealing with the question of how people learn and retain new information have
provided scientific support for a different understanding of learning.3 These devel-
opments coincide on the importance given to specific criteria for learning outcomes,
attention for alternative ways of achieving these learning outcomes and developing
instructional models that teachers and trainers may apply when organizing learn-
ing processes. The new learning approaches give a more active role to learners in
managing and shaping their own learning processes based on the understanding
that good learning cannot be achieved when learners remain passive receivers of
information and instructions.
The active learning paradigm stresses the need for new criteria for and new kinds
of learning outcomes. For reasons of employability in a world characterized by
fast-changing job requirements and growing insecurity, learning outcomes should
not just be more relevant at a given moment, but they should be durable, flexible,
meaningful, generalizable and application-oriented (Simons et al., 2000, pp. 1-2).
These criteria could also easily refer to traditional kinds of learning outcomes, in
particular if one is concerned about propositional knowledge and technical skills
and their transferability in time and context.
New kinds of learning outcomes have become important as well. These include
the ability to learn, think, collaborate and control. People should be able to adapt
quickly to changing situations, be able to cope well with continuing uncertainty,
and know where and how to find the information that they need to deal with the
challenges of their work and life situation.4 Such regulative or meta-learning out-
comes have also become important given the sheer amount of new information that
is becoming available at ever-faster speeds with new generations of information and
communication technologies. This makes it more relevant to consider what people
can do with information instead of just having the information available as such
(Simons et al., 2000). The need to cope with new (social or key) competences has
been a major driving force behind curriculum and educational reform in many coun-
tries since the early 1990s. But while initially these reforms have concentrated on
the new ‘what’ as additions to existing curricula and standard approaches, it is now
increasingly understood that traditional ways of organizing learning are unable to
deal with these new learning insights and requirements.5 Therefore, the key issues
in current educational discussions are not so much about the ‘what’ but about the
‘how’ questions: how can new learning outcomes be achieved and how to secure
that learning outcomes comply with the new criteria?
From the point of view of the educational sciences, attention paid to new learning
outcomes follows from a better understanding about how experience and informa-
tion are represented in memory and about the kind of learning activities that learners
apply. Three different ways of representation are normally distinguished:
r Episodic representations are based on personal, situated and affective experi-

ences.
r Conceptual or semantic representations refer to concepts and principles and their
definitions.
r Action representations refer to what can be done with episodic and semantic
information.
People differ in terms of their preferred modes of representations. Because con-

ceptual and semantic forms of representation have traditionally been regarded of a
higher (intellectual) order, theoretical knowledge has been seen as more important
than practical knowledge—learning with the head being superior to learning with
the hands. The traditional curriculum therefore consisted of (unrelated) theoretical
subjects plus—in vocational streams—practice periods to apply such theoretical
knowledge. For modern educationalists, however, good learning outcomes mean
rich and complex memory representations whereby there are strong interrelated
connections between the different ways of representation. They also argue that
these connections can start from any of the three different modes of representation.
Some people master theory by starting with practical problems, while others may
be more successful when learning the other way around (Simons et al., 2000, p. 3;
Driscoll, 2000, ch. 8; Pieters & Verschaffel, 2003).
As mentioned earlier, a reformulation of expected learning outcomes is only part
of the story. For educational professionals, the key question is how they can promote
new learning outcomes through organizing appropriate learning processes and de-
veloping instructional strategies. The new learning theories argue that learners are
more successful in acquiring, digesting, applying and retrieving new knowledge,
skills and attitudes when they have been actively engaged in these processes. Ac-
tive involvement, co-operation with other learners and real-life contexts also help
to increase the motivation to learn, which in turn makes it easier for people to take
responsibility for their learning into their own hands. In combining all this, active
learning therefore provides strong learning environments and produces good learn-
ing outcomes. The search is now to develop operational approaches to make active
learning principles work in practice.6
Active learning also implies considerable changes in the roles that teachers and
students play in education. With growing attention to active learning, there is a shift
of responsibility from the teacher to the learner. The teacher becomes more of an or-
ganizer and facilitator of learning processes than the transmitter of expert knowledge
or skills, whereas the learner is asked to actively participate in identifying learning
needs and in managing the process of acquiring new knowledge. Teachers and train-
ers still need good knowledge and skills in technical domains, but the ways in which
to make these accessible for learners change. Teachers have to be able to identify
what learners already know and how they learn best and then to guide them to find
the information that can increase their knowledge further. In terms of structure of the
education system, active learning insights give strong arguments for creating open
and flexible pathways in education, providing a rich variety of learning environ-
ments, and recognizing prior and informal learning outcomes (Kok, 2003; Simons
et al., 2000; Driscoll, 2000; Verloop & Lowyck, 2003; Grootings & Nielsen, 2005;
OECD, 2005).
This new understanding of learning has considerable implications for the orga-
nization of formal education (structures and contents), for informal and non-formal
504 P. Grootings
learning (recognition and validation) and the role of policy-makers, teachers, stu-
dents and other stakeholders in education. The active learning paradigm is of rele-
vance for any learning situation where people seek to acquire new knowledge and
understanding in order to be able to act competently in a changing context. In the
following section I will explore what active learning means for policy-makers in
transition countries when faced with reforming their education and training systems.
3 Educational Reforms in Transition Countries

Transition countries are very diverse but all have in common that they are undergo-
ing a fundamental change in their main societal institutions, including the education
system. They are seeking to change from centralized authoritarian societies with
some form of State-planned economy towards more democratic societies with a
market-based economy. For that reason they can be called ‘transition’ countries.
However, contrary to the way the term transition has often been used, nobody
really knows where the transition will lead to. One might, for instance, be seek-
ing the general characteristics of democratic market-based economies, but there
are no blueprints that countries can simply apply. All modern market economies
differ in important aspects from each other and none of them resembles the text-
book case. What will come out of the reform process in each transition country
will depend to a large extent on how local policy-makers and other stakeholders
manage to use the resources that their countries have built up in the past, includ-
ing the inherited physical and human infrastructures of their education systems
(Grootings, 2004).
Transition countries differ from developing countries in the sense that they used
to have well-established and—in the recent past—effective and successful education
systems. These have become impoverished as a result of continued underfunding
and have increasingly lost relevance for a new labour market context: the issue here
is reforming and transforming obsolete systems rather than building new ones from
scratch.
The reforms in transition countries are systemic, as they imply changes that are
both system-wide and system-deep. Reforms are system-wide, in the sense that they
require changes in all aspects of the institutional arrangements of the countries.
For education and training this means that all the building blocks of the education
system need to be reviewed and revised: from delivery, provision, assessment, fund-
ing, quality assurance, administration and governance up to research and develop-
ment. But changes are also system-deep since they require the development of new
relations between education and training on the one hand, and other evolving in-
stitutions in society on the other. In transition countries these are, in particular, the
relations between schools, the labour market and private enterprises. This asks for
fundamentally new definitions of the roles of the main stakeholders in education and
training, as well as for changes in established working procedures for education and
training organizations. These are complicated processes as all these other institu-
tions are also undergoing systemic changes. Vocational schools, for example, have
now to educate and train for open and uncertain labour markets and no longer for
agreed numbers and assured jobs in hosting companies that were basically interested
in hoarding labour.
However, in most countries labour markets are still under development and pri-
vate sectors are only gradually emerging. Teachers who have always been told how
many students they would have and what they should teach them are suddenly
in a situation where there is nobody anymore to tell them anything. Developing
new roles and relationships is for individuals essentially a process of learning new
knowledge, skills and attitudes in order to become competent in a changing con-
text. Reforming a national education system is a collective learning process for all
stakeholders (Grootings, 1993).
A major challenge for transition countries facing systemic reforms of their voca-
tional education and training systems is to build up and strengthen their own capac-
ities to formulate reform policies, and not just the capacity to implement imposed
or borrowed policies. Reforms of vocational education and training in transition
countries (and indeed any kind of major reform in any country) will only be suc-
cessful and sustainable if policy development, formulation and implementation are
firmly based on broad ownership and fit within existing institutions. The concept
of policy-learning reflects this understanding. Policy-learning emphasizes not just
involvement but the active engagement of national stakeholders in developing their
own policy solutions. It is based on the understanding that there are no universally
valid models that can simply be transferred or copied from one context into another.
At most there is a wealth of international but context-specific experience in dealing
with similar policy issues that can be shared.
The discussions about new learning are relevant for education and training re-
forms in transition countries. They provide key criteria for successful reform and
reform assistance. Educational reform can only be sustainable if reform policies
are owned by local stakeholders and are embedded in the context of the coun-
try. Educational reform is really about stakeholders being motivated to learn new
ways of how to organize education and training systems—system wide and system
deep. Learning is about developing new roles for all stakeholders at all levels in
all the building blocks of the system. The challenge for donors and aid agencies,
therefore, is not to sell prefabricated ‘what’ solutions but to find the appropriate
answer to the question ‘how to help people help themselves?’ (Ellerman, 2004,
2005).7
4 Policy Reform is Policy-Learning8
Applying active learning insights to a review of vocational education and training

(VET) reform experiences in transition countries further supports the need to think
in terms of policy-learning.
Such a review indicates first of all that VET reforms in transition countries have
often depended heavily on the presence and contribution of international donors.
506 P. Grootings
There is a mix of positive and less-positive experiences. Especially in the initial

phases of transition (but sometimes also long after), donors have played a key role
in developing awareness of the need for VET reforms, influencing the reform pol-
icy agenda and providing resources for strategy development and implementation.
Often, however, donors or their experts in the field have showed little familiarity
with specific national transition contexts and no understanding for the knowledge,
experience, views and expectations of people involved in education and training.
Very often also, they have entered partner countries with standardized one-size-fits-
all packages of assistance. Capacity-building was usually focused on developing
appropriate capacities to implement what donors thought would be necessary.
In turn, many national policy-makers, certainly in the initial stages of transition
(but sometimes also long afterwards), were more interested in receiving funding
than in policy-making. They were convinced that the key problem was the impov-
erished state of their educational infrastructures. Moreover, they have often been
unable to assess the fitness of donors’ proposals for best practice for the institutional
context of their own VET systems.
This combination of donor and recipient expectations and behaviour has created
problems of sustainability for many donor-supported reform initiatives. With the
departure of the donor the reform usually came to a halt. With the limited resources
that donors can make available, practically nowhere have system-wide changes been
started. Much of the earlier assistance to VET reform in the partner countries was
guided by principles of policy-copying. The guiding principle on the donor side
seems to have often been: we know your future—and your past is irrelevant. Because
international assistance has underestimated the relevance of institutional context,
policy-copying has not contributed to system-deep VET reforms either. Stakehold-
ers and policy-makers in transition countries have not been able to learn much about
their new roles in a changing VET system—although they may sometimes have
become experts on the systems of other countries.
We may not know the details of future VET systems in partner countries, but
from international experience some of the basic characteristics that modern VET
systems should develop have become increasingly clear. They should be: (a) de-
centralized; (b) responsive to labour markets and learner needs; (c) transparent;
(d) well-resourced (e) providing flexible and open pathways for young and adults;
and (f) have a capacity to innovate and adapt to changing conditions. All modern
VET systems around the world are trying to become like that! But there is no best
practice of how to organize such systems, neither in developed market economies
nor in transition countries. There are many good—and perhaps also a couple of
bad—context-bound practical examples. Moreover, such examples not only refer to
what countries wanted to achieve in their reforms but also to how they have tried to
change their systems. How do you make good use of such knowledge and experience
about policy objectives and strategies if policy-copying does not work?
The following example may further illustrate the challenges. The policy-learning
approach requires an intensified focus on how to organize policy-learning platforms
and environments in the countries so that a critical mass of key actors and stake-
holders gradually develop VET reform policy understanding and competence. So
far, since policy transfer and policy-copying approaches have been dominant in the
reform debates in most countries, the concept of stakeholders has been very much
influenced by the model—and indeed the ideology—that was taken to be trans-
ferred or copied. In vocational education and training reform, a key issue is the
involvement of employers, private industry, or—in EU language—social partners.
The view is that in a market-based economy governments cannot continue to be
the sole responsible authorities for vocational education and training. The essence
of systemic reform—adaptation of vocational education and training to free educa-
tional choice, private enterprise and labour markets—requires involvement of the
enterprises where the graduates will have to find employment.
The reality of the reform process in many transition countries, however, has cre-
ated a whole series of interesting contradictions. Whereas private sector or social
partner involvement was presented as a conditio sine qua non for any market-based
vocational education and training system, in practice governments have faced a huge
problem of disinterest on the side of the private sector (employers and unions alike)
to be involved at all. There are many reasons that can explain this situation, but
one is the lack of representative organizations at the national level. Another is the
absence of any professional capacity among social partners to deal with vocational
education and training matters in a reform context. The result was, and often still is,
that enlightened governments have to include the interests of the private sector into
their own policy thinking. Thus, reform policy remains dependent on a few politi-
cal reform champions. Another problem is the absence of a professional civil ser-
vant community inside or an educational support infrastructure outside the ministry
apparatus.
Public educational authorities in transition countries therefore remain the driving
force behind vocational education and training reform—certainly at the national
level. The involvement of stakeholders representing industry is not something that
can be built on from the start, but has to be developed as part of the reform process
itself. Interestingly enough, if trade unions have been involved at all in national
education reform policy debates, these have often been the teachers unions and
understandably—given the state of public budgets and mounting pressures to de-
crease public spending on education in many transition countries—they have been
more interested in defending the social and material status of their membership than
in discussing the contents of educational reform. As a result, teachers, also through
their unions’ behaviour, have become generally regarded as major obstacles to re-
form. This, in turn, may sometimes even have led to the development of policies that
sought to break the power of the teacher and trainer community instead of engaging
them more positively.9
More recently, however, there is an increasing awareness that teachers and train-
ers must be included among the critical mass of stakeholders in the reform. This
is, most of all, the result of a better understanding of why so many educational
reforms all over the world have gone wrong in the past. Exclusion of teachers as
stakeholders from the reform process has frequently led to national reform policies
failing to trigger any changes at all inside educational institutions and classrooms.
Teachers and trainers have now become recognized as crucial agents in making
508 P. Grootings
reforms work in their professional capacity of organizers of learning. It has also

been understood that involving teachers is not just a matter of informing them so
that they know what is expected of them. Nor is it only a matter of training so
that they are taught how the new policies must be implemented. As professionals,
teachers principally know best what will work in the specific context of their own
school and classroom environment, including responding to the particular learning
needs of the student population that they have to cater for. Their expertise therefore
is an important source for translating general policy initiatives into very divergent
real-life contexts. A better understanding of why many educational reforms have
not worked has therefore not only implications for the implementation of reform
policies, but impacts on the very process of policy development and formulation.
This, in turn, reflects the fact that the current reforms in vocational education and
training are very complex development processes that hardly compare to the tradi-
tional reform conceptions with their clear stages of preparation, formulation, imple-
mentation and evaluation. This is especially true of reforms in transition countries
that seek to combine systemic reforms with structural changes and modernization
of contents and approaches. Such reforms are not one-off social engineering events
designed by external experts but on-going change processes set within a broadly
agreed reform agenda. The reform agenda can be quite radical but requires further
operational detailing, based on local innovation processes. Reform strategies have
to build on the commitment of teachers and trainers working inside their school
organizations. It is because of this that teachers who are actively engaged in local
innovation and experimentation are an important source of expertise for national
policy-makers. Such an understanding of reform puts policy-learning, capacity-
building and policy advice at both national and school-levels in a new perspective
and, at the same time, with considerable more urgency than before.10 Traditional
top-down or bottom-up strategies have become too simplistic and are insufficient to
make reforms work. Policy-learning as a process requires a continuous interaction
and dialogue between national and local partners—vertically, as well as among the
various local initiatives horizontally.
5 Facilitating Policy-Learning in Practice
A policy-learning approach may be the appropriate response to some of the key chal-
lenges related to the VET reform processes in transition countries. Policy-makers
and other key stakeholders should be enabled to learn to develop their own poli-
cies. But, in practice, there are considerable obstacles to facilitating policy-learning.
These stem from the many tensions between ‘what’ and ‘how’ in the relationship be-
tween experts and novices. Several of these obstacles are known from the search for
operational approaches to make active learning work in classical education settings.
The key issue remains how a learning situation can be established where the expert
acts as a learning process facilitator and the novice can be stimulated to engage
actively in learning. However, others obstacles pertain to the field of reform policy
development.
Understanding the context limits or institutional fit is not easy and it is a chal-
lenge that both local policy-makers and international advisers share. While donors
usually do not have a good understanding of the local context (and often do not even
speak the language), it can also not simply be assumed that local policy-makers
understand the characteristics of their own VET system. It is difficult to question
what has always been normal and the rule. Moreover, international consultants do
not always understand that the advice they provide is perhaps firmly rooted in the
institutional context that they come from themselves; they are often not well in-
formed about policies and systems in other countries. How can local policy-makers
assess the fitness of what is sold to them as the latest international trend? How can
international advisers properly assess prior knowledge and contextualization of new
knowledge? Policy-makers are also under stress to come up with quick solutions.
Their political mandate does not leave them much time. Advisers are bound by the
financial and time resources that the donors have reserved for their projects. Also,
the ownership issue raises some problems, especially when this is restricted to a few
co-operative national policy-makers and—simply because of the design of the donor
project—leaves out the vast majority of teachers and trainers in schools (Grootings
& Nielsen, 2005). How can international advisers facilitate learning under such con-
ditions?
The basic assumption underlying the concept of policy-learning is not so much
that policies can be learned but that actual policies are learned policies. Learning is
not simply the transfer of expert knowledge or behaviour from one person to another,
but rather the acquisition of understanding and competence through participation in
learning processes. However, policy-makers are not only policy-learners. They also
have to act, and acting on the political scene, especially in environments that are
undergoing radical change such as in transition countries, does not always leave a
lot of space and time for careful and gradual learning. They have to engage in daily
political decision-making and, depending on their position in the system, may often
have to give priority to active participation in political power struggles.
On the other hand, policy-makers engaged in systemic reforms are in need of
new knowledge which very often contradicts established knowledge and routines.
For policy-makers, therefore, because they are under pressure to act, learning is
more than merely a cognitive process: learning is practice. Their learning is situated
learning as it is an integral and inseparable aspect of their social practice. Lave &
Wenger (1991) argue that all learning is situated learning and, more particularly,
‘legitimate peripheral participation in communities of practice’. Novice learners
learn best when they are engaged in a community of more expert learners; during
the learning process they become more competent themselves and move from the
margin to the centre. Policy-makers in transition countries can be regarded as highly
motivated novice learners and policy-learning can be facilitated by letting them par-
ticipate in relevant communities of practice (Wenger, 1998). Such communities of
practice could be created by bringing together policy-makers from different coun-
tries that have gone through or are undergoing reforms of their education systems.
International and local policy analysts, researchers, advisers and other practitioners
could be part of such communities as well.
510 P. Grootings
However, policy-makers in transition countries may be seen as ‘novices’ in terms

of knowledge and expertise concerning the development of modern education sys-
tems in market economies, but they are also ‘experts’ as far as their own country
context is concerned. Similarly, international policy advisers may perhaps be the
‘experts’ with respect to educational policy-making in developed economies, but
they are often ‘novices’ in terms of knowledge about the particular context of the
partner country. Neither local stakeholders nor international advisers really know
what ‘fits’ with regard to modern education policy in a partner country’s context.
The community of practice concept therefore needs to be further developed to take
these differences properly into account in learning experience with high levels of
uncertainty. Since old and new knowledge relate to different contexts, there are dif-
ferent peripheries and centres and even those who are closer to the centre remain
learners themselves.
6 Policy-Learning through Knowledge Sharing

Reforming education and training systems in transition countries implies combining
old and new knowledge in changing contexts for both local stakeholders and inter-
national advisers. Policy-learning is not just about learning the policies that other
countries have developed, but rather about learning which policies can be developed
locally by reflecting on the relevance of other countries’ policies. Policy-learning in
this sense can only happen when there is information and knowledge available and
shared. The principal role of donors would be to facilitate a reform policy-learning
process by providing access to such information and experience and by enabling a
critical reflection on their relevance. However, donors and their staff cannot do their
learning facilitation role well if they do not recognize that they themselves are also
learners in the same policy-learning process.
VET reform policy development, seen as VET policy-learning, would have to
use knowledge-sharing to enable decision-makers from partner countries to learn
from—and not simply about—VET reform experiences from elsewhere for the
formulation and the implementation of their own reform objectives. Knowledge-
sharing would also enable donors and international advisers to better understand
the institutional context and history of the partner country. For them, in becoming
familiar with local knowledge, it will also be easier to appreciate and value the
expertise that partners bring into the reform process.
International donors and their policy advisers would have to play a role similar to
the one a modern teacher is supposed to play: not that of the expert who knows it all
and simply passes it on; rather the one who recognizes problems, does not know the
solutions yet, but organizes and guides knowledge-sharing and in so doing develops
new knowledge for all involved in the learning process. Policy-learning therefore
can only happen in partnership.
In policy-learning partnerships, the timing and sequencing of knowledge shar-
ing is of major importance if donor assistance is to have a real impact on local
ownership and contextual fit, and if it is to create the necessary motivation, com-
mitment and capacities to sustain reforms. This would ask specific competences
from policy advisers as they have to be able to judge where they themselves and
their partners are in moving from the periphery to the centre of the community
of practice. It would also require a rethinking of the classical development instru-
ments, such as workshops, study visits, technical assistance, pilot projects and so
on, with a view to developing strong learning environments for policy-learning to
happen.
Policy-learning is sharing experience from the past to develop knowledge for the
future. It is also about sharing knowledge from abroad and knowledge that is locally
produced. Therefore, it is about developing new knowledge as well. It contributes
not only to creating more coherent system-wide reforms that fit, but also facilitates
system-deep reforms of VET systems as it enables all stakeholders to learn new
roles and develop new working routines. It will be a challenging task to develop
concrete approaches that can make policy-learning, which is based on principles of
active learning theory, work in practice.
Notes
1. Others would argue that good governance, the participation of civil society, the fight against
corruption and sound legal frameworks are more important. This chapter will simply pay at-
tention to the learning aspect that has been neglected so far.
2. See, for a critical presentation of these various learning theories, Driscoll, 2000.
3. These include, besides psychology and educational science (Driscoll, 2000), also brain re-
search (OECD, 2002).
4. These are also called social or key competences.
5. In many English-speaking countries educational reform has in fact taken the form of establish-
ing an assessment system that could measure learning outcomes, assuming that these could be
the result of very different learning processes and arguing subsequently that the nature of these
learning processes therefore would not be relevant at all. The ‘black box’ approach to learning
has been a typical characteristic of economist approaches to education and training.
6. See the various contributions in Simons et al. (2000) for an account of experiences from
different domains.
7. Ellerman, 2005, has summarized this challenge into three ‘dos’ (starting from present institu-
tions; seeing the world through the eyes of the client; respect autonomy of the doers) and two
‘don’ts’ (don’t override self-help capacity with social engineering and don’t undercut self-help
capacity with benevolent aid).
8. What follows is a summary of more detailed reviews in Grootings, 2004.
9. Such as through moving from so-called input control (based, amongst other things, on teacher
qualifications) towards output control mechanisms based on occupational and educational
standards with neglect of the educational and learning processes that would lead to achieving
the standards. In such cases, the assessment of standard attainment has frequently replaced
education and training as such.
10. Experience from some countries, such as the Netherlands, also points at the need to have
additional co-ordinating and support institutions at the sector, regional or school-type level.
Such is the role that associations of secondary and higher vocational schools, and sector-based
expertise centres are playing. Specialized local, regional and national research and develop-
ment institutions in turn support these. In other words, reform, innovation or development
infrastructures require more than national stakeholders and teachers in schools.
512 P. Grootings
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bridge University Press.
Section 4
National Initiatives for Reengineering
Education for the New Economy
Joshua D. Hawley
College of Education and Human Ecology, Ohio State University,
Columbus, United States of America
Chapter IV.1
Overview: Regional Reviews of TVET
Joshua D. Hawley
1 Introduction
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is often a national or even
a local issue, much more so than other sub-sectors of the education system. Unlike
primary and secondary education, there are few large United Nations’ interventions
that concentrate on technical and vocational education. Moreover, because TVET
serves employers and the labour market, schools and teachers are often more con-
cerned with student completion and placement in work than movement into higher
education.
The current United Nations’ efforts (the Millennium Development Goals—
MDG) to support primary and secondary education are numerous, and are designed
to dramatically improve enrolment, the completion rate and the quality of basic edu-
cation. While the United Nations development goals have implications for schooling
after lower secondary education, the degree to which they require government action
for upper secondary in general and TVET in particular remains in debate. In the
MDG report for 2006, for example, the authors reported that all countries, with the
exception of Sub-Saharan Africa, were making substantial progress towards attain-
ing basic education for all.
However, the point remains that for countries to compete in the world economy
their young people must be trained beyond basic education, and that technical and
vocational schooling needs to play an important role in this process (Lewin, 2004;
United Nations, 2006).
The modest efforts that the United Nations have undertaken to support TVET,
such as the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre, are less operational in focus,
in comparison to the Millennium Development Goals. UNESCO’s recent work in
chronicling the enrolment statistics for TVET are commendable, but there are no
major international efforts to support improvements to TVET that I know of and
that work on a global basis.
There remain, however, significant regional efforts. The Asian Development Bank
has maintained a substantial lending practice in Central and South-East Asia, in par-
ticular concerning TVET (Asian Development Bank, 2002). Europe’s CEDEFOP
and ETF have consistently worked across countries to support their vocational edu-
cation sectors. The Latin American emphasis on technical and vocational education
World of Work, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-5281-1 IV.1,

516 J.D. Hawley
continues to be an important part of the conversation about the school-to-work tran-

sition (Castro, Schaack & Tippelt, 2000; CINTERFOR/ILO, 2001). A number of
agencies, most importantly the World Bank, have supported substantial analysis of
the experience in Sub-Saharan Africa in recent years, leading to a renewed interest in
investments in TVET in this region (Johanson & Adams, 2004; Ziderman, 2003).
This section reviews the current work on TVET regionally, offering a discussion
of a number of critical empirical issues that the sub-sector faces. We begin with a
discussion of the role of the international organizations that often deal with TVET,
continue with a discussion of regional political engagement with TVET, and end
with a critical review of the findings from the chapters in this section.
2 The Status of TVET and the Role

of International Organizations
Over the years, the literature on international development and comparative educa-
tion has shone a spotlight on the critical role that development institutions play. In a
1994 paper, McGinn (1994) pointed out the increasing importance of multinational
organizations and companies in national development. Castro (2002) describes the
particular role of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the World
Bank in terms of educational policies, focusing specifically on presenting the trade-
off between support for educational reform and the use of measures to target changes
in education locally. Studies by Karen Mundy have refined both our understanding
of the role of these institutions and the specific place they have in the policy-making
process (Mundy, 1998; Mundy, 2002; Mundy & Murphy, 2001).
The roles of other international institutions, such as UNESCO and the ILO, or
even the European Union’s Leonardo da Vinci Programme, have received less at-
tention in the academic literature. While we know that regional development banks,
such as the African Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank, have
critical roles in lending to vocational education and training, there are relatively
few academic studies tracking their involvement and reflecting on their impact on
national systems in developing countries. An exception is the study by Chabbott
(2002), which describes the specific role of organizations such as UNESCO in
establishing the World Conference on Education for All. Additionally, in a paper
for the Asian Development Bank, Adams (2002) describes the evolving role of that
agency in the international development field, focusing on the development of new
policy directions in education.
While those who study the evolution and functioning of the international
agencies do not often deal specifically with vocational education and training, the
international organizations themselves have frequently focused on this topic, and
vocational education and training has long been a critical area for debate about the
relative importance of education for employment in national development (Middle-
ton, Ziderman & Adams, 1993).
As mentioned earlier, four agencies (the IADB, the World Bank, the ILO and
UNESCO) have recently developed documents outlining policy options for the
IV.1 Regional Reviews of TVET 517
future of vocational education and training. These papers vary in their stage of pro-
duction and the formality of the policy directions they explore. The ILO/UNESCO
document, ‘Revised Recommendation Concerning Technical and Vocational Edu-
cation’, offers the most formal statement, providing recommendations about the
structure and function of technical and vocational education (ILO/UNESCO, 2001).
It was formally adopted by the governing councils of UNESCO and ILO in 2001.
The IADB strategy paper, ‘Vocational and technical training: a strategy for the IDB’
was approved by the IADB Board of Governors in 2000. Finally, the World Bank
has issued a number of studies on the future of vocational education and training
in Africa. The summary document, ‘Vocational skills development in Sub-Saharan
Africa’ was produced in 2002 and summarizes the results of a number of reports
from consultants on various aspects of vocational education and training in Africa.
This paper, unlike some others, is not a formal policy document issued by the World
Bank (Johanson & Adams, 2004).
The reports vary in their level of detail. All agencies review current research
on vocational and technical education internationally and make recommendations
for the larger community of policy-makers. All of the reports reflect current trends
in public policy for international vocational education and training, although the
IADB and the World Bank’s reports are primarily concerned with Latin America and
Africa respectively. They each deal with the larger issues of secondary vocational
education, privatization and the role of training within enterprises.
2.1 Secondary Vocational Education

Research on the role of development banks has frequently become heated, partic-
ularly around policy questions that have special relevance to the vocational edu-
cation and training sector. For example, in the aftermath of the 1995 and 1999
Education Sector papers from the World Bank, the International journal of educa-
tional development published special issues discussing the implications of the policy
provisions emphasized. In the area of vocational and technical education, for in-
stance, the 1995 Education Strategy reiterated the general distrust of secondary level
vocational education as a strategy to support sustained development (World Bank,
1995). In the original 1991 study, the World Bank advocated moving away from sec-
ondary vocational schooling (World Bank, 1991). However, scholars like Jon Lauglo
and Kenneth King have questioned this wholesale abandonment of secondary-level
preparation. Based on studies of individual countries, they state that secondary voca-
tional schooling has its place, provided it is adapted to the needs of the labour market
(King & Martin, 2002; Lauglo, 1996). Indeed, secondary vocational education is
still the predominant form of vocational skills training in most developing coun-
tries. Lauglo & Maclean’s (2005) recent book on the topic contains some important
information on the continuing debate around which form of vocational schooling to
invest in, focusing particularly on matching the level of economic development with
the form of vocational schooling.
518 J.D. Hawley
International agencies are moving slowly away from a commitment to secondary

vocational education and towards the broader goal of workforce or human capital
development. Except for the UNESCO/ILO policy statement, the specific docu-
ments that the organizations produce stay away from vocational education as prepa-
ration within the classic French/American model of school-based vocational edu-
cation (Castro, Schaack & Tippelt, 2000). The UNESCO/ILO statement reminds
us that vocational education and training is intended for young people over 15
years of age and concerns ‘all forms and aspects of education that are technical
and vocational in nature’. This broad statement includes occupational preparation
in its vision, but is also linked explicitly to larger social and economic goals, such
as poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Likewise, vocational education
and training is supposed to facilitate lifelong learning. The ILO/UNESCO statement
is probably most similar to the view of ‘career and technical education’ in the United
States, stating that technical skills and vocational competencies should be taught
within the context of general education.
The policy statements by the World Bank and the IADB differ from those pro-
posed by ILO/UNESCO. For instance, the IADB states that ‘well-focused training is
investment in human capital’ and offers a ‘balance between general and vocational
skills.’ Unlike those proposed by ILO/UNESCO, the IADB does not define at what
age training should begin to be offered by governments, nor does it take a stand
relative to the occupational orientation of the vocational and technical education. In
fact, there seems to be a general pattern in the review of country-level experiences
in IADB documents away from a form of secondary-level vocational education
that is explicitly occupational in nature. The IADB, however, remains committed to
supporting vocational education and training, as recent lending in Belize and other
countries has shown.
The World Bank statement is more formal, offering up definitions for technical
education, vocational training and skills development. As the report states: technical
education is training for technicians; vocational training is provision of crafts; and
skills development is practical competencies, know-how and attitudes (Johanson &
Adams, 2004). The emphasis on skills development echoes the larger push in the ed-
ucational community to provide individuals with basic skills, particularly training in
the ‘new basic skills’ (Murnane & Levy, 1996). The particular goals that the World
Bank report outlines include a focus on using vocational education in the public
sector, but only when the private sector is unable to provide these services or there
are insufficient incentives to support training for disadvantaged groups. This fits into
the broader emphasis in World Bank policy to promote private-sector involvement.
2.2 Privatization and the Relationship with Industry
One of the core issues for development agencies is the emphasis on privatization of
public services. As Klees (2002) has discussed, the Washington Consensus in the
1980s led to a general focus in World Bank lending on supporting the movement of
public goods to the private sector. There is, as Klees discusses in detail, a belief that
the private sector can and should take over any State services that they are able to run
efficiently; the role of the government should be seen as the provider of services only
as a last resort, and only in situations where such services cannot operate efficiently.
Moreover, there is a general view that government needs to encourage cost-sharing
through user fees. For example, even if services are provided through governmental
institutions, they need to share the costs of service provision with the parents and
students.
The issue of privatization as applied to vocational education and training is par-
ticularly complex. Economic justification for supporting education draws a sharp
line between general skills training and specific skills training (Becker, 1993;
Johanson, 2002). Right from the start, scholars of human capital theory supported
compulsory schooling with the view that students should master skills that are gener-
alizable and that lead to higher education or potential employment in many fields. In
contrast, training is often in specific technical areas, and therefore is not considered
appropriate for government investment. This dichotomy is debated frequently by
scholars in vocational education, as well as more broadly in the economics of edu-
cation. In practice, it is exceedingly difficult to decide where to draw the line. Many
governments do support training at the corporate level in significant ways and, in-
deed, scholars have shown that this commitment to training has led to sustained eco-
nomic growth in developing Asian countries (Ashton et al., 1999). In a recent study,
we see that, on average, the returns to education in Asia are higher than those in
Latin America, although it is difficult to conclude that this is because of differences
in the allocation of resources at the secondary education level (Sakellariou, 2005).
One of the critical design issues for leaders in vocational education and training
is how to relate to the other educational sectors. The classic dilemma for a large
ministry of education in a developing country, for example, is whether vocational
education and training needs to be governed through the secondary education system
or can be established as a separate department. As Herschbach & Gasskov (2000)
point out, these kinds of questions are located at the ‘macro-level’ of educational
planning and raise issues that are social and political, as well as technical in nature.
This is not simply an administrative issue, and the larger question of partnerships
with other educational organizations, businesses and social partners receives a lot of
attention from development agencies. For example, the most important distinguish-
ing characteristic of high-profile systems in Europe is the relationships established
by business and other social partners in education and training (Culpepper, 2003;
Lasonen & Rauhala, 2000). The quality, as well as the social acceptance, of voca-
tional education and training in Germany is largely due to the substantial relation-
ships with business associations and industry.
International agencies have long supported the German, or dual system, model
of vocational education and training in principle, but support at the project level
has varied. Many of the projects from the Asian Development Bank in recent years
have emphasized supporting secondary-level vocational education and training sys-
tems, while the support in African nations has shifted more towards enterprise-based
training (Asian Development Bank, 2002; Johanson, 2002). In general, international
agencies are continuing to support the position that vocational education and train-
ing comes after basic or primary schooling. Only one report—ILO/UNESCO—
supported keeping vocational education and training at the secondary level outright.
520 J.D. Hawley
It is offered as an option for secondary education students at the upper secondary

level. The World Bank report by Johanson seems to favour keeping an option of sec-
ondary level vocational education and training, but restates the opinion that ‘regular
vocational schools have to be redirected to areas that are in greater need of skilled
labor’ (Johanson, 2002).
One area of general agreement concerns the relationship with industry. All
of the reports emphasize the importance of including vocational education and
training as an option within employment. The agencies differ on the direction
of the policy advice, however. For instance, UNESCO/ILO supports co-operative
training through employers, while the World Bank and the IADB emphasize em-
ployers subsidizing training through training levies. One area of increasing im-
portance is the use of vocational education and training aimed at adults work-
ing within the informal sector. This approach to training is particularly critical
as labour markets evolve within developing countries. Many nations have estab-
lished training programmes in entrepreneurship (Johanson, 2002; King & McGrath,
1999).
A third policy issue raised by the development agencies with special relevance
to vocational schooling is the continuing effort to encourage enterprise-level train-
ing through government policy. Recent studies from Gill, Fluitman & Dar (2000)
and Johanson & Adams (2004) provide some basis for stating that governments
have increasingly used incentives, such as tax levies, to promote training. As
Ziderman (2001) describes, as firms (especially small and medium-sized firms)
under-train, governments need to play an increasingly active role in promoting
training. However, Ziderman goes on to show that national training funds need to
be carefully monitored for sustainability of financing and proper controls should
be in place to ensure that funds are spent on appropriate training activities. Zider-
man also reports that training levies have become increasingly important in financ-
ing training within firms. While there are problems with the use of levies, they
give the government a strong role in directing training among firms. These pro-
grammes are used in the United States as well, often combined with reductions in
unemployment insurance taxes (United States of America. Government Accounting
Office, 2004).
Unlike the traditional German system of apprenticeships, current models rely
on market mechanisms to increase the skills levels of out-of-work youth, informal
sector workers or in-service workers needing re-tooling. Firms are given State funds
through tax systems that collect a portion of payroll taxes. Firms can then carry out
training interventions (Herschbach & Gasskov, 2000). This model could be prob-
lematic from a theoretical perspective. As Ziderman (2001) points out, for large
firms the strategy often pays off, but does not necessarily benefit small or medium-
sized companies. Moreover, if firms are simply using the funds to provide specific
skills training, the State is then subsidizing activities that firms could undertake on
their own. To address this concern, many countries (and states in the United States)
carefully monitor spending under these levy systems (Moore et al., 2003). However,
the tax levies are subject to intense political conflict over the allocation of resources
(United States of America. Government Accounting Office, 2004).
Many of the loans granted by agencies are focused on upgrading workers’ skills
or improving training quality, rather than providing entry level vocational education
and training. For example, Johanson (2002) points out that 93% of on-going World
Bank projects included informal sector training—a major increase over projects car-
ried out in the 1990s. Moreover, in 43% of the current World Bank projects, they
have emphasized training funds. In general, international agencies are continuing
to support the position that vocational education and training comes after basic or
primary schooling. The IADB, similarly, stresses that model training must include
enterprise-based schooling. These increasing connections with firms are seen as a
way to remove rigidities in vocational education systems. Interestingly, the three
organizations emphasize national vocational qualifications as a strategy to improve
the curriculum and training within firms.
2.3 Curricular Focus of Vocational Education and Training
The reports also describe the role of national government in certifying the curricu-
lum according to international agencies. The agencies generally refocused voca-
tional education and training from occupational training to a hybrid of academic
and vocational instruction. As the ILO/UNESCO report described, the curriculum
for vocational education should lead to interdisciplinary skills that can be used
in several occupations. This focus on generalizable skills is largely in response
to the evidence that employment and occupational training are often not strongly
related (Hawley, 2003; Neuman & Ziderman, 1999). Moreover, the World Bank
and IADB reports emphasize the importance of integrating basic skills training
and vocational preparation. The emphasis on basic skills seems to be grounded
in the perception that vocational education and training is best suited to individ-
uals who have completed primary and secondary education. Certainly in the United
States, vocational education reform has resulted in fewer occupational courses in
high school and more focus on academic training (Silverberg et al., 2004). Further-
more, curricula must be integrated with business needs and offer competency-based
instruction.
There is similarly a restatement of the growing importance of competency-based
training. While individuals are supposed to master technical skills, these skills are
intended to be embedded within national vocational qualifications or other stan-
dards which are certified through industry. As the World Bank report describes,
national vocational qualifications help to remove the rigidity of the skills train-
ing systems because they allow training to be connected more formally with em-
ployers’ skills demands (Johanson & Adams, 2004). National qualifications frame-
works allow countries to integrate training within firms, leaving government to
focus on certifying the competencies that individuals master. These systems are
modularized, enabling more flexibility in the delivery of training, and can be de-
signed to meet short-term as well as long-term skills needs (Johanson & Adams,
2004).
522 J.D. Hawley
3 Regional Strategic Efforts in TVET
Despite the largely scattered scholarship on the role of vocational education inter-
nationally, there has been a continuing interest in using TVET to solve strategic
economic and equity issues. While countries have undeniably moved students from
vocational to general secondary schooling, TVET as a whole remains a critical part
of the infrastructure that educational planners use to meet labour shortages. TVET
is simultaneously seen as a tool to enable poorer and marginalized youth and young
adults receive skills training that will allow them to pursue productive employment.
Because of these dimensions, TVET has remained on the agenda of regional and
national government agencies. The regional agencies have played a surprisingly im-
portant role in places like Europe, where funding from successive programmes has
contributed to national investment in TVET within both member and non-member
States of the European Union.
The chapters in this section are quite varied in their emphases and the depth in
which they deal with TVET issues globally. They represent an important catalogue
of largely government-led interventions in this often neglected area. The chapters
are summarized by three frames: the truly regional studies that compare TVET
across a geographical area; the country level studies that attempt to connect with the
regional approach to TVET; and finally a few global studies that were completed as
part of this review of regional aspects of TVET. The more in-depth chapters in the
first section deal with a review of the reaction by Baltic States to the dissolution of
the Soviet system and an important piece on the changes in TVET policy from the
European Union.
The second group of studies in this review includes a range of chapters that re-
ally are single country-level studies, but have strong regional implications. These
are interesting to a more limited audience of TVET scholars and practitioners with
specific geographical interests.
Lastly, there are several studies that take a decidedly global look at TVET pol-
icy. They include studies of the relationship between TVET and the agricultural
sector, and a cross-national paper exploring the possibility of extending the Inter-
national Baccalaureate Organization curriculum to TVET at the upper secondary
level. Finally, there is a study of how the larger TVET systems have shifted in recent
years.
We start with the regional studies. The chapters in this sub-section deal with a
range of TVET issues, from traditional studies of the evolution and current capacity
of vocational education in Africa and Asia, to a look at how the regional policies
from the EU government have changed from the da Vinci Programme to the current
Lifelong Learning Programme.
IV.2 To Vocationalize or Not to Vocationalize? Perspectives

on Current Trends and Issues on TVET in Africa,
by Moses O. Oketch
The study by Oketch, which is based on document analysis and interviews/data
collection in seven African nations, paints a broad-based view of TVET. The pattern
that emerges is one of fractured TVET systems on this continent.
IV.3 TVET in the Asian Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, by

Similarly, Siriwardene and Qureshi provide a limited view of the state of TVET in
Asian countries, reviewing basic problems with the economic transition to services
and the burden that overcoming these challenges places upon the State.
Pacific Region, by Man-Gon Park
Park offers an analysis of regional TVET in the Asia and Pacific region. It provides
some details about the changing context for TVET in Asia and the Pacific and the
challenges facing governments.
IV.5 European Action Programmes for Lifelong Learning,

by Johanna Lasonen
Lasonen provides a welcome review of the state of TVET policy under European
Union (EU) governance. Going back to the Leonardo da Vinci Programme, the
author describes the goals of the programme, and the broad engagement with EU
member states. The paper offers a glimpse also at the new TVET policy, the Lifelong
Learning Programme, illustrating the integration of financial assistance for higher
and vocational education into traditional TVET fields.

Differences of Reforms in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania,
by Frank Bünning and Berit Graubner
Bünning and Graubner provide a review of VET in the Baltic States after the col-
lapse of the USSR. The most important discussion is of how the different nations
524 J.D. Hawley
responded in unique ways to the dissolution of the Soviet system, and put in place a
similar array of youth, business and adult training services. It is particularly impor-
tant to note that Lithuania was ahead of the trend on re-organizing its VET systems.
IV.7 Education and Training Needs of Rural Communities:

A Situational Analysis of Selected Villages in Fourteen
Provinces of Fiji, by Paula Cavu, Isimeli W. Tagicakiverata,
Seveci Naisilisili and Viliame Rabici
The first study in the country-level cases by Cavu et al. describes a survey they
completed of the training needs for adults in rural areas of the Fiji Islands. Using a
standardized protocol, they offer a descriptive analysis of the kinds of training that
men and women are interested in following.
IV.8 Social Partnership in Vocational Education and

Training in Lithuania: Challenges and Perspectives,
by Lina Kaminskienė
Moving from the Pacific Islands to Europe, Kaminskienė offers a study of the evo-
lution of social partnerships in Lithuania, and more generally what steps the govern-
ment has taken to strengthen TVET since 1990. The paper offers a clear statement of
the differences between Soviet labour-driven relations with TVET institutions and
the current push to create a structure of social partnerships to develop vocational
and technical schools.
IV.9 Integrating Education and Work: The Status of

Vocational Education in Brazil by Lucı́lia Regina
Machado and Carlos Roberto Jamil Cury
Interestingly, Machado and Cury provide a brief review of the legal and institutional
framework for TVET in the largest nation in the Latin American region—Brazil.
This study provides some orientation to the legal foundation for technical and voca-
tional education and reviews the size and composition of the institutional structures
that make up the TVET system. This is useful for readers who need a quick review of
the structure of this important TVET system, but does not answer the larger question
about how the legislative changes in the 1990s led to steep declines in TVET enrol-
ments, nor what the evaluation evidence shows about the impact of these changes
on Brazil.

Development and Reform, by Jing Mi and Aihua Wu
Jing Mi and Aihua Wu offer a summary of China’s TVET system, and an up-to-date
review of the changes facing this large country with its rapidly growing economy.
The review lacks an evaluative focus, and instead focuses fairly broadly on describ-
ing the institutional structure, legal framework and enrolments.
IV.11 The Adoption and Adaptation of the Work-Team Concept

in Urban Thai Workplaces, by Chitrlada Burapharat
Burapharat offers a theory-based view from the perspective of adult education on
the use of work teams within Thai organizations. This is a strong study in that it
places the use of work teams in the context of Thai culture. It is one of the few
studies based on data collection from firms in this section.
IV.12 Globalization of the Labour Culture in the Republic of

Korea: What ‘Tripartite Relations’ Mean for Workers,
by Phoebe Moore
Moore offers a theoretically rich discussion of the impact of globalization and the
problems brought by the East Asian economic crisis on labour relations in the Re-
public of Korea, and to an extent on TVET in this country. Through textual and
socio-cultural studies, she provides some analysis. The result is a rich study for
TVET scholars, as it brings out a theoretical literature that is only infrequently re-
lated to vocational subjects.

in the Russian Federation, by Olga Oleynikova
Oleynikova offers a glimpse at the state of post-Soviet relations between employers

and TVET. She uses illustrative cases from a range of locations around the Russian
Federation to describe and analyse the current state of work on Russian employer
involvement in TVET.

Historical Snapshots and Recent Initiatives in Myanmar,
by Naing Yee Mar
Mar’s essay is an excellent example of a good country case study placed in a regional
context. The chapter provides a history of Myanmar’s education sector, an update
526 J.D. Hawley
of the current TVET priorities and reforms, and places these in the larger regional
context. The major issue with this study is the relatively superficial treatment of the
issues that Myanmar is dealing with in trying to provide TVET in a country where
the economy has stagnated since the late 1980s.
IV.15 Technical and Vocational Education and Training

and Rural Development, by Lavinia Gasperini
Gasperini makes a strong restatement of the traditional connections between TVET
and the agricultural sector. The primary contribution of the paper is to raise the
important point that TVET is often biased towards the service and manufacturing
sectors. The primary problem with this perspective is that both adult education and
vocational education have often developed targeted programmes. However, assum-
ing that the rhetoric of TVET is geared away from rural development does not mean
that all countries focus on this dimension.
IV.16 An International TVET Programme Development

by the International Baccalaureate Organization,
by Monique Conn
Conn offers an extremely interesting study which expands the important IBO pro-
grammes into TVET. Using case studies of programmes in Finland and Canada,
the author shows how students in upper secondary schooling can incorporate TVET
and a regular college preparatory curriculum. This is one of the first efforts I have
seen that favours fundamentally improving the academic outcomes of vocational
students, rather than focusing more on the occupational outcomes.
IV.17 A Profile of TVET in the Asia and Pacific Region:

A Survey of Progress, Innovations and Promising Practices,
by Chris Chinien, Elspeth McOmish, Mohan Perera
and Alex Chinien
Finally, Chinien, McOmish, Perera and Chinien offer a review of a global survey
of TVET systems. Using data from responses in a national basis, they are able to
illustrate how the structure and focus of TVET has shifted under a globalized world.
5 Conclusion
The topic of regionalism in TVET is an important one. In recent years, TVET overall
has been facing a major shift as governments reinvest in many regions, and are faced
with the broad need to restructure their education systems to meet the needs of new
economic and social realities. The chapters in this section offer a somewhat scattered
view of regionalism in TVET, but in several cases begin what might be seen as a
trend towards cross-national research. In that light, I would offer several important
research ideas for the future that come in part out of a reading of these chapters.
5.1 Regional Political Entities and TVET

Regional political entities, such as ASEAN or the European Union, play markedly
different roles in education policy overall, and in TVET specifically. The EU is a
very active player and the scholarship in this section shows the marked evolution
of EU-sponsored TVET activities. However, we know relatively little about other
regional entities such as ASEAN. This is unfortunate as the regional political organi-
zations play an increasingly important role in structuring intergovernmental policies
and programmes.
5.2 TVET and Secondary Education
In general, there is a bias toward using TVET in secondary schooling. This results
from generations of technically skilled workers being trained in this manner. The
traditional view that TVET should be focused at the level of secondary schooling
needs to be rethought. There are some policies, such as those of the Millennium
Development Goals, that require governments to expand secondary education and
potentially offer new vocational options. However, as economies have changed, the
importance of TVET at the post-secondary and enterprise levels has come to the
fore. The role of secondary-level TVET should be the subject of more research.
5.3 Diversification and TVET
One of the most productive areas of TVET scholarship are studies that explicitly
raise the academic mission of TVET, offering to use vocational schooling as a way
to build the capacity to teach both academic and vocational skills. I found some
of the scholarship in this section avoided this important issue. Therefore, one of
the pressing scholarly avenues should focus on the divide between vocational and
academic instruction. How can they be integrated? What changes in the curriculum
can be made to increase the quality of academic schooling in vocational education?
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Chapter IV.2
To Vocationalize or Not to Vocationalize?
Perspectives on Current Trends and Issues
on TVET in Africa1
Moses O. Oketch
1 Introduction
Forty years ago, Philip Foster exploded the vocational school myth in Africa. He
argued that ‘it might be more fruitful to encourage small-scale vocational train-
ing schemes closely associated with the actual ongoing developments and quite
divorced from the formal educational system’ (Foster, 1965, p. 154). He even rec-
ommended that ‘the burdens of vocational training should be shifted to those groups
who are actually demanding skilled labour of various types’ (p. 158). Many writ-
ers have continued to address the issue of vocationalization in various contexts
(see e.g. Heyneman, 1979, 1986, 1987, 1997; Neuman & Ziderman, 2003; Gill &
Leigh, 2004; Hawley, 2003; Middleton, Ziderman & Adams, 1993; Blaug, 1973;
Pscharopoulos, 1997; Green, 1998; Ngome, 1992; King & Martin, 2002;
Wilson, 2001, 2005; Wolf, 2002) and many of the arguments in support of technical
and vocational education and training continue to be based on the assumption that
vocational training is more useful for job entry than general education. This assump-
tion may correspond to the vocational education curriculum of twenty years ago, but
it is wrong today. Nowadays, vocational education is seen as training for future train-
ing; not as a way to facilitate job entry, but as a way to facilitate vocational-specific
skills over a lifetime. Essentially, the content and organization have changed. But
has it in Africa? In this chapter, I reflect on this issue.
2 A Brief History of TVET Policy in Africa
Psacharopoulos (1997) argued that TVET has been called upon to solve a multitude
of problems, some of which he advises would have ‘better been dealt with by other
types of policies, completely unrelated to education and training’ (p. 386). He iden-
tifies the following as the most common of these objectives that have driven TVET
policies (and, it can be added here, not least in African countries):
1. Vocational education and training can overcome youth unemployment.
2. Instilling technological knowledge, based on what happened during the British
industrial revolution, followed by Germany and Japan. It is a common belief that

532 M.O. Oketch
economic progress depends heavily on technological know-how. It therefore log-

ically follows that the first step is to expand vocational and technical education.
3. Vocational education and training offer some hope to the academically less-able
students who are not able to progress through the general education system.
4. As everyone cannot be trained for top-level jobs, vocational education and train-
ing can provide the much-needed middle-level technicians and artisans.
5. In its role in equipping young people with skills needed in the labour market,
vocational education and training can reduce unemployment leading to higher
incomes and reduced poverty.
6. Vocational education can provide the skills needed in an increasingly globalized
world where manufacturers outsource production to countries with lower labour
costs.
Middleton et al. (1993, p. 54) summed up these factors in a way much more rele-
vant to contemporary African experience when they argued that general opinion still
favours the idea that ‘vocational education and training improves attitudes toward
skilled, manual work, and thus diverts at least some young people from seeking the
white-collar jobs that are in increasingly short supply’. The problem, however, is
that most of these objectives connected to TVET policy indicate that it is primarily
aimed at occupational education and is terminal in nature. Initially, it was associated
with colonial educational policy in colonized parts of the world, not least, in Africa
(Wilson, 2005). It became undesirable in post-independence Africa once Africans
were in charge of educational policy. What had been viewed as suitable for Africans
by colonial education authorities on the basis of Africa’s economic production struc-
ture was not viewed the same way by Africans themselves. They (the Africans)
considered it as a ‘second-class’ education (Wilson, 2005). Not surprisingly, the first
conference of African States on education held in Addis Ababa in 1961 clearly set
the tone in placing priority not on TVET but on expanding (academic) secondary
and tertiary education (UNESCO, 1961), with a view to quickly developing the
African manpower needed to replace colonial personnel and other expatriates in the
civil service.
However, less than a decade after gaining independence many governments re-
verted to supporting vocational education and training on the basis of the shrink-
ing number of civil-service jobs and to encourage young people to remain in the
rural areas where they could contribute to the economy by participating in agri-
culture. A sudden surge in the numbers of young people completing primary ed-
ucation and the unmet demand for secondary education left TVET as a viable
response by governments to solving what was considered a mismatch between
education and the labour market. Massive support from international assistance
agencies, particularly the World Bank, was also directed towards establishing and
expanding public vocational education and training systems, and to legitimize pre-
employment training as an important component of public education and man-
power needs (Middleton et al., 1993, p. 4; Psacharopoulos, 2006, p. 330). Yet,
despite its subsequent appeal to policy-makers, who in 1961 had had little en-
IV.2 Perspectives on Current Trends and Issues on TVET in Africa 533
thusiasm for it, and the momentum gained by arguments in support of TVET
both nationally and internationally, Philip Foster raised a ‘warning flag’ as early
as the 1960s over government involvement in massive expansion of TVET. The
evidence from field research did not match the assumptions about the benefits
anticipated of TVET. Young people did not want TVET and when they joined
TVET, they expected it to be an avenue to higher levels of education. Moreover,
using vocational and agricultural labour to punish students who did not perform
well in (academic) class activities or for misbehaviour within African schools
only worsened their perceptions about TVET (Wilson, 2005). Furthermore, those
who had undergone TVET were not only less well paid, but often stayed un-
employed much longer than their counterparts who had gone through general
education. Foster’s work added international controversy to what was already a
dilemma and a subject of political debate within the circles of African Ministers
of Education.
Mark Blaug followed later in 1973 with the argument that vocationalization
cannot be a remedy for educated unemployment. It cannot prepare students for
specific occupations and reduce the mismatch between education and the labour
market. He went on to observe that, in general, individuals could tell that academic
streams promised higher wages and a better livelihood than vocational education
(Tilak, 2002). For those opposed to TVET, it was an opportunity to brand it as
‘useless’ education, associated with those with less aspiration for higher education
and better paying jobs, clearly reflecting the misgivings expressed by Psacharopou-
los (1997). In the villages of Africa, parents did not feel much pride—if any—when
their children only managed to enter a TVET stream. Yet, such strong arguments
against full acceptance of vocational education and training have to date not deterred
African governments from pursuing vocational education and training programmes
in public education systems. Some countries may have momentarily slowed down
their emphasis on elaborate training systems following these debates but, going by
the evidence of subsequent years, vocational education and training seem to have
maintained their inherently powerful, but also paradoxical, appeal in Africa’s edu-
cation systems.
3 Current Trends and Issues in TVET in Africa
Research evidence and analysis coming from Africa show that TVET in Africa has
failed if measured by the key objectives mentioned by Pscharopoulos (1997) and
which have underpinned TVET policies in the continent. If anything, the demand
for academic and higher levels of education has risen in spite of growing unemploy-
ment and under-employment among the educated in several African countries (see
e.g. Atchoarena & Delluc, 2001; King & Martin, 2002; Oketch, 2000, 2004). Yet,
governments still maintain faith in TVET, even when there is compelling evidence
that it can be a wasteful public investment. Psacharopoulos (1997) has argued that
534 M.O. Oketch
TVET has failed because it is a simple solution to a complex set of problems, with
too much weight placed on intuitive logic rather than empirical evidence. Here, I
follow up this argument, but ask what has changed? The following questions guide
the inquiry.
r How is TVET defined and what is the TVET framework today?
r At what level does TVET start in formal education?
r What is the purpose of TVET and has that purpose changed over the past twenty
years?
r Who are the providers of TVET?
3.1 Procedure
An opportunity to respond to some of these questions presented itself in the sum-

mer of 2004. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (hereafter UIS) commissioned
a small study undertaken by myself and two colleagues at the Institute of Educa-
tion, University of London, whose main aim was to assess the extent and limita-
tions of the data and knowledge about global provision of TVET and, based on
the findings, to identify steps that could be taken to improve international data
(Green et al., 2004). Initial and background investigations were undertaken based
primarily on the analysis of UIS data in the Global education digest, 2004 (GED)
and other data sets supplied to the team in raw form by UIS, but a number of
issues needed follow up with representatives in selected countries in order to ob-
tain clarification. The UIS data, however, enabled the research team to purpose-
fully identify countries for follow-up interviews (UNESCO Institute for Statistics,
2005).
3.2 Sample
Thirty countries were selected for follow-up via telephone interviews. These coun-
tries represented a range of types: (a) of regions (eight countries in South and
East Asia; three countries in Central Asia; nine countries in Africa; five coun-
tries in Latin America; three Arab States; and two Pacific States); (b) of levels
of economic/industrial development; (c) of population size; and (d) of the de-
gree of comprehensiveness identified by the team in the GED country data re-
turns. Once the selection was agreed by UIS, relevant individuals within each of
the selected countries were contacted through e-mail. The exchanges introduced
the team, explained the nature of the investigation and requested telephone in-
terviews. An interview guide questionnaire with forty-two items, some requir-
ing short yes/no answers and others prompting discussion/explanation, was
attached.
Seventeen countries responded positively. The following seven African coun-
tries were among them: Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, Seychelles, Tunisia and
Zimbabwe. The telephone interview sessions lasted roughly an hour and, while
based on items on the questionnaire, generally addressed issues related to the
four questions stated above. Where further clarity was needed, e-mail exchange
was used.
3.3 How is TVET Defined and what is the TVET

Framework Today?
In the seven African countries, technical and vocational education and training in-
cluded and referred to a range of learning experiences that were viewed as rele-
vant to the world of work and which occurred in a variety of learning contexts,
including educational institutions and the workplace. It includes learning designed
to develop the skills for practising particular occupations, as well as learning de-
signed to prepare for entry into the world of work in general (Green et al., 2004).
There was no mention, however, of training designed for re-entry into the world
of work. Much of the learning is occupational and terminal. TVET is not pur-
posefully provided to act as a foundation for entry into further education either.
TVET is mostly initial vocational training (IVT) undertaken by young people in
diversified secondary schools and viewed as preparation for employment. Where
there is any continuous vocational training (CVT) undertaken by adults, it only
relates to specialized government ministries or departments needing such skills.
Not surprisingly, there is a lack of schemes aimed at re-skilling and up-skilling
as a prerequisite to engage in global manufacturing and/or respond to economic
globalization.
3.4 Levels of Entry into TVET
In general, the education systems in Africa are divided into four levels as follows
(Atchoarena & Delluc, 2001):
1. Primary education, lasting six to eight years;
2. Lower-secondary education, lasting three to four years;
3. Upper-secondary education, lasting two to three years;
4. Higher education lasting about four years.
The emphasis placed on TVET at each of these levels varies from country to country
depending on the importance that each country assigns to it. In some cases, TVET
forms a separate system that parallels the general education system with its own
institutions, teachers, programmes and curriculum (Atchoarena & Delluc, 2001).
In such cases, the issue is mostly on the proportion of academic content in the
courses offered and the level of specificity in the vocational courses on offer, what
Wilson (2005) refers to as ‘convergence between academic and vocational
education’. In many cases, however, TVET is offered alongside general education in
integrated schools forming a dual-tracked school system. Table 1 provides a summary
536 M.O. Oketch
Table 1 The features of TVET in selected African countries

Country TVET features
Botswana r TVET starts from senior secondary school but TVET proper is offered
at post-secondary institutions for those who graduate from senior sec-
ondary;
r There is less clarity on the level of specificity or distinction between
TVET and general education at the secondary level.
Egypt r TVET is offered from junior secondary level but TVET proper begins at
senior secondary;
r TVET forms a separate system that parallels general education with its
own teachers, programmes and curriculum.
Senegal r TVET begins at senior secondary level upwards, but there are problems
deciding levels of specificity in the TVET and general curriculum.
Seychelles r TVET courses are offered at post-secondary level only. Both junior and
senior secondary provide general courses.
Tunisia r TVET is offered at junior secondary, but there is also TVET at senior
secondary and at tertiary levels.
Zimbabwe r TVET is offered at post-secondary level for those who do not qualify
for higher education admission. However, 12% of the content at the sec-
ondary level has vocational content
Eritrea, Ethiopia, r TVET provision in secondary level is over 2% of the total enrolment.
Malawi, Namibia,
Niger, South
Africa
Botswana, Côte r TVET provision at secondary school level is between 5 and 9% of the
d’Ivoire, Burkina total enrolment. In these countries, TVET now includes reasonable levels
Faso, Morocco, of general content (i.e. a balanced level of specificity).
Togo, Tunisia,
Uganda
Egypt, Cameroon, r TVET’s share of secondary total enrolment is over 10%.
Congo, Gabon,
Mali
Algeria, Côte r TVET retains a fairly large amount of general content.
d’Ivoire, Mali,
Morocco,
Senegal, Tunisia
Botswana, Egypt, r TVET retains a fairly large amount of specificity.
Ghana, South
Africa, Zimbabwe
Source: Author’s interviews with representatives of selected countries, supplemented with infor-
mation obtained from Atchoarena & Delluc, 2001.
of some of the key features of TVET in the countries studied, as well as in some
other African countries.
3.5 Levels of Participation in TVET
TVET generally occupies a small and marginal position in the school systems of
most African countries. While in some cases specialized ministries have been cre-
ated with the aim of strengthening and/or streamlining the development of TVET
throughout the entire education system, for the most part, it does not receive the
same emphasis that general education does. At the secondary level, where much of
TVET specificity is meant to develop, only a tiny percentage of those enrolled can
be classified as pursuing TVET streams. However, problems of data collection at
national level and lack of consistency across countries make comparative analysis
difficult (also see Atchoarena & Delluc, 2001). There are generally problems result-
ing both from data collection and classification that make it difficult to analyse the
precise nature of TVET provision in different countries. However, broad differences
between French-speaking and English-speaking systems are more easily observable
than the finer distinctions in countries within each of these groupings.
A further problem results from the fact that much of the private provision and,
indeed, some of the public TVET provision are not captured by the national data-
gathering exercises. Overall, there seems to be a decline in the share of TVET as a
percentage of enrolments in secondary education (Table 2). One explanation offered
by Atchoarena & Delluc (2001, p. 39) for this is uncertainties about the effectiveness
of TVET in matching the requirements of the labour market. An alternative expla-
nation is an expanded secondary education that is offering general education. Still,
it is unclear in those cases where secondary education has not expanded whether
more young people are opting to join post-primary but non-secondary institutions,
such as community polytechnics or family apprenticeships.
Despite the problems with data collection, Atchoarena and Delluc have grouped
countries into three categories. First are those countries where the provision of
TVET in secondary enrolments is less than 2%. Among these countries are Eritrea,
Ethiopia, Malawi, Namibia, Niger and South Africa. Second are those countries
where the proportion of TVET enrolment in general secondary education over the
past few years has been between 5 and 9%. Examples in this category include
Botswana, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco, Mozambique, Togo, Tunisia and
Uganda. Third are countries where the share of TVET enrolment in secondary
education is over 10%. Examples include Cameroon, Mali, Gabon, Congo and
Egypt.
In the English-speaking countries, TVET retains a high level of specificity,
whereas in the French-speaking countries elements of modernization of their TVET
programmes have led to a reasonable balance between general and vocational con-
tent. This makes it easier for those who opt for one reason or another to join TVET to
progress to higher levels of education or come back to general programmes without
much difficulty.
538 M.O. Oketch
Table 2 Percentage of TVE enrolments in secondary technical and vocational education

Year 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003
Benin 2.7 2.7 6.7 6.1 7.5 n/a 9.0 9.0 8.0 9.0
Botswana 20.5 12.3 8.9 8.0 5.8 6.3 4.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Burkina Faso 15.2 16.9 14.2 8.0 7.0 n/a 8.0 9.0 9.0 8.0
Cameroon 23.7 25.4 27.0 24.5 18.0 n/a 21.0 19.0 18.0 n/a
Chad 10.1 4.5 n/a 6.3 4.9 2.3 2.2 2.0 2.0 2.0
Congo 9.9 7.0 9.1 10.6 6.7 11.7 n/a 10 10 n/a
Côte d’Ivoire 7.5 13.3 9.7 8.1 7.6 n/a n/a – – n/a
Eritrea – – – – 0.6 n/a 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Ethiopia 4.5 n/a n/a 0.8 0.4 0.3 1.0 1.0 2.0 4.0
Gabon 16.3 11.1 21.7 23.1 n/a 9.4 7.0 7.0 7.0 n/a
Guinea 3.3 1.8 5.8 9.8 3.5 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Lesotho 9.3 3.4 5.0 3.4 3.3 1.1 2.0 2.0 2.0 1.0
Malawi 1.8 2.8 2.7 1.5 1.3 0.8 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Mali 10.2 9.4 n/a n/a 12.6 11.9 11.0 n/a n/a 11.0
Mauritania n/a n/a 4.7 5.3 2.2 2.8 3.0 2.0 2.0 4.0
Mozambique 3.6 n/a n/a 7.9 6.4 8.1 9.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
Namibia 1.0 1.2 0.9 0.6 0.1 n/a n/a 2.0 n/a n/a
Niger 2.9 1.73 1.4 1.2 1.1 0.9 6.0 n/a 2.0 1.0
Senegal 9.3 10.5 10.6 6.8 3.6 2.6 n/a n/a n/a n/a
South Africa n/a n/a n/a n/a 1.5 n/a 4 5.0 5.0 5.0
Togo 9.6 8.0 5.2 5.7 6.7 4.6 7 n/a n/a n/a
Uganda 14.6 12.1 7.1 6.0 4.6 5.0 13 7 5.0 5.0
Source: Atchoarena & Delluc, 2001, p. 40.
Generally speaking, there is a low and declining proportion of TVET in sec-

ondary education, which can be partly attributed to the public’s attitude towards this
type of education. For the most part, that attitude has been shaped or influenced
by lack of progression to higher levels of education and the low skills that TVET
offers those who pursue it. There is also a gender aspect to this as well. Where the
picture seems improved in terms of female participation, TVET becomes an even
less prestigious branch of education.
3.6 What is the Purpose of TVET and has that Purpose Changed
over the Past Twenty Years?
In these seven countries the purpose of TVET remains tied to solving the mismatch
between educational expansion and the labour market. Not surprisingly, most of the
provision is terminal and leads directly to entry into the labour market, where often
many young people join the pool of the unemployed. Unfortunately, it is those from
the lower socio-economic strata that still dominate in TVET because they cannot
afford the general and higher levels of education. This has contributed to the percep-
tions that people hold about TVET. In Egypt, however, it is reported that the attitudes
of young people towards TVET are now becoming increasingly positive, although
TVET is still dominated by socio-economic factors and those from working-class
families are more likely to enrol compared to those from the middle class.
In Ghana, people in general place low value on TVET. Their attitude to this type
of education is that it is inferior to academic education, still reflecting what Philip
Foster discovered there four decades ago. As a result of this attitude, it has been
the less bright pupils who have often opted for TVET courses. Like all the other
countries in the study, Ghana proclaims the idea that TVET leads to direct entry
into the labour market and is therefore useful in responding to unemployment and
poverty problems. Similar responses were obtained for Senegal, Seychelles, Tunisia
and Zimbabwe. In general, the traditional objectives mentioned earlier have contin-
ued to guide national policy on TVET, while individuals prefer academic streams
with the promise of higher wages. Going by the responses obtained through these
interviews, it can be concluded that the purpose of TVET has not changed much
over the decades.
3.7 Patterns of Delivery
Aside from the differences discussed above, there is an obvious difference in the
way TVET is organized in French-speaking and English-speaking countries. This, as
noted earlier, is attributable to the colonial influences that have largely been retained
to date with minimal modifications. In Algeria, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia, which
are all Francophone, TVET retains a fairly large amount of general content as has
been the case with TVET in France. However, lack of specificity towards vocational
content has the disadvantage of delinking the TVET courses from the mostly informal
labour-market skills. Atchoarena & Delluc (2001) found this to be the case in their
study of TVET in Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Mali and Senegal, where the informal
sector, especially micro-enterprises, is totally ignored by the programmes and pat-
terns of TVET delivery. Originally modelled on the French school system, TVET in
these countries has often not fully taken into account the possibilities of traditional
apprenticeship for meeting the needs of the artisanal sector, which provides jobs but
often stands in need of improvement. In contrast, Anglophone countries display a
much stronger experience, both in dual forms of public-sector training and in the
provision of training for the artisanal sector (Atchoarena & Delluc, 2001). In the
case of these English-speaking countries, the vocational content is generally high
and the academic content is extremely limited. While this has the advantage of re-
flecting specificity in terms of the skills needed in the informal sector, where more
jobs continue to be created, it has the disadvantage of limiting progression to higher
levels of education or movement between vocational and general institutions. This
high level of specificity leads to narrowness, an issue that often makes TVET less
appealing, relegating it to a type of education only capable of leading to what many
refer to as ‘dead-end’ jobs. But, there are some emerging trends in countries such
540 M.O. Oketch
as Botswana, Ghana and South Africa, where TVET has been ‘modernized’ from
the traditional apprenticeship schemes to programmes that permit movement into the
national training system. The aim of this approach is to include a balanced propor-
tion of general and vocational content that would enable participants to move both
laterally within the TVET programmes and vertically to general or advanced educa-
tion institutions. This progression within and between TVET and general education,
when fully implemented, can create a breathing space whereby the education system
responds to the types of skills demanded for the labour force at different periods.
3.8 Who are the Providers?

For many years, State provision dominated the field of education in many African
countries. However, over the past twenty years, private provision has been steadily
growing. This has happened as State provision has either found it increasingly dif-
ficult to expand and cope with increased demand for education or simply because
the State’s capacity to monopolize provision of education has generally deteriorated
and become unattainable. This can also be said of the TVET sector. Atchoarena
and Esquieu (2002, pp. 21–22) conducted research on this phenomenon and docu-
mented patterns of provision and policy issues with reference to private technical
and vocational education in sub-Saharan Africa. They conclude that:
1. Private provision of TVET is growing rapidly and even dominates in some coun-
tries, such as Mali.
2. There is heterogeneity in private provision with key aspects, such as legal status,
ownership, objectives and financing, most difficult to establish clearly.
3. The majority of private TVET institutions enrol students from low socio-economic
backgrounds.
4. A sizeable number of private institutions cannot be properly traced in govern-
ment registrations records, implying that they operate illegally.
5. Many of the private providers offer courses with a high concentration in com-
mercial trades, although there are also a few cases such as in Mali where 21% of
the offerings are in technical areas (such as light industrial skills).
6. Given their private nature, tuition fees are the main source of operational
resources for these institutions.
7. The private sector has the benefit of tailoring the courses to the labour-market
demands and seems to be flexible in adapting to demand.
8. There is little evidence to indicate a close working relationship between enter-
prises and the private institutions. In most cases, it is up to the students to choose
what they would like to specialize in by themselves. The degree to which they
respond to the actual needs of the enterprises is thus less known.
The good news, however, is that private providers tend to provide programmes
which, on average, appear to be better prepared compared to State institutions, al-
though there is also great variation in terms of quality within the private provision.
In all the seven countries in this study, data on private provision were reported
as being difficult to obtain. Interviews with the respondents revealed similar con-
cerns or features, as summed up above in the Atchoarena and Delluc (2001) study.
Some key issues and contrasts are worth mentioning. In Botswana the provision is
still predominantly offered by the State in six vocational institutions and forty-one
brigades (vocational institutions training at craft level). There were some private
providers, especially in Gaborone, but the Ministry of Education does not have
full details of how many there are and the nature of their operations. Similar re-
sponses were obtained from the six other countries, although the State monopoly
was noted as sometimes being in doubt. In Senegal, the respondent reported that
data on private institutions were difficult to obtain but acknowledged that they exist
and in visible numbers. Similarly, in Zimbabwe, there are several data collection
problems to be faced when dealing with private institutions, but the respondent
acknowledged that most of these institutions provided TVET to those who had
completed secondary-level education. It was thought that there are over 350 such
private institutions in the country, most of which are offering commercial-based
programmes. In Ghana, there are 160 technical and vocational institutions run by
government agencies and 250 registered private institutions. It is thought, how-
ever, that there could be approximately another 700 unregistered private providers.
Private technical and vocational institutions run a variety of courses in Ghana
which last an average of three years. Their students take either the City and
Guilds of London Institute or the Ghana Education Service Craft examination or
the National Vocational Training Institute (NVIT) Craftsman or Tradesman Grade
examination.
4 Recent Concerns over TVET in Africa
Aside from the early criticisms by Philip Foster (1965) and Mark Blaug (1973),
numerous concerns have been voiced over the past decade. Atchoarena and Delluc
(2001, p. 38) summarize them in Africa in terms of:
r poor quality;
r very high cost;
r training not suited to actual socio-economic conditions;
r disregard of the informal sector’s needs;
r disregard of the labour market and of the high unemployment rate among
graduates.
In view of the changes in the labour market, the objectives of technical and voca-
tional education have become more diverse: they are no longer simply economic
but also social, including the fight against poverty and the integration of young
people into the working world, all in line with the articulations in the Millennium
Development Goals (Atchoarena & Delluc, 2001), and the present day demands of
globalization. Given the prevailing economic trend, two other major objectives have
542 M.O. Oketch
100
90
Percentage of employment
80
70
60
50 Series1
40
30
20
10
0
so
a
n
ia
co
l
na
a
n
ga
qu
ric
al
oo
ny
an
ni
ha
Fa
oc
ha
ne
Af
bi
Be
er
Ke
rit
C
or
am
a
G
am
Se
au
h
in
ut
rk
oz
M
C
So
Bu
M
Fig. 1 Informal sector employment as a share of non-agricultural employment, selected African
countries (1990s)
Source: Johanson & Adams, 2004, p. 52.
been identified and which must now be pursued: (a) to train the workforce for self-
employment; and (b) to raise the productivity of the informal sector (Caillods, 1994,
in Atchoarena & Delluc, 2001). Figure 1 reveals the growing importance of the in-
formal sector in terms of providing employment outside the agricultural sector, but
lack of resources is seen as a hindrance to pursuing these new critical objectives.
This is all the more so given that TVET is an expensive form of education and
expanding it without necessary and adequate facilities and equipment does not lead
to increasing productivity in the long run. Yet, at the same time, criticisms of TVET
have led to cuts in the volume of training provided in public institutions and a call
for the mostly family-run informal enterprises to take on more responsibility for
providing TVET.
A look at the funding of TVET can shed light on the contradiction between
the emphasis for skills and the limited funding that governments are willing to
commit to it. Moreover, the international pressure on countries to meet their Ed-
ucation for All goals by 2015 has meant that more resources have been shifted,
both within national budgets and by international aid assistance, to realizing uni-
versal primary education—and yet the rhetoric over skills and the value of TVET
continues.
4.1 Financing of TVET
As is the case with provision, delivery patterns and levels of participation, the financ-
ing of TVET as a percentage of public education expenditures varies considerably
from country to country. It ranges from as low as 0.9% a decade ago in Ethiopia
to 12.7% in Gabon at the same period (ILO, 1998/1999, cited in Atchoarena &
Delluc, 2001). In all the seven countries in the UIS study, it was noted that obtain-
ing the financial breakdown for TVET is difficult because allocation is made for
the entire education sector rather than by programme. It is therefore hard to provide
accurate expenditure on TVET. Difficulties in specifying spending on TVET are
compounded by the fact that provision in the private sector is hardly covered by
the data. Interviews with respondents in all seven countries revealed that many of
the private providers do not want to co-operate in providing their financial infor-
mation and, in cases where they do, the figures are often inaccurate. Nevertheless,
Table 3 can shed some light on the levels of financial allocation to TVET in selected
countries in the 1990s.
Table 3 Percentage of technical and vocational education expenditures in total education

expenditures
Country % Year Country % Year
Benin 3.3 1995 Guinea 7.5 1993
Botswana 5.5 1991 Lesotho 3.3 1994
Chad 2.0 1994 Malawi 1.1 1992
Congo 4.9 1980 Mali 9.1 1995
Côte d’Ivoire 4.8 1994 Mauritania 2.3 1995
Eritrea 1.6 1994 Mozambique 6.2 1990
Ethiopia 0.9 1993 Namibia 2.0 1995
Gabon 12.7 1992 Senegal 2.7 1990
Ghana 4.9 1990 Togo 3.7 1994
Source: ILO, 1998/1999 cited in Atchoarena and Delluc, 2002, p. 45.
4.2 Conclusion
Based on the information gleaned from other studies and interviews with represen-
tatives in the seven countries, it can be concluded that:
1. Business has been as usual over the past two decades—TVET is still driven by
the traditional objectives identified earlier in all of these countries.
2. TVET mostly begins at lower secondary and/or junior secondary level in a ma-
jority of African countries.
3. Excellent institutions offering TVET at post-secondary level, such as national
polytechnics, are under pressure to convert into degree-granting institutions al-
lowing wider diversity of courses and a large mix of general education pro-
grammes in addition to their technical and vocational courses.
4. TVET is not attractive to families and is seen as a last resort by those who cannot
access general education.
5. There are countries, such as Egypt, with a dual-track system, the problem with
which is the danger of tracking students into ability groupings.
6. There is a tremendous growth in private providers, especially for business-related
skills.
544 M.O. Oketch
5 The Way Forward and Some Perspectives
There is no doubt that TVET is important in Africa’s development and, from the
analysis of trends and issues in the region, the key point is to transform it so that
what is offered can reflect the prevailing reality in the labour market and the global
economy. This transformation must partly begin with TVET policy casting off its
traditional mould, and taking as its objective the need to provide convergence with
academic education (Wilson, 2005), in addition to establishing links to the infor-
mal sector. More importantly, private providers who are more flexible should be
encouraged but carefully monitored to ensure that the courses they offer are of ac-
ceptable standards and quality. Where government provision has proven wasteful,
inflexible and inefficient, alternative provision through employers should be sought
and encouraged. In addition, more and accurate data should be collected to monitor
patterns of provision in both government institutions and private provision in order
to provide a basis for a new TVET framework in many African countries. Under
present-day skills, TVET should reflect the development of ‘high-skills’ as well as
‘re-skilling’ rather than being a mere means of addressing ‘runaway’ unemployment
in formal sectors. Specifically, the following are recommended:
1. Increased specificity within TVET programmes where general educational con-

tent has dominated with the result that these programmes are less useful to the
informal sector.
2. Lateral and vertical movement should be allowed.
3. TVET should be de-linked from having to provide a solution to manpower and
unemployment problems.
4. There should be increased proportions of TVET content in general programmes
and increased general content in TVET programmes.
5. Encourage high skills rather than low skills in TVET programmes.
6. Promote re-skilling and up-skilling to cope with technological changes.
7. In some instances, it may be right for the public sector to withdraw from voca-
tional schooling altogether, especially where waste has been so serious, the needs
for general education so compelling and labour-market growth so sluggish.
Note
1. This chapter is a modification of the original version appearing as an article in the International
journal of educational development, 2007, vol. 27, pp. 220–34.
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Chapter IV.3
TVET in the Asian Region:
Issues, Concerns and Prospects
1 Introduction
The twenty-first century is one of emerging challenges and an era of knowledge,
information and communication. Globalization and unprecedented advancements
in information and communication technologies (ICTs) have already signalled the
need for a new human-centred development paradigm. Education, particularly tech-
nical and vocational education and training (TVET), has a crucial role to play in this
new era for all regions of the world, including Asia and the Pacific. In view of the
immense potential of TVET to generate growth, it is emerging as a vital empowering
tool for improving living conditions by enhancing the capacities of individuals to be
employed, obtain decent work and increase their earnings. Orienting TVET to the
needs of the world of work is, therefore, indispensable not only for economic and
social development, but also for sustainable development. This calls for a paradigm
shift in TVET, such as the one taking place in the Asian Region—as everywhere else
in the world. Its philosophy, vision and mission, goals and objectives, policies and
practices, content and methodologies are all changing to keep pace with advances
in science and technology, industry and business. In spite of the fact that the World
Bank, once TVET’s staunchest supporter, introduced a radical shift in its policy in
1991, all countries still announce their interest in TVET, especially in the Asian
Region where it has come to be regarded as the master key that can transform the
economy, alleviate poverty, save the environment and improve the quality of life
(Quisumbing, 2005).
2 A New Role for TVET
Thanks to the unprecedented advances in science, technology and communications,

the world today is a global village with far greater interdependence between coun-
tries. However, the global level of development continues to be distressing in the
Asian and Pacific Region, where about two-thirds of the world’s population lives.
Most of these people are still living in developing countries, if not some of the
least developed. While worldwide, one out of five men and one out of three women

548 P.P.G.L. Siriwardene, M.A. Qureshi
are still illiterate, in Asia, particularly South Asia, one out of three men and one
out of two women are illiterate (Mehta, 2003). Education for All is still far from
a reality in this region. This situation calls for new patterns of education with a
catalytic role for TVET in keeping with the changing role of work and its impact
on national and international economies and competitiveness. For sixty years, the
world has failed to achieve Education for All. It is now time to reconsider the ba-
sic options—including the option of TVET—to give to the world, and particularly
developing countries, the chance of achieving Education for All (Hughes, 2005).
For this to be possible, TVET will have to enable learners completing basic edu-
cation to enter the labour market with some basic know-how and skills. With work
becoming more knowledge- and technologically-based, TVET can play a key role
as an entry point to the knowledge society. However, a radical policy reform would
need to shift TVET away from heavy investments by the central government in
equipment, workshops and instructor training to a pragmatic and meaningful part-
nership with its major stakeholders in industry, trade and agriculture. Some govern-
ments are already embarking on new approaches to providing TVET programmes
through improvements in content, teaching methods, models of delivery and teach-
ing/learning processes (Mar, 2005). Two successful examples are provided by the
Republic of Korea and China. While the Republic of Korea successfully tailored its
TVET system to forecast needs, China almost completely overhauled its antiquated
system by encouraging the private sector to provide financing, materials, appren-
ticeship and guidance to align training with the needs of the market (UNESCO-
UNEVOC, 2005).
3 The Present Scenario and Regional Context

In the recent past, there have been some impressive but uneven developments in
education. TVET, which consists of a diverse range of courses, is usually offered at
the upper secondary level and beyond, with the lower secondary stage being only
for general vocational skills for all students (Maclean, 2005a). Globally, almost 50
million students were enrolled in TVET in 2002, 90% at the upper secondary level.
At the moment, one in five upper secondary students is enrolled in TVET on a world
scale. However, the enrolment rate varies widely: in East Asia, including China,
TVET programmes account for 33% of enrolment, while in West Asia its share is
less than even 4% (Ellis, 2005).
3.1 Vocational Gross Enrolment Rates
In a global study of TVET by the University of London Institute of Education of the

various combinations of students in a number of countries, especially the vocational
gross enrolment rates (VGERs), major variations in the public provision of voca-
tional education were noted (Green, Oketch & Preston, 2004). The study showed
IV.3 TVET in the Asian Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects 549
that the public provision of vocational programmes in East Asia seems to be low,
with the highest rate being the Republic of Korea at 16%. In Oceania, Australia
stands far above any other country with a VGER of 68%. Other Asian VGERs are
generally low, varying from 0.4% for India, 0.5% for Bangladesh and Pakistan, 4.2%
Malaysia and about 9% for Thailand. The study indicates that countries are increas-
ingly including both general and vocational content in all secondary programmes as
they fine-tune their curricula to meet particular requirements. Although this strategy
has resulted in a rise in the status of vocational training in some countries by being
included within a broader range of secondary and tertiary programmes, developing
countries still regard it as a second-rate option (Ellis, 2005).
3.2 Globalization, Industry Restructuring and TVET
As a result of globalization, the restructuring of industry is now also taking place

across the world. As a result, TVET is also undergoing a major reorientation, par-
ticularly regarding curriculum revision which is becoming increasingly industry-
and market-driven, with an emphasis on new technology, the removal of obsolete
subjects and the modernization of equipment and teaching/learning materials. How-
ever, TVET frequently exists in complete isolation from industry, which is a major
problem requiring immediate attention. For TVET to assist and facilitate industry,
strong school/industry linkages are essential. As the financial resources of countries
in the Asia and the Pacific Region are limited, it is to be hoped that donor agencies
would continue to assist them in their reform of TVET, as in the past. This would
enable them to modernize their existing facilities to serve the growing requirements
of regionalization and internationalization.
The restructuring of TVET in the region is accordingly emerging as an urgent
priority in view of the challenges posed by globalization and the ICT explo-
sion. However, for this restructuring to be meaningful, it must take into account
curricula, resources, teachers, assessment and examinations, school/industry links
and certification, non-formal options and the involvement of the private sector
(Maclean, 2005b).
4 Philosophy and Objectives
At present, preparation of skilled personnel and increases in national productivity

and competitiveness seem to be the urgent objectives of TVET in most countries
of the region. Nevertheless, many countries are also pursuing objectives unique to
their own contexts. While India stresses the need for reducing the aimless pursuit
of higher education, there are others that highlight the formative and developmental
role of TVET, particularly when it is imparted during the basic cycle of education.
Awareness of career paths, career planning and vocational guidance also finds a
place in the philosophy of many countries.
In many countries’ philosophies of TVET there are concerns not precisely re-
flected under the statement of its objectives. TVET as an integral component of
school education is reflected in the educational objectives of several countries. Some
countries also have various kinds of vocational or vocationally-oriented schools
(Mishra, 1995). A present policy shift in the region relates to TVET being demand-
or industry-cum-market driven, as opposed to supply-driven as in the past. However,
the size, population and economies of countries are creating different situations with
regard to TVET. Some countries are reconstructing TVET to meet the needs of their
changing societies and the free-market economy.
5 Organizational Problems and the Constraints of TVET

Countries in Asia and the Pacific are going through an intensive evolutionary pro-
cess with regard to TVET. National models continue to emerge to cope with present
and future needs, and structures are becoming increasingly relevant to national eco-
nomic and social requirements. The number of TVET institutions is also increasing.
As a result many structures are now providing different entry and exit points and
horizontal and vertical mobility.
There are countless ways in which TVET is organized in different countries of
the region and even within the same country. Although each country, to some extent,
has its own pattern, every country seeks the most cost-effective model that offers
efficient instruction (Mishra, 1995).
5.1 Problems and Constraints
The most industrialized countries in Asia are China, India and Japan. In recent
decades, countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and the Republic of Korea have en-
joyed rapid progress, earning the title of ‘newly industrialized countries’ (NICs).
Thailand’s rapid economic growth needed skilled manpower requiring compulsory
education to be extended to year 9. Malaysia’s economic profile changed from a
mainly agricultural and mining nation to a more balanced economy with a growing
manufacturing industry. The Republic of Korea’s rapid industrialization required
skilled manpower in large numbers. These countries have accordingly reformed and
developed their TVET systems. Other less-industrialized countries in the region are
also improving their systems to meet industrial development needs and growing
global competitiveness.
A major problem with TVET is that it is generally three to four times more ex-
pensive than general education. As developing countries’ resources are limited, they
are forced to seek assistance from international agencies, such as the World Bank,
the Asian Development Bank and elsewhere, which have often radically changed
their policies and strategies (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2005).
Unemployment is a serious problem in Asian countries and they are reforming

their education systems to alleviate this. The Asian region has a big potential for
job creation through TVET. Despite the diversity in populations, cultures and levels
of development, countries are faced with weak linkages between education and na-
tional economic activity. This issue is being addressed by creating, as far as possible,
linkages with employers and the job market. However, there is a general shortage
of reliable mechanisms to assess job-market demands so as to avoid a mismatch
between training and employment.
5.2 The Participation of Women
The participation of women in TVET has been low but is increasing rapidly. As
a result, large numbers of women are entering the job market in countries such as
Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand. In a number of
countries, separate TVET institutions have been created for women, in addition to
regular institutions. TVET courses in keeping with women’s preferences are also
offered to encourage their participation.
5.3 TVET and Rural Uplift
The Asian region is largely rural and agrarian. An increase in TVET in rural areas is
planned so that these economies can benefit. However, there is concern that TVET
in rural areas is insufficient and irrelevant, even though it has immense usefulness
for farm technology, agro-based industry and bio-technologies. There is an urgent
need to focus TVET on improving agricultural productivity in the region.
5.4 Image and Status of TVET
A major problem for TVET has been its low status among students and parents. In
many countries, it is still considered as ‘second-class education’ (Maclean, 2005b).
This problem is gradually decreasing with the recognition of its usefulness and the
key role it plays in national development and employment generation.
5.5 Access, Equity and Participation
Access and equity are both essential for ensuring meaningful participation in
TVET, but increasing enrolment is no guarantee of achieving them. Although there
has been a three-fold increase in secondary enrolments in the region over the
past forty years, there is still unequal access to this level affecting females, the
handicapped, members of various social or racial groups and people from remote
areas (Maclean, 2005b). There are indications that the proportion of females in sec-
ondary education, as well as in TVET, is increasing. However, this is happening
more in the relatively industrialized countries of the region, such as Malaysia and
the Republic of Korea where it reached about 50% as compared to only 27% in
Bangladesh, Myanmar and Mongolia (Maclean, 2005b).
Equity and access can be helped also by reducing drop-outs, which are quite
appreciable in many systems. Equity can also be helped by removing the disparities
between urban and rural institutions, which are still prevalent in several Asian coun-
tries. These disparities are due to poor planning and the shortage of funds. There is
an urgent need to improve TVET for rural areas throughout Asia.
Some countries are using new methods of student enrolment to ensure equity and
better participation in TVET programmes. It has been observed that some students
who qualify and enter TVET institutions have no interest in vocational courses and
this constitutes a wastage of resources. Some countries have adopted aptitude and
ability tests so as only to admit students who will benefit from these programmes.
These measures are likely to help in reducing high drop-out rates.
6 Policy and Planning
The importance placed on TVET is relatively recent. Frequent changes in policy and
planning have been made in recent years to meet emergent industrial and economic
development needs. There is a growing realization of issues related to the relation-
ship between TVET and the economy, between ecology and social development and
the role that TVET can play in improving national productivity and competitiveness.
Many countries have also recognized the need for discussion with the labour market,
chambers of commerce and other appropriate bodies when planning TVET. This is
because labour market demands constantly vary. Planning is also largely dependent
on population and demographic trends, literacy rates and the level of primary educa-
tion, factors that place more pressure on secondary education and hence on TVET.
Co-operation between TVET and industry (i.e. employers) is still weak in many
countries. Close links should be maintained with industry to improve student job
placement, periodic industrial experience for teachers, the provision of equipment
and teachers and, more importantly, representatives of industry sitting on school
boards.
6.1 Role of the Private Sector
An important policy issue is the role of the private sector in TVET. With more pri-
vate sector participation and with more public/private partnerships, not only would
the quality of training improve but countries would greatly benefit from additional
funds so as to reduce expenditure. In India, the Republic of Korea, Philippines and
Thailand many large industries run their own training departments. In many other
Asian countries, TVET is high on the development agenda, as well as collaboration
between institutions and industry. A notable example in this regard is that of Japan
which encourages practical training in agriculture, business, fisheries, home eco-
nomics, nursing and society welfare in co-operation with industry (Okada, 1995).
Even some less-industrialized countries, such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and
the Philippines, have recently made major shifts in TVET development strategy in
co-operation with industry and trade sectors.
6.2 Institution/Industry Linkages
The issue of linkage between industry and institutions has been a subject of
immense interest throughout the world (Mishra, 1995). In many Asian countries,
institution/industry linkages are still weak and are taking time to develop due to
insufficient knowledge about each others’ capability and potential. Industry’s lack
of interest or its critical attitude towards TVET institutions is also due to the fact
that many institutions have been functioning in complete isolation from industry’s
demands. Institutions can benefit greatly if industry were better informed about their
programmes. Industry too needs to collaborate as it would be a major beneficiary if
TVET institutions functioned more efficiently. TVET/industry co-operation could
also facilitate ‘sandwich’-course training and ‘day-release’ or ‘block-release’ pro-
grammes to meet urgent occupational demands.
7 A National Co-ordinating Mechanism
Several countries in Asia have set up national co-ordinating bodies to oversee the
TVET system. As well as educators, these bodies include representatives of State
authorities, industry, agriculture and the private sector and meet regularly to identify
problems and resolve them. These mechanisms also help in minimizing mismatch
between demand and supply of graduates, as well as providing programmes for
disadvantaged population groups, such as women. Identification of organizational
changes to improve the responsiveness of the systems to market demand is also
supervised by these co-ordinating mechanisms. Co-ordination of TVET activities
is helping to prevent duplication of efforts and wastage of resources. On the con-
trary, the pooling of resources is facilitating the task of making the system more
cost-effective. Good working examples of these co-ordinating mechanisms exist in
Australia with the Vocational Education, Employment and Training Board (VEET)
(Wolfensberger, 1995), in the Philippines with the Technical and Skill Development
Authority (TESDA) (Lacson & Justimbaste, 1995) and in Pakistan with its Na-
tional Vocational and Technical Education Commission (NAVTEC) at the federal
level and technical education and vocational training authorities (TEVTA) in the
provinces.
7.1 Decentralization
A major policy change in some countries is the decentralization of TVET. Large

countries with many provinces find these essential, but other countries may find the
concept of decentralized planning and implementation a useful strategy. Countries
such as Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia and Pakistan are beginning to benefit
from decentralization. The organization and management of the TVET system in
a large and diverse country such as India is a formidable task. The need for an
effective relationship between education, working life and the community has long
been recognized in India and this philosophy has helped the country in its policy of
decentralizing to regions, with a National Council for Technical and Vocational Ed-
ucation at the federal level. In Pakistan, the TEVTAs in the provinces and NAVTEC
at the central level also provide a workable example of national co-ordination and
decentralized management.
7.2 Research on TVET Policy
A significant drawback is that very little research is done on TVET at the national
level. Research findings could be of great help to policy-makers and planners,
and a big incentive to teachers. A research pool should be developed among na-
tional TVET institutions and research competencies urgently developed. Exchange
and sharing of information and experiences through regional and international co-
operation and networks, such as UNESCO-UNEVOC, could go a long way in as-
sisting countries in this regard.
7.3 Multi-Skilling and Broad-Based Training

In TVET planning, too often institutions do not meet national requirements both
in respect of course content and the numbers of students trained. A decrease in
manpower demands in some occupational areas due to saturation of job markets, or
less manpower being needed due to new technologies and automation, is making
the task of planning TVET systems more difficult. Recasting training programmes
should enable those trained to fit into more than one job situation, which is becoming
more desirable from industry’s point of view.
7.4 Selection of Sites for TVET Institutions
Not enough attention is always given to the siting of institutions. In principle,

sites should be in proximity of industries so as to facilitate student training and
institution/industry linkages. Too often, sites are selected for political expediency.
Feasibility studies can greatly help in this regard. Not enough attention has been
given to the design of buildings to make them cost-effective. Quite often ‘standard-
type plans’ made for general purposes are used which may not be suitable every-
where. Industry’s advice could go a long way to overcome this problem.
7.5 Articulation
Articulation is a major reform in some Asian countries. ‘Bridging courses’ have

helped in providing opportunities to TVET system graduates to enter tertiary educa-
tion. The creation of post-secondary TVET institutions has also contributed towards
the democratization of education and has helped in raising the status of this form
of education. Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines are practising articulation
in TVET as a major reform to provide alternative pathways in technical fields with
higher technical institutes and junior colleges providing credit points and systems
enabling entry into higher education institutions. Bangladesh, Pakistan and India
have opened other pathways to higher technical education through the polytechnic
system, where places are reserved on engineering degree courses for polytechnic
graduates who are admitted on a competitive basis. Degree-level vocational courses
are also available in India to better prepare graduates for the world of work. About
100 Indian universities and colleges are involved in degree programmes of this
type. Another method in India is the use of open learning and flexible delivery to
provide a pathway to those for whom further education might not otherwise be an
option.
An innovation in this regard is provided by Bangladesh which attempted to
articulate TVET with general education (Rafique, 1995). Pakistan has also launched
a Matric (ten years of schooling) technical programme which is similar in nature.
7.6 Structures
TVET structures are being continuously revised and developed to meet the needs of
the changing job market. During the 1960s and 1970s a simple three-tiered structure
was common. The first tier, the ‘certificate’ level, was for trade or craft vocational
training for skilled workers. The course duration was generally two years and en-
try was upon completion of Grade 8 in secondary education. The second tier was
the three-year diploma course for technician training with entry after Grade 10 of
secondary education. The third level was higher education for engineers. The three
tiers still function in many TVET systems, while major reorganizations are taking
place. Cross-national comparisons of TVET structures are not easy due to differ-
ences in programmes and course specifications, the involvement of different min-
istries, diversification within and across the former tiered structure and variations in
nomenclature.
7.7 Stage and Level
The upper secondary stage is the most common level for TVET in many coun-
tries of Asia, such as China, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, the Republic
of Korea and Thailand. It is organized in two- or three-year blocks over the final
years of schooling and essentially aims to impart pre-employment skills. The pro-
grammes may be strongly to lightly vocational, depending on the countries needs
and requirements.
7.8 Administration and Management
The efficient management of TVET continues to be a weakness in many countries.

This is often due to a lack of people with managerial training and expertise. It is
also due to the appointment of people without clear recruitment procedures. The
promotion of individuals on the basis of seniority from the education sector as a
whole often leads to inefficient and incompetent managers. Poor planning and insuf-
ficient time being given to carry out managerial functions are common factors lead-
ing to poor management. Management training programmes hardly exist in TVET
systems. Management information systems (MIS) are rare and so are the facilities
available for inspection, monitoring and evaluation. A few countries, for example
Australia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Philippines and the Republic of
Korea, have set up MIS facilities. The availability of computer facilities has signif-
icantly helped to improve management functions. An efficient management system
would help to justify expenditure and prevent wastage by reducing drop-out and
repeater rates among students. It can also assist in rationalizing student enrolments,
while maintaining teaching and training efficiency, i.e. quality and standards. It can
also assist in maintaining information on students, teachers and resources, examina-
tions and awards—as well as finances.
Changing course contents driven by new technologies and new job-market re-
quirements are making new demands on TVET managers, who now require compe-
tence in the management of change—a vital need today. Heads of TVET institutions
generally lack leadership qualities and tend to follow routine practices. Leadership
implies competence, vision, good communication and teamwork, besides being ar-
ticulate and able to obtain the best from a team.
TVET systems, especially in developing countries, are more prone to administra-
tive delays. These delays adversely affect performance and the quality of training. In
a few countries, ministries of education have set up separate units to handle TVET,
such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Ministries of education are also
responsible for the accreditation of non-formal private-sector TVET institutions and
for monitoring their progress. Bangladesh, Pakistan and India have autonomous
boards established by the Ministries/Departments of Education to accredit the voca-
tional training institutions. These boards are also responsible for providing learning
resources, conducting examinations and certification.
8 Curriculum and Training
Most of the problems facing Asian countries are curriculum related. The rising
demand for TVET is expanding in both formal and non-formal systems. New
programmes and delivery approaches are being developed. The cognitive content
of training is increasing because a knowledgeable, broad-based and multi-skilled
workforce is required. Countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and the Republic of
Korea, where rapid industrial progress has taken place, are now requiring multi-
skilled employees with competency to undertake many functions. An innovation
in the region is, therefore, the integration of training courses with combinations of
specialized training for multi-skilling.
TVET curricula, of necessity, need to be prepared, revised and developed con-
tinuously so that they continue to be relevant. Many countries lack competence in
curriculum development and some of them have set up curriculum development
units. The mismatch between what students learn and the needs of the job market is
a major concern in most TVET systems. A major shortcoming is a mechanism for
obtaining information about current job-market demands and future needs. Some
countries carry out tracer studies to obtain the views of past graduates and employers
on improving the curriculum and the employment of graduates. Practical courses
in industry for students are a concern in many countries that are not sufficiently
industrialized.
8.1 Monitoring and Evaluation
The upgrading of the teaching/learning process is also a matter of growing concern

as is the maintenance of quality and standards. Many developments are taking place
in this regard. Monitoring and evaluation of TVET programmes are being developed
using computer facilities. There have been serious shortcomings in monitoring and
evaluating TVET and, indeed, there is insufficient assessment of teaching methods
and student performance in education systems in general. Establishing TVET mon-
itoring and evaluation units within departments of education is an urgently needed
reform in many countries.
8.2 Competency-Based Training
A major innovation in some countries is competency-based training where achieve-

ment of competency is the basis of measuring progress in training. Standards of
performance for this purpose are specified by industry. Australia, Bangladesh and
New Zealand have developed occupational competency standards in co-operation
with industry. TESDA in the Philippines and TEVTA in Pakistan are in the process
of developing competency-based training standards.
8.3 The Dual Model
The German Dual Model has influenced many countries, such as China, Indonesia,
the Republic of Korea, Thailand and Viet Nam. This programme is provided ac-
cording to the needs of industry, which establishes contracts with industry providing
skills training and practical experience while the institution provides the theoretical
component of the training (Timmermann, 1995).
8.4 Modular Training
Modular training is proving useful for both initial training and continuing education.
It is also useful for upgrading skills of the employed and for those changing jobs. It
is also helpful in meeting lifelong learning of skills.
8.5 Flexible Delivery
Countries are taking initiatives to introduce flexible delivery and learning ap-
proaches. Australia, China, India, New Zealand, Philippines, Thailand and Viet
Nam are among countries that have developed open learning, distance education,
self-paced and continuing education methods to reach school drop-outs, working
people and populations in remote areas. Flexible delivery is also helping in making
lifelong learning attainable in the future. The future of TVET greatly depends on
flexible learning for more non-formal, more part-time, more private-sector, more
industry-oriented and more market-driven programmes.
8.6 Entrepreneurial Skills
TVET curricula in many Asian countries include entrepreneurial skills for business
and industry imparting concepts such as self-employment and small-scale manage-
ment. The poor interest in such activity by TVET graduates has been a major con-
cern. Australia and New Zealand have been pioneers in this regard. Entrepreneurial
skill development is now being actively pursued in many other countries, such as
Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand. Other countries are also
helping young entrepreneurs with small business loans, material incentives, finan-
cial support and tax exemptions.
8.7 Teacher Training

The recruitment and retention of competent teachers, especially those with indus-
trial experience, has been a major problem for TVET systems in many countries.
Frequently, salaries are insufficient compared to those in industry. Teachers who

join TVET systems often leave to take up jobs in industry. Sometimes the causes of
leaving are lack of satisfactory career prospects and unsatisfactory working condi-
tions. Some systems, however, do offer career building to teachers through teacher
education and industrial experience programmes, as well as incentives through
merit-based promotion schemes—and sometimes even by providing housing and
assistance with children’s education. The shortage of teachers has necessitated the
use of part-time teachers or trainers seconded from industry. The shortage of teach-
ers in many countries is making it difficult for serving teachers to be released for
further training. Teacher up-grading is an urgent priority for every country so that
TVET can be continually improved.
8.8 Vocationalization of Curricula
A major concern of countries is the extent to which general lower secondary ed-
ucation could be vocationalized. The consensus has been that it should create an
awareness of the world of work and provide an appreciation of hands-on skills.
Outcomes would be a healthy attitude towards practical work and mental prepa-
ration for taking up a career involving the use of practical skills. One dilemma is
that vocational training at this level is not adequate for work purposes, so questions
are asked as to whether the effort and expenditure are justified. However, some
South Asian countries, including Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, are increasing the
vocational content of education at the secondary level.
8.9 Assessment of Training Quality
Maintaining the high quality of training is generally hampered by funding diffi-

culties for the acquisition of physical resources and the recruitment of competent
teachers. Many systems do not have the procedures and facilities in place for the
systematic assessment of training quality and standards. For these systems to be
effective and efficient, quality and standards are absolutely necessary. Australia and
New Zealand provide good examples of industry/institution linkages that can assist
and facilitate TVET systems in this regard.
8.10 Vocational Guidance and Counselling
The social and financial background of most TVET students in the Asian Region
makes vocational guidance and counselling absolutely necessary. Many TVET sys-
tems have set up the required facilities, including ‘vocational guidance centres’, in
their institutions. Working teachers are generally associated with this work and they
do advise students on a day-to-day basis. Some TVET institutions provide training
for those appointed to conduct vocational guidance and have facilities for main-
taining student records, as well as regularly updated employment and job-market
information.
Vocational guidance and counselling helps students with the selection of TVET
courses that suit their interests and potential, and provides advice on career prospects
and employment possibilities. Counselling work is also useful to help students who
are having personal difficulties. It is important to mention that vocational guid-
ance and counselling not only help students but also teachers—both directly and
indirectly—in teaching their students.
9 Costs and Funding
A major issue facing TVET is its comparatively high cost. Governmental budgets
are generally inadequate and many Asian countries are forced to seek the assistance
of international agencies, such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and
bilateral donors. It should be noted that many of these agencies have gone through
a radical shift in their policies after, in some cases, being the staunchest supporter
of TVET for decades (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2005). The high unit cost of TVET
is placing a limitation on the numbers that can be trained and the extent to which
training can be provided. It is also affecting the quality of training. The physical
and teaching resources, such as the recruitment of teachers, the modernization of
equipment and the purchase of consumable and other training materials, are the
hardest hit. The quality and employability of the TVET graduates is also suffering
and inadequate training courses and trainee numbers in many cases do not justify
the expenditure on institutions. For developing countries this really is a dilemma
and they need urgently to reconsider the strategies of donor agencies so that they
can reform their institutions—often established with the assistance of these donor
agencies. A matter to be considered by donor agencies could be provision of seeding
grants for technical support for particular purposes (Maclean, 2005a). The compar-
isons of cost per graduate rather than cost per enrolled student make the costs look
even higher due to the high drop-out and repeater rates in many TVET institutions.
9.1 Cost-Effectiveness
Cost-effectiveness is extremely important since it is a useful indicator of productiv-
ity within the institution. If an institution uses the resources efficiently then it can be
cost-effective. Cost-effectiveness has not been given much consideration in TVET
systems in many Asian countries. They are mostly engaged in quantitative expan-
sion without any regard to the quality of the graduates. There is an imperative need
to assess and demonstrate quality and cost-effectiveness so that these institutions
can contribute to improving national production and competitiveness.
9.2 Public/Private Partnership
Public/private sector partnerships are increasing in many countries and have been
instrumental in providing both training and funding. However, developing countries
are still finding it difficult to exploit this potential due to the fact that their TVET
institutions have been working in complete isolation from industry. Private-sector
involvement can help governments to augment funding for TVET while making the
optimum use of resources for national development.
9.3 Project Work
Some TVET institutions use their workshops to produce saleable items, mainly for
other schools, and thereby generate funding. Combining training with production
is an innovation in many Asian countries that has been responsible for improving
the quality of training and providing additional funding. There is a need to exploit
this potential source of revenue for improving the quality of TVET. China provides
a very good example in this regard, where technical schools are encouraged to run
factories or enterprises to generate funding.
9.4 Industrial Funding
A major funding agency available to TVET is industry itself. Industry can help insti-
tutions with the provision of equipment, setting up workshops, paying for teaching
posts and helping with training. Levies and assistance from industry are only pos-
sible when TVET institutions function efficiently and produce the graduates that
industry requires. Several countries in Asia have enforced levies on industries, usu-
ally those with a certain number of employees, on the basis that industry is the
main beneficiary of TVET. The Republic of Korea’s in-plant training through the
enterprise’s own facilities is a case in point. Many other countries could benefit
from such examples.
9.5 Diversifying Funding
Diversifying TVET funding sources is a major development in some countries in

the region. Revolving funds with public and private-sector contributions have been
established in some countries encouraging enterprises to provide training. Private in-
stitutions have also been established through this funding. Thailand placed a skills-
development levy on industry, a major beneficiary of TVET, so as to establish a
skills-development fund to support innovative schemes.
Governments need to reassess their budgeting for TVET in the light of the grow-
ing need for the national economies to improve their productivity and competi-
tiveness. There is also a need on the part of many governments in the region to
encourage the private sector to invest in TVET and then to support these initiatives
so that these efforts could eventually lead to more training places.
10 Regional Co-operation
Regional co-operation has been encouraged over a long period, but shows little
progress. It can help countries especially when problems are similar and resources
are limited. It is mutually beneficial in areas such as the exchange of information and
experiences, identifying common problems and seeking solutions, the use of teach-
ers and equipment, curriculum development and improving the quality of training.
Regional co-operation can assist the development of TVET structures, teacher up-
grading, the maintenance of skill standards, the movement of students on a credit
transfer basis, and even assist in providing employment possibilities. A regional
information exchange system can be of much benefit. Regional co-operation can
be made effective through the use of regional co-operation mechanisms, such as
the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Asia-Pacific Economic
Co-operation (APEC), amongst others.
While regional and international co-operation are useful, countries in Asia can
benefit greatly through mutual collaborative efforts among their national TVET in-
stitutions. The UNESCO-UNEVOC Network has been assisting countries in the
region in the exchange of information and experiences, the development of infras-
tructures and the establishment of regional and national databases. There is an urgent
need, both on the part of the countries and of UNESCO-UNEVOC, to accelerate this
co-operation through the establishment of regional centres and national nodal points
so that this potential can be fully utilized.
11 Conclusion
In spite of the fact that TVET is regarded as a priority for development in the region,
there is still much to be done to achieve the vibrant, rich, high-quality education
desired by all countries to restructure industry and enhance national production and
competitiveness in this age of globalization and information. On the other hand, in
the minds of most parents and students, TVET still remains a second-class educa-
tion, suffering from a a lack of status. The present need is to reform TVET so as
to equip its learners with skills of the future as opposed to the obsolete skills and
know-how of the past. In this way, they can contribute to providing a competitive
edge to national economies. This huge task is both urgent and imperative and calls
for bold innovations in philosophy, objectives and practice. Nowhere is the need
for economic, social and sustainable development greater than in the vast, diverse
and still developing region of Asia and the Pacific. The biggest challenge in the
region, which is mostly rural and agrarian, is to facilitate rural transformation and
to alleviate poverty. For this purpose there is an urgent need to mobilize innovative
and alternative approaches. Improvements are required in content, teaching prac-

tices, modes of delivery and teaching/learning processes with a bold shift from a
supply-driven approach to the market-driven philosophy, objectives, practices and
approaches of the future. There is also an urgent necessity to improve the delivery
and outreach of TVET systems in the region using ICTs to optimize and maximize
the results.
Asia and Pacific as a region has a big resource in the form of an abundance of
manpower. However, this resource is also the region’s greatest liability. For TVET,
this challenge is the biggest opportunity in view of its huge potential to increase
the region’s productivity and competitiveness through reform and modernization in
this age of information and globalization. In view of its huge magnitude, this task
is beyond the capacities of most of the developing countries in the region. This
matter therefore requires the urgent assistance of donors to provide support to these
countries in their new and bold reform initiatives. New donor orientation, support
and strategies can enable countries to produce the needed technical manpower for
economic and social uplift. These approaches can also assist in achieving a compet-
itive edge in their bids to derive optimum benefits from global and regional trade
and mobility in this age of unprecedented technological advancement. The urgent
challenge for TVET is to bridge the gap between the demands for jobs and the actual
needs of society for economic, social and sustainable development. There is also an
urgent need on the part of countries and donors for substantial investments in the
skills of the future, particularly future generations, which for many governments in
the region could be bold initiatives.
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Chapter IV.4
Transforming TVET Systems with the CPSC
in the Asia and Pacific Region
Man-Gon Park
1 Introduction
The Asia and Pacific Region extends from Mongolia in the north to New Zealand
in the south and from the Cook Islands in the east to Iran in the west. It embraces
the world’s largest ocean, the Pacific (165 million square km.), as well as its third
largest ocean, the Indian (73 million square km.) and a range of important seas.
It contains three of the largest and most populous countries in the world (China,
India and Indonesia), several mountainous and land-locked States (such as Bhutan
and Nepal), and twenty-two small archipelagic States, territories and protectorates.
With only 23% of the world’s total land area, the region is home to about 58% of its
population.
Twenty-four of the Colombo Plan Staff College (CPSC) member countries in
the region are situated in the following geographical areas: North-East Asia (Japan,
Mongolia and the Republic of Korea); South-East Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia,
Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam); South Asia
(Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri
Lanka); and the Pacific (Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Palau and Papua New Guinea).
These countries are diverse in terms of socio-economic status and this has significant
implications for the development of technical and vocational education systems.
Sustainable human resource development (HRD) through technical and voca-
tional education and training (TVET) is an ambition for every country in the world.
But rapid population growth and intensification in the exploitation of natural re-
sources is making the Earth more fragile environmentally—and we are now aware
that its capacity is not unlimited. This sustainable HRD concept was realized during
the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in which heads of State and gov-
ernment adopted Agenda 21 and stressed the link between the sustainable use of
natural resources and human development. The concept of sustainable development
emphasized that economic development should enable present generations to meet
the present needs without depriving the following and future generations of the same
opportunities.
In order to put Agenda 21 into practice, a special programme known as Capac-
ity 21 was launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to aid
countries in the development and implementation of capacity-building programmes.

566 M.-G. Park
The realization and importance of sustainable human resource development has

been actively pursued since then.
Investment in human resource development is the key to the development process
of any country. It requires linkages and an integrated multidisciplinary framework
to bridge the traditional gap between sectors, as well as new innovative approaches
to ensure sustainability and the optimum use of scarce resources. The latest infor-
mation and communication technologies (ICTs) are also playing a greater role in
the enhancement of individuals’ capabilities to perform better in their work place
and, at the same time, to ensure the sustainability of scarce resources.
The CPSC, a specialized agency for human resource development in TVET for its
member countries in the Asia-Pacific Region, has been undertaking programmes and
courses of further professional development in technical and vocational education
over the past thirty-two years. It has thus accumulated a wealth of resources on
all major aspects of technical and vocational education and sustainable HRD that
need to be disseminated across the globe. CPSC, directly and indirectly, has been
contributing towards HRD in this region with an emphasis on sustainability.
This chapter highlights some of the contemporary issues in TVET for HRD in
the region, some programmes initiated by international and regional agencies to
solve the pressing problems in sustainable HRD, the dilemmas and implications
in sustainable HRD, the catalytic role of CPSC in the Asia-Pacific Region and the
challenges for sustainable human resource development.
2 Regional Issues for Human Resource Development
Human resource development through TVET is actually a cycle of investment in hu-

man resources to enhance productive capabilities, the utilization of those resources
to produce higher output, and the consumption by those human resources of the
benefits arising from the increased output, thereby leading to an enhanced quality
of life (UNESCO, 1999).
The Asia and Pacific Region contains countries of great diversity in terms of the
size of their economies, demographic trends (population growth), ageing of the pop-
ulation, international migration, urbanization, the concentration of the population in
rural areas, poverty, workforce mobility with the opening up of labour markets,
the technology divide, etc. These diversities pose great challenges for international
and regional organizations to successfully implement sustainable human resource
development programmes.
Several CPSC member countries have witnessed marked improvements in the
areas of health, nutrition and education over the past five years. However, some of
them continue to grapple with low per capita income, rapid urbanization, inadequate
access to ICTs, brain drain, an ageing population, rapid population growth, etc.
Some of the most urgent issues are presented here with statistics taken from the
World Bank and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and
the Pacific (ESCAP) data sources (World Bank, 2003).
IV.4 Transforming TVET Systems with the CPSC in the Asia and Pacific Region 567
2.1 Demographic Trends
The countries of the Asia and Pacific Region are heavily populated and are home
to almost 3 billion people. The region includes some of the world’s most populous
countries, like China with 1.28 billion people, followed by India with 1 billion,
Indonesia with over 210 million, Bangladesh and Pakistan with around 140 million
people each.
Young people (under 25 years of age) constitute a sizeable and growing pro-
portion of the population and their reproductive health concerns are a major issue,
especially in view of the spreading HIV/AIDS pandemic. On the other hand, large
ageing populations are emerging as an area of concern in countries all over the
world. This is mainly connected with declining fertility and increased longevity. The
proportion of older people is thus getting larger relative to the working population.
It is interesting to note that the number of people aged 60 and above in less-
developed regions is more (393 million) than those in more-developed regions (235
million). The growth of the ageing population (by the year 2050), as estimated in
World Bank documents, is five times more for the less-developed regions than for
the developed regions (World Bank, 2003).
Table 1 gives the total population, the older population, population density and
population growth rate for CPSC member countries.
Table 1 Population, population density and population growth rate: selected Asian countries
No. Country Total Population aged 60 Population Population
population years or older density (people growth rate
in millions (in 000) per sq. km.) (% per annum)
1 Afghanistan 22 1,100 33 1.8
2 Bangladesh 135 7,210 912 1.3
3 Bhutan 2 144 48 3.2
4 Fiji 0.83 NA 45 0.7
5 India 1,068 81,089 325 1.5
6 Indonesia 214 17,169 113 1.4
7 Iran 66 3,922 40 1.4
8 Japan 128 31,027 342 0.5
9 Republic of 48 5,532 481 0.6
Korea
10 Malaysia 25 1,561 76 2.1
11 Maldives 0.29 16 956 1.6
12 Myanmar 53 3,389 81 2.0
13 Nepal 24 1,438 164 2.1
14 Pakistan 148 8,611 185 1.9
15 Papua New 6 NA 12 1.8
Guinea
16 Philippines 81 4,513 270 2.0
17 Singapore 4 463 6,134 0.5
18 Sri Lanka 19 1,857 307 1.3
19 Palau 0.02 NA 46 1.5
Source: World Bank, 2003.
568 M.-G. Park
The percentage growth rate of the population in most of the CPSC member coun-
tries has not changed considerably over recent years. However, when comparing
the countries of the ESCAP region, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and
Thailand are the CPSC member countries with the lowest population growth rate,
while Bhutan and Fiji are the countries with the highest rate (Fig. 1). Put simply,
the more developed countries have lower population growth rates while the less-
developed countries have higher population growth rates (Fig. 2).
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Fiji
India
Indonesia
Iran
Japan
Rep. of Korea
Malaysia
Maldives
Myanmar
Nepal
Pakistan
Papua New Guinea
Philippines
Singapore
Sri Lanka
Palau
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
% per annum
Fig. 1 Population growth rates
1.6
1.4
1.46
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2 0.25
0.0
More-developed countries Less-developed countries
Fig. 2 Comparative population growth in more- and less-developed countries
Due to the limited geographical area, the population density is highest in Sin-
gapore and Maldives (Fig. 3). In the case of Bangladesh, the population is mostly
concentrated in big cities.
The number of ageing people is growing as a result of lower fertility rates and
better health conditions (Table 2). This increase in the aged population is an area
Population density (people/km2)

Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Fiji
India
Indonesia
I.R. Iran
Japan
Rep.of Korea
Malaysia
Maldives
Myanmar
Nepal
Pakistan
Papua New Guinea
Philippines
Singapore
Sri Lanka
Palau
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000
Fig. 3 Population density in the Asia and Pacific Region
Table 2 Percentage of the older population by region in 2000, 2015 and 2030
Region Year 65 years or older 80 years or older
Asia 2000 5.9 0.9
2015 7.8 1.4
2030 12.0 2.3
Europe 2000 14.7 3.0
2015 17.6 4.7
2030 23.5 6.4
Latin America/Caribbean 2000 5.6 1.0
2015 7.6 1.5
2030 11.5 2.5
Middle East/North Africa 2000 4.4 0.6
2015 5.5 0.9
2030 8.4 1.4
North America 2000 12.4 3.3
2015 14.7 3.9
2030 20.0 5.4
Oceania 2000 10.1 2.3
2015 12.4 3.1
2030 16.3 4.4
Sub-Saharan Africa 2000 2.9 0.3
2015 3.1 0.4
2030 3.6 0.5
Source: <www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/>; <www. unescap.org>
for concern for less-developed countries (United Nations Population Fund, 2002;
Hermalin et al., 2002).
The publication Global aging: the challenge of success (Kinsella & Phillips,
2005) points out that people aged 65 or above already make up nearly one-fifth
570 M.-G. Park
1600
1500
1400
1200
1000
Millions
800 0.25% per year

600
420
400
200
131
0
1950 2000 2050
Fig. 4 Growth of the ageing population (60 years and above)
of the population in many European countries—and this proportion is rising. And

less-developed countries are also seeing their populations growing older, ushering
in new social problems for societies that already have few public support systems.
By 2050, nearly 1.5 billion people aged 65 or older will reside in less-developed
countries increasing at the rate of 0.25% per year (Fig. 4).
2.2 The Brain Drain through International Migration

Since the 1970s, Asia has been largely a region of out-migration, much of which is
intra-regional. Today, out of the 179 million people who are outside their countries
of birth, an estimated 50 million are in Asia. Of the many forms of international
migration in the region, the movement of labour across borders has been most sig-
nificant. Contrary to the intent of governments to regard migration as a temporary
phenomenon, it has been sustained over the past thirty years. Asia, like other regions
before it (North America, North-West Europe, the oil-rich Gulf countries), has not
escaped the need to import labour to sustain the development processes. One report
painted the following picture of Asian region migrants (Asis, 2005).
In the 1980s, the high performing economies of Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and later on
in the decade, Malaysia and Thailand, had to import migrant workers. The construction sec-
tor, plantations, fishing and rice mill industries and factories in these countries experienced
labour shortage, as locals moved on to better job prospects. The demand for female migrant
workers increased, but the demand was limited to domestic work (Hong Kong, Singapore,
Malaysia) and entertainers (Japan). On the other hand, the Middle East continued to draw
migrants, although not in the same scale as in the previous decade. A remarkable develop-
ment was the opening of the labour market to women migrants to fill jobs in the service
(mostly domestic workers), sales and professional (e.g. medical personnel) sectors. The
Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka became the major source countries of domestic work-
ers. Female migration from the latter two countries, in particular, is heavily directed to the
Middle East countries. While domestic workers also dominate female migration from the
Philippines to the Middle East, a sizable number are professionals (mostly nurses and other
medical personnel). The concentration of women migrants in domestic work and enter-
tainment (also in caring professions such as nurses) highlights the gendering of the labour
market. In Asia, male labour migration has specialized in addressing the labour needs in
the formal/productive sectors, while female labour migration is responding to the domestic
work force.
In view of some of the above trends and associated immediate problems and issues
in labour force migration, we can summarize that:
r Mobilization of the workforce across national borders would continue with mi-
gration from less-developed countries to more-developed countries.
r The disparity of skills and competencies with regard to the optimum qualifica-
tions required remains a matter of concern both for employers and migrants.
r The demand to standardize and harmonize TVET systems through accreditation
and certification would grow.
2.3 Massive and Rapid Urbanization

Urbanization has taken on a new dimension and become a matter of concern in
the Asia-Pacific Region. In an article published by the United Nations, it says
that in 1999 47% of the world’s population (2.9 billion people) lived in urban
areas. By 2030, it projects that this proportion will reach 60%, totalling 4.9 billion
people. Roughly 95% of this massive urban growth will occur in less-developed
countries.
More than 60% of the increase in the world’s urban population over the next three
decades will occur in Asia, particularly in China and India, but also in Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Philippines and Viet Nam. According to World Bank indicators, Asia
will have a lower overall urbanization rate in 2030 (53%) than any other region.
Africa will be slightly higher at 55%, while Latin America is projected to reach 83%.
However, Asia’s total urban population will exceed 2.6 billion in 2030, compared
with 604 million in Latin America and 766 million in Africa. Such huge flows of hu-
man resources to urban areas will put pressure on governments to take measures and
allocate funds for better health, education and accommodation (World Bank, 2003;
Mendes, 2005).
2.4 Poverty Alleviation
Poverty is a serious issue all over the globe. The severity of the issue can be
judged from the fact that the first goal under the UN Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) is related to the commitment to eradicate poverty and hunger:
<www.un.org/milleniumgoals/>.
The 2005 report on the MDGs has given an improved picture of poverty re-
duction in the Asian region. Even with an overall population growth of more than
800 million since 1990 in developing regions, the number of people living in ex-
treme poverty has fallen by 130 million worldwide. The situation in some African
countries where poverty persists is still not good; extreme poverty has risen in that
region from 227 million in 1990 to 313 million in 2001, i.e. one in five people in the
developing world still lives below the extreme poverty line of $1 per day income.
The statistics are given in Fig. 5.
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Asia Sub-Saharan Africa All other developing regions
936 (76.72%) 227 57 1,220 M

1990
748 (68.19%) 271 78 1,097 M

1996
2001 703 (64.50%) 313 74 1,050 M
Fig. 5 The number of people living on less than $1 per day, 1990, 1996 and 2001 (millions)
2.5 The Technology Divide

The digital divide is often described as the disparity that has emerged between the
‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ in a society grounded on ICTs. Generally, the ‘haves’ are
the well-educated with the financial means to invest time and effort to acquire skills
that will enable them to flourish in an information society. The ‘have-nots’, mainly
from the lower-income groups, are the ones who lack affordable access to ICTs,
thus being disadvantaged in terms of employability and learning opportunities. This
digital disparity can be seen in Table 3, which gives the number of Internet users in
CPSC member countries:
Table 3 Number of Internet users in CPSC member countries

No. Country Literacy rate (%) Number of
Internet users per
100 people
1 Afghanistan NA NA
2 Bangladesh 50 2.04
3 Bhutan 56 1.75
4 Fiji 94 6.7
5 India 68.36 1.75
6 Indonesia 92 3.76
7 Iran 83 7.24
8 Japan 99 48.27
9 Republic of Korea 98 60.97
10 Malaysia 92 34.41
11 Maldives 97 5.34
12 Myanmar 89 0.05
13 Nepal 59 0.34
14 Pakistan 60 1.03
15 Papua New Guinea 65 1.37
16 Philippines 93 4.40
17 Singapore 97 50.87
18 Sri Lanka 95 1.17
19 Palau 92 NA
It can be seen that, although most countries have access to Internet technology,
there is a considerable disparity between Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia
and Singapore and the rest. This emerging divide is no longer between the tradi-
tional haves and have-nots, but between those nations that are wired and those that
are not. Of course, the developed countries already have the edge. For example,
in the Republic of Korea high-speed Internet access is available to the majority of
the people, as compared to Afghanistan and Bhutan which have minimal Internet
facilities in work places and homes.
3 Dilemmas and Implications for Sustainable

Human Resource Development
Nowhere in the world can we appreciate the enigma of social, economic, scientific-
technological, politico-cultural disparity than in the Asia-Pacific Region. In spite
of the significant achievements made during past years, these imbalances are still
conspicuous. Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore not only exceed world
averages on many development indicators, but are also considered the precursors
of technology. On the other hand, South Asia, which includes Afghanistan, Bhutan,
India, Nepal and Pakistan, was described by Churton (2004) as ‘the poorest region,
the most illiterate, the most malnourished, the region with the highest human depri-
vation and the most militarized region in the world’.
Indeed, the widening inequality of opportunities, wealth and empowerment con-
tinues hounding the region resulting in a negative impact in the pursuit of sustainable
human resource development. These dilemmas therefore need serious consideration.
3.1 Poverty
A UNDP Human development report presented a comparative analysis among Asia-
Pacific countries: the poverty indices of Singapore and Brunei are negligible while
those of Myanmar and Lao PDR (38.9 and 32.3, respectively) are quite high. The
same report cited the poverty indices of Malaysia (14.2), Philippines (16.5) and
Thailand (18.7), which are within the same range as Singapore, while those of In-
donesia (27.7) and Viet Nam (28.7) are moderate (UNDP, 2003).
The unequal distribution of wealth leads to unsustainability—both for the ‘haves’
and ‘have-nots’. The ‘have-nots’, whose ratio still stands high at one in three Asians,
are trapped in the vicious cycle of deprivation and vulnerability. Since they can
hardly cope with survival, security and enabling needs, they inevitably become un-
sustainable. They are unable to participate in governance, which is necessary for
peaceful development.
On the other hand, the ‘haves’ can afford a higher level of sustainability since
they can choose which actions to pursue. But more often than not, they are reluctant
to adopt sustainable patterns of development and stubbornly adhere to malpractices
of over-production and over-consumption.
574 M.-G. Park
3.2 Disparity in Educational Access and Quality
Education constitutes the core of strategies that promote values and could transform
the well-being of the individual, society and the environment. Although the right to
education is decreed in the constitution of most—if not all—countries, it remains
disproportionately accessible. For a long time, the rare opportunity of attending
schools has belonged to the ‘privileged few’, leaving the ‘insignificant many’ to
the dark side of ignorance and illiteracy. The World Bank (2003) reported that over
1 billion children under the age of 15 require improved primary and secondary
services, while 400 million young people between the ages of 17 and 24 require
tertiary, vocational education and skills development. In rural areas, the number
of children who do not go to school, the number of adult illiterates and gender
inequality in education are high. The drop-out rate after primary level is also high
because the impoverished farmer can no longer meet the cost of his children’s fur-
ther education. And even if he can just afford the government’s school system,
his children do not receive a good education. Families with a higher economic
status benefit from higher potential and better opportunities in gaining access to
education.
The quality of education is also a factor to consider because it is the very instru-
ment to create new relations for sustainable human resource development. Today,
many institutions mushroom every year and there have been minimal checks on
the quality of services that these offer. Most countries lack accreditation and cer-
tification systems to benchmark educational and training standards, to serve as a
licenser by quantitatively and qualitatively evaluating them, to support workforce
mobilization and to establish a clearinghouse of information and co-operation agen-
cies (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2004).
3.3 Population and Migration from Rural to Urban Areas

Although, remarkably, the population growth rate in the region is decelerating, the
actual population continues to increase. Such a condition will intensify land use,
thereby generating further pressure on natural resources. Mendes (2005) refers to
a UN estimate that by 2015 fifteen conurbations in the region will become mega-
cities with a population of at least 10 million each. In particular, South Asia already
has mega-cities like Dhaka, Karachi, Kolkata and Mumbai that are expected to
experience further sharp population increases due to migration as well as natural
growth.
Urbanization and rural/urban migration are some of the most pressing dilemmas
thwarting a sustainable human resource development system. They have changed
the economic structure leading to a remarkable decline in the agricultural sector and
a shift to industrial and service sectors (Kaosa-ard & Rerkasem, 2000). This led to
the intensification of the rural/urban gap and eventually the inequitable distribution
of income and production assets. Moreover, it resulted in problems of uncontrolled
growth, inappropriate waste disposal practices, lack of adequate drinking water
supply and sanitation facilities, and flooding. The urban poor, who are most affected
by these problems, contented themselves in the slums by constructing clusters of
shanties wherever and however they could. In the Asia-Pacific Region, these slums
are typically temporary structures made of cardboard or jute sacks lacking basic
infrastructures and services such as water supply, sewage, drainage, roads, health
care and education (WHO/UNICEF, 2001). Demolition of these shanties is common
but not successful, since the slums either move to another place or come back again.
3.4 Lawlessness
To live in an environment of peace and security is fundamental to human dig-

nity. Countries in the Asia-Pacific Region are riddled with insecurities and armed
conflicts, which have resulted in a significant number of human tragedies, dis-
placed people, refugees and wars. Characteristically, corruption has debased fair
and efficient economic transactions, undermined governmental legitimacy, threat-
ened political stability and jeopardized socio-economic development in most Asia-
Pacific countries. According to the Transparency International Corruption Percep-
tions Index (www.transparency.org), some countries in the region are high on this
global list. Indeed, governance structures are highly militarized, devoid of trans-
parency, and freedom of expression and debate do not exist.
In another vein, there is an upsurge of crime and lawlessness related to juvenile
delinquency as a result of drugs and alcoholism, unwanted pregnancies, etc.
3.5 Environmental, Health and Safety Hazards
Health is wealth. A healthy population breeds a healthy nation. On the other

hand, ill-health breeds a sick nation. It hampers economic and social development,
triggering a vicious cycle that contributes to unsustainable resource use and environ-
mental degradation. The tsunami-stricken developing countries of Sri Lanka, India,
Indonesia and Maldives have shown that they are vulnerable to natural hazards and
disasters. Other countries of the region suffer from limited natural resources, heavy
dependence on imports and limited commodities.
Hunger, malnutrition, malaria, water-borne diseases, bird-flu, dengue fever, drug
and alcohol abuse, violence and injury, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted
diseases are common scenarios. According to the 2003 UNDP Human development
report (UNDP, 2003), inadequate water supply and poor sanitation cause more than
500,000 infant deaths a year, as well as bringing a huge burden of illness and
disability in the region. Cholera is prevalent in many countries, particularly those
where sanitation facilities are poor, such as Afghanistan, China and India. Only an
estimated 48% of the Asian population has access to proper sanitation—less than in
any other region of the world. The situation is worse in rural areas, where only 31%
of the population have improved sanitation, compared to 78% in urban areas.
576 M.-G. Park
3.6 Non-availability of a Labour-Market Information System
Occupational forecasting is extremely important and is an essential tool for address-

ing the occupational imbalances in the labour market. Recognizing the uncertainty
of projection about the growth in employment demand and the need to develop
an appropriate supply-side framework stands at the core of priorities in the area
of labour-market information management system (LMIS). This would make the
TVET sector responsive to labour-market needs. Making such predictions requires
expertise in the application of economic analysis, modelling and forecasting.
3.7 Widening of the Digital Gap

The issue of the digital divide, the lack of sustainability in efforts and the tech-
nical knowledge gap reflect the present-day scenario in the Asia-Pacific Region.
During the past two decades, the world has witnessed a technological revolution
that has provided mankind with totally new communications media. Through the
use of networks, information in all forms is disseminated throughout the world.
E-applications have created the potential to bring benefits to society, the economy
and the State. In particular, e-government, e-health, e-education and e-commerce
have been identified as services enhancing not only economic growth, but also pro-
moting democratic and social progress and bringing sustainability. The dilemma is
that in most of the developing countries of the CPSC the availability of ICT services
is still at a very low level. The issue of the digital divide persists between the urban
and rural areas of any one country and as well as between countries of the region. For
example, access to the Internet by households in Afghanistan is below 5%, while in
the Republic of Korea high-speed Internet connections are available to almost 80%
of the population.
4 The Important Role of the CPSC as a Catalyst
4.1 CPSC Emergence
The Colombo Plan Staff College was born on 5 December 1973 after twenty-six
member countries agreed to establish a regional centre for TVET, through a reso-
lution signed and agreed by the Colombo Plan member countries. The college was
created as a specialized agency of the Colombo Plan to address issues in TVET with
the following main functions (Park, 2004):
r Providing courses of further professional education and training;
r Conducting conferences on various aspects of TVET;
r Assisting in the conduct of projects in TVET;
r Promoting and co-ordinating research;
r Advising and assisting member countries in developing TVET; and
r Collecting and disseminating information on TVET.
The CPSC activities thus focus on human resource development through training,
consultancy work on major projects in the member countries, research and develop-
ment in major areas of TVET and processing and dissemination of information in
technical education and training.
4.2 Major Thrust Areas of CPSC
Over the past more than thirty years, CPSC has accumulated a wealth of resources
in various fields of technical and vocational education. Table 4 gives a glimpse of
programmes conducted by CPSC over recent years in eight major thrust areas known
as the ‘CPSC-RING’.
The table only includes the CPSC regular in-country and regional programmes.
It does not include consultancy work and other research and development activities
conducted in that particular area. The programmes are prepared taking in to consid-
eration regional trends, while the in-country programmes are prepared according to
the specific demands of each member country.
It is evident from Table 4 that there has been an attempt on the part of CPSC
to cover all major thrust areas over the past five years. The ICT component is the
most popular area among all the member countries of the region. This popularity
laid the foundation for the development of the CPSC’s web-based teaching and
learning system and the integration of information and communication technology
in all programmes of the Colombo Plan Staff College.
The second most popular thrust area is the project, programmes and the in-
stitutional management focusing on total quality management, knowledge man-
agement, ISO and accreditation and certification systems, and project preparation
Table 4 CPSC-RING for technology transfer, education and training services

Major thrust area 2000/2001 2001/2002 2002/2003 2003/2004 2004/2005
Computer and Internet 7 7 8 7 6
technologies
Projects and 5 5 5 5 4
institutional
management
Sustainable 2 1 1 1 1
development and
poverty alleviation
Curriculum 3 1 3 1 2
development
Research and 2 2 1 2 1
development
Industry-institution 2
linkages
Non-technical skills 1 2 1 2
Global partnership 1 1 2
578 M.-G. Park
implementation and monitoring. The trainee group that this area focuses on is the
top and middle-level management of TVET systems.
4.3 CPSC Strategies over the Recent Past
Human resource development itself is a challenging task. In order to bridge the tech-
nological gap and make its programmes sustainable, while meeting the challenges of
sustainable human resource development, the CPSC has launched several initiatives
under its Corporate Strategic Plan over recent years. In 2003, the CPSC launched
the ‘4Rs Strategy’:
r Refocusing programmes, projects and activities to provide demand-driven, sus-
tainable and innovative services for HRD;
r Repositioning for a lead role in the advancement of HRD in the Asia-Pacific
Region so as to obtain the full benefits of emerging global trends and using
cutting-edge technologies;
r Restructuring the organizational system through a quality management system,
effective delivery of services, networking, global partnership and expansion of
membership; and
r Reengineering for production of creative, practical, pioneering and technology
oriented outputs in TVET responding to national, regional and international
demands.
In 2004, the CPSC decided on even more proactive services through the ‘3As
Approach’:
r Accelerated services to clienteles to transform amidst environmental changes;
r Advanced systems and best practices in HRD;
r Aggressive mind-set with determined actions for continual improvement.
In 2005, the two previous approaches were combined for a more focused, improved
and specialized service through the ‘STELAH Services’:
r Supporting national and regional HRD programmes, projects and activities;
r Technology transfers to member countries;
r Expanding a web-based teaching and learning system;
r Labour-market information services;
r Accreditation and certification services; and
r Higher education service in technology education.
4.4 CPSC Innovative Web-Based E-Teaching/Learning System
The web-based and e-teaching/learning system (CPSC WB TLS) is an innovative,

flexible and lifelong learning system that has been developed with all in-house ca-
pabilities and resources. The system not only introduces technological awareness
VOD
(video on demand)
Introduction E-assignment
CPSC web-
E-testing based TLS E-evaluation
Useful web
E-board links
Web document
material
Fig. 6 Components of the CPSC web-based teaching/learning system (WB TLS)
and benefits to its participants as a by-product, but also exemplifies knowledge-

management, economizing the cost of programmes and introducing the latest trends
in teaching and learning.
So far, CPSC has launched more than a dozen web-based teaching and learn-
ing programmes on different topics utilizing its in-house facilities and resources.
The overall structure and design of the programme can be understood from
Fig. 6.
All CPSC programmes are becoming web-based to provide continuous learn-
ing, to make learning easy and interactive and accessible anywhere anytime. The
interactivity of these programmes is one of its unique features that makes them an
outstanding and unique form for common e-learning programmes.
5 Challenges for Sustainable Human Resource Development
5.1 Globalization
One major challenge for sustainable HRD is globalization. This process is fostered
not only by technological change and the continually falling costs of ICTs, but also
by the decisions of developing countries in Asia and the Pacific and elsewhere to
embrace market-oriented development strategies and to open up their countries in-
creasingly to the world economy. The world is thus fast becoming one interdepen-
dent global market-place with rising competitiveness.
A key contributor in the success of the competitive global market is the knowl-
edge and skills of the workforce within national boundaries and within enterprises.
Thus, compared to the past, nations and organizations will need to update much
more regularly the skills mix of their workforce and employees to respond to the
opportunities or threats created by globalization and rapid technological change.
580 M.-G. Park
Indeed, intense global competition is reconfiguring the market-place and each en-
terprise must differentiate itself from its competitors by the quality of the human
systems and processes behind their products and services.
5.2 Cross-Border Workforce Flow and Investment
The Asia and Pacific Region has seen waves of investment by Japanese, American
and European companies. It has also seen cross-border investments by the four
Asian ‘dragon’ economies of Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan and
Singapore pushed by labour shortages, rising wages and stronger exchange rates.
The three ‘tiger’ economies of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are also invest-
ing overseas. As other Asian countries industrialize successfully, they will also
undertake cross-border investments. There has also been an increase in regional
co-operation zones in the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). With
this scenario, synergies among the regional and international human resource devel-
opment organizations like CPSC need to develop strategies and plans to cope with
challenges of cross-border workforce mobility with standard skills (Park, 2005b).
5.3 Technological Environmental Changes
The convergence of ICTs has ushered in a big revolution in every facet of human
life. Given the magnitude of the environmental changes that these ICTs have the
potential to induce, it is vitally important that we understand how this revolution
has changed, is changing and will continue to change our primitive community to
an e-community—and now the u-world. Technology leaders should be aware of the
need to improve existing common and special infrastructures in support of perva-
sive computing, digital convergence and stronger bandwidth. The next generation of
Internet communication services, infrastructures and growth engines will see wire-
less broadband service, radio frequency identification, system-on-chip, embedded
SW, DMB and others. Moreover, faculty and staff need re-training and up-training
so as to be responsive to the calls of the new technology in TVET institutions
(Park, 2005a).
5.4 Enhancing International Networks
The development of sustainable human resources requires concerted efforts and ap-
proaches from all national, regional and international training organizations. With
the globalization of markets and economies, the challenges are not specific to any
one country or institution. Hence, strong networks and partnerships among regional
and international organizations and institutions are required for the development of
sustainable human resources.
5.5 Increasing Cross-Cultural Communication and Experiences
The Colombo Plan Staff College, with its nineteen member countries, is a cross-
cultural organization with varied internalized values, attitudes and behaviours, com-
munication media, etc. The joint programmes and ventures, integrated, flexible and
interactive teaching/learning activities provide opportunities for increased cross-
cultural communication and sharing of experiences. The challenge is to meet the
expectations of all stakeholders with varied levels of needs and demands (Mahmood,
Kim & Park, 2004).
Human resource development is a concerted process. No single department at the
national level and no single agency at the regional or international level can do the
HRD job successfully alone. To make the HRD programmes and projects successful
and sustainable, ICTs play a very important role and provide the potential to make
them flexible. However, it needs to be ensured that the majority of people in develop-
ing countries obtain access to the Internet and the digital divide is minimized to the
maximum possible extent. The idea of e-communities and e-textbooks is gathering
momentum and their careful planning and implementation would bring promising
results. The international agencies, like UNESCO-UNEVOC, ILO, ADB, CPSC and
others, should jointly undertake collaborative programmes utilizing their resources.
In sustainable development, the three key areas that need to be taken into
consideration are: economic sustainability; environmental sustainability; and so-
cial sustainability. For economic sustainability, the TVET system, including all of
its essential elements, should ensure that learners/participants develop a wider set
of economically-related knowledge skills and attitudes. For environmental sustain-
ability, the TVET system must raise the participants’ and the course developers’
awareness of the use of scarce resources and minimize wastage. It should thus in-
clude areas like environmental concepts, personal values and life-styles and skills
for critical thinking and practical action in HRD programmes. Social sustainability
means that the basic needs of all participants are satisfied, regardless of their gender,
ethnicity or location (Peng Boo Tan, 1997). It provides an equal opportunity to all
to develop and utilize their talents.
References
Asis, M.M.B. 2005. When men and women migrate: comparing gendered migration in Asia.
Quezon City, Philippines: Scalabrini Migration Center.
Churton, M. 2004. ICT implications for culture and development for learning. Bangkok:
SEAMEO-UNESCO.
Hermalin, A.I. et al. 2002. The well-being of the elderly in Asia: a four-country comparative study.
Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
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Kaosa-ard, M.S.; Rerkasem, B. 2000. The growth and sustainability of agriculture in Asia. Manila:
ADB.
Kinsella, K.; Phillips, D.R. 2005. Global aging: the challenge of success. Population bulletin,
vol. 60, no. 1.
Mahmood, T.; Kim Myong Hee; Park, M.-G. 2004. A short method for building web-based teach-
ing and learning systems: the CPSC experience. (Paper presented at the International Confer-
ence on ‘New Challenges in Technology Education for HRD in Asia and the Pacific Region’,
20–21 September 2004, Kolkata, India.)
Mendes, M.R. 2005. Urban environmental management challenges in Asia. Kanagawa, Japan:
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies.
Park M.-G. 2004. CPSC as a catalyst for regional accreditation and certification of TVET in-
stitutions: prospects and challenges.(Paper presented at the International Conference on Ac-
creditation and Certification for TVET Institutions, 2–3 December 2004, Seoul, Republic of
Korea.)
Park, M.-G. 2005a. Transforming TVET systems with CPSC in Asia and the Pacific Region. (Paper
presented at the International Conference on ‘New Challenges in Technology Education for
HRD in Asia and the Pacific Region’, 20–21 September 2004, Kolkata, India.)
Park M.-G. 2005b. Environmental changes through ICT from e-Community to U-World. (Paper
presented at the International Conference on ‘Developing e-Community Centers’, Agra, India,
2–6 May 2005.)
Peng Boo Tan. 1997. Human resources development in Asia and the Pacific in the 21st Century:
issues and challenges for employers and their organizations. (Paper presented at the ILO Work-
shop on Employers’ Organizations in Asia-Pacific in the Twenty-First Century, Turin, Italy,
1997.)
UNESCO. 1999. Second International Conference on Technical and Vocational Education: final
report. Paris: UNESCO.
UNESCO-UNEVOC. 2004. TVET for sustainable development. UNESCO-UNEVOC Bulletin,
no. 8, April.
United Nations Development Programme. 2003. Human development report, 2003. New York, NY:
UNDP.
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tation assessment 2000 report. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO; New York, NY: UNICEF.
Chapter IV.5
European Action Programmes
for Lifelong Learning
Johanna Lasonen
1 Introduction
Vocational education and training has been a part of the process of creating a
European community since the 1950s. The European training programmes Erasmus
and Comett were launched in the 1980s. After the Maastricht Treaty, agreed in 1992,
such training programmes were expanded further at the same time as emphasizing
their importance to the internationalization of education. With a view to promot-
ing and intensifying educational co-operation, in 1995 the European Commission
created two new educational programmes called Socrates and Leonardo da Vinci.
Both are umbrella schemes that brought together previously separate action pro-
grammes in the field of education. Leonardo da Vinci has been a European Union
(EU) action programme in the field of vocational education and training that re-
placed earlier schemes such as Comett, Eurotechnet, Petra, Force and a part of Lin-
gua. Leonardo I ran from 1995 to 1999, while Leonardo II covered the years 2000
to 2006. Socrates has been the EU umbrella programme for co-operation in school
and higher education. Socrates I (1995–1999) was followed by Socrates II (2000–
2006). Since 2007, the European education and training programmes were further
merged under the title Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP), being a successor to
the Socrates, Leornardo da Vinci and e-Learning programmes. The LLP covers the
period 2007 to 2013 with a budget of about 7 billion Euros. The overarching LLP
initiative consists of learning opportunities from childhood to old age.
The purpose of these programmes has been to promote the international mobility
of students, teachers and educational administrators, develop educational practices,
and make European education systems more transparent through mutual learning.
The target group of these programmes has been individuals in schools, colleges,
universities and companies. The motives behind internationalization include sus-
tainable economic growth, competitiveness, a need for an educated workforce and
social cohesion. This chapter describes the development of European education and
training programmes, especially in TVET, and assesses their effectiveness.

584 J. Lasonen
2 The Socrates1 Programme
The European Economic Community, after its foundation in the 1950s, initially ad-
dressed educational matters only in the areas of vocational training and the transition
from education to employment. When higher education became part of the European
agenda in the 1970s, one of the first activities was to promote student mobility. Joint
Study Programmes were established in 1976 and remained in operation for about a
decade. They provided financial support for networks of departments that exchanged
students for a period of up to one year and also included some funds—though on a
modest scale.
Subsequently, in 1987, the Erasmus programme was inaugurated. Its name not
only reminded one of the Dutch humanist and theologian Desiderius Erasmus
Roterodamus (1466–1536), but also served as an acronym for the European Com-
munity Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students. Erasmus was in-
tended to increase the quantity of European higher education activities and to
broaden their scope. It rapidly became the most visible of the various newly emerg-
ing European educational programmes. Though its financial resources did not reach
the amount needed to pursue the ambitious aim initially set by the European Com-
munity of supporting a temporary study period in another European country for
10% of higher education students, Erasmus became the largest student mobility
programme hitherto established.
A new chapter in the history of European support for temporary student mobility
and trans-border co-operation between higher education institutions was expected
to begin when the Socrates and Leonardo da Vinci programmes were established
in 1995. Socrates integrated more than a dozen educational programmes which had
been set up in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They were revised or supplemented
to form two new large European programmes: Socrates for the different sectors of
general education and Leonardo da Vinci for vocational education. Socrates ab-
sorbed Erasmus and Lingua, which became two of a total of five sub-programmes.
The adult education sub-programme was the result of the restructuring of an already
existing programme. The amount of funds available for adult education was sub-
stantially increased. Comenius was introduced as a sub-programme for the school
sector, while open and distance learning were the most noteworthy additions to al-
ready existing programmes.
The Socrates Institutional Contracts have covered a broad range of possible co-
operation activities: organization of student mobility; teaching staff mobility; intro-
duction of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS); curriculum development,
including curricula at initial or intermediate level; programmes at advanced level;
and modules focusing on the history, society, culture, politics or economies of other
European countries, as well as integrated language courses.
Student and teacher visits to universities in Europe have been among the most
popular of the activities funded under the Socrates programme. Between 1997
and 2000 European universities, acting within the framework of the Socrates pro-
gramme, entered into a total of 4,823 co-operation agreements (Lanzendorf &
Teichler, 2002, p. 34).
IV.5 European Action Programmes for Lifelong Learning 585
The first phase of Socrates, the European education programme, lasted five years.
The figures covering this time (1996–2000) indicate that 500,000 students undertook
a period of study in another European university, 10,000 schools formed European
partnerships and thousands of projects were developed to promote European lan-
guages (European Commission, 2005).
When Erasmus became a sub-programme of Socrates, support for student mobil-
ity and co-operation in higher education was substantially increased. In addition, the
mobility of teaching staff and curricular innovation were now also promoted in the
context of a special emphasis on a broad development of the European dimension
in higher education and efforts to make the non-mobile students also benefit from
European exchange activities.
The second phase of the Socrates programme started in January 2000 and ran
for seven years until 2006 (European Commission, 2000). The programme budget
for this seven-year period was 1,850 million Euros. The second phase has continued
along the same path as the first one while also introducing some new features. Two
key ideas were emphasized: the promotion of lifelong learning and the building of
a Europe of knowledge. The aims of the programme have been:
r to strengthen the European dimension of education at all levels;
r to improve knowledge of European languages;
r to promote co-operation and mobility throughout education;
r to encourage innovation in education; and
r to promote equal opportunities in all sectors of education.
The Socrates programme has consisted of eight actions: (1) Comenius on general
school education; (2) Erasmus on higher education; (3) Grundtvig on adult ed-
ucation and other educational pathways; (4) Lingua on the learning of European
languages; (5) Minerva on information and communication technologies (ICTs) in
education; (6) observation on and innovation in education systems and policies;
(7) joint actions with other European programmes; and (8) accompanying measures
that bring flexibility, synergies and horizontal priorities. The first three actions have
corresponded to the three stages that constitute milestones of education throughout
life: school, university and adult education. The other five actions have been hori-
zontal. All eight have had common priorities.
Socrates has taken account of all types of learning, whether formal or infor-
mal, and all levels of education from nursery school to university and adult edu-
cation, which is becoming increasingly important. Socrates has been relevant to all
those involved in education: teachers, educational staff, administrative and manage-
ment staff, pupils and students, all playing an increasingly active part in European
co-operation projects. Until 2006, there have been a total of thirty-one countries
taking part:
r Twenty-five European Union member states: Austria, Belgium, Czech Repub-
lic, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Por-
tugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom;
586 J. Lasonen
r Three EFTA (European Free Trade Area) countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein and
Norway;
r Two associated countries: Bulgaria and Romania—(in due course, Turkey).
Socrates encourages the broad dissemination of information, ideas and good prac-
tice, for example through the setting up of networks.
Since 2007, Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci and Grundtvig are the sec-
toral sub-programmes of the Lifelong Learning Programme—Socrates has been re-
moved as a sub-programme.
3 The Leonardo da Vinci2 Programme
The Leonardo da Vinci programme has been the first integrated community pro-
gramme in the field of vocational education. The European Council approved the
programme under Article 127 of the Maastricht Treaty, where it was stated that the
Community must pursue TVET policies without harming the national legislation
and decrees of the member states. The first phase of the Leonardo da Vinci pro-
gramme was planned under the influence of earlier special programmes:
r Comett I (1986–1989) and Comett II (1990–1994) promoting co-operation be-
tween higher education establishments and industry;
r Eurotecnet (1990–1994) promoting innovation in education;
r Force (1991–1994) developing further education, continuing vocational educa-
tion (CVT);
r Petra I (1987–1991) and Petra II (1990–1994) on vocational training of young
people, initial vocational education and training (IVET) and transition from
school to work;
r Lingua (1990–1994) on developing language skills.
Among the challenges faced in designing the Leonardo programme was integrating
all these previous programmes into a single unified whole with a view to achieving
a sharper focus on developing educational policy.
Leonardo da Vinci is a vocational education and training programme whose le-
gal basis was laid down in Article 10, paragraph 4 of Council Decision 94/819/EC
taken on 6 December 1994 (European Commission, 1994). It was resolved that the
development of educational policy would also be promoted through co-operation
across national boundaries and through innovation and exchange activities. This
came to form the practical basis for the Leonardo da Vinci programme, whose first
phase lasted five years (1995–1999) and which was adopted as the main tool of
European educational policy. The programme was allocated a budget of 620 mil-
lion Euros with nineteen objectives. They included fostering the quality of and in-
novatory activities in the education systems of EU member states and promoting
lifelong learning, the education of disadvantaged target groups, educational access,
language education, equal educational opportunities, transparency of qualifications,
open education and distance education, vocational guidance, and co-operation be-
tween higher education establishments and industry.
The budget of the second phase (2000–2006) of the Leonardo da Vinci Pro-
gramme was raised to 1,150 million Euros. The objectives of the second phase of
the programme were:
r to improve the skills and competencies of people, especially of young people, in
vocational training at all levels with a view to facilitating their integration and
reintegration into the labour market;
r to improve the quality of and access to continuing vocational training and pro-
mote the lifelong acquisition of skills and competencies;
r to promote and reinforce the contribution of vocational training to the process of
innovation with a view to improving competitiveness and entrepreneurship, also
as a means of creating new employment opportunities.
A central feature and advantage of the Leonardo da Vinci programme has been
its cross-national character. Each project was required to have partners from not
less than two or three different member states. This has enabled the programme to
influence educational practices in Europe through cross-cultural exchanges of expe-
riences. In 2003, the Directorate-General for Education and Culture of the European
Commission ordered the external interim evaluation of the Leonardo da Vinci II
Programme. Between 2000 and 2002, the programme brought together more than
77,000 partners to work on a shared project idea (European Commission, 2004).
Such partnerships have made it possible to establish permanent networks for col-
laboration across national boundaries and for the exchange of good practices. The
programme has become well-known through its promotion of trans-border mobil-
ity, which has allowed participants to gain work and study experience abroad. The
programme has provided funding for staff and trainee exchanges benefiting nearly
127,000 people in vocational education. Effectiveness improved in 2000–2002 com-
pared to the previous programme period (1995–1999). The number of beneficia-
ries increased and the quality of mobility projects improved. The number of pilot
projects increased between 2000 and 2002 (180 pilot projects in 2000 and 204 in
2001).
The experiences acquired through these exchanges have fostered young people’s
personal development, helped them to improve their self-confidence and language
skills, and to understand different cultures, working methods and organizations.
Project outcomes indicate that residence abroad has also had a positive effect on
the participants’ employability. Further, the Council’s decision on the Europass cer-
tificate was specifically based on the outcomes of Leonardo da Vinci projects. The
Europass certificate lists work experience accumulated in other countries. Similarly,
the Green Paper on mobility and other initiatives broadening the opportunities of
European students’ vocational education emerged mainly as a result of exchanges
that took place as a part of the Leonardo Programme. The programme functioned
also as a development centre for innovation and experimentation. Pilot projects
were a central tool of the programme, with partners from different countries work-
ing on a shared project idea and testing it in practice. More than 2,500 innovative
588 J. Lasonen
trans-border pilot projects generated a great number of different products, such as

new curricula, study modules, information materials, manuals, study materials and
work tools (European Commission, 2005). Disseminating the innovations identified
in these products is a major future challenge. However, the most profound impacts
can be achieved when project partners learn from cross-national activities. Intercul-
tural learning in vocational education is a major step towards a citizens’ Europe,
where exchanging experiences and promoting common goals are a part of daily
reality.
The enlargements of the European Union in May 2005 with ten countries and
in January 2007 with two more countries have also been a central concern in pro-
gramme development. A decision in 1997 by the relevant association councils al-
lowed EU candidate countries to take part in the programme. Towards the end of
1999 the programme benefited from the participation of fifteen EU member states,
three EFTA countries from the European Economic Area and eleven candidate coun-
tries, amounting to a total of twenty-nine countries. In the twenty-first century, some
thirty-one countries could participate. In the candidate countries the programme has
attracted widespread interest, and it has clearly helped these countries to prepare
their education systems for EU membership. The Leonardo da Vinci Programme
has been able to make a substantial contribution to the development of cross-national
initiatives in the field of TVET and the internationalization of best TVET practices
related to teaching quality and teaching contents, innovations and expanding the
European dimension.
However, in planning the new Lifelong Learning Programme phase, account has
been taken not only of the strengths but also of the weaknesses of the first and
second phases of the programmes. The difficulties that arose during the implemen-
tation of the first phase were due to the complexity of the centralized administra-
tion of the programme. Another weakness was that inadequate attention was paid
to designing the programme with a view to complementing other schemes in the
fields of education and training. The Commission has ensured that the experiences
gained during the first phase were put to use in the second phase by simplifying
procedures and continuing with the decentralization of programme administration.
The Leonardo da Vinci Programme has been a central tool in the work to evolve
lifelong learning strategies generating synergies between the EU’s educational and
employment policies. Additionally, among the aims of the second phase was that of
involving certain agents—particularly labour-market organizations and small and
medium enterprises (SMEs)—more closely in vocational education across national
boundaries. The Leonardo da Vinci programme has been a central factor in efforts
to promote active citizenship encompassing the EU as a whole, at the same time as
it has also been used to illustrate what a citizens’ Europe should mean.
4 The Lifelong Learning Programme (2007–2013)
Lifelong learning ‘refers to all general education, vocational education and training,
non-formal education and informal learning undertaken throughout life, resulting in
an improvement in knowledge, skills and competences within personal, civic, social
and/or employment-related perspectives. It includes the provision of counselling

and guidance services’ (European Commission, 2006b, p. 6). The Lifelong Learning
Programme consists of four sub-programmes:
r the Comenius Programme (1,047 million Euros) for pre-school and formal edu-
cation up to the level of upper secondary education (ISCED-3);
r the Erasmus Programme (3,114 million Euros) for higher vocational and aca-
demic education, including trans-national student placement in enterprises;
r the Leonardo da Vinci Programme (1,725 million Euros) for vocational educa-
tion and training in schools or enterprises; and
r the Grundtvig Programme (358 million Euros) for adult education.
Additionally, the LLP includes the transversal programme (369 million Euros) link-
ing the four sub-programmes. The four key transversal activities consist of: (a) pol-
icy co-operation and innovation in lifelong learning; (b) promotion of language
learning; (c) development of innovative ICT-based content, services, pedagogies
and practice for lifelong learning; and (d) dissemination and exploitation of the
results and exchange of good practices. Finally, the new Jean Monnet Programme
(170 million Euros) supports institutions, mainly higher education institutions, in
European integration (European Commission 2006a, 2006b). During the Leonardo
da Vinci Programme, some 50,000 funding receivers in 2006 will be increased to
80,000 receivers in 2013. Each European Member State has a chance to increase
trans-national activities in vocational education and training,
The funding and activities of the LLP Programme are available to twenty-seven
European Union member states, to Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway—and to Turkey.
The programme period is seven years. The share of the Leonardo da Vinci Pro-
gramme in the LLP budget (some 7 billion Euros) is about 25%.
The Leonardo da Vinci Programme addresses the teaching and learning needs of
all persons in vocational education and training, other than at tertiary level, as well
as institutions and organizations that provide TVET. The difference between the pre-
vious and new programme period is the exclusion of tertiary education. The actions
of the Leonardo da Vinci Programme comprise mobility of individuals, multilateral
projects in development and transfer of innovations, networks and accompanying
measures, such as dissemination and valorization activities.
5 Impact of the Leonardo da Vinci Programme

on Enhancement of TVET
The Leonardo da Vinci and other European education programmes have focused on
countering social exclusion and under-achievement at school through the provision
of support targeting disadvantaged groups and the promotion of equal opportunities
for women and men. Special attention has been paid to language learning, particu-
larly to the learning of those languages that are less widely used and taught. There
has also been an emphasis on the importance of studying in a multicultural environ-
ment as one of the cornerstones of European citizenship. The new information and
communication technologies (ICTs) have permeated the whole programme.
590 J. Lasonen
The status of vocational education rose considerably in the 1990s; it was seen
as a central means of responding to the increasingly rapid changes in society and
the economy and of promoting employment, social cohesion and competitiveness.
There was also a broadening awareness of the importance of lifelong learning in
terms of knowledge, skills and qualifications. Lifelong learning has gained a central
role also in vocational education because it made it possible to improve employment
and adaptability as a part of efforts to formulate a European employment strategy.
The European educational policy was articulated in two White Papers (European
Commission, 2001, 1995).
5.1 The Effect on the Internationalization of Education Systems

According to an external evaluation report and national reports, as well as reports by
labour-market parties, the Leonardo Programme exerted important and substantial
influence on, in particular, the people and organizations who actually took part in
it and their immediate environment (European Commission, 2005). The effects in-
volved primarily the internationalization of education systems, which also improved
the external image of vocational education systems. As many of the applicants saw
it, the innovations sought in the programme referred to the integration into voca-
tional education of a European dimension or co-operation across national bound-
aries. The trade unions that took part in the projects considered that the programme
promoted learning from other countries in the area of innovation and quality. Many
reports make a particular mention of the positive effects that the programme had
had on learning processes, such as the evolution of cross-national collaboration into
networks and collaboration groups. As regards the contents of vocational education,
the programme affected the scheduling of study modules, language education and
the introduction of new technology in education. According to the evaluations, it
was the effects of the mobility-promoting aspects of the programme that were felt
most strongly; moreover, they were highly positive from the perspective of indi-
vidual beneficiaries. Nearly all reports state that mobility projects across national
boundaries succeeded in equipping students with new social and intercultural skills,
enhancing their self-confidence, improving their access to the labour market, and
making them more familiar with new working methods. Those students who were
given a Leonardo da Vinci grant for a stay abroad described innumerable positive
work and learning experiences. Some of their accounts point out that, through the
experience gained by the programme participants, mobility has a highly impor-
tant long-term effect on the quality of education. Simultaneously, this increases
demand for mobility. Taking part in pilot projects affected learning in collabora-
tion processes across country boundaries, while participation in mobility projects
generated intercultural education and provided European young people with work
experience. The success stems from the efforts made in the programme to base
supra-national activities on a uniform approach. The fields where the effects of the
programme were felt indicate that it was able to foster the development of European
citizenship (European Commission, 2004, 2005).
5.2 The Effect on National Education Systems

and Esteem for TVET
In the EU candidate countries, the effect of the programme on education systems
was quite clear. As described in the reports submitted by these countries, the areas
affected most strongly by the programme were the modernization of their educa-
tion systems and—possibly most importantly—their EU membership process. In
Romania, for example, the programme was explicitly associated with a reform of
initial vocational education and recently issued draft legislation on further and sup-
plementary education.
In this context, an external evaluation credited the programme with having ini-
tiated change in the economic systems of these countries. In 2001, the European
Union could look back on twenty-five years of promoting student mobility and co-
operation in higher education, including vocational higher education. Within this
quarter of a century the activities supported had expanded from involving about
100 departments and about 1,000 students to almost 1,800 higher education insti-
tutions and about 100,000 students spending a period of study in another European
country each year. Though certain core functions have remained the same since the
beginning, the nature of the activities and the organizational context of the pro-
gramme changed in many respects over the years (Teichler, Gordon & Maiworm,
2001).
Kämäräinen and Fischer (2008), who have studied the impact of the European
programmes through research on knowledge accumulation of TVET, indicated that
a section of ‘Surveys and Analyses’ of the Leonardo da Vinci Programme has
produced the research results dealing with the issue of parity of esteem between
vocational and general education pathways in Europe (see also Lasonen, 1996;
Lasonen & Young, 1998). The issues of attractiveness of TVET and parity of es-
teem are still the priorities of European education and training policies (European
Commission, 2006a).
5.3 Transparency of Qualifications
The internationalization and multiculturalization of work and learning environments

have contributed to a conscious attention to cultural competence. The discussions
about key qualifications launched in the early 1970s focused on the renewal of
occupational competencies and on knowledge and competence structures of a new
kind. No particular attention was yet paid to the transparency of competencies across
national boundaries, nor was (multi)cultural competence seen as a relevant topic in
the then debate.
Since the 1990s, there has been a continued emphasis on the significance of trans-
parent TVET practices and qualifications. The Copenhagen Declaration in 2002
meant the start of a process of intensifying co-operation in the field of TVET in
Europe. It is thought to have been stimulated by the Bologna Process in higher
592 J. Lasonen
education that had been launched in 1999. There has been an endeavour to clarify
qualification and competence requirements so as to make qualifications and com-
petencies more readily understandable and more valued on the labour markets of
Europe. Every EU/ETA country has named a NPR (national reference point for
vocational qualifications) contact point that provides information about the coun-
try’s vocational qualifications and its recognition of occupational competence ac-
quired in another EU/ETA country. The ENIC3 /NARIC4 network is responsible
for degrees and matters pertaining to their recognition. The activities of ENIC
are co-ordinated by the Council of Europe and UNESCO (ENIC/NARIC Network,
2005).
As a part of and as concrete measures stemming from the Copenhagen and
Bologna processes, a supra-national credit transfer system is being developed, both
in higher education and in TVET. A start has been made on setting up a support-
ing system—the European Qualifications Framework (EQF)—for initial vocational
education and training. Efforts to find out how the transparency, comparability and
mutual recognition of qualifications across different countries and different levels
of education systems can be promoted by developing common principles and indi-
cators for assuring the standard of qualifications and study credits. These date from
2002, when the EU appointed a working group for the purpose.
The Europass certificate was created in 1999 for use in the EU/ETA countries.
In 2000–2003 the eighteen participating countries issued some 50,000 Europasses.
For example, about 2,000 Finnish students have earned a Europass. Upper secondary
students are an overwhelming majority (93.3%) among those who have completed
study modules meant to qualify them for a Europass. To its holder, a Europass is
a document certifying their working and educational career in a form that is iden-
tical in all EU/ETA countries. To education providers, it is a tool for organizing
international study modules (Opetushallitus, 2005).
5.4 Towards a Multicultural Society
Internationalization and multicultural co-operation are no new phenomena in

national education systems. What is new is that in the last few decades inter-
nationalization has increasingly become an option available to everyone, including
those teaching and studying in vocational education establishments. The Leonardo
da Vinci Programme is an excellent example of internationalization in this area.
Traditionally, vocational education provision has been local and national. This is
because the contents of vocational competence are more mutable than those of,
for example, general education. The ways in which expert workers are trained
tend to change in response to shifts in national occupational structures,
technological development, changing natural resources and economic factors, and
the current employment situation.
The factors that have led to the internationalization of vocational education and
training provision include both trends towards democracy and equality and glob-
alization itself—the internationalization of the economy. There is an indirect link
between globalization and how the structures of vocational training and qualification
requirements have been developed at national level. Workforce preparation is shaped
by an increasingly international labour market, the exchange of consumer goods and
services, and multinational commerce.
European and national educational and exchange programmes designed with a
view to boosting international co-operation, mobility and transparency have led to
a substantial expansion in student and teacher exchanges and in multinational joint
projects between educational establishments.
The aim of multicultural education is to foster students’ cultural identity and offer
every student a high standard of education. A meeting between different cultures is
a meeting also between different world pictures, life-styles and practices.
Unconsciously or consciously, education involves beliefs about and explanations
of how we should handle otherness and value diversity, how we should treat a
stranger who thinks differently from ourselves, and what we should teach future
workers about the creation of a more just society and world. At its best, the diversity
surrounding us exerts a benign influence on individuals’ and groups’ experiences,
consumption patterns, life-styles and identity. Interculturality is seen as an opportu-
nity to reform education and pedagogical strategies.
Cultural competence is an occupational core competence. The effectiveness of
intercultural co-operation depends on professional expertise and adaptation and in-
teraction skills. It may be assumed that cultural competence emerges when inter-
cultural awareness develops into the understanding and the knowledge and skills
needed to operate smoothly in diverse environments, together with different people.
Multicultural competence refers to attitudes, knowledge and skills and the social
and cultural awareness required if one is to cope in intercultural situations.
As regards the nature of multicultural competence, we may ask whether it is a
separate field of expertise or whether it should be seen as an essential component of
practical competence. It might be argued that cultural competence should be con-
sidered an internal element of every type of domain-specific expertise. Understood
in a broad sense, competence covers personal characteristics, core competence and
domain-specific skills.
Occupational competence includes basic domain-specific skills, specialized com-
petencies, technical and social rationality, interaction skills, and the ability to live
with diversity and understand it in the context of production systems. Interculturality
is an essential constituent of every field of occupational competence. As regards
the qualifications of an expert, the various constituent elements of competence
are integrated into an aggregate of knowledge and skills rather than representing
separate and distinct catalogues of features. Multicultural competence is an inbuilt
element of the given occupational domain and its practices and functions, rather
than an external addition. This entails also an awareness of one’s occupational do-
main and job as a part of the global economy. In short, multicultural competence is
competence of a high standard to operate effectively in multicultural work environ-
ments and learn there. However, the European education and training programmes
have potential to contribute more to the development of coherent multicultural
societies.
594 J. Lasonen
6 Conclusions
The internationalization of education is a process shaped by political, economic

and cultural relations. Its political motives are linked—directly or indirectly—with
foreign and security policies, the promotion of peace and mutual understanding,
and the strengthening of national and regional identities. The aim of the EU action
programmes in education and training has been to create links between various areas
of education and stimulate co-operation in European matters across different edu-
cation systems. As large umbrella programmes, they symbolize the extension, since
the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, of the responsibility of the European Union to all areas
of education.
Education, training and learning make it possible to promote interculturality and so-
cial pluralism. At the global level, education contributes to the success of individuals,
nations and economies. European and national educational programmes designed with
a view to boosting international co-operation and mobility have led to a substantial
expansion in student and teacher exchanges and in multinational joint projects between
educational establishments. New contexts require a better understanding of multicul-
turalism, more interaction skills and more conflict resolution and problem-solving
skills. Multicultural competence is a natural component of expertise and professional
identity. The internationalization of education should involve as its by-product the
fostering of students’ and teachers’ intercultural competence.
A problem facing these efforts is the circumstance that internationalization at the
system level, the multiculturalization of societies and the curriculum-level imple-
mentation of intercultural learning do not necessarily support each other; instead,
they are handled as separate issues. Education for intercultural understanding is
intended to train people to work as intermediaries between, as interpreters of and
as fully empowered members of different cultures. Multiculturalism, anti-racism,
the fostering of ethnic equality, intercultural understanding, globalization education,
new forms of communication and sustainable development pose new challenges to
education and training and to their exchange programmes.
Notes
1. Socrates was a Greek philosopher who believed in a humanist vision of the world and rejected
dogmatism. His maxim ‘Know thyself’ is a fundamental basis for self-knowledge and respect
for self and other people.
2. The programme was named to commemorate an Italian genius, Leonardo da Vinci, born in
1452 in Vinci in the Republic of Florence, who epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. He
was a painter, sculptor, architect and engineer.
3. ENIC—Network of National Information Centres.
4. NARIC—Network of National Academic Recognition Centres.
References
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official/index en.html>
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programmes/evaluation/evaluation en.html>
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and training. <europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/evaluation/evaluation en.html>
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and of the Council of 15 November 2006 establishing an action programme in the
field of lifelong learning. Official journal of the European Union, 24.11.2006 L327/45.
<europa.eu.int/comm/education/doc/official/index en.html>
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soci-expost/soc1xpsum en.pdf>
Chapter IV.6
VET in the Baltic States: Analysis of
Commonalities and Differences of Reforms
in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
1 Introduction
The development of vocational education and training (VET) is a major concern of

the Lisbon strategy for the prosperity of Europe in the twenty-first century. As the
Baltic States have been one of the focuses of attention for European VET policy
after their application for accession to the European Union, reforms in VET have
enjoyed special attention there.
The enlargement of the European Union and related challenges have been key
drivers for European policy. Since the Lisbon Council met in 2000, the development
of VET has been high on the European political agenda. The Copenhagen Decla-
ration of 2002 endorsed the commitment to intensify European co-operation in this
area. The newest member states of the EU—among them the Baltic States—are now
involved in the implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration and can be seen as
a source of enormous (human) potential which will contribute significantly to the
objective of greater co-operation.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are three neighbouring countries that have shared
a recent common history. It seems of particular interest to analyse the attempts to
reform their (vocational) education systems, since the dynamic and speed of reform
is a significant impetus for the development of a common European era. This chapter
describes approaches to reform of VET in the Baltic States. The socio-economic
background of the Baltic States, aspects of lifelong learning and their correlation
with European education policy form the backdrop to the outline of essential steps
for VET reform in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Despite the commonalities that the Baltic States share, it would be a sweeping
generalization to speak about the ‘Baltic VET’ reform. The three countries have
launched their very own reforms to develop VET systems that meet the demands
of twenty-first-century Europe. This chapter describes the reforms of the individual
states, noting the diversity and commonality of approaches to reform.

598 F. Bünning, B. Graubner
2 VET in the Light of the Socio-Economic and Political Situation
Despite their status as independent states, their individual historical development,

language and traditions, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania share much in terms of polit-
ical, economic and social life. Their development in the twentieth century was very
much determined by independence after the First World War followed by Soviet
(and for a short time German) occupation during and after the Second World War.
As a result of the latter, the three Baltic neighbours share a significant history result-
ing in similar political, economic and social structures. Consequently, the education
systems, including VET, have, in the past, shown a general congruence.
After more than forty years of Soviet occupation, however, they regained
sovereignty and independence in 1990 (Lithuania) and 1991 (Estonia and Latvia),
which allowed them to rethink and reshape themselves into democratic republics.
All three set themselves the goal of accession to the European Union (EU). After all
preconditions had been fulfilled, the three states were formally declared full mem-
bers of the EU on 1 May 2004, a crucial cornerstone in the Baltic States’ history.
Being now equal partners, they have been enjoying special attention in European
policy. During the process of application for accession to the EU, each of the Baltic
countries harmonized its legislation according to EU norms and principles.
After regaining their sovereignty, the three countries started their development
independently of each other. In each of the Baltic States decentralization has been
one of the most urgent items on the agendas throughout society. This also applied to
the education system in general and the vocational educational and training sector
in particular. However, as the goal of ensuring mobility among students and the
workforce gained importance, co-operation in VET became indispensable. In 1998,
the agreement on the creation of a common educational space in general upper sec-
ondary education and vocational (up to higher education level) education within the
Baltic States was signed.
Like the political system, similarities can also be found in the countries’ eco-
nomic development. Transformational processes from centrally-planned to a market-
driven economy began to establish themselves after the political changes and, in
general, economic activity has increased steadily since the end of the 1990s. Sur-
veys state that: ‘the hitherto consequent reforms have solidified the foundation of
a market economy, created a stable macro-economic environment and garnered the
trust of investors’ (Ramina, Hodireva & Silina, 2002, p. 9).
Nevertheless, large-scale problems had to be overcome: inflation, which tem-
porarily increased to a dramatic peak (e.g. 1,021% in Lithuania in 1992 compared
to the previous year), had largely been fostered by the internal and external price
convergence that accompanied price liberalization (Hamburgisches Welt-
Wirtschafts-Archiv, 2006). Large-scale privatization programmes and policy strate-
gies to support small and medium-sized enterprises have helped to considerably
increase gross domestic product (GDP) in recent years.
The economy at the turn of the millennium was characterized by a considerable
growth in exports and a favourable economic situation: the moderate domestic infla-
tion and the strong US dollar, coupled with expanding industries due to co-operation
IV.6 VET in the Baltic States 599
with international neighbours, increased activities in the oil sector and therefore the
use of Baltic Sea terminals (e.g. Riga, Ventspils, Klaipeda, etc.) and this rapid diver-
sification and dynamism had encouraging impacts on Baltic economies. In recent
years, the focus of economic growth has shifted slightly from the domestic mar-
ket towards an increase in exports to Western European countries. Owing to small
domestic markets, exports—and thus international economic co-operation—have
become more dominating. After successfully reorienting its export flow towards
Western European countries, Lithuania, for example, increased its GDP by as much
as 5.9% in 2002 and Estonia 6% in the same year (Statistics Lithuania, 2002; Annus,
Jõgi & Tilmanis, 2006, p. 26).
Preparations for the common EU market and efforts towards free-market com-
petitiveness proved to be key drivers for positive economic development. In order to
reach market economy competitiveness, companies and enterprises were challenged
to restructure their business activities, to reorganize business processes and adapt
them to market demands.
Governmental programmes and foreign (especially EU) investment are still im-
portant sources of support for the Baltic economies, e.g. more than 50% of Latvia’s
direct foreign investment comes from EU countries. Inflation still remains compar-
atively high today in Latvia, with 6.2% in 2004, whereas Estonia’s inflation rate has
fallen steadily in recent years to 3.0% in 2004 and is expected to further converge
towards the EU average of 2.1%. Lithuania’s inflation rate at 1.1% was even below
the EU average (2004). Differences in GDP (data referring to GDP per head) are
equally spread among the Baltic States: Estonia is ahead with 6,700 Euros, followed
by Lithuania with 5,200 Euros and Latvia with 4,800 Euros, in comparison with the
EU-25 average of 22,400 Euros (EDS-Europäischer Datenservice, n.d.).
One consequence of the developments outlined above is far-reaching changes
in the employment situation. Some economic sectors have experienced enormous
declines, among them agriculture, construction and processing industries, while
others, most of all the service sector, transport and communications, have bene-
fited. Thus, employment figures in the declining sectors have shrunk drastically,
while the developing branches have faced and are still facing the growing need
for qualified workers. Technological progress has also contributed to some extent
to the rise in unemployment figures. Despite various attempts and a number of
successfully implemented strategies and programmes to reform and optimize the
VET and labour-market training structures, one of the greatest problems still to be
solved is the imbalance between supply and demand. While there are high unem-
ployment rates, with a considerable number of youth, women and long-term un-
employed, enterprises report a lack of sufficiently qualified labour. Alarmingly, the
highest number of unemployed, especially in Latvia, is among young secondary
vocational education graduates (41.8% according to the Central Statistical Bureau
of Latvia, 2001). This clearly highlights the mismatch between skills, experience
and qualifications gained within education and training and the actual demands of
the labour market.
To this should be added a large socio-economic discrepancy between economic
centres and larger cities, on the one hand, and rural regions, smaller towns and
peripheral areas, on the other, in terms of investment, economic development, de-

mography and employment.
While education already plays a significant role in the organization of a society,
it becomes even more important in the fundamental changes affecting the Baltic
States. VET, as the educational sector that prepares young people for their profes-
sional lives and that guides employees throughout their working lives, must be given
special attention. It is influenced by political, social and economic factors, but has
itself social and economic roles and responsibilities. The current employment situa-
tion, present labour-market demands and the growing social and regional anomalies
have an extensive impact on the further development of the vocational education and
training system in all three of the Baltic States, as is shown in the following section.
3 Educational Reform Movements
3.1 Estonia
Estonia’s education system has experienced significant changes since the beginning
of the 1990s. The current education policy reflects liberal economic and political
developments. Much attention is being paid to such issues as privatization and com-
munity responsibility for schools and cost efficiency in education. A number of
initiatives in recent years (Learning Estonia, Education Scenarios 2010, Tiger Leap
Programme and Education Forum) foster the new approaches of the post-Soviet era.
In 1999/2000, the education strategy Learning Estonia was set up, developed by
the Estonian Ministry of Education and the Education Forum Task Force (involving
social partners and non-governmental organizations—NGOs). The draft of Learning
Estonia had been the subject of discussion for two years (2000–2001) before it was
adopted by the government.
In 2001, the development strategy Knowledge-based Estonia, the Action Plan for
the Development of Vocational Education, the Higher Education Reform Strategy
and the National Development Strategy on Youth Work were approved and put into
practice (Annus et al., 2001).
The Action Plan for the Development of Vocational Education, 2001–2004, sum-
marizes wide-ranging measures to improve the quality of vocational education.
Much attention is paid to labour-market relevance and the broadening of access
for all age groups. The Action Plan puts special emphasis on the development of re-
gional training centres providing primary training for students, retraining for adults,
pre-training for students in general secondary education, and vocational education
and training for people with special needs.
Detailed targets for the reform of the VET system were set in the Action Plan for
Developing the Estonian VET System, 2001–2004. It defined a total of twenty-three
tasks linked to specific targets to be achieved in the period 2001–2004:
r to increase the number of VET students by 8% per year;
r to decrease the drop-out rate from 13% (in 2000) to 8% by 2004;
r to privatize approximately 30% of VET schools and providers by 2004;

r to change the student/teacher ratio from 12:1 in 2000 to 16:1;
r to increase the number of teachers with university degrees from 75% (2000) to
100% in 2004;
r to double the amount of foreign-language classes in all programmes;
r to increase the focus of VET programmes on vocational standards;
r to achieve more with public funding.
The implementation of this Action Plan and the extent to which the targets have
been met is questionable (Annus, Jõgi & Tilmanis, 2006, p. 33).
3.2 Latvia
After the national independence of Latvia in 1991, major changes were initiated in
the education system. As part of the changes and reforms, the weaknesses of VET
were addressed and objectives were identified.
In 1997, the report on Vocational education and training reform in Latvia
(Bernan Associates, 1997) identified the main weaknesses of the current vocational
education and training system. In summary, they were as follows:
r Unsatisfactory legal foundation. The Law on Education, adopted in 1991, reg-
ulates only the administration of initial VET and stipulates its structure. The
legislation does not integrate the social partners in VET curriculum development.
r Insufficient structure for the provision of initial VET, continuing vocational train-
ing (CVT) and retraining.
r An inadequate network of institutions (VET providers, research centres, etc.).
This analysis of weaknesses served as an impetus for the reform process. In partic-
ular, the co-operation of VET providers and employers was sought. In doing so, the
Tripartite Co-operation Sub-Council for Vocational Education and Training Reform
and Employment was established in 2000. This is a subdivision of the National Tri-
partite Co-operation Council, an institution aiming to foster co-operation between
governmental bodies, employers and unions, as well as institutions concerned by
national VET policy.
Despite far-reaching reforms to strengthen VET in Latvia, it would appear
that further restructuring would be beneficial to a coherent strategy. In partic-
ular, the management of VET under the jurisdiction of different ministries
results in fragmented provision, ‘since, of course, the ministries, first of all, take
into consideration the interests of their branch and then solve the VET admin-
istrative issues independently from other ministries: plan the network of educa-
tional establishments, enrolment of students, financial resources and, in co-operation
with the educational support institutions under their jurisdiction, they plan cur-
riculum and provide education quality control’ (Lanka & Mūrnieks, 2006, p. 66).
This approach does not encourage coherent provision and could arguably be
reviewed.
3.3 Lithuania
The reform of vocational education in Lithuania was initiated very soon after in-
dependence in 1990. The first steps in the reform were the development of a voca-
tional education policy and strategy. The endorsement of international co-operation
was encouraged. However, the early years in the reform had very limited impact
on political decisions concerning VET. In the middle of the 1990s, reforms focus-
ing on the principle of decentralization were launched. Much attention was paid to
the modernization of the teaching curriculum and social partnership development.
Furthermore, in the mid-1990s, increased attention was given to involving the par-
ticipation of educational institutions in the reform of vocational education policies,
strategies and the development of curricula.
The Law on Vocational Education and Training was adopted in 1997. It provided
the legal foundation for the current structure and administration of the vocational
education and training system of Lithuania. The law fosters the co-operation of
governmental institutions and social partners. It defines the provision of initial VET
(oriented towards the continuous education of young people) and labour-market
vocational training (oriented towards adult continuous and, in some cases, initial
vocational training).
The 1999 White Paper on Vocational Education and Training in the Republic
of Lithuania set out the direction for the development of vocational education and
training. One of the White Paper’s objectives is to ensure compatibility of education
and qualifications with relevant recommendations within the EU, while at the same
time retaining national identity.
One of the challenges in the reform of the Lithuanian VET system has been the
involvement of social partners. The lack of employers’ interest in VET has been
addressed elsewhere and is not the focus of this chapter.
Additional weaknesses are vocational counselling and the low esteem of VET in
Lithuania. Prior to the reform, a vocational orientation system had been in practice.
One deficit of the prior system was that it tended to advise only the weaker students
to follow a career pathway in VET. In doing so, VET in Lithuania suffered from
the reputation of being a pathway for the less academically privileged. The current
problems are under-developed vocational counselling systems in general education
schools, the lack of qualified counsellors, the lack of a vocational counselling strat-
egy and methodology (Laužackas & Danilevičius, 2006, p. 76).
Closely linked with the efforts to reform the VET systems are the approaches to
strengthen lifelong learning processes in the Baltic States as part of the transition to a
market economy, while continuing technological progress has changed employment
and occupational structures fundamentally.
4 The Lifelong Learning Perspective of VET in the Baltic States

Recent discussions on VET policy and strategies show that its definition has changed
considerably from the original narrow concept of ‘preparing young people for a
fixed profession, a specific working place’ to the broader understanding of VET
as a process that is not finished when a person obtains his or her certificate on
successful completion of initial training. As outlined above, economic development
in the Baltic States, as in any other modern society, is subject to constant evolu-
tion. The challenges of a modern market economy and technological progress have
had substantial impacts on employment and occupational structures. VET graduates
starting their professional career cannot expect to fill the same workplace all their
lives, i.e. to be trained for one particular field of occupation that is going to secure
their job for a lifetime. Reality shows that the constant changes in market demands,
technology and employment structures, even in professions, set the agenda for dif-
ferent demands on today’s working population. VET needs to be reorganized and
restructured in order to meet changing labour-market demands on the current and
future workforce.
As economic trends tend to change rapidly, it is difficult at each stage to predict
what kinds of professions are needed and how many employees will be required
for what field. That is why employers need workers who show a high degree of
flexibility and mobility, the capacity to work with modern equipment and who keep
themselves up to date with new technologies. They should also have a good com-
mand of their first and at least one or two foreign languages and possess skills in
various occupational fields and profiles. VET must no longer provide only basic
professional knowledge and skills, but it is even more essential to impart the capac-
ity to learn, to teach learning strategies and to be able quickly to learn how to use
new technology. People should be aware that school and vocational education only
set the foundations for each individual’s further development. Education that clearly
evokes an awareness of the need and that provides the necessary preconditions for
lifelong learning is high on European political agendas. Thus, implementing policies
to develop lifelong learning strategies is also one of the major goals in the Baltic
States.
4.1 Latvia
Latvia has developed the Lifelong Learning Memorandum, where the most impor-
tant basic skills needed are listed, e.g. the ability to work with information and
communication technologies (ICTs), the capacity to acquire, analyse and share
information, knowledge of foreign languages, etc. (Ramina, Hodireva & Silina, 2002,
p. 17). Continuing vocational training (CVT) has been given special attention since
the Law on Vocational Education, which came into force on 1 September 2001. This
includes a broadened focus on further education and training.
There is no secure statistical data on the number of people who participated in
CVT courses, but as far as businesses are concerned, the motivation and capability
to invest in personnel training appears to be slightly higher in large enterprises,
where the potential increase in profit acts as a stimulus. The Latvian Government has
established the State Employment Service, an institution that organizes training and
retraining for the unemployed aiming at improvement of employability and fast re-
entry into the labour market. Responsibility for adult education has been transferred
to the regional governments. Since investment in the adult education sector is within
the remit of local government, large regional differences occur—at best there exist
well-organized and functioning, local government-funded adult education centres.
4.2 Estonia
Similar to Latvia, Estonia, too, embodied continuing vocational training (CVT) in

its legislation and worked out an Action Plan for Developing the Estonian VET
System, 2001–2004, in which the main principles for restructuring were defined.
However, as some experts have stated, its implementation ‘has been less than opti-
mal. A coherent strategic and policy framework on CVT is still not in place’ (Annus,
Jõgi & Tilmanis, 2006, p. 33).
In order to foster adult education, several more programmes were adopted (e.g.
Estonian National Development Plan, 2003–2006, or the National Employment
Plans) all of which stressed the necessity for improving CVT and lifelong learning
policies in order to improve qualification and employability of the country’s work-
force. The necessary steps towards improved CVT demanded by these documents
(e.g. favourable tax regulations, development of an adult education financing model
according to those in other European countries, establishing a State-financed institu-
tion to co-ordinate adult education systems and co-operation among institutions and
social partners, development of regulations for licensing and accrediting trainers,
etc.) have either not been sufficiently implemented up to the present or have not yet
had the anticipated effects—partly due to a lack of participation and motivation on
the part of those concerned.
Like Latvia, Estonia has also invested in the establishment of regional training
centres that have already been mentioned before. CVT is one of these centres’
responsibilities.
4.3 Lithuania
In Lithuania, the governmental body responsible for CVT and lifelong learning
is the Ministry of Social Security and Labour (MSSL). The legal basis for its
functions are the Law on Vocational Education and Training (1997) and the Law
on the Support of the Unemployed (1990), both of which are implemented by the
Lithuanian Labour Market Training Authority and the network of labour exchanges.
This system’s main objective is support of the unemployed by means of training,
counselling and guidance, as well as labour-market research. Although these insti-
tutions focus mainly on training and re-training programmes for unemployed adults
and disabled people, a network of fourteen labour-market training centres and six
labour-market training services also provides courses for CVT and lifelong learn-
ing for the employed, e.g. short courses for employees whose current qualification
is in low demand or non-formal vocational training programmes. The criticism is
often made that, instead of developing effective co-operation, these programmes are
rather seen as direct competition for existing vocational educational institutes. An
interesting innovation seems to be the labour exchange. This institution provides co-
ordination between employers’ needs and potential employees. The main activities
of the network of forty-six labour exchange offices throughout the country include
the registration of unemployed citizens and job openings, labour-market forecasts,
efficiency studies of training programmes and, not least, the disposal of finance from
the State Employment Fund. However, since those involved complain about the low
interest in their services, it is estimated that only about half of job seekers make
use of it. Another weakness of the system appears to be the fact that the provision
of appropriate training programmes is to a large extent subject to the availability of
finance, and does not depend on urgent local needs.
In order to overcome structural and content-related difficulties, foreign (mainly
EU) expertise is used in all three Baltic countries, for example via the Leonardo da
Vinci, PHARE, Comenius or Socrates programmes, as is illustrated in the following
section.
5 The European Dimension
Estonia’s VET development was backed up by several European programmes.

PHARE offered substantial support for the reform of the (vocational) education
system. The extent of the support for the significant PHARE initiatives can be il-
lustrated as follows:
r PHARE 2000: Project enhancing human resource development in the Ida-Viru

(North-East) region. This initiative offered financial support of approximately
1.3 million Euros, including Estonian co-financing of 300,000 Euros.
r PHARE 2000: Project enhancing human resource development in the southern
Estonian region. The project involved a budget of some 2.4 million Euros, in-
cluding Estonian co-financing of 650,000 Euros.
r PHARE 2001: Project enhancing human resource development in the islands
region, with a budget of approximately 1.2 million Euros, including Estonian
co-financing of 24,000 Euros, providing essential financial support for the edu-
cational reform.
Similarly to Estonia, Latvia’s reform process of its education system was supported
by European initiatives. Recent examples of PHARE 2000 projects in Latvia are the
Qualification Infrastructure and Development of College Study Programmes.
In Lithuania, the European Union has supported VET reform through the PHARE
programme since 1993. A recent example for a PHARE initiative is the programme
Vocational Training for Economic and Social Cohesion. The overall objective of this
programme is to support Lithuania’s economic and social cohesion. The programme
focuses on employment growth. The budget of 4.23 million Euros, including 1.19
million Euros of national co-financing, illustrates the priority paid to VET, continu-
ing vocational training and lifelong learning.
Here, the influence of the European Union was exemplified by PHARE initia-
tives. However, other initiatives, such as the Comenius, Socrates and Leonardo da
Vinci Programmes, have also to be mentioned in this context. Furthermore, the
European Training Foundation (ETF) and other national European research institu-
tions provided significant expertise for the reform processes. The European Training
Foundation developed a network of national observatories (watch-dog committees)
in the countries concerned. Its analytic work culminated in a set of publications
identifying key indicators of labour-market developments and progress reports of
the reform movements.
In summary, the reform of VET systems in the Baltic States started in the
early 1990s and took into consideration EU standards. The development of VET
systems in accordance with European standards has resulted in a favourable po-
sition for these countries’ vocational qualifications, compared to other European
VET systems, which evolved more traditionally and appear to be at a disad-
vantage. For example, German vocational qualifications are particularly disad-
vantaged. According to the European-Level System, Dual Vocational Education
Qualifications awarded in Germany after three years of training are classified as
Level 2.
Despite these reforms, the three Baltic States still face a number of problems
in the area of VET. In particular, the perception of VET as a lower-status career
option is an impediment to further development. As vocational education and train-
ing do not generally enjoy high esteem, it is not surprising that Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania are lacking qualified VET teaching and management staff.
In 1990, the acceding countries for EU membership (of the former Eastern
European Soviet bloc) launched significant reforms to restructure their VET sys-
tems. The results of this reform movement have been impressive, particularly when
one considers that the starting date was only 1989. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia
have enjoyed special attention because geographically they occupy an important
strategic position. Since the enlargement of the EU (European Commission, 2004),
they are now serving as ‘outposts’ towards the east. This shared experience provided
the foundation for (re-)establishing co-operation on various levels among these
countries’ vocational education systems. Soon after regaining their independence,
it became clear that co-operation in the area of VET was absolutely necessary in
order to ensure mobility of the workforce (Neudorf, Krusts & Vincentas, 1999,
p. 2). One result of this awareness was the Agreement on the Creation of a Common
Educational Space in General Upper Secondary Education and Vocational (up to
the Higher Education Level) Education with the Baltic States, which was signed in
1998. In 1999, a further step was taken with the Cesis Agreement. Mutual recog-
nition of school-leaving certificates was agreed upon, as well as co-operation in
general education, including VET. A very solid result of this co-operation is a com-
parative analysis of the different VET systems in the Baltic States. This survey was
designed to facilitate co-operation in the field of education.
Despite enormous efforts, mobility between the three Baltic States appears to
be rather limited. It can be suspected that the language barrier inhibits cross-Baltic
mobility.
The EU has set itself the ambitious goal—set in Lisbon in 2000—of becom-
ing the world’s leading ‘knowledge society’ by 2010. Member states are working
towards it by reorienting their VET systems. However, when the Lisbon Council
set the goal, the number of EU countries was fifteen. By 2010 it can be expected
that this number will grow to twenty-eight. The deadline of 2010 requires a special
investment in VET by ‘old’ and ‘new’ member states, as well as candidate countries.
For a period of time, reform in the new member states has aimed to develop their
VET to a standard comparable to that of the ‘old’ member states. However, little
effort was made to truly work together on a common European VET framework.
The Lisbon Council has set new priorities. The demand to meet these targets for
almost twice as many countries has raised the stakes for VET in current and future
member states (de Rooij, 2004).
6 Drawing the Threads Together

Since the reestablishment of their sovereignty, the Baltic States have made enor-
mous efforts to develop their VET systems in line with European standards and to
harmonize their (vocational) educational policy with EU requirements. At the same
time, while following the guidelines of the European Union, they have been endeav-
ouring to retain their national identity. Thus, they may well serve as an example for
a pro-European national VET policy and their expertise can certainly be of service
to other EU accession candidates—and especially to transitional (former Soviet)
countries (Council of the European Union, 2002).
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have initiated their very own reforms to develop
their national VET systems, with the result that each has its own varying struc-
ture. For example, Estonia and Lithuania have transferred the responsibility of
agricultural VET, including the related training institutions, from the Ministries
of Agriculture to the Ministries of Education and Science. Consequently, most
VET institutions are now under the jurisdiction of one ministry. In Latvia, the
VET schools fall under the jurisdiction of different governmental bodies (Cabinet
of Ministers, Ministry of Education and Science, especially the Vocational Train-
ing and Continuing Education Department, as well as the Professional Education
Centre, not to mention the Ministries of Agriculture, Welfare, Culture and the
Interior).
Education and training programmes, levels and qualifications show only mi-
nor differences due to their orientation towards EU standards. More substantial
variability has to be detected in the quality assurance systems. In Lithuania, ac-
creditation and licensing measures function under the responsibility of the Ministry
of Education and Science, while in Latvia and Estonia, effective quality assurance
systems are yet to be established or will undergo significant improvement.
Besides these differences, there are a number of similarities in the three states. It
is significant that European education policy has supported and inspired the reform
processes. Some difficulties appear to exist throughout the Baltic States: the very
low esteem of VET; the difficulty of involving employers; and the need for qualified
labour in the services and communications sectors. Despite far-reaching reforms,

the negative image of VET is an impediment to its further development.
References
Annus, T.; Jõgi, K.; Tilmanis, L. 2006. Vocational education and training in Estonia: reform
processes and tendencies. In: Bünning, F., ed. The transformation of vocational education
and training (VET) in the Baltic States: survey of reforms and developments. Dordrecht,
Annus, T. et al. 2001. Modernization of vocational education and training in Estonia. Tallinn:
National Observatory of Estonia.
Bernan Associates. 1997. Vocational education and training reform in Latvia. Turin, Italy: ETF.
Council of the European Union. 2002. Draft council resolution on the promotion of enhanced
European cooperation in vocational education and training. Brussels: European Union.
de Rooij, P. 2004. EU enlargement and education for the labour market. <www.etf.eu.int/
WebSite.nsf/0/CB6DB14948F21151C1256E6E00363870?OpenDocument>
EDS-Europäischer Datenservice. N.d. <www.eds-destatis.de/de/database>
European Commission. 2004. Education & Training 2010: The success of the Lisbon strategy
hinges on urgent reforms. Joint interim report on the implementation of the detailed work
programme on the follow-up of the objectives of education and training systems in Europe.
Official journal of the European Union C, 104/5,
Hamburgisches Welt-Wirtschafts-Archiv. 2006. <www.hwwa.de/EU-Beitrittslaender/>
Lanka, A.; Mūrnieks, E. 2006. Vocational education and training in Latvia: the problems and so-
lutions. In: Bünning, F., ed. The transformation of vocational education and training (VET) in
the Baltic States: survey of reforms and developments. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.
Laužackas, R.; Danilevičius, E. 2006. Vocational education and training in Lithuania: reform pro-
cesses and tendencies. In: Bünning, F., ed. The transformation of vocational education and
training (VET) in the Baltic States: survey of reforms and developments. Dordrecht, Nether-
lands: Springer.
Neudorf, R.; Krusts, G.; Vincentas, D. 1999. Comparative analysis of VET systems of Estonia.
Turin, Italy: ETF.
Ramina, B.; Hodireva, V.; Silina, S. 2002. The modernization of vocational education and training
in Latvia. Riga: Latvian National Observatory.
Statistics Lithuania. 2002. Statistical yearbook of Lithuania. Vilnius: Statistics Lithuania.
Chapter IV.7
Education and Training Needs of Rural
Communities: A Situational Analysis of
Selected Villages in Fourteen Provinces of Fiji
Paula Cavu, Isimeli W. Tagicakiverata, Seveci Naisilisili and Viliame Rabici
1 Introduction
The purpose of this research project was to conduct a survey of the training needs
of people in rural communities of the fourteen provinces in Fiji. The rationale be-
hind this exercise was to take the Fiji Institute of Technology (FIT), a training and
education institution, to the homes of this target group, bearing in mind the advent
of distance education and learning. However, it was also found that people in most
rural communities did not fully understand the role of FIT, so the researchers had
an opportunity to market the institute through awareness-raising in the villages.
All the participants were grateful for the opportunity to meet and talk to profes-
sionals from FIT on various issues. Even very remote villages were among those
visited.
Questionnaires in the Fijian language were administered to 1,807 participants
in sixty villages. The survey found that all participants wanted skills-training pro-
grammes to be conducted in their villages. It was also found that participants se-
lected training programmes that were relevant and necessary to their immediate
and future needs. The choice of training depended mainly on available resources,
developmental needs, village and family needs and individual aspirations. This re-
search gave all stakeholders—the government, non-governmental organizations, aid
agencies, provincial offices and training institutions—an insight into the training
needs in rural communities, as well as their developmental goals and aspirations.
Training-needs assessment (TNA), the basis of this research initiative, is timely
especially as communities in rural areas have often been disadvantaged in terms of
educational opportunities and development. The most obvious cause for this disad-
vantage is the great distance from rural communities to educational centres, which
in Fiji’s case are primarily clustered around towns and cities. Additional obstacles
include the lack of transport, poor road conditions and the high cost of travel.
Rural communities, especially Fijian villages, have visible differences in levels
of development. However, there is no hard-and-fast rule about the degree of devel-
opment in rural areas as some villages in outer islands appear to have better liv-
ing conditions—with flush toilets, regular clean water supply and electricity—than
some villages closer to urban centres.

610 P. Cavu et al.
A significant similarity, however, is that both rural and peri-urban Fijian villages
are beginning to experience an influx of school-leavers and dropouts, some with
educational qualifications up to Form 7 and even tertiary levels. According to village
elders, this influx is the result of examination failure and/or lack of employment
opportunities. Some youths have, however, turned to farming and other schemes
to earn a living, while some have become a burden to their communities through
idleness and resorting to crime.
The TNA conducted for this research was aimed at identifying the educational
and developmental needs in rural areas, with special consideration for the culture
and attitude of the dwellers. Results from this survey would provide stakeholders
with significant data on much-needed training to be conducted and a solid base for
its effective implementation.
2 Background
Fiji has a population of over 868,000 (2003 estimate) and has a gross domestic
product per capita of US$2,060 (2001 estimate). Life expectancy is around 69 years
while the literacy rate is around 93.7% (2003 estimate). Major revenue earners
are tourism, sugar and the garment industry, but in recent years remittances from
Fijian people working abroad have become equally significant (Encarta encyclopae-
dia, 2004).
According to the Fiji Islands Education Commission report (Fiji. Ministry of
Education, 2000; Sharma, 2000; Tavola, 2000), education is well established in Fiji
as it has existed for over 160 years. Some of the concerns, however, have been
the uneven situation of educational provision between schools. This situation is the
result of the diversity of authorities controlling schools, differences between rural or
urban location and the resources available in each community. Ministry of Education
records show that in 1999 47% of high schools were run by committees, 35% by
religious groups and 8% by the government. In addition, relatively more diploma
holders and new graduates were teaching in rural schools as compared to a higher
number of degree holders with more experience in urban schools.
It has become increasingly clear that rural dwellers are greatly disadvantaged, not
only in terms of educational facilities and access to information but also in terms of
physical infrastructure, such as housing, sanitation and transport. A result of these
disparities reported in the Fiji Islands Education Commission report is that only
40% of students in rural schools passed the Fiji School Leaving Certificate in 1999,
as compared to 62.3% in urban schools.
At the national level, in terms of projected socio-economic development, stake-
holders are concerned that of 17,000 school-leavers each year, only about 2,000
are able to find employment (Mausio, 2003). But school-leavers in urban centres
still have an advantage in that they have easy access to various tertiary training
institutions offering a wide range of programmes. School-leavers in urban areas
IV.7 Education and Training Needs of Rural Communities 611
have many options to choose from, whereas those in rural communities often have
only their villages to return to.
Institutions such as the University of the South Pacific and the Fiji Institute of
Technology have established centres in major towns throughout Fiji, but the prob-
lem of access to training programmes by those in remote rural communities still
exists. Part of the problem is that many school-leavers in rural areas continue to
seek white-collar job opportunities, but fail to recognize the value of working in
their local environments. It is for this reason that various organizations, including
FIT, are taking time to visit rural communities to introduce local dwellers to ways
they can maximize the return from their resources in a sustainable way.
Non-formal education (NFE) or continuing education has been acknowledged
as a remedy as it has the potential to empower people by widening and deepening
their range of skills and assisting them to increase their marketability and contri-
bution in their community (Schoeffel, 1986). This is supported by Veramu (1997,
p. 53; 1992) who says that ‘people need to be empowered to control their own
destiny and to have a say in the appropriate type of sustainable development that
suits them.’
The strength of NFE is its inclusiveness and accessibility. People in rural com-
munities do not have to travel as training and trainers are brought to them. NFE com-
plements formal education very well providing an avenue for everyone, especially
school-leavers and drop-outs, to acquire skills relevant for an effective contribution
and survival in their community (Hamadache, 1991).
The government has committed itself, through its ministries, NGOs and training
institutions, to implement programmes ranging from agriculture and small business
administration to community health awareness (Veramu, 1997).
The Fiji Institute of Technology, through its Research and Development Unit,
also shares the vision that NFE has a major role to play in Fiji’s national prosperity
and development. The training-needs assessment initiated by FIT was intended to
strengthen the decision-making base for the planned training of communities in rural
areas.
3 Methodology
The team consisted of eight researchers who all work under the auspices of the FIT
Learning Centre. The initial intention of the team was to conduct a training-needs
assessment in mixed communities, but this had to be abandoned due to lack of
resources. Instead, it was realised that a TNA survey conducted in Fijian villages
would be within the team’s budget. A pilot survey to test the questionnaire was car-
ried out in three villages. The results were analysed and the questions were modified
to ensure reliability and validity. The pilot was also intended for team members to
obtain experience of the real-life situation in villages and to try out methods.
Upon completion of the preparatory stages, members of the team went in groups
of two, three and occasionally individually to conduct the survey in the provinces.
Prior to and during each visit all important officials and dignitaries were informed,
612 P. Cavu et al.
such as elders, village chiefs, school-teachers and church leaders, to facilitate the
team members carrying out their survey. All village surveys were conducted in the
evenings with most of them ending late at night. Proper protocol was followed with
formal presentations, then an explanation by the team leader, followed by filling-in
of questionnaire forms and concluding with a long discussion session.
It was observed that during the discussion sessions the elders always spoke first
while the other participants took their turn in descending order of age and status. An
open discussion among the villagers would only involve the elders; young people
were never expected to air their views publicly. Ocitti (1990) calls this ‘vertical com-
munication’, which expresses the difficulty of direct dialogue between the old and
the young in indigenous societies. He also noted a ‘horizontal human relationship’,
which exists primarily among one’s peers, where there is freedom to think, talk and
act. In Fijian society, it is a sign of respect for the young to remain quiet unless
spoken to.
However, during the visits, the researchers managed to get a response from all
present by posing direct questions to the elders, then the women and then the youths.
All responses were directed back at the researchers. Noticeably, all general comments
and suggestions came only from the elders and the chiefs, but none from the youth.
The discussion was always lively and interesting as it was an avenue for people
to ask questions on various issues and not just education. There were problems
encountered by the research team, such as inadequate time in each village, lack of
funds and treacherous road conditions, but the team were not deterred and managed
to complete all field work on time.
The researchers were aware that dealing with descriptive data from this survey
would involve two general limitations in the form of validity and reliability. There-
fore, in the initial stages of research formulation and preparations, key control mech-
anisms were put in place to ensure a satisfactory degree of validity and reliability.
One of the key mechanisms for controlling validity and reliability was an empha-
sis on procedures throughout the process. During the initial stages of formulating
the theoretical framework, the principal researcher and team made a number of
consultation visits to principal stakeholders, which included key officials in vari-
ous government ministries, training institutions and provincial offices. The visits
ensured that research parameters were clear, indicators were defined precisely and
all data-collecting instruments would lead to reliable results.
A series of briefings involving all team members ensured that field-work proce-
dures were precisely adhered to by all so that consistency and reliability of results
were achieved. This was absolutely necessary as the team members were sent to
different parts of Fiji.
Another mechanism used for controlling reliability was the series of checks and
reviews of research tools and items. Important decisions had to be made, especially
regarding the questionnaire and its suitability for rural indigenous Fijians. After the
pilot test and a retest, the final questionnaire was presented in Fijian vernacular and
the team were satisfied of its suitability. The team also took into serious consid-
eration issues such as question types, question lengths and time to complete the
questionnaire. The clarity of items in terms of font size was reviewed to ensure that
all participants were able to read the words clearly. This was necessary as people of
all ages were intended as participants in this research.
The researchers were aware that the issue of validity would emerge regarding
sampling and representation. The major obstacle and limitation in sampling was
the lack of funding to cover a bigger percentage of provincial populations. For this
reason, the team had to be content with a target sample of 100 participants per
province. This included both genders and all ages.
Other control measures that research assistants had to ensure in all locations
were:
r The venue of the research survey must be a village hall or school classroom.
r The atmosphere should be relaxed and casual so that all participants could con-
tribute fully.
r All participants had to be provided with pencils for filling out the questionnaires.
r At least thirty minutes was allowed to fill out the questionnaire.
r Additional time was allowed for open discussions (debriefing after collecting the
questionnaires).
r The necessary social protocol was to be adhered to in all villages and provinces.
Despite all the measures taken, the researchers acknowledge that there were lim-
itations, such as intentional and unintentional biases in this research. It was pos-
sible that some data may have been inadvertently emphasized more than others
and some may have been used to highlight a particular point of view. Additionally,
the researchers acknowledge that there is also the possibility that the sample of
participants in each province may not be an accurate representation of the entire
populace.
It is quite possible that items used in the questionnaire may not be variables
of primary interest and may have affected respondents’ interests in different ways.
Sensitive issues such as educational level and status may have posed problems for
some participants. While every possible measure was taken to ensure reliability and
validity in this research, the team acknowledges that there are limitations that may
have had a bearing on the results.
4 Findings
Thus, sixty villages from fourteen provinces were visited and a total of 1,807 re-
spondents surveyed: 54% of whom or 974 were male; and 46% or 833 were fe-
male. Tables 1 and 2 present the training needs identified by respondents, as well as
supporting data from the questionnaire. Due to the magnitude of the participation,
the priority focus of the analysis was on training needs, ethnography and educational
levels, and the logic behind choices
Results identify specific training needs indicated by participants of both genders
from each village and province. The villages visited in each province were some
distance from each other in order that provincial summaries reflected a reasonable
sample of the training needs among the general provincial populations. Analysis
614 P. Cavu et al.
Table 1 Training needs choices by province (female)

Flower Sewing/screen Cooking Tourism/small Family Basic English
arrangement printing business education/
administration child-rearing
Rewa Kadavu Naitasiri Rewa Lau Cakau
Kadavu Naitasiri Lomaiviti Kadavu Kadavu
Naitasiri Lomaiviti Ba Naitasiri Ba
Lomaiviti Ba Tailevu Ba Serua
Nadroga Namosi Nadroga Serua Tailevu
Ra Ra Bua Nadroga Ra
Macuata Namosi Macuata
Bua
6 (43%) 8 (57%) 7 (50%) 6 (43%) 7 (50%) 1 (7%)
Table 2 Training needs choices by province (male)

Basic Basic Basic Tourism/small Resource Time
machine carpentry/ electrical business ad- management management
repair plumbing ministration
Rewa Rewa Rewa Kadavu Lau Macuata
Kadavu Naitasiri Naitasiri Ba Macuata
Naitasiri Lomaiviti Lomaiviti Serua Bua
Lomaiviti Tailevu Namosi Tailevu
Ba Nadro Ra Nadro
Namosi Bua Cakau
Serua
Ra
Macuata
Bua
Cakau
11 (79%) 6 (42%) 6 (42%) 5 (36%) 3 (21%) 1 (7%)
by gender, age-groups and educational levels provided significant information for

decision-makers. In terms of the differences in training choices, the most significant
one was between genders in all provinces. However, comparisons at village and
provincial levels displayed an interesting trend—that communities or villages along
the coast, including the outer islands, had a different set of choices from commu-
nities and villages in the interior regions or mountains. This finding suggests that
geographical location and available natural resources are significant factors that
determine training choices.
Other factors that became evident from the study are income sources and de-
velopment or lifestyle needs. There was no correlation between training choice
and educational level, nor between training choice and age. This suggests that
choices were not solely based on individual needs but also on community aspirations
(Plowman, 1992).
The most popular training choice for men was basic machine repair (Table 2),
while women had five popular choices which were: flower arrangement, sewing,
cooking, small business administration and family education (Table 1).
Table 3 shows that 327 teenagers (18.1% of total sample) participated in this
survey. Of this figure, an alarming 80% or 262 are school-leavers and drop-outs. In
the total sample of 1,807, this percentage translates to 14.5%.
Levels of education for both genders vary slightly but a larger percentage of
female participants had reached higher secondary and tertiary levels. A significant
finding is that 98% of participants are educated above Classes 6–8, which indicates
a high level of literacy in rural Fiji (Table 4 and Fig. 1). This suggests that trainers
tasked with conducting training in rural communities would have few problems in
terms of communication and delivery.
It can be concluded from this survey that basic machine repair (Table 2) came out
strongly as the significant/popular choice for men, while women had five choices of
comparable significance (Table 1). In terms of age, a clear majority of participants
(82%) were above 20 years of age, 25.7% of whom were over 41. This wide range
Table 3 The number of participants by gender and age groups

Participants by gender and age-groups
Age group 16 – 19 20 – 30 31 – 40 41 + Total
Number male (%) 192 (20%) 350 (36%) 194 (20%) 238 (24%) 974 (54%)
Number female (%) 135 (16%) 273 (33%) 198 (24%) 227 (27%) 833 (46%)
Total (%) 327 (18.1%) 623 (34.5%) 392 (21.7%) 465 (25.7%) 1807
Table 4 Total participants by educational level

Classes 1–5 Classes 6–8 Forms 3–4 Forms 5–7 Tertiary
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
30 8 292 225 321 267 321 316 10 17
3% 1% 30% 27% 33% 32% 33% 38% 1% 2%
2% of sample 29% of sample 33% of sample 35% of sample 1% of sample
45
40
35
% of SAMPLE
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
CLASSES 1-5 CLASSES 6-8 FORMS 3-4 FORMS 5-7 TERTIARY
LEVELS OF EDUCATION
MALE PARTICIPANTS
FEMALE PARTICIPANTS
Fig. 1 Comparative levels of education (by gender)

616 P. Cavu et al.
in age groups is indicative of the inclusive nature of non-formal education, coupled

with adult education.
5 The Logic Behind the Training Choices in the TNA
The choice of training by participants did not differ with age or educational levels,
but reflected and depended upon a combination of the following key factors:
1. Gender.
2. Local natural resources—forest/sea/farming, etc.
3. Current income sources.
4. Geographical location—coast or interior, and distance from urban centres.
5. Developmental/lifestyle and educational needs (Fig. 2).
The major advantages of TNA-based training from the local to the national level can
be summed up as follows:
1. Individuals in the village (community) will have an opportunity to acquire new
skills that would help them improve their own standard of living and empower
them in managing their sources of income.
2. For the community as a whole, this would result in overall improvement in the
quality of life in the village, improved productivity and better management of
natural resources.
3. For the provinces, this would result in better utilization of development funds,
as villagers are now more informed and aware of their potential to implement
relevant village projects effectively.
GENDER
NATURAL INCOME
RESOURCES SOURCES
TRAINING
NEEDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DEVELOPMENT/
LOCATION LIFESTYLE NEEDS
Fig. 2 Factors that determine training choices

4. For Fiji, this would result in skills training in rural communities, effective re-
source management, reduction in social evils, such as poverty and crime, and
opening up further opportunities for growth.
6 Conclusion
Results from this survey would provide useful information to key stakeholders, such
as government departments, donor agencies and provincial councils, for decision-
making on rural training and education. In addition, the training areas identified
by participants have provided FIT, especially the Learning Centre, with specific
areas for short courses that may receive accreditation. The most popular choices for
courses include, amongst others, basic English, flower arrangement, basic plumbing,
basic carpentry and tourism/business studies.
Recommendations and projections discussed in this chapter would function as
guidelines for the development and improvement of education and skills training
for our rural communities over the next decade.
Researchers from the Learning Centre have established a good working relation-
ship with village elders, chiefs and provincial administrators throughout Fiji, and
have inadvertently lifted their expectations of FIT. The onus is on key stakeholders
to use the results of this survey as a basis for delivering effective relevant training to
rural communities. The vision is that if our rural people were empowered with the
necessary skills, they would become more independent and would play a leading
role in developing and improving the economies of their own communities.
For institutions, such as the Fiji Institute of Technology, the University of the
South Pacific and the Training and Productivity Authority of Fiji, the results of
this survey provide ideas for developing relevant courses targeted at school drop-
outs and rural dwellers. It is hoped that in the next decade more institutions and
organizations would share this vision and pursue the delivery of skills training to
our rural people.
References
Encarta encyclopaedia. 2004. CD-ROM, Microsoft Corporation.
Fiji. Ministry of Education. 2000. Learning together: directions for education in the Fiji Islands.
Report of the Fiji Islands Education Commission. Suva: Government Printer.
Hamadache, A. 1991 Non-formal education: a definition of the concept and some examples.
Prospects, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 111–24.
Mausio, A. 2003. Melanesia in review: issues and events: Fiji. The contemporary Pacific, vol. 15,
no. 2, pp. 440–47.
Ocitti, J.P 1990. Is indigenous African pedagogy a real option? Adult education and development,
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618 P. Cavu et al.
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The Fiji Adult and Community Education Think-Tank Group.
Chapter IV.8
Social Partnership in Vocational Education
and Training in Lithuania: Challenges
and Perspectives
Lina Kaminskienė
1 Introduction
Social partnership in technical and vocational education and training (TVET)—that

is to say co-operation and the interrelationship of functions and responsibilities
among the State, employers and employees—has been set as one of the priorities
of educational reform and is an important principle for the effective development of
the vocational education and training system in Lithuania.
Particularly in recent years, a change of roles has become apparent between the
State and non-governmental sectors in the TVET system. According to the Inter-
national Labour Office (ILO), there are three phases in the sharing of functions and
responsibilities between the State and private sector in the vocational education and
training system:
r The first phase: an unstructured and unregulated TVET system, where profes-
sional skills were acquired through the principle of apprenticeship.
r The second phase: a supply-driven TVET system (the State-dominated system).
This phase describes the situation when the VET system does not adequately
react to the needs of the vocational activity system,1 but decides alone what kind
of training is needed for professions and qualifications.
r The third phase is characterized by a demand-driven system. This is a situation
when a TVET system is directly influenced by the needs of the vocational ac-
tivity required by the market economy, and thus tries to satisfy those needs by
supplying the labour market with appropriate professions and qualifications.
However, today, a new tendency is clearly seen in Lithuania and other post-Soviet
Eastern and Central European countries. This is an attempt to strengthen relation-
ships between the TVET system and vocational activity system, while seeking new
forms of co-operation.

620 L. Kaminskienė
2 The Theoretical Background of Social Partnership in TVET
2.1 Social Partnerships as an Intermediary between Two Systems
Social partnership in the Lithuanian TVET system is analysed from the perspective
of different TVET models. Duties and responsibilities of social partners, as inter-
mediaries between the vocational activity system and the education system are based
on the theory of the duality of the vocation, which combines both its subjective and
objective aspects.
The subjective aspect of the vocation reflects the individual preferences of a per-
son, i.e. his/her preference for a certain activity on the basis of a human being’s
inner dispositions, often defining them as a human calling (Laužackas, 1997). The
objective aspect of a vocation focuses on work, its structure and the conditions under
which it can be carried out.
It is obvious that the interaction of the objective and the subjective aspects of
vocation in the TVET system expresses itself on a different level than that of the
vocation itself. At this level, the education system is likely to represent the subjective
aspect, while the objective aspect is represented by the vocational activity.
2.2 Social Partnership in Supply, Demand or Co-ordination Models
As a rule, the interaction of the educational and vocational activity systems defines
the model of the vocational education and training system in a country, as well as
the functions delegated to social partners. Three models of the interaction of the
educational and vocational activity systems are distinguished: demand, supply and
co-ordination (Fig. 1).
The first model describes the situation when the vocational activity system plays
a more active part in relation to the education system. The education system (or
TVET system in this case) is directly influenced by the changes and needs of the
vocational activity system and, thus, is adequately organized to react to these needs.
This interaction model is called the ‘demand-driven model’ (sometimes the term
‘manpower-requirement approach’ is used) (Georg & Sattel, 1995).
2.2.1 The Supply-Driven Model

The supply-driven model (or ‘social-demand approach’ according to Georg &
Sattel, 1995) exists in a country when the education system is the dominating part-
ner. Vocational education and training is organized and planned without any or
without sufficient attention to the needs of the labour market. The supply-driven
model characterizes the situation when educational establishments alone decide
what kinds of qualification are needed. Such decisions are based not on an analysis
of labour-market needs, but on the capacity of the existing TVET system (training
classes, teachers, manuals, etc.).
IV.8 Social Partnership in Vocational Education and Training in Lithuania 621
1. Demand model
Qualification demand
Vocational Education
activity system
system
Qualification demand satisfaction
2. Supply model
Qualification supply
Education Vocational
system activity
Qualification selection system
3. Co-ordination model
Qualification demand
Surplus Education
Vocational system
activity
system Qualification supply
Qualification demand satisfaction
Fig. 1 Models of interaction of vocational activity with education systems
The first model seems to be the most attractive one; however, in reality it can only
function in a stable economic and political environment. During the transitional
period, which has been characteristic of Central and Eastern European countries
(including Lithuania), this model could not resolve the existing problems in the
vocational education and training system. The reason was that the labour market
was not itself stable; companies had to survive in a very hard competitive market.
For example, in 1997, the Vocational Education and Training Information Service
noted that around 80% of employers were not sure of their future plans for two
or three years ahead (VET Informational Service, 1997). For these reasons, neither
employers nor their representive organizations participated in the early phases of the
reform of the education system in Lithuania.
The supply-driven model, which has been deeply rooted in Lithuania, did not
help to solve the problem of unemployment. It gave employers wide possibilities to
choose the necessary employees (labour force over-supply was extremely common
until 2000–2002) and they provided workers with only minimal social guarantees
(low wages, fixed-term contracts, etc.). The biggest drawback of the supply-driven
model is that the school became isolated from the real working world and prepared
workers and specialists who did not satisfy the new qualification requirements and
could not adapt to the requirements, which were evolving rapidly due to changes
and innovations following the impact of globalization on the economy, as well as IT
development and other factors. The supply model thus isolated social partners from
active participation in the vocational education and training system and their par-
ticipation became fragmententary. Even in 1997, when the TVET Law was passed,
it took a year or two for the first real co-ordination activities to start, under the
initiative of the Ministry of Education and vocational schools—but not of the social
partners themselves.
Both the supply and the demand models have their advantages and disadvantages.
Every State tries to balance and to regulate the relationship between its educational
and vocational systems and the labour market. The third, ‘the co-ordination model’,
expresses a certain compromise (coherence) between the demand and the supply
models. According to Laužackas (1997), this model seems to be the ideal one. How-
ever, achieving it requires a very flexible vocational education and training system in
the country with the following features: (a) a mechanism to balance and co-ordinate
the tasks and functions of the key players in the system; (b) a clear strategy for the
TVET system; (c) a well-regulated legal basis; (d) a regular analysis of what is hap-
pening in economic sectors; (e) a well-established monitoring system of the labour
market, etc. During the period 1991 to 2002, Lithuania tried to re-orient its supply
model to align it with the demand one. Nevertheless, because of the changes taking
place before and after 2004 (enlargement of the EU), during a period when the
Lithuanian labour market lost about 200,000 of its active working-age population
(there are no officially confirmed figures yet), discussions about the co-ordination
model became more active.
3 Historical Background of Social Partnership in Lithuania
3.1 The Social Partnership Model in Lithuania before the 1990s
During the Soviet era, social dialogue was of an artificial nature and based on the
principle of ‘supervision’, which was organized in a centralized way. Industrial en-
terprises had a duty to supervise vocational schools, which were their suppliers of
labour. Vocational education and training at that time was based on the Soviet labour
theory, which said that a human’s activity is a link between the subject and the
object—through activity a human being affects the surrounding world, as well as
changing himself/herself. Actually, social partnership as it is understood today (co-
operation and sharing responsibilities between the State, employers and employees)
did not really exist in the Soviet period.
During this period the TVET system was unified according to a Soviet model;
consequently, very similar vocational education and training systems now exist in all
post-Soviet countries. The typical features of the vocational education and training
system in Lithuania before the 1990s were as follows:
r A planned economy;
r Centralized management;
r Close relations (based on supervision) with large enterprises;
r Monolithic teaching curriculum;
r Absence of unemployment;
r Low image of vocational education and training (Gurskiene, 2004).
In addition, the old system was associated with low productivity and an unsuc-
cessful economy. ‘There was no competition in applying for a job. A person’s
vocational career depended on both his/her competence and ideological criteria’
(Beresneviciene, 1999).
Social dialogue in the Soviet vocational education and training system was arti-
ficial because there was no competition in the market; economic relations between
enterprises and users were based on the principle of the planned economy—but not
on competition. The labour force in Lithuania, as well as in the other Baltic coun-
tries, was not oriented to the needs of these countries but to satisfy the demands of
the USSR or the other Soviet republics (within COMECOM—the trading bloc).
It is also very important to say that the prestige of vocational education and train-
ing was very low, which consequently led to a rather superficial attitude at all levels
of society towards the system.
3.2 Social Partnership in TVET from the 1990s until 1997
After regaining independence, most of the previous co-operation between educa-

tional establishments and enterprises collapsed because of ineffective organization
and/or because many large enterprises went through a long restructuring process.
New ways of co-operation had to be established.
The collection of articles ‘National school’ was the first document, which tried to
describe the principles of the educational reform in Lithuania starting from 1990. In
1992 the Lithuanian Educational Concept was prepared. This document was the first
to introduce social partnership as part of the vocational education and training sys-
tem in the country. This document stressed the following problematic and important
areas, to which particular attention had to be paid:
r The foundation of private schools;
r The necessity of social dialogue;
r Development of a register of educational programmes;
r Independent evaluation of knowledge and competences (evaluation separate
from the educational process) while transferring this function to social partners
(employers);
r Ensuring continuity of education;
r Modular teaching (Dienys & Pusvaškis, 1998).
During the first years of independence (1990–1994), Lithuania failed to create and
to develop a mechanism in order to ensure a harmonious relationship between the
education system and the economy. Only after 1994, when employers’ organizations
became stronger and started to appreciate their role in the TVET system, did social
partnership acquire a more concrete form.
In 1997 social partnership was formalized in the TVET system in Lithuania by

the adoption of the law on vocational education and training. Almost in parallel,
in 1998 ‘The White Paper on VET’—a manual for vocational training—was pre-
pared. The idea of publishing such a document was inspired by the experience of
the new economy, becoming acquainted with European systems of vocational train-
ing through the European Union’s PHARE programme, vocational training reform
and other projects, as well as new experiments. ‘The White Paper’ described social
partnership as an engine for the continuous renewal of the vocational education and
training system. The principle of social partnership was described as co-operation
and interrelation of the State, employers and employees, which would result in
defining the boundaries of duties and responsibilities for each partner during the
planning, organizing, implementing and evaluating of vocational education and
training tools and programmes. The main condition for ensuring the quality of these
tasks was based on co-ordination and negotiation of different vocational training in-
terests (Lithuania, 1999, p. 19). Based on these strategic documents, social dialogue
in Lithuania was organized at three levels: national-political; vocational-political;
and vocational-practical. This model of social partnership still exists today.
3.2.1 The National-Political Level

The Lithuanian Vocational Education and Training Council co-operates closely with
the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Social Security and
Labour. This council is organized on a tripartite basis: an equal number of repre-
sentatives of State institutions, employers and employees participate on this board.
The Lithuanian Vocational Education and Training Council is a co-ordinating body
ensuring that the interests of all social partners are represented. Employers and em-
ployees are represented by their organizations (chambers of commerce, confedera-
tions of industrialists, trade unions, etc.).
At the regional level, the district vocational education and training councils play
an advisory role. They provide expertise and perform consulting and co-ordination
functions in regions.
3.2.2 The Vocational-Political Level

Industrial boards (otherwise called expert groups) are also organized on the tripartite
principle (TVET institutions, employers and trade unions from different economic
branches). The aim of these groups is to develop policy for vocational education and
training. Industrial boards form a part of the system for development of vocational
education and training standards. Following decisions by the Lithuanian Vocational
Education and Training Council and the Central Industrial Institute, a new board is
organized in order to analyse the needs, development perspectives and qualification
needs for each specific sector/branch. Fourteen industrial boards are established at
the methodological centre for VET.
3.2.3 The Vocational-Practical Level

Working groups develop concrete vocational training standards (VET Information
Service, 1998). There are two types of working groups: (a) vocational standards
groups; and (b) vocational training standards groups. Both groups work on the
basis of a contract with the industrial board. The first type (vocational standards
groups) makes concrete vocational studies, prepares sectoral analysis, defines de-
velopments and trends in vocations and makes forecasts of the future need for spe-
cialists (Laužackas, 1997). Vocational training standards groups prepare projects of
the necessary vocational and vocational training standards (Fig. 2).
The principle of social partnership is applied not only for the development of vo-
cational training standards but also in the organization of practical training (appren-
ticeship), curriculum updating and in the final qualifications examinations process.
Nevertheless, in the first years of the educational reform, TVET schools were
more active participants in the system than the social partners. The period
1990–1997 was very difficult for companies and business-related organizations. On
the other hand, companies did not meet fierce competition, which came later; partic-
ularly after the economic crisis in Russia in 1997–1998 and after joining the EU in
2004. One could say that the system of vocational education and training in the first
years of the reform was prepared exceptionally by joint efforts of State institutions
and schools. Only in 1998 did social partners become more actively involved in the
TVET system.
Lithuanian Vocational
Council
Central Board (Expert

Group)
Board-1 Board-2 Board-3 Board-14
Working Working
group group
Fig. 2 Model of the social partnership for developing vocational and vocational training standards
4 The Present-Day Social and Economic Developments

in Lithuania
4.1 Trends and Developments Influencing TVET
Social partnership in Lithuania, as in other post-Soviet countries, is a rather new phe-

nomenon, compared to such countries as Germany or Austria with long traditions of
social dialogue. Today, social partnership development issues are discussed following
the bottom-up principle. It is of primary importance to identify the main barriers which
prevent successful development of social partnerships in vocational education and
training. Employers should be attracted to the TVET system through their represen-
tative structures: trade associations, chambers of commerce, confederations, etc.
Increasing competition, more active trade and co-operation in the EU and for-
eign markets have become the key factors today making employers more interested
in TVET. Investments into new technologies, innovations in management and/or
production processes increased the need for broader competencies.
In 1998–2000 many Lithuanian companies had to re-orient their export markets
from Russia to the EU. It became clear that only high-quality products correspond-
ing to EU standards and directives could be sold in this new market.
Lithuanian companies have experienced the impact of global economic changes,
which are manifested by new technologies, the development of a knowledge soci-
ety, international trade and more active involvement of the labour force. Thus, as
rightly noted by the authors of the White Paper: ‘qualifications as established by
high world standards and continuous learning became an exceptional condition of
self-realization for each individual’ (Lithuania, 1999).
The first practical steps in trying to co-ordinate the educational and vocational ac-
tivity systems were implemented in 1998, when the State attributed several concrete
functions in TVET to its social partners: the Lithuanian Chambers of Commerce,
Industry and Crafts and, a few years later, to the Chamber of Agriculture.
As Pusvaškis (2003) puts it, previously it was the schools themselves that con-
ducted assessment according to general regulations set by the Ministry of Education
and Science. This system made it difficult to ensure the comparability of qualifi-
cations awarded. To ensure a more consistent approach, the Ministry of Education
and Science decided to involve the employers’ organizations and, in 1998, a reform
in this direction was launched. By 2003 the modified examination system had been
implemented throughout the country.
A decree by the Ministry of Education and Science regulates the organization
of the final examinations for TVET students, stipulating the responsibilities of
chambers of commerce in this process. The chambers of commerce are respon-
sible for monitoring the preparatory phase of final qualifications examinations by
involving specialists from enterprises with expertise in vocational programmes and
in developing questions for a theory examination. This is carried out in co-operation
with vocational schools. In addition, chambers of commerce are responsible for the
supervision of practical training in companies in order to ensure that TVET students
gain the necessary practical skills. The overall model of the roles and functions of
social partners while preparing and organizing final qualification examinations can
be illustrated as in Fig. 3.
This new way of conducting assessment has obliged schools to become more
committed to meeting the qualification requirements set by the State and to pay more
attention to labour-market trends. The participation of all the interested parties—
employers, employees and school representatives—in the process stimulates further
development through social dialogue.
Within the labour-market training system, the first steps to transfer responsibility
for the final assessment to the chambers of commerce have also been taken. The sep-
aration of responsibilities for training and final assessment is designed to enhance
the effectiveness and quality of vocational education and training. This should help
develop a mechanism to recognize and validate informally acquired competencies.
4.2 Key Players in Social Dialogue
In Lithuania vocational education and training schools, which represent State in-
stitutions, are the active partners and initiators of social dialogue. According to the
Expertise of new or
Curriculum: updated curriculum.
Learning/teaching Social partners.
tasks. School.
Organization of the
learning/teaching
process. School.
Practical training in a
Learning/teaching company. Social partners.
process. School. Developing a database.
Final qualification Composition of Selection of

examinations. Social examinations questions, representatives from
partners. tasks based on the companies.
learning/teaching tasks of a
concrete curriculum. Co-
operation with social
Theory Practical partners.
exam exam
Summing-up of results. Social

partners and schools.
Fig. 3 The organizational model for final qualification examinations

Law on VET (Lithuania, 1997), the following State and State-supervised institutions
are responsible for vocational education and training:
r The Ministry of Education and Science;

r the Ministry of Social Security and Labour;
r The Lithuanian Vocational Education and Training Council, composed on a tri-
partite principle of the State, employers’ and employees’ organizations;
r Other ministries, departments, district administrations and municipalities;
r The Methodological Centre for Vocational Education and Training under the
Ministry of Education and Science;
r Industrial institutes;
r Labour-market training centres;
r The Employment Service under the Ministry of Social Security and Labour;
r Tripartite committees under the Ministry of Social Security and Labour;
r The Experts Council, the Ministry of Social Security and Labour and labour-
market training centres.
The number of the institutions and offices listed (which does not include the TVET
schools) is evidence that the State is playing an active role in the organization of the
TVET system. While this is a positive approach, showing that the State is responsi-
ble for education, on the other hand this rather centralized approach may discourage
social partners from assuming more functions and responsibilities in the educa-
tion system. Moreover, the State has the role of co-ordinator or moderator, being
responsible for maintaining the balance of the above-mentioned structures. While
delegating specific functions and responsibilities to social partners (for example,
the organization of final qualification examinations is delegated to chambers of
commerce and the chamber of agriculture), the State also has to find the appropriate
financial resources.
Employers’ organizations in Lithuania are comparatively young, having only
been established since the first years of Lithuanian independence. Today, the
Lithuanian Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Crafts (1992), the Confederation
of Industrialists (1993) and the Confederation of Employers (1999) are the biggest
and the most active employers’ organizations.
r The Lithuanian Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Crafts is the only non-
governmental organization in Lithuania benefiting from an individual law. There
are five regional chambers of commerce with headquarters in Vilnius. Today
chambers of commerce bring together over 1,500 enterprises. In 1999 the Law
on Chambers of Commerce was supplemented by several articles allowing TVET
schools and other types of training organizations to become members of cham-
bers of commerce.
r The Lithuanian Confederation of Employers is a public organization uniting over
500 enterprises and about 100 associated structures. The confederation repre-
sents the interests of employers in various governmental committees, commis-
sions, councils, ministries and other State organizations.
r The Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists is a union of associations. The

confederation unites about forty trade associations, nine regional associations
and about sixty non-associated structures. The confederation plays an active part
in the lobbying sphere, as well as delegating experts from different branches to
industrial boards working on vocational standards.
Vocational education and training, unfortunately, has not yet become a priority area
of activity for social partners. This attitude has been influenced by the transitional
period in politics and the economy, as well as a strong preference on the part of
business organizations for lobbying and representation.
Employees in Lithuania today are represented by various trade unions, which
are united in four associations: the Lithuanian Trade Union Association; the Lithua-
nian Trade Unions Centre; the Lithuanian Labour Federation; and the Lithuanian
Workers’ Union.
Similarly, like employers organizations, trade unions have not paid much atten-
tion to vocational education and training issues. They are not adequately trained
and prepared to participate as equal partners in social dialogue. During the first
years of independence their major concern was to represent and to defend TVET
as supplied by the State. Nevertheless, such organizations still lack information
about their potential, or approach their functions and responsibilities for TVET
in a different way. Recent discussions, while developing a new Law on TVET,
only confirm this fact. Furthermore, trade unions had no administrative struc-
tures that could undertake these roles and functions in the TVET system. Neither
did they have any experience of negotiation and participation in social
dialogue.
Meanwhile, today, chambers of commerce, confederations of industrialists and
the chamber of agriculture are quite experienced and capable of sharing responsi-
bilities.
5 Social Partnership in the Context of the EU

Enlargement Process
5.1 Development of the Legal Basis for Social Partnership

in Lithuania
Legal conditions have already been created for social partners to participate in initial
and labour-market vocational education and training in Lithuania. The first legal
document in Lithuania describing the principle of social partnership was the Law on
Inhabitants Employment Law, enacted in 1990. This law legitimated the principles
of social partnership and functions of tripartite committees in the field of labour-
market policy.
Participation of social partners in the vocational education and training system
was first defined in the White Paper (Lithuania, 1999) and the Law on VET in
Lithuania (Lithuania, 1997). Social partners have been attributed the following func-
tions:
r to supply proposals to the Lithuanian VET Council, while defining requirements
for TVET programmes (modules) and final qualification examinations;
r to organize final qualification examinations;
r to register practical training agreements/contracts between schools, enterprises
and individuals;
r to supervise practical training agreements and their implementation.
According to this law, the term ‘a competent institution’ was introduced into the
TVET system. The Lithuanian Chambers of Commerce, the Confederation of In-
dustrialists and the Chamber of Agriculture were granted this status.
In 1999 the supplemented Law on Chambers of Commerce and Industry allowed
TVET schools and other training organizations to become members of these business
organizations. In 1998 the Law on Non-formal Adult Education also foresaw roles
and functions of social partners in continuous vocational education and training.
5.2 The Impact of PHARE, Leonardo da Vinci and Other

EU Programmes
Starting from 1994 to 1998, Lithuania, as well as other candidate-countries for Eu-
ropean Union membership, benefited from the PHARE programme (this originally
meant: Poland and Hungary: Assistance for Restructuring their Economies). The
first phase of the PHARE programme was focused on modernization of vocational
education and training in post-Soviet countries. Particularly, this reform aimed at:
r Audit/revision of the current curriculum and development of a new curriculum;
r The development of teaching qualifications at all levels of vocational training,
including teachers, employers and members of trade unions;
r The modernization of educational equipment;
r Initiation of partnerships with educational institutions in the EU countries;
r The development of TVET strategic documents (Lithuania, 1999; Zimina, 2002).
After the end of the first phase of the PHARE programme (1995) in the candidate
countries (Estonia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia), new vocational education and
training laws were adopted.
The PHARE reform gave impetus to involving social partners in the development
of the TVET system in Lithuania and other countries. In almost all of these coun-
tries social partners, particularly employers, were involved in the management of
vocational education and training through tripartite social partnership agreements
at national, regional and local levels. Furthermore, the relationships between vo-
cational schools and local enterprises were determined. In Estonia and Lithuania
leading bodies under the Methodological Centre for VET were established fostering
the assessment of vocational education and training needs in certain sectors of the
economy (Zimina, 2002).
A further reform, which started with the second phase of PHARE and other EU
programmes, was mostly oriented towards the national qualifications systems (in
Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia and Hungary). The problem of more active
involvement of social partners still remains a problem for such countries as Bulgaria,
the Czech Republic, Latvia and Lithuania—amongst others.
From 1997 other EU programmes (mostly the Leonardo da Vinci Programme)
allowed development of various sectors of the TVET system in Lithuania. These
programmes contributed to the successful reform of TVET, as well as harmonizing
the Lithuanian TVET system with other systems in EU countries. The Leonardo
da Vinci Programme particularly contributed to the mobility of students and teach-
ers, social partners in the EU countries, as well as considerably strengthening co-
operation between schools and enterprises.
These EU programmes allowed Lithuania to prepare for new challenges that ap-
peared following the integration process resulting from economic and social devel-
opments.
6 Challenges for Social Partners in Lithuania
6.1 New Responsibilities for Social Partners
Today, social partners meet with new challenges: increased competencies in TVET
schools and enterprises; the appearance of new players in the TVET system; higher
quality standards. All of these issues are outcomes of the reform in the TVET
system, integration with the EU and more intensive regional and international co-
operation.
New tasks and responsibilities for social partners have opened up on three main
levels:
1. Co-ordination of roles and functions on the decision-making level (political

level);
2. Teaching/learning pathways at the structural level (standardization, qualifica-
tions framework);
3. Co-ordination of tasks and responsibilities to optimize the teaching/learning pro-
cess (organization of practical training, final examinations, etc.).
On the decision-making level it is very important to regulate and to balance supply

and demand for the labour market, as well as creating a better mechanism to sat-
isfy the needs of the vocational system. An effective co-ordination on the decision-
making level requires fulfilling at least the following conditions:
1. A country should have a TVET regulating institution/board/council, where the

interests of the social partners are represented.
2. A country should develop a feedback mechanism in order to monitor quality

issues in TVET.
3. Direct contacts and co-operation between enterprises and schools should be
encouraged.
At the level of structuring teaching/learning pathways, roles and responsibilities of

social partners could cover the following aspects:
r contribution to the development of the National Qualifications Framework;
r contribution to the development of vocational training standards;
r contribution to the certification process (assessing formal, non-formal or infor-
mal learning).
On the level of optimizing the teaching/learning process, social partnerships could

contribute to a better development of practical training, and new forms and places
of teaching/learning. Having evaluated challenges on these three main levels, the
following areas of activities for the development of social partnership can be
identified:
1. Participation in the development of initial and continuing vocational education

and training policy through direct relations: enterprise/educational institutions;
through educational committees in chambers of commerce; and through TVET
councils at national and regional levels. It is of primary importance to make the
participation of employers more active in the regions. If on the national level the
interests of social partners are more-or-less well-represented in the TVET coun-
cils, regional TVET monitoring structures lack the participation and contribution
of social partners.
2. Participation in the work of expert groups (industrial institutes) for develop-
ing vocational standards. Because of the complicated mechanisms, long-term
procedures and low financial compensation, employers are unwilling to partic-
ipate in the development of occupational standards. Similarly, because of low-
motivation, employers are rather passive in providing expertise to vocational and
labour-market programmes. These areas of activity require a new approach from
all sides, both the State and employers. The input of social partners, while devel-
oping vocational standards, as well as while reviewing vocational programmes,
allows new competences to be introduced in TVET schools and prepares the
labour force for the necessary qualifications.
3. Participation in evaluation and making new vocational and labour-market train-
ing programmes coherent.
4. Participation in final qualification examinations. Though the function of orga-
nizing final qualification examinations has been delegated to chambers of com-
merce since 1998, many areas remain problematic. For instance, employers do
not participate in preparing final examination questions and not all of them are
acquainted with the educational content before the examination. The existing
system for the organization of final examinations does not allow the acquired
competences to be compared at the national level. This problem highlights the
need to develop a unified system of final examinations. Projects of this type,

supported by European structural funds, are taking place in Lithuania today.
5. Participation in the management of vocational education and training institu-
tions. The involvement of employers on the boards of vocational education and
training institutions is an exception rather than a rule. This is because of the
Soviet stereotype of school ‘patronage’, which functioned before the 1990s. Em-
ployers must adopt a new attitude.
6. Better organization of practical training. There still exists a problem in ensuring
the quality of practical training, as there is no guarantee that a student will gain the
necessary skills and knowledge. In order to solve this problem, the Ministry of Ed-
ucation and Science, in co-operation with social partners, develops regulations for
enterprises that are willing to accept apprentices. Only those enterprises that meet
these regulations will receive students for practical training. A special database of
such enterprises will be developed. The Lithuanian chambers of commerce and
other business organizations should certify the appropriate enterprises.
The above-mentioned areas of activity for social partners are the main ones—but
not all. Changes to be introduced into the new Law on VET should allow a more
active involvement of social partners at different levels of the TVET system.
6.2 Changes in the Legal Basis for Social Dialogue
All the key players involved in the TVET system admit that the legal framework
for TVET needs updating and improvement. At the end of 2002 the Ministry of
Education and Science started preparatory work for amendments to the Law on
VET. In 2004 a draft for the new law was confirmed (Lithuania, 2005).
It is expected that the new law will eliminate the contradictions present in the old
law. The main contradiction was that initial vocational training is completely sepa-
rated from labour training, which makes the process of integration very complicated
and heavy on the one hand, and, on the other, creates barriers for implementing the
idea of lifelong learning.
New changes also appeared because of the integration of Lithuania into the EU.
The new law should focus on transparency of qualifications, mobility, the accredita-
tion of qualifications, not only taking into account the Lithuanian education system,
but other EU countries too.
7 Conclusions
Although the Lithuanian vocational education and training system is still in a transi-
tional phase from the supply-driven and demand-driven to the co-ordination model,
social partners are involved in such activities as the development of vocational
standards, the organization of final qualification examinations, supervision of practi-
cal training, management of TVET schools, sharing costs in training and re-training,
evaluating vocational training programmes, etc.
During an eight-year period, the achievements of social partnership in vocational
education and training system have been quite considerable. The following changes
can be identified:
r change of the content of social partnership: relations between schools and com-
panies became based not on supervision but on co-operation, which is typical of
a market economy;
r changes to the curriculum, based on the needs of the economy, the new require-
ments; plus more active involvement of experts from companies in the develop-
ment of vocational training standards;
r updated and expanded new TVET programmes;
r modernized TVET and practical skills formation processes;
r new and flexible teaching/learning methods implemented;
r practical training is organized in modernized schools or directly in companies;
r an independent system of assessment of knowledge and skills implemented;
r experts from companies are involved in this process.
Having evaluated the existing potential of employers and employees, while devel-
oping social partnership in vocational education and training system, the following
steps should now be taken:
r training of employers and employee representatives in order to ensure their
more active participation in the functions and responsibilities of social
partners;
r developing local and regional co-operation between educational establishments,
regional administrations and social partners;
r developing TVET departments within chambers of commerce, industry and
crafts and chambers of agriculture in order to carry out the delegated functions
fully;
r promoting social partnership, explaining its aims and tasks in a vocational edu-
cation and training system;
r involving social partners in different committees, councils and other structures
related to vocational education and training issues;
r regularly updating and improving the legal basis for the development of social
partnership with the active participation of social partners in this process;
r ensuring financial support for sustaining social partnership;
r involving social partners in various national and EU projects; and
r developing research activities in the field of social partnership for TVET.
A new culture of social partnership has emerged in Lithuania and other Eastern
and Central European countries. The involvement of social partners in the voca-
tional education and training system is a logical outcome of the free-market system.
Social partnership in Lithuania has already contributed to the overall quality of the
vocational education and training system. This process is still going on so that social
partners respond to new challenges by trying to co-ordinate the interests of TVET

institutions, employees and employers’ organizations.
Note
1. The term was first used in Lithuania by R. Laužackas (1997), while speaking about the labour-
market system.
References
Beresneviciene, D. 1999. New possibilities for adult education and continuous development in
Eastern and Central Europe. Vocational education: research and reality, no. 2.
Dienys, V.; Pusvaškis, R. 1998. Changes in Lithuanian vocational training system during the first
stage of educational reform. Vocational education: research and reality, no. 1.
Georg, W.; Sattel, U. 1995. Arbeitsmarkt, Beschaftigungssystem und Berufsbildung. In: Arnold
R.; Lipsmeier, A., eds. Hanndbuch der Berufsbildung, pp. 123–42. Opladen, Germany: Leske
& Budrich.
Gurskiene, O. 2004. Initial vocational education and training policy in Lithuania and the EU. Vo-
cational education: research and reality, no. 8, pp. 38–51.
Laužackas, R. 1997. Reform of the vocational education and training curriculum: didactic fea-
tures. Kaunas, Lithuania: Vytautas Magnus University.
Lithuania. 1997. Law on Vocational Education and Training in Lithuania. Vilnius.
Lithuania. 2005. Law on Vocational Education and Training in Lithuania. Draft. Vilnius.
Lithuania. Ministry of Science and Education; Ministry of Labour and Social Security. 1999. White
Paper: Vocational education and training. Vilnius: Ministry of Science and Education.
Pusvaškis, R. 2003. The chambers are in charge of the final examinations for students at vocational
schools. CEDEFOP info, no. 3.
VET Informational Service 1997. Preliminary report: role of social partners developing VET in
Lithuania. Vilnius: VET Information Service.
VET Information Service. 1998. Report on VET in Lithuania in the social and economical context.
Vilnius: VET Informational Service.
Zimina, N. 2002. Features of VET development in countries-candidates to European Community.
Vocational education: research and reality, no. 5, pp. 118–27.
Chapter IV.9
Integrating Education and Work: The Status
of Vocational Education in Brazil
1 Introduction
This chapter aims at providing an insight into the implementation of policies that
take into account adapting technical and vocational education and training to the
technological changes taking place in the Brazilian economy. Here, general statisti-
cal data, legal measures and concepts function together in order to tackle the present
situation, and make a general statement that may start a dialogue with UNESCO’s
Member States.
2 Rethinking Formal Education and Training for Work
In the past, formal education and training for work have been linked to each other
in order to confirm that both are necessary to enhance the quality of human life and
to provide the right circumstances for maintaining the community. This association
can also found in legal documents and in speeches by governmental authorities,
sometimes to cement this close relationship and, at other times, to break it apart.
Examination of actual historical situations will reveal the peculiarities of each par-
ticular situation.
Formal education today has its place in the governmental agendas of all
countries. At the same time, science and technology are affecting most productive
processes, so it is necessary to re-examine the close relationship between formal
education and training for work and, whenever applicable, to remove any divergence
that may harm preparation for work.
Brazil, an heir to this dualistic tradition, intends to take advantage of the close
relationship between the two. It is believed that such an approach will overcome
the traditional view of vocational education and make it an integral part of basic
education—the right of every citizen.

638 L.R. Machado, C.R.J. Cury
3 Legal Measures in Favour of Vocational Education
According to the Federal Constitution of Brazil, education of any sort ‘aims at the
full development of the individual, his training for the exercise of citizenship and his
qualification for work’ (Federal Constitution, Article 205). This principle appears
again in Article 2 of the Basic Directives Act, immediately after acknowledging the
importance of the link between school and the world of work. Therefore, vocational
education should be regarded as one element in the nation’s efforts to provide equal
access by all citizens to the full range of social services.
Because vocational education forms part of a world where technological innova-
tions are taking place at an ever-increasing speed, affecting nations, institutions and
individuals, there is an urgent need to invest in people’s qualifications to become
builders of the economic and social wealth of the country. Vocational education
cannot be seen as a parallel educational network within a dual system, set apart
from basic education. Basic education is a right for all citizens, as is laid down by
law. In Brazil, there are three stages of basic education: early childhood education;
fundamental (or primary) education lasting eight years; and secondary education
lasting three years.
As a minimal requirement for the recognition of oneself as an equal member of
society, the Federal Constitution in Article 7, para. 33, prohibits any type of work
for young people under the age of 14—except as an apprentice.
The combination of vocational education and primary education represents an
achievement that has enjoyed a long history of parallelism, duality—and prejudice.
In a society such as Brazil’s, still suffering from the residue of a slave culture and
a hierarchical class division, vocational education has been viewed as second-class
education. Existing social barriers consigned vocational education to the role of a
‘network’ training labour for menial jobs, subject to stereotypes and even prejudices.
The ‘other network’, on the other hand, was a stronghold of the ruling classes and
reserved for an elite.
This perverse tradition of a ‘double network’ is now forbidden by law.1 However,
we still have a long way to go before we reach a situation where vocational education
would be chosen voluntarily by individuals who saw the advantage of its benefits,
thus ‘enhancing’ the value of human work, according to Article 170 of the Federal
Constitution.
One of the steps to achieve this situation is the legal obligation to progressively
introduce universal secondary education (Article 208, II of the Federal Constitu-
tion), as well as lengthening compulsory schooling. For that very reason, a 1996
act gives every citizen the ‘possibility of access to vocational education’ and fur-
ther states that ‘candidates who have completed secondary education or equivalent’
are eligible to admission to higher education. This tends to confirm the present
trend that expects vocational education to be a regular route to higher levels of
education.
Furthermore, a decree dating from 1997 states clearly that every citizen should
receive a secondary education, also clarifying that vocational education courses
should be parallel to or follow on from general secondary education.2 At that time,
IV.9 Integrating Education and Work: The Status of Vocational Education in Brazil 639
it was discovered that it was actually illegal to have regular secondary education and
vocational education at the secondary level.
Taking into account this irregularity, the government felt obliged to revoke this
decree and replace it with another one allowing regular secondary education and
TVET to exist at the secondary level, associating education for work with the edu-
cation of young people and adults.
This new decree clearly conforms to the National Curricular Guidelines for Voca-
tional Education. It is eventually hoped to adopt an Organic Law on Vocational and
Technological Education that will represent a ‘solid, permanent and coherent body
of legislation’. Since 2003, several initiatives have been launched towards adopting
such a law, especially a document on public policies for vocational and technical
education. This document expressed the need for a policy that combines vocational
and technological education with basic education. This integration should consist
of an organic, universal and democratic sub-system of this same vocational and
technological education in all its levels and forms. Whenever offered by the public
sector, these courses should be free of charge. A similar statement contained in the
Fundamentals of the Organic Bill reads as follows:
Vocational and technological education attempts to present technology as a historical and

social process; to provide the worker with knowledge so as to inform him about his role as an
agent in the transformation of production and of work, providing information on scientific
and technological discoveries.
Based on such principles, vocational and technological education will contribute to the
complete education of the individual, promote the transition from school education to actual
work, and place emphasis on aspects regarding work, technology and innovation, so that the
worker will be properly qualified for vocational practice.
Vocational education, as a measure to reduce social inequalities and to promote

the economic development of the country, is seen as a responsibility that falls upon
public schools under a policy for ensuring good quality. Due to its importance, these
measures are the subject of constant debates between members of the government
and other stakeholders through forums and public hearings.
Still another project aims to promote educational networks that will transform
the present Fundamental Education and Teacher Valorisation Development Fund
(FUNDEF) into a Basic Education and Teacher Valorisation Development Fund
(FUNDEB) through a constitutional amendment to be followed by proper legisla-
tion. The constitutional amendment proposes that vocational education will receive
public resources intended to develop educational networks. Besides this broad fund,
the bill provides for the creation of a Vocational and Technological Education Devel-
opment Fund aiming, among other things, to promote the training and qualifications
of teachers.
One of the networks that forms a sub-system at the national level is the Fed-
eral Network of Technological Education, with its federal centres of technolog-
ical education, the federal technical schools, the federal agro-technical schools
and the decentralized educational institutes. It is also worth mentioning here that
there are some vocational schools in the state and municipal networks, as well as
schools and foundations maintained by the private sector and by non-governmental

organizations.
Concerning the organization of curricula, the Bill of Law states:
The curricula of vocational education and of vocational technical education at the sec-
ondary level will be organized with a view to including scientific, technological, social
and humanistic knowledge that will form the common core of general and universal knowl-
edge, in addition to specific knowledge and skills reflecting actual work and production
activities.
Since vocational education courses at the higher education level are already pro-
vided for, the Bill of Law goes on to say clearly:
The curricula of vocational technological education at the higher education level involve,
in addition to the training of technologists, other modalities of undergraduate and graduate
studies linked to the technology area, the licensing of teachers in these subjects, as well as
applied research and the extension education.
The teacher-training component is very important since, in order to attain the

objectives of the different forms of education, both pre-service and in-service
teacher training will be necessary. Pre-service training will always take place at
the higher education level and the administrations of the respective systems will
be responsible for providing in-service education aimed at teacher updating and
improvement.
The Bill of Law also mentions a specific evaluation system. This system foresees
the conduct of surveys on vocational education, the compiling of updated informa-
tion and data, as well as the establishment of quantitative and qualitative indicators
for the courses. The evaluation of technological courses, on the other hand, will take
place under the provisions of the National System of Higher Education Evaluation
Act (SINAES).
Vocational education is therefore called upon to become a full and qualitative
element in the education system. According to the law, access to vocational edu-
cation at the secondary level is an integral part of the process to achieve universal
secondary education in all its forms. However, in spite of advances made on the legal
aspects, there are still two major obstacles to be overcome: (a) the inadequate num-
bers of students who actually reach secondary education; and (b) the circumstances
and competitive nature of the market place.
It is incumbent on public policies at each level of government to acknowledge the
importance of TVET as an instrument both for educating citizens to achieve voca-
tional competence and as a strategic measure contributing to national scientific and
technological development so that Brazil is on an equal footing with other countries.
4 Diversified Networks of TVET Institutions
Technical and vocational education and training in Brazil are offered through a wide
and diversified network of institutions. Approximately 3,948 institutions were regis-
tered in the Vocational Education Census (Brazil. Ministry of Education, 1999). Of
these, 2,034 offered courses in initial and continuing training (formerly basic) with
2,045,234 students enrolled and 1,567,888 graduate students (Posthuma, 1999).
The School Census of Technical Courses (Brazil. Ministry of Education, 2003)
reported the existence of 2,789 educational institutions offering technical courses.3
The number of courses totalled 6,446 with an enrolment of approximately 600,000
students. In 2002, 248,000 students graduated from their respective courses.4 The
Higher Education Census (Brazil. Ministry of Education, 2002) counted 636 courses
training technicians. The total number of students enrolled in these courses totalled
81,348 with 12,673 successful graduates.5
4.1 The Federal Network

Established in 1909 by the then President of the Republic Nilo Peçanha, the federal
network has existed for nearly 100 years and is present in twenty-two Brazilian
states comprising 139 schools classified as follows:
r thirty-six agro-technical federal schools (EAF)—these independent bodies op-

erate preferentially in agriculture and cattle-raising activities offering technical
courses with initial and continuing training as well as secondary education;
r thirty-four federal centres of technological education (CEFETs)—these federal
independent bodies offer higher education in technology at undergraduate and
graduate levels, as well as training for teachers and specialists in technical and
technological education;
r thirty technical schools linked to federal universities (schools without adminis-
trative, financial or budgetary autonomy offering technical courses, as well as
regular secondary education);
r thirty-eight decentralized educational units (UNED). These are schools with their
own sites but dependent, in administrative, pedagogical and financial terms, on
the CEFET to which they belong; and
r one federal technical school.
As of October 2004, modifications were introduced in the structure of federal tech-

nological education, in order to insert the thirty-four CEFETs into the federal system
of higher education that, from now on, comprises colleges (faculdades), technology
colleges, integrated colleges, institutes and higher education schools, university cen-
tres and universities. Thus, the CEFETs now have access to the research and grad-
uate sectoral funds, as well as to greater incentives for the qualification of teachers
and for the expansion of higher education courses. This will enhance their role as
reference centres for the diffusion of scientific and technological knowledge and
encourage local and regional development.
According to the Vocational Education Census (Brazil. Ministry of Education,
1999), 103 of the Brazilian institutions offering initial and continuing training
courses (formerly basic) belonged to the federal sphere, corresponding to only 5.1%
of the total number of institutions offering such courses, and to 3.6% (72,966) of the
total enrolment with 59,757 graduates.
According to the School Census of Technical Courses (Brazil. Ministry of
Education, 2003), these institutions represented 5% of the provision of technical
courses in the country. However, in terms of their student body, their participation
was more significant representing 13.2% of the 600,000 students enrolled in techni-
cal courses in Brazil.
Concerning the offer of higher education technology courses, however, participa-
tion of the federal institutions was quantitatively more significant with 143 courses
representing 23% of the country’s total, according to the Higher Education Census
(Brazil. Ministry of Education, 2002). The number of students enrolled in these
courses reached 16,895 (20.8% of the country’s total). In that year, 1,228 students
graduated from federal technician training courses (9.7% of the country’s total).
4.2 State Networks
According to the 1999 Vocational Education Census (Brazil. Ministry of Education,

1999), 800 state institutions offered this form of education (20.3% of the total of
such institutions in Brazil). Approximately 23.4% of these (187) taught initial and
continuing training courses (formerly basic) representing 9.2% of the Brazilian in-
stitutions offering such courses. The number of courses reached 889 representing
approximately 3.2% of the courses taught in the country. The number of students
enrolled totalled 120,999, of which 62,578 completed the course (5.9% and 4.0% of
the Brazilians respectively).
The participation of state educational institutions is larger regarding the offer
for technical courses. The School Census of Technical Courses (Brazil. Ministry
of Education, 2003) showed that this percentage equals 19.8%. The number of stu-
dents in state schools corresponded to 27.5% of the total of 600,000 enrolled in the
country.
As to the courses for training technologists, according to the Higher Educa-
tion Census (Brazil. Ministry of Education, 2002), enrolment totalled 14,170 cor-
responding to 17.4% of the total number of students in such courses in the country.
Among these students 2,394 graduated (18.9% of the total).
4.3 Municipal Networks

According to the Vocational Education Census (Brazil. Ministry of Education, 1999),
of the 3,948 institutions offering vocational education in Brazil only 342 were
municipal, representing 8.7% of the total. Among these municipal institutions 199
(58.2%) offered initial and continuing training courses (formerly basic), which
means that the municipal networks totalled 9.8% of all the Brazilian institutions
offering this type of course. However, this proportion was less significant if exam-
ined from other angles: only 3.4% of the courses offered (930 in 27,555), 3.9%
of the total enrolment (79,790 in 2,045,234) and 3.6% of the graduates (56,495 in
1,567,888).
According to the School Census of Technical Courses (Brazil. Ministry of
Education, 2003), the participation of the municipalities in the provision of technical
courses in relation to the other networks is smaller than that concerning the offer of
initial and continuing training courses. Only 4.1% of the educational institutions
that offer technical courses in Brazil were municipal. In terms of the number of
students, this participation represented only 3.3% of the 600,000 students enrolled
in such courses in the whole country.
Even smaller, however, was the participation of this network in the supply of
higher education courses in technology. According to the Higher Education Census
(Brazil. Ministry of Education, 2002), only eleven courses were available at munic-
ipal institutions—1.7% of the Brazilian offer. The enrolment reached 1,296, corre-
sponding to 1.6% of the total and the graduates numbered 130 (1%).
4.4 The Private Network
According to the Vocational Education Census (Brazil. Ministry of Education, 1999),

this is the largest network of educational institutions offering vocational educa-
tion in Brazil, consisting of 2,656 institutions and corresponding to 67.3% of
the total.
The greater part of them (56.2% or 1,545) offered initial and continuing training
courses (formerly basic). This group represented 76.0% of the educational insti-
tutions offering these courses in Brazil. In 1999 the number of courses totalled
24,189, 87.8% of the offer available to the Brazilian population. Consequently,
private institutions numbered 1,771,479 students enrolled, corresponding to 86.6%
of the enrolments in courses of this type and the number of graduates totalled
1,389,058.
The participation of the private network in the provision of technical courses is
also very significant. According to the 2003 School Census of Technical Courses
(Brazil. Ministry of Education, 2003), 71.1% of the Brazilian institutions offering
this type of education were private, accounting for 55.1% of the 600,000 students
enrolled in such courses.
The private network also leads the offer of higher education courses in technol-
ogy. Data from the Higher Education Census (Brazil. Ministry of Education, 2002)
indicate that the number of students enrolled totalled 48,987 (60.2% in relation to
the country as a whole), among which 8,921 reached completion.
4.5 The S System

The SENAI network (Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Industrial) now comprises
765 operational units (SENAI, 2004). There are 230 vocational education centres,
38 technology centres, 369 mobile units and 128 training centres/agencies. In 2003,
SENAI received 1,918,363 enrolments, 69% of which were in vocational improve-
ment courses (specialization and vocational initiation); 36.6% in initial and contin-
uing training (formerly basic); 3% in industrial apprenticeship; 2.4% in technical
courses; and 0.3% in higher education courses in technology. The SENAI courses
that grew most in relation to previous years were apprenticeship courses (34%) and
the higher education technology courses (44%) (www.senai.dn.br).
SENAC (Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje Comercial) has a national network of
474 institutions, 59 of them mobile, and it received 1,783,294 enrolments in 2003
(SENAC, 2004) (www.senac.br).
In order to ensure the evolution of micro and small enterprises, the SEBRAE
(Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio ao Empreendedor e Pequeno Empresário) assigned
priority to educational actions that are developed by the Education and Develop-
ment Section of the Entrepreneurial Culture Unit (UEDCE). These courses are
directed towards the development of competence in business management in a
continuing education perspective and use diversified educational techniques and
different media, including distance education. Other than courses, SEBRAE devel-
ops educational projects aiming at the dissemination of an entrepreneurial culture
(www.sebrae.com.br).
SENAR (Servicio Nacional de Aprendizagem Rural) develops vocational train-
ing in rural areas by means of non-formal approaches in occupational areas such
as agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, mining, agro-industry and cattle–raising. The
courses are directed exclusively to the rural producers who work in family busi-
nesses, to the rural workers and their families (www.senar.org.br).
5 Sources of Funding for TVET

Funding for public vocational education stems from several sources, since the Basic
Directives for National Education Act do not provide for the financing of this form
of education. It has no exclusive or specific sources of financing, nor does it have a
fund of its own. These sources are therefore: public budgets (federal, states and mu-
nicipalities); financing from international agencies such as the Inter-American De-
velopment Bank (IABD); from private enterprises, workers’ unions, co-operatives,
social movements and non-governmental organizations.
However, the most significant sum comes from a para-fiscal system, a monthly
and compulsory social contribution levied by the Department of Social Welfare on
the total of the wages paid by the firms from each sector to employees exclusively
for the management of the institutions of the so-called S System.
These resources are subject to widely different systems and models of man-
agement due to the existence of parallel systems of training, as well as to the
fragmentation of public policies resulting from the lack of a single financing policy
and from the piecemeal application of resources in programmes and initiatives that
in some cases duplicate each other.
In the absence of a public policy for vocational education, several emergency

programmes and funds6 sprang up in order to finance these activities. Among the
funds specifically directed to that end are the following: the Expansion of Vocational
Education Programme (PROEP)7 of the Ministry of Education; the National Quali-
fication Plan (PNQ)8 of the Ministry of Labour and Employment; the Vocationaliza-
tion of Nursing Workers Project (PROFAE);9 and FINEP’s PROEDUC—Education
for Competitiveness Programme.10
Other programmes can also be mentioned, whose general scope is not pri-
marily the financing of vocational training but which nevertheless reserve part of
their resources to that end: the Tourism Project of the National Economic and
Social Development Bank (BNDES); the Programme for the Support of Indus-
trial Development (Prodesin); the Support to Economic Infrastructure Programme
(Proinfra); the Encouragement to Research in the Area of Health Programme fi-
nanced by the Sectoral Health Fund; and the Induction of Regional Development
Programme of the Ministry of National Integration maintained by the Constitu-
tional Fund for Financing the Northern Region (FNO) and the Bank of Amazonia
(BASA).
Another important source of resources for vocational capacity-building is the
FUST—the Universalization of Telecommunications Services Fund—managed by
the Ministry of Communications that receives 1% of the gross revenue of all
telecommunications companies with the sum of R$3 billion available for its main
task, which is fighting illiteracy and the digital divide.
There is also FUNSET—Fundo Nacional para Segurança e Educação no
Trânsito—having, among other sources of financing, 5% of the total of all traffic
fines collected, which are used for the application of resources in the formulation
and promotion of projects and programmes for training and improving the person-
nel in charge of the engineering, education, computerization, policing, supervising,
operation and administration of traffic.
With a view to the consolidation of a public policy of expansion, diversification
and improvement in the quality of the supply of vocational, technical and technolog-
ical education in the country, the federated units (the states and the Federal District)
are monitored and oriented by the Ministry of Education. Each one of these units,
based on updated analyses of social demand and managerial information, must de-
fine its own plan, implement it and revise it periodically.
Due to the size and complexity of the work to be developed, it was deemed nec-
essary to promote the institutional and technical strengthening of the state systems
as well as the exchange of experiences, one of the reasons for the establishment
of the Expansion of Vocational Education Programme (PROEP) of the Ministry of
Education. Since 1998 the UNESCO Office in Brazil, by the means of technical
co-operation agreements, has been monitoring and participating in these actions,
offering advice to several of these federal units through their State Secretariats of
Education and/or Science and Technology (UNESCO, 2003).
To that end, the federal units have discussed and adopted diversified legal models
of state management in an attempt to solve financial, administrative and educational
difficulties that have caused a series of breakdowns and lack of dynamism in

the implementation of the guidelines prescribed and in the application of the
covenants.
In most of the federal units, with the exception of the more successful ones, there
is no solid tradition in the provision of this kind of education. Moreover, the states
are not legally obliged to provide it either. For these reasons, the state administra-
tions have no strong motivation to implement vocational education or to provide it
with stable and continuous financing. The result is a weak dynamism and precarious
administrative and educational structures in the state agencies responsible for the
management of these policies and also in the schools created for this purpose. The
functioning and maintenance of the vocational schools financed by PROEP must be
ensured by the state administrations as a response to the investments in infrastruc-
ture, equipment, capacity-building, consultant activities and services made by this
programme. Without budgetary provision and/or the creation of specific state funds
for vocational education, the educational and administrative problems that affect
these school centres cannot be avoided.
A new policy for the financing of vocational, technical and technological educa-
tion is being discussed by the Federal Administration, which sees it as a fundamental
condition for a qualitative leap forward: the establishment in the Brazilian states’
legislation of constitutional or legal responsibility for the financing of this form of
education, as well as the unification of the different resources financing it into a
specific national fund.
Co-ordinated by the Ministry of Education and oriented towards a pluralistic
management that is open to negotiation, this fund would seek to ensure the demo-
cratic participation of all the representative parties (the various governmental sec-
tors, employers, workers and educators), as well as transparency and the ethical
commitment, with a view to the expansion, the fairness and the control of the distri-
bution of resources.
6 Conclusion
The government is faced with unemployment, with the fact that through lack of
opportunities workers are being relegated to the informal economy, with finding
work for a great number of vocational workers and with finding a solution to the
vocational training of future generations. If it is truly concerned about this situation,
it cannot reduce vocational education to a mere technical exercise that ignores the
competences required by a labour market requiring higher levels of skill and, there-
fore, the conscious participation of all. Valuing vocational students is necessary for
their self-esteem, their self-respect and their future responsibilities within the labour
market. The vocational student is also a citizen who is concerned, as a social being,
with the future of society. For this reason, vocational education, instead of being
divorced from school education, should be integrated into it as a higher form of
qualification.
Notes
1. Article 29 of the 1937 Constitution explicitly mentions a double network with parts reserved
for different social groups.
2. This decree provided for three levels of vocational education: basic, in the form of separate
courses; technical, at secondary education level; and technological, at the higher education
level.
3. According to that census, the two richest Brazilian regions, the Southeast and the South, have
84.2% of all these institutions, 67.6% and 16.6% respectively. The State of São Paulo itself
has 41.7% of the schools offering technical courses in Brazil. The Northeast represents only
7.9% of the total and the Center-west and the North, 3.8% and 2.1% respectively.
4. According to that census, 95.3% of these courses were located in urban environments, whereas
only 4.7% were in rural areas. Health courses are the ones with the largest enrolments, 25.5%,
representing 27.3% of the total number of courses. Next come industry and management with
18.6% and 14.8% of the total number of students respectively. The distribution of enrolment
according to sex is relatively proportional: 51% of the students are male and 48.9% are fe-
male. Women outnumber men in specific vocational areas: health (76.9%), management, arts,
communications, social development, leisure and tourism. On the other hand, men outnumber
women in the areas of industry (87.6%) and agriculture and cattle-raising (76.3%). This latter
area concentrates younger students (68.4% are under 19 years of age). The area of health
receives older students (28% were over 30). In the total enrolment, 31.1% of the students
belonged to the 20–24 age bracket.
5. According to that census, the courses are distributed in the following areas: 269 courses
(42.3%) in sciences, mathematics and computer science; 163 courses (25.6%) in engineering,
production and building; 110 courses (17.3%) in social sciences, business and law; 46 courses
(7.2%) in services; 20 courses (3.1%) in humanities and arts; 19 courses (3.0%) in health and
social welfare; and 9 courses (1.4%) in agriculture and veterinary medicine.
6. The FAT, Assistance to Workers Fund, represents an important reference for the financing of
vocational education in Brazil for two basic reasons: (a) the sum of money it collects; and
(b) the democratic management model it establishes—the tripartite (government, employers
and workers) and equal representation in its Governing Council (CODEFAT).
7. Launched in November 1997 with resources of approximately US$500 million, half of which
coming from a loan by IABD, and the rest from the Brazilian counterpart—Ministry of Educa-
tion and FAT, of the Ministry of Labour budgets. It aims at providing the vocational education
centres with infrastructure, equipment and qualified personnel, and also at adapting and up-
dating curricula.
8. Financed by the Assistance to Workers Fund (FAT) with counterpart contributions required
from each project. Between 1995 and 2001, it involved 15.3 million workers. The resources
invested in this programme grew from R$28 million in 1995 to R$493 million in 2001. In
2002 these resources totalled R$153 million and in 2003 R$186 million.
9. Established in 2000, with a total cost of US$370 million, of which US$185 million come from
IABD financing. In 1999 Brazil had 460,000 workers in the nursing area, however, 74% of this
total were assistants qualified for clerical tasks only.
10. FINEP—Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos—is a public company linked to the Ministry
of Science and Technology. Through the PROEDUC—Promotoria de Justiça de Defesa da
Educação—it has financed nineteen projects benefiting over 21,000 student-workers through
fundamental and secondary education programmes offered by the firms.
References
Brazil. Ministry of Education. 1999. Censo da educação professional. Brası́lia: Instituto Nacional
de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anı́sio Teixeira.
Brazil. Ministry of Education. 2002. Censo da educação superior. Brası́lia: Instituto Nacional de
Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anı́sio Teixeira.
Brazil. Ministry of Education. 2003. Censo escolar dos cursos técnicos, 2003. Brası́lia: Instituto
Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anı́sio Teixeira.
Posthuma, A.C. 1999. Qual o rumo da formação profissional no Brasil? Análise do primeiro
quadriênio do PLANFOR. (Paper presented at the twenty-third Annual Meeting of the
Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Ciências Sociais (ANPOCS), Caxambú,
Brazil, 1999.)
SENAC. 2004. Relatório geral do Senac, 2003. Brası́lia: SENAC.
SENAI. 2004. Relatório anual do Sistema SENAI, 2003. Brası́lia: SENAI.
UNESCO. 2003. Atuação da UNESCO na área de educação professional: relatório. Brası́lia:
UNESCO Office Brazil.
Chapter IV.10
China’s Higher Technical and Vocational
Education: Development and Reform
1 The System of Chinese Vocational Education and Training
China is a developing country with a population of 1.3 billion and 9.6 million
square kilometres of land. In the last twenty years, under its policy of opening
up to the outside world, carrying out reforms and developing a socialist market
economy, China has made great advances in economic and social development,
and in people’s standards of living. The economic development of China is con-
stantly accelerating, and vocational education and training (VET) are developing
rapidly too.
Chinese children follow nine years of compulsory education starting at the age of
6. Elementary school lasts six years and junior secondary school three years. Senior
secondary school (general high school or secondary vocational school) usually lasts
three more years. Higher vocational education can continue for two or three years
and a bachelor’s degree at university is obtained after four years.
VET is an important part of the Chinese education system, since it plays a
significant role in the continuing growth of the Chinese economy and society. In
China, VET is divided into three streams which take place post-elementary school,
post-junior secondary school and post-senior secondary school. The government
pays particular attention to the post-junior secondary school level by emphasizing
the establishment and spread of the vocational system that covers both vocational
formal education and vocational training, and establishing linkages between VET
and other educational streams (see Fig. 1).
Formal vocational education leads to the award of academic credentials in junior
secondary vocational schools, senior secondary vocational schools and higher voca-
tional schools. Secondary vocational education is carried out in secondary technical
schools, secondary vocational schools and skilled worker’s schools. Higher
vocational education is carried out by higher professional training schools, voca-
tional and technical colleges, professional and general universities.
r Junior secondary vocational education enrols elementary school graduates for
three years of study.
r Senior secondary vocational education enrols junior secondary school graduates
for three years of study (some schools for four years).

650 J. Mi, A. Wu
Independent higher VE institute
Adult higher college

Ge
Gen
neerra
all
H .E. Hi gher VE
Other higher VE in University
All kinds of vocational training
General secondary VE school
Senior Adult secondary VE school

G.
G.S
S..H
HS
S
VE
Junior VE school
G.
G.J
J..H
HS
S JJu VE in general junior school
unniio
orr
VE
Fig. 1 A diagram of the Chinese vocational education system
r Higher vocational education mainly enrols senior secondary school graduates or

those with an equivalent educational level for two or three years of study. It also
enrols junior secondary school graduates for five years of study.
The Chinese Government has decided to make senior secondary vocational educa-
tion the core of its policy to expand higher vocational education, and to leave the
management of junior secondary vocational education to the responsibility of local
governments.
2 Structure and Scale of Tertiary Vocational Education in China

To meet the need for the practical and skilled workers required by China’s mod-
ernization process, efforts have been made to develop tertiary vocational education
over the past twenty years. At present, there are six streams for tertiary vocational
education:
1. Independent, system-reformed adult colleges;

2. The same course at universities;
3. Tertiary vocational education conducted by colleges
4. The same course at ordinary universities;
5. The experimental units of tertiary vocational education in five-year technical col-
leges; and
IV.10 China’s Higher Technical and Vocational Education 651
6. The new pattern of direct linkage between secondary and tertiary vocational
education.
One can note that these courses are mainly at college level at present (two or three
years). The aim of tertiary vocational education in China is to serve social and
economic development, particularly by guaranteeing students entry to immediate
employment after graduation. It is hoped to achieve a satisfactory combination of
production, teaching and research.
The objective of tertiary vocational education in China is to train a highly-skilled
workforce for jobs in the modern economy. Students graduating from high school
should be trained to enter advanced practical employment with a wide-range of
competency and aptitudes for occupations on the cutting edge of production, man-
agement and service. Tertiary vocational education is an important part of Chinese
higher education policy.
There are three kinds of admission to higher vocational education in China:
r The national entrance examination for senior middle-school graduates (pursuing
two or three years of college learning);
r The local entrance examination for secondary vocational school graduates (pur-
suing two or three years of college learning);
r The local entrance examination for junior middle-school graduates (pursuing five
years of college learning).
There are five kinds of school systems: full-time, part-time, correspondence/self-
study, e-learning and those conducted by regular higher education institutes.
From 1998 to the end of 2005, new student enrolment in vocational and techni-
cal colleges increased by more than four times, from 0.54 million to 2.68 million
(Fig. 2); total student enrolment increased from 1.17 million to 7.13 million (Fig. 3).
By the end of 2005, there were 1,091 independent vocational and technical colleges
throughout the country, 921 of these were at tertiary level (Fig. 4). In addition, there
were more than 600 regular universities conducting vocational and technical edu-
cation (Fig. 5). It has been planned that there should be at least one vocational and
technical college in each city (prefecture). The number of colleges, new student en-
rolments and total student enrolments for regular vocational and technical colleges
3
2.68
2.5
1.5
Million
1
0.54
0.5
0
1998 2005
Fig. 2 New student enrolments in technical and vocational education in 1998 and 2005
652 J. Mi, A. Wu
8
7.13
7
6
5
4 Million
3
2
1.17
1
0
1998 2005
Fig. 3 Total student enrolment in technical and vocational education in 1998 and 2005
1200 1047 1091

962 908
1000 871
772 767
800 668
607 558
600 505
432 446 415 411 402
400
200
0
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Adult higher education institutions
Technical and vocational education colleges
Fig. 4 Numbers of technical and vocational education colleges from 1998 to 2005
402
TTV College
Attached, Attached,
College
600 921 600
270 Adult HEIs
Fig. 5 Structures of technical
and vocational education
providers in 2005
Source: <www.moe.edu.cn/>
throughout the country account for 60.8%, 43% and 53% of those of regular colleges
and universities respectively. This represents nearly half of the higher education
institutions in China.
3 Tertiary Vocational Education Policy in China

The Vocational Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (China. Ministry
of Education, 1996) was adopted in 1996. In recent years, the Chinese Government
has paid much more attention to vocational education than before. In July 2002,
the State Council National Conference on Vocational Education pointed out that
China should organize a modern vocational education system and expressed some
specific requirements. After the National Conference on Vocational Education held
in June 2004, authorized by the State Council, the Ministry of Education and seven
other ministries and committees printed and distributed the Several opinions on fur-
ther strengthening of vocational education (Ministry of Education and Seven Other
Ministries, 2004). After that, the State Council formally authorized the establish-
ment of a Cross-sector Joint Conference on Vocational Education, responsibility for
which will be undertaken by the Ministry of Education. These measures laid the
foundations for the development of vocational education as a priority system. In
November 2005, the State Council National Conference on Vocational Education
was held once more. It emphasized that China should make developing vocational
education a key factor in economic and social development and the foundation of
its educational strategy. Thus, China will make further efforts to set up and improve
‘the modern vocational education system conforming to the Chinese approach’. The
present policies on higher vocational education that are being carried out by Chinese
government are listed below.
3.1 To Strengthen Collectivization, Market-Orientation and Growth
The decision of the State Council to place strong emphasis on the development of
VET means that China should: (a) positively promote the reform and innovation
of this system; (b) promote the integration and re-structuring of existing public
vocational schools; and (c) revise the structure of school management. Profitable
co-operation should be encouraged between tertiary vocational institutions, as well
as co-operation between colleges and enterprises. Private capital and foreign capital
should be used positively to build groupings of vocational education institutions
offering a range of training activities. Vocational education groupings should be
encouraged to adopt the structure of non-profit organizations, such as the Univer-
sity Alliance, as well as integrating and re-structuring their educational resources
in order to take advantage of each other’s strengths and to become more efficient
through the sharing of resources. Furthermore, groupings of vocational education
654 J. Mi, A. Wu
institutions are encouraged to adopt the methods of a business enterprise, such as a

franchise, and to plan the educational provision as a whole, unifying the standards
for running schools and employing the latest management methods (State Council
of China, 2005). Such groupings of tertiary vocational education institutions will
encourage the promotion of higher levels of college/industry collaboration in the
interests of resource sharing and synergy. For colleges and enterprises it is a ‘win-
win’ situation. It is also beneficial for the establishment of educational contracts
for training in tertiary vocational institutions, for facilitating the employment of
graduates, for promoting co-operation between colleges and universities in eastern
and western China and the development of both.
3.2 To Develop the Dual Qualification System
Other priorities that would create favourable conditions for employment are the
search for an approach that combines national employment standards with pro-
fessional teaching curricula, improves the training provided, innovates with new
training methods, makes teaching correspond to the expectations of the workplace,
and ensures the quality and diversity of human skills. This has to be accomplished
without prolonging the period of schooling or increasing the teaching hours. At
the same time, the supervisory and guidance services of the local education, labour
and social security departments are called upon to implement ‘dual qualifications’ in
local tertiary education institutes and ensure that this process is carried out smoothly.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Ministry of Education will dis-
seminate successful innovatory experiences from experimental projects, strengthen
research into the classification of occupations and occupational standards, mod-
ify employment standards in keeping with developments in science and produc-
tion techniques, and step-by-step introduce comprehensive vocational qualifications
adapted to job-clusters.
3.3 To Strengthen the Combination Production/Teaching/Research
Over several years and on three separate occasions, the Ministry of Education has
held a Conference for Exchanging Experience on the Combination Production/
Teaching/Research in tertiary vocational education. These meetings defined the
guiding principles for the development of tertiary vocational education as follows:
‘the aim of tertiary vocational education in China is to serve social and eco-
nomic development. Its objective is the students’ immediate employment after
graduation, and its development will be carried out through the combination pro-
duction/teaching/research.’ Tertiary vocational institutions are expected to use their
initiative to satisfy the demands of economic and social development. They are to
train people to be highly-skilled in practical abilities and possessing professional
ethics, who can meet the immediate demands of the production, construction, man-
agement and service industries. These people should also be reliable and functional.
3.4 To Develop Exemplary Tertiary Vocational Institutions
The objective of building exemplary tertiary vocational institutions is to benefit from

the enthusiasm of local governments and vocational colleges in promoting policy
directives. The plan is to select and build about 100 tertiary vocational institutions,
each with distinctive characteristics, that should be well supported by society and
correspond to the directions in which tertiary vocational education is expected to
develop. They will be important centres providing human resources for local social
and economic development and they will be the most important tertiary vocational
institutions in China, also having an international impact. They should play a leading
role in the building of Chinese tertiary vocational education systems and take the
lead in introducing training models combining production/teaching/research. They
are equally expected to take the lead in introducing teaching and educational re-
forms, educational resource sharing and international communications, so that ter-
tiary vocational education in China can reap the benefit.
At the same time, the Ministry of Education will reinforce the preparation of an
exemplary curriculum. Over recent years, the Ministry of Education has licensed
415 professions as ministry-level educational reform experimental sites, 62 profes-
sions as national projects of excellence and 75 curricula as being of national interest
for tertiary vocational institutions.
3.5 To Develop Practical Training for Vocational Education
Economic and social developments in China have raised the urgent need for skilled
personnel who have mastered advanced technologies. However, the practical con-
ditions for vocational training in China are unable to satisfy the demand for high-
quality skilled workers. It is for this reason that the country has brought together
the financial and physical resources to build a series of practical training insti-
tutes to accelerate vocational education. The intention is to improve the quality
of vocational education, making a greater contribution to economic and social
development.
The objective of setting up this infrastructure is ultimately to have some 15,000
vocational institutions in the country (including secondary vocational schools) and
to develop college/industry collaboration so as to foster employment. It is hoped
that eventually some 200,000 professionals would be available to provide practi-
cal training for more than 20 million students. To give full scope to the available
educational resources, the planning of local governments will be strengthened, and
excellent material and resources made available. The central government will also
provide help with the financial input. These national-level practical training insti-
tutes for vocational education will be distributed throughout different regions, and
incorporate teaching, training, occupational skill tests and technology services under
one roof. Building started in 2004 and is designed to be completed in five years. The
guidelines for these practical training institutes are: the cost-benefit ratio, orienta-
tion, lifelong education and active development.
656 J. Mi, A. Wu
3.6 To Improve Teaching Staff in Tertiary Vocational Institutions
Each tertiary vocational institution should adopt effective measures to promote

timely in-service teacher training so as to improve practical abilities. At the same
time, the tertiary vocational institutions should recruit professionals or technicians
with wide practical experience in a profession, enterprise or society as part-time
teachers (this includes retired people). Local education departments should set up a
system for the evaluation and recruitment system of ‘dual-mode teachers’ in accor-
dance with the needs of tertiary vocational education. They should be able to confer
academic titles and recruit teachers, and provide policy support for building teams
of ‘dual-mode teachers’.
The Ministry of Education has established six teacher-training institutes for ter-
tiary vocational education in the country. The mission of these teacher-training in-
stitutes is principally: (a) to provide training that will improve the theoretical level,
practical ability and professional skills of tertiary vocational education teachers;
(b) to conduct training in modern educational technology; and (c) to award a second
bachelor degree and provide graduate education.
4 The Long-range Development Objectives

of Tertiary Vocational Education
Now that China is well on the road to industrialization, it may soon be the largest
manufacturing country in the world. Its economy is undergoing thorough mod-
ernization, and new industries and skills are being developed all the time. It can
be seen from the development of higher education in China that the country has
passed through the stage of universalizing higher education. Higher education is
now changing from society-based, market-based development towards balanced de-
velopment, from caring about the number of skills to achieving a balance between
the supply of higher education graduates and the demands of the labour market. This
also means a balance between training a highly skilled workforce and meeting the
demands of the majority of young people for access to higher education, as well as
the balance between academic education and vocational training.
Up to the year 2020, there will be a major expansion in the scale of TVET, with
enrolment eventually accounting for about half of the places in higher education.
The TVET system will be optimized through diversification and alignment with the
lifelong learning system. Thousands of skills will be inculcated so as to support
the industrialization and the transformation of economic growth in China. Further
efforts will be made to build an affluent society and to raise quality in the interests
of the whole population of China.
References
China. Ministry of Education. 1996. Vocational Education Law of the People’s Republic of China,
1996. Beijing. (Adopted at the nineteenth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the eighth
National People’s Congress on 15 May 1996.)
Ministry of Education and Seven Other Ministries. 2004. Several opinions on further strengthening
vocational education. Educational newsletter of China, no. 1, 14 September.
State Council of China. 2005. The decision of State Council on vigorously promoting the develop-
ment of VET. People’s daily, 10 November.
Chapter IV.11
The Adoption and Adaptation of the
Work-Team Concept in Urban Thai Workplaces
1 Introduction
An organization always seeks the best possible mechanism to implement changes
and to improve organizational performance. In this era, where knowledge and learn-
ing are the focus of attention, many organizations have begun to realize that their
competitive edge depends very much on the knowledge and capacities of their staff.
Through their abilities to learn, to apply their knowledge and their work experience,
employees possess knowledge that can become organizational wisdom—as well as
intellectual property.
Nowadays, the trend towards learning organizations and knowledge-management
becomes a very important strategy in business competition. Many Thai enterprises
in various professions, such as computers, hospitals, banks, etc., are attempting to
turn theory into practice by adopting such strategies in their management.
The usual practice is for organizations to aim at creating web-based communica-
tion to help generate learning and information—a minor step in creating a learning
organization. The question is how an organization in Thailand can create a working
environment to stimulate and sustain sharing and learning abilities. The purpose is
to achieve product or management innovation. Many companies are seeking ways
in which they can improve their organizational operations. To create such an en-
vironment, Thai enterprises require teamwork from every employee. Teamwork is
the focus. For instance, it is possible for adults to learn through other means than
classroom-based lectures—it was once thought that this was the only way that learn-
ing can be delivered. Different strategies, such as informal learning, participation
and brain-storming, are now incorporated into the design of group-dynamic training
programmes. Individuals also have an opportunity to participate in workshops, to
contribute and to share their knowledge in an environment of peer support and egal-
itarianism (Burapharat, 2003).

660 C. Burapharat
2 Learning is Required at All Levels
Generally, the main goal of education and learning is to reduce the educational gaps
among people and to reinforce democracy by stimulating the individual’s participa-
tion in the larger society. Wilson (2003) and Hawley and Paek (2005) suggest that a
learning workplace needs knowledge workers and this, in turn, demands the reform
of secondary and post-secondary education, especially technical and vocational edu-
cation and training (TVET). The most recent report from the Asia-Pacific Economic
Co-operation (APEC) shows that basic education in Asian countries did not usu-
ally prepare employees with entry-level skills, while the labour market demanded
technically skilled workers (Hawley and Paek, 2005). This implies that a person
recruited into a company still has knowledge and skills gaps—either managerial
or technical—compared to the real needs of the organization. Unfortunately, to be
able to compete in the global market place, an enterprise cannot wait for changes
to take place in governmental policies on secondary and post-secondary education,
but must ensure that the employee acquires technical and basic skills using various
forms of training, either formal or informal.
The promotion of learning in an organization highlights the theory of adult
education—one of the most talked about theories in the world of business manage-
ment today. Adult education concepts have long been one of the key areas for human
resources development (HRD) in Western management studies. In Asia, especially
in Thailand, applying this concept in the area of management has been very slow. It
has been at Chulalongkorn University (CU), Srinakharintarawirot University (SWU)
and Chiang Mai University (CMU) where most adult education theories have been
developed, mainly for community development. Perhaps, it is time to become more
familiar with the concepts of adult education in order to understand more about
value differences between cultures.
Adults require and obtain knowledge through different learning styles, such as
experiential learning, self-directed learning, etc. While promoting learning, an or-
ganization has to keep in mind these differences, because it is the channel for an
individual to take in information, as well as providing it. Knowles’ model of adult
learning (1973) advocates that education must be learner-centred and constructed
to accommodate the diverse needs and interests of learners. Thus, it is the job of
managers and others involved to find ways of tapping into this hidden intellectual
capital, to find the means to sustain lifelong learning and to create a positive en-
vironment for knowledge-sharing. The wisdom of an organization could be hidden
anywhere. Sometimes, it is the quiet person, usually good at observing, who can
suggest creative answers to problems. Thus, the promotion of learning and sharing
at all levels may create learning opportunities in order to cultivate wisdom drawn
from people’s knowledge and experience.
3 Learning as a Change Strategy
Adult educators believe that education and learning are the means to bring about
change because they raise awareness of the self, which empowers individuals to
IV.11 The Work-Team Concept in Urban Thai Workplaces 661
make change (Freire, 1969). Individual learning brings about change because peo-
ple become aware of what needs to be changed as a result of the education and
information they have received. Knowles (1973) stated that most of the time adult
learners viewed themselves as non-learners, because they failed to consider them-
selves as possessing learning potential. On the contrary, an adult will achieve a
higher level of intellectual performance because of the experience of life. This can
be renewed, if not increased, and thus heighten his/her ability to learn and enquire.
Mezirow’s (1978) theory of transformative learning stated that ‘individuals change
their frame of reference by critically reflecting on their assumptions and beliefs.
Based on this process of critical reflection, the adult learners then consciously
change their behaviours to accommodate their newly defined world.’ That is how
change begins.
It is fair to say that, nowadays, everyone has the opportunity to access different
forms of education and information, either e-learning, web-based learning or group-
based learning. In reality, employees at many levels in an organization may have
been neglected or may have refused to share information, especially those who are
considered as incompetent and different. For example, an individual who cannot
comply with performance appraisal criteria may be viewed as incapable.
The concepts of learning and development have also been misunderstood and
misinterpreted. The printed form used in performance evaluation is often copied
directly from foreign sources. In many cases, it results in bias in the design and
implementation of the performance appraisal process. Such bias may cause rifts in
labour management and unfairness in justifying an employee’s self-development
opportunities. On the other hand, managers—in many cases the bosses—often for-
get about bureaucratic procedures when evaluating their favourite group. In such
situations, standard rules of appraisal can be waived. Many people who are not
complying with office politics may be excluded from new information and training
or may not be invited to participate in brainstorming sessions. Many employees are
‘marginalized’ in this way. It is time to adopt this word in organizational studies,
since this is what it means when people are ignored in a social organization.
To sustain change, learning and sharing are the keys. ‘In the complex enterprises
of the new millennium, learning has moved from the periphery—from something
which prepared people for employment—to the lifeblood which sustains them’
(Boud & Garrick, 1997, p. 1). This, in turn, transforms the nature of work in which
the employees are engaged to create new working practices and ways of production.
The culture of learning is necessary to overcome development barriers. Thus, the
construction of an environment supporting various learning styles and various forms
of inquiry is very crucial to support lifelong learning in an organization. A team
environment can create a culture of knowledge-sharing and synergy.
4 The Team as an Environment for Learning

and Knowledge-Sharing
Other than attempting to accomplish business goals and re-skilling their employ-
ees, today’s modern enterprises may also have higher responsibilities—to foster the
662 C. Burapharat
development of an individual as a whole person. Regardless of their educational

background, employees or adult learners come to work from diverse backgrounds,
with different levels of education and literacy, as well as of work and worldly ex-
perience (Knowles, 1973). They also come with many strengths embedded in their
language, upbringing and culture. It is the manager’s job to find ways to tap into
their skills and tacit knowledge and to make the most of their learning abilities. One
of the channels is through collective means.
Learning alone, however, cannot stimulate change. It has to happen together with
sharing to create dynamics of information flow for further knowledge creation. Mod-
ern management gives importance to working together (Senge, 1994; Wenger, 2002)
as the grounds on which to create such opportunities. That immediately gives impor-
tance to the team setting. For example, group participation can enhance the attitudes
of employees and their performance (Green, 1998). Participation is a way of en-
couraging worker involvement in decision-making, which has long been a topic of
interest to theorists concerned with enhancing the attitudes of employees and their
performance in the workplace. Participation has been associated with motivation
and leadership. There are many successful workplaces that actively involve mem-
bers in participation and decision-making processes throughout the organization.
In a regular hierarchical organization, a team helps build bridges between an indi-
vidual and organizational performance (Fig. 1). When we look at the transformation
taking place in the nature of work, it is noticeable that the trend is increasingly
in favour of creating teams. A team is seen as a crucial means to drive changes
in larger organizations. Synergy can be achieved through teams when the mem-
bers join together to create work or accomplished through results that individuals
could not have carried out by themselves alone. To create human relationships and
participation opportunities, an organization has to improvise because positive re-
lationships are the mechanism for bringing about knowledge-sharing and learning
environments.
A team is not merely a group of people who are working together to achieve
the group’s goals and objectives or produce high-quality work, but the ideal place to
start the stimulation of learning for both individuals and organizations
(Burapharat, 2003). Working as a team requires many skills since teams are not
just the act of bringing individuals together and working on a certain project or task.
Team skill is undeniably one of the crucial basic skills needed. It means a healthy
Organization
Group(s)/team(s)
Individual(s)
Fig. 1 The team as a bridge
relationship and positive environment in which people can have confidence in each
other and support each other. A team today also has the responsibility of creating a
culture of knowledge-sharing and learning to build healthy community-of-practice
networks. Not only is a trusting environment created and supported, but at the same
time positive ground is formed for people to participate.
Working together has always been part of human nature. The question often
asked is ‘how can one create a better team?’. This is realised in creating and manag-
ing the relationship, encouraging cohesive co-operation and lessening communica-
tion barriers. To construct a team environment with positive energy, the building of
good relationships is of the essence. Developed from group therapy theory, ‘group
dynamics’ offers opportunities to focus on team members’ relationships. This adop-
tion and adaptation of the concept includes small-group theory and team learning.
They focus on the ability to hold dialogue and skilful discussion that can help en-
hance the learning and articulation capabilities of an individual. Due to different
abilities to express themselves, some individuals in a team need support and en-
couragement from their colleagues to express their opinions.
5 Dialogue within a Team is Crucial
A team needs an environment that stimulates the learning atmosphere. This has
to be generated by the team members—only they can do it. The climate within a
team should be such that individuals can express themselves freely and feel in a
dynamic relationship with the other members of the group. The greatest emphasis
in building a positive environment for learning within teams should be placed on
achieving the right atmosphere through communication. Effective communication
‘is a prerequisite for every aspect of group functioning’ (Johnson & Johnson, 1997,
p. 140). Alan Webber adds: ‘conversation is the means by which people share and
often create what they know’ (cited in Isaacs, 1993, p. 1).
Concerning the transfer of knowledge, Senge (1994) wrote that two primary me-
dia with which teams build their learning capabilities are ‘dialogue’ and ‘skilful
discussion’.
Reflecting the essence of Buddhism, many contemporary thinkers, such as Senge
(1994) and Bohm (1996) amongst others, see dialogue as a tool to encourage people
to pay more attention to others’ ideas that might normally be ignored, especially
contradictory ideas. This is because people are usually preoccupied with defending
their own ideas—a lack of awareness that encourages confusion and problems. In
Metcalf’s opinion, our perception of the world comes from an accumulated pool
of knowledge which gives us a sense of meaning and individuality passed from one
person to another. By creating awareness, an individual can gather relevant informa-
tion and organize it into a meaningful understanding through such processes as dia-
logue (Metcalf, 1999). By being more conscious of our own thoughts, we can learn
from different opinions to create a setting for a collective learning environment. Di-
alogue as collective learning and inquiry is defined as: ‘A process for transforming
664 C. Burapharat
the quality of conversation and the thinking that lies beneath it. Dialogue opens a
new possibility for shared thinking or exchange thinking’ (Isaacs, 1993, p. 2)
Dialogue plays a big part in creating positive relationships and interactions that
are at the heart of effective group and team development. Isaacs (1993, p. 3) points
out that dialogue requires creating a series of increasingly conscious environments.
These environments can develop as a group of people become aware of the require-
ments and discipline needed to create them. Dialogue is seen as a means to explore
the underlying irrationality of thought and action that causes conflict between team
members.
Dialogue has been claimed to be the primary aspect that a team should con-
centrate on improving, as the value of the individual will be recognized through
the dialogue process. An environment can be created that is open and encourages
individuals to offer opinions and take risks in putting forward ideas and to learn
from each other through trust, respect and sharing goals.
When communicating, people will normally defend their own ideas and assump-
tions against people who have different ideas and point of views (Bohm, 1996).
Each individual has different opinions and assumptions—assumptions regarding
basic ideas such as the meaning of life, self-interests, the national interest, religious
interest, or whatever is deemed important. These assumptions are defended when
they are challenged (Bohm, 1996, pp. 2–3), a behaviour that can create conflict
between individuals in teams. According to Bohm (1996) and Isaacs (1993), people
may over-react when defending their assumptions and opinions in the face of an-
other team member’s opinion—even when they know that they are not right. People
generally choose to defend their own points of view and do not judge the merit of
other’s opinions. Such behaviour causes them to lose their grip of certainty about
all views, including their own (Isaacs, 1993, p. 3). For example, if an individual
hears somebody else who has an assumption that seems outrageous to them, the
natural response might be to get angry or to react in some other way. This reaction
was triggered only because the other person came up with an opposing opinion
(Bohm, 1996, pp. 12–13). This may be due to the fact that ‘words can be interpreted
in many different ways. And, of course, this is the basis for many misunderstand-
ings’ (Johnson & Johnson, 1997, p. 52).
Dialogue can be used to get at the root of different assumptions and provide
a means for team members to deal with them openly. ‘Dialogue actually involves
a willingness not only to suspend defensive exchange, but also to probe into the
reasons for it. In this sense, dialogue is a strategy to resolve the problems that arise
from the subtle and pervasive fragmentation of thought’ (Isaacs, 1993, p. 2). It is
suggested that individuals should suspend their assumptions and concentrate on
thinking together. What the team members need is to let ‘authenticity’ flow freely
in the belief that, in order for teams to discover insight, free communication should
be encouraged in the group. ‘Authenticity’ is defined as the ability to speak openly
without concealing disagreement.
Dialogue is more than just the way people talk, communicate and exchange ideas
and information among team members. Isaacs (1993), Bohm (1996) and Senge (1994)
emphasize ‘dialogue’ as an appropriate means of authentic communication among
members of a group. By doing so, individuals can learn together, can interact with each
other and discover how the team functions. This can accelerate the learning process
and lead to the achievement of collective understanding (Senge, 1994). Most informal
learning theory stresses the need for an ‘authentic’ setting to produce genuine com-
munication, which plays a big part in creating the ‘basis for rich learning experiences
that have the potential to be robust and highly transferable’ (Garrick, 1999, p. 19). The
main element in team learning thus encompasses communication strategies as being
‘authentic’ among the team members.
The concept of dialogue can be applied effectively in the workplace, especially
in teams. Bohm (1996, p. 14) concludes that people should attempt to suspend their
own opinions and to look at the opinions of others: listen to everybody’s opinions
and try to see what they all mean. If different individuals can understand the scope
of the varying opinions, then they are sharing a common content, even if they do
not entirely agree. In reality, the opportunities for authentic dialogue mentioned by
Bohm (1996), when applied in real situations, could be very difficult because of or-
ganizational hierarchy, bureaucracy, personal preferences, etc. At the conversational
level, socialization, according to Takeuchi and Nonaka (2004), means sharing and
acquiring tacit knowledge through direct experience from individual to individual.
In the Thai setting, there are some socialization elements that can enhance the shar-
ing atmosphere.
6 The Thai Setting
Thai educational and vocational institutions produce graduates with skills that are
inadequate for the needs of business. The ‘twenty-first century requires the ed-
ucation and training of knowledge workers—those who are able to use logical-
abstract thinking to diagnose problems, research and apply knowledge, propose
solutions, and design and implement those solutions, often as a team members’
(Wilson, 2003). It would be wise to find ways in which to support the collectivis-
tic nature of Thai society using team techniques. Many collective mechanisms are
already in place, for example, the roles of peer support in the form of the informal
third person and pseudo-sibling relationships (Burapharat, 2001). Complementing
Thai cultural behaviour will help people feel more able to express themselves. Many
Thais admit that they cannot discuss things openly or speak directly to others, partic-
ularly Westerners. They also feel uncomfortable communicating in public or with
certain people, such as those with a higher level of education than themselves or
with a dominating character. The focus then should be on the patterns of dialogue
typical of the Thai nature.
The nature of Thai participation is obviously different from participation in other
cultures. Hofstede (1994) observed that Thais have a collectivistic nature. He de-
fined collectivism as ‘standing for a society in which people from birth onwards
are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, which throughout people’s lifetimes
continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty’ (p. 225). Triandis,
McCusker and Hui (1990) described collectivism as: ‘A social pattern consisting
666 C. Burapharat
of closely linked individuals who see themselves as part of one or more collec-
tive (family, co-workers, tribe, nation); are primarily motivated by the norms of,
and duties imposed by those collectives; are willing to give priority to the goals
of these collectives over their own personal goals; and emphasize their connect-
edness to members of these collectives’ (p. 2). Many writers have described the
collective characteristics and behaviour of people from East Asia as group or so-
cially oriented, and as promoting the goals of others, with the emphasis on pub-
lic roles and relations (Hofstede, 1994; Triandis et al., 1990). Generally, collec-
tivism refers to emotional dependence on family, kinship, structure, organization
and, finally, on the social system. A highly collectivist culture emphasizes social
interdependence, connectedness and mutual deference or compromise as dominant
values.
In the workplace, the collective nature also applies. Burapharat (2003) con-
cludes that, after examining many cultural and behavioural mechanisms, urban
settings both support and obstruct collective procedures. Upon further investiga-
tion of Thai relationships in urban enterprises, it was found that the nature of
collectivism and value functioned quite differently from Western individualistic
behaviour. Knowledge exchange, Thai style, needs both supportive personal rela-
tionships and a supportive environment to create an informal atmosphere in which
people feel comfortable enough to share their knowledge and experiences. In or-
der to develop a learning atmosphere in a team, Thais need constructed patterns of
mutual interdependency and emotional dependence.
The special characteristic of kinship also plays a part. Burapharat (2001) found
that one of the most interesting themes emanating from research is the brother-
hood/sisterhood or pseudo-sibling relationship, which acts as the basic relationship
among team members. This unique behaviour within the workplace demonstrated
that an intimate and interdependent relationship affects the level of authenticity
towards one another. By calling each other ‘big brother/sister’ (Pii) and ‘little
brother/sister’ (Nong), employees feel very comfortable in assuming one of these
two roles and feel part of an intimate, collective group.
The words Pii and Nong are genderless language, and are usually attached to
the pet name or nickname of the person, such as Pii Paul or Nong Ann rather than
simply using the first name. Most Thai people have both a first name and a nickname
or pet name. Referring to each other in such a manner creates a warm and friendly
atmosphere with an immediate sense of being a family member. This is something
that takes place immediately when people start talking. Beyond smiling, it works as
an icebreaker strategy when people first meet. Both of these Thai terms, usually de-
termined by ages and job ranks, are used at all levels in organizations. If somebody
did not understand the relationship, perhaps mistakenly referring to an older person
as Nong for instance, no harm is done. There can be some adjustment or it can be
left like that. For example, a staff member may mistakenly call a younger person
Pii, but does not change to Nong after learning that person’s age. In many cases,
the word Pii is used to show respect for a person who has greater experience and
knowledge.
The brotherhood/sisterhood relationship creates an atmosphere allowing people

to be open to each other and communicate the information in their mind. They
can communicate when offered the opportunity and when they are close enough
to one another. As one staff member mentioned, she felt free to communicate
her mind within her department where she was familiar with her colleagues more
than in other groups of which she did not form a regular part. The sense of au-
thenticity depends on the level of closeness. Team members can trust one an-
other; here is a secure place to be truthful where ideas are not dismissed. This
relationship eases the tension related to losing face and reduces the problem of
non-assertiveness.
Such a relationship creates a warm and relaxed atmosphere for people to feel at
ease with each other. For dialogue to take place, team members have to be open to
the others’ opinions and hold back their assumptions, to listen and try to understand
while being able to voice their own opinions. Within the brotherhood/sisterhood
relationship, a sense of a family is generated in which members can overlook state-
ments that seem to create conflict by looking on the other as their own siblings.
Another noticeable aspect of the brotherhood/sisterhood relationship is that when
the sibling relationship functions the organizational hierarchy recedes into the back-
ground. Managers and staff feel on equal terms and comfortable in assuming their
social identity, rather than respecting hierarchical roles. While employing the sib-
ling relationship, team members demonstrate some sensitivity in dealing with the
other team members. Caring action is also part of building an authentic and inti-
mate relationship. In a manager’s case, the evidence shows that even outside the
office, his brother role continued, such as showing an interest in the welfare of his
staff-members’ families.
In conclusion, the fundamental nature of being a Thai supports working together
and is worth taking advantage of to create a positive team environment at work. In
practice management needs to be carefully designed to complement the best of the
team members’ nature, while being aware of many national cultural traits that can
obstruct the transfer of information. In the Thai setting, the pseudo-sibling relation-
ship plays a vital part in building an authentic atmosphere. By so doing, learning
through sharing and exchanging knowledge and information can be encouraged.
Although the relationships are rather informal, they seem to encourage authentic
dialogue among those involved. The particular Thai brotherhood/sisterhood inter-
relationships are a form of friendship with multiple layers of closeness and trust.
Within a team, this enables the team members to communicate with each other
through an authentic atmosphere. They feel comfortable to talk to each other. This
relationship also concerns the barrier in an organizational hierarchy between the
boss and employees, as well as among the employees themselves. In building an
authentic setting to enhance learning, the academic literature has rather focused
on building dialogue between individuals rather than the characteristics of the
interrelationships between them. The prevailing theories need to expand their bound-
aries to acquire more information about other elements involved in building an
authentic atmosphere and dialogue.
668 C. Burapharat
7 Designing a Team-Learning Workshop
Most teams have a fundamental problem with encouraging good co-operation

among their members. Frequently, they experience bad communication, conflict, no
pleasure in working together and prefer working alone, while communication skills
have been neglected. Carrying out a short-term group dynamics workshop provides
fundamental understanding about the importance of learning in an organization
through the use of groups and teams, as well as having adult education applications.
Most workshop and training sessions adopted from Western institutions have
often been copied in their totality—imposed on a different cultural environment
without modification. Such knowledge transfer has taken the form of teaching that
did not help individual development because it merely communicated content. The
adoption of Western concepts in different cultural environments is challenging due
to the lack of correspondence to the social etiquette embedded in diverse behavioural
protocols. For example, research findings show how Thai team members should
be approached respecting their cultural style. Team members have built a layer of
brotherhood/sisterhood relationships to enhance dialogue during their collective be-
haviour. They need an authentic atmosphere to exchange information and learn from
one another. Western literature on dialogue does not explicitly discuss building in-
formal or other kinds of relationships as a means to pursue an authentic atmosphere.
However, the Thai sibling style stresses the importance of building informal rela-
tionships as the gateway to having trust in each other. Many management change
programmes applied in Thai settings concentrate on working and operational pro-
cesses, rather than preparing human resources for change. One of the reasons might
be that a basic understanding about the theory and practice of adult education has
been overlooked.
Individual adult employees need workshops that help stimulate the use of their
knowledge and experiences. They need common ground for getting to know each
other and a positive environment for discussion. An intervention and change pro-
gramme has to be designed, researched, planned and evaluated to complement
Thai collectivistic characteristics. This workshop attempts to create an informal
atmosphere with some humour and to encourage dynamic communication, while
adding new skills such as presentation, teamwork, interpersonal relations, leader-
ship, problem-solving, communication, creativity and innovation. However, what
skills are to be emphasized depends on the needs of the group. Facilitation skill
is also stressed in order to demonstrate different means of communication and
knowledge-sharing. Activities are designed for participants to experience different
means of learning and to reinforce their relationships with different people with
whom they are not familiar.
8 Case Studies
Many teams expressed their initial frustration over the problems of working to-
gether. Even though the groups were composed differently, similar problems were
repeated: personal conflicts, lack of communication, divisions within the group and
low cohesiveness. This was an indication that there was a need to improve relation-
ships among the team members.
To accommodate and facilitate interrelationships among individuals, group dy-
namic workshops were conducted with several different teams in a financial enter-
prise. The contents and activities were designed to match the special requirements
of each group with different teamwork problems. The main purposes of these group-
dynamic workshops were to expand participants’ knowledge about the learning or-
ganization and the roles of individuals and groups/teams in it. Another purpose was
to create an opportunity for every member to get to know their colleagues so as to
enhance cohesion. Frequently, there was limited communication between individu-
als whose work was not related, so many of them never talked or associated with
one another at work.
The workshops tried to facilitate communication by using different activities,
such as group activities, games and brainstorming. These activities were designed to
arrange different group combinations in order to mix individuals together as much
as possible. The reasons for this strategy were to make group members work to-
gether with people with whom they were not familiar. Individuals learned to know
each other better. With the help of ice-breaking and brainstorming sessions, each
participant had a chance to talk to other team members he/she had never talked
with before, and to share their knowledge. Valuing other people’s ideas was also a
purpose of the workshop, since the workshop talked about the creation of a positive
team environment—but did not create a sibling-like environment.
In one case, a team faced many problems affecting their whole working rela-
tionship. Ninety-four members of this department had been transferred from other
departments because they were viewed as problematic. Being treated in this manner,
these individuals were full of anger and resentment; had low motivation; low morale;
there was no communication; they were unhappy; had no pleasure in working; and
lacked the will to work with one another. They displayed aggressiveness and pro-
crastination. They felt valueless and failures with no career future, etc. The average
age of the whole group was over 45. As a result, many of them kept to themselves
and never talked to anybody at work—no smiles, no laughter and no fun. Their
educational backgrounds ranged from Grade 4 to bachelor’s degree. Antagonism
and grievances were omnipresent.
The implementation of the one-day workshop was designed to provide differ-
ent perspectives towards learning and knowledge-sharing, including team-building.
The workshop was also designed to include many strategies to support different
learning environments in a flexible timeframe, such as learning through humour,
informal learning, learning by doing and learning from experience. It was focused
on increasing the participants’ motivation and basic soft skills: especially articula-
tion; and communication abilities such as self-expression, presentation, facilitation,
public speaking, brainstorming, listening and speaking in combination with ap-
plause, compliments and rewards for those who participated in brainstorming ses-
sions. In the brainstorming session, learners’ experiences were written on flipcharts.
Participants learned the theory and practice of facilitation skills. These ninety-four
670 C. Burapharat
people were divided into smaller groups of eight or nine—recommended numbers.

The assigned facilitators had to write down the knowledge from the rest of the group
on the flipcharts, with the idea of bringing out the best of each participant. Individ-
uals have a psychological need for their ideas to be acknowledged and respected.
Recording their ideas on the flipchart says that these ideas have been recognized.
People had to patiently listen to those who had difficulties in reading and express-
ing themselves. They all felt more relaxed and involved in such an environment.
Individuals were also more open to their colleagues’ opinions. Other soft skills,
such as presentation skills, were another way to stimulate their self-motivation. The
presenter becomes the ‘star’ and, for a moment, he/she feels proud. Through the
workshop, individuals learned more about each other. For example, one group found
out that one of their colleagues had a problem with near-sightedness and was so very
shy about it that they always hid behind a newspaper and communicated to no one.
The group adopted a more understanding attitude, as well as finding a solution to
help this person. This fact was communicated to the departmental manager who
changed his negative perspective about this individual. It also came to light during
the training session that many of the team members were illiterate.
Feedback after the workshop and follow-up upon return to the work settings
seemed to indicate some improvements in their relationships. When they returned to
their daily work, the participants became less aggressive, opened up to each other’s
opinion, showed more co-operation and were open to each other’s requirements. In-
dividuals were more relaxed around each other and most groups reported that their
relationships were getting better. There was more communication, more smiling,
motivation and enthusiasm to work with each other. After their adjustment to their
new environment, they became more collaborative in working together and showed
more confidence in work. They also created a community of practice to learn from
each other, such as teaching each other new computer or report-writing skills. On top
of these soft skills, this group was very lucky to have a departmental manager who
supported their development by adding a variety of informal and formal training
sessions. Formal training sessions were for core competencies such as negotiation
skills, calculation, legal knowledge, etc. Many teaching and learning programmes
arose from learning together. For example, employees who were experts in the Excel
programme were asked to teach and to tutor peers who had no such skills. Individu-
als who knew more about accounting and mathematics were asked to help those who
were weak in these skills. Peers were asked to assist each other in writing reports
and proposals. Making use of individual expertise, even if that expertise is seen by
others as insignificant, is very important to those who need basic knowledge and
computer skills. Later on, this department, apparently composed of people stigma-
tized as ‘useless’, was able to develop and was rewarded for making a high profit
for the enterprise.
The objective to increase soft-skills had been met—socialization skills like
speaking and listening to compliment and stimulate Thai collective nature. About
90% of the participants agreed on the usefulness of the programmes in terms of
increased positive relationships. Individuals had better relationships and gained pos-
itive feelings from sharing learning. From the personal to the team level, positive
relationship-building was very important to cement ties between individuals to fos-

ter the transfer and creation of knowledge. Individuals learned to be interdependent
and to share knowledge with the rest of the team. Through hands-on experience,
they received knowledge about facilitation skills. Moreover, the surprising finding
about workplace illiteracy indicated a lack of very fundamental skills for work. This
unexpected finding caused concern about the quality of the formal education system.
Does it produce a workforce with skills to match current requirements and does it
make employees keen to adjust themselves to the real work environment?
9 Conclusion
The case study showed that Western theory, such as group dynamics based upon a
background of adult education theory, can be applied to the Thai environment. The
theories accommodate different learning requirements and encourage self-directed
learning, rather than forcing people to learn and change. Different aspects of the
theory complement the Thai collectivistic nature, perhaps because they were close
to Buddhist philosophy, the key determining factor in Thai cultural development
(Blanchard, 1958; Klausner, 1987; Mole, 1973). Programmes and activities de-
signed to complement the collectivistic nature and self-expression in the Thai setting
need to include group-dynamic concepts, together with adult education and team
concepts. The workshop had to allow everyone to be themselves as much as possi-
ble while socializing. It focused on learning and sharing while adding soft skills and
practising team working.
An organization can create such a change by creating more positive opportunities
for people to talk. While an organization can create plans and policies, this does not
guarantee moving ahead as one big team to promote change. Many firms focus on
profit-sharing, rather than their human resource development. An enterprise has to
rethink its management directions and commitments to human resource training
and development so as to support both the organization’s performance development
and profit-making. An enterprise has to have some way to balance profit-sharing
and development of its human resources. This is very important since, in practice,
a training programme may reach the bottom-line workers whom the organization
had neglected to ask about their development needs. It is time for a Thai enterprise
to review its management strategies for tapping into the tacit pool of knowledge its
workers possess, and support its employees to become the source of knowledge for
the organization. The experience of the people working as front-line employees and
the learning capabilities of an individual can guarantee change in an organization,
if the management encourages the building of a learning culture. The workshop
provided an example of an open learning environment where the team can be the
grounds for positive and supportive mechanisms.
It can be concluded that individuals need a positive opportunity for ideas to flow.
This calls for good communication skills, such as speaking and listening to each
other’s ideas. Skills, such as being aware of local social etiquette, help improve
672 C. Burapharat
the interrelationships among the team members and that is the way to bring out
tacit knowledge. At the same time, a team is the best place to start practising
those skills.
The concepts and practices discussed in this chapter might make it feasible
for human resource developers in other cultural milieux to adopt—and adapt—the
approach pioneered in Thailand. One caveat is that ‘Western’ and even Japanese
notions of work teams will not work well unless tailored to local cultures.
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Chapter IV.12
Globalization of the Labour Culture
in the Republic of Korea: What ‘Tripartite
Relations’ Mean for Workers
Phoebe Moore
1 Introduction
The economic crisis of East and South-East Asia in 1997 had a rapid and significant
impact on the security of the ‘culture’ of labour forces, which includes relations
between management, government and workers; and the stability of workers’ em-
ployability and re-employability. This was particularly relevant for the Republic of
Korea (hereafter ‘Korea’) where workers suffered a drastic rise in unemployment,
which rose from 2.0% in 1996; to 7.7% in 1998; to 8.1% in the fourth quarter of
1998 (UNDP, 1999, p. 40). More than 3 million Korean people were unemployed in
1998 (Amnesty International, 1998), which is a significant number in a country with
a population of 48 million (Deen, 2003). Whilst layoffs have not been scarce in the
Korean labour force over time, the reason for the layoffs changed as a result of the
economic crisis. Prior to the crisis, job loss was usually attributed to the situation of
the national economy, but following the crisis, individual workers were blamed for
not having the necessary skills and attitudes required in the new global economic
landscape to either retain or regain employment in the ‘new labour culture’.
The leaders’ passion to promote the globalization of this ‘tiger’ knowledge econ-
omy has begun to alter the idea of employability itself, as though it were an im-
mutable requirement for the transformation of an entire culture. In fact, the culture of
tripartite relations between management/government/worker has not actually been
altered, but merely involves a worker-mandate shift that places the responsibility
of ‘self-improvement’ into the hands of workers, thus saving the government from
the need to pursue its welfare-state role. Instead, workers have been blamed for
their lack of preparedness for the future of the labour culture. The crisis of 1997
across Asia inspired reform-driven restructuring of vocational education and train-
ing (VET) to become part of a Ministry of Labour (MOL) manufactured ‘labour
culture’, which has come about in partnerships with international organizations that
advocate Korea’s globalized stance. New requirements for training and workplace
norms were expected to give workers the tools to adopt new forms of learning for
renewed employability. In this way, VET to adapt to the new labour culture is con-
ceptualized as a mechanism of the concept of trasformismo as defined within the
neo-Gramscian literature.

674 P. Moore
This chapter looks at a specific project designed by the Korean MOL just after the
economic crisis, entitled the ‘new labour culture’, in which leaders have attempted to
restructure knowledge through an imposed cultural shift. The third section focuses
on transnational relations between VET specialists through looking at international
educational strategies, and notes that employability has become based on work-
ers’ ‘knowledge’ of specific and newly introduced skills, due to the transition from
manufacturing to a knowledge- and information-based economy. The chapter goes
on to investigate exactly which skills for learning and work attitudes have become
employable in the culture of the changing job market, as employment has become
increasing unstable. The crisis recovery period following 1997 thus marks Korea’s
decision to unabashedly enter the global ‘knowledge economy’ as a competitive
player but, unfortunately, the Korean culture of work has not been transformed,
and continues to demonstrate a culture of continuous power struggles with little
improvement in workers’ position on the political landscape.
2 The ‘New Labour Culture’

The following discussion of the ‘new labour culture’ (hereafter NLC), introduced
by the MOL, includes information obtained during a semi-structured interview
held by the present author in December 1999 with the then Vice-Director of the
Korean Labour Management Co-operation Division. The reason for conducting the
interview was to gain a greater understanding regarding this proposed new form of
culture publicized in the Korean media after the crisis. An NLC can be seen as a
project attempting to display unions’ and management’s needs for cultural restruc-
turing and the internationalization of work norms. This process requires workers’
strict co-operation with the government, and despite the construction of a Tripartite
Commission which still meets regularly in 2005,1 the project aims potentially to
converge a multitude of voices, and to provide limited concessions within an age of
uncertainty—but ultimately is designed to circumvent workers’ upheavals.
The MOL introduced the idea of the NLC in July 1999, and companies were
given two months to respond according to the ‘three phases’ printed in the Korea
Herald (Kim, 1999, p. 18) (see Fig. 1).
Phase One: Phase Two: Phase Three:

Laying the Education, Reinforcement:
foundations: publicity: awarding model
developing changing old companies with
and thoughts and administrative
introducing practices and financial
principles (September- incentives
(July-August December (2000+)
1999) 1999)
Fig. 1 Three phases for the creation of a new labour-management culture

IV.12 Globalization of the Labour Culture in the Republic of Korea 675
Companies were given a matter of months to educate workers and to ‘change

old thoughts and practices’, and were expected to receive awards given to model
companies after the millennium. A sudden adoption of a globalized labour culture,
modelled after Japan and the United States (according to the Vice-Director), was the
MOL’s prescription for business survival in what he called the ‘IMF age’: an age of
reform that would prevent future upheavals.
The Minister presented the three principles of the NLC:
r Trust and esteem: the basic level to facilitate easy relations between labour, man-
agement and government.
r Co-operation and engagement: the action programme.
r Autonomy and respect: the goal to be achieved between management and labour
to eliminate the need and/or possibility for the government to intervene into busi-
ness affairs by establishing a worker/management relationship.
The principles of the labour culture require a shift in traditional power relations
between the three agents: workers, management and the government. The Korea
Herald article (Kim, 1999) quotes a Minister of Labour: ‘Korea must observe a
new paradigm of labour relations in which employers and workers are partners in
every sense of the word’. The Minister also stressed that ‘increased [. . . ] aggressive
employee training’ is a prerequisite to healthy labour relations. As the MOL is a
government body, the composition of this proposal is from its origins embedded in
unequal relations but, ultimately, the ministry wants to encourage management and
workers to find ways of negotiation and resolution between themselves.
So, bi-partite relations are a distinct indication of how the ‘culture’ of labour
would progress. The Vice-Director offered a more complete explanation of his use
of the term ‘culture’ by first listing the basic activities of labour relations, includ-
ing collective bargaining and strikes, and human resource management. He claimed
that companies should invest in labour culture training with the intention of ‘making
trade unions co-operate’. A 12.2% decrease in trade union membership in 1998 may
have indicated a higher level of co-operation, or that union members are learning to
co-operate with policy-makers. Alternatively, perhaps workers are choosing not to
join unions, despite the notion that it is their only chance to enjoy legitimate rep-
resentation. To achieve autonomy, as the third principle of the above list indicates,
perhaps workers need labour unions as a tool to negotiate with the government if
they feel that their autonomy is being challenged. The Vice-Director stated that
the autonomy supposition is a goal, not reality. He mentioned that labour leaders
do not respect union laws, and often use violence to pass their message, which is
‘intolerable’.
As a solution, The Vice-Director said that union members would have to change
their ‘minds’2 and become more flexible toward leaders’ decisions that were, admit-
tedly, made in haste and with international consultancy. The most significant change,
he stressed, would be union members’ co-operation with laws and government pol-
icy. Trade unions are learning; they have gradually started to conform to labour
laws and to realise that violence will not help. The Minister referred to percentages
676 P. Moore
of trade union membership, company investment and the models of modernization

(Fig. 2) for the NLC.
Because Korea’s labour history is considerably shorter than that of the United
States and Japan, Korea would have to accelerate its development of ‘modern’
labour relations. The final outcome of the labour culture project was intended to
cultivate ‘modern’ labour relations. The Vice-Director presented the model, ‘Com-
position of the future-oriented labour-management community’ which was also
published in the Korea Herald in late 1999. The question now is whether work-
ers can quickly adapt to new institutional requirements, and whether their way of
thinking and culture can or will easily incorporate the new ‘education’ and ‘train-
ing’ of work habits—the relatively ambiguous terminology that represents the ‘new
labour culture’. Companies must invest in new forms of VET if they wish to remain
competitive and stable. There is ‘no choice’, and the minister claimed that Korea
faced few choices as a result of the economic crisis and IMF restructuring. But the
crisis was the main reason for the need for a transformation of labour relations.
Trust
Esteem Responsibility
Create 21
Engagement Autonomy
Co-operation
3 elements for modernization
Perspectives Practices Systems
Fig. 2 Composition of the future-oriented labour/management community

Source: Kim, 1999, p. 18.
What quality marks the beginning of co-operation? Trust, according to the

model prepared by the MOL. As a result of on-going tensions over many years,
there has been very little trust between workers, management and policy-makers
in Korea. Since 1987, co-operation has been attempted but without trust there
can be no success in labour relations. Trust will take time, but someone should
make the first move and ‘management’ was the target. Management should learn
to trust the government’s economic policy and implement policies within their
companies.
Labour flexibility became a core theme in the restructuring of labour and re-
mains a priority for policy-makers. Lay-offs are usually justified as a temporary
remedy for economic difficulties in Korea and on-going restructuring of labour is
a crucial element for the continuation of capitalism. The possibility of being laid
off, however, makes people work harder, and while they feel stress and fatigue now,
the recognition of necessary changes within VET will stabilize their positions, the
Vice-Director stated. One change within the post-crisis era is that workers must
become more cognisant of the significance of their behaviour for company survival.
In the past, workers and management alike were not as concerned about keeping
their companies alive, partly because the government propped up lagging compa-
nies, and partly because there was less dependence on foreign investment. In the
contemporary age, workers will have to take on increased responsibilities for their
own employability, as well as the well-being of their companies.
Unions must be government partners in the NLC. But would new laws imple-
mented in the crisis-restructuring era reflect the needs and desires of workers? The
Minister stated that institutions must change before laws can be made. The Tripartite
Commission exists to facilitate policy changes; legal changes will be considered
within the infrastructure of the Commission. It will take time for changes to truly
affect relations. The interviewer reminded him of the lack of time that he had empha-
sized previously, of the urgency to change the labour culture to meet the standards
of the United States and Japan. But with the same vision, he said, practices can be
changed, since change depends on people’s minds.
If workers do not follow the lead of management, and management neglects to
follow the lead of the MOL’s NLC mandates, then businesses, especially those
that are foreign-invested, will fail and workers will lose their jobs. That was
the message from this prominent civil servant. Perhaps the reality is a reminder
to workers and management of who is still in control: the Korean Government
and the leading managerial class, and workers are excluded from development
dialogue.
3 The Restructuring of Ideas
In the mid-1990s, in order to accommodate the State’s objectives for globalization,

the Korean MOL began accelerating relations with international organizations with
a goal to model Korean VET programmes to those seen within the culture of the
678 P. Moore
‘convergence club’3 (Magariños, 2001). Korean President Kim Dae Jung (1997–
2003) reasoned that ‘the ideas and the modus operandi of the industrial society of
the past will not prepare us for adaptation and adjustment [. . . ] the time has come for
us to positively transform our consciousness to fit the coming century’ (Kim, 1997,
p. 205).
The knowledge society comes about through becoming a ‘learning society’.
Everybody (researchers, managers, workers) contributes to that process through
sharing their distinctive insights and know-how in building institutions and social
systems capable of holding/memorizing, mediating and continuously constructing
new knowledge (Nyhan, 2002, p. 20).
The need for new forms of knowledge within the workforce arises with changes
in production. During the age of Fordism, workers were trained to work on mass
assembly-line production. Nyhan (2002) states that the crisis of European industry
in the 1970s and 1980s was due to a lack of appropriate knowledge for the changes
that technology began to have upon work expectations. Enhanced interest in ‘knowl-
edge’ in education systems is a ‘timely reminder of some of the fundamentals that
have been lost’ (p. 30), which involves out-of-date assumptions that adaptation will
occur outside of clearly defined training.
The World Bank and OECD’s (2001) review of Korean progress since the eco-
nomic crisis shows that some amount of reform of education has been implemented,
but more was needed to guarantee an appropriately skilled workforce for the grow-
ing knowledge economy. Recommendations include the integration of skills instruc-
tion such as ‘communication skills, capability to utilize ICTs, as well as increased
possibilities for gaining field experience’ (World Bank/OECD, 2001, p. xv). These
international organizations also advise partnerships between universities and indus-
try, the enhancement of pedagogical training with an emphasis on new knowl-
edge and information and communication technologies (ICTs), the development
of performance-based pay systems, knowledge sharing systems, and the expansion
of exchange programmes between Korean and foreign educational institutions. At
this ideational level, these powerful institutions recommend several actions to im-
prove Korea’s chances of composing the work force needed and to ‘provide better
co-ordination between needs of the labour market and industry, and the supply of
education’ (p. xv).
With this in mind, the Korean Government sought to build on international part-
nerships. In partnership with UNESCO-UNEVOC and other international organiza-
tions, the MOL aimed to standardize and reform VET programmes to give them a
more globally competitive edge (ROK, 2001, pp. 61–62).
Korea’s greatest resource for development is manpower, according to experts
at UNESCO, but it is unrefined in its potential. The Asia-Pacific coalition of
UNESCO-UNEVOC emphasizes ‘innovativeness, creativity, adaptability, and
self-learning’ as the most attractive performance indicators for workers in the
knowledge economy, and holds meetings for educators to discuss implementation.
The first principal strategy for training is ‘entrepreneurship skills development’—
one of the primary components of neo-liberal economic growth, as entrepreneurs
are often the strongest negotiators of capital and the ‘brains’ behind the system.
OECD emphasizes that knowledge and information as ‘assets’ are becoming

increasingly valuable for nations to position themselves as competitive players in
the global knowledge economy (OECD, 2000, pp. 12–13). As the value of assets
has shifted from tangible to intangible, workers’ supposed ‘lag’ in adjustment to
expectations of what knowledge is, appears to require government-led strategies to
provide training that can quickly train capability and efficiently (Leadbeater, 1999,
p. iv). The implications of a knowledge-based economy or the ‘new capitalism’
(Leadbeater, 1998, p. 384) are that very specific types of worker knowledge and
behaviour are expected for effective utilization of human capital for development,
and will enhance national economies’ competitiveness.
The new capitalism, that of the Knowledge Economy, will be driven by the discovery
and distribution of rival intangible goods—information and knowledge—created by largely
intangible assets—human and social capital. These knowledge-intensive goods are best
produced through collaboration and competition, partnerships and networks, which bring
together public and private (Leadbeater, 1998, p. 384).
In this context, the Korean government has adjusted investment strategies, and has
restructured VET programmes, requesting that workers and civil society co-operate
with its incentives (ROK, 2001, pp. 12–13).
Industry in Korea has been changing, the ‘Republic of Korea’ states in one of its
government booklets and, therefore, the government is changing investment strate-
gies to prioritize research and development surrounding this issue. ‘Until now’, the
booklet continues, Korea has ‘focused on research and development in medium-
high tech industries, such as electronics, automobile, machinery and ship-building,
in which it retains relatively high competitiveness’ (ROK, 2001, p. 7). ‘Recently,’
however, the government has changed its strategic investment into ‘fields of new
technology, such as IT’. When the share percentage of ownership of the total market
by ‘foreigners’, or non-Korean investors, rose from 2.24% in 1983 to 9.11% in 1997,
jumping to 18.6% by late 1998 (the highest percentage since 1983),4 the ‘market’
required a critical overview of the workforce. This influx of foreign capital is located
in the knowledge industry more predominantly than in any other sector and this
has created an increase in demand for skilled ‘knowledge workers’ (ROK, 2001;
Lee, 2001), thus changing the nature of what it means to be ‘employable’ in Korea.
In response to these changes in industry-specific investment, new demands have
been made of the labour market, and the very concept of employability and what
constituted re-employability has been quickly thrown into disarray. If workers could
not keep jobs in the insecure post-crisis situation, they were expected to join VET pro-
grammes that would make them ‘employable’. If workers were privileged to remain
in positions of employment, they were expected to attend developmental VET that
would aid in maintaining their ‘employability’. The government’s hegemonic project
intended to involve the workers by providing the means for them ‘to help themselves’.
A senior researcher at KRIVET focused on the workers’ situation with regard
to training and how the researcher, in an ‘elite’ position conducting government-
sponsored research, understood employability. She stated that management had
developed different expectations and needs for training than the workers in the
680 P. Moore
post-crisis period. Workers were expected to seek qualifications and training for life-
long learning, which would increase their mobility. Management in the restructuring
scenario sought workers who could prove that they had gained training in what were
called ‘international skills’. This expert reflected on a July 2002 newspaper article
about the end-of-the-contract system for labour, which stated that the average age
to leave a job had become 38. Thus workers may want to gain new skills in order
to keep up with changing expectations occurring in the increasingly flexible labour
market with a high rate of worker turnover.
The KRIVET researcher mentioned that people in the automobile and computer
industries were more likely to keep their jobs. However, the reasons for layoffs had
changed, she stressed. During the economic crisis, many educated people lost their
jobs due to external forces. Unemployment subsequently became the result of actual
unemployability of individuals. Unemployed workers after the economic crisis were
forced to accept their own ‘unemployability’ in the face of new skill requirements,
and had to enter VET programmes that taught internationally accepted knowledge
and ideas for self-improvement and skills development.
Post-economic crisis Korean VET programmes were designed to prepare work-
ers to play an active role in integration into certain fields of technology that are seen
to require flexible workers who commit to a lifelong plan of learning in order to re-
main employable. Knowledge itself thus has become a commodity in post-industrial
society, and would be provided by the public sector to the private (Leadbeater, 1998,
p. 379). State guidance for this process became increasingly important due to ‘its
[the State’s] role in producing knowledge, through the education system’ (p. 379).
Jessop (2001, p. 63) notes that knowledge becomes a commodity when it is artifi-
cially made scarce, as opposed to the commodification of labour power that occurs
when it enters the labour market and becomes submerged in the labour process. The
commodification of knowledge brings about an unprecedented role for the State, if
it is to inspire a ‘profound social reorganization [. . . ] required to turn it [knowledge]
into something valuable’ (Schiller, 1988, p. 32).
In 1997, 13,888 firms were entitled to offer a ‘Vocational Competency
Development Programme’ to employees (KOILAF, 1999a, p. 109). This programme
involved training workers for new work styles of individual performance and ‘com-
petence’ (p. 109). However, the increase in demand for knowledge workers drasti-
cally exceeds the demand for the ‘unskilled’ (ROK, 2001, p. 14). Furthermore, ‘the
wage gap between production workers and managerial/white-collar employees has
begun to widen since 1998, because production workers suffered more severe pay
cuts’ (Katz, Lee & Lee, 2001, p. 232).
Thus, restructuring of knowledge and skills in Korea involved the government
establishing relations with international agencies whose intentions focus on the con-
vergence of production relations, including employable skills.
4 Restructuring the Content of VET Programmes
The promotions of new characteristics of labour performance include several ele-

ments that contrast with the Korean cultural expectations of workers. Rowley and
Bae (2002) observe how core ideologies of human resource flows, work systems,
evaluation and reward systems, and employee influence can be systematically con-
trasted to new characteristics. Traditional Korean work practices include: the pri-
oritization of an affiliate organization over the individual him/herself; emphasis on
collective equality; and community orientation over individual equity and market
principal orientations. Kim and Briscoe (1997) note that traditional human resource
management in South Korea is based on an emphasis of group harmony (in hwa).
Incentives and bonuses were based not on individual performance but on that of the
group. Team spirit was the formula for excellence in the traditional workplace—
cultural norms that were bound to change with the MOL’s NLC.
The major changes introduced by VET programmes are in the areas of perfor-
mance appraisal and payments systems, lifelong learning and individualization of
work. These cultural shifts are reflective of the post-Fordist age wherein modes of
control over the process of work have been rewritten. In the post-Fordist production
age, the stipulation for manual skills has become nearly completely replaced by
the demand for individuals’ ‘knowledge’ (Aronowitz & DiFazio, 1994, p. 83). New
work styles have changed promotion and compensation techniques to fit individual
performance, which were to be appraised by managers who were equally inexperi-
enced in the new standards (Kim and Briscoe, 1997).
4.1 Performance Appraisal and Payment Systems
Perhaps the two most difficult requests made by the government for labour discussed
by the first Tripartite Commission in negotiation for restructuring of culture were
labour flexibility and changes to the traditional payment system toward a perfor-
mance-based system.
People with intelligence, skills, creativity and willingness—the knowledgeable—
are critical for sharpening the competitive edge in the era of infinite competition.
It is becoming increasingly important to lay a solid ground for economic recov-
ery through remodelling corporate infrastructure and creating an atmosphere where
workers of ability are valued (KOILAF, 1999b, p. 11).
In November 1997, just as the economy began its dangerous slide toward a crisis,
the MOL took a renewed interest in vocational programmes designed to achieve the
above competences. The Vocational Training Promotion Act of 24 December 1997
began a trend by changing the titles of the VET facilities to vocational ability devel-
opment training facilities, and the term ‘vocational training’ became vocational abil-
ity development training (ROK/MOL, 1999, 2005). ‘Ability’, a relatively ambiguous
term used repeatedly in the emerging training institutions, refers to a particular work
ethic included as part of training procedures. Workers were increasingly expected to
assume new responsibilities and skills for the international work standard, regardless
of their rupture with the past work culture in Korean corporations and businesses.
A KOILAF publication recommends some ‘basic directions’ for the implemen-
tation of a performance-based wage system. Guidelines are:
r Help workers and employers to find common ground for the introduction and
operation of a performance-based system.
682 P. Moore
r Ensure that the procedures for adopting a new wage system comply with the law
and any counter-productive effect is averted.
r Induce a simplified wage system (KOILAF, 2002, p. 11).
Employers and workers were encouraged to introduce a profit-sharing system

wherein profits exceeding targets could be shared equally. Management was re-
quested to run business openly and with transparency, so that workers could easily
identify what types of performance would be expected of them. These suggestions
aimed to democratize the performance-based system, requiring an entirely new set
of performance requirements that expect individuals to take responsibility in the
restructured economy.
4.2 Individualism and Lifelong Learning

After the crisis, individualism and lifelong learning became crucial worker qualities
that are sought in the knowledge economy, and workers were expected to demon-
strate those skills. Korean workers have historically not been judged according to
individual performance evaluations, which are a new requirement in many restruc-
tured companies. Traditional Korean culture is said to be more community-oriented
than individual-oriented. However, workers are struggling to adopt individualistic
attitudes. Korea has no time to account for cultural work styles, or for its Korean
‘spirit’. Koreans will have no choice in the matter because of unlimited competition
around the world.
Nonetheless, individualism was to be emphasized in the workplace. A higher
quality of education would be offered to the younger generation so as to distinguish
the workforce of the future. Employees increasingly need to be ‘creative, and they
will also need to be able to adapt to rapid changes in society [. . . ] employees should
be given various opportunities to study continuously in order to adopt self-directed
learning methods for absorbing new information’ (Lee, 2001, p. 4).
Twenty experts and officials at the Korea Labour Institute (KLI) were brought
together in 2003 to form a research team under the Qualification System Reforms
Task Force (KLI, 2003). The research team intended to come up with visions and
innovations for the qualification system and to review changes to VET since re-
structuring in 1997 and beyond. The study notes the shift towards learning for life
and work, which is centred on the individual and states that ‘decent work underpins
individuals’ independence, self-respect and well-being, and, therefore, is a key to
their overall quality of life’. The study notes that every individual has a right to VET
and compares Korea to several other nations, including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil,
Chile, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Mexico and Spain, whose national constitutions
accommodate this. This right is also acknowledged at the international level, for
example in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the American
Declaration of Human Rights and Obligations (1948). In the most recent phase of
VET in Korea, researchers at the KLI have decided that education is the right of
citizens and is a crucial way to find access to employment, reducing the likelihood
of unemployment and with significant increases in life-cycle earnings.
The study claims that economic, social and technological factors cumulatively
account for the growing emphasis on the individual in Korean VET. The production
of goods and services in any contemporary economy has begun to rely on human,
rather than physical, capital, or ‘on its workers’ individual and collective endow-
ment of knowledge and skills’. The ‘individual’ is the new citizen of society and
has been granted a central place in statements of learning and training objectives.
So the process of formal education and training in 2003 was no longer limited to
the passing on of information, but envisions a society that prioritizes a scenario
of ‘individuals learning to learn so that they can find out for themselves’. Factual
knowledge itself is no longer enough, but individuals are encouraged to learn how
to analyse, access and exploit information and in turn to devise and create new
knowledge. Taking charge of one’s own learning and ability to learn is the only
way to survive or to ‘live and work in the knowledge and information society’.
VET makes individuals employable and productive and helps them escape poverty
through mobility and choice. These statements, perhaps, do not sound controversial
at first reading. But who decides what VET curricula should be provided and to
whom? Who decided that ‘individuals’ were to become the primary producers in
Korea?
‘Individuality’ was not only part of a new concept of the culture of employ-
ability, but was concretely associated with ‘citizenship’. According to the EU
Memorandum on lifelong learning, active citizenship refers to how ‘people par-
ticipate in all spheres of economic and social life, the chances and risks they
face in trying to do so, and the extent to which they feel that they belong to,
and have a fair say in, the society in which they live’. This incorporates ideas
of participation as well as replacing ownership, similar to the ownership that
is increasingly expected of nations’ development (see Cammack, 2001, 2002a,
2002b).
So individuals are now expected to take responsibility for their own employ-
ability and the government has declared that VET is an important factor in this
process. ‘Lifelong learning’ is the way in which workers can adapt to rapidly
changing economies over time, and the government (ROK, 2001, p. 42) suggested
a widespread series of facilities to support and incorporate lifelong learning into
the very core of Korean culture. National and regional lifelong education centres
and lifelong learning halls were to be developed. Libraries, self-governance centres,
social welfare halls, women’s halls and citizens’ centres were to be strengthened. A
pilot project entitled ‘learning clubs for turning local culture into lifelong learning’
was suggested. An information network was intended to result from this campaign,
as well as a database to organize information on professors, lecturers and education
programmes of lifelong learning institutions. One booklet, ‘Occupational World of
the Future’, offered workers access to available VET and other forms of education so
that they, as citizens, could prepare themselves for new employability requirements
in the knowledge economy.
684 P. Moore
4.3 Incentive Structure
But in a nation with such a tumultuous history of unrest, how would workers re-
act to drastic changes and reform in the employment structure and labour market?
The government quickly homed in on aspects of employment that would prove
to be the most volatile, and tried to create an incentive structure to circumvent
uprisings. Through framing the government-required training programmes as pos-
itive incentives for personal development, and in the post-crisis era as a means
to remain or to become ‘employable’ after the enormous amount of lay-offs, the
government applied a ‘strategy on the part of the dominant power to gradually
co-opt elements of the opposition forces—a strategy known in Italian politics as
trasformismo’ (Cox, 1999, p. 25). ‘Trasformismo can serve as a strategy of assimilat-
ing and domesticating potentially dangerous ideas by adjusting them to the policies
of the dominant coalition and can thereby obstruct the formation of class-based
organized opposition’ (Cox, 1983, pp. 166–67). The Korean government sidelined
potentially dissident groups by providing a social safety net taking the form of VET
programmes to appease laid-off workers who were most likely to oppose elite-led
accumulation strategies.
About half of the employers surveyed (Park, Park & Yu, 2001, pp. 144–45) stated
that the most difficult subject for firms undergoing employment adjustment was to
convince workers of the necessity for employment adjustment.
The following matters were ranked as the second, third, and fourth most difficult
things in the implementation of employment adjustment: ‘consultation about the
criteria to select who are to lose their jobs’; ‘consultation about the compensatory
package for workers to be adjusted’; and ‘consultation about the number to be ad-
justed’. These were not favourable signs for the application, ease or effectiveness of
‘adjustment’. Management realized that sudden layoffs are not easily accepted by
workers, and sought ways to appease and help prevent backlash and resistance to
what they had been told was a market-driven inevitability. Employment adjustment
includes attrition, ‘honourable’ retirement, dismissal and ‘others’—which refers to
spin-offs or early retirement (Park et al., 2001, p. 128).
Management created regulations that introduced the idea of voluntary partici-
pation with incentives for involvement in training schemes, which in some cases
provided a rare option to secure employment in the midst of the crisis. New in-
centives were introduced under the Employment Insurance System (EIS), a system
designed to reduce the risk of job loss after the lifetime employment laws had been
revised (KOILAF, 1999c, p. 112). The EIS ‘purports to popularize vocational train-
ing and enhance firms’ competitiveness [. . . ] provides incentives such as subsidies
and financial assistance to encourage individual firms to invest in the internal labour
force, thereby improving labour productivity, employment stability and the firms’
competitive edge in international markets’ (p. 58).
But the ‘hottest issue’ was how to encourage workers to participate voluntarily
in the vocational competency development programme (KOILAF, 1999c, p. 110).
To encourage voluntary participation, the government offered businesses two al-
ternatives: (a) support for implementation of the subsidization for implementation
costs to employers; and (b) paid leave for training (p. 110). One KRIVET report
shows that workers who do not attend the training programmes stated that they did
not do so simply out of lack of desire, and out of deliberate resistance to require-
ments for attendance. The study shows that 47.4% of attendees of training went due
to mandate, whereas 14.9% attended training programmes voluntarily. The study
‘Educational and training program situation in Korea’ (KRIVET, 2000) also shows
15.9% of companies have taken part in internationalization strategies via vocational
training programmes. There are 191 new types of programmes being implemented
and the number of companies that now require participation in these is increasing
every year. Laid-off workers were opposed to forced training programmes because
of unwillingness or because of a suspicion of the limited short-term benefits—
demonstrating the lack of consensus for these initiatives.
This study has claimed that Korea’s VET reform has been managed by a govern-
ment that was not immediately able to consolidate hegemonic consensus or com-
monsense, but led a programme of passive revolution. The government has shown
that, once again, it is almost completely unswervingly taking unilateral charge of
recovery at the guidance of the IMF. Its introduction of an NLC involves an explicit
request for workers’ co-operation with management and the government, and for an
adaptation to the knowledge economy VET-taught employable skills.
5 Conclusion
‘The twenty-first century’, the Korean MOL website reads, ‘is the era of knowledge
and information! In this era, superior human resources are the basis of individual,
corporate, and national competitiveness’ (ROK/MOL, 2005). Vocational ‘ability
development’ is ‘preparation for productivity increase, employment stability and
a prosperous future’. The NLC, a framework for tripartite relational changes, was
intended to reverse a history of intense labour conflict and to ultimately achieve
‘superior human resources’. Simultaneously, it introduced globalization of expec-
tations in the workplace, introduced through ‘voluntary’ training programmes that
employees were required to attend, in order to maintain or to rediscover individual
employability in the impending knowledge economy. Has this strategy been effec-
tive, ultimately? Has the government’s strategy resolved the issues of unemployment
and labour struggles that it set out to address?
In late December 2004, the Korea Employer’s Federation held a survey with
eighty-eight human resources management officers. This survey predicted unstable
labour-management relations by 2005 (KOILAF, 2004a). Some 60% of officials
indicated that they expected industrial relations to be less stable by 2005, and only
11% predicted improvements. The survey also showed that the primary difficulty in
resolving on-going labour-management strife was due to ‘the struggle-oriented ten-
dency of unions’ (28%), ‘influence from higher-level labour organizations’ (25%)
and ‘irrational laws and systems’ (19%). From these comments, it seems as though
the intentions of the NLC have not been completely realized. In terms of unemploy-
ment, in October 2004, Korea suffered a three-year high as farms and non-service
686 P. Moore
industry sectors continued to dismiss workers (KOILAF, 2004b). Is this because

workers have failed to become employable? Or has the economic crisis reached
new levels of magnitude?
While the NLC was implemented to encourage tripartite communication between
involved parties, it does not appear to have promoted harmony of social dialogue
within the Tripartite Commission. In 2001 at the meetings of the third Tripartite
Commission, which had been reformulated after a series of failed attempts to com-
plete negotiations since its first meetings in 1998, leaders discussed the issue of
vocational training. The ‘government’ promised to ‘look for ways of enhancing
the efficiency of operation of systems, including efforts made for stabilization of
insurance for projects of job-skill development, [and] rationalization of the system’
(ROK/Tripartite Commission, 2001). ‘Management’ promised to cultivate an en-
vironment that would encourage workers’ voluntary education and training, with
the recognition that ‘such education and training will form the basis of the nation’s
industrial competitiveness in the future’. These statements demonstrate the on-going
impulse to expect workers to meet the challenge of maintaining individual employ-
ability for the sake of their nation’s sustained development. But while the govern-
ment and management have been clearly represented at the commission’s meetings,
unions have not demonstrated the same appearance. One of the two most prominent
umbrella labour unions, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) has not
rejoined the commission after withdrawal in 1999 due to members’ disapproval of
its decisions at the first meetings.
In 2005, the leader of the KCTU resigned after confrontations at a special meet-
ing called to discuss whether this important organization should rejoin the Tripartite
Commission—despite its history of disappointment and the paralysis of union repre-
sentation. The leader sought ‘agreement or disagreement’ from union members, but in
protest some members poured flammable liquid on the floor. These members perhaps
feel that the KCTU’s membership of the commission will turn out to be a double-edged
sword and will not promote worker representation, but will represent complacency
toward the passive revolution of changes taking place in the Korean ‘labour culture’.
The failure to include worker representation in restructuring and development plans,
through the promotion of their employability but without inclusive and representative
union involvement, demonstrates an on-going hegemonic crisis. Several pressures
have contributed to ruining these relations, including the impulse to globalize and
to become increasingly competitive within the knowledge economy. Nonetheless,
without hegemonic resolution, attempts to locate an inclusive forum for negotiation
of globalized development strategies will continue, and ideally may play a role in the
formation of true democracy in this small but volatile nation.
Notes
1. The First Tripartite Commission was established on 15 January 1998. Management, govern-
ment and union leaders met to negotiate the restructuring of the Korean economy at that time. Is-
sues brought to the table included wage stabilization and the promotion of labour-management
co-operation, enhancement of ‘basic labour rights’ and also the enhancement of ‘labour market
flexibility’.
2. In ‘Kunglish’, or Korean inspired English, ‘mind’ means ‘way of thinking’.
3. The notion of convergence, or nations’ abilities to replicate industrialized countries’ develop-
ment trajectories, was both implicitly and explicitly a part of IMF restructuring schemes such
as that applied to the Republic of Korea in 1998 and onward. Members of the ‘convergence
club’ are advanced industrial countries, and the benchmarking of best practices for the creation
of wealth emanate from them.
4. Statistics provided during an interview the author conducted with a senior researcher at the
KRIVET Asia-Pacific regional headquarters in Seoul, 9 August 2002.
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Chapter IV.13
Involvement of Labour-Market Partners
in TVET in the Russian Federation
Olga Oleynikova
1 Introduction
The present chapter is based on a number of independent surveys and reports of

international projects implemented in the Russian Federation (henceforth Russia) in
the field of VET, as well as the author’s personal experience. To date, no analysis of
the problems mentioned in the title has been performed in Russia.
The vocational education and training (VET) sector in Russia is made up of two
major types of institutions, initial VET schools1 and lyceums (ISCED, level 4) and
VET colleges and technicums (ISCED, level 5B). VET schools are all State schools
that serve both to provide young people with basic technical skills making them
employable on the labour market, and to accommodate the social-support needs
of youngsters from disadvantaged families. Both levels provide access to higher
education.
To obtain a coherent picture of VET/enterprise interaction in contemporary
Russia, it may prove worthwhile to take a retrospective look at the interaction
between the VET sector and labour-market partners in the days of the planned
economy within what used to be called the ‘command-administrative system’ char-
acterized by tight control on the part of the State of all spheres of life and sub-
systems of society, including education and training. It was mandatory at that time
for all State enterprises—and there were no other ones—to co-operate with and sup-
port schools at all levels of the education system (including kindergartens, general
schools, initial VET schools and technicums), including universities.
All enterprises were twinned with a number of local general and VET schools
and offered schoolchildren vocational orientation and training in basic skills. VET
students were provided with work experience during the course of study and jobs
upon graduation. Enterprises were also obliged to have instructors on their staff who
would supervise the practical training periods conducted in the enterprise. Apart
from these arrangements, enterprises were supposed to support VET school work-
shops with machines, tools and other equipment, and provide materials and supplies.
Almost all big enterprises had affiliated to them technical/vocational schools or
institutes of higher education that provided pre-service and in-service training for
their workers.

690 O. Oleynikova
This streamlined interaction worked practically without a hitch aimed at both

training the workforce for the labour market, and at providing a social security net
for children and youth from disadvantaged families, or those with learning problems
or deviant behaviour. The above situation mirrored both the social and economic
system in place in the country, and the needs of the industrial economy in which
one would acquire one occupation that lasted a lifetime, with in-built trajectories of
in-service training and promotion.
2 The Changing Context

With the collapse of the socialist economy, the repercussions immediately rico-
cheted off onto education and training. On the one hand, the State relaxed its grip on
the economy and new processes in the society and economy evolved—particularly
chaos and instability. New forms of ownership emerged and enterprises changed
hands and ownership. On the other hand, a large number of enterprises either had
to close down or opt for conversion from producing one type of goods to another.
Transition from total State ownership to multiple forms of ownership plunged the
economy into uncertainty that reshaped the system of labour relations, entailing new
roles for employers, employees and the State, as well as their interaction.
The overarching uncertainty diverted enterprises, preoccupied largely with sur-
vival and staying afloat, from the priorities of education and training. Confusion
was omnipresent and it took about ten years for the economy to settle down. Dur-
ing these ten years the culture of the VET/labour-market dialogue was very much
diluted and new mechanisms were very slow to take shape. The situation was ex-
acerbated in 1998 when a major financial crisis broke out that further distanced
most enterprises from education and training. However, new private enterprises that
managed to recover from the crisis more quickly than others were the first to give
the lead in addressing education and training needs and began to include training in
their development strategies, relying on their goodwill and common-sense, as well
as learning from best international practices. However, there was no standard model
of co-operation with the system of education in place (National Observatory for
Professional Education, 2004).
As of 2000 the economic situation began to stabilize and grow, with the result
that employers were showing once again interest in the qualifications of the work-
force. In this improving context enterprises began to be more selective in their hiring
practices and developed an awareness of the added value of in-service training and
upskilling.
It should be pointed out, however, that the above refers to the ‘average’ tendency.
There were enormous variations due to the size of the country and regional differ-
ences that are conditioned by geographic, social and economic factors. Also, due
to the level of development and awareness of their social responsibility, marked
differences were observed between different sectors in addressing education and
training issues (Analytical Centre ‘Expert’, 2005a).
IV.13 Involvement of Labour-Market Partners in TVET in the Russian Federation 691
More advanced and development-oriented companies from both traditional and

new sectors that were well established on the market (about 5 to 8% of the total
number of enterprises in the country) began to build close links with VET schools
and colleges. These, as a rule, are large companies or corporations consisting of
dozens of enterprises (Analytical Centre ‘Expert’, 2005b). Smaller companies sim-
ply cannot afford to spend time and effort on interacting with colleges and univer-
sities and they make do with the workforce available on the labour market. VET
schools, for their part, try to keep up links with enterprises established in the ‘old’
days, often without due regard to the changed situation—and sometimes governed
by the paternalistic thinking that enterprises ‘owe’ them something.
3 The Degree of Involvement of Labour-Market Partners
Certain sectors and companies are more outspoken about their requirements regard-
ing the workforce, and proactively interact with the external environment to change
it for the better. Others are traditionally ‘introvert’ and remain focused on their in-
ternal processes. The first category is actively exploring the concept of a learning
organization and considers education and training as an investment. It is common for
the more advanced companies in this group to accuse the VET system of inability to
produce adequately trained specialists and they rely on their own training schemes,
including in-service staff training.
Generally, the following types of employer/company/VET co-operation can be
identified (Analytical Centre ‘Expert’, 2005b):
1. Close co-operation, resulting in graduates meeting most of the employer’s skill

requirements. This concerns such sectors as finance and insurance, the produc-
tion of high-tech equipment, the fuel industry and metallurgy, where there is new
recruitment of personnel and a high demand for skills. This type of co-operation
is observed in big companies that can afford to invest in education.
2. Weak co-operation: graduates often failing to meet the employers’ requirements.
This affects rapidly developing sectors involving a wide range of employers.
However, the latter are not in a position to invest in education (construction,
media, parts of the IT sector, trade, marketing and consulting, tourism, hospital-
ity, etc.).
3. Fairly close co-operation: graduates meeting company skills requirements up to
50%. This particularly concerns sectors with monopolies: telecommunications,
railways, air transport, etc. This group differs from the first group in that the
market is not developing as rapidly due to the monopoly of companies.
4. Very weak co-operation: skills of graduates failing to meet requirements of the
world of work. The sectors concerned are often facing stagnation or uncertainty:
most of industrial production requiring engineers, including the chemical sector,
machine-making, forestry, etc. As a rule, these sectors are made up of numerous
enterprises with only limited financial resources and lacking a culture of net-
working. VET schools and colleges training specialists for these sectors are not
692 O. Oleynikova
particularly aware of the work-market requirements but, as a rule, are confident

that they know what the sector needs better than the people in the sector them-
selves. Employers can neither invest in education, nor offer competitive salaries,
which is a demotivating factor for both schools and graduates.
It should be pointed out that, apart from factors indicated earlier, the reluctance
of enterprises—with a few exceptions—to become involved with education and
training is also due to other reasons: (a) a lack of legal provisions for enterprises
to participate in the distribution of funds allocated for VET at all levels; and (b) a
lack of tax benefits for enterprises that invest in education and training, including
support for VET schools and colleges. Another factor having a negative impact on
VET/enterprise co-operation relates to the structure of the labour market in the coun-
try, and specifically to the high rate of unemployment among college and university
graduates that allows employers to be able to pick and choose from this ‘surplus’.
The result is that college and even university graduates often fill jobs requiring lower
levels of education and training. It should be added that the graduate’s education
and training qualifications are not taken into account in terms of the salary offered
in such cases.
According to the State Statistics Committee, in recent years about 30 to 40% of
the total number of unemployed consists of university or college degree holders,
while about 5% of the total unemployed population are young graduates from all
levels of vocational education. As of end of 2005, of the 5.7 million unemployed,
one-third represented higher education graduates (State Statistics Committee, 2005).
4 Communication or Discourse?
The discussion that follows is aimed at showing that it is too early to speak about
a discourse between the VET system and the world of work. At this point in time
we can only speak of initial steps towards establishing communication channels
between the two systems taken by the most proactive players on both sides.
Both systems—that of employment and VET—have not developed a co-ordinated
and informed interpretation of the concept of social partnership/social dialogue that
would lay the foundation for articulated and coherent communication. For the most
part, VET schools interpret social partnership narrowly as links with enterprises and,
occasionally, with employment agencies. Links with enterprises are often limited
to inviting employer representatives to sit as members of examining boards, and
organizing work placement of students in companies.
It is only very recently that VET schools have begun to ask enterprises about
their requirements concerning the skills and competences of workers and special-
ists. However, these attempts have not yet been supported by VET standards, which
remain largely shaped by the VET system itself. Furthermore, there are neither leg-
islative nor institutional mechanisms to support VET/enterprise links, which has a
negative impact on the situation.
As such, both sides lack a culture of co-operation. The recovery and gradual
growth of the socio-economic environment, with urban areas taking the lead, shows
signs of the business community organizing itself. Umbrella or branch organiza-
tions have been formed covering self-employed, small, medium or large businesses.
Practically all of them show interest in initiating co-operation with education and
training.
One positive example is the Russian Union of Entrepreneurs and Industrialists,2
embracing 328,000 physical and legal entities from all sectors of the economy and
all regions of Russia. Spurred by its members, in 2005 the union instituted two
committees, one for the development of occupational and VET standards, and the
other for enhancing quality in VET. Both committees aim at fostering links between
industry and the VET sector. It can be expected that the joint efforts of employers
and VET in developing outcomes-based VET standards will contribute to dealing
with the most acute problem, namely that of overcoming the skills mismatch in the
labour market.
The lead given by the Union of Entrepreneurs and Industrialists has been fol-
lowed by the Union of VET Principals, representing about one-half of Russia’s
2,800 VET colleges, which is actively involved in both committees.
Other major employers’ associations, such as the Co-ordinating Council of Asso-
ciations of Employers of Russia (uniting thirty-two Russian companies, sectoral and
inter-sectoral employer organizations and NGOs) and about eighty smaller associ-
ations of entrepreneurs and industrialists, do not have education and training issues
on their agendas, nor does the Tripartite Commission—a traditional social part-
nership body representing the government, employers and employees (represented
by the Federation of Independent Trade Unions). The Tripartite Agreement for
2005–2007 does not mention education and training issues (Komarovsky & Blasum,
2005).
In two sectors, employer associations, being dissatisfied with the quality of train-
ing, have initiated a movement towards VET. One is the catering sector, where the
Federation of Restaurant Owners and Hoteliers developed occupational standards
as early as the end of the 1990s with the support of the Ministry of Labour. The
other—the Association of Construction Workers initiated by the German construc-
tion company Knauf, an active player of the Russian market—undertook to develop
occupational standards for a number of building trades. Unfortunately, both occu-
pational standards have failed to have any impact on standards, but are widely used
by VET schools that have accommodated the employment needs in their training
programmes.
The Federation of Restaurant Owners and Hoteliers is currently launching an-
other project in conjunction with the NGO Centre for VET Studies to update the
standards and pilot the catalogue of occupations and qualifications for this sector, to
be further complemented by a catalogue of training modules.
It is interesting to note that on the sector level employers are more aware of an
urgent need of a shift towards market-oriented competence-based VET system than
the VET system itself. However, at the grassroots level, the first steps towards social
dialogue are often made by proactive VET schools and colleges.
694 O. Oleynikova
The above endeavours are well in line with the policy declarations of the federal
government urging closer links between education and training and the labour mar-
ket as a pre-requisite for making the Russian economy more competitive and the
welfare of society more comprehensive. These declarations are contained in such
policy documents as the National Doctrine of Education, the Strategy of Educational
Modernization, the Strategy of Social and Economic Development of the Russian
Federation for the medium-term period, and the Priorities for the Development of
Education in the Russian Federation (Lomonosov Moscow State University, 2002).
The first practical steps to bridge the gap between the world of work and VET
have been taken only recently when the federal government adopted an Action Plan
for VET Development that envisaged the setting of basic occupational standards.
It has to be noted, with a degree of regret, that before the restructuring of the fed-
eral ministries in 2004, the former Ministries of Education and Labour had started
a dialogue about the relevance of VET for the labour market. However, as a result
of the restructuring that took place in 2004, the Ministry of Labour was abolished,
leaving behind only a Federal Employment Service and a division within the Min-
istry of Health and Social Development to address labour-market issues. As it is,
the Federal Employment Service is dealing mostly with unemployment, while the
above-mentioned division has not yet shown visible signs of activity in areas relating
to occupational standards.
Apart from emerging attempts by employers to co-operate with education and
training, and by the government to regulate this co-operation, a certain movement
is observed on the VET side under the impact of international projects, espe-
cially those supported by the European Community (the Tacis Programme). Among
major multi-national projects, some have in real terms contributed to fostering
VET/labour-market links:
r the Tacis project ‘VET Reform in the North-West of Russia’ supported by donors
from different European countries and co-ordinated by the European Training
Foundation;
r the Tacis DELPHI-I and DELPHI-II projects;
r the Tacis Institution Building Partnership Programme (IBPP) Russian-Finnish
project ‘Social dialogue in VET’;
r the Tacis IBPP Russian-Irish project ‘Adult education’ (European Commis-
sion, 2005a, 2005b, 2005c).
Due to these projects’ input:
r labour-market orientation of VET institutions has grown by means of piloting

skills, needs analysis procedures and competence-based VET curricula;
r VET content has been reviewed in a number of occupations;
r employers’ motivation and involvement has grown for the logistical, information,
personnel and social support of VET schools;
r employers began to be more actively involved in the governance of VET institu-
tions and in accreditation procedures;
r skills councils have been established in a number of regions in such sectors as

catering, construction, the clothes industry, the chemical industry and machine-
building to address the issue of supply and demand of skills, assessment of com-
petences and content of VET. At this stage the councils unite small and medium
enterprises, employment services, trade unions and VET schools and, in a few
cases, officials from the regional administrations (departments of labour). These
councils have been made possible by the DELPHI-II project. The first year has
proved a success and led to the assumption that, once employers see the benefits
and returns of co-operating with VET, they will respond by investing their time
and resources. It can be expected that, with time, these councils may lead to the
establishment of sector councils on the federal level that would institutionalize
the dialogue mechanism of enterprises/VET co-operation.3 More and more VET
schools are involving employers in their governing bodies (boards of trustees,
advisory boards).
As has been indicated earlier, there is no legal framework for the involvement of
labour-market partners in VET, except for an internal regulation of the Ministry of
Education, ‘On social partnership at secondary VET schools (colleges)’, stipulating
that colleges develop social partner mechanisms and conclude agreements with en-
terprises to ensure the provision of work experience placements for students, as well
as some other issues.
On the regional level, some attempts have been made to institute joint bodies
that would assist in bridging the gap between the supply of and demand for skills
and promote education and training, including on-the-job training. As a rule they
are affiliated to the office of the regional governor or to the regional administration.
These bodies, bearing a variety of names (co-ordinating council, council for the
framework policy, consultative councils, regional sector councils for employment
policies, initial VET councils, etc.) in different regions, unite companies, local ad-
ministrations and VET and higher education institutions.
However, whatever organisms have been put in place locally or regionally, for
the most part they do not address fundamental issues of VET—co-operation with
enterprises (i.e. building a dialogue between the two systems)—limiting themselves
to identifying the quantitative demand for occupations and jobs and translating them
into target intake figures for VET schools. This is in most cases largely a ‘hit and
miss’ undertaking as, first, there are no reliable methodologies to anticipate labour-
market developments and, second, enterprises themselves are, for the most part,
unable either to articulate their vision of the future or to anticipate changes in the
demand for skills.
One of a few exceptions is the Co-ordinating Council in Kemerovskaya Oblast,
which is involved in planning and organizing the training of workers and special-
ists for the coal-mining enterprises of the region (coal-mining being the key sector
regionally).
Other examples of communication between the labour market and VET players
are the various agreements concluded regionally or at the municipal level between
employment service agencies and VET administration bodies,4 or tripartite and
696 O. Oleynikova
sector agreements (e.g. in the Moscow region) to promote the training of unem-
ployed youth in an occupation relevant for the local labour market. There are also
direct agreements between individual VET schools and employer enterprises (on
internships for students, staff (re)training, the supply of materials and shared use
of equipment, etc.). About 60% of VET colleges have agreements with employ-
ment agencies and enterprises. These and other forms of effective enterprise/VET
co-operation are explored in more detail below.
5 Samples of Best Practice
As has been indicated above, one format of VET/enterprise co-operation is the so-
called ‘training under contracts with enterprises’ that can take a number of forms:
one is training of students in specific occupations established by the enterprise.
The advantage of such training is that enterprises can in this case ‘dictate’ their
requirements on the content of training (of course, within the limits of the present
VET standard), or they can initiate training for a new occupation relevant for the
enterprise or courses meeting specific company needs. Under agreements with VET
schools, companies are known to have introduced courses into the curriculum aimed
at familiarizing students with the functioning of the enterprise and its corporate cul-
ture, with a subsequent certification of students by the enterprise. Students studying
under contracts with enterprises usually begin working for the company during their
final years of training.
Sometimes agreements for training target groups for the enterprise are concluded
between local authorities on whose territory the company is situated and the VET
school/college. In this case tuition as such is free of charge. However, the enter-
prise may offer some sort of financial support, both to students and to the school,
especially if the enterprise wants a new course to be introduced.
This form, attractive as it may look, has one major weakness: contracts signed
between the enterprise, the VET school and the student are legally binding only for
the enterprise and the VET school in the part relating to financial obligations, while
having no legal obligations for the student whose tuition has been paid for by the
enterprise. Hence, if upon completion graduates refuse to work for the enterprise,
they cannot be made to repay the costs of training. This is the way the law currently
functions and, naturally, attempts are being made to amend it, under pressure from
major corporations who invest heavily in VET and higher education contracts.
Contracts are also signed for in-service training of the staff of the enterprise at
VET schools and for upskilling VET teachers at the enterprise. Unfortunately, the
latter has not become common practice and is not mandatory. However schools
practising this model have appreciated its added value. It should be stressed that
such training contracts emerge only when a sustainable zone of trust between the
school and the enterprise has been formed.
It is common for VET schools and enterprises to jointly perform vocational orien-
tation measures for schoolchildren and first-year students. However, these measures
mostly envisage visits by representatives from the enterprise to general secondary
schools and study visits by schoolchildren and young students to the enterprise.
Only a few enterprises provide extensive information support for vocational ori-
entation, except for large developing enterprises that are committed to a systemic
approach in attracting candidates to VET schools that are part of the corporate
infrastructure (such as the Norkickel Company, or RUSAL (Russian Aluminium)
Company, for example) (Analytical Centre ‘Expert’, 2005a).
Well-established developing companies are becoming increasingly aware of their
social responsibility and initiate innovative actions to interact with regional admin-
istrations in support of VET and higher education. For example, in 2004 the gov-
ernment of St Petersburg adopted a regulation ‘On measures to develop the system
of secondary VET in St Petersburg for the years 2004-2007’ aimed at enhancing
the market orientation of VET schools and colleges. The regulation has resulted
in co-operation agreements concluded by a number of leading companies with the
regional government aimed at shared financial support of a number of VET schools
and colleges (on a 50/50 basis).
Proactive companies are also known to equip special workshops at their enter-
prises for the practical training of VET students or to modernize workshops in VET
schools—as most VET schools cannot afford new equipment, materials or supplies
themselves.
On the whole, both proactive enterprises and VET schools are very serious about
the work placement periods for students, as the companies take advantage of these
periods to pick the best candidates for employment at the enterprise, and thus min-
imize the adaptation period that may take from one to three years, depending on
the company. We may contrast this with companies that have failed to perceive
the added value of co-operating with VET schools and who may even charge for
accepting students for work experience.
Some companies and VET schools agree to share the responsibility for training
specialists: VET schools deliver theoretical training and all practical training is cov-
ered by the enterprise. During the first two years costs of practical training are met
by the VET school as students do not yet have qualifications of use to the enterprise,
while during years three and four the costs of practical training are covered by the
company. A number of companies—though not many—pay VET schools for every
graduate who has worked at the enterprise for over six months.
Attempts are made, for example by the RUSAL Company, to establish their own
corporate universities that would embrace programmes at five levels:
r level 1: vocational orientation;

r level 2: VET (to train workers and line managers, and upskill them);
r level 3: higher education;
r level 4: in-service education;
r level 5: individual training for top managers/executives (State Statistics Commit-
tee, 2005).
The company is currently devising standards for all levels of training. Such efforts
can only be commended. However, they arouse certain concerns relating to the com-
698 O. Oleynikova
patibility of these standards with the State education and training standards and,
hence, the future mobility of the workforce may be in jeopardy.
It should be stressed that proactive companies often choose to set up training cen-
tres of their own affiliated to the company, having little trust in State VET schools.
Such training centres would offer training in most occupations of initial VET and
may also commission training from VET schools in those occupations that these
schools are known to deliver to the standard acceptable by the company. Such train-
ing centres may be launched in locations where there are no State VET schools,
providing training in occupations required by companies based there.
Other types of communication between VET and labour-market players can be
summed up as follows:
r to motivate students to stick with their occupation of training, big companies
(such as, for example, RUSAL, Sibneft, Vneshtorgbank and others) establish
scholarship schemes for students who commit themselves to working for the
company upon graduation;5
r competitions of student projects (grant competitions) initiated by companies to
pick the best undergraduates as prospective job candidates;
r to ensure high standards of teaching, companies may offer grants to teachers,
arrange study visits and training for the faculty at enterprises, or send their spe-
cialists to teach at educational establishments;
r joint projects carried out by students for the benefit of the company;
r companies may provide temporary summer jobs for students to replace work-
ers/employees while the latter are on vacation, and organize visits to the company
on a regular basis.
Summing up the emerging labour market/VET communication channels, it can be

concluded with a certain amount of confidence that signals coming from both ends
of the scale are numerous and diversified—and sometimes contradictory! It is obvi-
ous, though, that the zone of trust between VET and labour-market partners is not
yet adequate. The key reasons for this are input-based standards and lack of aware-
ness of its added value by both parties. The initiative of proactive companies taking
the responsibility for training (complementary as it may be) carries a latent threat
to the State VET system, undermining its credibility. Also, such companies can by
no means meet the country’s education and training needs. Corporate education and
training puts a huge number of small and medium enterprises at a disadvantage
because they cannot afford to invest in VET and have to rely on the State system.
In this situation, the VET system should pay more heed to the signals coming
from proactive enterprises and respond to them flexibly.
6 Signals from Enterprises

Independent surveys tell us that companies are more often dissatisfied, not so much
with the occupational/technical competences of VET and higher education grad-
uates, but with their soft skills/competences. Advanced and sustainable companies
are more concerned with the candidate’s ‘potential’ and personal qualities, than with
technical skills and knowledge, especially if the company has a training centre of its
own where candidates can be brought up to company standards.
Another ‘gap’ identified by employers is the graduates’ lack of knowledge and
understanding of the way companies function. This is often a result of the fact
that VET schools and colleges are either unaware of these issues, for lack of com-
munication with the world of work, or do not bother to find out how companies
operate in terms of major business processes and the roles of qualified specialists
within the hierarchy. It is an open secret that teachers delivering theoretical subjects
have often not worked at enterprises for more than a dozen years—if at all—and
hence teaching and learning are organized in a way that is little related to the
real world.
Many VET schools would claim, however, that their graduates are doing well on
the labour market as they do not receive any direct complaints from companies.
Such VET schools overlook the fact that employers in most cases simply have
no choice and have to make the best of the available graduates in a situation of
fairly low labour mobility in the country. As it is, VET schools lack systemic tracer
studies and hence have no data about how well their graduates fare on the labour
market.
Dissatisfied with educational modernization, leading Russian companies are im-
plementing their own models of personnel development that may or may not involve
VET schools. These models embrace company training centres, corporate univer-
sities, continuing training and adaptation schemes and aim at addressing training
needs of companies that are often more dynamic than the supply provided by the
State or private providers.
Education and training schemes taken on board by companies and implemented
through their training centres primarily focus on developing such skills as personal
efficiency and management skills that VET schools have failed to equip their stu-
dents with. Big companies that can afford it extensively resort to distance learning
and multi-media courses that the individual can master at the work place, or at a
university/college where he/she is doing a course of study. Contrary to the VET
system, companies commonly opt for modular training schemes.
Practically all companies complain about the VET standards, as does the VET
sector itself. Most companies claim that businesses should dictate their requirements
to the State system of education, and the latter should match these requirements.
Companies that use their profits to invest in training complain about a lack of
tax incentives and suggest that the State and business should share education and
training costs, explaining that they have, apart from other things, to re-train VET
graduates before the latter can be effectively employed in the company. Both the
VET sector and companies are affected by:
r the low-prestige of qualified workers and a shortage of the workforce in such oc-
cupations as machine operators, welders, metalworkers, blacksmiths, and some
others that benefit from low demand;
r a lack or shortage of VET schools and curricula in certain occupations (e.g.
ichthyology);
700 O. Oleynikova
r an outflow of young people from rural areas into bigger cities;

r a lack of labour-market forecasting tools.
In the context of the labour-market players’ growing concern about the quality of
VET graduates, the VET sector has to be more proactive in proving its relevance for
enterprises by:
r changing its approach to VET standards, making them market-oriented and flex-
ible and introducing competence-based VET;
r institutionalizing and supporting best models of VET—enterprise co-operation
building on the best practices already available across Russia and ‘products’
yielded by international projects;6
r taking on board practical tools to engage and motivate employers and their asso-
ciations;
r matching and updating VET content to the regional labour markets’ demand in
terms of occupations for training and the quality of outcomes;
r initiating measures to support training specialists in occupations enjoying low
popular demand (possibly by sharing costs between the State and companies).
It is also in the interests of the VET system to actively lobby for amendments to
the Tax Code relating to tax benefits for enterprises involved and investing in VET.
However, it may well be expected that companies and corporations are better-placed
to do this themselves. Nevertheless, if the VET system fails to contribute to the
process, the eventual amendments are likely to be of benefit only to large compa-
nies, leaving small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on the ‘outskirts’. Thus, the
cleavage between large proactive and profitable companies and smaller ones that
are supposed to constitute the bulk of the market economy would be widened, with
ensuing negative consequences for the economy, society and citizens.
Today is the right time for the VET system to consolidate and show its role,
with the modernization processes well under way, including the optimization of the
network of VET schools and the decentralization of governance.
7 Conclusions
Despite objective economic and psychological problems that account for differences
between sectors, regions, VET schools and companies, there is a fundamental prob-
lem that impedes adequate skills supply by the system of education, namely a lack of
a national qualifications framework (NFQ) that would assign uniform requirements
to every level of qualifications of the work force, and would be linked to awards at
every level of education. The NFQ would assist in identifying generic requirements
to skills and competences of VET and university graduates as needed by employers
and could be used to formulate educational standards, thus bringing the two societal
systems nearer together.
It is also obvious that teaching and learning should be brought closer to the work-
ing environment, which can be achieved by intensifying and streamlining practical
training periods/work assignments of students, as is already done by proactive com-

panies and VET schools.
Another issue is teacher qualifications that have to be enhanced. Incentives have
to be devised to attract younger generations to work for VET. More company em-
ployees and executives should be involved in teaching. This is not feasible for SMEs
that would not have enough staff to release for these purposes. However, SMEs
should promote networking and closer links with big companies that have already
demonstrated examples of best practices in addressing this issue.
On the whole, business/educational co-operation is an issue directly related to the
social responsibility of both parties, and the sooner they develop an awareness of it,
the better it will be both for education and for companies. To this end, more infor-
mation support should be provided highlighting this perspective on the co-operation
and disseminating of best practices both from Russia and abroad.
Notes
1. VET school is the generic name for various types and levels of VET institutions in Russia that
will be used in the chapter, unless otherwise specified.
2. The Union was set up in 1990 to unite companies and enterprises from most sectors of the
economy, including industrial, financial, business, insurance and leasing ones. It includes about
100 branch offices and corporate associations.
3. It should be stressed though that chambers of commerce are practically uninvolved in the pro-
motion of enterprise involvement with education and training. The only positive example can
be attributed to the outputs of the Delphi-I project in Samarskaya Oblast (the Volga Region),
where the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry initiated the regional law on ‘Participation
of Enterprises of Different Types of Ownership in Training, Re-training and Upskilling Workers
and Specialists in VET Schools’ (European Commission, 2005a).
4. Employment services purchase training from about 3,000 VET schools across Russia, selected
through a tender (National Observatory for Professional Education, 2004).
5. The percentage of graduates taking jobs in occupations other than their occupation of training
remains high and, in some periods (e.g. end of the 1990s), reached up to 80%.
6. The most effective instruments for ‘catching the eye’ of employers, as shown by the inter-
national VET projects, include the following:
– skill-needs analysis (regular skill-needs analysis has proved to establish improved links be-
tween education and the business community);
– involvement of enterprises in the development of the content of training;
– participation of enterprise staff as part-time teachers at VET schools;
– involvement of employers in assessing student competence;
– internships of VET teachers and trainers at enterprises.
References
Analytical Centre ‘Expert’. 2005a. Curricula and education and training technologies of Russian
corporations. Moscow.
Analytical Centre ‘Expert’. 2005b. Universities and employers on graduates and reform of educa-
tion. Moscow.
702 O. Oleynikova
European Commission. 2005a. Final report of the TACIS IBPP project ‘Adult Education’. Brussels.
European Commission. 2005b. Final report of the TACIS IBPP project ‘Social dialogue in VET’.
Brussels.
European Commission. 2005c. Recommendations of Delphi II project ‘Development of education
links and initiatives in VET and higher education’. Brussels.
Komarovsky, V.; Blasum, E. 2005. The role of Russian employers in promoting social dialogue.
Moscow: Analytical Centre for Developing Social Partnership.
Lomonosov Moscow State University. 2002. Modernisation of Russian education. Moscow:
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Higher School of Economics.
National Observatory for Professional Education. 2004. VET update: stocktaking report. Moscow.
State Statistics Committee. 2005. Labour market data, 2000-2005. Moscow: Official Publications.
Chapter IV.14
Strengthening TVET to Achieve Lifelong
Learning for All: Historical Snapshots
and Recent Initiatives in Myanmar
Naing Yee Mar
1 Introduction
In order to keep pace with developments in the world, there are currently moves
to make TVET a vehicle for meeting emerging needs in the livelihoods of young
people and adults. To some extent, this will also benefit the national social and eco-
nomic situation. Countries often hope that the potential of TVET and the impact of
its contributions in achieving these aims can be fully realized not only by improving
the quality of TVET programmes but also by promoting lifelong learning opportuni-
ties for every individual. This chapter therefore examines the importance of TVET
in promoting vocational competencies as part of the lifelong learning process for
all, and explores its dynamic in developing countries, with particular reference to
the situation in Myanmar.
The TVET system in Myanmar is based on shared responsibility by different
ministries through a variety of forms of delivery, with the result that its curricula are
highly diverse. Not many empirical studies have been conducted as yet to evaluate
the effectiveness of TVET in Myanmar. As a result, there is very limited docu-
mentation on issues relevant to vocational policies and practices that focus on a
competency-based lifelong-learning oriented approach.
This implies that the availability of statistical information in the field of technical,
agriculture and vocational education is a limiting factor. Therefore, the scope of
this study focuses rather on secondary and post-secondary school-based vocational
education and training programmes offered in the areas of technical, agricultural
and vocational education by the different specialized ministries in Myanmar. These
programmes aim to enable learners to cope with the emerging challenges relating
to job opportunities in the various economic sectors. They also encourage lifelong
learning for all through the creation of flexibility and accessibility to TVET.
2 Why TVET?
Traditionally, technical and vocational education carries the principal responsibility

of developing the labour force in a country. This, in turn, improves productivity.
Notwithstanding, current changes in technological, socio-economic and cultural

704 N.Y. Mar
environments, including profound changes due to the impact of information and

communication technologies (ICTs) and the computerization of society, have stim-
ulated the role of TVET to go beyond traditional approaches and practices. This
is particularly true in relation to policy formulation and implementation, and the
relevant strategies and structures (UNESCO, 1999, p. 61).
In reviewing the issues of TVET on aspects of lifelong learning, the Dakar
Framework for Action on Education for All (EFA) consists of six goals stressing
the importance of both accessibility to learning opportunity and continuous learning
possibilities for all young people and adults beyond primary school. Along with the
Dakar Framework for Action on EFA, the Millennium Goals (UNESCO, 2000) en-
capsulate eight main ways of assisting developing countries in achieving economic
and social development. Those that are particularly important relate directly to the
quality of education.
2.1 TVET in Relation to Environmental Variables
What the concept of promoting TVET as part of the lifelong learning process
actually means for a community or an individual differs from one country to an-
other. Each country has its own unique set of environmental forces—socio-cultural,
political-legal, technological, economic—which have a strong impact on the edu-
cational environment. These variables in the societal environments may not consti-
tute national educational activities in the short term, but can, and often do, affect
the long-term development of education. In addition to these societal considera-
tions, governments, local communities, educational suppliers and learners, as well
as trends in labour markets, directly influence the effectiveness of education and, in
turn, are affected by it.
In essence, countries apply different approaches to reform and promote TVET
as an essential component of the total educational process. To give some ex-
amples: countries like Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, India and Myanmar provide
more TVET opportunities at the secondary and post-secondary levels, compared
to the importance placed on expanding compulsory education in countries such as
Cambodia, Viet Nam and Laos (Cheng, 2005; Mar, 2004). Countries such as Ghana,
Senegal and Swaziland have decided to incorporate a measure of vocational content
into general education programmes at the primary or lower secondary level, in order
to prepare young people for wage employment or self-employment, if they do not
continue with their schooling (Atchoarena cited in Wilson, 2005, p. 76). In Ghana,
Kenya and Botswana, the drive for vocationalization has been strongest at the junior
secondary level (Lauglo, 2005).
Since countries have expressed great concern about the future development of
their TVET systems, it is important that these systems are able to meet the needs of
both adults and young people, and secure the basis for future development. These
concerns relate to: (a) how individuals can be encouraged (and assisted) to fully
participate in the digital age; (b) what efforts can be made to reach individuals who
are often ‘hidden away’ from view in different corners of their country, mainly in
IV.14 Strengthening TVET to Achieve Lifelong Learning for All 705
rural areas; and (c) to what extent they can retain young people in the education
system for as long as possible and offer flexibility of learning.
Overall, TVET needs to evolve through the educational process by initiating
a future-oriented policy and strategic educational planning to foster the all-round
development of nations. It should also provide a sound foundation with further op-
portunities in education for those individuals who may wish to profit from lifelong
education.
Whether ‘education and training’ are delivered through formal, non-formal or
informal means, they aim to develop human resources in the interests of employa-
bility and better citizenship. They will also inculcate a continuum of improvements
concerning initiatives for each individual’s livelihood and will encourage them to
live and work harmoniously with others.
2.2 TVET in Relation to Vocational Competencies
The broad concept of vocational competency is concerned with an individual’s

ability to cope with, and capitalize on, the unique challenges and opportunities
demanded by the working environment. Vocational competency is an important
characteristic of human capacities that TVET can provide exceedingly well. It is
a key strength that can be embedded in any individual and may be carefully built
on and accumulated over time. It may also be called a core capability, because it
includes a number of constituent skills (Wheelen & Hunger, 1998, p. 160) that can
be a means of securing the necessities of life.
What is classed as vocational competency is also, at least in part, context-specific,
in that the competencies required by an individual to function effectively in his or her
society depend upon the social and economic context of that society. In reviewing
vocational competencies in the context of developing countries, trends in the eco-
nomic sector of society can have an obvious impact on the vocational competencies of
individuals, especially in a country like Myanmar. It is, therefore, important to develop
both understandings, not only based on what is expected of individuals in their various
working environments, but also the individuals’ capacity to extend their capabilities.
3 TVET and Its Implications for Lifelong Learning in Myanmar
3.1 Societal Considerations
The size of Myanmar’s population1 was 40.76 million in 1990 and had increased
to 53 million by 2004. Geographically, Myanmar, with an area of 676,553 square
kilometres, is divided into fourteen administrative areas—seven states and seven di-
visions. Broadly speaking, the seven different states are each dominated by a major
ethnic group, whereas the seven divisions are dominated by the largest group—the
Barmar.
706 N.Y. Mar
Myanmar is a country with enormous indigenous ethnic diversity, consisting of

over 135 ethnic groups. Some 73.4% of the population lives in remote and rural
areas. Thus, one of the matters of increasing concern in the Myanmar education sec-
tor is to focus on how such a diverse population can be motivated to take increased
responsibility for its own effective lifelong learning. This is particularly important
in the perspective of developing sustainable economic livelihoods. Gender wise,
women in Myanmar account for 51% of the total population and are taking more and
more initiatives. They are playing an active role in society to better their own living
conditions in parallel with the continual evolution of socio-economic conditions.
It is estimated that 64.1% of the population is engaged in the agricultural sector,
while Myanmar’s industrial workers account for just 8.4% of the population. The
service sector involves 18% of the population. This structure has remained largely
unchanged over the past two decades. Traditionally, the Myanmar economy relies
on the primary sector: agriculture, livestock, fishing and forestry.
The structural characteristics of the labour force, presenting the employed popu-
lation by industrial groups as reported in the ‘1990 Labour Force Survey’, showed
that almost 60% of the total labour force is engaged in the primary sector. This sec-
tor is the main contributor to gross domestic product (59.9%). With the population
growing at about 2% per annum, this translates into a per capita income increase
of about 4% per year. Public expenditure has been restricted by a low and declin-
ing rate of revenue collection, which, at 5.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) in
1999–2000, was among the lowest in the world.
The structure of the economy has not evolved much since market reforms began
and led to an average annual growth rate of 5.1%. As a consequence, public revenue
has been insufficient to allocate public expenditure to important public services, in
particular, education and health.
In turn, the demand for specific levels of investment in skills, knowledge and
education may directly affect the growth or decline of productivity in these different
sectors. During the Four-Year Economic Development Plan Period (1992–1996),
the productivity of the different sectors in GDP—namely, production, services and
trade—was approximately 60%, 18% and 22% respectively (Myanmar. Ministry of
National Planning and Economic Development, 1998). The agricultural sector has
contributed approximately 38% of total GDP in that period, whilst the manufactur-
ing sector generates only 9%.
To accompany these figures, statistical information, such as members of the
working population who have completed a vocational course to at least secondary
vocational training level, or employment/unemployment by educational level, is still
not available.
In an agro-based country like Myanmar, the role of self-employed family workers
is of particular importance. This is most critical where agricultural holdings are op-
erated on a household basis and where self-employed labour in various agricultural
activities is most common. Most of these self-employed family workers reside in
rural areas.
A new economic policy and development situation has been introduced since
1988 through a series of reforms. As a result, Myanmar has increasingly turned
its attention to raising productivity, as well as modernizing and upgrading skills,

especially in the primary sector. This is important not only because the country
needs to improve its levels of productivity by making the best use of the available
resources, but also because the problems of limited access to knowledge and skills
are making it more difficult to respond appropriately to changes resulting from the
information age.
3.2 Prospects and Concerns in Myanmar Education

3.2.1 Structure of the School and Reforms
Following the 1998 educational reforms, by 2004 schooling in Myanmar had been
changed from ten to eleven grades in basic education. This now consists of five years
of primary and six years of secondary schooling (lower secondary consists of grades
six to nine, and upper secondary of grades ten and eleven). These are followed by
several types of higher education institutions.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is functionally the main sponsor of education
and training, especially in the areas of basic education and teacher training. The
major higher education institutions, which numbered sixty-four in 2004, also fall
under the responsibility of the MOE. Ninety-nine other institutions are currently
under eleven different ministries and the Public Services Selection and Training
Board.
Although the activities of these higher education institutions are decentralized
and administered by thirteen different ministries, academic and administrative pol-
icy relating to higher education is centralized and managed by two councils: the
Universities’ Central Council; and the Council of University Academic Bodies.
Traditionally, the administrative process throughout the education sector has
been centralized, but in recent times there have been moves to decentralize manage-
ment and responsibility. This is also designed to promote active community partic-
ipation. However, educational decisions and initiatives remain largely the province
of central ministerial departments.
In order to lay the foundation for an education system that is well co-ordinated
and equitable, the Myanmar Naing-ngan Education Committee was established in
1991. This committee has overall responsibility for major policy matters, establish-
ing budget priorities and general supervision of the whole educational process.
The underlying goal of educational reform was to create an education system that
would generate a learning society capable of facing the challenges of the ‘Knowl-
edge Age’ (Myanmar. MOE, 2004). This was initiated by holding annual seminars
in both basic and higher education sectors attended by administrators, teachers and
educational specialists. Overall, the objectives of the various educational promotion
programmes (EPP) stress not only bringing about quality education at all levels and
for all, but also improving the accessibility of a range of educational options for all
individuals. Within the framework of these EPP, the MOE has also developed the
long-term plan for the education sector (2001–2031) with the aim of transforming
the whole of Myanmar society into a lifelong learning society.
708 N.Y. Mar
3.2.2 Myanmar EFA

Through innovative actions, such as various literacy campaigns and the Myanmar
EFA National Action Plan, the literacy rate in Myanmar continues to increase
steadily—from 89.7% in 1999 to 93.3% in 2004. Literacy partly contributes to in-
creased output per worker. Thus, attempts to achieve improvements in literacy and
EFA may be one of the best efforts a country can make to promote its future eco-
nomic growth and sustainable development. For example, ‘farmers with four years
of primary education produce about 13% more than those without such education’
(Financial Times, 1980, quoted in Stonier, 1983).
The results and recommendations of the EFA Forum, EFA Task Forces and EFA
Working Groups have all contributed to an upgrading of basic education. Primary
school enrolments have increased from 91% of the cohort (1998–2000) to 96.56%
(2004–2005). As all individuals are entitled to access to learning on a lifelong ba-
sis, it is notable that post-primary schools, over-aged-children-to-primary-education
programmes, and the one-school-in-one-village objectives have been initiated since
2001–2002. These initiatives have addressed situations where access to public
schools is difficult.
The quality of basic education is being promoted through curriculum reforms.
Since 1998, pre-vocational education and the MOE’s newly introduced life-skills
curriculum have been redesigned and expanded, particularly in lower and upper
secondary formal (general) education. To guarantee a broad view of competencies
during the basic system, co-curricular activities are primarily focused on the three
main areas—basic communication skills; expansion of knowledge and skill; and
attitudinal development—in both the lower and upper secondary school systems.
Monastic education in Myanmar, which follows the official curriculum under the
supervision of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, traditionally plays a major role in
primary education, as well as in civil society. It is a means of helping individuals
to learn social competencies, underpinning Myanmar’s attempts to introduce social
sustainability.
Evidence shows that Myanmar’s EFA strategic activities and policies reflect pre-
ventive, reactive and remedial approaches to facilitate and promote lifelong learning.
These are under the supervision of the MOE, in collaboration with nine related
ministries.
For example, the present retention and completion rates indicate that less than
60% of children complete the full five-year primary cycle (Myanmar. MOE, 2003a).
As shown in Fig. 1, for many years drop-outs have been highest in the first grade
(KG) and this number has declined from 23% in 1989/1990 to about 18% in
2000/2001. However, dropouts continue to be highest in the first grade.
However, a positive sign is that the drop-out rate in lower secondary level (by
the end of grade nine) is decreasing and the education sector review (Myanmar.
MOE, 2003a) cited that between 97 and 98% of pupils graduate from lower sec-
ondary schools. In addition, 83–84% of those who pass examinations continue their
studies at upper secondary level. It also stated that the remaining 15% who left the
school should not be considered as drop-outs.
30.0
25.0
20.0
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
89–90 90–91 91–92 92–93 93–94 94–95 95–96 96–97 97–98 98–99 99–00 00–01
KG G1 G2 G3 G4
Fig. 1 Drop-out rates in primary schools

Source: Myanmar. MOE, 2003b.
Questions have been raised about these school-leavers. Are they joining TVET
schools or not? This underlines the importance of integrating the pre-vocational
curriculum into general education, which could be seen as useful for all school-
leavers.
Notwithstanding such considerations, and as is the case with other developing
countries, unfortunately in Myanmar there are still pockets of out-of-school primary,
secondary and post-secondary school-aged youths, who cannot be accommodated
by the existing education system. This occurs for a variety of reasons, including
poverty, language problems due to membership of different ethnic minority groups,
and hardships associated with living in rural areas or in isolated locations with no
ready access to education.
These are fundamental issues that must be addressed if the overall quality of EFA
activities is to be improved so that all primary education leavers are able to engage
in income-generating livelihoods. As a result, non-formal education has become one
of the four main EFA goals in Myanmar.
3.2.3 Efforts in Non-Formal Education

One of the main challenges in strengthening TVET as part of the lifelong learn-
ing process is its relationship with non-formal education (NFE). NFE in Myanmar
focuses on basic educational services for all children, youth and adults who, for
various reasons, have not been reached by the formal school system. This includes
those who could not afford schooling or have dropped out of school, as well as
those who completed primary school but could not continue further. The Myanmar
Educational Research Bureau (MERB), which is one of the departments within the
MOE, is the focal point for NFE in Myanmar.
710 N.Y. Mar
In co-operation with the Myanmar Literary Resource Centre (MLRC), MERB

is also responsible for training volunteer adult facilitators by conducting a series of
national workshops, such as: the National Workshop on Preparation of Vocational
Learning Materials; the National Workshop on Preparation of Literacy Learning
Materials on Agriculture; and the National Workshop on Development of Strategies
for Continuing Education in Myanmar.
NFE programmes include: functional literacy; income generation and quality-
of-life improvement programmes; skills-development programmes; individual inter-
est improvement programmes; and future-oriented programmes through continuing
education. Learning materials for these continuing education programmes have been
developed by MERB through its own facilities.
Alongside the traditional mode, since 2002, MERB has been experimenting with
using distance education methods to provide NFE programmes for its facilitators
using data broadcasting systems. These programmes are delivered not only through
the 640 e-education learning centres, but also through the 750 community learn-
ing centres and multimedia classrooms situated in basic education schools in every
township. There are 324 townships in the country.
Emphasis still needs to be placed on the necessity of upgrading training oppor-
tunities to improve the quality of NFE facilitators. It is also important to enhance
the flexibility and effectiveness of existing programmes with regard to the skill de-
velopment programmes. Viewing NFE at grassroots level, it is one of the crucial
factors in realising the goals of TVET for out-of-school youth and adults as part of
EFA. Qualified training instructors and ICT learning-support materials are in great
demand.
3.3 Approaches to Strengthening TVET in Myanmar
3.3.1 TVET Structure and Reforms

TVET in Myanmar first dates from 1950, shortly after achieving independence from
the British (1948). At that time, Myanmar was among the fastest-growing Asian
economies since it was well-endowed with natural resources in the 1950s and had
a highly literate population. The State was expected to play a leading role in in-
dustrializing the economy, while fulfilling the manpower needs of the country was
a major concern. However, the current structure of TVET in Myanmar originates
in the early period of Burmese Socialism (1972), when the government launched
the Twenty-Year Plan. According to this plan, within the framework of Burmese
Socialism (1962–88), various reform measures were adopted in a priority shift from
heavy industry back to agriculture and the commercialization of State enterprises.
In 1998, to intensify educational reforms, the sixty-five technical, agricultural
and vocational institutes and schools (plus one technical teacher-training insti-
tute) under the Department of Technical, Agricultural and Vocational Education
(DTAVE) were transferred to the other relevant ministries, such as: the Ministry of
Science and Technology; the Ministry of Agriculture; the Ministry of Co-operative
Affairs; the Ministry of Social Welfare; and the Ministry of Livestock Breeding
and Fisheries. The original DTAVE remained, but was renamed the Department
of Technical and Vocational Education (DTVE) under the Ministry of Science and
Technology, which had been established in 1996. In order to accommodate changes
occurring in the economy, currently fifty-six higher-level institutions exist under
this ministry, including five technological universities, two computer universities,
nine governmental technical institutes (GTIs), twenty-six governmental technical
colleges (GTCs) and twenty-four computer colleges. The ministry also has respon-
sibilities in vocational training.
Like some other developing countries (for example, Singapore and Taiwan),
Myanmar provides the majority of its vocational and technical training opportunities
at the secondary and post-secondary level. If young people are unable or unwilling
to continue onto higher education, there are opportunities for them to join various
vocational schools and institutes after leaving the general school system, having
completed primary and secondary levels. After the educational reform in Myanmar,
the formal (general) school cycle has been changed so that students who pass the
matriculation examination at the end of the secondary level can join different univer-
sities or TVET institutes providing various professional qualifications beyond basic
competencies and skills.
3.3.2 TVET Initiatives in Myanmar

Pre-Vocational Education
Some key TVET initiatives in Myanmar are worthy of mention. At the secondary
level, the school curriculum has been redesigned and expanded to include pre-
vocational subjects (at least 13% of class time is allotted to these subjects per week).
However, effective vocationalization in general education has yet to be fully im-
plemented in most of the country’s middle and high schools. Even when practical
subjects are offered, in some schools these are often constrained or are less effective
than anticipated due to limited facilities or a lack of interest on the part of students.
Nevertheless, creating opportunities for pre-vocational and vocational education at
all levels of basic education is one of the focal points in the Myanmar Long-Term
Thirty-Year Education Development Plan (2001–2031) for the basic education sec-
tor (Myanmar. MOE, 2004). Relating to curriculum reform, vocational subjects such
as industrial arts, agriculture, home economics and fine arts (painting and music)
were introduced at the lower secondary level, aimed at providing a foundation for
the future. To ensure that a broad range of competencies are covered, co-curriculum
subjects at the primary and secondary levels concentrate on three main areas: basic
communication skills; expansion of knowledge; and skill and attitudinal develop-
ment. The desirability of including ICT skills in the curriculum is also becoming
increasingly accepted.
Life-skills education at both the primary and secondary levels, as part of the
core curriculum, has also been introduced to promote social skills. This includes
problem-solving, creative thinking, critical thinking, decision-making, communi-
cations, self-awareness, interpersonal skills, empathy and the ability to cope with
712 N.Y. Mar
emotions and stress. Myanmar monastic education has traditionally played a major
role in equipping individuals with desirable social competencies.
Since 1998, national centres for human resource development (NCHRD) have
been introduced under the MOE. The NCHRDs aim at facilitating the satisfaction
of community needs by launching vocational, professional and technology-based
courses that are in demand. These centres provide a number of courses in partnership
with foreign and local private enterprises.
The NCHRD are located at universities, educational institutes, degree colleges
and colleges under the MOE. These centres offer a wide variety of options in
the form of certificate, diploma or degree courses in the fields of foreign lan-
guages, computer science, computer engineering, accountancy, business manage-
ment, environmental studies, multi-media arts, gemmology, cosmetic technology,
law and teaching—all with a strong emphasis on promoting vocational skills.
These are income-generating courses that enable the institutes involved to pro-
vide supplementary remuneration for their staff. These courses are undertaken
by students in addition to their regular courses at these institutions. They de-
velop more options and consequently more career choices for the young people of
Myanmar.
Technical Education
Currently, nine governmental technical institutes (GTIs) under the Ministry of Sci-
ence and Technology offer two-year courses to gain the GTI certificate, replacing
the three-year courses that were offered before the reforms. The number of courses
provided in these institutions has been expanded from eight in 1987/1988 to fifteen
since 2003/2004. This represents a significant increase in enrolments compared to
1987/1988 (Table 2).
After the reforms, all the technical high schools were upgraded into governmental
technical colleges (GTCs) to meet the needs of those students who have graduated
from lower secondary schools but who did not continue their education at upper
secondary schools. Twenty-six GTCs have gradually been introduced in all states
and divisions throughout Myanmar to provide technical education. In the decade
following 1987, the rapid establishment of industrialized zones in many states and
divisions has brought about a noticeable increase of enrolment in these institutes
and colleges (Myanmar. MOE, 2001).
The curricula of the GTIs and GTCs are designed with a theory/practical ratio
of 40:60. The curriculum, syllabus and instructional materials have been updated,
and students have been encouraged to carry out more practical exercises related to
their chosen subjects. It is evident that existing courses do not adequately provide
the knowledge and skills needed for employment and, therefore, re-training is often
required once the individuals involved have found employment.
The breakdown of the intake by type of courses offered in GTIs in 2003/2004
is shown in Table 1. Although trends cannot be readily discerned in the choice of
each subject from a single year, nevertheless current statistics indicate a significant
increase in the number of students studying technical subjects. The average numbers
Table 1 Intake by type of course in the government technical institutes (GTIs) in 2003/2004
Type of course Intake
Male Female Total Total (%)
Civil engineering 797 892 1,689 16.1
Electrical engineering (power) 1,353 809 2,162 20.6
Electrical engineering (electrical & communications) 794 694 1,488 14.7
Mechanical engineering (power) 1,632 303 1935 18.5
Mining engineering 22 − 22 0.2
Mechatronic 382 156 538 5.1
Information technology 207 424 631 6.0
Food and chemical 19 56 75 0.7
Plastic and rubber 28 36 64 0.6
Architect 33 115 148 1.4
Textile 33 48 81 0.8
Petroleum 86 − 86 0.8
Metallurgy 48 24 72 0.7
Bio Gas 119 54 173 1.7
264 1,316 12.6
Source: Prepared by the Myanmar UNEVOC Centre/MERB, 2004.
Table 2 Teaching staff and students in the government technical institutes (GTIs) and government
technical colleges (GTCs)
Academic No. of GTIs Teaching Enrolment Average No. of Teacher/
year & GTCs staff no. of teachers student
students ratio
1984/85 7 202 4,374 625 29 1:22
1985/86 8 288 4,819 602 36 1:17
1986/87 10 424 5,721 572 42 1:13
1987/88 10 426 6,493 649 43 1:15
2003/04 35 3,378 23,225 664 96 1:7
of teaching/learning hours per week prescribed by DTAVE are thirty-two for a stu-
dent and eighteen for a teacher in the GTIs. Table 2 also shows the average num-
ber of students and teachers per GTI/GTC and teacher/student ratios. These were
favourable over the 1984–2004 period in comparison with the higher-education av-
erage of 1:20.
Agricultural Education
Since Myanmar is basically an agricultural country, there is a great demand for
middle-range technicians in that sector. To fulfil this need, in 1954 the Myanmar
Government, with assistance from the Ford Foundation, established a State Agri-
cultural Institute offering a three-year diploma course in agricultural technology.
There is also a great need for skilled workers in the agriculture sector. Consequently,
714 N.Y. Mar
the Myanmar Government has opened agricultural high schools (AHSs) and State
agricultural institutes (SAIs).
A series of interviews conducted by the author of this chapter with key stakehold-
ers in the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as with students, revealed that the major
reason for students not being interested in joining the SAIs was: ‘no opportunity to
get a proper job after completion of the training period’. It is no doubt for this reason
that between 1984 and 1988 enrolment levels decreased dramatically—though en-
rolment in 2003/2004 has improved (Table 3). The seven SAIs under the Ministry of
Agriculture offer three-year courses in agriculture and animal husbandry, granting a
diploma in agriculture after the successful completion of the course. The curriculum
and instructional materials used in the SAIs are based mainly on traditional methods
of cultivation and are highly theoretical, rather than reflecting advanced techniques
in agriculture. Concerning the quality of skills development in the agricultural sec-
tor, the curriculum of the SAI programmes is designed with a theory/practical ratio
of 40:60.
Table 3 also shows the average number of students and teachers per SAI.
Teacher/student ratios were favourable over the period 1984–1989 in comparison
with an average ratio in higher education of 1:20. The average numbers of teach-
ing/learning hours per week prescribed by DTAVE in the SAIs are forty-four for a
student and twenty-two for a teacher.
The subject ‘rural education’, which includes farm management and agricultural
extension, accounts for only 9% of the total teaching time. Graduates receiving a
diploma in agriculture are eligible for employment in the Myanmar Agriculture
Service as extension agents at the level of the Deputy Township Manager. How-
ever, experience has shown that graduates lack many of the practical skills actually
required to carry out the job.
Recent statistical information on the AHSs is not readily available. Neverthe-
less, it is known that enrolments in these schools have been declining, from 1,216
in 1996/1997 to 648 in 1997/1998. A key assumption concerning decreasing en-
rolments in agricultural schools and institutes includes the massive introduction
of ICTs elsewhere in the education system through the involvement of computer
companies. As was pointed out earlier, the agricultural certificate awarded does not
adequately qualify graduates to find reasonable jobs and, of course, most jobs are
necessarily available in rural areas.
Table 3 Teaching staff and student relationship in the State agricultural institutes (SAIs)
Academic No. of Teaching Enrolment Avge. of No. of Teacher/student
year SAIs staff students teachers/SAI ratio
1984/85 6 96 1,152 192 16 1:12
1985/86 6 140 907 151 23 1:6
1986/87 7 155 790 113 22 1:5
1987/88 7 170 695 99 24 1:4
2003/04 7 193 2,972 Not yet Not yet Not yet available
available available
A persistent criticism of the agricultural education provided is that the facilities

of the programmes and schools are not attractive to the younger generation, with
particular reference to the lack of practical exercises provided by schools. An ICT-
based learning environment might encourage learners and teachers to achieve better
performance levels. However, computer-based teaching/learning is still very limited
in the agricultural sector compared to technical education, and teaching methods are
less advanced.
Vocational Education
Non-industrial training, including commercial training, is carried out either on-the-
job or in vocational schools that follow a very practical non-academic type of course
that does not correspond to the traditional academic years. For the last ten years the
number of vocational schools has tripled, while total enrolment has increased by
four times. Except for commercial schools, the semi-skilled training provided by
DTAVE falls into two basic categories:
r Post-primary schools offering vocational training to those young people who
have completed part or all of their primary education; and
r Post-middle schools for students who have obtained a middle-school certificate.
These schools offer an artisan type of training.
In 1997, to intensify educational reforms, the vocational training schools formerly
under the Ministry of Education were also transferred to the relevant ministries.
Table 4 shows the number of graduates who have successfully completed these re-
spective TVET institutions (diploma level) and schools existing during the reporting
period under various government ministries.
Table 4 Skills training in TVET institutions under various government ministries

Institution 1997/98 1998/99 1999/00 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03
Ministry of Co-operatives
Commercial schools 749 1490 555 881 578 420
Myanmar Lacquer-ware 39 37 49 36 27 25
Institute
Weaving schools 137 129 89 353 233 212
Co-operative colleges – 511 369 541 620 714
Co-operative training 699 832 685 846 541 573
schools
Ministry of Science and
Technology
Handicraft schools 1244 556 984 707 566 519
Machinery repair and 180 85 80 102 72 62
maintenance schools
Ministry of Social
Welfare, Relief and
Resettlement
School of Home Science 1900 1424 1287 1619 1883 1367
Source: Myanmar. Ministry of Labour, 2005.
716 N.Y. Mar
4 Lessons Learnt from the Myanmar Experience
During the educational reform process, the decentralization of responsibilities for

technical, agriculture and vocational schools, training centres and institutes under
different ministries represents an attempt to achieve a more cost-effective, practi-
cal and applied way of teaching and learning through TVET. The ministries have
been steadily playing a greater role in the planning phase. This process is con-
tinuing and ministries are now more able to embrace a systematic alignment of
overall management, education policies and processes, mindset and culture, orga-
nizational structure, technology and budgets. As a recent education sector review
mission (Myanmar. MOE, 2003a) reported: ‘this—the 1998 education reform—is
considered a turning point in Myanmar educational history’.
With the implementation of plans for the promotion of education, TVET insti-
tutions have undertaken vast reforms in areas such as curricula, teaching methods,
facilities, research and management. Teaching methodologies, like problem-based
learning encouraging critical thinking, analytical, creative and research skills, are
being promoted. The assessment system has also been reviewed and replaced with
a credit system so as to be in line with international practice and to give students
more flexibility. This also facilitates entry and re-entry into TVET institutions.
Special attention has been given to meeting the needs of those who live in remote
regions, in particular to improving literacy among the various ethnic groups (up to
93.3% in 2004). Myanmar acknowledges the need to lay a proper foundation for
populations who are mainly involved in the primary sector of the economy. Under the
supervision of the MOE and in collaboration with related ministries, Myanmar EFA
strategic activities and policies have therefore been adjusted to reflect preventive, re-
active and remedial approaches to education in order to facilitate and promote lifelong
learning and skills development, especially for out-of-school youth and adults.
Concerning the ICT infrastructure in education, since 2001 a Satellite Data
Broadcasting System has been introduced in collaboration with the Ministry of
Information, so that, by 2004, 619 e-education learning centres had been devel-
oped. The MOE is increasingly using e-learning and multi-media facilities to pro-
vide short-term training and education programmes for teachers working under the
MOE. One of the main challenges in strengthening TVET in Myanmar is the im-
portance of non-formal education which promotes a continuing education concept
in the context of lifelong learning. This concept focuses on young people who have
not participated in the regular school system, or who have dropped out of the regular
school system before completion for various reasons. Those who could and should
take advantage of the new opportunities for TVET are not only dependent on their
own initiative, but are actively stimulated and directed by local communities.
A number of lessons and best practices that emerge from the Myanmar experi-
ence may be of value to other developing countries at similar levels of development.
Among the lessons learned, it is clear that evaluation and assessment practices re-
lated to competence-based education are critical to achieving successful TVET for
all in the information age. A transformation to TVET is not implemented overnight,
and there are many challenges and potential pitfalls which must be addressed to
achieve successful lifelong learning. The study identified the following key lessons
from the Myanmar experience:
1. TVET for all: TVET in support of lifelong learning in Myanmar is an important

ongoing process (for all), whether through formal or non-formal means. The var-
ious TVET programmes can therefore improve the range of skills and knowledge
of underprivileged groups, young people and adults who are not able to continue
their general education opportunities, or who want to undertake an alternative
learning possibility. Greater emphasis still needs to be placed on the necessity
of upgrading training possibilities, the provision of qualified instructors and ad-
vanced teaching materials in order to strengthen the quality of TVET education
in a geographically large country like Myanmar.
2. The selection of TVET programmes: Differences in the levels of enrolment in
TVET schools and institutes in Myanmar suggest that the location and type of
schools and the educational facilities offered by the programmes, the availabil-
ity and competence of qualified teachers, the interest and social composition
of students, current economic trends and the opportunities available for further
education, either locally or abroad, are all important considerations for students
when they select a TVET programme.
3. Continuing support for student-centred learning in TVET: The approaches
adopted by Myanmar educational programmes are increasingly favouring student-
centred learning. However, the resources available for practical classes (within
schools or those linked to the business environment), which are of special interest
to learners, are still rather limited. Consequently, the system of final assessment
gives more emphasis to theory than to practical activities. This relative lack of
emphasis for on-the-job learning is said to have a negative impact on the liveli-
hoods of youth and adults. Evidence from this study suggests that one of the best
ways of creating on-the-job learning is to achieve effective partnerships between
education and the business sector.
4. Learning interaction combining practical experiences from the field and theoret-
ical studies: From a learner’s and a teacher’s point of view, in general one of the
main reasons for choosing technical and vocational education is a wish to learn
more about practical subjects and to acquire skills based on practical, hands-on
experience through education. However, the dominant learning and teaching cul-
ture in Myanmar is still one where learners and teachers learn from books rather
than from practical activities.
5. The digital divide needs to be bridged: It is important to take into account the
accessibility of appropriate learning resources, in terms of both the available
technology and sufficiently qualified trainers to support the lifelong learning
process of an individual. On the other hand, Myanmar has learnt that familiarity
with technology can also become a barrier to developing vocational skills effec-
tively, and that the digital divide needs to be bridged in order to allow traditional
learners to become involved with technology-supported learning environments.
6. Monitoring of the labour market: Evidence presented here suggests that an ac-
curate monitoring of labour-market demand and opportunities should be one of
718 N.Y. Mar
the top priorities for all TVET providers. The TVET system should promote
efficiency in supply for the labour market.
7. Financial implication for TVET: Myanmar’s experience shows that learning be-
yond the basic competencies should increasingly be the responsibility of learn-
ers and employers. Given the rising demand for lifelong learning processes and
skill improvement, several principles should therefore guide future educational
financing.
8. Absence of empirical studies: It is regrettable that few, if any, empirical studies
have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of TVET in Myan-
mar. As a result, there is an absence of reliable hard data to help improve the
less effective elements in the training offered, or to help better focus the TVET
offered to meet those training needs that are already particularly well served.
5 Conclusions Drawn
It may be said that TVET initiatives in the educational process are not new to
Myanmar, although, as a result of recent educational developments and reforms, it
is new to some teachers and learners, both in terms of the curriculum and modes of
delivery. The TVET system is firmly established in Myanmar in both the formal and
non-formal modes of delivery. Nevertheless, the country has to cope with the fact
that it has enormous indigenous ethnic diversity, with a high proportion of the pop-
ulation living in remote and rural areas. Therefore, one of the growing concerns in
the Myanmar education sector concerns how these individuals can be provided with
an opportunity to take an increased responsibility for their own learning throughout
their lifetime, so that they are equipped to earn their living effectively. The concepts
of continuing education, community involvement and technological assistance all
play crucial roles in the Myanmar education system. Furthermore, there is the issue
of adopting a more methodical approach throughout the implementation process,
which includes basic financial planning and learner-based planning, both of which
are essential if TVET is to be an important vehicle for achieving lifelong learning
for all. However, more attention needs to be given to how technical and vocational
education is perceived in relation to promoting continuous learning opportunities in
a way that is appropriate and attractive to the individuals.
Note
1. The population statistics presented in this section are based on the 1973 and 1983 censuses.
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Chapter IV.15
Technical and Vocational Education
and Training and Rural Development
Lavinia Gasperini
1 Introduction
Poverty is mainly a rural phenomenon since 70% of the world’s poor are rural
(IFAD, 2001). Rural/urban inequalities are also a major obstacle to sustainable de-
velopment. Unless they are addressed as key development actors, requiring appro-
priate competencies and skills to play a role in national socio-economic and cultural
development, rural people are most likely to be among those who are not reached
by the drive towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Skills development for rural youth and adults is a lifelong learning process which
plays an important role not only in increasing economic returns, but also in social
outcomes, such as enhanced representativeness of rural livelihoods in the national
arena, social cohesion, health or peace-building.
Most of the labour force in least-developed countries (LDCs) is in the agricultural
and rural sector. The dimension of rural poverty and the mutually reinforcing rela-
tionship among improved skills for rural people and food security and poverty re-
duction (Burchi & De Muro, 2007) are driving a change in technical and vocational
agricultural education and training (TVAET) towards a clear focus on contributing
to reaching the MDGs. Rethinking TVAET and rural development in a way that
is consistent with the challenge of poverty reduction, as well as the magnitude of
the challenge, will require new responses by governments and donors, since simply
scaling up existing provision patterns would be neither affordable nor cost/effective.
2 Rural Stigma, Urban Bias

The concern for technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and rural
development is not new. For decades many authors have pointed out the urban bias of
education systems and the urgency to address the basic learning needs of rural people
(Lê Thanh Khoi, 1974; Ahmed & Coombs, 1975; Dumont, 1976). At the same time,
rural development specialists have been insisting on the need to address rural people,
not as a marginal group but as a neglected majority, whose contribution to national
and international food security and economic and social development is critical.

722 L. Gasperini
In former colonial countries, TVET had usually been offered by the government
as the second-best opportunity of a two-track system, targeting mainly indigenous
people. Such people were stigmatized as more apt to undertake manual work. There-
fore, skills development in agriculture was mainly directed at them.
After the independence processes during the 1960s and 1970s, TVET was con-
sidered by many countries as an important aspect of modernization, catalyzing a
significant share of national education budgets and international aid. Many coun-
tries, however, displayed a contradiction between the declared education policy—
emphasizing equity and the universalization of primary education—and a develop-
ment paradigm that placed priority on investments in industrialization, industrial
TVET and higher education, which were considered as more likely to speed up
growth and modernization.
Concurrently, the inadequate resource allocation for agricultural and rural de-
velopment accentuated the decline in this sector. This coincided with an impor-
tant reduction of investments for TVAET, which became more evident during the
1980s and 1990s. Several other interacting factors contributed to aggravate the cri-
sis for TVEAT, the most important being the overall decline in public spending
for TVET as a consequence of the structural adjustment policies of the World
Bank sector policy paper (World Bank, 1991). In addition, a common misun-
derstanding of the aims and strategies of the 1990 World Conference on Edu-
cation for All and its Declaration emphasized investments in primary education
and overlooked basic non-formal education, including skill training for youth and
adults.
In the following years, the increasing educational gap between urban and rural
people, for whom formal and non-formal agriculture courses were often the only
education available, contributed to increasing rural poverty and to overall national
food insecurity.
Today agricultural education and training suffers a crisis that in many ways
reflects the general crisis of TVET public providers. Similarly, the main inter-
acting obstacles to efficiency and effectiveness have been: (a) unequal access to
TVAET for urban and rural students; (b) a predominantly male student clientele;
(c) poor infrastructures, poor training quality and low staff capacity; (d) lack of
market-relevant courses; (e) weak linkages with employers and off-campus situa-
tions; (f) outmoded curricula; (g) weak experiential learning; (h) a supply-driven
orientation; and (i) overall, inadequate funding.
In addition to these aspects, TVAET is also affected by a low level of collab-
oration between education, research and extension institutions, farmers and rural
communities in promoting mutual learning. This particularly concerns generating,
sharing and utilizing agricultural and rural development-related technology, as well
as knowledge and information in seeking solutions for rural poverty. This is reflected
in the lack of interaction among different providers of TVEAT, such as Ministries
of Education, Labour and Agriculture, as well as between technical schools, voca-
tional training centres, post-secondary education, non-formal education, extension
programmes, farmers’ associations and agricultural and rural development research
institutions (FAO & World Bank, 2000).
IV.15 Technical and Vocational Education and Training and Rural Development 723
3 Poverty and the Rural Challenge
Rural poverty is prevalent among small farmers and landless families. Much of the
poverty found in urban areas is a consequence of rural deprivation and rural eco-
nomic decline, which trigger migration to cities (United Nations, 2005, p. 34). In
the poorest developing countries, the population will continue to be predominantly
rural for decades to come.
Agriculture is still the world’s largest employer, involving about half of its work-
force (about 1.2 billion people). In developing countries the overall agricultural
workforce is much higher in percentages: in Africa, for example, agriculture em-
ploys two-thirds of the total workforce. Women alone account for 20 to 30% of
the global wage agricultural workforce. Considering that half of the people of the
world are under 25 years of age and that the majority of the world’s youth is rural,
making farming more productive, profitable and rewarding and life in rural areas
more attractive for young people, and especially for women, is a crucial step to-
wards reducing poverty. At the same time, it would curtail the large-scale migration
of young people to urban areas. Policies that favour urban investment would need
to be reviewed, given that most of the world’s poor will continue to be rural over
several of the coming decades.
The change that TVAET is undergoing can be better understood in relation to the
role of rural people in agriculture, rural development and sustainable livelihoods.
This reflects an important shift aiming to make a more effective contribution to
poverty reduction and food security—and to the MDGs in general. Defining a few
key terms helps to better understand the predominant TVAET reform processes, as
well as their aims, target groups, main problems and strategies.
By common definition, rural areas are dominated by farms, forests, water,
mountains and/or desert. Typically, rural people have agriculture as their main oc-
cupation; they are farmers, nomads, pastoralists or fishermen; they deal with animal
production, transformation and marketing of food and non-food products and ser-
vices. Rural communities are diverse culturally, socially and economically. By and
large, their labour is cheap because gainful employment options are limited, and
many rural groups are marginalized. Rural people often lack access to adequate
basic social services because rural areas have low national priority, because rural
people do not have political voice, especially the poor, and because providing ser-
vices to them is more expensive. This happens despite the fact that they are the
majority of the population in developing countries and despite their critical role
in determining food security and environmental sustainability, agriculture being the
primary interface between people and the environment. Although rural people play a
crucial role in national survival—food and raw materials for clothing and shelter—
for themselves and for urban people, their social status and standard of living are
lower and their self-identity is affected by discrimination.
Disadvantage in rural communities is magnified by other characteristics of life
in the countryside, such as geographic isolation affecting education and the pro-
vision of health services. High rates of poverty and scarcity of resources often
result in a lack of appropriate services—including education and training—and
724 L. Gasperini
qualified providers. These are some of the reasons explaining the fact that more
than 80% of the world’s out-of-school children live in rural areas, as well as the
vicious circle that exists between poverty and illiteracy. Some 70% of existing
child-labour is to be found in agriculture with many children engaged in hazardous
work. Among rural dwellers are millions of children and adolescents exploited
as workers on cocoa, tobacco or banana plantations, sometimes forced to work
more than twelve hours a day in conditions bordering on slavery. Skills training
can prevent these children from joining the ever-growing ranks of illiterate adult
farmers. Rural people’s disadvantage in access to, retention in and completion of
basic education is one of the main reasons why they rarely proceed to agricultural
and rural development-related post-primary and higher education courses, which
are mainly attended by urban students. Ensuring that the needs of all rural young
people and adults are met through appropriate learning and skills development
programmes—not necessarily requesting a formal qualification to access them—
would contribute to achieving the MDGs, as well as the Dakar Framework for Ac-
tion goals.
The sustainable agriculture and rural development approach, as developed from
the Earth Summit to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, has four pil-
lars: cultural, social, economic and environmental. Sustainable1 agriculture and
rural development (SARD) is understood as a process of constant change and trans-
formation of rural areas. It encompasses a wide range of long-term processes and
programmes, expanding beyond agriculture and based on empowering the poor,
such as:
r Enhancement of governance at the local, district and provincial levels, including
linkages with the private sector, civil society and governmental agencies.
r Development of productive sectors: agriculture,2 non-agricultural industry, min-
ing, tourism, natural resources, environmental management, etc.
r Development of institutions and their capacities in key areas, i.e. education and
training, health, research and extension, marketing, savings and credit, environ-
ment, transportation, etc.
r Development of rural infrastructures for roads, electricity, telecommunications,
housing, water, sanitation, etc. (Avila & Gasperini, 2005).
SARD, as opposed to other production-driven approaches, is centred on people
and focuses on improving livelihoods in terms of satisfying the cultural, social,
economic and environmental needs and aspirations of present generations without
endangering the ability of future generations to do the same. Such definitions recog-
nize the primary importance of local stakeholders in rural development and poverty
alleviation strategies. As in all people-centred approaches, there is broad agreement
about the need for fostering the knowledge and skills of the rural population—the
key actors in development efforts.
Improved access to education and skills development for rural people has a crit-
ical role also in the sustainable livelihood approach, as a critical step in placing
people at the centre of their own development. Livelihoods are defined as com-
prising the capabilities, assets and activities required for a means of living. They
are considered sustainable when they can cope with and recover from stresses and
shocks and maintain or enhance their capabilities and assets (Chambers & Conway,
1991).
4 From TVAET to Skills for Rural Development

While the impact of globalization on the rural labour market has led to a diversifi-
cation of employment patterns, characterized by the decline of wage employment
and the expansion of self- and non-farm employment, the sustainable livelihood ap-
proach has contributed to broadening the conventional TVAET approach. A change
process is thus going on in several countries to broaden traditional TVAET (see
Atchoarena et al., 2003), focused mainly on agricultural production, to include a
wide range of skills needed to promote SARD, and to embrace all those living in
rural areas and involved in farm and off-farm employment, such as extension per-
sonnel, the staff of rural institutions, farmers’ and women’s associations and civil
society organizations.
In spite of many setbacks in rural development, as well as in the TVET agen-
das, three international events shaped a policy environment that contributed to re-
late the TVAET change process to the global agenda of poverty reduction. These
were the World Food Summits (Rome, 1996 and 2002) and the Earth Summit (Rio
de Janeiro, 1992), which closely connected the food security challenge3 and the
need to increase agricultural productivity with environmental, economic and social
challenges. These events addressed the economic growth and international compet-
itiveness of the agricultural sector, not in isolation, but to be addressed together
with soils, forests, coastal areas and sustainable natural resources management, as
well as with employment generation, poverty reduction and building social cap-
ital. Within such a framework, the World Summit on Sustainable Development
(Johannesburg, 2002) developed the SARD approach. The pro-poor Millennium
Development Summit (2000) development framework, the MDGs and the Millen-
nium Project (2005) reiterated and reinforced the main message of previous events.
The Millennium Project explicitly addressed skills for rural development within the
chapter ‘Launch a global human resource training effort for the Millennium De-
velopment Goals’, where the training of ‘village specialist in health, soil nutrients,
irrigation, land reclamation, drinking water, sanitation, electricity, vehicle repair,
road maintenance and forest management’ are addressed as a first priority (UNDP,
2005, p. 235).
The awareness that the skills needed by rural people can only partially be ad-
dressed by traditional secondary and tertiary education and training has led several
countries to consider that Goal 3 of the 2000 Dakar Framework for Action on EFA—
focusing on ‘ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met
through appropriate learning and life-skills’—should give priority to basic education
and skill-training needs for all those who live in rural areas through a multiplicity
of delivery systems, formal and non-formal, including extension, literacy and post
literacy.4
726 L. Gasperini
Vocational education and training are often dealt with by urban education and
training specialists, who frequently declare themselves unfamiliar with the agricul-
tural and rural development context and prefer to work on TVET for industry and
services, targeting mainly urban people. Conversely, agricultural trainers dealing
with basic skills for rural development are often unaware of the latest debate on
TVET reform and have limited pedagogical knowledge and skills. This dichotomy
is mirrored by the lack of collaboration between formal and non-formal education
courses run, for instance, by the Ministry of Education and those run by the Ministry
of Agriculture, more often denominated as extension courses. This results in the
duplication of cost and a lack of efficiency for countries. Agricultural extension is
the ‘function of providing need- and demand-based knowledge and skills to rural
men, women and youth in a non-formal, participatory manner, with the objective of
improving their quality of life’ (Qamar, 2005). Considering that ‘extension’ is the
expression adopted by agricultural institutions for denominating their non-formal
delivery system of education and training for rural people, inter-sectoral collabora-
tion with other providers, such as the Ministry of Education and civil society, would
allow savings for the country and lead to overall greater efficiency and effectiveness
of skills development for rural people.
So as to contribute to address through inter-sectoral collaboration the complexity
and the challenges of the rural environment and provide some promising experi-
ence, FAO and the International Institute for Educational Planning (UNESCO-IIEP)
co-published the study ‘Education for rural development: towards new policy re-
sponses’ (Atchoarena & Gasperini, 2003). The study provides the research base
for the Education for All flagship partnership on ‘Education for Rural People’ co-
ordinated by FAO and implemented in collaboration with UNESCO5 and 270 other
partners, which promotes collaboration among the education, agricultural and rural
development sectors to ensure basic education and skills training to all rural peo-
ple. The initiative focuses on research, capacity-building and the sharing of good
practices. An on-line ‘tool kit’6 with teaching and learning materials for formal and
non-formal TVAET for teachers and instructors, farmers, extension personnel and
the vast public was made available. The issues addressed are at the core of the basic
skills in demand among rural people, such as: plant biology and forestry; water; soil
and land rights; animals and pastoralism; biodiversity; rural finance; agro-business
and marketing; book-keeping; fishery; food and nutrition; as well as other aspect
important for sustainable livelihoods, such as HIV/AIDS, gender and peace educa-
tion and training for conflict management and communication.
5 Diversified Skills for Sustainable Agriculture

and Rural Development
Skills development needs and consequent policies differ substantially within a coun-
try, but also between industrialized and developing countries. The post-industrial
human resources requirements are predominant in the countries of the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development, where the transition from the indus-
trial age to the information age is now underway. The situation is quite different in
developing countries where the boundaries between manual and mental work are not
fading away so quickly, and where the information and knowledge society is still far
from being a shared reality. In such countries, rural people are faced with the chal-
lenges imposed on their livelihoods by the ‘global village’, which marginalizes and
neglects them and requires the adoption of new technologies to ensure competitive-
ness, efficiency and access to markets. To overcome the process of marginalization,
however, rural livelihoods need to ensure that natural resources are managed in a
sustainable way, and that their local, diverse, traditional, agro-industrial knowledge,
competencies and skills are cross-fertilized by universal knowledge and modern
science and technology.
In a world that changes very rapidly and requires resilient citizens, a diversified
and constantly updated curriculum is thus a response to the variety of knowledge
and skills in demand among rural people from different agro-ecological systems
and socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Participatory curriculum planning
and updating exercises have been promoted in TVAET, based on a methodology
involving the key actors living in the rural environment, and includes a range of
skills and competencies far beyond the traditional ones (FAO, 1998).
Acknowledgment of the importance of including diversified skills in TVAET and
of the complexity of the challenge of rural development have also led to comple-
menting the traditional core agriculture-related technical skills with a range of ad-
ditional skills that are increasingly in demand, such as communication, facilitation,
negotiation and leadership skills. These are critical for forging non-formal education
practitioners (such as extension and literacy staff), rural youth and community lead-
ers and, overall, for empowering rural people. Other essential skills are necessary for
fostering innovation and change and developing effective participation citizenship
and welfare, such as: entrepreneurship skills; income-generating, micro-finance and
other business skills needed for self-employment; population education, gender is-
sues; HIV/AIDS prevention; and mitigation or critical thinking and awareness about
social, political and legal institutions and basic rights. The participatory curricu-
lum development methodology, favoured by decentralization processes, allows a
selection to be made among a range of these skills, as well as of a number of core
basic competencies and skills for agriculture, food security and sustainable rural
development on the basis of the demand and characteristics of the training needs
required by rural livelihoods and the labour-market context.
6 Some Examples of TVAET Basic Competencies and Skills
Since this chapter is intended mainly for educators, who are less familiar with agri-
cultural and rural development issues, the following paragraphs provide some exam-
ples of issues addressed by TVAET core competencies and skills. These are related
to crop and livestock production, forestry, fishery and aquaculture, water control,
food quality, food processing and food storage, rural infrastructure and marketing
information.
728 L. Gasperini
r Basic skills training and extension on crop production addresses a large spectrum
of activities aimed at improving land productivity in a sustainable way, allowing
the farmer to obtain the maximum profit by producing plants, feed and cereals
which provide nutrients for humans and good forage for herbivores. Teachers and
students are faced with issues that are politically sensitive and critical for health,
the environment and food safety, such as ensuring adequate and balanced crop
nutrition, applying fertilizers and replacing nutrients lost by extraction through
harvesting and by soil erosion, by leaching below the root zone and emissions
to the air. In addressing insect infestations, knowledge of traditional methods
of plant protection and the use of pesticides is complemented by integrated
pest-management (IPM) techniques. Farmer field schools (FFS) are community-
based, practically-oriented, field-study programmes providing an opportunity for
farmers to learn IPM together, using practical, hands-on methods of discovery-
based learning, initiated in the IPM domain and subsequently expanded to other
agricultural practices. Started around the 1980s, they are rapidly expanding in
Asia, Africa and Latin America.7
r Irrigation can be addressed from an interdisciplinary perspective, cutting across
crop production, livestock and water management. Irrigation is an opportunity to
reduce the unit cost of growing crops by increasing yields and improving their
quality. Students can also learn how to diversify crops and plant selection to im-
prove pastures. Since large herbivores are mainly found in cropping areas where
land for pasture is scarce or non-existent, crop residue straw remains a single
major resource used for feeding herbivores. Maximizing profit from agriculture
and environmental protection will need local adaptation of good agricultural
practices, such as crop rotation and integration of crop and animal production.
This includes livestock production and household activities such as bee-keeping
and rabbit, geese, duck and chicken production, fed with locally available feed
resources and by-products. Additional good agricultural practices may include
agro-forestry, conservation agriculture and crop association practices.
r Livestock provides an appreciating asset, a source of income, food and insurance,
as well as important inputs to farming, such as manure and draught power to
many poor people in developing countries. Furthermore, it can provide employ-
ment and stimulate trade. Small livestock farming is a common practice in rural
villages, where large numbers of sheep, ducks, pigs and, above all, chickens sur-
round the houses. They provide their owners with meat, milk, eggs and money.
But when animals are of small size, this often means that they are not of a good
breed, are poorly fed or that the animals are ill. When an animal has a contagious
disease, it will spread to all the others in the village. To address such problems,
basic skill training and extension in livestock builds capacities that go from the
breeding of animals (cattle and small livestock species, such as goats, etc.) to
feeding and nutrition, reproduction, conservation and processing of their own
products; to recognizing zoonotic and zoonoses diseases.8
r Within the skills-development framework, artisan fishermen and the small-scale
fisheries sector—producing over one-third of the entire food fish consumed
world wide—are often overlooked. In developing countries, there are as many
as 30 million artisan fishermen. This labour-intensive activity is frequently char-

acterized by low individual productivity and high levels of wastage and spoilage,
due to limitations on infrastructure, craft, gear and fishery techniques. Most
small-scale fishermen lead a precarious existence at or below subsistence level.
Often they live in remote areas and lack access to supplies and services for their
daily needs—and markets for their products. They lack also access to basic skills
training and technical advice and assistance from extension workers that could
help them to improve their efficiency and to generate incomes, market their prod-
ucts, as well as feed themselves and their families.
Basic skills training and extension in small-scale fishery include simple tech-
niques such as hand-lining. This apparently simple procedure involves a lot of
forethought in order to select the hook, line and sinker that are suitable in size and
strength to the fish that one intends to catch. In addition, the fishing technique
must be developed to ensure that fish attracted to the bait are actually caught.
Trapping is another one of the oldest fishing techniques. Training allows both
traditional and modern techniques to be used, since there are many different
kinds of traps. Vessels and on-board equipment are essential to operate the traps
and to transport the fish back to shore. Fish can also be farmed, and in this case it
is necessary to know what is the best place for a pond, how to dig the pond, how
to fill it with water, and how to take care, drain and fertilize it. In aquaculture
students learn what kind of fish to raise, how to introduce the young fish into the
pond, what and how to feed them, how to harvest the fish and how to raise one’s
own young fish to start the process over again. Basic skills for aquaculture are in
the curriculum of some rural primary schools—such as the Colombian Escuela
Nueva.
r Forestry vocational education and training has a special long-standing tradition in
formal and non-formal courses, but it is also experiencing the impact of change.
Students of traditional forestry TVET—in many cases of urban origin—were
taught to produce, grow, plant, manage and harvest trees and process timber.
Graduates would fill positions in forestry research, management, plantation es-
tablishment, timber harvesting and industry. The forests were a public good
entrusted to, managed and protected by the State. Traditional forestry education
included degrees, diplomas, certificates and in-service training. Sub-degree or
diploma-level education prepared students for work in forestry and the forestry
industry—sawmills, plywood factories, furniture-making, nursery management
and machinery operation and maintenance. Certificate training in developing
countries prepared forest guards (rangers) hired by the public sector, which was a
major employer of graduates. The changing role of the public sector, the demand
of civil society and the decentralization and participation approach connected
to the sustainable rural development approach has had implications also for
forestry education. Its vision and clientele have broadened, ranging from basic
to higher education students. Forestry education and training delivery systems
have readjusted to better contribute to reducing rural poverty and promoting rural
development. They also address basic skills development for all those who live
in the rural environment. Rural people in many areas have long been involved
730 L. Gasperini
in the conservation and cultivation of trees on agricultural land and in forested

areas. In many countries, rural people traditionally plant trees for a multiplicity
of household uses, above all for cooking and keeping warm. But planting trees
means also the possibility to obtain a variety of commercial construction mate-
rials, charcoal and fuel wood production, and for many other activities such as
pit-sawing, sawmills, woodworking, tree farming, and the gathering and selling
of fruits, timber, resins, gums and other forest products for commerce. Environ-
mental degradation and the depletion of tree cover are sometimes symptomatic
of poverty and a lack of comprehensive traditional tree and environmental man-
agement systems, which can be strengthened by basic forestry education and
skills training. The deterioration of forest land leads to the loss of fodder, shade,
fruit and other benefits. An understanding and perception of the long-term conse-
quences of deforestation and mastering practices to promote the natural process
of re-growth and re-generation of forest and techniques in managing certain types
of trees, such as coppicing and pollarding, as well as the ability to identify a large
number of species of trees and the role they play in people’s lives, are some of
the basic knowledge and skills required by people living in forested areas.
r TVAET addresses skill training in food quality, processing and storage as impor-
tant issues for rural livelihoods, as well as for urban consumers. Food and water
that urban and rural people consume need not only to be adequate in amount, but
also safe and of good quality for the producer to sell as well as the consumer to
use. Foods eaten at home or in public eating places may appear to be safe but may
also show evidence of contamination. If food, beverages, dishes or utensils are
unclean, if the food looks or smells bad, if a food that is meant to be eaten hot is
served cold, or if the environment where the food is served has flies, cockroaches
or evidence of rodents, or if food servers have dirty hands and clothes, then it is
likely that the food being served is unfit. In every household, but especially in
those with less than ideal sanitation, some knowledge about food-borne disease
is very important. Through basic skills training, rural people can improve the
storage techniques associated with different products and climates. For exam-
ple, in temperate climates much of the production of fruits and vegetables is
confined to a relatively short growing season and storage becomes essential for
the provision of fresh produce outside of the harvest season. In tropical countries
production is often extended, but storage may still be necessary. Products may
be stored for a few days or weeks, but some temperate produce may also be
stored for periods of up to twelve weeks. Not all fresh products are amenable
to storage and some products may require specific post-harvest treatments, such
as ‘curing’ or ‘waxing’ prior to successful storage. There are various different
storage techniques, the choice of which will depend on cost and the produce to
be stored. Skill training develops the capacity to master such techniques.
r Water control is another critical area where skills are needed to learn the various
methods that can be used according to local circumstances to gain the maximum
benefit. This requires knowledge on crop-water requirements and yield responses
to water, as well as on the correct use of the appropriate equipment for differ-
ent irrigation techniques. These include a range of options such as: (a) using
a watering-can on very small plots of land, such as vegetable gardens that are
near to a water source; (b) basin irrigation, commonly used for rice grown on
flat lands or terraces on hillsides; (c) furrow irrigation, meaning small channels
carrying water down the land slope between crop rows; or (d) sprinkler irrigation,
similar to natural rainfall where water is pumped through a pipe system and then
sprayed onto the crops. Skill training in water control allows farmers to improve
the quality of their lives and their incomes by making informed decisions on the
most appropriate use of the different techniques.
r Rural infrastructures (roads, telecommunications and reliable market facilities)
are poor in rural areas. Improving rural infrastructures is critical for expanding
the range of market opportunities available to producers, improving linkages
between producers and traders, reducing both input and support services de-
livery costs. Basic skills training contributes to improving increased access to
and use of appropriate low-cost technologies—such as animal power instead of
hand power, a well and low-cost treadle pumps to maintain the water supply
in villages and techniques of low-cost road maintenance. Basic skill training in
the use of ITCs, such as radios, computers or cellular phones, which are very
useful to obtain updated market information and other information important to
improve rural livelihoods, are often included in skill-training activities for rural
people.
r Marketing information for rural people is very important to negotiate products
and prices with farmers and traders. Basic skill training in marketing enables
small farmers to make the calculations necessary to decide whether or not they
should plant different crops, or plant existing crops at different times, and how
to grow new crops which may attract good market prices. Sometimes rural farm-
ers find difficulties in finding out where to buy seeds for new varieties of crops
and information about their profitability. Knowledge and market information on
harvesting and post-harvesting costs, as well as out-of-season production of per-
ishable horticultural crops, or farm storage for less-perishable staple crops, such
as rice, maize or potatoes, are examples of basic skills training on marketing to
help rural farmers to decide whether or not to store in any particular year. This
same knowledge can also be used to help them decide whether or not to invest in
building a storehouse if they do not already have one. Storing crops without the
correct storage facilities is usually a bad idea, as quantity and quality losses may
mean the farmer will not be able to benefit fully from higher seasonal prices.
This information is essential for rural farmers before going into new, possibly
risky, business ventures.
7 Critical Issues and Policy Options
Today’s challenge is that of transforming traditional agricultural education and

training into a skills development system responsive to rural people’s needs, which
contributes to poverty reduction, food security and the achievement of the MDGs.
732 L. Gasperini
Success depends on how countries will face a combination of critical issues and
policy options, which can be synthesized as follows:
r Privileging the rural poor by broadening the EFA national plans to explicitly
focus on skills for rural people, and specifically on rural youth and adults.
r Considering basic skills development for rural people as a public good, which
allows communities to reduce their vulnerability and cope with man-made and
natural disasters, as well as changing economic and social conditions.
r Developing synergies between formal and non-formal skills development run by
educational and agricultural institutions, civil society and the private sector (en-
compassing literacy and basic skills training, extension, agriculture and rural de-
velopment schools and colleges, polytechnics, universities, etc.) and expanding
such collaboration also to health, infrastructure and finance ministries.
r Reducing the emphasis on academic pathways and credentials and increasing the
recognition of non-formal and informal learning.
r Collaborating with agricultural research to promote knowledge, information,
competencies, skills and values for better farming and improved livelihoods.
r Updating the curriculum to address multiple scenarios and diversified capacities
in farm and off-farm skills and technologies, as well as a range of life-skills
dealing with interpersonal and social issues.
r Addressing post-training support.
r Shaping new responses, such as improving the training capacity of non-govern-
mental providers to address the magnitude of the challenge.
r Promoting positive discrimination measures to address rural/urban and gender
inequalities.
r Developing a holistic approach to agriculture and rural development skills de-
velopment. For example, the training of farmers has implications for higher agri-
cultural education. Conversely, people with university education are needed for
curriculum reform in primary, secondary, TVAET and teacher training. Their
leadership can reinforce change at the other levels, including skills development.
r Addressing the vocational education and training needs of rural people within
poverty reduction strategies and sector-wide approaches as the way to address
the learning needs of the majority of the world’s people who play a key role in
global sustainability and food security.
r Reviewing policies that favour urban investment, given that most of the world’s
poor will continue to be rural over several of the coming decades.
However, skills training for rural people and reform processes for greater effec-
tiveness depend also on a supportive surrounding macro-economic environment
(remunerative prices to producers, fiscal and monetary policies) and sector polices
(enterprise development support, credit, meritocratic access to jobs, infrastructure,
etc.), which promote rural development and employment. Acquiring education and
skills without the chance to use them can contribute to fostering civil strife and
migration to cities. These take us far beyond the world of schools and classrooms,
to a partnership between education and agriculture and rural development policy-
makers and planners, managers and practitioners. In such an alliance, who can en-
sure that skills and knowledge acquisition are followed by skills and knowledge
utilization?
Acknowledgments Inputs and/or comments to this chapter were kindly provided by David
Atchoarena, Caterina Batelo, Daniela Bruni, Riccardo del Castello, Malcolm Hazelman, Annalisa
Planera, Maria Grazia Quieti and Marcela Villarreal.
Notes
1. From the Latin sustinere: sus means ‘from below’ and tenere ‘to hold’.
2. Agriculture is broadly defined to include the production, conservation, processing and market-
ing of crops, livestock, forestry and fish products.
3. National food security is achieved when a sufficiently stable and safe supply of food is available
in the country to satisfy: (i) consumption requirements normally filled from on-farm production
and home gardens; (ii) market demand; and (iii) relief distribution needs. Household food secu-
rity is achieved when all household members have sufficient means to obtain all the food they
need from some combination of their own production, traded or purchased supplies, and gifts
or donations, and when they know about and put into practice the principles of good nutrition.
Sustainable food security exists when domestic markets are performing well and households
possess sufficient assets and income-earning opportunities to meet all their basic needs from
their own resources.
4. See: <www.fao.org/sd/erp/ERPotheractivities en.htm>
5. See: <www.fao.org/sd/erp/>
6. See: <www.fao.org/sd/erp/ERPtktoolkit en.htm>
7. FAO introduced the FFS approach in Africa in 1995 and since then it has been taken up
by a range of government and development programmes. The impacts range from increased
knowledge and uptake of agricultural practices to various forms of demonstrated empowerment,
including spontaneous growth of farmer networks and associations.
8. Zoonotic disease can be transmitted to any vertebrate and infection may be naturally transmit-
ted also between animals and humans. Zoonoses are diseases that are transmitted to humans
through food or water. All kind of diseases have an impact on human health and on national
and household economy because of reduced production.
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734 L. Gasperini
Chambers, R.; Conway, G. 1991. Sustainable rural livelihoods: practical concepts for the 21st
century. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies. (Discussion paper 296.)
Dumont R. 1976. Training for agriculture and rural development. Rome: FAO/UNESCO/ILO.
Food and Agriculture Organization; The World Bank. 2000. AKIS/RD strategic vision and guiding
principles. Rome: FAO/World Bank.
Food and Agriculture Organization. 1998. Participatory curriculum development in agricultural
education. A training guide. Rome: FAO.
International Fund for Agricultural Development. 2001. Rural poverty report 2001: the challenge
of ending rural poverty. Rome: IFAD.
Lê Thanh Khoi. 1974. Education in rural development. Paris: UNESCO.
Qamar, K. 2005. Modernizing national agricultural extension systems: a practical guide for policy
makers of developing countries. Rome: FAO.
United Nations. 2005. World Youth Report 2005: young people today, and in 2015. New York, NY:
United Nations.
United Nations Development Programme. 2005. Investing in development: a practical plan to
achieve the Millennium Development Goals. New York, NY: UNDP.
World Bank. 1991. Vocational and technical education and training. Washington, DC: World
Bank.
Chapter IV.16
An International TVET
Programme Development by the International
Baccalaureate Organization
Monique Conn
1 Introduction
The success of the curriculum models developed by the International Baccalau-

reate Organization (IBO), addressing the academic needs of students in the 3 to
19 age range, is now well known. IBO programmes, and specifically the two-year
pre-university Diploma Programme, grew out of international schools’ efforts to
establish a common curriculum and university entry credential for geographically
mobile students. International educators were also motivated by an idealistic vision:
they hoped that a shared academic experience emphasizing critical thinking and
exposure to a variety of points of view would encourage intercultural understanding
and acceptance of others by young people.
The IBO has grown rapidly and now provides, through the medium of three
working languages (English, French and Spanish), three related programmes that
represent an educational continuum for students from 3 to 19 years of age: the Pri-
mary Years Programme (PYP, for ages 3 to 11/12), the Middle Years Programme
(MYP, for ages 11/12 to 16) and the Diploma Programme (for students aged 16 to
19). The last is designed as a two-year academic preparation for university.
A great deal of interest has recently been raised by those reviewing curricular
provision in some national systems, as well as in the private sector, in adapting the
IBO’s educational models and principles for technical and vocational education, par-
ticularly at the upper secondary level. In collaboration with some authorized schools
and partner institutions the IBO has now embarked on the development of a frame-
work of international education that will incorporate the vision and educational
principles of the IBO into local programmes that address the needs of students
engaged in technical and vocational education.

736 M. Conn
2 What Are the Aims of an IB Technical/Vocational Framework?
2.1 Providing a More Inclusive Provision for Students

Aged 16 to 19
In its efforts to develop a coherent educational continuum for young people aged
3–19, the IBO recognizes that there is currently a hiatus between its two pro-
gramme frameworks, the Primary Years Programme (for 3- to 11/12-year olds)
and the Middle Years Programme (for 11/12- to 16-year olds), which are both in-
clusive, whole-school programmes, and the Diploma Programme which is clearly
academic in nature and design and, in some schools, selective. Working in part-
nership with schools and local authorities to broaden access to the kinds of learn-
ing fostered in the Diploma Programme would potentially respond to the needs of
many young people who are currently excluded from the experience of the Diploma
Programme.
2.2 Responding to the IBO’s Mission Statement

As an organization devoted to the development of international education world-
wide, the IBO adopted an ambitious mission statement in 2002:
The International Baccalaureate Organization aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable

and caring young people, who help to create a better and more peaceful world through
intercultural understanding and respect.
To this end the IBO works with schools, governments and international organizations to
develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.
These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassion-
ate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also
be right. <www.ibo.org/mission/>
This mission statement echoes the concerns expressed by UNESCO itself in its 1945
constitution, which states: ‘The wide diffusion of culture, and the education of hu-
manity for justice and liberty and peace are indispensable to the dignity of man and
constitute a sacred duty which all the nations must fulfil in a spirit of mutual assis-
tance and concern’ (UNESCO, 1945). It is clear that these ambitious aims should
inspire educational programmes for all students—not just those bound for academic
university programmes. The strategic plan of the IBO includes the development
of new pathways to help more students access an education that responds to these
values. In its design and through its implementation in local contexts, the IBO’s
technical and vocational framework will foster the attributes of the ‘IBO learner
profile’ (Box 1), which defines learner outcomes for all IB programmes.
IV.16 An International TVET Programme 737
Box 1. The attributes of the International Baccalaureate learner profile
The aim of all IB programmes is to develop internationally minded people who,

recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help
to create a better and more peaceful world.
IB learners strive to be:
Inquirers They develop their natural curiosity. They acquire the skills nec-
essary to conduct inquiry and research and show independence in
learning. They actively enjoy learning and this love of learning will
be sustained throughout their lives.
Knowledgeable They explore concepts, ideas and issues that have local and global
significance. In so doing, they acquire in-depth knowledge and de-
velop understanding across a broad and balanced range of disci-
plines.
Thinkers They exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and
creatively to recognize and approach complex problems, and make
reasoned, ethical decisions.
Communicators They understand and express ideas and information confidently and
creatively in more than one language and in a variety of modes of
communication. They work effectively and willingly in collabora-
tion with others.
Principled They act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness,
justice and respect for the dignity of the individual, groups and
communities. They take responsibility for their own actions and
the consequences that accompany them.
Open-minded They understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal
histories, and are open to the perspectives, values and traditions of
other individuals and communities. They are accustomed to seek-
ing and evaluating a range of points of view, and are willing to grow
from the experience.
Caring They show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and
feelings of others. They have a personal commitment to service,
and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to
the environment.
Risk-takers They approach unfamiliar situations and uncertainty with courage
and forethought, and have the independence of spirit to explore new
roles, ideas and strategies. They are brave and articulate in defend-
ing their beliefs.
Balanced They understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emo-
tional balance to achieve personal well-being for themselves and
others.
Reflective They give thoughtful consideration to their own learning and ex-
perience. They are able to assess and understand their strengths
and limitations in order to support their learning and personal
development.
738 M. Conn
2.3 Filling a Gap in International Education
The OECD (quoted in Vidovich, 2004) defines the internationalization of education

as ‘an international orientation in content, aimed at preparing students for perform-
ing (professionally and socially) in an international and multicultural context, and
designed for domestic students as well as foreign students’. Schools also need to
rethink the international and intercultural orientation of pedagogy, as well as content
knowledge, ensuring an ‘open flow of people and ideas between the school and the
international arena, using both educational and non-educational (especially business
and industry) sources [. . . ] and extensive individualized networks across the globe’
(Vidovich, 2004).
While the Primary Years Programme and the Middle Years Programme meet
the needs of the whole 3 to 16 age group, the Diploma Programme is designed
for the academically oriented students aged 16 to 19. However, even in developed
countries, 30 to 70% of this age group opt for vocational studies, therefore being
beyond the current reach of international education. In a changing global economy,
it is essential that students preparing directly for active employment develop a good
understanding of world issues and contexts and an understanding of their respon-
sibilities as global citizens. Several groups (and particularly schools) engaged in
international education have already stressed the need for internationally recognized
qualifications in areas currently not addressed by an academic programme like the
IB Diploma Programme. Several areas of study and activity, such as business and
administration, information technology and tourism, are often subject to relatively
similar guidelines globally. Consequently, there are numerous internationally recog-
nized diplomas at the polytechnic and university levels that have helped to standard-
ize such studies. There is, however, no international qualification in such areas at the
secondary level. While the IBO is not ready at this stage to develop such a range of
courses itself, it wishes to explore ways of working in partnership with agencies
and schools in order to develop ways of internationalizing local technical and vo-
cational studies at the upper secondary level. Through its experience in developing
programmes, assessment and teacher professional development internationally, the
IBO is well placed to create these contacts and connections to provide students with
a truly international experience.
2.4 Reducing the Academic Versus Vocational Divide
Banking on its experience and reputation in curriculum and assessment development

through international collaboration, the IBO can contribute positively to technical
and vocational education by challenging the perception (still prevalent in many
parts of the world) that technical and vocational education is of lesser status than
academic studies. By using and adapting chosen elements of the IBO’s Diploma
Programme, a carefully designed educational framework will now engage students
who have chosen technical and vocational education in challenging learning and
rigorous assessment through a programme of international education.
3 What Are the Characteristics of Learning

in Such a Framework?
3.1 Preparing for Work in a Knowledge Society
It is increasingly recognized that to prepare students to become effective partici-

pants in the rapidly changing twenty-first century society, schools must equip them
with the tools and the learning dispositions to cope with, but also to manage and
influence, change. An IB technical and vocational programme framework will need
to: (a) develop a range of broad work-related competencies as well as deepen under-
standing in general areas of knowledge; (b) help students develop flexible strategies
for knowledge acquisition and enhancement in varied contexts; (c) prepare students
for effective participation in the changing world of work; (d) foster attitudes and
habits of mind where students become true lifelong learners willing to consider new
perspectives; and (e) involve students in learning that develops the capacity and will
to make a positive difference.
3.2 Technical and Vocational Education
The IBO is working with schools and local authorities to develop a pilot programme
framework for generic, broad-based technical and vocational education, rather than
a specific skills-based vocational training. On successful completion of the course,
students will be able to enter employment directly or to progress to further studies
in higher education. It is important that this programme framework prepares stu-
dents for flexibility and mobility in a range of employment opportunities, as well as
continuing lifelong learning. This means integrating broad, general learning areas,
as well as specific vocational content in the programme, developing a challenging
programme for high achievers, ensuring that participating schools work in close
collaboration with higher education institutions and the working sector locally and
internationally.
3.3 A Flexible Framework
As technical and vocational education is subject to the pressures, priorities and

requirements of diverse national and local economic contexts, it is important to
achieve an appropriate balance between prescription of common programme ele-
ments, national or local requirements and school or student choice. Where there is a
high degree of governmental control through examinations, such a balance is harder
to achieve, but there is a growing trend to allow more local autonomy to schools.
The IBO’s experience with government and university recognition of its Diploma
Programme is a positive factor in the development of such locally accredited inter-
national programmes in technical and vocational education.
740 M. Conn
The programme framework will be based on basic qualities of the Diploma

Programme:
r a balance of breadth and depth of learning;
r a coherent mix of required elements and school or student options;
r explicit statements for values, aims, orientations and learning outcomes allowing
the sustained development of concepts, skills, understandings and attitudes;
r a strong emphasis on learning fostering intercultural understanding;
r the development of critical thinking, inquiry and research skills;
r varied pedagogy, including collaborative learning;
r an exploration of human endeavour, through the school-based experience and
work-based learning activities;
r strong student involvement in self-assessment and reflection;
r an encouragement of entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation;
r a sustained experience of community involvement and service;
r rigorous assessment through a blend of external as well as internal assessment
methods;
r varied, dynamic pedagogy, supported by appropriate in-service teacher
development;
r school/IBO collaboration in programme development and quality assurance sup-
ported and enhanced by an international network of like-minded schools and
organizations.
4 Who Are the IBO’s Partners?
4.1 The Creation of a Programme in Finland
Finland recognizes and promotes English-language education in general, as well as

vocational upper-secondary education. In addition, there is in Finland a recognized
need for upper secondary technical and vocational education programmes with a
wider international focus. The Oulu Business College (OBC) and representatives
from the municipality of Oulu (a city located in central Finland), as well as from
the Finnish Ministry of Education, met with the IBO in December 2002 to discuss
the development of a locally-based international programme in business education
in co-operation with the International Baccalaureate Organization. This request was
fully supported in principle by Oulun Lyseon lukio, a local IB world school which
uses the IB Diploma Programme. Discussions and seminars were held over the next
year, while teachers and administrators in the business school were becoming famil-
iarized with the orientations of the Diploma Programme through attendance at IB
teacher-training workshops and the study of curriculum materials in collaboration
with the IB world school.
A first invitational symposium on vocational education in an international context
was held at the IBO’s curriculum and assessment office in Cardiff (United Kingdom)
at the end of June 2003. This symposium brought together twenty-two participants
from the IBO and the OBC, as well as individual educators and specialists in voca-
tional education from Australia, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the United Kingdom
and the United States of America.
In the meetings in Cardiff and, subsequently, Oulu (December 2003) a steering
committee was formed and a two-phase pilot project developed:
1. Preparation phase, July 2003–July 2004: The Oulu Business College, in co-
operation with the IBO and the Finnish educational authorities, continued the
design of an experimental three-year programme, the ‘Business and Admin-
istration International Programme’, which complies with the Finnish require-
ments for their vocational qualification and contains elements of the academic IB
Diploma Programme. The IBO’s contribution to this development consisted in
encouraging and supporting the local IB world school staff in their participation
in planning groups; it also provided OBC staff with access to further IB Diploma
teacher-training workshops; it organized curriculum development meetings and
started planning the research and evaluation processes associated with this new
initiative.
2. Implementation phase, August 2004–August 2007. The pilot programme ‘Busi-
ness and Administration International Programme’ is now being taught at OBC
in co-operation with Oulun Lyseon lukio, while curriculum development
continues in key areas and research is put in place. The OBC offers a three-
year course focusing on issues such as customer service and marketing. Stu-
dents taking this course also study the IB business and management course,
English and economics (the latter being an elective for students). These IB
courses start in the first year of study, except for economics which starts in
the second year. Students also take a course focused on critical thinking in the
world of work, a course being developed in collaboration with the IBO. Fi-
nally, they are engaged in community service activities, take part in a locally
developed course about intercultural communication and complete a final project
reflecting on their educational and work-based experience. It is planned that four
cohorts of students will follow the pilot programme. A final evaluation of the
pilot project will take place in August 2007, when a decision will be made on
the continuation, amendments to, and potential expansion of, the agreed frame-
work for this pilot. The first and second cohorts number about twenty students
each.
For the full duration of the pilot project, the IBO has authorized the local IB
Diploma school to teach IB courses to the OBC students, who are registered
as certificate candidates for the IB Diploma and undergo the regular assessment
processes associated with their choice of courses. The IBO continues to provide
OBC staff with access to teacher-training workshops. It participates in the bi-
yearly steering committee meetings and organizes seminars, workshops and cur-
riculum development meetings with teachers involved in the project and other
experts.
742 M. Conn
4.2 Development of a Similar Partnership in Quebec, Canada
The seminars organized within the development described above and another invi-
tational symposium held in 2004 included participants from other IB world schools.
Among them, two IB Diploma schools in Quebec declared their interest in launching
a similar scheme in collaboration with the IBO and, indeed, with the OBC in Fin-
land, in order to extend the values and the benefits of an IB international education
to students engaged in vocational education within their institutions. In the educa-
tion system in Quebec (which is under the jurisdiction of the provincial ministry of
education) students obtain a secondary school leaving certificate at the age of 16/17
and can then continue their studies in a Collège d’enseignement général et profes-
sionnel (Cégep), where they opt for a two-year pre-university academic programme
or a three-year ‘technical’ programme that leads either to direct employment or to a
range of programmes in tertiary education.
The Collège François-Xavier Garneau in Quebec City and Collège Laflèche in
Trois-Rivières are two such Cégeps which, as authorized IB world schools, offer
their pre-university academic students the option of taking the IB Diploma instead
of the provincial programme. The two schools have developed a very close work-
ing relationship and drafted the pilot framework together, with the intention that
this framework of studies would eventually become an option for students engaged
in any of their many technical programmes. They have based these efforts on the
explicit aim of helping their students who choose a technical and vocational pro-
gramme (the majority of the student population of Quebec’s Cégeps) to develop an
international and intercultural outlook as they prepare themselves to be citizens and
professionals in an increasingly pluralist world.
A steering group was formed with representation from the two Cégeps,
the Quebec Ministry of Education, the IBO and also the local association of IB
world schools in the province in order to shape the development of, and support for,
the pilot programme framework. The project was facilitated by the fact that both in-
stitutions are already authorized IB world schools, very experienced in the teaching
of the Diploma Programme, as well as in technical and vocational education, and
very confident in the merits of blending elements of both. At the time of writing this
text, the project has been approved by the IBO’s governing body, is fully supported
by the Quebec Ministry of Education, and the two Cégeps will start recruiting about
forty students each for the first year of implementation of the programme, which
was due to begin in September 2006. For the first year, it is planned that the students
will come from the following technical and vocational programmes:
r Police technology;
r Correctional and youth services intervention;
r Fashion design and marketing;
r Hotel management; and
r Tourism.
The students’ three-year programme will feature all the required elements of their
respective technical and vocational options, as well as a common core developed
in collaboration with the IBO within the principles of the international framework.
They will study the IB’s French A1 (mother tongue and literature course) as well as
an IB second-language course with the other IB students engaged in the Diploma
Programme. They will also follow the critical-thinking course developed in collab-
oration between the participating schools and the IBO, as well as specially designed
local courses on ethics and multiculturalism, sustainable development and physical
health. An intercultural experience (living and/or working in a different cultural
environment) will be required by the schools (within the programme’s community
service activities, on-the-job training or as a special project) in order for the students
to get a better understanding of the organizational differences, the customs, rules
and codes for the practice of their profession in different cultural contexts. Like
their Finnish counterparts, the students will also complete a final project at the end
of their programme, reflecting on chosen elements of their experience.
5 The IBO’s Framework for a Programme

of International Education
5.1 Extending the Pilot
The two contexts described above present opportunities for the IBO to deepen its
understanding of how an international dimension can be incorporated in technical
and vocational studies, and of how the organization can contribute to this process
through its experience in international curriculum and programme development,
professional development and research. Indeed, the organization’s strategic plan
states its intention to increase access to the values of the IBO to students who would
not normally follow one of its mainstream programmes, particularly the Diploma
Programme.
As the two pilot projects progress and benefit from each other’s experience
through a collaborative process of development, evaluation and research, it will
be advantageous to gain insight into the applicability of this experience in other
national and cultural contexts through controlled expansion of the pilot. The IBO
has therefore developed a generic framework which could be proposed to other
interested parties, either IB world schools themselves wishing to extend the ben-
efits of international education to students in technical and vocational studies (as in
Quebec), or institutions forming a close formal partnership with IB world schools
(as in the Finnish project). These partnerships will involve a range of agencies, in-
cluding schools, colleges, local or regional education authorities, national education
ministries (providing organizations), to develop programmes which combine:
r locally or nationally validated technical and vocational qualifications;

r mainstream subjects from the IBO’s Diploma Programme;
r a range of other elements which reflect the values of the IBO.
744 M. Conn
5.2 Components of a Career-Related Programme
Following approval by the organization, all technical and vocational education pro-
grammes (normally spread over two or three years of full-time study) developed in
collaboration with the IBO will include the components shown in Box 2.
Box 2. The components of all IBO technical and vocational programmes

Required elements of the local or national qualification.
Mainstream IB Diploma Programme subjects:
r a modern language from group 2 (foreign languages);
r one or more other subjects from any other hexagon group (individuals and
societies, experimental sciences, mathematics, the arts).
The Diploma Programme subjects (except for mother tongue and group 2 lan-
guages) will be examined in English, French or Spanish.
Other mandatory elements:
r the critical-thinking course developed by the IBO;
r community involvement and service;
r an extended piece of reflective writing or a presentation.
Where appropriate, as agreed with the IBO to fulfil the requirements of the
programme framework, school-based elements:
r locally devised units or courses of study developed specially for this
programme.
This framework will be developed through the IBO’s usual collaborative pro-
cesses, where schools and teachers contribute to the development, share ideas and
resources, participate in international professional development events and engage
in regular discussion and debate through technology. It is interesting to note that
the pilot project already crosses the language barriers and fosters dialogue and col-
laboration between Finnish and French-speaking schools and teachers. This is a
powerful way to help schools develop and integrate an international dimension into
their programmes.
5.3 Assessment and Certification
Due to the combination of locally-determined and IB elements of the programme

framework, there will be a blend of direct IB assessment of student learning (for IB
mainstream Diploma courses) and of internal assessment performed by the schools
themselves: for some elements of the programme (such as the critical-thinking
course, community involvement or other locally-developed courses) student work
will be authenticated by the school and endorsed by the IBO. The organization
will develop common generic criteria for these aspects of the programme and will
monitor this internal assessment through the organization of a process of guided
peer review of school documentation, within a collaborative form of programme
evaluation. The partnership between schools, local authorities and the IBO will
be reflected in student certification upon completion of the programme. In addi-
tion to the local or national technical and vocational qualification, a student will
receive:
r certificates for Diploma Programme subjects taken;
r a certificate of international education with the logo ‘In collaboration with the
IBO’, provided specific conditions are satisfied;
r a record of achievement produced by the school or providing organization sum-
marizing all the activities successfully undertaken by the student during the
course of study on the international programme.
5.4 Conditions for School Participation

A set of criteria will form the basis for an authorization process for all future schools
or partners requesting authorization to offer this programme framework for their
students. In so doing, the IBO aims to ensure that the proposed local programmes
are well aligned with the organization’s mission statement, learner profile and the
Diploma Programme’s general aims and objectives. The school or agency will be
asked to demonstrate the added value that the programme would bring, and how the
IBO’s core values would be embedded in student learning.
In this process, the IBO is using its experience in developing collaborative pro-
cesses of quality assurance through initial programme authorization and evalu-
ation. The school or agency will need to provide evidence of the financial,
human and technological resources that will be allocated to the programme, in-
cluding on-going curriculum development, student support and teacher professional
development.
6 What Are the Issues Related to the Development

of Such a Framework?
The IBO’s motivation in the development of this pilot programme framework is
obviously to use the leverage of partnerships with like-minded organizations and
experienced IB world schools to understand better how an international dimension
can be incorporated in, and influence, technical and vocational studies. This experi-
ence will be essential to get an understanding of the ways in which the organization’s
educational programmes can benefit a broader range of students at the upper end of
secondary school.
746 M. Conn
Several important issues have been identified for study and research, for example:
r How will the teaching and learning styles of the Diploma Programme courses
compare with those used in local technical and vocational contexts? Will they
form a coherent educational experience for the students?
r What elements of critical thinking will be most adapted to the needs of young
people already involved in the world of work?
r What will be the role of problem-based learning in such a context? How can
active inquiry and learner involvement be best fostered in both academic and
work-related learning?
r Will adult learners in technical and vocational education find the programme
meaningful and interesting? How should courses and approaches be adapted for
a wide age range?
r How can metacognition and reflection related to work-related learning be
fostered? How will students develop learning dispositions that will make them
effective lifelong learners in their context?
r How can effective professional development and mechanisms for collabo-
ration be developed for academic and technical and vocational studies
teachers?
r How can we reach a balance of valid and reliable school-based and external
assessment? How will different national and cultural contexts view this blend of
local and international assessment and qualification?
r How can international mindedness be fostered in specific work-related environ-
ments, and what should be expected of students?
r More generally, are there specific areas where a truly international curriculum
can be developed to help students participate in emerging forms of work in the
global arena? How can the IBO contribute to this development?
6.1 Evaluation and Research
At the same time as the development of the pilot project is taking place, the IBO
is engaged in establishing the parameters for a thorough evaluation of the course,
as well as defining areas of relevant research, in collaboration with the schools
themselves and with local universities. There are six evaluative aims, outlined
as follows:
r To determine the nature of student learning, together with formative and summa-
tive achievements, in the academic and core elements of the programme.
r To monitor the development of student perceptions of international mindedness
throughout the period of the programme.
r To identify teacher pedagogy and perceptions of the programme, and their
changes over time.
r To explore the administrative, management and organizational issues arising
from the implementation of the programme within the institutions.
r To identify patterns and choices for employment/higher education both for stu-
dents participating in the international programme and for other students.
r To explore employer/higher education expectations of skills, attitudes and knowl-
edge of students recruited from the international programme and to evaluate their
achievement in practice.
Research methods will include interviews of different constituent groups, question-

naires, teacher comments on student progress, formative and summative assessment
results, and surveys on attitudes regarding elements contributing to international
mindedness. The longitudinal research will involve constituent groups within the
programme, as well as control groups in all institutions. In addition to English, both
Finnish and French will be used in the research, through the collaboration of the
schools themselves, as well as local universities.
7 Conclusion: Future Directions

The pilot programme framework described above clearly constitutes an opportunity
for the IBO to explore ways of developing new approaches for reaching a large
number of young people (and potentially a number of adults as well) engaged in
pre-tertiary programmes of study that had not been developed so far by the orga-
nization. The time may come when the IBO itself may develop an international
technical and vocational qualification in a number of areas of study. However, the
current approach of blending local and international elements might well be seen to
serve the needs of students better, at least in a large number of areas: it may be the
best solution to allow local economic, cultural and educational choices to be made
according to the local context. At the same time, such a flexible framework will
create a dynamic network of internationally-minded schools sharing a vocabulary
and educational aims for lifelong learning and responsible citizenship, collaborating
to develop a truly international educational experience for their students.
There is little doubt that with time and experience, this new provision will in-
fluence the Diploma Programme itself. The IBO continues to review and develop
its programmes to make them suitable for twenty-first century learners. Human en-
deavour and particularly the world of work are changing realities that students must
explore in order to develop a ‘range of broad employment-related competencies
which [. . . ] provide the basis for 1) effective participation in emerging forms of work
and work organizations; 2) access to a range of education and training pathways,
both initially and subsequent to commencing employment; 3) improved flexibility
and mobility in employment; and 4) effective participation in adult life generally’
(Munro, 2003). The classic distinction between academic preparation for university
and more work-orientated study will likely become increasingly blurred and irrele-
vant. The IBO’s current investigation in collaboration with its partner schools and
agencies, therefore, may have wide-ranging implications for the future development
of its programmes of international education for the upper secondary school.
748 M. Conn
References
Munro, J. 2003. Constructing a core curriculum for vocational education in an IBO Context. (Paper
prepared for the Conference on Vocational Education for an International Context, Cardiff,
United Kingdom, 26 June 2003.) (Unpublished.)
UNESCO. 1945. Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organi-
zation. Paris: UNESCO.
Vidovich, L. 2004. Towards internationalizing the curriculum in a context of globalization: com-
paring policy processes in two settings. Compare, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 443–61.
Chapter IV.17
A Profile of TVET in the Asia and Pacific
Region: A Survey of Progress, Innovations
and Promising Practices
1 Introduction
Given the importance of human capital and skills development for economic growth
and social cohesion and inclusion, in 1999 UNESCO convened a group of experts
from around the world to the Seoul Congress for a collective reflection on critical
reforms necessary for adapting changing labour market needs and growing pub-
lic expectations. The recommendation which emerged from the Seoul Congress
was used to update UNESCO’s standard-setting (normative) instrument for TVET
(UNESCO, 1999). This instrument was further updated in 2002 through a collabo-
rative effort between UNESCO and ILO (UNESCO/ILO, 2002). Various initiatives
were undertaken to encourage Member States to implement this recommendation. In
2003–2004 UNESCO conducted a survey to assess the extent to which its Member
States had implemented the recommendation as part of major reform initiatives to
cope with the demands of the new economy. More specifically, the survey attempted
to gather information on the extent of policy and programme reforms undertaken
since the second International Congress on TVET held in Seoul in 1999. The sur-
vey was divided into four sections, each focused on a different set of issues, namely:
(a) policy, planning and management of TVET systems; (b) access to TVET; (c) rel-
evance and quality of TVET systems; and (d) monitoring progress with TVET. The
survey questionnaire was sent to all Member States. Fifty per cent completed and
returned the questionnaire. Results of the survey responses from nineteen countries
(representing a response rate of 58%) were used to generate a profile of TVET
for the Asia and Pacific Region. The countries included in the analysis were: Aus-
tralia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia,
Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Tonga,
Vanuatu and Viet Nam.
All responses that could be summarized into frequency counts and percentages
were used to make comparative analyses. The open-ended questions that yielded
more qualitative information were analysed for recurrent themes, which contribute
to the understanding of TVET reform initiatives in the region and numerous

750 C. Chinien et al.
innovative and promising practices being implemented throughout the Asia and
Pacific region to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of TVET.
2 An Overview of TVET in the Asia and Pacific Region
Two-thirds of the countries have implemented a national strategy to oversee policy

formulation and the planning and management of TVET in the Asia and Pacific
Region (Fig. 1). Over half of the countries had established specific initiatives to
ensure that TVET was relevant to the world of work and to monitor progress against
some established benchmarks. Access to TVET has received the most attention
among the four key issues under consideration. This is not surprising in the context
of the MDGs and Education for All (EFA).
National
strategy
80% 74%
Relevance
67%
70%
57% 58%
60% Access to
TVET
50%
40% Monitoring
30%
20%
10%
0%
National Relevance Access to Monitoring
strategy TVET
Fig. 1 The planning and management of TVET in the Asia and Pacific Region
As shown in Fig. 2, the monitoring of TVET programmes was the area where
there was most significant variation between the developing and least-developed
countries. It is noteworthy that less was being done in the least-developed countries
for monitoring programme outcomes. Also of significance is the fact that both the
developing and least-developed countries were slightly more engaged in various
initiatives to increase access to TVET.
IV.17 Profile of TVET in the Asia and Pacific Region 751
80%
77%
80%
72%
69%
67% 67%
70% 64%
61%
60%
60%
50%
50% 45%
Yes % Developed
40% Yes % Developing
Yes % Least Developed
30% 25%
20%
10%
0%
Policy Access Relevance Monitoring
Fig. 2 The involvement of developed, developing and least-developed countries of the Asia and
Pacific Region in TVET
3 Policy, Planning and Management of TVET Systems
3.1 Goals of National Strategy/Plan
Human resources development was the theme for the development of a national
strategy or master plan for TVET in all countries. In this context, TVET is posi-
tioned to contribute to the development of a highly skilled workforce to support a
strong performance in the global economy.
3.2 National Strategy/Master Plan for TVET

As shown in Fig. 3, a significant number of countries (78%) have also developed
a national development plan for TVET, with the most developed countries of the
region more likely to have already completed such a plan. In general, the de-
veloping countries were in the process of implementing their plans. All national
framework documents for the region also bind TVET to the two major Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs): the fight against poverty and discrimination against
women.
In some countries the development of the TVET master plan is carried out in
collaboration with an economic planning unit under the responsibility of the Prime
Minister’s office and the plan is based on a national development strategy. Increas-
ingly, TVET is perceived as an enabling instrument on the road to becoming an
78%
80%
67%
70%
60%
50%
Yes %
40%
30%
20%
11%
10%
0%
National Development Plan Education for All (EFA) Plan National body to co-ordinate TVET
Fig. 3 Countries in the Asia and Pacific Region with various national development plans for TVET
industrialized nation and for improving the living conditions of the poor, especially
those from rural areas. TVET is also increasingly being seen as an instrument for
promoting environmentally sustainable development.
TVET institutions are being encouraged to use more formal and systematic plan-
ning that is in strategic alignment with each country’s national development plans.
Below are listed some specific goals forming part of the national strategy/plan iden-
tified by Member States:
r To address labour turnover, skills shortages and mismatch, changing workplace
due to technological innovations, changes in industrial structures, employment
security and social valuation of workers;
r To align all agencies strategically to address skills shortages and mismatch;
r To ensure an adequate supply of human resources to support progress in IT and
other growing fields;
r To establish a system to support workers’ career development and lifelong learn-
ing needs;
r To reconcile employers’ short- and long-term needs with that of employees’ ca-
reer life-plans.
r To develop vocational awareness among young people
3.3 A National Body for TVET
Some 67% of countries have established a national body for TVET. However, in
some countries plans establishing such an entity are still pending government ap-
proval. The mandate of this body is to ascertain the availability of a skilled labour
force to support economic growth and to ensure social cohesion and inclusion. Such
an entity allows countries with decentralized jurisdictions to maintain a national
focus on TVET. The establishment of a national body for TVET has resulted in a
net increase in public and private skill-training institutions.
The national body can also take the form of a national council chaired by the
minister of education and involving many other ministries. When a national body is
not in place, it is usually the ministry of education that has the overall responsibility
for TVET. In some countries, TVET is administered by the ministry of labour. Coun-
tries with no national body were less likely to be engaged in the development of a
national plan for TVET. Some international funding agencies are recommending the
establishment a national body for TVET as part of strategic development plans.
Under enabling legislation, some national bodies have the mandate to make deci-
sions on strategic policy, establish national objectives and priorities for the training
system, co-ordinate programmes, develop and expand TVET, and ensure programme
quality on a national basis. Typical responsibilities of the national body include:
r To co-ordinate all TVET activities;

r To develop guidelines for the reform of TVET;
r To provide labour-market information;
r To contribute to policy development;
r The financing of TVET;
r To establish training funds;
r Curriculum development;
r The development of learning materials and other resources;
r To design teacher-training strategies;
r Training and staff development;
r Programme monitoring and evaluation;
r To be responsible for a management information system;
r To liaise with all key stakeholders.
With the support of the Commonwealth of Learning, senior vocational education

officers from the Asia-Pacific Region have established the Pacific Association of
Technical, Vocational Education and Training (PATVET) as a regional body to
support the improvement and development of skills development in the region. A
resolution has also been made that a national body should be established on each
island State to strengthen TVET.
3.4 The Contribution of TVET to EFA
EFA, with its strong focus on primary education and remedial education for adults,
is not universally embraced in the TVET sector and was only included in the national
strategy of two small island States (11%). However, all countries were involved in
various initiatives to improve access and equity in TVET, which in effect is consis-
tent with the goals of EFA.
4 Facilitating Access: TVET for All
4.1 Funding Expansion
Eighty per cent of the countries indicated that there has been some funding to
increase education and training opportunities in general. While in some countries
TVET funding has increased, it has generally remained stable in others. No decline
in funding was reported. In some countries new facilities were under construction
and others were being planned.
Expansion of funding for TVET is clearly related to the health of the economy.
The output of TVET is a key consideration which is often overlooked when con-
sidering the expansion of TVET. How many TVET graduate can be absorbed by
the labour market in a given economic situation? In one instance, the TVET share
of the total education system was established at 20% to address this issue. This
much was necessary to match TVET output to corresponding growth in business
and industry.
Lack of adequate government support and funding for TVET is a major prob-
lem for small island States. In some developing countries, especially these small
islands, although no substantial national government funding has been appropriated
for TVET, financial support from the World Bank, the European Union, the Asian
Development Bank and other foreign donors is helping the expansion of TVET.
More wealthy countries in the region are also helping smaller States in building
the capacity of their human resources in TVET. Many non-governmental organi-
zations (NGOs) and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) have
also launched skill-development programmes, particularly at the community level.
A topology of expansion drawn from the survey responses includes the introduction
of new courses, renovation, expansion and modernization of existing facilities and
establishment of new centres and institutions,
Some TVET institutions are attempting to generate income to cover their basic
operational costs. For example, some TVET institutions have introduced a time-
sector privatization concept, which allows the public and private sector to utilize
TVET facilities to deliver staff training under an agreed payment scheme. Other
cost-saving initiatives include: (a) merging institutions into multi-campus facilities
to enable the sharing and mobilization of resources; and (b) the fusion of agencies
to reduce overlapping in skills development activities.
4.2 Efforts to Change the Image of TVET
Given the general belief that TVET can give a country’s economic and socio-
economic development a huge upturn, various initiatives are being undertaken to
improve the image of TVET and to encourage young people to consider a skilled
trade as a career of first choice. In some countries TVET policies are being modified
to promote lifelong learning by developing pathways between different educational
levels, or the articulation of TVET with higher education. Other initiatives include:
r Using the context learning approach in the teaching of mathematics, science and
technology to encourage more students to take these subjects;
r Introducing pre-vocational education in general education to help inculcate a
culture of skills development among young people, especially among girls; and
r Offering programmes supporting the school-to-work transition.
4.3 Improving Access and Equity for Designated Target Groups

Although few countries indicated that the goals of EFA were integrated in the na-
tional strategy or master plan for TVET, results showed that there were a consider-
able number of initiatives that have been implemented to increase the participation
of designated target groups in TVET, namely: women and girls; poor people from
rural areas and remote communities; people with disabilities; people with non-
English speaking backgrounds; conflict-affected people; and ethnic minorities—
when applicable.
Lack of support for TVET from the public and from politicians has been an
obstacle for increasing government assistance for improving access to TVET. Some
programmes are being established by training institutions without government sup-
port. Fig. 4 shows that considerable efforts were being deployed by countries to in-
crease the participation of disadvantaged target groups in TVET. The level of effort
for people affected by war reflects the fact that fewer countries of the region were
involved in war or armed conflict, rather than a lack of interest to meet the needs of
this target group. Fig. 4 provides a brief overview of these accomplishments related
to TVET for All.
100 6
11
90 22
28
80
70 67
60 No %
Yes %
50 94
89
40 78
72
30
20 33
10
0
Women Poor people (rural People with War-affected Ethnic minorities
areas) disabilities individuals
Fig. 4 An overview of the provision of TVET for All for designated groups
4.4 Women and Girls
Eighty-nine per cent of the countries reported having implemented various initia-
tives to attract women and girls to TVET. The following measures are illustrative of
these efforts:
r Committees were formed to promote the participation of women and girls in
TVET. In some cases, the policy was built into the national strategy, or became
an additional strategy that was added to the national plan;
r Women included in planning and decision-making at all levels; female instruc-
tors were encouraged;
r Develop special TVET programmes for girls who have dropped out of schools;
r Offer gender-sensitive training to TVET personnel;
r Implement a gender-friendly training environment in TVET;
r Establish polytechnics for women;
r Provide financial incentives to encourage employers to give women greater ac-
cess to apprenticeship in non-traditional occupations;
r Introduce female-friendly trades, such as tailoring, hairdressing and weaving, to
increase women’ participation in TVET; and
r Provide assistance to parents of school-aged children.
4.5 Poor People from Rural Areas and Remote Communities
Almost all countries (94%) had implemented programmes to encourage the partici-
pation of poor people from rural and remote communities in TVET. A summary of
specific initiatives that have been implemented is as follows:
r Integrating a national poverty eradication programme into the national strategy
or master plan;
r Investments to strengthen communities and regions economically and socially
disadvantaged through learning and employment;
r More formal programmes, such as apprenticeship training, are often concen-
trated in urban areas where most businesses and industries are located.
Incentives are provided to encourage employers to hire apprentices from rural
areas. Incentives are also provided to hire apprentices from rural areas to address
skill shortages in these regions;
r Employment facilitation programmes introduced to train disadvantaged target
groups, such as small farmers or fishermen, to augment self-support abilities and
enhance employability;
r Flexible training delivery and establishment of community-based training
centres;
r Taking training to people in rural areas with mobile training units;
r Imparting income-generating skills;
r Annexing skill-training programmes to secondary schools;
r Running campaigns to motivate youth and adults to participate in training

programmes;
r Facilitating access to training for people with little or no education;
r Using mobile training teams to train trainers; and
r Agriculture-based programmes for poor people living in rural areas.
4.6 People with Disabilities
In most countries, equity policy is mandated by law and TVET training for people
with disabilities is enacted in specific legislations. Seventy-eight per cent of coun-
tries have implemented specific programmes to remove barriers that have excluded
people with disabilities from involvement in TVET. Some programmes for people
with disabilities are run by non-governmental/voluntary organizations. The range of
activities implemented to improve access to people with disability to TVET in the
region includes:
r Incentives to encourage employers to sponsor apprentices with disabilities;
r Purchasing training places in TVET that are dedicated to people with disabilities;
r Injecting more TVET funding targeted to people with disabilities;
r Established a co-ordinating system to facilitate the routing of people with dis-
abilities from school to TVET and employment; and
r Establishing special skill-development programmes.
4.7 Conflict-Affected People
Given that the great majority of the countries in the region have not been involved
recently in war, armed conflict or civil unrest, only 33% reported programmes to ad-
dress the skill-development needs of people affected by conflict. Only six countries
in the region reported having to deal with war-affected individuals. Where applica-
ble, the following provisions were made:
r Establishment of a quota system for admitting war-affected persons in TVET;
and
r Establishment of skills-development programmes for people affected by ethnic
tension.
4.8 Ethnic Minorities
Eighty-three per cent of the countries were engaged in special initiatives to include
ethnic minorities in TVET. However, it appears that in some countries ethnic mi-
norities are more interested in general education rather than TVET. The following
inclusion initiatives were reported:
r Making funds available for the provision of inclusion;

r Establishing mechanisms to give minorities a voice in decision-making;
r Establishing employment equity programmes that provide pre-vocational train-
ing to job-seekers encountering barriers;
r Incentives to encourage employers to sponsor apprentices from ethnic minority
groups;
r Establishing training programmes to enable ethnic minority groups to overcome
deficits in literacy, numeracy and language skills; and
r Programmes to integrate foreign workers.
4.9 Equity Policy for TVET
The mandate to address socio-economic needs and labour-market requirements with

relatively modest resources places considerable pressure on TVET. Eighty-nine per
cent of countries have implemented equity policy to facilitate access to TVET. In
many cases, equity policy was encapsulated in the national strategy for TVET. The
goal of the equity policy is to combat exclusion and discrimination and to promote
inclusion, which is one of the basic axiomatic principles of UNESCO. The equity
policies reported aimed at the traditional designated target groups, namely: women
and girls, poor people, people with disabilities, war-affected people and ethnic mi-
norities. In addition, other important sources of discrimination were also addressed,
such as: learning disability, over-age, cultural differences, language, literacy, numer-
acy, religion, unemployment, the incarcerated and people living in isolation. Below
is a list of specific approaches implemented to address the issues and concerns re-
lated to equity:
r Establishment of specialized agencies to oversee the implementation of equity
policy;
r Reporting outcomes on a regular basis to ensure accountability; and
r Providing scholarships and financial assistance to allow poor people to partici-
pate in TVET.
4.10 PLAR
Only 56% of the countries in the region reported having implemented a system for
assessing and recognizing prior learning (PLAR). Again, the health of the economy
seems to be a key determinant for offering PLAR services in TVET. Some countries
have enacted special legislation incorporating PLAR services in TVET, which is
available to applicants upon enrolment. Countries that have successfully established
PLAR services have in most cases also established some form of vocational qual-
ifications framework, which has been used as a basis for setting national standards
for occupational skills. These standards are used for assessing and recognizing prior
learning. PATVET is attempting to introduce a regional qualifications framework for
the Pacific islands. It is assumed that this framework will enable workers from small
island States to migrate to wealthier countries. This can be an important source of
income for countries which rely heavily on remittances. Two other initiatives closely
associated with the PLAR system are: (a) career counselling; and (b) providing
multiple-entry/exit to TVET programmes.
4.11 Other Initiatives to Increase Access
Other initiatives to increase access to TVET include the following:

r Flexible delivery to accommodate the needs of disadvantaged groups;
r Adopting instructional methods to meet the special needs of designated target
groups;
r Providing professional development to equip teachers with the knowledge and
skills to work with and teach people with special needs;
r Offering dual-track high-school programmes, which prepare students for both
academic and TVET options: school-based apprenticeship programmes;
r Incentives provided to employers in support of the training and hiring of older
workers who are welfare recipients, redundant or re-entering the workforce.
5 Relevance
In general, all countries were committed to forging strong links with the world of
work so that TVET graduates would be equipped with the skills needed to enter
wage employment and self-employment. Most countries (72%) have held some
form of national consultation for capturing the input of key stakeholders in order to
enhance the relevance of the TVET system and its programmes. Typical consultation
formats include: (a) a national forum; (b) a national council; and (c) a ministerial
commission. Some countries are establishing sector councils to identify and address
current and anticipated challenges for skills and learning, and to implement long-
term human resources planning and development strategies for their respective sec-
tors. At least four countries—Australia, Japan, Malaysia and the Philippines—have
developed occupational standards as part of their workforce development strategy.
These occupational standards are used for developing: (a) a national qualifications
framework; (b) training standards; (c) benchmarks for establishing prior learning
assessment and recognition of skills acquired on a non-formal and informal basis;
and (d) for training provision and certification.
Below are listed some initiatives introduced to increase the relevance of TVET:
r Obtaining industry collaboration in training delivery, such as an advisory input.
Curricula are reviewed every five years in collaboration with industry to ensure
the authenticity of occupational requirements;
r Promoting cross-industry collaboration;
r Facilitating flexible mixes of skills;

r Predicting and addressing skill shortages;
r Developing skills to support innovation in industry;
r Use of competency-based approaches for learning and learning assessment;
r Paid professional leave enables TVET instructors to participate in industrial
training to update their industrial knowledge and skills. They are expected to
share the skills acquired with other instructors and students.
5.1 Flexibility in TVET Delivery
In their efforts to increase the flexibility of TVET, at least 50% of countries were
offering various scheduling options, such as day and block release and sandwich
programming, which allows learners to combine on-the-job training with school-
based training. In most of these countries (83%), TVET programmes were available
either in the evening or on a part-time basis (Fig. 5). It is noteworthy that in most
countries the majority of TVET students study on a part-time basis.
100
17
90
80 50 50
56
70
No %
60
Yes %
50
83
40
30 50 50
44
20
10
0
Day release Sandwich Block release Evening or part-time
Fig. 5 The availability of TVET courses
5.2 Use of ICTs in TVET
Only one-third of countries were using radio, television, the Internet and other open
and distance learning (ODL) modalities, in spite of the potential capacity of ICTs to
increase the flexibility of TVET delivery (Fig. 6). Some public and private providers
are delivering training content only by distance and others are using a blended strat-
egy. In general, the major emphasis of policies for integrating ICTs in education is
39% 39%
39%
38%
37%
36%
35%
Yes %
34%
33% 33%
33%
32%
31%
30%
Radio Television Internet Other
Fig. 6 Mode of TVET delivery using ICTs
very much at the university level. While some countries were planning to introduce
ICTs for on-line learning in TVET, others had no provision for making a commit-
ment to more flexible means of delivery.
5.3 Comments on Developing Countries
Small island States were less likely to use ICTs in TVET, but there was a belief that
ODL is extremely important for small island States, irrespective of their size.
5.4 New Competencies in TVET
A significant number of countries have introduced specific initiatives to identify and

incorporate generic broadly transferable skills in TVET (Fig. 7), such as communi-
cation (78%), teamwork (72%) and technology skills (78%).
Other approaches being used to infuse new competencies through TVET in-
clude:
1. Collecting, analysing and organizing information;

2. Communicating ideas;
3. Planning and organizing activities;
4. Solving problems;
5. Learning to learn;
6. Innovation skills;
7. Entrepreneurship skills.
78% 78%
78%
77%
76%
75%
74% Yes %
73%
72%
72%
71%
70%
69%
Communication skills Teamwork skills Technology skills
Fig. 7 New competencies acquired through TVET
UNESCO’s Asia and Pacific Regional Office in Bangkok has organized capacity-
building workshops and professional development to train TVET teachers so as
to infuse and facilitate the development of new competencies. Some TVET sys-
tems have introduced compulsory courses and extra-curricular activities allowing
students to learn new competencies. Efforts are also being made to design and
develop curricula for teaching new and emerging technical competencies, such as
mechatronics (mechanics and electronics technology) and autotronics (automotive
and electronics technology).
5.5 Micro-Business, Farming and Artisan Skills
Approximately two-thirds of the countries have implemented micro-business (61%),

as well as farming and artisan skills (67%). These initiatives include community-
based training for enterprise development, which aims to prepare TVET graduates
for creating enterprises that may provide a livelihood immediately after completing
their training programmes. Entrepreneurship, which is central to this approach, is
fast becoming an integral part of TVET. Entrepreneurship training is sometimes
included in compulsory general foundation courses, which also include rural devel-
opment and environmental protection, as well as financing and setting up micro-
business and artisan trades.
6 Monitoring
A substantial proportion of the countries (61%) have already established national

goals or benchmarks against which to measure the provision of TVET. Some coun-
90
83
80
70 67
60
50
44
Yes %
40
33
30
20
10
0
National statistical system Collection of distinct sets Collection of data on Collection of post-training
allowing data on TVET to of data on full- and part- programme completers data on programme outcomes
be collected separately time learners and non-completers
Fig. 8 Measuring TVET
tries have also developed an action plan and key performance measures for assess-
ing the national strategy or plan. Through PATVET, member countries are sharing
knowledge, skills, experiences, resources and information on TVET. This will pro-
vide useful benchmarks for assessing TVET. Some TVET systems are using ISO
9001 management system certification to ensure quality and effective delivery of
services.
As shown in Fig. 8, it is noteworthy that 83% of the countries have a national
statistical system that allows data on TVET to be collected separately. Not all coun-
tries (33%) were collecting statistical information distinguishing part-time from
full-time learners. However, a substantial number of countries (67%) were tracking
programme completers and non-completers. Surprisingly, only 44% of the countries
were conducting tracer or follow-up studies to determine the rate of placement and
graduates’ degree of satisfaction with TVET programme.
6.1 Impact of UNESCO’s Recommendation

for TVET
The purpose of UNESCO’s Revised Recommendations for TVET was to assist

its Member States in adapting TVET to meet the needs and expectations of a
rapidly changing global economic environment (UNESCO/ILO, 2002). There are
many similarities between countries’ national development plans and UNESCO’s
recommendations for TVET. The Seoul Congress on TVET (UNESCO, 1999) and
UNESCO’s recommendations gave some impetus for TVET reform in many
countries. Since the recommendations were adopted, all Member States of the Asia-
Pacific Region involved in this survey have undertaken major initiatives for policy
and programme reforms in TVET. In some countries, especially the developing and
least-developed ones, the recommendation had a direct impact on TVET reforms. In
more developed countries, the labour-market demands had a stronger influence on
TVET development. However, the thrust of UNESCO’s recommendations is gener-
ally consistent with the reform of TVET systems. Although the nature of the reforms
was consistent with the UNESCO’s Education for All movement and the UN Mil-
lennium Development Goals, there were no indications that these two international
benchmarks for development were used as a primary reference for developing na-
tional TVET plans. It should be said here that a few countries were unaware of the
existence of UNESCO’s recommendations.
Experience has demonstrated that a national seminar is an effective way of dis-
seminating major recommendations for TVET reform, as it facilitates consensus-
building between government/industry/labour/institutions/educators/administrators
and service receivers on key priorities, from educational reform to the establishment
of an action plan to address needs.
All the countries that were aware of UNESCO’s recommendations for TVET
unanimously embraced this standard-setting document. In the developing and least-
developed countries, lack of funding and shortage of trained staff are minimizing the
impact of the recommendations and slowing the rate of progress in TVET reforms.
In spite of these barriers, all countries of the Asia and Pacific Region are mak-
ing vigorous efforts to strengthen TVET in strategic alignment with their national
human-resources development plan and labour-market requirements. UNESCO’s
recommendations provide a most valuable blueprint for the development and im-
provement of TVET in its Member States.
References
UNESCO. 1999. Lifelong learning and training: a bridge to the future; final report of the Interna-
tional Congress on Technical and Vocational Education; Seoul, 1999. Paris: UNESCO.
UNESCO/ILO. 2002. Technical and vocational education and training for the twenty-first century.
Paris: UNESCO; Geneva, Switzerland: ILO.
Section 5
Learning for Employment and Citizenship
in Post-Conflict Countries

Department of Education, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Chapter V.1
Overview: Vocational Education, Social
Participation and Livelihoods in Post-Conflict
Countries
1 Introduction
The collection of papers in this section is concerned with the well-being1 of youth in
those developing countries that have suffered violent conflict. We know that violent
conflict and poverty are inextricably linked (Buckland, 2005), that conflict retards
economic and social development and is a key obstacle to achieving Education for
All and the Millennium Development Goals (UNDP, 2003; World Bank, 2003). We
know too that youth are at once the primary victims and primary actors in conflict2
and are therefore central to any approach to human development. In its recent World
development report: development and the next generation (World Bank, 2007), the
World Bank explores the importance of ‘investing’ in young people and argues that
the decline in fertility rates in most developing countries means that many will see a
larger share of people of working age with fewer children or elderly dependents to
support. This raises new challenges, but also, it asserts, provides ‘an unprecedented
opportunity to accelerate growth and reduce poverty’.
We aim, in this overview, to outline the promises and pitfalls of vocational ed-
ucation aimed at young adults in conflict-affected countries. In so doing, we take
the social sciences concept of ‘youth transitions’3 with the aim of examining three
critical and overlapping aspects thereof—education, work and citizenship—in those
countries with fragile economies and human relationships. The World Bank argues
that these transitions are ‘critical for poverty reduction and growth because they
relate to building, maintaining, using, and reproducing human capital’ (2007, p. 40).
This notwithstanding, the paper argues that while we know that they are an impor-
tant source of human capital and vital to economic growth and human develop-
ment, we have not been able to answer with confidence or precision some crucial
questions about the effects of conflict on the participation of youth in education,
economics and civil society. Nor have we, as a research community, been able to
articulate clear policy choices for governments, aimed at improving learning, work
and life opportunities for youth in the developing world. This was confirmed in a
conference on Education and Conflict: Theory, Policy and Practice, convened by
Oxford University in collaboration with UNICEF in April 2006 (see Johnson & Van
Kalmthout, 2006). The conference concluded that we have only rough measures of
youth well-being at our disposal. As a consequence, policies and services aimed at
World of Work, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-5281-1 V.1,

768 D. Johnson, L. Kane
young people in conflict-affected countries are crudely targeted and operate on a

‘rule of thumb’ (Annan, Blattman & Horton, 2006). Those practitioners involved
in post-conflict reconstruction were extremely conscious of the limitations of our
current knowledge base and the lack of evidence-led approaches to development
planning and programming.
2 Equality of Opportunity
Thus, the first theme that we are concerned with in exploring the potential of voca-
tional education is equality of opportunity and the well-being of youth in conflict-
affected developing countries. In particular, we are concerned with the opportunities
available for youth to continue to learn (in diverse ways) beyond primary school,
and the extent to which such learning offers continuities to work and to productive
citizenship. Simply put, equality, or rather ‘inequality of opportunity’, in access
to education, to work and earnings, and to participation in civil society, defines
the issue. For us, economic growth and human development is more than simply
a reduction in absolute deprivation. A sound understanding of relative deprivation
or inequity is of critical importance in building human capacity. When inequity be-
comes deeply entrenched in a society, this threatens stability and the opportunity for
human development and economic growth.
The fact of the matter is that inequalities between different groups in society, or
‘horizontal inequalities’ (Johnson & Stewart, 2007; Mancini, 2005; Østby, 2003;
Stewart, 2000) have been shown to be a source of violent conflict (Marshall, 2005).
Indeed, horizontal inequalities in educational access are a particularly important
form of inequality since they lead to other horizontal inequalities—in income, em-
ployment, nutrition and health, as well as political position. Thus, the education
sector plays a critical role in conflict-affected or conflict-prone societies: on the
one hand, its values and structure can reflect inequalities in power;4 on the other
hand, it is pivotal in affecting these values and inequalities, potentially offering a
way of breaking from the past. Education is a powerful influence over identities,
both through its content and its structure. Moreover, it is a source of power and of
income in contemporary societies. Access to jobs depends on the kind and level of
education attained and, similarly, political participation at higher levels, particularly
in the civil service, depends on education.
3 Vocational Education
The second theme explored here focuses more directly on vocational education in
war-affected countries and the role it might play in bridging horizontal inequalities.
It seems that the educational preparation of youth for work and life is at a very
low level in developing countries, particularly among the poor. Many are not learn-
ing as much as they should and, specifically, they are not learning what might be
V.1 Overview: Vocational Education in Post-Conflict Countries 769
relevant to the demands of a rapidly-changing global economy. The outcome is that

many begin work too early in low-skills jobs and find that they are unable to make
progress along the skills ladder to enhance their earnings. For many governments,
development partners and international NGOs, the favoured response is more ed-
ucation and training, especially vocational and skills-based training. Yet, a survey
of war-affected youth in Uganda—SWAY (Annan, Blattman & Horton, 2006)—
questions the internal logic of this approach. It suggests that:
While those with vocational training are doing relatively well economically, it is not neces-
sarily the case that an expansion of these programs will lead to more meaningful livelihoods
to youth. Rather, the association between economic success and vocational training may be
spurious—trained youth may be doing well not because of their training, but because they
were more talented and entrepreneurial in the first place. A more rigorous evaluation of
programs will be required to assess whether vocational training has any positive impact
at all.
This suggests that we would be wise to look beyond supply-side factors alone and
consider instead such demand-side factors as human capability and agency, if we are
to offer a more considered set of proposals for enhancing young people’s well-being
in the developing world.
Hence a number of questions arise. These are:
1. What are the continuities between vocational education, work and citizenship in
post-conflict societies?
2. What policies have been adopted in a range of conflict-affected countries that
might account for differences in the patterns of youth transitions (continuing to
learn, engaging in work and exercising citizenship)?
3. What role does individual agency and human capability play for those youths
who do and for those who do not participate in vocational education in post-
conflict societies?
To understand better these questions, we propose a conceptual model of voca-

tional education as a learning system in fragile, conflict-prone and post-conflict
countries. Four main contexts in which vocational education as a holistic learn-
ing system might function are identified. We shall return to the questions them-
selves.
The first context in which vocational education and training might occur is as
an educational solution to the impact of on-going, low to high intensity conflict.
The classic response here is ‘skills development’. An example of this approach is
identified by Yarrow (in this section) in the provision of vocational education for
refugees or internally displaced persons.
The second context of vocational education and training in countries experi-
encing conflict can be seen as more future-oriented systems planning and pol-
icy work. Here, planning for the return of refugees for example, or ideological
concerns about the nature of a future curriculum, the relevance to the world of
work and economic growth are all important issues for VET (see Barakat, in this
section).
Second, the role of TVET in the study of educational reconstruction and transfor-
mation in post-conflict environments is interesting. In practical terms, the provision
of vocational education comes as a result of fire-fighting or short-term policy so-
lutions for education and training that are very often ill-defined or only tenuously
linked to the search for longer-term economic forecasting (see Barakat, Kane and
Inglis in this section) or the rebuilding of identity and the forging of a new demo-
cratic citizenship (see Paulson in this section).
The third context in which VET might function is as a strategic driver of human
development. In this case, the vocational education response is not an isolated re-
sponse. Here it is necessary for more ‘joined-up thinking’ about VET as a learning
system, and as a more integrated delivery system. This is not as yet fully appreciated
between NGOs and frontline agencies (see Karpinska in this section).
The fourth context in which VET might function is in the re-building of a na-
tion in the aftermath of conflict. There is a growing body of theoretical work on
education as a process in rebuilding civil society and TVET’s role in this has been
identified by some as crucial (see Humphreys & Weinstein, 2004). Because access
(or the lack thereof) to education and training gives rise to conflict in the first place,
and because of its role in building peace and minimizing the horizontal inequalities
discussed above, the role of TVET in securing peace and stability is an important
focus of enquiry. We offer, in Fig. 1, a conceptual model of the field of education
and conflict studies.
Fig. 1 A conceptual model of the field of TVET and conflict studies

Framed by the conceptual model discussed above, we return to the three questions
raised earlier and consider how they are variously addressed in this section.
V.2 From Assessment to Planning: Hope for TVET in Uganda,

by Bilal Barakat, Lyle Kane and Alex Inglis
The first of the questions above is explored by Bilal Barakat, Lyle Kane and Alex
Inglis. The authors stress the need for improved assessment tools to advise TVET
planning in post-conflict situations. Using the case study of Uganda, where the most
thorough study of war-affected populations to date has taken place (The Survey for
War-Affected Youth or SWAY), this chapter discusses the importance of reliable
data and ways in which it has the potential to shape TVET programming in northern
Uganda so as to be contextually appropriate in terms of supporting social reintegra-
tion and matching opportunities in the economy.

Liberia, by Lyle Kane
The theme is further taken up by Lyle Kane in this chapter. He further explores the
need to design TVET programming around the specific economic context of the tar-
get population. He explores the problems facing the TVET programmes associated
with the United Nations’ Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR)
initiatives in Liberia, the mismatch between training and economic opportunities,
and the way the aid system can bridge that mismatch through more contextually
appropriate TVET programming and nurture and create economic opportunities.

Conflict on TVET Versus Academic Education in Palestine,
by Bilal Barakat
Continuing this line of exploration, Bilal Barakat’s chapter aims at illustrating the
varying impact of conflict on TVET compared to general education. The chapter
makes the point that TVET is negatively perceived among Palestinians in terms
of both national aspirations and personal emancipation as compared to academic
education. In the case of the continuing ‘low intensity’ Palestinian–Israeli conflict,
these issues are of great importance.

Livelihoods in Post-Conflict Societies: What Promise
Does TVET Hold for Southern Sudan? by Zuki Karpinska
Karpinska’s chapter engages with the second theme. She examines the difficulties
of government, external agency and NGO co-ordination in providing cohesive and
effective TVET. The chapter uses the region of Southern Sudan as a case study, a
context rife with complicated political, economic, physical and social challenges.
While grim in her description of the current state of TVET implementation in the
region, Karpinska is hopeful that recent co-ordination efforts have created a setting
for improvements in service delivery.
V.6 Vocational Training in Post-War Sierra Leone and Liberia,

by Andrew Benson Greene Jr.
In his chapter, Andrew Benson Greene further mines this line of enquiry. He dis-
cusses the need for TVET programming to take advantage of new technologies,
while nurturing and developing traditional craftsmen, such as blacksmiths, to sup-
port the agricultural sector. The chapter uses a set of existing programmes to paint a
picture of TVET in post-conflict Sierra Leone, emphasizing existing programmatic
solutions to the contextual obstacles facing war-affected populations, such as sup-
port for amputees in the form of prosthetics, and the need to design programming
around local social and cultural structures.

Connections in Sierra Leone’s DDR Process, by Julia Paulson
Julia Paulson furthers the discussion of the third theme outlined above. Her chapter
discusses the ways in which TVET acts as a tool for reintegration of ex-combatants,
using as a lens the DDR initiatives in Sierra Leone. Paulson goes on to pose the
question of how TVET can be more effective in the reintegration process.
V.8 TVET, Women and Conflict: Palestinians in the Lebanese

Civil War, by Rachel Yarrow
The question of individual agency is further taken up in Rachel Yarrow’s chapter.

This chapter describes and analyses the activities of two NGOs providing TVET
to Palestinian women during the Lebanese Civil War. Yarrow discusses the ex-
tent to which these two case studies effectively capitalized on the opportunities
offered by the post-conflict situation to reshape ‘traditional’ or ‘conservative’ gen-
der roles and empower women. The concern is not an academic one. In an in-
formal assessment of a tailoring programme offered to young women from the
camps, one NGO came to the conclusion that the girls that passed through the
programme were doing worse than those that did not. Those that passed through
the programme found little demand for their skills in their home camps. Mean-
while, those that did not pass through the programme found ways to return to formal
education.
Thus, this section offers an overview of the challenges for educational recon-
struction in a number of single-country cases. Normally, it would be useful to
group countries in respect of the historical stage of conflict and reconstruction

(e.g. Angola, Burundi, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka are examples of countries
emerging from conflict, whilst Cambodia, Guatemala, Lebanon and Nicaragua have
longer histories of post-conflict reconstruction) and effecting comparisons within
the group. However, due to limited space in this section, we have decided to offer
simply selected examples of writings on vocational education and the challenges of
employment and citizenship.
Notes
1. Well-being is defined here as opportunities for educational, social and economic participation.
2. One of the initial causes of the ethnic conflict between Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka was
the frustration felt by Tamil students, who had been shut out of places in universities and other
avenues for civic involvement.
3. Five youth transitions are identified in the literature: learning, going to work, staying healthy,
forming families, and exercising citizenship (see World Bank, 2007).
4. Ukiwo (2007) shows how the lack of education among Northerners in Nigeria in the early years
of independence debarred Northerners not only from high-level federal civil-service positions,
but even from running their own state.
References
Annan, J.; Blattman, C.; Horton, R. 2006. The state of youth and youth protection in Uganda.
Kampala: UNICEF Uganda.
Buckland, P. 2005 Reshaping the future: education and post-conflict reconstruction. Washington,
DC: World Bank.
Humphreys, M.; Weinstein, J.M. 2004. What the fighters say: a survey of ex-combatants in Sierra
Leone, June-August 2003. New York, NY: Columbia University. (Center on Globilization
and Sustainable Development, working paper, no. 20.) <www.stanford.edu/∼jweinst/docs/
manuscripts/humphreys combatantsurvey.pdf>
Johnson, D.; Stewart, F. 2007. Education, ethnicity and conflict. International journal of education
and development, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 247–51
Johnson, D.; Van Kalmthout, E. 2006. Education and conflict: research, policy and practice. Forced
migration review, supplement, July. <www.fmreview.org/FMRpdfs/EducationSupplement/
full.pdf>
Mancini, L. 2005. Horizontal inequalities and communal violence: evidence from Indonesian dis-
tricts. Oxford, UK: Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity. (CRISE
working paper, 22.) <www.crise.ox.ac.uk>
Marshall, M.G. 2005. Major episodes of political violence, 1946–2004. Severn, MD: Centre for
Systemic Peace. <www.systemicpeace.org/>
Østby, G. 2003. Horizontal inequalities and civil war. Oslo: Norwegian University of Science and
Technology.
Stewart, F. 2000. Crisis prevention: tackling horizontal inequalities. Oxford development studies,
vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 245–62.
Ukiwo, U. 2007. The ‘reform’ agenda: liberalization, technocracy and democratization in Nigeria,
1999–2007. Berkeley, CA: University of California.
United Nations Development Programme. 2003. Millennium Development Goals: a compact
amongst nations to end poverty. New York, NY: UNDP.
World Bank. 2003. Breaking the conflict trap: civil war and development policy. Washington, DC:
Oxford University Press/World Bank.
World Bank. 2007. World development report: development and the next generation. Washington,
DC: World Bank.
Chapter V.2
From Assessment to Planning:
Hope for TVET in Uganda
1 Introduction
One of the major obstacles facing the implementation of TVET programming in

post-conflict situations is a lack of data on the needs and skills of the target pop-
ulation. In terms of a strict concentration on the ability of TVET programming to
improve the skill-set and employability of participants, this lack of data poses the
problem of leading to a mismatch between TVET and the contextual economic op-
portunities. But, in the post-conflict context, where the implementation of a holistic
approach to TVET is necessary, with an integrated set of programmes designed to
address the challenges specific to a war-affected population, a lack of data poses a
much more serious set of problems.
Inappropriate programming can even exacerbate the challenges facing
war-affected populations rather than support their recovery. Culturally insensitive
psychological therapy exercises, unsuitable housing schemes for displaced persons,
ignorance of the physical frailties of injured persons—it is not hard to imagine the
ways in which these mistakes could have a negative impact on the experience of
programme participants.
The lack of reliable data is a complex problem to overcome. Post-conflict con-
texts are often defined by a collapsed or weak government and social-service infra-
structure. As a result, what data can be collected are often unreliable or potentially
manipulated. In addition, in order to be truly effective and avoid a time lag between
the end of the conflict and delivery of services, data should be collected during the
conflict, posing risks for the safety of data collectors. Access to the potential target
population in the midst of war is often tenuous at best.
One consequence of this state of affairs is that programming is often based on immediate
and observable needs, rules of thumb, and possibly erroneous assumptions about what sort
of help ought to be provided. With only rough measures of well-being at our disposal,
a second consequence is unavoidably crude targeting of services (Annan, Blattman &
Horton, 2006, p. iii).
One thing is clear: there is a marked lack of international standards in terms of data
collection for war-affected populations. This has the potential to lead to program-
ming that is poorly matched to the needs of the population. In the best-case scenario,

776 B. Barakat et al.
such mismatched programming has simply been a waste of time and money. In a
worst-case scenario, it has created a new set of challenges for the target population
to contend with.
A current example of an attempt to address this problem is the UNICEF Uganda
commissioned Survey for War-Affected Youth (SWAY). This project set out to
assess the effects of the conflict in northern Uganda on the youth in the region.
Utilizing quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews, SWAY seeks to answer
the question ‘who is suffering, how much and in what ways?’ (Annan, Blattman &
Horton, 2006, p. iii). While these questions about suffering are relevant, they seem
incomplete. As a recent World Bank report points out: ‘for education reform and
transformation, the post-conflict reconstruction environment is the best of times and
the worst of times, an opportunity and a constraint’ (Buckland, 2005, p. 25). There
are undoubtedly a set of skills and abilities that come out of being actively involved
in a conflict that can aid in post-conflict reconstruction.
This chapter aims to examine the relationship between needs/skills assessment
and a holistic approach to TVET programming, using northern Uganda as a case-
study.
The first section provides a brief overview of the key features of the conflict. The
second section describes recent and existing TVET initiatives. The third section
discusses the structure of SWAY as an outstanding and timely example of needs
assessment during conflict, making some critiques of its limitations. The findings
are discussed and the recommendations reviewed. The fourth section looks at the
upcoming TVET initiatives in Uganda and the way that SWAY can improve the ef-
fectiveness of these initiatives. The concluding remarks include general recommen-
dations for assessment and planning practices that can improve TVET programming
in post-conflict situations.
2 A Brief Overview of the Conflict in (Northern) Uganda
In 1962, Uganda gained its independence from British rule. Since that time the
country’s development has been marked by deep social and political volatility and
civil war. The instability seemed to have come to and end in 1986 with the conclu-
sive military victory of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) led by the cur-
rent president Yoweri Museveni. However, rebels opposed to the NRM reorganized
themselves in southern Sudan and later became known as the Lord’s Resistance
Army (LRA) under the leadership of Joseph Kony. Disappointed by the inability to
present a credible military threat to the NRM regime, and particularly with the lack
of popular support among the communities of northern Uganda, the LRA turned
against the civilian population, brutally terrorizing it with acts of murder, torture
and mutilation (WCRWC, 2005)
A particular feature of the conflict in northern Uganda is the wide-scale abduc-
tion and recruitment by the LRA of male and female youth into forced labour, sexual
slavery and combat roles. Recent evidence suggests that the number of young people
V.2 From Assessment to Planning: Hope for TVET in Uganda 777
abducted during the war is 60,000 or even higher (Blattman, 2006). The capacity of
the LRA was strengthened through support from the government of Sudan begin-
ning in 1994 to engage in a proxy war against southern Sudanese rebels who were,
in turn, being supported by the Ugandan government (WCRWC, 2001).
Since 1996, much of the population of northern Uganda has been forced by the
government to resettle in ‘protected villages’, which are essentially IDP (internally
displaced persons) camps. These camps are not only crowded and unsanitary, but
they often fail to offer protection. Their population continues to suffer from attacks,
to the extent that large numbers of young people prefer to commute to larger towns
at night to avoid forced recruitment (WCRWC, 2005). Moreover, curfews and a
prohibition on travel far from the camps have meant that most have lost access to
their land. Conflict over land tenure upon return of the IDPs to their communities is
a real risk in post-conflict northern Uganda.
Facilitated by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement for southern Sudan, nego-
tiations between the Ugandan government and the LRA have recently moved for-
ward culminating in a cease-fire agreement in August 2006 and the retreat of LRA
fighters to assembly zones on the Sudanese side of the border (United Nations,
OCHA, 2006). For the first time in decades, an end to the conflict seems feasible—
though by no means certain.
3 TVET in (Northern) Uganda
In contrast to many other conflict and post-conflict settings, Uganda maintains an es-
tablished and relatively stable government. Its managerial capacity and political will
appear favourable to effective educational reconstruction (WCRWC, 2001, p. 61),
subject to the availability of sufficient funds. Several schemes for complementary
basic education of target populations, such as the urban poor, nomads and conflict-
affected children, already exist. There is also a strong movement towards decentral-
ization, allowing for some flexibility in addressing the needs created by a conflict
that varied in its local intensity. Government investment in education has been high.
In the financial year 2001/2002, around 20% of the government budget was spent
on education and training (Farstad, 2002). In contrast, public financing for TVET
in Uganda is limited and the main responsibility is placed on the private sector for
both delivery and financing. The private training providers deliver programming in
a variety of areas and at different levels, and issue their own certificates. Private
institutions are not obliged to register with the Ministry of Education and Sports
(MoES), but are encouraged to do so.
In 2000 TVET was delivered by some twenty-nine government technical and
agricultural training centres with a total intake of 3,340 (Farstad, 2002). There
were 187 registered private TVET institutions and another 400 that have applied
for registration. These private centres follow a national curriculum instituted by the
government. Industrial training is delivered by four public vocational training insti-
tutes and some 400 private training providers. Both of these streams, in particular
the former, have attracted criticism for being too academic. TVET also features
prominently as Strategic Objective 2 in Uganda’s National Action Plan on Youth,
which likewise emphasizes apprenticeship schemes over formal State provision of
training (Uganda, MoGLSD, 2002)
Vocational training is a fairly common experience among male youth in northern
Uganda: ‘20 percent of youth over the age of 16 have had some sort of vocational
training, primarily in trades like construction, carpentry and joinery, and driving.
Such programmes were generally paid for by the youth themselves or their families’
(Annan, Blattman & Horton, 2006, p. 32). This is despite the fact that, as in many
places, there is a cultural bias, with a stronger orientation towards formal education
than towards TVET. Many enrol in TVET because of their poor test results and
failure to gain entry into an academic institution.
The economic context for TVET provision in Uganda is one of a dominantly
rural and agrarian economy, especially in the north. In the Apaca district in the
north, home to over 600,000 people, the largest employer, an engineering firm,
has a mere thirty employees. While, in principle, it is possible for a large number
of micro-enterprises to offer a substantial number of employed positions when all
taken together, the reality in northern Uganda remains that the economy depends
on small-scale agriculture according to customary land tenure. This is borne out by
urbanization rates, which peak in the Gulu district at around 25%, but are below 5%
in several other northern districts. (The national average is 13%.) (See the Uganda
districts information handbook (Rwabwogo, 2005) for all of the above.)
4 The Survey for War-Affected Youth—SWAY
Until recently, very little reliable information was available on the effects of war in
northern Uganda. While psycho-social studies of individual victims existed, there
was little hard evidence about community effects or the prevalence of exposure to
violence. SWAY has attempted to address this gap. As mentioned above, it applied
a mixed methodology of quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews. A detailed
survey of 750 male youth from a specific war-affected region was followed by thirty
in-depth interviews of randomly selected individuals from the survey group.
One of the primary arguments that SWAY makes in terms of methodology and
participant selection is that the Western methods for categorizing youth are poorly
matched to local realities. The Western definition of ‘child’ as anyone under the
age of 18 simply does not hold true for much of the world. In many cultures in
Uganda, the transition from youth to adult is defined by marriage or ownership
of land. SWAY decided upon a more contextually relevant and broad definition of
youth as anyone between the ages of 14 and 30. In addition, SWAY argues that
categories, such as ‘the formerly abducted’ or the ‘orphaned’, are circumstantial:
Targeting based on these simple categories would appear to miss more than half of the most
vulnerable youth: the severely injured, the illiterate, the unemployed, those estranged from
their families, or those with severe symptoms of emotional distress. In fact, the proportion
of acutely vulnerable youth inside these circumstantial categories only slightly exceeds the
proportion outside of them; hence the predictive power of this method is exceedingly poor
(Annan, Blattman & Horton, 2006, p. 80).
While the scope of the project is impressive, the gender dimension is problematic.
Motivated by the desire to test and improve the methodology on the presumably
easier to research group of male youth, the study of females has been deferred
to a second, later, project phase. The problem of the exclusion of females from
Phase I—whether the justification is sound or not—is exacerbated by the fact that
it has not been sufficiently highlighted. The title of the preliminary report gives no
indication of an exclusively male focus, thereby inviting the potentially misleading
or inappropriate generalization of the findings—and programmes based on them—
to both genders. But there is every reason to suspect that the conflict’s impact on
its victims differs by gender. The prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence
across modern conflicts has also played itself out in the Uganda. Amnesty Interna-
tional reports evidence of widespread sexual violence committed by both sides in
the Ugandan conflict (Amnesty International, 2004). Obviously, the effects of this
cannot be simply ignored in post-conflict recovery programming. One advantage
that Uganda does have over much of the rest of Africa in terms of health issues
related to sexual violence is that HIV awareness is relatively high and condom us-
age is common, although the conflict-affected north fares worse than the national
average (Tumushabe, 2006).
However, SWAY did produce some conclusions that run counter to popular per-
ceptions and that are highly relevant to programming for skills development. The
survey found that while 35% of males and between 15% and 20% of all females had
been abducted for at least a day, all youth, whether abducted or not, have suffered
and witnessed tremendous violence. The average survey participant had witnessed
or partaken in nine of the thirty-one types of violent experiences that they were
questioned about. Nevertheless, it also showed only modest levels of psycho-social
trauma and low levels of aggression. Moreover, even traumatized individuals ex-
hibited a high level of social functioning. Uganda is relatively unique in terms of
conflict and post-conflict recovery in that social structures remained relatively intact
throughout the war. As a result, many of the challenges associated with reintegration
have been mitigated by the nature of the existing support structures in the larger
community. The key elements to successful social reintegration were found to be
family cohesion and peer support. The relative strength of these two support struc-
tures in the Ugandan case has led to the surprising lack of emotional distress in
youth returning from conflict.
The survey asserts that ‘family acceptance is remarkably high. Only 1% of youth
report that their family was unhappy or unwelcoming upon their return. Over 94%
of the youth report being accepted by their families without insult, blame or physical
aggression’ (Annan, Blattman & Horton, 2006, p. 66) Reception from the commu-
nity was ‘typically strong and welcoming’. Insults and fear were reported, but are
not seen as particularly detrimental to reintegration. In fact, nearly all forced recruits
who escaped from the LRA returned to their home communities. This is in spite of
the fact that many were forced to commit atrocities against their neighbours, friends
or even families. Acceptance of ex-combatants as regular members of the commu-

nity, however, is coupled with resentment of programmes targeted specifically at
them, essentially being perceived as a reward for violent activity. These findings
undermine the logic behind the huge investment in reintegration support that has
become standard in post-conflict recovery programming. SWAY calls for a shift
from broad-based psycho-social programming to targeted support for the minority
of returnees actually suffering from severe emotional stress.
In addition to the relatively stable social structures within the communities that
the abductees were returning to, reintegration is helped by a very strong local tra-
dition of spiritual cleansing of returnees as a sufficient condition for community
acceptance. The cultural interpretation of stress and trauma often plays itself out on
a religious plane and is addressed through the structure of religion (Annan, Blattman
& Horton, 2006, p. iv).
Currently, few young people have safe access to land (Stites, Mazurana &
Carlson, 2006) and therefore to traditional livelihoods. This might change as the
‘decongestion’ of IDP camps continues, especially if they are dismantled entirely
in the near future. The lack of opportunity for agriculture has meant that most
youth that are economically active perform casual labour such as collecting fire-
wood, carrying loads, quarrying, hawking and vending, construction, riding a boda
boda (bicycle taxi), or making bricks and charcoal. Formal employment is rare:
‘just fifteen percent of occupations represent more or less regular (and usually high-
skilled) employment—operating a repair shop or small business (such as a kiosk),
a vocation (including carpentry, tailoring, and driving), or a profession (a teacher,
public employee, or health worker)’ (Annan, Blattman & Horton, 2006, p. 37).
As a result, the median monthly income of youth in the conflict affected areas
is less than US$5 per month. Nevertheless, ‘few youth leave the region to look for
work—primarily, it seems, because of few contacts, fewer resources, no language
skills, and an emotional tie to their homes’ (p. 35).
5 Implications for Holistic TVET Programming
As mentioned, SWAY’s results suggest that many are abducted for relatively short
periods of time and their education is only moderately affected. Those abducted lost
an average of one year’s schooling. It therefore seems particularly appropriate to aim
educational interventions at all youth, because the experience of ‘episodic’ educa-
tion ‘due to financial pressures arising from poverty, insecurity and lack of family
support’ does not differentiate former child soldiers from those never abducted.
The major finding of the SWAY study is the need for ‘age-appropriate educa-
tion and income generating activities’ (Annan, Blattman & Horton, 2006, p. iii).
The average youth surveyed only worked seven days each month earning US$3.85
(p. v). SWAY describes the economy as an ‘occupational ladder’ where you have in-
creasing opportunities with increasing skills and training (p. v). Unfortunately, given
these dire economic circumstances, the opportunity costs to enrolment in TVET and
other educational programming often put them out of reach of many returnees.
There are still a set of health-related issues that are interfering with returnees in-
tegrating into the labour force. Firstly, war related injuries are a formidable problem.
Over 15% of the surveyed youth have been injured or are debilitated in some way
that affects their ability to work. Some 2% are ‘extremely injured’ and in need of
urgent treatment (p. vi). Secondly, poverty related nutrition problems are prevalent
with 40% of the surveyed youth only eating one meal a day (p. vi). The devastating
effects of HIV/AIDS, both direct and indirect in terms of creating children-headed
households, add to the problem (Stites, Mazurana & Carlson, 2006).
As the following quotations show, there is much room for improving the provi-
sion of TVET as part of the reconstruction process in northern Uganda:
Current programming has focused primarily on humanitarian needs and psychosocial sup-
port (broadly-defined) but has tended to neglect interventions to support war injuries, edu-
cation, and economic activities (Annan, Blattman & Horton, 2006, p. 72).
The lack of education and the shortage of skilled individuals in most of the study sites
constrain livelihood strategies. Many of the schools in and around the camps are barely
functioning as educational institutions (Stites, Mazurana & Carlson, 2006, p. 9).
Technical/vocational training exists, but is far too limited in its scope. Apprenticeships
and the provision of tools upon graduation would go far to assist graduating students in
finding and being able to work (WCRWC, 2005, p. 10).
There is, in fact, some experience in Uganda with TVET as part of the DDR and
reconstruction effort following the consolidation of NRM’s power in the early 1990s.
But the relevance of this for the current situation should not be overstated. The aim then
was the formal disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of parts of a regular-
ized guerrilla army. The challenge in northern Uganda, by contrast, involves building
sustainable livelihoods for whole communities. Even with regard to ex-combatants,
there is little similarity. Abductions and the trickling back of those escaping have
been a continuous process over the course of a decade. Only half of those returning
ever passed through any kind of reception centre. Some studies of past ‘Reintegration
through Training’ programmes can, and should, provide an important foundation to
be built upon. The Gulu Vocational and Community Centre, for example, gathered
experience during the 1990s with the integration of vocational training for youth with
community outreach, adult literacy and peace education (Muhumuza, 1997).
It is important to note that the expansion of existing training programmes will not
necessarily replicate the economic benefits currently evident, because the present
self-selection has a bias towards those who are more entrepreneurial to begin with.
Indeed NGO-funded youth appear to benefit less from training than self-funded
ones. Unfortunately, ‘we don’t know whether, when and why vocational programs
assist youth’ (Annan, Blattman & Horton, 2006, p. 34). Accordingly, the actual
effect of training is one of the main areas where further research is needed.
Without such research, training interventions might actually do harm as, indeed,
such interventions have on previous occasions. Indeed, SWAY reports on a tailor-
ing training programme whose participants fared worse than women left to their
own devices (p. 34). Moreover, TVET interventions designed for reconstruction
and reintegration need to respect what is an important best practice in non-conflict
settings, namely that TVET should not be an academic dead-end. Otherwise what
is intended as a remedial measure could in fact end up increasing the disadvantage

of conflict-affected youth who might otherwise have found their way back into and
succeeded in the formal education sector.
SWAY’s findings suggests that ‘individuals themselves may be better judges of
what skills and opportunities suit their own skill set, interests, and local demands’
(Annan, Blattman & Horton, 2006, p. 74) and that it might be more effective to
provide vouchers that could be used towards NGO or private training programmes
(see WCRWC, 2005, for a list of these). This, however, leaves open the question of
what support NGOs should have when setting up programmes.
A liberalized but regulated approach such as the one described above resonates well
with government policy. Recent initiatives include the plan to create the Uganda Voca-
tional Education and Training Authority (UVETA). The proposed UVETA is expected
to stay away from basic training delivery, but rather focus on promoting financing of
and co-ordinating all formal and non-formal training activities (Haan, 2001).
Part of the reform process is a Universal Post-Primary Education and Train-
ing (UPPET) policy. It includes the provision of equipment to business, techni-
cal, vocational education and training (BTVET) institutions, as well as introducing
community polytechnics to all districts, including the conflict-affected north, where
grants and bursaries are paid for students in secondary and technical schools (Oke-
cho, 2006). This appears to go some way to meeting SWAY’s concern that ‘there
is an urgent and immediate need to support broad-based secondary and tertiary
schooling’ (Annan, Blattman & Horton, 2006, p. 71) for the most needy.
The training needs of youth who were actively involved in the conflict are not
strikingly different from those of their peers. Their moderate loss of schooling
does not present an insurmountable obstacle to entering regular BTVET, because
BTVET programming offered is at the intermediate level and only requires primary
education to enter. In the IDP camps in northern Uganda, schooling is effective in
the basic sense of achieving relatively high primary enrolment and basic literacy.
Enrolment is not far below the national average of 90% of the primary school age-
group enrolled and the literacy rate is around 70%. However, quality in the IDP
camps is highly problematic. In Kitgum, 140 primary schools have been displaced
into thirty-four learning centres associated with IDP camps. This has resulted in
ludicrous congestion with—arithmetically—up to 300 children per teacher and up
to 400 per classroom (WCRWC, 2005).
Mainstreaming seems appropriate for all but the most heavily traumatized who
spent many years in the LRA and lost most or all of their schooling opportunities,
for whom, in any case, TVET is not the first concern. Notably, high trauma appears
to be associated with community rejection more than with the severity of violence
experienced or with lack of education or training opportunities. For these cases,
educational and training components of rehabilitation interventions need to be part
of a holistic approach. Their relatively small number makes it feasible in principle
to offer intensive personal support to these hardship cases.
A major source of concern for TVET and livelihood interventions, however, is
those who have been disabled as a result of the conflict. Thirteen percent of youth in
the SWAY sample were found to possess ‘an injury that impeded them from earning
a living’ (Annan, Blattman & Horton, 2006, p. 46).
Given the traditionally strong social cohesion, community-based rather than indi-
vidualistic projects appear most promising. An example of a community programme
supported effectively by international non-governmental organizations is GUSCO,
the Gulu Support the Children Organization (Omona & Matheson, 1998). GUSCO
runs reception centres for traumatized children, where they receive vocational train-
ing, trauma counselling and family reintegration support. While children only stay in
the centres for up to six weeks, reintegration follow-up is conducted regularly until a
year after release. On the one hand, GUSCO’s approach demonstrates the effective-
ness of integrating TVET into a participatory approach based on local traditions; on
the other hand, it also confirms that providing even medium-term follow-up requires
the dedication of significant resources and is unlikely to be feasible on a mass scale.
The low rate of urbanization means that training in institutional settings runs the
risk mentioned in the introduction: it will often run counter to reintegration into
home communities for the simple reason that training institutions are geographi-
cally located elsewhere and require the trainees’ absence from the very communities
where they seek integration.
Given the rural economy of northern Uganda, TVET cannot be expected to result
in wage employment. If the livelihood options for the majority consist at best of
entrepreneurial self-employment (but more realistically of small-scale agriculture
or micro-enterprise self-employment), education and training for livelihoods has to
reflect this fact (Stavrou & Stewart, 2000; Stites, Mazurana & Carlson, 2006).
In northern Uganda it is argued that ‘a return to the land is the only realistic eco-
nomic option, not just for the long term, but now’ (Annan, Blattman & Horton, 2006,
p. 75). There are signs that this return is imminent. Despite the uncertainty over
whether the conflict will truly end and warnings of the consequences of premature
and forced return in particular, the IDP camps have since the end of 2006 been slated
to be dismantled (Uganda-CAN, 2006a).
While solving some problems, this promises to create new ones. The prolonged
absence and the destruction of traditional boundary markers during the conflict
mean that the traditional tenure will be difficult to reinstate. There is also fear of
losing land in the face of large-scale commercialization of agriculture. Due to high
population growth, there will also be many more people returning to the countryside
than originally left it. Land insecurity, therefore, has serious implications both for
local livelihoods and the sustainability of peace (Uganda-CAN, 2006b). The pro-
motion of sustainable livelihoods must therefore ‘include innovative strategies for
increasing access to land in addition to [...] attention on other income-generating
activities’ (Annan, Blattman & Horton, 2006, p. 71).
The Survey for War-Affected Youth (SWAY) was not designed as a needs assess-
ment for TVET. Yet it does carry important implications for TVET’s role in mitigat-
ing the effects of the conflict. This should not surprise us since skills development
needs arise out of the reality of people’s lives.
It is instructive to compare SWAY’s approach with other examples of the ef-

fects of the war in northern Uganda, particularly those conducted by the Women’s
Commission for Refugee Women and Children (WCRWC) in 2001 and a study
by Tuft University’s Feinstein International Center in 2006 (Stites, Mazurana &
Carlson, 2006). Both are decidedly neither longitudinal nor randomized, but follow
a more qualitative approach. Like SWAY, WCRWC produced conclusions of sig-
nificance to TVET programming, especially the more recent study with its focus
on livelihoods. Together, they drive home the importance of multi-methodology,
rigorous research to provide the basis for sound programme design.
However, a number of critical questions remain. To begin with, how do environ-
mental factors bear on the feasibility of a ‘larger-scale, randomly sampled, longitu-
dinal survey’? Can we expect it to be possible to replicate SWAY’s success in tracing
youth that had migrated in contexts where social networks have broken down to a
much larger extent or where the conflict itself is more chaotic, involving a multitude
of armed factions and shifting coalitions? Even if it is possible, it might well take a
disproportionate effort.
Time is another important factor. While a time span of less than a year between the
start of the project and the presentation of its Phase I results is in itself impressive, the
fact that at least two years will have passed until even both genders have been surveyed
is an important constraint. While greater resources can no doubt go some way towards
speeding up the physical data collection, this is not necessarily what takes the longest.
It is a regrettable—but inescapable—fact that in other contexts where there is a well-
defined ‘end’ to the conflict in the form of the signing of a peace treaty, or the collapse
of a regime, funds may become available for TVET and other programming that have
to be spent more quickly. This is, of course, another reason to conduct assessments
while conflict is still on-going, but this in turn risks the situation changing drastically
when hostilities cease, because returning refugees and/or demobilized soldiers change
the local dynamic, and the labour market in particular.
Either way, the profile of those whose livelihoods are to be supported repre-
sents only one kind of assessment that is necessary to determine the appropriate
initiatives. Not only the demand for training, but also surveys of the availability of
training and skills development, and of the demand for graduates and livelihood
opportunities are necessary. Reliable quantitative and qualitative assessments are
not only crucial to informed programming, but also to provide a baseline against
which programme success can eventually be determined.
Compared to general education, it would seem that effective planning of TVET
programmes for reconstruction is, if anything, even more dependent on reliable data
on all the dimensions of demand and supply mentioned above. Capital investments
for many kinds of TVET are higher than for general education and, in many ways,
TVET is inherently more difficult to build up incrementally.
While the physical infrastructure for general education is relatively flexible and
can be used for literacy classes and adult education outside school hours, specialized
technical or agricultural training institutions lack this generic quality.
This provides yet another reason for focusing on the participatory and community-
based promotion of generic skills for livelihoods as ‘life-skills’ in conflict and
post-conflict contexts, over highly specialized and capital-intensive technical train-

ing, at least as an initial response. Such an approach also ties in with the inclusion
of life-skills and the integration of health, civic, livelihood and academic content in
general school curricula, blurring a potentially unhelpful distinction.
References
Amnesty International. 2004. AI report 2004: Uganda. <web.amnesty.org/report2004/uga-
summary-eng>
Annan, J.; Blattman, C.; Horton, R. 2006. The state of youth and youth protection in northern
Uganda: findings from the Survey for War Affected Youth. Kampala: UNICEF.
Blattman, C. 2006. The consequences of child soldiering. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development
Studies, Sussex University. <www.hicn.org/papers/wp22.pdf>
Buckland, P. 2005. Reshaping the future: education and postconflict reconstruction. Washington,
DC: World Bank.
Farstad, H. 2002. Integrated entrepreneurship education in Botswana, Kenya and Uganda. Oslo:
National Institute of Technology.
Haan, H.C. 2001. Training for work in the informal sector: evidence from Eastern and Southern
Africa. Washington, DC: World Bank and ILO.
Muhumuza, R. 1997. Guns into ox-ploughs: a study on the situation of conflict-affected youth
in Uganda and their reintegration into society through training, employment and life skills
programmes. Geneva: ILO.
Okecho, C.W. 2006. Education in the Northern Uganda. (Paper presented at the Education Sector
Review, 25–27 October 2006, Kampala.) <www.education.go.ug/Northern.htm>
Omona, G.; Matheson, K.E. 1998. Uganda: stolen children, stolen lives. Lancet, vol. 351, no. 9100,
p. 442.
Rwabwogo, M.O. 2005. Uganda districts information handbook: expanded edition 2005–2006.
Kampala: Fountain Publishers.
Stavrou, S.; Stewart, R. 2000. The reintegration of child soldiers and abducted children: a case
study of Palaro and Pabbo Gulu District, northern Uganda. In: Bennett, E.; Gamba, V.; van der
Merwe, D., eds. ACT against child soldiers in Africa. Pretoria: Institute of Security Studies.
Stites, E.; Mazurana, D.; Carlson, K. 2006. Movement on the margins: livelihoods and security in
Kitgum District, northern Uganda. Medford, MA: Feinstein International Center.
Tumushabe, J. 2006. The politics of HIV/AIDS in Uganda. Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations
Research Institute for Social Development. (Social Policy and Development Programme paper,
no. 28.)
Uganda Conflict Action Network—Uganda-CAN. 2006a. Minister of relief: all northern Uganda
IDP camps to be dismantled by Dec. 31. <www.ugandacan.org/index.php?catid=7&blogid=1>
Uganda Conflict Action Network—Uganda-CAN. 2006b. Land in Uganda. <www.ugandacan.
org/land.php>
Uganda. Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development—MoGLSD. 2002. National Action
Plan on Youth. Kampala: MoGLSD.
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most rebels have left northern Uganda for Sudan. IRIN news, 26 September 2006.
<www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55722>
Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children—WCRWC. 2001. Against all
odds: surviving the war on adolescents. Promoting the protection and capacity of
Ugandan and Sudanese adolescents in northern Uganda. New York, NY: WCRWC.
<www.womenscommission.org/pdf/ug.pdf>
Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children—WCRWC. 2005. Learning in a war
zone: education in northern Uganda. New York, NY: WCRWC.
Chapter V.3
Linking TVET to Economic Opportunities
in Post-Conflict Liberia
Lyle Kane
1 Introduction
Many would argue that the success of a technical and vocational educational and
training (TVET) programme should be measured by how it improves the employ-
ability of its participants. Assuming that this is correct, it is a complex outcome
to measure, as there are a number of factors, other than participation in vocational
education programmes, that impact upon an individual’s ability to work (as is dis-
cussed throughout this section in our argument for a holistic approach to TVET.)
Ultimately, however, the goal of TVET is to support participant inclusion into the
labour force. Given this fact, the need to link TVET programming to economic
opportunities within the local context cannot be over-emphasized.
Post-conflict economies, almost without exception, are fragile and poorly func-
tioning. The effects of extended conflict include the destruction of the physical in-
frastructure, struggling social services and stagnation across most economic sectors.
The need for skilled labour in these circumstances is huge, in that the reconstruction
process is labour-intensive and requires a skilled labour force. But, the demand for
labour, in terms of paid employment opportunities, is usually small given the state of
the economy. This chapter will be using the case of Liberia to explore the necessity
to structure TVET programming around the labour needs of the target population,
while working within the larger reconstruction strategy to negotiate the gap between
the need and demand for labour.
2 Politics, Conflict and Education in Liberia
On Christmas Day 1989, Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL)
entered Liberia, marking the beginning of the country’s civil war. In 1990, after a
year of brutal and intense fighting, a splinter group of the NPFL captured, tortured
and assassinated President Samuel Doe. The president’s death set up a scramble
for power between several armed factions that would continue for the next fourteen
years (Ellis, 2001).

788 L. Kane
After a 1994 ceasefire failed to hold, a negotiated truce in 1997 was followed
by elections. With a campaign slogan of ‘He killed my mother, he killed my father,
but I will vote for him’, Charles Taylor was elected head of State. President Taylor
was accused of widespread corruption, supporting the conflict in Sierra Leone and
engaging in hostilities with Guinea. In 2002, the simmering tension between Taylor
and his opposition parties within the country boiled over and the civil war resumed.
Under increasing pressure from the most dominant opposition faction, Liberians
United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), Charles Taylor vacated the pres-
idency and went into exile in Nigeria in August 2003.
On 11 September 2003, the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) was es-
tablished. UNMIL and the Economic Community of West-African States
(ECOWAS) supported an interim government until the country was prepared to
hold democratic elections. Much of the international community saw the interim
government as incompetent or corrupt. A report to the Secretary-General of the
United Nations stated: ‘The financial administration of the National Transitional
Government of Liberia continues to be weak with an archaic internal control system
and a virtually non-existent external oversight system’ (UN News Centre, 2005). As
a result, very little was accomplished over the next two years.
In November 2005, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was elected president of Liberia, the
first female head of State on the African continent. A former World Bank economist,
President Johnson-Sirleaf is well-respected by the international community, and her
policies to date have been widely regarded as transparent and sound (see, for exam-
ple, World Bank, 2006a). While strong in terms of policy, the current government
has faced a huge obstacle in terms of access to reliable funding.
Despite continuing economic problems, Liberia has come a long way in the last
year: in 2006, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established; Charles
Taylor was imprisoned by the Special Court for Sierra Leone and is in The Hague
awaiting his trial for war crimes scheduled to begin in 2008; and Monrovia has
electricity for the first time in over a decade.
3 What Is the Legacy of the Liberian Civil War?

By the time it was over, the Liberian Civil War had claimed the lives of over 250,000
people (USAID, 2006), mostly civilians, and had led to the complete breakdown
of social, legal and security services. The complete breakdown of the education
system has left a ‘lost generation’ of youth (World Bank, 2006c). The destruction
of infrastructures and the psychological trauma associated with living in a country
so steeped in violence for such an extended period of time has had an impact on
every Liberian. With over 850,000 externally displaced refugees and much of the
remaining population internally displaced, the Liberian conflict was the primary hu-
manitarian crisis in West Africa for much of the 1990s (UNMIL, 2006a). Displaced
communities were either relocated to refugee camps, if they were fortunate, or fled
to impromptu squatter camps, often in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia. The pre-war
V.3 Linking TVET to Economic Opportunities in Post-Conflict Liberia 789
population in the capital was somewhere in the region of 300,000–350,000; during

the conflict the population tripled to approximately 1 million (UNMIL, 2006a). In
the vain hope of escaping the war, those who fled to the city ended up caught in
the crossfire, as many of the later battles of the war were fought on the streets of
Monrovia.
Those fortunate enough to be taken out of Liberia to refugee camps in Nigeria
and Ghana, aside from being in a more secure environment, often had access to ed-
ucational programmes and other support structures. Many of them returned after the
war in a much better position than their counterparts who were left behind and, for
the most part, did not have access to such support. Still, these populations were often
traumatized from the experience of resettlement, and in need of support in terms of
recovering their livelihoods after the conflict. They also faced the resentment and
stigmatization of being seen as having ‘abandoned’ their communities.
Those who were displaced within Liberia were often afforded little support. Dur-
ing the final stages of the war, Monrovia had essentially become a large refugee
camp. Caught between the various factions, these at-risk populations lived on a
battlefield for much of the conflict. Many people were forced to join the fighting
to avoid becoming victims themselves:
And, the war hit in the night. So, everybody went, and nobody see who is who. We just go
out in the darkness. I had to find my way to go that side, and I went along with a group. I
didn’t know where my mother was or my father. So, I just walk alone with a group and when
I went, these guys I was walking with, so they took me along. I used to help them, do some
things for them. They send me, I go there. And, when . . . the NPFL came, they say, ‘you
know you have to be a man too. You can’t just be with us.’ I went and got . . . I was forced to
take up gun. Because, I didn’t know nobody to where I went. I was like . . . something like
I didn’t know what I was doing. But, I didn’t see nobody that I know. Nobody. No family
around. So, I was forced to fight for survival. At that time, if the people come, if you are
frightened, you are forced to go and live in the bush. Yeah, because they come in the town,
four hundred men with truck and gun and bullet, and they take us. So, this is how I become
soldier (W., former NPFL child soldier in interview with author, 12 April 2006).
The number of active combatants who fought during the war is estimated to be well
over 100,000. The estimates of children who were actively involved in combat over
the course of the war are as high as 50,000–70,000 (Singer, 2001). These young
people are now facing a myriad of problems: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
debilitating injuries, drug addiction, alienation from the community, a lack of edu-
cation and skills, and no stable community to return to.
Women were particularly brutalized during the war. Sexual violence was so
prevalent that 60 to 80% of the women who remained in the country were victims
of rape or sexual assault (Singer, 2001). This has added to the existence of ex-
tremely unhealthy gender dynamics in post-conflict Liberia, including widespread
prostitution. The HIV rate is somewhere between 8 and 26%, birth-rates are high at
6.8, infant mortality is almost 16% of live births, the literacy rate for women is at
39% (as opposed to 72% for men) and there is a 32% gap between primary school
enrolment rates for boys and girls (UNMIL, 2006a).
790 L. Kane
4 Post-Conflict Recovery
With the end of the conflict and the establishment of UNMIL in 2003, Liberia has
been the recipient of vast amounts of aid over recent years. Virtually every major
development agency in the world has an office in the country providing emergency
relief, refugee relocation, education, food and nutrition, disarmament, small-scale
psychological counselling, reconstruction, and political and economic support. This
influx of aid has had positive and negative effects on the situation in the coun-
try. While some of the programmes have been successful and have benefited the
population, an emerging micro-economy, due to the presence of a large aid-worker
population, has raised the cost of living for Liberians. Also, a ‘hand-out’ culture has
been created, with an over-reliance on the temporary scaffolding of aid. In addition,
aid packages often come with an agreement that a certain amount of materials and
labour will be imported from the donating country. This practice further limits the
already scarce employment opportunities for the local population.
Liberia’s most recent disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and rehabilita-
tion (DDRR) process began rapidly in December of 2003 and proceeded in three
phases, the third and final of which continues in remote areas at the time of writing
(UNMIL, 2006b). According to UNMIL, which led the DDRR process, 100,000
former combatants have been disarmed, including 12,000 women and 11,780 chil-
dren (UNMIL, 2006a). Of the demobilized ex-combatants, 94,000 were given access
to rehabilitation and reintegration programmes funded by the UNDP DDRR Trust
Fund and by USAID, the European Commission and UNICEF, which often included
skills and/or vocational training components. This DDRR process was preceded
by earlier attempts in 1994 and 1997, which collapsed when the conflict resumed.
Many of the ex-combatants who were demobilized in these earlier processes were
re-recruited into fighting forces (United Nations Office of the Special Advisor on
Africa, 2005).
In terms of the continuing refugee problem, as of June 2006 there were still
163,880 Liberian refugees in camps in neighbouring countries. About 100,000
refugees were expected to return by the end of 2006. In addition, there are currently
over 10,000 refugees from other countries currently living in camps in Liberia. Most
of these refugees are from Côte d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone, but others come from as
far away as Sudan and Iraq (UNMIL, 2006a).
5 What Role Has TVET Played in the Recovery Process?
Liberia has an incredibly young population with an average life span if 41.5 years
and 43% of the population is under the age of 15 (World Bank, 2007). Of the
11,780 children demobilized through DDRR, 6,028 have benefited from educational
programmes: 48% of these accessed formal education; 30% were involved in agri-
cultural vocational training; 29% enrolled in other vocational training; 6% joined
apprenticeship programmes; and 4% participated in public works (UNMIL, 2006a).
That the majority of the ‘lost generation’ is choosing to access vocational-related
training options rather than formal education demonstrates the need to develop
sound and effective programming to meet this demand.
Much of the TVET programming in Liberia has exclusively targeted ex-comba-
tants, which has caused a certain amount of resentment among the civilian popu-
lation. In May 2006, UNMIL reported that 65,893 ex-combatants had completed
or were currently participating in training and education programmes; approxi-
mately 13,000 of these were women. Much of the vocational training provided
by the DDRR has been sub-contracted to local and international non-governmental
organizations, including Don Bosco, Catholic Agency for Overseas Development
(CAFOD), Liberia Opportunities Industrialization Centres (LOIC) and United
Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). The training provided tends to focus on
construction skills, including masonry, roof-tiling, general construction and plumb-
ing, but also includes agriculture and business skills. TVET programming geared to-
wards women included cooking, domestic skills and small business management—
programming potentially reinforcing stereotypical gender roles.
Much of the programming was implemented through an ‘Arms for Training’
campaign wherein a collection site was set up and vouchers for training programmes
were exchanged for arms. Unfortunately, there seems to have been inadequate plan-
ning in most of the phases of this initiative.
It was crazy, ten times as many people showed up at the collection site as were planned for,
so they were sending people away. They were sending people with guns away! And then,
they had not warned the training centres that people were coming, and had not set up all the
funding for them. It was an absolute mess. Even the training programmes themselves were
ridiculous. People simply can’t find work in the fields they were trained in (M., UNMIL
employee, interview with author, 18 April 2006).
While the chaos related to the disarmament stage of the programme is disturbing, of
particular concern here is the lack of positive outcomes to the TVET programmes.
If participants are not able to employ their learned skills in the marketplace, earn a
living and improve their livelihoods, then what is the point of the training? How do
you bridge the gap between training and opportunity?
6 What Is Economic and Manpower Forecasting?
There is a dialogical relationship between TVET and economic growth in that

growth targets cannot be met without the necessary supply of skilled labour (Parnes,
1962), and the development of a labour force is pointless without existing or future
employment opportunities. The question then becomes: how do you plan TVET
programming around the expected labour needs within the given economic context?
Mentioning the phrases ‘economic forecasting’ or ‘manpower forecasting’ naturally
arouses feelings of dread in anyone familiar with the unfulfilled hopes and dreams
affiliated with the forecasting projects of the 1960s. Despite this, both developments
in the field and the curbed enthusiasm of the last several decades have created
792 L. Kane
forecasting models that have the potential to play an integral role in TVET planning
in post-conflict reconstruction.
As a result of its early failures, economic forecasting has been relegated to the
fringe of academia and practice for much of the last thirty years. A 1994 study
showed that only 17% of academic economic programmes offered a course in eco-
nomic forecasting (Hanke & Weigland, 1994), despite the claim three years earlier
that ‘more and more companies are recognizing the importance of formal forecast-
ing. At present, the demand for trained forecasters is far greater than the supply’
(Jain, 1991, p. 2).
As in most economic fields, forecasting is separated into macro-economic fore-
casting and micro-economic forecasting. As would be expected, macro-economic
forecasting is concerned with government and monetary policy, interest rates, and
multipliers within the national context. Micro-economic forecasting focuses on
competitive markets, profit maximization, and pricing and costs within a specific
institution or sector (Loomis & Cox, 2000, p. 352).
Much of the history of economic forecasting is led by structural models, based
on the popular economic theory of the day. The problem with this is that when
the structural theory becomes unpopular, so too does the corresponding model.
Non-structural models put themselves forward as not being bound to any particular
school of thought, but this is as much a weakness as it is a strength in that it fails to
employ the positive aspects of grounded economic theory. Therefore, the norm has
become a blending of structural and non-structural approaches to forecasting.
The hallmark of macroeconomic forecasting over the next 20 years will be a marriage of
the best of nonstructural and structural approaches, facilitated by advances in numerical and
simulation techniques that will help macroeconomists to solve, estimate, simulate, and yes,
forecast with rich models (Diebold, 1998, p. 189).
Looking past the theoretical issues, the practical obstacles to creating reliable fore-
casting models are intimidating, particularly within the confines of the unstable
economies of the developing world, and even more so in post-conflict economies.
Data collection is often weak in developing countries, and perhaps simply non-
existent in post-conflict contexts. It is necessary to factor in the potentialities for
technological advances, political and policy changes, and price and market shifts
(Ahamad & Scott, 1972); and it is often difficult to accurately estimate start dates
of potential projects, and the specific manpower needs for planned projects (Kwak,
Garrett & Barone, 1977).
The solution to some of these obstacles has been to accept the fact that, at best,
economic forecasting can act as a guide rather than an exact measure of the future
of the economy. This can be seen in the popularity of stochastic forecasting models,
which leaves room for a number of different potentialities. Economists have even
suggested using an uncertainty interval of 50% rather than the standard 95% when
applying forecasting models (Granger, 1996), on the understanding that forecasting
cannot be an exact science.
Data collection is another matter altogether. Making any kind of estimate about
the future of an economy, and linking those estimates to a practical and contextually
appropriate set of programmes, requires an enormous amount of data, both quantita-

tive and qualitative. Unfortunately, particularly in post-conflict situations, this need
is often not met due to a lack of availability, a lack of effort or to the practical and
financial obstacles presented by gathering data. It must be noted that safety con-
cerns for data collectors in times of war are significant. If data is collected once the
conflict has come to an end then the implementation of much-needed programming
is potentially delayed while the process of data collection, tabulation and analysis is
carried out. For example, in 2005, 43,000 demobilized and disarmed ex-combatants
were prevented from beginning the vocational education programming phases of
the DDRR in Liberia due to poor planning and funding constraints. As a result,
UNMIL had to make an international call for increased funding while these at-risk
youth waited, creating a potentially volatile situation. The same issues could arise
while assessments or data collection exercises are taking place.
Data collection concerning the Liberian economy has been carried out, but in a
relatively perfunctory manner. The World Bank and other agencies have collected
data and made estimates on the ‘big picture’ of the Liberian economy: gross do-
mestic product (GDP), international debt, per capita income, etc. But, in terms of
assessing the potential of the Liberian marketplace and creating reliable forecasting
models that can be used to determine prospective opportunities for Liberians, very
little has been done.
7 What Is the State of Liberia’s Economy?
According to the latest World Bank data (2007), agriculture makes up 66% of
Liberia’s US$548.4 million national GDP, industry makes up 15.8%, and services
make up the remaining 18.2%. The main products in the agricultural sector are
coffee, cocoa, rice, cassava, palm oil, sugarcane, yams and okra. While rice is the
main staple of the Liberian diet, it is still being imported in most cases. There are
continuing efforts to establish rice farms within the country. Much of the industrial
sector is based on the production of iron ore, rubber manufacturing and construction
materials. Two of the major profitable exports, diamonds and timber, were sanc-
tioned by the United Nations until they met international standards of transparency.
The sanctions put on the diamond sector still remain in place, while reforms in
the timber industry have allowed the lifting of sanctions in this sector. There is
also a substantial shipping industry that takes advantage of Liberia’s sizeable port.
Relaxed shipping regulations and low fees have made Liberia a popular destination
for importers. Despite a fair amount of economic potential in a number of sectors,
unemployment is pervasive at 85% (World Bank, 2006a).
There are several factors that must be considered in any discussion of the econ-
omy in Liberia. Much of the physical infrastructure of the country was destroyed
during the war, including manufacturing plants, agricultural sites, many of the rub-
ber plantations and the road network. Secondly, the aid industry has deeply impacted
the economy by driving up prices on housing and services. In a country where the
per-capita income is less than US$2 a day (World Bank, 2006b), a one-bedroom
794 L. Kane
apartment in Monrovia can rent for upwards of $1,500 a month. Thirdly, there is a
sizeable immigrant community that has a strong influence across several sectors (in-
cluding the lucrative rice trade), and at least some of these profits are being shipped
abroad. Also, as nearly one-third of the national population has relocated into the
capital and away from the agricultural lands, this will drastically affect the nature
of the economy in the coming years. Lastly, there is an increasing population of
Liberians who are returning home from Europe and the United States to set up
businesses.
Until very recently, Liberia was seen as a pariah in terms of international eco-
nomic assistance. First there was conflict throughout much of the 1990s, then
with a former warlord as president, and recently with an interim government that
was widely seen as incompetent, Liberia remains in dire financial circumstances,
with over US$2.7 billion in international debt. But, with the election of President
Johnson-Sirleaf, and her experience working at the World Bank, the international
financial institutions are becoming more supportive.
During his visit to Liberia on 21 and 22 July, the President of the World Bank, Paul Wol-
fowitz, pledged the Bank’s commitment to the economic development of Liberia and agreed
to provide assistance for labour-intensive public works schemes aimed at building key in-
frastructure and generating employment (United Nations. Security Council, 2006).
8 How Has TVET Been Linked to the Economy?

Planned economies tend to have a much higher success rate in terms of economic
forecasting, and linking needed-manpower estimates to employment opportunities
than market economies (Youdi & Hinchliffe, 1985). This is intuitive given that
planned economies are able to predict labour demands in each sector to a greater
degree, and given that the size and investment in these sectors are often prede-
termined and dictated by the State. Post-conflict scenarios offer an opportunity to
take advantage of this same concept, given that the post-conflict economy is often
initially driven by planned projects funded by international aid.
In 2006, the Liberian Government and the World Bank agreed upon a US$68 mil-
lion grant focusing on emergency rehabilitation and repair of critical infrastructure,
utilities maintenance (roads, water and sewage), and construction of new community
facilities (schools and health clinics.) The secondary goal of the grant is to create
employment opportunities for Liberians (World Bank, 2006c).
This is not the first attempt by the Liberian government and the aid community
to develop employment-generating projects. According to UNMIL, approximately
60,000 of the 65,893 ex-combatants who were trained in their TVET initiatives are
said to have participated in short-term employment schemes (World Bank, 2006c).
Much of the TVET training linked to employment initiatives is geared towards
construction, derived from a vision that the newly trained ex-combatants would
be able to rebuild the physical infrastructure of the country destroyed during the
war. However, this vision resulted in limited, very short-term opportunities upon
completion of vocational training, and many of the participants struggled to use
the skills they learned during TVET in the market-place. The problem many face
is an overabundance of trained labour in a given field. This becomes particularly
problematic when considering the vulnerable state of the trainees who cannot find
work upon completion of their training:
See, many houses don’t have toilet, don’t have sink. So, it’s not easy to find work in plumb-
ing, you know? . . . Because most of Liberia doesn’t have plumbing (K., former LURD child
soldier, trained as a plumber during DDRR, interview with author, 12 April 2006).
UNMIL initiated some small-scale projects to address unemployment through its

‘quick-impact scheme’, which commissioned minor building and infrastructure
projects that temporarily employed 900 ex-combatants and community members
(UNMIL, 2006a). USAID also implemented a public works project, primarily
geared towards building roads, which temporarily employed 10,000 ex-combatants
and other unemployed Liberians producing 500,000 days of paid work (USAID,
2006). Reception of this project was mixed, due to the low rate of pay offered and,
once again, they offered only short-term employment.
Recent initiatives by the new government appear to be attempting to bridge
the gap between training and employment through several job-creation strategies.
In 2006 two major programmes were introduced with the support to the Inter-
national Labour Organization (ILO) and the government of the Netherlands: the
Liberia Emergency Employment Programme (LEEP), designed to offer tempo-
rary employment in infrastructure development, and the Liberia Employment Ac-
tion Programme (LEAP), aimed at capacity-building with the goal of long-term
employment
9 Conclusions
There is no doubt that Liberia has been, and continues to be, in a fragile situation in
terms of development. The economy remains in shambles, there are hosts of linger-
ing social problems, and there is a marked under-supply of skilled labour. Properly
managed, TVET has the potential to increase the capacity of Liberia to address some
of its economic and social woes. But, TVET programming needs to be designed
for, and organized around, the contextual economic opportunities. Estimating these
prospective opportunities is no small task. Problems of data collection, assessing
existing skills, and predicting the future capabilities of various sectors in terms of
infrastructural capacity are just a few of the difficulties facing post-conflict soci-
eties in general and Liberia in particular. Nonetheless, the application of economic
and manpower forecasting models has the potential of creating a framework for
TVET programming to be designed in such a way as to maximize its contextual
effectiveness.
There has been very little diversity in the TVET programmes associated with
the Liberian DDRR, with the greatest focus on construction-related industries. This
emphasis in construction skills, while well-intentioned, struggled to improve the
livelihoods of its participants and often flooded particular labour sectors while others
796 L. Kane
remained under represented. How many plumbers and masons can an economy ab-
sorb? This problem is amplified by the fact that the aid system, which is responsible
for much of the large-scale post-conflict construction projects, often imports spe-
cialized labour, leaving the recently trained workers with even fewer opportunities
in an economy plagued by very high rates of unemployment.
The first step in linking training to economic opportunities is a close examination
of current and future market opportunities. Linking TVET to planned projects is one
way to achieve at least short-term employment for recent trainees, but the long-term
success of the economy depends on a skilled labour force that can take advantage
of the different sectors within a market economy. As mentioned above, Liberia has
a number of attractive resources. It is rich in minerals and timber; there is a large
shipping port; the climate is ideal for rubber, coffee, rice and other agricultural prod-
ucts; and the recent advances in information technology open up the potential for
new service-oriented markets. Diversifying the implementation of TVET has the
potential of producing a much more productive private sector.
In addition to diversifying TVET training, there are a number of support struc-
tures that have the potential to promote participant inclusion in the economy. One
way to support improved livelihoods is entrepreneurship training and micro-credit
schemes. Another avenue that should be explored is partnerships between TVET
programmes and the local and international private sector. The potential for client
generation, and access to expertise for training purposes, is appealing. On the down-
side, partnerships are often difficult to establish and businesses may be resistant to
investing in a potentially unstable political and economic climate.
Post-conflict scenarios offer both limitations and opportunities in terms of eco-
nomic growth. The challenges that war-affected populations face should not be
under-estimated, but the potential to reshape the social and economic structures are
exciting. When properly contextualized, TVET has the potential to aid in this pro-
cess of post-conflict recovery by building the capacity of the population to improve
their livelihoods and take control of their own national development.
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Chapter V.4
Deepening the Divide: The Differential Impact
of Protracted Conflict on TVET Versus
Academic Education in Palestine
Bilal Barakat
1 Introduction
The effect a conflict has on local TVET need not be the same as its effect on other
kinds of education. While this is almost tautological, it is worthwhile examining
just how pronounced the difference can be and, by implication, how potentially
misleading it would be in conflict and post-conflict settings to generalize from the
state of the education sector as a whole to the state of TVET.
In recent years, education generally in and after conflict has been the focus of
greater attention than ever before. Given that TVET is often partly incorporated into
general education, this means that TVET after conflict is increasingly considered
from an educational point-of-view, in addition to the labour-market perspective on
economic reconstruction that has dominated in the past. This attention brings with
it the promise of best practices and lessons learned for reconstruction in other edu-
cational sub-sectors, but TVET’s distinct character has important implications.
In some ways, TVET might be expected to be particularly vulnerable to the ef-
fects of conflict. It requires more specialized teachers who are difficult to replace if
they flee, are killed or injured, or recruited into the armed forces. The classrooms
or workshops often involve expensive equipment that is likely to be looted or dam-
aged. In protracted conflicts it might be nearly impossible to obtain and maintain
up-to-date equipment in the first place. While there is little hard data on the matter,
we might expect a typical TVET student to be more likely to drop-out or partici-
pate in hostilities, especially in places where TVET has acquired a reputation for
being a second-class option for those who failed for whatever reason to succeed in
more academic streams. It also suffers indirect effects. Economic collapse caused
by violent or lingering conflict undermines TVET’s ostensible rationale, namely the
premise that the vocation being trained for will actually offer a livelihood. These
notions require careful empirical investigation in a variety of cases in order to yield
recommendations for educational reconstruction that are specific to TVET.
The aim of this chapter is to illustrate this differential impact of conflict on TVET
compared to general education using the example of Palestine. This is an apt exam-
ple because the difference between the development under conflict of TVET and
other parts of the Palestinian education sector has been particularly pronounced.
This example also highlights another important point. Among Palestinians, TVET

800 B. Barakat
has been popularly perceived to have a different standing in relation to both national
aspirations and personal emancipation than academic education. Under protracted,
‘low intensity’ conflict, these issues are of great importance. In fact, in such a sit-
uation the amplification of this perceived qualitative difference between TVET and
academic education can be more critical than the difference in degree in physical
vulnerability.
The first section of this chapter provides a brief overview of the interaction of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict with Palestinian education as a whole. Far from merely
being ‘interrupted’ by conflict, throughout the past century Palestinian education
has been shaped structurally, ideologically and pedagogically by it.
Against this backdrop, the second section highlights how the conflict’s impact on
TVET contrasts with its effect on other kinds of education. While higher education,
for instance, was boosted by its perceived and actual connection with the nationalist
project, even in the absence of clear economic incentives, many forms of TVET
have traditionally been neglected and have been particularly vulnerable faced with
the effects of economic crises.
The concluding remarks finally depart from the most important observations of
the specific case of Palestine to propose questions of more general interest to the
problem of TVET in conflict.
2 The Entanglement of Education and Conflict in Palestine
The history of Palestinian education reflects the history of the conflict over Palestine
itself (for an overview, see Pappe, 2006; Kimmerling & Migdal, 2003). Before the
Oslo Accords in the 1990s, the Palestinians had never controlled their own education
system. Within historic Palestine, this control rested first with the Ottomans, then the
British and later Israel; Palestinian refugees beyond the borders are subject to the
curricula of the respective host countries, even though in their case it is implemented
by the United Nations.
Under all these external powers, educational provision was closely linked with
the struggle over control of the land. The Ottomans long neglected secondary edu-
cation and insisted on the unpopular medium of Turkish for instruction (even for the
teaching of Arabic!), only to promise reform of both issues during the First World
War to shore up Arab support for their failing campaign. During the British Man-
date that followed the Ottoman defeat, on the one hand, the increase in schooling
helped spread Arab nationalism by bringing young educated men to the countryside
as teachers; on the other hand, control over education served the British as both a
carrot and a stick to extort local co-operation (Al-Haj, 1995). At the same time, the
Arab population keenly felt competition with the education of the Jewish settlers,
who were free to link the education of their children with their nationalist ambi-
tions. The Arabs on the other hand felt that their own schools were prevented by the
British from playing an equivalent role (Tibawi, 1956; Shepherd, 1999). In popular
lore, the Arab defeat in 1948 was attributed in large part to the Zionists’ superior
education and training (Abu-Lughod, 2000; Graham-Brown, 1984). To what extent
V.4 TVET Versus Academic Education in Palestine 801
the Palestinian refugees’ educational achievements in the following decades were

spurred on by this conviction and the motivation to overcome this weakness, or were
a result of the external circumstances, including a lack of alternative opportunities
and favourable access to Arab universities, remains open to debate.
Undisputed, however, is the fact that their educational achievements were re-
markable. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in
the Near East (UNRWA) from the start regarded education as a priority and the
schools it operated in and near the refugee camps were instrumental in achieving
near universal primary enrolment for both genders—at a time when the populations
of host and other countries in the region were largely illiterate (Yusuf, 1979). Within
a generation, participation in higher education reached levels that were among the
highest in developing countries. As a result, educated Palestinians made up large
parts of the teaching force and other professional sectors in the Arab Gulf region
up until the 1960s (Mazawi, 1994; Badran, 1980). The reputation of Palestinians as
the most educated Arabs was cemented; the explanation of their enthusiasm as the
natural result of their experience of dispossession and the recognition of education
as an asset that could not be taken away became part of Palestinian folklore. Below
we will examine to what extent this was true of academic education alone.
While for some the outcome of the 1948 War resulted in improved access to ed-
ucation and labour markets for the highly skilled, after the war of 1967, when Israel
gained control over the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the consequences for education
were uniformly harmful (Velloso, 2002). For over two decades, school development
was neglected despite tremendous population growth. The curriculum was censored.
For a long time, the education sector was controlled by military personnel in uniform
and teacher appointments were under tight control of the security services and were
abused for the recruitment of collaborators.
In East Jerusalem, there was an attempt to incorporate schools into the Israeli
‘Arab Education’ sector to underline Israeli claims of sovereignty over the city
(Masarweh & Salhout, 2002). This attempt failed due to popular non-co-operation;
within a short time, most parents had moved their children out of the Israeli-
controlled schools and into Islamic charity schools, forcing the Israeli authorities
to reverse their policy and reintroduce the censored Jordanian curriculum.
While school development was stifled, the decades following 1967 did see the
rise of Palestinian universities. These were barely tolerated by the Israeli military
authorities, partly because they had no administrative recourse to prevent their le-
gal establishment as private institutions and partly because it was hoped that the
universities would offer young Palestinians an alternative to membership in guerrilla
forces or the PLO (Sullivan, 1994). Instead, the universities fermented and became
symbols of Palestinian nationalism as the only ‘public’ institutions not under direct
Israeli control (Kimmerling & Migdal, 2003; Sullivan, 1994). As a result, violent
and bureaucratic harassment by the authorities increased, culminating in expul-
sions of students, lecturers and university officials, and complete forced closures
for months on end (Baramki, 1987; Assaf, 1997).
These closures reached their peak during the first popular uprising in the Occu-
pied Territories—the Intifada—during the late 1980s and early 1990s (Usher, 1991;
802 B. Barakat
Barber, 1997). Education was effectively taken hostage as a punitive measure by

the Israeli military authorities. At times, all educational institutions were closed,
ostensibly for security reasons. The security rationale was, however, taken ad ab-
surdum by extending closures to primary schools and kindergartens; even teach-
ing activities in private homes were outlawed under the threat of a prison term.
These constraints fermented the creative development of alternative and distance
education materials and teaching methods by progressive Palestinian educationalists
(Mahshi & Bush, 1989; Fasheh, 1990). Clandestine ‘neighbourhood schools’ al-
lowed for experimentation with alternative teaching approaches that would have en-
countered resistance in the formal sector. Later, these experiences were to have
an important influence on the development of the first Palestinian school
curriculum.
As a result of prolonged closures, the school system was close to collapse when
the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) took control of the education sector after
the Oslo Accords of 1993 (Assaf, 1997). For several reasons, the education sector
continued to be one of the most important arenas for the struggle over political
control. Reflecting the combination of an extremely youthful population with high
enrolment, a majority of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were di-
rectly affected by the education sector as students, teachers and administrators or
parents. The fact that universities represented one of the few areas of local inde-
pendent capacity, they were reluctant to cede this independence to a Palestinian
Authority governed principally by returning exiles (Hanafi & Tabar, 2005). And,
finally, education was one of the sectors with the greatest international involvement
and scrutiny, partly because it was considered ‘safe to invest in’ and because of the
controversy generated by a disinformation campaign accusing Palestinian textbooks
of incitement (Brown, 2001, 2002).
Educational attainment remained relatively high and university enrolment con-
tinued to reach new records, despite the fact that it offered no substantial economic
returns in the depressed economic environment of the Occupied Territories. The
lack of employment opportunities also meant women’s participation in the labour
force remained very low even by regional standards, which might partly explain the
exceptional fact that women’s education continued to have only a moderate lowering
effect on fertility (Goujon, 1997).
Having maintained a leading role in terms of educational attainment in the Arab
world throughout decades of conflict and occupation, since the beginning of the
second Intifada in 2001, past gains are seriously at risk of being lost. A second
generation is growing up with severely disrupted schooling and, when in school,
is being taught by teachers who lost years of their own schooling during the first
Intifada. Israeli military incursions into Palestinian population centres often result
in physical damage to educational infrastructure, as well as the injury or death of
students and teachers. Road blocks and other mobility restrictions (including the
separation wall) represent a formidable obstacle to attendance (Moughrabi, 2004;
Palestinian Authority. MoEHE, 2005; DSP, 2005). Since the international de facto
embargo of the Palestinian government elected in early 2006, the situation in the Oc-
cupied Palestinian Territories, and Gaza in particular, has suffered further dramatic
deterioration, not least long teacher strikes over unpaid salaries. The implications of
these developments cannot yet be fully ascertained.
Looking back over the past century, it is clear that the education of Palestini-
ans has not merely been constrained by the unresolved conflict over Palestine, but
defined by it. It is equally clear that its future is equally tied up with the fate of a
political settlement.
3 ‘Cinderella’ in Times of Conflict

Clearly, Palestinian education as a whole has affected and has been fundamentally
affected by the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, the impact on dif-
ferent branches of the education system has varied. Simplistically speaking, higher
education received a quantitative boost, both in terms of students and in terms of lo-
cal university development (although quality was naturally negatively affected); pri-
mary enrolment leapt ahead of the regional competition, both because of UNRWA’s
provision to refugees and because of popular demand for education as an asset that
could not be appropriated. The effect on TVET development has, however, been
unambiguously detrimental.
Already during the British Mandate, TVET for the Arab Palestinians was ne-
glected, a neglect that was interpreted by some as deliberate. The enthusiasm for
‘local arts and crafts’ on the part of some British officials made them ill-disposed
towards the teaching of modern industrial skills (Shepherd, 1999). The provision of
specialized agricultural education in the Arab sector was all but non-existent and
local initiatives, such as maintaining a school garden, were often the result of indi-
vidual committed head-teachers. As the conflict with the Zionist project was very
much seen as a conflict over land, this neglect was interpreted by the Arab leadership
as a deliberate attempt to limit their competitiveness vis-à-vis the technologically
advanced Zionist agricultural enterprises.
After the 1948 War, UNRWA did from the start include TVET among the ed-
ucational services it offered Palestinian refugees (Faherty, 1959), but it was never
popular and to this day its TVET offerings remain inadequate in relation to the size
and needs of the target population.
In fact, critics in the past accused UNRWA of having biased its educational pro-
vision towards helping top achievers gain access to universities (Weighill, 1995).
While the number of higher education students among Palestinian refugees was
comparatively high, they were still a small minority overall and this ‘elitist’ ap-
proach left the large mass of refugees with an education but limited opportunities.
This outcome is hardly surprising. The refugees’ demand for education was
driven by the priorities of the bourgeoisie among them, who already had experience
in the modern sector and who, keen to stay ahead, devoted ‘all their resources to
making an economic recovery and to ensuring that their children obtained a univer-
sity education’ (Badran, 1980, p. 52).
Ironically, under the British Mandate, TVET in the form of agricultural education
suffered because it was regarded as more relevant to effective Arab claims to the
804 B. Barakat
land than academic education which was easily ‘sanitized’ by the mandate author-
ity (Tibawi, 1956). In stark contrast, in the post-1948 period the contribution of
education to the nationalist project came to be seen instead in the sum of individual
excellence, which was associated strictly with academic attainment. While many
Palestinian students did tend to see their pursuit of education as part of the national
project, it is debatable whether this was their main motivation. It could be argued
that for the nationalists to politically endorse individual higher education as part of
the ‘liberation through education’ slogan was to make a virtue of necessity and to
lend patriotic respectability to educational choices motivated rather by individual
considerations.
By contrast, TVET was seen neither as a desirable option in terms of personal
advancement nor as a valuable contribution to the national project. In fact, it even
appeared to some as undermining collective aspirations. In a context where it is not
highly regarded, TVET’s sole attraction is the prospect of improved employment
prospects. In order to achieve these, it must correspond to the de facto economic
context. But to adapt to a situation where economic development is deliberately
stifled, as has been the case under Israeli occupation (Roy, 1995), can be understood
as capitulating before the status quo: ‘to restrict the growth of higher education to
suit the needs of an exploited and artificially depressed economy would be nothing
less than social strangulation. The short-term effects might be defensible (i.e. to
discourage emigration), but the long-range impact on society may be disastrous’
(Hallaj, 1980, p. 87)
The class-based counter-argument was sure to follow:
Understandable as such a viewpoint may be, we should not ignore the way it allows a
hypothetical future disaster to eclipse current actual disaster, such as Israeli exploitation
of low-skilled Palestinian workers [. . .] It is through such weighting of priorities that so
much Palestinian money has been mobilized for student scholarships, research institutes
and universities, and so little for training programs for the poor (Sayigh, 1985, p. 132).
The argument was never settled, and pride in the achievements in higher education
continued to dominate the discourse on education and the national project.
The question of to what extent this reflected a cultural bias is a difficult one. By
any account, most other Arab countries share entrenched negative social attitudes
to blue-collar labour (reflected by low demand for TVET (UIS, 2002)), and this
raises the question of whether Palestinian TVET would have stagnated regardless
of the conflict. The assumption of an intrinsic negative Arab attitude towards TVET
is, however, undermined by the discussion regarding the Palestinian-Arab citizens
of Israel. Some have suggested the assumption of low demand for TVET in the
Israeli-Arab education sector to be merely a convenient excuse for a lack of Is-
raeli investment, and report a ‘positive shift in attitudes towards skilled labour and
vocational-technological education’ (Mar’i, 1978, p. 165) and that ‘Arab parents and
pupils alike have a positive attitude regarding vocational-technological education’
(Al-Haj, 1995, p. 92).
In assessing this apparent contradiction between ‘cultural attitudes’ of the same
people either side of an armistice line, it is important to take into account the fact
that the Palestinian-Arab citizens of Israel have had few alternatives. In the academic
stream, the cards have traditionally been and still are heavily stacked against them
in terms of funding and appropriate curricula, encouraging extremely high drop-
out and failure rates. For those that succeed, there are few employment options
(Human Rights Watch, 2001). Likewise, their participation in higher education at
Israeli universities remains marginal, even if it is increasing slowly. It should also be
taken into account that TVET in Israel includes a number of high-tech branches far
removed from the stigma of manual labour, even if in practice—if not in principle—
they tend not to be available at Arab TVET institutions.
In any case, because the middle classes were the first to flee, the Palestinian
Arabs that stayed behind in 1948 and became Israeli citizens were on average less
educated to begin with than the majority of the refugees.
But it is not only the Palestinians’ own attitudes towards TVET and blue-collar
jobs that enter the picture. The main drive in international support for Palestinian
education during the Oslo era came at a time when TVET had recently fallen out of
favour with the World Bank and other agencies following its lead. After decades of
emphasizing TVET, based on projected manpower requirements for economic de-
velopment, studies calling into question fundamental assumptions underlying TVET
provision and, more decisively, suggesting it was not cost-effective and offered
lower economic returns than an expansion of primary schooling, led to a radical
change in lending policy (Middleton, Ziderman & van Adams, 1991). Only recently
has this trend been reversed.
Ostensibly, common criticisms of TVET apply even more forcefully in a refugee
situation. It has been asserted that training for specific tasks is too specialized, and
that general education provides a more flexible preparation for many jobs. Given
the uncertainty in refugees’ lives, such flexibility is highly desirable. It is also often
noted that TVET is more dependent on being regularly updated and made relevant
to the shifting economic and technological context. Such updates are expensive
in terms of the training of teachers and possibly equipment, making it even more
difficult for TVET to remain relevant in the often austere conditions of refugee
and conflict-affected education. However, there are also obstacles to the currency
of curricula that affect academic subjects more seriously than TVET. Under mili-
tary occupation after 1967, censorship of school textbooks meant that even though
legally the Jordanian curriculum applied in the West Bank, its changes were not
always applied if the new textbooks were banned. This resulted in the teaching and
examination of hopelessly outdated material that was known to be false by teachers
and students alike (Schiff, 1989). Since TVET curricula are typically considered
to be less politically sensitive, this at least is one constraint more likely to affect
academic subjects.
In most respects however, it seems TVET remains at least as vulnerable as other
branches of education, in particular regarding the effects of physical violence.
During the second Intifada, the education sector had to engage in ingenious
planning in order to respond to the challenge of ad-hoc road-blocks and other mo-
bility restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation forces. For example, in order
to keep schools running teachers who could not reach their usual place of work
806 B. Barakat
were reassigned to a school they could access (World Bank, 2004; Lempinen &
Repo, 2002). Again, structural differences between TVET and general education
make this kind of attempt to mitigate the effects of conflict more difficult in the
case of the former. Not only are there fewer sites that are also further apart, but
there are many different providers who cannot easily exchange their staff. Similarly,
the clandestine community schools set up during the first Intifada to circumvent
school closures are a model that was already problematic with regard to general and
academic education, but unfeasible with regard to TVET.
The lack of past opportunity for TVET in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to de-
velop into a viable educational option is reflected in the extremely low enrolment
in the vocational secondary stream. The share of secondary students in one of the
four vocational streams (industrial, commercial, agricultural, hotel—depending on
classification, whether home economics or religious studies are also considered vo-
cational streams) was less than 5% in the 2005/2006 school year overall, and even
lower in the Gaza Strip, where there were only a few hundred vocational secondary
students among the more than 50,000 secondary students in government schools
(Palestinian Authority. MoEHE, 2005). There is also a marked gender differential,
with many of the industrial options closed to females. While the overall secondary
TVET enrolment represents a considerable increase over previous levels, it falls
far short of the target share of 7.5% of all secondary students (Palestinian Authority.
MoE, 2000), while the targets for increasing general secondary enrolment have been
met even under the most adverse conditions.
As we have seen, the historic development trajectories of TVET and academic
education in Palestine have diverged substantially under the political and social pres-
sures of the century-old Palestinian-Israeli conflict. However, it would be a mistake
to attribute current gaps between the two purely to this differential. There are certain
structural features of TVET provision in the West Bank and Gaza Strip retarding
its development; the fact that overcoming them is made no easier by the conflict
environment does not mean that they are a result of it.
The problems needing to be overcome are well-known. The Ministry of Educa-
tion and Higher Education’s Human Resource Development strategy for the TVET
sector provides a succinct synthesis:
Lack of participation in community development. Absence of entrepreneurship programs.

Lack of business participation in the technical education process. Inadequate vocational
guidance and counselling. Absence of information about graduate employability [. . .] Lim-
ited instructional skills & knowledge of trainers. Limited technical skills & knowledge of
trainers. Inadequate curricula [. . .] Lack of public awareness regarding TVET strategy. In-
adequate management information system. Unclear vision of TVET development. Limited
management skills of TVET staff (Palestinian Authority. MoEHE, n.d.).
Observers of the current state of TVET in the West Bank and Gaza Strip agree
that it is heavily fragmented and lacks relevance. In addition to technical and vo-
cational post-secondary formal education at secondary schools and post-secondary
community colleges, semi-formal training is available at the Ministry of Labour’s
and UNRWA training centres. There are also non-formal providers whose exact
number is unknown but goes into the hundreds (World Bank, 2006), most offering
short courses and lacking economy of scale. Past lack of co-ordination means:
One can become a carpenter in 9 months, 11 months or 24 months. A person may train for
carpentry in vocational secondary schools, or in a training Centre, run by UNRWA, or the
Ministry of Labor, or the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs, or quite a number of private
institutions, and each time using different curricula (Palestinian Authority. MoEHE, 1998).
The relationship between TVET and the labour market has been described as ‘almost
non-functional’. [Existing TVET is] neither efficient nor relevant to the needs of its target
group or the needs of the market [. . . and] incapable of serving its stated purpose (Abu
Nahleh, 1996, p. 144, quoted in Mazawi, 2000, p. 374).
This lack of relevance for employability is invariably confirmed by outside observers.
UNRWA likewise admits that because of funding constraints, its TVET centres ‘cannot
respond to the changing needs of the labour market’ (UNRWA, 2005, p. 19).
Unsurprisingly then, demand is very weak. The vocational secondary option is

unpopular (see above) and attracts only the academically least able. Reinforcing
TVET’s stigma, the Ministry of Social Affairs, as yet another provider, offers train-
ing specifically for school drop-outs, ex-detainees and other ‘social cases’ requiring
rehabilitation.
Those that do enrol in the vocational secondary stream demonstrate little voca-
tional intent: in a tracer study of industrial school graduates in 2001, nearly half the
sample subsequently enrolled in degree and diploma-level higher education courses
instead of training-related employment (World Bank, 2006, p. 71).
The popularity of TVET courses varies greatly between different options. In
contrast to most courses, nursing stands out as having more applicants than places
(World Bank, 2006). Such differences call into question the usefulness of making
general statements about the state of TVET as such. The usual caveats apply about
overstating the distinction between TVET and academic education. In particular,
what is a highly skilled profession in one era might become a low- or medium-
qualification skill later, as the relevant technology moves from being high-tech to
being routine. Operating computers is a current case in point. What is the appropri-
ate categorization of, for example, tertiary agricultural education leading to a B.Sc.
as offered by the College of Agriculture at Hebron University (i.e. the borderline
between ISCED 4B versus 5B (UIS, 2002)) depends very much on the question to
be answered.
Further calling the distinction into question is the fact that much of what was
said about TVET also applies to some extent to science education, with its simi-
lar need for equipment and specialized teachers. In fact, the occupation authorities
confiscated most chemicals from schools’ science laboratories, severely limiting
their usefulness (UNESCO, 1991). The detrimental effect of the conflict on Pales-
tinian science education in particular is well known. The disproportion of humani-
ties versus science students carries over from secondary to university level (World
Bank, 2006) and this weakness in science and mathematics reinforces the low take-
up of TVET at higher levels and constrains the supply of trainers.
This phenomenon is further strengthened by the fact that science education at all
levels is more expensive to the student than humanities or social science subjects.
808 B. Barakat
The oversupply of cheap academic alternatives, regardless of their value, reduces

the relative attractiveness of TVET, as fees at technical and community colleges
are similar to those at traditional universities and actually exceed those at the local
Open University (World Bank, 2006). In a vicious circle, the low demand for TVET
further drives up unit costs.
It is to their credit that Palestinian educationalists are not content with main-
taining the status quo but are trying to advance the development of the education
sector, even during times of crisis. These efforts notwithstanding, Palestinian TVET
is in a state of arrested development, with reform efforts having been articulated, but
stalling in implementation.
Due to the lack of Palestinian statehood, Palestinian participation in some inter-
governmental initiatives for co-operation in the field of TVET is difficult. There is no
Palestinian presence in the Arab States UNESCO-UNEVOC Network. The question
of to what extent Palestinian TVET can, without active participation, benefit from
the outcomes of initiatives, such as the 2002 ‘Regional Expert Meeting on TVET
Project Development in the Arab States’ (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2003), remains
problematic. This constraint does not however apply to other regional fora, such
as the GTZ-facilitated Regional Arab-German Network on TVET (<www.arab-
tvet.com>) for the development of shared occupational classification schemes and
an Arabic glossary of TVET curricular terms.
Already during the late 1990s, a national TVET development plan and reform
scheme was developed (Lempinen & Repo, 2002; World Bank, 2006). It reflected
the uncertainty caused be the unresolved conflict in its call for flexibility regarding
training for neighbouring labour markets that might or might not be or become ac-
cessible to Palestinian labour. Its key themes, however, were: (a) the unification and
harmonization of standards and qualifications; (b) the modularization of curricula;
(c) responsiveness to demand with a limited role for the ambition to create a small
excess supply of skilled labour as a catalyst; and (d) a tighter integration with aca-
demic trajectories by providing bridging courses between academic secondary and
further education and TVET, between TVET and higher education.
Remarkably, Palestinian educationalists do not lay the blame for the lack of
progress in implementing this national TVET strategy directly on the intensification
of the conflict. In the 2003/2004 Action Plan (Palestinian Authority. MoEHE, 2003),
failure to achieve real change is instead pinned on a lack of management capacity
at the systems level, the absence of follow-up, and the neglect of transitional objec-
tives that could serve to connect the ambitious strategic objectives with the levels of
funding actually available.
Compared to times past, TVET is enjoying increased attention. The will for
reform appears real and co-operation between the concerned ministries has been
lauded as exceptional (Lempinen & Repo, 2002). A recent novelty has been public-
awareness campaigns, including newspaper supplements, radio and TV advertise-
ments to promote TVET as a valid and rewarding educational choice (the advertise-
ments may be viewed at <www.tvet-pal.org/awareness/awareness.html> [validated
4 August 2008]). To what extent such measures influence public perceptions and
behaviour remains, of course, to be seen but, given that students’ knowledge about
TVET opportunities used to come mainly from informal sources (Abu Nahleh, 1996,
in Mazawi, 2000), represents an important step in the right direction of trying to
break TVET’s stigma.
It is regrettable that TVET is all too often the ‘Cinderella’ of national systems of
education. Even if it is thus neglected in practice, we should not neglect it in our
analyses of education sectors in and after conflict. Attention to the specific circum-
stances of TVET is crucial because, as we have seen, its destiny in and after conflict
can diverge significantly from broader trends in the education sector. Reasons for
this divergence include both structural effects of the typically greater geographic
dispersion of TVET institutions compared to other schools for instance, as well as
attitudinal effects. Pre-existing biases are unlikely to be overcome when the stakes
are raised in conflict.
In the Palestinian case, the conflict and its political effects provided a boost to pri-
mary and higher education enrolment, while constraining their quality. By contrast,
the development of TVET was stunted. While a regional comparison suggests that
its neglect due to cultural biases would have been likely regardless of the conflict,
the fact remains that it neither shared in the mystique of the liberation struggle
created around education generally, nor has been able to follow the pace of develop-
ments in neighbouring countries where TVET has traditionally been similarly ne-
glected, but is now in the process of being modernized in the face of rising graduate
unemployment.
Examining the differences in impact of conflict on TVET and academic edu-
cation should not obscure but rather sensitize us to the fact that there are large
differences within either. The interesting question is how these relate and which
patterns, if any, are stable across different contexts of conflict. Does prolonged con-
flict as a rule tend to affect science education more than literacy, and is that one
of the factors constraining technology-oriented TVET? To what extent are certain
vocations upgraded in status for ideological reasons or because of their practical
contribution to the national struggle, say farming or para-medical occupations? And
are such attitudes reflected in the enrolment distribution for formal TVET streams?
An interesting question is in what way the relative importance attributed to dif-
ferent forms of education by national movements depends on the existence of a
territorial base. A political movement engaged in a violent struggle will endeavour
to strengthen its assets that are relevant to the kind of conflict it is fighting. It will
be most interested in those kinds of education that contribute to these assets. For
a movement with local control, the full range of education and training that con-
tribute to a functioning pseudo-State are desirable and can be actively encouraged.
A de-territorialized movement finds itself in a different situation. The need to de-
velop or maintain a national identity through cultural activism and the creation of
nationalist literature, the existential need to build political and diplomatic capacity,
etc., imply a different set of educational priorities geared more towards the elite end.
810 B. Barakat
Moreover, with less control over the educational trajectories of its client population,
it is forced to ideologically accommodate, rationalize or even appropriate the latter’s
educational choices.
It is important to note that such questions are not merely theoretical. Not only
can TVET differ from the academic streams of the education sector in terms of
how it is affected by conflict, it also has a specific role to play in reconstruction.
General schooling is an important factor in creating confidence in the capacity of
emerging authorities to deliver large-scale public services, in keeping children and
youth occupied, and in attempting to plant the seeds for long-term societal changes
and development. The coverage of TVET is necessarily more limited and does
not reach large parts of the population. On the other hand, it offers opportunities
for more immediate integration with economic recovery, reconstruction and, most
importantly, livelihoods. Improving TVET’s contribution to the transition to peace
ought to be the raison d’être for our attempts to understand its role in conflict.
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Chapter V.5
Co-ordinated Programming for Skills
Development and Livelihoods in Post-Conflict
Societies: What Promise Does TVET Hold
for Southern Sudan?
Zuki Karpinska
Inconsistent development over the years [. . . ] means that the

new Government of Southern Sudan is confronted by a wide
diversity of needs. Nowhere is this more evident than in the
education sector, where estimates during the war found that
just one child in five attended school and less than 1 per cent
of girls completed their primary education (Southern Sudan.
MoEST/UNICEF, 2006, p. 2).
Technical education is needed to train Southern Sudanese so
the country is rebuilt by its citizens (Southern Sudan.
MoEST, 2007b, p. 47).
1 Introduction
In conflict and post-conflict contexts, international aid agencies often assume re-
sponsibility for the delivery of services, such as education. Co-ordination in the field
of development and relief aid may be defined as ‘the systematic utilization of policy
instruments to deliver humanitarian assistance in a cohesive and effective manner’
(Minear et al., 1992, p. 3). In other words, both international stakeholders—United
Nations agencies, bi- and multi-lateral donors, and international non-governmental
organizations (NGOs)—and local stakeholders—government authorities and local
NGOs—should strive for cohesion and effectiveness in their approaches to the
provision of aid and development programming. However, in their research on
United Nations (UN) agency co-ordination in humanitarian response, Reindorp and
Wiles (2001) cite from past studies of complex emergencies the following themes
that contribute to ineffective interventions: ‘turf battles, empire-building, overlap-
ping and conflicting mandates, and ad hoc arrangements’ (p. 8). It is this state of
affairs that has led Sommers (2004) to ask: ‘Why is the act of co-ordinating hu-
manitarian and post-conflict reconstruction activities so difficult?’ (p. 17). Sommers
goes on, suggesting that:
In principle, it should be simple and straightforward: the work by different actors in sectors
such as education should fit together and complement each other. It does not make sense

814 Z. Karpinska
for them to overlap or leave gaps in service. Working as a team to address the collective
needs of people recovering from tragedy and disaster seems the appropriate, logical and
humanitarian thing to do (Sommers, 2004, p. 17).
Why, indeed, does co-ordination for cohesive and effective programming seem so
elusive?
This chapter examines the difficulties of providing cohesive and effective tech-
nical and vocational education and training (TVET) in challenging contexts by
looking at government, external agency and NGO co-ordination structures in south-
ern Sudan.1 TVET in southern Sudan, rather than being ‘concerned with the ac-
quisition of knowledge and skills for the world of work’ (UNESCO-UNEVOC,
n.d.), is currently mainly concerned with the acquisition of skills that could lead
to livelihoods—the means of making a living. The term ‘world of work’ does not
currently apply to the context of southern Sudan because too few opportunities for
gainful employment exist to make it meaningful; the market for semi-skilled labour
of the type that emerges from existing TVET programmes is still too underdevel-
oped to absorb the few graduates. Thus, for the purposes of this chapter, TVET is
defined as any educational opportunity providing training in livelihood skills.2
The chapter begins with a brief overview of the Sudanese conflict, as well as the
current political and economic context in the region. The subsequent sections offer a
description of TVET programmes in southern Sudan to date; an analysis of current
steps that the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) is pursuing
to better organize these TVET offerings; and a discussion of the mechanisms used to
co-ordinate TVET and other programming. The chapter ends with an expression of
optimism that these steps will improve co-ordination among TVET-funding donors,
TVET-providing agencies and governmental authorities.
2 Overview of the Conflict and Its Aftermath

Sudan is the largest country in Africa and is home to the longest-running conflict on
the continent. The north and south of the country have been at war since even before
the country gained independence from the British in 1956, due in part to differences
in religion, ethnicity and resource availability. After a decade of relative peace be-
tween 1972 and 1982, a second civil war broke out in 1983, arguably instigated by
the imposition of Shari’a law by the Khartoum-based Government of Sudan (GoS).
The Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and its splinter groups emerged as the
main ‘rebel’ force in opposition to the GoS. The area known as southern Sudan had
historically been severely underdeveloped, but—since the fighting took place almost
exclusively in the south—what little infrastructure was in place has been completely
destroyed. Over the twenty-two years of civil war post-1983, southern Sudan was
ravaged in terms of loss of human life, destruction of schools and roads, disruption
of agricultural and business activities, as well as massive population displacement.
An estimated 2 million people died during the war and approximately 4.5 million
Southern Sudanese were displaced.3
V.5 What Promise Does TVET Hold for Southern Sudan? 815
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) (GoS & SPLM/A, 2005) ending
the second war was signed on 9 January 2005 by only two of the parties to the
conflict: the GoS and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A).
This is significant because most Sudanese, from both the north and the south, did not
participate in the peace process. Even other key military groups, such as the South
Sudan Defence Force (SSDF) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), were
not represented during the two-year negotiations led by the Inter-Governmental
Authority on Development (IGAD), which enjoyed strong support from the in-
ternational community, including the so-called ‘troika’ of the United States, Nor-
way and the United Kingdom (Young, 2005). Under the CPA, southern Sudan—
comprising ten of Sudan’s southernmost states with two additional states and one
area administered jointly with the Khartoum government—became an autonomous
region. For all intents and purposes, however, southern Sudan still suffers from inse-
curity due to continuing occasional skirmishes between the GoS forces and southern
armies.
The CPA’s power-sharing protocol called for an autonomous Government of
Southern Sudan (GoSS) and a Government of National Unity (GoNU), the lat-
ter comprising representatives from both the north and the south. The appointed
ministers and other executives of the GoSS are almost exclusively former military
officials, many of whom lack the administration skills required to lead a civilian
nation, resulting in a fledgling government of generally low capacity (International
Crisis Group, 2006). Under the CPA, the South will hold a referendum in 2011
to vote on the status of the region, leaving it to the Southern Sudanese to decide
whether to continue power-sharing or to secede entirely and establish their own
nation-State. According to National Democratic Institute for International Affairs
(NDI) focus group data (Cook, 2005) and other sources, the Southern Sudanese
will almost certainly vote for the latter option, but the GoS will be reluctant to give
up the oil wealth that the south represents. The CPA’s wealth-sharing protocol had
specified that half of Sudanese oil wealth would be allocated to the south. These
funds were to comprise—for now—the sole source of non-donor GoSS revenue,
as a tax system is currently unthinkable. As of the time of writing, only a frac-
tion of the expected funds have been released by the GoS (Reeves, 2005, emphasis
added), which—together with the low capacity of the southern government—has
delayed full GoSS assumption of responsibility for delivery of services, such as
education.
3 The Economic Context and Livelihoods
Muchomba and Sharp (2006) report: ‘Livelihoods in southern Sudan are inextri-
cably linked to both a relatively rich and abundant resource base and the terrible
consequences of more than two decades of civil conflict’ (p. 18). The majority of
Southern Sudanese seek livelihoods in animal husbandry, agriculture, fishing on
the Nile River and its tributaries, wild food collection and/or trade. Livestock may
816 Z. Karpinska
represent the single greatest material asset of the Southern Sudanese; many of the
ethnic groups in southern Sudan are pastoralist, owning vast herds of cattle and
goats. The cattle herds, in particular, may sometimes number in the thousands, and
are an integral part of both the region’s livelihoods and its culture. Both pastoralist
and non-pastoralist ethnic groups practice small-scale agriculture, for subsistence
and/or as a means of currency. However, crops are affected by the region’s periodic
droughts (including a recent drought that lasted for three years) and the resultant
low yields are often insufficient for even subsistence. Trading and selling of goods
from nearby Uganda, Kenya or Ethiopia and even from Khartoum—due in part to
improved transportation and demining of key access roads—is increasing rapidly
during the time of fragile peace. The rudimentary markets are expanding, with more
goods—e.g. plastic sandals, clothing, cigarettes—appearing in an increasing num-
ber of locations. The barter system is still widespread, with southern Sudan’s three
currencies—in addition to those of the neighbouring countries—less commonly
used than exchange for cattle, beer or grain (Muchomba & Sharp, 2006).
Very few paid job opportunities exist in southern Sudan, outside of the aid com-
munity. NGOs and international organizations employ hundreds of Southern Su-
danese as programme managers, project staff, driver/mechanics, security guards,
cooks, cleaners, etc. Due to continued inability by the government to pay salaries,
teachers are usually unpaid volunteers; a small number of schools receive small
incentives for teachers from NGOs like Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), but these are
usually in the form of non-cash items, such as soap. Temporary work is sometimes
available in select areas for semi-skilled labourers, such as masons or carpenters
on construction projects. As a result, many Southern Sudanese are still dependent
on humanitarian aid (Marriage, 2006) from organizations such as the World Food
Programme.
All of these livelihoods are affected by the reality of the southern Sudanese en-
vironment. Lack of roads and periodic flooding mean no access to markets for the
vast majority of the population. There are disparities within the region of southern
Sudan, however: the southern-most Equatoria states are much less affected by the
rains than the rest of the region. The Equatorias have better roads, are closer to the
relatively-developed markets of Uganda and Kenya and do not have the swamps of
Jonglei or other states. Security is also often an issue that affects access to markets,
but in isolated cases rather than as a region-wide phenomenon. Uganda’s Lord’s
Resistance Army (LRA) attacks, for instance, are limited to the southernmost states
and can close down markets for weeks. It is important to note that the most signifi-
cant factor in the economy of southern Sudan is its sheer physical size. The region
is massive and distances between points can be unmanageable. Transportation costs
are thus staggeringly high, impacting both southern Sudanese livelihoods and inter-
national agency programming.
Finally, a significant challenge to the development of livelihoods in post-conflict
southern Sudan is lack of education and training. Southern Sudan’s ‘lost generation’
—those denied access to schooling during the war years due to insecurity, dis-
placement and/or lack of resources—comprises the majority of the population.
The latest figures show that only one out of every five children attended school
during the war, with just 2% finishing the primary school cycle (Southern Sudan.
MoEST/UNICEF, 2006). Education and development funding have only been avail-
able in the region for the past several years; prior to this, the vast majority of donor
funds were solely available for humanitarian relief (Sommers, 2005). Although a
few organizations,4 including UNICEF, offered school ‘materials and a little train-
ing’ prior to 1993, not until then was the need for support for education recognized
(Joyner, 1996). And, not until 2000 did long-term development programming in
education begin (Sommers, 2005). Any and all educational opportunities in southern
Sudan are thus still rare, although the demand for basic education and skills training
is high and expected to rise (Southern Sudan. MoEST, 2007a).
4 Definitions of TVET and the New TVET Policy Framework
Until 2007, MoEST offered little guidance for TVET programming. The SPLM
Secretariat of Education’s Education policy of the new Sudan and implementa-
tion guidelines (2002), which is still in effect, only notes that vocational training
should/will exist in southern Sudan. No further information is provided in the ex-
isting education policy as to what TVET will comprise, by whom it will be carried
out, or how it will be financed. Only weeks before this writing, however, MoEST
published a new policy handbook that includes definitions for TVET and a firm com-
mitment to developing both a TVET policy framework and a system of certification
(Southern Sudan. MoEST, 2007a).
MoEST differentiates in the following manner between informal, non-formal,
and formal vocational training (Southern Sudan. MoEST, 2007a; 2007b):
1. Informal vocational education programmes consist of basic occupational skills

training, with a duration of one week to three months. There are no pre-
qualifications to entry and courses are usually taught by ‘community members
with some years of practical experience in the vocation. The courses do not fol-
low a structured linear progression’ (p. 2).
2. Non-formal vocational education programmes consist of basic occupational
skills training, with a duration of three to six months. There are no pre-
qualifications to entry and courses are usually taught by skilled practitioners.
3. Formal vocational education programmes consist of training with ‘curricula de-
veloped into modules/guides which allow students to build sequentially on their
skills’, with a duration of nine months to two years. These programmes have
‘a written curriculum which contains both theoretical and practical components.
The theoretical courses are usually taught by university graduates and practical
courses by practitioners with extensive experience’ (pp. 2–3).
In practice, however, few formal vocational education programmes, such as the ones
described above, yet exist. Even the longer training programmes rarely require any
secondary education and college-graduate instructors are scarce.
818 Z. Karpinska
Until 2005,5 skills training in southern Sudan was only available through NGOs,
which—if offered in physical premises—generally only established and operated
one centre. This is particularly true of centres operated by Sudanese NGOs. The
most common training programming—which would be categorized as informal
vocational education by MoEST—involves livelihoods skills training at the com-
munity level. Vétérinaires sans frontières-Belgium (VSF), for example, trains pas-
toralist groups in techniques that improve animal husbandry practices. Other NGOs
work with farming communities to increase crop yields. These types of training
are shorter, on average, than the non-formal and more formal vocational education
described below, with instruction taking place over a period of weeks or several days
per month during an entire year, as opposed to training that requires daily attendance
for months. Such livelihoods skills-training programmes build on local knowledge
or introduce innovation in a skill that is already practised.
Among the NGOs involved in non-formal skills training, as described above,
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) operated six livelihood skills-training centres,6 later
turned over to the relevant ministries, and currently operates six vocational training
centres.7 Of the approximately two dozen skills training centres that currently ex-
ist in southern Sudan, CRS has thus established about half. Due to the high cost
of inputs such as electricity—which, since electricity in southern Sudan is pro-
duced solely by generators, requires gasoline transported into the region at great
cost—these skills-training centres usually focus on skills that do not require heavy
investment, such as carpentry or agriculture, rather than computer training or car me-
chanics. At the moment, in the absence of a southern Sudanese vocational curricu-
lum, NGOs typically establish their own training curriculum at each centre or adapt
Kenyan or Ugandan curricula. In 2004, Save the Children Sweden had developed a
Sudan-specific curriculum for vocational training in two subjects, with the consent
of the then-SPLM Secretariat of Education (currently MoEST). These materials,
however, have not been accepted by MoEST as part of the national curriculum for
vocational training.
Many of these training centres are nominally managed by boards (boards of
governors, management boards, etc.) composed of community-elected representa-
tives. Some NGOs suggest a minimum quota for female representation to dissuade
communities from appointing all-male boards, as would otherwise be the case. The
boards receive training in educational management and administration in order to
build community capacity to make decisions on behalf of the centres, organize as-
sistance in the construction efforts and liaise with the NGOs. However, the boards
effectively have little or no power, except over the modest project funding that is
channelled to them through the NGOs. The centres managed by boards are fre-
quently expected to assume responsibility for the training when projects end on
behalf of the relevant ministry. Since 2006, ministries, such as the Ministry of Agri-
culture and Forestry, the Ministry of the Environment, Wildlife Conservation and
Tourism and the Ministry of Animal Resources and Fisheries, have begun to offer
skills training, after having assumed responsibility for several of the training centres
formerly operated by NGOs. Due to the difficulties in accessing GoSS resources,
as mentioned above, it is unlikely that many of these centres will continue to be
operational without additional donor funding in the interim before the flow of GoSS
resources becomes more consistent.
Generally, there are no educational requirements for admittance to vocational
training programmes, although there are exceptions. Life-skills training is rarely, if
ever, incorporated into the curricula, but one-off trainings such as HIV/AIDS aware-
ness may be given to students. Many centres do incorporate business management
training or entrepreneurial training into the curriculum, in order to prepare graduates
to earn a living from their newly-acquired skills. Apprenticeship programmes are
very difficult to establish in southern Sudan because so few people earn a living
using a vocational skill. Those who do are located in one of only a handful of ‘ur-
ban’ centres (which are essentially larger villages with some permanent structures).
Due to the size of the region, linking graduates with apprenticeships is generally
unfeasible.
Assuming that the success of a programme is not measured by completion rates
but rather by the number of graduates who use the skills learned in order to earn a
living after the programme ends, it would seem that there are not many successful
training programmes in southern Sudan. Training programmes that focus on tradi-
tional skills—e.g. agriculture or fishing—are more successful than those that focus
on trades, such as carpentry or masonry. The truth is that there are few markets large
enough in southern Sudan to absorb graduates with skills taught in the more-formal
training centres. Logically, a community of 1,000 or even 10,000 people does not
need 100 masons. Similarly, a centre that does not have free boarding facilities and
daily food rations cannot admit students outside the local community. Available
evidence suggests that, with time, the demand for skills will increase, and these
training programmes will enjoy more success in terms of the number of graduates
who use the skills acquired during trainings in their livelihoods.
A key missing factor in the co-ordination of these TVET offerings in south-
ern Sudan has been the ‘utilization of policy instruments’ (Minear et al., 1992,
p. 3), for the simple reason that none had existed. At the same time as the above-
mentioned new policy handbook was published—i.e. only two months prior to this
writing—MoEST developed a Draft Background/Policy Technical-Vocational Edu-
cation Training Policy Framework with the aid of an external consultant. The draft
framework provides a situational analysis of planned and existing TVET oppor-
tunities in southern Sudan, as well as offering policy briefs on the vision, struc-
ture, mandate and resource allocation of current and future TVET programmes.
The document also addresses issues of inter-ministerial co-operation, certification
and funding challenges. MoEST expects that the framework will ‘initiate a policy
dialogue between and among education stakeholders at all levels’ (Southern Sudan.
MoEST, 2007b, p. 1).
Importantly, the draft policy framework proposes definitions of TVET that distin-
guish between vocational and technical education. According to MoEST, the ‘sug-
gested’ definition for vocational education comprises ‘vocational programs [that]
offer individuals, who typically have had little or no access to formal education
programs, the opportunity to gain vital skills and be productive members of the
community’ (Southern Sudan. MoEST, 2007b, p. 46). These are thus the vocational
820 Z. Karpinska
programmes discussed above: training opportunities that do not require prior ed-
ucation. The vision for vocational training in southern Sudan reads: ‘to produce
a well integrated [sic] self-motivated, creative individual equipped with relevant
knowledge, skills and attitude through appropriate technology and wise use of avail-
able resources while preserving the cultural legacy of the community’ (ibid.). The
‘suggested’ definition for technical education comprises formal training that ‘inte-
grates academics with formal skills’ (ibid.). These training programmes fall under
the MoEST Higher Education Directorate and thus would be akin to polytechnic-
level education as practised in more developed countries, i.e. training opportunities
that require a secondary-level education. The vision for technical educational is one
that is ‘both practical and theoretical’, with ‘a strong academic track to provide a
way for individuals with a secondary school degree to progress upward through the
formal education ladder’ in order to ‘train Southern Sudanese so the country is re-
built by its citizens’ (Southern Sudan. MoEST, 2007b, pp. 46–47). The Draft Back-
ground/Policy Technical-Vocational Education Training Policy Framework thus fi-
nally clarifies MoEST’s understanding of and vision for TVET.
5 Co-ordination Structures for Service Delivery

in Southern Sudan
NGOs and international agencies have been responsible for service provision in
southern Sudan during the war years and beyond (e.g. drilling wells, operating
health clinics). This is not to say that government authorities at all levels have
been absent from service delivery planning, but—without financial resources of
their own—the southern Sudanese authorities have not provided the services; the aid
community has. Even today, however, the vast majority of southern Sudan remains
underserved.
The uneven and inadequate (Marriage, 2006) service delivery in southern Sudan
is not only due to poor co-ordination. In order to operate in a given location, an
organization requires a secure camp to house workers, store supplies and establish
communications, which necessitates constructing and maintaining field offices in
insecure and/or inaccessible locations at a great expense. Organizations thus have—
quite rightly—been accused of ‘favouring’ particular locations due to the relative
ease of travel to and/or relative security of a given site. It is also true that, once a
field office is established, NGOs frequently continue to work in that location and
do not move to another. Given the considerable transportation costs of operating
in southern Sudan, these trends cannot be avoided, though greater co-ordination
could help provide a more equitable distribution of resources (e.g. assignment of
areas to specific NGOs by the GoSS based on comparative advantage of service
delivery). Yet, the less accessible the location, the greater the costs of operation:
building one TVET centre in Unity state may cost three times as much as building
three in Western Equatoria state. Since the needs in southern Sudan are so great,
building the three TVET centres would generally be considered more cost-effective
than building the one.
It would be imprudent to write a chapter on co-ordination in southern Sudan
without mentioning Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), an unprecedented (Lautze
et al., 2004) security and information-sharing consortium founded in 1989. Mem-
bers of OLS were the many (although not all) international agencies and NGOs
involved in the humanitarian efforts responding to civilian needs in southern Su-
dan. OLS co-ordinated with both the GoS and the SPLA/Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement (SPLM)—the political wing of the SPLA—to gain access to the mil-
lions of Southern Sudanese whose livelihoods were in suspension because of the
war. While member organizations of the OLS consortium claimed neutrality, it has
since been argued that these and other international actors perpetuated the conflict,
inadvertently or purposefully supplying the armies with food and non-food rations,
along with the targeted civilian beneficiaries (see, for example, Sommers, 2005).
The many critics of OLS (e.g. Marriage, 2006) assert that the co-ordination structure
failed the Southern Sudanese.
UNICEF, the lead UN agency for OLS, had also been the ‘lead agency’ for
education8 until its handover to the then-SPLM Secretariat of Education in 2003.
Arguably, no overview of the lack of success of co-ordination between international,
national and local stakeholders in education could be more persuasive than that of
Sommers (2005):
Among the most staggering failures in the case of education for Southern Sudanese since
1983 has been the widespread and alarming deficiency in the co-ordination of education
policies and practices. Across more than two decades of civil war, there has been poor
co-ordination of education activities in just about every way imaginable. There has been vir-
tually no co-ordination of education concerns for Southern Sudanese between [. . . ] refugee
agencies and those working within southern Sudan, among those working within southern
Sudan (for the most part and until recently), [and] within the same agencies working with
the same Southern Sudanese population in northern and southern Sudan. [...] On issues as
basic as teacher payments and the curriculum, co-ordination has, for nearly all of the past
twenty-one years, ranged between flawed and nonexistent (pp. 255–56).
While apt, this assessment reflects a time when far fewer agencies worked in the
education sector than exist today; and, the more agencies, the greater is the chal-
lenge of co-ordination for cohesive and effective programming. More development
programming has become possible since the signing of the CPA and the number of
NGOs in the region has multiplied.
In southern Sudan, TVET falls under the purview of MoEST, which for the last
few years has also been responsible for the co-ordination of TVET programming.
The Education Rehabilitation and Development Forum (ERDF) is the co-ordination
meeting for all local and international agencies implementing education, and thus
TVET programming in southern Sudan. The ERDF is theoretically a quarterly
meeting, but—in the twenty-six months that the author of this chapter worked in
southern Sudan—the ERDF has only taken place five times. A joint MoEST-NGO
co-ordination body for vocational education was established in 2005. Now called the
GoSS-MoEST Vocational-Technical Thematic Group, the co-ordination body meets
822 Z. Karpinska
during the infrequent ERDF meetings. In southern Sudan, currently eleven NGOs,
as well as twelve ministries,9 have reported implementing, or planning to imple-
ment, TVET programmes, and more NGOs than this actually operate skills-training
programmes. Yet, as mentioned above, every actor involved in TVET appears to
be working independently of the others. Importantly, not all of the actors involved
in TVET attend ERDF meetings, much less the thematic group meetings. In such a
context, TVET programmes differ in terms of duration, content, beneficiary number,
quality, certification and approach.
In addition, the ministries of southern Sudan have not co-ordinated well among
themselves. Numerous GoSS ministries currently implement vocational
programmes, which have not been vetted by MoEST, nor have these programmes
‘been integrated into the overarching’ education system (Southern Sudan. MoEST,
2007b, p. 54). The ministries also plan to organize additional trainings that are yet
to be approved by MoEST, and it is unclear whether there is consensus on the part
of the other ministries that their trainings should be subject to MoEST scrutiny.
MoEST asserts that it should be responsible for certifying/recognizing vocational
curricula of all the ministries, as well as responsible for leading the process of de-
veloping a curriculum framework linking all formal and non-formal programmes
(Southern Sudan. MoEST, 2007b). A large part of the proposed co-ordination role
of MoEST would comprise developing and standardizing a system of certification
that is currently lacking in southern Sudan. Presumably, the promise of ensuring
recognition for TVET graduates in all sectors could overcome the reluctance, if any,
of other ministries to relinquish a degree of control over their training to a parallel
ministry.
The Draft TVET Policy Framework may well solve the problem of poor co-
ordination in TVET among MoEST, other ministries and NGOs. Its very existence
has finally provided a structure to a disjointed TVET system. In addition to its clari-
fication of the vision for and understanding of TVET, the document offers a detailed,
though somewhat optimistic, account of existing TVET programming in southern
Sudan. This stock-taking is an important first step in improving co-ordination among
the NGO and ministry service providers. The MoEST Draft TVET Policy Frame-
work, however, makes no mention of whether the stock-taking has been thorough
in terms of assessing which of the many interventions described therein are actually
operational, much less whether statistics, such as the number of beneficiaries, have
been collected. While it is potentially a great opportunity for the southern Sudanese
who have not had access to skills training that the number of ministries and NGOs
suggested by the document are now involved/plan to be involved with TVET, the
author of this chapter remains sceptical that many of these trainings are a matter
of fact. Especially at the level of the ministries, the planned trainings may result
in programmes that are very limited in terms of numbers of beneficiaries or these
trainings may be akin to wish-lists, i.e. training that the ministries would undertake
if the technical capacity and funding to implement such projects were available. In
order to make these trainings a reality, the most immediate input required will be
additional allocated funding for both training and capacity-building by the imple-
menting ministries.
Southern Sudan is certainly not the only region to suffer from co-ordination
difficulties (see Reindorp & Wiles, 2001; INEE, 2004; Sommers, 2004), but the
lack of a TVET policy or framework surely contributed to the disjointed manner in
which TVET has been offered. Yet, it is simplistic to assume that, once the TVET
Policy Framework is finalized and disseminated, co-ordination among government
ministries and the aid community will suddenly improve. The document will in all
likelihood serve as procedural guidelines for the southern Sudanese ministries, lead-
ing to cohesion within the GoSS—which is an improvement in and of itself—but
may not improve GoSS co-ordination with external agencies.
Smillie & Minear (2003), in a study of donor behaviour in emergency and recon-
struction contexts, found that:
The overall effectiveness of humanitarian assistance is compromised by donor earmarking,

by short funding cycles, by unrequited pledges and late funding, by tying contributions to a
donor’s own nationals, NGOs, and contractors, and by donors’ political interests (p. 5).
Sommers (2004) seconds this notion; he posits that, in not co-ordinating among
themselves, donors may achieve ‘chaotic’ and ‘contradictory’ programming. The
personal experience of working in southern Sudan by the author of this chapter,
terminating seven months before this writing, is that conflicting donor practices
were the factor most responsible for lack of overall co-ordination in TVET pro-
gramming. She agrees with Sommers (2004) in that donors, more than any other
stakeholder, have the greatest power to ensure co-ordination. In the current funding
context in southern Sudan, each NGO receives funding from a different source—
donors with their own priorities, own reporting requirements, own bureaucratic so-
called red-tape and own funding calendars. The 2005 establishment of the South
Sudan Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF), a co-operative funding mechanism for
reconstruction and development funding administered by the World Bank, was to
mitigate these issues, giving more power to the ministries to prioritize their funding
needs and choose the implementing agencies for the projects identified to meet those
needs. The MDTF was designed to recognize the ‘ownership and leadership’ of the
GoSS of the reconstruction and development process, ‘with full transparency’, en-
suring ‘effective donor co-ordination within the context of broader aid management
structures in order to reduce transaction/duplication costs; provide consistent policy
advice; [and] provide common fora for dialogue’ (IBRD, 2005, p. 7. Emphasis in
the original). However, such an arrangement may only work—even in theory—if
all donors transmit available resources through the fund; USAID, the single largest
bi-lateral donor to education in southern Sudan, does not. Greater co-ordination on
the part of donors, among themselves and especially with the GoSS, could lead to
interconnected projects aligned with the priorities of the recipient stakeholders, such
as those outlined in the Draft TVET Policy Framework.
824 Z. Karpinska
The importance of the framework cannot be overemphasized. The very definition

of co-ordination used in this paper requires actors to systematically utilize policy
instruments such as this in a coherent and effective manner (Minear et al., 1992).
One of the quotations that opened this chapter comes from the framework itself:
‘Technical education is needed to train Southern Sudanese so the country is rebuilt
by its citizens’ (Southern Sudan. MoEST, 2007b, p. 47). In the framework, MoEST
has delineated its vision for southern Sudan, outlined the gaps in TVET offerings
and identified the many unmet needs. If donors are willing to fund the interventions
necessary and if they and the implementing agencies work together under the aegis
of a revitalized ERDF, the co-ordination hitherto lacking in southern Sudan’s edu-
cation sector may transform the course of the reconstruction process. TVET may
yet provide southern Sudan with the technical workforce needed to rebuild, and the
framework could be the first step in ensuring that TVET programming will educate
such a workforce.
Notes
1. For the purposes of this chapter, ‘southern’, when referring to the area of Sudan, will be written
in lowercase, while Southern Sudanese, when referring to the people, will be capitalized. For a
full discussion, see Sommers, 2005.
2. As will be discussed later, this definition does not necessarily coincide with the current un-
derstanding of TVET of the Government of Southern Sudan’s (GoSS) Ministry of Education,
Science and Technology (MoEST).
3. These figures are those cited in NSCSE (2004). However, these and other data available for
southern Sudan are highly contested and generally considered unreliable.
4. The notable exceptions to ‘hit-and-run’ educational programming (Sommers, 2005) in the pe-
riod prior to 2000 have been Christian organizations, such as the Diocese of Torit.
5. The author of this chapter was an educational practitioner in southern Sudan for over two years.
Much of the information that follows on TVET and international aid is based on her experience.
6. These centres were financed through the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID)-funded South Sudan Agriculture Revitalization Programme (SSARP).
7. These centres were financed through the European Community (EC)-funded Vocational and
Adult Literacy Training Project (VOCAL). The author of this chapter helped design the VOCAL
Project.
8. While the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has a presence in
southern Sudan, its co-ordination activities are largely limited to the UN agencies in this context
and do not extend to co-ordinating sector programmes, such as education or health.
9. These ministries are: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; Ministry of Animal Resources and
Fisheries; Ministry of Co-operatives and Rural Development; Ministry of Education, Science
and Technology; Ministry of Environment, Wildlife Conservation and Tourism; Ministry of
Gender, Social Welfare and Religious Affairs; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Industry and
Mining; Ministry of Labour, Public Service and Human Resource Development; Ministry of
Water Resources and Irrigation; Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sports; and the Southern Su-
dan Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Commission. The NGOs are: Ananda
Marga Universal Relief Team (AMURT); Catholic Relief Services (CRS); Dioceses of Rumbek
(DOR); Diar Relief and Development Association (DRDA); Education Base; International Aid
Sweden (IAS); Norwegian People Aid (NPA); Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC); Ockenden
Plan International; Save the Children Sweden; and Women for Women International (Southern
Sudan. MoEST, 2007a).
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Chapter V.6
Vocational Training in Post-War Sierra Leone
and Liberia
1 Introduction
In this ever-changing fast-paced world, technology is becoming more and more im-
portant. Each of us will be using some sort of technology everyday of our lives,
which means that the field of vocational training has never been as important as it is
today.
Current research into how and why we learn as individuals, how groups and
organizations learn and the complex ways knowledge is created, shared, commu-
nicated and culturally mediated in contemporary society addresses fundamental is-
sues of interest to educators and policy-makers. We need to enhance the breadth
and depth of research on education in the context of the new economy. It is vital
that we achieve a deeper understanding of new technology as both an opportunity
and a challenge for learning and for the delivery of education. Today, more than
ever, we expect educational institutions to fulfil major economic and social goals in
educating citizens, to respond to the needs of a knowledge-intensive, technology-
based labour market, and to prepare individuals for learning and acquiring new
skills throughout their lifetimes. We need research to understand how our schools,
educators and education systems should respond to these needs, how to assess our
existing learning systems and how they might evolve. Let us therefore examine the
extent to which vocational training has evolved and its present situation in Sierra
Leone.
Sierra Leone suffered nearly ten years of war, which displaced a large propor-
tion of the population and destroyed most of the country’s infrastructure. Terrible
atrocities were committed against the civilian population by the rebel army. Many
children suffered acts of frightening brutality, such as limb amputations. Disabled
young people face particular hardships as their chances of employment are severely
reduced, particularly those who have had upper limbs amputated. For many, the only
option is to beg for food and money.1

828 A.B. Greene
2 Making Amends
The circumstances under which the education system in Sierra Leone has evolved in
recent years were the result of skirmishes during a decade-long war. There is now an
ever-growing response to skills training in both technology-enhancing learning and
non-technological usage through formal and non-formal education. The prolifera-
tion of skills and vocational training thriving today are the result of the nationwide
realization that, in order for there to be a sustained manpower base, the country must
invest in a knowledge-based economy. Partly too, and perhaps the most persistent
idea, is the belief that, to make amends for the lost years, the plethora of young
people affected by war direly needs these skills. A bold attempt is being made by
these young people to catch up with their counterparts in other countries and in the
rest of the world, particularly with those skills that will enable them to survive in
today’s competitive world driven by globalization.
The rebel war in Sierra Leone displaced blacksmiths and farmers resulting in the
loss of vital assets, such as their tools. With the signing of the peace accord, these
blacksmiths and farmers will return to their homes with no tools to resume their
livelihoods. Even though donor assistance is likely to make up for the loss of farm
tools, this gesture may not be enough to satisfy all the affected population. Even
so, these tools will need frequent repairs. To resettle such a deprived population,
blacksmithing skills are going to be essential.
It is estimated that there are 3,000 displaced blacksmiths in the affected areas—
the southern and eastern provinces and Tonkolili district in the north. To resettle
these blacksmiths, there is a need for basic working tools, such as hammers, locally-
made anvils and bellows. It is also proposed to provide them with assistance in
setting up their workshops and a seven-day refresher training course.
For more than a decade the Sierra Leone Work Oxen Programme (SLWOP) of the
Ministry of Agriculture has been involved in training blacksmiths for the country.
The majority of the trainees were sent by the interested organizations, such as de-
velopment projects and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The programme
has the capacity to train twenty blacksmiths per session, including accommodation
and food, at the Rolako Centre (Bombali District, Northern Province). Using local
materials and know how, the programme has forged bellows and anvils that are
gaining favour among many village blacksmiths.
Blacksmiths will be selected from chiefdoms and trained to become trainers
of other blacksmiths in their local area. The trained blacksmiths will be provided
with the necessary equipment and assisted to develop tool production centres in the
chiefdom. Resource people for this training will be drawn from the private sector, as
well as from SLWOP. Training materials, such as tools and steel, will be purchased.
The training will involve shaping, tempering techniques, cold and forge work, basic
workshop management techniques, introduction to improved tools, group forma-
tion, sources of scrap and marketing skills and awareness about emergency repairs
for tools. The blacksmiths will be made aware of the rationale and strategy behind
setting up chiefdom blacksmith tool-production centres as the centres for training
and production of basic tools for the resettling population.
V.6 Vocational Training in Post-War Sierra Leone and Liberia 829
About 400 blacksmiths will be trained and equipped (they, in turn, will be able
to train an estimated 2,600 blacksmiths that are required to satisfy the needs of
resettlement), 400 tool production and training centres will be established, and four
million units of assorted tools adapted to the very specific needs of the farmers in
the targeted areas will be produced (each production centre will produce on average
10,000 units per year).2
3 The Nehemiah Project
Margaret A. Novicki is the United Nations Information Centre Director for Ghana
and Sierra Leone. In an article entitled ‘Sierra Leone camps try to rehabilitate child
victims and soldiers’, she writes:3
Currently the Nehemiah Project accommodates 140 children, but there are thousands
of children throughout the country who need rehabilitation. We expect to replicate the
Nehemiah Project throughout Sierra Leone, as finance and resources are released and, as
the locally recruited staff gain skills and knowledge in this field, that they will train others
to staff the additional units.
Novicki describes the circumstances under which amputees live and attempt to
acquire skills.
Maimouna lives with her aunt at the Murraytown Amputee Camp, a squalid shantytown on
the outskirts of Freetown, home to over 1,000 amputees, war-wounded and other victims of
Sierra Leone’s civil war. The camp is managed by Médécins sans Frontiers with the help
of Cause Canada and Handicap International. It provides social work services, vocational
training, physical therapy, psycho-social counselling and prosthetic aids.
Daniel, aged 15, now lives at St. Michael’s Lodge, an interim child-care centre 14 miles
from Freetown. A former RUF fighter, he and the other 150 children at St. Michael’s are
learning vocational skills and receiving psycho-social counselling. Most of the children
seem quite small for their ages: years of malnourishment have stunted their growth. When
asked what he plans for his future, Daniel says he simply wants to go to school. Even these
war-hardened youth are still children at heart. It is estimated that the project for one training
session of 20 blacksmiths will cost US$ 3,000, and hopefully, 20 sessions will be organised
during the year.
The Nehemiah Project seeks to integrate general education and vocational training
within a structure designed to encourage responsible, socially adjusted behaviour,
whilst addressing the underlying problems of grief, fear, guilt and depression.
Children impacted by war will be eligible for admission to the vocational training
programme in carpentry, tailoring, weaving, soap-making and welding. These chil-
dren will be referred to CAUSE Canada, a Christian-motivated international relief
and development organization, by several agencies including Children Affected by
War (CAW), the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health (MOH) and UNICEF. Training
will consist of a six-week internship at vocational training facilities in Waterloo, Bo
and Makeni.
This project endeavours to promote an atmosphere in Sierra Leone conducive
to sustainable peace. Children impacted by war need to receive psycho-social
830 A.B. Greene
counselling so that they can adapt to peacetime society. Vocational training will
help to ensure that they become contributing members of their communities.
Amputees require counselling in order to come to terms peacefully with their
disabilities. Occupational therapy will help foster in these victims a new hope for
the future. This type of rehabilitation will help them to once again become contribut-
ing community members, and this will hopefully lay a foundation helping them to
forgive their former adversaries.
4 The Scars of War

Sierra Leone’s civil war, and the events following the coup d’état of 25 May 1997,
brought unprecedented social and economic disaster to the country. The United
Nations Development Programme estimates that 3.2 million people were directly
affected by the war and the aftermath of the May coup. UNDP further states that
about 700,000 people sought refuge in Guinea and Liberia. An estimated 12,000
people, the majority of them children, lost their lives to this conflict.
UNICEF believes that, as a result of the war, more than 1,000 people had limbs
forcibly amputated. About 80% of these have lost either one or both hands. It is
also estimated that approximately 2,500 people have endured either severe machete
lacerations or permanently debilitating gunshot wounds. Additionally, about 5,000
children between the ages of 7 and 14 years were enlisted into military groups to
serve either as combatants, child labourers or sex slaves.
The children impacted by war include those recently orphaned, former child-
soldiers, and children who have been either physically or psychologically handi-
capped by this conflict. This project offers psychological counselling and vocational
training for children impacted by war. These children will participate in the manu-
facturing of appropriate physiotherapy aids and farm tools. They will also take part
in activities specifically designed to assist recent amputees.
Handicap International and Médécins Sans Frontiers (MSF) plan to provide pros-
theses to war amputees. Both of these organizations, as well as government health
authorities, have asked CAUSE Canada (CC) to provide occupational therapy and
counselling services to complement their work. CC has been asked to provide Cana-
dian occupational therapists and counsellors with expertise in post-traumatic stress
disorder. These professionals will be engaged on a short-term basis to upgrade the
training of national health practitioners and to assist in the rehabilitation of both war
amputees and children affected by war.
Throughout the project, the issue of the repatriation of children impacted by
war and the reintegration of amputees will be addressed both in the vocational
programmes and in the communities where repatriation will take place. While
the acquisition of marketable skills will be the key to the repatriation process for
children impacted by war, these students will also be instructed on how to meet and
overcome common social obstacles they will face upon their return. Amputees will
receive similar instruction appropriate to their unique situation.
Communities will also be prepared to receive these victims of war. Through

workshops and other types of consultations held with community leaders in the
target regions of Greater Freetown/Waterloo, Bo and Makeni, villagers will be both
practically and psychologically prepared to accept amputees and children impacted
by war into their ranks.
In order to assist with the reintegration programme, children will be provided
with farm tools which can be presented as gifts to the community upon their return.
The skills they have developed will assist in the economic recovery of their commu-
nities and will help smooth the reintegration process as they become contributing
members of their villages. Amputees will benefit from the programme by receiv-
ing tools orthopedically designed for their own use as productive members of their
community
In Sierra Leone, the United Methodist Church has taken action to improve voca-
tional training for students through Operation Classroom (OC). In the southern head
district of Bo in Sierra Leone, the Bo Centenary School has been fortunate in that it
is one of the few schools to have remained open and functioning during most of the
war. The annual conference and OC have agreed to put together a major vocational
training programme at Bo. The school’s student enrolment varies from 350 to 450
students in grades 7 to 12.
5 Bridging the Digital Divide

Bridging the digital divide has been a major pre-occupation of the international edu-
cation and resource network, iEARN Sierra Leone. It aims at promoting
e-learning as a first step in speeding up the deployment of a high-quality in-
frastructure to step up training and overall digital literacy at a reasonable cost.
For this purpose, the opening up of a community access centre is planned where
young people who have been child-soldiers will be introduced to the necessary
technology.
It can be predicted that the youth community access centre will long remain
the principle information window to the outside world for war-affected youths and
underprivileged children. The participation of more young people in cyberspace and
the development of access to the new technologies are desirable, as is access to the
Internet, off-line resources, on-line networks and chat capabilities. The acquisition
of such skills will be assets in the battle to overcome the digital gap between de-
veloped and developing countries—as is the case in Sierra Leone. The transfer of
competence from the facilitator to the war-affected youths will allow these chil-
dren to go on-line with the whole world so as to train them for job prospects in
computer-related fields, thereby enhancing sustainable development and social jus-
tice for the community and the country.
Friends of Africa are researching a project to set up a special computer-training
laboratory for disabled young people. The courses will initially teach the students
the basic programmes before moving on to packages for desk-top publishing,
computer-aided design, book-keeping and other vocational subjects. The second
832 A.B. Greene
phase will help these people into jobs using the skills and special equipment
available through the centre. The centre itself will also employ several disabled
young people on its own income-generating activities. Information technology of-
fers disabled people in Sierra Leone a new opportunity to lead productive and
fulfilled lives. Initial basic computer training for fifty students will cost US$8,000
per year.4
The expansion of a centre for the youths to obtain access to Internet on a reg-
ular basis is a vision that offers the possibility of turning the great challenge of
closing the digital gap into reality and permitting every participating youth to be
reintegrated not only into a society free from war, but a society full of knowl-
edge. This will be the foundation that leads to the recruitment of additional young
people in Sierra Leone to learn the relevant tele-communications and ICTs skills.
It will further foster the promotion of peace education amongst secondary and
post-secondary schools and inspire the inclusion of peace education in the school
curriculum.
This in itself enhances learning and will be a catalyst for social change. Whilst
each generation is granted access to the new tools needed for human achieve-
ment and progress in their own times, the present young generation is living in
the new wave of tele-communication technology that links communities together
to make a difference. The child-soldiers, war-affected children and disadvantaged
youths/students will also reveal to the world the awful situations they faced as child-
soldiers or victims of war to colleagues across the vast cultural divide. In the telling
of their stories, their peers will learn what happened to them; the child-soldiers and
victims will in turn achieve catharsis through the telling of their stories. It is to be
hoped that they will derive positive and encouraging feedback from their colleagues
and feel that once again they are not alone. Through multi-media art forms, draw-
ings, paintings, cartoons, creative writing, music and fine arts posted by regular
mail or sent through the web as attachments, children will see for themselves the
strength of their talents. The projected outcome will be estimated by the extension
of the work to be used as a model in four additional countries—Colombia, Palestine,
Rwanda and Uganda—having been piloted in a realistic setting. This technology
will demonstrate how children of war write for an authentic audience to better com-
municate with peers about real issues that touched their very lives, families and
communities.
To sustain the Internet centre, grants or funds will be utilized to acquire the nec-
essary tools needed for the achievement of the long-range goal of providing the
relevant tele-communication kits to equip young people with the necessary skills.
The funds will be used to sustain the centre even long after the one-year duration of
the implementation time-line has passed.
Finally, even though there are enormous challenges facing young people and all
those who access the limited technology available today in Sierra Leone, there are
also great hopes embedded in the use of technology in vocational training in the
near future for the progress of a country whose economy was destroyed as a result
of a decade-long war.
6 Liberia
Furthermore, in the sub-region, the neighbouring country of Liberia has also been
confronted by years of violence and war. Here too, vocational skills training has
been a major pre-occupation for improving the lives of its inhabitants. The John
Tamba Tailoring Shop in Kakata in Margibi County (Liberia) is a cinderblock build-
ing just big enough to accommodate six sewing machines and the people who op-
erate them. At one of the machines, Musu Yoryor is putting the finishing touches
to a pair of drawstring trousers she learned how to make at the Don Bosco Centre
for war-affected children. ‘I am practising here until I get my own sewing machine,’
she said, showing the trousers. ‘I feel good about it.’
Yoryor, 19, later completed the vocational training course at Don Bosco and
graduated in an official ceremony. She and her 100 classmates are now bud-
ding entrepreneurs in the trades of agriculture, masonry, rattan furniture-making,
pastry-making and tailoring. Don Bosco is an NGO affiliated with the Catholic
Church.
The Kakata centre was established in 1997 as a hostel for boys and girls who
were separated from their families during the recent civil war in Liberia. Then,
as now, the goal is for these children to be reintegrated into their communities.
‘These children carry the stigma of being someone different and we are trying
to remove that stigma,’ said Alfred Tamba, Don Bosco’s project co-ordinator in
Kakata.
Liberia’s civil conflict (1989–1997) took a particularly brutal toll on children.
Thousands were abandoned or otherwise separated from their families. Of the nearly
5,000 documented cases to date, more than 3,000 have yet to be reunited with their
families. Many of these children live on their own in the streets, as in Kakata.
Throughout Liberia, UNICEF supports twenty-two centres offering vocational
and literacy training and counselling services for war-affected children. Most of the
boys participating in the project fought as soldiers in the war and were demobilized
with UNICEF assistance. Many of the girls were abducted and raped and are now
mothers, some as young as 13 years old. Since 1997, when the project began, about
6,000 children have participated.
The ten-month course at the Kakata centre covers basic vocational skills and
small-business management. Another centre in Zwedru (Grand Gedeh County), also
operated by Don Bosco, offers courses specifically for teenage mothers, including
soap-making, pastry-making and tailoring. It houses a small day-care facility.
Graduates receive tools of the trade—Yoryor will have her sewing machine when
funding is secured—and a small cash grant. Under the supervision of a small-
business adviser, many of them form miniature co-operatives as a way to minimize
start-up costs and maximize capacity.
The business success of these young people hinges on an improvement in eco-
nomic conditions, a fact that Alfred Tamba fully acknowledges. Liberia’s economy
is in a shambles, poverty is pervasive and unemployment is the norm for most adults.
Even in the most economically active region of the country, Montserrado County,
834 A.B. Greene
residents live on less than US$2 per household per day. ‘We hope these young people
will produce. We hope their products will be purchased,’ said Tamba. ‘It all depends
on the economic purchasing power of the people who live here.’
Another focus of efforts to help war-affected young people in the sub-region gain
vocational training skills can be noted in the work of the United Methodist Church in
Liberia, The United Methodist Church located in the town of Ganta—GUMS—has
an enrolment of over 750 students. The North Carolina conference recently built a
new classroom block building for children from kindergarten to grade 9. Ganta has
been selected to become one of the Operation Classroom (OC) schools to include a
major vocational training programme.
We believe that the best depositories of investment are the young people of our
nations. Throughout history and across the world, youthful idealism has reawak-
ened societies and urged them forward to new realizations and new awareness. We
believe that these young people are the future leaders of tomorrow and, although
they have faced unprecedented violence, skills for vocational training will be a first
step towards transforming them into active and responsible citizens. Working with
new technologies will enable them to acquire useful skills in critical thinking, cross-
cultural awareness and valuable experience. Collaborative educational projects will
be favourable for all the youths concerned and will prepare them to face the chal-
lenges of globalization.
Notes
1. Sierra Leone News, 2002, vol. 38: <www.sierra-leone.org/slnews.html>

2. Friends of Africa: <www.friendsofafrica.net/main.html>
3. Margaret A. Novicki, Saving a war’s traumatized children: Sierra Leone camps try to rehabili-
tate child victims and soldiers. Africa recovery, vol. 14, no. 2, July 2000, p. 10. <www.un.org/
ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/subjindx/142child.htm>
4. <www.childsoldier.net>
Chapter V.7
TVET and Community Re-Integration:
Exploring the Connections
in Sierra Leone’s DDR Process
Julia Paulson
1 Introduction
Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programmes are fast becom-
ing a norm in post-conflict contexts (United Nations, 2000). These programmes
are designed to collect weapons from and to demobilize fighting factions and, sub-
sequently, to assist ex-combatants in reintegrating into civilian life. Technical and
vocational education and training (TVET) programmes, in the form of skills training
and/or apprenticeship schemes, are often included as a central activity in the rein-
tegration phase of DDR in order to equip ex-combatants with skills to help them
generate new livelihoods essential for their transition into civilian communities.
Humphreys and Weinstein (2005) state that:
Reintegration packages and training programs enable leaders to deliver concrete benefits
to combatants at the conclusion of the fighting, some of which can be designed to address
underlying grievances that gave rise to the conflict [. . .] To the extent that DDR programs
reintegrate combatants into non-military life and help them to find gainful employment, we
can think of programs as a key element of successful peace-building (p. 6).
This chapter uses the DDR process of Sierra Leone—a nation where grievances
about educational exclusion and lack of opportunity have been identified among
causes of conflict (see, for instance, Keen, 2005; Richards, 1996)—to explore the
reintegration component of DDR, with a particular focus on TVET programmes. It
asks if and how TVET programmes contribute to the reintegration of ex-combatants
into communities and whether they could be better designed to do so.
2 DDR, Reintegration and TVET
For individuals who have been armed for a long time, their gun has become a means of
livelihood (Pouligny, 2004, p. 4).
Ultimately, the DDR process is expected to be instrumental in transforming conflict

livelihoods into post-conflict ones. Through disarmament and demobilization, the
process is meant to remove weapons—and war itself—as a means of livelihood

836 J. Paulson
and, through the reintegration process, to replace these livelihoods with ones that
contribute to stability, peace and growth. It is the reintegration phase of DDR pro-
grammes that link them directly to the peace-building process. The extent to which
these programmes succeed in integrating combatants into lives (and livelihoods) not
embedded in conflict (and in the war economy) is indicative of DDR programmes’
success in building peace. Given the scope of this task, it is unsurprising that an-
alysts understand the reintegration phase as ‘the toughest part of a DDR effort’
(Humphreys & Weinstein, 2005, p. 39) and the ‘most challenging component of the
DDR program’ (Refugees International, 2002).
Given the centrality of recreating livelihoods to the hugely challenging task of
reintegration, TVET programming is clearly a very important component of ‘doing’
this part of DDR. ‘The approach,’ argue Richards et al. (2003), ‘should be to reduce
the incentives to selling labour as a fighter by increasing incentives to “legitimate”
labour’ (p. 6). The facilitation of this move from fighter to civilian is often attempted
through the inclusion, in DDR programming, of training courses, apprenticeships
and the provision of access to the formal education system. The UN defines the
reintegration phase of DDR as:
the process which allows ex-combatants and their families to adapt, economically and
socially to productive civilian life. It generally entails the provision of a package of
cash or in-kind compensation, training and job- and income-generating projects (United
Nations, 2000).
For Pouligny (2004), reintegration programmes as a part of DDR ‘support the im-
mediate and medium-term social and economic inclusion of former combatants into
their communities of origin or into new communities’ (p. 7).
Since TVET programming—often accompanied by counselling, reinsertion pack-
ages (short-term allowances to support ex-combatants) and community activities
designed to foster reconciliation—is usually one of the central activities of a DDR
process, it is important to ask how successful it has been at contributing to the
reintegration of ex-combatants. This question can be broken down further to look
at practical as well as theoretical questions surrounding TVET as a part of DDR.
Theoretically, it is important to explore how meaningful the connection between
learning skills and reintegrating into communities following periods of war really is?
Does TVET training contribute to ‘social and economic inclusion’ of ex-combatants
in the communities that they return to? Could it be that skills for employability are
one among many barriers to reintegration facing ex-combatants and those affected
by war? And could TVET programming designed with a more holistic focus address
these further barriers?
Practically, it is important to understand what type of skills training is provided
as a part of DDR initiatives and to attempt to evaluate the success of this training
in actually generating livelihoods for ex-combatants, particularly given the condi-
tion of the economies and labour markets into which ex-combatants are expected
to (re)integrate. High unemployment and economic stagnation often characterize
the post-conflict environment and certainly do in the case of Sierra Leone. What
do ‘social and economic’ reintegration look like in such circumstances? Richards
V.7 TVET and Community Re-Integration in Sierra Leone 837
et al. (2003) found that in Sierra Leone ‘disarmament and demobilization have suc-
ceeded, but reintegration is far from complete’ (p. 4). What was and is the role of
TVET in the (incomplete) reintegration process in Sierra Leone?
3 Youth, Education and Conflict in Sierra Leone

For Richards (1996), Sierra Leone’s conflict must be understood as a crisis in
modernity, central to which were the unfulfilled aspirations of youth. ‘In a country
built up for two hundred years or more around systems of schooling where West-
ern models have been held out as the ideal,’ writes Richards, ‘educational issues
are one of the key aspects of the present [sic] crisis’ (p. 36). In the years prior
to Sierra Leone’s decade-long conflict, which killed between 50,000 and 75,000
people, displaced nearly half the country and saw the rape and enforced sexual slav-
ery of tens of thousands of women and girls (Dougherty, 2004; Women’s Commis-
sion for Refugee Women and Children, 2004), the education system in the country
suffered serious decline or, in many regions, outright collapse. The ‘forgotten aspi-
rants’ (Wright, 1997) of this crumbling and exclusionary education system, found—
instead of the promises of Western modernity inherent in the education system—a
stifling patrimonialism (Richards, 1996) that offered few or no opportunities for
Sierra Leonean youth. This sense of disenfranchisement amongst young people
has been central to many analyses of the conflict (see, for instance, Keen, 2005;
Wright, 1997; Richards, 1996), since joining in the fighting offered youth oppor-
tunities where otherwise there were none (for a detailed discussion of education,
conflict and youth in Sierra Leone, see Paulson, 2006).
4 The DDR Process in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone’s DDR process, largely considered by the international community

to be a successful model that has contributed to Sierra Leone’s peace process, has
been used to inform similar processes in Liberia, Burundi and Haiti (Humphreys &
Weinstein, 2005). The perceived success of Sierra Leone’s DDR and its replication
as a model of international success offer another reason to explore the process in
depth and to question its various dimensions. In addition to using some data from
a Government of Sierra Leone sponsored ‘Tracer Study’ (Stavrou et al., 2003) of
250 ex-combatants, this chapter draws heavily on two studies that have done just
this, with a focus on the reintegration phase of the DDR process. One, a largely
quantitative study of 1,043 ex-combatants who went through the DDR process and
of 200 non-combatants who did not, was undertaken in the summer of 2003 by
Humphreys and Weinstein, (2004, 2005). The second, mentioned above, is a qual-
itative, interview-based investigation that also included those who did and did not
participate in the DDR process, conducted by Richards et al. (2003). Both studies
were conducted while DDR activities were on-going or shortly after they had been
838 J. Paulson
completed, meaning that the longer-term effects of DDR along with longer-term per-
ceptions of reintegration could not be gathered in the studies. This fact is particularly
relevant when considering how ‘successful’ reintegration could be evaluated—a
very difficult question, made more difficult when the evaluation is being undertaken
in the short term. Sierra Leone’s DDR process will be briefly detailed before turning
to the findings of these studies—which converge and diverge in interesting ways that
are, arguably, informative about their methodological choices.
The DDR process in Sierra Leone, as in many other nations, began and was halted
several times by renewed conflict before entering into a period stable enough for
co-ordinated demobilization and disarmament to occur. In 1998 the first DDR camp
was opened, but the process was suspended with the 1999 attacks on Freetown by
the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). DDR camps re-opened following the signing
of the Lomé Peace Accord in July 1999, but were again disrupted by fighting in
May 2000 and by the national elections of 2002 (Ginifer, 2003; Refugees Interna-
tional, 2002). At its completion in July 2003 (Humphreys & Weinstein, 2004), Sierra
Leone’s National Committee on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration
(NCDDR) had disarmed and registered between 67,260 (Richards et al., 2003) and
76,000 (Humphreys & Weinstein, 2004) ex-combatants (the World Bank (2005)
puts the figure at 69,000). The NCDDR established sixteen demobilization centres
that covered all of Sierra Leone’s twelve districts, and seven interim care centres
were also established (World Bank, 2005). The NCDDR was funded primarily
through the World Bank’s Multi-Donor Trust Fund (Refugees International, 2002)
with contributions from the Africa Development Bank, the Islamic Development
Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, UNICEF, the World Popula-
tion Foundation, the United Nations Human Security Fund, the European Develop-
ment Fund and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development
(World Bank, 2005). The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) was
responsible for co-ordinating the demobilization and demilitarization component
of the NCDDR, while the reintegration component was contracted out to various
international and local NGOs (Refugees International, 2002). Funders of the DDR
process in Sierra Leone have been criticized for focusing heavily on the two ‘Ds’,
and leaving a meagre budget for the ‘reintegration’ phase—a fact that will be crucial
in our consideration of the TVET provisions within Sierra Leone’s DDR process.
Meek and Malan (2004) include, among their recent list of lessons learnt in DDR
processes, the need to prioritize and link reintegration more fully to disarmament
and demobilization, demonstrating that this has been a problem unique to Sierra
Leone.
In order to enter a DDR camp, ex-combatants had either to present a weapon or
enter with their commander as a part of a unit to be demobilized. These
requirements can exclude many combatants, along with individuals who were
involved with the fighting forces in roles other than as weapon-carrying combatants
(Humphreys & Weinstein, 2004; Richards et al., 2003; Refugees International,
2002). Child-soldiers, who often did not possess their own weapons, children who
worked as cooks and porters, and women who were held as ‘bush wives’ (women
in forced sexual relationships with fighters) were consequently often left out of the
DDR process because they could not present a weapon in order to gain access to
its programming. Richards et al. (2003) argue that bush wives, whose reintegration
following the conflict has been particularly difficult given the stigma attached to
their roles in the war and to the children that many had as a result, are the group in
the greatest need of reintegration assistance—and are among the groups who have
benefited least from the formal DDR.
Another problem associated with the need to turn in a weapon or to demobi-
lize with a commander was the power that this requirement gave to commanders.
Richards et al. (2003) heard many reports of commanders and high-powered individ-
uals removing weapons from their rank-and-file fighters and giving them to family
members or influential community members close to the commander—thus entitling
false ex-combatants to DDR benefits and excluding actual ex-combatants from the
process. This problem was not identified in Humphreys and Weinstein’s (2004) more
quantitative study and as Richards et al. (2003) note, their study cannot quantify
the phenomenon. The NCDDR estimates that the number of false ex-combatants
registered in the DDR process was low. However, Richards et al. (2003) report
that several of their respondents estimated that approximately 50–60% of gun-
carrying ex-combatants were excluded from the DDR process in favour of false
ex-combatants. ‘For every false ex-combatant there must be a real ex-combatant
without benefits’ (p. 4), a situation that is potentially volatile, especially if numbers
of ex-combatants excluded from the NCDDR are as high as Richards’ respondents
report. The reintegration of this potentially large group of ex-combatants is thus
proceeding without the official support and associated training of the DDR process.
Once registered with the NCDDR, ex-combatants received basic necessities and
orientation activities, including trauma healing, psycho-social counselling, informa-
tion and sensitization seminars and short civic education programming
(Ginifer, 2003). They were also often involved in destroying their own weapons
to add a symbolic dimension to the demobilization. At the end of their time in DDR
camps, ex-combatants were transported to the relocation area of their choice, and
were highly encouraged to re-settle in their home communities. ‘Reinsertion pack-
ages’ (or allowances) were provided—often with ‘significant and unpredictable’ de-
lays (Humphreys & Weinstein, 2004)—to support ex-combatants through the first
three months in their chosen settlement locations. Humphreys and Weinstein (2004)
found that the ex-combatants they surveyed either spent the bulk of their reinsertion
packages on living expenses or gave it to family and dependents. Very little of the
reinsertion package was kept as savings nor was it seen as a resource for initial
livelihood-generating investments.
5 Skills Training and the DDR Process in Sierra Leone
The former Secretary-General, in his 2000 speech on United Nations Peacekeep-

ing and DDR, made the following recommendations for the educational and skills
training component of DDR reintegration programmes:
Provision should be made for education and, as appropriate, for relevant vocational train-
ing and opportunities for employment or self-employment, including for children with
840 J. Paulson
disabilities. Traditional apprenticeship models, where the trainee is taken in as part of the
master craftsman’s family, may prove useful. Upon completion of vocational skills training,
trainees should be provided with the relevant tools and, where possible, with start-up loans
to promote self-reliance. Reintegration programmes must replace the economic incentives
of war for child warriors; at the same time, training or educational programmes should be
geared to the existing economy and avoid creating false expectations about the possibilities
for economic reinsertion (United Nations, 2000).
Compliance with these—albeit vague—recommendations can be seen within Sierra

Leone’s DDR process, though provisions for children (and others) with disabili-
ties were minimal (Katie Dimmer, personal communication) and micro-credit loans
were not provided following training. According to Humphreys and Weinstein
(2004), three-quarters of the ex-combatants who entered the DDR process partic-
ipated in some form of training programme; however, the World Bank (2005) states
that 85% (48,246 ex-combatants) of those registered in the DDR process partic-
ipated in training. NCDDR’s approach to skills training was to target the infor-
mal sector through the establishment of apprenticeships, to offer selected in-centre
formal skills training courses, and to provide formal educational opportunities, par-
ticularly for children (Ginifer, 2003). UNICEF co-ordinated the provision of ed-
ucational programmes for nearly 7,000 children who had been through the DDR
process (Alexander, 2006). Children participated primarily in the Community Ed-
ucation Investment Programme (CEIP), which waived school fees for former child
soldiers and provided them with a uniform and school material—notebooks, pen-
cils and paper were also provided to all children at the CEIP schools to minimize
the perceived advantage given to former child-soldiers (Alexander, 2006)—or in
the Complimentary Rapid Education Primary School (CREPS) programme, which
condensed six years of primary schooling into three and was directed towards older
children (Alexander, 2006). The support for formal educational opportunities pro-
vided through the NCDDR was understood as one of its greatest successes and ac-
complishments (Ginifer, 2003). However, Humphreys and Weinstein (2004) quote
the following excerpt from an interview with a participant in the DDR:
I’m not happy with DDR because they lied to us. Promised to have us enrolled in schools, I
have not seen any such. We need education and jobs. DDR has not registered a good number
of us. They promised us educational materials but none have been delivered (p. 33).
In addition to programmes that provided ex-combatants with access into formal edu-
cation, ex-combatants could access TVET programming, generally lasting for three
months to a year and offering courses or apprenticeships in trades such as car re-
pair, carpentry, computers, masonry, bicycle repair, building, plumbing, metalwork,
road maintenance, tailoring, agriculture and, primarily for women, soap-making and
tie-dying (see Yarrow in this section for a nuanced discussion of TVET program-
ming, gender and the post-conflict context). Whether ex-combatants had a high de-
gree of choice regarding entry into formal education programmes, apprenticeships
or skills training is not well documented. However, this appears to be a critical
question for ex-combatants’ potential reintegration, for their satisfaction with their
experience of DDR, and for the livelihoods they may build in the future. Of the
250 ex-combatants surveyed in the tracer study (Stavrou et al., 2003), 76% entered
vocational or skills-training courses, 12% undertook apprenticeships, 5% partici-

pated in public works schemes, 4% entered formal schooling and 3% engaged in
agricultural training.
Those who did enter TVET programmes received training of varying quality, as
it was contracted out to local and international NGOs whose capacities, capabilities
and commitment varied greatly. Richards et al. (2003) report finding a computer
training centre open and receiving NCDDR funding to provide skills training that
did not have a single computer. They also report ‘common consent’ among respon-
dents that skills training was ‘too perfunctory and of too low a quality to offer much
immediate chance of real employment’ (p. 13). The Commissioner of the NCDDR
responded to criticism about the TVET component of DDR by positing it as a ‘useful
first step’ (as quoted in Richards et al., 2003) and hoping that ex-combatants would
pursue further training. Given the very limited resources of most ex-combatants,
one must ask whether further training was among their options upon completing the
reintegration phase of the NCDDR.
Those entering apprenticeships and skills training received small stipends to
cover their basic living expenses for the duration of their training periods; mentors
participating in apprenticeships received tools and other benefits in return for their
participation (Refugees International, 2002). The stipend received by trainees is,
according to Refugees International (2002), ‘one of the very reasons why these
programs are essential—they offer a small window that allows former combat-
ants time to be supported while they readjust to civilian life.’ Ex-combatants were
also to receive, as per the UN’s recommendation, a toolkit relevant to their devel-
oped skills upon the completion of their training programmes. However, many ex-
combatants reported that their toolkits were delivered late or not at all (Humphreys
& Weinstein, 2004; Richards et al., 2003). Other ex-combatants sold their tool-
kits after failing to find employment in their new fields, according to Richards
et al. (2003):
We found some masons, carpenters and tailors reported to be providing a useful service
in more remote rural communities where skills shortages are severe. In other cases, how-
ever, ex-combatants sold tools packages and moved to the diamond fields, unconvinced they
could make a living in their new craft (p. 5).
This situation begs Ginifer’s (2003) question of whether the skills included within
Sierra Leone’s DDR process were in fact appropriate for generating employment,
building livelihoods and contributing to reintegration in post-war Sierra Leone. A
serious lack of data on the needs of the labour market in Sierra Leone (Ginifer, 2003)
is but one challenging feature of what is a very constrained economy, with limited
growth and unemployment rates as high as 80% (Refugees International, 2002),
dominated largely by patrimonialism and, especially at high levels, corruption
(Graybill, 2007). If reintegration is understood, in part, as (re)insertion into the
labour market—which it appears to have been within Sierra Leone’s DDR process—
then one of the largest challenges of reintegration is certainly the very real lack of
jobs for ex-combatants, even those trained with what are perceived as marketable
skills through TVET programmes.
842 J. Paulson
When Humphreys and Weinstein (2004) surveyed ex-combatants about their

reintegration processes, most of their respondents had either just completed their
skills training (40%) or were still participating in courses. These respondents, over-
all, were satisfied with their training, with 75% reporting that they felt prepared
for work; a vast majority felt that the skills with which they had been trained were
needed in the regions where they would resettle or had resettled. Some 87% of
ex-combatants surveyed felt they were better off socially because of the training that
they had received. This is an important finding with regards to our question about
the links between TVET training and reintegration as it supports the idea that skills
training can have meaningful benefits for ex-combatant’s social reintegration. This
social aspect of TVET training is reassuring given the dismal prognosis by Refugees
International (2002) that only approximately 10% of ex-combatants trained by the
NCDDR would find employment upon the completion of their training. It is im-
portant to consider the optimism of the ex-combatants surveyed by Humphreys and
Weinstein in 2003 about their prospects following skills training in this light, and to
take very seriously, as a challenge for reintegration as well as for stability and peace
in Sierra Leone, the disillusionment they are likely to now be experiencing.
The NCDDR, rather belatedly, recognized the obstacles to employment for
graduates of TVET programmes and ‘grappled with alternatives’ (Ginifer, 2003)
that could provide or build livelihoods for ex-combatants. Thus, it encouraged
ex-combatants to form co-operatives or seek avenues for self-employment or in-
come generation (Ginifer, 2003). The NCDDR also provided some counselling
on job-seeking and accessing employment opportunities, but both Humphreys and
Weinstein (2004) and Richards et al. (2003) found that ex-combatants perceived
this portion of the programmes to be unsatisfactory and under-prioritized. The
most common response (54%) among ex-combatants surveyed by Humphreys and
Weinstein (2004), when asked how they would improve the DDR process, was to
provide more support for finding jobs once the training periods were completed. The
NCDDR did attempt to liaise with UNAMSIL to create ‘stop-gap’ opportunities for
ex-combatants that saw them employed for short-term public work projects, such
as road construction (Ginifer, 2003). However, as other contributions to this sec-
tion highlight (see, for instance, Kane and Karpinska in this section), tying TVET
programming to realistic livelihood and employment opportunities available to par-
ticipants upon completion is an essential priority in post-conflict TVET programmes
and one that should have been in the forefront of the NCDDR’s programme plan-
ning, rather than addressed as the ramifications of its neglect became apparent.
The complexities, as well as the need, to tie TVET programmes realistically
to market needs and realities are also demonstrated within Sierra Leone’s DDR
process. Many recognize (Humphreys & Weinstein, 2004; Richards et al., 2003;
Ginifer, 2003) that agriculture is the sector in Sierra Leone most likely to be able
to reabsorb large numbers of ex-combatants, because: (a) many of them would
have left the agricultural sector to join in fighting; (b) agriculture was severely
disrupted by conflict; and (c) agriculture was one of the principal livelihood op-
tions in Sierra Leone prior to the conflict. However, the agricultural training options
provided by the NCDDR were the least attractive to ex-combatants, who mostly
preferred options that led to formal education or to computer training, followed by

vehicle driving and maintenance, carpentry and tailoring (Richards et al., 2003).
Ginifer (2003) explains that ‘many ex-combatants had high expectations of acquir-
ing skills and a job, and were disinclined to take up agriculture, the sector most
likely to provide opportunities in Sierra Leone.’ Such trends point to the continued
perceived benefits of formal education—as well as skills training—in Sierra Leone
and, unfortunately, to the continuation of these expectations being unfulfilled—
a situation that, in the past, has contributed to conflict. In fact, Humphreys and
Weinstein (2004) found that those who had more than a primary school education
were slightly less likely to find employment than those who had not completed pri-
mary schooling, a finding that is indicative of the continued disenfranchisement of
youth in Sierra Leone. Educational reconstruction is given considerable priority in
post-conflict Sierra Leone. However, policy and programmes initiatives should cap-
ture the real disillusionment that has been associated with educational aspirations
in Sierra Leone and develop strategies to ensure that education—both academic and
TVET —lead to opportunities.
6 Reintegration, Communities and Livelihoods
The NCDDR is talking about how well it has addressed material need. The ex-combatants
are talking about whether or not they have acquired their rights (Richards et al., 2003, p. 9).
The all-encompassing issue of reintegration has much to do with collective self-images
and the way local communities are involved in a process of social reconstruction of the
memories of violence (Pouligny, 2004, p. 7).
Evidence from Sierra Leone does not support the hypothesis that participation in a DDR
program increases the level of reintegration success at the individual level (Humphreys &
Weinstein, 2004, p. 39).
The reintegration of ex-combatants following a period of extended conflict is clearly

a complicated process. It is also one for which programming is often devised in a
rather ad-hoc way, given the urgency of getting DDR processes running quickly so
as to consolidate the entry into a ‘post-conflict’ situation. While the task of those
raising questions in retrospect is certainly easier than that of those involved in plan-
ning programming in the moment, it is nonetheless important to reflect critically on
reintegration processes and to take into account the multitude of issues—several of
which are raised in the above quotations—that responsive programming must try
to capture. Thus, this section seeks to explore the processes and reported outcomes
of reintegration programming in Sierra Leone—with a particular focus on TVET
and on the role of building livelihoods for reintegration—while also reflecting on
broader social processes—some of which find roots in or around the DDR process—
that affect reintegration or its lack thereof.
Some 90% of the respondents to Humphreys and Weinstein’s (2004) study re-
ported having experienced no problems in gaining the acceptance of the com-
munities where they re-settled. This is a striking figure, and contrasts sharply to
Ginifer’s (2003) appraisal of ex-combatants’ community reintegration process as
844 J. Paulson
‘difficult’ and characterized by ‘latent hostility to ex-combatants among civilians in

Sierra Leone’. Ginifer (2003) reports community members engaging in the rein-
tegration process grudgingly, making comments such as ‘we are forgiving them
[ex-combatants] because the government says so’. As mentioned above, the benefits
provided to ex-combatants by the DDR process could, and did, breed community
resentment, as demonstrated by the following comment: ‘those who have ruined
us are being given the chance to become better persons financially, academically
and skills-wise’ (as quoted in Ginifer, 2003). It is incredibly difficult to assess
the degree of community animosity towards ex-combatants, and it certainly varies
across communities and alters depending on the faction and personal role of indi-
vidual ex-combatants. Both the Humphreys and Weinstein (2004) and the Richards
et al. (2003) studies found that ex-Community Defence Force (CDF) fighters had
an easier time reintegrating than did members of any other faction. This is probably
due to the fact that CDF factions were formed largely by members of the same
community united to defend that community against attack and were perceived
as heroes in the minds of their communities. Both studies also found that fight-
ers who returned to their home communities reintegrated more successfully than
did those who did not return home. This finding must be taken cautiously, as it is
likely that those who choose not to return to their home communities were associ-
ated with severe violations of human rights that their home communities would be
aware of (or have experienced firsthand). Arguably, these combatants were there-
fore unlikely to return home and may well be among those most likely to expe-
rience the greatest challenges in terms of reintegration, regardless of where they
settled.
In addition to community animosity, Richards’ study points to other, poten-
tially volatile, resentments hindering reintegration. Those ex-combatants excluded
from the NCDDR process experience a ‘strong sense of disillusionment’ (Richards
et al., 2003, p. 5) and are subject to the same stigmatization for their role in the con-
flict as those who did participate in the NCDDR, without the resulting benefits and
assistance that comes from participation in DDR. In addition, Richards et al. (2003)
argue that ‘the reintegration of ex-combatants after the war in Sierra Leone is hin-
dered not so much by negative civilian attitudes, but by a strong sense of grievance
among young people who believe that they have not been fairly treated in the DDRP
(disarmament, demobilization and reintegration process)’ (p. 5). This includes those
who were and were not participants in the NCDDR. Richards et al. (2003) high-
light the vulnerability of ex-combatants, and especially of those associated with the
fighting forces who were not able to access the DDR process (in particular women).
They argue that forced rural marriages that virtually indenture women who were
associated with fighting factions are common and that those ex-combatants who
return to or take up work in the diamond fields often experience very exploitative
labour conditions. Interestingly, Humphreys and Weinstein’s (2004) study found
that non-participants in the DDR process reintegrated as successfully as did partic-
ipants. This finding must be questioned given the depth of the qualitative evidence
to the contrary presented by the study of Richards et al. (2003).
The point that the DDR process itself creates divisions (both between
ex-combatants themselves and between ex-combatants and civilians) that hamper
the reintegration process (Richards et al., 2003) is an important one. The NCDDR
adopted several strategies to address the injustice perceived by community mem-
bers who watched ex-combatants receive assistance and benefits (Ginifer, 2003)
and very few to address the grievances of ex-combatants and those associated with
the fighting forces excluded from the NCDDR (Richards et al., 2003). The NCDDR
attempted to minimize community animosity by stressing that the skills training
and economic reinsertion benefits that ex-combatant received were not meant as
compensation for their war activities and by attempting to show that the skills
that ex-combatants were gaining would be beneficial for communities as a whole
(Ginifer, 2003). Sensitization activities and radio campaigns were carried out to
disseminate these messages. The NCDDR also organized some events using tradi-
tional reconciliatory practices to encourage the reintegration of ex-combatants and
provided ex-combatants with ‘pre-discharge counselling’ that emphasized reinte-
gration into the community and urged ex-combatants to develop a ‘special re-entry
plan’ (Ginifer, 2003). Ex-combatants were encouraged to participate in tasks that
would benefit the communities, such as construction and rehabilitation projects.
The NCDDR sought to engage local, community-based social reintegration or-
ganizations, providing funding for adult education programmes, civic and peace
education and music and sports groups—hoping to rebuild the ‘social capital’ of
ex-combatants (Ginifer, 2003).
The sensitization activities of the NCDDR, along with its community meetings
and use of traditional reconciliatory rituals to foster reintegration, overlap in many
ways with activities carried out by Sierra Leone’s Truth and Reconciliation Com-
mission (TRC), another post-conflict mechanism aimed at contributing in some way
to reintegration by creating a forum for acknowledging the human rights abuses
that occurred during the conflict and by making recommendations (enabled in the
TRC’s founding legislation as mandatory) for post-conflict reforms to prevent con-
flict from reoccurring. Among the TRC’s recommendation was a recommenda-
tion to implement a package of reparations for victims of human rights violations
(Graybill, 2007). Included in these recommendations were educational and skills
training programmes, the existence of which—were they to be implemented by the
government, that has to date been negligent of its responsibility to take up TRC
recommendations (Graybill, 2007)—could address the inequities between survivors
and ex-combatants created by the NCDDR process. Closer ties between the NCDDR
and other post-conflict mechanisms, such as the TRC, could potentially have led to
more holistic programming, capable of addressing the reintegration needs of more
diverse communities from a variety of angles.
Fithen and Richards (2005) argue for a more complex understanding of reinteg-
ration, pointing out that, in the post-conflict context, reintegrating does not simply
mean readapting or ‘fitting into’ a community as a civilian, but rather
being able to participate in reshaping the future and in creating new opportunities—a
central task for communities in Sierra Leone given the current economic circum-
stances. The conflict, they argue, opened spaces for individualism and individual
846 J. Paulson
rights (see Archibald & Richards, 2002) in what was a largely patrimonial society.
Skills training, along with formal education, could contribute to consolidating this
potentially positive impact of Sierra Leone’s conflict were they to subsequently
open real opportunities for youth. Fithen and Richards (2005) describe a group
of ex-combatants who formed a bicycle taxi collective in Boas as an example of
ex-combatants reintegrating positively (and profitably) into a community:
‘reintegration’ is not just a matter of ‘fitting in’ but of spotting and developing new op-
portunities for self-employment in a changing society. [. . .] Finding such opportunities
strengthens social acceptability [. . .] as well as providing livelihood opportunities. So-
cial acceptability, in turn, strengthens chances of winning political battles. [. . .] These
ex-combatants are not just ‘fitting into’ such a society—they are helping to forge it
(pp. 134–35).
Seen in this way, TVET programming is an integral part of a reintegration that

creates and facilitates new opportunities and livelihoods for ex-combatants and for
communities by enabling the possibility of building realities that differ considerably
from pre-conflict ones. Seen more narrowly, however, TVET programming as a part
of DDR has the real potential to raise expectations, create divisions and—in failing
to lead to employment or livelihoods—create potentially dangerous disillusionment
among youth. The challenge, therefore, of envisioning and programming for holis-
tic, integrated TVET programming is a central one for DDR processes.
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of Sierra Leone’s Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration Program. Cork, Ireland:
University of Ireland, Centre for Sustainable Livelihoods.
United Nations. 2000. The Role of United Nations Peacekeeping in disarmament, de-
mobilization, and reintegration: report of the Secretary-General. New York, NY:
UN. (Report no. S/2000/101.) <www.smallarmssurvey.org/files/portal/issueareas/measures/
Measur pdf/i measur pdf/UN doc/s council/S 2000 101.pdf>
Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children. 2004. Global survey of education in
emergencies. New York, NY: WCRWC.
World Bank. 2005. Sierra Leone: community reintegration and rehabilitation. Findings: Africa
Region, May, no. 112. <www.worldbank.org/afr/findings/infobeng/infob112.pdf>
Wright, C. 1997. Reflections on Sierra Leone: a case study. In: Tawil, S., ed. Final report and
case studies on educational disruption and reconstruction in disrupted societies. Geneva,
Switzerland: UNESCO-IBE.
Chapter V.8
TVET, Women and Conflict: Palestinians
in the Lebanese Civil War
Rachel Yarrow
1 Introduction
That the very different, yet very real, male and female experiences of conflict have
frequently been misunderstood is increasingly agreed upon (see UNIFEM, 2004,
for example). In particular, attention is being drawn to changes that conflict brings
about in women’s need to earn a livelihood, changes in the types of livelihood that
are acceptable for women, and changes in wider ideas about gender roles and stereo-
types (Date-Bah, 2003). This chapter focuses first on the changes that the conflicts in
Lebanon of the 1970s and 1980s brought about in ideas about Palestinian women’s
economic activity; secondly, the effect that conflict had on the provision of tech-
nical and vocational education and training (TVET) for Palestinians in Lebanon;
and lastly, the extent to which the new TVET provision took account of, and cap-
italized upon, the changes that had taken place. These changes will be analysed
through Buckland’s idea of the post-conflict situation as the ‘best of times, worst of
times’, ‘both an opportunity and a constraint’ (2005, p. 25). In particular, this chapter
will focus on case studies of two NGOs that were involved in TVET provision for
Palestinian women during the Lebanese Civil War, and the extent to which they
effectively capitalized on the ‘opportunities’ offered by the post-conflict situation.
In reality, the notions of conflict and post-conflict situations are to a large ex-
tent co-extensive in the context of Palestinians in Lebanon. At the meta-level, as
refugees of a yet-unresolved conflict, their situation is still not truly post-conflict,
especially as the threat of impending Lebanese and Palestinian civil war seems very
real in the present day. However, armed hostilities are not a daily reality for Pales-
tinian refugees living in Lebanon and, even during the Lebanese Civil War, there
were long periods when large numbers of Palestinians were not directly involved in
fighting. This chapter focuses primarily on TVET in the period 1976–1988, years
which arguably all fall within the boundaries of the Lebanese Civil War and could
be regarded as ‘conflict’ rather than ‘post-conflict’ times. However, from anecdotal
evidence, those who experienced this period at first hand tend not to refer to it as
such, but to focus on discrete episodes of conflict which particularly affected them,
and which fell several years apart. The periods between these episodes do then be-
come post-conflict. TVET programming that arose as a response to these episodes
is, then, interpreted primarily as occurring in a post-conflict situation.

850 R. Yarrow
TVET is a notoriously difficult concept to define. UNESCO-UNEVOC defines

it as being ‘concerned with the acquisition of knowledge and skills for the world
of work’ (UNESCO-UNEVOC, n.d.). TVET definitions usually do not cover such
areas as legal, medical or teacher training, however, even though they are concerned
with such. For the purposes of this chapter, TVET is defined pragmatically as that
which happens in vocational training centres (VTCs), and what is therefore usually
recognized as vocational training by most Palestinians. This excludes training for
professions, such as law and engineering, but does include many ‘semi-professional’
courses (such as architectural drawing, computing, or business and office manage-
ment), as well as the more practical and traditional courses (such as welding, sewing
and hairdressing). Teacher training for Palestinians does take place in the VTC run
by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the
Near East (UNRWA), but will not be included in the considerations of this chapter.
2 A History of Conflict
Following the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, and the ensuing war, around
500,000 to 700,000 Arab Palestinians left their homes in what had become Israel, or
Arab Palestinian land seized by Israel (Fisk, 1990, p. 17).1 Approximately 100,000
of these sought refuge in Lebanon (Ugland, 2003, p. 15). In 1949, UNRWA was
established by the United Nations General Assembly in order to provide ‘direct
relief and works programmes’ for the refugees (UNRWA, n.d.). The refugees in
Lebanon initially gathered in the South, around the cities of Tyre and Sidon, but
were later dispersed to the Beka’a valley and Tripoli, and organized into camps on
land leased by UNRWA.
Current estimates of the number of Palestinians in Lebanon range from 200,000
to 600,000 (see Ugland, 2003, p. 18 for a discussion of this). It is probably reason-
able to assume that the Palestinians make up slightly under 10% of the population
of Lebanon today (see Haddad, 2003, p. 4, for example).
The violence and conflict that has had the most direct effects on the Palestini-
ans still alive in Lebanon today is undoubtedly that which took place during the
Lebanese Civil War. After the Cairo Agreement of 1969, the Palestinian Liberation
Organization (PLO) was permitted to have a legitimate armed presence in Lebanon
and was effectively given autonomy over the Palestinian camps. What resulted is
often referred to as the Palestinian ‘State within a State’, presided over by Chairman
Yasser Arafat (Schultz & Hammer, 2003, p. 55), and viewed with much misgiving
by the ruling Maronite Christians. The start of the Lebanese Civil War is often cited
as the clash between a Palestinian organization and the Phalange, a Maronite militia,
in 1975 (ibid.), although the PLO have strenuously denied that they were trying to
destabilize the situation. The Palestinian camps had soon become targets, however,
and in 1976 the Phalange embarked on a seven-month siege of the camp of Tal
al-Zataar, during which 3,000 Palestinians were killed (Schultz & Hammer, 2003,
p. 56).
V.8 TVET, Women and Conflict: Palestinians in the Lebanese Civil War 851
Following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, further damage was inflicted
on the Palestinian refugees, most notoriously in the massacres in the Beirut camps
of Sabra and Shatila, in which up to 2,000 Palestinian men, women and children
died at the hands of the Phalange (Fisk, 1990, pp. 359–400).
At this time, too, the PLO was driven out of Lebanon, and the relative autonomy
that had been enjoyed by the Palestinians in the camps was over. Moreover, fol-
lowing the expulsion of the PLO, the Shi’ite Amal movement, with Syrian backing,
became obsessed with driving out any remaining PLO loyalists suspected of remain-
ing in the camps (Haddad, 2003, p. 34). The resulting ‘War of the Camps’ consisted
of a series of sieges of the Palestinian camps in Beirut and Southern Lebanon, con-
centrated over the period 1985–87, and resulted in the deaths of many hundreds of
Palestinians, the (re-)displacement of thousands more and the near-destruction of
many camps.
3 Palestinian Women in the Economic Sphere
Historically, the place of Palestinian women has been regarded as in the home, the
ethos of sitt fil-bait (the lady in home) (Sayigh, 1993, p. 183). To be a working
woman in the 1950s and 1960s was regarded as shameful in the context of Pales-
tinian refugees in Lebanon; in particular, work outside the camp was to be avoided
and work inside the home much preferred to that outside (Sayigh, 1994, pp. 45–47).
A general fearfulness for women’s safety and honour when travelling outside the
home, and particularly the camp, is still pervasive in Palestinian society, particu-
larly for unmarried girls. Early marriage has traditionally been seen as the primary
guarantee of economic security for women, and the expectation of marriage (for
men and women) has been near universal (Ugland, 2003, p. 32). Involvement in
domestic labour, seasonal agriculture and even factories was not unknown among
poor families, though cottage industries centred on the home, such as sewing and
embroidery, were more usual and acceptable for women (Peteet, 1991, p. 21, 33).
3.1 The Experience of Conflict: Changing Women’s Roles

Changes in the economic and social place of women in Palestinian society were
already beginning in the period leading up to the Lebanese Civil War. Of particular
importance was the arrival of the PLO in Lebanon, after they were ejected from
Jordan in 1970, together with the signing of the Cairo Agreement in 1969. Although
Palestinian women in Lebanon never became actively involved as military fighters
in the resistance movement, as they had done in Jordan (Sayigh, 1993, p. 177),
the institution-building that accompanied the rise of the PLO in Lebanon provided
ample opportunities for women to work towards the national struggle, taking up
work in, for example, kindergartens, clinics, vocational training centres and sewing
workshops (Sayigh, 1993, p. 183). The PLO also brought a heightened sense of
the Palestinian cause as a unified struggle, and as the clouds of civil war began to
852 R. Yarrow
gather in Lebanon, great value was placed on anything that men or women could
do to support the national cause. Sayigh reports an interview in which she was told:
‘After the battle of Tell al-Zataar [1976], no mother would prevent her daughter
from going out. On the contrary, she would tell her to go out and work to help her
people’ (1993, p. 183).
The PLO left Lebanon in 1983, following the Israeli invasion, and with them a
whole range of employment opportunities disappeared, for men and women alike.
By this time, however, the civil war had brought about new factors that were chang-
ing women’s position in the economic and social spheres. The increasing involve-
ment of men in military and conflict-related activities was surely amongst the most
significant factors pushing women into work. On the one hand, the number of casu-
alties resulting from active male involvement in battles such as Tell al-Zataar and,
later on, in the Camp Wars of 1985–87, led to an increase in female-headed house-
holds. Female-headed households in these circumstances are more likely to live in
extreme poverty due to the loss of the husband’s financial support (Date-Bah, 2003,
p. 117). In such circumstances, the social stigma attached to certain types of work for
women is likely to have been subjugated to the physical survival needs of the family,
particularly important given that remarriage amongst Palestinian women who have
been widowed is not common (Sayigh, 1993, p. 189). On the other hand, the absence
of male family members, due to, for example, out-migration, death, displacement or
imprisonment, particularly of a patriarchal husband or father, may have engendered
a lifting of family control over women’s activities, including those boundaries that
keep women in the home and out of the world of work.
Furthermore, although women were not involved in active military service en
masse, there are many examples of women undertaking roles in relation to conflict
that marked a departure from their normal sphere of activities. Peteet even cites
examples of women university students who, although not encouraged by the PLO,
underwent military training during the 1981 general mobilization campaign and
who fought in Tal al-Zataar as an expression of their commitment to the national
cause (1991, p. 149). More common during Tal al-Zataar and the camp wars was
involvement in support activities, for example, smuggling ammunition into camps
or working as scouts (Sayigh, 1993, p. 189).
However, not all the effects of conflict resulted in women’s entry into the world of
work. At the political level, the PLO’s focus on the ‘national struggle’ had left little
room for arguments about women’s issues. Although some ‘leftist factions’ of the
PLO acknowledged ‘the woman question’, the mainstream Fateh party ‘articulated
[no] ideology concerning women’ (Gluck, 1995, p. 7); the issue was ‘left pending’
until after national liberation (Sayigh, 1993, p. 177).
On a more practical level, conflict would have also increased the perceived risk to
women when travelling outside the home. The displacement caused by the Lebanese
Civil War would also have increased the domestic load, which would have impacted
much more heavily on women than men, emphasizing their role and work inside the
house (Sayigh, 1993, p. 189).
Furthermore, post-crisis societies are often marked by periods of conservatism
(see Phillips, 1995, p. 248, for example). Analyses of gender roles after the First and
Second World Wars, for example, point to a re-affirmation of the traditional gen-
der division in employment (Higonnet & Higonnet, 1987). Certainly, while many
changes brought about by conflict were encouraging female participation in the
workplace, there were strong conservative forces at work.
4 Conflict and TVET Provision
It is difficult to regard TVET as having a purely neutral role with regard to gender,
and TVET programmes are accused of perpetuating gender stereotypes in many
situations. The World Bank policy paper of 1991 admits that ‘broader societal per-
ceptions about the appropriate role of women’ often condition the types of training
they are offered and notes that, in Israel, of all TVET students, 83% of men train in
blue-collar professions, and 89% of women train in white-collar professions (Neu-
man & Ziderman in World Bank, 1991, p. 64). There is an inherent tension in the
dual roles of adapting one’s self to what the market needs and wants, and of trying
to encourage women and men to take up new types of economic activity, to which
the market may well not be receptive.
When it comes to post-conflict situations, this trend is, if anything, exacerbated;
Date-Bah argues that many institutions in the post-conflict setting can be seen
to ‘reintroduce the pre-war gender biased positions’ (2003, p. 111) and specifi-
cally that: ‘experiences show that many [vocational training and skills develop-
ment programmes] tend to be gender stereotyped focusing on knitting or sewing’
(Date-Bah, 2003, p. 142).
However, while many are prepared to criticize the gender divisions that emerge
in much TVET programming (both within and without the post-conflict context),
nearly all stress TVET’s potential for breaking down constrictive gender stereo-
types in the sphere of economic activity, particularly for women. The 1991 World
Bank policy paper mentions TVET as having an important place amongst a range
of strategies designed to help women overcome barriers to entry into the workplace
(World Bank, 1991, p. 7). Furthermore, Date-Bah sees in the post-conflict situation
a ‘window of opportunity’ for overcoming ‘the gender stereotypes and traditional
gender division of labour; if TVET can capitalize on this window of opportunity,
then it has the potential to open new doors for women’ (Date-Bah, 2003, p. 111).
4.1 TVET for Palestinians Prior to the Civil War
Due to financial constraints, an UNRWA vocational training centre (VTC) was not
opened in Lebanon until 1963. The VTC at Siblin constituted virtually the only
form of formal TVET provision available for Palestinians in Lebanon for the follow-
ing two decades. As Graham-Brown pointed out, the numerous private vocational
schools around Beirut were all fee-paying, rendering them inaccessible to most
Palestinians (1984, p. 120). The alternative to formal vocational education was to
854 R. Yarrow
undertake apprenticeships, but, according to one interviewee, these were not well-
regarded and not undertaken by women. The VTC in Siblin offered mainly two-year
courses and was heavily over-subscribed. As a result of this, however, the VTC
could afford to be selective about admissions, thus gaining an excellent reputation
for the standard and employment prospects of its graduates (UNRWA, 1986, p. 140).
The period of PLO autonomy in Lebanon had several impacts on vocational edu-
cation, as many political factions opened their own facilities for vocational training.
In 1981, Weighill reports that as many as nine political organizations were run-
ning workshops in one or more of the camps (1996, p. 30). Anecdotal evidence
suggests women were participating in some form of training during this period in
fields such as nursing, administration and secretarial work. This period also im-
pacted on the work of the Siblin VTC. It became a ‘fertile recruiting ground’ for
various armed militia, as military training and a year of service in the PLO became
required of all students and graduates, although the curriculum remained unchanged
(Weighill, 1996, p. 31).
This system of TVET provision could hardly have been designed to be less acces-
sible to women. The Siblin VTC, in common with other UNRWA VTCs in the Mid-
dle East, initially oriented its curriculum towards the rapid economic development
taking place in the oil-producing countries (UNRWA, 1986, p. 135). This meant
that, aside from its teacher-training programmes, the focus was on manual trades
such as welding, construction and electricity, which were culturally (if not actually)
prohibited for women. Furthermore, as most of the employment opportunities for
holders of such qualifications were in the Gulf States, it was even less likely that
women would be tempted to undertake such training. The location of the Siblin
VTC also lowered female participation in its courses. Whilst it is somewhat centrally
located, in the mountains between Beirut and Sidon, travelling times to the centre
from camps in the North, the South and the Beka’a valley were up to two hours
by bus, which would far exceed what many parents would consider acceptable for
their daughters. Dormitory accommodation, available for young men at the centre,
was not made available to women—for cultural reasons. This meant that young
women had to find lodgings with local families close to the centre. Fears about
young women travelling outside the home would surely only have been exacerbated
by the deteriorating security situation of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
As a result of this, by 1982–1983, out of the 712 places available at Siblin for
non-teacher-training vocational education, just 93 (or 13%) of them were taken up
by females (Graham-Brown, 1984, p. 121). Access to TVET for Palestinian women
in the pre-civil war period can, therefore, be said to have been limited by geo-
graphical location, types of courses offered and the places of employment that such
qualifications would lead to.
4.2 The Effect of Conflict on TVET Provision for Women

As will be seen in the following section, the Lebanese Civil War had the effect
of both closing down opportunities for vocational training and also, paradoxically,
opening up new opportunities, many of which are still in operation over twenty years
later. This section will focus on the provision offered by UNRWA, together with two
case studies of NGOs that started functioning during this period: the first, an NGO
dedicated to the development and empowerment of women, and the second, an NGO
dedicated to providing TVET for Palestinians.
UNRWA’s VTC at Siblin remained open until the Israeli invasion in 1982, and
then struggled to stay open for about another year. Most of its equipment was looted
by the Israelis; the buildings were later occupied by a militia group, leading to fur-
ther damage due to heavy shelling. Graham-Brown reported that, in 1983, staff felt
a ‘growing sense of isolation from the new industrial and technical developments
in Lebanon and elsewhere’, particularly as they became unable to offer any sort of
on-the-job training (1984, p. 121). The centre ceased to function at this time and
remained closed until the end of the 1980s.
Any vocational training offered by political organizations, however haphazard,
also disappeared as the PLO was forced out of Lebanon by the Israeli invasion.
However, a new breed of overtly non-political, Palestinian-led non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) started to emerge at this time, and vocational training was
very much of a priority for them.
4.2.1 Case Study A: An NGO Focusing on Women’s Empowerment

NGO A was started in 1977 by a group of Lebanese, Palestinian and Italian women,
as a direct response to the Tal Al-Zataar massacre. As mainly women and chil-
dren survived the massacre, and many were left without either husbands or homes,
NGO A began with the intention of ‘assist[ing] the survivors, socially, psycho-
socially, and at the economic level’. The women survivors had mostly weak literacy,
but were skilled at making traditional Palestinian embroidery. The NGO capitalized
on this skill by bringing women together to produce embroidery that could be sold
to provide them with immediate income, whilst creating a group dynamic through
which they could be provided with psycho-social support. NGO A had a very strong
belief that they did not wish to be carrying out ‘charity work’, but rather sustainable
development: ‘We should provide tools for them so they can contribute to the devel-
opment of their society’. In the wake of the massacre, they felt it was important not
to make people feel or act like victims.
With this in mind, moving into vocational training provision was the logical next
step after facilitating income generation, and they ‘decided that some women needed
to develop their skills, so they weren’t only dependent on the embroidery’. They
began offering courses in sewing and typing. Their rationale for offering sewing
was that, as women were often not allowed to access work outside the home, sewing
would enable women to find a secure income whilst remaining inside the home. The
typing course, on the other hand, enabled women to find jobs with the PLO: ‘most of
the women who graduated from typing already had jobs waiting for them at the PLO
offices, all the political and non-political institutions that the PLO opened’. Offering
these two courses was a step towards ‘empower[ing] women with skills, and tools
that are necessary for them to contribute to the well-being and the development
856 R. Yarrow
of the whole community’, and were seen as part of a move from the traditional
(embroidery) to the non-traditional (office work).
NGO A has flourished since its establishment and, in 2000, was offering a range
of courses from the very traditional (sewing and hairdressing) to the non-traditional,
which were increasingly favoured from the early 1990s (office management, ac-
counting, typing, interior decoration, carpentry, electricity and photography).
NGO A has always focused on offering social support along with vocational
training. Many trainees are admitted on the basis of their reduced circumstances,
and may be assisted with the payment of course fees. Classes on subjects such as
human rights, leadership and domestic violence are attached to all the vocational
training programmes and form a core part of their vision.
4.2.2 Case Study B: An NGO Dedicated to Providing Vocational Education

for Palestinians
NGO B was established by two engineers who were working for UNRWA at the time
of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, along with staff from UNESCO. They
began to realize that TVET provision for Palestinians in the South was inadequate,
particularly following the closure of the VTC at Siblin due to damage and looting.
Even before the closure, however, the founder of NGO B pointed out that for all the
tens of thousands of Palestinians from camps and gatherings in the Tyre area, only
about four places would be available in a course such as electricity at Siblin. After
the opening of a VTC in the Tyre area, sixteen extra places would be available, thus
increasing provision four-fold. The founder felt that it was important for students
who wanted to undertake vocational education, and also those who wanted to go to
university but did not have the means, to have an opportunity to obtain a good qual-
ification ‘based on proper methods, and proper ways, and a good syllabus, and good
training’, in contrast to the informal and generally poorly respected apprenticeship
training of the past.
In 1983, therefore, NGO B opened a VTC in some former PLO offices in al-Bass
camp. Of great significance was how, when the Siblin VTC was closed, UNRWA
agreed to collaborate with NGO B, providing official certification (which they con-
tinue to do to this day), curriculum advice and supervision from their own (temporar-
ily unemployed) staff at Siblin. The first courses offered were architectural drawing,
and business and office practice, and in the initial year around twenty-two students
graduated from each programme. The courses were chosen both on the basis of what
students wanted (particularly business and office practice) and on the basis of market
needs and possibilities for employment. Draughtsmen were required in engineering
companies in Lebanon and across the Middle East, and business and office practice
offered similarly transferable skills. The fact that both of these courses were open
(culturally) to men and women increased their attractiveness to the founders of the
centre, and they found that male and female enrolments were more or less equal.
Each year, two or three courses were added and new centres were opened in
Ein Helweh and Nahr el-Bared camps. Later, courses included tailoring, sewing
and design, refrigeration and air conditioning, television and radio maintenance,
secretarial and computer studies, and nursing.
From the start, females and males could theoretically be admitted to all courses
offered by NGO B. In practice, female enrolment in traditionally male fields (added
later) such as industrial electricity, or refrigeration and air conditioning, has been
non-existent, although the founder of NGO B remembered that ‘about ten years
ago, a girl came to the electricity course. She stayed until the middle, and then, I
don’t know, maybe she got engaged or travelled, but I was very pleased with her,
because it was a new step, a new thing happening in the community’ (personal
communication). The founder of NGO B admitted that he would not actively seek
out girls and women to join the more traditionally male courses, but thought he
would encourage a girl if she came and enquired about it, and would even provide
extra facilities if necessary.
5 ‘Best of Times, Worst of Times’?

Buckland’s phrase (coined in Buckland, 2005, p. 25 and borrowed from Charles
Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities) touches on the idea that, whilst conflict may have a
devastating effect on education, the post-conflict situation may also provide oppor-
tunity for change and to capitalize on shifts in previously fixed gender stereotypes
affected by the conflict. Certainly, this paradigm can be applied to the situation of
vocational training as the Lebanese Civil War unfolded. Although in some ways,
vocational training was left in a dire situation by the Israeli invasion, in other ways,
the space that opened up presented NGOs with the possibility of experimenting with
a different model of TVET provision as the ‘inertia and resistance’ that usually char-
acterize attempts to reform TVET and remake structural inequalities are overcome
(Date-Bah, 2003, p. 212).
Whether the structural inequalities relating to gender really were remade in the
new system of TVET provision that emerged is, at first glance, somewhat question-
able. NGO A, for example, for all its rhetoric of empowerment and development,
focused on equipping women with the skills of sewing and typing; certainly, such
skills may have led to employment, and typing was not as ‘traditional’ a form of em-
ployment for Palestinian women as embroidery, but women working in these areas
could hardly be regarded as breaking gender stereotypes. Similarly, for NGO B,
although the courses were theoretically offered to men and women, in reality, in
the absence of explicit encouragement and guidance for women thinking about
enrolling in traditionally male courses, enrolment patterns remained conventional.
While NGO B, therefore, and to a lesser extent NGO A, were offering training that
did not reinforce previously held gender stereotypes, neither did they take major
steps towards breaking them down. The criticism levelled at training and employ-
ment programmes in post-conflict Lebanon seems applicable here: ‘the focus of
the programme was on meeting immediate/practical needs without consideration of
strategic interests or long-term empowerment of women’ (Date-Bah, 2003, p. 130).
858 R. Yarrow
This seems particularly pertinent in the face of evidence, cited by the World
Bank, that women can be encouraged into non-traditional courses even in a country
as conservative as Morocco. In 1979, note was taken that, although women were
theoretically entitled to enrol in ‘industrial training programmes’, very few had ap-
plied and none had been accepted. Advertisements specifically targeted at women
were placed in the media, female instructors were recruited and career counselling
services put in place, with the result that enrolment figures rose sharply and have
been sustained (World Bank, 1991, p. 218). The cautious approach of the case study
NGOs may therefore be thought of as a little disappointing.
However, there are other important ways in which the situation of women’s ac-
cess was very much altered by the newly emerging TVET system. Perhaps most im-
portantly, the NGOs capitalized on the opportunity for change that was presented by
the UNRWA Siblin VTC losing its stranglehold on the system. As described above,
the Siblin VTC was geographically very difficult to reach; provision in the new,
smaller NGOs took place within the camps. As the founder of NGO B explained
to me:
You know our customs here. A lot of families, maybe twenty years ago, don’t let their
daughters travel away, or take vocational training, or go outside the camps. But inside
the camp, it is as though they are still under the supervision of their families (personal
communication).
Similarly, in NGO A, the training took place in all-female groups, so there was no
risk of exposure to single young men. A particularly important innovation was that
of NGO B, when it secured collaboration with and certification of UNRWA on their
new courses. This gave their new style of provision a crucial legitimacy which it
could carry forward into the post-conflict era, even when Siblin re-opened in 1988.
Another remarkable innovation of both NGOs, particularly NGO B, was the fo-
cus on delivering ‘modern’ courses, rather than ‘traditional’ courses that brought
with them a burden of gender stereotyping. By delivering courses, such as busi-
ness and office practice and typing, men and women were able to access equal
training and employment prospects without struggling against the weight of cul-
tural expectations as they would have in careers such as hairdressing or welding.
This was particularly important given the dire economic and employment situation
of the time. The barriers to entry for a man or woman with an ‘unconventional’
qualification would have been even higher than normal, as employers became less
inclined to take risks. Looking forward to the ‘modern’ job market was an inspired
way of avoiding the trap of perpetuating and reinforcing gender stereotyping in the
workplace. This also had the effect of lessening the notion that vocational training
was somehow ‘backward’ or academically inferior to other forms of study, which
increased its attractiveness to parents, sons and daughters alike.
This is not to say, however, that these NGOs have not experimented with break-
ing down gender stereotypes in TVET, and the comparative flexibility of the new
system was another great strength in this respect. With centres in many camps,
and with courses lasting less than a year, both NGO A and B have been able to
start new programmes for a trial period, in just one camp, before committing to
full enrolment. This meant, eventually, that it was possible to experiment with, for
example, carpentry courses for women. This course was discontinued, but one can
regard the fact that it was at least tried for several years, and that many women
passed through it, as something of an achievement in itself. Women are far more
likely to enrol in an ‘experimental’ subject if it is not required that they also travel
for several hours every day outside the camp, and commit to a course of two years,
as the opportunity costs are lower.
Perhaps most important, however, was that the number of training places rose,
and not only in male-dominated areas, meaning that a larger number of women were
able to take advantage of training. As a result of training, women are more likely to
be able to contribute to household earnings and work outside their immediate home.
This may have various empowering effects, such as improved self-confidence, influ-
ence in the home, and the possibility of meeting and interacting with a wider range
of people, whilst not actively breaking down employment-related gender stereo-
types. In this respect, the NGOs were also able to benefit from the increased demand
for vocational training in the conflict and post-conflict situations. The founder of
NGO B remarked that:
The Israeli invasion didn’t prevent women from leaving their houses and coming to the
centre to take vocational training. I think in some points it encouraged them, especially
as a lot of men were in prisons. I think families changed their thoughts about continuing
teaching their daughters and even they have no problem if they go to work after graduation
(personal communication).
Perhaps even more important now is the continuing sense that, in an uncertain
world, marriage no longer guarantees long-term economic security for a woman.
One young woman explained to me:
If you have children and your husband dies, you should have a job to work in. Here, you
are independent, you must work to earn, the government will not help to support you. You
must depend on yourself. Even if you have children, you should work. So I think I should
get vocational training, in order that, if anything happens in my life, I have a certain job to
work in (personal communication).
6 Conclusions
Buckland’s ‘best of times, worst of times’ analogy works well in this context. The
(post-)conflict situation for vocational training was extremely difficult, and there
had been many ways in which the situation concerning stereotyped ideas about
women in the economic sphere had been worsened by the conflict, as well as some
interesting ways in which it had been broken down. Some of the features of the
new TVET providers were perhaps disappointingly conservative, and did not do
enough to move away from the status quo ante. However, to focus on these would
be to ignore the ways in which the emerging NGO provision was innovative, both
in terms of structure, courses on offer and willingness to take advantage of changes
in expectations about women and work brought about by conflict.
860 R. Yarrow
There were many real constraints on women which affected their participation
in training and in the workforce. Certain conservative ideas about the woman’s role
in the economic sphere were inscribed rather than loosened by the experience of
conflict, which in effect pulled women out of certain types of employment, whilst
the economic collapse and resulting lack of employment opportunities for both sexes
simultaneously pushed them out of the workforce. Given that the onus on TVET
must always be to improve the prospects of earning a livelihood, there are very real
arguments in favour of TVET focusing on any skills that might provide or increase
income, even if they are traditional skills such as sewing or embroidery. After all,
it must be recognized that nothing is less empowering for women than extreme
poverty.
However, accepting that the post-conflict situation might not be the optimum
moment to introduce radical reforms to TVET provision—for example, welding
courses for women—does not mean that NGOs and other TVET providers cannot
take advantage of the opportunity to innovate and capitalize on societal changes.
Some problems with the antecedent TVET provision tackled with particular effect in
this context were, as described above, the place and mode of delivery, the reputation
of TVET and types of courses offered, all of which had a real and lasting effect on
the possibility of Palestinian women to undertake training.
Note
1. This figure is contested; Sayigh, for example, estimates that 590,000 Arab Palestinians were
displaced to the West Bank and Jordan, whilst a further 300,000 moved beyond the borders of
Palestine altogether (1979, p. 99).
References
Buckland, P. 2005. Reshaping the future: education and post-conflict reconstruction. Washington,
DC: World Bank.
Date-Bah, E., ed. 2003. Jobs after war: a critical challenge in the peace and reconstruction puzzle.
Geneva, Switzerland: ILO.
Fisk, R. 1990. Pity the nation: Lebanon at war. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Gluck, S.B. 1995. Palestinian women: gender politics and nationalism. Journal of Palestine studies,
vol. 24, no. 3.
Graham-Brown, S. 1984. Education, repression and liberation: Palestinians. London: World Uni-
versity Service.
Haddad, S. 2003. The Palestinian impasse in Lebanon: the politics of refugee integration. Brighton,
UK: Sussex Academic Press.
Higonnet, M.R.; Higonnet, P. 1987. The double helix. In: Higonnet, M.R. et al., eds. Behind the
lines: gender and the two world wars, pp. 31–47. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Peteet, J.M. 1991. Gender in crisis: women and the Palestinian resistance movement. New York,
NY: Columbia University Press.
Phillips, D., ed. 1995. Education in Germany: tradition and reform in historical context. London:
Routledge.
Sayigh, R. 1979. Palestinians: from peasants to revolutionaries. London: Zed Books.
Sayigh, R. 1993. Palestinian women and politics in Lebanon. In: Tucker, J., ed. Arab women: old
boundaries, new frontiers, pp. 175–95. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Sayigh, R. 1994. Too many enemies: the Palestinian experience in Lebanon. London: Zed Books.
Schultz, H.; Hammer, J. 2003. The Palestinian diaspora: formation of identities and politics of
homeland. London: Routledge.
Ugland, O.F., ed. 2003. Difficult past, uncertain future: living conditions among Palestinian
refugees in camps and gatherings in Lebanon. Tøyen, Norway: FAFO.
UNESCO-UNEVOC. No date. What is TVET? <www.unesco.unevoc.org>
United Nations Development Fund for Women—UNIFEM. 2004. Getting it right, doing it right:
gender and disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration. New York, NY: UNIFEM.
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East. 1986. UN-
RWA: a brief history, 1950-1982. Vienna: UNRWA.
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East. No date.
Establishment of UNRWA. <www.un.org/unrwa/overview/index.html>
Weighill, M.-L. 1996. Palestinian refugees in Lebanon: the politics of assistance. (Paper presented
at the Palestinians in Lebanon Conference, Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford, United Kingdom,
27–30 September 1996.)
World Bank. 1991. Vocational education and training: a World Bank policy paper Washington,
DC: World Bank.
Editor-in-Chief:
Associate Editors:

Switzerland
America
Bonn, Germany

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Editors
Chris Chinien
Associate Editor
123
Editors
53113 Bonn
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Dr Chris Chinien
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ISBN: 978-1-4020-5280-4 e-ISBN: 978-1-4020-5281-1


9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
springer.com
Contents
Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lv

Arvil V. Adams
VOLUME 1
Part I Overview

Ron Hansen

Jay W. Rojewski


v
vi Contents


for Prosperity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Budd L. Hall
Peter Poschen

Karen F. Zuga

Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Manfred Tessaring

Walter R. Heinz

Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Stephen Billett

Poonam Agrawal


David Johnson

Madhu Singh
Contents vii

Madhu Singh

Joshua A. Muskin

William Ahadzie

Robert Palmer

Enrique Pieck

Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Laila Iskandar

Peter H. Sawchuk

Partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Madhu Singh
VOLUME 2
Perspectives

viii Contents


Claudia Jacinto





1994–2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
Simon McGrath


Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

Peter Grootings

for the New Economy
Joshua D. Hawley
Contents ix

Joshua D. Hawley

Moses O. Oketch
Pacific Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
Man-Gon Park

Johanna Lasonen


of Fiji . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
Viliame Rabici

Lina Kaminskienė



x Contents

Phoebe Moore

Olga Oleynikova

Naing Yee Mar

Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
Lavinia Gasperini

Monique Conn


Countries



Liberia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
Lyle Kane

Bilal Barakat
Contents xi

Zuki Karpinska


Julia Paulson

War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849
Rachel Yarrow
VOLUME 3



Jon Lauglo

Keith Holmes

Peter Noonan

Academic Drift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
Andre Kraak
xii Contents


George Preddey

George Preddey

David Atchoarena

David Atchoarena

Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1037
Kenneth King

Richard Walther

Adrian Ziderman


Félix Mitnik

from Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1123

Barry J. Hake

Contents xiii

Stephen Billett

Stephen Billett

Philip Grollmann

Erica Smith

Federation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1219


Fred Beven

Jean Searle

Walter Chieco

Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1285
xiv Contents

Moreira Lopes



Stephen Billett

Christian Harteis


Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1383
Richard Gagnon


Peter Gerds

Joachim Dittrich
VOLUME 4

and Delivery
Contents xv

Felix Rauner

Felix Rauner

Felix Rauner


of TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1483
Anneke Westerhuis

Klaus Ruth

in Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1505
Peter Dehnbostel

TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1521


Felix Rauner

Robert D. Renaud

Felix Rauner

Felix Rauner
xvi Contents


Michael Gessler

Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1627
Georg Spöttl

Ulrich Heisig

Uwe Lauterbach

Richard Huisinga



Stephen Billett

James Avis

Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1739

Klaus Schaack

Contents xvii

David Johnson


Margarita Pavlova

Ron Hansen

and Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1835

Shyamal Majumdar



Man-Gon Park


xviii Contents

Maja Zarini


Peter Kearns

Tracey Wallace


VOLUME 5
Education

Development


for All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2039
Phillip Hughes

Manuel Cardoso
Contents xix



Manuel Cardoso
Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2163
Richard G. Bagnall
United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2177
Michael W. Harvey

Karen Plane

Karen Plane


Richard L. Lynch

Antoaneta Voikova

Annette Gough


Jon Lauglo
xx Contents

Frederic J. Company

and Emily Hazelman

Alternative? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2343
Norman Lucas

Karen Plane




Hong-Geun Chang

Contents xxi

Jihee Choi


Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2487

Toshio Ohsako
VOLUME 6


Kind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2521



Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2571

Bernd Overwien
xxii Contents

Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2597
Madhu Singh


Peter Dehnbostel

Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2647

Karen Magro

Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2679

TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2697
Richard Gagnon

Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2713
Erik de Vries

IT Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2747
Rita Meyer

in TVET
Karina Veal

Karina Veal
Contents xxiii

Danielle Colardyn

John Stanwick

Danielle Colardyn

David Hoey

Grazia Scoppio

Institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2853

Michael F.D. Young

John Hart


Michael F.D. Young

New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2935

Magdalena Balica
Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2971
Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3003

VOLUME 3
Part IV
The Management of TVET Systems
Section 6
Policy and Management of TVET Systems
Rupert Maclean
UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational
Education and Training, Bonn, Germany
Chris Chinien
Workforce Development Consulting, Montreal, Canada
Chapter VI.1
Overview: Navigating the Policy Landscape:
Education, Training and Work
1 Introduction
The purpose of this chapter is to present a brief overview of the process of policy
formulation applied to technical and vocational education and training (TVET). It
draws from policy research in the social sciences, international development and
workforce preparation. In any policy field, there are as many different policy options
as there are ways of structuring education and training programmes.
There is no grand theory or cleanly cut methodology about the formulation of
policy that is widely agreed upon and that can be used for all purposes. Very different
policy recommendations result from the way that the policy formulation process
itself is defined. It is anything but a formal, cut-and-dried, step-by-step process.
Navigating the education, training and work policy landscape is complex with
unexpected twists and turns, but it is essential that sound judgements are made.
Many countries are struggling to renew their education and training systems as they
face issues of poverty, stagnant economic growth, social dislocation, disintegrating
political consensus, population expansion and limited resources. The cost of making
poor education and training decisions is too high to ignore the reasoned study of
policy options.
2 Contrasting Policy Perspectives
Formulating education and training policy is more of a craft than a science. Policy
formulation relies on the experience of the analyst to fashion reasonably consistent
and realistic alternatives based on a deep understanding of the education and training
context. Sound policy is crafted on a foundation of plausible, common-sense judge-
ments, and focuses on what ends are worth pursuing, why and how. Sound policy
helps to generate an understanding of education and training problems, the range of
possible alternatives and the attendant values, interests, consequences, costs, uncer-
tainties and outcomes of whatever actions that are taken (Bobrow & Dryzek, 1987;
Heck, 2004; Malen & Knapp, 1997; Schneider & Ingram, 1997).
The policy analyst, nevertheless, relies on a number of analytical tools to inform
judgements. For the purposes of discussion in this chapter, we combine a variety
World of Work, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-5281-1 VI.1,

870 D.R. Herschbach
of technical approaches into two fundamental categories: the rational and the more
intuitive incremental, interactive perspective.
2.1 The Rationalist Policy Perspective
The rational perspective is favoured by policy-makers, economists, analysts and

planners because it appears to lead to ‘optimal’ decisions derived from data-
based comparisons of one policy option over another (Bobrow & Dryzek, 1987;
Malen & Knapp, 1997; Mingat, Tan & Sosak, 2003). The rationalist perspective is
widely used in the field of TVET because it addresses the objective of economic
efficiency—it makes the best use of material and human resources in achieving sim-
ilar programme output. It is assumed that, within limits, a less costly TVET modality
can be substituted for other more costly ones. Budget pressures make containing and
reducing cost appealing to decision-makers.
The policy focus tends to fall along three main lines: (a) the structure, manage-
ment and organization of TVET institutions; (b) teacher/student ratios, instructional
inputs and outputs, resource use and teacher training, as well as other factors that
relate to instructional and programme efficiency; and (c) the relative efficiency (fig-
ured in terms of relative cost) of one TVET alternative over another in meeting
labour-market skill requirements.
Decision-making is structured around a set of agreed-upon policy ends, such as
increasing the number of labour force entrants in a specific occupational category,
implementing the lowest cost training alternative, improving achievement levels, or
addressing global market competition. Standards and outcome measures are formu-
lated in a linear, ends-means decision-making framework with a number of sequen-
tial stages. Common practice is to rely heavily on data derived from cost-benefit
and cost-effectiveness calculations to guide decision-making (Woodhall, 2004). The
policy option with the highest comparative monitory return is assumed to be the best.
Typical stages in the rationalist policy process are as follows:
1. Assess, clarify and diagnose the problem;

2. Identify, organize and analyse relevant data;
3. Formulate and examine alternative policy options;
4. Formulate evaluative criteria and assess options;
5. Make tentative choices and implement;
6. Evaluate;
7. Adjust, modify and make recommendations.
The rationalist perspective assumes a stable policy environment, clearly agreed upon
goals, continuing support from the various stakeholder groups, and sufficient re-
sources and local capacity to implement policy (Bobrow & Dryzek, 1987). These
conditions often are not met, but policy recommendations, nevertheless, are forth-
coming. The rational perspective is used most widely by donor agencies and na-
tional governments to guide decision-making for more structured, organized TVET
VI.1 Navigating the Policy Landscape: Education, Training and Work 871
interventions, such as formal education and training institutions. It is less useful

in uncertain, unpredictable and resource-poor education and training environments,
such as are found in low-income markets in the informal economic sector.
The rationalist perspective tends to suffer from the practical limitation of being
captive to its methodology and data collection, which is usually a one-time event.
Rarely, if ever, are data collected over an extended period and used to guide the
reformulation of policy during the long maturation time that primary TVET policy
interventions take. Furthermore, by elevating economic criteria to such a central
place in decision-making, there is a built-in bias that largely excludes, downplays or
only partly considers other factors that cannot be easily reduced to monitory terms,
but yet are critical to decision-making.
In particular, there may be a tendency not to consider fully the political, eco-
nomic, social and institutional variables within the policy environment that are ex-
ternal to the immediate policy picture, but yet are crucial to long-term successful
implementation (Herschbach, 1994; 2000; Lauglo & Maclean, 2005; Wilson, 1996).
Moreover, the assumption that policy formulation is a ‘rational’, data-driven pro-
cess causes the analyst to treat normative value questions as discrete, static bits of
information and to ignore the on-going, hard-to-measure dynamic, and sometimes
contentious human interaction, within policy environments. The core values, belief
systems, interests and motivations of policy participants have to be constantly exam-
ined over time and clarified enough so that reasonably clear policy alternatives can
be formulated and reformulated (Malen & Knapp, 1997). TVET policy succeeds or
fails because of human agency.
2.2 Incremental, Interactive Perspectives
A second category of analytical tools can be grouped under incremental, interactive

policy perspectives. It is thought that judgements about policy issues depend in large
part on the value positions held by stakeholders and the contextual conditions that
support a given decision. Incremental, interactive policy perspectives take into con-
sideration the complex and dynamic character of policy environments, recognize the
importance of stakeholders and their core values and beliefs, and carefully gauge
the country capacity to implement and sustain TVET programming (Heck, 2004;
Sabatier, 1999; Schneider & Ingram, 1997).
What is termed ‘incremental’ or ‘piecemeal social engineering’ is a policy per-
spective that addresses the normative and human dimensions of policy formula-
tion. Lindblom (1959, 1979; Lindblom & Woodhouse, 1993), for example, argues
that sound policy outcomes are best reached through a process of ‘partisan mu-
tual adjustment’ incorporating the interests and beliefs of the people in the policy
environment. Policy decisions are not made from scratch; they are grounded in
an existing institutional framework with all of the attending power relationships,
self-interests and barriers to change that have developed over time. For this reason,
according to Lindblom, policy initiatives are thwarted unless they are an outcome
872 D.R. Herschbach
of ‘the interplay of self-interests’ and the decision-makers are part of the action,
with acceptable policy emerging from a succession of small, agreed-upon changes
over time.
Lindblom’s work helped to set the stage for the elaboration of alternatives to
‘rational’ planning that recognize the complex, ever-changing character of policy
environments in which precedent conditions and human actors play a decisive role.
Policy formulation is conceived as a process of brokering competing interests and
values, while all the time casting a discriminating eye on potential resource levels,
institutional capacity and political, economic and social determinants that influence
policy implementation. Long-term goals are eschewed for short-term objectives fo-
cused on immediate problems. The primary policy emphasis is on small increments
of change that have a reasonable chance of being supported and achieved. Initial
TVET investments are modest and expand only when successful implementation is
demonstrated (Bobrow & Dryzek, 1987; Colebatch, 1998; Heck, 2004; Rondinelli,
Middleton & Verspoor, 1990).
Based on ideas similar to those of Lindblom, what is termed the ‘advocacy coali-
tion framework’ (ACF) is another policy formulation approach that contrasts sharply
with rational perspectives and recognizes the importance of local policy actors.
Grounded in the work of Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith (1999), the basic idea is that for
a given issue effective policy formulation evolves out of coalition-building within
and across participating groups. Individuals within different significant groups are
open to shared policy positions surrounding core values, common interests, similar
perceptions of policy issues and mutual goals. Policy coalitions are formed among
individuals with shared positions in order to generate the consensus required to ef-
fect change.
Advocacy coalitions not only work as a sounding board for determining what is
possible, but also function to build support and change the behaviour of individuals
within the different organizations (Heck, 2004; Sabatier & Jenkins-Smith, 1999).
Technical information concerning the character of the problem, dimensions of the
proposed TVET programming, relative cost and benefits, and probable impact of
alternatives, and so on, are critically important not only to coalition members but
also to those in positions of power needing persuasion. The analyst compiles solid,
persuasive information to build an objective case for change. A policy-learning
process is emphasized through which, over time, understanding and support are
generated. According to incremental, interactive advocates, the process of policy
change is thought to take time, often a decade or more for primary change.
The policy environment is viewed as comprised of ‘stable factors’ (constitutional
mandates, religious beliefs, natural resources) not likely to be subject to change,
as well as ‘changeable factors,’ both affecting the probability of achieving results.
Initial policy initiatives are structured around changeable factors (budget levels,
administrative rules, teacher supply and government policy) that are more likely
amenable to alteration. Change in stable factors is only approached when sufficient
broadly-based coalition support is generated.
While the rational policy approach assumes that predetermined, optimal policy
choices can be clearly defined and implemented, incremental and interactive per-
spectives stand in stark contrast. Policy formulation is considered a recursive, rather

than a step-by-step linear process. Initial decisions are revisited, with latter deci-
sions reopened in the process of formulating new decisions. The belief is that a
full, prior understanding of the consequences of a given policy option cannot be
achieved, and that it is only through repeated and systematic trial and test over
time that applicable policy choices can be determined. Policy formulation proceeds
incrementally as a number of options are experimented with until certain policy
interventions demonstrate their usefulness. Policy application is the important focus
since any policy option is considered only as good as its demonstrated usefulness
in a specific education and training context (Bobrow & Dryzek, 1987; Colebatch,
1998).
Incremental, interactive policy perspectives are not widely used by international
development agencies, donor groups and national policy and planning units be-
cause they do not lend themselves to the formulation of global, strategic pol-
icy plans. Goals are modest, intermediate and changeable. The primary focus
is on the local implementing environment: the human and material resources,
the political dynamics, and the belief systems, self-interest and core values that
stakeholders bring to the policy formulation and implementation process. For this
reason, they are most widely used by those directly involved in policy
implementation.
3 The Policy Environment
In this section we shift our discussion to what can be termed the ‘policy envi-
ronment’, also known as the ‘implementing context’. Policy formulation does not
start out as a blank slate. Effective TVET policy is highly context-specific and
crafted in response to existing institutional histories; it is built upon political, eco-
nomic and social conditions, and existing institutional capacities; and it is condi-
tioned by the perceptions, interests and beliefs of stakeholders (Bobrow & Dryzek,
1987; Schneider & Ingram, 1997). Implementing capacity is a key policy vari-
able. As incremental, interactive perspectives stress, ultimately policy initiatives
are influenced by and influence the ‘local’ implementing context. There are many
intertwining contextual elements, and policy decisions have to be teased out of a
complex matrix of societal, human and institutional conditions within a given policy
context.
The ambiguities, the opportunities and constraints, the levels of resources and
institutional capacity, and the dynamic and distinctive aspects of the implement-
ing environment make it essential to craft policy designs that are specific to the
particular country context. Moreover, considerable leeway needs to be provided
for altering policy plans once it is determined that the specific contextual cir-
cumstances will not support sustained implementation (Herschbach, 2000). Let us
briefly turn our attention to what is termed the ‘remote’ and the ‘proximate’ policy
environments.
874 D.R. Herschbach
3.1 The Remote Policy Environment
There are various contextual elements that make up what can be termed the ‘remote
policy environment’. These are conditions largely external to the immediate policy
focus, but nevertheless, they have an effect—even if distant and not always direct—
on the ability to frame and carry out TVET policy initiatives (Bobrow & Dryzek,
1987; Heck, 2004; Rondinelli, Middleton & Verspoor, 1990; Sabatier & Jenkins-
Smith, 1999; Warwick, 1980; Williams & Cummings, 2005). These include, among
others, the following points:
1. Formative historical experiences;
2. The political climate;
3. Macro-economic conditions;
4. Legal and bureaucratic structures;
5. Social norms, values and beliefs;
6. Class, clan, tribal and ethnic composition;
7. Internal political and social conflict;
8. Climate and geography;
9. Demographic shifts;
10. Institutional structures.
In addition, there may be recurring and substantial political, economic and social
problems, such as civic violence, ethnic and religious conflict, corruption, shrinking
public budgets, inflation, recession, terrorism, war, poverty and pollution among
others, which may cause considerable uncertainty and contribute to an unstable pol-
icy environment.
The impact of remote conditions on policy implementation is considerable, often
indirect and sometimes hard to determine. Strong political support, for example,
may be combined with weak organizational capacity and, over time, what were
adequate financial resources may be severely reduced, while political support may
disappear completely (Herschbach, 2000). Remote policy conditions tend not be
fully considered when applying a rational analytical perspective. Conditions may be
highly complex and changing so that their significance is not fully captured through
data collection. Policy intent, however, is blunted by the failure to understand and
fully consider conditioning elements in the remote policy environment.
A supportive political environment is a crucial variable (Rondinelli, Middle-
ton & Verspoor, 1990; Williams & Cummings, 2005). There is a strong com-
mitment to building a healthy economic climate and furthering goals of develop-
ment, equity and opportunity through a strengthened basic education and skills
formation system (Ashton & Green, 1996). Political environments tend to be frag-
mented, so it is often difficult to determine the source and magnitude of support.
Political support needs to be generated early in the policy formulation process,
however.
Macro-level economic conditions are among the most important external con-
textual factors that frame TVET policy. The effectiveness of institutional forms of
TVET is linked to economic growth and an increasing demand for labour in the
formal sector (Johanson & Adams, 2004; Levin & Lockheed, 1993; Middleton &
Ziderman, 1997). Unless demand is rising, individuals completing programmes en-
counter limited employment possibilities, employers are reluctant to support train-
ing, and fewer programme resources are available. Collaborative forms of training
with employers are also difficult to establish and maintain under conditions of eco-
nomic uncertainty.
The macro-economic context influences TVET policy in three major ways. First,
economic conditions largely determine the potential amount and stability of future
financial support and hence the kinds of policy options that reasonably can be con-
sidered. Without a threshold level of national income, it is difficult to support TVET
interventions over the long-term (Middleton & Demsky, 1988). Second, economic
conditions create the market demand for education and training. Placement oppor-
tunities are opened. Third, economic conditions greatly influence public support for
TVET. In conditions of economic stress, there often tends to be little support for
TVET initiatives that can be perceived as consuming large amounts of resources
and enhancing the employment prospects of some individuals to the exclusion of
others. The extension of education and training opportunity to the more disadvan-
taged segments of the population in particular usually depends upon good economic
conditions (Birdsall & Sabot, 1996).
Even though what may be considered as a ‘rational’ policy formulation process is
followed, along each step of the way value judgements are made concerning what is
to be taught, to whom, why, which interests should dominate decision-making, who
is going to benefit most and who is going to carry the cost (Bobrow & Dryzek, 1987;
Malen & Knapp, 1997; Schneider & Ingram, 1997). No policy is ‘value free’. Incre-
mental and interactive policy perspectives attempt to more fully consider the values,
preferences, motivations, interests and sometime unclear or conflicting perceptions
of the people within the policy environment.
3.2 The Proximate Policy Environment
What is termed the ‘proximate policy environment’ may be more familiar to TVET
policy-makers because it is comprised of the issues, conditions, institutions and
stakeholders within the immediate policy arena. Warwick (1980) suggests that it
is useful to think in terms of: (a) the power setting; (b) the issue context; and (c)
the operating environment. The power setting is made up of individuals, groups
and organizations that can potentially aid, hold in abeyance, distort or kill policy
initiatives. These range from ministries of education, finance or labour to teacher
organizations, employer groups, worker organizations, private schools, parents, stu-
dents and political organizations—to mention some of the more important private,
civic, social and government actors. It is critically important for the policy analyst
to be at least aware of patterns of political influence and power and how they cut
across ethnic, class, social and economic boundaries (Cohen, Grindle & Walker,
1985; Heck, 2004; Korten, 1980). The building of advocacy coalition frameworks
is an attempt to address the power setting.
876 D.R. Herschbach
Education and training institutions are surrounded with issues relating to oppor-
tunity, equity, ethnicity, gender, social sorting, empowerment, resource use, cost,
class, culture, and effectiveness and efficiency, among others, that comprise the is-
sue context. Singly and combined, the various issues contribute to shaping the form
of policy initiatives. The political and social construction of issues influences how
policy recommendations are framed, interpreted and received by interest groups and
power brokers. Policy initiatives are likely to become distorted, narrowed or rejected
if they do not speak directly to the expectations, interests and problems framed
within the issue context (Schneider & Ingram, 1997).
The operational environment includes familiar units, such as schools, training
institutions, extension programmes and various support agencies and administrative
organizations. Included also is physical infrastructure in the form of roads and trans-
portation, water, electricity, Internet access and construction, purchase, repair and
replacement capacity. Administrative, management, staff and instructional capac-
ity also are important variables. Institutional and infrastructure capacity influence
policy design in direct and obvious ways.
The ability to frame and implement policy depends not only on material, or-
ganizational and human resources, but also on the more subtle human, political
and social dynamics within the operational environment that evoke acceptance or
resistance. A perceived threat to the status quo, privilege loss or gain, shifts in
status, competition for resources, the degree of uncertainty generated and others
are examples of indirect, perhaps unanticipated and often difficult-to-measure pol-
icy effects that cause individuals and groups to think and act both positively and
negatively about policy objectives and implementation (Bobrow & Dryzek, 1987;
Heck, 2004; Sabatier, 1999). Often overlooked, however, in policy deliberation is
the value orientation held by the various direct and indirect actors.
Financial resources are one of the most crucial determinants of policy space.
Without sufficient resources, policy options are severely reduced. International
donor agencies tend to support expenditures for capital improvement, technical
assistance and the purchase of commodities. Rarely, if ever, is money allocated
for recurrent support of any kind, yet this is the decisive factor for achieving sus-
tainable programme implementation (Herschbach, 1993; Herschbach & Gasskov,
2000; Ziderman, 2003). It is left to the host country to carry the burden of recurrent
support. What usually happens is that, during the life of donor support, scarce rev-
enue is reallocated from other national sources to cover recurrent project costs. Once
donor support ceases, national revenue is reallocated among the new project and the
other sources, creating under-funded programme activities all-around. Without new
sources of recurrent support, capital expansion can have detrimental consequences
because new resource requirements are created without additional sources of rev-
enue. A low level of funding is spread even thinner.
Without an adequate foundation level of resources, workforce preparation pro-
grammes cannot operate with sufficient quality to justify even limited investments.
Poor quality programmes are a poor investment. Throughout both developed and
newly developing countries alike, however, social demand is driving programme
expansion and generating great financial stress. In order to establish and maintain
quality, it is prudent policy to keep programme expansion within the boundaries

of available recurrent financial support. An increasing demand for educational op-
portunity, however, will continue to mount public pressure for more educational
services of all kinds, regardless of how well they can be financially supported.
The policy time-frame is important. A great deal of policy change is what
Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith (1999) refer to as ‘secondary’, a fine-tuning of the basic
elements of an education and training system without significantly influencing its
fundamental core aspects. There is little alteration in the underlying belief struc-
ture supporting implementation and operation, in organizational structures or in the
character of programming. Secondary policy changes are relatively straightforward
and while they may encroach on vested interests, they can usually be addressed over
a relatively short time. Incremental and interactive policy perspectives tend to focus
primarily on secondary change.
Major or primary policy change, in contrast, causes people to think differently
about what they are doing, to change their beliefs and to change their ways of
working. Organizational structure and power relationships change. However, to
incorporate primary policy change requires considerable time: decades, not years
(Sabatier, 1999). In the case of TVET, the tendency is to think in time-frames that
are far too short to implement primary change. This is especially true in the case
of donor agencies. Project completion dates of four, six or eight years are estab-
lished with relatively large amounts of money infused at the beginning of the project
cycle—when it cannot be effectively used.
Successful primary policy initiatives tend to follow a pattern of incremental de-
velopment with an extended diffusion time. Investments initially are small; con-
siderable experimentation takes place; adequate organizational, management and
staff capability are built; expansion occurs after significant experience and success
(Herschbach, Hayes & Evans, 1992; Middleton & Demsky, 1988; Sabatier & Jenkins-
Smith, 1999; Weimer & Vining, 1989). Time is needed for institutional and man-
agement capabilities to mature, and for policy initiatives to become operationally
embedded within contexts that may not be highly supportive. Development cycles
of a decade or more are reasonable, and cycles of twenty to thirty years may be
required.
Promoting lasting TVET change is difficult. We have very briefly focused on
the policy environment, or context, and examined some of the attending conditions
that influence policy direction and the capacity to sustain programming. The most
successful policy initiatives are formulated by focusing on the most accomplished
TVET initiatives within the system, with policy activity incrementally extended out-
ward as more is learned about elements critical to success. Long-term goals are held
in abeyance for the achievement of more short-term, incremental objectives that
realistically can be achieved. The analyst wants to know why a particularly TVET
initiative is successful; what are the important programming elements; what are the
important constraints and factors operating in both the remote and proximate envi-
ronments; what is needed to expand policy initiatives; and what are the competing
value-driven, interest-based relationships among the diverse actors that can make or
878 D.R. Herschbach
unmake policy decisions (Korten, 1980). Sometimes, past events can be traced over
time with policy implications projected into the future.
4 The Policy Landscape
Nations vary greatly in the extent and diversity of their economies, in the character
of their political, social and institutional systems, as well as in their capacity to
support education and training interventions. The primary question policy-makers
within a country face is how best to use education and training resources to shape the
labour force along lines consonant with economic and social development policy.
Some countries have considerable policy latitude and can build and sustain extensive
education and training systems; others have to husband limited resources and have
few policy options.
The skills-formation system functions as a means through which to enrich the
quality and capacity of labour, to ameliorate social problems, and to open op-
portunity and promote greater equity. A variety of TVET policy options serving
specific purposes are available to decision-makers (Atchoarena & Delluc, 2002;
Herschbach & Campbell, 2000; Gill, Fluitman & Dar, 2000; Lauglo & Maclean,
2005). In this section, we briefly turn our attention to examining how education
and training systems contribute in diverse ways to labour-force development and
help improve lives by extending opportunity and enhancing social and economic
growth.
4.1 Higher Income, High-Skill Economies
Individual countries take very different economic and social development paths.
There are, nevertheless, common characteristics underlying the development and
use of the skills formation systems that are evident in higher income, high-skill
economies and that inform policy. An obvious policy variable is the fact that
high- and middle-income countries have considerably greater potential than do low-
income countries for implementing and sustaining TVET programmes of all types.
Conditions make it possible for high- and middle-income countries to craft a fuller
range of TVET policy options to support expanding economic growth (Ashton &
Green, 1996; Billett, 2004; Herschbach, 2000; Middleton & Demsky, 1988).
Training systems address different skill levels. TVET systems in low-income
countries tend to get trapped in craft-based and low-wage skills preparation with
skill demand largely shaped by local markets. Political and institutional histories,
resource constraints, market characteristics and low literacy and high poverty rates
make it difficult to bring about the transition to higher-value training options that
support increased economic growth levels.
In many cases, good academic preparation is good technical and vocational ed-
ucation (Ashton & Green, 1996; Prais, 1987; Pring, 2004). A solid foundation of
basic skills is required for the subsequent development of fundamental competence

in language, math, science, information technology, electronics and other abstract
technical subjects that, in turn, provide the structure for building more specialized,
advanced learning, either on or off the job. Skills formation, in whatever form that
it takes, builds a solid foundation of basic skills.
The role of the State is important. There is a strong commitment among the
political elite to build and expand upon a quality skills-development system; and
there is the political will to reorient government taxing and spending priorities.
The State plays a major role in building broadly-based political support because
of the conflicts that inevitably surround education and training. Policies for high-
skill formation require the building of strong supporting coalitions. Employers are
among the most important groups because there must be a corresponding com-
mitment to build a high-skills production system (Ashton & Green, 1996; Billett,
2004).
Investments in building quality primary education are particularly important.
Elementary education is primarily a responsibility of the State and this is where
sufficient public funding has to be directed. Quantity—that is, simply expanding
enrolments—however, is not enough without quality (Birdsall, Burns & Sabot,
1996). There is considerable international evidence to suggest that a ‘reservoir’ of
individuals with sound basic literacy and numerical skills is required for initiating
and sustaining economic growth (Ashton & Green, 1996; Birdsall & Sabot, 1996;
Kaneko, 1984; Stern, 1995; Westphal, Rhee & Pursell, 1981).
The extension of opportunity to the less privileged is particularly important and
a primary condition for creating a high-income economy (Ashton & Green, 1996;
Birdsall & Sabot, 1996). The under-educated are a drag on the economy. Both in-
come levels and economic growth increase in relation to the extension of education
and training (Lau et al., 1996). As the stock of educated individuals increases, there
is a ‘threshold’ level above which greater overall economic returns are realized ‘be-
cause the productivity of one educated worker is greater when working with other
educated workers’ (Birdsall, Burns & Sabot, 1996, p. 33). Moreover, employers
have greater incentives to opt for high-wage and high-skill forms of production
when there is an adequate supply of educated individuals to choose from: ‘The
legacy of a poorly educated workforce is a limitation on the trainability of workers,’
Ashton and Green (1996, p. 111) observe.
5 The Employer Link
The skills formation system relies on the support of employers, but this may vary
considerably within and between countries. Employers support training if it is rel-
evant to their immediate requirements. They are less interested in long-term re-
sults. Incentives from the State in the form of tax breaks, subsidies and regulations
may be required in order to get employers to take a long-term view of training.
Stability in the macro-economic and financial environment also helps to encour-
880 D.R. Herschbach
age reinvestments in technology and people. The transition to a high-skilled work

force requires clusters of innovative, high-skill work organizations with the confi-
dence to formulate appropriate product market strategies (Ashton & Green, 1996;
Freeman, 1987; Gleeson & Keep, 2004). Rational policy tools are useful to help
formulate recommendations if they are sharp enough to penetrate the complexities
of employer-based training environments. Cost data resonate with employers.
Employers rely on the education and training system for three kinds of individu-
als: (a) those who are adaptable and able to absorb training within the firm; (b) those
who bring the required skills with them; or (c) those who bring new skills into the
firm. In the case of the first category, public-supported TVET programmes need
to place enough emphasis on building a strong basic academic and broadly-based
technical skill foundation to ensure that individuals can start down the road of more
specific skill development within the firm (Ashton & Green, 1996; Herschbach,
1997; Herschbach & Kamibeppu, 2000; Prais, 1987). In the case of the second cate-
gory, strong links with employing establishments are essential in order to determine
the right ‘skill mix’, while at the same time considerable programme flexibility is
required to accommodate shifting skill requirements. It may be difficult to maintain
economies of scale and combat training obsolescence with only public institutional
forms of training. Costs tend to be high and there is little programming flexibility.
The greatest need is for individuals in the third category, however, even though
their numbers may be relatively small. Employers in developing countries in general
rely heavily on outside sources for skills acquisition and technological upgrading.
This includes individuals who have received training abroad and from foreign par-
ent companies; equipment vendors; in addition to graduates of local institutes and
universities. In the case of virtually all employers, training and the search for new
employees forms a continuous process because of turnover rates, altered technol-
ogy, or the need to realize greater cost savings and improve productivity (Ashton &
Green, 1996; Dahlman, Ross-Larson & Westphal, 1985; Herschbach, 1997).
It is understandable that employers place high value on basic education skills:
they are used by individuals in all three of the above categories. Probably the greatest
contribution to human resource development that can be made by formal TVET
institutions is the assurance of a sound grounding in academic skills and special
technical uses of academic skills. These are more appropriately learned in formal
TVET settings. Cognitive skills are especially important in the use of information
and computer-processing technology. As previously mentioned, at all skill levels,
there is a demand for individuals competent in organization, control, maintenance,
programming and technical service skills (Herschbach, 1997; Watanabe, 1996).
Large firms encounter fewer training-related problems. As suggested earlier,
large firms may want recruits from TVET institutions to have more generic technical
training and basic education skills, with the firm taking responsibility for specific
skill training once the individual is employed. This is particularly true of firms
with internal labour markets through which the individual gains promotion based
on experience and training within the firm (Ashton & Green, 1996; Dore & Sako,
1998; Herschbach & Kamibeppu, 2000; Prais, 1987; Stern, 1995).
Small and medium-sized firms encounter the most difficult training-related prob-
lems. There are few resources to plough back into training and benefits are uncertain
or are only visible in the long-term. If employees become too proficient, they may
desert the firm to seek higher paying jobs elsewhere, or even open competitive enter-
prises. There is considerable ‘poaching’ among firms. Many employers are reluctant
to train simply because they will face the choice of paying higher wages or losing
employees. The cost of training is also high because small firms cannot benefit from
economies of scale. Small firms tend also to be outside the mainstream of techno-
logical innovation and change, and this may be one way formal TVET programmes
can be the most helpful. Infusions of technology can be diffused throughout the
labour force.
Medium-sized and small firms rely on formal TVET programmes for employees
with specific skills. They want individuals who can immediately go to work with
little or no in-firm training. To be responsive, however, certain conditions must be
met. First, costs have to be low. Second, training often has to be tailored-made,
case-by-case because it has to be directly applicable to specific firms. Consid-
erable flexibility in terms of the delivery of services is required. Third, training
has to be accessible and perhaps on-site. Fourth, the burden rests with the formal
institution to initiate contacts and reach out and offer services to employers and
employees who may have little knowledge of what assistance they need or can
obtain. And fifth, often an integrated package of services is required with train-
ing conceived as part of a range of services offered to address other problems,
such as product design, marketing and product quality. Training cannot be used
effectively without these other services (Herschbach, 1997; Marsden, 1984; Singh,
2005)
There is considerable interest among international donor organizations in policy
initiatives that shift TVET activities, and thus cost, to trainees and private sector
employers (Gill, Fluitman & Dar, 2000; Johanson & Adams, 2004; Middleton,
Ziderman & Adams, 1993; Ziderman, 2003). Such initiatives have to be approached
with caution. Private firms are engaged in business to make a profit and not for social
ameliorative purposes. There may be little interest or few incentives to train for oth-
ers, especially in highly competitive local and global markets (Billett, 2004). Even
the most successful training partnership, the German dual apprenticeship system,
took decades to develop and only worked after the government forced participants
to collaborate (Johnson, 1991). This system, like others, is built on a combination
of school-based and in-firm training. The system is expensive to maintain and, al-
though costs are spread among government, trainees and participating employers,
in many countries they may be too high to sustain.
In low-income countries with the least capacity to support public TVET initia-
tives, rarely is there a sufficient number and range of firms that can provide the
quantity and level of quality skills preparation to have an appreciable impact on
labour-force development. Firms that use low-wage, outmoded forms of production
are not good sites for training and labour-force upgrading. Both public and private
TVET capacity is weak. Finally, collaborative policy environments are extremely
882 D.R. Herschbach
complex to work within and require extensive effort (Coursey, 2000; Finlay, Niven
& Young, 1998).
6 Addressing Low-Income, Informal Work
The single most important world-wide education and training policy challenge is
to help extend employment opportunities to the large numbers of individuals on
the social, political and economic fringes. Good answers are lacking. Many indi-
viduals in developed and developing countries alike are employed at jobs below
their aspirations or qualifications, cannot find meaningful work, or earn so little
that it is difficult to support basic requirements. Informal sector employment within
different countries ranges from a relatively small number of part-time and casual
workers on the fringes of formal economic activity to massive numbers of individ-
uals constituting up to 80% or 90% of the workforce. Some individuals are able to
realise relatively secure and decent livelihoods from their work activity and some
informal workers acquire job skills that enable them to make the transition into
better-paid wage-employment. The large mass of informal workers, however, lacks
skills, opportunity, social mobility, political leverage, legal protection and even the
most meagre resources. Workforce skill building, combined with initiatives to build
support networks, eliminate socio-political barriers, create legal protection, generate
resources and enhance opportunity, has the potential to alleviate poverty.
In most countries, the focus of education and training policy is on preparation for
employment in the formal economy. This is where work preparation policy initia-
tives are considered to yield the greatest return on public and private investments.
There is, however, an increasing awareness within the international education and
training community of the importance of the informal economy (Fluitman, 1989;
Garrick, 1998; Singh, 2005). In many countries, the informal sector carries the
burden of absorbing large numbers of labour-force entrants. In some countries not
only are the numbers staggering (in the hundreds of thousands), but it is difficult to
integrate economies into the global workplace without attention given to enhancing
the work competencies of that segment of the population living and working on the
edge of poverty.
TVET interventions cannot be judged by the same cost-benefit standards typi-
cally applied in rational policy studies. Good data are difficult to compile, but also
standards of economic efficiency give way to objectives of promoting opportunity
and equity. A motivating force in much of the drive to provide services is the belief
that TVET policy can be used as an instrument for the creation of a better society
through alleviating poverty, empowering individuals, promoting social justice and
extending human potential. The overriding purpose of TVET is to serve the interests
of the least-advantaged members of society through programming that helps indi-
viduals to secure decent work and live decent lives (Birdsall & Sabot, 1996; Bosch,
1998; Silvey & Elmhirst, 2003; Singh, 2005).
It may be difficult to build public policy support, however, for informal sector
education and training initiatives. If they are effective, they threaten the economic
and social positions of others. The political dimensions within the power setting
are challenging. Often there is considerable social tension generated over the use of
limited public resources (Birdsall & Sabot, 1996; Gill & Heyneman, 2000). Upper
income, elite households tend to dominate the use of public education and training
funds, with a disproportionately high amount directed to higher education. There
may be little political will to redirect public funding to programmes for the more
disadvantaged segments of the population. This is especially true in countries char-
acterized by a weak tradition of social justice, deeply ingrained class or cast lines,
substantial control by a political elite, or a high level of poverty with great disparity
in the distribution of wealth and power (Ashton & Green, 1996; Birdsall & Sabot,
1996; Garrick, 1998; Korten, 1980). The building of advocacy coalition frameworks
is a policy tool that merits consideration.
TVET policy formulation starts with an assessment of the potential of the learner
and the work environment (Overwien, 2005). This is the starting point because,
without a clear understanding of the constraints individuals are faced with, func-
tional programming cannot be developed. The high level of individual programme
tailoring that is required means that it is difficult to form large groups with needs
similar enough to require the same specific services. Economies of scale are diffi-
cult to achieve with ‘conventional’ institutional forms of TVET. Participant groups
typically are small, lack free time for extensive training, lack money and lack basic
literacy and numerical skills. In most cases, it is necessary to provide financial sup-
port to compensate for foregone wages. Training needs to be provided at convenient
times, near work, over short periods of time and focused on skills directly used.
Education and training initiatives require a considerable amount of commit-
ment and work to build local capacity and are often best carried out by non-
governmental organizations (NGOs), private voluntary organizations (PVOs) and
community groups. The administration and funding of programming through gov-
ernmental agencies involves organizational structures that are often incompatible
with the informal work environment: (a) qualification and reporting demands can-
not be met; (b) advice and services are difficult to obtain; (c) there is fear or lack
of trust in the government; (d) local centres of power are ignored; and (e) potential
counterparts are excluded from decision-making—among a number of conditions
that impede the functional usefulness of the government. Even when assistance is
channelled through NGOs and PVOs, the brokering organization still has primary
responsibility to the funding source. Procedures may over-ride purpose (Korten,
1980; Singh, 2005).
Informal workers tend to be members of extensive informal kin and peer net-
works formed within cities and often extending beyond into rural regions. A useful
policy strategy is to build local political, social and technical capacity by working
through such networks. There is a considerable difference between providing assis-
tance, however, and building capacity. In the former, pressures generated through
government or donor funding for immediate, measurable results, the number of
project cycles completed by a predetermined time and detailed programme speci-
fications stifle capacity-building in what are ill-defined, complex, changing policy
environments rife with conflict. Capacity-building requires a high level of flexibility,
experimentation and risk-taking; a willingness to face uncertainty and learning from
errors; and building a climate of mutual acceptance, understanding and co-operation
884 D.R. Herschbach
(Bosch, 1998; Korten, 1980; Singh, 2005). Incremental and interactive consensual
policy models are the most effective.
7 Low-Growth Economies
In low-growth economies there generally is a lack of the financial, material, insti-

tutional and human resources to develop strong TVET capacity. Administrative and
management support for education and training programmes are generally weak.
The lack of money and professional preparation opportunity make it difficult to re-
cruit, train and retrain enough proficient programme administrators. Investments in
strengthening management capacity generally produce good results because, with-
out this building of capacity, effective policy cannot be formulated and implemented
(Herschbach, 1997).
At the institutional level, programme implementation is also weak. It is difficult
to recruit and retain qualified instructors because of low salaries; instructional re-
sources are in short supply; curriculum development activities are restricted; and
certification and evaluation systems are lacking. There is not the capacity to exper-
iment with and adapt programmes. The unit cost of instruction tends to be higher
than in more affluent countries because of inefficiencies and low use levels. Finally,
enterprise capacity is under-developed and employment demand is usually weak.
Opportunities for collaboration with industry and business are limited, and virtually
no possibility exists for financial support from employers. For these all of these
reasons, TVET policy options are limited (Atchoarena & Delluc, 2002; Herschbach,
1997, 2000; Johanson & Adams, 2004; Middleton & Demsky, 1988).
It is not unusual in countries with low-growth economies also to have high
labour-force growth rates that outstrip the capacity to absorb new entrants, result-
ing in very high unemployment and under-employment rates and low wages (Gill,
Fluitman & Dar, 2000). High birth rates are often associated with high poverty levels
and this portends protracted social and political problems. The percentage of the age
cohort under 25 in some countries may range as high as 50% or more of the total
population. A severe job creation crisis exists now that may continue indefinitely.
As is the case in most countries, in low-growth economies there is a mix of educa-
tion and training providers, and programmes range greatly in quality and effective-
ness. Strengthening elementary education is a priority. As suggested earlier, estab-
lishing and maintaining high quality basic education through adequate investment
is a necessary condition for embarking on an economic development path towards
higher growth (Ashton & Green, 1996; Birdsall & Sabot, 1996; Westphal, Rhee
& Pursell, 1981). Investment in basic skills development enhances development
in general. If resources are restricted and a choice is necessary between providing
quality public primary education or expanding technical and vocational education,
then the investment clearly should be made in primary education.
Many low economic growth countries face eroding programme quality and lim-
ited financial resources (Gill, Fluitman & Dar, 2000; Johanson & Adams, 2004).
All forms and levels of TVET are difficult to establish and sustain without outside
help. Donor assistance, however, often tends to be too expansive and directed to
capital investments that cannot be sustained without a commitment for long-term

recurrent funding by the country in question over an extended period of years. Gov-
ernment budgets are not only inadequate but unstable, with little or no expectation
of a reliable source of sufficient funding from year to year. Low-income countries
have a great need for quality TVET programmes but, under such conditions, need
considerably exceeds capacity for sustained implementation. The establishment of
an overly expanded TVET system that cannot be adequately supported should be
avoided (Chapman & Windham, 1985; Herschbach, 2000; Middleton & Demsky,
1988).
The best policy option may be to consolidate the formal TVET system by closing
poorly functioning programmes and redirecting resources to maintaining a limited
number of quality programmes with high potential to contribute to economic expan-
sion. Programme growth only follows the demonstrated capacity to support greater
quality programming. Comprehensive support to a smaller, stronger, high-quality
TVET system may be the preferred policy option (Herschbach, 1997; Herschbach,
Hayes & Evans, 1993). The concentration of limited resources to achieve greater
quality has higher labour-market productivity returns than can be realised through
expansion in the quantity of schooling alone (Behrman, Birdsall & Kaplan, 1996).
However, this sets up a policy conflict between the objective of greater equity
through expanded opportunity (quantity) and the outcome of greater efficiency
(quality), although expanded low-quality programming in the long-run may result
in little equity.
In some countries, the performance and coverage of the education system is so
restricted (in quality and quantity) that large segments of the population do not ac-
quire even the most basic, rudimentary skills needed for job preparation and wage
employment, not to mention more specialized preparation, if even only on a limited
scale. Widespread poverty and the unequal distribution of wealth inhibit the ability
to shape a high-skills workforce and constrain educational expansion and social
development. Without the political commitment to address the problems of the less
fortunate, it is difficult to establish the growth patterns necessary for social and
economic improvement (Ashton & Green, 1996; Birdsall & Sabot, 1996).
VI.2 Research for TVET Policy Development, by Jon Lauglo
Lauglo points to questions that research could address in order to provide guid-
ance on the formulation of national development policy for TVET. The questions
are derived from what he sees as frequently ‘talked about’ issues in international
policy debate on TVET. Research is used in a wide sense—not merely ‘academic’
research—and covers a wide range of issues. Especially in the early stages of policy
formulation, research on such matters can provide relevant knowledge when major
reorganization of TVET is considered by a country.
886 D.R. Herschbach
VI.3 The Reform of Governance of Public TVET Institutions:

Comparative Experiences, by Keith Holmes
Holmes presents the main findings of an international review of the reform of public
formal TVET at national and institutional levels. In the context of globalization
and the quest for economic competitiveness, many countries have ambitious plans
for the renewal and reform of public TVET institutions. Yet, policy-makers and
managers of public TVET institutions are operating in increasingly complex en-
vironments. Holmes surveys examples of policies that aim to create a supportive
environment for decentralization and increased institutional autonomy.
VI.4 National Versus Regional Policy Dimensions of TVET,

by Peter Noonan
This chapter examines national and regional dimensions of policy for TVET, with a
primary focus on formally defined regions represented by sub-national governmen-
tal structures and their relationship with national government. A secondary focus
of Noonan’s chapter is concerned with the concept of learning regions and the role
of TVET in building human and social capital, including the relationship between
formal TVET systems and other forms of knowledge and skill acquisition, such
as community and work-based learning. A case study of Australia, which has de-
veloped a national TVET system within a federal system of government, is used
to identify how national and regional responsibilities and perspectives can be co-
ordinated and balanced.
VI.5 Planning for Education and Work: Alternatives and Issues,

by Dennis R. Herschbach
In his article, Herschbach analyses different TVET planning alternatives and high-
lights the fundamental assumptions, limitations and issues underlying their appli-
cation. He also examines measures planners are taking to address the conceptual,
methodological and technical constraints that they face in the economic, social and
political space affecting them. He also explores alternative planning approaches that
offer promising options to TVET decision-makers. These alternatives attempt to
go beyond some of the common assumptions that have traditionally driven much
of TVET planning and project a more application-guided, inclusive approach to
planning.
VI.6 South African Technikons and Policy Contestation

over Academic Drift, by Andre Kraak
The issue of academic drift, with reference to South Africa’s technikon (polytech-
nic) sector, is the focus of Kraak’s chapter. He provides a detailed account of how
post-apartheid policy development has dealt with the issue of academic drift. A
key issue in this regard has been the intense stakeholder contestation over policy,
particularly from the technikon leadership. However, the outcomes of policy imple-
mentation a decade later have been contradictory. Although the technikon sector
fought hard to retain the binary divide between technikons and universities and
their distinctive career-oriented educational provision, once faced by the threat of
merger and transformation, technikons ultimately chose to become universities of
technology rather than remain as technikons.

Reconstruction of TVET Systems since the 1980s,
by Deyu Sun, Jingwen Lu and Jun Li
To give an insight into China’s ultra-large TVET system, the authors present an
overview of the development of China’s TVET system since the 1980s. It then fo-
cuses on the roles the Chinese Government played in the reform and development of
the TVET system, and highlights the future policy actions the Chinese Government
is taking for TVET reconstruction. The chapter ends up with discussions on some
TVET problems unique in the Chinese context, as well as policy implications for
TVET policy actions.
VI.8 Some Generic Issues in TVET Management,

by George Preddey
Preddey, in the first of his two chapters, identifies and analyses nine generic issues
that are significant for the management of TVET. Six of these issues are presented
as contrasting dichotomies – for example, the implications of centralization versus
devolution for the management of TVET systems.
VI.9 An Overview of Contemporary TVET Management Practice,

by George Preddey
Expanding on these generic issues, Preddey sets out an overview of contemporary

TVET management practice with particular reference to eleven specific TVET man-
agement functions.
888 D.R. Herschbach
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Chapter VI.2
Research for TVET Policy Development1
Jon Lauglo
1 Research on TVET Policy-Making
What questions could be addressed by research (in the wide sense) in order to as-
sist the development of national policies on technical and vocational education and
training (TVET)? The specifics will depend a great deal on the national context.
However, I shall attempt to outline research questions that may have some general
relevance for what I see as current trends and issues in international policy discus-
sion on TVET.
Policy studies are a wide field that also is much concerned with the sources of
policy and the process of policy formulation. It asks in particular: ‘Who exerts
influence?’ and ‘Who benefits?’ The field also includes empirical studies on the
role that research could play and actually does play in decisions on complex social
issues.2 I shall here address a narrower set of questions with regard to TVET: What
knowledge might be useful for decisions when policy-makers weigh options and
choose among them?
I do not start from a social-engineering perspective that would reduce complex
policy choices to matters of technocratic expertise guided by ‘science’. Research
has a more limited part to play and cannot replace the need for ‘judgement’ in
the face of much uncertainty. Nor can it replace constraints on what options are
politically acceptable. Nor can it tell us what values are most important as lodestars
for policy. But research can play a role in reducing the range of uncertainty and
in building stronger support for some options while weakening the arguments for
others. Once decisions are taken and policy is being implemented, research can
also play a role in adjusting the course by evaluating implementation and assessing
the impact.
I shall inevitably point to ‘questions for research’ for which answers are often
wanting. As with much else in social science, the answers which exist in some
studies are not definitive, but evolving, and there are areas of research in which
controversies are common, with research used in support of arguments on ‘both
sides’. A prime example is policies that give more play to the market mechanism
in education. But in any country where policy-makers are considering the need for
radical restructuring of TVET, there is a clear need for policy-making to be informed

892 J. Lauglo
by research on these matters, and such research should also show cognizance of the
controversies which exist.
It is recognized that, if an updated ‘state-of-the-art’ assessment is requested for
policy formulation on TVET, it may be beyond the capacity of the researchers
in any one country quickly to address the wide range of issues presented below.
But the agenda of issues and questions is not beyond the capacity of what inter-
national agencies can address, especially with select regard to countries that are
trying out new institutional models. These agencies should do more to review re-
search on what are items of interest for the global agenda, to commission studies
in countries trying out innovations in TVET and support international networks of
research.
In addition to the questions that will be raised below, which mostly concern
addressing relationships between TVET, resource requirements and results, policy
development in any country will need basic descriptive statistics about the location
and capacity of different types of TVET provision. These are usually available for
public provisions of training (but often not for private provisions and industry-based
training).
2 Terms
I use research in a broad sense to include enquiry that is empirical and systematic.
Empirical research means to me a deliberately staged confrontation with sources
of information. Systematic research refers to procedures that seek information in a
planned way and which use techniques to guard against error. Enquiry simply means
that one seeks to find out what is unknown. Research needs a rationale to give it a
clear focus and to provide reasons why this focus is important. If research is to be
policy relevant, its focus and rationale must address matters which are relevant for
policy decisions.
TVET refers to deliberate interventions to bring about learning which would
make people more productive (or simply adequately productive) in designated areas
of economic activity (e.g. economic sectors, occupations, specific work tasks). This
is the distinctive purpose of TVET. However, TVET will also have other purposes
which are not unique and also apply to other forms of education, e.g. knowledge,
skills, insights and mindsets which are deemed to be generally valuable for the
learners, not only in designated areas of economic activity. Such ‘other’ aims will be
especially pertinent for longer and full-time courses for youth—in contrast to short
and episodic training events (e.g. for persons already at work in the occupations
concerned). TVET also needs to be conducted according to general social norms
about how learners and people in general are to be treated by institutions, e.g. they
shall be treated with respect. Thus ‘work productivity’ is not the only aim and con-
cern of TVET, but it is its distinctive objective which sets it apart from other forms
of education and training.3
VI.2 Research for TVET Policy Development 893
There are also learning outcomes that may not be stressed in TVET any more
than in programmes of general education but which, nonetheless, are of great eco-
nomic importance (e.g. a literate and numerate workforce, readiness to take respon-
sibility and initiative, and to learn new tasks). Thus, there is no need to assume
that TVET is the only form of education which matters for performance in the
workplace. In fact, in a rapidly changing society and economy, general education
will, of course, be very important across economic sectors and for other important
purposes than economic production; and there may be mindsets and norms of great
importance for productivity, which are usually acquired in other socialization arenas
than schools and training centres (e.g. entrepreneurship, drive, reliability, honesty,
endurance, etc.).
Policy refers to a set of relatively stable goals and choices of strategy to reach
these goals over a considerable period of time. For national policies for TVET, the
key goal will be improved productivity of the workforce. Holistic TVET policies
will necessarily be concerned with a wide range of target groups: not only youth
still in school (who typically lack much work experience outside their homes), but
also people who are already employed and who need training on the job (or for
other jobs), and those who are trying to become self-employed. In addition, certain
groups are typically identified for special policy attention on equity grounds, e.g. the
unemployed, the poorest, the disabled, as well as women and girls, and under-served
ethnic groups. In particular, ‘regional equity’ is generally a driving force in politics.
In addition, equity concerns focused on especially vulnerable groups often have
a geographical focus, e.g. localities suffering a sharp drop in employment due to
the restructuring of industry. However, equity-driven aspects of TVET policies also
need to be directed at labour-market demand, for unless TVET leads to improved
earnings for the learners there is no equity gain either. The wide range of target
groups for TVET in any society means that national policies cannot be confined to
TVET for youth who are still in school.
Policy has stages: diagnosis of problems and needs for intervention at an early
stage of policy preparation; formulation of policy; and follow-up in order to carry
out the necessary adjustments once policy is in place. The type of questions
suggested below are thought to be appropriate at the early stage in preparing
and formulating TVET policy, and when radical overhaul of policy is being
considered.
It is recognized that, even if radical restructuring of TVET is planned, only some
of these questions may relate to alternatives that are considered in any one country.
In some countries there has been experimentation with trying out models in some
regions or localities that radically depart from the mainstream system. In such cases,
policy formulation for the entire country can obviously benefit from evaluations of
such experimentation. But, generally, there will be a need to look at international
experience. Some of the questions suggested have been addressed in comparative
analysis carried out under the aegis of international agencies involved with TVET
(e.g. the ILO and some international development banks). But for many issues, there
is still much basic evaluative research to be done before there is much ‘experience’
to tap into.4
894 J. Lauglo
3 Labour-Market Monitoring and Forecasting
A key element in TVET development is to receive feedback from the labour market
in order to respond to market demand for skilled work. This is especially impor-
tant for publicly provided pre-employment training; it is probably less crucial for
private provisions that are obliged to respond to demand directly in order to attract
trainees;5 and still less crucial for on-the-job training which already takes place in
close conjunction with employment.
3.1 What Will Be the Future Requirements?
Especially in market economies where labour is not assigned to public employ-

ment, and where firms need to adjust their own demand for labour in order to
break even financially in changing market circumstances, conventional forecasting
of labour-market demand is notoriously inaccurate (certainly long term, but even in
the medium term). Countries have for some time been abandoning ‘old style’ man-
power planning and are instead concentrating on mechanisms that give signals about
current trends. However, under conditions of rapid globalization and technological
change, ‘recent trends’ will not suffice as signals for designing TVET for the future.
Especially in countries that are not on the receiving end of the international diffusion
of technology and globalized trade, policy-making for TVET needs to be informed
about how technology, which currently is ‘mainstream’ in a given economic sec-
tor in the country, may be transformed by innovation already being diffused from
technological nodes in other countries. Research has a role to play in attempting to
forecast implications for TVET—and for general education—based on changes in
technology and in international patterns of trade that are in ‘the pipeline’. Since
such forecasting will be fraught with uncertainty, it is better thought of as involving
scenarios rather than clear predictions.
3.2 Labour-Market Observatories
Some countries have experimented with ‘labour-market observatories’ (there are

several African examples). Common features of the intended function of such obser-
vatories are that: (a) they are supposed to collate statistics on changes in the labour
market; (b) they conduct their own special surveys to supplement such statistics
with the aim of providing on-going feedback to TVET at national, regional and
local levels so that TVET can be adjusted as to quantity and content; and (c) they
produce an ‘output’ that takes account of change in the labour market. What are the
lessons learned, internationally, from such attempts? Do they succeed in producing
sufficiently updated and sufficiently local information about labour-market absorp-
tion of trainees from different training backgrounds? Do they provide information
about trends in vacancies in different specialities? Can they, from the surveys they
carry out, also be made to provide feedback as to the actual uses of skills learned?
Does the information reach decision-makers on curriculum and expansion of train-
ing specialties? Is the information of any use to them? Do they actually use the
information to adjust the supply of trainees?
3.3 Panels of Employers
Some countries (e.g. Denmark) have abandoned reliance on statistics and surveys
as a main source of guidance about labour-market demand, and set up local panels
of employers from the concerned industry sectors to give guidance. What are the
lessons learned from experience with the use of local or regional panels?
4 Indicators of Performance
Performance indicators of the kind set out below are important in several regards: (a)
taking stock of one’s existing TVET provisions that new policy will seek to improve
upon; (b) assessment of strengths and weaknesses of institutional models that exist
in other countries and which may be of interest in a new policy in one’s own country;
and (c) monitoring the performance of models brought in by new TVET policy.
4.1 ‘External’ and ‘Internal’ Effectiveness
What indicators are there of the external effectiveness of TVET? For example, does
it improve the chances of finding work? Does it lead to ‘relevant work’? Does it lead
to added income for trainees? Apart from collating existing information from within
the country in order to assess such questions, research can address international
experience with attempts to institutionalize indicators that address such questions.
Are there gains from seeking to institutionalize tracer studies (as in Mauritius)? Is
the information actually used?
A similar set of questions can be asked about internal effectiveness. Statistics on
pass-rates or marks achieved in exams are typically available. But these do not really
say much about what is learned—which may be termed the internal effectiveness of
TVET. Since the 1960s a network of collaborating countries has emerged (e.g. IEA,
PISA) to test children and youth in certain general education skill areas. Though
international standards of TVET do exist (e.g. ISCO—there are even international
TVET Olympics!), so far there is no similar network of collaborating countries with
regard to TVET. Meanwhile, there are grounds in any country for research to address
the question: What is actually learned in TVET? With the increased use of criterion-
referenced assessment (to ‘pass’ it takes demonstrated mastery of specified tasks),
it should be possible to check actual mastery of tasks.
896 J. Lauglo
4.2 Equity
Equity is especially problematic for TVET. How equitable is recruitment to TVET

from under-served groups? Do new policies achieve an improvement in this regard?
(For example, do they reach the poor, underserved minorities, women and girls?)
The geographical inequality of economic dynamism presents special problems for
TVET in locations that are remote from the nodes of that dynamism. The more
TVET policy stresses the need to reach out and involve ‘local industry’, the more
TVET provisions become embedded in geographical economic inequality. Private
provisions will typically add to that inequality, for they will be strongly concentrated
in locations with high local demand for skilled labour. So, there is a case for the
government to act in offsetting the imbalances that are created by the earmarking of
special resources for TVET catering to ‘underserved’ locations and groups. How-
ever, such provision will often lack good and direct local connections with industry.
Do their trainees suffer problems finding jobs? Are there examples of initiatives
taken to ease such problems? What do such initiatives achieve?
4.3 Cost
Part of policy preparation is cost analysis. Annual costs of established TVET in-
stitutions are usually available, but surprisingly cost analysis of different training
specialties within the same institution are often lacking and, even more surprisingly,
cost estimates often do not seek to produce combined costs of recurrent expenses
and annual capital expenses. How can we improve the accuracy of cost information?
How can we ensure that cost information is used?
4.4 Efficiency
A series of ‘internal efficiency’ questions relates to the flow of students or trainees
involved in courses. Concerning TVET, this would especially apply to longer
courses that are ‘pre-employment’ rather than to short ‘training events’ and training
within industry itself. Questions include: What are course completion rates, and
drop-out rates in different types of courses? Other indicators (regrettably rarely
available) are capacity utilization of facilities and of available human
resources.
Cost/benefit analysis is sometimes attempted for TVET (usually internal rate-of-
return estimates) in order to estimate what may be termed external efficiency. It is a
method that has been both widely espoused and—especially as a means of estimat-
ing cost/benefit to society rather than merely to private persons—widely criticized.
Research has a role in both critically assessing its potential and limitations, and in
applying such analysis.
5 ‘New Models’ for TVET Systems
In any country open to radical reform of TVET, policy can be usefully informed
by comparative research on experience with new models that have been tried out
in other countries. Some such new models include national training authorities, na-
tional training funds and national qualifications frameworks. For all these models,
which have been in vogue internationally in recent years, there is a need to system-
atize existing findings and generate new ones on such questions as: How do such
policies work in practice? What works well? What are the shortcomings? What
corrective action has been tried? Across all these questions are further dimensions
of implementation, cost, outcomes and impact.
5.1 National Training Authorities
Some countries have established national training authorities apart from regular gov-
ernment ministries. Typically, they have control of resources that different providers
(including government ministries) can apply to for funding, at the same time as they
are supposed to exercise strategic planning and quality assurance purposes of TVET.
They also typically have governing boards with strong representation directly from
industry. What is the international experience with such structures (in countries like
Chile, South Africa, Tanzania and the United Kingdom)? What are lessons learned
from training authorities?
5.2 Training Funds
A number of countries have set up training funds with diverse sources of financing.
Typically, there are contributions directly from industry (from earmarked payroll
levies), from the government and in poorer countries also from external financing
agencies. These funds are typically controlled by national training boards in which
there is strong industrial representation. Often they are managed in close conjunc-
tion with national training authorities. Often industry itself can apply to such funds
for finance for some of its internal training activity. What has the international ex-
perience been with training funds?
5.3 National Qualifications Frameworks
A number of countries have developed national qualifications frameworks, which

typically seek to define the concrete skill requirements (standards) for specified oc-
cupations, to certify the level of skills taught in TVET courses in relation to such
requirements, to define paths of progression in such courses so that all forms of
TVET fit into a single unified framework, and to administer ways of certifying skill
898 J. Lauglo
levels of individual persons when skills are informally acquired. Examples include
Australia, Scotland, South Africa and many others. What are the lessons learned
from national qualifications frameworks?
6 Decentralization
There has been an international trend to promote decentralization of decision-
making in education. It is, of course, not ideologically ‘neutral’. Different variants
connect differently to influential ideas about how power and authority should be
distributed in a ‘good’ society. There are also rationales connected with concerns
about efficiency—that decentralization is a means of making better use of scarce re-
sources, of motivating people and of generally enabling institutions to better achieve
their objectives (see, for example, Watson, 1996; Chapman et al., 1996).
There is the ‘efficiency’ argument that, giving more power to each institution and
involving local industry more in its governance, is a means of making TVET more
locally responsive to industry and thus ensuring an improved match between what is
taught and what is demanded by the labour market. There is also the argument that
public institutions can diversify their sources of financing and raise more funds by
being given permission to raise local finance directly (e.g. ‘selling’ short courses to
local industry) and to decide how such extra income should be used. Such an empha-
sis on ‘more local decisions’ and more local involvement of external ‘stakeholders’
in decisions at the local level typically go with recommendations for change in the
way that TVET is financed. One approach is to develop indicators of institutional
performance and to tie public finance to such indicators to a greater extent than in
the past. Another approach is to give more influence to market forces over public
institutions (for example, leaving institutions to recruit trainees in competition with
others, without regard to fixed catchment areas).
In countries with TVET tightly regulated by public bureaucracies and which are
considering moves towards some form of decentralization, the following questions
can be usefully addressed by research: What are some of the institutional models of
more decentralized operations that exist today? What are the lessons learned from
these operations?
7 Alternative Models of Financing

There is currently discussion about the need for more diversified sources of financ-
ing in order to cope with high unit costs and limitations on public finance. In public
institutions, this typically would mean moving from full (or nearly full) reliance on
ministerial budgets to: (a) charging fees (or higher fees) to the trainees; (b) ‘selling
short courses’ to industry; (c) selling products produced within TVET institutions
(e.g. ‘training with production’); and (d) setting up alternative channels of external
funding by earmarked fiscal measures on the sector concerned (e.g. payroll tax).
What is the experience from the use of such alternative or supplementary sources of
financing?
8 Encouraging Private Provisions
In the international policy debate on TVET, there are always arguments that national
governments should take increased ‘interest’ in the role played by private providers
of TVET. The extent of private provision varies greatly from one country to another,
but in some countries private institutions are a major supplier of TVET, especially
in business/commerce related skills and in information and communications tech-
nologies (ICTs).
An issue for policy is how the government should relate to the private sector. The
alternatives typically range from: (a) ‘regulate in order to ensure minimum stan-
dards’; to (b) encourage them as a supplement to public provisions; to (c) viewing
public provisions as a supplement to private provisions and plan public provisions
accordingly to fit around private provisions; to (d) set up accreditation, quality assur-
ance and funding provisions that put private provisions on a ‘level playing field’ in
competition with those that are publicly owned. Frequently, statistical information
about privately provided TVET is weak. Even if the minimalist option of (a) above
is chosen as government policy, there is usually a need to design mechanisms for
improved information on private provisions. Are there any lessons learned from
other countries on how best to achieve such improvement? With more ‘favourable’
policy options, especially if the government considers using public funds in sup-
port of private provisions, the need for information will be further increased. The
private/public policy issue is ideologically fraught and therefore typically subject to
much controversy. What are the controversies? Are there lessons to be learned from
countries that have introduced various financing schemes? For example, what is the
experience with ‘vouchers’ that a target group of trainees can ‘cash in’ at any ac-
credited TVET provider (private or public)? How do they handle quality assurance
and monitoring of private providers? What are the equity consequences of support
to private provisions? Are private institutions any more efficient than public ones?
9 Schemes to Make Industry Carry Out More Training
A variety of interventions have been tried to make industry carry out more training
than it does when left to its own devices (legislation ‘requiring’ them to train—
Republic of Korea; tax credits for training—Chile; funding by competitive appli-
cation from national training funds or from industry specific funds). What are the
lessons learned from different interventions? One common experience is that it tends
to be large firms that make most use of available incentives, and that more is used on
training staff at high levels than the schemes intended. Some countries have intro-
duced changes to induce more small firms to make use of such incentives, and some
900 J. Lauglo
(at least one—Chile) have adjusted funding to stimulate more training of production
workers with less focus on management training. What is the experience with such
schemes?
10 Modularization of the Curriculum
In some countries, there has been a switch in TVET curriculum design away from
‘long courses’ with assessment of learners at the end, to programmes consisting
of sequences of short courses (modules) with assessment at the end of each mod-
ule (typically ‘criterion based’) and with more flexibility for trainees to follow se-
quences tailored to their particular requirements (and pace of progress). This ap-
proach is also advocated as a means allowing trainees to more easily ‘interrupt’ and
later ‘return to’ training. What has been the experience of such modular models?
Some of the issues are: Is there improved learning? Is ‘flexibility’ made use of?
Does it lead to excessive fragmentation? Or ‘assessment overload’?
11 Human Resource Development
Qualified TVET human resources are in chronic short supply in many countries. At
the most basic level, there is the problem of how best to institutionalize initial in-
structor training and how best to recruit instructor-trainees to conduct such training.
Small countries frequently have problems designing provisions for instructor train-
ing in the many vocational specialities in such a way as to avoid under-utilization
of training capacity. Large and small systems have problems ensuring that the peda-
gogy part of such training will be sufficiently relevant for the practicalities of skills
teaching in the concerned vocational specialty. There is also the problem of ensuring
recruitment of prospective instructors who have sufficient work experience from
relevant industries and, if such applicants are available, how to screen out those who
are the rejects from industry. If industry is booming, there is the problem of retaining
good TVET staff who may be tempted by frequently higher pay in the occupations
they are preparing others for. Throughout the world there is a shortage of in-service
staff development opportunity for instructors so as to keep abreast of technological
changes. How do ‘other’ countries cope with human resource problems for TVET?
Are there schemes which seem to improve the training part of these problems? What
are workable and affordable incentive schemes to prevent loss of the best staff to
industry?
12 Coping with Management Complexity

A number of the changes mentioned earlier (e.g. decentralization of decisions on
what to teach and use of resources, competing with other training providers, di-
versifying sources of finance, involving local industry in boards of management)

would add complexity to the management task of TVET at local institutional level.
Does management of TVET institutions rise to the task of coping with the increased
complexity of their management task? How do they cope with ‘complexity over-
load’?
13 Dual Systems of Basic TVET
There is internationally much admiration for systems of basic TVET that are ‘dual’
in the sense of being partly based in training institutions external to industry (often
public institutions, but they could also be private) and partly in industry itself. Some
systems are dual only in an ‘embryonic sense’ in that the industry-based part is
but a minor part typically aiming at ‘work experience’ in the occupation concerned
without much specification of a schedule of skills to be learned (e.g. an ‘attach-
ment’). Fully-fledged dual systems (e.g. Germany, Switzerland, Austria) typically
make industry the main arena for training, with external institutional education and
training as a concurrent supplement—or in some countries (Denmark, Norway) a
foundation period before the apprenticeship in industry commences. Research has a
clear role to play in contributing to that assessment. What has worked well and what
has not worked so well? Research can also summarize the international experience
with attempts to develop and expand dual systems under different socio-economic
circumstances.
14 Low Dosage TVET in Mainstream Secondary Schools
In the mainstream of secondary education, some countries have introduced voca-

tional or practical subjects as a minor portion of the total curriculum load undertaken
by students. Sometimes such curricula are justified by the hope that such ‘low-
dosage TVET’ will ease the transition of youth into those occupations or sectors
for which practical subjects are ‘relevant’ and contribute to productivity there. Is
that a realistic goal for such mildly ‘vocationalized’ secondary education? What
are the cost implications?6
15 TVET for Illiterate and Semi-Literate Learners
Many countries have sections of the adult population who are illiterate or whose
literacy (and numeracy) skills are too rudimentary for any fluent reading or written
expression. Programmes responding to demand for TVET from such groups will
usually be self-targeted upon people living in great poverty. In most countries, such
people are disproportionately women. Often they are minorities who are gener-
ally under-served with education and other social services. Therefore, TVET pro-
902 J. Lauglo
grammes of this kind will usually have to serve strong equity goals as well. There
is a case for combining such TVET with the teaching of basic literacy and numer-
acy skills. Similarly, in adult literacy programmes, there is invariably a demand for
skills that are directly useful for ‘income generation’. With a focus on Sub-Saharan
African experience, attempts have begun to summarize the international record of
the cost, implementation and impact of such combined ‘TVET and literacy’ pro-
grammes (Oxenham et al., 2002). Two recent books in the UNESCO-UNEVOC
series of publications on TVET (Haan, 2006; Singh, 2005) address the related issue
of TVET in the informal economy. More evaluative work is needed to provide more
strongly founded ‘lessons’ on what can be drawn from current documentation—both
within countries and internationally.
16 Keeping Abreast of Technology
In many countries, there is a strong concern to ensure that TVET keeps abreast of
technological change in industry. One would expect there to be much learning within
industry itself, both informal learning and organized interventions around the intro-
duction of new technology. One would also expect that training is often part of the
package provided by the supplier when new technology is purchased by a firm. One
would also expect firms to ‘buy in’ such TVET from private trainers or consulting
firms. The question is whether the government, or sectoral industry associations,
can usefully intervene more in order to support these processes. Research can have
a role to play in assessing the experience of countries that are known for conducting
a great deal of training within industry (e.g. quality circles and certification of skill
levels in Japanese industry).
For institutionalized training providers outside of firms, the problems of keeping
abreast of technology are especially severe. One would think that a good foundation
in science and mathematics is helpful for learning new technology. How adequate
is the present educational foundation which youth bring when they enter TVET, and
does TVET pay enough attention to such knowledge and skills?
The more capital intensive training is, the more expensive it is to ‘retool’ in order
to keep abreast. Placements in ‘cutting edge’ industry (not only for trainees but also
for their teachers) are a long recommended recipe. But locally available industry is
not always ‘cutting edge’. There is a role for research to take stock of experience
with new approaches within a large country like China, and also to look abroad at
what others have achieved. For example, how far can ICTs be a useful means of
communication about new technology for TVET? What incentives can public TVET
be given for keeping up with technology?
17 Following Up Policy
The range of questions for research will naturally be much narrower when the focus
is on follow-up to new TVET policy. Looking to ‘alternative models’ in order to
widen the range of options for decision-makers will be much less important. But
evaluations of different organizational models can still be on the agenda when the
decision has been to pursue more than one strategy concurrently, or simply to pilot
a new form of TVET alongside the continued existence of previously dominant
forms. Wise policies allow for a period when it is expected that new models will
need to be adjusted (institutionally complex new forms of TVET are very rarely
abandoned). Evaluations (in this chapter a part of ‘research’) are important for giv-
ing feedback that helps inform such decisions to ‘adjust’ implementation. There
will also be a clear need to monitor resource requirements, since in any complex
reforms of TVET structures these are among the ‘loosest’ parts of the informa-
tion base (usually the cost is underestimated but since implementation tends to be
slower than expected, the ‘higher’ total costs may well be spread over a longer pe-
riod than initially assumed, if the intended full-scale of implementation is achieved
in the end). A badly neglected question for evaluative research on TVET policies
involving complex reforms is impact. For example, does a ‘new style’ TVET in
fact improve the extent to which the skills acquired are put productively to use in
‘relevant’ work? How are equity concerns accommodated? One does not need to
be a cynic to note that there is often some risk in putting that question to empirical
tests. Governments in any event seem uninterested in commissioning research on
that question.
18 A Stronger Research Base is Needed

Research on TVET is quite limited in most countries. Few countries have specialist
professional networks and few have journals, ICT-based meeting places or other
means of supporting the development of professional ‘nodes’ on TVET. Such re-
search as exists is typically concerned with pedagogy and curricula, because it tends
to be an outgrowth of TVET teacher education. To the extent that there is research
and review work carried out on the kind of policy issues touched upon here, it tends
to be commissioned by international agencies (ILO, UNESCO-UNEVOC, interna-
tional development banks, a few bilateral development agencies). What is charac-
teristic of that work is that it is performed under great time pressure. If national case
studies feed into it, they have to rely on existing documentation, which is typically
meagre. Thus, it is review work rather than research on primary data. Primary data
collection is confined to visits to a few institutions and interviews carried out with
persons in positions of responsibility. A major present deficiency is the sparseness
of research carried out with sufficient resources and time in order to collect good
primary data.
Notes
1. This paper is a revised version of a manuscript first prepared by invitation from the Government
of the People’s Republic of China through Tianjin University, and with sponsorship by the
904 J. Lauglo
German agency InWent (the Magdeburg Office). It was presented at an international conference
at Tianjin, China, held on 9–10 December 2005, which was organized in partnership between
Tianjin University, InWent, and UNESCO-UNEVOC.
2. There is literature on this point. I would recommend Lindblom (2000) as an introduction to that
literature.
3. I see ‘education’ as all forms of deliberate interventions designed to bring about learning; and
‘training’ as interventions specifically aimed to achieve mastery of performance in specified
roles or tasks. There is, however, also in the Western tradition of educational philosophy an
original concept of ‘education’ that refers to enabling persons to ‘realize their potential’ across
a wide range of valued ‘human development’ issues (e.g. ideas of a ‘well-rounded education’).
4. It is beyond the scope of this paper to attempt a review of research that exists on all these issues.
A recent attempt with regard to Sub-Saharan Africa covered a number of these questions but
found a lamentably weak knowledge base on such key issues as cost analysis, external effec-
tiveness of TVET, and comparison of performance of private and public providers (Johanson &
Adams, 2004). Background studies for that report can be found on: <web.worldbank.org/WBS
ITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTSOCIALPROTECTION/EXTLM/0,contentMDK:20223878∼
pagePK:148956∼piPK:216618∼theSitePK:390615,00.html>
5. For private provision, this too can be problematic. Those who are willing to pay the fees that
private providers pay are not always very realistic about the labour-market opportunities that
training will actually lead to.
6. A recent book by Lauglo and Maclean (2005) addresses this long-standing controversy in de-
velopment planning.
References
Chapman, J. et al., eds. 1996. The reconstruction of education: quality, equality and control in
education. London: Cassell.
Sub-Saharan Africa. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer. (UNESCO-UNEVOC series on TVET,
vol. 3.)
World Bank.
Lauglo, J.; Maclean, R., eds. 2005. Vocationalisation of secondary education revisited. Dordrecht,
Netherlands: Springer. (UNESCO-UNEVOC series on TVET, vol. 1.)
Lindblom, C.E. 2000. Inquiry and change: the troubled attempt to understand and change society.
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Oxenham, J. et al. 2002. Skills and literacy training for better livelihoods. Washington, DC: World
Bank. (Africa human development working paper series.)
Singh, M., ed. 2005. Meeting basic learning needs in the informal sector: integrating education
and training for decent work, empowerment and citizenship. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.
(UNESCO-UNEVOC series on TVET, vol. 2.).
Watson, K., ed. 1996. Power and responsibility. Vol. 3: Educational dilemmas: debate and diver-
sity. London: Cassell.
Chapter VI.3
The Reform and Governance of Public TVET
Institutions: Comparative Experiences1
Keith Holmes
1 Introduction
Wide-ranging reforms of the public sector, including education, are currently un-
derway in many States. In education, the primary goals of reform are generally to
increase the efficiency, effectiveness, relevance and responsiveness of systems and
institutions. Governments are pursuing various strategies in pursuit of these goals
and in many countries trends towards decentralization, school-based management
and greater institutional autonomy can be observed.
With rapid technological advances, especially in information and communica-
tion, many countries are seeking to access the supposed benefits of the ‘knowledge
economy’. Consequently, technical and vocational education and training (TVET)
has an increasingly important role to play. Countries know that to be economically
competitive and to retain and attract investment, they must acquire and develop ap-
propriate knowledge, skills and values. Furthermore, they are aware that policies
for skills development must meet the needs and expectations of learners, local em-
ployers and wider society. This means reforming TVET, re-orientating institutions
towards their clients and promoting lifelong learning.
Many governments have identified the need to increase efficiency in a sub-sector
where unit costs are by nature relatively high. Close attention to the delivery of
public training and transformations at the institutional level are justified because
of the need for governments to better manage public funds and because of the
strategic potential of these institutions. In this policy context, three broad questions
emerge:
1. How can governments create a supportive environment for the reform of public
TVET institutions?
2. To what extent are public TVET institutions diversifying their activities, success-
fully merging and forming clusters?
3. What are the implications of these transformations for the governance of public
TVET institutions and the policy process?
Trends towards decentralization generate multiple issues for governments and insti-
tutions alike. Some of these are similar to the issues arising from the decentralization

906 K. Holmes
of general education systems. Others, such as the relationships between institutions,

local employers, educational institutions and the wider community are more specific
to TVET.
There are three important differences between the challenges facing general ed-
ucation and TVET. Firstly, it is worth noting that conceptually, administratively and
politically, TVET is more complex than general education. TVET systems and insti-
tutions are often expected to pursue competing educational purposes and serve com-
peting interests. As well as training for work, they are also expected to equip learners
with basic literacy and numeracy skills, support personal and social development
and offer routes into higher education. In many countries TVET overlaps rather
awkwardly with the school systems and higher education systems. Articulation with
other parts of the education system and the labour market is often hampered by the
fact that ministries of education often share responsibility for TVET policy with
ministries of labour and/or employment.
Secondly, partly arising from the complexities described above, TVET systems
and institutions have, arguably, been in crisis for many years. For political and
administrative reasons, TVET policy and public institutions have experienced rel-
ative neglect. In low-income countries, TVET has been relatively neglected by
funding agencies that have preferred to focus on general education. Many pub-
lic TVET institutions do not yet have the leadership, management and planning
capacities needed to govern themselves effectively. In addition, public TVET in-
stitutions are increasingly in competition for students and resources with private
providers.
Thirdly, as countries seek to adjust to changes in the global economy, and to im-
prove their economic competitiveness, there has been a rapid growth of international
interest in the potential of TVET to help countries realise their development goals.
Many countries are working towards a more integrated approach to education, train-
ing and employment. TVET institutions are located at the dynamic interface of
labour-market restructuring and educational reform and in many places their roles,
missions and activities are undergoing profound transformations.
Whilst all countries are striving for economic competitiveness, there are, nev-
ertheless, significant differences in the issues they encounter in relation to TVET
reform. Employers in advanced industrialized societies are generally demanding
skills for the rapidly changing ‘high-skills’ workplace, whereas many low-income
countries remain largely dependent upon agriculture and the export of raw mate-
rials. There are also profound contextual social and cultural differences between
countries. Indeed, the concept of skills formation depends significantly upon the
social and cultural context in question (Tikly et al., 2003, p. 5). Whilst agricultural
skills are essential, most countries are experiencing an increase in service sector
employment and a growing demand for information and knowledge skills in urban
areas. High-income and low-income countries have therefore seen a measure of
convergence in TVET policy in recent years. Although the scope of this chapter is
limited to public formal TVET, it is recognized that apprenticeships and employer
training may be more appropriate for many low-income countries than public for-
mal TVET.
VI.3 The Reform and Governance of Public TVET Institutions 907
2 Governmental Reforms
Governmental reforms include, for example, national policies, legislation, regula-

tions and mechanisms designed to support decentralization and institutional auton-
omy and the rationalization of resources. These also include central initiatives to
steer institutional-level reforms through changing patterns of governance.
2.1 Macro-Policy Visions for the Institutional Environment
Macro-policy ‘visions’ for the institutional environment significantly affect how

local TVET institutions operate and the way in which they are managed. Many
governments advocate partnerships between stakeholders as a preferred modality
for policy-making. This is expressed through extensive public consultations and, in
some cases, the creation of national training authorities.
In Australia, for example, TVET reform is taking place within the macro-policy
objective of workforce improvement and developing a culture of lifelong learning.
The consultative process of producing national policy statements led to widespread
consensus about the objectives for technical and further education (TAFE). The
Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) Ministerial Council developed the
following mission statement:
To ensure that the skills of the Australian labour force are sufficient to support internation-
ally competitive commerce and industry and to provide individuals with opportunities to
optimise their potential (ANTA, 1998, p. 1).
Policy-makers, civil servants, managers, lecturers, students, employers and other

stakeholders invariably hold different views about the direction and purposes of
TVET reform, which makes it, unavoidably, a political process. These stakeholders
may make different assessments of the extent to which governments are creating
a supportive environment for TVET reform. There are even situations where gov-
ernments pursue seemingly opposite reform strategies. For some governments, a
supportive environment might mean more State regulation and monitoring. Other
governments have greater faith in market mechanisms.
This point is illustrated by England’s Common Inspection Framework for in-
specting post-16 education and training institutions, which could be regarded as
either a form of support for raising standards and reform, or as a restraining fac-
tor on local responsiveness and innovation in the sector. Inspectors themselves are
often faced with the difficult task of both criticizing and supporting institutions.
Performance monitoring and evaluation may foster innovation in some institutional
settings and stifle it in others.
After the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act, TVET institutional devel-
opment was to a considerable extent left to market forces.2 However, the mid-
1990s saw a shift from the highly competitive institutional environment created
by the Conservative Thatcher governments to the seemingly more collaborative,
908 K. Holmes
consultative approach of Blair’s Labour government. The discussion document Suc-

cess for all is critical of a:
culture of decision-making within many colleges and other providers, which has—under-
standably—been reactive to funding opportunities rather than based on a clear analysis of
the organization’s distinctive mission and strengths (United Kingdom. DfES, 2002, p. 5).
Over time, a more centrally co-ordinated approach to TVET policy has developed.
The 2006 White Paper, Further education: raising skills, improving life changes
describes a strong central vision that ‘puts learners and employers in the driving seat
in determining what is funded and how services are delivered’ (United Kingdom.
DfES, 2006, p. 7). England’s Learning and Skills Council states that it is:
committed to the transformation of our relationship with colleges and training providers
from one based on contracting, monitoring and reconciliation, to one based on principles of
planning, dialogue, partnership and trust (Learning and Skills Council, 2005, p. 1).
More dialogue, especially with employers, is intended to ensure greater local rele-
vance and responsiveness to changing skill requirements. Similarly, Australia, the
Netherlands and South Africa, among other countries, are developing strong central
visions for locally responsive institutions.
A key policy objective in many countries is that of lowering barriers between
education and work. In the Netherlands, central umbrella bodies for employers and
unions were given a greater role in policy development at sector level and, at the
same time, local level actors such as colleges and enterprises were given greater
room for manoeuvre (OECD, 1994, p. 43).
Governments have various options regarding the roles and mandates of TVET
institutions, their purposes and their design. Some countries, such as South Africa
and Australia, appear to favour diverse institutions over specialized institutions.
Research by the Australian National Centre for Vocational Education Research
(NCVER) suggests that ‘learners have a very diverse set of needs. Diversity, choice
and VET tailored to meeting vastly different individual needs will be the key
to engaging and re-engaging people in continuous skilling and lifelong learning’
(Robinson, 2000, p. 39).
Other countries, including England and France, are developing specialized insti-
tutions tailored to the needs of particular skill sectors and localities. The Department
for Education and Skills (DfES) prefers institutions in England to focus on their core
functions and particular strengths.3
A clear mission for FE [further education], focused on the employability and progression of
learners, is central to delivering the skills and qualifications which individuals, employers
and the economy need. The delivery of this new mission will involve the creation of a
new specialist system. We will expect every FE provider to develop one or more areas of
specialist excellence, which will become central to the mission and ethos of the institution
and will drive improvement throughout it (United Kingdom. DfES, 2006, p. 20).
In France, specialist institutions, lycée de métiers, are becoming national cen-

tres of excellence, offering all existing qualifications related to a sector, such as
tourism. Whereas in France vocational education is located in the school sys-
tem, it is worth noting that in Germany there has been a strong tradition of
workplace-led training and vocationalism, and vocational academies exist alongside

polytechnics and universities within the tertiary education system (Deissinger, 2000,
p. 608).
These governmental visions for TVET systems and TVET institutions are gen-
erally pursued through a combination of the following strategies: legislation; ra-
tionalization and restructuring; and policy mechanisms for steering and gover-
nance.
2.2 Legislation
In education, perhaps more than in some areas of policy, legislation has a major
role to play. To some extent at least, legislators can force the pace and nature of
reform. Legislation often makes provision for central or regional quality assurance
systems and inspectorates to monitor progress and to hold institutions accountable
for their spending and activities. However, in the rapidly changing and complex
field of TVET, legislators must also attempt to keep pace with changing practices at
national and local level. As countries such as Australia attempt to develop a respon-
sive, more industry-led training sector, this becomes an increasingly challenging
task, especially where significant variations exist within countries.
Thailand is currently seeking to create a supportive legal environment for the
reform of TVET. In 2003 the Office for the Vocational Education Commission
was established and a Vocational Education Act is being drafted which proposes
to decentralize some authority to institutional level. The emerging legal framework
would give employers of TVET graduates more opportunity to participate in policy-
level decision-making and in the actual delivery of TVET.
2.3 Rationalization and Restructuring
Given constraints on public spending worldwide and given that the public TVET
sector has long suffered from a lack of investment, many governments are keen to
rationalize existing resources and access additional ones.
2.3.1 Mergers
Over the last twenty years, mergers have been promoted as a way to improving
the efficiency and effectiveness of TVET institutions. A strong rationale for merg-
ers is that individual institutions may not have the capacity to cope with the new
responsibilities resulting from decentralization and increased institutional auton-
omy. The Netherlands, for example, pursued a policy of promoting mergers in its
higher vocational education (HBO) sector in the 1980s. Its aim was to strengthen
vocational education and increase its status so that it could assume an equal place
alongside university education. The intention was to create a limited number of
910 K. Holmes
large, multi-purpose institutions with substantial autonomy for their own financial
affairs and in their external relations with other institutions, organizations and the
government (Goedegebuure, 1992, p. 145).
Government incentives for mergers include both formal and informal mecha-
nisms. In the case of the Netherlands, with a few exceptions, an institution had
to have a minimum of 600 students to receive central funding (Goedegebuure,
1992, p. 146). Although the government’s overall vision for TVET reform was
clear, no specific institutions were designated to be merged and the co-ordination
of mergers was left to the HBO Council. Delegating responsibility away from
the Ministry of Education and Science meant that the merging process was more
open and transparent and that the outcomes were more likely to be owned by the
sector itself. The ministry was nevertheless able to keep in touch with the pro-
cess through a policy unit and reports from the inspectorate for higher vocational
education.
Since the end of apartheid in South Africa, 152 disparate TVET institutions pre-
viously serving different racial groups have been transformed into an integrated
college sector with fifty multi-site, multi-purpose further education and training
(FET) colleges. This reform process envisages a number of positive changes along
the multiple dimensions (see Table 1).
2.3.2 Clusters
Clustering is another way for institutions to share resources, knowledge and exper-
tise. Community colleges in the United States have had relative freedom to form
themselves into geographical clusters. Typically, local and regional networks of in-
stitutions are associated with certain industries. Formal links developed between
institutions are intended to create enhanced critical mass, synergy and complimen-
tarity.
To take another example, in Thailand there are 412 colleges under the central
Office of the Vocational Education Commission and more than 400 private voca-
tional schools comprising technical colleges, agricultural colleges and commercial
colleges.4 Instead of operating alone, they are forming clusters or networks in sev-
eral provinces. This enables them to work more closely with local industries and
local people, which can help to improve the responsiveness of the curriculum to
changes in local labour markets. Colleges are also collaborating in resource map-
ping, developing areas of excellence, quality-control systems and standardization
(Choomnoon, personal communication).
2.3.3 Networks
Regional networks of institutions have also developed in recent years beyond na-
tional boundaries. For example, the Association of Caribbean Tertiary Institutions
(ACTI) brings together seventy institutions spanning the Caribbean region. Formed
in 1990, ACTI provides a forum for interaction between institutions. ACTI aims
‘to improve the quality, quantity and organisation of tertiary education in the region
Table 1 FET transformations in South Africa

From. . . To
Small institutions Larger, more viable institutions
Limited opportunities to attract external Increased bargaining power and opportunities for
funding capital investment
Inequities between State and State-aided Eliminate effects of previous discrimination
colleges
Duplication—of programmes and Streamlining, better utilization of resources
facilities
Isolation from both wider contexts and Alignment with rural and urban development
local communities imperatives
Racial and gender imbalances Enhanced equity policies
Limited managerial capacity Better utilization of scarce management skills
Limited staff development and career Increased opportunities for staff development
opportunities and career paths
Very limited programme offerings Opportunities to present diverse and relevant
programmes
Small-scale innovation Increased staff and opportunities to become
responsive
Low efficiency rates Enhanced efficiency through sharing of expertise
and resources
Limited facilities Joint utilization of workshops, hostels, resources
centres
Internal focus Collaboration and the development of a
responsive ‘competitive’ sector
Smaller pool of contacts and Combined networks, linkages and labour-market
labour-market intelligence knowledge
Low quality and throughput Enhancement through quality assurance and
capacity building
Poor learner support Potential to support learners
Source: South Africa. Department of Education, 2002, p. 4.
through co-operation and collaboration between member institutions’ (ACTI, 2007).

ACTI’s activities include both academic and administrative concerns, such as en-
hanced access, mobility, quality assurance, effective utilization of scarce resources,
articulation among institutions and the co-operative development and delivery of
tertiary-level programmes.
2.4 Policy Mechanisms for Steering and Governance
2.4.1 Quality Improvement, Monitoring and Evaluation

Whilst ideally governments would hope to support quality improvement in all TVET
institutions, in practice they have tended to focus their attention on supporting fail-
ing institutions and rewarding successful ones. A consequence of this is that av-
erage, adequately performing institutions can end up feeling unsupported. A key
challenge for central governments is to identify and address weaknesses in their
912 K. Holmes
TVET networks, whilst also developing policy mechanisms that support innovation,
flexibility and responsiveness.
2.4.2 Incentives
Incentives, such as tax rebates, play their part in the reform process, as do finan-
cial incentives and the competitive tendering of contracts (to public and private
providers) in the TVET sector. Well-designed funding mechanisms achieve a bal-
ance between the needs of students and employers and the wider community.
In addition to rewards for meeting targets, the award of Learning and Skills Bea-
con Status in England is intended to recognize high-quality teaching and training,
and effective, well-managed institutions. The label of ‘beacon status’ is awarded to
institutions with specialist expertise and good practice that can attract the attention
of other institutions and to which they may aspire and learn from.
England has created additional incentives for TVET institutions to become more
responsive to the needs of local employers by encouraging and rewarding the de-
velopment of vocational specialization. Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs)
are designated areas of specialist vocational provision characterized by close links
between colleges and other providers, business partners, other employment interests
and communities. To achieve CoVE status, providers must demonstrate, through
audited and development plans, how they are addressing the priority skills needs of
local areas, regions and England as a whole (United Kingdom. DfES, 2002).
Recognizing that there are gaps in public training provision, the United Kingdom
Government’s strategy is to involve, through market mechanisms, providers from
the voluntary and community sector, including small, specialist organizations and
the training arms of large companies, in training activities (United Kingdom. DfES,
2006, p. 9). However, in turn, the involvement of new providers, over which there
is less direct supervision, has implications for central government including, for
example, registration and certification.
2.4.3 Competition Policy

For several decades many countries had a national network of publicly-funded
TVET institutions that provided a virtual monopoly on formal training. The
increased use of private training providers has proved controversial because of what
is seen as their competitive threat to public institutions. However, the deliberate
introduction of some competition for funds may help public institutions to focus
more attention on the needs of their clients. In Australia’s case, significant reform
in technical and further education was leveraged by opening up relatively small
amounts of funding to the competitive process (Robinson, 2000, p. 34).
2.4.4 Strategic Alliances and Partnerships

According to Veenker (2000, p. 3), the future of TVET is likely to involve heavily
networked institutions and ‘the ongoing creation of new alliances with entities com-
mitted to lifelong education’. Redefining the legal framework for TVET has often
been a necessary but not sufficient condition for setting up partnerships and for
making them work. In the Netherlands, the ROCs (regionale opleidingen centra—
regional training centres) are expected to work with a complex set of partners (in-
cluding national industry training bodies, municipal government and national gov-
ernment), providing vocational education, training, basic education, retraining and
job-seeking support (Drodge, 2002, p. 6).
Governments have also created partnerships between the private sector and
TVET through a mandatory levy on employers. In some countries, a payroll tax pro-
vided the necessary stimulus for shared management between the State and its social
partners. In Jamaica, the national training agency, HEART Trust/NTA, is primarily
financed through a 3% payroll levy on qualified private sector firms. This ensures
some degree of company involvement and interest in the on-going development and
implementation of TVET policies.
This overview of governmental reforms has described a range of policy mech-
anisms used to support and regulate the development of TVET institutions. In
some countries, increased autonomy means that TVET institutions have devel-
oped with minimal co-ordination or State involvement. In others, although man-
agement and budgetary functions may be carried out locally, there is sometimes
a more rigorous regime of inspections for monitoring and evaluation than ex-
isted when the overall network of institutions was under direct central government
control.
3 Institutional Transformations
Having reviewed governmental reforms, this section explores transformations within

TVET institutions and between institutions, employers and the wider community.
Of particular interest are changes in the roles, missions and activities of institutions,
which, in turn, require changes in governance arrangements, local organization and
management.
3.1 Changing Institutional Missions and Activities
As described above, some countries have a clearly defined and sometimes statu-
tory vision for public TVET institutions. In other countries, institutions have more
scope to develop their own missions and priorities. As one component of the
American TVET system, community colleges serve multiple stakeholders and are
well-orientated towards community needs. Many community colleges in the United
States are closely orientated towards entrepreneurial, multi-purpose institutions,
with multiple roles and diverse activities.
Bailey and Averianova (1998, p. 7) identify several roles being taken by commu-
nity colleges. There is the traditional, collegiate or academic function, the vocational
914 K. Holmes
function of skills development and the remedial function of instruction in basic

skills. In addition, some community colleges are offering customized training and
adopting broad community service and socio-economic development roles.
The development of multiple missions and diverse activities by TVET institu-
tions has created some degree of controversy at the local level about the merits
of institutional diversification or specialization. Some commentators take the view
that comprehensive TVET institutions are trying to be ‘all things to all people’ and
that for the sake of efficiency and effectiveness they should re-focus on their core
functions. Others agree that TVET institutions are well-placed to offer a range of
services and that diversification of their missions and activities demonstrates their
responsiveness and relevance to the needs of their local communities (Bailey &
Averianova, 1998, p. 2).
A combination of factors has led community colleges in the United States to
diversify their activities beyond their original mandate for teaching and learning.
Community colleges often regard diversification as a means to generate revenue
and to improve their relationships with local employers and the wider community.
Rather than being a drain on resources, the new roles can help to enhance and update
their core activities through expanded networks and information flows (Dougherty
& Bakia, 2000, p. 3). In the long run, according to Bailey and Averianova (1998,
p. 23), such additional missions and activities will be carried out successfully by
community colleges ‘not necessarily because they can generate surpluses, but be-
cause they are functionally associated with the core activities of the college, and can
therefore be carried out by the colleges more efficiently than by other organizations’.
3.1.1 Contract Training

Entrepreneurial TVET institutions are increasingly awarded training contracts by
public and private sector employers. Although managed by the institutions, these
courses may be conducted on the employer’s premises, using employees as instruc-
tors, or within the college environment—the courses are closely tailored to the em-
ployer’s needs. Although these training courses are often firm or sector specific, they
may also contribute to the wider local economy by developing transferable skills.
3.1.2 Small-Business Development

Small-business development activities include providing advice and training for
small enterprises in, for example, management, personnel, marketing and finance,
and helping businesses to meet government regulations. Many community colleges
in the United States also offer a business incubation service, including low-cost
accommodation and support and advice for newly-established enterprises.
3.1.3 Local Economic Development Planning

An effective TVET system adopting an integrated approach to workforce develop-
ment is that of Oklahoma VoTech in the United States. Its success, controversially,
springs from offering publicly subsidized training to multinational corporations.

The Oklahoma system appears to enjoy well-functioning relationships with lo-
cal industries, stemming from a willingness by the public authorities—and tax-
payers—to orientate training towards the needs of employers (de Moura Castro,
1995, p. 203).
Some TVET institutions are establishing research and development functions to
monitor economic trends, new work practices and regulations. This information is
invaluable for assessing training needs and is also re-positioning colleges as policy-
making bodies capable of influencing their locality’s response to changes in the
labour market. According to Dougherty and Bakia (2000, p. 2), some community
colleges have even convened meetings of local political and economic leaders and
played an active lobbying role, using their relationships with local government and
business to influence development policies.
Another innovation of wider interest is to be found in rural community colleges
in the United States of America, through the Rural Community College Initiative
(RCCI). Many of these institutions are situated in economically disadvantaged ru-
ral areas. Due to historical and economic factors, these communities often expe-
rience varying degrees of cultural and social conflict. In this context, according
to Rubin (2001, p. 12), community colleges are among the few institutions that
offer ‘common ground’ and are respected by the public, private and non-profit
sectors:
community colleges can be a safe, neutral meeting place for forging collaborative ap-
proaches to community development. [. . .] Community colleges have a broad mission, and
they have the stature, stability and flexibility to provide leadership for regional development.
In many rural communities, they are the only institutions with a broad community-service
mission and a stable stream of public funding (Rubin, 2001, p. 13).
3.2 The Governance of Public TVET Institutions
The governance of public TVET institutions includes a combination of central and

institutional systems and policy mechanisms including legislation, accountability
structures, monitoring and evaluation instruments, and planning functions.
Greater autonomy creates distinctive pressures on institutions, which may require
significant adaptation. For example, the governance structures within institutions,
which historically supported the implementation of central policies, need reforming
if institutions are to take a more proactive role in consulting stakeholders, and in
developing locally relevant provision.
A strengthened capacity for research and evaluation, reporting, external relations
and strategic planning is also required. Local planning must correspond appropri-
ately to national and international labour-market trends, so TVET institutions in-
creasingly need to be able to generate, analyse, interpret and share knowledge about
local, national and global economic transformations. Macro-level reforms have thus
often created the impetus for organizational restructuring.
916 K. Holmes
3.2.1 Institutional Leadership

The role of heads of TVET institutions has become increasingly complex as mis-
sions have expanded and responsibilities increased. Decentralization raises ques-
tions about precisely which decisions can and should be taken at the institutional
level. Heads of institutions have often found themselves in an increasingly market-
driven environment. These managers are gradually more responsible for the devel-
opment of educational services and developing partnerships and other links with
local communities.
As in other sectors, conventional notions of ‘professionalism’ in TVET have been
challenged by deregulation and market-oriented reforms. Managerialist behaviours,
such as flexibility, reliability and competence, are often rewarded more than the
long-established ideals of public service through education. Contradictions can be
observed as heads of institutions are equally expected to respond to market oppor-
tunities and the social policy principles of access, equity and inclusion. They are
often simultaneously experiencing greater autonomy in the management of TVET
institutions than before, whilst also being held more accountable by central and
provincial authorities.
The institutional transformations described above are closely inter-related and
have wider implications. New missions and activities impact upon relationships be-
tween institutions, employers and communities, and these new relationships have
implications for the financing and governance of institutions, and their organiza-
tion and management. While some of the issues at the institutional-level are similar
to the issues located at the national level, taking an institutional-level perspective
can provide helpful insights for central policy makers. As in other areas of public
sector reform, apparently contradictory and unintended trends can sometimes be
observed.
Local-level transformations have implications for how institutions are rewarded
and the incentives that can be offered to increase effectiveness and efficiency, re-
sponsiveness and relevance. Indeed, these concepts in themselves are in a constant
state of flux.
4 Macro/Micro Analysis
The above accounts of governmental-level and institutional-level reform reveal di-

verse policies and practices. Multiple social, economic, political and cultural factors
influence these policies and behaviours. Together these accounts suggest that the
TVET landscape is becoming more and more complex, and that conventional con-
cepts, definitions and categories are increasingly problematic. Changes in the roles,
missions and activities of institutions have important implications for the concepts
for efficiency, effectiveness, relevance and responsiveness. Even the assumption that
it is possible to identify decisions located at the centre and decisions located at
the institutional level is challenged. What actually happens in reality reflects com-
plex interactions between central and institutional players and other stakeholders.
Furthermore, in many cases, provincial or regional structures play an influential
mediating role.
As well as policy incentives and steering mechanisms for institutions, govern-
ments can stimulate demand for self-improvement and lifelong learning through di-
rect incentives to individual learners and guidance counselling programmes. Despite
the inherent contradictions, a common thread may be identified from this compara-
tive review of country experiences and institutional transformations. By and large,
the reform of public TVET is shifting the focus and orientation of TVET from the
interests of the providers towards serving the needs of students, enterprises and local
communities.
5 Conclusions
As this chapter has shown, the reform and governance of public TVET institutions
is a multi-faceted and sometimes perplexing domain. In the present context, un-
derstanding how TVET institutions are changing becomes even more important for
central policy-makers. Yet, in a more decentralized environment this also becomes
more difficult. For institutions, interpreting changes in the external environment,
including the policy landscape and labour-market trends, becomes essential for their
success.
The expectations of what TVET reforms can contribute to social and economic
development are often high. Yet, there is a paucity of theoretical or empirical knowl-
edge in this under-researched and rapidly evolving field. As shown above, what
happens ‘on the ground’ is the outcome of complex interactions between central and
local levels. It is often as much a matter of circumstances and events as by design.
One response is to devote more resources, at international, regional, national and
local levels, to strengthening analytical research, monitoring and evaluation capacity
in this relatively neglected field. More attention should also be given to the processes
through which actual transformations take place. Ambitious ‘visions’ for TVET of-
ten prove more difficult to implement than expected, not least because of the many
competing interests in the sub-sector. Collaboration, in various forms, has been a
recurring theme of this chapter. Where partnership is based on mutual trust, it can
be regarded as an invaluable form of social dialogue, a value system and a kind of
governance (see Atchoarena, 1998). Fortunately, given the complexities of working
in this arena, policy-makers and heads of institutions do not have to act alone. There
are many stakeholders who recognize the potential of public TVET institutions to
contribute to the development of individuals, enterprises, local communities and
society at large.
Labour markets are undergoing significant transformations and the role of the
State in relation to public services is itself in transition. Given the location of TVET
at the complex interface between education and labour-market reforms, new part-
918 K. Holmes
nerships between education and employers are often a matter of necessity. What at
first may appear a voyage into uncharted waters may prove to be of much wider
significance for the future development of education and other public services. As
this review has shown, patterns of governance are emerging that recognize the limits
of, and seek to move beyond, a choice between either market or State approaches to
public policy.
Notes
1. This chapter is based on a background review conducted as part of a research programme on

‘The Reform and Governance of Public TVET Institutions’, of UNESCO’s International Insti-
tute for Educational Planning (IIEP). The author would like to acknowledge David Atchoarena,
IIEP Senior Programme Specialist, for his perceptive guidance and comments on earlier drafts.
2. The Government of the United Kingdom has devolved much of the responsibility for education
and training policy and the power to make legislation to its administrations in its four countries,
namely England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. However, some areas in education and
training are reserved matters for the UK Government which varies with each country; the reader
should check first with the relevant websites.
3. The DfES has now been superseded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families
(DCSF) and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS).
4. For more information about vocational education in Thailand, see: <www.vec.go.th>
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nelle: le concept et son application. Paris: UNESCO-IIEP.
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mentary. New York, NY: Teachers College Community College Research Centre.
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Dougherty, K.; Bakia, M. 2000. The new economic development role of the community college.
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laide, Australia: National Centre for Vocational Education Research. (Paper presented to the
Central Institute of Vocational and Technical Education, Beijing, China, August 2000.)
Rubin, S. 2001. Rural colleges as catalysts for community change. Rural America, vol. 16, no. 2,
pp. 12–19.
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keting Association (ATMA) Conference, November 2000, Adelaide, Australia.)
Chapter VI.4
National Versus Regional Policy Dimensions of
TVET
Peter Noonan
1 Introduction
In recent years, there has been increasing interest on the importance of regions as
a focus for planning and delivery of technical and vocational education and train-
ing (TVET), and in the processes and formation of national policy to encompass
regional needs. More broadly, there has also been growing interest in regions as the
focus for learning and skills development and innovation.
Regions can be defined in different ways. Regions may be defined by formal
boundaries and their populations represented by governmental structures. These are
usually defined as federal states,1 provinces or local government areas. Regions may
also be geographic areas within states, provinces or local government areas with
special ethnic, cultural, economic or geographic characteristics.
Regions may transcend borders within countries and between countries, partic-
ularly where national borders cut across traditional cultural and ethnic groupings.
Regions may also be defined as major geographic zones or sub-zones on a continen-
tal scale, such as Asia, Latin America and the South Pacific.
This chapter examines national and regional dimensions of policy for TVET,
with a primary focus on formally defined regions represented by sub-national gov-
ernmental structures and their relationship with national government.
Major areas of policy are identified and the respective roles of national and re-
gional government analysed, focusing in particular on mechanisms and processes
to co-ordinate policy, planning, delivery, certification and quality assurance effec-
tively. A secondary focus of the chapter is concerned with the concept of learning
regions and the role of TVET in building human and social capital, including the
relationship between formal TVET systems and other forms of knowledge and skill
acquisition, such as community and work-based learning.
A case study of Australia, which has developed a national TVET system within a
federal system of government, is used to identify how national and regional respon-
sibilities and perspectives can be co-ordinated and balanced.

922 P. Noonan
2 The Knowledge Economy: National and Regional Dimensions
Skills and knowledge are now recognized as primary drivers of economic growth at
both national and regional levels. Equitable access by citizens to skills and knowl-
edge is essential for an effective labour-market and social participation, as well as
building social capital.
In most countries, economic development is the primary responsibility of na-
tional governments. As skills and knowledge have become central to economic
development, education and training policy generally, and TVET policy specifi-
cally, have become important elements in national economic development. Some
countries, for example, have elevated TVET policies to the national level and have
established national mechanisms for policy development, planning, accreditation
and quality assurance.
However, as the OECD in its publication Cities and regions in the new learn-
ing economy observed, there are wide variations between countries in what is and
what can be done at the national and sub-national level. The OECD contrasts ed-
ucation policy in areas such as national curriculum and national assessment in the
United Kingdom since 1988 with more decentralized approaches in Germany and
the United States (OECD, 2001). The OECD highlights the growing interest in re-
gions as sources of innovation and skills development, citing commentators who
argue that regions (or sub-national levels of government) are highly effective in
generating the conditions for innovation (and, by extension, skills development).
TVET policy planning and delivery may also be influenced by the growing in-
terest in regions and local communities as the focus for cross-government agency
service delivery, creating the opportunity for local and regional communities to use
government funding flexibly to meet local needs, for example, through the integra-
tion of TVET and employment services. These approaches are based on principles
of devolved and collaborative decision-making so that service delivery meets local
and regional needs.
3 National and Regional Government Roles in TVET

The concurrent focus on both national and regional dimensions of TVET policy
creates inevitable tensions, particularly where more than one level of government is
involved. Government roles in TVET encompass:2
r Legal and legislative responsibilities;

r Policy formation and implementation;
r Funding;
r Planning;
r Delivery;
r Certification; and
r Regulation, including accreditation and quality assurance.
VI.4 National Versus Regional Policy Dimensions of TVET 923
3.1 The Legislative Responsibilities of National

and Regional Government
The formal powers and responsibilities of national and sub-national government
have a dominant influence over the respective roles of national and regional gov-
ernment with respect to TVET. These powers and responsibilities extend beyond
formal, legislative responsibility for TVET.
For example, in New Zealand with a unitary system of government, TVET is a
national government responsibility. In Australia, education is formally a responsi-
bility of the individual states; however, the limited revenue-raising powers of the
states and the recognition of the importance of education as a national policy issue
have seen a significant escalation in the role of the Commonwealth (national/federal)
government since the 1960s, with a concurrent rise in policy influence even though
the Commonwealth has no formal powers with respect to education.
In Canada and the United States, also federal systems, national government fi-
nancial and policy intervention has been far more limited, and more directly related
to the role of the federal government in relation to labour-market and employment
policies and programmes. Similar variations are also evident in Europe between, for
example, France and Germany. In some countries, local government may also be an
important player.
In many countries, Germany for instance, access to and regulation of TVET
may also be influenced by employment or labour laws through occupational and
apprenticeship regulation, although the control of TVET is effectively exercised at
the regional level.
National governments may also enter into international agreements in areas such
as trade, mutual recognition of standards and qualifications, migration or inter-
national co-operation, which may be binding on regions and strongly influence
regional policies and practices. Co-operation and agreement around TVET through
the European Union, including initiatives such as the European Qualifications Meta
Framework, is the strongest example of commitments by national governments af-
fecting regional policies and practices.
3.2 Policy Formation and Implementation
The first and most important consideration is the responsibility for setting national
and regional TVET policy. In countries with unitary systems of government, or
where TVET is clearly assigned as a function of national government, this issue is
reasonably clear. However, in federal systems, particularly where TVET is formally
the responsibility of state or provincial government, the issue becomes more com-
plex. Do national and state governments seek to develop agreed national policies
through inter-governmental decision-making processes or do national governments
develop their own policies and then implement them, either through bilateral fund-
ing agreements with state agencies or by funding through their own agencies?
924 P. Noonan
It is to be hoped that, where more than one level of government has responsibility
for TVET, mechanisms will be established to reach agreement between governments
on overarching strategy or policy so that there is consistency and certainty in policy
settings. However, given the likely political differences between governments and
the tensions inherent in federal systems between national and sub-national govern-
ment and between states or provinces, such agreement can be difficult to achieve
and even more difficult to implement.
3.3 Funding
Closely related to responsibility for policy setting are the responsibility for funding
and the processes for allocating funding to TVET providers. Again, in countries
with unitary systems of government, responsibility for government funding is clear
compared to that in federal systems.
Issues related to cost adjustment between different levels of government (where
one level of government withdraws funding as the other level of government in-
tervenes) and the potential for duplication and wastage are key issues that must be
resolved in federal systems.
Shifts to more market-based mechanisms for the distribution of public funding
and to ‘user pays’ principles have also been introduced in a number of countries to
create competition for public funding and to make TVET providers more responsive
to the needs of individuals and enterprises. While, in theory, competitive processes
should make TVET providers more responsive to regional needs, in practice re-
gional intermediary bodies are likely to be by-passed in the transaction between
TVET providers and their clients unless regional bodies themselves are involved in
the competitive allocation of funds.
3.4 Planning
For the purposes of this chapter, planning for TVET refers to planning for delivery
of TVET programmes and for the development of TVET institutions. Planning may
occur at several levels:
r At the national level where the national government has some responsibility
for TVET;
r At the regional level where:
— Sub-national government has all or some responsibility for TVET;
— Where regional intermediary bodies are established by national or regional
government to provide advice on regional needs and priorities or where these
bodies have a funding role to inform their own planning;
r At the TVET institutional level, depending on the extent to which the institution
has the power to plan for its own delivery; and
r Through industrial bodies with advisory roles to national and regional govern-
ment.
It is in the planning and priority-setting process that the greatest tension between
national and regional government agencies and between government agencies and
TVET providers exists in the complex process of balancing national, regional and
local priorities and perspectives.
Planning for TVET is usually based on assessments of current and projected
labour-market need, together with demographic trends, including issues such as
population and workforce aging, and areas of population growth and decline across
regions. However, experience over many years has demonstrated the difficulty of
accurate and effective labour-market forecasting, particularly given the time lag be-
tween the development and delivery of new TVET programmes and changes in the
labour market. An added complexity are the wide variations that may exist in in-
dustry and labour-market conditions between regions, and even within regions, and
differences that may emerge through different data sets and interpretation of data.
An additional dynamic is the increasing recognition of the differences between
regions in the composition of industry, employment patterns and socio-economic
disadvantage, together with the establishment of specific programmes and funds
aimed at redressing disadvantage, helping to support patterns of regional economic
development or to promote the development of learning regions and learning com-
munities.
3.5 Provision
An increasingly diverse range of providers is involved in the delivery of TVET

in most countries. TVET providers may include schools, technical colleges, tertiary
establishments, adult education institutes, community organizations and enterprises.
National, regional or local government may have responsibility for the gover-
nance of public TVET providers. Governance models for public TVET providers
vary widely within and between countries from highly centralized to highly de-
volved approaches. Governance models also vary according to types of TVET
institutions; for example, primary and secondary schools may operate on a more
centralized or systemic basis than post-school institutions.
In many countries, there has been a trend towards devolution of decision-making
to either regionally-based intermediary bodies that co-ordinate delivery across a
range of providers or to the providers themselves. This trend has been driven by
a desire to ensure that TVET providers are responsive to local and regional needs
by ensuring that decisions are taken as close as possible to the point of delivery,
and that major stakeholders, at the local and regional level, are involved in decision-
making processes. Accountability to government is maintained through transparent
performance and funding agreements and the establishment of clear policies and
guidelines within which TVET providers must operate.
In some countries, there has also been a trend towards competitive funding of
public, private and community-based providers to promote efficiency and respon-
siveness or to ensure delivery in areas of specialized need. Funding may be on the
basis of tendered requirements including, in some instances, identified regional or
local needs.
926 P. Noonan
3.6 Certification
As the importance of knowledge and skills grows for both individuals and the econ-
omy, and the labour market more generally, the effect of certification of skill out-
comes becomes increasingly important.
A number of countries, particularly those influenced by developments in the
United Kingdom, have adopted a framework of national skill or competency stan-
dards aligned with the national qualifications as the basis of TVET certification.
Apart from the United Kingdom, these countries include Australia, New Zealand
and South Africa. They have national qualifications frameworks encompassing
TVET, schools and, in most instances, higher education.
The rationale for national standards and qualifications frameworks is that, regard-
less of the level of responsibility for the governance and funding of TVET, students
and employers can be confident that outcomes are based on achievement against
consistent standards, assessment and certification practices, even in highly devolved
systems.
Other countries use systems where certification is by the TVET provider itself
and/or where certification has to satisfy the requirements of industry or professional
associations. In these frameworks, the standing of the qualification reflects the stand-
ing of the organization issuing the qualification.
Whatever models are used, the major imperative is to ensure that qualifications
are recognized nationally, and not only within particular regions, and that TVET
qualifications are able to articulate to and from qualifications issued in other educa-
tion sectors and across industries. This is particularly important in the context of the
mobility of labour; it is likely that people will have to change jobs more frequently
than in the past.
As such, regardless of the responsibilities for other aspects of the governance of
TVET between national and sub-national levels of government, certification is the
one area where national governments appear to have the most important role to play
in either supporting or facilitating effective certification of TVET.
3.7 Accreditation and Quality Assurance

Closely associated with certification are arrangements for accreditation and quality
assurance, particularly where a diverse range of providers are providing nationally-
recognized TVET qualifications in the frameworks outlined above.
A distinction must also be made between accreditation—which is usually the
process a TVET provider must comply with to be recognized as a formal provider—
and quality assurance which may encompass, but extends beyond, accreditation to
include continuous improvement and which may involve third-party validation by
organizations such as ISO.
Again, the case for national governments to exercise an administrative or fa-
cilitative role in ensuring the consistency and quality of accreditation of TVET
providers is very strong. Inconsistent and unreliable accreditation processes under-

mine employer and community confidence in TVET certification and, where TVET
providers operate across regional boundaries, multiple and conflicting accreditation
requirements are costly both to the providers and to the government.
4 TVET and Regional Policy: Other Dimensions
As outlined in the introduction to this chapter, there are other dimensions relevant
to the role of regions in TVET policy. These dimensions include:
r Policy focus on regions as centres for learning and innovation and on regional
policy in building human and social capital (see OECD, 2001);
r Related to this, a focus on regions in terms of disparities in employment, income
levels, educational attainment and other social indicators and how this relates to
skills and workforce development;
r Regional planning by TVET providers and government agencies in terms of the
catchment area for TVET providers and in terms of co-ordination or funding and
delivery across different providers; and
r Regions as a focus for co-ordination of government service provision across dif-
ferent agencies.
These regional dimensions stretch the boundaries of traditional TVET governance
and provision in several ways:
r They focus on whole populations and industries within a region in terms of their
skills and workforce development needs, not just on the immediate needs of firms
in terms of their requirements for training of new entrants and the existing work-
force. They focus in particular on those not in the workforce or with marginal
attachments to the workforce, on gaps and weaknesses in delivery and service
provision, as well as on skills shortages.3
r They require a more holistic approach, focusing on the interaction between or-
ganizations (including enterprises and social institutions) and the way in which
skills and knowledge may be built through these interactions, including formal
and informal networks.
r They create the potential to draw on the full range of learning resources in a
region or a community including, but extending beyond, formal education and
training providers.
r They highlight the need for effective regional planning to complement national
and state or provincial planning; in particular recognizing that system-wide needs
and priorities may not translate to specific regions and localities.
r They highlight the need for effective co-ordination between government agencies
at the local and regional level, create space for the involvement of local govern-
ment and non-governmental agencies in service delivery and highlight the need
for flexibility in funding guidelines and programme design so that programmes
can be tailored for individual needs.
928 P. Noonan
These new and innovative regional policy approaches create challenges for tradi-
tional approaches to TVET policy, planning and funding, be it at the national or
sub-national government level. The extent to which these approaches have or are
being adopted varies significantly between and within countries.
5 Australia: A Case Study

Australia represents an interesting case study in the evolution and management of
national and regional (state) government involvement in TVET. Australia has a
federal system of government in which constitutional responsibility for education
and training is vested in the individual states. However, since the 1960s, the Com-
monwealth (national/federal) government has played an increasingly important role
in education and training in all sectors, assuming full financial funding for higher
education in 1973 and playing an increasingly important financial and policy role in
relation to the provision of schools and TVET.
5.1 Background
Over the past two decades, through a range of Commonwealth interventions and
initiatives, but with the support of the states, Australia has adopted an increasingly
national approach to TVET.4 The Commonwealth initiated an inquiry into techni-
cal and further education (TAFE) in 1974 and, based on the inquiry’s findings of
substantial deficiencies in the funding of TAFE, the Commonwealth began a pro-
gramme of recurrent funding grants to the states, a significant programme of capital
works to address serious deficiencies in buildings and equipment and to build new
TAFE institutions.
From the mid-1980s, the Commonwealth initiated and drove a progressive series
of reforms affecting TVET in Australia, including:
r The development of a traineeship system to provide structured entry-level train-
ing in occupations not covered by the traditional apprenticeship system;
r The merger of the labour and education portfolios to reduce barriers between
portfolios and to ensure a consistent approach to TVET across government agen-
cies;
r An emphasis on the role of industry in providing leadership in TVET;
r The development of national industry competency standards, jointly recognized
by the Commonwealth and state governments, to underpin recognition and cer-
tification of skills;
r Linking these standards to skill-based occupational career structures through the
then industrial award system;
r The establishment of a training market in which public and private providers
registered under accreditation standards would be able to compete for public and
private funding; and
r Mutual recognition of TVET qualifications and providers between states.
These initiatives were driven by the Commonwealth government’s overall pro-

gramme of economic and labour-market reform to transform Australia from a coun-
try largely dependent on the non-value-added export of raw materials and with
high levels of protection for domestic industry, to an economy which was globally
competitive and able to add greater value to its exports through higher levels of
workforce skills.
The states, sharing similar concerns about the need to transform Australia’s eco-
nomic base and to increase its level of workforce skills, were in the main active
supporters of, and participants in, this reform process.
These reforms brought with them a series of changes to the governance of TVET
in Australia to underpin the growing range of initiatives that were being imple-
mented between the Commonwealth and state governments.
A Ministerial Council on Vocational Education and Training was established,
combining the responsibilities of the Ministers for Labour and TVET. This council
determined all national TVET policy issues requiring agreement between the Com-
monwealth and state governments.
However, an underlying issue, that of funding for TVET, and the respective roles
of the Commonwealth and states, remained unresolved. Demand for TVET was
growing as a consequence of the economic and labour-market restructuring process
and, while the Commonwealth recognized the need to increase national investment
in TVET, it was concerned that additional investment by the Commonwealth would
either not be matched by the states, or that some states might even reduce their
investment as Commonwealth investment increased.
In 1991, the Commonwealth offered to assume full financial responsibility for
TAFE, with the states retaining responsibility for the operational management of
the TAFE systems. The Commonwealth offered to substantially increase its funding
contribution to TAFE, but with the states receiving reduced general recurrent grants
from the Commonwealth to reflect the change in responsibilities.
However, only one state—Victoria—was formally prepared to accept this offer.
The other states proposed an agreement whereby they would maintain their outputs
in exchange for increased Commonwealth funding.
The Commonwealth was also concerned to establish more effective national
arrangements to oversee the development of the emerging national training sys-
tem, in particular, by giving industry a stronger leadership role in the reform
process.
5.2 The Australian National Training Authority
Accepting that its proposal to assume full responsibility for TAFE funding would
not be agreed, the Commonwealth instead accepted the states’ proposal for a shared
funding agreement for TVET, but proposed the establishment of a National Training
Authority as a statutory agency with an independent industry-based board report-
ing to the Ministerial Council to drive and co-ordinate development of the national
training system.
930 P. Noonan
The Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) was established in 1992

by Commonwealth legislation under a Heads of Government Agreement. ANTA
assumed the TVET funding and programme responsibilities of the Commonwealth
government department. It developed national strategies for TVET, negotiated bilat-
eral funding agreements for the distribution of Commonwealth funding to the states
and administered a range of national programmes. ANTA also assumed responsibil-
ity for the functions of a national training board in developing national competency
standards.
As an independent industry-based board, ANTA also initiated and drove a range
of far-reaching reforms, including competitive funding and the development of Aus-
tralia’s National Training Framework.
Although these reforms were agreed by the Ministerial Council, the pace and
range of reforms did not always meet with the approval of the states, which, it is
fair to say, saw ANTA primarily as an instrument of the Commonwealth, rather
than as a truly federalist body. As a consequence, some agreed reforms and poli-
cies were only partially and inconsistently implemented at the state level. Each
renewal of the ANTA agreement also produced protracted disagreements and nego-
tiation around the respective funding contributions of the Commonwealth and state
governments.
Nonetheless, TVET in Australia was transformed in little more than a decade as
a result of the initial process of reform and the subsequent wave of reforms driven
by ANTA, which gave full effect to the principles and objectives of what became
known as the National Training Reform Agenda.
5.3 New National Training System

In 2005, the Commonwealth Government, as part of an overall review of the roles of
independent statutory bodies, decided to reintegrate the functions of ANTA within
the federal Department of Education Science and Training.5
However, the key elements of the national system which had evolved prior to
and in the ANTA agreement have been maintained, but through government-to-
government agreements rather than through co-ordination by an independent body
(see Australia. DEST, 2005). The new national system is based on multilateral
agreements between the Commonwealth and the states, and bilateral agreements
between the Commonwealth and each state as follows:
r A National Governance and Accountability Framework, which establishes the

decision-making processes and bodies responsible for training, as well as plan-
ning and performance monitoring arrangements to guide the operation and
growth of the training system; and
r A National Skills Framework, which sets out the system’s requirements for
quality and national consistency in terms of qualifications and the delivery of
training.
The system is based on a multilateral agreement which recognizes that co-operation

and collaboration between the Commonwealth and state governments are essential
to maintain an effective national training system. The multilateral agreement estab-
lishes:
r A shared commitment to support national goals and objectives for vocational
education and training;
r Guiding principles for the national training system;
r The responsibilities of each party to the agreement;
r National priorities that are to be achieved in the medium term;
r National policies to support the effective operation of the training system;
r National planning arrangements to support improved training outcomes;
r National targets that reflect Australian and state government policy objectives;
r National outcomes-focused performance measures that are focused on reducing
skill shortages and improving outcomes for key clients;
r National initiatives to advance the training system;
r Mechanisms for the release of funds (i.e. by the Commonwealth) to the states; and
r Agreed sanctions for non-achievement of performance measures or other re-
quirements in the training funding agreement.
The bilateral agreements provide an avenue for addressing local diversity within the
framework of national consistency. They provide flexibility to implement national
priorities and establish performance levels that are relevant to each jurisdiction. The
bilateral agreements involve:
r State planning requirements and funding priorities;
r Performance reporting; and
r State-specific initiatives, particularly those supported by Commonwealth Gov-
ernment funding.
The Australian states retain the legislative responsibility for TVET, including reg-
ulation of the apprenticeship system, TVET providers, certification and ownership
and management of the public TAFE providers. However, the states have adopted
‘model clauses’ for the regulation of TVET providers and the operation of their
certification systems to ensure national consistency.
The Commonwealth has also enacted legislation to give effect to its role in the
national system, and as the basis of Commonwealth funding to the states and for its
own programmes.
5.4 Policy Formation and Implementation
A Ministerial Council of Vocational and Technical Education will continue to set

national strategy and policy for the national system. The Commonwealth chairs
the Ministerial Council and has two votes, while the states have one vote each.
The council is supported by an independent secretariat. The Ministerial Council
is advised by two committees: a National Industry Skills Committee and a Senior
Officials Committee.
932 P. Noonan
5.5 Funding
The Commonwealth and the states will continue to fund TVET on a joint basis.
The Commonwealth now provides approximately one-third of funding allocated
by the states to TVET; however, that proportion rises to almost 50% of funding
if expenditure on its own TVET programmes (which has been rising) is taken into
account. Commonwealth funds flow through bilateral agreements with the states to
TVET providers.
State authorities then allocate funds to providers in their states; principally to
public TAFE providers through performance and funding agreements, but also to a
diverse range of private and other non-government providers on a competitive basis
through commercial contracts. TVET providers also access significant funding from
non-governmental sources through fee-for-service programmes for individuals and
through commercial contracts with enterprises.
5.6 Planning
The Ministerial Council for Vocational and Technical Education will continue to
agree on a National Strategy for Technical and Vocational Education using the same
strategy for 2004–2010 that had been adopted by ANTA for that period. The strategy
sets long-term strategic goals, priority areas for action and performance measures.
Each state develops it own TVET plan, which corresponds to the national strat-
egy and priorities, state priorities and, broadly, areas of planned delivery. This plan
underpins the bilateral agreement with the Commonwealth and must be approved
by the Commonwealth Minister prior to the release of Commonwealth funding to
the state.
Each state undertakes a more detailed planning process to assess industry and
labour-market needs, skills shortages and social and equity needs as the basis of
its funding allocations to TVET providers. This recognizes that the states are bet-
ter placed to judge the specific needs of local and regional communities, although
the Commonwealth strongly emphasizes the role of market mechanisms rather than
central planning.
TVET providers, particularly the large public TAFE institutions, also undertake
a detailed planning process to develop a planned profile for delivery through ne-
gotiation with state training authorities. Again, the trend has been to devolve the
planning process to the local level, but to providers themselves rather than through
intermediary bodies.
5.7 Delivery and Certification
Over 4,000 registered training organizations (TVET providers) deliver nationally

recognized courses, principally through government-funded programmes but also,
and increasingly, on a fee-for-service basis. TVET providers assess and certify their
own students and issue nationally recognized qualifications carrying a ‘nationally

recognized training’ logo.
TVET qualifications are derived from the Australian Qualifications Framework
and cover certificates I to IV and diplomas and advanced diplomas. Some TVET
providers also offer associate degrees and regular degrees, and many higher-level
TVET qualifications carry credit or articulate to higher education qualifications.
5.8 Regulation, Including Accreditation and Quality Assurance

As outlined above, regulation of TVET providers remains a state responsibility,
but is undertaken on a nationally consistent basis through the Australian Quality
Training Framework (AQTF). Under this framework, TVET providers are registered
(accredited) in one state, but are able to operate in all states based on the AQTF
standards. Providers are given a ‘scope of registration’, which means that they are
able to offer national TVET qualifications within their scope of that registration.
These national qualifications have largely supplanted the old system of courses
which were accredited at the state level, although state-accredited courses still ex-
ist or may be developed, but are not equivalent to national qualifications. TVET
providers are also audited on a regular basis, both in their state of initial registra-
tion and on their inter-state operations. State registration bodies also operate under
nationally agreed standards.
To oversee the operation of this framework, a National Quality Council has been
established, initially within the ANTA structure, but now as a committee of the
Ministerial Council. This National Quality Council is comprised of government,
industry and provider representatives.
5.9 Accountability
Under the agreements for the national training system, states will report annually on
outcomes through an annual national report, which will also provide an aggregate
national picture of outcomes for the TVET system. TVET data are now collected
and reported on a consistent basis using national statistical standards through the
National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), which also pub-
lishes data on enrolments, hours of delivery, student outcomes and TVET finan-
cing. NCVER also maintains a specific database on apprenticeship and traineeship
statistics.
Both the Commonwealth and state ministers and departments are also account-
able to their respective governments and parliaments.
5.10 Achievements
Compared to any other country operating under a federal system of government,

Australia has done more to co-ordinate and harmonize the roles of national and
934 P. Noonan
sub-national levels of government in relation to TVET. Despite the many twists and
turns in the development of the national training system in Australia, slowness in
the implementation of some key aspects of the system and tensions between na-
tional and state bodies, its key features have been consolidated both in terms of
the framework for skills and qualifications and the governance and co-ordination
arrangements between the Commonwealth and the states. Some key outcomes in-
clude significant growth in TVET enrolments and outputs, with substantial growth
reported between 1995 and 2003 (but with a decline between 2003 and 2004) as
shown in Table 1.6
Another measure of output is the annual hours delivered by TVET providers
which also show a significant increase between 1995 and 2003, with a slight de-
cline evident in 2004 (Table 2). Growth in apprenticeships and traineeships and the
provision of formal TVET in general secondary schools account for some of this
growth.
There is now a diverse and competitive training market in Australia with training
providers able to operate and compete across state borders, although concerns about
the quality of some providers continue to be expressed.
Expenditure on TVET in Australia increased significantly in the initial years of
the ANTA agreement, but has only increased slightly since then in nominal terms
and has decreased in real terms. This reflects on-going debates between the Com-
monwealth and the states about the respective contributions to TVET funding. Much
of the growth in TVET in Australia in recent years is due to substantial increases in
efficiency.
In terms of national and regional dimensions of TVET policy in Australia, the
issue of funding is its greatest challenge and the greatest source of tension. It is also
the only issue that cannot be resolved by ministers responsible for TVET and their
agencies and reflects wider debates about fiscal roles and the contributions of the
Commonwealth and state governments.
The positive outcomes outlined above in terms of growth in participation and
outputs may or may not have been achieved without the full range of complex gov-
ernance arrangements which have been put in place to manage the roles of, and
relationships between, the national and state governments.
Table 1 TVET students 1995 to 2004, Australia

Male Female Total
(’000) (’000) (’000)
1995 657.9 585.9 1,268.9
1996 689.8 623.8 1,341.2
1997 729.5 671.5 1,449.1
1998 761.6 713.5 1,509.8
1999 819.2 787.1 1,614.6
2000 865.2 836.2 1,707.9
2001 857.3 814.6 1,679.1
2002 868.4 809.5 1,682.9
2003 875.9 834.4 1,717.8
2004 828.9 760.7 1,595.2
Source: NCVER, 2005.
Table 2 Annual hours by sex, 1995 to 2004, Australia

Year Male Female Total
(’000) (’000) (’000)
1995 136,115.8 117,467.3 254,431.6
1996 141,599.2 123,590.5 268,036.4
1997 147,287.8 132,671.9 283,754.7
1998 147,700.9 133,753.0 283,447.6
1999 155,500.5 142,486.9 298,919.8
2000 161,791.4 148,756.6 311,340.8
2001 176,902.1 162,916.8 340,406.3
2002 177,950.5 166,725.7 345,065.9
2003 178,849.1 172,229.0 351,714.7
2004 173,268.3 168,659.6 342,396.7
Source: NCVER, 2005.
From the point of view of employers, students and TVET providers, the most
important outcome has been the development of a national system of standards,
qualifications and accreditation of providers to ensure portability of certification
across state borders and an increasingly consistent process of provider registration
to underpin employer, student and community confidence in outcomes.
5.11 Other Regional Dimensions
The ANTA National Strategy for 2004–2010 contained a far more explicit recog-
nition of the role of TVET for communities and regions through one of four key
priorities:
Communities and regions will be strengthened economically and socially through learning
and employment. [. . .] Integrated learning and employment solutions will support regional
economic, social, cultural and environmental development and sustainability. Vocational
education and training will stimulate interest in learning. It will strengthen the capac-
ity of TAFE and other providers and brokers to partner with local government and non-
government agencies, businesses and industry clusters. It will encourage local planning and
innovation and help communities deal with change and take advantage of opportunities for
growth (ANTA, 2003).
A range of small initiatives have been undertaken both nationally and in individual
states to support this objective. However, at present, it is fair to say that these initia-
tives are not significant or mainstream. TAFE institutions, particularly in rural and
outer metropolitan areas, have always played important regional and community
development roles, but they argue that these roles are not sufficiently recognized in
their performance and funding agreements with the government.
Some support is provided for community-based providers particularly offering
programmes to adults returning to study, but this support is mostly evident in Victo-
ria and, to a lesser extent, in New South Wales.
A promising national initiative has been undertaken through a national project
around the concept of ‘skills eco-systems’, which are defined as:
936 P. Noonan
concentrations of workforce skills and knowledge in an industry or a region. They are

shaped by:
r the business environment/competitive pressures, inter-firm relationships, access to fi-
nance and product markets;
r the technology in use;
r the role of government and industry regulators;
r modes of engaging labour and the operation of labour markets;
r production processes and the way work is organized;
r the quality of education and training and its ability to meet industry’s and workers’
developmental needs (Australia. DEST, 2005).
Under this initiative, eight demonstration projects linking TVET providers to en-
terprises and community organizations to identify and address skills needs have
been funded together with research and evaluation into outcomes, dissemination of
outcomes and the establishment of an on-line network and forum.
However, it is far from clear whether these innovative approaches to skills and
workforce development, which are also emerging in other countries, will be be-
come an accepted and growing feature of the TVET system in Australia. It has
been argued that the complex nature of the intergovernmental arrangements now
affecting the TVET system in Australia, and in particular accountability and re-
porting arrangements (using conventional measures such as enrolments and stu-
dent contact hours), inhibit rather than support these innovative practices and the
broader social and regional development role of TVET. Noonan posed the matter as
follows:
The key question is whether or not Australia is poised to make the transition from a largely
standards- and qualification-based system, to a broader construct of workforce preparation,
which subsumes, but goes much further than, current approaches to knowledge and skills
and the means by which they are acquired? [. . .] The need to make that transition is implied
in some of the state and national policy and strategy rhetoric and in research findings, but
has not been explicitly acknowledged to date (Noonan, 2003).
Many other countries operating under both unitary and devolved TVET systems
are facing the same question. The challenge for Australia is now to make sure that
the benefits of building an integrated, national TVET system supports, rather than
limits, real innovation at the regional level.
Notes
1. In this chapter the word ‘state’ refers to a sub-national area within a federal nation.
2. Governance for this purpose has a broad meaning covering all aspects of the management,
funding, delivery and regulation of TVET.
3. The article by Huggins & Harries (2004) uses the concept of a skills economy and outlines
a case study of a programme in Wales aimed at shifting the costs of skills development from
employees and employers to assist in overcoming market failure.
4. Vocational education and training (VET) has, until recently, been the term used to describe
TVET in Australia, but the Commonwealth Government has now adopted the term technical
and vocational education and training (TVET).
5. For an analysis of this decision see Noonan, 2004.

6. Growth since 1992 has been even stronger than is shown here, but cannot be accurately reported
due to changes and improvements in statistical collection.
References
Australia. Department of Education, Science and Training. 2005. Framework for the New National
Training System. Canberra: DEST.
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tion and Training, 2004–2010. This information can now be found on the website of DEST:
<antapubs.dest.gov.au/publications/images/publications/national strategy.txt>
Huggins, S.; Harries, S. 2004. The skills economy and workforce development: a regional approach
to policy intervention. European journal of education, vol. 39, no. 1.
National Centre for Vocational Education Research. 2005. Australian vocational education and
training statistics: students and courses 2004. Adelaide, Australia: NCVER. <www.ncver.edu.
au/statistic/publications/1602.html>
Noonan, P. 2003. Rethinking VET: some major policy implications. Melbourne, Australia: Monash
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learning economy. Paris: OECD.
Chapter VI.5
Planning for Education and Work:
Alternatives and Issues
1 Introduction
Planning is vitally important in the world of education and training. There are im-
mense and ever-increasing pressures to provide more and better services. Policy-
makers in many countries are attempting to fundamentally restructure the ways that
youth and adults prepare for employment in order to make more effective use of
limited resources, expand opportunity, help alleviate poverty and address the skill
demands generated by an ever-pervasive global economy. Policy-makers look to
planning as a means of bringing programme development and resource allocation
and use into line with labour-market and social development objectives. However,
there is considerably more awareness today than in the past of the complexities of
planning for technical and vocational education and training (TVET). The outcomes
of many national planning efforts undertaken in the past can best be described as
highly mixed. Overall, there has been a general failure to take fully into account
the critical importance of implementation. Many planning efforts have gone astray
because decision-making was too remote from the practical issues of programme
implementation. Today planning is approached with a greater awareness of the
methodological limitations and complexity of the issues confronted.
Planning activities continue to be central to TVET. Despite inherent constraints
and limitations, policy-makers within TVET have long-relied on various planning
models to supply useful information for making decisions about the implementation
of programmes. Typically, TVET planners are involved with formulating policy,
exploring the application of various education and training options, determining the
level and use of financial and human resources, addressing the concerns of different
constituency groups, developing and implementing programme plans and identify-
ing and assessing education and training outcomes. The purpose of this chapter is to
examine basic TVET planning alternatives and highlight the fundamental assump-
tions, limitations and issues underlying their application. We will also examine mea-
sures planners are taking to address the conceptual, methodological and technical
constraints that they face in the economic, social and political space within which
they work. We will also explore alternative planning approaches that offer promising
options to TVET decision-makers. These alternatives attempt to go beyond some of
the common assumptions that have traditionally driven much of TVET planning and
project a more application-guided, inclusive approach to planning.

940 D.R. Herschbach
2 Levels of Planning
Planning is applied at three basic levels (Herschbach & Davis, 2000). Macro-
planning is conducted at the national level usually through ministries of planning
or labour and is used to establish nationwide priorities for the use of education and
training resources.
In the decades following the Second World War, macro-level planning also came
into prominence among international development agencies, such as the World
Bank, the Organization of American States (OAS), the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Labour Organization
(ILO) and UNESCO, among others. Development economists were enamoured with
the prospect of linking ‘objective’ data with education and training investment de-
cisions. Macro-planning continues to be widely applied today, but with greater real-
ization of its inherent limitations (Bertrand, 2004; Woodhall, 2004).
Macro-level planning is used to make decisions, for example, about the rela-
tive investment in elementary in relation to investments in secondary, vocational
or tertiary education; or planners examine the comparative advantages of invest-
ment in one type of TVET over another. Planning projections tend to be long
term and economic criteria figure large in decision-making. Manpower forecasting,
cost/benefit and cost-effectiveness studies are the methodologies most commonly
applied.
Social demand data also are commonly used for macro-level planning, especially
in countries with less centralized economies. In this case, planning decisions are
primarily political rather than economic in order to support the demands of specific
groups or to address national priorities. Increasingly, combinations of data are used
by planners, and there is less overall reliance on a single data source or planning
methodology in the search for better results. After over five decades and more
of international experience with national-level macro-planning, however, consid-
erable scepticism continues to prevail over the usefulness and reliability of planning
projections (Bertrand, 2004; Farrell, 1997; Woodhall, 2004). The acceleration of
economic globalization accompanied by technological change, moreover, makes it
increasingly difficult to engage in meaningful macro-level planning regardless of the
methodology employed. Established national plans projected into the future become
increasingly irrelevant.
Today, there is considerably more focus on micro-level planning applied at the
local or regional level, incorporating the use of qualitative methodologies and par-
ticipatory approaches to planning. In contrast to macro-level planning, there is a
shift in emphasis from examining the optimal potential use of educational resources
across the total national educational and training sector to making regional or local
implementation decisions. One focus is on the relative value of one kind of TVET
investment over another given local capacity to implement programmes. Planners
want to gauge the probability of successfully implementing programmes given
available local resources, specific labour-market needs, potential student groups to
be served, the capacity of facilities, local employer relations and placement opportu-
nities, among a number of factors conditioning the capacity to develop and maintain
VI.5 Planning for Education and Work: Alternatives and Issues 941
local TVET programmes. There is less emphasis on the regulation and control of
TVET and more on exploring the multiple ways to potentially enhance workforce
preparation.
Micro-level planning makes use of cost-effectiveness and cost/benefit studies to
assess the relative value of one decision over another. Micro-level planning also
makes use of elements of consensual and strategic planning to assess environmental
factors, involve stakeholders, clarify objectives, analyse critical problems and iden-
tify possible courses of action. Interactive and contingency planning models tend to
be used.
A limiting factor concerning macro-level planning is the inability to effectively
transfer policy decisions into action at the implementation level, even if long-
term projections are valid. Macro-level planning tends to overlook critically im-
portant organizational characteristics and local conditions that impact decisively
on implementation. It does little good, for example, to know that a particular
TVET programme intervention theoretically yields greater rates of return based
on limited sampling if it is difficult to implement the programme given local con-
ditions. TVET is conducted within a larger organizational structure that estab-
lishes the context for implementation, including, for example, policy and planning
units, support agencies and line agencies, as well as individual institutions deliv-
ering services. Often employer or community groups play a decisive programme-
development role. Micro-level planning focuses on bringing together organiza-
tional components and developing communication networks and problem-solving
structures.
Programme and curricular planning is yet a third level and occurs primarily at
the local or institutional level. The focus is on operational and programming ele-
ments, such as management structures, staffing patterns, student selection, course
construction, instructional methods, class size and resource allocation, among oth-
ers. Planners want to optimize the internal efficiency of TVET programming by
determining what combination of operational and programming elements will pro-
duce the best results for a given resource. A great deal of interactive planning is
used to continually assess programme implementation. To be sure, local educators
may work from a planning document prepared at a higher organizational level, but
this level of planning requires analysis and action at the local level in order to avoid
static and faulty implementation.
3 Rational Planning Perspectives

Planning helps to develop an education and training map, a picture of where we are
now and plausible programming avenues to follow. It indicates how to get to where
we want to go, as well as the roadblocks to be overcome and the means that we need.
There are multiple planning models to consider, each better for one purpose more
than another, and each with its strengths and limitations. The literature in the field
generally supports three broad categories of planning models: rational; interactive
or consensual; and the political (Adams, 1991, 1994; Farrell, 1997).
942 D.R. Herschbach
What are termed ‘rational’ or ‘technicist’ planning models, including manpower

planning and variations of cost/benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis, are the most
widely used at the macro- and to a lesser extent the micro-level. Rational models are
characterized by strong agreement on a set of externally defined policy objectives,
or goals that are taken as givens and constitute the starting point of the planning
process that itself is assumed to be linear. It is also assumed that the planning envi-
ronment is stable and that sound educational and training projections can be made
into the future—both highly questionable assumptions. Various methods are used to
collect and analyse labour-force data, which are used to formulate decisions about
the kind, scope and character of projected education and training. Since the models
themselves are thought to be scientifically and objectively defined, they are consid-
ered to be universally applied with little modification, regardless of the economic,
social or political context of the individual country or locality. Data collection and
analysis tend to be limited to quantifiable indicators. Little attention tends to be
given to cultural and human factors in planning calculations and, when such factors
are considered, they tend to be factored in as relatively stable, invariant variables
with a set, assigned value. Decision-making tends to be centralized, top-down and
expert driven (Adams, 1994; Bertrand, 2004; Farrell, 1997; Herschbach & Davis,
2000; Woodhall, 2004).
Rational planning models are still widely used today, particularly among
economists attracted by the prospect of making decisions for optimizing resource-
use based on ‘hard’ data, but overall within the planning community there tends to
be less acceptance at face value of the results. There is greater emphasis on the use
of a combination of information from different sources, including the application of
interactive and political planning models. Some, as Bertrand (2004) and Godfrey
(1997) observe, question whether more traditional concepts of rational planning
have any valid current use.
3.1 Manpower Planning

Among rational planning models, manpower planning or assessment in various
forms is widely used by TVET planners and policy-makers. Its primary use in
the past was by planning agencies at the national or regional level to establish
both short- and long-term macro-level education and training priorities. Education
and training targets, along with resource allocations, are accordingly assigned to
the various service providers with responsibility for labour-force development. As
was previously mentioned, today as an approach to macro-level forecasting man-
power planning on a national scale has fallen somewhat out of favour because
results are often highly inaccurate. Long-term forecasts tend to be off the mark,
and there is greater awareness of labour-market issues that go significantly beyond
forecasts and that require additional planning insights: coping with rapidly chang-
ing labour requirements; issues of unemployment; lack of opportunity; poverty;
and the efficient operation of institutions, for example. Applications of manpower
planning, nevertheless, continue to be used to examine areas of critical need, and

for micro-level planning at the institutional or industry level as a training manage-
ment and guidance tool. Manpower planning also continues to be widely used in
developing countries because of the pressure to make optimal use of very scarce
human and financial resources, even when forecasts are inaccurate. The emphasis
today, however, is on making available timely and relevant information that can be
used for immediate programming decisions; there is considerably less emphasis on
long-term forecasting (Bertrand, 2004).
3.1.1 Supply and Demand Match

Planning procedures are straightforward (Bertrand, 2004). Manpower assessment is
based on the idea of matching the supply of educated and trained individuals with
current and projected labour-market demand. A good match results in the efficient
use of resources and contributes to maintaining the economy. Workers are classi-
fied in different economic sectors and occupations according to the type of work
that they perform. Estimates of education and training requirements are linked with
the classification. Through survey methods, labour requirements are identified and
projected into the future based on assumed economic growth trends. Birth rates,
immigration and migration rates, and death and replacement rates provide an indi-
cation of the future supply of workers. The supply of potential workforce entrants
when compared with projections of future labour requirements gives an indication
of education and training requirements.
These requirements can be broken down by region, sector, occupation, job or
any other meaningful unit of analysis. The projected requirements are compared
with current and projected supply, giving an indication of future deficits or surpluses
in the supply, and thus the magnitude and kind of TVET required. TVET training
targets are accordingly set.
3.1.2 Issues and Constraints

The planner is confronted with a number of issues in the collection and use of
manpower data. Among the most intractable are the quality and appropriateness
of data. In many countries, reasonably complete data that are reliable over time
are difficult—if not impossible—to obtain. Projected economic growth patterns and
labour-force forecasts are often little more than informed guesswork. Moreover,
labour-market forecasts, regardless of their immediate validity, tend not to be reli-
able over time, even when there are relatively sound initial data. As forecasts are pro-
jected into the future, projections become less reliable. Training demand is a product
of economic activity that is continually subject to change. Technological innovation,
government policy positions, the availability of investment capital, recession or eco-
nomic expansion, and international competition are among other changing factors
that impact on both immediate and long-term education and training requirements.
The potent influence of globalization is challenging all planning models based on
data confined to national boundaries.
944 D.R. Herschbach
In dynamic, rapidly-changing economies in particular, projections tend to be too

static to capture labour-force demand spurred on by change. Projections at one point
in time tend not to stand up as time goes on and often are too erratic for decision-
making (Dougherty, 1989; Herschbach & Davis, 2000).
Even if reliable data are available, it is often difficult to tie findings directly
to programme design. One reason is that most data collected through government
agencies are simply aggregated at too high a level for programme development uses.
A second reason is that even if data were sufficiently disaggregated, rarely is there
sufficient information about either the quality of the labour force or of the education
and training supply to make good decisions. It is not enough to know quantitative
requirements without also being able to assess the quality of both the system that
prepares workers and the relative competencies of the existing workforce. Without
this knowledge, the potential to structure TVET programmes so as to contribute to
improvement of labour-force performance is limited (Godfrey, 1997).
Similarly, gross data masks important ways that individual employers mould
their workforce. There are over-simplified assumptions about education and training
and the dynamics of job structuring (Bertrand, 2004). Data collection and analysis
is based on the assumption that there is a highly segmented or multiple-tiered labour
market with strictly defined, stable work categories. The categories that define how
data are collected, however, may not represent the ways that tasks are actually func-
tionally configured in the workplace by individual employers. The products and
production practices of individual firms define work skills in ways that spill across
formal categories used to collect data. In actual practice, there may be consider-
able substitution and on-going change in the workforce. Unless there is sensitivity
to this fact, the tendency is to view programme and course design in very narrow
terms.
There also are many intervening factors beyond the scope of the planner that
complicate the use of labour-market data, even if they are reliable, sufficiently de-
tailed and stable over time. Risk aversion, government tax incentives, protectionist
import policies, minimum wage legislation, wage differentials, guaranteed employ-
ment schemes, occupational mobility, the off-shoring of job functions—these and
others are examples of intervening factors that influence the market place, often in
unanticipated ways. Not only do these factors condition training demand at a given
time, but they also make it difficult to obtain, interpret and use reliable labour-market
information that is reasonably valid over time (Godfrey, 1997). There remain signif-
icant gaps in our knowledge of how to link outside intervening factors with planning
models. Manpower planning tends not to be sensitive enough to capture the full im-
pact of such factors in ways that inform decision-making. The relationship of such
intervening factors one to another and to other planning variables changes over time.
3.2 Toward Better Manpower Planning
Given these limitations, manpower planning needs to be approached with caution.

Many of the applications today try to account for the limitations (Bertrand, 2004).
One option is to limit planning to a few, crucial occupational sectors and to col-
lect more data in greater scope and depth. This will yield more information about
structuring specific TVET programmes. Another option is to limit forecasting to
short-term, micro-level planning in key industries, specific localities or regions.
Councils of local employers and service providers work together to adjust TVET
to what are perceived to be immediate, real-employment needs in a given catchment
area (Farrell, 1997).
Focused, disaggregated data over short-term projections applied to a limited
number of occupational categories are reasonably reliable. Perhaps the most promis-
ing approach today is to shift emphasis from forecasting potential labour demand
and setting targets, to improving and speeding up access to data so that service
providers and employers alike have information readily available for making deci-
sions. The emphasis has shifted from centralized training decisions, to facilitating
the supply and use of data in the local training market. Market signals in the form
of job vacancies and surpluses are used to determine market changes in anticipation
of adjustments in the supply of labour (Herschbach & Davis, 2000). Godfrey (1997)
argues that: ‘Detailed forecasts are not needed. What is needed is reliable and timely
information about the state of the various labour markets for qualified people and a
structure of incentives that will reward both those who acquire and those who impart
skills’ (p. 208).
Mechanisms for tracking programme results are helpful. Data about the qual-
itative improvement of the labour market are fed back into the planning process.
Certification systems linked with planning, for example, are used to gauge compe-
tence but also to incorporate changing skill requirements through re-certification.
Effective certification programmes link closely with the work environment and are
a primary check on education and training relevance and quality. The link of certi-
fication with planning provides a powerful tool for decision-makers (Herschbach &
Campbell, 2000).
Yet another response to incomplete or limited data is to shift micro-level planning
from highly specialized training to more generic technical categories that help build
the foundation for future, specialized training near or at the time of employment.
The major focus of pre-employment preparation is on the acquisition of requisite
academic and technical skills that enable individuals to pursue further preparation.
Short-term, specialized work preparation is carried out in conjunction with employ-
ing establishments, often at the work site.
3.3 Cost/Benefit Analysis
Largely promoted by economists in international development organizations, cost/

benefit analysis is a way to link decisions about TVET supply with economic cri-
teria (Share, 1999; Woodhall, 2004). Choices about potential TVET interventions
are based on the assumed monetary return of a particular TVET programme over
its projected life-span. TVET is treated as an investment, and programmes yielding
946 D.R. Herschbach
an apparent higher return in relation to cost are considered the best investments
to make. Both private or social benefits and costs can be calculated. Social benefits
include increased productivity, better health, greater tax revenue, increased opportu-
nity for marginalized populations, among others. Private rates-of-return give an indi-
cation of the incentive for individuals to invest in TVET, and include such benefits
as higher wages, promotion opportunities, employment stability and occupational
mobility.
Typically, benefits and costs are figured by comparing the projected lifetime
earnings that individuals can expect from different types and levels of TVET in-
vestments with the associated private and social costs. Factors that are typically
used include direct and indirect instructional costs, teachers’ salaries, tuition fees,
material, equipment and facilities maintenance and upkeep. Both benefits and costs
are converted into monetary terms discounted to present value. Interest and inflation
rates also are calculated (Woodhall, 2004).
Cost/benefit, also commonly referred to as rate-of-return, analysis tends to be
primarily conducted at the national planning level because of the considerable re-
sources and time required. The results are used for making national or regional
resource allocation decisions. Comparisons, for example, may be made between
primary, secondary, vocational and tertiary education nationwide. Or comparisons
may be made between different kinds of TVET offerings, but this is less common.
The attempt is to determine the effectiveness of past resource use measured by wage
differentials, with those education and training interventions yielding placements at
higher wages considered as more favourable investments.
3.3.1 Questionable Assumptions

There are several basic assumptions fundamental to cost/benefit analysis that are
highly questionable (Bennell, 1998; Herschbach & Davis, 2000). First, although
segmented labour-market theory is largely rejected, the extent of assumed potential
substitution in the workforce is often carried to extremes. One kind or level of educa-
tion is assumed to be capable of preparing individuals for multiple work roles, with
the question of specific skill acquisition largely ignored. Even though studies often
show high rates of return for elementary education, for example, the act of simply
attending elementary education does not always result in the acquisition of relevant
job skills. Investments must be made in other types of workforce preparation, even
if the rates of return are not so high. Electronic technicians, fitter-machinists, doc-
tors, accountants, warehouse workmen and engineers, among many others, require
specific skill training, but to know that one kind of education yields relatively high
investments gives few clues to planners about the amount of investment, if any, that
should be made in other kinds of education and training interventions with lower
returns.
Second, wage rates are not always the best indicator of social or economic need
and thus education and training investment. Social status, prejudice and tradition,
government wage and employment policies, strong employer or worker groups,
significant shifts in labour-market dynamics—these and other factors contribute to
policy distortions based on an analysis of wage rates alone. Market imperfections

make rate-of-return studies often a poor measure of productivity and the basis of
decision-making. Then again, such studies also assume that present rates of return
will continue into the future, but this is unlikely to happen because the ‘normal’
changing balance between supply and demand modifies returns.
Another major problem with rate-of-return studies is that the methodology and
data are often so flawed that the results lack validity. Widely varying time frames
are often used for sampling. It also is hard to obtain complete data free of sampling
bias. Indirect social variables are often overlooked (Bennell, 1996, 1998).
3.3.2 Results and Uses of Studies

Early rate-of-return studies consistently show that elementary education yields the
highest return on educational investments, followed by secondary education, fol-
lowed in turn by vocational and higher education. Recent studies, however, question
these findings and show higher gains for both secondary and higher education. Stud-
ies of higher education point to the fact that the impact of indirect social benefits is
largely ignored in much of the earlier work (Task Force on Higher Education and So-
ciety, 2000). This is a problem that appears to characterize much of the rate-of-return
work in general. In the case of TVET, early studies (Psacharopoulos & Loxley, 1985;
Psacharopoulos & Woodhall, 1985) generally cast doubt on its relative value when
compared with investments in secondary-level general education. Technical training
is more costly to implement, but studies generally do not examine all of the benefits,
such as wage differentials over a long period of time. And importantly, crucial social
and political factors that distort results are often overlooked. Consideration is not
given to the benefit of social and occupational mobility, for example, or to the fact
that wages are depressed in some occupational categories by politically enforced
social norms, labour policy and practice.
In more recent studies over the past two decades comparing returns of TVET
with ‘general’ academic programmes and schools, the findings are mixed. A num-
ber of studies show that TVET yields equal or greater returns than higher edu-
cation (Bishop & Mane, 2004; Gray & Neng-Tang, 1992). In the most compre-
hensive study of TVET, Metcalf (1985) found that TVET investments consistently
yield between 10% to 20% return, equalling or surpassing investments in capital
equipment and plant and in other forms of education and training. In a compar-
ative study of TVET in OECD countries, Cohn and Addison (1998) found that
returns on TVET appeared highest in the United States, followed by the United
Kingdom, with the lowest returns in the Nordic countries due primarily to flatter
lifetime earning profiles. In a recent work, Bishop and Mane (2005) found that in the
United States throughout the 1990s there were very high rates of return on advanced
secondary-level TVET courses. There were negative effects or no significant bene-
fits for academic, personal interests and introductory vocational courses. However,
as suggested earlier, many of the studies comparing different types of schooling
do not sufficiently take into account ability levels, family background and social
status—factors among others that significantly impact on earnings.
948 D.R. Herschbach
TVET tends to yield higher social than private returns (Ashton & Sung, 2000).
Rates of return are generally higher in developing than developed countries because
of the overall scarcity of human capital. Both the private and social rates of return
for women appear higher than for men when indirect benefits and externalities are
fully taken into account (Woodhall, 2004).
One of the most useful functions of rate-of-return analysis is to point planners
to crucial questions that should be examined. It makes planners, for example, think
about the relative value of one kind of TVET investment over another, the relative
cost of different staff training alternatives, the benefits of the use of one instructional
modality over another or of ways to reduce training costs and increases benefits.
Rate-of-return analysis is also useful for examining fee levels, the relative value
of public and private TVET investments, the effects on employment opportunity,
potential wastage and inefficiencies, and alternative financing practices. Perhaps
most important, rate-of-return analysis helps to bolster claims for an appropriate
share of education budgets with ‘hard’ analytical data (Herschbach & Davis, 2000;
Woodhall, 2004).
Rate-of-return analysis, however, provides data that have to be used with caution
and restraint. As suggested, cost/benefit analysis tells little about the optimal level
of investment; it does not provide numerical targets for planners. Planners also are
not given enough information to determine whether low returns are because a par-
ticular TVET programme is inappropriate to labour-market requirements (external
efficiency), or because of poor programme quality (internal efficiency). Then too,
estimates along with the data that they are based on can change rapidly, and labour-
market distortions and externalities are difficult to deal with. Judgements should be
taken as approximations that can best be used along with other forms of information.
Perhaps the best that can be expected is that indicators are provided that are useful
to consider (Woodhall, 2004).
3.4 Cost-Effectiveness Studies
Because potential earnings are not always the only, or best, indicator for making
policy decisions, cost-effectiveness studies are used to broaden the scope of analysis.
Included are potential, indirect ‘non-economic’ benefits, such as programme com-
pletion and placement rates, achievement levels, employment stability, improvement
in the quality of life, job satisfaction and occupational and social mobility, among
other factors. These are referred to by economists as ‘spill-over’ benefits or ‘ex-
ternalities’. It is usually easier to identify relevant externalities than to determine
how best to measure the benefits, however. The assignment of a monetary value,
if any, is largely informed guesswork. Non-monetary factors, such as comparisons
in differences in achievement, completion rates or labour-force participation rates,
are often used. Sometimes, the theoretical cost of alternative means of achieving the
results is calculated.
Considerable work remains to be done to identify relevant variables and to deter-
mine how best to measure the associated direct and indirect, individual and social
benefits. Nevertheless, there is growing agreement among planners that cost/benefit

studies consistently underestimate the value of educational investments, and that
cost-effectiveness studies provide a more comprehensive analysis. This is especially
true in the case of TVET because, overall, the population served includes a greater
proportion in some countries of dispossessed and marginalized citizens who can
especially benefit by the opportunities presented. The lifetime value of the spill-over
benefits may be considerable. Both private and social returns may be considerable.
There is increased renewed interest in cost-effectiveness studies and in issues of how
best to measure the associated externalities (Woodhall, 2004).
In cases where significant non-economic benefits come into play, cost-effec-
tiveness analysis is the preferred option. Cost-effectiveness studies are useful at
the local or system level to make comparisons between different teaching meth-
ods, varying lengths of class periods, or different combinations of instructional
inputs, such as textbooks, direct teacher instruction, workbooks and educational
technology—human and material inputs that impact on the quality and effectiveness
of instruction.
There is growing support among planners that the best way to use the results of
cost/benefit and cost-effectiveness studies may be in conjunction with manpower
planning and other data (Woodhall, 2004). Short-term forecasts indicate ways that
the labour force can be modified to address alternative patterns of labour supply; an
analysis of returns in turn yields information on the wage differentials and cost im-
plications and benefits of new labour-force supply patterns. Combined, the planner
has available information about the potential real cost of labour-market supply and
demand decisions.
4 Interactive Planning Models
The limitations of top-down, rational planning models have caused planners to turn
to more qualitative, participatory approaches that take into consideration human,
institutional and contextual factors impinging on programme implementation. Plan-
ning activity is primarily focused at the micro, programme and curricular levels.
What are called interactive or consensual planning models start with the assumption
that labour-market environments are inherently unstable, that generalizations are
difficult to make, and that meaningful action, and thus planning, is derived from
understanding. There is no one set planning model to follow. Plans evolve through
social interaction, experience, consensus and agreement. Labour-market and place-
ment data may be used, but they are used primarily for the purpose of generating un-
derstanding rather than specifying training targets. The relevance of planning rests
on agreed choices made by the individuals directly involved and affected by the
decisions (Herschbach & Davis, 2000).
Interactive planning places emphasis on stakeholder involvement in shared
decision-making through all phases of planning. There is considerable concern for
unintended effects of decisions, and this can be checked, in part, by broad partici-
pation in planning decisions. While goals serve as the starting point of planning to
950 D.R. Herschbach
suggest direction, they are modified through an on-going, formative process of dia-
logue to build understanding and explore alternatives (Adams, 1994; Farrell, 1997;
Herschbach & Davis, 2000; Warwick, 1980).
4.1 Planning Elements
Plans are considered tentative and are expected to evolve as implementation pro-
ceeds. Planning is conceived as an adaptive process sensitive to diverse interests,
shifting power relationships and compromise and trade-offs. Successful programme
implementation is gauged by the extent to which change is introduced and accom-
modated, stakeholder representation is achieved, and programming is sustained over
time. Interactive planning incorporates a process for formulating the plan as well
as strategies for implementation. While there are multiple variations of interactive
planning, typical elements include the following (Finlay, 1998; Rondinelli, Middle-
ton & Verspoor, 1990):
r Identify the relevant stakeholders; identify the planning problem and explore all
aspects through the eyes of the different stakeholders.
r Develop recognition of the need to address the planning problem.
r Based on dialogue, reformulate and re-conceptualize the planning problem in
terms that reflect consensus and incorporate the viewpoints of all stakeholders.
r Analyse the background and critical antecedent conditions of the problem.
r Clarify the historical sources of conflict and problems that are barriers to change
and that are integral to finding solutions.
r Through dialogue, uncover the inter-subjective meaning, values and motives that
are held by participants.
r Identify and clarify inconsistencies, contradictions and value conflicts; clarify
ambiguities.
r Formulate a plan that addresses the planning problem while at the same time ac-
commodates the views and agendas of stakeholders; reach consensus on the plan.
r Analyse the potential for implementation.
r Assess the potential to sustain programming in relation to financial, institutional
and human resources.
r Develop strategies for implementation.
r Develop strategies for formative, on-going evaluation, modification and plan re-
formulation.
r Develop strategies for feedback to stakeholders and modification of original goals.
r Maintain close working relationships with stakeholder groups.
r Continually monitor the implementation context to make sure that programming
does not overwhelm the resources base.
Since the focus of planning tends to be at the micro and programme and curricular
levels, considerable effort is directed to identifying and addressing conditions that
influence implementation. Within a given planning context there is an interrelated
set of factors largely outside the technical dimensions of TVET programming that
impact directly or indirectly on implementation, such as political influence, cultural
and social norms, infrastructure support and government policy positions—to name
a few. The presence of these factors, often in subtle form, contributes to determin-
ing whether or not a particular TVET intervention can be implemented and suc-
cessfully sustained (Atchoarena & Delluc, 2002; Warwick, 1980). There are also
more directly related technical constraints, such as available financing, organiza-
tional capability, and technical and human resources, for example, that must be care-
fully balanced with anticipated programme design. Plans may make provision for
strengthening management capacity, training staff, building support units, overcom-
ing political resistance, constructing new facilities or forming community support
groups, among other interventions necessary to bolster successful implementation.
There is a marked broadening of the planning focus from primarily determining
the kinds and amount of TVET to provide to making programmes work given the
characteristics and constraints of the local implementing environment.
4.2 Applications
Variations of consensual planning, even if in abbreviated form, are used widely in

TVET. The most common example is the use of technical advisory committees to
plan and monitor local programmes. In some cases, local ‘craft’ committees com-
posed of potential employers, instructors and other concerned individuals are set
up for different technical areas. In other cases, more general advisory committees
are formed. The German ‘dual training system’, for example, makes use of four
stakeholder groups: federal government, state government, employers and trade
organizations. Policies, requirements and regulations for the state are established
through consensus, and TVET is linked closely with the labour market through
employer-based training. But the formalism of the system tends to stifle change
(Brand, 1998).
The Nordic countries, in particular, place reliance on consensual policy formation
and planning (Lasonen & Rauhala, 2000). Elsewhere, in a number of countries there
is a movement from centralized planning and programming to decentralized, con-
sensual planning and programme implementation (Finlay, Niven & Young, 1998;
Herschbach & Campbell, 2000). This enables local communities to more readily
adapt to the transformation of occupations in the context of globalization and tech-
nological change.
Interactive, consensual planning is widely used by non-governmental organiza-
tions (NGOs). This has resulted in a broad concept of work preparation that includes
concern for addressing non-technical, but nevertheless important, considerations
that help to empower individuals and increase their probability of successfully nav-
igating the labour market. In the case of marginalized and disadvantaged segments
of the population in particular, TVET is most effective when it is combined with
other interventions, such as income maintenance, child-care, literacy training, health
952 D.R. Herschbach
services and micro-loans that enable individuals to participate fully in TVET and to
make full use of their education and training. Bosch (1998), for example, reports on
the Education and Work programme in Chile that concurrently provides vocational
training while promoting personal development for 15- to 30-year-old, poverty-level
individuals. The technical training component of the programme is implemented
along with consideration through interactive planning issues of support networks,
food and shelter, physical abuse and awareness-raising, among others.
4.3 Influence and Constraints

Consensual planning has been helpful in broadening the base of planning and in
generating greater appreciation of the complexities of the human, institutional and
cultural context within which TVET programmes are planned and implemented.
One of the most important influences of interactive planning has been to sensitize
rational planners to the importance of communication, participation and the use of
non-quantifiable data outside the realm of conventional labour-market information.
Consensual planning has helped to temper what are otherwise abstract decisions
based on limited data with a greater appreciation of the broader range of planning
concerns.
The concept of what constitutes preparation for work also has been extended
to encompass concern for personal development, support networks, long-term in-
terventions and services and initiatives designed to break down barriers to full
workforce participation. There is greater awareness of the need to extend planning
participation to groups typically left out of the process because of class, ethnicity,
gender or other barriers that relegate them to the social and economic fringes. In
this regard, consensual planning shares territory with political planning. Consen-
sual planning also goes beyond the technical concerns of programme planning and
implementation to probe the ethical and value questions that surround the choices
and opportunities work preparation presents. It makes planners and educators think
about the personal and social consequences of TVET. It introduces more than just
economic concerns into the planning equation.
Consensual planning, however, invites conflict. Different stakeholders bring their
own agenda to the planning table. Planning may be messy, inclusive and riddled
with ambiguity. The competing claims of participants may prevent the consensus
necessary to move forward. A major challenge is to accommodate the inherent value
conflicts and competing agendas.
It also is difficult to achieve truly representative membership in the planning
process. Political positioning tends to be achieved most effectively by those who al-
ready have power. Long-term, more inclusive goals may be subverted in the interest
of more immediate short-term benefits of interest groups with the most influence.
Representatives of the status quo will work to maintain their position. ‘Changes
brought about as a result of stakeholder involvement, though a participative demo-
cratic process, are likely to be gradualist and evolutionary rather than revolutionary,’
Finlay (1998, p. 9) observes. But an evolutionary process based on consensus in the

long-run holds open the door to more deeply-rooted and permanent change.
5 The Political Model
A third category of planning is the political, also known as transactional or incre-

mental, planning (Adams, 1991, 1994; Warwick, 1980). Political planning draws
from both rational and consensual planning traditions. The political model starts
with the assumption that planning cannot be separated easily from the influence
of politics and power. Planning decisions result from negotiation among what may
be highly competitive groups. Decisions are arrived at through bargaining, negotia-
tion and compromise. The quantifiable data of rational planning lend legitimacy to
planning decisions, but at the same time conflicting interests, political leverage and
the exercise of power figure large in the final planning outcomes, which themselves
may change in response to shifting power relationships. As Adams (1994) observes:
‘Even if alternative educational futures are quantifiable and optimum educational
investments are specifiable, such quantification takes on meaning only within the
context of political competition, conflict and the exercise of power’ (p. 1809).
The planner works in an environment that is recognized as dynamic, uncertain
and subject to influences that may not always be initially recognized or constant.
Decision-making proceeds incrementally as planners learn from experience and
gain support. The planner is alert to the historical, political and organizational con-
text. Coalition building and informal goal setting may be initially more important
than the specific content of the plan. The degree that ‘rational’ decisions are made
is conditioned by political involvement. Implementing and sustaining change relies
on mobilizing and maintaining political support.
5.1 The Dynamics of Political Planning

When planning is primarily perceived as a set of technical exercises designed to
allocate resources, it may fall seriously short because of the failure to recognize
and accommodate existing political dynamics. Classrooms and schools are politi-
cal and cultural constructs, and unless power and political influence are taken into
account, it is often not possible to effectively transmit the intention of plans into
practical programming. Technically sound and coherent plans, in fact, may be more
difficult to implement than less well-designed interventions that have considerably
more stakeholder support.
While rational planning is framed by issues of efficiency and effectiveness, po-
litical planning is highly responsive to the social and political context within which
decision-making is carried out. Planners are receptive to the influence of power and
politics that can take a number of obvious, as well as indirect, forms. These include,
for example:
954 D.R. Herschbach
r the control of educational policy and resources by certain ethnic, clan, religious
or political groups;
r a policy environment hostile to TVET;
r social rules operating in society that exclude certain individuals and groups from
participation;
r discriminatory practices that discourage gender, religious or ethnic groups from
participating in education and training programmes;
r bureaucratic rivalries that impede implementation of a programme that covers
major jurisdictions;
r gatekeepers that block informal clearance from interest groups;
r the subversion of programme objectives to the narrow interest of individuals and
groups for their own gain.
The political planning model basically rejects the neo-classical economic assump-
tion that societal imbalances work themselves out over time through consensual ne-
gotiation. Rather, planning is viewed as entwined in networks of power that overtly
or covertly work to maintain power, influence and advantage. Change is resisted
unless it is perceived as beneficial to and under the control of those holding power.
Efforts to redirect labour-force development, to ameliorate the condition of the poor,
or to expand opportunity by addressing the interests of socio-economic classes and
ethnic and gender groups, for example, may be countered through the explicit and
implicit levers of power built into social structures that reproduce inequalities. These
structures, with all of their embedded power relationships, are maintained by those
already in power (Birdsall, Burns & Sabot, 1996; Cornwall, 2003; Easton & Klees,
1992; Farrell, 1997).
In countries characterized by high levels of political, religious or ethnic strife,
it may be extremely difficult to implement any kind of TVET intervention unless
there is a good way to negotiate conflict. Plans that are not perceived as palatable or
credible may result in conflict or resentment among the very populations intended
to implement the plan, as well as those intended to be beneficiaries. This is partic-
ularly true in the case of development projects that aim to promote change, but at
the same time rely on individuals within the existing power structure to implement
interventions that can potentially challenge their own positions of power.
Power dynamics can be thought of as existing within the TVET system and also
without, and planners must take into consideration both (Rondinelli, Middleton &
Verspoor, 1990; Verspoor, 1992).
5.2 Addressing Political Planning
Social demand planning attempts to take into account the interests of individuals and
social groups. It is the most basic, widespread and benign form of political planning.
Simply put, decisions to allocate resources are based on the demand of various con-
stituency groups for education and training services. Decisions are political, since
the allocation of resources has to be made between competing demands. Shifts in
the political climate, the relative success of constituency groups to mobilize sup-
port or the influence of external events result in corresponding changes in the way
that education and training resources are used. In many countries, a considerable
amount of planning is based on social demand, even though it is not recognized or
acknowledged.
Social demand is usually expressed through a political process involving different
constituency groups at local, regional or national levels. The demand for services is
conveyed to decision-makers. Social or political objectives, such as enhancing in-
ternational economic competition, increasing enrolment levels in information tech-
nology or addressing national literacy requirements are formulated to serve as a
rationale for decision-making. Since there are limits on resources, trade-offs are de-
termined and education and training targets set. The capability to provide education
and training services is assessed. Labour-market information is used by planners in
order to help moderate extreme political pressure and to strike a balance between
social demand and the functional requirements of the economy. Planners are at-
tentive to the potential of abrupt, destabilizing changes that can throw the existing
education and training system into disarray. Incremental rather than abrupt change
is advocated as prudent TVET policy (Finlay, Niven & Young, 1998).
Strategic planning was formulated as a method to help institutions react to inter-
nal and external pressures. It overlaps considerably with consensual planning and is
more structured than planning based on social demand. Strategic planning involves
assessing the present implementing environment and plotting appropriate courses
of action. While there are different models of strategic planning, common elements
include the following (Carlson & Awkerman, 1991):
r Environmental scanning is used to obtain information about the internal or-

ganization of the institution and external influences. Planners identify the or-
ganization’s internal structure, staffing patterns, common values and interests,
competitive groups, levels of support for change and barriers; planners identify
external interest groups, supporters and competitors. Social, political and eco-
nomic trends are monitored and the impact on planning assessed.
r Stakeholder analysis focuses on the individuals, groups and organizations that
create demands and pressure on the institution. Planners assess the interests,
influence, agendas and values of stakeholders; planners determine the level of
support among stakeholders, develop strategies to elicit support, and determine
programme elements required to accommodate the interests of stakeholders.
r Planners reformulate and clarify the planning mission. The mission statement
incorporates values, beliefs and goals that reflect the interests and views of stake-
holders. The mission statement focuses on planning.
r Planners identify and analyse critical issues relating to the mission, performance
of the institution, cost and financing, management structure, staffing, students
and relationships with stakeholders, among others. Planners determine how im-
portant each issue is and how it best can be addressed, while paying attention to
stakeholder values and characteristics of the internal and external environments.
956 D.R. Herschbach
r Planners identify specific strategies for resolving issues. This begins with practi-
cal ways of addressing the issue, including the formulation of policies, objectives
and actions. Resources are allocated and careful attention is given to the ‘fit’
between the strategies and the organizational environment.
r Strategic implementation involves working with institution personnel to address
resource allocation, organizational capacity and strategy evaluation. Detailed
budgets are formulated and organizational changes are put into place to better
match people and structure with tasks. Built-in feedback mechanisms with re-
view processes are developed to provide information on implementation.
Political planning in its various forms is highly sensitive to the implementing en-
vironment. This includes the proximate environment, comprised of individuals,
groups, organizations, issues and conditions that occupy the immediate space close
to the planning activity. This also includes the more remote planning environment
comprised of the set of actors and circumstances that make up the larger policy
and political arena and that condition the support and acceptance of the plan. Con-
siderable bargaining is involved in response to diversity, different interests, conflict
and shifting power relations. Political planning has the potential to support signif-
icant change. Claims of being more inclusive and participatory, however, have to
be tempered with the realisation that efforts must be made to accommodate the
voices of the marginalized (Birdsall, Burns & Sabot, 1996; Cornwall. 2003; Silvey
& Elmhirst, 2003).
6 Looking Ahead
TVET planners face the daunting task of making critical decisions with considerable
intellectual disorder surrounding the concepts and methodologies that they rely on
to guide judgements. There is no single good way to go about planning at any educa-
tion and training level. But to ignore the importance of planning is to err. Planning is
more, not less, important today, given the broad range of issues confronting work-
force preparation in developed and newly developing countries alike. Reasonably
good results can be realized when planners fully recognize that decision-making
should not be pushed beyond the limits and constraints of the methodologies used;
when multiple perspectives are employed to generate insights; when the participant
base is broadened enough to elicit counter views; and when a strong dose of ‘com-
mon sense’ is applied to offset what may otherwise be shown in time to be narrowly
defined and dogmatic decisions. Planning also is best conceived as an on-going
process open to dialogue, review and change.
Past experience shows that macro-level planning based on the use of rational
models yields mixed results. The use of manpower planning models, in particular,
is associated with questionable validity. Rapid technological change linked with a
pervasive globalized market place is making national education and training pro-
jections increasingly irrelevant. Macro-level planning needs to be tempered with
considerable caution.
There is considerably more emphasis today on the timely provision of disag-

gregated data useful at the regional or local level for redirecting programming.
The locus of decision-making is in regional or local co-ordinated groups of social
partners, including employers. Combinations of programming are used to promote
employment flexibility as youth and young adults navigate a sometimes uncertain
and changing labour market. Avenues to enable students to pursue additional edu-
cation and training are kept open. Macro-level planning is conceived primarily as
contributing to the moulding of the labour force in certain directions rather than
making specific skill-training allocations.
There is greater appreciation today of the importance of interactive and consen-
sual planning models. In the name of greater equity, participation is extended to
individuals and groups formerly not represented. In this way, greater support is gen-
erated, programming is enriched and constructive relationships developed. Overall,
greater participation has the potential to contribute to sustained institutional devel-
opment. There is also greater awareness today of the political dimensions of plan-
ning. Planning is conceived as more than a set of technocratic exercises that mask
relationships of power and privilege contributing to the reproduction of structural
inequities. Political planning is concerned with power relationships within the im-
plementing environment. Consensus and network building, empowering individuals
and brokering change are perceived as important parts of planning. Both consensual
and political planning models have helped to sensitize TVET educators to the fact
that planning decisions are not neutral. Major value questions surround the provision
of TVET services.
The present focus on micro-level and programme and curricular planning indi-
cates a trend that will no doubt continue well into the future. Failures within TVET
have been primarily failures of implementation. There appears to be a growing con-
sensus within the field that interactive and political planning models provide insights
that help to recast planning in ways that will enhance the future implementation
of TVET.
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Chapter VI.6
South African Technikons and Policy
Contestation over Academic Drift
Andre Kraak
1 Introduction
This chapter examines the issue of academic drift with reference to South Africa’s
technikon (polytechnic) sector. The discussion provides a detailed account of how
post-apartheid policy development has dealt with the issue of academic drift.
The issue is located within the wider post-apartheid imperative of institutional
transformation and mergers among higher education institutions previously seg-
regated on the basis of race. A key issue that receives attention is the
intense stakeholder contestation over policy, particularly from the technikon
leadership.
However, the outcomes of policy implementation a decade later have been con-
tradictory. Although the technikon sector fought hard to retain the divide between
technikons and universities and their distinctive career-oriented educational pro-
vision, once faced by the threat of merger and transformation, technikons ulti-
mately chose to become universities of technology rather than remain as technikons,
thereby narrowing the fundamental differences in institutional type. The chapter
concludes by suggesting several new challenges facing these institutions as they
attempt to become universities with a distinctive ‘technology’ mandate.
2 South Africa’s Technikon Sector

One of the defining features of the technikon sector in South Africa has been its
production of skilled personnel to meet the intermediate skill needs of the national
economy. This has occurred primarily through the provision of national diploma
and certificate programmes at Level Five of the National Qualifications Framework.
Some 70% of technikon provision has been at the National Diploma and National
Certificate levels. A further 29% of technikon enrolment occurs at the bachelors’
degree level, and only 1% of enrolment is in post-graduate study (Subotzky, 2003).
Given the national economy’s high reliance on intermediate skills at the post-school,
pre-degree level (see Kraak, 2004), this array of provisioning has been seen as a
major national asset.

962 A. Kraak
Another asset of the sector has been its easier access criteria, particularly for
learners with weak Grade 12 matriculation results. In South Africa, because of
the ravages of apartheid education and economic under-development, those with
weak school results are largely black and African. It is these students who have
enrolled in the technikon sector in large numbers since the early 1990s when these
institutions were effectively de-racialized. Technikons have provided an alternative
entry point into higher education for students who would have been excluded on
academic grounds from the university sector. Technikons only require a pass mark
in the Senior Certificate Examination at the end of Grade 12, whereas universities
require matriculation (a much higher achievement level) and, in the case of particu-
lar subject fields, universities require other pre-requisites, such as good mathematics
and science grades.
Table 1 reflects the differentiated enrolments between technikons and universi-
ties in South Africa between 1993 and 2003. The table also highlights the rapid
growth rate of technikons in this period—73% for technikons as opposed to 44%
for universities. This growth was largely due to increased African intake. However,
even with this rapid growth, universities continue to dominate the higher education
landscape.
Table 1 Enrolments in higher education, 1993–2003

1993 1995 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
University 340,000 385,000 380,000 384,000 388,369 428,648 460,438 488,000
enrolments
Technikon 133,000 184,000 200,000 208,000 202,792 224,327 214,690 230,000
enrolments
Total 473,000 569,000 580,000 586,000 591,161 652,975 675,128 718,000
enrolments
Source: CHE, 2004.
3 A Clash over ‘Academic Drift’

The technikon sector has not been able to rest on its laurels for too long. The
advent of democracy in April 1994 triggered an era of intense policy formula-
tion and contestation—an environment within which the technikon sector saw both
itself and its distinct mission under severe threat. In the international literature,
this problem has been referred to as ‘academic drift’—the sometimes unintended
and often opportunistic movement of technikon-type institutions up the qualifica-
tion hierarchy and across the academic/vocational divide in search of new learner
markets, programme fields and income sources. In moving upwards in this way,
institutions such as technikons begin to mimic key attributes of university-based
institutions.
VI.6 South African Technikons and Policy Contestation over Academic Drift 963
3.1 The Historical Genesis of South Africa’s Trinary Divide
The evolution of South Africa’s distinctive trinary divide in higher education be-
gan with the Van Wyk de Vries Commission of Inquiry into Universities in 1974
(RSA, 1974). The commission maintained that universities should concentrate on
teaching and research on the basic fundamental principles of science, with a view
to the provision of high-level person-power. In short, Van Wyk de Vries was ar-
guing that the business of universities was to induct students into the canonical
principles of disciplinary-based sciences via bachelor, master and doctoral degree
programmes.
Technikons should concentrate on technology, the application of scientific prin-
ciples to practical problems, and the preparation of persons for the practice, pro-
motion and transfer of technology within a particular occupation or industry. The
greater part of all technikon instructional programmes involves putting into practice
existing knowledge, technology, results and formulas. The programmes technikons
offer to accomplish these goals are in the main national certificates and national
diplomas, although since 1993 they have offered a limited range of bachelor, master
and doctoral degrees.
Tertiary colleges provide vocational training in the higher education domain,
specifically to semi-professional occupations, such as teachers, nurses, policemen
and farmers (RSA, 1974).
This trinary education structure maintained a fairly rigid differentiation of func-
tion between institutions until the dramatic government policy changes after 1994.
However, even prior to 1994, the State acknowledged that the ‘present system
was to a large extent characterized by rigidity and inflexibility, with each sub-
sector and institution largely working in isolation of each other. This situation is
not only inhibiting as regards the articulation of learners, but at the same time it
hampers the essential exchange of expertise’ (RSA. DoNE, 1995). The government
argued that the trinary divide was problematic because universities were also in-
volved in professional or career training, that technology was increasingly more
dependent on links with disciplinary and inter-disciplinary knowledge, and that
the technikons had in any event moved well beyond their ‘application of tech-
nology’ mandate by offering courses in business, commerce and the social sci-
ences (RSA. DoNE, 1995, pp. 12, 19). In short, the dying apartheid regime itself
was indicating that the rigid trinary divide of higher education was beginning to
dissolve.
4 South Africa’s Post-Apartheid Higher Education Policies
The democratic dispensation that came to power after April 1994 proposed dramatic
changes to the institutional landscape in higher education. The new policy frame-
work, which sought the development of a ‘single, nationally co-ordinated system’ of
higher education, triggered an intense period of policy contestation, largely around
964 A. Kraak
the role of technikons and the continuation of the binary divide between technikons
and universities within a new ‘unified’ framework.
4.1 The Lack of a Sense of ‘System’
The first problem identified by the new government and the National Commission
on Higher Education (NCHE), which sat in 1996, was the absence of any sense of
‘system’. Two major systemic deficiencies were noted:
1. There was a chronic mismatch between higher education’s output and the needs
of a modernizing economy.
2. There was a lack of regulatory frameworks, due to a long history of organiza-
tional and administrative fragmentation and weak accountability. This inhibited
planning and co-ordination, the elimination of duplication and waste, the pro-
motion of better articulation and mobility, and the effective evaluation of quality
and efficiency (NCHE, 1996b, p. 2).
This led the NCHE to propose a new regulatory framework that would co-ordinate
higher education provision as a single coherent whole, applying uniform norms and
procedures with sufficient flexibility to allow for diversity in addressing the multiple
needs of highly differentiated learner constituencies. The new higher education pol-
icy framework called for a more open and unified system based on centrally driven
planning and co-ordination.
At the heart of the notion of a single nationally co-ordinated system was a strong
emphasis on State co-ordination that would strategically ‘steer’ the higher educa-
tion system via a regulatory framework based on financial incentives, reporting and
monitoring requirements (particularly with regard to key performance indicators)
and a system of programme approval.
The shift in policy framework was dramatic, from the established trinary model
to a single system with differentiation derived not from some historically acquired
institutional role, but via programmes that would be identified through systematic
planning and co-ordination so as to steer the entire national system in directions
consonant with national socio-economic priorities.
4.2 Open Systems and Permeable Boundaries

This emphasis on a single nationally co-ordinated system of higher education was
strongly influenced by the global trend toward more open, massified and inclusive
systems of higher education (see Scott, 1995). The determinants for mass higher
education worldwide have been the widening of access to formerly excluded learner
constituencies, particularly women, blacks and working-class students. These de-
velopments globally over the past decades have led to an impressive growth in
programme offerings particularly in higher education institutions, going way be-
yond the provision of discipline-based degree qualifications. Much of this expansion
has occurred in the fields of recurrent, continuing and professional education and
training—the key access points to higher education for the working class and other
previously marginalized constituencies.
These developments have had the effect of moving national systems of higher ed-
ucation away from binary or divided systems towards a more unified single system
with common features and a homogenizing mission. Indeed, convergence of this
kind is a reality in many national systems as rigid functional distinctions between
universities and polytechnics (technikons in South Africa) are diluted in response
to the multiple impacts of massification, globalization and institutional creep. How-
ever, the erosion of functional differences between previously distinct types at each
end of the binary divide does not suggest the rise of uniform missions for all insti-
tutions in unified systems of higher education. Indeed, system-wide dichotomy has
given way to institutional-level pluralism and diversity (Scott, 1995, p. 169).
The influence of these global trends—as characterized by Scott—are very evi-
dent in the NCHE report, for example, when it proposes a new unified model of
higher education in South Africa which would represent a ‘radical departure from
previously divisive and fractured social structures and a move towards new and
more integrative forms of social organization’ (NCHE, 1996b, p. 76). The NCHE’s
emphasis on increased participation signifies a shift away from a higher education
system that ‘enrols primarily middle-class students into elite professional and schol-
arly pursuits, to a system characterized by a wider diversity of feeder constituencies
and programmes’ (NCHE, 1996b, p. 76; RSA. DoE, 1996, pp. 18–19).
Unfortunately, the formal adoption of this new approach—the emphasis on a
single, nationally co-ordinated system of higher education—did not bring with it
policy certainty and consensus in the wider South African educational community.
Even though the idea of a single system became official policy with the passing of
the Higher Education Act in 1997, the government itself wavered in its resolve to
support such a policy position. External stakeholder dissent became more vocal in
the years that followed the passing of the 1997 Act.
One of the factors behind all this disquiet has been the unresolved question of
institutional differentiation and the continuance of the binary divide in South Africa.
Another factor was clearly the threat of institutional mergers. These two factors
were inextricably intertwined during the policy process, because the institutional
form that any merger would take was premised on the question of the continuation
of the binary divide or its dilution in some new institutional arrangement. The next
section will critically examine the depth and breadth of these policy disagreements
through their various phases since the passing of the Higher Education Act in 1997.
4.3 Early Opposition to the NCHE
There was considerable opposition to the idea of a unified system during the delib-
erations of the NCHE. This opposition arose from two sources: from the technikons
themselves; and from the leadership of the historically disadvantaged institutions
966 A. Kraak
(HDIs), who believed the new approach would put them yet again at a disadvan-
tage because of their lack of capacity to respond creatively to new programme
offerings.
A compromise position was to emerge on differentiation in the NCHE. The com-
promise was premised on a middle-ground formulation that supported ‘functional
differentiation’ (a continuation of the binary divide) in the short to medium term, a
position that was not principally opposed to a transition to ‘flexible differentiation’
(meaning a unified system) in the longer term.
The interim ‘Discussion document’ of the NCHE reported that elements within
the technikon sector had made submissions that argued strongly for the retention
and reinforcement of the technikons as a distinct sector with a unique mission within
higher education. The case of the technikons’ support for functional differentiation
rested heavily on:
the need to ensure an appropriate mix of graduates and diplomates to meet South Africa’s
broad human resource needs. The view that the current mix is skewed in favour of uni-
versity graduates, and the proposition that ‘career education’ is best ensured and protected
within a higher education sector dedicated to this purpose, have been put forward. The
argument is for the retention of functional differentiation with an altered balance to enhance
the technikon’s role. [. . .] Technikons would have a delineated function in the offering of
career and vocational education (incorporating experiential learning, and via programmes
designed in conjunction with the relevant ‘employers’ grouping) and in development and
product-related research. Universities, in contrast, would focus on general formative educa-
tion, intellectual preparation for professions, and basic and applied research (NCHE, 1996a,
p. 55).
Under a flexible approach, in contrast, differentiation would occur in terms of in-

stitutional missions and programme mixes. It would evolve in terms of a planned
process based on emerging national and regional needs and not the inherited sectoral
location of the institution (NCHE, 1996a, pp. 56–57).
The final report of the NCHE, released in mid-1996, fudged these differences by
adopting a middle-ground position. The NCHE resolution reads:
The Commission’s task is not to propose a unified, binary or stratified institutional structure
for the single co-ordinated system, but to recommend a set of transitional arrangements
that will hold while national and regional needs are clarified, planning capacities are de-
veloped and institutional development proceeds. The Commission believes that the system
should recognize, in name and in broad function and mission, the existence of universities,
technikons and colleges as types of institutions offering higher education programmes. But
these institutional types should not be regarded as discrete sectors with mutually exclusive
missions and programme offerings. The new system will evolve through a planned process
that recognizes current institutional missions and capacities, addresses the distortions cre-
ated by apartheid, and responds to emerging regional and national needs (NCHE, 1996b,
pp. 15–16).
The commission saw their proposal for a single, nationally co-ordinated system
of higher education as occupying the middle ground in an often-heated squabble
over differentiation. In this formulation, the concerns of those supporting functional
differentiation could be reconciled with the arguments for greater flexibility. The
NCHE conceived its proposal as pragmatic, providing a continuum along which
the system could gradually move, from ‘functional differentiation’ towards a truly
single system with softened boundaries (NCHE, 1996b, p. 283).
Nonetheless, the dissenting voices remained. In the final 1996 report of the
NCHE, Brian Figaji, former Rector of Peninsula Technikon, published a minority
report that expressed opposition to further education and training colleges encroach-
ing onto higher education turf by offering career and vocational education at higher
education level. More significantly, Figaji also opposed the notion of differentia-
tion being based on programme rather than institution. His view was that if any
institution could offer any programme, it would ‘negate the current institutional
missions and educational cultures’ of existing institutions such as technikons: ‘The
result of this scheme is going to be “academic creep” at an unprecedented scale with
vocational and career education once again sidelined in favour of the higher status
“academic” programmes’ (NCHE, 1996b, p. 318).
Figaji has been the most vocal in his opposition to the notion of programme dif-
ferentiation. In a 1999 lecture, he warned against the dangers of a policy framework
that inevitably would push institutions towards convergence and homogeneity—
exactly the opposite of the differentiation desired by policy. In his speech, Figaji
repeated the case for a ‘higher education system with different institutional types
such as colleges, universities and technikons, each with its own distinct mission and
programme’ (Figaji, 1999, p. 15).
4.4 The Contribution of the Council on Higher Education
The tensions around differentiation were not to go away after the NCHE and the
passing of the 1997 Act. In fact, several unforeseen difficulties began to emerge which
fuelled the on-going debate. Chief amongst these were: (a) the highly competitive
and imitative behaviour of institutions as witnessed during the mid- to late-1990s
that overshadowed co-operation and led towards homogeneity and sameness; (b) the
absence of planning capacity at institutional level to identify unique niche areas; (c)
weaknesses and capacity problems in national and institutional planning processes
that, in the short term, compromised the efficacy of these instruments to steer and
regulate higher education; and (d) inadequate senior and middle-level management
capacities within the system (RSA. DoE, 2001a, p. 51; CHE, 2000, pp. 33–34).
All of these unforeseen difficulties led the then Minister of Education, Professor
Kadar Asmal, to set up a ‘Size and Shape’ Task Team in July 1999 to review and
reform the institutional landscape of higher education. The Task Team was set up in
January 2000 under the auspices of the Council on Higher Education (CHE) which
published its report in July 2000.
The recommendations made by the CHE Task Team were controversial and
to a large extent in conflict with the essence of the new higher education policy
framework. At the heart of the Task Team proposal was the promotion of a highly
diversified higher education system premised on institutional differentiation rather
than programme differentiation, as advocated in all of the previous policy texts.
968 A. Kraak
The Size and Shape report proposed a new three-tiered institutional landscape. The
three institutional types were defined primarily by prescriptions imposed on their
core teaching and research functions.
A bedrock higher education institution was defined as a dedicated undergraduate
teaching institution with limitations imposed on the extent and spread of its post-
graduate and research programmes. Its key function was to provide high-quality
undergraduate teaching to a wide constituency of learners.
A comprehensive institution has significant post-graduate and research capabili-
ties, with its primary function being the production of new scientific knowledge and
the training of the country’s future cadre of high-skill graduates.
An extensive masters and limited doctoral institution was defined as an in-
between institutional structure with greater resources available than the bedrock
campuses, that could offer masters programmes, but with similar limitations to those
applicable to the ‘bedrocks’ in relation to doctoral programmes and knowledge-
production functions (i.e. research) (CHE, 2000).
Support for the CHE’s three-tiered model did emerge, unsurprisingly, from the
technikon sector. This sector, particularly through its mouthpiece organization, the
Committee of Technikon Principals (CTP), was notably enthusiastic about the key
components of the CHE proposals. On differentiation, the CTP noted, ‘there is a
strong argument for differentiation and diversity in the Report which the CTP fully
supports, because it would facilitate more effective responses from institutions to
the various social needs of the country’ (CTP, 2000, p. 2).
The CTP was particularly encouraged by the Task Team support for the idea
of a ‘university of technology’. It saw this recommendation as a way of putting
technikons in South Africa in ‘line with the rest of the world where such institu-
tions are called Technical Universities, Institutes of Technology or Universities of
Technology’ (CTP, 2000, p. 3).
The CHE recommendations—as could be expected—also triggered strong op-
position from other stakeholders in higher education, particularly from the South
African Universities Vice-Chancellors Association (SAUVCA). SAUVCA’s oppo-
sition to the proposals was essentially two-fold. First, there was concern that the
three-tiered system would simply replicate the racial differentiation imposed by
apartheid education. Secondly, the proposals were seen as a reversal in policy ori-
entation, away from the single co-ordinated system emphasized in earlier policy
texts towards a classical social stratification model of provision (SAUVCA, 2000,
pp. 1, 5).
4.5 The National Plan of the Department of Education
The government’s formal response to the ‘Size and Shape’ Task Team report was
contained in the Ministry of Education’s National Plan for Higher Education re-
leased in March 2001. At the heart of the National Plan was a reaffirmation of a
single co-ordinated national system that was simultaneously diverse. The National
Plan also firmly rejected the rigid structural differentiation of the CHE report. The
document added a further rider to the process of institutional restructuring: it aimed

to formulate a plan for a new institutional landscape through mergers and regional
collaboration by December 2001 (RSA. DoE, 2001a, pp. 1, 14–15).
The most significant element in the National Plan with regard to institutional
differentiation was its concern that the programme distinctions between technikons
and universities—career-oriented versus general formative and professional degree
programmes—had been dramatically eroded. Technikons had gradually increased
their degree offerings, both at undergraduate and post-graduate levels. This led in
turn to a number of technikons requesting a change in status to become ‘universities
of technology’ (RSA. DoE, 2001a, p. 57).
The tendency towards uniformity of provision, according to the plan, ‘is worry-
ing’. There has been little evidence of attempts by institutions, it argues, to identify
unique institutional strengths and niche areas, either existing or potential, that would
differentiate between institutions.
The Ministry’s response to these developments was to attempt to halt this erosion
by retaining the binary divide between technikons and universities for at least the
subsequent five years as ‘two types of institutions offering different kinds of higher-
education programmes’ (RSA. DoE, 2001a, p. 57).
Retaining the binary divide for a further five years was always a part of the NCHE
proposals and so the National Plan was not suggesting anything new. However, it
was also a response to the demands by technikons for their distinctive contribution—
career-oriented tertiary provision—to be retained. The rejection of the rigid struc-
tural differentiation proposals of the CHE was clearly a response to the widespread
opposition to those proposals from the university sector. The ministry’s National
Plan, therefore, attempted to straddle the middle ground. The department, however,
remained silent (as did the NCHE) on the strategic desirability of a strong binary
divide in South Africa. What this defensive position failed to take into account were
the new education and training demands of globalization, as was so clearly outlined
by Scott earlier—demands that act to differentiate less between the institutional
typologies of university and technikon and emphasize a higher level of education
and training competencies across the entire workforce.
A key signal from the National Plan was that institutional voluntarism had failed
to promote the goals of the NCHE and 1997 Act. What was now required was ‘direct
State intervention and stronger signals from government’ (RSA. DoE, 2001a, p. 81).
Key areas requiring State intervention included: (a) a reduction in the total number
of institutions in the country through mergers; (b) instituting stronger and more
cost-effective forms of regional collaboration; and (c) attaining greater efficiencies
across the entire system.
4.6 The National Working Group

The National Working Group (NWG) was appointed by the Minister of Education
in April 2001 to finalize the proposals for institutional mergers as suggested by the
970 A. Kraak
National Plan for Higher Education. The terms of reference for the NWG were very
specific and rather narrow, instructing the NWG to focus on the establishment of a
more consolidated system of higher education provision attained primarily through
a reduction in the number of institutions.
The NWG proposed an entirely new institutional landscape comprising four dif-
fering types: universities, technikons, comprehensives and provincially-based na-
tional institutes of higher education.
The NWG report repeated some of the concerns raised by the National Plan re-
garding unplanned growth in the higher education sector, particularly with regard to
‘academic drift’ of technikon provisioning. Such growth threatened the continuation
of the binary divide which was viewed as a crucial mechanism for the production
of diverse skills needed in the national economy. Secondly, the NWG viewed the
proliferation of distance education courses and the growth of satellite campuses as
threatening the provision of other already existing residential universities offering
similar programmes (RSA. DoE, 2001b, pp. 62–63).
The NWG also privileged the more effective distribution of both university and
technikon programmes across all regions in the country. Regional provision became
a decisive factor in the determination of institutional restructuring and merger in
each region. Indeed, the creation of an entirely new institutional type—the com-
prehensive university—was a direct consequence of the importance attached to this
factor (RSA. DoE, 2001b, p. 61).
The NWG also argued for the continuance of the binary divide, both in terms
of the differences between universities and technikons, but also within the new
institutional type—comprehensives—between their academic and career-oriented
pathways.
The NWG provides an extremely thin definition of ‘comprehensives relying
largely on two characteristics: they will become institutions that offer a wider re-
gional distribution of programmes than is the case currently, and secondly, they
provide students with a wider (more comprehensive) choice of programmes, ranging
from the purely academic through to the career and vocational’ (RSA. DoE, 2001b,
p. 27).
The Department of Education commissioned educational researcher Trish Gib-
bon to produce a concept document on the meaning of ‘comprehensives’ in the
South African context. In her report, Gibbon warns that the use of the term in the
international context varies widely along both the horizontal and vertical axes of
higher-education provision. Horizontally, comprehensives offer ‘breadth’ of provi-
sion from career-oriented programmes all the way through to the more traditional
academically-oriented baccalaureate degrees. Vertically, comprehensives can offer
‘depth’ of education and training, ranging from certificate and diplomas through
to bachelor, master and doctoral degree programmes (RSA. DoE, 2004). Several
South African higher education institutions operate to differing degrees along these
two axes of provision, and hence concepts of ‘breadth’ and ‘depth’ as categories
did not, on their own, provide a distinctive mission for South African comprehen-
sives. Gibbon suggests the following four characteristics as key components of the
institutional mission of comprehensives in the South African context:
r Diversity: through the offering of a wide range of programmes (vocational,

career-focused, professional and general formative) of both the university and
technikon type.
r Accessibility: through the opportunities created by the different entry and exit
points of technikon and university programmes.
r Student mobility: through developing strong vertical and horizontal articulation
pathways between technikon and university programmes.
r Responsiveness: through the development of a suite of educational programmes
and research foci appropriate to local, regional and national needs.
r Flexibility: through the strengthening of relationships with community, civic,
government, business and industry partners for local and regional development
(RSA. DoE, 2004).
4.7 The Education Ministry’s Response
The June 2002 response of the Department of Education to the NWG proposals
was positive, with only a few alterations and concessions to protest and pressure by
higher-education stakeholders. Most significantly, the ministry supported the con-
tinuance of the binary divide and, in doing so, it committed to maintain:
in a flexible manner, the existing mission and programme differentiation between tech-
nikons and universities for at least the next five years. This is necessary to avoid academic
drift, especially as there is a tendency for technikons to want to shift their focus from pri-
marily offering career-oriented programmes at a diploma level to degree-level programmes
at both the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. Academic drift would impact adversely
on the ability of the higher education system to meet the government’s access goals and
human resource development priorities, especially the goal of expanding career-oriented
programmes at all levels, in particular, shorter-cycle certificate and diploma programmes in
science, engineering and technology (RSA. DoE, 2002b, paragraph 4.2).
The ministerial response also reinforced the idea that comprehensives would assist
in solidifying the binary divide by making technikon programmes more ‘readily
available throughout the country, and in particular, in rural areas which currently
were inadequately serviced by such provision’ (RSA. DoE, 2002a, p. 27).
4.8 Technikon Lobbying
At this stage in the evolution of higher education policy (June 2002) there had been
little mention or debate in the policy environment about universities of technology,
nor of converting technikons into such institutions. This shift came about through
political lobbying rather than through a planned process of policy evolution on the
part of the State.
The CTP, as has been seen in this chapter, was very influential in the policy
debates right from the inception of the NCHE in 1995, particularly in demanding
the continuance of the binary divide and defending the distinctive role technikons
972 A. Kraak
played in the South African economy. With the approval of the NWG proposals by
both the education ministry and cabinet in 2000, the CTP continued to be disgrun-
tled. They argued that even though the status of the technikons was protected in the
NWG recommendations, their absolute numbers had declined from fifteen to five
institutions. This was because of the formation of comprehensives which merged
technikons with traditional universities and the merger of several technikons into
fewer universities of technology. In their view, comprehensives blurred the distinc-
tion between technikons and universities even further:
The ‘comprehensive’ hybrid organizations that will result from the merging of some tech-
nikons and some universities will aggravate the indistinguishability between institutions and
could contribute to the further promotion of academic drift if not effectively addressed and
managed (CTP, 2003).
The CTP began arguing that the ‘the name technikon had become a stumbling block’
(CTP, 2004, p. 7). Amongst the problems listed were that technikons were seen as
inferior to universities, technikon graduates were not recognized by professional
associations, and that technikons were seen as a second or third choice after univer-
sities. Membership of international university associations was denied to technikons
as they were not accepted as degree-awarding institutions of higher education (CTP,
2004, p. 7).
The CTP worked relentlessly at persuading the Minister of Education to reinstate
the former pre-eminence of the five remaining technikons through a name change to
that of ‘university of technology’. Even though the NWG was opposed to the name
change, arguing that technikons should address their problems by ‘enhancing the
quality of their programmes and the capacity of technikons to undertake research
and to offer post-graduate programmes’ (RSA. DoE, 2001b, p. 17), the minister
finally relented and gave his approval to the name change in October 2003.
The process that gave rise to the category ‘university of technology’ again was
not informed by a rational process of policy development but, rather, arose from
political lobbying with minimal policy documentation to explain the new category
and its institutional functions.
The CTP, however, did produce a small policy literature on universities of tech-
nology in 2003 and 2004. In the most important of these documents, published in
2004 and entitled Position, role and function of universities of technology in South
Africa, the CTP adopts UNESCO’s definition of technology as its anchor concept.
Technology is ‘the know-how and creative process that may assist people to uti-
lize tools, resources and systems to solve problems and enhance control over the
natural and made environment in an endeavour to improve the human condition’
(CTP, 2004, p. 10). At a university of technology, the CTP maintains, all learning
programmes and research projects are related to technology. In practice, this means
that at universities of technology, science, engineering and management fields of
study are the priority foci of the institution. The CTP then defines a university of
technology as:
Learner-centred education: defining quality and effectiveness in higher education in terms
of outputs such as ‘what students need to learn’ and maximizing student performance.
Employer-centred: defining the curriculum in terms of what students require to make

them more skilled, more competent and more employable; providing constant upgrading
through short courses; taking learning into the work-place; and liaising regularly with em-
ployers to ensure that prospective employees receive a relevant education.
Experiential learning: A university of technology should find creative ways of drawing
in employers to provide practical problems which students can solve during their work
placements.
Adult and continuing education: universities of technology should become specialists
in ‘just-in-time’ education—experts in providing a continuous upgrading of knowledge and
skills. This practical knowledge will be provided in a variety of modules and variations in
contact and distance-learning programmes to graduates when and where they need it.
Social engagement: universities of technology should be seen as institutions with a
greater commitment of service to, and upliftment of the community than has previously
been the case with higher education institutions in South Africa. In the teaching, research
and development undertaken, the upliftment and transfer of skills to the community are of
paramount importance (CTP, 2004, pp. 5–7).
The CTP document also proposes a distinctive research role for universities of tech-
nology around the related concepts of ‘technological innovation’ and ‘technology
transfer’. It defines technological innovation as the ‘process that transforms new
knowledge into wealth. It covers the different steps of the innovation chain, from
the creation of new ideas, the development of technology in the form of products,
processes and services, up to the ultimate successful commercialization and/or im-
plementation’ (CTP, 2004, p. 21). Technology transfer, on the other hand, is the
‘formal transfer of new discoveries, innovations and technology, usually resulting
from R&D [research and development] activities at universities, to the commercial
and industrial sectors in the economy’ (CTP, 2004, p. 21). Such a research role
would have the following characteristics:
r Enhancing R&D ‘downstream’ related activities, such as the patenting, licensing,
commercialization and marketing of intellectual property and R&D results in the
form of products, processes or services;
r Promoting and marketing a corporate culture for technological innovation, en-
trepreneurship and technology transfer;
r Developing appropriate policies, strategies and models for technological innova-
tion and technology transfer;
r Promoting and developing knowledge and technology-intensive enterprises; and
r Participation in the establishment of technology and business incubators and re-
lated support structures.
5 Conclusion
The new South African landscape is indeed dramatically different from that which
existed prior to 2004. All in all, South Africa now has eleven traditional universities,
five universities of technology, five comprehensives and two national institutes of
higher education—in total, twenty-three institutions of higher education. This is a
dramatic reduction from the previous thirty-six.
974 A. Kraak
The position of technikons in the institutional landscape has undergone a

fundamental—although rather contradictory—transition. On the one hand, tech-
nikon leadership has fought strongly to retain the binary divide between universities
and technikons so as to ensure their distinctive intermediate skills contribution of
career-oriented education and training at the diploma and certificate levels. This has
been a successful strategy, at least in policy terms, as all the policy documents refer
to retention of the binary divide, at least in the short to medium term.
On the other hand, technikon leadership itself has contributed over time to the
dilution of the binary divide through, firstly, institutional creep into greater levels of
degree and post-graduate provision but, more recently, through advocating a name
change of technikons to that of universities of technology. That such a campaign
has now succeeded imposes new conditions upon the universities of technology to
indeed become more like universities, albeit with a more technological mandate.
A number of constraints will stand in the way of the technikons achieving this
equivalence. For example, there is the near absence of a research culture at the for-
mer technikons and low levels of staff with Ph.Ds who would be able to lead post-
graduate programmes and R&D activities. In short, without a dramatic upgrading of
teaching, learning and research practices at the universities of technology, it will be
difficult to see how they will be able to establish an equivalent but (technologically)
differentiated status to that of universities.
In addition, articulation mechanisms within the post-school education and train-
ing system in South Africa have always been restrictive and, as a consequence, very
few learners have progressed from one sub-sector to the next; for example, from
the further education colleges into technikon education, or from the technikons into
universities (see Kraak, 1994). These constraints on progression have not been ad-
equately dealt with over the past decade and the restrictions remain even with the
new policy emphasis of a single national system of higher education.
The lack of learner progression across the system becomes an even more prob-
lematic issue with the launch of universities of technology and comprehensive in-
stitutions. For example, the policy motivation for comprehensive institutions is that
learners in remote areas previously neglected by the education system will now be
able to access higher education, exercise greater choice and, in so doing, move more
freely from one type of provision (technikon) to another (university) within the same
institution. However, the credit accumulation and transfer rules for such progression,
as well as the determination of curriculum equivalence between the two types of
provision, have not been established on a wide scale as yet, so this policy ideal
is unlikely to benefit large numbers of learners in the medium term. Similar prob-
lems face learners enrolled on higher-education programmes in further-education
colleges and who seek entry to higher education. The benchmarks for good practice
in this regard have not yet been established, and franchise arrangements as well
as other forms of partnership agreements between FET colleges, comprehensives
and universities of technology have not been developed as yet. All of these factors
limit the extent to which the new institutional forms will be able to widen access.
These are the new challenges that face higher education in South Africa in the
future.
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tion system in South Africa: report of the National Working Group to the Minister of Education.
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Republic of South Africa. Department of Education. 2002a. Transformation and restructuring: a
new institutional landscape for higher education. Pretoria: DoE.
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Town, South Africa: HSRC Press; East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press.
Chapter VI.7
New Policy Actions and Government Roles:
China’s Reconstruction of TVET Systems
Since the 1980s
1 Introduction
The history of the development of formal technical and vocational education and
training (TVET) in China can be traced back to the late Qing Dynasty (1840–1911),
but it was not until the early twentieth century that the framework of the modern
school system began to emerge. It has only been in the last three decades that reform
measures accelerated—the achievements have been remarkable. By 2004, China
had 14.1 million students enrolled in 14,454 secondary vocational schools (China.
Ministry of Education [MoE], 2005). To understand China’s ultra-large TVET sys-
tem, this chapter first introduces an overview of developments since the 1980s. It
then focuses on the role that the Chinese Government played in the reform and
development of the TVET system, and highlights future policy actions for reform.
The chapter ends with a discussion of some TVET problems unique to the Chinese
context, as well as the implications for TVET policy actions.
2 China’s TVET System since the 1980s
The TVET system in China was adapted from the USSR’s model after the founding
of the People’s Republic of China in l949. With the adoption in March 1952 of
the Instruction on Reorganizing and Developing Secondary Technical Education,
the basic framework of the secondary TVET system was established. By 1958, the
TVET system was fully co-ordinated with the economic development plans through
four institutions: agricultural high schools; industrial high schools; handicraft high
schools; and part-time vocational high schools. Further development of the TVET
system, however, was seriously hampered by the ten tumultuous years of the Cul-
tural Revolution starting in 1966.
After China opened its doors to the outside world in 1978, its TVET sys-
tem gradually revived. The central government adopted new policies to speed up
the reform of the TVET system, including transforming some general secondary
schools into vocational schools, establishing educational networks for vocational
education and training, and increasing the annual budget for TVET system, among
other changes designed to augment enrolment and infrastructure (China. MoE/State

978 D. Sun et al.
Administration of Labour, 1980). More importantly, much attention was directed to

the quality of TVET schools, as well as to their efficiency. As a result, the size of
TVET provision was greatly expanded. In 1980, a total of 3,314 agricultural schools
were restored or opened with an enrolment of 450,000 students. Students recruited
and admitted to regular technical schools also increased to 330,000 and 700,000
respectively (MoE, 1983, pp. 182, 188, 190).
On 4 December 1982, the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China was
enacted by the fifth session of the fifth National People’s Congress. The Consti-
tution officially supports vocational education and explicitly requires that: ‘The
State establishes and administers schools of various types, universalizes compulsory
primary education and promotes secondary and vocational education, as well as
higher education.’ Meanwhile, it requires that ‘the State provides the necessary vo-
cational training for citizens before they are employed.’ This requirement provides
legitimacy for the ‘trained-before-employed’ system and for expanding the TVET
system. China’s TVET system has been back on track for rapid and appropriate
development ever since.
On 9 May 1983, the Opinion on the Structural Reform of Urban Secondary Edu-
cation and the Development of TVET was signed jointly by four State departments
(MoE, Department of Labour Resources, Ministry of Finance and State Planning
Commission, 1985). This policy presented the new tasks, goals and strategies for
the development of the TVET system in the 1980s. Up to 1984, 1.47 million stu-
dents were enrolled in 7,002 secondary vocational schools. Additionally, the total
number of enrolled students in regular secondary vocational and technical schools
reached 3.7 million. This number accounts for 34.9% of the whole body of enrolled
high-school students (Guo & Wu, 1996, p. 133).
On 15 May 1996, the Law of Vocational Education, the first law on vocational
education in China since 1949, was formally promulgated and implemented. This
law is considered as a milestone in a new round of TVET reform in China and serves
as a legal basis for redefining the role, school system, responsibilities, managerial
system and financial resources of TVET. Ever since then, the social status of TVET
has been strongly promoted to meet the needs of the socialist market economy and
China’s rapid social changes. From the early 1980s to the late 1990s, the secondary
vocational school system continued its rapid growth. It is reported that from 1980 to
2001, the proportion of regular upper high-school students among all the students
in upper secondary education decreased from 81% to 54.7%, while the proportion
of secondary vocational school students increased from 19% to 45.3%. During the
same period, 50 million students graduated from secondary vocational education
institutions (MoE, n.d.). By the turn of the new century, however, growth was slow-
ing. In recent years secondary vocational schools have been reenergized and, once
again, have achieved rapid development (Fig. 1).
Since 2003, the vocational education system has expanded considerably (see
Table 1). From 2001 to 2003, the total number of newly enrolled students in sec-
ondary vocational schools surged from 3.98 million to 5.15 million, representing
an increase of 29%. In 2004, the number of newly enrolled and total students leapt
to 5.5 million and 13.7 million respectively (Zhou, 2004). In addition, the higher
VI.7 New Policy Actions and Government Roles in China 979
Total enrolments (tens of thousands) New entrants (tens of thousands)
569.4
541.6 533.9
550.0 528.2
511.9 503.2 511.5
473.3 466.4
448.3
450.0
350.0
250.0 216.9 222.1 229.1

211.2 217.6
190.1 188.9 194.1 182.7 185.0
150.0
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Fig. 1 Trend of enrolments and entrants in vocational secondary schools (1995–2004)

Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2005, p. 692.
TVET system has also expanded considerably. The newly enrolled students in vo-
cational colleges increased 3.7 times from 0.43 million in 1998 to 2 million in 2003,
accounting for 58.5% of the total enrolment of students in regular colleges (Wang,
J.P., 2005, p. 6). This rate of expansion will soon make it possible to have at least
one vocational college in each metropolitan area. Meanwhile, the TVET system has
also been diversified in terms of the subjects and training programmes provided.
Based on a retrospective examination of TVET development in China since the
1990s, the following observations can be made. Firstly, TVET in China has been
advancing gradually since the 1980s, having benefited from the enactment of the
Constitution of the People’s Republic of China in 1982 and the Law of Vocational
Education in 1996 (Shi, 2001, p. 234). Until the late 1980s, TVET had not received
sufficient attention from the field of educational research. Since then, more and more
research centres or institutes for TVET have been established nationwide by univer-
sities or local governments. For example, the East China Normal University has
offered master degrees and doctoral degrees for TVET studies since 1988 and 2001,
respectively. In addition, its Institute for TVET Studies was upgraded in 2000.
Table 1 China’s vocational education system, 2004

Junior secondary Senior secondary Colleges Total/average
Number of schools 697 14,454 872 16,023
Enrolment 525,134 14,092,467 5,956,500∗ 20,574,101
Number of teachers 23,680 736,037 193,432 953,149
Teacher/student ratio 1:22.2∗∗ 1:19.1∗∗ 1:30.8∗∗ 1:24.0∗∗
Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2005, pp. 689–90.
∗
= MoE, 2005.
∗∗
= authors’ calculations based on China statistical yearbook, 2005 and The national statistical
communiqué of educational development, 2004.
980 D. Sun et al.
Secondly, TVET development is tightly constrained by technological innovation

and social development. For thousands of years China was an agricultural society
with low productivity and limited requirements for craftsmanship. Traditionally, ar-
tisan jobs have not always been viewed as decent occupations. Artisans were gen-
erally trained by Shi Tu Zhi, a traditional master/apprentice training system based
on one-to-one individual partnership. Historically, TVET has not received the same
social status as general education. This low social status underwent a remarkable
change with the industrialization of traditional society and the professionalization
of the labour force in modern China. The increasing demands for skilled workers
emerged as a powerful driving force for the expansion of the TVET system. As a
result, studying in TVET institutions has now become a valuable option for many
young people in China, as well as for adults who want to pursue professional careers.
Thirdly, China’s TVET development is not evenly spread across the nation due
to the large size of the country and variations in social development. In China, there
is a huge imbalance between different areas, such as the rural and the urban, the
eastern and the western, the underdeveloped and the developed. This is particu-
larly true when local economies and technology are compared closely. It is widely
agreed that the development of TVET relies heavily on the development of the local
economy and technology. This argument is confirmed in the case of China’s TVET
development.
Finally, the development of TVET in China has a promising future while the
country continues its booming economic development. In the age of information
technology, the rapid demand for large amounts of qualified workers with advanced
technology or service skills is placing great pressure on the job market. China is
fulfilling its dream of an affluent society and is catching up with the economies of
developed countries. While the pace of China’s industrialization and urbanization
continues to accelerate, its TVET system will have greater opportunities and better
conditions for expansion and improvement in the near future.
3 Governmental Roles in TVET Reform and Development
The Chinese Government, at both the central and local levels, has played a key role
in the reform and development of the TVET system. Early in 1980, the State Coun-
cil adopted the Report on Secondary Education Structural Reform submitted by the
Ministry of Education and the State Administration of Labour. This policy document
concluded that the reform of secondary education mainly affects the reform of high
schools. It provided five detailed strategies for secondary education reform: (a) grad-
ually increase the provision of TVET curricula for regular high-school students; (b)
transform some regular high schools into TVET schools, such as vocational schools,
agricultural schools, etc.; (c) encourage the opening of TVET schools by third par-
ties, i.e. non-governmental or non-educational institutions or organizations—some
TVET centres will be opened in metropolitan areas; (d) greatly expand techni-
cal schools and maintain the existing ones; and (c) make every effort to manage
specialized middle schools efficiently. This report officially launched the nationwide
reform of secondary education and began the rapid expansion of the TVET system.
This policy action became the harbinger of a comprehensive reform of China’s ed-
ucation system. Later on in 1985, the Decision on Education System Reform was
promulgated. This document clearly states that TVET is one of the key fields for
educational reform. It required that the secondary education structure must be ad-
justed and the TVET system dramatically expanded. Meanwhile, the policy set the
primary goal of the TVET system as the training of millions of knowledgeable,
skilled workers for industry, agriculture, commerce, etc.
In 1991 the State Council publicized the Decision on Energetically Developing
Vocational and Technical Education. In this document, the State Council confirmed
that one of the important tasks for TVET development in the 1990s is to ‘enhance
the regular construction of the existing various vocational/technical schools with
planning, and to concentrate on building up model and key schools’ (State Council,
1991). This document also proposed that student enrolments in TVET secondary
vocational/technical schools must be expanded until they exceed those in regu-
lar high schools. In 1993, the Outline on Reform and Development of Education
was promulgated by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. The new
document explicitly laid out the goals, guidelines and strategies for educational
development in China. It aimed at mobilizing the contribution of all departments,
enterprises, institutions and stakeholders, as well providing a better environment for
the development of TVET. The outline required the government at various levels to
play a stronger role in the reform and development of the TVET system. It further
stated that ‘school-leavers who have finished junior secondary education but are not
continuing their education further must receive some form of vocational training’.
This requirement ensured that the new labour force in both rural and urban areas
should receive technical and vocational training before being employed. In addition,
the outline also required that ‘TVET schools at all levels must actively meet the
needs of local development and the socialist market economy’. One point worthy
of mention here is that this document urged a stronger governmental role in the
new round of TVET development. For example, it required TVET schools to work
closely with industrial partners under governmental supervision.
In 1994, the National Working Conference on Education supported the expansion
of experimental TVET schools based on the German ‘dual system’. The German
system was approved by the National Conference as an effective education system
and a successful method of human resource development for universalizing junior
and senior vocational education and promoting the quality of the labour force. The
National Working Conference reiterated that one of the educational priorities of
the 1990s was to increase the quality of the labour workforce and to place priority
on the development of TVET. By 1995, the newly enrolled and already registered
students in primary vocational schools climbed to 290,000 and 700,000, increasing
by 49% and 46% since 1990, respectively (China. MoE, 1996). The newly enrolled
and registered students in secondary vocational schools surged to 1.90 million and
4.48 million respectively, increasing by 54.2% and 52% since 1990 (Editorial Board,
1991, p. 247; State Commission of Education, 1996, pp. 36–39).
982 D. Sun et al.
One year after the Law of Vocational Education entered into force in 1996, the
former President Jiang Zeming, in his Report to the fifteenth National Congress,
stressed that the strategy of renewing the Chinese economy through science, tech-
nology and education and achieving sustainable development should be imple-
mented and that various forms of vocational education should be actively promoted.
Later, in 1999, the State Council published the Decision on Deepening Educational
Reform and Promoting Quality Education. Again, this document emphasized adapt-
ing the education system to the socialist market economy through the cohesive
development of different types of education. It also stated that vocational educa-
tion programmes should be energetically developed, particularly senior secondary
vocational education.
Since 2001, China’s TVET system has gone through an unprecedented period of
development. The State Council, in July, 2002, hosted the Working Conference of
National Vocational Education in Beijing. One month later, the Decision on Vig-
orously Advancing Vocational Education Reform and Development was officially
promulgated (State Council, 2002). The new policy urged that local governments
must allocate an increasing amount of the annual budget to TVET schools or insti-
tutions, and that the amount budgeted for TVET must not be less than 15% of total
educational expenditure in urban areas and not less than 20% in areas where nine-
year compulsory education is universal. In March 2004, the State Council approved
the Rejuvenation Action Plan for Education in 2003–2007 submitted by the Depart-
ment of Education, and agreed to launch the TVET Innovation Project as one of six
priority projects. In June of the same year, the Joint Seven Departments of the State
Council held the new Working Conference on National Vocational Education in
Nanjing, and in September publicized the Opinions on Further Strengthening TVET.
All of the above laws and policies demonstrate that in recent years the Chinese
Government has made concrete and persistent efforts to reform and develop TVET.
4 Policy Actions for the Renewal of TVET
The Chinese Government has recently made the development of TVET once again a
national policy priority and expects that by 2010 the enrolment in upper TVET systems
will reach 8 million, which will be equivalent to that in regular senior high schools
(State Council, 2005). The working guidelines of TVET reform in recent years reflect
the guidelines of the Training Plan for Rural Labour-Force Transformation and the
Plan for TVET Schools to Train Scarce Skilled Workers of Manufacture and Modern
Services (China. MoE, 2004). The guidelines include the following points.
4.1 A ‘Scientific Approach to Development’ Should be Followed

The guidelines include: (a) encouraging innovation and reform, as well as an aware-
ness of services and adhering to a system of innovation and teaching reform that
fosters socio-economic development; (b) paying more attention to social demand

and improving the quality of TVET, in accordance with China’s socio-economic
development and the labour-market demands, enhancing TVET’s self-developing
capacity and generally improving teaching quality; (c) meeting the demand of com-
prehensive development to reach an optimized structure, centring on the creation of
a secondary TVET system that has equal enrolment in secondary TVET and in reg-
ular upper secondary education; (d) paying special attention to the role of vocational
training and placing equal emphasis on regular education and vocational training;
and (e) drawing attention to the TVET reform and its development, particularly in
rural and western areas where it is most necessary.
The Chinese Government anticipates that by 2007 the relative distribution of high
schools across the country can be evened out, with the exception of some developed
areas where a higher proportion of TVET institutions is required to meet present
labour-market demand. Meanwhile, TVET institutions are expected to have more
than half of their enrolment at the higher-education level. Generally speaking, higher
TVET colleges will no longer be upgraded to university level in the future, nor will
secondary vocational schools be upgraded into higher TVET colleges, be merged
into universities or be downgraded into regular secondary schools. An adequate and
stable level of TVET provision will be maintained in order to gradually build up a
comprehensive educational structure.
4.2 Appropriate Planning for TVET Development
In the near future, the goals for TVET development can be summarized as setting up
a unique system, completing three tasks and ensuring two emphases (Wang, H.B.,
2005, p. 8). Setting up one system means establishing an appropriate TVET system
suitable for the socialist market economy and reflects the demands of the market and
employment. This new TVET system will be characterized by an optimal structure,
adaptability, unique characteristics and independent development.
Three tasks, to be measured by statistical indicators, are set for TVET development
between 2003 and 2007. The first task is to train 30 million graduates from secondary
TVET schools and 10 million graduates from TVET colleges. The second task is to
train 50 million employees in urban areas, more than 100 million farm workers in
rural areas, and over 20 million rural farm workers for transformation. The final task
is that, by the year 2007, more than 3.5 million students will be enrolled annually
in secondary TVET schools; more than 1.2 million of them in western China.
Ensuring two emphases means that two working foci must be kept in mind in
the reform and development of TVET system. First, the reform and development
of the TVET system must emphasize the secondary level, and an even proportion
of TVET schools and regular high schools must be maintained. Second, since rural
and western areas have been historically disadvantaged in socio-economic and edu-
cational development, TVET reform and development must pay particular attention
to these areas.
984 D. Sun et al.
4.3 Providing Services and Reflecting Job-Market Trends
The Chinese Government has repeatedly called for the reform and development of
TVET to enhance the provision of services. In the government’s view, these services
consist of four main types: (a) adapting to the economic structure and technologi-
cal advancement; (b) promoting employment and re-employment; (c) serving rural
areas and farm workers; and (d) speeding up development in western areas, as well
as the rejuvenation of old industrial bases in the north-east.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Government also called for the reform and development
of the TVET system to reflect job-market trends. Graduates from TVET schools,
especially secondary TVET schools, will find employment mostly in the fields of
manufacturing, technology, management or services. Based on the belief that ‘to
find a job is a basis for life,’ the Chinese Government views TVET as an ideal
opportunity for individuals who will not go on to higher education, and intends to
enhance this option by expanding the TVET system.
In addition, the Chinese government realizes that the reform and development
of the TVET system must begin with ‘three transformations’ which are partic-
ularly related to the decentralization of local governmental roles (Zhou, 2005).
First, the central guidelines for the administration of TVET schools must be up-
dated so as to reflect trends in the job market. The TVET system must be actively
shifted from a supply-driven training system to a market-driven system, from di-
rect governmental control to macro-governmental guidance, and from discipline-
based learning to employment-based training. Second, the way TVET schools are
administered must be upgraded. Flexible, diverse and open modes are encouraged
to meet the needs of the job market. For example, TVET schools must upgrade
their programmes to satisfy the needs of ‘special requests’ from enterprises. More-
over, the TVET schools’ functions must also be decentralized concerning inter-
school co-operation, student and teacher recruitment, the administration of stu-
dent registration, curriculum development, course arrangement and textbook selec-
tion. Finally, the TVET system must be open to market pressures. Minban TVET
schools, with financial resources from the private sector, are warmly welcomed
by the government. The Chinese government adopts the cardinal principle of ‘ac-
tive expansion with official administration’. Meanwhile, a competitive system has
been introduced into TVET schools, which includes public and private schools. The
TVET system is required to establish close co-operation with third parties, including
enterprises.
4.4 Building Up a Modern TVET System
Since the 1990s, the market-oriented, privatization and decentralization processes

have been accelerating in China. The education sector, and especially the TVET
sector, is no exception. For example, Minban TVET schools have grown and ex-
panded at a surprising speed. Various pressures on the existing TVET system
are arising from the market place. In response to these new challenges, the Chi-
nese Government has adopted the following four strategies for encouraging TVET
reform.
1. Setting up and gradually optimizing a hierarchical administrative system under

the control of the local government and involving the public. Local governments
are urged to take more responsibility for the comprehensive planning of local
TVET development (State Council, 2002).
2. Extending teaching and curriculum reform by implementing the educational
guidelines set out by the Communist Party of China, generally satisfying the
requirements of quality education and enhancing the professional training of
students. TVET resources will be gradually optimized, and the contents and
teaching strategies of curriculum and programmes will be adjusted to satisfy
market needs. In addition, a new credit system, part-time learning programmes,
in-service training programmes and internship programmes have already been
introduced to increase the flexibility and availability of TVET.
3. Extending the reform of the TVET personnel management system by improving
the quality of teachers. The Chinese Government advocates the reform of per-
sonnel management systems as a priority for TVET reform. Public recruitment,
a competition system when applying for teaching posts and the contract system
for teaching positions have to form part of the personnel management system
of TVET (State Council, 2002). Furthermore, teachers, especially heads of de-
partments, will receive regular in-service training. Principals and deans of TVET
schools or colleges must receive certification in order to take up their positions.
Additionally, a network of teacher education institutes has been set up for the
TVET system to improve the quality of the teaching corps.
4. Finally, further reform of the employment system aims to introduce a stricter
certification or licensing system for new employees. The employment admittance
system, known as ‘trained before employed’, must be more strictly observed in
conformity with occupational qualifications (State Council, 2002). The TVET
that is provided shall correspond to the actual needs of the job market and occu-
pational standards will be established by the State for classified job positions. On
the other hand, TVET schools must provide appropriate and updated job-market
information for students.
5 Discussion
The Chinese government has tried hard since the 1980s to rebuild a TVET sys-
tem corresponding to the socialist market economy in conformity with the Chinese
context. Numerous policy actions have been undertaken to transform the tradi-
tional TVET system, and the outcomes are quite encouraging: (a) the volume of
the higher TVET system is growing rapidly and that of the secondary TVET sys-
tem is recovering; (b) the administration of TVET schools is changing through the
986 D. Sun et al.
involvement of multiple players; and (c) the employment rate of graduates from
TVET schools/colleges is steadily increasing.
The obstacles and problems with TVET reform and development, however, re-
main perplexing. For example: (a) the recent development of secondary TVET
schools is slowing down, compared with that of higher TVET colleges; (b) the
TVET structure is distorted in terms of school types and levels; (c) the TVET
administrative system does not yet meet the evolving needs of the market; (d)
the teacher workforce is not competent in terms of quantity and quality; (e) ap-
plicants for admission to TVET schools have much lower academic achievement
than those to regular schools (Ma, Guo & Chen, 2005a, 2005b; Wang, 2005). A
major obstacle to TVET reform and development is ‘the capital cost of improv-
ing the quality of training facilities and of implementing programmes for upgrad-
ing staff and revising courses’, as Fallon and Hunting pointed out (2000, p. 180).
In fact, the annual State budget for TVET expenditure is not sufficient and, as
a result, the campus facilities for TVET schools remain unsatisfactory. In addi-
tion, there are persistent nationwide contrasts among the TVET systems (privileged
and disadvantaged schools), areas (the west and the east), or educational resources
(the urban and the rural), etc. These problems pose serious challenges to Chinese
policy-makers.
The Chinese experiences of TVET reform and development provide a good
example of how a centralized administration has employed multiple policy ac-
tions to rebuild the TVET system. The advantages of such experiences include
the ability to upgrade an existing system by collective policy players and be-
haviours, compulsory participation and involvement, and optimized use of system
resources. On the other hand, the disadvantages are also obvious: a rigid adminis-
trative structure and hierarchical mechanism, very limited flexibility, little school
autonomy, asymmetrical communication between policy-makers and school im-
plementers, and so on. In addition, it is extremely difficult for the Chinese Gov-
ernment to find a balance in the relationship between central control and de-
centralization. These dilemmas facing China’s TVET system represent a chal-
lenge for policy-makers and policy-analysts as they contemplate further actions in
the future.
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State Council. 2005. Guowuyuan guanyu dali fazhan zhiye jiaoyu de jueding [The decision
on vigorously advancing vocational education]. Beijing. (Document no. 35.) <www.gov.cn/
zwgk/2005-11/09/content 94296.htm>
Wang, H.B. 2005. Qianxi woguo zhongdeng zhiye jiaoyu zhi fazhan [On the development of
China’s secondary TVET]. China science and technology information, vol. 12, pp. 225–26.
Wang, J.P. 2005. Woguo zhiye jiaoyu de xingshi he fazhan silu [The situation and development plan
of Chinese vocational education]. Journal of Henan Vocational-Technical Teachers College,
vol. 1, pp. 5–9.
Zhou, J. 2004. Yong kexue fazhanguan tongling jiaoyu gongzuo quanju [Leading the whole opera-
tion of education by ‘a scientific concept of development’]. Speech at MOE’s Annual Working
Meeting, 2005. <www.moe.edu.cn/edoas/website18/ info16025.htm>
Zhou, J. 2005. Yi kexue fazhanguan wei zhidao shixian zhongdeng zhiye jiaoyu kuaisu jiankang
fazhan [Speeding up the healthy development of secondary vocational education guided by
‘scientific concept of development’]. <www.moe.edu.cn/ edoas/website18/info10855.htm>
Chapter VI.8
Some Generic Issues in TVET Management
George Preddey
1 Introduction
This chapter of the UNESCO-UNEVOC International handbook identifies and ana-

lyses nine generic issues that are significant for TVET management. Six of these
issues are presented as contrasting dichotomies—for example, the implications of
centralization versus devolution for the management of TVET systems. The nine
generic issues for TVET management that are considered in the following sec-
tions are:
r centralization versus devolution;

r autonomy versus accountability;
r inputs versus outputs and outcomes;
r governance versus management;
r public versus private funding and tuition fees;
r public versus private provision;
r TVET policy and legal frameworks;
r TVET system configurations;
r TVET institutional management systems.
Expanding on these generic issues, an overview of TVET management practice is

set out in the next chapter, with particular reference to eleven specific TVET man-
agement functions.
All governments will want their TVET systems to be responsive, effective and
cost-efficient. Chapters VI.8 and VI.9 draw extensively on the collective experi-
ences of Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom—three countries that
have reformed their public TVET institutions. The management and operational
practices in these three countries and the associated legal, policy and organizational
environments are benchmarks against which the TVET systems of other countries
may be assessed. Contemporary TVET management in Australia, New Zealand and
the United Kingdom is focused on managing the operational efficiency, quality and
accountability of TVET institutions to stakeholders—some of the principal areas of
TVET management functions that are outlined in the next chapter.

990 G. Preddey
The collective experiences of Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom
are documented in a management handbook: Vocational education and training
institutions: a management handbook and CD-ROM, a management resource pro-
duced under the aegis of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Asia
and Pacific Skills Development Programme (APSDEP). It contains eleven modules
and forty-three self-contained learning units, and is accompanied by a CD-ROM
containing more than 400 resource documents on national training policies, legisla-
tion, operational documents and management instruments etc.
These two handbooks i.e. UNESCO-UNEVOC International handbook of edu-
cation for the changing world of work (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2009) and Voca-
tional education and training institution: a management handbook and CD-ROM
(Gasskov, 2006) are complementary. Whereas the UNESCO-UNEVOC Interna-
tional handbook is encyclopaedic in its scope, the ILO Management handbook is
focused on contemporary management practice in TVET institutions and systems.
Chapters VI.8 (generic issues) and VI.9 (management practice) in the UNESCO-
UNEVOC International handbook (2009) are cross-referenced to the relevant learn-
ing units in the ILO Management handbook (2006). These forty-three units contain
substantial detail on contemporary TVET management practices and extensive links
to original resource documents and reference material included on the associated
CD-ROM.
2 Centralization Versus Devolution
2.1 Centralized TVET Systems
Effective governance and management are key issues for the TVET sector. Many
countries support large numbers of public TVET institutions that absorb substantial
but static or even declining government budgets, yet are facing an increasing de-
mand for skills development (Gasskov, 2006, p. xi—hereafter, only the page number
will be given). Although national TVET systems and institutions differ significantly
among countries and their management practices reflect national conditions, all gov-
ernments will want their public TVET institutions to be responsive, effective and
cost-efficient.
In many countries, publicly-funded TVET institutions are part of the structure of
central government. Their budgets are part of the central government budgets and
institutional management and teaching staff are civil servants.
International experience indicates that the responsiveness, effectiveness and cost-
efficiency of TVET institutions are enhanced by the devolution of management,
financial and teaching responsibilities to the institutions themselves. Centralization
of TVET management and delivery commonly translates into a lack of incentives
for staff to show initiative and for TVET institutions to improve their performance.
Centralization may also fetter the contributions of private institutions to TVET
delivery.
VI.8 Some Generic Issues in TVET Management 991
2.2 The Case for Devolution
In some countries, a different approach to TVET has been implemented through

processes of public-sector management reform. The governments of these countries
have restricted their roles in TVET to those of principal funders, regulators and
assessors. Under this different approach, public TVET institutions have their own
governing councils that represent their stakeholders, may employ their own staff and
are responsible for their strategic management.
TVET institutions in these countries are given the means to achieve agreed out-
puts and to benefit from their improved efficiency. International experience is in-
dicating that the responsiveness, cost-efficiency and effectiveness of public TVET
institutions are enhanced if they have greater autonomy in their management (pp. 8,
20 et seq.)
3 Autonomy Versus Accountability
3.1 Institutional Autonomy
In countries where public TVET institutions are given significant autonomy, their
governing councils assume the governance roles previously exercised by govern-
ment officials. Institutional autonomy is strengthened through the appointment of
chief executives responsible to the governing councils for their operational manage-
ment.
Enhanced institutional autonomy requires that governance and management ar-
rangements are capable of achieving agreed objectives and maintaining the long-
term viability of TVET institutions. A sense of institutional ownership develops that
differs from traditional government ownership. Enhanced institutional autonomy
provides stronger incentives for institutional managers and teaching staff to achieve
better results.
The actual level of autonomy of a TVET institution is determined by the activities
that can be undertaken without the control or direction of government agencies.
These include the abilities to:
r determine, appoint, employ and dismiss institutional staff;

r introduce organizational and management structures;
r determine staff conditions of service;
r develop courses and curricula and issue awards;
r enrol students and assess their progress;
r operate institutional bank accounts;
r generate, retain and manage revenue and surpluses;
r borrow, rent or lease;
r purchase, maintain, expand and dispose of institutional assets, including build-
ings and equipment (pp. 8 et seq.).
992 G. Preddey
However, governments as principal shareholders in autonomous TVET institutions

are still able to influence their operations by the appointment and dismissal of
governing councils, by specified powers to issue directives, and through external
funding, performance assessment and accountability frameworks (pp. 31 et seq.)
3.2 Accountability Frameworks
Autonomy, while increasing the opportunities for efficiency and productivity gains,
also increases the operational and financial risks for governments. These risks, how-
ever, can be managed by the introduction of enhanced accountability arrangements
operated by central governments or their agencies.
These arrangements may include restrictions on autonomy (e.g. specified limits
on borrowing, leasing and asset disposal) and prescribed monitoring and reporting
processes—e.g. specified arrangements for financial reporting and audit (pp. 76,
153 et seq.). Enhanced accountability should be seen as a consequence of enhanced
autonomy rather than as an instrument to fetter autonomy, but has important impli-
cations for institutional management.
4 Inputs Versus Outputs and Outcomes

Governments invest in TVET to achieve desired economic and social outcomes,
such as well-educated workforces for a competitive global market (pp. 121 et seq.).
The inputs to TVET systems are the financial resources committed, often predom-
inantly by governments, to TVET institutions. The outputs of TVET institutions
contribute to desired outcomes and include the (intangible) knowledge, skills and
competencies acquired by students.
Various (tangible) proxies for the (intangible) knowledge, skills and compe-
tencies acquired by students are used as measures of outputs. These proxies may
include enrolments, equivalent full-time students (EFTS), course completions and
graduations. Proxies may have limitations when used as parameters in funding sys-
tems. For example, funding TVET institutions on the basis of graduation numbers
would create perverse incentives for institutions to pass all of their students irre-
spective of performance.
In centralized TVET systems, institutions are customarily resourced on the basis
of what they cost (input funding) rather than on the TVET services that they deliver
(output funding). This may result in weak linkages between budget allocations for
TVET and desired TVET outcomes.
Devolved systems of autonomous TVET institutions are more amenable to
funding based on outputs or outcomes. For the reasons outlined above, output-
funding systems are customarily based on proxies for outputs (e.g. EFTS enrol-
ments), but may include additional performance elements (e.g. course completions
or graduations). Although EFTS enrolments could be perceived as inputs to TVET
systems, they are customarily used as proxy measures of the knowledge, skills and
competencies acquired by students—i.e. TVET outputs (pp. 125 et seq.).
5 Governance Versus Management
5.1 Governance
Governance and management can operate at three levels: government; governing

councils; chief executives and senior management. The roles of governing coun-
cils and chief executives and the distinction between governance and management
become more significant as TVET institutions gain enhanced autonomy. In central-
ized TVET systems, the government agencies assume governance roles and chief
executives are relegated to the role of line managers.
In devolved TVET systems, governments relinquish their governance roles in
favour of governing councils. Chief executives have responsibilities similar to those
of the chief executives of private-sector companies and the members of governing
councils have responsibilities similar to those of boards of directors. Table 1 outlines
some distinctions between the governance and management roles for autonomous
TVET institutions (p. 53).
A key responsibility of governing councils is the determination of institutional
policies—i.e. statements of intent or direction that provide guidance to chief execu-
tives and managers about how to carry out their delegated functions.
Once governing councils have made policy decisions, implementation becomes
the responsibility of chief executives. Effective councils monitor the implementa-
tion of their policies. If problems become evident or accountability mechanisms are
not working, the governing councils may revoke their delegations. Some important
aspects of management for governing councils to monitor include finance, academic
matters, staffing, site and facilities, advocacy and public relations (pp. 54 et seq.).
Table 1 Differences between governance and management roles for autonomous TVET
institutions
TVET institution’s governance TVET institution’s management
Governance sets overall direction by strategic Management is concerned with achieving
planning and determining goals, strategies goals in accordance with strategies and
and policies (What to do). policies (How to do).
Governance ensures management Management provides information for
accountability through reporting effective governance and management
mechanisms. accountability.
Governance determines institutional Management is concerned with the means for
objectives (outputs and outcomes). achieving objectives (outputs and
outcomes).
Effective governance is hands-off. Effective management is hands-on.
994 G. Preddey
5.2 Delegations to Management
TVET legal frameworks generally provide governing councils with the powers to
delegate, normally to chief executives. These delegations recognize that council
members cannot deal with excessive detail.
Under this configuration, the chief executives manage the academic and admin-
istrative affairs of the TVET institutions and employ their staff. The governing
councils ensure that the chief executives are managing the TVET institutions in
accordance with their missions, objectives and required outputs. They ensure that
the chief executives have the authority to manage the institutions through appropri-
ate delegations. A key aspect of delegation is that, although governing councils may
delegate authority to institutional management for specified actions, the responsibil-
ity for those actions remains with the governing councils.
The chief executives of autonomous TVET institutions are customarily ex-
pected to:
r prepare management documents (corporate plans) for meeting objectives and
delivering outputs;
r develop operating and capital budgets;
r establish internal controls to oversee expenditure and finance;
r manage staff employment and industrial relations;
r manage internal reporting on the implementation of corporate plans;
r prepare annual reports that compared actual institutional performances with ob-
jectives;
r prepare reports required by external funding and regulatory agencies.
6 Public Versus Private Funding and Tuition Fees
6.1 The Case for Tuition Fees
Tuition fees recognize the private benefits of TVET that accrue to graduates: en-
hanced lifetime incomes, employment prospects and job satisfaction. Tuition fees
encourage students to choose their TVET courses carefully and to be diligent, be-
cause they are meeting part or all of the costs of their training, even though the major
costs may in reality be income foregone.
Tuition fees also provide incentives for TVET institutions to be responsive to
their students’ expectations since they are dependent, at least in part, on tuition
fees for their financial resources. The additional revenue from tuition fees can be
used to finance additional places, in principle enhancing equitable access (pp. 124,
143 et seq.)
However, tuition fees may also discourage participation in TVET by students
from poorer families. The disincentive effects can be mitigated by student support
policies that include scholarships, targeted fee rebates and non-discriminatory loan
schemes.
6.2 Setting Tuition Fees
In some jurisdictions, public TVET institutions are constrained from charging tu-
ition fees and are expected to deliver TVET within the limits of revenue derived
solely from their public funding. In some jurisdictions, governments or their agen-
cies determine standard tuition fees, and in others, public TVET institutions either
set their own unfettered fees or set fees subject to regulation.
Various principles underpin tuition-fee-setting policies and involve balancing the
benefits of TVET for individual students, for their employers and for the wider
community while maintaining equitable access and also institutional viability.
When governments set tuition fees and also allocate public funding, they are
effectively determining the total cost of TVET delivery. When TVET institutions are
able to set their own tuition fees to supplement their public funding, their enhanced
autonomy in principle enables competition on the basis of price (fees) and on course
quality. In principle, this may encourage greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness
(pp. 140 et seq.).
7 Public Versus Private Provision
7.1 Government Ownership and Purchase Interests
TVET systems often comprise a mix of public and private institutions. Private TVET
institutions may occupy minor niche markets; they may complement the public pro-
vision of TVET; or they may actively compete with public TVET institutions.
Governments have two distinct sets of interests in public TVET institutions
(p. 122):
r as owners and regulators of institutional assets (ownership interest);

r as funders (purchasers) of TVET services (outputs) that the institutions deliver
(purchase interest).
There is no compelling public policy reason why students enrolled at public and
private TVET institutions should be treated differently by governments. From the
students’ perspective, the ownership of TVET institutions should not be material to
the delivery of TVET services to them.
Governments do not own private TVET institutions. However, the TVET services
that they deliver, in principle, are indistinguishable from the services delivered by
public TVET institutions. There is no compelling public policy reason why govern-
ments’ purchase (funding) interests in TVET delivery should be different for public
and private TVET institutions. The funding of TVET delivery should, in princi-
ple, be ownership-neutral. This arrangement does not preclude additional public
funding for public TVET institutions that recognizes and protects public-ownership
interests.
996 G. Preddey
7.2 Public Funding of Public and Private TVET Institutions
In many countries, publicly-funded TVET is delivered principally or exclusively

by public TVET institutions, often subject to stringent entry conditions. As a con-
sequence, students from poorer families may be entirely denied access to TVET
or required to pay cost-recovery fees to (lower quality) private institutions. On the
other hand, students from affluent families—including those who failed the strin-
gent entry conditions to public institutions—may be able to enrol at (higher quality)
private TVET institutions. In principle, these inherently inequitable outcomes may
be addressed by ownership-neutral funding systems.
In some countries, students at public and private TVET institutions are treated
more-or-less equally under various TVET funding policies that include:
r allocating TVET vouchers to secondary school-leavers that may be redeemable

at any public or private TVET institution and that replace the public funding
allocations to TVET institutions;
r allocating similar ownership-neutral funding to public and private TVET institu-
tions for similar TVET outputs (without precluding additional funding to protect
public ownership interests) (CD-ROM Unit 5.1).
Voucher systems remain controversial and have been implemented with mixed suc-
cess by a number of countries. Although they appear sound in principle by maxi-
mizing student choice, they have experienced practical difficulties. Students make
imperfect choices, as some countries have experienced but, on the other hand, TVET
systems largely driven by centralized labour-market planning are also problematic.
A compromise approach involves a mix of public and private TVET institutions
in which students, institutions, industry, professions and (light-handed) government
funding agencies determine collectively what TVET courses are offered where and
to whom. Output-funding systems strengthen the linkages between budget alloca-
tions and desired TVET outcomes, while ownership-neutral funding systems, in
principle, offer more equitable access to TVET and encourage private sector contri-
butions to TVET delivery (CD-ROM Unit 5.1).
8 TVET Policy and Legal Frameworks
8.1 National TVET Policies
National TVET policies are rarely determined in unique policy documents and may
be changed by new governments. The policies generally make certain assumptions
about the roles of TVET in economic and social development: for example, that
a minimum level of education is necessary for individuals to function in society,
as well as for social cohesion, or that equitable access to TVET promotes equal
opportunities for employment and income.
Comprehensive national TVET policies may acknowledge the respective roles of

public and private TVET institutions and whether private TVET institutions are able
to access public funding and, if so, under what conditions (pp. 15 et seq.).
8.2 TVET Legislative and Regulatory Frameworks
Legislation is required in devolved TVET systems to provide appropriate legal en-

vironments for public VET institutions. It generally includes provisions for:
r institutional status and autonomy;

r the role, appointment and composition of governing councils;
r employment of staff;
r funding, performance and accountability frameworks;
r controls on institutional assets and financial operations.
In those countries that have both federal and state or provincial governmental struc-
tures, TVET institutions operate under the legislation enacted by the level of govern-
ment that is constitutionally responsibility for TVET provision. The legislation may
incorporate inter-governmental agreements over shared responsibilities for TVET
delivery (pp. 3 et seq., pp. 31 et seq.).
8.3 Legal Status and Ownership of Public TVET Institutions
Public TVET institutions may have the organizational forms of State companies,
statutory corporations or trusts. Institutions operating as State companies may do so
under conditions of competitive neutrality with the private sector, but are account-
able to governments as shareholders. Those operating as statutory corporations are
more centrally controlled by governments, but may have some of the freedoms of
State companies, including property rights. Public TVET institutions registered as
trusts are controlled by trust boards that act in place of governments as owners.
Ownership is critical for asset management. Institutional autonomy presumes an
ability to acquire or dispose of institutional assets that is predetermined by owner-
ship. A clear test of ownership is whether governments carry the risks of owner-
ship, including residual liability. The net equity of public TVET institutions may be
included in governments’ budget statements of financial position. The trend in de-
volved TVET systems is for assets to be owned by the TVET institutions themselves
(pp. 5 et seq.).
998 G. Preddey
8.4 Establishment, Disestablishment and Merger

of Public TVET Institutions
Legislative provisions for the establishment, disestablishment and merger of public
TVET institutions are required to protect the operations, viability and reputations of
other public and private TVET institutions and for the allocation of public resources.
An important issue is whether the numbers and types of public TVET institutions
should be regulated. The regulation of establishments, disestablishments and mergers
may ensure that an adequate range of TVET services is available, but may also con-
strain other potential TVET providers from entry, potentially resulting in insufficient
provision of TVET to meet particular areas of industry or student demand (p. 8).
9 TVET System Configurations
9.1 TVET Governmental Administrative Structures
Devolved systems of TVET institutions require relationships with the machinery of

government to ensure their accountability and to protect governments’ ownership
interests. Various configurations of departments, ministries and government agen-
cies may undertake regulatory and advisory roles on behalf of governments. Single
entities should have overall responsibilities as links between the executive arms of
governments and the TVET institutions. Their roles will depend on the levels of
institutional autonomy.
Organizational structures within the machinery of government include depart-
ments (operational focus) and ministries (policy focus). In some countries, groups
of TVET institutions are split between the ministries of education and labour. Line
ministries may supervise training in certain specialist areas, such as health and
agriculture, although the international trend has been to merge all TVET activities
within designated single ministries, departments or agencies (pp. 25 et seq.).
9.2 Agencies Providing Services to TVET Institutions

The roles and functions carried out by departments and ministries are often devolved
to government agencies established under enabling legislation. The essential dis-
tinction is that departments and ministries are accountable to responsible ministers,
whereas agencies are governed by boards that have a degree of independence from
ministerial direction and represent a broader range of stakeholders.
Under these arrangements, ministries and departments are customarily respon-
sible for policy development and advice to governments, whereas TVET agencies
have operational responsibilities that include funding, accountability and quality-
assurance systems operating within policy environments determined by govern-
ments. Some specialist agencies may have particular functions, including skills
assessment and certification, curriculum development services, quality assurance,

teaching-staff development and the provision of labour-market information.
Support services customarily include best-practice dissemination and sector ad-
vocacy undertaken by national associations of TVET institutions. For services
that are regulatory rather than supportive in nature (e.g. course accreditations),
charge-for-service arrangements may avoid any potential conflicts of interest (pp. 27
et seq.).
10 TVET Institutional Management Systems
10.1 Governing Councils

The size, composition and procedures for appointing governing councils of au-
tonomous TVET institutions are generally prescribed in legislation and may reflect
two distinct approaches to institutional governance:
r representational approach: council members represent the interests of stakehold-

ers, including governments, employers, unions, staff, students, professional bod-
ies and alumni;
r managerial approach: council members are individuals chosen for their particu-
lar relevant skills.
The representational approach generally results in larger representative councils,

whereas the managerial approach results in smaller more business-orientated coun-
cils. There are arguments for and against both approaches, and examples of both
can be found in various jurisdictions (pp. 51 et seq.). Even though their composition
may reflect a range of stakeholders, governing councils must act in the best interests
of TVET institutions rather than those of individual stakeholders.
The roles and responsibilities of governing councils customarily include most or
all of the following activities:
r strategic planning: i.e. mission statements or charters setting out institutional

roles, functions and characteristics; development (councils/management); ap-
proval (councils);
r operational planning: i.e. formulation of objectives and corporate plans; devel-
opment (management); approval (councils/funding agencies); delivery (manage-
ment and staff); monitoring (councils/audit agencies);
r financial planning and management: preparation of budgets (management); bud-
get approval (councils); budget monitoring (councils); preparation of annual
accounts (management); approval (councils);
r academic planning and management: planning of TVET courses (management);
monitoring delivery (councils); student management (management);
1000 G. Preddey
r determination of institutional policies: development (management); approval

(councils); monitoring of adherence by management to agreed policies (coun-
cils);
r human resource management: appointment of chief executives and performance
monitoring (councils); appointment and monitoring of subordinate staff (chief
executives and/or senior management);
r site development, capital development, buildings, equipment, maintenance (del-
egated to management for approval by councils);
r accountability: preparation of annual reports (management); approval (councils);
audit (external audit agencies);
r representation and communication: managing public relations and the media
(council chairs, chief executives) (pp. 54 et seq.).
10.2 Alternative Organizational Structures of TVET Institutions

The organizational structures of TVET institutions reflect external policy and or-
ganizational environments and the levels of institutional autonomy. Organizational
structures may include the following elements:
r governing council;
r chief executive;
r senior management team of chief executive and senior managers;
r academic board (see below);
r a number of teaching departments;
r a number of academic, administrative and support departments (pp. 65 et seq.).
In some jurisdictions, the organizational structures include academic boards that are
established to advise the governing councils on matters relating to training courses,
curricula, awards and other academic matters. The relationships between governing
councils, academic boards and chief executives vary among TVET institutions.
Internationally, academic boards are increasingly involved in academic self-
evaluations and internal audits, conducted through internal academic quality man-
agement systems approved by external agencies (p. 62).
TVET delivery structures customarily involve breakdowns into departments
based on broad vocational areas. Designated heads of department are responsible
to chief executives for the activities and performance of their departments.
Some TVET institutions are small and serve only single industries or sectors,
whereas others, including polytechnics, are large enough to serve a wider range of
industries and occupations. In the larger TVET institutions, training departments
may be aggregated into larger faculties or schools.
Technical, workshop and laboratory support staff in larger TVET institutions
are commonly allocated at departmental level. In some TVET institutions, sepa-
rate administrative sections under directors of administration provide administrative
support services. The technical and administrative support services in larger TVET
institutions customarily include separate departments or sections responsible for:
r human resources: staffing, payroll, recruitment, performance assessment, staff
development;
r student management: courses, timetables, enrolments, academic records, student
support;
r finance: accounting systems, purchasing, financial planning and control, inter-
nal audit;
r asset management: campus, buildings, equipment, maintenance, security;
r information management: library, computer systems, communications;
r marketing and development: student recruitment, industry liaison, market re-
search;
r curriculum: curriculum development, relationships with external awarding/
assessing bodies;
r staff training and development (pp. 69 et seq.).
10.3 Internal Management Procedures
The complexity of operating large TVET institutions makes it appropriate for gov-
erning councils to delegate management responsibilities to chief executives. Chief
executives may further delegate operational decisions to heads of department or
operational unit managers, as appropriate. A key aspect of delegation is that, al-
though authority for action can be delegated, the responsibility for action is not
(pp. 73 et seq.).
The key responsibility of governing councils is to determine institutional poli-
cies that provide guidance for chief executives and managers in their application of
delegated authority. The implementation of approved policies becomes the respon-
sibility of chief executives and management.
Governing councils can monitor institutional financial performance against in-
stitutional budgets provided that there is effective reporting by management. By
agreeing to institutional budgets, governing councils have effectively endorsed
management plans for each financial year. Management is required to perform
in accordance with agreed budgets, and to be accountable to governing councils
for any variation from them. Chief executives are responsible for establishing in-
ternal financial control systems, generally through delegation to designated staff
(pp. 76 et seq.).
11 Conclusions and Implications
Many countries support large numbers of public TVET institutions that absorb sub-
stantial but static or even declining government budgets, yet are facing an increas-
ing demand for skills development. All governments will want their public TVET
1002 G. Preddey
institutions to be responsive to labour markets, to operate effectively and to be cost-

efficient.
This analysis of nine generic TVET management issues draws extensively on
the collective experiences of Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom—
three countries that have recently undertaken significant management reform of their
public TVET institutions. Drawing on these international precedents, some future
trends for TVET systems and institutional management can be identified.
The most significant trend is the devolution of governance and management re-
sponsibilities by governments to the TVET institutions themselves (pp. xi et seq.).
International experience indicates that the responsiveness, operational efficiency
and effectiveness of public TVET institutions are enhanced by the devolution of
governance, management, financial and teaching responsibilities to the institutional
level. Legislation is required in devolved TVET systems to provide appropriate legal
environments for autonomous public institutions.
Enhanced autonomy, while opening up new opportunities for efficiency gains and
service productivity, also creates greater operational and financial risks for govern-
ments. These risks can be managed by enhanced accountability regimes for TVET
institutions that are operated by government agencies. Enhanced accountability
regimes are natural consequences of enhanced institutional autonomy. Ownership
is an important aspect of governance that is central to asset management. The trend
in devolved TVET systems is for most assets of institutions to be owned by the
institutions themselves (pp. 5 et seq.).
A feature of many centralized TVET systems is that the institutions are resourced
on the basis of what they cost (input funding) rather than the TVET services that
they actually deliver (outputs). A consequence is a lack of clear linkages between
governmental budget allocations and desired TVET outcomes. This matter is be-
ing addressed internationally by trends to funding systems based on outputs and
outcomes (pp. 125 et seq.). Ownership-neutral funding systems may in principle
offer more equitable access and encourage private sector contributions to TVET
delivery. Tuition fees may encourage greater institutional responsiveness, efficiency
and cost-effectiveness and, in principle, may enhance equity (pp. 40 et seq.).
Expanding upon the generic issues in TVET management outlined above, an
overview of contemporary TVET management practice is set out in the following
Chapter VI.9, with particular reference to specific TVET management functions.
Reference
Gasskov, V., ed. 2006. Vocational education and training institutions: a management handbook
and CD-ROM. Geneva, Switzerland: ILO.
Chapter VI.9
An Overview of Contemporary TVET
Management Practice
George Preddey
1 Introduction
In the previous Chapter VI.8 of this UNESCO-UNEVOC International handbook,

nine generic issues relevant for TVET management were identified. Expanding on
these generic issues, an overview of contemporary TVET management practice is
set out below with particular reference to eleven specific TVET management func-
tions. These functions include:
r strategic and operational planning;

r financial management;
r information management;
r student management;
r staff management;
r course and curriculum management;
r managing TVET delivery;
r managing assessment;
r managing physical assets;
r quality management;
r performance and accountability management.
The TVET management practices of Australia, New Zealand and the United King-
dom have been systematically documented and recorded in an International Labour
Organization Management handbook (Gasskov, 2006) of eleven modules and forty-
three learning units. The handbook is accompanied by a CD-ROM that contains
more than 400 resource documents. These two handbooks, the present UNESCO-
UNEVOC International handbook of education for the changing world of work
(UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2009) and Vocational education and training institutions: a
management handbook and CD-ROM (Gasskov, 2006) are complementary—as was
explained in the Introduction to Chapter VI.8.
The eleven specific TVET management functions discussed below in this
UNESCO-UNEVOC International handbook are cross-referenced to appropriate
learning units in the ILO Management handbook. These learning units cover con-
temporary TVET management functions and practice in greater detail, and also in-

1004 G. Preddey
clude actual operational documents, management instruments and comprehensive

references. (All references are to Gasskov, 2006—hereafter, only the page number
will be given.)
2 Strategic and Operational Planning
2.1 Supply and Demand Factors for TVET

Students make time commitments and forego income to undertake TVET and have
vested interests in making sound decisions, particularly if they are also paying tu-
ition fees. Nevertheless, they do not always make sound decisions and may be un-
duly influenced by peer group pressure or inadequate information. They can enrol
only in unallocated places in TVET courses that institutions choose to offer them
(p. 92).
Industries and professions have a vested interest in supplies of trained graduates
to meet their current and future requirements for skills. Under-supply may result in
skills shortages and reduced productivity, whereas over-supply may distort labour
markets. Industries and professions are better placed than students and TVET insti-
tutions to assess their own skill needs (p. 93).
Governments have vested interests in TVET delivery in the context of their
broader economic and social-policy objectives. They are least well placed to make
delivery decisions because they lack first-hand knowledge of student demand and
the skill needs of industries and professions. They are better placed to take a broader
view by synthesizing information about TVET provision and labour markets. Gov-
ernments are also uniquely placed to intervene in TVET delivery. Interventions
are more likely to succeed by providing suitable policy environments that enable
other stakeholders to make sound decisions, rather than by resorting to micro-
management of TVET delivery (p. 93).
Institutions are well placed to make TVET delivery decisions if they are also
aware of student demand and the skill needs of industries and professions. Jurisdic-
tions with devolved systems of TVET institutions have generally opted for a combi-
nation of student and industry/professional demands as the predominant drivers of
TVET delivery.
Governments have various options for interventions in TVET delivery. They may
provide support through targeted funding to national target groups or to identified
priority industry sectors and associated TVET courses.
National target groups may be identified to meet governments’ social policy
objectives (e.g. to address particular examples of under-achievement or under-
representation in TVET). Targeting may be on the basis of ethnicity, income, locality
or other perceived indicators of disadvantage.
Support for priority industry sectors (e.g. bio-technology) may be provided
through additional publicly-funded places that encourage institutions to offer rel-
evant TVET courses and/or encourage students to enrol in those courses (pp. 97
et seq.).
VI.9 An Overview of Contemporary TVET Management Practice 1005
2.2 Assessing Industrial and Student Demand for TVET
The assessment of industrial demand for TVET courses is undertaken by key stake-
holders. These include:
r government agencies undertake assessments to inform labour-market interven-
tions and decision-making by industry, TVET institutions and their prospective
students;
r industry training organizations (ITOs) set up by industries undertake assess-
ments to ensure that their training needs are met;
r TVET institutions gather information individually or through their national asso-
ciations (pp. 102 et seq.).
The information-gathering processes may include surveys, questionnaires and col-

lation of statistical data on:
r occupational and qualification structures;
r industry-based training practices and opportunities for off-job TVET;
r graduate destinations (tracer studies);
r current workforces to establish principal entry points (reverse tracer studies);
r current job vacancies;
r unemployment and under-employment;
r future industrial and developmental projects (pp. 109 et seq.).
Demographic information on school-leaver cohorts is customarily gathered, collated

and disseminated by government agencies that have responsibilities for compulsory
education. Statistical information on enrolments, retention and graduation rates is
generally available from government agencies responsible for TVET institutional
funding. In some jurisdictions, the TVET institutions are required to furnish infor-
mation to agencies as a prerequisite for public funding.
2.3 Strategic and Operational Planning for TVET Delivery

Effective planning in autonomous TVET institutions takes place over different time
scales:
r long-term strategic planning gives effect to the governing councils’ visions for
their institutions, their agreed missions and their long-term strategic develop-
ment;
r short-term (annual) business planning determines institutions’ TVET delivery
for the forthcoming academic and financial years (p. 112).
Strategic plans are customarily developed by small groups with requisite skills that
may be sub-committees of governing councils strengthened by secondees from man-
agement. Various planning techniques may be used:
1006 G. Preddey
r analyses of institutions’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT

analysis);
r development of alternative scenarios for future development;
r structured consultation with stakeholders;
r development of performance indicators and milestones.
Strategic planning groups need to take into account the external inputs to planning.
These include government training policies, labour-market forecasts, economic and
demographic factors, and assessments of institutional capacities to implement strate-
gic plans (pp. 114 et seq.).
Autonomous TVET institutions customarily operate within annual TVET de-
livery and budget cycles that are covered by short-term business plans. Institu-
tions’ annual budgets are important components of business plans. Performance
indicators and milestones defined within business plans are often used in ac-
countability regimes that determine whether the TVET institutions have deliv-
ered their expected TVET outputs and are operating within their approved budgets
(p. 115).
3 Financial Management
3.1 Funding Sources and Mechanisms for TVET
Public funding is allocated to TVET institutions by governments for two main

reasons: to achieve desired national outcomes; and to enable societies in general
to benefit from the recognized public benefits (externalities) of TVET (pp. 121
et seq.).
In many countries, publicly-subsidized TVET is available principally through
public TVET institutions and subject to restrictive entry conditions. In a number of
countries, students at public and private TVET institutions are treated more-or-less
equally in accordance with various TVET funding policies. These include TVET
vouchers delivered to school-leavers and ownership-neutral funding delivered to
institutions (CD-ROM Unit 5.1).
When TVET institutions are permitted to set their own tuition fees to supplement
their public funding, their enhanced autonomy allows competition on the basis of
price (i.e. fees) and course quality. In principle, this may encourage greater cost-
efficiency and effectiveness (see also Chapter VI.8, Public versus private funding
and tuition fees).
An optimal approach may be a mixed system of public and private TVET in-
stitutions in which students, institutions, industry, professions and (light-handed)
government-funding agencies determine collectively what TVET courses are of-
fered, where and to whom.
Governments have options in how they fund public TVET institutions. The alter-
native funding methodologies can be variously categorized as:
r input- or output-based funding;

r negotiated or normative funding;
r absolute or relative funding (pp. 125 et seq.).
Under input-funding systems, governments fund the input costs of TVET institu-
tions directly (e.g. by funding teachers’ salaries, costs of materials, utilities, etc.).
Institutions are funded for what they cost and, consequently, governments have little
appreciation of what value they are receiving for their investments.
Under output-funding systems, governments directly purchase TVET institu-
tions’ outputs, i.e. the skills and expertise of graduates—or, as proxies for out-
puts, the numbers of enrolments or equivalent full-time students (EFTS), etc. (see
also Chapter VI.8, Inputs versus outputs and outcomes). Under this approach,
governments have a better appreciation of what their investments are produc-
ing. International experience indicates that the cost-efficiency, effectiveness and
accountability of public TVET institutions are enhanced under output-funding
systems.
Negotiated funding systems involve negotiations between TVET institutions
and central funding agencies. Under normative funding, funding norms/standards/
averages, funding formulae and other quantitative factors are used, i.e. funding allo-
cations are calculated rather than negotiated. Funding formula customarily include
defining parameters for TVET institutions (e.g. approved numbers of funded EFTS)
and funding parameters (e.g. prescribed funding levels per approved EFTS differen-
tiated by field and level of study).
In absolute (bottom-up) funding, TVET institutions submit their own funding
requirements and overall budgets are the sum of institutional bids. In relative (top-
down) funding, finite resources are allocated centrally to TVET institutions in pro-
portion to their assessed needs.
For practical fiscal considerations, normative funding systems generally adopt
relative (top-down) approaches. The starting points are the politically determined
budget appropriations for TVET at national levels. The appropriations are allocated
among the TVET institutions by normative funding methodologies according to
their relative needs.
There has been a gradual international trend in the resourcing of TVET from in-
put to output funding (pp. 127 et seq.). Under output-funding systems, governments
have better information on and control of the TVET services that they fund. Output-
funding systems in principle increase cost-efficiency, effectiveness, responsiveness
and accountability, but require that TVET institutions have adequate autonomy to
operate under this funding model. In particular, they require sufficient autonomy to
be able to match their input costs to their output-funding entitlements.
3.2 Institutional Budgeting Processes

Under input-funding systems, managers are usually constrained from diverting
funding allocated for a particular input cost (e.g. salaries) to meet a different input
1008 G. Preddey
cost (e.g. new equipment). Decisions on the most effective use of public resources
are essentially made by funding agencies. Institutional managers have restricted fi-
nancial autonomy, while financial planning is centrally driven.
Under output funding systems, TVET institution managers are free (within pre-
scribed limits) to determine institutional outputs and to allocate funding resources
among their competing input costs. Decisions on the most effective use of public re-
sources are essentially made by institutional managers rather than by central funding
agencies (p. 129).
Annual budgets are important components of institutional business plans. They
forecast future revenues and expenditures and generally incorporate financial per-
formance indicators including:
r projected operating surpluses;

r returns on income and assets;
r operating cash flows;
r measures of liquid assets, working capital and debt ratios (p. 131).
Internal budgets are derived from institutional business plans and support their oper-
ations. Output funding is generally undifferentiated: i.e. institutional managers are
free to decide how to allocate revenue from public funding, student tuition fees and
fee-for-service income to meet their internal institutional operating costs (salaries,
overheads, capital expenditure, etc.) (p. 133).
Major cost items, such as capital expenditure on new buildings or equipment that
serves the whole institution, are customarily dealt with at the level of chief exec-
utives, subject to approval by governing councils. Costs may be either regarded as
overheads shared by whole institutions or met through debt financing (borrowing).
Buildings and equipment will inevitably require replacement, and replacement costs
are customarily incorporated into the costing of service delivery as allowances for
depreciation (pp. 135 et seq.).
Generally, there will be some degree of cross-subsidization among the various
departments to ensure that TVET institutions offer acceptable ranges of courses,
including uneconomic courses that attract low enrolments. New courses often have
developmental and start-up costs that are met through cross-subsidization.
3.3 Financial Management

From time to time, the management of autonomous TVET institutions may de-
termine that their institutions lack the financial or physical resources necessary
for effective operation. Where deficiencies are financial (e.g. insufficient accumu-
lated cash surpluses to cover the costs of new buildings or equipment), prudent
borrowing may be appropriate. Where deficiencies are physical (e.g. insufficient
buildings to accommodate staff and students), prudent leasing may be appropriate
(pp. 147 et seq.).
Governments have legitimate interests in proposals by TVET institutions to bor-

row and generally regulate to protect their ownership interests. The degree of regula-
tion is determined by the level of institutional autonomy and may vary from outright
bans on borrowing to light-handed regulation that requires TVET institutions to pro-
duce business plans demonstrating that proposed loans are prudent (pp. 137 et seq.).
Leases, like loans, are risks for both the TVET institutions and for governments
(as owners), but may have advantages over substantial building programmes by of-
fering enhanced flexibility. For similar reasons, leases are also often regulated.
In jurisdictions where public TVET institutions are resourced by output-funding
systems, the decisions on capital expenditure are delegated to the institutions them-
selves. Arguably, more than borrowing and leasing, capital expenditure exposes both
TVET institutions and governments (as owners) to financial risks. Consequently,
governments customarily regulate capital expenditure to protect their ownership in-
terests, taking into account the levels of institutional autonomy.
Regulation may range from centrally-managed capital work programmes oper-
ated by government agencies to requirements on TVET institutions to produce busi-
ness plans demonstrating that proposed capital expenditures are prudent investments
(pp. 137 et seq.).
3.4 Financial Statements and Audit

For public TVET institutions to be granted a level of financial autonomy, their gov-
ernance and management must be accountable for their use of public resources.
Financial accountability is customarily achieved by requiring public TVET institu-
tions to prepare standard sets of financial statements in accordance with generally
accepted accounting practices.
Standard sets of financial statements customarily include statements of financial
performance, financial position, movements in equity, cash flows, commitments and
contingent liabilities, and revenues and expenditure (p. 154). These statements are
essential components of TVET institutions’ annual reports (see also ‘Quality Man-
agement’ below).
Accountability raises the issue of who is to be held accountable. In some juris-
dictions, required sets of standard financial statements must also include statements
of responsibility under which governing councils and chief executives jointly accept
responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of financial reporting.
To give substance to statements of responsibility and to strengthen systems of
internal financial control, autonomous TVET institutions require systems for the
(internal) audit of all their financial transactions. In larger institutions, chief internal
auditors carry out these functions. To enhance credibility, annual financial state-
ments are customarily accompanied by independent audit reports from qualified
external auditors. In some jurisdictions, financial statements are subject to external
audit by State agencies established for this function. In other jurisdictions, TVET in-
stitutions are permitted to use qualified independent private sector auditors (pp. 155
et seq.).
1010 G. Preddey
4 Information Management
4.1 MIS Design and Subsystems
Modern TVET institutions require comprehensive management information sys-

tems (MIS) to support effective governance and their external reporting and ac-
countability requirements. Governments and funding agencies require information
on institutional performance, enrolments and quality-assured courses to enable them
to support institutions and students effectively. TVET institutions need information
about students to plan effectively, and financial information to support their internal
financial and quality-management systems.
Efficient and effective TVET systems generally have national data collection
systems through which TVET institutions furnish information on their courses and
students. National databases maintained by central agencies collect, store, analyse
and disseminate information that informs public funding allocations to TVET insti-
tutions and the decisions of prospective students (pp. 79 et seq.).
The standard components of MIS operating in autonomous TVET institutions
will generally include systems for:
r financial management;
r human resource management;
r timetabling;
r student records and tracking;
r student activity monitoring;
r quality assurance;
r assets and facilities management;
r internal and external information and communication (pp. 83 et seq.).
4.2 MIS Development and Maintenance
TVET institutions commonly develop MIS that suit their own particular require-
ments and purposes. These systems are often based on commercially available soft-
ware packages or are developed for particular objectives by consortia or associations
of TVET institutions that work collaboratively with private sector ICT companies
(p. 87).
When governments decide to introduce new student data collection systems, im-
plementation can be a major challenge for current institutional MIS, particularly
in respect of data compatibility. Prior consensus on data compatibility is facilitated
by consultation between government officials and representatives of institutions or
their national associations.
National student identifier systems are key components of comprehensive na-
tional student data systems. Contingent on their introduction, TVET institutions are
able to access and support student data systems (often as a precondition for pub-
lic funding) through interface options that suit their own particular circumstances
(p. 87). The operation of national student identifier systems is customarily an on-
going responsibility of central agencies and involves the maintenance of access pro-
tocols for TVET institutions and the provision of technical and operational guidance
(p. 88).
5 Student Management
5.1 Student Selection and Enrolment
Under open-entry policies, prospective students who wish to enrol in TVET courses
may do so without restriction provided that they meet any prescribed minimum entry
standards. If institutions charge tuition fees, access may be rationed by price (i.e. the
students’ ability to pay tuition fees).
Although restricted-entry policies minimize fiscal risks for governments, they
also have consequences for equity. Competitive entry is equitable to the extent that
competition for places is based on merit, but meritorious students may fail because
they are from disadvantaged families (pp. 159 et seq.).
Equity in competitive (merit-based) enrolment systems may be enhanced by ar-
rangements intended to improve access for target groups. Targeting may be on the
basis of student or family income or on gender or ethnicity, etc. Possible targeting
mechanisms include:
r pre-entry or bridging courses that allow disadvantaged students to meet entry
standards;
r means-tested scholarships or grants;
r non-discriminatory student loans;
r entry quotas guaranteeing minimum numbers of places for students from target
groups (pp. 161 et seq.).
TVET institutions customarily attract enrolments by using the media (e.g. commu-
nity and national newspapers, radio, etc.), by organizing special events (e.g. careers
forums), and by liaising with secondary schools and industrial bodies. Promotional
materials may include brochures, institutional web-sites and free-phone services.
In some jurisdictions, government agencies maintain comprehensive web-sites
that offer generic information to school-leavers on employment options, prerequisite
skills and competencies, and options for TVET. Careers counsellors are well-placed
to advise students in their final year(s) of schooling on options for TVET and em-
ployment (pp. 162 et seq.).
Enrolment procedures customarily involve students providing information for
TVET institutions. Prospective students may be required to demonstrate that they
meet prescribed minimum entry standards. Some jurisdictions operate elaborate
pre-enrolment systems that optimally match student preferences with the available
TVET places, taking into account previous educational attainment. In other juris-
dictions, TVET institutions individually select their own students (p. 163).
1012 G. Preddey
5.2 Student Monitoring, Guidance and Welfare
Monitoring and guidance processes for students may include procedures related
to induction, recognition of prior learning, progress assessment, course evaluation,
record-keeping and the management of students at risk of non-completion. Teach-
ing staff are responsible for monitoring students’ progress against expected course
outcomes (pp. 166 et seq.).
Information provided at the commencement of TVET courses customarily cov-
ers:
r timetables, etc.;
r procedures used to monitor students’ progress and to determine course outcomes;
r student access to counselling, welfare and other ex-curricular services.
Processes for the evaluation of student performance generally fall into two cat-
egories: norm-referenced assessment; and standards-based assessment (see also
‘Managing assessment’ below).
The welfare services provided for students while they are in training customarily
include:
r financial support, e.g. hardship funds, financial advice;
r health and accident insurance services;
r student accommodation services, e.g. on- and off-campus hostels, accommoda-
tion placement services;
r social, recreational and cultural facilities;
r health and fitness centres;
r career, vocational guidance and job-placement assistance (pp. 174 et seq.).
TVET institutions may either provide welfare services from their own resources,
contract external organizations to deliver them on a fee-for-service basis, or de-
velop partnership arrangements with external agencies to deliver welfare services by
referral.
6 Staff Management
6.1 Staff Selection, Recruitment and Appointment
TVET teaching staff are often recruited from particular trades or professions to en-
sure that they have the requisite knowledge and skills. Teaching staff will also need
adequate teaching skills to be effective. Non-teaching specialist staff (e.g. informa-
tion technology, library, public relations, technical support, etc.) may be appointed
for particular skills that are not necessarily specific to TVET (pp. 185 et seq.).
In some jurisdictions, staff recruitment and selection for positions in public
TVET institutions involves matching the attributes of aspiring appointees with job
descriptions of vacant positions. Job descriptions customarily include:
r position/job titles;
r lists of superior staff positions (who appointees report to);
r lists of subordinate staff positions (who report to appointees);
r purposes of positions;
r key accountabilities (what is expected from appointees, sometimes called key
deliverables, defined in terms of performance indicators);
r personal knowledge and experience specifications (expected prior experiences,
formal qualifications, personal attributes and competencies, etc.) (p. 187).
In some jurisdictions, recruitment policies and processes remain the responsibility

of central agencies, whereas in others, TVET institutions have the autonomy to re-
cruit and select their own managerial, teaching and non-teaching staff (p. 188).
In some jurisdictions, managerial staff are recruited for their demonstrated level
of managerial skills (managerial approach). In others, teachers are customarily pro-
moted from teaching positions to take on managerial responsibilities (collegial ap-
proach). There are arguments in support of both practices (CD-ROM Unit 7.1).
6.2 Staff Training and Career Guidance
Effective TVET institutions require staff training systems that ensure that teach-
ers have the necessary skills and competencies. Staff training systems customarily
include arrangements for:
r inducting new staff;

r conducting training needs analyses to identify skills shortcomings and compe-
tencies;
r delivering staff training to address identified skill gaps;
r developing individual training plans;
r certification that provides portable, tangible evidence of skills and competencies;
r career guidance and development (pp. 190 et seq.).
6.3 Staff Performance Appraisal and Remuneration
In autonomous TVET institutions, staff may be appointed by governing councils or

by senior management under delegated authority. Levels of remuneration may be
negotiated by management with prospective appointees. In some countries, remu-
neration and other conditions of employment are negotiated collectively between
unions representing institutional staff and agents representing associations of TVET
institutions.
Although under these arrangements, institutional staff may no longer have job
certainty, they are more likely to be compensated at true labour-market rates for
their skills and competencies. Institutions also benefit by having greater freedom to
1014 G. Preddey
match their input costs (mainly salaries) to their TVET delivery (outputs and output
funding) (pp. 194 et seq.).
Managers customarily undertake periodic staff performance appraisals that as-
sess the performance of staff against their expected outputs (i.e. service deliv-
ery specified in job descriptions). Appraisals provide staff with feedback on their
strengths and weaknesses and on their further career development. They also inform
decisions on salary adjustments and promotions. Formal arbitration processes may
need to be invoked to resolve disputed assessments (pp. 199 et seq.).
7 Course and Curriculum Management
7.1 Developing National and Institutional Courses

and Qualifications
Two broad categories of courses delivered by TVET institutions can be identified:

r national courses leading to national qualifications that are developed centrally,
have automatic credit-transfer arrangements and can be delivered by any accred-
ited TVET institution;
r institutional (provider) courses meeting local needs that are developed by indi-
vidual TVET institutions, lead to institutional qualifications, often have no (or
limited) credit transfer arrangements and remain the intellectual property of ini-
tiating institutions (p. 216).
High-level forums enable governments, employers, unions and TVET institutions

to agree on occupational categories used in national courses and qualifications, and
the levels of qualifications that will be provided within each occupational cate-
gory. National TVET courses and qualifications are generally developed, maintained
and approved by designated central agencies charged with these roles. They oper-
ate through appointed expert/industry committees assigned with the tasks of set-
ting skills standards and developing and maintaining national TVET qualifications
(pp. 205 et seq.).
In TVET institutions that develop their own courses, academic boards may ap-
prove proposals for new courses on the basis of information that justifies the need
for them. Representatives of institutional staff and industry stakeholders may decide
course objectives and the means by which they are to be achieved (pp. 216 et seq.).
Modular course structures offer significant advantages for credit transfer and
articulation, e.g. enhanced opportunities for credit transfer between courses that
include equivalent modules (see also ‘Managing assessment’ below). Course devel-
opers will need to decide whether all modules are compulsory, whether some are
optional, and how all modules contribute to overall course objectives (p. 219).
Course development begins with course outlines or structures. Decisions are re-
quired on important course parameters, such as entry levels, exit levels and course
durations. Course outlines describe how courses are to be taught and are further
expanded into course curricula that specify in detail what is to be taught. Curricula
specify the topics to be covered and level of detail. They should include sufficient
information for teaching staff to be able to develop their teaching plans for course
delivery (pp. 217 et seq.).
Knowledge, skills and competencies embodied in curricula may be generic
(i.e. relate to a broad range of vocational fields) or specialist (i.e. relate to a narrow
vocational field). They may also be theoretical (i.e. abstract or conceptual knowl-
edge) or practical (i.e. manual skills, knowledge and competencies relating to par-
ticular utilitarian tasks). In general, theoretical knowledge, skills and competencies
tend to be generic, whereas practical knowledge, skills and competencies tend to be
specialist (pp. 228 et seq.).
7.2 Course Evaluation

TVET qualifications, courses and curricula and their delivery require periodic eval-
uation. Curricula, in particular, are sensitive to changing job requirements. Eval-
uations are often focused on graduate outcomes or on employers’ views of the
relevance of courses in the workplace. Course evaluations vary in scope, but gen-
erally give consideration to course relevance, design, delivery, assessment and
cost-efficiency. Feedback from stakeholders (students, graduates and employers) is
essential for robust course evaluations and may be obtained through:
r employer satisfaction surveys;
r graduate satisfaction surveys;
r graduate destination surveys (tracer studies);
r student satisfaction surveys;
r data on student enrolments and performance;
r teaching staff surveys (pp. 233 et seq.; pp. 276 et seq.).
The appropriate responses by academic boards to unsatisfactory course evaluations

include changes to course curricula to improve course relevance, improvements to
delivery (e.g. enhanced teaching resources, replacement of non-performing staff)
and, when necessary, course termination (p. 234).
8 Managing TVET Delivery
8.1 Managing Teaching
Autonomous TVET institutions are responsible for the organizational and staffing
structures that determine the management of TVET delivery. Senior management
is generally concerned with strategic planning frameworks and performance in-
dicators. Departmental heads are responsible for organizing their staff, financial
resources and TVET courses to meet expected outputs and the skill needs of
1016 G. Preddey
industries, professions and the wider community. Institutional teaching staff are re-
sponsible for organizing the delivery of TVET to individuals and groups of students.
These structures indicate three layers of management. Some responsibilities
are shared: for instance, quality assurance and good health and safety practice.
Generally, the structures include breakdowns into departments based on specific
TVET fields. Faculty heads, heads of departments and course leaders are TVET
(line) managers. They manage teaching staff grouped into delivery teams and are
responsible to the senior management teams for efficient course delivery within their
own areas (pp. 241 et seq.).
In recent years, there has been a rapid expansion of off-campus learning (dis-
tance and e-learning). Often these modes are supported by on-campus study centres
and e-mail communication systems. Distance and e-learning require specific course
materials and their developmental costs can be substantial, particularly for specialist
courses that involve small student numbers (pp. 246 et seq.).
Post-school TVET is generally more student-centred than school education,
which is strongly teacher-centred. Recent experience suggests that distance and e-
learning is more suited for mature-age students and students who are undertaking
second or advanced qualifications.
Virtual learning environments bring together in one piece of software and one in-
tegrated environment many features of TVET delivery. They require careful techni-
cal decisions about equipment location and networking, software, systems manage-
ment and trouble-shooting. The teaching staff involved generally perform different
roles in materials design and student supervision, and require different management
skills (p. 248).
8.2 Managing Staff Resources
The allocation of institutional teaching staff resources to the actual delivery of

TVET involves decisions on appropriate teaching loads. These decisions must make
reasonable provisions for:
r class contact time, i.e. time spent in the actual teaching and supervision of student
learning;
r non-teaching time, i.e. time required for essential non-teaching duties;
r appropriate modes of delivery;
r appropriate class sizes;
r staff leave and sickness (pp. 251 et seq.).
Class contact times for teaching staff may be prescribed as maxima in employment
contracts that take into account annual leave and other employment provisions. They
generally decrease as the levels or complexities of TVET courses increase, and
are further reduced by the demands of non-teaching time, such as involvement in
curriculum development, applied research and industrial liaison.
Customary deployments of TVET staff include lectures, tutorials, practical work

in workshops and laboratories, clinical training in health centres, self-directed
study and supervision of undergraduate research. Timetabling is a critical factor
in the effective allocation of teaching and support staff resources to TVET de-
livery (pp. 255 et seq.). Timetabling packages are critical components of TVET
institutions’ management information systems (see also ‘Information management’
above).
8.3 Monitoring Course Delivery
Teachers are being effective only if students are learning. The monitoring of teach-
ing staff provides information on their teaching skills. Its purpose should be made
clear to staff at the outset and may include:
r providing evidence for performance appraisals;
r assessing the effectiveness of new courses;
r informing quality management systems (see also ‘Quality management’ below)
(pp. 271 et seq.).
TVET institutions customarily have procedures for monitoring student progress
through their courses, allowing the identification of students who are not coping
(pp. 273 et seq.). The procedures include group discussions at the end of course
components, structured questionnaires and regular assessments (see also ‘Student
management’ above).
Course outcomes may be assessed through graduate satisfaction surveys, gradu-
ate destination surveys (tracer studies) and surveys of employer satisfaction (p. 276).
9 Managing Assessment
9.1 National Qualifications Frameworks
National qualifications frameworks are agreed system of qualifications that oper-

ate in particular countries. National qualifications are awarded by approved bodies
and recognize that students have achieved prescribed levels of learning outcomes,
standards or competencies. National qualifications frameworks support the coherent
integration of qualifications and are intended to provide national consistency in the
recognition of TVET outcomes. Credentials (certificates, diplomas, degrees, etc.)
provide tangible and portable evidence of student achievement (pp. 206 et seq.).
National qualifications frameworks generally provide direction on:
r principles that underpin framework designs: how and where qualifications can
be achieved, operating principles, etc.;
r qualification structures: coverage, scope, sectors, levels, modules, units, etc.;
r qualification descriptors: required skills, knowledge and competencies;
1018 G. Preddey
r legal status of frameworks: i.e. voluntary, regulatory or statutory;

r determination of learning outcomes: i.e. competency-based (standards) or
curriculum-based;
r recognition and credit mechanisms: automatic credit transfer, recognition of
prior learning, etc.;
r awards/credentials: e.g. certificates, diplomas, degrees;
r protocols that ensure national consistency: protected titles, etc.
National TVET courses and qualifications are generally developed, maintained and
approved by designated central agencies charged with these roles. The agencies
operate through appointed expert/industry committees assigned the tasks of setting
skills standards and of developing and maintaining national TVET qualifications
(p. 208).
9.2 Assessment and Certification
Once skill standards are agreed, standard-setting bodies may organize tests of attain-
ment or agree to delegate this assessment function. Professional assessors are gen-
erally experienced teachers and may include the staff of TVET institutions. External
assessments provide assurance against fraudulent standards and testing practices.
In devolved TVET systems, skills assessment may be carried out by accredited
TVET institutions or by registered assessors. Moderation processes may be required
to ensure that accredited TVET institutions and assessors make consistent and reli-
able judgements about the work of students seeking qualifications (p. 209).
Effective TVET institutions have procedures for monitoring the progress of stu-
dents through their TVET courses that allow the identification of students who are
not coping. Student performance is measured against planned sequences of learning
and achievement. Assessment arrangements need to be explicit to guide students to
clear understandings of what is expected of them (pp. 273 et seq.).
Processes for the evaluation of student performance in general fall into two broad
categories:
r norm-referenced assessment: ranks students against their peers according to their
performance in class tests and assignments and offers an indirect measure of
skills and competencies achieved;
r standards-based assessment: confirms that students have (or have not) achieved
specified standards in defined skills and competencies, but does not rank their
performances against their peers.
An advantage of standards-based over norm-referenced assessment is its ability to
confirm that students meet prescribed standards of skill or competency. A disadvan-
tage of standards-based assessment is that it does not allow students to be ranked.
Under standards-based assessment, students are assessed as able (or unable) to carry
out particular tasks according to prescribed standards. Abilities cannot be combined
meaningfully as a measure of overall skill that would allow ranking (norm refer-
encing). Standards-based assessment also requires that training courses be broken

down into discrete modules for particular tasks pp. 171 et seq.).
9.3 Credit Transfer and Articulation

National qualifications frameworks may facilitate linkages between qualifications
by enabling individual learners to move from one qualification to another in more ef-
ficient and effective learning pathways. Qualification linkages are essential tools for
the operation of effective national qualifications frameworks. They promote more
open, accessible and relevant post-compulsory education systems and, inter alia,
lifelong learning.
National qualifications frameworks may facilitate linkages between qualifica-
tions through credit transfer and articulation arrangements. Credit transfer provides
a means of linking individual components of existing awards, whereas articula-
tion provides sequential pathways between qualifications. National qualifications
frameworks facilitate credit transfer by providing direction on the determination of
learning outcomes and on recognition and credit mechanisms. This direction enables
arrangements to be developed for automatic credit transfer and for the recognition
of prior learning (p. 207).
Articulation—the development of flexible pathways that allow students to move
easily between courses, qualifications, industries and professions—enables closer
connections between secondary education, TVET and higher education. Articula-
tion is a key process in building closer inter-sectoral relationships.
Articulation may be enhanced by modular course structures that provide for
credit transfer between courses including the same or equivalent modules. Mod-
ular course structures are also a prerequisite for standards-based assessment. For
these reasons, national qualifications frameworks offering national consistency in
the recognition of TVET outcomes and enhanced articulation are generally based
on modular course structures and standards-based assessment of modules
(p. 219).
Credit transfer and articulation arrangements increase the opportunities for stu-
dents with prior TVET experience and qualifications to access higher education,
or increasingly vice versa by facilitating student mobility between institutions and
sectors.
Such arrangements should, however, not impinge upon the integrity of courses,
nor on the autonomy of TVET institutions in taking decisions on admissions, pre-
requisites for on-going study, and the levels and amounts of credit or articulation
conferred in these courses. On the other hand, students and intending students need
reasonable assurance that they will be able to follow education pathways that recog-
nize previous work and study outcomes and that give appropriate credit where these
relate to further studies.
Effective credit transfer and articulation are key components in making lifelong
learning a reality and can deliver significant efficiencies in both time and money for
students, TVET institutions and governments.
1020 G. Preddey
10 Managing Physical Assets
10.1 The Management of Sites and Buildings
In developing TVET systems, the management of the physical assets of public

TVET institutions is normally undertaken by agencies acting on behalf of govern-
ments. Central intervention and direction are necessary until adequate capacities and
systems are in place at the institutional level.
In more developed TVET systems, capital funding may be included in the undif-
ferentiated bulk funding allocated to autonomous TVET institutions to meet their
input costs. In some jurisdictions, central funding agencies retain control over capi-
tal works programmes, whereas the TVET institutions have autonomy in the use of
their operational (recurrent) funding (pp. 258 et seq.).
Capital development needs to take account of TVET institutional sizes and deliv-
ery profiles. The experience of a number of countries is that efficiencies are achieved
in TVET systems that comprise smaller numbers of larger institutions. Economies
of scale are hard to achieve with larger numbers of smaller institutions. Large TVET
institutions also have pedagogical advantages inherent in more comprehensive pro-
vision of TVET, and can adapt more flexibly to changing labour-market needs
(p. 259).
Adapting existing facilities to allow them to more effectively meet changing de-
mands may be a better strategy than embarking on the construction of new facilities.
Where new TVET facilities are necessary, their design should allow maximum flex-
ibility. In some jurisdictions, there are national guidelines and norms for the space
requirements of general teaching, practical workshops and library/private study at
TVET institutions (pp. 261 et seq.).
The efficient use of physical facilities is essential to achieve efficient TVET in-
stitutions. It is facilitated by a culture of institutional rather than school or faculty
ownership (pp. 264 et seq.). Lecture theatres, classrooms, workshops, laboratories
and other common teaching areas should be pooled and allocated as common re-
sources. Central computerized timetabling systems increase the efficient use of ac-
commodation (see also ‘Information management’ above).
10.2 The Management of Equipment and Learning Technologies
The effective delivery of TVET requires that institutions not only have adequate
teaching spaces, but that they also have adequate teaching aids and equipment. Tra-
ditional and newer aids that enhance teacher-centred learning include:
r simple photocopied handouts;
r wall-charts, blackboards, whiteboards, laser pointers, etc.;
r overhead projectors for slides and transparencies;
r video-projectors linked to VCRs/DVD players for videotape/DVD presenta-
tions, etc.;
r video-projectors linked to PCs for computer-based learning materials, etc.;

r databases and computer-based self-learning materials.
Teaching equipment, particularly desk-top computers, have short lives due to heavy
use and rapid obsolescence. Their rapid depreciation should be taken into account
in financial planning (p. 267).
The efficient use of specialist teaching areas is affected by the mix and duplica-
tion of training equipment. A proliferation of large items of equipment (e.g. turning
and milling lathes) consumes workshop space and may limit the capacity to diversify
TVET courses and to respond flexibility to changing demands. An alternative ap-
proach is one in which workshops accommodate multi-functional equipment. Com-
mon items are available for different TVET courses and savings accrue in workshop
space requirements and in the purchase, maintenance and replacement of specialist
equipment. The use of adjacent equipment bays and mobile cabinets can facilitate
multi-functional spaces in workshops (p. 267).
A trend away from teacher-centred learning towards student-centred learning has
resulted in the emergence of new forms of learning environments. Learning-centre
approaches combine classrooms, seminar rooms and computer resource rooms with
information services. Information service centres—formerly called libraries—may
serve as communication and data hubs for whole campuses (pp. 269 et seq.).
Like buildings, learning technologies should efficiently support well-planned
curricula. In particular, students should not undertake study on outdated equipment
and TVET environments should compare favourably with the students’ present and
future workplaces.
11 Quality Management
11.1 Quality-Management Systems
Autonomous TVET institutions accept responsibility for the quality of their own
courses. Quality is generally assured through internal quality management systems
subject to periodic audit by external quality agencies. Quality itself can be defined
from three different perspectives:
r quality as excellence: makes comparisons between similar qualifications, courses
and institutions; those that score highly on a predetermined scale are judged as
excellent and therefore of high quality;
r quality as value-for-investment: based on stakeholders’ perceptions of whether
qualifications, courses and institutions meet or exceed expectations, taking into
account the time and money invested in them;
r quality as fitness-for-purpose: assesses the performance of qualifications, courses
and institutions against stated outcomes or intentions (p. 282).
In practice, quality assurance of qualifications, courses and institutions usually in-
volves consideration of both inputs and outputs. For example, TVET quality defined
1022 G. Preddey
as value for investment by definition takes into account both value (outputs) and
investment (inputs).
Traditionally, the quality of TVET institutions is assured through certification
processes and the quality of courses is assured through course approval and insti-
tutional accreditation processes. Certification confirms that independent, external
bodies have audited the internal management systems of TVET institutions and have
verified that they conform to prescribed standards (pp. 286 et seq.).
TVET institutions generally require certification and accreditation to be permit-
ted to deliver and assess courses leading to national qualifications. Accreditation
processes verify that TVET institutions have quality management systems and meet
their obligations to external quality-assurance agencies.
TVET institutions may also apply for accreditation and course approvals to offer
their own institutional courses. These are generally not recognized on national qual-
ifications frameworks. Course approvals require TVET institutions to demonstrate
that proposed courses conform to their quality management systems.
11.2 Quality Monitoring and Assessment
Quality, defined as fitness-for-purpose, is applied in many jurisdictions as the most

workable approach, without precluding quality defined as excellence and as value
for investment in appropriate circumstances.
Quality assurance may be either external, i.e. undertaken by external quality
agencies, or internal, i.e. undertaken by institutional quality-management systems.
A balance is required between quality assessments made prior to TVET delivery
(certification, approval, accreditation) and post-delivery quality assessments (qual-
ity audit). Prior assessment has been criticized as over-emphasizing proposed TVET
delivery and under-emphasizing actual TVET delivery. Quality audits address this
criticism, but on their own would pose risks for students in poor-quality courses
prior to audit and consequential remedial action.
A balance is also required between quality assessments of inputs to TVET and
outputs and outcomes of TVET. Quality assurance of qualifications, courses and
institutions usually involves consideration of both inputs and outputs/outcomes ir-
respective of how quality is defined (pp. 303 et seq.). External quality assurance
includes assessments of the quality of:
r inputs to learning, such as the quality of courses, student selection/monitoring/
guidance processes, staff quality and the quality of teaching delivery;
r outputs and outcomes from learning, such as knowledge and skills acquired, em-
ployability of students and their capacity for further learning.
External quality assurance agencies customarily carry out quality audits of TVET
institutions against benchmarks or standards. These are developed by the agencies
themselves in consultation with stakeholders and define the expected performance
of quality-assured TVET institutions.
In addition to quality benchmarks and standards that are specific to a particular

jurisdiction, external quality assurance agencies may also use quality benchmarks
and standards developed by international standards organizations. The most com-
monly used standard is ISO 9000, a generic management standard developed by the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) (pp. 308 et seq.).
External quality audits for TVET institutions are generally requirements for con-
tinuing certification and are undertaken by quality agencies. Audits are systematic,
independent and documented processes that determine whether the structures, pro-
cesses and outcomes of TVET institutions comply with the standards set by the
certifying agencies.
In jurisdictions that have devolved autonomy to TVET institutions, most quality
assurance processes—including course approvals and institutional accreditations—
are delegated by the external quality assurance agencies to the institutions. The in-
stitutions’ academic boards are customarily responsible for internal quality manage-
ment systems and are subject to periodic external quality audits. Where responsibili-
ties for quality assurance—including approvals and accreditations—are delegated to
academic boards, the roles of external quality agencies are reduced to regular audits
of institutional internal quality-management systems and to relatively infrequent
quality audits of TVET institutions (pp. 306 et seq.).
12 Performance and Accountability Management
12.1 Accountability
Enhanced accountability is a prerequisite for enhanced autonomy. Public TVET

institutions are accountable to governments and to other stakeholders, including
their students and the end users of acquired knowledge and skills, i.e. industries,
enterprises and professions.
The accountability of TVET institutions to governments as their principal funder
includes financial accountability for public funding. Public TVET institutions are
also accountable to governments as owners for their financial viability and for their
stewardship of institutional assets. They are also accountable for their performance,
i.e. their outputs and outcomes and for the quality of their service delivery.
However, accountability systems serve no purpose unless they also provide for
incentives, sanctions and other interventions by governments. Financial incentives
and sanctions may be applied through funding systems. Other interventions avail-
able to governments include course closures, dismissals of failing councils and
(worst case) institutional closures (pp. 313 et seq.).
12.2 Monitoring
Monitoring systems are necessary to ensure that autonomous TVET institutions are
accountable to stakeholders for their inputs, outputs and outcomes. Being monitored
1024 G. Preddey
for accountability is a concession that autonomous TVET providers make for their
enhanced autonomy. Accountability systems involve the quality and performance
monitoring of inputs, outputs and outcomes. Monitoring tracks changes, analyses
developments and evaluates progress achieved against benchmarks.
Quality monitoring considers the quality of inputs to courses delivered by TVET
institutions and the quality of the outputs and outcomes that result. Performance
monitoring customarily focuses on quantitative measures of inputs, outputs and
outcomes.
Quality monitoring is used for the quality assurance of TVET courses through
pre-delivery course approval, institutional accreditation processes and through post-
delivery quality audits (pp. 318 et seq.). Quality monitoring processes may be
devolved by external quality agencies to institutional academic boards (see also
‘Quality management’ above).
Financial monitoring is a crucial aspect of performance monitoring and reporting.
A necessary condition for public TVET institutions to be granted a level of financial
autonomy is that their governance and management are accountable for their use of
public resources.
Where governments bear significant ownership risks, financial performance indi-
cators may also be used for monitoring the financial viability of TVET institutions
and for government interventions if necessary. Useful indicators include projected
operating surpluses, returns on income and assets, operating cash flows, liquid as-
sets, working capital and debt ratios (pp. 329 et seq.).
Outcome monitoring of TVET courses is commonly implemented through grad-
uate and employer satisfaction surveys and graduate destination (tracer) studies.
These surveys may be undertaken by TVET institutions, by their service organi-
zations or by government departments or agencies with monitoring and funding
responsibilities (pp. 327 et seq.).
12.3 Reporting
In a number of jurisdictions, the chief instruments for monitoring the accountability

of autonomous TVET institutions for their inputs, outputs and outcomes are their
annual reports. The content of annual reports customarily includes:
r vision and strategy statements from chief executives;
r institutional profiles including governance and management structures;
r performance indicators and assessments;
r financial statements;
r staffing reports.
Annual reports can be used as marketing tools by TVET institutions, since they often
review progress achieved, significant institutional achievements, staff changes, ac-
commodation developments, and qualifications and awards gained by their students.
Public finance legislation may prescribe how financial statements in annual reports
are to comply with generally accepted accounting practices and to fairly represent
institutional financial positions (see also ‘Financial management’ above).
Annual reports generally include statements of service performance that compare

achieved performance with required performance according to measurable outputs
and outcomes. Financial statements customarily include statements of financial per-
formance, financial position, movements in equity, cash flows, commitments and
contingent liabilities, and revenues and expenditures (pp. 334 et seq.).
Annual reports may also include statements of responsibility in which governing
councils and chief executives accept responsibility for accuracy. The reports of in-
dependent auditors may also attest that financial statements fairly reflect financial
positions.
13 Conclusions and Implications

Some future trends in TVET management practice that are leading to enhanced insti-
tutional responsiveness, cost-efficiency and effectiveness can be identified, drawing
on the collective experiences of Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
The devolution of governance, management, financial and teaching responsibilities
by governments to the institutional level is a key trend (pp. xi et seq.).
Devolution requires effective governance and management at institutional level
and effective accountabilities of governing councils to government agencies and
of institutional management to governing councils. A clear separation is required
between institutional governance and management.
There has been an international trend from input to output funding of TVET in-
stitutions (pp. 125 et seq.). Under output-funding systems, governments have better
information on and control of TVET delivery. Ownership-neutral output-funding
systems in association with tuition fees may enhance institutional cost-efficiency,
effectiveness, responsiveness, equity and accountability. Output-funding systems
require adequate levels of institutional autonomy to be workable.
The governance and management of autonomous TVET institutions are respon-
sible for the quality of TVET delivery, customarily assured through pre-delivery
certification, accreditation, course approval processes and post-delivery audit pro-
cesses (pp. 303 et seq.). Quality assurance may be delegated to academic boards.
National qualification frameworks offer national consistency in the recognition
of TVET outcomes and enhanced articulation. They are generally based on modular
course structures and standards-based assessment (pp. 206 et seq.).
Autonomous TVET institutions are accountable to their stakeholders for pub-
lic funding, institutional viability and stewardship of institutional assets, ensured
through monitoring and reporting processes. Ultimately, they are accountable for
their TVET outputs and outcomes.
Reference
Gasskov, V., ed. 2006. Vocational education and training institutions: a management handbook
and CD-ROM. Geneva: ILO.
Section 7
The Economics and Financing of TVET
David Atchoarena
UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning, Paris, France
Chapter VII.1
Overview: Issues and Options in Financing
Technical and Vocational Education
and Training
David Atchoarena
1 Introduction
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is increasingly consid-

ered to be an important instrument for public policy, not only for education but
also for social and employment policies. While TVET’s objectives used to focus
on preparing young people for work, it is now also expected to prevent and re-
duce unemployment, contribute to lifelong learning and act as a catalyst for social
cohesion.
The diversity of roles assigned to TVET goes beyond the boundaries of the
education sector. As a result, TVET issues and policies involve a wide variety of
stakeholders, including both educational decision-makers and labour-market repre-
sentatives. This trend towards increasing partnership leads to a reconsideration of
the responsibilities of the various actors, notably, the State, employers and learners.
It is in this context that financing models are being reshaped.
Based on the concept of human capital, an analysis of the economic effects of ed-
ucation has documented the increase in income that individuals gain from additional
training. In addition to the private and social returns of investments in education, the
distinction between core and specific competencies provides the rationale for shar-
ing the cost of training. Typically, the instruction of general knowledge is primarily
the responsibility of the State, while the acquisition of specialized skills is largely
left to enterprises.
However, beyond this search for rationality and efficiency, the allocation of roles
between the various stakeholders is not free from considerations of a more gen-
eral nature about the respective roles of the State, employers and individuals in
financing social sectors. In fact, this perception about the nature of the partner-
ship is often a key factor in explaining the differences between national TVET
systems.
It is within this framework that the debate about financing options and models for
TVET takes place. The analysis of financing patterns used to focus on collection and
allocation mechanisms. Increasingly, these concerns are being linked to the wider
question of organizing training systems and particularly with the sharing of respon-
sibilities between the key stakeholders. The approach that opposes supply-driven
and demand-driven systems is clearly too simplistic. The performance of a training
World of Work, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-5281-1 VII.1,

1030 D. Atchoarena
system and its capacity to meet the needs of both companies and individuals require
that interfaces be set up between the supply side and the demand side. In this re-
spect, intermediary bodies, such as groups of employers, workers and communities,
have an important role to play in achieving a balance between needs and provision
through constant consultation and dialogue. Hence, financing strategies for TVET
are part of a broader effort to engage all concerned parties, particularly companies
and learners, in a dynamic process of skill acquisition. Achieving such a goal re-
quires maintaining a careful balance between incentives and constraints according
to national circumstances.
2 What are the Issues?
The debate on TVET financing typically turns around two key questions:
1. Who pays for skills development?
2. What mechanisms can be put in place to finance skills development? What works
best, in particular as far as spending public money is concerned?
The discussion on funding skills development and financing principles is not a new
debate. A large body of literature depicts both the rationale of funding and specific
financing mechanisms.
The impressive growth record experienced by East Asian countries generated a
large debate on the factors that explain such success. Besides the macro-economic
environment and the role of the State, a lot of attention was paid to skills formation.
Relatively high levels of school enrolment contributed to an increase in the stock of
human capital. The growth in secondary enrolment followed the expansion of pri-
mary schooling. In most cases, investment in technical and vocational education has
also been significant. This human capital formation process is usually considered to
have been instrumental in economic growth.
Today, there are three new issues that influence the debate. The economic context
has changed everywhere, and globalization has even had an impact on the informal
sector and traditional agriculture. Globalization affects all countries; it deeply trans-
forms the labour market and the related skills requirements.
The importance of knowledge as a key contributing factor to economic growth
is more readily recognized. TVET has an important role to play in coping with the
emerging economic challenges. Policy responses to globalization now emphasize
to a greater extent the importance of skills development. The fast-growing indus-
tries are knowledge-based. Economic returns tend to be ever more attributed to
intangible factors, including skills. Financing training is crucial to expanding access
and participation in skills development on a lifelong basis.
Besides the changing economic climate, the emerging fiscal conditions constitute
a second important influence for TVET funding policies. The financial context is
tight in most countries, even among the most developed economies. Government
VII.1 Issues and Options in Financing TVET 1031
spending capacity is limited, and public funds are often less available for skills
development initiatives.
While economic and financial issues present severe constraints for financing
policies, a third element opens new opportunities. The wide body of knowledge
on different funding mechanisms that have been developed internationally is indeed
a valuable asset to policy decisions.
3 Who Should Pay for Skills Development?

According to the economic rationale, those who benefit from training should pay for
it. In many countries, pre-employment training, initial training and institution-based
training are still considered to be a responsibility of the government, while financing
continuing training and education is left to social partners.
In reality, policies are trapped in a situation where extra resources are needed but
public expenditure is restricted. In spite of their abundant resources, post-industrial
economies are often obsessed by their commitment to reduce the government’s
budget deficit. In developing countries and countries in transition, most resources
available for social services are still absorbed by the financing of basic needs. A
side effect of the Education for All commitments made in Dakar in 2000 has been
to concentrate funding and policy attention on basic education, particularly at the
primary level, to the detriment of other areas, such as TVET. Hence, for different
reasons, the financial resources available for skills development are limited. Further-
more, the TVET system is often held in disdain.
Funding for education and training are frequently based on tripartite mecha-
nisms which include the government, individuals and employers. In countries where
decentralization processes are progressing, more and more frequently local gov-
ernments provide resources for training and skills development. Yet, little data
is available on the sharing pattern in individual countries, even as regards initial
training.
In the above context, it has become more common for governments to
promote co-financed mechanisms for TVET. This frequently includes creating in-
centives for employers and individuals to invest more in skills development. The
current trend emphasizes the role of enterprises and learners in contributing to the
costs of skills development. The concept of funding partnerships illustrates this
approach.
As already mentioned, it is important to stress that this trend towards increas-
ing the employers’ contribution does not simply reflect a financial motivation. The
aim is not only to mobilize additional resources, but also to increase the overall
involvement of employers in steering and delivering mechanisms for training. Such
an increased involvement is expected to improve the quality of training delivery
and to align training supply with the requirements of the labour market. Hence,
financing skills development is very much linked to the issues of responsiveness to
market needs, and to the adaptation and relevance of training.
1032 D. Atchoarena
4 Financing Mechanisms and Instruments
Table 1 summarizes some of the benefits and limits of the use of payroll taxes to
finance TVET.
Table 1 Advantages and limitations of using payroll taxes to finance TVET

Advantages • Training funds are a powerful tool to expand training provision.
• Training funds can stimulate employers’ investments in training and skills
development.
• Training funds contribute to the establishment of a market for training when
resources can also be allocated to private providers, which lead to a
competition between public and private providers.
Limitations • Fund management, including the accumulation of surpluses and the diversion
of funds, sometimes causes problems.
• The system cannot operate on a sustained basis without sufficient support from
the business community.
• Formal sector employers are often resistant to supporting skills development in
the informal sector, i.e. to cross-subsidize skills development in the informal
sector.
• The long-term sustainability of training funds in low-income countries remains
an open question.
Traditionally, governments directly financed training providers and training de-

livery. In order to improve the effectiveness of public spending, new forms of man-
agement are being developed.
5 Towards an Expanded Agenda: From TVET to Lifelong

Learning
Throughout the 1990s, lifelong learning emerged as a key concept and a matter of
growing concern in educational policies. It is now considered to be a central topic in
the debate on the organization of education and training for the twenty-first century.
In the context of globalization and modernization, it is often felt that individuals,
organizations and societies need to learn on a continuing basis in order to adapt
to and develop in the so-called emerging lifelong learning society. Several studies
conducted during the last decade have clearly emphasized the issues and challenges
involved in promoting lifelong learning.
While the concept of lifelong learning is by definition holistic, covering all lev-
els of the education system and embracing all age groups, one of its more crucial
dimensions concerns youth and adults. Indeed, most policy attention was previously
focused on pre-employment, school-based forms of education. Today, the impact
of globalization and technological change, the concern for flexibility in the labour
market and for employability, the ageing of the population and the search for more
active forms of citizenship are contributing to a growing demand for youth and adult
education and for a new functioning of education systems.
In recent years, the debate on lifelong learning policies has been particularly vig-
orous within the European Union. In fact, since the mid 1990s, the European Union
has emerged as a key player in the promotion of lifelong learning. This trend took
place in a context of policy and system convergence among European countries.
The retreat of the State, the deregulation of the economy and of labour markets,
a growing shift towards market principles in the delivery of continuing education,
and an increasing emphasis on individuals’ responsibility for training are some of
the common elements of the transformation of education systems in Europe. In this
context, lifelong learning is often considered as the new target for education policies,
in order to meet the challenges of globalization.
This growing attention to lifelong learning and the impact it produces on educa-
tional policies and systems is also felt in other regions of the world, notably in Asia,
in Latin America and, to a lesser extent, in Africa.

The chapters included in this section are a sample of today’s knowledge on TVET
funding.

Relations, by Kenneth King
Kenneth King assumes that, with the vast amounts of money provided by inter-
national donors, universal primary education and perhaps also lower secondary ed-
ucation will one day be achieved in developing countries. But will their economies
be able to sustain these education systems if these donations fluctuate or stop?
And what will happen when massive numbers of school-leavers start looking for
work in economies that are unable to absorb them? He reproaches international
donors for not having paid sufficient attention to sustainable economies and in-
frastructures. He also fears that parents might lose confidence in education if the
aspirations of school-leavers to find appropriate work in a modern economy are
frustrated.
VII.3 Financing Mechanisms and Instruments: A Conceptual

and Operational Approach, by Richard Walther
Richard Walther provides a comprehensive review of financing criteria and models,
illustrated by examples from eight countries in Europe and Africa.
1034 D. Atchoarena
VII.4 Financing Training Through Payroll Levies,

by Adrian Ziderman
Financing mechanisms and instruments are generally seen as a way to mobilize
additional resources. Payroll taxes and training funds constitute the most significant
attempt to involve industry in the financing and regulation of a training market.
Financial arrangements can also contribute to improving the efficiency of public
spending. They are often part of a broader body of reform inspired by the new public
management principles. An extended analysis of this topic is offered by Adrian
Ziderman.
VII.5 Financing Vocational Education and Training in South

Africa, by Martin Gustafsson and Pundy Pillay
In many countries, increasing attention is paid to financing outputs instead of in-

puts. South Africa is currently formulating a reform of its technical and vocational
education and training financing system along these lines. The chapter by Martin
Gustafsson and Pundy Pillay provides an analysis of the on-going transformation
of the complex South African TVET financing landscape, including both sectoral
schemes and institution-based delivery.
VII.6 Voucher-Financed Training for Small Businesses,

by Félix Mitnik
Various countries have also been tempted to introduce demand-based funding

through voucher systems. Félix Mitnik analyses in detail the use of vouchers to
finance training for small and medium-sized enterprises in Argentina.

from Brazil, by Candido Alberto Gomes
In almost every country, decentralization and the increasing autonomy granted

to schools deeply transform the way the education and training system operates.
Consequently, public training providers are given increased autonomy. They are
allowed to raise fees from participants and to manage their own resources. Non-
governmental institutions are, of course, in a better position to expand self-financing
by establishing close links with the local labour market. Employers’ participation in
a state of Brazil, described by Candido Gomes, illustrates how financial constraints
can become catalysts for changing a training institution into both a resource centre
for the local community and a territorial development agent.
VII.8 Funding Lifelong Learning from a Life-Course Perspective,

by Barry J. Hake
In spite of the existence of abundant literature on lifelong learning and an impressive
body of policy documents and legislation in many countries, the impact of major
policy initiatives remains to be fully felt—most citizens still being far from enjoying
a genuine lifelong learning experience. Changing the reality of public policies and
investments to make lifelong learning a reality still requires major shifts in policy
priorities and further innovations, particularly in the field of financing, to achieve a
much more open and flexible provision of education and training throughout life.
This perspective is analysed in detail by Barry Hake.
VII.9 Economic Perspectives on Technical and Vocational

Education and Training in Australia, by Gerald Burke
and Christopher Selby Smith
The theory of collective action suggests new forms of State intervention focusing
on co-ordination, dialogue and incentives. In this context, the financing of TVET
constitutes a central policy instrument for regulating the provision of skills. Ger-
ald Burke and Chris Selby Smith use Australia as an example, which illustrates
how the role of the State is shifting towards more regulation and less direct provi-
sion. Furthermore, issues regarding the allocation of resources are as important as
fund-raising methods.
The financing of TVET cannot rest solely on the government budget. Businesses,
local governments, non-governmental organizations and individuals are therefore all
called upon to contribute to this investment. Yet the temptation to rely increasingly
on private-sector funding may face structural limits due to the already high, and
sometimes increasing, cost of training in many fields. The new skills requirements
linked to globalization, the constant search for competitiveness and the preservation
of social cohesion clearly require new funding formulae.
The policy debate on the financing of TVET has long revolved around two central
questions: what are the available sources and how can they be mobilized? The hu-
man capital theory and the economic regime in place in a particular country served
as the basis to answer these questions and to delimit the respective roles played
by the market and the State. The transformation of the international scene, com-
bined with recent developments in economic theory, has changed this perspective by
stressing that the market, including the training market, does not exist ex nihilo and
requires adequate government policy. This perspective is of particular importance
1036 D. Atchoarena
for developing countries and countries in transition where the training market often
does not yet exist as such.
Accumulated experience from both developed and developing countries suggest
that funding mechanisms and institutions can contribute to a better match between
the demand and supply of skills. Yet, in many developing countries and countries
in transition, the lack of employer interest in training issues and the absence of
structured social partnerships still present significant challenges.
Finally, the financing of TVET for disadvantaged groups remains an unresolved
issue. This may continue to be the case until poverty reduction and social cohesion
are given as much priority as profitability and competitiveness.
Chapter VII.2
Education, Skills, Sustainability and Growth:
Complex Relations1
Kenneth King
1 Introduction
For many developing countries since the World Conference on Education for All
in Jomtien in 1990, and more especially since the Dakar World Forum on Educa-
tion in 2000, and the elaboration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
later that same year, there has been an international concern to assist their reaching
the six Dakar Goals. While there has been some very thorough work on analysing
progress towards these Dakar Goals (e.g. the Education for All Global Monitoring
Reports—EFA-GMR), there has been much less attention to the sustainability of
these externally-assisted achievements. Will countries that have been assisted to
reach universal primary education (UPE) be able to sustain this when development
assistance is terminated? It is not therefore just a question of whether the world is on
track to reach the Dakar Goals, but whether individual countries have an economic
and political environment that will continue to secure them. Intimately connected
to that challenge is an assessment of what is available after school to the millions
of young people who have been persuaded to enter and complete basic education.
What has happened to the labour-market environment, and especially to the nature
of skills and of work in the widespread urban and rural informal economy, during
the years that countries have been encouraged to focus on the achievement of the
Dakar Goals?
As a consequence, in the sphere of technical and vocational skills develop-
ment (TVSD),2 there has been a recognition that this sector has come back on
to the agenda of development partners, as well as of many national governments,
especially in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa (NORRAG, 2007; King & Palmer, 2007).
Arguably, however, there is a direct connection between the emphasis on EFA over
the last fifteen years, and the re-emergence of TVSD. Policy-makers in aid agencies
and in national governments have been aware that the very ‘success’ of EFA has
been producing some of the largest cohorts of young school-leavers ever recorded
in some countries, and this has generated an intense debate about ‘Education for
what?’, as well as on the role of skills provision as one response to the challenge.
But, valuable though TVSD may be for school-leavers, it too is not a guarantee of
work or of a job, whether in the formal or informal sectors. There is no automatic
connection amongst school, skill and work.

1038 K. King
Policy attention has begun to shift, therefore, to an examination of what are the
enabling environments in which EFA and TVSD can lead sustainably to poverty
reduction and growth (Mayoux & Palmer, forthcoming). If there is no change in the
productivity of work in the informal sector, and if foreign direct investment remains
miniscule for many developing countries, what will be the impact on families who
have invested in the basic education and training of their children over this last
decade and more? Will they sustain these investments for their younger children if
school and skill do not lead to improved economic outcomes for the older ones?
The chapter addresses this question of whether the last eighteen years since Jom-
tien have witnessed an element of unsustainable financing of education and training.
Has there been insufficient attention, in the focus on the six Dakar Goals, on the
wider investments in agriculture, industry and infrastructures that the Commission
for Africa (2005) and the UN Millennium Project (2005) have argued are necessary
accompaniments to the securing of the MDGs?
Evidence will be reviewed from a series of Asian countries, as well as from
Africa. Some attention will be paid to China for the lessons that can perhaps be
learnt for other countries from the ‘development-oriented poverty reduction’ in
China’s own poorer western provinces (LGOP, 2003).
It may be useful initially, however, to explore and clarify whether the current
UN discourse about education for sustainable development—or about TVET, or
literacy for sustainable development—has any connection with our concerns here
about sustainable financing for education and training. That discourse then needs
to be related conceptually to the discourse on aid dependency, with its intimate
connection to sustainable national financing of education, skills training and other
social goals. And that in turn leads straight back to the issue of continued economic
growth at the country level—which tends not to look at the character of this eco-
nomic growth in terms of environmental sustainability. Thus, it is suggested here
that there is a set of key discourses that need to be connected (and interrogated) if
any sense is to be made of the pursuit, simultaneously of the MDGs on the one hand,
raising the levels of aid for developing countries, on the other, but also reducing aid
dependency, through maintaining or increasing national levels of economic growth.
It appears that the general term, ‘sustainable development’, is often a convenient
envelope which actually can contain a series of frequently conflicting goals—not
least the pursuit of financial sustainability and environmental sustainability along
with the EFA and MDG targets.
2 Sustainable Development Versus Sustainable Levels

of Development
As a result of the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in
2002, a Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) was declared
from 2005 to 2014. UNESCO was requested to take leadership over this decade and
to put forward an implementation plan for it. There are four major thrusts to this
discourse of education for sustainable development (ESD). These are:
VII.2 Education, Skills, Sustainability and Growth 1039
1. Improving access to quality basic education;

2. Reorienting existing education programmes;
3. Developing public understanding and awareness;
4. Providing training (UNESCO, 2005, p. 7).
Since accepting this leadership obligation, UNESCO has indeed developed an in-
ternational implementation plan (UNESCO, 2005) and this document analyses the
evolving notion of sustainable development. There are three core dimensions: envi-
ronment, society and economy. In terms of our concern with sustainable economic
growth in this present paper, it might be expected that the implementation plan
would address the nature of economic growth. Surprisingly, however, there is almost
no mention of economic growth at all in the entire plan.3 In fact, the discussion
of economic issues is only in relation to poverty reduction and to corporate so-
cial responsibility and accountability. There is no attempt to discuss either the need
for national economic growth to make EFA (and TVSD) sustainable, and to avoid
long-term aid dependency, nor the trade-offs between such economic growth and
environmental sustainability.
Intriguingly, one of the peculiar characteristics of the ESD or DESD discourses
is that they have a strong ethical tone to them. Thus, the implementation plan
talks much more of values than of economic issues or of growth,4 while in the
Prospects Open file on ‘Education for sustainable development’, the guest editor,
Lopez-Ospina, talks of ‘sustainable development’ being ‘more a moral precept than
a scientific concept, linked as much with notions of fairness as with theories of
global warming’. He goes on to argue that sustainable development is ‘primar-
ily a matter of culture. It is connected with values people cherish and with the
ways in which they perceive their relationships with others’ (Lopez-Ospina, 2000,
pp. 32–33).
Similarly, in a thoughtful discussion paper on ‘Orienting technical and vocational
education and training for sustainable development’, by the UNESCO-UNEVOC
Centre in Bonn, it is argued that ‘sustainable development [. . .] is primarily a mat-
ter of culture: it is concerned with the values people cherish and with the ways
in which we perceive our relationships with others and with the natural world’
(UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education
and Training, 2006, p. 5).
The UNEVOC paper does, however, also admit that technical and vocational
education and training (TVET) are too often linked into ‘productivism’, providing
skilled workers for industry, on the assumption of continued economic growth. The
discussion paper argues, by contrast, that TVET can also be linked to economic
literacy, sustainable production and sustainable consumption, but only with massive
gains in technological efficiency and with the ‘dematerialization of production and
consumption’ (ibid, p. 16). However, the paper is more concerned with how TVET
courses can build an awareness of sustainable development than with the financial
sustainability of providing education and skills for all, as part of the developing
world’s bid for modernization.5
1040 K. King
3 Education for All Versus Financial Sustainability?
It is surprising that neither in this literature of ESD and DESD, nor in other com-
mentaries on sustainable development, does the obvious tension between the sheer
cost of reaching and maintaining Education for All get much discussed in the same
breath as sustainable development. For example, in the EFA-GMR for 2007, the
following claim is made without any acknowledgement that there may be a tension
between achieving universal education and sustainable development:
Building on two United Nations instruments, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the international community adopted the
Declaration on Education for All at Jomtien, Thailand, in 1990. At its heart is the recog-
nition that universal education is the key to sustainable development, social justice and a
brighter future (UNESCO, 2006, p. 13).6
Elsewhere in the EFA-GMR for 2007, it is acknowledged, in a single, brief para-

graph, that there may indeed be a problem where aid contributes a substantial
share of the education (or basic education) budget. For example, for the twenty
country plans thus far endorsed by the Fast Track Initiative (FTI), on average one-
quarter of the costs will need to be covered by external aid. More worryingly,
it was estimated in 2002 by the World Bank that to cover the financing gap for
reaching universal primary education by 2015, ‘aid would need to reach an av-
erage of 42% of total expenditure on primary education and much more in some
countries’ (UNESCO, 2006, p. 98). In other words, very substantial amounts of
external funding would be needed in such countries if the education MDGs were to
be reached. What is also acknowledged, however, is the volatility and unpredictabil-
ity of this external aid. In other words, the likely unsustainability of aid flows is
admitted.
So, we have an interesting anomaly, apparently; the literature on education for
sustainable development pays little attention to the sustainability of educational
achievements which have, in some cases, been made possible by large amounts of
rather unpredictable educational aid. This ESD literature seems more interested in
how education and training at different levels can assist in transmitting messages
about sustainable development than in the sustainability of national educational am-
bitions. On the other hand, the EFA literature on reaching the education MDGs
seems much more preoccupied with raising the aid volumes to facilitate this process
than with looking at the sustainability issues involved in reaching the MDGs on the
back of external resources. It might have been thought that what we might call a
sustainable development approach to the MDGs would have been highly appropri-
ate, since it is clear that reaching the MDGs is not a one-year Olympiad in 2015,
but a process that needs eventually to be sustained on local resources. However, the
actual MDG (no. 7) which is directly concerned with ensuring environmental sus-
tainability does not itself raise any of the complexity linked to the financial sustain-
ability of the MDG process itself; it merely promotes the idea ‘to integrate the prin-
ciples of sustainable development into country policies and programmes; reverse
loss of environmental resources’ along with reducing by half the numbers without
access to safe drinking water, and improving the lives of at least 100 million slum
dwellers.7
We should not underestimate the complex mix of factors that need to be borne
in mind if education, skills and sustainable development are to be satisfactorily dis-
cussed. Thus, we shall first analyse the situation by focusing on education, and then
include discussion on training and skills development. We shall find that it is not
sufficient to talk about financing gaps, but rather about a series of other factors,
including country-level commitment, economic growth, the enabling environment
and aid dependency—to mention just a few.
4 The Dakar Goals and the MDGs
In the most recent EFA Global Monitoring Report of 2007, we have already noted
the claim that universal primary education is the key to sustainable development.
But a closer examination of the argument suggests there was awareness in the GMR
team of just how many factors needed to be considered in arguing for priority to the
Dakar Goals.
For one thing, if the price tag for the achievement of the EFA agenda is really
as high as US$11 billion a year, as argued by the GMR 2007 (UNESCO, 2006,
p. 102), then the share of basic education in total EFA in low-income countries
would need to more than double if there is to be sustained progress towards the
goals. But it is not just a question of making the case to donors, many of whom have
been relatively well disposed, at least in principle, towards higher aid budgets since
Gleneagles in 2005. As the EFA-GMR 2007 admits, there is also more competition
for new aid money. Increasingly, aid donors and national governments are aware
that the predominantly social expenditures associated with the Dakar and MDG
targets need to be accompanied by more attention to infrastructure investments, if
the expenditure on social spending is to be sustainable. Partly, this thinking has
come from the Commission for Africa and from the Millennium Project Report, but
certain donors—and notably Japan, now joined by China, and once again the World
Bank—have been urging more attention to infrastructure development. We shall
look briefly at some of these accounts of the needs for massive growth in investment
in infrastructure if social goals and achievements are to be sustained.
Both the Millennium Project Report and the Commission for Africa broke new
ground by insisting that increased growth rates and investment would be required
if the MDGs were to be made secure. Indeed, the Commission for Africa has ar-
gued strongly (in its chapter on ‘Going for Growth and Poverty Reduction’) that
Africa needed to reach an average growth rate of 7% and sustain it, if all the closely
linked other investments (including social) are to be secured and sustained. But the
Commission for Africa is also clear that this economic growth target needs to be
associated with a strong attachment to the three goals of sustainable development:
economic, social and environmental (Commission for Africa, 2005, pp. 219, 248).
In particular, there was an emphasis on the requirement that ‘sustainable economic
1042 K. King
growth’ involves ‘prudent use of natural resources and effective protection of the en-
vironment’ (ibid). It was also sure that substantially increased aid would be required
initially to help achieve this crucial level of economic growth.
Recent World Bank thinking on the complex connections amongst educational
investment, sustainable growth and other enabling factors supports the stance taken
by the Millennium Project Report and also the Commission for Africa. UPE is just
the ‘beginning step for survival in today’s complex, fast-globalizing world’ (World
Bank, 2005, p. 47). What it terms ‘education for dynamic economies’ is equally a
requirement to increase productivity and sustain growth. This enlarged vision is a
very welcome addition to the Bank’s education agenda, and it should be noted that
‘financial sustainability’ is included as one of the intersectoral issues that cannot
be secured by focusing on development through a single lens, such as educational
investment:
Rather than concentrate on a particular level of education, it emphasizes a holistic ap-
proach that not only addresses needs at all levels, but, indeed, recognizes that the chal-
lenges of access, equity, education quality, efficiency, financial sustainability, and gover-
nance and management are intra-sectoral issues that will never be adequately understood
and addressed if they are considered from the perspective of education levels (World Bank,
2005, p. 48).
It should be noted that the language of ‘financial sustainability’ is much more ac-
ceptable than ‘aid dependency’.8 The ambition in the Commission for Africa and
in the Millennium Project Report to increase aid dramatically, especially to Africa,
has naturally raised concerns about what it actually means for a country to reach
the MDGs on the back of external aid (see King, 2004a, 2004b). Aid dependency is
not a popular topic in a world that is expected to assist poorer countries in reaching
the MDGs; and hence the term ‘aid dependency’ does not get much attention in
any of these three reports. The Commission for Africa, under the heading of ‘Is
extra aid forever?’, does briefly address the challenge of aid recipients becoming
permanently reliant on aid. But the Commission’s firm position is that, from the
Republic of Korea to Botswana, aid has been shown to be able actively to assist
the transformation from being a recipient to a successful middle-income country.
Their view, not dissimilar from the Millennium Project Report, is that there needs
to be a sufficiently large ‘big-push’ from external assistance to help kick-start the
growth process. ‘Where the growth process succeeds, aid tapers out’. It is only when
national reform efforts, supported externally, are too small that they fear that the
‘world will be faced with a permanent aid programme to Africa’ (Commission for
Africa, 2005, p. 327).
The World Bank, in a somewhat parallel perspective, conceives that in the poorest
countries of Africa, performance-based aid can play a role in giving the political
space for reforms, but this may imply ‘high aid dependency for a sustained period
of time’ (World Bank, 2005, p. 56). This open-ended commitment over many years
must be a concern to many donors, even if the MDGs are seen as a minimum stan-
dard that needs to be reached, regardless of dependency. Some analysts worry that
for external bodies, in effect, to be paying the teachers’ salaries of poorer countries
is essentially unsustainable, not just because of the unpredictability of aid and the
frequent political role of teacher lobbies, but because these investments do not alter
the wider macro-economic environment that will ultimately be needed to sustain
such payments.
5 Reaching and Securing the MDGs: A Sustainability Challenge
Compared to the enormous international effort put into calculating progress towards
the MDGs and their specific indicators (e.g. United Nations, 2007), and the estimate
of what nations are ‘on track’ to reach the six Dakar Goals in education and which
ones are not (through the EFA Global Monitoring Report), it could be argued that
a good deal more attention than at present might have gone into analysing the sus-
tainability of national education and skills development systems more generally.9
These systems, at secondary, vocational and tertiary levels, have in fact been directly
affected, especially in economically weaker and more dependent countries, by the
international preoccupation with the MDGs and the Dakar Goals (see King, 2007).
This is a little-recognized additional impact of aid dependency.
But the impact of the international agenda-setting around EFA since Jomtien and
Dakar is not only to be measured in terms of agency shifts in aid priorities;10 the
focus on the Dakar Goals and on the MDGs has also affected in some measure even
those countries that were much less aid-dependent. The result, arguably, has been
very much larger cohorts coming through primary than ever before. This, in turn,
has created massive political pressure to expand both lower secondary (often said
to be part of the basic cycle of education) and upper secondary education.11 This
expansion has often been carried out with inadequate national financing, whether
at secondary, vocational or tertiary levels. But the results of the entitlement agenda
around basic education are the creation of a very large group of young people whose
aspirations for work at a certain level have been lifted by completing full primary
education, but for whom opportunities in the national economy have changed very
little. Compared to the huge international preoccupation with the MDGs and the
Dakar Goals, with their focus on the supply side of the future workforce, there has
been much less attention given to the creation of new productive capacities in the
developing world, with the exception of the ILO’s ‘Decent Work for All’ agenda,
UNCTAD’s least-developed countries report (UNCTAD, 2006), and the Commis-
sion for Africa’s emphasis on ‘Going for Growth’ and ‘More Trade’ (Commission
for Africa, chs. 7 & 8).
In fact, it could be said that the EFA and MDG agendas are predominantly
supply-side; whereas in the last ten years vocational educators and planners have
become used to thinking seriously about the demand-side. There is, of course, an
inherent tension in the rights-based supply-side thinking associated with meeting
the goals or the targets for basic education, and the demand-led thinking now so
widely associated with the planning of TVSD.
The only parallel in the last forty or fifty years to the massive supply-side
initiatives since Jomtien was the expansion, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, of
1044 K. King
education systems (at all levels) in the immediate pre- and post-independence pe-
riod. Then, at least, there were a significant number of new jobs created in the bur-
geoning ministries and through Africanization of former European positions. But
in this most recent expansion, there has been little corresponding job creation. In
many countries, EFA expansion has been accompanied by jobless growth. Whatever
the virtues of the universal access to basic education—and few would dispute this
entitlement agenda—there is something inherently unsustainable about expecting
poor countries (and poor families) to continue to invest in basic education when
there is no corresponding work available, beyond what can be found in the informal
economy (King, 2005).
The dilemma of Sub-Saharan Africa’s abundant labour supply (fuelled in part by
external aid for achieving EFA) and minimal labour-market demand has been set out
very sharply by Fredriksen, former senior education advisor for Sub-Saharan Africa
in the World Bank:
As regards post-basic education, I see a real problem in most African countries where:
i On the (labour) supply side there is a very rapid increase in the supply of youth
with some primary and/or secondary education, driven by a combination of contin-
ued rapid population growth and rapid increase in intake and survival in primary
education; and
ii On the (labour market) demand side, a tiny modern sector (an almost non-existent
manufacturing sector in most African countries) and limited possibility for creation
of modern sector jobs (outside extractive industries) due, inter alia, to lack of com-
petitiveness of these countries vis-à-vis China, Vietnam and other countries on export
markets due to factors such as comparatively high labour costs, and a very poor busi-
ness environment that does not attract direct foreign investment.
In fact, I would argue that there probably has never existed a region in the world where
the gap between, respectively, supply and demand for ‘educated’ labour is larger than in
Sub-Saharan Africa today (with the exception of a few countries). How they can reach the
high level of growth needed to address this growing youth unemployment problem over the
next two-three decades is for me a difficult problem (Personal communication from Birger
Fredriksen, 27 August 2007).
Fredriksen points to the growth challenge presented by these uniquely great num-
bers of young people exiting basic education. From one international perspective,
these numbers are part of a success story, as they constitute success on the EFA
Development Index (see UNESCO, 2007, p. 196); but from another, they present
a huge political problem. Aid has helped to create this EFA success in countries
such as Ghana and many others. But what of the famous connection between aid
and high growth rates that we were discussing above in relation to the Commission
for Africa? Has Africa’s economic growth over the last decade and more begun to
change the economic and labour-market environment which these young people will
confront?
6 The Paradox of Successful Growth: Little Poverty Reduction

and Few Jobs
One of the apparent success stories in Africa has been the persistently high levels of
economic growth in recent years. For instance, Ghana has experienced growth in the
4 to 5% range over more than twenty years, and it was forecast to reach 6.5% in 2007
(Palmer, 2007, p. 1). And the IMF reported in 2005 that the number of African coun-
tries reaching 5% growth had hit a record high of twenty nations with inflation of
less than 10%. However, the IMF has also warned that these economies are still not
growing fast enough to reduce poverty levels, and that their business environments
are still not friendly enough.12 Similarly, the United Nations Economic Commission
for Africa (ECA) has acknowledged that ‘Africa’s real GDP grew by 4.6 per cent in
2004, the highest in almost a decade, up from 4.3 per cent in 2003. [This] reflects
a continued upward trend since 1998. Unfortunately, the growth has so far not been
translated to employment creation or poverty reduction’.13 But are bodies like the
Commission for Africa really saying that if only the growth rate were 7% instead of
5%, then all the positive effects would be gained? No, they are claiming that growth
must indeed rise to 7% by 2010, but that it must be growth in which poor people
can participate. In other words, a growth rate that is driven merely by higher oil
and commodity prices is very different from growth that derives from a series of
strategic investments in infrastructure, agriculture and the creation of a climate that
fosters development (Commission for Africa, 2005, p. 251).
It could, in fact, be argued that these new, higher growth rates for much of Africa
have been positively assisted by India’s and particularly China’s search for oil and
other commodities on the continent. But what Western analysts and agencies seem
to be saying is that the growth rates not only need to be maintained and increased,
but that parallel reforms need to be undertaken to make the investment and business
environment more attractive, as well as ensuring the participation of poor people in
the benefits of growth. For example, in Ghana, these are precisely the reforms that
the government has been undertaking:
The government is in the process of implementing other strategies aimed at stimulat-

ing growth and development, for example in: infrastructure, ICT, science/technology and
health. Indeed, these kind of parallel strategies appear to be in line with much of the in-
ternational literature regarding the need for large multi-sectoral investments to kick-start
sustainable development (e.g. Commission for Africa, UN Millennium Project) (Palmer,
2007, p. 15).
But there is, in fact, a kind of ‘Catch 22’ in Africa’s pursuit of development via the
MDGs and the Dakar targets. The continent has been urged to reach these targets,
but it has been acknowledged that these goals and targets are pre-eminently social
investments with little specified in the way of strengthening Africa’s productive ca-
pacities. Hence, if countries are to develop a sustainable infrastructure and economic
base to maintain their achievement of these social goals, they not only need a solid
revenue base, but they need to demonstrate to their peoples that investment in six or
seven years of basic education for all their children does have a clear economic and
1046 K. King
labour-market pay-off—which may already not be the case today. What may well
happen is that the pressure to provide some form of post-basic education to the most
vocal (i.e. middle-class and urban populations) will mean that a substantial propor-
tion of the primary age cohort, especially rural girls, handicapped and orphans, will
not be covered by basic education, or will eventually withdraw—if they ever entered
this level.
For there are two dimensions of sustainability related to the achievement of these
goals and targets. One is economic and relates to the national capacity to continue
to fund the provision of EFA. But the second is equally vital and could be termed
attitudinal sustainability. It relates to the sustained commitment of the people to send
all their children to school. This will not happen without it being evident that basic
education is of a quality standard, and that it can lead somewhere, either to higher
levels of work or to post-basic schooling and skills training.
7 EFA, PBET and Economic Environments

Our criticism, therefore, of the role of international agencies in the construction of
the global education agenda which has held sway for fifteen years and more, since
Jomtien in 1990, is not of course that it has diverted attention to basic education from
other levels of education and training (see King, 2007). A focus on the right of all
children to basic education, even in the poorest countries in the developing world,
was long overdue. Rather, it has been with the lack of attention to the conditions
needed to sustain EFA in these poorer countries. One aspect of this crucial, enabling
environment is within the education and training system itself, and involves seeing
basic education as one part of a necessarily holistic system of post-basic education
and training. A second dimension is the role of the macro-economic environment in
supporting the education and training system (but also in part being driven by the
quality of the education and training system) (see Palmer, 2007).
Currently, we lack adequate accounts of how EFA and post-basic education and
training (PBET) are crucially affected by the wider macro-economic environment,
and how they in turn can have a direct impact on that environment. China could
provide one set of insights into this two-way process. One part of this account would
be how China, through its nationwide campaign for nine-year schooling, moved
from a situation where the per capita coverage of education in the workforce was
just 4.3 years of schooling on average prior to 1985 to a situation in 2001 where the
average per capita years of schooling was 8.1. This, of course, had a major impact
on the capacities of China’s workforce, but this extraordinary achievement was also
motivated by the opening up of China to the world, and the creation of a climate of
new opportunities in work and in enterprises. Nor should it be forgotten that China
has for twenty years sought to ensure that almost 50% of its upper secondary cohort
should enter vocational secondary schools.
China’s approach to poverty reduction affords a fascinating insight into this two-
way interaction between educational and scientific provision on the one hand, and
investment in productive capacity on the other. Its ‘Development-Oriented Poverty

Reduction Programme’ gives a flavour of China’s national development strategy. It
is interesting to note their use of the words, ‘holistic’ and ‘comprehensive’.
First, stick to the comprehensive exploitation and all-round development. As cause for
poverty is complicated [sic], so are the holistic measures for alleviating poverty. We must
include the development-oriented poverty alleviation in the national economic and social
plan so that we can have a favourable external condition for the task. We must intensify our
effort to build water conservancy, transportation, electricity, and communication infrastruc-
tures in order to contribute to the development of the poor areas and the poverty alleviation
and a better life. It is necessary for the poor areas not only to develop production, increase
farmers’ incomes, but also pay attention to the development of science and technology,
education, health care and culture, improve the community environment, raise the quality
of life and propel a harmonious development and all-round progress. Only in doing so, can
we eradicate the poverty at its root (LGOP, 2003, pp. 98–99).
Two years later, similar assumptions were made by the Commission for Africa.
Currently, a series of other countries14 are being looked at in ways that would allow
some consideration of how the provision and impact of skills training programmes
also need to take account of the wider economic, social and political environment.
Instead of a solely education-centric or training-centric approach, these two-way
research approaches hope to show that the impact of education and training systems
is inseparable from the environments in which they are embedded. This is not a
deterministic position, because, as has been argued above, the character, quality and
extent of education and training systems also have an influence on these surrounding
environments.
It may be useful to close with a listing of just a few areas where ‘going for
growth’ needs to be rethought much more carefully in relation to sustainable educa-
tion and training systems.
8 Provisional Propositions on Education, Skill and Sustainability

r The UN and UNESCO discourses around ‘Education and Training for Sustain-
able Development’ are highly edu-centric; they expect education and training to
raise awareness of sustainable development. But they have thus far paid little at-
tention to the sustainability of the systems of education and training themselves.
r The EFA and MDG discourses also seem to pay relatively little attention to the
differential national capacity to sustain the achievement of the Dakar Goals or
the MDGs, even when securing these is heavily dependent on external aid. Aid
dependency is little discussed in these discourses, since the emphasis has often
been on the dramatic need to increase external aid rather than review the dangers
of its volatility and unpredictability.
r The Commission for Africa and the UN Millennium Project discourses assume
a virtuous relationship between substantial, long-term aid flows and a certain
rather high level of GDP growth (by OECD standards)—7%. In this thinking, aid
1048 K. King
is assumed to be able to play a key role in kick-starting a pattern of sustainable

growth.
r Inadequate attention has been given to several sustainability dimensions of the
relationship between education and skills development, on the one hand, and
their surrounding environments, on the other. Such evidence as we have of the
crucial two-way relationships between education and training and their enabling
(or indeed disabling) environments would suggest that further research would
throw valuable light on how the aspirations of young people and their families to
stick with basic and post-basic education and training are connected to this wider
economic context.
These few propositions suggest that theoretically we have a long way to go in under-
standing the complex interactions amongst education, skills and sustainable growth.
Notes
1. An earlier version of this article was presented at the ninth United Kingdom Forum for In-
ternational Education and Training (UKFIET) International Conference on Education and
Development ‘Going for Growth? School, Community, Economy, Nation’, Oxford, United
Kingdom, 11–13 September 2007.
2. TVSD is an alternative to the more usual technical and vocational education and training
(TVET). TVSD captures both the older sense of technical and vocational expertise, as well
the newer and more general term, skills development.
3. On the DESD website, there is just one sentence: ‘Economy: a sensitivity to the limits and
potential of economic growth and their impact on society and on the environment, with a
commitment to assess personal and societal levels of consumption out of concern for the en-
vironment and for social justice.’ <portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL ID=23280&
URL DO=DO TOPIC& URL SECTION=201.html>
4. ‘Understanding your own values, the values of the society you live in, and the values of others
around the world is a central part of education for a sustainable future’, UNESCO, 2006, p. 7.
5. It suggests, for instance, including ‘sustainable development concepts in all courses for ev-
eryone (“TVET for all”)’, without commenting on its sustainability (UNESCO-UNEVOC
International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training, 2006, p. 23).
Intriguingly, ‘economic growth’ occurs just once in 31 pages, while ‘sustainable’ occurs
116 times!
6. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Jomtien World Conference on EFA, coming one year before the
Rio Summit, did not actually talk of sustainable development, but it did mention as part of its
Framework for Action that ‘development agencies should establish policies and plans for the
1990s, in line with their commitments to sustained, long-term support for national and regional
actions’ (UNESCO, 1990, p. 20). By the time of OECD/DAC articulation of the International
Development Targets in 1996, however, there was not only a target specifically concerned
with the securing of national strategies for sustainable development, but an acknowledgement
that there was a ‘broad range of less quantifiable factors of importance to sustainable devel-
opment. These range from improved capacity for managing economic and social policies to
heightened attention to issues of accountability, the rule of law and human rights, expanded
participation and the accumulation of social capital and appreciation for environmental sus-
tainability’ (OECD/DAC, 1996, p. 8). What is valuable about this comment is that ‘sustainable
development’ is distinguished from ‘environmental sustainability’.
7. For a statement of the MDG (Goal 7) on environmental sustainability, its three associ-
ated targets and the seven associated indicators, see the United Nations’ MDG website,
<mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Host.aspx?Content=Indicators/OfficialList.htm>. The indicators do
not tackle at all the nature of the growth needed at the country level.
8. In certain agencies, it is known that employees have been actively discouraged from talking
openly about ‘aid dependency’ as it might discourage donors from increasing their aid. For a
valuable discussion of aid dependency, see Sida, 1996.
9. For a very early, critical discussion of the ‘expansionary approaches such as those of the
Jomtien Conference which commit countries to build their education systems up further on
weak foundations’ see Penrose, 1993, p. 26.
10. By no means all agencies have switched their priorities to the MDGs and the Dakar Goals in
the sphere of education, but a significant number have. And the money available for higher
education programmes and projects, such as university links schemes, is a fraction of what is
now allocated, in some agencies, for basic education projects.
11. An interesting case in point would be Kenya which has for much of the last seventeen years not
been heavily dependent on aid, but has nevertheless dramatically expanded its commitment to
free primary education, as well as to the expansion of secondary education and TVSD in the
four years since the new government took office.
12. See report posted on <news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4447773.stm>.
13. Reported in Africa Focus: ‘Africa: economic growth improving’ posted on <www.africafocus.
org/docs05/eca0505.php>.
14. India, Pakistan and Ghana, which are part of the DfID consortium on analysing the outcomes
of education (RECOUP), are hoping to do work on skills training that would seek to map this
against changes in the surrounding, enabling (or disabling) environment.
References
Commission for Africa. 2005. Our common interest: report of the Commission for Africa. Lon-
don: DfID.
King, K. 2004a. Development knowledge and the global policy agenda. Whose knowledge? Whose
policy? (Paper presented at the Conference on ‘Social Knowledge and International Policy-
Making: Can Research Make a Difference?’, 20–21 April 2004, UNRISD, Geneva, Switzer-
land.)
King, K. 2004b. The external agenda of educational reform: a challenge to educational self-reliance
and dependency in sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of international cooperation in education,
vol. 7, no. 1, April, pp. 83–96.
King, K. 2005. Re-targeting schools, skills and jobs in Kenya: quantity, quality and outcomes.
International journal of educational development, vol. 25, no. 1.
King, K. 2007. Multilateral agencies in the construction of the global agenda on education. Com-
parative education, vol. 43, no. 3, August.
King, K.; Palmer, R. 2007. Technical and vocational skills development: a DfID briefing paper.
London: DfID.
Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development—LGOP. 2003. An overview of the
development-oriented poverty reduction programme for rural China. Beijing: China Financial
and Economic Publishing House.
Lopez-Ospina, G. 2000. Education for sustainable development: a local and international chal-
lenge. Prospects, vol. 30, no. 1, March, pp. 31–40.
Mayoux, L.; Palmer, R. Forthcoming. The role of skills development in creating a new cycle of
opportunity for the poor: impact and lessons from developing countries. Geneva, Switzerland:
ILO.
1050 K. King
NORRAG. 2007. NORRAG News, no 38: special issue on technical and vocational skills develop-
ment. <www.norrag.org>
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development/Development Assistance Commit-
tee. 1996. Shaping the 21st century: the contribution of development cooperation. Paris:
OECD/DAC.
Palmer, R. 2007 Technical and vocational skills development and impressive economic growth:
policy and research challenges for Ghana. (Paper presented at the ninth UKFIET International
Conference on ‘Education and Development: Going for Growth? School, Community, Econ-
omy, Nation’, Oxford, UK, 11–13 September 2007.)
Penrose, P. 1993. Planning and financing sustainable education systems in Sub-Saharan Africa.
London: Overseas Development Administration. (Education research serial no. 7.)
Sida. 1996. Aid dependency: causes, symptoms and remedies. Stockholm: Sida. (Project 2015.)
UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training.
2006. Orienting technical and vocational education and training for sustainable development.
Bonn, Germany: UNESCO-UNEVOC. (Discussion paper, no. 1.)
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. 2006. Developing productive capacities:
the least-developed countries report 2006. Geneva, Switzerland: UNCTAD.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 1990. Framework for ac-
tion: meeting basic learning needs. Paris: UNESCO. Retrieved on 5 November 2007 from:
<www.unesco.org/education/efa/ed for all/background/07Bpubl.shtml>
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 2005. International implemen-
tation plan: United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, 2005–2014.
Paris: UNESCO.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 2006. Strong foundations: early
childhood care and education. In: EFA Global Monitoring Report 2007. Paris: UNESCO.
United Nations. 2007. The Millennium Development Goals Report 2007. New York, NY: United
Nations.
World Bank. 2005. Education Sector Strategy Update: achieving education for all, broadening our
perspective, maximizing our effectiveness. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Chapter VII.3
Financing Mechanisms and Instruments:
A Conceptual and Operational Approach
Richard Walther
1 Introduction
The financing of vocational training, in contrast to that of general education which is

almost exclusively the responsibility of public authorities, is a complex field. It relies
on multiple arrangements that can be described from different angles: (a) the areas
of training financed; (b) the types of players providing financing and/or regulating
it; (c) the modes of direct or indirect financing used; and (d) the major financing
mechanisms and instruments.
This chapter is derived from the study ‘Financing vocational training: a Europe-
Africa comparison’, written for the Agence française de développement (AFD)
(Walther, 2005). It will describe, in as precise a manner as possible, some of the
financing practices and models which exist in the eight countries studied: France,
Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom for Europe; and Algeria, Morocco, Sene-
gal and Tunisia for Africa. To this end, it will use financing criteria and models
explained and analysed at the international level in various studies and reports pub-
lished by organizations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD), the World Bank, UNESCO and the European Union. It will
first clarify the criteria used for measuring countries’ overall training efforts and will
outline a tentative typology of the countries according to their financing systems.
2 Financial Criteria for Measuring the Training Effort
The concept of training effort was first used in the area of continuing training. It
is quantified using data on training carried out (access rates, length, etc.). In this
study, it is deliberately used as a means of aggregating all the financial expenditure
devoted to the range of training measures that provide various categories of people
with constant access to training throughout their working lives.

1052 R. Walther
2.1 The Usual Ways of Measuring the Training Effort
It is very difficult to establish criteria for appreciating this effort, insofar as initial
or post-initial vocational training, with the exception of specific training for adults
in companies, is generally measured using three commonly used indicators (OECD
2003):
r public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP;
r the share of total expenditure on education within overall public expenditure;
r annual expenditure per student in educational establishments.
This difficulty is due to the fact that financial data on education and training often
concern establishments and measures where no distinction is actually made between
education and training. It is also stems from the fact that continued lack of esteem
for vocational training in relation to general education has hindered the development
of a documented information system. This means that there is little published data
focusing on vocational training alone, and it is therefore very difficult to monitor
and analyse relevant developments.
As well as using data on the rate of access to training and the average length
of training activities, measurement of the training effort for employees in com-
panies can be based on expenditure levels calculated as a percentage of the total
wage bill. It can also be calculated using the percentage of the total cost of con-
tinuing training activities in relation to total labour costs and total costs of con-
tinuing training activities per employee. This is notably the case in the European
countries.
The training effort for job-seekers is primarily determined by calculating the
amount of public expenditure devoted to it, although such data are difficult to
obtain for the African countries. With the Luxembourg process, Europe has intro-
duced co-ordination of employment policies, and the annual publication of national
employment plans makes it possible to access data on countries’ expenditure in
this area.
The regular availability of reliable data is a prerequisite for understanding a coun-
try’s overall training effort and for retrospective analysis of how effective the various
financial instruments are in terms of their economic and social impact.
2.2 Overall Financial Data for the Countries Analysed

Data are brought together in comparative tables providing basic information for each
country. This makes it possible to consider the various data on training expenditure
in relation to the country’s economic and social indicators on the one hand, and
facilitates comparative analysis of the degree of priority accorded to the training
effort on the other. Given that, as mentioned above, there are no comprehensive
and regularly updated information systems on vocational training data, some of the
figures used are estimates, some are lacking and some figures do not refer to the
VII.3 Financing Mechanisms and Instruments 1053
same year as the other data. It becomes clear that there are no identical statistical
arrangements concerning vocational training at the international level, as is the case
for general education. This comparative analysis cannot therefore be comprehen-
sive. It can only be used to help identify some trends and highlight a number of
major similarities or differences.
The data on the four European countries (Table 1) come from the national reports,
and are complemented with information published by the OECD (2003) and, as far
as continuing training in companies is concerned, from the Continuing Vocational
Training Survey (CVST-2—European Commission, 2000a), which was carried out
in 1999 using a standard questionnaire for the whole of the European Union. Data
on the relationship between public expenditure on education and training are not
directly accessible and it has therefore been necessary to consult each country’s
finance bills directly.
Data on the African countries (Table 2) are partly drawn from statistics published
by the World Bank (World Bank, 2004) and partly from reports published by the
countries’ statistical institutes. Data on public expenditure on education and voca-
tional training have been calculated on the basis of information contained in finance
bills or gathered from public authority representatives met with during fact-finding
missions.
Table 1 Overall data for the four European countries

Indicators/country Germany Spain France United Kingdom
GDP growth rate (2002) 0.2% 2.0% 1.1% 1.7%
Per capita income (2002) $25,453 $21,347 $26,618 $26,715
Unemployment rate (2002) 8.5% 11.1% 8.7% 5.0%
Youth unemployment rate 9.3% 21.5% 18.9% 10.9%
(2002)
Education expenditure/GDP 5.3% 4.9% 6.1% 5.3%
(2000)
Public expenditure on 9.9% 11.2% 11.4% 11.8%
education (2000) (as a % of
total public expenditure)
Public expenditure on training – – 16.6% –
(as a % of education
expenditure) (2002)
People having at least 83% 40% 64% 63%
completed upper secondary
school education
Expenditure by companies (as 1.5% 1.5% 3.1% 2.7%
a % of the total wage bill)
(1999)
% of company employees with 32% 25% 46% 49%
access to continuing training
(1999)
Average length of training in 27 hours 42 hours 36 hours 26 hours
companies (1999)
1054 R. Walther
Table 2 Overall data for the four African countries

Indicators Algeria Morocco Senegal Tunisia
GDP growth rate (2002) 4.1% 3.2% 2.3% 1.7%
Per capita income (2001) $1,784 $1,170 $470 $2,149
Unemployment rate (2002) 38% 11.2% 14.9%
Youth unemployment rate 54% N/A N/A N/A
(2002)
Education expenditure/GDP 5.4% (1995) 5% 6.5% 6.8%
(2001)
Public expenditure on 18.2% (2004) 13.5% (2003) – 20.8% (2004)
education (2000) (as a % of
total public expenditure)
Public expenditure on training 7.6% (2004) 1.6% (2003) 4.5% –
(as a % of education
expenditure) (2002)
People having at least 62% 31.2% N/A 67.8%
completed upper secondary
school education
Expenditure by companies N/A N/A N/A N/A
% of company employees with N/A N/A N/A N/A
access to continuing training
Average length of training in N/A N/A N/A N/A
companies (1999)
Two major observations can be made in light of the data in these tables:
r It is difficult to obtain a precise idea about the overall initial vocational training
effort in various countries, because it is not singled out in public expenditure
statistics on education. It is difficult to access national documents (finance bills,
among others) which would make it possible to set it clearly apart. Furthermore,
data on continuing training in the African countries are not compiled because
there is no standardized statistical system on this continent. The African Devel-
opment Bank also stresses the urgent need to introduce a standardized statistical
system for all countries to facilitate comparisons of situations and trends.
r While Europe and Africa’s economic and social situations vary considerably,
their overall education and training effort, calculated as a percentage of GDP,
tends to be of a comparable level. There is therefore a similar effort regarding
investment in education and training in the different countries. However, every
country’s particular situation should be borne in mind, as also should the fact
that the African countries have an initial handicap in that they have much lower
levels of schooling, and have poorly structured and little-used training systems.
3 The Main Modes of Financing Vocational Training

Analysis of training practices in the different countries allows distinctions to be
made between modes of financing according to whether they concern public or
private education, apprenticeship or post-school training and continuing training for

employees or job-seekers. These modes of financing have been defined pragmati-
cally and can be refined or modified according to the particular circumstances of the
training system of the country analysed. Above all, they serve as a tool to facilitate
understanding and comparison of financial practices in the eight countries covered
by the study.
3.1 The Fundamental Role of Public Authorities
According to standard classifications, this category of training concerns establish-

ments which come under the heading of upper secondary schools, and which this
study’s national reports identified as providing upper secondary school vocational
diplomas or secondary school final certificates. There are three modes of financing
secondary school vocational education, excluding apprenticeship (OECD, 2000).
3.1.1 Direct Financing by the State

The State covers expenditure on investment in establishments and their running
costs, financing them directly on a cost-allocation basis. This is the case with pub-
lic establishments in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal. It should be empha-
sized that these countries’ public resources are often topped up by international
funding providers (the World Bank, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (MEDA)
and the AFD). Morocco and Tunisia are introducing a variation of this approach
by adding part of the funds raised by the levy on companies’ total wage bills to
the public resources devoted to training establishments. The levy thus appears as
a form of additional tax to make up for the lack of public resources in the field
of training. Training establishments in the four countries can top up public funds
with receipts from related activities, such as advisory and training services for com-
panies, production of goods or services while providing training, or adult evening
classes.
Decentralization is in fact almost non-existent in the four African countries. The
State covers all financial expenditure directly.
3.1.2 Co-financing by National, Regional and Local Public Authorities

In the four European countries studied the various tiers of regional and local
government share expenditure on investment and running costs, according to the
regulations in place. Since the introduction of legislation on decentralization, France
has moved investment expenditure on general and vocational secondary schools
to regional budgets. The regions are currently acquiring decentralized administra-
tive and financial responsibility for auxiliary staff in education and training estab-
lishments. Spanish initial vocational training centres are financed by the central
government for all of the autonomous regions with no transferred powers in the
field of education. In contrast, those autonomous regions which do have transferred
1056 R. Walther
powers provide funding directly. The European Structural Funds provide top-up
funding for educational infrastructure and for developing technical and vocational
education.
Depending on their resources, families and pupils can also receive aid in the four
countries. This is generally provided by the State.
Decentralization of financing measures and arrangements is indeed one way of
bringing the direct funding-provider closer to users, thereby making it more likely
that people will be able to appreciate how the funds are used. This does not, however,
detract from the fact that funding remains public and is topped up through transfers
of funds from the State to local and regional authorities or through local taxes and
levies.
3.1.3 Co-financing of Public Establishments by Private Funds

In France, co-financing is not allowed, because free education is one of the repub-
lic’s fundamental values. It therefore only occurs in minor ways, with families cov-
ering certain educational supplies. In some départements, such costs are covered by
the regional council.
Co-financing is also minimal in Germany, coming from enrolment fees paid by
pupils.
In Spain, co-financing is generally used in certified centres which are not to-
tally subsidized. They top up their receipts with their own contributions or those
of companies or families. Co-financing is sometimes used by public centres for the
purchase of educational supplies, transport and catering provisions.
In the United Kingdom, funding of the colleges of further education by the public
authorities (70% of costs) is topped up by students’ enrolment fees (10%), other
external income (such as contributions of the European Social Fund) and the sale of
goods and services (20%) (Atchoarena, 1998).
Co-financing also occurs in Algeria, where external clients pay for services pro-
vided by establishments when they produce goods or services while providing train-
ing, and for continuing training in companies.
3.1.4 Co-financing of Private Education by Public Authorities

Co-financing is used for private establishments, such as those under contract (i.e.
grant-maintained) in France and the United Kingdom. In France, the State finances
overall training expenditure and running costs, leaving investment costs and some
related expenditure to the owners. This also occurs in Morocco, where private edu-
cation qualifies for tax breaks on the purchase of consumer goods and tax exemp-
tions on profits invested in training. In some rare cases, it can qualify for funds
raised by the vocational training levy. In Tunisia, private establishments can access
an investment support fund, which can cover up to 25% of material costs and 25%
of intangible costs. In Senegal, a small part of compulsory contributions made by
employers is transferred to the vocational training budget (the ‘CFCE tax’), but
there is currently a debate on whether this contribution should be transferred in its
entirety.
3.1.5 Exclusively Private Funding

There are some private establishments whose only source of funding comes from
enrolment fees paid by their students. This is the case in Algeria, where private
education is in constant progression but, due to the limited resources of its users,
does not manage to attract enough trainees to fill capacity. This is also the case
in Germany, where such establishments must have received the public authorities’
approval (Article 7 of the Fundamental Law), but are run with their own resources.
Funding support from the public authorities is possible, but only for students. Or-
ganizations exclusively financed by private funds also exist in the three other Euro-
pean countries, and in Senegal, where some private establishments are exclusively
financed by families.
This brief review of school-based initial vocational training financing models
demonstrates that public authorities play a fundamental role as the main source of
finance and principal provider of training, although such tasks are increasingly being
passed to local authorities, which are in closer contact with the establishments where
training is delivered. This role does not conflict with the development of private
vocational education, because the State not only recognizes it but even subsidizes it.
However, in all of the countries studied, it seems that public authorities consider that
one of their core missions is to bring young people up to the levels of qualification
needed by both the economy and the labour market.
3.2 Financing of Apprenticeship Training and Alternance

Training Schemes
The analysis of the structure and evolution of the various training systems clearly
demonstrates that, although apprenticeship and alternance training have an educa-
tional status, they come under the shared responsibility of public authorities, com-
panies and, in many cases, the social partners. The transition from primarily public
management to a broad partnership approach is clearly reflected in the means of
financing used.
3.2.1 Public/Private Partnership in the Various Modes

of Financing Apprenticeship
In all of the countries studied, a sort of general rule applies to the financing of ap-
prenticeship. It can be described as follows: training in schools or training centres is
paid for by public funds, and workplace training and apprentices’ wages are paid for
1058 R. Walther
by companies. Furthermore, apprentices participate in financing their apprenticeship

by producing goods or services while training and by agreeing to accept a reduction
in what they might otherwise be paid (OECD, 2000).
There are some variations on this common rule, depending on each country’s
specific circumstances.
This review of the different apprenticeship financing systems reveals that they
have one very strong element in common, namely that co-financing by companies
and the State exists in all countries. The other factor they have in common concerns
the wages or allowances paid to apprentices. Companies’ contribution to apprentice-
ship in the form of a tax on wages exists in the great majority of the countries, but
it is managed in varying and frequently complex ways. Lastly, it seems likely that
more will be invested in apprenticeship in the future. This is reflected in recent gov-
ernmental decisions in France and the United Kingdom, and is part of the new social
consensus reached in Germany in 2004. There seem to be similar policy intentions
in Tunisia (2002), in Algeria (the outlook for 2009) and Morocco (the governmental
department for vocational training set it as a priority for 2003).
3.2.2 The Specific Characteristics of Financing Alternance Training

Alternance training, or schemes entailing periods of on-the-job work experience
co-ordinated with institution-based training, is distinct from apprenticeship for his-
torical reasons (it primarily emerged as a response to youth unemployment and the
need to train young people in order to get them into work) and institutional ones
(apprentices do not always have a contractual status as workers; their supervisors
have a defined role to play in the training plan).
In terms of financing, there are some specific characteristics that are particularly
notable in France. With the exception of the French and British systems, post-initial
alternance training is a developing area in which public authorities are primarily
responsible for financial management.
3.3 Financing Continuing Training for People

in the Workforce
Evidently, continuing training for employees in companies comes under the respon-
sibility of employers, because it generally concerns people in the workforce who
either undergo training related to their work or do so during their working hours.
Such training has a direct or at least indirect effect on the way they exercise their
profession.
However, the on-going trend towards lifelong learning, especially in France and
the United Kingdom, has recently had repercussions on the way continuing training
is financed.
3.3.1 Financing of Training via a Compulsory Contribution

Such an obligation exists in six of the eight countries studied. It is generally defined
as being the introduction, further to an agreement between the social partners (in
the case of France and Spain) of legislation or a decree determining the amount
of contributions to be paid, or honoured in order to qualify for a rebate (Algeria,
Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal). Depending on the country, there are differences in
terms of the collection or refinancing methods and the established purposes for
which the dedicated funds can be used.
To fill in the whole picture, it should be remembered that Germany and the United
Kingdom each have one or two sectoral arrangements based on the collection of
contributions that have become compulsory further to a contractual agreement be-
tween social partners in the sector but, in both countries, such arrangements are
not sufficiently widespread to be considered as being representative of a national
approach.
These different practices can be summed up as follows: the financing of con-
tinuing training for employees is based on the principle of companies making a
minimum contribution to training. This contribution gives rise to direct or mutual
financing of training activities that are of specific interest to the company (activities
to adapt to change), of shared interest to the company or the employee (job or com-
petence development activities), or of specific interest to the employee (activities
linked to the various forms of training leave or those linked to the right to training,
insofar as the employee keeps his or her rights when changing jobs). Employees
mainly co-invest in training of shared or individual interest by contributing their
time or foregoing part of their wages.
It can be concluded that, whatever their contractual or legislative origins, all of
the compulsory systems for financing continuing training have evolved towards fi-
nancing models managed in partnership and according to priorities established by
bipartite or tripartite agreements (France and Spain) or by the public authorities
further to consultation with the social partners.
For France and Spain, the level of contributions seems to be the minimum compa-
nies need to spend in order to keep their employees’ skills sufficiently up to date with
regard to ongoing changes. The French contribution of 1.6% is largely exceeded by
the real level of expenditure, which is nearly 3% of the total wage bill. Similarly,
the 0.35% level of Spanish contributions is largely exceeded, with employers de-
voting 1.5% of their total wage bill to continuing training for employees (European
Commission, 2000a).
In the African countries, the various compulsory contributions are collected by
dedicated funds, which have either been set up with difficulty (FNAC in Algeria,
FONDEF in Senegal), or channel the money back into public finances (Morocco),
or have established eligibility conditions that are potentially dissuasive to companies
(Tunisia). The distribution and effectiveness of these funds is therefore affected by
a governance problem.
Lastly, it should be added that most of the systems and funds are topped up by
public finance in accordance with strategic policies or priority target groups, and
1060 R. Walther
there is no watertight separation between private and public sources of finance in

this area.
3.3.2 Financing that Gives Companies and Individuals the Freedom to Choose
Germany and the United Kingdom come into this category. In the absence of explicit
rules, other than those that companies have introduced themselves, it is difficult to
give a precise idea about companies’ internal financing methods. They come under
the exclusive responsibility of management. However, bearing in mind existing data
on continuing training in the two countries and the importance they attach to training
their employees, some useful remarks may be made:
r While they do not establish financing objectives which must be achieved, the two
countries both have national targets to encourage companies to invest in training.
r Germany is less proactive than the United Kingdom in this area. However, it has
also defined priorities for raising overall qualification levels, notably by adopting
‘guidelines for the promotion of lifelong learning in the Federal Republic of
Germany’ in July 2004, which directly apply to companies.
r The two countries also have incentive measures to ensure that training for em-
ployees becomes subject to public/private co-financing in certain priority areas.
This is notably the case regarding training for poorly qualified employees in
companies, which, as in France and Spain, can qualify for national and European
co-funding. It is the case in Germany for training activities in the former eastern
Länder and for some types of training that are considered as being vital to the
general interest, such as training to raise qualification levels. It is also the case
in the United Kingdom for training of employees when it leads to recognized
qualification levels.
r Tax reductions for companies that train are among other incentive measures pro-
vided by the two countries. Germany’s tax system enables companies to count
education and training expenditure as a running cost, and these can be deducted
against profits in order to reduce taxable revenue.
r At the same time, it seems that the absence of compulsory financing by compa-
nies goes hand-in-hand with greater investment on the part of individuals.
This analysis of the different ways of financing continuing training in the eight
countries allows a clear distinction to be drawn between two different groups of
countries: those which define training objectives in terms of financing obligations;
and those which pursue such objectives in terms of performance targets. A similar
distinction could also be made regarding the different type of investment individuals
make, although at the same time it should be stressed that the countries in the first
group arrange for companies to pay for the training of individuals, while the second
group prefer pre-financing or co-financing by individuals, even though it is then
largely paid for out of public funds.
It seems that these institutional differences have no direct impact on a country’s
real level of investment in continuing training. The CVTS-2 survey provided widely
varying results which do not suggest whether one type of system is better than
another (European Commission, 2002a). The real reasons for the effectiveness of
training systems still have to be identified.
3.4 The Financing of Continuing Training for Job-Seekers
Previous analysis of how job-entry training schemes have evolved clearly shows
that the study of different means of financing should be carried out in light of three
major observations:
r Financing of the different national employment systems, which increasingly fo-
cuses on efforts to help people into jobs, is largely the responsibility of public
authorities, even though resources are made available by different ministries or
channelled through local authorities and, in any case, largely drawn from compa-
nies’ and employees compulsory contributions. At the same time, expenditure on
training is often topped up by social security contributions made by companies
and employees.
r Closer scrutiny of preferred measures in the European countries, as seen in the
national employment plans, shows that the financing of job-entry schemes is
primarily used to support measures providing job seekers with real on-the-job
work experience and additional training linked to their return to employment,
even if aided.
r Different types of financing are furthermore targeted at three categories of
worker: young disadvantaged people (who can benefit from post-school
alternance-type training schemes), people who are returning to the labour mar-
ket (notably women, bearing in mind that each country has identified that its
workforce is too small) and older employees, who are being targeted by new
heavily-supported measures in all of the countries.
This last observation indicates that a new trend is emerging in that companies are
increasingly committed to measures to help people get jobs or keep them, and they
participate in financing such measures in various ways.
It can be concluded that training for job-seekers is starting to be considered as
something other than an antidote to exclusion, and it is becoming more similar to
company-based training. It is consequently also becoming part of a system that is
increasingly oriented to lifelong learning. Its financing, which until recently was
the responsibility of public authorities, is therefore starting to be shared by other
players, including companies. There is a trend towards public/private co-financing,
although the State’s ultimate responsibility for the matter is not in question.
3.5 In Conclusion
This analysis of the different practices used for financing training for people of
working age in their institutional context demonstrates that, with the exception
1062 R. Walther
of training for job-seekers, there are two major types of financing: that which is
contractually or legally compulsory, with public/private mutualization and joint
management of funds; and that which is directly financed by companies and,
while dependent on their internal decisions, is an integral part of national moral
obligations.
These two types of financing are part of long traditions, but they are also de-
pendent on the specific way society is organized in each country. However, such
distinctions aside, some similarities between all of the countries studied are start-
ing to emerge, which can be summed up as follows: (a) the co-financing approach
is becoming increasingly common; and (b) management methods are becoming
increasingly partnership-based, even in seemingly very liberal countries. It would
nevertheless be appropriate to verify whether these observations are not merely the
manifestation of other changes that have yet to be identified.
4 Financing Mechanisms in Their Institutional Context
The description of the mechanisms and methods used for financing the various types
of training made it possible to observe that different practices and instruments in the
countries concerned are structured according to a number of major fields of data:
training systems (school-based, post-school, training for employees and training for
the unemployed); the main types of financing (public financing, private financing
and co-financing); types of funding providers (central and regional government au-
thorities, companies and individuals); and financing instruments (subsidies, levies
or compulsory contributions, tax credits or training accounts). Taken together, these
data establish the parameters within which an initial overall typology of the training
systems’ financing mechanisms can be drawn up.
4.1 A Typology of Systems Rooted in a Common

or Similar Tradition
By putting the development of training systems and associated financing mecha-

nisms into their historical perspective, it is possible to observe that the European
and African countries have, in different ways, undergone major changes which have
had, or continue to have, a structuring effect on the organization of their training
systems and the ways in which they are financed.
4.1.1 The Situation in Europe

European systems range from co-financing of schemes to tackle youth unem-
ployment to a wide range of measures for financing lifelong learning. All of the
European systems have been characterized, in a fairly identical manner, by the triple
phenomenon underlying their respective situations and likely future development.
This provides an explanation for the different types of approach, and can be resumed
as follows.
r Helping young people find jobs, or the development of post-school training fi-
nanced by public authorities and companies. The massive growth in unemploy-
ment, which started in the late 1970s, caused Spain, France and the United
Kingdom to introduce a post-initial training system heralding the move towards
alternance training. This, in turn, led to the introduction of forms of co-financing,
which were primarily funded and managed by the public authorities in Spain and
the United Kingdom, and by the economic and social partners in France. Because
of the dominance of the dual training system, Germany managed to preserve a
stable system and a very low youth unemployment rate for a long time. However,
for the last ten years, there has been a crisis due to the lack of training places.
This led to a bigger role for the public authorities in financing the creation of
training places and introducing them into public administration. Even though
this situation goes back to before the creation of post-school initial training,
it is in line with what the three other countries are doing in that it relies on
specific job-entry measures and strengthened co-financing by public and private
partners.
r Industrial and technological change or the development of a culture of company
investment in training. Continuing training for European employees did not re-
ally start to develop until the economic recession at the end of the 1970s and the
acceleration of industrial and technological change in the 1980s, which forced
companies to acquire a more adaptable and competitive labour force. However,
such training was not really very significant until the introduction of financing
instruments and evaluation processes making it quantifiable.
All of these stages show that European co-operation has had a direct influence on
the way that countries have structured their continuing training systems. While they
have not led to the development of common financial instruments, they have at least
given rise to comparable methods and amounts of financing.
r Common realization about the importance of developing lifelong learning. Above
and beyond the common European training culture, which has been forged by
linking up national traditions, the culture of lifelong learning emerged from an
initial joint observation (in the Amsterdam Treaty) that the knowledge society
requires the constant development of everybody’s knowledge and competences,
via regular and equal access to lifelong learning for individuals (European Com-
mission, 2000b).
It is evident that the whole EU debate on this issue, as well as the Lisbon European
Council objectives establishing joint qualifications and access targets for all Euro-
pean countries, stress the need to finance individual access to training, whatever
the national mechanisms in place (European Council, 2000). Various attempts to
respond to this need include the French system of co-investment by companies and
individuals, and the use of training accounts developed in the United Kingdom.
1064 R. Walther
In terms of measures In terms of stakeholders In terms of schemes and

instruments
Financial
measures and
The European systems Companies are
instruments are
are focused on considered as
used to mobilize
alternance-based job- being
all stakeholders
entry training and responsible for
and guarantee
shared public/private providing and
regular and open
responsibility for financing
access to
management and training for
training and
financing. employees.
qualifications for
everybody.
Fig. 1 Common characteristics of the European vocational training systems

Source: Walther, 2005.
In conclusion to this rapid overview of recent history, it can be said that European
systems, and notably the French, Spanish, British and German ones, have evolved in
a convergent manner, according to three common features which characterize them
(Fig. 1).
4.1.2 The Situation in Africa

A transversal analysis of the situation in the three North African countries makes
it possible to note that each has suitable financing instruments, but they are still
waiting to be able to use them. Their use is hindered by burdensome administrative
procedures which often seem insurmountable.
r The difficult relationship companies have with initial and continuing training.
Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia are currently developing alternance training be-
cause it helps people to enter jobs and provides qualifications of immediate use
to companies. In this respect, these countries mirror European trends towards
co-operation between the education system and companies. They all have suit-
able financing tools for developing alternance training (an apprenticeship levy
and funds for collecting and redistributing finance to companies), but their use is
hindered by specific difficulties:
The situation is almost identical as far as continuing training is concerned. Financing
obligations exist, but the conditions of access to finance are often complex (Tunisia),
financing criteria and means remain to be defined (Algeria), or funds are mostly
channelled back into the State budget (Morocco).
r A budgetary rationale which is ill-adapted to current developments. All three
countries have introduced budgetary policies based on rolling forecasts of future
expenditure on investment and running costs, and are therefore struggling to re-
spond to real qualification needs. Algeria is setting up an employment and quali-
fications observatory, which should help improve how it calculates the country’s
investment needs and then responds to them. This task is all the more important
because 90% of the vocational training ministry’s current budget is spent on

running costs and, if things continue this way, it will be unable to re-deploy its
efforts and resources. Tunisia has opted for a sectoral partnership approach to
respond to its qualification needs and financing requirements, but it still needs
to define the preconditions for financing investment and running costs in order
to establish realistic and efficient budgets. Morocco has introduced a financing
approach which is designed to optimize public training supply, but there is a risk
that quantity will be preferred over quality because of budgetary constraints.
r The challenges that the training systems are facing as a result of their countries’
opening up to European and world markets. The three countries are obliged to
put their training systems’ funds at the service of a qualifications policy designed
to deliver the skills and competitiveness levels required as a result of their recent
(Tunisia) or future (Algeria and Morocco) entry into European free-trade agree-
ments and the World Trade Organization.
International funding providers, who provide considerable amounts of support in
the three countries, evidently accompany and speed up reforms the countries have
started by setting the objectives to be achieved if funding is to be granted. At the
same time, and especially as far as MEDA and AFD funds are concerned, they are
helping to bring North African and European countries’ systems closer together.
To conclude this analysis, the three countries’ training systems are characterized
in three major ways, as shown in Fig. 2.
In terms of measures In terms of stakeholders In terms of schemes and

instruments
The systems are
Financial instruments
focused on the
(levies and training
development of The stakeholders have
funds) exist for
alternance and a budget rationale
developing continuing
apprenticeship based on running
training.
training. costs and rolling
forecasts.
However, these
However, there are
instruments are
not enough They do not have the
neither efficiently
organized means to cater for
managed nor adapted
education-industry qualification needs
to the countries’
links to make through training.
circumstances and
training really
needs.
effective.
Fig. 2 Common characteristics of the African vocational training systems

Source: Walther, 2005.
4.1.3 The Situation in Senegal

Although financing instruments exist, they are ill-adapted to the realities of voca-
tional training. Senegal is in a particular situation because it has financial instru-
ments similar to the levies and funds used in the North African countries, but it has
a highly specific overall institutional framework in comparison to the other systems.
1066 R. Walther
r Vocational training comes entirely under the responsibility of the national edu-
cation ministry and, as such, it is not specifically distinguished from technical
education. There is therefore no clear understanding about training content and
the qualifications which students should achieve by the end. This is confirmed
by the fact that there is no national reference framework for employment and
qualifications.
r Vocational training is not only integrated into the education system in an in-
distinct manner, but there is an absence of mechanisms for planning budgets to
anticipate specific needs in terms of running costs and infrastructure expenditure.
r Apprenticeship training is currently too closely associated with preserving ex-
isting informal working techniques and situations, and there is insufficient real
apprenticeship focusing on anything other than the replication of knowledge and
skills.
It will be difficult to give the existing financial instruments a proper purpose without
first of all clearly identifying the aims of the system and the solutions it can develop
to respond both to the qualification requirements of modern companies and to the
development needs of the informal economy.
5 A Broad Typology in Which the Key Word is ‘Co-financing’
Having analysed the distinct characteristics of the various systems in each major
geographical area, it would now be useful to summarize the information as a whole,
by listing the type of financing used in each system for each different type of
training—Table 3. The major categories of activity financed are shown for each type
of financing source. This way of summarizing the information has the advantage of
making it possible to identify the major characteristics of the systems analysed and
thus to define a typology common to all of them.
This table demonstrates several points:
r Contrary to some lines of thought, it clearly demonstrates that measures are no
longer financed by one source. Co-financing has become current practice in the
area of vocational training.
r Individual financing is particularly used in the area of continuing vocational
training, especially in the European countries. The main reason for this is that
continuing training is useful for both the individual and the company, especially
when it focuses on competence development. This type of training is furthermore
close to the concept of lifelong learning, which the European countries believe
to be a shared responsibility of the different stakeholders.
r Public authorities are increasingly intervening in the area of continuing training
when it leads to recognized or vital qualifications. This practice says much about
policy changes in countries which consider higher skills levels among the whole
population to be a national priority and therefore in the general public interest. It
is furthermore totally in line with the Lisbon objectives, which have set similar
Table 3 Major categories of activity financed by particular financing sources
Financial mea- Public finance Company finance Individual finance Public/private Co-financing by
sures/instruments co-financing several stakeholders
Initial school-based Running costs and Traineeships Possible when Yes Yes
training investment training is carried
out in a private
centre
Initial training via Financing of training Costs of training in Frequent, even Yes Yes
apprenticeship in a centre companies though minimal
Wages of
apprentices
Post-school training Financing of the Costs of training in Possible in certain Yes Yes
centres companies countries
VII.3 Financing Mechanisms and Instruments
Financing of
individuals
(including training
accounts)
Continuing training Financing of Costs of training in Direct financing or Yes Yes
of employees strategic training or outside co-financing of
companies costs
Financing of training Wages Indirect financing by
leading to a training during
qualification their own time
Financing to provide Loss of wages while
incentives on training leave
(including training
accounts)
1067
1068 R. Walther
objectives and priorities for all European countries, with a view to making the
European Union the most competitive economy in the world by 2010.
More generally, co-financing practices reflect the declared intention, notably in

Spain and France, to integrate previously separate measures within single estab-
lishments. This trend can already be seen in the way financing partnerships have
evolved in recent years.
5.1 A Typology Based on Financing, Refinancing

and the Ultimate Payer
Rather than describing the situation in each country, Table 4 aims to provide details
about the modes of intervention of the three big funding sources (public authorities,
companies and individuals). Their nature depends upon whether or not they corre-
spond to the different measures identified and whether they take the form of direct
financing, indirect financing or refinancing. By setting things out in this way, it is
possible to go further than the superficial level of pre-financing, and to expand upon
the observation that co-financing is now the rule by specifying which sources of
co-financing are the ultimate payers of the various measures.
The study intentionally avoids using the notion of refinancing in terms of in-
come tax, in which case the ultimate payers would be companies and households
(Germany. Federal Ministry of Education and Research, 2003). It uses the notion
to permit analysis of the way the direct financing source for each of the different
measures is ultimately refinanced by other stakeholders who do not appear as visible
contributors per se.
This table allows us to make a certain number of observations clarifying the exact
role of each financing source for each measure:
r It clearly emerges that public authorities are the financing source and ultimate
payers of the main training measures (school-based initial training and training
of job seekers). Private centres exist, notably in the African countries, of which
some receive public subsidies and others function exclusively with their own
resources. However, the data on this subject is too vague or inconsistent for it to
be possible to reach conclusions invalidating the overall observation about the
role of the public authorities.
r Apprenticeship training has two main financing sources in all of the countries:
(a) companies for what is spent on training apprentices and paying their wages;
and (b) public authorities for what is spent on training them in a training centre
or vocational college. However, the country reports, especially those on France
and Germany, emphasize that there are two indirect forms of financing by com-
panies and public authorities: (a) tax reductions or exemptions and the recently
introduced scheme for taking apprentices on in public administration in Ger-
many; and (b) the recruitment grant and social security exemptions in France.
The result is that financing by companies is in reality considerably refinanced by
Table 4 The modes of intervention by public authorities, companies and individuals
Financial mea- Direct public Public Direct financing Indirect Direct financing Non-financial
sures/instruments subsidies (State refinancing by companies financing by by individuals participation by
or regions) through tax mutual funds individuals
credits or tax
exemptions
Initial In all cases, for For traineeships Is the case for In exceptional
school-based public part of the cases, in
training measures and ‘mutual’ certain private
private centres apprenticeship centres which
under contract levy and for are neither
funds which under contract
contribute to nor subsidized,
State budgets and in certain

certified
centres
Initial training For the ‘training For the Costs of training, Depending on Possible for By apprentices
via apprentice- centre’ share ‘in-company of apprentices’ the country, financing costs agreeing to
ship in most training’ share supervisors, the funds not covered by earn less than
countries in some wages and cover other financing they otherwise
countries trainee grants companies’ sources might do
costs or
provide extra
financing
Possible for the Individual grants
‘in-company
training’ share
Recruitment
grants
1069
1070
Table 4 (continued)
credits or tax
exemptions
Possible for Social security
trainee grants exemptions
Post-school For the For the Costs of training, Only if the Possible for By young people
training ‘centre-based ‘in-company of tutors and collection of financing costs on alternance
training’ share training’ share trainees’ levies covers not covered by training
in most of the in some grants the financing other financing agreeing to
countries countries of alternance sources earn less than
concerned training they otherwise
might do
Possible for the Social security Opening of
‘in-company exemptions individual
training’ share training
accounts
Individual
training
account
top-ups
Continuing As incentive In the form of tax For training to For companies For training that For training done
training of measures deductions in adapt to subject to the employees outside
employees some countries change and levy or making have decided working hours
training in the contributions to do
interest of the themselves
company
R. Walther
Table 4 (continued)
credits or tax
exemptions
As additional In the form of In addition to the
financing for interest company for
training payments on training agreed
leading to training on jointly
qualifications savings
accounts
Training of job For all of the For the company Some social Possible in the
seekers measures in all work security form of
of the placement, contribution top-ups, which
countries as which is being schemes are are often
far as the developed in managed by refinanced by

financing of the framework funds and then employment
training is of active used for agencies
concerned, and measures training the
in the form of unemployed
a contribution
to companies
participating
in job creation
schemes
In the form of a In the form of a
contribution to contribution to
unemployment unemployment
insurance, part insurance, part
of which is of which is
often used for often used for
job-entry job-entry
1071
training training
1072 R. Walther
the public authorities. Furthermore, bearing in mind that part of the apprentices’
work is beneficial to the company (something which is quantified in terms of
financial value in Germany), it can be said that the apprentices refinance part of
companies’ financing through their output.
r Post-school alternance training, which in the strict sense is a specifically Eu-
ropean phenomenon, benefits from direct public and private financing in Spain
and the United Kingdom and direct financing by companies and/or mutual funds
topped up by indirect financing from the State in France. By examining the range
of forms of financing in the various countries, it is possible to identify who is
ultimately responsible for two main types of measure: one is primarily managed
by public authorities; and the other is primarily managed by the social partners.
r Companies are the main source of continuing vocational training financing in
all countries. Employees’ contributions are made either in the form of a finan-
cial contribution or in kind (training outside working hours), depending on the
objectives of the training (future return in the interest of the company or the in-
dividual) and the decision-making process (training chosen by the employee, the
company, or in the framework of a collective bargaining agreement). The State
can in reality play a role in refinancing individual contributions when expenditure
by employees qualifies for tax deductions. As with apprenticeship, the State also
refinances companies insofar as they can deduct expenditure on training from
their profits or social security contributions.
r Public authorities are in all cases the main financing source for continuing vo-
cational training for job seekers. However, companies and employees are in-
creasingly contributing to unemployment insurance funds and special funds for
training job seekers, which finance job schemes entailing a significant amount of
training. The cost of job-entry training is therefore refinanced to a considerable
degree by contributions from employers and employees.
6 To Sum Up
By identifying financing practices that are present in all of the training systems, it
is possible to establish some typological criteria which can be used to shed light on
both the specific characteristics setting them apart and the structures and trends they
have in common.
These practices in reality provide parameters for understanding and analysing
the systems, and they make it possible to go beyond the superficial level of who
apparently does what, by providing an insight into the effective responsibilities and
real commitments of those who implement the various measures. This can be sum-
marized as follows:
r Vocational training financing processes in the various countries cannot be anal-

ysed solely on the basis of direct financing. There are also indirect forms
of financing and refinancing which make the established relationship between
sources and beneficiaries more complex. They can have a somewhat radical im-
pact on the way the organization of measures is usually considered.
r The practice of co-financing characterizes practically all of the measures in all
countries. This method seems to be in progression and tends to reflect the in-
creasingly shared perception that training is everybody’s affair. This perception
is at the heart of all studies and research on lifelong learning.
r Contrary to some preconceptions, the differences between private and public
measures do not seem to be exclusive. Some training courses in public centres
are co-financed by private funds, and there are private establishments co-financed
by public funds. The real dividing line between the two types of measure and
establishment can be seen more in terms of the types of training and qualifica-
tions offered than in the origin of funding. It is more likely that financing will
be private if the training provided by an establishment is outside the national
qualifications and certification framework.
The most frequent forms of financing are direct financing, refinancing through tax
exemptions and rebates, refinancing through the collection and mutualization of
funds and co-financing of individual initiative. Grants, training allowances and in-
dividual training accounts are notably used for the latter. It should be stressed that
training accounts were used in the United Kingdom until 2001 and continue to be
used in Sweden. There is currently a debate in the United Kingdom on how they can
be given a new start.
COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SYSTEMS
The practice of co-financing is used for all measures.

⇓
It is organized according to complex financing and refinancing processes.
⇓
The direct source of financing is not always the ultimate payer.
⇓
The identity of the ultimate payer determines the exact nature of the system.
SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SYSTEMS
The way financial instruments are used depends on the country’s particular culture.
⇓
They range from direct and/or indirect aid to incentive measures.
⇓
While the target groups financed are the same, the means of financing them differ.
⇓
The means differ according to whether the training initiative is a responsibility of the
State, the social partners or individuals.
Fig. 3 Common and specific characteristics of the systems

1074 R. Walther
In reality, the differences between such instruments depend on whether they are
used to implement a vision developed at the initiative of the State, the social part-
ners or individuals. This is something to be dealt with when it comes to developing
models for the types of system. These conclusions can be summarized as in Fig. 3.
References
Atchoarena, D. 1998. The alternatives for the financing of vocational training: the example of
emerging countries in Latin America. Thessaloniki, Greece: CEDEFOP. (Vocational training,
no. 13.)
European Commission, ed. 2000a. Continuing Vocational Training Survey (CVTS-2): Population
and social conditions. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Commu-
nities. (Eurostat Working Papers 3/2000/E/N◦ 17.)
European Commission. 2000b. A memorandum on lifelong learning. Brussels: Commission of the
European Communities. (SEC (2000) 1832.)
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ueDocs/cms Data/docs/pressData/en/ec/00100-r1.en0.htm>
Germany. Federal Ministry of Education and Research. 2003. Lifelong learning in Germany: fi-
nancing and innovation. Berlin: BMBF.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2000. Where are the resources for
lifelong learning? Paris: OECD. (Education and skills, 2000.)
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2003. Education at a glance: educa-
tion statistics and indicators, 2003. Paris: OECD.
Walther, R. 2005. Financing vocational training: a Europe-Africa comparison. Paris: AFD. (Notes
and documents, no. 13).
World Bank. 2004. World development indicators, 2004. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Chapter VII.4
Financing Training Through Payroll Levies1
Adrian Ziderman
1 Introduction
Earmarked levies on enterprise payrolls have emerged as the most widely adopted
funding mechanism for financing training, both in public training institutions (usu-
ally under the aegis of a national training authority) and in commercial enterprises.
Usually set at around 1% of total wages disbursements, training levies are central
to policies on the financing of training in many countries around the world, both
developing counties and industrialized economies. There are two major types of
training levy, reflecting the rather different objectives served. The more traditional,
revenue-generating schemes (often referred to as the Latin-American model, after
its origin in that region) are concerned with generating revenues to finance training
provided by the public sector. The newer, levy-grant schemes aim at encouraging
in-plant provision of training by firms themselves, through financial incentives that
are funded through the training levy. Given the centrality of payroll levies in training
finance, this chapter provides a presentation of the types, purposes, pros and cons
and efficacy of payroll levies and concludes with a discussion of practical issues of
implementation. Illustrations are provided from the working of payroll levy schemes
around the world, with particular attention to the lesser-known cases in African
countries.
2 Alternative Training Levy Schemes
We have noted the usual division of national payroll tax schemes into two distinct
groups, reflecting very different underlying objectives: revenue generation schemes
(where levy proceeds are used to finance training provided by public sector institu-
tions) and levy-grant schemes (aimed at encouraging training investment by firms
themselves). However, this traditional dichotomy is becoming somewhat outdated
as evolving levy schemes begin to take on a broader range of tasks, particularly
in the context of the development of national training funds and training authori-
ties. While many schemes, as we shall show, both finance public sector institutions
and offer incentives for enterprise training, this distinction, nevertheless, remains a

1076 A. Ziderman
useful analytical device. There are some cases of dual-objective, mixed schemes;
but for most schemes the main thrust remains in one of these two directions.
2.1 Payroll Levies: Revenue Generation
In levy schemes within this grouping, levy proceeds are used mainly to support
public sector training provision, provided either by the State or a national train-
ing authority; the emphasis is on initial training at formal public training institu-
tions. Such schemes are found typically in Latin America and Caribbean coun-
tries. Payroll levy schemes of this type may be seen as a mechanism for greater
funding diversification, lightening the burden of training funding falling on the
State. In addition to generating more funding for training, levies of this type
may offer a more stable form of funding than is forthcoming from government
allocations.
First introduced in Brazil in the early 1940s, payroll levies of this type are in
place in over a dozen countries in that region (Galhardi, 2002). This arrangement
has spread to other continents. For example, the payroll levy scheme supporting the
Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA) in Tanzania is of this type.
The bulk of funding goes towards the finance of VETA’s public training centres;
financial support is also provided for the national trades testing system.
Revenues from these levies have been employed to build up national training
systems, usually run by a quasi-autonomous national training authority which, at
its own training centres, provides a wide range of pre-employment and in-service
training courses for manual workers, office workers and managers.
2.2 Levy-Grant Schemes
Unlike revenue generation schemes aimed at financing training institutions mainly

in the public sector, levy-grant schemes focus on company in-service training. They
create incentives for a firm to invest more in the skills development of its workforce,
be it in the sphere of training on-the-job (setting up or extending and improving
existing company training) or by sending workers to train externally. The need for
government intervention, via the introduction of levy-grant arrangements, arises be-
cause of shortcomings in the amount and/or quality of enterprise training. Such
schemes are in place worldwide. They are to be found in industrial countries (such
as France and New Zealand), transitional economies (Hungary) and in developing
countries in Africa (Zimbabwe and South Africa) and Asia (Malaysia and Singa-
pore). While there are numerous variants, Gasskov’s three-fold classification of
various types of levy-grant schemes has been widely adopted and is presented here
(Gasskov, 1994). He distinguishes between schemes concerned with cost reimburse-
ment, cost redistribution (for which he employs the more general term ‘levy-grant’)
and levy-exemption.
VII.4 Financing Training Through Payroll Levies 1077
2.2.1 Cost Reimbursement

Under this type of levy-grant scheme, grants are made to firms who undertake cer-
tain designated forms of training (both on- and off-the-job) on a cost-incurred basis.
These training grants are financed by the revenues generated by the payroll levy.
The purpose of these levy schemes is often misunderstood, particularly among
employers. The scheme aims not at reimbursement of the levy as such, but rather
reimbursement of training expenditures incurred (to encourage firms to train more
or better). Thus, a training expenditure reimbursement ceiling is usually set, up to
a given percentage of the levy paid. Firms that train to acceptable standards will
receive back part of the levy paid as grants; non-training firms are penalized by loss
of the levy. The scheme could, in theory, provide for full reimbursement of the levy
contribution (particularly where a large number of firms do not train and claim).
In practice, reimbursement is set below the value of the levy paid, because of cen-
tral administration costs and, particularly when run by a national training authority,
where there are central expenditures, financed by the levy, on other training services.
The payroll levy serving the Nigerian Industrial Training Fund provides a veteran
example of a cost reimbursement scheme. In addition to running the reimbursement
scheme, the fund finances and operates a number of its own training centres and its
staff provides regular assistance to firms in identifying training needs and develop-
ing training plans (Gasskov, 1994). Because of these other calls on levy income,
plus the cost of supporting the fund’s large bureaucracy, firms generally can qualify
for cost reimbursements of not more than 60% of the levy paid; in practice, less than
15% of firms request training cost reimbursement.
2.2.2 Cost Redistribution

This variant differs from cost reimbursement in that it aims at redistributing the
burden of training expenditures amongst enterprises. Designed in particular to deal
with the ill-effects on training supply of the poaching of skilled workers by non-
training firms, the mechanism provides for a sharper redistribution of levy funds,
away from companies who do not train and towards those who do. Since the empha-
sis is on the redistribution of cost burdens, training companies may receive grants
far in excess of the amount of levy paid and thus providing strong incentives for
them to train. Such cost redistribution schemes act most strongly where the bulk of
levy proceeds is redistributed back to firms as grants and not used for other (albeit
training) purposes by the collection organization, be it the State or a national training
agency.
The classic example of this redistribution mechanism is the faulted system of in-
dustrial training board levies in the United Kingdom (UK). This levy-grant scheme,
introduced under the 1964 Industrial Training Act, was the most comprehensive
levy-grant scheme ever to be implemented. Some thirty industrial training boards
were established, each with statutory powers to exact a levy from firms within its
jurisdiction. In the largest of the boards, in the engineering industry, the training levy
was set at a rate (2.5% of payroll)—sufficiently high to result in total levy proceeds
1078 A. Ziderman
approximating total annual training investments by all firms in the industry. This
sum was then distributed back only to training firms according to particular formulae
designed to measure company training efforts. In this way, firms that did little or no
training would contribute towards the training costs of firms that trained substantial
numbers of workers. While adopted successfully in other countries (New Zealand
and Ireland), the UK scheme proved to be over-ambitious and unwieldy and was
dismantled within two decades. Ziderman (1978) provides a critical review of the
workings of the act.
2.2.3 Levy-Exemption
Arrangements for levy-exemption are usually part of broader cost reimbursement
schemes, whereby firms adequately meeting their training needs are allowed to
withdraw from the levy-grant system or at least to benefit from reduced levy as-
sessments in proportion to their recognized training investments. A major advan-
tage is that firms are freed from the bureaucratic fatigues of levy payment and
grant claims, and potential cash flow problems are avoided. This mechanism is
found more typically in certain industrialized economies rather than in developing
countries. Levy-exemption is present in the two payroll levies that fall on com-
panies in France (the training tax and the apprenticeship tax). The Côte d’Ivoire
scheme constitutes an example of levy exemption arrangements in a developing
country.
The Continuing Vocational Training (CVT) tax in Cote d’Ivoire is the main rev-
enue source for the national training fund (Fonds de développement de la formation
professionnelle). Under the CVT tax, firms are required to pay 1.2% of payroll (in
addition, there is an apprenticeship tax of 0.4% of payroll). Firms may receive
tax exemption of half their CVT tax obligations (0.6%) on submission, and fund
pre-approval, of a company training plan (including training within and outside the
firm), utilizing retained payroll tax obligations. There is an additional incentive el-
ement built into the CVT system. Firms have the possibility of retaining up to an
additional 50% of exempted payroll tax payments (0.9% of payroll instead of 0.6%).
To do so, they must submit and implement training plans for three years and justify
training expenditures beyond 1.6% of payroll; only a few firms avail themselves of
this possibility.
2.3 Mixed Schemes

The division between countries with revenue-raising schemes and those operating
disbursement schemes is analytically useful; yet, as with many institutional gener-
alizations, the distinction should not be pressed too far. Countries may seek dual
objectives from payroll levy schemes which, in practice, may incorporate elements
of both approaches.
The Mauritius scheme is an example of a dual-objective scheme. While about
half of levy proceeds traditionally have been assigned to support public training
institutions, some 25% has been reimbursed back to firms, a proportion that has
been rising more recently to about 40%.
In a number of Latin American countries, national training authorities (funded by
payroll levies) have broadened their traditional role as training providers to become
outward-oriented, encompassing the promotion and guidance of training activities
in outside enterprises. Colombia, Peru and Paraguay provide examples of this com-
plementary approach (Ducci, 1997).
Many levy-grant schemes contain elements of revenue generation. Nigeria
presents a clear case of dual objectives. The National Training Fund, established in
1971, is funded mainly by a 1% payroll levy, with additional financial support from
federal government budgets. While the central activity of the fund is the encourage-
ment of companies to invest in the skills development of their employees through
the offer of training grants, in 1979 it opened its own first vocational training centre.
Though operated on a very much smaller scale than its levy-grant activities, the fund
has continued to expand its direct training activities.
The levy-grant schemes in Kenya, the Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa all dis-
play elements of revenue generation activities. In both the Cote d’Ivoire and South
African levy-grant schemes, part of levy income is designated for the financing of
national training activities that are usually regarded as the concern of the govern-
ment. In Côte d’Ivoire, some 30% of CVT tax proceeds (net of tax obligations
retained by firms) have been assigned for financing training proposals submitted
by NGOs, local communities and informal sector groups. Levy funds assigned to
training for the informal sector have risen to some 20% of allocations. The cross-
subsidization of informal sector training by levy funds raised from formal sector
enterprises is unusual, but is matched by provisions in the levy-grant arrangements
in South Africa. In South Africa, 20% of the revenues from the skills development
levies on company payrolls are credited to the National Skills Fund for across-sector
strategic training initiatives and for the training of disadvantaged groups, activities
which are usually funded from central government budgets.
3 Rationale: The ‘Benefit Principle’
Neither public finance experts nor government treasury officials are enamoured of
earmarked taxes (for training or otherwise); it is argued that they constrain the free-
dom of public officials to re-allocate public revenues on an annual, ad hoc basis
according to current priorities. And many companies, claiming to see little benefit
coming their way from a payroll levy scheme, point to the levy as constituting ‘just
another tax’.
There is now a sizeable literature (beyond the scope of this chapter) that attempts
to identify the essential nature of payroll levies and to seek a theoretical justifi-
cation for their imposition. One rationale for payroll levies, which has been fairly
widely quoted—though not necessarily accepted—sees payroll taxation as a form of
‘reverse social security’ (Whalley & Ziderman, 1990). Based mainly on empirical
literature from industrialized countries, it is argued that at least part of the incidence
1080 A. Ziderman
of a payroll levy is shifted onto workers in the form of lower wages. It is in this
sense that a payroll levy scheme, earmarked for training, may be regarded as equiv-
alent to a reverse social security scheme: the worker receives benefits in the form of
training on entry into the labour market (or during the early years) and contributions
are made subsequently over the working life. The relevance of this approach, even
if broadly accepted, will depend on how far individual tax ‘payments’ match the
training benefits received. This, in turn, will depend on how equitably training op-
portunities are spread amongst workers, which, of course, will differ from country
case to case.
At a more pragmatic level, there probably would be wide agreement on the
following proposition. Most payroll levy schemes, whether revenue generating or
levy-grant, are largely used to finance training that is relevant (directly or indirectly)
to the needs of the companies that pay the levy. In levy-grant schemes, enterprises
may claim back part of training costs incurred, while in countries where enter-
prise training is weak or undeveloped, levies are used to finance public training
institutions that provide skills for the formal sector. In this sense, training levy
schemes may be regarded loosely as examples of benefit taxation, where tax-paying
individuals or institutions are major beneficiaries of the uses to which the taxes
are put.
Perhaps the most quoted, non-training-related, argument against the imposition
of payroll levies is that, in raising the price of labour, they lead to a substitution
encouraging more capital-using production methods and to lower employment. It
is unlikely that this argument bears any weight in practice. Even where there is
no tax shifting onto workers in terms of lower relative wages, a small addition to
labour costs (usually only of 1%) is highly unlikely to affect wage employment
significantly, except on the margins.
4 Coverage
Coverage of payroll levy schemes varies considerable from country to country, both
in terms of the size of firm included in the scheme and of sectoral coverage.
Most schemes define eligibility in terms of firm size, usually exempting small
firms. While the Nigerian scheme includes enterprises with twenty-five workers or
more, and those with ten or more workers in Colombia, most schemes are more
comprehensive in coverage. Those in Kenya and Tanzania exclude all employers
with three or less workers, and firms with less than five workers are exempted in
Honduras, Peru and Venezuela. All enterprises are covered in the Mauritius and
South African schemes. In Costa Rica and Honduras, exemption may be claimed on
the basis of capital assets.
The efficacy of such broad coverage in many developing country schemes is
questionable. In practice, the bulk of revenue is collected from the minority of
large and medium-sized firms. The relatively large number of micro-enterprises,
the blurred definition of the informal sector and the difficulties of small-firm iden-
tification, registration and levy collection, all combine to result in considerable
non-compliance in many countries. Legislation provides for fines and/or impris-

onment for non-payment in most countries; but these measures are either generally
not employed (as was the case in Tanzania until the reversal in policy in this re-
gard, introduced in 2001) or not applied to very small firms. The reason is clear: in
very many cases it is simply not cost-effective to follow up on small firms through
litigation or even through dispatching inspector/collectors. But considerable non-
compliance brings the law (and the levy scheme) into disrepute and beams negative
signals to complying firms regarding continuing levy payment. A strong case can be
made out for raising the minimum firm size for inclusion in payroll levy schemes in
developing countries with large informal sectors.
In many schemes small firms are excluded both because inclusion would not be
practical (in terms of levy collection), but also because it may not be justified, par-
ticularly in the case of levy-grant schemes. The administrative costs of applying for
grants may be disproportionally high for small firms. Moreover, the training needs
of very small firms differ from those of larger firms, in terms both of expenditures
(in relation to operating costs) and type of training; much of the training for which
rebates may be obtained in many schemes is not very relevant to very small firms.
Increasingly, financing schemes are being put in place in various developing coun-
tries (Kenya and Ghana, for example) to deal with the needs of micro-enterprises
and informal sector firms; but these tend to be based on subsidy (usually from gov-
ernment and donors) rather than on levy-grant approaches.
Countries differ in the sectors covered by the levy. Agriculture is usually ex-
cluded and most schemes exempt the public sector (Mauritius and Tanzania, for
example), which results in a cross-subsidization of training for public sector em-
ployees by the private sector, to the extent that levies finance public training in-
stitutions. In some countries (such as in Colombia and Honduras), the government
sector is included but levied at a lower rate. In South Africa, central and provin-
cial government remains outside the purview of the training levy legislation, but
government departments are required to budget 1% of personnel costs for skills
development.
Given the extent of sectoral coverage, some countries operate a number of
sectoral-based schemes, rather than a unified national scheme. The leading example
was the former industrial training board system operating in the UK. Sector-based
schemes have met with varying levels of success and, clearly, their main advantage is
that they offer a means of tailoring the levy format to the specific characteristics and
needs of the sector in question. The disadvantage of sectoral levies is their narrow
focus obviating an integrated, national approach to the finance and planning of skills
development. Most countries have opted for standard, national-level levy schemes.
5 Avoiding the Misuse of Payroll Levy Revenues

Payroll levies have been a stable form of funding for training in many countries
and have brought additional funding to the public sector. However, there are a small
1082 A. Ziderman
number of notable cases where the payroll levy system has not resulted in more
training because levy proceeds have been dissipated into general government rev-
enues. This is the case in Gabon, Togo and, for a period, in Côte d’Ivoire, leading to
a collapse of the respective training funds that they financed.
Payroll levies may constitute an over-sheltered source of funding leading to un-
spent surpluses (Dougherty & Tan, 1991). The Zimbabwe scheme has resulted in
income generation far in excess of cost reimbursement demands, leading to ques-
tionable forays into fields very loosely related to the objectives of the scheme.
Surpluses generated by the scheme in Mauritius have led to a drastic cutting of
complementary government funding for the training fund. The initial levy rate may
be set too high, especially in the case of cost reimbursement schemes or a rate that
may have been appropriate at one time is not revised downwards as financing needs
modification. In Nigeria the levy rate, initially set at 3% in 1971, was reduced subse-
quently to the current rate of 1% four years later. Surpluses may lead to inefficiencies
and top-heavy bureaucracies; alternatively they may lead to the use of payroll tax
revenues for purposes other than training. Herein lies the role of strong controlling
boards, representing the major stakeholder interests, to monitor the system and to
ensure that abuse does not ensue.
The root of the problem, however, arises from the arbitrary way in which levy
rates are fixed and in the inflexibilities of the system (with the tax rate often en-
shrined in the legislation setting up the scheme). In the initial stages of setting up
a scheme, only too frequently the levy rate is fixed arbitrarily. Often, the pragmatic
approach adopted is to ask how much the system (i.e. employers) will bear and to
emulate current rates in other countries, rather than to estimate revenue needs (which
may change in the future), from which an initial tax rate is derived. This highlights
the basic dilemma: how may a payroll tax system be fashioned to be flexible enough
to respond to changing expenditure needs (and avoid surpluses), without foregoing
the benefit of stable funding? It would be advisable to include within the enabling
legislation a requirement to review the levy rate periodically (say every four to five
years), but to guarantee a stable levy rate between revision dates.
6 Enhancing Enterprise Training

Payroll levies have been a useful device in offering incentives for the develop-
ment and strengthening of enterprise training. Training grants (financed from pay-
roll levies) are employed in many countries to counter a tendency for firms to
under-train. In these cases, direct training subsidies are provided as part of a
levy-grant system. Two alternatives are available in the form of the direct sub-
sidy to enterprise training by the government or of indirect subsidies offered
through concessions on company tax obligations for firms that train. In this section
we compare these three forms of incentives for enhancing company training and
consider how far they may be successful in improving the training outcomes of
enterprises.
6.1 Direct Subsidies: Government Grants Versus

Levy-Grants
Some countries offer direct subsidies (out of public funds) to encourage company
training; in what ways does this differ from cost reimbursement, as part of a levy-
grant scheme? With a government subsidy scheme, incentives may be indirect and
insufficiently focused, failing to catch the attention of senior management. Perhaps
too much reliance is placed on the initiative of the individual firms involved—in
knowing that the subsidy scheme exists and that the firm is eligible for subsidy and
in overcoming company lethargy in committing themselves to the burdensome pro-
cess of involvement in the scheme. But in the case of levy-grant schemes, ‘involve-
ment’ is assured automatically by the compulsory payment of the levy; anecdotal
evidence suggests that senior company finance officers may tend to exert pressure
on the training function to ensure that ‘we get back the levy’, through appropriate
training provision.
Moreover, there are likely to be positive longer-term effects from a regime of
levy-grants. The experience of the former UK industrial training levy-grant system
was that, in time, the process did exert the beneficial effect of increasing training
consciousness in the firm; the training function, as a generator of income, moves
more towards centre stage in the firm’s operations. Finally, we shall argue that one
advantage of a well-developed levy-grant scheme over direct government subsidies
is that the former is better positioned to adopt a structured, comprehensive approach
to training, rather than a more ad hoc one. The central lacuna in training under-
provision is not only that the amount of training provided is too low, but also that it
is often piecemeal and not sufficiently well integrated.
6.2 Indirect Subsidies: Company Tax Concessions
In most countries, training expenses incurred by companies are tax deductible. The
tax treatment of training expenditures (a form of human capital investment) is typ-
ically more favourable than that of machinery and equipment (Dougherty & Tan,
1991). Training expenses are tax deductible immediately, whereas physical assets
are tax deductible only in instalments, over a number of years, through depreciation
allowances. However, a training incentive may be given in the form of further tax
concessions for company training expenditures, in addition to the usual deduction of
training expenses for tax purposes: we refer to these as ‘company tax concessions’.
The generally successful and extant scheme in Chile is often quoted as an ex-
ample of the use of company tax credits as an incentive device for enterprise train-
ing. However, there are a number of (lesser-known) examples; generally, they have
proved to be unsuccessful.
Brazil and South Africa constitute two notable instances of failed and phased-out
tax concession schemes. The South African scheme, established under legislation in
the 1970s, allowed for the deduction of 200% of training expenditures (reduced to
1084 A. Ziderman
150% in 1984), thus effectively reducing training costs of profitable firms by half (at
a corporation tax rate of 50%). The scheme was faulted by ‘gross abuse’ of the con-
cession by employers and difficulties in policing claims. Moreover, employer uptake
was very low; well under 1% of firms in the country claimed these tax concessions
for in-service training.
The Mauritius scheme is unusual in that it operates in tandem with a levy-grant
scheme. The presence of two schemes together is not unique—Brazil, for example,
also operated both schemes in parallel. What is unusual is the close integration of
the two schemes. Overall, the administrative and supervisory costs of the scheme
are unnecessarily high. There has been conflict over the interpretation of the rules
governing the interrelationship of the two schemes and, as a consequence, the reim-
bursement element of the levy-grant scheme has remained small.
The major problems with tax concession schemes are simply stated. A pre-
requisite for the introduction of the scheme is a well-developed and broadly-based
system of corporate taxation—something not usually present in many developing
countries. Firms with low profits and perhaps poor training capacity do not bene-
fit and are not encouraged to train. Tax concession schemes only offer benefits to
stronger, profitable firms. And unlike levy-grant schemes, it is the government that
bears the cost of these schemes in the form of lost tax revenues. In this sense, these
arrangements are akin to direct training subsidies by the government and may be
regarded as representing ‘subsidies in disguise’.
6.3 Encouraging Enterprise Training:

Strengths and Weaknesses
While sharing some common weaknesses, the three mechanisms are not equally
efficacious. Table 1 lists some of the major weaknesses and—if any—notable ad-
vantages of each approach. A major advantage of levy-grant systems is that they
do not draw on public funds, a point of some importance in times of parsimonious
government budgets. In addition (as discussed above), they can lead to more sys-
tematic, structured enterprise training (although they are often not designed to do
so). The disadvantages of tax concession schemes militate against their adoption in
other than a very few countries.
7 What Forms of Training Should a Levy-Grant

Scheme Support?
7.1 Training Off- or On-the-Job?
Enterprise training can take on many forms. Training may be provided in the form of
apprenticeship (often divided between training on-the-job and attendance at courses
Table 1 Mechanisms for encouraging enterprise training: strengths and weaknesses

Mechanism Notable strengths Weaknesses
Costs do not fall on public
budgets—they are met by
enterprises (or, with
incidence shifting, by
Levy-grant systems workers).
Can facilitate a more
systematic, structured
approach to enterprise
training.
Cost burden falls on public
General training subsidies budgets (increased
expenditures).
Requires a well-developed
and broadly-based
system of corporate
taxation.
Cost burden of the scheme
falls largely on public
budgets (reduced tax
Company tax concessions revenues).
Responsiveness of firms is
low in those economies
where few firms earn
sufficient profits to
benefit from the tax
exemptions.
Source: Ziderman, 2003.
provided at an outside training institution). It may take place wholly on-the-job as

initial or continuing formal training, or training may be less formal and ad hoc,
though not necessarily less important to the skills development of the firm. It may
be provided off-the-job, in the form of formal courses, for workers, management or
professionals at specialized training institutions. There is a dilemma here. It may
be important to encourage certain forms of on-the-job training, but these may be
expensive to monitor for quality and abuse may be difficult to detect. Other forms
of training, such as those for professional qualification at recognized external insti-
tutions, may more readily be subject to surveillance but are not always of highest
priority for the firm. This may explain the focus of a number of levy-grant schemes.
Apart from apprenticeship training, which is largely in decline, most training that is
recognized for cost reimbursement in the Zimbabwe scheme is training for upgrad-
ing or professional qualifications at external institutions. More hands-on, practical
training does not receive sizeable support. Similar considerations seem to apply to
the Kenyan scheme.
1086 A. Ziderman
7.2 Systems Approach Versus Piecemeal Reimbursement
A related issue is the breadth of the overall programme of training supported by a

levy-grant scheme within a firm and its sustainability over the longer term. We may
recognize two contrasting approaches here. One—we may label this as the ‘external
approach’—is typified in the Zimbabwe scheme. Here, a detailed list is produced
of approved forms of training and courses that are eligible for rebates; firms are
then invited to apply for cost reimbursement for those forms of (mainly external)
training they have sponsored and which match items on the approved list. But this
approach, while offering rebates to firms for certain forms of training and probably
encouraging firms to train more (in designated eligible areas) is unlikely to have
more than a limited, short-term impact on skills development in the firm and may
indeed distort the balance of forms of training provision within the enterprise. This
is because it gives recognition, and financial support, to more standard forms of
training—usually provided externally to the firm—that are more readily recognized
and easily monitored (and thus countering potential financial abuse) rather than sup-
porting more needed forms of training, varying across firms and often less formal
or standardized, which is lacking in individual enterprises.
An alternative, ‘systems’ approach takes a broader view. In Côte d’Ivoire, levy
exemption and cost reimbursement are contingent on the preparation, and approval
by the fund, of a company training plan. In the Nigerian case, grant payment is
conditional on the firm adopting a systematic approach to training based on given
criteria. Thus, firms are encouraged to begin to think systematically through prepar-
ing a training programme, defined in terms of their real skill needs, rather than
applying for rebates on a purely ad hoc, short-term basis. This more progressive
approach has also been adopted within the framework of new funding arrangements
put in place in recent years in South Africa.
8 Payroll Levies: A Balance Sheet of Advantages and Limitations
Payroll taxes, usually levied as a percentage of company payrolls, are now estab-
lished throughout the world as the most pervasive mechanism employed for funding
training systems. In this policy-oriented section, we draw up a balance sheet, setting
out the strengths and advantages of training levies against their possible dangers and
limitations (Table 2). This listing is then followed by a discussion of key issues in
training levy design and implementation that may be crucial factors in augmenting
the benefits to be secured from training levies, while limiting—if not eliminating—
some of their weaknesses.
9 Issues in Levy Scheme Design
Table 3 summarizes a number of crucial issues in payroll levy scheme design and
implementation that have been raised in this chapter. They are discussed more fully
Table 2 Payroll levies: advantages and limitations

Advantages Limitations
Diversifies the revenue base for financing Given their particular training needs,
training by mobilizing additional many firms, particularly small ones, do
revenues. not benefit from the scheme; this breeds
resentment, opposition and
compromises the status of training
levies as ‘benefit taxation’.
Can provide a stable and protected source Earmarked taxation does not conform
of funding for national training well with the principles of sound public
provision; this is particularly important finance and weakens attempts to unify
in the context of national budgetary the national tax system.
instability.
Where forming part of a levy-grant Under fiscal pressure, the government
system, can encourage firms to may incorporate training levy proceeds
intensify their training efforts, increase into general public tax revenues.
training capacity and raise training
quality.
A strong case can be made for viewing Levy proceeds may be diverted to
earmarked payroll levies as ‘benefit non-training uses.
taxation’.
Training levies collected from formal Payroll levies may constitute an
sector employers can serve as a vehicle over-sheltered source of funding,
for cross-subsidization of training, leading to unspent surpluses,
especially from the formal to the inefficiencies and top-heavy
informal sector. bureaucracies.
Payroll levies raise the cost of labour to
the employer, possibly discouraging
employment.
Employers may shift the incidence of the
levy on to workers in the form of
lowered wages; in this case, workers
and not the employers bear the burden
of the tax.
in Ziderman (2003). Failure to pay due attention to these issues is likely to compro-
mise the prospects for successful operation of a payroll levy scheme.
In over forty countries worldwide, levies on the payrolls of companies have become
a principle source for financing skills training in specialized training institutions
(often under the aegis of a national training authority) and for encouraging enter-
prise training without calling upon public funds. An attraction of these levies is
that they form a sheltered source of funding for training, as well as more generally
1088 A. Ziderman
Table 3 Issues in levy scheme design and implementation

Issue Commentary
Levy rate Levy rates to be subject by law to periodic review to avoid
accumulation of surpluses.
National or sectoral Levies, where feasible, should vary across sector and industry
levy rates to reflect the differing skill composition of the labour force
and training needs.
Sectoral coverage Levy coverage should be as wide as possible across economic
sectors and to include public enterprises, NGOs, etc.
Company size Very small firms should be exempt from levy payment, on both
efficiency and equity grounds.
Levy collection Levy collection should be placed in the hands of effective
agents; self-collection by funding organization to be avoided.
Security of levy Special attention should be given to guarding levy revenues
proceeds from raiding by the government (especially where tax
authorities act as the collection agent), by placing in special,
closed accounts.
Employers buy-in Employers should be involved in payroll levy policy formation
and execution.
Avoidance of Payroll levies may be inappropriate where levy-income
premature generating capacity is weak - either because of the limited
introduction of size of the formal sector or administrative/organizational
payroll levies difficulties of levy collection.
offering a means of mobilizing funds otherwise inaccessible to the public sector.

While there is a general predisposition to regard earmarked taxes as unnecessarily
constraining on governments, payroll levies can act as an insulator against economic
uncertainty and budgetary parsimony in situations where it is societally desirable to
take a longer-term view. The provision of skills to meet the needs of economic
growth and technological change may constitute a case in point. Be that as it may,
this method of training finance has emerged as the most widely adopted alternative
to government budgetary allocations.
Note
1. This chapter draws heavily on earlier papers written by the author, particularly: Whalley &
Ziderman, 1990; Ziderman, 1994; and Ziderman, 2003.
References
Dougherty, C.; Tan, J.P. 1991. Financing training: issues and options. Washington, DC: World
Bank. (Population and Human Resources Department working paper series, no. 716.)
Ducci, M.A. 1997. New challenges to vocational training authorities: lessons from the Latin Amer-
ican experience. International journal of manpower, vol. 18, nos. 1–2.
Galhardi, R.M.A.A. 2002. Financing training: innovative approaches in Latin America. Geneva,
Switzerland: ILO. (Skills working paper, no. 12.)
Gasskov, V., ed. 1994. Alternative schemes of financing training. Geneva, Switzerland: ILO.
Whalley, J.; Ziderman, A. 1990. Financing training in developing countries: the role of payroll
taxes. Economics of education review, vol. 9, no. 4.
Ziderman, A. 1978. Manpower training: theory and policy. London: Macmillan.
Ziderman, A. 1994. Payroll levies for training. In: Husen, T.; Postlethwaite, T.N., eds. The inter-
national encyclopedia of education, 2nd ed., vol. 8. Oxford, UK: Pergamon.
Ziderman, A. 2003. Financing vocational training in Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington, DC:
World Bank.
Chapter VII.5
Financing Vocational Education and Training
in South Africa
1 Introduction
Participation in education in South Africa is high. In 2004, around one-third of all

South Africans were enrolled in some form of educational institution on a full-time
basis. However, only around 2% of those enrolled were enrolled in an institution
other than a school or a tertiary institution (Statistics South Africa, 2005). This is
to some extent the concern of this chapter. Poor quality in education and training is
perceived as a problem. The starkest manifestation of this in recent years is probably
the very poor performance of South Africa in the international Trends in Interna-
tional Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) tests in 2003. Skills shortages exist
in a variety of fields, but are particularly acute in the engineering, computer-related,
education and nursing fields. At the same time, the unemployment rate amongst the
unskilled is particularly high. The official unemployment rate for 2005 was 27%.
High unemployment rates have been a feature of the South African economy since
at least the 1970s.
Since the advent of democracy in 1994, various indicators have improved. Cer-
tain improvements can only be expected to have a wider impact in the medium
to long term. On the education supply side, total public spending on education and
training has risen in real terms, though as a proportion of GDP it has dropped. Public
expenditure on each African school pupil doubled in real terms between 1994 and
2005. The post-apartheid period has seen the emergence of an entirely new set of
institutions, policies and quality interventions, all explicitly geared towards undo-
ing the apartheid human resources legacy. Those relating to pre-tertiary vocational
education and training are discussed below. On the labour demand side, a set of
employment equity rules has been established to counteract the racial and gender
discrimination entrenched over many years in the South African workplace. Eco-
nomic growth, 4.5% in 2004, is higher than it has been for twenty years. Whilst the
growth experienced is arguably not of the jobless growth variety, a parallel growth
in the demand for jobs means that a decisive and satisfactory decline in the unem-
ployment rate has not been realised yet.
The spending breakdown for education and training is shown in Table 1 for 2005.
This chapter deals with South Africa’s spending policies in relation to the two
lines in Table 1 that deal with vocational education and training at (mainly) the

1092 M. Gustafsson, P. Pillay
Table 1 Public spending on education and training, 2005

Education and training sub-sector Millions of rand % of GDP
National education expenditure
Administration and governance 539 0.04%
Tertiary education 10,810 0.71%
Provincial educational expenditure
Administration and governance 4,841 0.32%
Early childhood development + Grade R 511 0.03%
Schools (Grades 1 to 12) 60,984 3.99%
FET colleges 1,572 0.10%
Adult basic education and training 620 0.04%
National Skills Fund and SETA expenditure
Skills development 5,000 0.33%
Grand total 84,875 5.55%
Sources: Government budget documents.
pre-tertiary level: ‘Skills development’ and ‘FET colleges’. A first section deals with
skills development, and a second one with further education and training (FET) col-
leges. Within the two parts, and in the conclusion, actual and potential links between
the two sectors are described.
2 Financing the National Skills Development Strategy
2.1 Rationale and Legislation

The National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) introduced by the Government
of South Africa in 2001 is funded through an employee payroll tax. The rationale
for the introduction of such a levy to fund training of the employed and unemployed
was two-fold. First, the new democratic government of 1994 inherited an education
and training system characterized, inter alia, by a chronic shortage of the skills
necessary for stimulating economic growth and reducing unemployment. Second,
and related to the above, the private business sector of the apartheid era seriously
under-invested in work-place training initiatives, mainly because of an undue em-
phasis on short-term profits and a tendency to see training as a cost rather than as
an investment. For these reasons the post-apartheid government was compelled to
develop and implement a tax-funded skills development strategy which was met at
its commencement by a high level of hostility by the private business sector.
The NSDS was intended to ‘radically transform education and training in South
Africa by improving both the quality and quantity of training to support increased
competitiveness of industry and improved quality of life for all South Africans’
(RSA. DoL, 2004).
The first NSDS (NSDS-I) was launched in February 2001 with targets to be
achieved by March 2005. The strategy was underpinned by the Skills Development
Act (SDA) of 1998 and the Skills Development Levies Act (SDLA) of 1999 (RSA.
DoL, 1998; RSA. DoL, 1999). This legislation provided the basis for the skills de-
velopment system, which was aimed at addressing the structural problems of the
labour market inherited from the past, and at transforming the South African labour
market ‘from one with a low skills base to one characterized by rising skills and a
commitment to lifelong learning’ (RSA. DoL, 2001).
The five objectives of the NSDS were:
r Developing a culture of high-quality lifelong learning;

r Fostering skills development in the formal economy for productivity and
employment growth;
r Stimulating and supporting skills development in small businesses;
r Promoting skills development for employability and sustainable livelihoods through
social development initiatives; and
r Assisting new entrants into employment (RSA. DoL, 2001).
Twelve success indicators and three equity targets were associated with these
objectives.
2.2 Institutional Mechanisms: The National Skills

Fund and the SETAs
The implementation of the NSDS is the responsibility of the National Skills Fund
(NSF) and the sector education and training authorities (SETAs).
The NSF is managed by the Department of Labour (DoL). It is funded through
receiving a portion of the levies paid by employers. All employers are required
by the SDLA to pay 1% of their payroll to the South African Revenue Service.
From this levy, 80% is transferred directly to the SETA in which the employer is
registered. The remaining 20% is transferred to the NSF.
The NSF was created to provide funding to address issues of national impor-
tance including job creation, small business development and special assistance to
women, youth and rural people and people with disabilities. The DoL’s provincial
offices, labour centres and SETAs, as well as other disbursing agencies, are allocated
funding from the NSF for specific projects that meet the objectives of the NSF.
Twenty-five SETAs were established under the SDLA in March 2000. They are
responsible for developing sector skills plans, approving, registering and promoting
learnerships, quality assuring training and administering levies and grants. As stated
above, they are funded through the 1% levy paid by employers, of which they re-
ceive 80% (10% of which is spent on administration). SETAs disburse mandatory
grants on the receipt of workplace skills plans (WSPs) and implementation reports
from employers. In addition, they disburse ‘discretionary grants’ for projects that
address specific sectoral needs identified in their sector skills plans.
2.3 NSDS-I: Achievements and Challenges
In its assessment in 2004, the DoL claimed to have met or exceeded the following
targets:
r 15% of workers should have embarked on a structured learning programme, of
whom at least 50% have completed their programme satisfactorily—this target
had been exceeded by over 100%;
r 40% of enterprises employing between 50 and 150 workers should be receiving
skills development grants and the contributions towards productivity and em-
ployer and worker benefits should be measured. In 2004, 53% of these enter-
prises were receiving skills development grants;
r 20% of small businesses should have been supported in skills development
initiatives—in 2004, this figure had reached 37%.
Substantial progress had also been made in meeting the following targets and they
were likely to be met in the next financial year (2005/2006):
r 70% of workers achieving a level 1 qualification; and
r A minimum of 80,000 people under the age of 30 in learnerships (2004
achievement—69,306).
However, while there had been some improvements in the equity targets, the DoL
acknowledged that it was still short of meeting some of them, especially the disabil-
ity targets.
The following findings were reached by a study commissioned by the DoL to
investigate the impact of the NSDS on skills training (Peterson, McGrath & Badroo-
nian, 2003):
r There is general satisfaction about the number of firms that are claiming their
grants.
r A larger percentage of firms with low training rates did not claim grants; the im-
plication being that firms which claimed grants were more likely to have higher
training rates.
r The pattern of grants claims among SETAs was extremely variable, ranging from
78% in the financial services sector and 72% in the banking sector, to 27% in the
health and welfare, 23% in the chemicals and 20% in the education sectors. These
differences could be ascribed, inter alia, to a number of factors, such as the size
of the sector, the number of small firms in the sector, the level of organization of
the sector and the past history of training in the sector.
r This large variance may also be ascribed to differences in the capacity of the
SETAs themselves to administer and support the levy-grant system.
r Statistical analysis showed that a significantly larger proportion of firms that had
WSPs also claimed grants.
r Firms that claimed to have developed WSPs exceeded the number of firms that
reported claims grants. The proportion of firms that claimed to have a WSP was
10% higher than the proportion of firms that actually claimed grants.
r 63% of firms reported being registered with a SETA: 95% of large firms; 56% of
small firms; 9% of firms were not sure of their registration status.
A study commissioned by the DoL to investigate skills development in the public

sector identified the following challenges:
r Critical skills needs are not being adequately addressed in the areas of financial
management, computer skills, project management, human resources manage-
ment, customer care, communication skills and adult basic education and train-
ing.
r Low exposure of management to key skills, such as financial management and
computer skills.
r Slow progress on the implementation of learnerships.
r Insufficient expertise in the collection of skills development information and re-
porting on training.
r Low attention paid to quality assurance of training.
r Low proportion of training staff to government workers.
2.4 NSDS-II
In response to the challenges arising from the implementation of NSDS-I, the gov-
ernment introduced NSDS-II in March 2005. According to the DoL:
[The] NSDS 2005–2010 spells out the national priority areas to which the projected over
R21.9 billion income from the skills development levy will be allocated over the next five
years. It provides the aggregate performance indicators of the skills development system
that will be used as a basis to formulate performance indicators through legally binding
Service Level Agreements with the SETAs and projects funded under the NSF (RSA. DoL,
2005).
The five objectives of NSDS-II are:

r Objective 1: Prioritizing and communicating critical skills for sustainable growth,
development and equity.
r Objective 2: Promoting and accelerating quality training for all in the workplace.
r Objective 3: Promoting employability and sustainable livelihoods through skills
development.
r Objective 4: Assisting designated groups, including new entrants, to participate
in accredited work, integrating learning and work-based programmes to acquire
critical skills to enter the labour market and self-employment.
r Objective 5: Improving the quality and relevance of provision.
NSDS-II sets out ambitious targets to be achieved by March 2010, including the
following:
r At least 80% of large firms and at least 60% of medium-sized firms’ employment
equity targets to be supported by skills development.
r At least 40% of small levy-paying firms must be supported by skills develop-

ment, and the impact measured.
r At least 80% of government departments must spend at least 1% of their person-
nel budget on training, with the impact of training on service delivery measured
and reported.
r At least 500 enterprises must achieve a national standard of good practice in
skills development approved by the Minister of Labour.
r The number of small Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) firms and co-
operatives supported by skills development is to increase each year. Progress
is to be measured through an annual survey of BEE firms and BEE co-operatives
within the sector from the second year onwards.
r There must be an annually increasing number of people who benefit from in-
centivized training for employment or re-employment in new investments and
expansion initiatives. Training equity targets are to be achieved. Of the number
trained, 100% are to be South African citizens.
r At least 700,000 workers must have achieved at least Adult Basic Education and
Training (ABET) Level 4.
r At least 450,000 unemployed people should be trained. Of those trained, at least
70% should be placed in employment, self-employment or social development
programmes or engaged in further studies.
r At least 2,000 non-levying enterprises, non-governmental organizations and
community-based organizations or co-operatives are to be supported by skills
development, with a targeted success rate.
r At least 100,000 unemployed people are to have participated in ABET pro-
grammes, of which at least 70% are to have achieved ABET Level 4.
r At least 125,000 unemployed people should have been assisted to enter pro-
grammes, and at least 50% should have been successfully completed, including
learnerships and apprenticeships, leading to basic entry, intermediate and high-
level skills.
r 100% of learners in critical skills programmes must be covered by sector agree-
ments with further and higher-education institutions and gain experience locally
or abroad, of whom at least 70% are to find placement in employment or self-
employment.
r At least 10,000 young people must be trained and mentored to form sustainable
new ventures, with a minimum of at least 70% of new ventures still in operation
twelve months later.
r Each SETA is to recognize and support at least five institutes of sectoral or
occupational excellence within public or private institutions and through pub-
lic/private partnerships where appropriate, spread as widely as possible geo-
graphically, for the development of people to attain identified critical skills,
whose excellence is measured in the number of learners successfully placed in
the sector and in employers’ satisfaction ratings of their training.
NSDS-II introduced radical changes to the way that the nearly R22 billion income
from the skills development levy would be allocated. The biggest single change is
in the way grants are paid out. In the past, companies were repaid 15% of their
skills levy for submitting their workplace skills plan and 45% for submitting an im-
plementation report, and 10% was available in discretionary grants for learnerships
and research projects.
Under the new skills strategy, 50% will be repaid in mandatory grants—based on
new, tougher criteria—while 20% is available in discretionary grants. The manda-
tory grant mechanism is now more closely linked to companies’ compliance with
employment equity and broad-based Black economic empowerment targets, as op-
posed to merely lodging their reports. The emphasis is now on rewarding imple-
mentation of plans.
The strategy makes it clear that SETAs are required to ensure through the manda-
tory grant mechanism that companies have effectively implemented employment
equity. Companies will not get back the 50% of their skills levy if they have
not implemented employment equity. To receive their mandatory grant, compa-
nies are expected to satisfy three criteria: 85% of people who benefited from
their workplace skills plan must be Black; 54% must be women; and 4% must be
disabled.
Because the DoL does not have the capacity or business network to implement
employment equity, it has made the SETAs its tool for compliance. Another shift in
the strategy is a greater emphasis on scarce and critical skills in learnerships, and
hence the greater proportion of the levy devoted to discretionary grants.
The new strategy now also prescribes who SETAs can accredit to offer training
and development. The change proposes greater co-operation between private service
providers and public training institutions—for instance the public FET colleges.
2.5 Conclusion: Assessing the Pay-Roll Tax-Funded NSDS

Much attention over the past five years has focused on the problems faced by SETAs
and their inability to disburse funds, cumbersome bureaucracies, failure to reach
targets, the slow pace of progress and failure to reach the poor and unemployed.
Much of this is true.
However, it should be remembered also that SETAs have been in existence for
only five years—a relatively short time in which to establish structures that are
charged with delivering training on a scale never before seen in South Africa. While
some have disappointed, many other SETAs have exceeded their targets set in the
first NSDS, and they should be applauded. Some, such as the chemical industries
SETA, the financial and accounting SETA, the banking SETA, the insurance SETA
and the services SETA, have overachieved with respect to set targets.
SETAs have also highlighted the critical need to address the needs of adult South
Africans who are either totally or functionally illiterate. SETAs fund ABET pro-
grammes that reach the most educationally disadvantaged, who cannot access learn-
erships because of a lack of working knowledge of English and maths. SETAs have
also injected life into the monolithic National Qualifications Framework (NQF),
turning it into a functional concept where credits earned on courses count towards
further training and, therefore, upward mobility.
A challenge that all SETAs now face following the launch of NSDS-II is to ex-
pand their delivery to the poor, the unemployed and to the rural areas.
It is evident also that the management of the skills levy grant system needs to
be reviewed. Key areas in need of improvement include: (a) ensuring grants are
used for high-quality training instead of maximizing rebates; (b) directing firms to
invest in accredited training; (c) eliminating burdensome bureaucracy; (d) ensuring
flexibility in the levy grant system based on the differing needs of specific industries;
(e) preventing accumulation of huge surpluses by SETAs; (f) stringently monitoring
training plans and reports; and (g) discouraging SETAs from venturing into extra-
neous activities beyond their statutory obligations (Rasool, 2005).
Moreover, the NSDS should be aligned to supporting the government’s acceler-
ated shared growth initiative. In essence, what is required is an adaptable strategy
that is responsive to significant structural changes in the economy and labour mar-
ket. Equally important, this strategy should be flexible enough to accommodate the
skills development priorities of specific industries.
3 Financing the Public FET College Sector
This section deals with the financing of the pre-tertiary VET component governed
(indirectly) by the national Department of Education (DoE) and (directly) by the
nine provincial departments of education. This component is referred to as the public
further education and training college sector, or simply the ‘FET college sector’. A
few basic facts relating to the size and cost of this sector will be outlined, after which
the strategic thrust of the 1998 White Paper on FET will be explained. Most of the
section will be taken up by a discussion of five key policy questions. It is instructive
to compare the public FET college sector to Grades 10, 11 and 12 in public schools
(Table 2). These three school grades are essentially the non-vocational side of FET.
Several aspects of the five policy challenges that will be discussed are reflected in
these figures. The fact that per capita spending in colleges should be 40% higher than
that in schools, underlines the importance of efficient use of the available resources
in colleges. Arguably, however, there is an efficiency inherent in the great difference
between raw headcounts and full-time equivalent students in colleges—there are
2.8 headcounts per full-time equivalent. Each US$1,043 in the college sector thus
delivers a service to 2.8 part-time students on average, whilst each US$743 in the
schooling system covers just one (full-time) student. The differential between the
provinces with the highest and lowest per capita expenditure in the college system
is US$633, against the US$216 differential in the schooling system. These high
differentials in the college system are partly a result of differences in college size,
but mostly they seem to result from a variety of other historical factors. Specifically,
there is little to suggest that provinces spending more per full-time equivalent stu-
dent offer a better quality training service. In fact, the opposite seems to be true,
Table 2 Public FET in colleges and in schools

FET in colleges FET in schools
Number of institutions 50 6,253
(152 colleges became 50
multi-campus colleges in
2003)
Enrolments 2004 394,027 2,321,345
(equals approx. 139,619
‘full-time equivalents’)
Average enrolment per 7,881 371
institution
Proportion of enrolment 73% 83%
that is Black African
Proportion of enrolment 40% 54%
that is female
Gross enrolment ratio 5% 79%
(using 15 to 17 year olds
as the denominator)
Highest and lowest Gauteng: 12% Limpopo: 93%
province for the above Eastern Cape: 3% Eastern Cape: 62%
Public spending as a 2% 17%
proportion of total public
education spending
Average recurrent spending 1,043 743
per learner (US$)
Highest and lowest Free State: 1,442 Northern Cape: 882
province for the above Limpopo: 808 KwaZulu-Natal: 667
Ratio of learners to 24 32
educators
Sources: RSA. DoE 2004/2005a/2005b; RSA. National Treasury 2005a/2005b. The most recent
figure available in the period 2002–2004 was used (population estimates were for 2005, however).
Note that wherever ‘students’ are the denominator in the first column, full-time equivalent students
is used (and not raw headcounts).
with the more industrially developed province of Gauteng offering a better quality
service below the national average cost. Understanding what it should cost to offer
particular training programmes in different contexts is clearly a key challenge. In
terms of equity of coverage, the college sector lags somewhat behind the school
sector in terms of race and gender—the latter sector is almost fully representative of
the population. One striking difference is how small the college system is relative to
FET in schools. There is considerable political pressure to expand the FET system—
a target of 1 million students by 2010 was set by the Minister of Education in 2003
(RSA. DoE, 2003). Recapitalization funds, amounting to US$160 million, or two-
thirds of annual recurrent spending in the sector, have been allocated for spending
in 2005 to 2008. Any new system governing the regular funding of colleges would
need to be designed with a view to both expanding the college sector and sustaining
it at a level well above the current one.
The Proposed new funding norms for FET colleges, released in 2005 by the na-
tional Department of Education, are the outcome of several years of debate and
strategizing regarding the future of the public FET colleges. A milestone policy
document was the White Paper on Further Education and Training published in
1998. The section of the White Paper dealing with funding of colleges states:
Funding will be a key instrument for influencing the responsiveness of FET institutions to
the achievement of national goals, the enhancement of the performance of the system, the
widening of participation and the promotion of equity and redress (RSA. DoE, 1998).
The White Paper emphasizes strongly ‘formula funding of programmes’, also re-
ferred to as ‘programme-based funding’. Though a formal definition is not put for-
ward, it is implied that a more transparent and efficient public funding system is
required, where the level of funding is more explicitly linked to the type of train-
ing service being offered, and the number of full-time equivalent students. Such
a system should partially focus on training outcomes, such as graduation rates or
even labour-market readiness of graduates. Participation of historically disadvan-
taged students would be promoted mainly through fee exemptions for the poor.
The apartheid backlogs would furthermore be tackled through targeted investments
in institutional infrastructure and capacity. Integration with the NSDS system de-
scribed in the previous section is envisaged, specifically through the participation
of FET colleges as training providers in this market. The White Paper moreover
promotes a gradual approach to the implementation of the new funding system, with
colleges implementing ‘dry runs’ of the new system whilst the old system is being
phased out. The development of new information systems to support the funding
regime is required. Finally, the new funding system would take effect in the wake of
the implementation of a new training curriculum in colleges.
3.1 Key Policy Question–1
Should public and private, or only public institutions, qualify for public VET fund-
ing? It is widely recognized that public funding of a service does not necessarily
require public provisioning of the service. Public funding of private providers, to
deliver training that is needed in the public interest, may result in better value for
money, and can stimulate valuable competition between public and private institu-
tions. The optimal mix of public and private providers of publicly-funded services
is a question often not given the attention warranted, frequently because not enough
is known amongst planners about existing private providers. This is arguably the
case in South Africa. The White Paper essentially steers away from the question
and focuses on how public FET colleges can offer the training needed.
The little analysis that has occurred of privately provided pre-tertiary VET in
South Africa indicates that: (a) the private sector may be almost twice the size of the
public FET college sector in terms of enrolments; (b) the training offered is highly
demand-driven; (c) capital-intensive training programmes tend to be avoided; and
(d) the quality of training is largely unknown (Akoojee, 2003). Apart from the inad-
equacy of the knowledge base about the private VET sector, other reasons that may
have contributed towards the strong focus on using only public providers could be,
firstly, that private providers have not been funded in any systemic way in the past
(this is unlike FET in schools, where a small but vocal ‘independent school’ sector
has been funded publicly since before 1994) and, secondly, that private providers
do have access to the quasi-public funding of the NSDS system. The latter factor
implies direct competition between public FET colleges and private providers for the
same training contracts. The fact that the public funds earmarked for the public FET
colleges should be around US$200 million per annum, whilst NSDS funding should
amount to around US$700 million, underlines how, in the broader picture, there is
ample opportunity for dynamic competition between public and private providers,
even if some 23% of the overall amount, and 100% of what we can regard as ‘public
funding’ in the strict sense, is still considered the exclusive preserve of the public
institutions. Currently however, participation by public FET colleges in the NSDS
market is more hypothetical than real. Financial reports indicate that no more than
3% of college income derives from the skills levy—in other words, participation in
this market is still extremely low.
How is the targeting of more relevant training programmes promoted? The ‘man-
power planning’ approach to training, whereby future demand for various special-
izations is projected and the current funding of various training programmes is
adjusted accordingly, has been tried and found not to work. However, it does not
follow that government planning of what training to fund, based on projections of
future skills demand, is a fruitless exercise. Such work must be carried out, but it
should balance central planning and local responsiveness, and above all effective
information and research systems that can yield a more rigorous demand picture
need to be built and sustained. South Africa’s HRD review (Human Sciences Re-
search Council, 2003) is illustrative both of the value of periodic and publicly-
funded research into labour-market demand and training trends, and the difficulty
of compiling information that is sufficiently reliable to be usable for hard policy
decisions.
During the last decade, FET colleges have largely continued with the pre-1994
mix of training programmes and, where changes have occurred, this has mainly been
driven by decisions by college management as to what programmes to offer in the
new academic year. Changes could modify a college’s share of the relatively fixed
provincial pool of teaching and non-teaching posts, and non-personnel funding. For
example, the 1998 post-provisioning norms weight engineering students (full-time
equivalents) 1.1 times as much as business studies students when the distribution
of the pool of teaching posts is determined—engineering and business studies each
account for around 45% of all public FET college enrolments.
The 2005 proposed funding norms for colleges put forward a formula fund-
ing of programmes approach that not only brings about a more integrated re-
sourcing package—all recurrent and capital replacement funding is dealt with in
one formula—but also implies a major transfer of power from the college to the
provincial government with regard to the determination of the programme mix

within each college. Essentially, provincial departments of education would ‘buy’
training of a particular type and for a particular number of students from each col-
lege at ‘prices’ set largely at the national level. How much of each training pro-
gramme to ‘buy’ would be determined through an annual province/college planning
process, which would involve at least one province-wide consultation per province
and one college-specific consultation per college in each year. Though the final de-
termination would be the prerogative of the provincial government, the importance
of college and industry inputs in the planning process, and of on-going research at
the national level into the skills requirements of the economy, are emphasized. For
the first time, programme delivery would be planned within a three-year rolling plan,
more or less in line with the government’s Medium-Term Expenditure Framework
(MTEF) (one slight but unavoidable misalignment would be that the former would
use the academic or calendar year, whilst the latter uses a different ‘financial’ year).
There are two risks, both linked to the planning capacity of provincial depart-
ments of education. One risk is that the current low levels of provincial or na-
tional planning with regard to college enrolments will continue indefinitely, and
that provinces will simply approve whatever training plans colleges come up with,
without engaging with these plans, or aligning them to provincial or national devel-
opment plans. There would be one inevitable difference in this scenario, however.
Because the new funding system would attach actual monetary amounts to each
student per programme, as opposed to weights (as is currently the case), there would
need to be explicit trimming down of college plans where the implied cost exceeded
the available provincial budget. The second risk is that provinces will use their new
powers to enforce directives not adequately underpinned by the necessary training
and labour-market analysis. Given serious limitations currently in the planning ca-
pacity of the FET college offices in the provincial departments, the solution seems
to lie in a gradual stepping up of provincial (and national) engagement in the formu-
lation of college plans (which colleges have been producing for some years, though
now they would need to comply with the new funding norms in terms of formats) as
planning capacity in the provincial departments improves.
How is efficiency and quality in service delivery promoted through the policy? Given
that analysing and planning the mix of training programmes is inherently easier
than analysing and planning the quality of the training being offered, it is perhaps
understandable that the latter should receive insufficient attention. Yet the quality
of the training and, linked to this, the amount of quality training that is obtained
with the finite budget available, is in many ways the central policy challenge in
VET, especially in a country such as South Africa with a rapidly evolving but ‘dual’
economy, where large segments of society have suffered systematic exclusion from
education and training opportunities in the past. The White Paper highlights the
value-for-money problem inherent in the high failure and repetition rates of the FET
college sector. The pass rate, or proportion of students passing their examinations,
was 57% in 2002, with college-specific pass rates ranging from 39% to 84%. The
‘throughput rate’, or proportion of students enrolling for a programme who success-
fully pass the examinations, was 51% in 2002 (RSA. DoE, 2004).
Currently, the funding system does not create any incentives for efficiency or
quality. Colleges are resourced according to enrolments alone. Output measures play
no role. The 2005 proposed norms intend to promote quality outputs in two ways.
Firstly, in the process of replacing a system where colleges essentially attract
more funds from a finite pool through increasing enrolments, with a system where
the province ‘buys’ training from each college, colleges will be forced to compete
with each other in offering solutions to the provincial government’s (and industry’s)
training demands. Of course, this assumes that provincial planners have adequate
information about industry’s demands and the quality of the training being offered
in each college, and allow this to inform the distribution of funding across colleges.
The proposed funding norms mention the importance of using tracer studies that
track the labour-market performance of graduates. A valuable example of such re-
search is that of Cosser (2003). This research revealed, for example that, of a sample
of 3,500 former college students graduating in 1999, 31% were neither employed
nor studying further in 2001, and that only 1% were self-employed. This seems to
confirm the quality problem in much of the training being offered. In a related study
of employer responses, Maja and McGrath (2003) found that 78% of employers
of the surveyed graduates were satisfied or very satisfied with the training offered
by colleges, suggesting perhaps an unevenness in the quality of training offered
by the sector. Importantly, more detailed data is required if provincial planners
are to distribute funds based on the relative efficiency of individual colleges in
offering particular training programmes. The existing research is a valuable start,
nonetheless.
The second way in which the proposed funding norms promote quality is through
an ‘output bonus’. This is an incentive bonus that colleges would receive for out-
standing throughput rates, achievement of goals laid out in their development plans
and examination results. The output bonus is an allocation over and above the cost
of offering the training (the implication is that the funds would be used for insti-
tutional development). The amount and methodology is a provincial prerogative,
though guidelines regarding transparency are laid down. A national formula for the
calculation of the output bonus is explicitly rejected on the basis of the argument
that provincial circumstances differ, and that the consultation process to arrive at
the output bonus formula is in itself of value in promoting a focus on efficiency and
quality.

How is a pro-poor funding system realised, and how are some of the specific
apartheid legacies of inequality and disadvantage tackled? The incentives for
private funding of vocational training are high, both for employers and individuals,
given the very obvious returns to this training. Government should focus on funding
the VET of those who cannot afford it, and on specific niche training (for the rich
or the poor) where the developmental value of this training may not be obvious to
private individuals. The data suggest that, currently, public FET colleges are less
accessible to the poor than FET in schools. This is due in part to the geographical
concentration of colleges, which implies a need for student accommodation, and in
part to tuition fees being somewhat higher in colleges than in schools—the aver-
age annual fee for full-time students is around US$450 in colleges and US$130 in
schools. The proposed funding norms deal with the tuition fee barrier, but provide
no concrete solution to the accommodation barrier. With regard to the latter, the
government is required to explore loan schemes with private lending institutions.
The norms propose setting a reasonable level of tuition fees for specific training
programmes as part of the national programme costing process. This level would be
reasonable for non-poor students. The norms moreover propose the implementation
of a system of means tests in all colleges. The data collected from this system would
be used to gauge inability to pay the prescribed fees across colleges, and to calculate
an amount per college representing expected exempted fees. This amount would
be paid to colleges as compensation for exemptions to be granted. The means test
would be a national one, and the national department would furthermore maintain
rules and guidelines for the management of fee exemptions at the college level.
The system challenges implied by the pro-poor fee exemptions are considerable.
The existing means test used in the tertiary education system, the National Student
Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), can be expected to serve as an important model
(information on NSFAS is available at: <www.nsfas.org.za>).
How is the cost of training programmes determined? The current disparities in

spending per student in FET colleges, discussed above, are partly the result of the
absence of a link in the existing system between the number of students and the size
of the budget. The unintended consequence of a rise in enrolments would be a de-
cline in per student expenditure, if budgetary increases lagged behind the enrolment
increases. This can obviously be detrimental to the quality of the training service.
The proposed funding norms require the national department to determine a ‘na-
tional funding base rate’ in monetary terms. This rate would describe the per capita
cost of a full-time programme that can be delivered in a relatively large class, and
that requires the minimum in terms of learning and teaching materials. This pro-
gramme could be hypothetical, as opposed to actual. The cost of each actual training
programme in the curriculum would be represented by a ratio indicating the pro-
gramme cost relative to the national funding base rate. For example, a programme
with a ratio of 1.5 would cost 1.5 times as much to deliver as the (possibly hypo-
thetical) basic programme. Provinces would be able to deviate from the nationally
determined cost structure, within limits. At the college level, whilst funding received
from the province would be linked to a specific number of student places, colleges
would have the flexibility to organize spending within the college in whatever way
that best served the desired outcomes. Where the norms do place a limitation is
in terms of the cross-subsidization of completely private programmes using public
funds. Specifically, colleges are prohibited from charging a private client a price for
a training programme that is less than the prescribed cost of the equivalent public
programme. The effectiveness of this control obviously rests on the prescribed cost
representing the actual cost. In fact, it is envisaged that the national cost schedule of
publicly funded programmes will serve as an important signal to the private market,
in particular the NSDS market, providing a benchmark for private clients with regard
to reasonable prices to pay for quality training.
4 Conclusion
During the last ten years, South Africa has developed a funding system that has
pushed the financing and incentivizing of vocational education up to around 0.43%
of GDP. The NSDS system accounts for 0.33% of GDP, and of this around 20% is
earmarked for training identified by the State as being in the national interest. The
remaining 80% is paid to firms in the form of an incentive to carry out workplace
training in accordance with equity guidelines that are in the line with the country’s
post-apartheid values. Whilst the NSDS system has already undergone a process
of revision, the FET college system, which accounts for 0.10% of GDP, has only
recently begun to embark on a major post-apartheid reform in terms of its funding
systems.
The link between the two systems seems to lie in the opportunity to raise the
quality, and not just the quantity, of vocational training. Currently, only a small por-
tion of the training offered by FET colleges is aimed at the NSDS market. However,
a more output-focused funding system, in combination with a major recapitaliza-
tion programme, places colleges in a better position to set the standard for quality
vocational training in the country, and to compete with each other, and with private
providers in the NSDS market, whilst they continue in their role as providers of
pre-employment training funded by the provincial authorities.
References
Akoojee, S. 2003. Private further education and training. In: Kraak, A., ed. Human resources devel-
opment review, 2003: education, employment and skills in South Africa, pp. 396–415. Pretoria:
HSRC. <www.hsrcpublishers.ac.za/index.html?HRD.html∼content>
Cosser, M. 2003. Graduate tracer study. In: Cosser, M. et al., eds. Technical college responsive-
ness: learner destinations and labour market environments in South Africa, pp. 27–55. Pretoria:
HSRC. <www.hsrcpublishers.ac.za>
Human Sciences Research Council. 2003. Human resources development review, 2003: Ed-
ucation, employment and skills in South Africa. Pretoria: HSRC. <www.hsrcpublishers.
ac.za/index.html?HRD.html∼content>
Maja, B.; McGrath, S. 2003. Employer satisfaction. In: Cosser, M. et al., eds. Technical college re-
sponsiveness: learner destinations and labour market environments in South Africa, pp. 57–64.
Pretoria: HSRC. <www.hsrcpublishers.ac.za>
Peterson, A.; McGrath S.; Badroodien A. 2003. A national skills survey, 2003. Pretoria: Human
Sciences Research Council.
Rasool, H., 2005. South Africa needs a highly skilled workforce to grow economy. The star: Busi-
ness report, 23 November.
Republic of South Africa. Department of Education. 1998. Education White Paper 4: a programme
for the transformation of further education and training. Pretoria: DoE. (Government notice,
no. 399.)
Republic of South Africa. Department of Education. 2003. Report on the proceedings of the 3rd
Further Education and Training Convention. Pretoria: DoE. <www.ccf.org.za>
Republic of South Africa. Department of Education. 2004. Quantitative overview of the further
education and training college sector. Pretoria: DoE. <www.ccf.org.za>
Republic of South Africa. Department of Education. 2005a. Education statistics in South Africa at
a glance in 2003. Pretoria: DoE.
Republic of South Africa. Department of Education. 2005b. Education statistics in South Africa at
a glance in 2004. Pretoria: DoE.
Republic of South Africa. Department of Labour. 1998. Skills Development Act No. 97 of 1998.
Pretoria: DoL.
Republic of South Africa. Department of Labour. 1999. Skills Development Levies Act, 1999. Pre-
toria: DoL.
Republic of South Africa. Department of Labour. 2001. The National Skills Development Strategy.
Pretoria: DoL.
Republic of South Africa. Department of Labour. 2004. NSDS Implementation Report. Preto-
ria: DoL.
Republic of South Africa. Department of Labour. 2005. National Skills Development Strategy,
2005–2010. Pretoria: DoL.
Republic of South Africa. National Treasury. 2005a. Budget review 2005. Pretoria.
<www.treasury.gov.za>
Republic of South Africa. National Treasury. 2005b. Provincial budgets and expenditure review:
2001/02–2007/08. Pretoria. <www.treasury.gov.za>
Statistics South Africa. 2005. General household survey: July 2004. Pretoria.
<www.statssa.gov.za>
Chapter VII.6
Voucher-Financed Training
for Small Businesses1
Félix Mitnik
1 Introduction
Is it possible to persuade small businesses to invest on a regular basis in staff training

through a policy of providing information and special subsidies? Are vouchers the
best way to create the necessary incentives? How do economics, sociology, ped-
agogy and organizational psychology contribute to answer these questions? This
chapter explores these issues. Employing a multidisciplinary approach, it exam-
ines an experience with a pilot programme carried out in the province of Córdoba,
Argentina, and draws some lessons that are likely to be useful for those designing
or implementing similar programmes.
2 Background Information
The Agency for Economic Development of the City of Córdoba (ADEC), a pub-
lic/private partnership of sixteen trade associations, the city council and other en-
tities, operated a training programme for small companies (called Programa de
Capacitación de Trabajadores en Empresas) from 1999 to 2003. This programme
was developed in a province with a population of 3 million people, whose econ-
omy depends on farming and cattle raising (10%), industrial production (27%)
and services (63%). Its formal economy comprises almost 100,000 enterprises, in-
cluding some multinational companies, some large local companies, 150 small and
medium-sized hardware and software companies, some large flour mills and many
dairy plants of various sizes. However, 90% of these 100,000 companies have five
or less employees.
The main goal of the programme was to make micro- and small enterprises
(MSEs), of up to twenty employees, more competitive. The policy selected was,
through information and subsidies, to use vouchers to develop a job-training market
geared towards the needs of these firms. The funds to implement the programme—
US$3 million—were provided in equal parts by the Multilateral Investment Fund
(MIF), managed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), by the benefi-
ciaries and by the ADEC.

1108 F. Mitnik
Similar programmes have been implemented in other Latin American countries—

Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru and the Dominican
Republic—and in other parts of the world, for instance Australia, Belgium,
Indonesia, Kenya, France, South Africa and Ukraine.
3 Why was a Programme Needed?
The need to develop a market for job training in Córdoba emerged from consulta-
tions with experts in the field. They pointed out that MSEs in Latin America lacked
competitiveness. They identified low investment in training as one of the reasons
and claimed that an ‘increasing demand for qualified workers in the labour market’
had to be addressed by providing flexible and effective training (Grupo de Asesorı́a
Multidisciplinaria, 1996). Based on standard economic theory, they advanced the
hypothesis that the problem was a discrepancy between the actual functioning of
the training market and the theoretical assumptions of the ‘perfect competition’
model.2 Among these ‘market failures’, or discrepancies between reality and the
model, they argued that the most important was imperfect or incomplete information
regarding the skills needed, the costs and benefits of investing in them, the quality
of the providers of training services, and the available training methods. According
to their argument, because agents were ‘risk-averse’, this generated uncertainty that
led to insufficient investment (that is, investment below the ‘rational optimum’).
The experts concluded that it was necessary to provide information to the de-
mand side of the training market, and to encourage the supply side ‘to answer in a
more flexible, practical and concrete way to the manpower training needs’ of small
businesses, with the objective of ‘increasing their productivity and competitiveness’
(Grupo de Asesorı́a Multidisciplinaria, 1996).
4 The Design of the Programme
4.1 The Assumptions

The designers of the programme adopted the following premises, drawn in good
part from neo-classical economics:
r The ‘competitiveness’ of small businesses can be increased by providing busi-
ness development services (BDS);
r Training can be provided as a stand-alone BDS;
r Firms should pay for specific human capital investments;
r Training markets are the most efficient institutional arrangement for allocating
resources to human capital investment;
r The training supplied will respond to the demands of firms if there is an infor-
mation system set up for those supplying and demanding training, and a system
of demand subsidies that mitigates uncertainty;
VII.6 Voucher-Financed Training for Small Businesses 1109
r The positive impact of training on profits will motivate firms to buy train-
ing again;
r The programme’s target population may be a small share of the total number
of companies, since a ‘demonstration effect’ will induce the other firms to fol-
low suit;
r Fixed-period and standardized in-class training results in the acquisition of skills
that are then automatically transferable to and used in the workplace;
r Training suppliers know the state of the art in their fields, and automatically
adjust their training services to meet the demand of companies.
4.2 Why Vouchers?
The designers of the programme considered that vouchers were the best mechanism
to transfer subsidies to firms, because vouchers:
r Give firms freedom of choice, and thus lead the training market to function
according to the logic of demand instead of the logic of supply;
r Set an upper limit to the subsidy;
r Involve procedures that are simpler and more flexible than those normally used
by the State, and thus have lower administrative costs;
r Increase competition among suppliers, which it is assumed will automatically
improve quality or price;
r Can be implemented together with a system of information provision;
r Reduce risk on both sides of the training market, due to: (a) cost reductions for
demanders; and (b) lower collection risks for suppliers.
4.3 The Operation
The initial design included two components: a system of training vouchers (STV)
and a system of reference information (SRI). It also included a training needs diag-
nostic system, operated by a private organization.
The goal of the STV was to stimulate the demand for training by firms and to
match the supply of training to that of demand by means of a partial subsidy of $50
(enough to cover 50% of the average cost of a twenty-hour course). The STV had a
three-level organizational structure. The financing donors were located at the upper
or third level. The managing agency, which received the funds to be distributed
among the training institutions (TIs), was located at the second level. TIs operated
at the first level. The success indicators for the STV were the number of vouchers
redeemed, the number of companies that took advantage of the vouchers and the
number of companies that used them repeatedly.
The goal of the SRI was to provide companies with information about training
courses available and to inform the TIs about firms’ needs. The SRI had to identify
any unmet training demands and inform the training suppliers about these business
1110 F. Mitnik
opportunities. The success indicators for this component were the number of TIs
registered and the number of courses offered.
In order for a company to send an employee for training, it first had to obtain
information about available courses, select those ones that best met the company’s
needs and receive the respective voucher. At the end of the course, the company
had to pay the difference between the total value of the course and the voucher. The
voucher, signed by a company representative as proof of successful training, had to
be returned to the managing agency’s offices via the TI to receive its value in cash.
Each course had to be at least twenty hours long.
All of this assumed that the managing agency would play a ‘neutral’ role, limited
to facilitating transactions between the participating economic agents (companies
and TIs) but without intervening in their decisions. In other words, the agency had
to limit its activities to disseminating information and managing the subsidies, while
keeping ‘transaction costs’ as low as possible.
5 The First Phase: According to Theory
During the first stage of implementation, the programme attempted to disturb the
functioning of the market as little as possible. It used a strategy of uniform dissem-
ination of information, based on widespread advertising, on the assumption that the
targeted businesses were homogeneous. During this phase, a study commissioned by
the programme uncovered significant differences in the attitudes of firms towards
training (Parisi et al., 1999). The study showed that there was a small number of
companies with the ‘habitus’ of investing in training.3 These companies had more
than seven employees, had been founded recently, were part of the formal economy
and belonged to the service sector. The study also indicated that smaller and older
companies did not perceive any ‘unmet training need’ and did not conduct training
because they considered it irrelevant. Finally, the study found that there was a direct
relationship between investments in human capital and the perceptions company
owners had of their own responsibility in their companies’ fortunes: the small num-
ber of firms with a greater level of ‘self-responsibility’ (as opposed to those that
attributed most responsibility to external circumstances) were also those most likely
to train. The research also found that the problems faced by micro-enterprises were
significantly different from those of small companies, and that informal companies
behaved differently than formal ones with regard to training and public policies.
The programme, which had been designed before the aforementioned research
was conducted, did not take into account demand heterogeneity and offered ex-
actly the same to all firms: six $50 vouchers per year to each company (regardless
of size), and information on formal training services available from third parties
(Matta, 2006a). By design, the training was to be supplied by private companies,
State institutions and non-governmental organizations, which were expected to ad-
just their services to the demand in an ‘immediate and automatic manner as a result
of the provision of information and subsidies’ (Matta, 2006a). During the execution
of the first phase it was observed, however, that the responses of training suppliers
were very heterogeneous. Moreover, as in other Latin American countries (Abdala,
2000), suppliers exhibited serious weaknesses in terms of the quality of the services
they offered, their institutional structure and, as a survey-based study showed, their
marketing capacity and strategies (Halac, 2000). In addition to this, training suppli-
ers had limited competitiveness, as is often the case with small firms.
Unaware of their weaknesses, the training institutions had a positive self-
perception of their services and business capacities. They believed—like most small
companies—that their problems were beyond their control. Few of them followed a
‘differentiation strategy’ (the few that did focused on a niche with high purchasing
power), while nearly 80% followed a ‘strategy of reduced costs’. The latter group
tended to engage in ‘price wars’ at the expense of quality. This strongly suggests that
the market for training suffers from ‘adverse selection’ (worse quality is supplied to
companies less capable of identifying the true quality of training).4 This market
failure leads to a reduction in the average quality of the training actually offered in
the market, therefore reinforcing the attitude of small firms who do not see the point
of investing in human capital.
6 The Second Phase: From Passive to Active Strategies

Albert Einstein, the most famous physicist of the twentieth century, once stated that
theory is killed, sooner or later, by experience. This is precisely what happened to
this programme after its first stage, when it was found that design assumptions like
‘demand-driven training’ did not actually exist in practice (the majority of courses
emerged on the initiative of suppliers). Among other things, this can be attributed
to the fact that selection of the training supplier by companies was based largely on
the firms’ trust in the training institutions (i.e. on social capital) and on the latter’s
prestige (i.e. on symbolic capital).
As a result, the programme had to modify its ‘action paradigm’ from ‘passive
strategies’ to ‘active strategies’. On the demand side the programme introduced four
operational changes affecting the rules for using the vouchers and the amount of the
subsidy. First, in order to strike some balance between the size of a company and
the number of vouchers it received, while still favouring the smallest companies, the
absolute limit of six vouchers per company per year was replaced by a new policy of
one voucher per employee per year, with a minimum of six per company and a maxi-
mum of twenty. Second, to induce companies to perform training needs analyses, the
programme doubled the number of annual vouchers for companies that conducted
them. Third, as customized training can only be profitable for a TI if the same train-
ing is provided to a group of similar companies, the programme doubled the number
of vouchers for companies that associated together to buy training. Lastly, as the
TIs serving informal businesses—mostly non-profit organizations—could charge
less since they usually received subsidies from other sources, employed trainers
1112 F. Mitnik
with lower opportunity costs and had lower overheads, a voucher of lesser value for
micro-enterprises ($35) was created.
On the supply side, the programme also introduced four operational changes.
First, the distant relationship between the programme and the TIs was transformed
into a co-operative relationship aimed at identifying unmet training demands. Sec-
ond, the programme offered marketing support and ‘training the trainer’ courses to
the TIs in order to improve their performance. Third, the programme promoted the
formation of business alliances between TIs. Lastly, TIs were required to submit the
design of their training courses for approval by the programme.
In brief, the programme moved from an approach premised on the idea that its
intervention had to disturb market mechanisms as little as possible, to an approach
based on the idea that a much more active role was needed for the training market to
develop and work efficiently. On the supply side, the programme decided to play a
co-ordinating, regulatory and supporting role. On the demand side, it decided to
play a steering role, aimed at promoting associational structures and at shaping
the demand for training in the direction most likely to improve the performance
of firms.
After this change of strategy, it seemed that the programme was working fairly
well. As shown in Table 1, the average number of vouchers granted per year in
the second phase was almost five times higher than in the first phase. The ac-
tual course supply—comprised in nearly equal parts of training courses geared
towards technical skills and towards clerical and managerial skills—was, at this
point, well established. (It was difficult to determine if the training beneficiaries
were primarily employees or owners, because of the prevalence of family-owned
micro-enterprises.) The technical courses covered a wide range of topics, from hair
dyeing for hairdressers to the handling of computer-controlled machine tools, to the
repair of electronic starting systems, to computer-aided design, to food technology,
to basic accounting. Moreover, it is clear that the demand for subsidized training
grew markedly between 2000 and 2001, which suggests that, ceteris paribus, the
demand for subsidized trainings could be expected to experience further growth in
the future.
The main problem in this second phase was that TIs and people who were not part
of the target population (newcomers to the labour market and unemployed workers)
colluded to deceive the programme by using training vouchers for which the latter
were not eligible. These fraudulent practices led the programme to introduce new
Table 1 Number of vouchers placed by the programme

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Number of vouchers 1358 4583 7871 2741 4769
Cumulative number of vouchers 1358 5941 13812 16553 21322
control norms and procedures. Although successful, they increased the overheads of
the programme to 41% (higher than expected).
7 The Third Phase: Surviving Amongst Chaos
The third stage of the programme was initially implemented under political, so-
cial and economic circumstances that put Argentina in the world’s spotlight (from
December 2001 to February 2002). ‘During this period, the government confiscated
bank deposits and defaulted on its foreign debt, five different presidents were named
in thirty days, the national currency was devaluated by 200%, and the quality of
life deteriorated’ (Matta, 2006a). One immediate consequence of the devaluation
was a large reduction in the price expressed in dollars of training courses; thus, the
subsidy came to represent a substantial part of their cost (often more than 50%). To
eliminate this distortion, the programme implemented a matching-grant mechanism
by which each voucher covered 50% of the value of any course (up to $50 for formal
companies and up to $35 for informal ones).
Fixed-value vouchers simplify administrative procedures. However, they can cre-
ate distortions when used to finance courses requiring capital goods or trainers with
high opportunity costs, or to finance very inexpensive courses. In the former case,
the contribution of the subsidy can be marginal. In the latter, it can amount to much
more than 50%.
More crucially, as shown in Table 1, the economic crisis led to a marked reduction
in the use of vouchers during 2002. However, the demand for vouchers recovered
in less than a year, suggesting that the new strategies adopted in the second phase
had helped constitute a robust training market for small firms. This impression was
further supported by the fact that, at the end of the third phase, all the performance
indicators showed that the immediate goals of the programme had been achieved or
surpassed. The programme exceeded 287% of its target in terms of businesses ser-
viced (7,752 instead of the 2,000 projected) and 115% in terms of vouchers placed
(23,000 instead of 20,000). In terms of ‘access’ or ‘targeting’, the programme met
its objectives. It focused on the smallest companies (about 80% of the companies
served were micro-enterprises of up to six employees, as shown in Table 2); partic-
ipation by firms in different economic sectors reflected their relative weights in the
economy; and female participation was slightly higher than the share of women in
the economically-active population. Also, participants manifested a high degree of
satisfaction with the training they received: 84% of the courses were rated by them
as either ‘good’ or ‘very good’ (Matta, 2006b). Lastly, an evaluation by independent
consultants concluded that the operational efficiency of the programme was as good
as or better than those of similar programmes.
The resilience of the programme, and the fact that it performed very well in terms
of all pre-established indicators of success, could lead to the conclusion that it was
also successful in terms of its ultimate policy goals. As we will see in the following
1114 F. Mitnik
Table 2 Composition of the demand for vouchers

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 TOTAL
1999 2000 2001 2002–2003
Number of companies receiving vouchers 690 1,624 2,755 2,683 7,752
Companies by number of employees
1 employee 49% 37% 42% 45% 45%
2 to 6 employees 28% 42% 41% 38% 38%
7 to 10 employees 14% 8% 8% 8% 8%
11 to 15 employees 6% 8% 5% 5% 5%
16 to 20 employees 3% 5% 4% 4% 4%
sections, success in placing training vouchers and good evaluations from voucher
users should not be interpreted as proof of the overall success of the programme.
8 Don’t You Want More Vouchers?
One of the central problems the programme confronted was the lack of interest
among served companies in repeating the use of the subsidy, in spite of the fact
that participants were highly satisfied with the training services they received. Four
quantitative indicators are useful to assess the magnitude of this problem.
The first such indicator is the number of subsidies used per employer over the life
of the programme (total number of vouchers/total number of companies). The av-
erage value of this indicator was 2.3 vouchers per company. This indicates that
the companies served by the programme seldom repeated their use of vouchers
more than once. The expectation was an average of ten vouchers per company.
Nevertheless, the programme achieved better results than similar programmes in
Paraguay (1.6), Ecuador (1.8) and Peru (2).
The second indicator is the number of subsidies used per employee over the life
of the programme (number of vouchers used/number of employees per company).
This turned out to be about 0.5 on average, regardless of company size, with the
exception of companies with one employee (= 2), and those with two employees
(= 1). This means that the larger companies served by the programme did not use
more vouchers, after adjusting to their size, than the smaller ones. This and the
next two indicators were measured over the first three years, and the results used to
extrapolate for the life of the programme.
Two other indicators, which give information on whether the vouchers were used
to fund the same or different courses, are the ‘coefficient of diversification’ and the
‘utilization of opportunities for diversification’.
The ‘coefficient of diversification’ is the number of different courses taken per
company over the life of the programme, and measures the use of vouchers in dif-
ferent training courses. A company that took a single course has a coefficient of 0,
one that took two different courses a coefficient of 1, and so forth. Figure 1 shows
that the average coefficient of diversification is very low, regardless of the size of the
company (it varies between 0.7 and 1.7). The average for companies of any size is
Coefficient of diversification 1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
0.8
0.6
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Number of employees
Fig. 1 Coefficient of diversification
in all cases smaller than 3 (remember that 1 corresponds to one additional course).
The ‘coefficient of diversification’ does not express well enough the opportunities
the programme offered to companies. A micro-enterprise, for example, could have
taken advantage of a maximum of eighteen courses (since it received six vouchers
per year regardless of the number of employees) and a company with twenty em-
ployees could have taken up to sixty courses (one voucher per employee per year).
The last indicator is the ‘utilization of opportunities for diversification’, that is,
the number of different courses taken by each company compared to the number
of vouchers available to that same company. Figure 2 indicates that, on average,
this indicator was between 2 and 6% of the possible maximum for each company
size—well below expectations.
One possible explanation for the low repetition and diversity in voucher use could
be that the training services used by firms had little impact on their performance. The
evaluation of this impact depends on firms’ perceptions. However, agents construct
these perceptions, and the way they do it reflects many other things beyond the im-
pact of training (or lack thereof). Moreover, the baseline that those interviewed use
as a yardstick for comparison is unknown. It is also difficult to correct for ‘cognitive
compensation bias’ (i.e. any effort to obtain a result is judged positively), while
‘gratefulness bias’ is unavoidable when inquiring about ‘free-of-charge’ training.
These problems make it difficult to reach a clear conclusion about the impact of
training on performance.
Nevertheless, some qualitative evidence suggests that the impact of training on
firm performance and, therefore, firms’ inclination to invest, were probably larger
in five cases: (a) when groups of companies associated to invest together; (b) when
the training strategies employed were state-of-the-art; (c) when the training in ques-
tion overcame a constraint that prevented the development of a micro-enterprise;
(d) when the diagnostic tool was properly applied; (e) when the training took
1116 F. Mitnik
Utilization of opportunities for diversification 0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Number of employees
Fig. 2 Utilization of opportunities for diversification
place at the job site. In the remaining cases—the majority—firms seldom repeated
voucher use.
In contrast to these adverse results, in the final impact measurement study—
involving countless technical issues well beyond the scope of this chapter—
companies stated that they were willing to continue training after the end of the
programme, thus suggesting that the ultimate policy goal of the programme had been
achieved (Bologna & Fraire, 2006). This conclusion, however, is not warranted. On
the one hand, participating companies were those most motivated to invest in train-
ing, with or without the programme. On the other hand, the low values of the indices
of subsidy-use repetition and diversification indicate that the purchase of training
was lower and narrower than firms claimed. ‘To continue investing in training’ is
likely to be the answer company owners felt they were expected to give. Indeed,
given that in Argentina education is highly valued as a means of social progress, we
can assume that company owners hold all types of education, including job training,
in high esteem. And this is likely to be the reason why they tended to select the ‘po-
litically correct’ answer in the final impact measurement study (Bologna & Fraire,
2006).
All in all, the evidence examined in this section leads to the conclusion that it is
unlikely that the programme had been able to increase significantly the number of
companies that trained on a regular basis.
9 Why Don’t You Want More Vouchers?
Different social sciences suggest different hypotheses regarding the factors that led
to the low investment in subsidized training by the micro- and small companies
served by the programme.
From the perspective of neo-classical economics, one possible explanation is

that the training market for small companies was in an efficient equilibrium with
low consumption (Storey & Westhead, 1997), and for this reason firms did not
use vouchers repeatedly. According to this hypothesis, this equilibrium would be
the joint result of several structural factors: (a) the short life expectancy of small
companies, which makes it less likely that they would be able to recover any in-
vestment in training; (b) the low wages paid by, and reduced or inexistent oppor-
tunities for promotion at, small companies, which means that trained staff would
be easily lured away by larger companies; (c) the high opportunity cost of for-
mal training for small firms (the absence of even one person in a small company
may greatly disturb its operation); (d) the greater negative impact that ‘adverse
selection’ in the training market has on small firms; (e) lack of evidence that,
on average, training has a positive effect on firm performance; (f) the high risk-
aversion of firm owners, who often see their micro-enterprises as temporary solu-
tions vis-à-vis their own difficulties in finding adequate employment; (g) the el-
evated cost of offering customized quality training to individual small firms; (h)
the lower returns that small firms obtain from their training investments, due to
several of the factors previously identified; (i) small firms’ lack of funds to fi-
nance their share of training costs, particularly in family-owned micro-enterprises;
(j) the higher transaction costs of TIs when dealing with small firms (contacting
every client is more expensive in this case); and (k) the fact that subsidies and
information were not enough to improve training quality among training suppliers
(Mitnik & Descalzi, 2006).
From the point of view of critical sociology, the reduced rate of repetition in
voucher use could originate in the following factors:5
r the universe of firms was very heterogeneous in terms of technology—both hard

and soft—and in the work experience and educational histories of company own-
ers and employees; a large number of these firms operated according to methods
for which further training was unnecessary;
r the acquisition of job skills involves complex social practices, engendered by
agents’ ‘habitus’, which means that these social practices cannot easily be un-
derstood as rationality-driven transactions, and hence cannot be easily altered by
economic incentives and information about prices and qualities;
r the market development paradigm used in the programme did not fit well with the
practices of private and public agents; private agents, in particular, re-interpreted
the programme according to their own ‘habitus’, and did not behave as rational
investors because of ingrained dispositions that lead them to conceive of train-
ing as an extra expense for themselves and of its provision by the State as an
obligation;
r in spite of the programme’s efforts to explain the voucher mechanism to firms,
the latter often re-interpreted it according to their own cultural codes, which often
meant that vouchers were not perceived as having purchasing power that firms
could freely use to buy training services;
1118 F. Mitnik
r the suppliers of training did not behave like commercial companies;

r the training supplied was of low quality, because most companies providing
training services were small and did not invest in the training of their own per-
sonnel (see Matta, 2006b).
Additionally, organizational psychology makes it possible to posit an explanatory

hypothesis based on the analysis of the way in which knowledge is generated and
transferred within small companies. The few available studies suggest that knowl-
edge in these companies is mainly acquired through ‘implicit training’ (the indi-
vidual learns a number of skills and unwritten rules that allow him or her to act
appropriately, without this requiring him or her to be able to describe or express
them in words or using numbers and formulae). This informal learning is very
likely to generate the greatest benefits to organizations, since it produces com-
petitive advantages that are difficult for the competition to replicate (this is not
the case with formal education or explicit training, which is equally available to
all companies). On the other hand, in this type of firm there is a very close rela-
tionship between the personality of the business owner and his or her company.
As a result, the global performance of the company and its competitive advantage
depend, to a large extent, on the owner’s attitudes, decisions and actions, which
lead to the intensive use of on-the-job training. The owner acts as a trainer, trans-
ferring specific human capital closely associated with his or her particular man-
agement style, with the mission and goals the owner has implicitly set for his
or her company, with the characteristics of the firm’s economic sector, and with
the company’s scale of operation. According to this hypothesis, the demands for
explicit personnel training in small firms would be minor and very specific, and
this would account for the programme’s reduced rate of voucher use repetition (see
Mitnik, Coria & Torres, 2006).
The psychology of learning, for its part, shows that a careful consideration of
the factors affecting the transference of learning to the workplace is a necessary
condition for training to be productivity-enhancing. As the training offered by the
TIs mostly ignored transference problems, the most likely result is that it would
have no effect on firms’ performance. This could also contribute to explain firms’
limited interest in buying subsidized training (see Mitnik, Coria & Garcı́a Goette,
2006).
10 Conclusions
The main goal of this chapter has been to analyse the experience of a voucher-
financed training programme in order to shed some light on the more general issue
of whether the provision of information and partial subsidies constitute a policy
likely to induce small businesses to invest regularly in the training of their staff. The
programme’s modest results suggest that boosting the productivity of small firms by
inducing them to train their employees is likely to require much more than providing
information and subsidies.
We have argued that:

r the claim that imperfect information is the main cause of small firms’ low invest-
ment in human capital is likely to be incorrect;
r given how heterogeneous small firms are, homogenous intervention strategies
are likely to perform poorly;
r the suppliers of training services for small firms find it difficult to upgrade the
quality of the training they offer; and
r the ‘habitus’ of company owners is likely to lead them to expect lower re-
turns from investments in the human capital of their employees than from other
investments.
The analyses of the programme’s experience from the point of view of different
social-science disciplines allow us to draw three main conclusions. First, there are
structural factors that tend to keep the training market for small companies in a
low-consumption equilibrium. Second, in small companies knowledge is generated
and transferred through implicit training. This generates competitive advantages that
other firms cannot easily replicate. Lastly, the ‘habitus’ shaping companies’ invest-
ment in training is hardly resistant to policies based on the provision of information
and economic incentives alone.
Everything seems to indicate that the subsidies offered by the programme were
acquired by training suppliers without this increasing the share of companies train-
ing their staff on a regular basis. This suggests that to boost the competitiveness
of small firms a systemic intervention is necessary. Such intervention would in-
volve putting in place an encompassing business development system that not only
produces high-quality customized training but also deals with many other factors
affecting the competitiveness of small firms.
The experience of the programme also indicates that market-based policies need
to be backed by an efficient State (or by efficient quasi-public agencies) able to guar-
antee the quality of training services (in particular by verifying the qualifications of
trainers and the institutional infrastructure of training suppliers). The State must
also promote innovation, methodological development and research in all fields of
training.
Focusing on the instrument itself, vouchers do not seem to be a particularly ade-
quate tool for implementing an incentive-based training policy for small companies.
Vouchers, however, possess symbolic value in the eyes of those who believe that
public programmes will necessarily work more efficiently when they use mecha-
nisms that imitate the operation of markets. This symbolic value has been reinforced
by the success of some large voucher-based programmes, in particular those that use
food vouchers to assist the poor, the most important of which concerns food stamps
in the United States.The reasons why vouchers work well in this case have been
carefully studied: ‘The market for food is well established and well organized, there
are a large number of buyers and sellers, the transaction costs are small, competition
is strong and prices are kept in line by that competition and the characteristics of the
products are easily identified (there is relatively little scope for private information
on the quality of the good and for asymmetric information leading to suboptimal
1120 F. Mitnik
provision)’ (Moffitt 2000). The voucher-mechanism is less likely to work well in

the training market for small firms in which products might be highly customized
and very heterogeneous, and which is plagued by very-hard-to-reduce information
asymmetries. In this context, vouchers should be simply considered as one of the
many instruments in the toolbox of the designer of public policies.
Notes
1. This chapter is based on work by a team directed by the author (see Mitnik, 2006). The team
included Ricardo Descalzi, Guillermo Ordóñez, Andrés Matta, Eduardo Bologna, Adela Coria,
Juan Torres, Corina Garcia Goette and Vanina Fraire. The author is grateful to Pablo Mitnik for
his invaluable help. The usual disclaimer applies.
2. In a simplified version, the perfect competition is a model assuming that: (i) economic agents
possess complete, perfect and equally distributed information; (ii) transaction costs are zero;
(iii) transactions do not generate gains or costs to third parties; (iv) no market agent holds
enough power to influence prices; and (v) there aren’t any ‘public goods’.
3. The concept of ‘habitus’, introduced by Bourdieu (1988), describes an agent whose acts are
based on ‘reasonable dispositions’. ‘Habitus are schemes of perception, appreciation and action
internalised during the entire life of an individual, which form a true system of stable disposi-
tions to act, think, and perceive. Agents incorporate these preferences throughout their social
life, often unconsciously and based on their objective conditions of existence. They are lasting
[. . .] and tend to resist change, therefore generating continuity in the life of a person’ (Matta &
Bologna, 2006).
4. Assume, for analytic purposes, a market offering two qualities of training—good and inferior—
where those offering the better quality charge a higher price. Also assume that companies cannot
distinguish between training qualities. ‘Since the company owners cannot distinguish between
qualities, they perceive an “average price” of a “hypothetical” training hour of an “average
quality”. The share of both types of training determines the “average price”. If the supply of
the inferior product increases, this will influence the perception of companies regarding the
“average quality” of the training offered in the market, generating a decrease in the price de-
manders are willing to pay, given that training quality cannot be determined with certainty. In
turn, this decrease in price generates a reduction in the supply of better quality training. The
companies make a biased selection in favour of inferior training due to their lack of information
about quality. In equilibrium, only low-quality training remains available’ (Mitnik, Descalzi &
Ordóñez, 2006).
5. To adopt the perspective of critical sociology, in a discipline in which there are several traditions
that differ in the way they construct their theoretical objects, in the methods they use, and in
how they interpret reality, entails adopting a perspective that approaches economic practices
as ‘total social facts’, that is, that takes into account the conditions in which the agents of
economic, cultural and social production and reproduction operate (Bourdieu, 2001).
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Chapter VII.7
Employers’ Participation in Training Finance:
An Example from Brazil
1 Introduction
How are small farmers and herdsmen to be turned into skilled industrial workers
after tax incentives have attracted industry to a previously agricultural region? How
can the high wages and settlement costs associated with recruiting workers from
other regions or other countries be avoided? One possibility is to provide training
within the region, to prepare the local workforce for participation in the modern
economy. But what is to be done when the government and the public agency re-
sponsible for training fail to develop an appropriate programme? Local industries
must then take it upon themselves to train their own workforce.
This was the strategy adopted by a group of businessmen in Montes Claros, in
the state of Minas Gerais, who in 1976 decided to establish a vocational school. Be-
cause of its unusual nature, the International Labour Organization requested a case
study of the institution in 1990 (Gomes, 1991). Fifteen years later, at the request of
UNESCO-UNEVOC, the Montes Claros Educational Foundation was revisited. For-
merly obliged to struggle for financial survival and without any foreseeable sources
of funding, it was now found to be larger and more stable, generating the greater part
of its resources itself, less dependant on local industries and carrying out a kind of
‘Robin Hood’ action in sustaining a number of its low-income students in its tech-
nical school. This is a formidable challenge insofar as industrial technologies are
becoming more and more sophisticated and now require a foundation of complete
general education. Vocational education itself is increasingly expensive—all this to
be achieved in an environment of social exclusion. How can equity and high-quality
vocational education be reconciled?
2 Background
Montes Claros is a regional centre in the State of Minas Gerais, located in a semi-
arid area between the valleys of the São Francisco and Jequitinhonha rivers. The
city is an island of relative wealth surrounded by rural poverty, and it attracts large
numbers of rural migrants to its many slums. In 1985, its population was 214,472

1124 C.A. Gomes
and had reached 336,132 in 2004, according to official estimates. In 2002, 4.1%
of its GDP came from farming and cattle-raising, 43.9% from industry and 52.0%
from trading and services.
The industrialization process started with tax incentives conceded to the impov-
erished north-eastern region, and the city was therefore eligible for fiscal incentives
provided by the regional development agency—SUDENE. In an effort to reduce
regional inequalities in Brazil and more specifically to reverse the chronic poverty
and backwardness of the north-east region, this industrialization programme was
implemented in 1961. The available evidence suggests that the programme was
successful in promoting significant industrial development. However, it is widely
acknowledged that the programme was not so successful in creating jobs. Urban
unemployment and underemployment did not decrease but actually increased while
the programme functioned (Magalhães, 1983; Jatobá et al., 1985).
Problems with the local labour force then encouraged the adoption of capital-
intensive technologies. Labour is abundant in the north-east, but productivity is low
because of generally poor levels of health and education. Unit labour costs are there-
fore high, even though wages are, on average, lower than in other regions. It was in
this context that the industrial park of Montes Claros was established at the end of
the 1960s.
3 Official Inaction and Corporate Action
The main obstacle to early industrialization in Montes Claros, according to those in

charge of the first enterprises that moved to the city, was the lack of a qualified local
labour force. Even for the basic construction projects, about 40% of the workers
were brought in from elsewhere, including carpenters and labourers. There were
two main labour problems. On the one hand, local workers were in need of training
and had difficulty adapting to an urban-industrial environment. The re-socialization
that was needed even included teaching recent arrivals (used to going barefoot) not
to cut holes in their protective shoes when they developed blisters. On the other
hand, the cost of bringing workers to Montes Claros from other countries and re-
gions was very high, and such workers had difficulty adapting to life in a small
provincial city. Turnover was very high and bidding for qualified workers was in-
tense. According to various informants, the regional development agency was not
very concerned with the social conditions encountered by workers. In the words
of one informant, with regard to the needs of local industries, this agency thought
‘like the average Brazilian businessman: get them started, and then let the fittest
survive’.
Trapped between the costs associated with workers recruited elsewhere and the
deficiencies of workers recruited locally, firms in Montes Claros sought a number of
solutions. One attempt was to bring an agency of the para-state National Industrial
Apprenticeship Service (SENAI) to the city. Though SENAI is ordinarily responsive
to the needs of local industries and is mostly funded by a pseudo-tax levied on the
VII.7 Employers’ Participation in Training Finance: An Example from Brazil 1125
payroll, in this case there was disagreement about where the training centre should
be located. These efforts were abandoned and only taken up again many years later.
With the traditional training alternatives eliminated and absolutely no possibility
that the State or local governments would take on the responsibility, a group of
local businessmen called a meeting of the Commercial and Industrial Association in
order to devise a plan for occupational training. Experiences with on-the-job training
provided by skilled workers from other regions had produced encouraging results.
These efforts had demonstrated that, in spite of their initial deficiencies, local work-
ers were quite capable of mastering new skills. Some members of the association
had visited a technical school in a neighbouring city and had determined that it was
cheaper to train locally than to import skilled workers.
About thirty members of the association attended these early meetings. However,
when asked to make an initial capital donation and a monthly pledge to establish
the Educational Foundation of Montes Claros (FEMC), many firms declined to
participate, not wishing to commit themselves to pay for a service which was, in
their view, a governmental responsibility. The president of the association argued
that what was in question was an investment, and not a charitable donation, and
fifteen firms finally agreed to participate in the establishment of the foundation
in 1976.
A local university professor was recruited to establish the school. Relying on
a blend of bureaucratic and predominantly charismatic leadership (Weber, 1968),
he put together a faculty and defined an institutional philosophy in collaboration
with the businessmen backing the school. Using rented classrooms and discarded
equipment, a series of short courses started in areas of urgent need, including
welding and pipefitting. In 1989, there were 2,029 students enrolled, 47.1% of
whom attended lower-secondary and high school (in partnership with State and
municipal governments) during the day shift, 33.6% went to technical courses dur-
ing the evening shift and the remaining 19.3% were divided among vocational
courses offered in the main buildings and in other places, including neighbouring
municipalities.
It is evident that the FEMC, like any formal organization, formed part of a variety
of power relationships and interacted with a variety of other actors. According to
Downs (1967), to survive and grow, organizations must continually demonstrate the
utility of their services to one or more constituencies with sufficient influence to
ensure the continued flow of resources. Moreover, the growth of organizations takes
place only with the adoption of new functions or the incorporation of functions
previously fulfilled by less dynamic organizations.
In the case of the FEMC, the adoption of new functions occurred in a vacuum in
which there were no competitors. For this reason, the expansion of its activities was
encouraged by those who benefited from its services, including local firms (among
them the patrons of the foundation) and former and potential students. The value of
the foundation’s work was more widely recognized however, both in the community
and beyond. The firms behind the foundation were adept at building support in the
community, allowing firms that did not contribute to the foundation to participate in
training programmes and winning the political backing of both state and municipal
1126 C.A. Gomes
governments. With the advantage of having a reputation based on the quality of

its programmes and with the support of important local constituencies, the FEMC
was not threatened by competitors offering similar services. Nevertheless, its expan-
sion was limited by competing claims on resources among local firms, students and
public agencies.
4 Expansion for Survival
At the end of 1989, the students in FEMC programmes were mostly poor, even
by the standards of a municipality where average incomes do not normally exceed
the statutory minimum. An analysis of the subjects taught by the school was based
on the subjective criterion of neighbourhood socio-economic status. The results re-
vealed that about 80% of the students were from low-income families, 17% lower-
middle income and 3% middle income. In confirmation of this finding, nearly all
of the students had previously attended public schools. In general, therefore, the
students were more interested in acquiring a profession than in continuing their
academic studies, as the likelihood of continuing their education in a higher educa-
tion institution was small. Here, a traditional division can be seen between the two
branches of secondary education: academic and vocational. In spite of successive
reforms to overcome this dualism, the continuation or termination of secondary
school studies continues to be linked to students’ social origins. That is why if
the technical school were not recruiting its students from among the less-privileged
social strata, graduates would turn away from vocational studies and future technical
jobs. Prejudice against manual labour has systematically impelled students away
from manual occupations and towards preparatory education for a higher education
course (Souza & Castro, 1974). If young people were succeeding at the secondary
level, why would they want to enter a technical course?
When a panel of educators examined the 1989 data sixteen years later, they
agreed that the socio-economic composition of the student body had not changed
much during the intervening period. However, an on-the-spot observation makes it
apparent that the level of social origin has indeed risen. Even as far as subjective
differences are concerned, times have changed. Technical occupations now demand
more refined technologies and depend on information technology. Thus, the tech-
nician of today is not exactly the equivalent of the blue-collar worker of yester-
day. Not only has the presence of women increased considerably in some courses
(28%, on average, in the technical school), but at least part of the middle class has
become attracted by the complexity of the curricula and the laboratories and by
the professional prospects that are not to be scorned in a country where juvenile
unemployment is widespread.
There is thus a tug-of-war going on between technological sophistication and
social inclusion. In this sense, there are two important access channels for socially
less-privileged youngsters and adults: scholarships (almost always limited to partial
grants) offered by companies or even by the FEMC itself and the monitoring system.
In the case of the former, one of the bigger companies holds admission exams for
ex-students of government-run schools. The latter accepts students based on the
combined criteria of need and merit, and assists them with their academic tasks.
Things have changed over the course of the last fifteen years. There was a re-
duction in industrial activity in Montes Claros during the 1990s, especially after
the closure of the SUDENE programme. The economy veered largely towards the
tertiary sector and the region even became an important centre for higher educa-
tion, although in state planning it is classified among clusters of biotechnology,
fruit growing and semi-precious stones. However, the struggle for competitiveness
has led to the use of ever-more complex, labour-saving technologies that were less
demanding than the occupations offered by the technical school. In other words, the
school became less useful and imperative for companies and more useful for the
community.
How could this challenge be met? The response was to widen the activities so
that some activities could finance others. To this end, a junior and senior high school
and an engineering faculty were set up. With the higher status accorded to technical
occupations, senior high-school students are able to take not only the general edu-
cation course but a technical course at the same time. They have several extra hours
of lessons each week, which almost results in full-time schooling, in contrast with
the Brazilian tradition of half-day schooling. Furthermore, students in the technical
school must study at night for one extra year. (Senior high school consists of three
years of general education.) As a sign of the new times, 85% of students choose to
participate in the technical courses whilst the rest continue with general education
alone. Thus, this establishment is structured to qualify candidates already involved
by the mould of the technology culture, not only for the technical school but also
for the recently established higher education institution.
It was in this way that the field of engineering courses opened up in response
to the increasing complexity of industrial technologies and occupations. A Higher
Education Institution was set up and offers courses in chemical engineering, au-
tomation and control, telecommunications and computing. These make use of com-
mon libraries and laboratories and rely on of the relationship between industrial
companies, the school and the technological culture that has been constructed over
the years. As will be seen later, this relationship is the most precious resource of
all insofar as its financial surplus meets the costs of financing the technical school,
which has experienced a noticeable fall in demand in comparison with former peri-
ods when the ratio of candidates to places available reached 20:1. Nevertheless, this
school continues to be the dream of many low-income youngsters whose eyes shine
when they see in it the path to social mobility.
Furthermore, the total enrolment in regular courses (not including lifelong edu-
cation courses in the school itself and in other municipalities) went up from 1,639
in 1989 to 2,037 in August of 2005. The premises of the technical school have
been doubled thanks to a federal grant and another building has been rented for
the engineering school. Today, the total constructed area is 8,123 square metres and
exhibits a growing sophistication, with a greater number of laboratories and more
equipment.
1128 C.A. Gomes
Another response to the challenge was the change in focus from educating for a
specific occupation to educating for a wider field of work. Industrial technologies
that dispense with labour, sub-contracting to third parties and the shrinking of the
formal labour market have brought about a change in the FEMC’s purpose. In this
sense, an entrepreneurial spirit now inspires the curricula and seeks to prepare the
students for a wider range of work opportunities. On the other hand, an ‘enterprise
incubator’ was created encompassing fifteen companies and projects. In spite of its
small size, it is expected to become part of a large-scale initiative—the technological
park—containing an estimated 220 establishments.
Some signs of new times can be mentioned. One of these is the concern for social
inclusion. Students in the technical and higher education courses participate in a
social training period dedicated to diversified citizenship activities that may range
from distributing food to offering professional training courses, creating projects
for digital inclusion and providing support for public schools whose students are
socially less privileged. Although the sale of services is one of the sources of financ-
ing for the FEMC, a group of students developed software for the use of cemetery
administrators and donated it to the municipality, thus contributing to the solution of
long-standing problems. As the social training period became obligatory, an ethics-
related subject was included in the curriculum to make students aware of their social
responsibilities.
In this field, the neighbouring presence of the city’s most violent slum led to
the creation of a project for sixty children all enrolled in public schools. As these
children study part-time, the FEMC carries out activities in arts, culture, citizenship
and leisure, both in the morning and in the afternoon. In other words, the school is
available to them full-time. This sub-project also includes work carried out with
parents so that they too become involved in the education of their children and
the activities of social promotion to improve their living conditions. Participating
children and adolescents have guaranteed access to the technical school when they
finish junior high school.
The atmosphere in the school continues to be energetic and committed. The
school and its students are even more visible in the community and are subject to
continual evaluation by local businesses. As a result, teachers in the school appear
to enjoy considerable social status and maintain a significant esprit de corps. In fact,
they seem very proud of what they do. Teachers who work after hours, projects
undertaken by groups and efforts to ensure the excellence of each course continue
to be hallmarks of the school.
Local businesses are actively involved in all activities. Even short courses are
offered only after assessment of local training needs. Follow-up contacts are made
with the supervisors of students and former students. The board of directors plays
a strategic role as a bridge between businesses and the school. One consequence
of this participation is the continual modification of curricula, training methods and
enrolments in response to changing needs.
In addition to these regular academic programmes, the FEMC offers a wide
variety of courses, including some at a distance. These are offered in municipalities
throughout the region under agreements with local businesses or public agencies,
and/or financed through student fees. Lifelong technical and vocational education
has been a new horizon explored in the face of accelerating technological and eco-
nomic change. The marketing division is in charge of detecting and proposing new
business, as well as taking care of the institutional image. The most remarkable
initiative in this field is perhaps the annual science and technology fair. The last one
took place in the city mall, attracting numerous visitors until the facilities had to be
closed. The programme included the presentation of interesting projects by groups
of students from the secondary, technical and engineering schools. They are very
often interdisciplinary, making difficult technical concepts easier to understand by
practical demonstration. The Ministry of Science and Technology has also financed
a series of lectures given by State scientists.
In general, local businessmen regard FEMC students and former students very
favourably. Moreover, the need to generate its own revenue keeps the FEMC alert
to changes in the needs and expectations of its clients, in contrast to schools with
more predictable sources of revenue, which only rarely alter their programme. It is
important, however, that financial uncertainty does not reach excessive levels if the
organization is to remain innovative and responsive to its environment.
5 Walking the Financial Tightrope
In 1989 the income of the FEMC came from the fees paid by students and their
families (58.3%), from scholarships and other contributions provided by local firms
(27.1%) and from the sale of services (14.6%). It was a part of the operating philos-
ophy of the school, maintained until today, that students should pay at least a part
of the cost of the education/training provided. Individual fees varied with family
income, with most students paying between 30 and 70% of the total cost. In March
1990, the maximum annual payment for the secondary evening class programme
was US$643, which was the equivalent of 53% of the fees charged by the most
expensive private secondary school in the city, where the course was academic rather
than technical. As a rule, fees ranged from US$200 to US$439. These amounts were
far from insignificant for the local income levels, so the fees paid by each student
were supplemented by a scholarship provided by a local firm, even if the student
was not employed by that enterprise.
The share of the costs of FEMC programmes paid by students and local busi-
nesses has varied over time. On average, student fees have covered 48.7% of the
costs, while business contributions have covered 23%. However, the share of annual
costs covered by student fees has varied from a low of 32% to a high of 76%, whilst
the share covered by business contributions has varied between 12% and 57%. A
critical point was reached in 1989, when the share of costs paid by students exceeded
the previous maximum at the same time as the share paid by local firms fell below
the previous minimum. In order to make up for this decrease in business support, the
possibility of increasing school fees was discussed. However, this would probably
have shifted the composition of enrolments in favour of better-off students more
1130 C.A. Gomes
interested in preparation for higher education than in a terminal vocational pro-

gramme. As this change would have subverted the basic objectives of the FEMC,
however, the board of directors recommended that firms should not only increase
the value of their scholarships but also join together to contribute to the reduction of
the foundation’s operating deficit. The FEMC could not cover its costs by relying on
student fees and business contributions alone. The gap in funding was then covered
through the sale of services and the provision of short courses, which were obliged
to generate profits.
Compared to other similar institutions, FEMC Technical School has generally
had lower costs. Its annual cost per student, calculated in 1989, was US$1,166 per
year, whereas in the SENAI technical schools this figure reached US$1,880 and
the federal technical industrial schools attained US$1,516 (the latter figure refers
to 1985).
If relatively low per-pupil costs are an indicator of good management on the
one hand, they are also, on the other hand, a reflection of the difficulties that the
school faced in keeping its equipment and training programmes up-to-date. Accord-
ing to local informants, the FEMC has been able to cover its recurrent costs—with
difficulty—but necessary capital expenditure was a major stumbling block. At this
point, the talents of the FEMC in acquiring equipment at a minimum cost came into
play. Help was solicited from firms in the region and elsewhere, with the argument
that the school provided a showcase for their products. One informant pointed out
the school’s first micro-computer (kept today as a relic), comparing it to ‘a miser’s
first dollar bill’. The computer was provided in return for a course offered by the
FEMC. Since it arrived, the school had been offering courses in data-processing,
with all income from these courses reserved for the purchase of additional micro-
computers so as to increase its training capacity in that area.
However, this creative and partially-improvised organization with a predomi-
nantly charismatic leadership reached the limit of its possibilities by the mid-1990s
as the economic panorama of Montes Claros underwent changes. Financial diffi-
culties increased and a debt to the social welfare system accumulated (now renego-
tiated). The FEMC was on the verge of insolvency, whilst at the same time bitter
pedagogical disputes divided the teaching body. As a divided house cannot rule,
so the board of directors decided to reformulate the entire administrative and fi-
nancial system. According to statements, the FEMC moved from a predominantly
academic culture to an entrepreneurial culture, but one that paid respect to social and
educational objectives. Its degree of bureaucracy also increased (Weber, 1968), even
affecting the school’s leadership. An administrative system typical of a business was
implanted; that is to say, the board decided to administer its own daily medicine.
An administrative and financial director, whose training was completed in half-day
sessions in various local industries, was contracted. Budget, cost and management
accounting was implanted, as was a system of information management for the
decision-making process. (Financial data were made available to the author in a
quarter of an hour!) A five-year budget is under discussion. In spite of all these
alterations, no diminution of enthusiasm, esprit de corps or pride of belonging was
detected among the persons who are part of the institution.
In addition to these changes, the improvization in capital expenditure of for-

mer days has been overcome, thanks to participation in a Ministry of Education
programme favouring vocational and technical education and partially financed by
the Inter-American Development Bank. The Federal Government attributed high
value to community or so-called third-sector participation, and opened up oppor-
tunities for organizations like the FEMC to compete for resources. In practice, the
Foundation signed a loan agreement in 2001 with the Ministry of Education for
US$985,076, 31.9% of which is for infrastructure, 56.8% for equipment, 4.8% for
capacity-building and training, 3.8% for teaching material, 2.3% for consultancies
and 0.4% for services. In this way, the constructed premises of the technical school
have doubled, the number of laboratories was more than doubled and equipment
was updated. However, this federal programme has fallen victim to discontinuity.
It must be asked how the question of financing future investments as a response to
advances in new technology will be dealt with.
The data presently available (Table 1) refer to the current expenditure per student
plus capital expenditure for the year. The value of the equipment and installations
has not been attributed and thus the figures cannot strictly be compared with those
from 1989. The composition of the income per unit of the foundation shows that the
technical school has effectively become less dependent on the companies, which
once again raises the question of the socio-economic selectivity of the student body.
In turn, according to Table 2, current expenses per student vary from 91.7% to
89.2% of the total whilst capital expenditures planned for the year oscillate between
4.9% and 10.8%. The proportion of expenditure on staff is high, especially in the
technical school, which has recently had its installations and laboratories expanded
and considerably improved. The engineering school has the greatest share of the
total current expenditure and the technical school the lowest. Although data for com-
parison are scarce, it is sure that the FEMC Technical School average expenditure
per student is lower than that of the Federal Centre for Technological Education
(CEFET), which is more sophisticated and includes higher education programmes.
In contrast, the Paula Souza Centre, a State technical/vocational education network
successful in increasing equity, has an average expenditure per student of US$847
in 2005.
On the income side, the cost of monthly tuition is lower for the technical school,
but even so it represents half of a minimum salary, i.e. around US$127. According
Table 1 FEMC sources of funding by unit, 2005

Sources High school (%) Technical school (%) Engineering school (%)
Tuition paid by students 90.7 63.3 84.8
Company contributions 9.3 36.7 0.8
Government loans to students – – 9.4
School loans to students – – 5.0
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0
Note: Other sources of funding in 2004: Ministry of Education, 5%; SEBRAE (support for
‘enterprise incubators’), 2%.
Source: FEMC, January/August 2005.
1132 C.A. Gomes
Table 2 FEMC average annual expenditure per student and tuition by unit, 2005
Kind of expenditure High school Technical school Engineering school
US$ % US$ % US$ %
Current 1,245 91.7 1.078 95.1 2,018 89.2
Salaries 1,089 80.3 972 93.9 1,085 53.8
Other current 156 11.4 106 1.2 933 35.4
Capital 111 8.3 57 4.9 244 10.8
Total 1,356 100.0 1,035 100.0 2,262 100.0
Tuition per month (US$) 94 – 64 – 254 –
Tuition as % of the minimum salary 74 50 200
Average no. of students/class 38.9 33.5 28.7
Source: FEMC. The values for the whole year were projected on the basis of those for January to
August.
to the 2000 Census, the monthly median income in the municipality was US$117. In
the same year, 37.6% of the wage-paid population earned up to twice the minimum
salary. Even so, the technical school expenditure up until the month of August 2005
was 4.3% higher than its income. Tuition fees for the high school are 15% lower than
those for the best renowned high schools in the city. Nevertheless, it is deficient
insofar as, by Brazilian standards, some classes are under-populated. In turn, the
unit with a balance sheet surplus par excellence is the engineering school, where the
monthly tuition fee is 200% of the statutory minimum salary. It should be noted that,
in spite of its being relatively inexpensive when compared to countrywide levels of
tuition rates, it is still difficult for the students to pay these fees and a group of them
has sought support in government financing, as well as through a fund created by
the school itself.
6 Finance and the Way Forward
Fifteen years ago, the published case study (Gomes, 1991) expected that the recogni-
tion accorded to the accomplishments of the school, in combination with the chronic
insufficiency of income in relation to expenses, might lead to changes in the FEMC
programme. In 1989, a financial crisis was averted only when the board of directors
called for increased contributions from local businesses. What would have happened
if this policy had not been approved? The answer was speculative, but since organi-
zations seek survival before all else, it would be likely that the FEMC would have
shifted its programme focus so as to respond to financial exigency. Compensating
for the loss of business support by collecting higher fees from students would have
meant the enrolment of fewer poor students. Lacking competitors in the region, the
FEMC would have had no difficulty in recruiting students able to pay the higher
fees, but in this case, enrolments in the school would have become more like those
in other technical schools throughout Brazil, where equity has declined and most
students are more interested in continuing their education. In other words, students
would increasingly have attempted to use the school as a springboard to higher
education rather than committing themselves to jobs in the industrial and commer-
cial sectors within the region (Gomes, 1999).
The FEMC used other strategies to avoid a decline of equity at the technical
school. To the extent that Brazil’s economic/financial situation required firms to
cut costs and technologies economized on labour, business support did, in fact,
decrease. However, the ‘Robin Hood’ effect produced by the school of engineer-
ing made it possible for the technical school to avoid becoming an elitist school.
Furthermore, the aforementioned federal grant programme assured modernization
and covered the urgently needed capital costs. Therefore, the organization changed
recruitment patterns as a whole to preserve a certain level of democracy in technical
courses.
Indeed, in the 1990s and the early years of the twenty-first century the great
challenge in preparing professionals for industry has been the ever-increasing com-
plexity of technologies and the consequent increase in the costs of professional and
vocational education. The para-statal ‘S’-system1 has gone through a serious crisis.
Because of the foreign debt crisis, recession and unemployment have had a direct
effect on the income of traditional bodies like SENAI and SENAC, both financed
by a pseudo-tax levied on the payrolls of their respective sectors. SENAI found its
way out of this difficult situation by improving and selling services. As a result,
it is no longer as wide a channel for the social ascension of blue-collar workers
as it was in the 1970s. For their part, federal technical education institutions have
been successful in increasing their participation in public funds in part through com-
peting with other public and community organizations for the funds of the federal
programme already mentioned. This has meant that almost all of them have become
higher education institutions that offer technological courses in addition to regular
technical courses, somewhat like American community colleges. One of them has,
in fact, become a technological university.
In view of all these changes, several reactions have been noticeable. In the ‘S’-
system, SENAR, dedicated to the rural sector and created in 1991, went the road
of sub-contracting services, decentralizing and operating according to the mecha-
nisms of the market (Gomes & Câmara, 2004). This contrasts with those pioneer
institutions that formed the first generation of the ‘S’-system. With SENAR, al-
though a highly flexible network has been created with low overheads, it lacks
the accumulation of experience and other factors that led to the success of the
first generation. On the other hand, several states, especially Sao Paulo and Rio
Grande do Sul, have opted to create and/or expand their technical education net-
works. In the case of the former, the Paula Souza Centre managed to increase the
percentage of working students from 33% to 48% between 1995 and 2002 (Sao
Paulo, n.d.).
At the same time, faced with unemployment and under-employment, especially
among people in the low-income bracket, the federal government established the
National Plan for the Further Training of Workers (PLANFOR) in 1995, which
was succeeded by a similar plan in 2003. Resources have been allocated to a large
array of partners, such as trade unions, non-governmental organizations and state
and municipal governments in order to offer mostly short courses.
1134 C.A. Gomes
In the specific case of Montes Claros, the technical school has managed to main-
tain a certain degree of democratization, but companies are tending to become in-
creasingly sophisticated so that, in addition to their requirements for general educa-
tion, the tendency is to contract specialized staff for relatively few work posts. How
long will it be possible to maintain the present levels of equity? One alternative is
the FEMC’s proposal to set up partnerships with the municipal school system, which
would enable around another 500 students to have access to the technical courses.
Although the FEMC is the largest organization preparing people for industry
in the region, it must be stated that the SENAI resolved its differences with the
municipal government some time ago. In 1988, it opened a site donated by an
industrialist where it offers basic professional training courses and one technical
course in electro-mechanics. However, it is estimated that it only reaches 15% of
the market.
7 In Conclusion
Some lessons can be learned through revisiting the FEMC. Firstly, thanks to the
expansion and vertical extension of its activities, it has become possible to make
better use of and enrich the culture of technology. Secondly, it has also been possible
to compensate for the reduction in the contributions made by companies and appar-
ently to maintain a similar degree of equity for lower socio-economic levels in the
technical school. Thirdly, in spite of being an experience illustrative of neo-liberal
principles, like de-regulation and the reduced role of the State, the FEMC’s leap for-
ward took place through management reform, but above all through the partnerships
with the Federal Government for those investments which its own income could not
satisfy. Thus, it remains a fruitful example of partnership. The financial uncertainties
of the FEMC favoured its dynamism and adaptation to new circumstances. However,
walking the financial tightrope introduced new critical factors that came to threaten
the survival of the organization and could have lowered the levels of equity.
Finally, the achievements of the FEMC could be repeated elsewhere, depend-
ing on the commitment of businesses. Even after the initial challenge of replacing
workers from other regions with local manpower had been surmounted, local firms
have continued their support. There were advantages in their continued participa-
tion; besides tax deductions, they have been able to design training programmes
in accordance with their own needs, to keep wages and turnover down and to em-
ploy trainees at relatively low wages. Furthermore, the increased complexity of the
FEMC structure corresponds to new stages of technological refinement.
However, some of the challenges that still exist and go beyond the limits of the
industrial district can be found right alongside the technical school in the slums,
where organized crime recruits children threatened with a life of underemployment.
In Montes Claros, as in the greater part of Brazil and Latin America, complex
industries exist side-by-side with masses of people without any prospects in life.
Many of them are second- or third-generation rural migrants, with low levels of
education and no vocational skills who are marginalized by the lack of job oppor-
tunities. The informal sector in all its facets has been the escape hatch for survival.
This segmentation of the labour market contributes to huge income disparities
It is possible that businesses in similar circumstances elsewhere might adopt the
same strategy if certain conditions were met. Business leaders must recognize that
education and training are investments and accept that businesses must pay a share
of the costs if public support is not forthcoming. It is unlikely that the full cost
of training can be borne by students in Montes Claros in anything but exceptional
circumstances. It was the recognition of these realities that made the success of the
FEMC possible.
Note
1. The ‘S’-system refers to the network of training agencies set up to address the skill needs of
particular sectors: SENAI for industry; SENAC for commerce; and SENAR for the rural sector.
References
Downs, A. 1967. Inside bureaucracy. Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Co.
Gomes, C.A. 1991. Vocational education financing: an example of participation by employers in
Brazil. Prospects, vol. 21, no. 3.
Gomes, C.A. 1999. New perspectives for secondary school: the case of Brazil. International review
of education, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 45–63.
Gomes, C.A.; Câmara, J. 2004. Training for rural development in Brazil: SENAR. Paris: UNESCO-
IIEP; Rome: FAO.
Jatobá, J. et al. 1985. Polı́tica de emprego para o Nordeste. Brasilia/Recife: Ministério do Tra-
balho/Massangana.
Magalhães, A.R. 1983. Industrialização e desenvolvimento regional: a nova indústria no Nordeste.
Brasilia: IPEA/IPLAN.
Sao Paulo. Secretaria da Ciência, Tecnologia, Desenvolvimento Econômico e Turismo. No date.
Centro Paula Souza: competência em educação pública profissional. Sao Paulo, Brazil: Centro
Paula Souza.
Souza, A.M.; Castro, C.M. 1974. Mão-de-obra industrial no Brasil: mobilidade, treinamento e
produtividade. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: IPEA/INPES.
Weber, M. 1968. Economy and society: an outline of interpretive sociology. New York, NY:
Bedminster.
Chapter VII.8
Funding Lifelong Learning
from a Life-Course Perspective
Barry J. Hake
1 Towards a Political Economy of Investments

in Lifelong Learning
It is exceedingly difficult to find a policy document on education and training

that does not make use of the ‘lifelong learning agenda’ in order to: (a) legit-
imate policy strategies; (b) identify specific policy measures; and (c) argue the
choice for specific policy instruments. This reflects the worldwide consensus con-
cerning lifelong learning from the mid-1990s onwards that has informed pol-
icy documents from the World Bank, UNESCO, OECD, the G8, the European
Commission, national governments, non-governmental organizations in the field
of education and training, and education and training institutions themselves. The
realization of lifelong learning is seen as a key factor in meeting the challenges of
globalization and the emergence of knowledge economies, the competitiveness of
national economies, creating jobs and reducing unemployment, generating individ-
ual employability, and securing the social inclusion of groups at risk of exclusion
from the learning society. Globalization is regarded as the driving force behind the
knowledge economy. The knowledge economy in turn is widely viewed as demand-
ing the development of lifelong learning and a learning society. There is now a
hegemonic ‘grand coalition’ of international economic organizations, transnational
polities such as the European Union, national governments, employers and trade
unions that has warmly embraced lifelong learning as the motor of the knowledge
society—necessarily a lifelong ‘learning society’. Despite this all-too-apparent con-
sensual policy rhetoric about the need for lifelong learning in order to create knowl-
edge economies and learning societies, the most fundamental problem remains the
lack of any agreement with regard to how societies, organizations and individuals
would benefit, or not, from investments in lifelong learning (Hake, 1999). Given
the dominance of the needs of the economy and the emphasis upon individual em-
ployability in current policy narratives, it is also necessary to pay attention to the
‘wider benefits of learning’ generated in the life-worlds of individuals beyond the
sphere of work.

1138 B.J. Hake
2 The Political Economy of the Knowledge Society

as a Risk Society
Since the mid-1990s, dominant policy narratives have focused upon the importance
of lifelong learning as the crucial policy initiative that informs worldwide policy
responses to the challenges posed by globalization, the transformation of industrial
societies into post-industrial knowledge societies, the need to ensure the competi-
tiveness of national economies, the maintenance of employment through economic
growth, and the need to promote the social inclusion of potentially marginal groups.
The common argument is that all such problems can be addressed by lifelong learn-
ing policies that are geared to the promotion of employability. This leads almost
inevitably to the development of policy instruments and the implementation of pol-
icy measures that are intended to lead to the promised land of ‘employability for all’
in the knowledge economy.
The globalization that dominates current policy narratives needs to be under-
stood first and foremost in terms of the world-wide reorganization of economic
activity that is dominated by the boundary-less and deregulated accumulation of
economic capital on a global scale. This is a process that is also characterized by the
almost instantaneous communication of knowledge and information without respect
to national borders, and virtual access to this information and knowledge without
regard to space and time. The routine availability and application of knowledge
and information in all spheres of social life has become the most dynamic feature
in the transformation and reorganization of post-industrial societies. This in turn
produces the transformation to the learning society where learning throughout life
becomes the key competency if individuals are ‘to learn to survive’ (Giddens, 1992).
In policy narratives that proclaim the necessity of the learning society, the individual
is reconstituted as a ‘permanently learning subject’ (Dumazedier, 1995), while there
is now no question of opting out from learning if one is to become an ‘active citizen’
in the learning society.
Globalization confronts societies, organizations—including education and train-
ing organizations—and individuals with learning challenges as they struggle to cope
with new risks, and seek to survive in rapidly changing and unstable environments at
the global, national, regional and local levels. The learning society is characterized
by these structural challenges and the necessity to learn in order to survive on many
fronts. The ‘individualization of risk’ refers here to the learning society as a ‘risk
society’ in which individuals are ‘at risk’ with regard to their chances of survival
in the face of change and uncertainty (Beck, 1992). To become ‘a learner’ is now
the determining criterion for acquiring the competencies of ‘active citizenship’ in
the learning society. Not to be a learner is to run a serious individual risk in the
learning society. This is a salient description of the learning society as a risk society.
This directs attention to the potentially negative consequences for individuals of the
all-pervasive requirement to learn throughout life or ‘a life long of learning’.
Management of individual risk in post-industrial knowledge societies now seems
to lead inevitably away from the collective interventions of the welfare State towards
VII.8 Funding Lifelong Learning from a Life-Course Perspective 1139
the retreat of the State, with deregulation, flexibility, individual employability and
consumer choice in the learning market-place as the keys to successful survival
strategies. This is now the chorus of almost every policy paper. Despite this neo-
liberal rhetoric of individual opportunity and choice often associated with lifelong
learning narratives, individuals are confronted with the risk of exclusion given the
uncompromising demands of the learning society. The fundamental question is
whether the traditional educational strategies of communities, families and individ-
uals in industrial society are still adequate in the learning society? (van Damme,
2000). Is access to learning opportunities and the acquisition of survival skills
equally available to all? If not, this has important consequences for an increas-
ing number of ‘at risk categories’, and carries with it the potential of social ex-
clusion and a threat to social cohesion. Globalization processes and the rise of
the learning society would seem to produce both winners and losers in the form
of the ‘knowledge rich’ and the ‘knowledge poor’ (du Bois-Reymond & Walther,
1999).
On the one hand, processes of structural modernization in the knowledge so-
ciety lead to increasing differentiation of learning environments in diverse social
arenas beyond formal educational institutions. This includes the rise of the work-
place as a non-formal learning environment and the more informal learning en-
vironments concerned with active citizenship and social cohesion in civil society.
On the other hand, there is greater diversity in the learning trajectories pursued
by individuals as they redistribute their own learning efforts across increasingly
diverse life courses, and as they seek to combine their learning efforts with work,
caring tasks, leisure-time and social participation (Glastra et al., 2001). These pro-
cesses impact in particular upon young people in their often difficult transition from
an extended period of education to finding work, but they also impact upon low-
qualified women, older workers and the minorities, and those no longer employed
for life. Such developments are even more significant for groups and individuals
caught-up in global and regional migration processes and who have to struggle
with the risks involved in their potential exclusion as ethnic, cultural and linguistic
minorities.
There are significant contradictions, furthermore, between the emphasis upon
neo-liberal market principles as the determinant of provision and consumption of
education and training and the persistence of unequal distribution of the opportunity
structures enabling individuals to utilize both the traditional and new learning envi-
ronments for the purposes of education, training and lifelong learning. On the one
hand, specific social groups continue to be at a disadvantage in ‘front-ended mod-
els’ of education and training as a preparation for ‘a life long of learning’. On the
other hand, there are also significant social groups who are also unable to establish
themselves in the new diversity of non-formal and informal learning environments
and the market-place for learning. There are indications here of a significant degree
of potential market failure in the delivery of education and training and a skewed
distribution of opportunity structures that can lead to the non-delivery of education
and training to specific social groups (van Lieshout, 1999).
1140 B.J. Hake
3 Integrated Funding Models for Investments

in Lifelong Learning
The redistribution of opportunity structures throughout the individual life course
in the context of lifelong learning demands an exploration of policy discussions
during the last two decades about the so-called ‘integrated approach’ to investments
in lifelong learning. Given the intimate relationship between lifelong learning and
the employability agenda in recent policy debates, priority has been given to so-
called ‘integrated funding models’ for lifelong learning. This discussion has di-
rected attention in particular to the discussion of the respective responsibilities of
governments, social partners and individuals for investments in lifelong learning. In
particular, recent policy developments have involved a new balance between direct
public investments, para-fiscal investments agreed by the social partners and fiscal
measures to encourage individuals to invest in their own employability. This priority
has focused upon the integration of lifelong learning and labour-market policies with
an emphasis upon both reformed and new funding instruments in order to finance
education and training during working life (Levin & Schütze, 1983).
In different national economic and labour-market contexts, this debate has been
dominated by the need to close the so-called ‘skills gap’. This ‘skills gap’ has
been commonly formulated in terms of the ‘learning gap’ between the needs of
the knowledge economy for highly qualified employees and the inadequate ed-
ucational levels available among the current workforce. A core element in this
discussion has been the respective financial responsibilities of governments, so-
cial partners and individuals for investments in integrated strategies for vocational
education and training which are intended to make a contribution to bridging
the ‘learning gap’. The closing of the learning gap thus involves the mobiliza-
tion of public, semi-public and private resources for funding the employability of
the workforce and the unemployed. This ‘learning gap’ can be illustrated as in
Figure 1.
This approach has led to the exploration of funding instruments that are based
upon combinations of public, para-fiscal and individual investments in order to pro-
mote higher levels of participation in education and training as a public, mixed or
individual good.
3.1 Investment in Education and Training as a Public Good

r The traditional responsibility of governments for public funding of front-ended
systems of initial education and training with the guarantee of universal
entitlements up to the age of compulsory schooling, while post-initial vocational
education and training is regarded as the responsibility of the social partners and
individuals.
r Government responsibility for the investment of public funds in post-compulsory
education and training to ensure the acquisition of so-called ‘start qualifications’
Employment line
Lifelong learning
Unemployed
Employed
Public
p
ga
£
ng
£
ni
ar
Private
Le
Low skilled Skills development High skilled
Fig. 1 A model of lifelong learning with a ‘learning gap’

Source: <pjb.co.uk/npl/bp23.htm>
as a guarantee of access to the labour market for unqualified young people and
for low-skilled adults among the unemployed and job-seekers.
3.2 Investment in Post-Compulsory Education and Training

as a Mixed Good
r Establishment of para-fiscal systems of compulsory funding levies by employers
to finance recurrent education for employees. These arrangements for employers’
contributions towards the costs of education and training are financed by a flat-
rate percentage of their wage-bills;
r Collective bargaining agreements between the social partners to establish vol-
untary para-fiscal arrangements for development and training funds for those
employed in specific branches. These are also based upon agreed levies upon all
employers.
r Agreements between the social partners to facilitate arrangements for paid edu-
cational leave. These vary from income-guaranteed non-work periods of study on
full pay to time-guarantees to take a period of non-work financed by loan/grant
systems.
r Collective bargaining with regard to the duties of all employers to draw-up a
training and development plan for their employees. These plans may be associ-
ated with targets agreed with or laid down by governments.
r Collective agreements about the rights of all individual employees to a ‘personal
development plan’. Such agreements may be national or agreed per sector.
r Collective bargaining agreements to finance ‘personal development budgets’ for
individual workers within existing sectoral development and training funds.
1142 B.J. Hake
r Individual learning accounts (ILA) that are regarded as a form of ‘education and
training account’ or ‘voucher system’ based upon contributions by government,
employers and employees.
r Fiscal facilities for both employers and individual workers enabling them to claw
back the costs of their investments in education and training from corporate or
income taxes.
r Fiscal facilities for employers to stimulate their investments in specific target
groups, such as the low-qualified, older workers and the long-term unemployed.
3.3 Investments in Education and Training

as a Personal Good
r ‘Career-break programmes’ that enable individuals to take time-off from paid
work for the purposes of undertaking unpaid caring work in the direct or ex-
tended family, a period of education and training, or other purposes.
r Individual learning accounts based upon voluntary ‘income savings’ arrange-
ments for individual employees that enable them to save a percentage of annual
earnings on a tax-free basis for the purposes of education and training.
r Life-course savings accounts based on voluntary ‘income savings’ free of tax
which enable individuals to save for a period of leave for caring tasks, a period
of education or training, or to finance early retirement.
It has to be recognized, moreover, that the integrated funding instruments developed
in the specific context of lifelong learning policies focus upon the opportunity struc-
tures that are available to the employed and to those seeking employment. They are
dominated by labour-market issues. Policy instruments within integrated funding
models have largely concentrated upon the funding of education and training in
relation to access to the labour market, reintegration of the unemployed and the
disabled, and the promotion of individual employability. Of no little importance in
this context is that para-fiscal funding models are related to the significant changes
currently taking place in the workplace as a new arena for the creation of oppor-
tunity structures and the social allocation of individuals. It is here that decisions
are increasingly taken about the learning opportunities made available to different
categories of employees. This is particularly important given that decisions about
access to education and training in the workplace take place with little if any public
scrutiny of the resulting redistributive effects.
It is open to question, therefore, as to whether this diverse mixture of public,
para-fiscal and private investments in education and training actually contributes
to the social inclusion of at-risk categories and the promotion of social cohesion.
Integrated funding models have little relevance for either the structurally long-term
unemployed and, in particular, for those not in paid work let alone the ‘no-longer
employed’ sections of the population. In this regard, it is necessary to examine more
critically the consequences of the introduction of free market forces and individual
choice in the funding of education and training. Attention needs to be devoted to
the possibility of market failures in the delivery of learning opportunities to spe-

cific categories at risk of exclusion. This demands that funding models for lifelong
learning need to be examined in terms of their ability to deal with the sometimes
conflicting demands of market forces and the need for regulatory mechanisms to
assure social solidarity and cohesion between those included in and those excluded
from the workforce.
There is also the issue as to whether such integrated funding models adequately
address the changing relationships in the architecture of initial and post-initial
education within the perspective of a political economy of lifelong learning. A key
problem here is whether such models assume that the priority should given to front-
ended models of initial education as a preparation for ‘a life long of learning’, while
post-initial education and training is regarded as no more than a periodic ‘topping-
up’ investment for the purposes of maintaining and refreshing knowledge and skills.
Current funding models tend to assume that the source of the problem of risk and
social exclusion is based upon low levels of initial education among the ‘knowledge
poor’. As yet, they devote little attention to the specific needs of the low-qualified.
Labour-market dynamics, together with the emphasis on high knowledge and skill
levels, combined with the ageing of the population in most post-industrial societies,
now provides the basis for the need to encourage older workers to continue working
for longer periods and to reverse the trend of the last two decades towards early
retirement.
In the context of lifelong and life-wide approaches to investments in education
and training, the above critique suggests that most current proposals for integrated
funding models are primarily focused upon one specific dimension of the life-world
of adults: namely the world of paid work. They also concentrate, furthermore, upon
one specific phase in the life courses of adults—again the phase of active engage-
ment in paid work. In this manner, they tend to replicate the traditional model of the
(male) life course which is based upon three phases of preparation for paid work,
participation in paid work, and withdrawal from paid work into retirement. They are
not informed by emerging understandings of the need for a life-course approach to
the redistribution of lifelong learning (Tuijnman & van der Kamp, 1992), let alone
a life-wide approach to lifelong learning in the diverse areas of the life-world. They
do not address questions concerning inequalities in opportunities to participate in
lifelong learning throughout the more flexible life courses of individuals and be-
tween the generations. In this respect, they comprise instruments more appropriate
to the organization of risk-bearing in industrial society rather the new demands of
the knowledge society.
4 Flexible Life Courses and Risk in the Knowledge Society
In industrial societies, the social protection of individuals in the face of risks was
organized in the form of collective insurance and the individual rights of citizens
to universal social—including educational—entitlements to benefits. Systems for
1144 B.J. Hake
collective investments in education, social protection in work and retirement benefits

in industrial societies were in large measure closely related to the organization of the
standard (male) life course. This standard life course was defined in terms of three
periods comprising: (a) education and training in the youth period; (b) paid work
in adulthood for men and unpaid work for women; and (c) the withdrawal from
paid employment and retirement. There was a very strong link in industrial soci-
eties between social policies and the institutionalization of this standard (male) life
course. Entitlements to universal rights with regard to education, work, unemploy-
ment and retirement supported this age-related—indeed generation-differentiated—
life course to the degree to which age norms were legally defined in educational and
social legislation. In other words, industrial societies were based upon a standard
chronological system of ‘social ages’ for investments in and the distribution of social
rights and benefits. State interventions in industrial society determined and indeed
policed the appropriate ages for participation in compulsory education, the length
of the period of active employment and in establishing the fixed age for compulsory
retirement and pension rights (Guillemard, 1986). This ‘policing’ of the life course
through legislative and administrative arrangements also endowed each period with
a sense of individual meaning and identity within a sequence of clearly recognized
transitions between education, paid work and retirement.
Current patterns of investment in education and training for young people, voca-
tional training for the working population and the pension schemes for the retired
are still largely based upon the standard male life-course of preparation for work, in-
volvement in work and the withdrawal from active employment. Indeed, the current
system of social insurance may be regarded as an ‘age-differentiated’, or preferably
a ‘generation-differentiated’, system for the distribution of opportunity structures.
Recent innovations with regard to funding arrangements for lifelong learning, for
example individual learning accounts, are significant in the degree to which they
are frequently built into collective social security and collective bargaining agree-
ments. In this regard, they form part of the larger structures of provision for social
insurance and risk sharing for those engaged in paid work. This also means that
they are closely related to the period of paid work and are embedded in the standard
life course of industrial society. This system is not able to manage the redistribution
of learning opportunities across the increasingly flexible and diverse life courses of
individuals in a greying society.
In the knowledge economy, the traditional assumption about these periods of
education, involvement in paid work and retirement is gradually undermined and,
indeed, turned upon its head. Significant shifts towards the more flexible organi-
zation of work and diverse patterns of participation in paid employment are key
characteristics of the knowledge economy, while at the same time changes in the or-
ganization of households are taking place. These structural changes are increasingly
reflected in the more flexible and precarious life courses of individuals (Marsden,
1999). The breakdown of the standard life course of the (male) breadwinner has to
be extrapolated to include an analysis of the increasingly flexible life courses of the
younger and the older generations in the knowledge society. This can be witnessed
in the problematic transition of low-qualified youngsters from initial education and
training to the labour market, the risks of failing to adapt to flexible labour markets,
the threat of losing work, the decline of jobs-for-life, and the widening diversity
in uncertain patterns of exit from the labour force and permanent retirement. Time
spent in work is also now less uniform with major variations in involvement in
particular for the younger generation entering the labour market, schemes for help-
ing the unemployed to return to work, periods of temporary withdrawal and re-entry
programmes for women, the preferences of many women for part-time work and the
development of schemes for flexible retirement. Furthermore, the determining factor
of retirement is no longer a fixed ‘life event’ at a ‘legislated age’. It is now being re-
placed with a longer period of transition as individuals leave active employment and
enter more or less permanent retirement over a much longer period of time. These
increasingly complex patterns of entries to the labour market, transitions through
and temporary points of exit from and re-entry to employment, together with more
variable patterns of exits from the labour market, result in new categories of risk
that undermine traditional systems designed to provide social insurance of risks in
industrial societies.
The emergence of new forms of risk is intimately related to demographic trends
in post-industrial knowledge societies. This relates to the so-called ‘greying of so-
ciety’ in post-industrial knowledge societies, the ageing of the workforce, and the
larger numbers of people who are no longer engaged in paid work but who have
entered a longer phase of retirement. Such societies are characterized by low birth
rates, comparatively fewer absolute numbers of young people in initial education
and entering the labour market than in previous generations, higher levels of par-
ticipation in education among the young, and low educational levels among older
workers.
The emergence of the knowledge society is in effect responsible for the disorga-
nization of the traditional phases of involvement in education, work and retirement
together with the orderly arrangement of the generations in the standard (male) life
course. Given the new times of the knowledge economy and the learning society, the
orderly arrangement of generations with the appropriate forms of funding partici-
pation in education and training, work and retirement is breaking down as the life
courses of individuals become less unforeseeable and new—and unexpected—risks
become manifest (Riley, Kahn & Foner, 1994). Changing patterns of individual life
courses pose a major challenge to traditional understandings of collective educa-
tional and social entitlements. The advent of post-industrial economies and knowl-
edge societies is rapidly undermining traditional arrangements for the organization
of public and private investments in terms of the standard chronology of the life
course. Variability in life courses involves new forms of risk that challenge the tra-
ditional funding mechanisms intended to provide social insurance in order to cope
with the linear succession of risks at the traditional transition points in the standard
(male) life course. It can be argued that the ‘de-institutionalization’ of the standard
life course poses major challenges to the funding mechanisms appropriate to invest-
ment in the ‘front-ended’ model of initial education and training as a preparation for
working life, the organization of working-life itself, and the period of withdrawal or
disengagement from work (Best, 1981).
1146 B.J. Hake
In particular, this demands an intergenerational approach to the redistribution

of opportunity structures between generations in the form of new models for the
relationships between investments in initial and post-initial education and training,
training in the workplace and flexible retirement. The financing of lifelong learning
within the perspective of life-wide learning and the wider benefits of learning cannot
be negotiated in terms of front-ended models of initial education, the current forms
of integrated funding of the post-initial needs of workers, and the period of with-
drawal from paid employment. This demands a far more comprehensive model of
integrated funding that will call upon the resources presently made available through
public and private investments in education and training, social insurance and re-
tirement pension schemes. The question is whether it is possible to bring policy
instruments together in a system of funding measures that will make it possible to
fund an ‘age-integrated’, or preferably ‘generation-integrated’, structure of learning
opportunities that recognizes the flexibility of life courses and supports solidarity
between the generations.
5 Reconfiguring Investments in ‘Flexible Learning Lives’
Collective and individual insurance of risks is complicated by the reality of new

and unknown risks given the new uncertainties associated with flexible life courses
and the demise of the traditional transitions between recognized phases in the life
courses of individuals. Innovative funding models for investments in lifelong learn-
ing will have to be based upon the understanding that a life-course approach to
both lifelong and life-wide learning has to take account of the increasingly flex-
ible ways in which people need to organize their personal lives in contemporary
knowledge societies. Such understandings of issues concerning the organization of
lifelong learning in a knowledge society are based upon: (a) the individualization
and flexibility of life courses; and (b) the fundamental dynamics of demographic
change that call for an inter-generational approach to the funding of both lifelong
and life-wide learning.
It is also clear that policies for funding policies and specific policy instruments
for lifelong learning in post-industrial societies will have to be based upon the
dynamics of demographic change in conjunction with the implications of such
dynamics for inter-generational relationships. In other words, there are significant
problems involved in the reconfiguration of funding lifelong learning in a knowl-
edge society that is also a ‘greying society’. This poses a fundamental challenge to
collective and individual forms of funding insurance against risk in post-industrial
societies. It is necessary, therefore, to reflect upon how investments in education,
social security and pensions can be reconfigured given the tendencies towards the di-
versity characteristic of modern life courses (Guillemard, 2000). Public and private
investments in education and training, the functioning of labour markets and retire-
ment pensions have to be reconsidered in response to the breakdown of the standard
ordering of the chronology of the life course and the blurring of the thresholds be-
tween points of entry and exit to education and training, paid work and retirement.
The redistribution of lifelong learning across the life course of individuals will
involve major reconfigurations of opportunity structures that are more in accord
with the increasing differentiation and the flexibility in the life courses adopted by
increasing numbers of individuals in post-industrial societies. Redistributing rights
to education and training throughout life at the discretion of the individual give rise,
however, to a number of fundamental questions that are relevant to the search for
integrated funding models within a life-wide perspective on investments in lifelong
learning. How can lifelong learning be financed in terms of the share of the respec-
tive contributions from public funds, the social partners and individual learners?
What would be the features of a system for financing the redistribution of learning
throughout the individual life course in terms of different collective and individual
responsibilities in the face of flexible life courses and uncertain risks? Is there an
inevitable shift from collective forms of social insurance towards the responsibility
of individuals for insuring themselves in the face of uncertain risks?
The issue now at stake is the reconfiguration of investments in opportunity struc-
tures in such a manner that individuals can more effectively cope with the new
risks that arise as a consequence of the more flexible and risk-prone life courses of
individuals. We now appear to be entering a period when investments in education
and training need to address these new patterns of flexibility, the uncertainties of in-
dividual life courses and unforeseeable risks (Guillemard, 1997). In the terms of the
emphasis on individualism in formulations of neo-liberal policies, this is no longer
simply a question of the unquestioned transition from predominantly collective to-
wards more individual investments in learning. There have been increasing calls in
policy narratives associated with ‘learning for earning’ for a revision of systems of
investment that will enable individuals to become responsible for their own invest-
ments in the face of growing flexibility, uncertainties and unknown risks in their life
courses. This means that collective investments to meet the risks associated with the
traditional chronological phases of the life course are being actively reconfigured
and refinanced in a plethora of individual funding and insurance schemes. These
are intended to facilitate the management by individuals of the uncertainties of their
life courses. The ad hoc nature of such arrangements does not auger well for the
financing of lifelong learning and new ways of creating forms of both collective and
individual insurance in the face of the new risks in the learning society.
One of the most innovative contributions to funding of the collective social insur-
ance of risk and individual entitlements has been formulated in the ‘Supiot Report’
commissioned by the European Commission (Supiot, 1999, 2001). Supiot and his
team produced proposals for a fundamental reconfiguration of collective insurance
and individual entitlements in a system of social protection and risk-sharing based
upon ‘social drawing rights’. Their report is based upon the recognition, on the one
hand, of changes in the conditions of employment towards greater flexibility and
short-term contracts and, on the other hand, of changes in the structure of house-
holds with more women participating in paid work. The authors also recognize
recurrent periods of involvement in education and training as an integral part of
1148 B.J. Hake
working life, together with the growing trend towards more and irregular transi-
tions between paid work and other unpaid social activities. At the heart of their
report is the need to recognize the entitlements of individuals to income-support
in the complex transitions between different kinds of social engagement, such as
paid and unpaid caring work, and above all engagement in education and training
whether within or outside the workplace. Basic to their report is the recognition of
collectively-funded individual entitlements that extend beyond income support as
protection for those in paid work or the unemployed to include the entitlements of
those in unpaid work, those engaged in education and training, and the no-longer
employed. Such entitlements would take the form of ‘social drawing rights’ for all
individuals to enable them to finance periods of unpaid participation in non-work
activities, such as caring tasks in the family or a period of recurrent education and
training. This constitutes a development of the notion of ‘individual drawing rights’
which was originally formulated during the 1980s with regard to the funding of
recurrent education (Rein, 1983). As such, the Supiot report formulates collectively-
funded individual entitlements to a ‘social income’, irrespective of whether one is
or is not employed in paid work. The basic argument is that individuals should no
longer be locked into paid or unpaid work, but that they would be able to move
between these two modes without the social risks of loss of income currently as-
sociated with such transitions. The availability of social drawing rights introduces
a greater degree of individual choice and responsibility for decision-making, which
the Supiot report refers to as the ‘right to exercise a freedom’. By making social
entitlements—for example to a period of education and training—less dependent
upon paid work and the current job, the Supiot report argues that this would spread
the risks associated with short-term and uncertain employment more widely. This
would increase both the possibilities and willingness by individuals to engage in
paid work, non-paid work and periods of education and training on a more flexible
basis than is now the case. At the heart of the Supiot report is the idea that individ-
uals should have access to income maintenance for whatever kind of paid or unpaid
work they wish to do at any one point in time. This is based on the assumption that
most, if not all individuals, will be involved in the labour market and in periods of
further education and training at some point in their lives. In the context of rights
to lifelong learning, this means that access to education and training is a guaranteed
entitlement and is not something that is limited to those with a permanent contract
of employment.
The preference expressed in the Supiot Report for the collective funding of
individual drawing rights from social funds is clearly different from other recent
proposals that place greater emphasis upon the self-responsibility of the individual
to save money from current income in order to establish a personal savings fund or
individual insurance that will enable them to finance a period in non-work activities.
These social funding mechanisms are primarily based upon mixtures of para-fiscal
funds and individual insurance to meet the demands of non-work periods at some
point in flexible and unpredictable life courses. Such measures effectively favour
individual rather than collective insurance against risk. Individualized schemes con-
vert the risks of flexibility into new patterns of choice for individuals, but they do not
operate on the principle of solidarity which is at the core of Supiot’s proposals for
flexible transitions between paid and unpaid work. The shift towards individualized
personal savings arrangements for insurance against risk means that it is the respon-
sibility of individuals to take decisions to make use of—often fiscal—facilities that
enable them to save for periods of non-work. While they provide a degree of security
for individually chosen trajectories in the face of the risks associated with flexible
life courses, they effectively depend upon the willingness or not of individuals to
anticipate and invest in risks. Seen in the broader perspective of the Supiot Report,
the question is whether such individualized funding mechanisms actually possess
the potential to increase the flexible integration of activities such as paid work,
unpaid caring tasks, leisure time, voluntary activities and engagement in lifelong
learning activities.
The funding of social or individual drawing rights comprises a policy to support
diversification and flexibility in the life courses of individuals and the self-regulation
by individuals of their allocation of time for the purposes of paid work, caring tasks,
leisure and education and training. It is a collectively-funded system that enables
individuals to utilise their lifelong entitlements to social benefits as part of a com-
prehensive social insurance system which provides individuals with the right to
income maintenance in non-work periods. This is a risk-sharing social insurance
rather than a system of opting to take part in risk-bearing insurance by individuals.
What is proposed is a singe comprehensive system for the funding of all periods
of voluntary or age-determined unpaid work. It would replace the present differ-
entiated systems for financing initial education, post-initial education and training,
vacations and leisure, and retirement that require income maintenance in the absence
of paid employment. Each individual would have access to ‘an individual lifelong
account’ that would comprise an account of the individual’s right to claim benefits
upon public funds in terms of the contribution by the individual to public funds via
personal taxation, social security and pension contributions. As argued above, such
benefits are now subjected to strict age-determined criteria with regard to compul-
sory education, unemployment protection and retirement offering little choice to
individuals. In the system of individual drawing rights from a collectively financed
system, individuals would be able to self-regulate the use of an agreed part of the
rights accrued for specific purposes, including education and training. It would also
be possible to introduce financial incentives that would encourage individuals to
invest in their education and training, while it would also be possible to introduce
redistributive measures between different income groups and generations. Highly
specific forms of social insurance—for example, disability, sickness and accident
insurance—would still function as before. In the case of becoming unemployed,
individuals would not be required to use their individual drawing rights for educa-
tion and training. They would be able to make use of the standard unemployment
insurance with the risk that they will have fewer opportunities of gaining access to
the labour market if they do not make use of their individual drawing rights to raise
the level of their competencies. Individuals would, of course, be subjected to certain
limitations on their rights to draw upon their individual life accounts. It will be of
vital importance that a reserve is available in individual accounts for the increasingly
1150 B.J. Hake
extended period of retirement from paid work. However, the system of individual
drawing rights could contribute to the effective division of life into the three distinct
periods of education, work and retirement.
6 Alternatives for Investments in the Funding

of Lifelong Learning
Throughout post-industrial knowledge societies, demographic change and the grey-
ing of the population now dominate policy agendas. The solvency of public and
private pension schemes would seem to be the priority at the moment.
Radical changes are required if we are to reconfigure funding models for edu-
cation and training throughout life in pursuit of the implementation of a life-course
approach to lifelong learning. A life-course approach to lifelong learning demands
an ‘intergenerational approach’ to the redistribution of structures of opportunity be-
tween different generations in the form of new models for funding investments in
lifelong learning. In addressing the problems of providing collective security in the
face of risks, together with the preference for individual choice in the self-regulation
of flexible life courses, this final section will explore the funding of a more flexible
‘life long of learning’ for the younger generation after the compulsory period of
initial education. As such, the proposals put forward are variations upon the theme
of establishing individual drawing rights on the basis of collective funding rather
than individual funding.
6.1 More Flexible Learning Lives for the Young?
The financing of lifelong learning can no longer be negotiated in terms of front-

ended models of initial education, the current forms of funding of post-initial edu-
cation and training workers, and the period of withdrawal from paid employment.
One of the major problems related to the restructuring or reform of education and
training throughout the life course is the continuing dominant emphasis upon a
short-term, front-ended approach to lifelong learning with an emphasis upon high
levels of participation of young people in initial education. Current educational poli-
cies are dominated by securing high levels of participation by the young in primary
and secondary initial education, reducing drop-out rates, and with the participation
of at least 50% of the younger generation in some form of higher education. The
funding of participation in front-ended models of initial education, including higher
education, has to be radically restructured.
Despite high levels of participation in initial education and training, there are
still significant numbers who drop out of compulsory education without qualifi-
cations and have difficulty in gaining access to the labour market. Others leave
initial education after the completion of compulsory secondary education and do
not participate in higher education. Participation in higher education determines
the degree to which the young benefit from public investments in post-compulsory
initial education. In most post-industrial societies, access to publicly funded higher
education is subject to a cut-off point at a certain age (for example the age of 30 in
the Netherlands). Those who do not participate are subsequently unable to make
any claim upon or benefit from these public investments in post-compulsory initial
education—even if they wish to return. This suggests that the distribution of public
funding for post-compulsory initial education should be radically restructured to
deal with these unequal opportunity structures with an age limit. This would result
in more flexible learning trajectories for individuals than at present in the tight corset
of mass initial higher education.
One proposal to achieve this is that all young people leaving compulsory ini-
tial education should be able to draw upon a publicly financed ‘individual lifelong
education account’ up to a certain agreed cut-off age—let us say 35. This would
take the form of funding that individuals can draw upon to finance various forms
of post-compulsory initial education when they wish to do so. Postponement of
using these rights would be an individual choice, but the entitlements would remain
valid up to the agreed cut-off age. Use of some of these rights to support income
for any period of education and training would be rewarded by a premium paid
into the individual lifelong learning account. Account-holders would be able to use
their rights when they wish to do so, at their own speed, and purchase learning
from both public and private providers of education and training. Non-use of the
available entitlements would not be penalized, but any unused funds would have to
be repaid at the agreed cut-off point. The major advantage of this system is that it
would equalize the distribution of public investments to a larger number of young
people than those now entering higher education. Although the funds available to
each individual might be lower than is currently the case, this could be supplemented
by a system of loans or income from part-time work. In the case of account-holders
engaged in paid employment, both the employer and the account-holder would be
able to make additional contributions to the individual lifelong learning account.
This would make it possible to save for an additional period of participation in
post-compulsory initial education that would have to commence before the cut-off
age of 35.
An important feature of such a proposal is that the public funds invested in post-
compulsory education and training would no longer comprise direct transfers by
the government to post-compulsory education and training institutions. An agreed
sum would be transferred into individual lifelong learning accounts and the account-
holders would be free to purchase post-initial education and training from any ac-
credited public or private institution. The amount of funds invested in an individual’s
lifelong learning would be determined by the average costs of a specified period of
participation in public post-compulsory education and training. Those who choose
to purchase courses from private institutions would have to contribute themselves
to any difference in fees involved. A number of proposals have been made with
regard to the level of funds invested in individual lifelong learning accounts. This
could be the equivalent a period of seven years from the age of 16 or three years
from the age of 18 according to the school-leaving age. This is the equivalent of the
1152 B.J. Hake
completion of the first cycle of higher education according to the Bologna process. A
more radical proposal would extend the period during which the individual lifelong
learning account can be used up to the age of 55. This would certainly change the
age of students attending higher education and allow very flexible learning careers.
7 In Conclusion
The key question is whether governments, political parties and the social partners,
and more importantly workers themselves, adequately understand the full implica-
tions of demographic change towards the ‘greying of society’, the demands of the
knowledge society upon all generations, and the necessity in the longer term of
a life course perspective on investments in education and training throughout life.
The provisional answer must be negative.
Lifelong learning policies need to pay more attention to the redistribution of
learning opportunities throughout individual life courses but also between the gen-
erations. This leads in turn to the argument that the funding of lifelong learning
has to be radically redesigned and that the ‘front-ended’ investment in initial edu-
cation as a preparation for ‘a life long of learning’ demands fundamental revision.
As such, this requires much more than greater flexibility in the application of the
highly segmented systems for financing initial education, training schemes for the
unemployed, education and training funds for the employed, occupational disabil-
ity benefits, and new combinations of education and training with the maintenance
of social benefits. It is necessary to redesign the entire architecture of initial and
post-initial education and training, general education and vocational education and
training, and formal and non-formal learning. Rather than the age-defined breaks in
generational entitlements to publicly financed education and training that are char-
acteristic of front-ended models of educational and training investments for life,
lifelong learning policies demand a lifelong recurrent redistribution of individual
entitlements to education and training in diverse learning environments throughout
the life course. One conclusion could be that the division of responsibilities be-
tween government, employers and individuals for investments in lifelong learning
must necessarily include the responsibility of governments for publicly-funded en-
titlements to the acquisition of core competencies throughout life and, indeed, into
retirement for all. Such responsibilities can no longer be delegated to para-fiscal
arrangements for those in paid work or privatized as the responsibility of individuals
in income-savings arrangements.
Lifelong learning policies need to be deeply engaged in the social construction
of human subjectivity both in paid work and beyond throughout the lives of indi-
viduals. This involves active engagement with the complex processes of disruption
in everyday life, the risks arising from flexibility in individual life courses, together
with the development of the competencies that are required by all generations to
survive in the learning society. Globalization posits threats to traditional patterns
of social life but it also presents new opportunities for the development of the
self-regulation by individuals of their own flexible lives. Policies for lifelong learn-
ing need to address the continuous and often difficult transitions between the spheres
of paid and unpaid work, the private spheres of families and relationships, and the
public sphere of civil society. This can only be achieved by the recognition of the
diverse learning environments that facilitate reflection upon acquired knowledge,
skills and attitudes, together with their translation into competencies that can be put
to use in diverse social arenas. Lifelong learning policies are now required that are
able to ensure the broadest possible provision of opportunity structures, the recog-
nition of competencies acquired in diverse learning environments, together with the
social acceptance of the diversity of rich patterns of learning in paid and unpaid
work, civic and private lives throughout the life courses of individuals. The eco-
nomic viability of such structures throughout the individual life courses will demand
the radical reconfiguration of the entire social architecture of education and training
in the context of an increasingly older society and intergenerational solidarity.
How lifelong learning is to be financed throughout the life course and how the
intergenerational redistribution of learning opportunities can be achieved comprise
the key questions to which we seem at the moment to have few firm answers—let
alone good questions. The core issue is whether we fully understand the challenges
that arise from the commonly held assumptions about the ongoing transformation
towards the knowledge society. It might be most appropriate to explore the implica-
tions of the development of ‘learning societies’ and to explore how learning can be
best managed by ‘permanently learning subjects’. This would enable individuals to
more effectively organize their own learning lives, to self-regulate their investments
in education and training, and manage their own life courses. The knowledge society
is a reality today and is not a future state of affairs that will be a problem for the
young to cope with on the basis of the front-ended provision of initial education and
training.
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divisions. Vol. 2: Strategies of social integration and individual learning biographies, pp. 21–
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cies. Oxford, UK: Pergamon.
Chapter VII.9
Economic Perspectives on Technical and
Vocational Education and Training in Australia
Gerald Burke and Christopher Selby Smith1
1 Introduction
The economics of education and training are concerned with the efficient use of
resources to achieve individual and societal objectives. This chapter takes Australia
as an example in reviewing recent approaches to improving the use of resources and
discusses some lessons learned.
In education and training, the objectives pursued are improved educational
achievement and skills for members of society, for their personal fulfilment—
including access to work—for greater participation in civic society and for the
broader benefit of the whole community. In Australia, the objectives for technical
and vocational education and training (TVET) that have received most emphasis in
recent years have been:
r to meet the skill needs of industry where employment patterns and technology
are rapidly changing due to the impact of the globalized economy;
r to improve equity in access to education and training and to employment.
More recently, the relative needs of individuals have received more attention in the
objectives compared to those of industry, while the needs of regional communities
and indigenous people have also received emphasis.
In many countries increased private funding has been sought to raise the resource
level or as a substitute for public funding. Along with this, governments have sought
an increase in the pressure of market forces on education and training in the belief
that market competition will lead to more efficient delivery of the type of education
and training that employers and individuals want. This has led to a partial shift in the
role for the government: as the regulator and part financier or purchaser of training
rather than the sole provider of education and training.
An OECD review team presented the Australian goals for reform of the TVET
system based on five underlying principles (Schwatz et al., 1997): (a) the need for
a national training system; (b) a competency-based system; (c) a client-focused and
user-driven system; (d) multiple pathways and flexible delivery; and (e) continuing
commitment to access and equity principles.

1156 G. Burke, C.S. Smith
As this chapter will illustrate a range of issues in the economics of education and
training with reference to Australia, it is useful at first to list some basic features of
the Australian economy and its education and training system.
2 Australian Economy, Society, Education and Training
2.1 The Economic and Social Context

Australia is among the fastest growing high-income economies in which the only
negative issue is the high level of the balance-of-payments deficit and the accompa-
nying high levels of international private indebtedness. Key aspects to note are:
r Public-sector activities have been restructured or privatized from the mid-1980s,
and the private sector exposed to greater international competition through glob-
alization.
r Australia is a less equal society in income and educational achievement than
most European countries; it is more comparable to the United Kingdom and the
r Australian has a population of 20 million people, most living in the major cities
on the coast, with a high rate of immigration—and a very high proportionate
level of international students.
r The Australian population is ageing, but much more slowly than other developed
countries.
2.2 The Education and Training Context
Table 1 provides summary information about spending on and enrolments in educa-

tion and training.
r Over a quarter of expenditure on all education and training is privately financed
and the private share is growing, especially in public universities, but more
slowly in the publicly supported TVET system.
r TVET provides for about a quarter of all enrolments in the education system,
most of them part-time, many of them adults and proportionately more from
lower socio-economic backgrounds than those attending universities.
r Australia has a large system of apprenticeships and traineeship:
— apprenticeships for traditional trade training, usually over three or four years,
involving paid employment and often with one day per week spent off-the-
job attending a public or private TVET provider;
— traineeships for a wide range of occupations, usually of shorter duration than
apprenticeships and some undertaken almost wholly on the job without time
release for attendance at a TVET provider.
r Training delivered to apprentices and trainees makes up about 20% of all training
undertaken by TVET providers.
VII.9 Economic Perspectives on TVET in Australia 1157
Table 1 Overview of expenditure and participation in education and training, Australia, 2003
(approximate figures)
Total expenditure
A$ billion % govt. Enrolments (millions)
Government primary and 18 100 2.3
secondary schools
Non-government primary and 10 57 1.1
secondary schools
Vocational education and 5 80 1.7
training (TVET)
Universities 12 44 0.9
Total formal education system 45 73 6.0
Employees trained (million)
Enterprises: direct spending on 5 12 5
structured training
Source: Compiled using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Department of Education,
Science and Training and Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth
Affairs. Based on Burke (2003).
r Employer expenditure on structured training for employees is about as large as

government expenditure on persons enrolled in the formal TVET system.
r The average quality of formal education is good, as is indicated by Australia’s
high ranking in PISA and other international tests (OECD, 2004b).
r The overall rate of participation in education and training is high—Australia has
the highest rates of participation of persons aged 30 and over (OECD, 2004a,
Table C1.2).
r There are good lifelong education and training pathways for most people, but not
for those with poor initial levels of education and training.
r There has been little change in equity in education in recent years.
r Australia has a federal system of government consisting of a national government
and eight state and territory governments, with shared and contested responsibil-
ities for funding and regulating education and training.
In the range of system types in OECD countries, Australia is closer to having a
‘loosely coupled’ system than it is to having the tight connection between education
and the labour market. The United States of America, which has no national system
of qualifications or apprenticeships, typifies the loose connection. German-speaking
countries and parts of Scandinavia represent tight coupling (McKenzie, 1998;
Soskice, 2002).
3 The Structure of this Chapter
Against this background, we consider some of the main strategies to improve the
match of education and training with the needs of industry, individuals and society—
including improved equity—and the incentives to do this efficiently. Below we give
attention to five sets of policies.
3.1 User Choice
To help employers to obtain the type of training they want for apprentices and
trainees, a system called ‘user choice’ was implemented in 1998. The intention
was that employers and apprentices/trainees could jointly choose the provider and
assessor of training. Government funds for training would then flow to that provider,
whether a public or a private one. This scheme has not been fully implemented and
its functioning differs across states and territories.
3.2 National Qualifications Based on Standards

of Competency
A nationally consistent qualifications system for TVET based on industry-
determined competency standards has been developed. A vocational competency
comprises specification of the knowledge and skills and their application within
an occupation or industry to the standard of performance required by employment.
Industrial training boards determined the units of competency that from 1997 have
been organized into ‘training packages’. These training packages also contain the
assessment procedures and the qualification levels associated with groups or units
of competency.
3.3 Government Incentives to Employers
The Australian federal government and the state and territory governments pro-
vide financial assistance to employers to encourage them to engage apprentices and
trainees. The size of these incentives and the restrictions on eligibility influence the
level and distribution of apprenticeships and traineeships.
3.4 Tuition Fees and Income-Contingent Loans

In general, the fees charged in publicly-funded TVET are low in Australia and many
exemptions are provided for low-income students. However, not all students can
obtain such places. This means that full-cost places offered by public and private
providers are available to those who did not gain exempted places. There is pressure
too to increase fee levels overall and particularly for those courses seen to lead
to higher education—where higher fees are charged and where income contingent
loans are provided by the Australian government.
Australia has a system of national grants for support to full-time students aged 16
and over based on their personal and parents’ income and assets. There are on-going
issues about the adequacy of financial assistance and the need to extend it to persons
in part-time education and training.
3.5 TVET and Regional Development
While economic growth for Australia is high, the non-metropolitan areas have
tended to lag behind. TVET is seen to be part of the whole government approach
to lessening the unevenness of development. Attention to regional development is
important for equity, for maintaining social inclusion and for the contributions of
regions to the overall growth of society.
4 User Choice in the Development of a Training Market

From the beginning of the 1990s, and with the establishment of co-operative na-
tional arrangements for vocational education and training, priority was given to the
development of a more client-responsive system. An emphasis on competition in
TVET reflected the 1995 decision of the federal and state governments to imple-
ment a national competition policy based on the principles of the 1993 Hilmer Re-
port, which advocated, with some exemptions, that all private and public activities
be part of an open national market through: (a) removal of regulations restricting
competition; (b) restructuring of public monopolies; (c) third-party access to public
facilities; and (d) competitive neutrality between government and private businesses
(Hilmer et al., 1993).
Until the mid-1990s, moves to open up the training market concentrated on the
supply side. In some states and territories, management responsibility and account-
ability had been devolved to individual TAFE institutions, while barriers to mar-
ket entry for private and industry providers were removed. There had also been
some measures affecting the demand side, including separation of the purchaser
and provider roles of training authorities, and the opening of some publicly-funded
TVET funds to competitive tendering.
The Australian National Training Authority (ANTA), established in 1992, com-
missioned a report (Allen Consulting Group, 1994) to consider the move towards
more market-based arrangements. The report noted that the lack of responsiveness,
flexibility and relevance of many public providers was a recurring theme in their
discussions with industry. It recommended a move towards a market-based system
under which government funds would be allocated directly to enterprises to pur-
chase accredited training from any registered provider able to meet their needs—
including the enterprise itself if it obtained registration. ANTA accepted much of
the proposal, but recommended that, rather than being paid to employers, the funds
would pass directly from the training authority to the provider. The scheme called
‘user choice’ was agreed to by national, state and territory ministers in 1996 for
progressive introduction with full implementation for apprentices and trainees from
January 1998.
Nevertheless, most training authorities in the states and territories were at best
lukewarm about ‘user choice’ and implementation varied considerably. The
contested nature of TVET in Australia became more apparent between levels of
government, between the industrial partners, and between the public and private
sectors.
Various evaluations have been undertaken of the ‘user choice’ initiatives of the
pilot projects; by individual States and at the national level (Selby Smith et al.,
2001; Ferrier & Selby Smith, 2003a, 2003b). In general, the evaluations have been
supportive of ‘user choice’, but each one identified areas for improvement. State
and territory jurisdictions are understandably concerned to retain control of public
expenditures, to maintain educational quality and to manage potential risks. Mech-
anisms are available to manage TVET within a given financial allocation, including
limiting the number of eligible training providers, the funding provided per qualifi-
cation, and the range of qualifications available to clients. Employer organizations
generally wished to see the ‘user choice’ arrangements expanded.
Common resourcing priorities in TVET, including those for ‘user choice’, are
unlikely to be achieved if there is a significant difference in the objectives being
pursued by different states and territories. ‘User choice’ was introduced at the urging
of industry and its expansion has been supported by industry, while the enthusi-
asm among educational authorities has been much less evident. Resource alloca-
tion limitations have reflected the attitudes and practices of educational authorities
rather than those of industry. The latter also give higher priority than the educa-
tional authorities to the training needs of existing workers compared to entry-level
workers. Interestingly, pilot projects in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander com-
munities, in regional and remote locations, in prisons and sheltered workshops, have
demonstrated how ‘user choice’ can empower previously disadvantaged clients of
the TVET system.
5 National Qualifications Based on Industrial

Competency Standards
A major thrust of reforms in Australia in the 1990s was the desire to make educa-
tion and training programmes more relevant to the needs of clients—particularly to
employers. In part, this thrust was supported by reforms to funding, encouragement
of a training market and ‘user choice’, as discussed above. It was also strongly
supported by the move towards a national system of training and qualifications un-
derpinned by what are called training packages. Oversight of the national system is
undertaken by state and territory authorities. These have agreed to abide by what
is called the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF). Any organization
wishing to deliver nationally recognized training has to become a registered training
organization (RTO) under the rules of the AQTF. The RTOs registered in any state
and territory can deliver training in any part of the country and the qualifications
awarded will be similarly recognized on a national level.
A major part of the reform in the TVET sector was to base certification on
industry-determined competency standards. As mentioned earlier, a vocational
competency comprises the specification of the knowledge and skill and its appli-
cation within an occupation or industry to the standard of performance required in
employment. A system of national industry training boards, now being replaced by
a small number of national skills councils, with employer and union membership,
advised on industry standards across occupations covered by TVET sector train-
ing. It should be noted that the providers of training, of which the major ones are
the government-funded technical and further education colleges, were not directly
represented in this process. Industry boards were given control of the content of
training.
From 1996 the competency standards have progressively been assembled in
what are called ‘training packages’. Training packages contain (at least) the details
of units of competency, assessment procedures, and the qualifications that can be
awarded upon successful completion of particular units of competency. The devel-
opment of training packages stressed the need for assessment of competency to
be undertaken in the workplace or in a simulated workplace. The development of
training packages facilitated the development of, and recognition of, training ac-
complished in the workplace, including training entirely on the-job with no release
for off-the-job training.
By 2004 there were over eighty training packages, nine of which were enter-
prise training packages (developed privately by enterprises). These can lead to
some 1,000 qualifications ranging in the categories Certificate 1 to 4, Diploma
and Advanced Diploma (Schofield & McDonald, 2004). Nearly 60% of the train-
ing delivered in the TVET sector, perhaps 70% of publicly-funded TVET and
nearly all the training delivered to apprentices and trainees, is based on training
packages.
There has recently been a major review of training packages and a range of short-
comings have been identified—though the training authorities remain committed
to the concept of training packages. The criticism centres on the neglect of more
generic or employability skills and of broader educational outcomes, the flexibility
of training packages to be adapted to emerging skills and their appropriateness for all
clients of the TVET sector, such as those who wish to progress to higher education.
There is the on-going concern that the providers of training who have the most
understanding of the processes of teaching and learning have not been directly in-
volved in the process of development and revision of the training packages. Reform
to address several of these issues is underway
In general, this reform is limited to the TVET sector. The education provided
in secondary schools is not based on competency standards, except for vocational
subjects in the final two years of schooling. An on-going issue is the credit given
to TVET graduates when they seek entry to higher education institutions. Success-
ful completion of units of competency under training packages leads to a grading
as ‘competent’ and not a ranking that is commonly understood by schools and
universities. This has led many providers to also provide their students with graded
results, but there is no common system and the issue is unresolved—if beginning to
receive attention.
6 Employer Training Incentives
Employers considering employing a person as an apprentice or a trainee under ‘user

choice’ have to consider the costs of labour and any workplace training costs. The
Australian national government and the state and territory governments have long
provided financial support to employers who engage an apprentice or a trainee.
This support is reasonably substantial, although its value in relation to wage costs
varies with the length of course and the level of qualification. There are several
elements:
r a cash payment to an employer by the Australian government when an apprentice

or trainee is engaged and a cash payment on completion of Certificate III or IV
programmes;
r state and territory support, such as exemptions from state and territory payroll
taxes, or some cash payments;
r a traineeship wage system involving a lower rate of payment in recognition of
the time the trainee spends in training;
r and rates of pay for apprentices recognizing their lower initial productivity, with
pay rising over the years of apprenticeship.
Where a course is taken successfully, e.g. for a Certificate III in eighteen months, the
various incentives form a substantial proportion of employee labour costs, possibly
more than 30%.
The development of training packages for occupations previously not covered
in the national training system and the emphasis on these in workplace assessment
led to programmes for trainees consisting entirely of on-the-job training—with no
time release to attend classes at a training provider. Employer subsidies encour-
aged expansion in the number of such traineeships. Together with user choice,
this led to the state and territory governments meeting the costs of the provision
of training and assessment for workers whose training took place almost entirely
on the job.
There was an explosion in the numbers participating in traineeships in the late
1990s. The numbers of trainees grew four-fold and they made up 70% of the total
of apprentices and trainees in 2004, compared with less than 40% in 1997. The
growth has largely taken place in traineeships for areas where the traditional form of
apprenticeship was not available, such as retail, business, transport and hospitality.
The growth in traineeships in the last few years has been largely among ‘older’
persons. People aged 25 and over made up 20% of the total of apprentices and
trainees in 1998, but over 40% in 2004. Many of these older persons are existing
workers rather than those commencing a job.
Apprenticeships tend to last for three or four years. The majority of traineeships
were expected to last for one year or less in 1997, but the length of the courses taken
by trainees has increased, with most trainees taking Certificate III courses which
take longer than a year—and attract the Australian government completion subsidy
for employers.
There has been concern about the balance of training by level and by occupational
group and with the quality of training being achieved under traineeships. A number
of state and territory reviews have been undertaken and eligibility for various types
of funding has been reviewed. There are quite large differences among the states
and territories in the programmes that can be funded. An on-going concern is that,
while the rapid expansion in traineeships was occurring, stagnation took place in
training for traditional trades in the construction, metallurgy and automotive indus-
tries where there have been complaints about shortages for many years. Though
there is a need for closer analysis of extent and causes of such shortages (Shah &
Burke, 2003), the complaints are symptomatic of some on-going dissatisfaction by
employer groups about the training system, despite extensive reforms to satisfy their
interests.
7 Tuition Fees, Loans and Support for Living Costs
7.1 Tuition Fees

In Australia, in the publicly-funded TVET sector, tuition fees for students are low,
representing less than 10% of course costs. There have been recent increases in fees
in some states, but they still remain relatively quite low compared with university
fees. In addition, students from low-income backgrounds or suffering some other
type of disadvantage are exempt from most of these tuition fees.
Even so, there is a limitation on the amount of public funds made available for
TVET and therefore on subsidies to students’ fees. Unlike secondary schools where
enrolment is almost universal, not all students who wish to enrol in TVET are able
to do so. In addition to those courses supported by public funds, public TVET insti-
tutions and private TVET providers provide programmes at full cost to students or
to employers.
Public TVET funding has been constrained in recent years, which has had the
effect of reducing the real resources available per student trained. There is on-going
pressure to raise fees in TVET. If fee increases continue, there will be a strong
case to provide income-contingent loans, which are already available for university
students in Australia but not for TVET students.
7.2 Income-Contingent Loans
University fees were abolished in 1974 but were reintroduced again in late 1989.
A substantial fee was introduced accompanied by an income-contingent loan. There
have been several changes to the scheme since then, with the fees tending to increase
and they are now generally in excess of 30% of the costs of the education. All
undergraduate Australian students in publicly-funded courses are liable for the fee
and no exemptions are made for low-income background. However, the undergrad-
uate Australian university student does not have to pay the tuition fee while he or
she is studying. Some students and their families do chose to pay up-front, as there
is a discount for an up-front payment set at 20% in 2005.
Repayment is not required until annual income reaches a specified level. This
level is set at A$35,000 in 2005 (approximately US$26,000). This is about the level
of the beginning salary of new graduates. It means that persons who do not get
full-time work or only low-paid work do not have to repay their loans. The loans are
repaid through the income-tax system.
Reviews of the scheme operating over the last fifteen years suggest that very
few young persons have been deterred from entering higher education. Some older
persons who are already earning above the income threshold for repayment have
been deterred from enrolling.
The main purpose of the re-introduction of fees in higher education was to reduce
government outlays on persons who would go on to earn good salaries. The money
saved could be used to expand the overall level of enrolments in higher education
and to support other areas of education.
Chapman (2002) argues that income-contingent loans should be available for
TVET students. The exemptions given for low-income students do, however, sug-
gest that very few students would be deterred by the current fee structure for
publicly-funded TVET. The case for income-contingent loans in TVET would be
much stronger if fees were increased substantially. The case for higher fee levels
is not as strong as it is in higher education. Students in higher education tend, on
average, to be from a higher socio-economic background and go on to earn above-
average incomes. In TVET, a large number of the students come from low-income
homes and tend not to earn above-average incomes after their courses—though
clearly some do. The case for higher fees for particular advanced courses may be
stronger than for fee increases in general in TVET
7.3 Student Assistance
Students have to meet living costs. The national government gives grants for liv-
ing allowance to full-time students aged 16 and over, subject to an assessment
of the student’s and the parents’ income and assets. Over a quarter of all full-
time students receive a grant. Only about 10% of TVET students attend full time,
but they tend to come from low-income backgrounds. There is a special scheme
for Indigenous Australians, many of whom in any case are from low-income
backgrounds.
The rate of assistance is higher for persons aged 21 and over than for younger
persons; it is also higher for those with a dependent spouse and children. For adult
single persons living at home with their parents, the maximum rate is less than a
quarter of the full-time minimum wage, although the student is permitted to earn
some income from employment. There are on-going issues about the adequacy
of the assistance and the need to extend it to persons in part-time education and
training.
8 Regional Issues
Australian regions have shown uneven economic and social development, with con-
sequences for the social exclusion of persons in poorer areas and for the overall
development of the country. TVET is seen to have an important role in conjunction
with a range of other institutions in the economy. The need for TVET policies to be
co-ordinated with industry and social policy is gradually becoming acknowledged
in relation to regional development.
Some non-metropolitan regions in Australia continue to thrive, but Howard and
Buultjens (1999) found that rural and regional Australia have generally under-
performed relative to metropolitan Australia in terms of unemployment and job
growth. Typically, with the contraction of agricultural or mining that had previously
attracted other businesses to their region, the economic base declines. The young
leave to seek opportunities elsewhere, withdrawing the potential human capital es-
sential to long-term recovery. The elderly, unable to make the transition elsewhere,
find themselves increasingly deprived of basic services, such as government offices,
post-offices, banks and hospitals. It is to be noted that TVET institutions employ
staff, purchase goods and services, and construct facilities. In certain cases they are
one of the larger enterprises in terms of their economic contribution to the local
economy (Selby Smith, 1975).
Education and training resources are a vital ingredient for regional growth.
Bradley and Gans (1998) examined 104 Australian urban centres and concluded
that growth was positively associated with the share of the population holding post-
secondary educational qualifications. Post-secondary education and skills are seen
as critical for the capacity of enterprises to innovate, both to conduct technological
change to improve productivity and competitiveness and to capture new markets or
retain existing ones. The capacity to innovate depends on being able to learn from
the experience of others, as well as to create new knowledge.
TVET has an important complementary role alongside higher education in pro-
viding and maintaining a strong learning culture in regional communities; and
TVET providers are well placed to be learning network partners with local industry.
Provision of different TVET courses, at different academic levels, in different loca-
tions and for different skills and occupations can potentially have effects on other
economic activities in the region and on the particular skill mix chosen by local
enterprises (Maglen & Selby Smith, 1995).
There are, however, the difficulties of making wide-ranging TVET provision
when the number of students for any course is low and the prospects of local
employment fairly limited. Considerations include how much to rely on distance
delivery strategies or to invest in more substantial infrastructure and the chances of
recruiting adequate, critically aware and innovative teaching staff (including part-
time staff from industry). A further question is how much should regional provision
be related to the local economy versus broader vocational opportunities to which
young people might migrate after training.
Some of these issues were explored in a study in Gannawarra, a non-metropolitan
region in Victoria (Selby Smith & Ferrier, 2004). It found somewhat surprisingly
high levels of innovation are occurring in the industries and enterprises of the region.
This is contributing to changes in the types of training being sought. A range of
possible ways of enhancing the relationships among TVET providers and industry
were explored. The establishment of local learning and employment networks by
the Victorian Government has been successful in strengthening relationships be-
tween educational providers, communities and industry. This suggests that similar
networks might also be successful in other parts of Australia in improving planning
for and provision of education and training to meet local needs.
As an example of recent policy, the state of Queensland has recognized that re-
gions often form natural labour markets as people live, work and undertake training
in the same area. Within these markets, specific training and employment needs and
opportunities emerge. Queensland is developing TVET plans for six departmental
regions in the state to ensure that government-funded VET is aligned with regional
economic and social development priorities (Queensland Government, 2003). There
is a Central Queensland employment and training strategy, which has been imple-
mented in response to the A$8 billion projects planned for the region (mainly in min-
ing and construction); and there are special employment and training interventions
for areas experiencing drought. The Cape York employment and training strategy is
another example. It is a co-ordinated whole-state government response to the need
for more flexible and responsive training in Cape York—which has a high proportion
of indigenous people. The Cape York partnership provides for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander communities to have maximum involvement in decision-making at all
stages. The principles of the partnership are used to guide TVET developments to
meet their needs.
9 Conclusion
Australia has made major changes in the ways it regulates and funds vocational ed-
ucation and training, with an increased emphasis on competition to promote the effi-
cient delivery of the types of programmes that students—but especially employers—
want. Australian national and state and territory governments have increased the role
played by employers in several ways:
r by basing nationally-recognized training on industry-determined competencies;
r by giving employers and apprentice/trainees some choice about the TVET
providers that the governments fund; and
r by enhancing the subsidies to employers of apprentices and trainees.
Equity in access to TVET has been supported by a system of low tuition fees and
exemptions for low-income students—in the face of a very different system of
higher fees and income contingent loans for higher education. However, a limitation
on the number of publicly-supported places means that some students cannot obtain
entry. A national system of student income assistance means that low-income stu-
dents aged 16 and over in full-time schooling, TVET and higher education students
are provided with an important—if minimal—level of assistance. And a range of
policy initiatives based on various forms of partnerships is underway to address the

problems of uneven regional development.
9.1 Results
Competition and employer demand affects the balance of provision of TVET across
occupational skill areas, but this is still partly determined by direction from state
and territory training authorities, which conduct assessment of industry and com-
munity needs before allocating public funds. These authorities also take account
of individual student demand based on their reaction to job prospects and personal
career aspirations—if students do not wish to take particular courses, it is wasteful
of public resources to fund places that are not filled.
The distribution of training amongst public and private providers is to some de-
gree based on market competition. But Australia still has a large majority of its
TVET students in government-owned public institutions. ‘User choice’ extended
the degree of market competition for the provision of apprentice and trainee pro-
grammes, but there are boundaries on the extent to which public funds flow to the
private sector or even among public providers under ‘user choice’. Market compe-
tition has made both public and private providers of training more responsive to
employer needs, but it has also increased the marketing and management costs at
the expense of resources for delivery (Anderson, 2005).
Most of the programmes now taught by public and private providers of TVET are
based on nationally-agreed industry-determined competencies. Providers who seek
to be registered as deliverers of nationally-recognized training must meet nationally-
agreed standards and are monitored to see that they correspond to them. There is
still uneasiness about the quality of some of the traineeship provision, especially
for wholly on-the-job training. Quality assurance has been based on regulations and
there has been increasing recognition of the need for incentives to stimulate and
develop staff and providers for continuous improvement.
Despite the range of policy aimed at making training more aligned with the needs
of the economy, some employer groups remain dissatisfied—they draw attention to
the continuation of shortages in some skilled trades. In 2004, this led the Australian
government to introduce policy to fund some specific-purpose technical colleges
and to set up a national centre for trade-skills excellence. Closer analysis of the
issues of skills shortages suggests that their extent is not well measured and that the
causes of shortages are complex—they may reflect less-than-attractive employment
conditions rather than lack of availability of training places. Nevertheless, there may
be a case for closer scrutiny of the operation of employer subsidies and of ‘user
choice’ policies, so that incentives can be targeted more closely with emerging job
opportunities. Since most places in TVET are still provided by public institutions,
there is a case for developing better information on the labour market as a basis for
advice by authorities to providers of TVET and to students.
Another line of criticism of the current system is not its failure to meet all em-
ployer expectations, but that it has gone too far with the result that individual student
needs have been somewhat neglected in the reforms. Some training packages are
seen to have too much emphasis on current skill needs, rather than on underpinning
knowledge that will allow for future learning. Some remedies for this are considered
in the reviews of training packages, but the development of broader programmes,
apart from training packages, is also advocated.
The broad policies on fees and of student support have not changed, though
pressures remain as public funding per student has been restrained. There is little
indication that educational equity among socio-economic groups has improved in
Australia in the past decade. One continuing issue is that, whereas secondary schools
admit all students who apply, there are some thousands of students each year who
cannot obtain a place in publicly-supported TVET. Additional places are available
at full cost, but this is clearly not an option for low-income students.
There are plans for improved and co-ordinated policies for regions and commu-
nities seen to be in particular need. Indigenous persons are given increased priority
in recent policy statements, but the realization of these actions is yet to be seen.
Note
1. The authors express their gratitude to Fran Ferrier with whom they have worked jointly on
related projects over many years.
References
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Part V
Teacher Education for Vocational
Section 8
The TVET Profession
Stephen Billett
University, Brisbane, Australia
Chapter VIII.1
Overview: The Technical and Vocational
Education and Training Profession
Stephen Billett
1 Introduction
The teaching profession within the broader sector of technical and vocational edu-
cation and training (TVET) is differentiated by the way in which this educational
provision is manifested in a particular country, the institutions within that country,
and what purposes it seeks to serve at a particular moment in that country’s social
and economic development. As a sector of education that is often seen as need-
ing to be highly responsive to changes in the kinds of skills and knowledge that
countries require to be developed, it has particular cultural impetuses and forms.
Not the least of these is the degree to which its purposes are aligned with directly
training the skills required for work by the community, or some other educational
goal, such as more general competencies associated with the quality of working life.
For instance, a long-standing debate within Western countries—but also evident in
practice elsewhere (e.g. Brazil, China and Russia)—is the degree to which this form
of education should be focused on developing specific vocational knowledge and
skills, or comprises a form of education that generally serves as a foundation for
paid vocations. That is, whether workplace competence or general education is its
primary goal. In other countries, this division of purposes takes particular forms. For
instance, as contributors in this collection propose, particular values or ideologies or
moral education are to be developed alongside workplace competence in China and
Russia, whereas there are requests from Brazilian contributors for a reinstatement
of values associated with community and individual needs.
However, the emphases on specific occupational outcomes will probably fluctu-
ate over time as economic circumstances change. As global economic competition
has increased, many Western-style countries have intensified the focus on workplace
competence within vocational education provisions rather than on more general ed-
ucational outcomes. Where they exist, these more general purposes are sometimes
manifested as more generic workplace competencies suitable for several occupa-
tions. Similarly, such emphases are also being realized in countries such as Russia
and China as they compete within a globalized and expanded economic system,
yet from a different developmental basis and societal and institutional foundation
that is distinct from that of Germany and Australia, for instance. Yet, trends asso-
ciated with meeting the requirements of a globalized economic system should not
World of Work, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-5281-1 VIII.1,

1176 S. Billett
be seen as leading towards a set of common educational goals and provisions. This
is because across these countries the manifestations of TVET and its professional
practice remain quite distinct in reflecting the current imperative—societal needs
and institutional structures.
For instance, in many northern European countries and in Australia there is a
vocational educational sector whose main purpose is focused on developing the
skills required for specific occupational roles. It is in these countries that there are
strong traditions and provisions of apprenticeship learning, and the vocational ed-
ucation institutions often reflect the key trade callings. Often, these apprenticeship
type provisions have mandated or legislated arrangements combining experience
in workplaces with periods in educational institutions. These arrangements tend to
see the institutional base include the interests of both employers and employees
in particular occupational sectors. However, in the United Kingdom, and more so
in the United States, the provision of vocational education might be intermingled
with adult, general and preparatory educational provisions, and the institutional
arrangements are less regulated. Then, in many Asian countries, the provision of
vocational education is that of technology education undertaken within schools by
school-teachers with limited contact with experiences outside the school. Here, the
educational processes and goals are developed through and enacted within the edu-
cational sector that is primarily concerned with general education. Yet, in a different
way, in Russia and China there are levels of vocational education that are masked
by activities across educational sectors more institutionally distinct than in other
countries (e.g. colleges, polytechnics, universities). All this leads to provisions of
TVET and professional practices that are in some ways distinct and hybrid in each
country.
The important point here is that the kinds of roles that TVET professionals will
undertake are likely to be quite varied given the different educational purposes, in-
stitutions and sectors in which they practise. Moreover, the particular trajectories of
the education systems in which they practise are likely to shape the way in which
their professional roles and activities will be transformed. These shape not only the
conduct of professional practice, but also the training programmes that prepare indi-
viduals for the profession and in-service professional development. Yet, within all of
this difference and across these distinct provisions there are likely to be at least two
elements of commonality: constant change and relatively modest prestige. These
also affect the professional preparation and career development of teaching staff.
Firstly, the roles that TVET professionals assume will be subject to particular
requirements during their initial preparation, which may well reflect current imper-
atives (e.g. government policy or professional requirements) and are then subject
to constant change throughout their subsequent professional lives. The degree and
focus of this change will vary, but it is certain that the activities of most educa-
tional professionals will be subject to change. Given the particular economic imper-
atives that must be reflected in technical and vocational education, these changes are
likely to be on-going, frequent and often initiated and influenced by agents outside
the TVET teaching profession. Therefore, it is important to understand the bases
for initial preparation for professional practice and the processes by which TVET
VIII.1 The Technical and Vocational Education and Training Profession 1177
professionals are able to maintain the currency of their practice through a career
characterized by changing demands and goals. Hence, in this section attention is
given to both the approaches to initial teacher education and also in-service devel-
opment throughout professional life.
However—and the second common element mentioned above—the teaching pro-
fession per se, but particularly the field of technical and vocational education, often
suffers from low standing. Contributors within this section frequently refer to the
poor prestige of vocational education and the implications this has for both pre-
service and in-service teacher training throughout their professional life. It is as
though we are dealing with a sector whose contributions are not fully appreciated
or understood, and whose status is shaped by societal views and sentiments about
the learning of vocational knowledge. To those who are working in the sector, its
importance influences issues associated with securing community, government and
institutional support for the initial preparation of teachers and their in-service devel-
opment. It also comprises a contradictory discourse for the TVET sector: on the one
hand, it is highly valued in achieving national social and economic goals and, on the
other, it is considered not mature enough to organize its own practices and futures.
This section is divided into two sets of contributions that examine the preparation
and on-going development of those who practise as teachers within TVET. These
contributions can be divided into chapters 2 to 12 dealing with the profession and
its preparation; and chapters 13 to 19 focusing on professional development, partic-
ularly changing roles and further development for TVET professionals.
In different ways, the first set of contributions largely discusses the current and
emerging societal requirements for TVET teachers and their pre-service preparation
from a range of perspectives in different countries. These requirements are often
premised on particular imperatives that the contributors clearly identify. For in-
stance, both the Russian and Chinese contributions discuss the crises being faced
in each of these countries in securing suitably qualified teachers who have both
technical capacities and those required to teach young people effectively. But
elsewhere, there are also concerns about the level of both pertinent and current
vocational/technical knowledge, as well as teaching competence. Moreover, these
imperatives are shaped by evolving societal requirements.
VIII.2 Professionalization of VET Teachers and Lecturers

and Practices in TVET Institutions in an International
Perspective, by Philip Grollmann
Grollmann argues in his chapter that, globally, the TVET teaching profession faces
both the challenge of its low status and the emphasis on factors that serve to maintain
1178 S. Billett
it at this low level. He proposes that the key to enhancing the status of the profession
is through a process of professionalization that needs to be enacted by individuals
themselves and supported by TVET institutions which provide the provisions, as
well as those partners in the community whose interests are served well by it.
In other words, the very institutions that utilize and benefit from the activities of
TVET teachers’ work need to afford them opportunities to exercise the professional
practice and enjoy the benefits of professional autonomy. These institutions need to
support the TVET profession and grant an appropriate level of status and freedom
for those in the profession.
VIII.3 Teachers, Instructors and Trainers: An Australian

Focus, by Erica Smith
Smith also takes up the theme of professionalism in her chapter when reporting
on the Australian vocational education and training context, including the prepa-
ration of teachers and trainers. In this contribution, however, the emphasis is less
on institutions than on the individuals themselves. She suggests that, ultimately, the
responsibility for maintaining instructional and technical capacities resides with the
individual TVET professional. In this way, she embraces the notion of the profes-
sional as an autonomous and self-directed worker and includes within this idea the
central role for the vocational education professionals to maintain their teaching
competence through the inevitable periods of change that will affect their work-
ing lives.

Federation, by Vasiliy P. Kosyrev, Petr F. Kubrushko
and Andrei N. Kouznetsov
Kosyrev, Kubrushko and Kouznetsov suggest that, in Russia, there are different
requirements for professional practice according to the level at which the TVET
provision is practised. Yet, across these levels there is a concern to improve the
educational component of TVET professionals’ work. This is central to the mod-
ernization of the Russian provision of TVET.
VIII.5 TVET Teachers and Their Professionalization

in China: A Problem Analysis, by Zhiqun Zhao
and Lianwei Lu
Zhao and Lu also note that, in China, while there has been a long tradition of craft,
it is only in relatively recent times that vocational education has become a key
educational sector. There is a growing demand for vocational education and yet,
even in command economies such as in China, there are difficulties in securing
sufficient numbers of suitable teachers. Moreover, there are imperatives to develop
vocational specialisms, but from a very different skill base from that of Germany,
for instance. Teacher education programmes in China are shaped to address this
dynamic complex of societal factors. Nevertheless, there are barriers that inhibit
elevating the prestige of vocational education and educators, including the sector’s
traditional modest standing, a lack of stability in policy-making and the failure of
vocational educators to organize themselves politically.
VIII.6 The Development of Training Modules for Instructors,

by Fred Beven
One contentious issue is certainly who are the curriculum-makers and to what de-
gree are TVET professionals empowered not only to enact what others have decided
should be taught, but also to design and develop further the goals of students’ learn-
ing and the means by which that learning is supported? Beven, in his chapter, argues
for an expansive role to be assumed by TVET educators. Their role, he proposes,
cannot be restricted to that of being the implementers of a curriculum designed
elsewhere. Rather, TVET professionals have a key role in applying their pedagogic
and curriculum knowledge in designing learning experiences for students that are
based not only on government and industry directives, but also upon the situational
factors that shape the enactment of any curriculum. Therefore, he proposes that the
curriculum process needs to take into account the importance of the student, who
ultimately experiences the curriculum.

of Learning or Deliverers of Knowledge and Skills?
by Jean Searle
In her chapter, and using the example of assisting literacy and learning, Searle argues
that there is a complex pedagogical role to be carried out by TVET professionals
that includes understanding not only the nature of literacy knowledge as a general
attribute, but also its situational qualities and pluralities of meaning and impact for
learners. This includes assisting students to understand the ways in which power and
control are enacted through knowledge of this kind. Hence, she argues for a broad
and expansive professional role for TVET teachers, which includes making judge-
ments about how and when to intervene in the teaching process. For example, when
is it appropriate to be a facilitator of students’ learning and when is an instructional
approach most appropriate? Her point of view suggests a need for a thorough and
critical approach to TVET teacher education.
1180 S. Billett
VIII.8 Vocational Education in the Private Sector in Brazil,

by Elenice Monteiro Leite, Marinilzes Moradillo Mello
and Nacim Walter Chieco
In their chapter Leite, Mello and Chieco also propose that the role of the TVET
professional needs to go beyond that of just being a teacher of vocational prac-
tice. Instead, a broader role of engaging in social as well as economic devel-
opment is required to be enacted within the TVET sector. They refer to the
extent to which particular groups of neediest individuals should be able to ben-
efit from a TVET provision enacted through private institutions and enterprises.
The authors refer to the accumulation of disadvantage and economic backwardness
for some under such a scheme. In this way, they identify structural factors that
are often beyond the scope of TVET professionals to significantly influence the
outcome.
VIII.9 TVET and Teacher-Training Curricula: A Developed

National Perspective, by Vasiliy P. Kosyrev, Petr
F. Kubrushko and Andrei N. Kouznetsov
Kosyrev, Kubrushko and Kouznetsov give an account of the Russian university

TVET teacher-training system. They describe the State educational standard, which
provides an obligatory framework and contents of training and is worded and issued
by the Ministry of Education. To provide a better understanding, a comparative
analysis is conducted of the Russian and the American systems of higher education
teacher training for TVET.
VIII.10 Vocational Qualifications: The Role of Trade Unions

as Negotiation Fora, by Antônio Almerico Biondi Lima
and Fernando Augusto Moreira Lopes
Lima and Lopez also argue that, given the failure of TVET to overcome social dis-
advantage in developing countries, there has to be a central role for trade unions as
negotiating fora to ensure that the interests and perspectives of those who undergo
TVET are able to be represented and reflected in these provisions. They claim that
both government policies and private enterprise interests, as articulated through the
organization of TVET, work against the interests of workers and those who are so-
cially disadvantaged. Consequently, the authors argue that TVET will never achieve
its legitimate role and important educational purposes unless it addresses the needs
of those who are most disadvantaged, who may be potentially further marginalized
through existing provisions.
VIII.11 Vocational Education and Development,

by Gaudêncio Frigotto, Maria Ciavatta
and Marise N. Ramos
Frigotto, Ciavatta and Ramos similarly propose that in Brazil TVET provisions fo-
cused on occupational training and development often fail to educate students in
the kind of relations that lie behind the occupations and practices they learn. Con-
sequently, they argue for an expansive concept of TVET which explicitly focuses
on the socially excluded in order to transform their prospects for participation in
society. Consequently, they propose that TVET needs to expose the structural fac-
tors that provide asymmetrical outcomes among social groups, particularly as found
in developing countries. So, in this chapter, a range of perspectives about TVET
provisions in different countries, settings and their implications for the role of the
TVET professional is advanced.
VIII.12 A Technical and Vocational Teacher-Training Curriculum,

by Bonaventure W. Kerre
Finally in Part I, Kerre offers an approach to the preparation of TVET educators

that is suited to African countries. The author holds that the educational provision
of TVET is most likely to be effectively delivered through the schooling system,
given the strengths of the existing educational institutions. Therefore, it is neces-
sary to prepare specialist teachers to deliver quality TVET through the schooling
system.
The in-service development of the TVET professional becomes an imperative
following the kinds of demands described above. Clearly, pre-service teacher edu-
cation will not be sufficient to meet the evolving demands placed upon TVET pro-
fessionals throughout their teaching careers. Moreover, there are clear limits and
particular emphases within initial teacher preparation that are not able to extend to
particular kinds of TVET practice.
VIII.13 Transforming Teachers’ Practice Through Action

Learning, by Stephen Billett
For instance, Billett describes how vocational educators in Australia are prepared to
become industry training consultants through an action learning-based process that
aims at building the range of capacities required for independent consultancy work.
Here, it seems that institutional support, the development processes themselves and
also individual teachers’ capacities are essential in developing these particular kinds
of professional capacities. As is often referred to in the professional development
literature, unless individuals take the time to develop their capacities to perform pro-
fessional tasks effectively (i.e. with success), it is unlikely that they will adopt these
1182 S. Billett
tasks as part of their on-going practice. Hence, the provision of support, practice and
guidance that comprises professional development seems essential for developing
TVET teachers’ professional capacities as new demands arise and the professional’s
role changes.
VIII.14 Professional Learning and TVET: Challenges

and Perspectives for Teachers and Instructors,
by Christian Harteis
Harteis makes a similar point in his chapter where he argues that a combination
of practice-based and academic-institution-based experiences are the ones most
required to develop expert capacities in TVET teachers. It is through these two
contributions that the integration of both of these kinds of experiences can provide
the kinds of teacher-training processes that Harteis promotes as being essential for
effective professional development.
VIII.15 Industrial Attachments for Instructors in TVET Delivery,

by Sarojni Choy and Sandra Haukka
Choy and Haukka propose a similar set of concerns about the opportunities for pro-
fessional development that can be provided through the use of industry placements
for TVET professionals. These placements can have particular value in terms of
updating, further developing or even assisting the content development of TVET
professionals. However, these opportunities have not always been effectively taken
advantage of. Therefore, in their chapter they describe a number of schemes for
utilizing industry placements and propose how these might best be organized to
secure effective professional development outcomes for TVET teachers.

Training, by Richard Gagnon
Similarly, Gagnon uses the example of occupational health and safety to argue that
it is important for TVET provisions generally, whether those associated with pre-
service training or on-going professional development, to be organized in ways that
seek to secure a balance among the interests of sponsors, institutions and partici-
pants. At the heart of this process is securing agreement through negotiation. With-
out such processes and attempts at consensus, Gagnon suggests that everybody’s
interests may well be frustrated. In other words, the needs of all individuals who
participate in TVET may not be fulfilled. Yet in failing to engage in understanding
the needs of participants, other goals, such as those of sponsoring institutions and
agencies, are also unlikely to be realized.
VIII.17 The Bologna Declaration and Emerging Models

of TVET Teacher Training in Germany, by Frank
Bünning and Alison Shilela
In their chapter, Bünning and Shilela analyse the major changes to degree structures
in Germany following the implementation of the Bologna Declaration. According
to the authors, the recommendation to adopt a two-cycle system of degree awards
(bachelor’s and master’s) within a given timeframe represents a radical conceptual
shift for curriculum designers and policy-makers in German universities, where the
traditional degree system consists of one block of study leading to a master’s award.
The introduction of this reform has remained a current issue in the university sec-
tor and can be observed as the theme of conference proceedings over the last six
years. As the dust begins to settle on the landscape, a clearer picture of the newly
established models for bachelor’s and master’s degrees can be observed. The paper
considers the extent to which such developments have remained in keeping with the
original intentions of the Bologna Declaration and whether the new degree models
will achieve their originally intended aims.
VIII.18 Standards for Occupation-Directed

Professional Development of TVET Personnel
in Developing Countries, by Peter Gerds
In his chapter Peter Gerds talks about the implementation of technical and voca-
tional teacher qualification standards in developing countries. In a first step, he
analyses the possibilities and challenges of national teacher qualification standards
in general. He then sets up criteria for the development and evaluation of techni-
cal and vocational teacher qualification standards in the case of developing coun-
tries. The chapter closes with an account of the establishment of a national teacher
qualifications standard in Ethiopia within the framework of the Ethiopian-German
Technical and Vocational Education and Training Programme.

International Projects, by Joachim Dittrich
The chapter by Dittrich deals with work and experiences, concepts and backgrounds
of selected international co-operation projects in the field of TVET. More specifi-
cally, these are two projects funded under the EU-Asia-Link Programme of the
European Commission, the current activities of the ‘United TVET Network on
Innovation and Professional Development’ (UNIP) and a German-Malaysian co-
operative Ph.D. programme.
1184 S. Billett
So, collectively, the contributions to this section provide helpful and diverse per-
spectives on the role of the TVET professional, programmes associated with their
initial development and processes and secure on-going development throughout pro-
fessional life.
Chapter VIII.2
Professionalization of VET Teachers
and Lecturers and Practices in TVET
Institutions in an International Perspective
Philip Grollmann1
1 Introduction
This chapter analyses the different factors exerting an influence on the professional
knowledge, practices and the performance of teaching staff involved in technical
and vocational education and training (TVET). In addition to teacher education,
which is a crucial lever for increasing the quality of teachers and their professional
performance, the institutions in which teachers work constitute another crucial fac-
tor shaping the quality of their provision. Therefore, the institutional environments
are held not just as independent variables, but are also closely interconnected with
teachers’ professional practice. This means that any reform trying to professionalize
TVET—whether on the global or the local level—needs to take into account both
levers.
2 Two Major Obstacles
There are two major obstacles to the professionalization of teachers in TVET on

the global level: the low status of TVET; and the general problem of increasing the
status of the teaching profession.
Firstly, one of the core problems of vocational educators’ search for professional
recognition is based on a paradox. While vocational teachers and trainers are es-
sential to supporting skill development in the workforce, they are not granted high
status in performing this role. In industrialized countries, some two-thirds of the
workforces that constitute the backbone of each economy are intermediate-level
workers and employees, who have learned a substantial part of their occupational
skills and knowledge through the support of teachers, trainers and instructors from
the domains of non-academic technical vocational education and human resources
development (cf. CEDEFOP, 1998). Given the basic importance of vocational train-
ing for economic advancement, it is remarkable that in many countries TVET has
failed to achieve the level of social recognition that is needed to establish it as a well-
regarded profession attracting societal support, including appropriate individuals to
perform as vocational educators.

1186 P. Grollmann
This is reinforced by the second fact: that teaching generally has always had
problems gaining professional recognition, and has even been referred to as a ‘semi-
profession’ (Etzioni, 1969). However, given the increasing emphasis on lifelong
learning, teachers and trainers as learning facilitators could now be regarded as a
core profession in the knowledge society. Improving the standing of teachers is,
therefore, a significant lever for increasing the quality of vocational education, as
acknowledged by many international and national organizations. These include the
recent monitoring activities of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and De-
velopment (OECD) with regard to attracting, developing and retaining teachers, the
working group of the European Union on the qualifications of teachers, activities
in the Asian context or the work of UNESCO-UNEVOC (Battezzati et al., 2004;
Carnoy & DeAngelis, 2002; Central Institute for Vocational Technical Education of
the People’s Republic of China, 2000; European Commission, Directorate-General
for Education and Culture, & Working Group ‘Improving Education of Teachers
and Trainers’, 2003; Hopkins & Stern, 1996; Leney & The Lisbon-to-Copenhagen-
to-Maastricht Consortium Partners, 2005). However, the empirical significance of
vocational learning is often overshadowed by the greater emphasis societies place
on academic education and credentials. As regards teachers, this is embodied in
the fact that many of these international studies do not make particular reference
to the peculiar problems of teachers in vocational education. The last comprehen-
sive international studies on vocational teachers occurred more than thirty years
ago (International Labour Organization, 1964; UNESCO. Section for Technical and
Vocational Education, 1997; UNESCO, 1973). However, a more recent study has
been published (Grollmann & Rauner, 2006).
In summary, the low professional status of teachers in TVET as described in the
preceding paragraphs is accompanied by a fragmentation of the profession through
the variety of existing profiles and multiple ways of teacher training and recruitment.
3 Basic Profiles of TVET Teachers
Therefore, and in order to understand the needs and requirements of vocational ed-
ucators, it is necessary to describe the diversity of ways in which they practise.
Based on the scarce information available through the studies referred to above, it is
possible to distinguish among the following basic professional profiles of teachers,
trainers and instructors in vocational education and training:
r Teachers or lecturers working in formal school or college settings and providing
instruction in vocational courses;
r Instructors and laboratory assistants working in school or college settings in vo-
cational laboratories:
— who teach with a high degree of autonomy; or
— sometimes act as assistants to other vocational teachers;
r Trainers, tutors and others in enterprises who undertake training and educational
functions within their jobs to varying degrees (e.g. from incidental to full-time
VIII.2 Professionalization of VET Teachers and Lecturers 1187
teaching of trainees and apprentices). In dual systems of trade preparation, for

instance, this function is often separated from human resource development
functions within some companies, while in others this distinction is not strongly
delineated;
r Instructors and trainers working in labour-market training institutions supported
by governments and public authorities, often with a strong focus on social inclu-
sion and basic occupational competences;
r Instructors and trainers working in employers’ organizations, such as chambers
of commerce, sectoral training institutions or privately-owned training compa-
nies and providers that focus on upgrading technical competences, training in
communication skills and so on.
In this chapter, the convention is adopted of referring to all these categories of teach-
ing staff as TVET teachers who are working in institutions mainly devoted to the
purpose of vocational learning and education, but not those in enterprises or directly
within the work process. However, some of the major professional challenges re-
main the same for all of the different listed categories.
In addition to these broad categories, other professionals may be involved in
TVET learning processes, such as human-resource professionals who play an im-
portant role, particularly in France and Japan, and guidance counsellors, general
subject teachers, or social and youth workers, who provide specialized services.
Sometimes, these additional services are integrated with teaching, thus expanding
the teaching or training role; sometimes, they are purposely excluded, such as in the
case of France where teachers are only responsible for the actual instruction and the
remaining educational tasks are delegated to other types of staff in the schools in
order to allow teachers to concentrate on their ‘core-business’ (Troger & Hörner,
2006).
In the same order as specified above, the clusters correspond to different age
groups that must be served. Vocational teachers can be found within the spectrum of
early pre-vocational education within lower secondary education, but increasingly
also in adult education settings, where they deal with adults of different age groups.
Given only four basic models of school-to-work transition (Rauner, 1999) and
the six different teaching profiles described above, we already have twenty-four
different profiles of TVET teachers, lecturers and instructors. Global reality will be
much more complex than that! What can be seen is that, in addition to the low status
of TVET and its teachers, the situation on the global level is heavily fragmented
given the vast number of different profiles and functions of TVET teachers. Even
as manifold as those profiles are, so are the ways TVET teachers are recruited and
prepared for their jobs. This will be described in the following paragraphs.
4 To Increase the Professional Performance of TVET Teachers

The professional skills of the teachers and trainers engaged in vocational educa-
tion constitute a crucial factor in determining the success of the teaching processes
that they conduct. One of the levers for improving the quality of TVET teachers is
1188 P. Grollmann
the qualifications needed and the education received leading to those qualifications.
Figure 1 illustrates the relative position of the different dominant TVET teacher
education pathways in the countries covered by the study of Grollmann and Rauner
(2006).
In Figure 1, the vertical axis describes the dominant formal level of TVET teacher
education—from a certificate level training to a master’s degree. The horizontal axis
describes the content of the programmes. Four types can be identified:
r A purely methodological training on teaching methods. Examples are the teach-

ing certificate in the United Kingdom (UK) as a preparatory measure or the
in-service courses at the Danish institute for vocational teacher education (DK).
This is often connected to an exiting-model mainly based on the recruitment of
practitioners of a certain field of occupational work.
r An additive concept, which is based on a sequence of studying the subject matter
(e.g. at the B.A. level) and then obtaining an appropriate entry qualification to
the education sector through acquiring general teaching skills in a designated
course programme (typical in the United States—USA). This concept can also be
found in Turkey (T), with a share of almost 65% of the programme covering the
subject matter, leading to a four-year B.A. degree for the prospective vocational
teacher.
r A model based on the concurrent study of a subject matter and educational sci-
ences leading to a bachelor’s or master’s degree. Often the subject-matter study
takes the form of a part of the ordinary business or engineering degree. Some-
times special vocational didactics are added.
r A model based on an integrated conception of vocational disciplines, which en-
tails the subject matter as it is derived from the world of work (i.e. not from
the respective engineering discipline) and a model of competence development
within this domain. This is called ‘integrated’ here because it is based on an in-
clusive concept of learning and working in a ‘trade’. This paradigm of vocational
learning leading to teacher education can be found in northern German teacher-
education institutions and to a certain extent also in the reform of Norwegian (N)
Formal level of teacher-education
M.A.
Germany
China
F R,T, N
B.S./B.A.
USA
DK
J
Teaching certificate Brazil
diploma UK
Additive concept Integrated concept

Methodological Vocational didactics
Fig. 1 Dominant TVET teachers’ formal qualifications

and some Chinese TVET teacher-education programmes—but nowhere is it the

dominant national orientation.
Another difference can be noted in the sequencing of the training and recruitment.
A very common model is the in-service model, in which a teacher’s qualification
is first acquired within a usually probationary phase of employment. The length of
this qualification varies from forty hours to that of bachelor-of-art (B.A.) equiva-
lent degrees. Typically, the in-service model does not take into account the actual
subject matter. Instead, it is mainly focused on psychological and basic educational
knowledge and on teaching methods and techniques with some variations. In most
cases, the precondition to employment as a vocational teacher is securing a B.A.
degree, plus having relevant work experience. Sometimes, these in-service courses
are offered at the university level and sometimes in specialized public institutions
tailored to teacher training, such as in the case of France’s Instituts universitaires
de formation des maı̂tres (IUFM). The in-service model of teacher preparation can
be found in different variations, sometimes with a short pre-service training period
as the dominant model, as is the case in Denmark, the United Kingdom, the United
States, or more extended preparatory training, as in France.
Work experience is often required in TVET as a pre-condition for employment as
a vocational teacher. However, this is often seen as an alternative and less preferable
route compared with general teacher recruitment and is associated with lower for-
mal expectations of teachers. When looking at individual careers in countries with
high demands on the formal side of recruitment, occupational experiences are very
common. Even in Germany, which maintains the highest formal level in terms of
academic requirements for entering the vocational teaching field, there is usually an
amount of real-work experience prescribed through university curricula. The major-
ity of student-teachers in Germany hold an occupational qualification in their field
and if they lack this qualification they have to undergo an internship in an enterprise.
For many countries with a consecutive sequence of teacher training (subject
matter first, then educational qualification), the B.A. is the typical entry require-
ment for enrolling into teacher-preparation courses. Some of the former specialized
teacher-training institutions have been or will be transformed into institutions with
university status in Europe consistent with European-wide prescriptions provided
through the Bologna process (European Ministers of Education, 1999), which opens
up new possibilities for those who have obtained teaching qualifications to deepen
their studies at the master-of-arts (M.A.) level.
Even though the integrated model was held as the most promising model of
teacher education in early publications (International Labour Organization, 1964),
only limited progress has been made in establishing such programmes. The most
significant challenge is the integration of subject matter and pedagogical train-
ing. Attempts are being made in some European countries to build coherent re-
search and training programmes that reflect the integration of subject matter and
pedagogy in TVET. One example of this kind of integration is the idea of re-
search on occupational clusters (Berufsfeldwissenschaften) as developed within the
Working Group on ‘Gewerblich-Technische Wissenschaften’ in the Gesellschaft für
1190 P. Grollmann
Arbeitswissenschaften network of German university institutes for the training of

vocational teachers and trainers. In this process, all research activities are focused
on ‘core-problems’ and ‘developmental tasks’ within specific occupational clus-
ters, such as manufacturing, electronics, ICTs and so on. A similar approach oc-
curs in the French discussion on ergonomics. This approach was taken up by the
recent initiative of UNESCO-UNEVOC on a ‘United TVET Network on Innova-
tion and Professional Development’ and its Hangzhou Declaration which delin-
eates twelve vocational disciplines in an international framework curriculum for
TVET teachers and lecturers (United TVET Network on Innovation and Profes-
sional Development, 2005). So, in these ways, besides the fragmentation of pro-
files and functions, there are variations in the approach to initial vocational teacher
preparation that reflect the institutional arrangements and practices in different
countries.
5 Changing Mission—Changing Institutions
Apart from the programmes of initial preparation of vocational teachers, the con-
crete circumstances within schools and colleges—the working environment of vo-
cational teachers—also constitute an important factor influencing their professional
performance. Given the huge variety of vocational learning traditions, it is diffi-
cult to generalize about the factors that shape their practice. Nevertheless, the work
teachers are confronted with everywhere can be clustered into the following tasks:
r supporting students’ technical or professional learning processes, which de-
mands that teachers convey knowledge about the content, as well as the appro-
priate methods and forms of learning;
r preparation of students for work through the support of learning processes lead-
ing to general work-related attitudes and competences, as well as their role within
the society;
r assessment and evaluation of students’ learning processes;
r administrative tasks regarding the organization and the curriculum;
r counselling functions to students, but increasingly also to other target groups,
such as employers, adult learners and so on (Bader, 1995).
These tasks are affected by a changing conception of the role and functions of edu-
cation and learning in general and TVET in particular, as well as events on a global
scale. Many of the contributions in this handbook illustrate what was coined as
‘megatrends’ by economists and social scientists, such as newly emerging technolo-
gies, a globalizing economy, and demographic and cultural changes. In a similar
way, changes in labour markets and work organizations affect the practice of vo-
cational education and learning on the very practical level of what is available and
what can be enacted in VET institutions (Lipsmeier, 2001a, 2001b). Once again,
regarding the question of the variety of repercussions of such megatrends for the
everyday practices within TVET institutions, research is scarce.
One general trend is that TVET institutions are increasingly ascribed new roles
on the regional level, such as supporting sectoral innovation or managing regional
learning provision, instead of being just an operative unit of higher-level educational
administration (Rosenbaum, 2002; Rosenfeld, 1998a, 1998b). This also implies a
change of the TVET teachers’ tasks, such as being responsible for making informed
decisions about the relevance of certain curricular content (Santema, 1997). This
freedom or responsibility for curricular decision-making also goes in line with in-
creasing degrees of institutional autonomy. One of the main rationales behind the
devolution of such competences to individual schools and teachers is the assump-
tion that learning can be managed and administered best (effectively and efficiently)
from levels that are as close to the practical needs as possible. For example, many,
but not all, VET systems have given a considerable share of curricular decision-
making to the level of individual schools to provide them with the possibility of
adapting their programmes to specific local learning needs. This devolution has
also led to new systems of quality assurance required to secure a common level of
quality across different institutions. The need for quality assurance is, in addition,
reinforced by an increasing awareness for public accountability. Lifelong learning
builds another cluster of issues, which have to be reflected when discussing the new
tasks of TVET institutions. An example is when TVET colleges provide continuing
education to skilled workers in order to equip them for the competent use of new
technologies. Schools and colleges are supposed to take on new tasks with regard
to the new boundary spanning concepts of learning across time and space. Quality
cannot be assessed unless there is a clear mission for an institution. Therefore, the
constant revision, further development of and the commitment to an institution’s
mission is fundamental to quality development of VET. As was found in recent
projects on the re-design of vocational schools and colleges, there is still a con-
siderable gap between the strategic level and the aspirations of managers in VET
institutions and their real performance. Innovation in this regard is impeded mainly
by structural barriers, closely associated with traditional conceptions of teaching
and schools and, very importantly, by a lack of tools and instruments for achieving
certain changes (Nieuwenhuis, 2003; Rosenfeld, 1998a, 1998b).
In one of the few international comparative assessments of different types of
TVET institutions and their evolution towards ‘regional centres of competence’,
Kurz (2002) has described the different types on two axes—institutional autonomy
and participation in regional processes of lifelong learning—through the integration
of initial and continuing vocational education into the programmes of the colleges
(see Figure 2).
As the figure shows, it is Scotland and England (UK Flag) that rank relatively
high on both dimensions. In fact, the college structure as a heritage of the spe-
cific United Kingdom VET innovation culture, with a high degree of institutional
autonomy and a high degree of continuing and initial VET, can unfold as a partic-
ular strength within future development, given the trends described above. Similar
institutional environments can be found in other countries, such as Canada or the
United States, with their community colleges. In contrast, the ‘Germanic’ structure
of schools as public institutions turns out to be a barrier to innovation (Gerds, 1995).
1192 P. Grollmann
Fig. 2 Mapping development perspectives for vocational schools and colleges for some European
countries and regions
Source: Figure adapted from Kurz, 2002
This weakness has, however, been addressed by some of the German Länder and
also the Austrian vocational schools system, which have moved to grant greater
autonomy for vocational teachers. Another type is the Italian configurations, where
very innovative regional VET providers exist that are not integrated into initial edu-
cation and, therefore, might be excluded from very important functions within VET
(Rosenfeld, 1998a).
The preceding sections have shown that there are huge variations as regards cer-
tain framework conditions of the practice of TVET teachers. Given classical cri-
teria of professionalization, such as teacher preparation and education, vocational
teachers in some European States have reached a relatively high degree of profes-
sionalization comparable to their colleagues in general education. However, when
looking at some of the future challenges to the TVET profession, for example new
functions that schools and colleges take on at the regional level or increasing auton-
omy, then institutions from Anglo-Saxon traditions but also in some Latin countries
rank higher.
6 Professional Reality in an International

Comparison
As often happens within comparative research, there is a lack of data—in its

wider sense—and of easily comparable bases to provide a comparative impression
about the actual practices of TVET teachers in different contexts. However, such
information could be very useful for decisions and policies on teacher recruitment,
education, development and so on. It would allow for the comparison of the inter-
relationships between different structures and processes on the social level and con-
cepts and practices on the individual level of professional practice in TVET (for this
paradigm of comparative research, see Schriewer, 1986). The preceding section has
identified some global tendencies and local practices that represent important factors
shaping the professional practice of vocational teachers. However, this gives only a
very superficial impression of the complex professional reality in which teachers are
working. It was shown that the institutional dimension is at least as important as the
question of teacher education when striving for professional quality and high pro-
fessional performance. Often this institutional dimension has been overlooked and
professionalization was mainly seen only as a function of the formal level of teacher
education. In only a few cases has the everyday practice of vocational teachers been
made the object of research (Camp, 2001; Camp & Heath-Camp, 1990; Holling &
Bammé, 1982; Lempert, 1962). This is rooted in two different conceptualizations of
professions in social sciences. At the commencement of research on the professions,
research was mainly focusing on and developing indicators when a specific occupa-
tional group was to be called a ‘profession’ as opposed to an ordinary ‘occupation’.
Subsequently, the focus of research has increasingly looked at the particularities
of work in the professions (e.g. the interaction between the professional and the
client) and the specific knowledge needed to perform in a professional situation
(Oevermann, 1996, 2003). A promising strand of research now tries to combine
methods from expertise and professionalization research in order to explore the pro-
fessional knowledge that comes into play in the interaction between the professional
and the client or more specifically between the teacher and the learner (Bromme,
1992; Gardner, 1984; Gardner, Csikszentmihaly & Damon, 2001; Gardner et al.,
2001; Mieg, 2003; Shulman, 1986). Up to now, this approach has not been applied to
vocational teachers, nor to the question of their professionalization in a comparative
perspective.
In a research project on the ‘professional reality’ of vocational teachers in three
different countries (Grollmann, 2005), special attention was paid to the interplay of
the knowledge of vocational teachers and the particular form of vocational education
institutions. Interviews were conducted with teachers in German vocational schools,
American high schools and community colleges, as well as in Danish vocational
education colleges. These interviews dealt with teachers’ understanding of voca-
tional education tasks, their biographical background and their conditions of work.
Before discussing the empirical results of this research, it is necessary to make a
few conceptual remarks.
7 Process Knowledge of Vocational Education

and Professional Culture
In order to provide a more ‘grounded’ perspective on the professional challenges and

reality of TVET teachers’ work, it was conceptualized as a phenomenon consisting
of subjective and objective elements (in accordance with the ‘Good work’ approach
(Gardner et al., 2001)). It was reconstructed through the analysis of teachers’ pro-
cess knowledge of vocational education and their professional cultures. The term
‘process knowledge’ of vocational education was introduced by Gerds (2001) in
accordance with the term ‘work process knowledge’ (Fischer, Boreham & Samur-
1194 P. Grollmann
cay, 2002). It describes the domains of knowledge that must be taken into consider-
ation in the fulfilment of the professional tasks of vocational teachers. Besides ex-
plicit knowledge (e.g. knowledge of educational methods, knowledge of and teach-
ing about subjects) and the formal knowledge of the education system and the educa-
tional establishment, Gerds emphasizes the implicit knowledge of vocational teach-
ers (practical experience in work and teaching, vocational pedagogical skills, etc.)
and their ‘informal’ knowledge of the life world of the educational establishment.
Therefore, alongside teacher training and the teachers’ vocational biographies, the
form of institutionalization of vocational education takes on a particular significance
in the explanation and description of the knowledge of vocational teachers. Mean-
ingful aspects of investigation and indicators for the knowledge of vocational edu-
cation processes were the teachers’ understanding of their tasks and their subjects,
their learning experience and their attitude and motivation with regard to taking
up the teaching profession. The term ‘professional culture’ refers to the social em-
beddedness of teachers’ knowledge and actions (Hargreaves, 1997; McLaughlin &
Talbert, 2001; Terhart, 1990), that is, on the one hand, to the social context of profes-
sional action and, on the other, to the fact that this context is determined by its mem-
bers. It follows that the empirical investigation of different professional cultures in
vocational education requires a focus on the following aspects: (a) the vocational
biographies of the teachers; (b) the forms of co-operation among the teaching staff of
an institution; (c) their participation in processes of school development and innova-
tion; (d) quality assurance within vocational education, as well as the tasks assumed
by vocational teachers; and (e) their co-operation with the world of work outside
the educational establishment. Together, these represent a comprehensive way of
accounting for the process knowledge required to understand teachers’ practice. The
next section uses two instances to illustrate the different forms of process knowledge
of vocational education and professional cultures which occur in practice.
8 Findings Regarding the Knowledge of

Vocational Education Processes
With regard to the teachers’ representation of teaching and learning processes, for
instance, two lines of reasoning emerged from the interviews with teachers. One
of these, referred to as the diagnostic perspective, places the pupils, students or
trainees in the foreground. At the root of this argument are the specific problems that
occur as result of the often heterogeneous background and abilities of the learners.
The other perspective, which is referred to as the learning process perspective, is
based more on a prospective perception and general statements on the organization
of teaching and learning and its conditions. This perspective detaches itself from
the concrete teaching and learning conditions and reasons with general statements
and assumptions about methods, teaching and learning goals and the course of
the learning processes. With regard to the contents of vocational education, two
clearly different perspectives can be identified which, in analogy with the classical
theories of education (Klafki, 1964, 1985, 1996), I shall describe as formal and
material. The formal perspective reasons mainly with abstract, non-subject-related

or methodical contents. Examples of this are lines of reasoning that place so-called
meta-competences or key-qualifications in the foreground, as well as fundamental
behavioural norms, that is, multidisciplinary or independent, more socializing learn-
ing contents. The material perspective is oriented towards the use context and the
contents that are to be learned. Typical lines of reasoning are preparation for the
tasks that have to be fulfilled later in employment, or ‘the requisites of technology’.
As a rule, the material perspective perceives the subject and the pedagogical com-
petence of the teacher as being directly connected with each other. To begin with,
the results can be listed in the following matrix that has individual ideal-typical
combinations (Table 1):
r Instructional design: concentration on the teaching ability of the teacher—
contents are apparently interchangeable;
r Training: contents and ‘pedagogical relationships’ are defined in reciprocity—
learning goals and processes outweigh observance of the students’ characteris-
tics;
r Learning accompaniment: focuses strongly on the background conditions and
characteristics of the learners and the content is not context-based;
r Mastership: capability linked to the subject-matter forms a whole with the peda-
gogical task and is authentic in terms of the respect that it is granted.
Using this matrix, it is possible to place the encountered real types of the concep-
tions which are inherent in the teachers’ statements in relation to the ideal types in
the matrix.2 Examples for a pronounced formal perception are to be found espe-
cially among Danish and German teachers, who occupy a relatively high ranking in
the school hierarchy. The conception of instructional design is most commonplace
within the context of the German and Danish schools. The perspective of learning
accompaniment is shared by German teachers who have to deal with difficult learner
populations. Teaching as training is a conception which is encountered especially
among American college instructors, and the mastership model is typical for high-
school teachers—and sometimes for German teachers mainly involved in teaching
practical applications.
This shows that some of the universal trends identified above are carried out
through a vast variety of local practices enacted by vocational teachers who have
certain conceptions about their different pedagogical tasks and the means to achieve
them. It clearly underlines the recursive relationship between the knowledge and
Table 1 Ideal types of the conceptualization of vocational education core tasks

Formal Material
Process oriented Instructional design Training
(attribute of learning)
Diagnosis oriented Learning accompaniment Mastership/mentor model
(attribute of the
learner)
1196 P. Grollmann
attitudes (the process knowledge of vocational education) of vocational teachers

and their professional cultures. Both are embedded into certain institutional arrange-
ments of teacher education on the one hand and TVET practice on the other. In the
preceding paragraphs this interdependency was analysed with a special look at the
knowledge and attitudes of teachers. In the next section, it will be examined from
the angle of the professional culture, and the institutional arrangement in which the
practice of vocational teachers is enacted and constantly transforms it.
9 Transformation of Professional Cultures

via Individual Strategies
Statements were examined in which the interviewees reported on their own strate-
gies for resolving particular tasks or problems encountered in the course of their
everyday school activities. The ‘own’ is stressed because, throughout this analy-
sis, I have paid particular attention to strategies that have their origin in individual
teacher’s initiatives or ideas, rather than formalized descriptions of tasks. I have
subsequently categorized these strategies into similar groups according to their con-
tent. With regard to individual strategies for creating connections to the world of
work, the American high school vocational teachers are ahead from a quantitative
viewpoint (see Figure 3 ‘link to work’). This can be explained due to their back-
ground, being recruited directly from the vocational field and their ‘task of medi-
ation’ on the labour market—for example, finding ‘placements’ being part of their
task. Nevertheless, it also has to do with the statutes of institutions and their strict
reporting duties to the regional ‘community’ (in this case high-school or community
college).
It was found that, whereas the American vocational teachers interviewed in this
study frequently report on their initiatives with regard to establishing and maintain-
ing co-operation with enterprises located in their region, this is far less common in
the case of the Danish and German teachers who were interviewed. Even though
the two other systems of vocational education are so-called ‘dual systems’, it is
usual in these contexts to differentiate the individual teacher’s role from that of the
trainer/instructor in an enterprise.
In the case of German teachers, they think especially of initiatives aimed at im-
proving co-operation between the teaching staff and organizational strategies. To
put it another way, the form of the organization and the culture of co-operation are
seen to be the principal fields of need for school innovation. In contrast to this,
many Danish teachers conceptualize learning processes much more strongly as a
collective task belonging to the respective team. The main field of improvement
is reorganization of the educational process with regard to the subjective learning
paths of individual learners. At the time this analysis was being compiled, a large
part of the pedagogical energy expended by Danish teachers was being spent on the
attempt to adapt the learning paths to the needs of the learners.
Fig. 3 Direction of individual strategies of vocational teachers
So, it is concluded from this study that the imperatives and arrangements on the
level of the institution of each VET system had particular consequences for teachers’
practices, in terms of how they practice and the kinds of goals and purposes they
engaged with in their practice.
10 Conclusion
Globally, there is a diversity of models of teacher education, teaching profiles and
TVET institutions. More than teaching in general education, TVET teaching has of-
ten failed to be sufficiently acknowledged in terms of its contribution to the welfare,
maintenance and progress of society. In terms of the formal education necessary
to teach in TVET, a tendency towards professionalization can now be observed in
some countries. At the same time, the mission of TVET has changed fundamen-
tally over the last decades. This has led to new ways of organizing learning and
instruction, new types of institutional roles and governance within VET schools and
colleges and new paradigms of co-operation of staff involved in TVET. Based on
TVET teachers’ perspectives, the changes can be described as an intensification of
1198 P. Grollmann
the knowledge necessary to cope with those challenges, as well as extending the
roles TVET professionals have to assume in their daily work.
Based on this analysis, two different forms of professionalization are proposed:
(a) an indicator-based professionalization, which leans primarily on the classical
theories of professions and inherent criteria for their description; and (b) a grounded
term of professionalization that orients itself to the current and future practical chal-
lenges faced by teachers. On the basis of this distinction, it is evident that vocational
teachers in environments of high formal professionalization of TVET teaching can
learn from the work of their colleagues in those countries whose level of profession-
alization, as regards the grounded perspective, is in many respects higher. Table 2
shows the relative position of TVET teaching profiles of some teachers in the United
States, Germany and Denmark, based on the results of the study referred to with
regard to this twofold meaning of professionalization.
Much more than is usually apparent in vocational education programmes, it is the
concrete conditions of work that primarily influence the understanding of vocational
pedagogical tasks, the professional self-image, co-operation and so forth—that is,
essential dimensions of the process knowledge of vocational education and the pro-
fessional culture of vocational teachers. Therefore, formally highly professionalized
models of teacher training (such as in Germany) come under considerable pressure
to justify themselves. Many of the competences trained in the course of teacher
training cannot be turned into practice in the reality of vocational colleges as long
as they remain largely rigid and bureaucratized institutions. On the other hand, very
flexible recruitment patterns in dynamic institutions might lead to innovative profes-
sional cultures. However, they might also fail to produce the knowledge base needed
for a sustainable professionalization of teachers in TVET.
Summarizing the situation, the professionalization strategy for TVET teachers
has to balance policies that improve the individual learning of teachers, their ed-
ucation and preparation for their job, but needs to take into account at the same
time the continuous reform of their institutions. The institutions are the environ-
ment that needs to allow for the teachers’ knowledge and skills to be enacted quite
autonomously in the reality of everyday practice. Different paradigms of conceptu-
alizing professions have often stressed the importance of formal indicators, such as
the level of teacher education, and overlooked the importance of the concrete work-
ing conditions of teachers in TVET institutions. The comparative study of those
concrete working conditions and the practices within TVET institutions could be
of great interest for reflective practitioners in TVET. This could feed into a more
grounded theory of professionalization of TVET teaching. However, formal pro-
Table 2 A comparison of professionalization levels of vocational teaching profiles

Indicator-based approach for the description of professions
Low High
Grounded professionalization High DK ‘TVET utopia?’
Low USA HS Germany
USA CC
fessionalization is a pre-condition for that, since it provides the disciplinary and

infrastructural framework.
Notes
1. The author expresses his thanks to Stephen Billett, who provided some useful comments on
this chapter.
2. Due to space restrictions, I have left out sample interview transcripts. The interested reader is
referred to Grollmann, 2005.
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Chapter VIII.3
Teachers, Instructors and Trainers:
An Australian Focus
Erica Smith
1 Introduction
In Australia, the workforce in technical and vocational education and training

(TVET) as compared to that in other sectors of education is not easy to describe
or analyse. TVET practitioners work in a variety of institutions, locations and roles,
and do not necessarily see themselves as a coherent body of professionals. This
diversity makes it difficult to generalize about practitioners and, more importantly,
for governments and practitioners’ employers to devise policies and practices that
address their required qualifications and professional development.
Arrangements among countries vary depending upon the way in which the TVET
system is organized, but in general there is some commonality in the ways in
which teachers, instructors and trainers can be classified. One way is by their
working context (which we may call ‘site of training practice’) and another is
by the extent to which the training they deliver is involved in some way with
government-accredited qualifications (which we may call ‘formality of training’).
A third way is by the extent to which training is a full part of the individual’s career
(which we may call ‘role focus of trainer’). This chapter uses Australia as a case
study to examine TVET teachers, trainers and instructors and the ways in which
their skills are developed and certified, using these classifications as an organizing
framework.
2 The Australian Context for Formal TVET
The past fifteen years have seen significant changes to the nature and operation of
the TVET sector or, as it is more usually known in Australia, the vocational educa-
tion and training (VET) sector. The Australian VET sector has grown considerably
over the past decade, from 1.2 million participants in 1995 to 1.7 million in 2003
(NCVER, 2004) with a slight decline to 1.6 million in 2004 (NCVER, 2005). Sub-
stantial changes in the system, known as training reforms, over the past fifteen years
(Smith & Keating, 2003) have improved national consistency of qualifications and
made competency-based training the norm. These changes have been accompanied

1204 E. Smith
by intensive marketing of VET qualifications to industry and considerable govern-

ment investment in the system, including funding for some work-based delivery by
enterprises (Smith et al., 2005). To a certain extent, there has also been a movement
away from a strong focus on up-front and entry-level training to an increased em-
phasis on in-service training for existing workers. Central to the reforms has been
a consolidation of thousands of existing state-based qualifications into a national
system of around eighty competency-based ‘training packages’, each package con-
taining a number of qualifications at different levels. Such qualifications, and the
competency standards of which they are composed, are known as ‘nationally rec-
ognized training’. A strict quality control system, the Australian Quality Training
Framework (AQTF), was introduced in 2002 to monitor all organizations delivering
nationally-recognized training. From 1994 until 2005, the VET system was overseen
by the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA), although state and terri-
tory systems actually managed training delivery processes. In mid-2005 ANTA was
disbanded and its functions subsumed under the federal Department of Education,
Science and Training.
In terms of provision of VET, there has been a movement away from a near
monopoly by the Technical and Further Education System (TAFE), the public
provider, to one in which over 4,000 registered training organizations (RTOs) exist
(Smith & Keating, 2003).1 Private RTOs can access government funding for cer-
tain programmes, particularly, but not only, for training of apprentices and trainees.
There is therefore a shift in the balance of public funding from public to private
training providers. Some private RTOs are not-for-profit; they may, for example, be
local adult and community education (ACE) colleges which offer formal VET quali-
fications alongside hobby courses or access courses for people returning to study, or
from disadvantaged backgrounds. Firms can become RTOs and award qualifications
to their workers themselves, or they may work in partnership with TAFE or another
RTO. Around 200 companies have become what is known as ‘enterprise RTOs’,
able to deliver and award national qualifications; these include some of the largest
employers in Australia such as Coles-Myer, the largest retail chain, and McDonalds
Australia, the fast-food chain.
Much government funding for VET relates to the apprenticeship system. There
are almost 400,000 apprentices and trainees in training in Australia (Walters, 2003),
of whom a proportion are newly-recruited workers including school-leavers, but of
whom a large number are existing workers who have been offered the opportunity
to gain an employment-based qualification through in-service training, often on-the-
job with no day release to college.
3 VET Practitioners
The previous section outlined the range and diversity of VET practice, together with
substantial changes that have taken place in the sector over the past fifteen years. It is
not surprising that these factors have influenced both the nature of VET practitioners
and their qualifications and training.
VIII.3 Teachers, Instructors and Trainers: An Australian Focus 1205
It is difficult to establish the size of the teaching workforce in formal VET, but it
is thought that there are around 40,000 full-time TAFE teachers and perhaps 300,000
other people involved in VET teaching and training (Guthrie, 2003). The larger fig-
ure involves assessors and others involved in workplace delivery of VET, for whom
training might only be a small part of their job, as well as part-time TAFE teach-
ers. TAFE systems are administered by each of Australia’s eight state and territory
governments, so the nature and conditions of teachers’ work vary quite widely.
3.1 Site of Training Practice
In Australia, VET practitioners may work in a range of contexts, which include

the following (arranged in what might be considered the order of ‘closeness to
industry’):
r trainers in firms or non-profit/government enterprises;

r trainers in industry skill centres;
r trainers working for private consultancy firms or employer associations;
r trainers in public or private technical or further education colleges;
r VET teachers in secondary schools.
In firms or other enterprises, people work in a variety of training roles. These may
range from those who coach people on-the-job (Harris, Simons & Bone, 2000) to
those who are responsible for human-resource development (HRD) functions for
large organizations. This type of VET practitioner may have one of a variety of job
titles, such as training officer, HRD officer or learning and development manager.
Industry skill-centres offer off-the-job training to a range of firms in an industry
area, as do private consultancy firms or employer associations. Sometimes, skill
centres are managed by employer associations. Trainers in these types of companies
may spend much of their time delivering face-to-face training or may undertake
other roles as well.
The largest number of VET practitioners is employed by TAFE—the public fur-
ther education system—and comprises a core of full-time teachers augmented by a
considerable number of part-time staff who generally teach as an addition to their
‘day’ jobs in trades and professions. For example, the teachers may be plumbers
or accountants who teach plumbing or accounting in the evening. Students who are
studying as apprentices attend in the daytime, so are generally taught by full-time
teachers. There are also some part-timers whose only work is in TAFE. This tra-
ditional pattern of TAFE teaching persists, although there has been an extension
of casual and temporary contract staff (Forward, 2004). The TAFE workforce is
relatively old, with many teachers in their 40s and 50s. TAFE is becoming increas-
ingly feminized, with many female teachers being appointed to teach relatively new
teaching areas such as hospitality, retail and community services, while the more
traditional TAFE areas such as engineering and construction, where most of the
teachers are male, are in relative—although not absolute—decline (Guthrie, 2003).
1206 E. Smith
Part-time and casual VET teachers are more likely to be female than male, as in the
workforce as a whole (Harris et al., 2001).
In the private sector, with over 4,000 RTOs now registered—of whom only a
few hundred are in the public sector—the non-TAFE VET workforce is much larger
than it used to be. Non-TAFE practitioners have some different characteristics from
TAFE teachers: for example, private RTOs often recruit younger staff early in their
careers who are willing to accept a relatively low rate of pay (Guthrie, 2003). These
practitioners are more likely to be involved in selling training to companies, in as-
sessment and in administrative work rather than in teaching. This is because the
most typical client group for non-TAFE RTOs is on-the-job or work-based trainees.
With these students, teachers travel to the trainee organization’s premises to plan
training and assess the trainee’s performance rather than the student attending the
RTO for face-to-face teaching. This makes the job quite different from that of the
traditional TAFE teacher, who is more likely to deliver training to a group of students
in a classroom or workshop, although TAFE teachers are increasingly involved in
such ‘non-standard’ work. Moreover, non-TAFE RTOs are heavy users of nation-
ally developed learning materials in their teaching and assessment; so their staff are
less likely than TAFE teachers to be involved in programming or writing learning
materials.
The rapid growth of VET in schools (Polesol et al., 2004) has led to many school-
teachers becoming qualified to deliver accredited VET qualifications through the
curriculum based on ‘training packages’. Teachers of VET in secondary schools
are, however, outside the scope of this chapter, which focuses only on the VET
sector. The qualifications of VET teachers in schools fall in a complex arena (Green,
2004), which incorporates an added level of regulatory requirements to do with
state and territory school-teacher accreditation bodies. Many teachers of VET in
schools teach traditional school subjects as well as VET subjects, and teachers of
VET in schools generally identify themselves as school-teachers rather than as VET
teachers. Thus, these teachers are quite different from VET teachers and are best
discussed separately.
3.2 Formality of Training
Another way of looking at VET practitioners is to consider the extent to which

they are involved in delivering formal qualifications. In Australia, this normally
means whether they are delivering qualifications from ‘training packages’ or, to
a lesser extent, some other nationally recognized qualifications that are outside the
training-package system. Practitioners who work for an RTO, whether TAFE or
a private RTO, are likely to spend most of their time delivering and/or assessing
formal qualifications, or sometimes short courses that are called ‘statements of at-
tainment’ and consist of single or multiple units of competency. Such practitioners
need a particular skill set that relates to competency-based training and assessment,
and requires compliance with the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF).
Teachers may also be involved with other formal accredited courses, such as those
relating to proprietary training for computer software, for example, and this may
require additional qualifications or certification for the teachers. However, particu-
larly in ACE providers, there are many teachers who are involved in the delivery of
courses that do not have a qualification outcome.
Traditionally, training in enterprises, skill centres and the like has not involved
formality; while companies have offered off-the-job training courses or sent em-
ployees to courses offered externally, courses did not normally attract qualifications
and the performance of trainees was not formally assessed. With the increasing
adoption of nationally recognized training in enterprises, however, this has changed.
Sometimes trainers in enterprises deliver such training, or sometimes they work
closely with other RTOs who deliver the training, with staff in the enterprise per-
haps assisting with assessment (Smith et al., 2005). These developments have led
to a new breed of enterprise training staff, very familiar with the VET system, and
who know how to use it to the benefit of their organizations (Chappell & Johnston,
2003). As enterprises have increased their use of nationally-recognized training and
their involvement with the VET system, they have also learned how this form of
training can be integrated more effectively with recruitment, selection, career pro-
gression and organization change processes (Smith et al., 2005). It is the administra-
tion of the integration of enterprise-level training with the national training system
that is becoming the unique feature of enterprise-based training staff in Australia.
However there are still companies and therefore training staff who are not closely
engaged with the national training system, and these practitioners would identify
more closely with ‘traditional HRD’ as a field of practice (Koornheef, Oostvogel &
Poell, 2005).
3.3 Role Focus of Trainer

In many cases TVET practitioners have roles apart from their training roles. In
firms they may have roles in other fields of activity within the human resource-
management function, working as a manager or supervisor, or simply perform-
ing some training activities while contributing mainly as an operational or
shop-floor worker. Even staff who identify primarily as trainers may spend
much of their time planning or brokering training rather than delivering
training.
In some RTO contexts, the RTO is part of a fuller range of services within which
the practitioner works. For example, many not-for-profit RTOs (as well as some
for-profit RTOs) offer employment services or counselling services to clients, partic-
ularly disadvantaged clients, as well as providing training. This has happened since
the Australian federal government has progressively over the past two decades put
out many such services to tender. A prime example of this type of RTO is Mission
Australia,2 which delivers over 100 national qualifications in every state and terri-
tory, as well as non-accredited training. Its staff may move between employment
services and training activities.
1208 E. Smith
Even in those RTOs that are primarily training providers, there are large num-
bers of VET practitioners who have a number of roles as individuals. Trainers in
public and private RTOs may only be part-time. They may spend much of their
working week in industry, or may work across a range of RTOs. Their commitment
to each RTO and their understanding of organizational culture and norms may be
quite low, and they may be disadvantaged in terms of access to staff development
activities.
4 Common Challenges in Australian VET Practice

While the VET workforce is diverse, there are some common challenges that all
practitioners are facing; as well as groups of challenges particular to certain types
of practitioners. A challenge related to all training is the increasing use of flexible
delivery in both institutional and enterprise settings. E-learning is the most obvious
example, although delivery may be flexible in time or place as well as mode (Smith
& Keating, 2003, p. 129). Research has shown (e.g. Brennan, 2003) that e-learning
does not suit all learners, and many providers, both in enterprises and in RTOs,
are reasonably cautious about the extent to which they use it; however, in such a
large country like Australia with a small population, there are obvious advantages to
learning methods that do not rely on teacher and student being at the same location
at the same time. An example of an enterprise that uses e-learning extensively, but
not at a sophisticated level is Coles-Myer.3 This company uses on-line recruitment
and selection processes which have recently extended to on-line induction modules,
as well as, for example, some skills training which can be delivered to check-out
operators at their check-outs. Coles-Myer’s uptake of such systems was preceded
by a study into attitudes of managers and employees (Elkner, 2001). In the public
domain, TAFE in New South Wales has a delivery unit—the Open Education and
Training Network (OTEN)4 —which, over the past decade, has been increasingly
moving from traditional distance learning materials to e-learning. VET practition-
ers involved with such developments have needed to develop new skills, both in
the technological and pedagogical field. A national professional development pro-
gramme, Learnscope,5 has been running for nearly ten years to assist with this
process.
The remainder of the challenges discussed in this section relate primarily to
nationally-recognized training and may be faced by practitioners involved with the
national VET system working either in RTOs or in enterprise settings.
Many practitioners have found it difficult moving to a competency-based sys-
tem. VET has always been closely linked to industry, but before the adoption of
competency-based training (CBT) in the late 1980s as the future direction of the
VET system, VET training was not necessarily outcomes-focused. A shift to CBT
meant that the emphasis moved from curriculum inputs to outcomes that are ex-
pressed in student competency. Assessment became as important as teaching or
training. Many teachers, particularly in TAFE, resisted these changes (Smith &
Keating, 2003). While CBT has now become accepted as the norm, many practi-
tioners still experience difficulty in implementing CBT and working with ‘training
packages’.
The implementation of the AQTF, introduced in 2002 to ensure quality in the
VET system, created challenges for both RTOs and for the teachers working in them.
RTOs were required to document a number of procedures and practices, including
the teaching and assessment strategies used in their courses (ANTA, 2005). This
created much concern although the majority of reputable training providers seemed
to welcome the need to examine and improve their processes; however, individual
practitioners have sometimes experienced the change as burdensome (Brennan &
Smith, 2002; Grace, 2005).
The use of ‘training packages’ in enterprises has led to challenges both for
the enterprises and for RTOs working in partnership with them. Enterprise prac-
titioners have needed to consider the issue of AQTF compliance, discussed in the
previous paragraph. Practitioners in RTOs working with enterprises have needed
to negotiate with enterprise issues, such as the extent of customization that en-
terprises would like to see in national ‘training packages’ (Callan & Ashworth,
2004), and, where traineeships are delivered on the job, the learning opportunities
that are available for trainees (Wood, 2004) so that trainees’ learning can be, as
Unwin and Fuller (2003) describe it in the English context, expansive rather than
restricted.
5 Qualifications and Professional Development

for VET Practitioners
The professional development of teachers and trainers in the VET sector is a com-
plex matter. As discussed above, there are many different types of settings in which
they work, and the educational qualifications required to work in those settings vary
greatly. As well as their teaching or training qualifications, VET practitioners work-
ing within the formal system must have a qualification in the vocational area in
which they teach.
It cannot therefore be assumed—as it can, for example, for school-teachers—that
all practitioners have the same base level of qualification. For this reason, there
is less of a clear-cut division between ‘initial teacher education’ and ‘continuing
development’ than there is for school-teachers: a VET practitioner undertaking an
initial course in VET may already have many years’ experience as a VET teacher.
5.1 ‘Up-Front’ Teacher Training for VET Staff
Traditionally, universities have offered initial teacher training for full-time TAFE
teachers; initially this consisted of diplomas and later full degrees, or graduate
diplomas for teachers who were already graduates in another discipline, such as
1210 E. Smith
management or social work. All new TAFE full-time teachers, unless they were
already trained teachers, would undergo this teacher training. Commonly, similar
courses were offered for instructors in the armed services or other public-sector
training roles. This ‘front-end’ training was augmented by short staff-development
courses in specific skills or issues. Generally, staff development was overseen by
central staff-training units in TAFE systems.
Prior to the early 1990s, part-time TAFE teachers were often offered a variety
of short courses in instructional techniques. For example, New South Wales TAFE
offered the Basic Methods of Instruction (BMI) course, and other providers offered
similar short courses to their teachers. Industry trainers sometimes studied human-
resource management or human-resource development at university, or were sent
by their employers on short ‘train-the-trainer’-styled courses. Since the mid-1990s
the scene has changed quite considerably. Few TAFE teachers are now sponsored
by their employers to undertake full teacher-training courses—New South Wales
TAFE being a notable exception. There have been three major reasons for this.
The first is that budgetary constraints caused TAFE systems to consider whether
they could actually afford to sponsor their teachers through teacher-training courses.
The major cost of the sponsorship has been not the course fees but the fact that
sponsored teachers have traditionally been released from teaching duties, and ca-
sual teachers have needed to be employed to replace them. The second reason is
that, with increased autonomy being accorded to TAFE institutes in every state and
territory, decisions about teacher training are now made at the institute level and
sometimes at department level. Some institutes might be able to afford to send their
teachers to teacher training, or might value such education more highly, while others
might not. The third reason is that there is now an alternative, albeit lower-level,
qualification, the Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training, which was
introduced in 1998 and has recently been superseded by the Certificate IV in Train-
ing and Assessment. The AQTF has cemented the place of this qualification as a
requirement to teach in accredited VET courses, so that now more parity exists be-
tween part-time teachers, private RTO staff, workplace trainers and full-time TAFE
teachers. For VET providers, then, it is easy and cheap to insist on a Certificate IV
as a pre-entry qualification, and there is apparent legitimacy in so doing. The qualifi-
cation has therefore become not only the minimum qualification required to teach in
VET, but in some cases also the maximum required (Harris et al., 2001). However,
the qualification is extremely problematic and some of the issues associated with
the Certificate IV are discussed in the next section.
5.2 Certificate IV Qualifications for VET Practitioners
During the early 1990s, competency standards were developed in Australia for
workplace training and assessing. The original workplace-trainer standards divided
workplace trainers into two categories: Category 1 trainers were considered to be
those who occasionally undertook training tasks as part of their salaried work;
Category 2 trainers had training as their main earning activity. The standards for
Category 2 trainers were, therefore, more rigorous and detailed than those for Cate-
gory 1. A Certificate IV in workplace training met the Category 2 standards (NAWT,
2001). In addition, workplace assessor standards were developed in 1993. Training
for workplace assessors was aimed primarily at people who carried out assessment
in the workplace, generally as part of formal training programmes, but was some-
times undertaken also by people who taught in VET institutions.
In the second half of the 1990s, these standards were gathered together into the
Training Package in Assessment and Workplace Training, endorsed in 1998. Al-
though the title of the package suggests that it is designed for people who work in a
workplace rather than an institutional setting, the Certificate IV in Assessment and
Workplace Training that was one of the qualifications in the new training package
became widely adopted in TAFE colleges and other RTOs. There were some seri-
ous problems with the training package itself, its delivery and its application. The
following list of problems is partly based upon the report of Stage 1 of the training
package review (NAWT, 2001).
r Content of the Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training. The units of

competence were written in words that reflected the work of workplace trainers
and not teachers in an RTO setting. They contained no reference to learning
theory or teaching approaches. It has been noted that teachers who only have a
Certificate IV have a very different approach to teaching from those who have a
degree-level qualification (Lowrie, Smith & Hill, 1999).
r Delivery of the qualification. The Certificate IV was notorious among training
package qualifications for the poor quality of delivery. Many RTOs delivered this
qualification in well below the nominal hours (one-weekend courses were not
unknown) and full recognition of prior learning (RPL) was commonly granted
in the qualification. RTOs often awarded the qualification to their own staff, to
meet AQTF requirements, which could be interpreted as a potential conflict of
interest.
r Application of the qualification. While the Certificate IV may have been suitable
for those who perform a limited range of teaching and assessment tasks in a
limited range of settings, a problem is that it has been viewed, or at least utilized,
as though it was suitable for the full range of VET teaching activities.
Dissatisfaction with the Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training has

been well documented (e.g. NAWT, 2001) and the subject of much discussion
among VET personnel. State TAFE systems were worried about the drop in teaching
standards which could ensue if their teaching workforce came to consist predomi-
nantly of people with only a Certificate IV-level teaching qualification. But states
were also concerned about keeping costs of teacher development down. Most of
them, therefore, looked at options where teacher training could be delivered at least
partly in-house rather than at universities. Teachers’ unions, however, prefer teach-
ers to obtain qualifications outside their own systems, partly to contain the power
which employers have over teaching staff and partly to ensure that teachers gain a
much broader view of VET and have transferable skills.
1212 E. Smith
5.3 The New Training and Assessment Training Package
The review of the Training Package in Assessment and Workplace Training was a
lengthy process, taking place between 1999 and 2004, and was managed by National
Assessors and Workplace Trainers (NAWT), the national body overseeing trainer
qualifications which is now part of the Business Services Skills Council, Innovation
and Business Skills Australia.6 The review involved wide-ranging and successive
consultation across Australia with various stakeholders. The revised training pack-
age was endorsed in late 2004, and has a new name—training and assessment—to
reflect an increased emphasis upon teaching rather than assessment.
There are a number of major changes embodied in the new Certificate IV quali-
fication:
r It is a ‘bigger’ qualification with fourteen rather than eight units of competency;
r Greater emphasis upon pedagogical theory;
r Some provision for specialization and electives; and
r Tightening of regulation about assessment of the units of competency, ensuring
higher-quality graduates.
The new Certificate IV has twelve core units and two electives. It is intended that it
should take about 300 hours to deliver. The core units are:
r Work effectively in VET;
r Foster and promote an inclusive learning culture;
r Ensure a healthy and safe learning environment;
r Use training packages to meet client needs;
r Design and develop learning programmes;
r Plan and organize group-based delivery;
r Facilitate work-based learning;
r Facilitate individual learning;
r Plan and organize assessment;
r Assess competence;
r Develop assessment tools; and
r Participate in assessment validation.
The proposed revisions are likely to go some way to meeting various shortcom-
ings of the package, but criticisms will remain. There is little mechanism within the
training-package framework to address problems of low-quality delivery practices.
A recent study of the old Certificate IV (Simons, Harris & Smith, 2006) indicated
substantial knowledge gaps among those delivering the qualification, and in the the-
ory base acquired by learners enrolled in the qualification, which indicated the need
for careful scrutiny of the quality of delivery. Also, there remains the problem that
the Certificate IV could be regarded as a sufficient (rather than base-level) qual-
ification for VET teachers. A further difficulty has been transition arrangements,
especially the desire of people with the old Certificate IV (of whom there are a
great number) to upgrade to the new qualification. The practices that are emerging
show that many people wish to gain the new qualification through recognition of
prior learning rather than through new learning, despite the radically different nature
of the new qualification—and unfortunately there are many RTOs willing to grant
this wish! Universities offering VET teacher training, of which there are around
twenty, have been working in a consultative way (Brennan-Kemmis & Smith, 2004)
to manage articulation into university teacher-training qualifications, as well as em-
bedding of the qualification within university awards, but this process has not been
straightforward. For example, it is difficult (although not impossible) to reconcile
VET-sector approaches to assessment with university expectations and regulations
(Bush & Smith, 2004).
5.4 Continuing Education and Staff Development
Beyond the acquisition of qualifications, further staff development for VET teachers
and trainers can take place at one or more of the following levels:
1. National level: because of the importance of skill formation of the workforce to
the nation, there is a strong impetus for a national perspective to VET teachers’
and trainers’ development.
2. State level: state training authorities have an interest in ensuring that VET prac-
titioners deliver high-quality training.
3. Provider level: Most VET providers offer staff development of some sort. When
we look at TAFE systems, this can be on a very large scale.
5.4.1 National-Level Staff Development

During the past fifteen years there has been a succession of national programmes
that have operated in a similar way; national funding is made available to groups of
VET practitioners for specific types of staff development activities. The most impor-
tant national initiative has been the ‘Framing the Future’ programme, now entitled
‘Reframing the Future’.7 This programme was given a large annual budget by the
Australian National Training Authority and is now funded by the Department of Ed-
ucation, Science and Training. Framing the Future began by funding action-learning
groups primarily to assist with the introduction of training packages, but the revised
version post-2000 has been much broader and involves programmes for managers as
well as practitioners. The 2005 programme has five areas of activity, which change
each year. Programmes that are funded are required to submit summaries of their
activities, which are published on the website.
5.4.2 State-Level Staff Development

State training authorities (STAs) offer short staff-development programmes, which
are open to staff from any type of RTO. States have been increasingly concerned
with helping RTO staff, particularly those from non-TAFE providers, to deliver
good-quality training and assessment and to cope with changes in the VET system.
1214 E. Smith
Such staff development programmes recognize STAs’ responsibilities in relation to

quality, and the fact that private RTOs are much more likely than TAFE systems
to expect teachers to join them with all their skills ready-made rather than having to
offer training for them (Harris et al., 2001). Many STAs offered extensive training
programmes around the time of the introduction of the AQTF; and some states, for
example South Australia, offer regular briefing sessions which RTOs can attend to
keep up with VET development. In addition, training may be offered in specific
topics related to training and assessment.
5.4.3 Provider-Level Staff Development

Staff development usually occurs as a result of the need for new skills or new
approaches to teachers’ and trainers’ work. A study of staff development in VET
found that most stakeholders believed that half of VET teachers did not have most
of the skills and knowledge that they identified as being important in the near future
(Harris et al., 2001). Part-time, older and casual staff were perceived to possess the
necessary skills and knowledge to a lesser extent than were full-time and younger
staff (Harris et al., 2001, p. vii).
A special need for VET teachers, as compared, for instance, to school-teachers,
is to keep up to date with trends in the industry for which they prepare students.
Teachers need to find out what new technology is being used in their industry,
what new skills are emerging and how the organization of work is changing. Main-
taining technical currency is an important driver for staff development (Holland &
Holland, 1998) and has become particularly important both with the implementa-
tion of the AQTF, which contains requirements about vocational competency, and
with the introduction of new training-package qualifications which people have not
taught before. Most VET providers have some type of ‘return-to-industry’ scheme,
although available opportunities are not always well-utilized. The requirement for
VET teachers to search for ‘business’ out in industry has not yet been systematically
addressed by many TAFE providers: in some TAFE systems this activity is officially
left to specialized consulting staff, although individual teachers may already be car-
rying out the activity, while private RTOs are generally more focused on this sort of
activity.
Some TAFE systems maintain central staff development units, whilst others have
decentralized this function to institutes or colleges. There is normally, however,
some sort of central unit which sets directions and policy. Private RTOs utilize a
range of staff-development processes and all RTOs are required, through the AQTF,
to document the ways in which they develop their teaching and training staff.
5.5 Industry Trainers
With the major national focus upon formal training that is part of the VET system,
industry trainers have become sidelined. While the new Certificate IV qualification
has substantial applicability to industry-trainers delivering national qualifications,
it is not of great relevance to trainers who are outside the VET system. Com-
parison of human-resource development competencies, such as that developed by
the American Society for Training and Development (Rothwell, Sanders & Soper,
1999), reveals a large gap between the field of practice implied by these compe-
tencies and those available through the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.
The process of review of the training package was dominated by VET-sector per-
sonnel and hence industry training as a field of practice was not really consid-
ered (Smith, 2005). While the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment is nev-
ertheless likely to be a requirement for most industry training jobs, in looking for
more highly-qualified staff, enterprises are likely to look at business or human-
resource management qualifications than higher-level VET qualifications (Smith,
2005).
6 Final Commentary
This chapter has examined the nature of VET teachers, trainers and instructors in
Australia and shown that they are a very diverse collection of practitioners. They
vary in the site of their training practice, the extent to which they are involved with
the formal VET system, and the degree to which training is the focus of their work-
ing week. Because of the diversity of working practices, there has not been, and
probably cannot be, universal agreement on the skills needed for such work nor the
qualifications that are required for practitioners. The competency-based qualifica-
tion, the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, while an improvement on its
predecessor, is nevertheless flawed. Training providers and enterprises that recruit
trainers may find that their employees are not as skilled as they would like. Hence
many practitioners seek university-level qualifications. Despite new quality regula-
tions in the VET system, it is ultimately the responsibility of the teachers, trainers
and instructors themselves to maintain their instructional and technical capabilities
and to seek further training, especially when changes in the VET system require ex-
tra skills from practitioners. The quality of the VET system depends upon the quality
of teachers, trainers and instructors, and hence relies heavily on the professionalism
of these individuals.
Notes
1. Altogether, 4,214 RTOs were recorded in January 2006 on the National Training Information
Service at <www.ntis.gov.au>
2. Mission Australia is an organization which was originally, and remains, a charity, but which
now provides many employment and training services, see: <www.missionaustralia.com.au>
3. In 2006, there were over 2,500 Coles-Meyer outlets in Australia for its various brand names,
employing 170,000 people, see <www.colesmyer.com>
4. OTEN uses only flexible delivery for its 37,000 students: <www.oten.edu.au>
1216 E. Smith
5. <www.flexiblelearning.net.au>
6. <www.ibsa.org.au>
7. The Reframing the Future website provides information about all programmes, as well as de-
scriptions and evaluations of them: <reframingthefuture.net>
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ed. Melbourne, Australia: ANTA.
Brennan, R. 2003. One size doesn’t fit all: pedagogy in the online environment. Adelaide,
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cations. Australian vocational education review, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 8–23.
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Adelaide, Australia: NCVER.
Chappell, C.; Johnston, R. 2003. Changing work: changing roles for vocational education and
training teachers and trainers. Adelaide, Australia: NCVER.
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ciation (AVETRA) Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 13–15 April 2005.)
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the Forum for the Advancement of Continuing Education Conference, University of Stirling,
United Kingdom, 2–4 July 2004.)
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AVETRA conference workshop, Sydney, Australia, 9–11 April 2003.)
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trainer. Adelaide, Australia: NCVER.
Harris, R. et al. 2001. The changing role of staff development for teachers and trainers in vocational
education and training. Adelaide, Australia: NCVER.
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presented to the European Educational Research Association Conference, Ljubljana, Slovenia,
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April 2003.)
Chapter VIII.4
TVET Teacher-Training Requirements
in the Russian Federation
1 Introduction
The qualifications and educational level of teachers and trainers are reflected in their
professional activity. The training of Russian teachers of technical and vocational
education and training (TVET) is carried out in accordance with the various levels of
professional activities: instructors with post-secondary training; professionals with
higher qualifications (e.g. bachelor’s and master’s degrees); and professionals with
doctoral degrees. The TVET structure includes institutions of primary, secondary
and tertiary education, post-graduate education, and in-service institutions for re-
training and further qualification. These types of TVET institutions require teachers,
instructors, trainers, supervisors and professors with specific kinds of professional
expertise.
According to the data available in January 2006 (Kubrushko, 2006), in the Rus-
sian Federation (hereafter Russia) there were 6,026 primary and secondary TVET
institutions, 338 in-service training and qualification advancement establishments
and 1,386 higher learning institutions. Some 3,890 primary vocational training cen-
tres make up the bulk of TVET institutions in Russia. There is currently a crisis
in the number of suitably qualified teachers in these institutions, with a little over
78.7% of teaching and administrative positions currently occupied, which means
that there is a shortage of some 50,000 TVET professionals, including 32,000
trade instructors. In the year 2000, the TVET system lost over 22,800 managers
and trainers to industry. Taking into account the fact that some 13.9% of those
employed are part-time teachers, the true shortage of TVET professionals probably
exceeds 70,000.
This shortage is aggravated by the inadequate qualifications of those employed.
On average, only some 88.2% of school principals and superintendents and 82.5%
of teaching staff hold university degrees, and of these less than 20% have TVET as
their major subject. Only 26.4% of trade instructors hold degrees, while 16.2% of in-
structors were found to be formally less qualified than their graduates! Our research
revealed that TVET school principals and trainers are mostly professionals with
engineering or other non-teacher qualifications, and they have no relevant teaching
skills or psychological preparation required to carry out teaching successfully. It

1220 V.P. Kosyrev et al.
is evident that the pedagogical component of teacher education has not received
sufficient attention.
2 Professional and Pedagogical Education (PPE)
In Russia, TVET staff are trained within a specialized system of professional and
pedagogical education (PPE). PPE is aimed at the development of a professional ca-
pacity for efficient functioning in primary, secondary, higher and in-service training,
and for carrying out all the necessary functions of a complex educational task. These
characteristics make the PPE system different from conventional teacher training
intended to supply general schools with teachers. PPE also differs from the engi-
neering training system, which is aimed at training professionals for industry and
services.
Secondary PPE is carried out in accordance with eighteen minor subject fields
within the TVET major, which is regulated by the State Educational Requirements
issued in 1997 (Kubrushko, 2006). Graduates can serve as vocational trainers and
junior college instructors. Higher (tertiary) PPE is carried out according to nineteen
minor subject fields regulated by the State Educational Requirements issued in 2000
(Russian Federation. Ministry of Education, 2000). Graduates from higher PPE re-
ceive their university degree in TVET and can teach at all educational levels. The
subjects taught at secondary and higher schools form part of the principle TVET ma-
jors corresponding to the List of Secondary TVET Fields for Russia (Decree of the
Government of the Russian Federation, 8 December 1999, no. 1362) (Kubrushko,
2006).
In 2002, Russian secondary and tertiary institutions issued some 1,700 TVET
teachers with university degrees after five years of study and over 6,200 vocational
education instructors with technical school diplomas. The latter are somewhat sim-
ilar to bachelor degree graduates, but such graduates are not allowed to teach the-
oretical subjects and they mostly assist teachers in conducting laboratory classes
and field training. Even if all of these nearly 8,000 graduates joined TVET schools,
this would have covered only 19% of existing TVET vacancies and 30% of an-
nual vacancies that became available due to the loss of TVET teachers. It is this
shortage of trained TVET teachers that has obliged many vocational schools to
employ unqualified professionals.
At present, the Russian PPE system incorporates eighty-three tertiary and eighty-
three secondary schools. These include two specialized universities, eleven regu-
lar universities, eighteen technical universities, twenty agricultural universities and
twenty-six teacher-training universities. In addition, vocational teachers are also
trained in thirty-seven non-specialized colleges and training centres.
The contents of PPE training are unique. PPE syllabi are based on an analysis
of TVET teacher activity, which involves various professional fields. Three basic
components make up the bulk of training: (a) specialized training (e.g. technical, bi-
ological, architectural, etc.); (b) vocational (trade) training; and (a) psychology and
VIII.4 TVET Teacher-Training Requirements in the Russian Federation 1221
teaching methods. These three fields are so finely integrated and co-ordinated that
the course can be compared neither to a specialized technical field (such as engineer-
ing, medicine, agriculture, etc.), nor pure teacher training. These requirements are
laid down in the State Educational Requirements for Secondary and Tertiary Schools
(Zhuchenko, Romantsev & Tkachenko, 1999). This feature of PPE provides a solid
basis for competitive training, and to a great extent it promotes the future job-market
placement and mobility of PPE graduates and, through them, their TVET students.
According to the State Educational Requirements, a graduate from the TVET
teacher-training course should be ready to undertake the following activities
(Russian Federation. Ministry of Education, 2000):
r TVET training: the teaching of general and special vocational subjects in various
TVET institutions.
r Production and technological work: TVET teachers should be qualified as pro-
fessionals who possess the competences required for the performance of partic-
ular job-related operations forming the contents of teaching.
r Methodological work: teachers are required to develop their own teaching aids
and materials to meet the specific requirements of TVET training at a particular
type and level of educational institution.
r Managerial and administrative activities: TVET teachers are expected to possess
the skills of school administration and efficient resource management, inasmuch
as these skills are required for class organization, curriculum development, career
advancement and the utilization of often limited school resources.
r Research: the search for, careful selection, interpretation and skilful introduction
into actual teaching practice of TVET related data;
r Moral educational: teachers are also responsible for the upbringing of their stu-
dents and the fostering of personal characteristics (accuracy, leadership, indus-
triousness, diligence, etc.) that would be required for graduates to successfully
perform job-related tasks.
Since 1988, PPE has been integrated into a unified education scheme that is based on
the close co-ordination and sequence of secondary and tertiary schooling. This em-
bodies the concept of continuous mastery of teaching skills and educational theories
by future TVET teachers, thus reducing both the time and effort required for teach-
ing the standard syllabi. These integrated experiments are supplemented with more
complex research in the co-ordination of primary (pre-professional, trade-oriented),
secondary, tertiary and post-graduate TVET teacher training. However, the absence
of the relevant legislation is understood to be a considerable limiting factor. This
is particularly true concerning schools of different types and under the auspices of
different ministries (Kubrushko, 2006).
As will be indicated further on, continuous PPE is now based on rather contradic-
tory legislation, which is particularly true regarding the contents and requirements
of subject training and their adaptability for secondary and tertiary TVET training,
which results in rather eclectic TVET teacher training in Russia and other countries
of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
3 Eclectic TVET Teacher Training
Today, there are further obligations on the professional competence of TVET

teachers—their teaching ability being one of the most questioned areas. At the cur-
rent advanced level of TVET, teachers and instructors are required to demonstrate
adequate teaching competence. Those trainers who are considered to lack adequate
mastery of educational theory and practice are deemed to be inefficient, leading to
stress and discouragement among their students.
As mentioned above, TVET psychological awareness and teacher training in
most developed countries usually takes place at the university level. The required
periods and fields of training are established according to the anticipated duties and
responsibilities of graduates. However, there are other forms of TVET psychological
and teacher training that are gaining in popularity today. These are mainly carried
out through continuous education and professional re-training systems. This means
that, apart from the PPE system, there are eclectic (non-specialized) TVET teacher-
training schemes based on the primitive ‘additive principle’, i.e. subject (say, techni-
cal, biological, architectural, etc.) training supplemented by further teacher training,
or vice versa.
Another—and much more common—form of TVET teacher training is the
so-called ‘on-the-job training’, where unskilled teachers are taught TVET ed-
ucational procedures and start accumulating relevant experience through actual
teaching practice. Among the advantages of this system is that senior and more
experienced teachers can share their skills and methodological tools with young
professionals. This form of training is very closely associated with the actual work-
ing situation in any given school.
The disadvantages of this type of training include its eclectic and sporadic nature,
its low level of educational and psychological theoretical background, and a cer-
tain level of uncertainty in terms of the professional teaching competence that most
young teachers exhibit when in class. This form of training is also considered to be
a barrier to the introduction of standardized TVET teacher-training requirements,
as those teachers who are currently employed by the TVET system may actively
resist the process of standardization. The introduction of up-to-date requirements
leads to the inevitable questioning of professional competences already acquired by
‘experienced’ and locally ‘reputable’ teachers—and even teacher trainers. Thus, this
on-the-job training may hardly be accepted as an efficient method.
Part-time and/or short-term TVET teacher-training courses are increasingly of-
fered by many universities. These courses are highly favoured by TVET profession-
als, as they mean that graduates have more flexible competences and still acquire
the basic advantages of the regular (full-time) university professional training. Thou-
sands of TVET teachers prefer taking summer or other seasonal training courses that
build up and, in time, constitute the core of their professional—mainly educational
and psychological—competence.
The relevant experience of the European Union may be noted in this context.
Member countries agreed on setting standards for psychological and teacher train-
ing for TVET instructors. Engineering school teacher education and lifelong re-
training and competence advancement are typical of this form of training. Partic-
ularly, it led to the establishment of a professional association, the International
Society for Engineering Education (IGIP), which is now the most recognized in-
stitution in this field. Established in 1972 with UNESCO and UNIDO consulta-
tive status, IGIP brings together over sixty countries. Its activities are focused on
the advancement of the educational competence of engineering school trainers,
so as to meet the growing requirements of both the professional community and
TVET students. IGIP monitors the performance of TVET teacher-training centres
and, subsequently, accredits them; it co-ordinates and sponsors international re-
search on TVET quality and curricular development, as well as inter-institutional
professional consulting and the administration of TVET conferences (Kubrushko,
2006).
IGIP-certified TVET teacher-training centres are being established in Russia
too—typically based on well-established technical schools—and many TVET pro-
fessionals are undertaking their in-service training courses there. The courses are
typically flexible and TVET practice-relevant, and a module system and continuous
education elements are employed. However, most of these schemes have proved to
be rather ineffective compared to full-time PPE programmes, and they also require
higher amounts of finance and time, apart from which the quality of such training
courses is not always up to the required standards.
Despite these disadvantages, some of the schemes are still running in full
accordance with State requirements. These types of training are recommended under
the current social and economic conditions where there is an evident shortage of
qualified TVET trainers. This provides an opportunity to support the development
of TVET systems in countries with transitional economies that are experiencing a
shortage of teachers in vocational schools. It also facilitates the mobility of TVET
professional, as well as their adaptability to job-market requirements.
4 Secondary PPE: Contradictions and Development Factors
Modern PPE is heavily dependent on social and economic processes. The latter
are understood to be those associated with the job market, chambers of commerce,
private enterprise, a fragmentation of industries and loose administrative control
over education, and so on. In other words, it consists of all of those phenomena
that were not previously found under a centralized economy. This situation led to
a certain confusion in the requirements that are to be met by TVET teachers and
graduates, for example who to train, how to train, what to teach, who/what to refer
to for requirements, syllabi, methodology and so on.
Some TVET professionals argue that all of these parameters are the responsibility
of local educational authorities, but this provokes a cluster of problems, including
the following:
1. The widespread insufficient qualifications for TVET teachers and local educa-
tional administrators results in a contrast between the current educational free-
dom and the poor skills of TVET professionals.
2. The rapid development of industries and services aggravates the shortcomings
in graduate qualifications. Above all, there are serious discrepancies between
the State, industrial and public requirements for TVET teacher training and the
relatively poor professional levels of currently employed TVET teaching staff.
Moreover, in direct contradiction with the present-day State requirements, teach-
ers also face pressures from outside the domain of vocational training that might
be encountered by any professional, for example, mobility, personal develop-
ment, communicative skills, private enterprise and so on.
3. There is a widening gap between the number of TVET professionals required
and the training capacity of PPE as the most reputable TVET teacher-training
system.
4. There is also a gulf between the publicly-recognized importance of certain
vocational fields and their lack of attractiveness to Russian youth. This affects
the job market as a whole, as well as TVET teacher placement. A certain amount
of State support is needed in this sphere in order to improve the image of these
professions in the public’s mind.
5. The regional distribution of formerly national education has been poorly ad-
ministered and has created major discrepancies between federal and local ed-
ucational policies, which further hamper the application of State regulations in
this field.
6. The rapid evolution of the job market stands in contrast to the predominantly
conservative nature of the TVET system.
7. There is a clear need for the promotion of professional competence and qual-
ifications among secondary TVET teachers. At the same time, most fields of
training are so specific and diverse that secondary and tertiary programmes are
hard to integrate, because they do not form a logical succession of educational
stages. This is attributed to the lack of certain universal contents in training
programmes—both in a specialty and in teaching skills—that could lead to the
articulation of different stages.
8. It is still possible to observe a somewhat eclectic range of requirements for TVET
teacher competence; the formally promulgated introduction of the competence-
based approach to teaching contents selection has failed in practice, as even
today the advantages of this approach are not always appreciated by educational
officials and, thus, are slow in being accepted in schools.
9. There are other complex contradictions existing within the structure of TVET,
such as its organizational forms, the methods used and the contents taught. The
entire PPE paradigm has changed in recent years, and it now implies the ori-
entation of TVET in accordance with humanitarian considerations and taking
public requirements into account to a greater degree. This necessitates a thor-
ough revision of teaching contents and technology (Kosyrev, 1998; Kubrushko,
2006; Zhuchenko, Romantsev & Tkachenko, 1999; Kosyrev, Kiva & Kuznetsov,
2005).
5 TVET Teacher-Training Personnel: Key Competences
TVET teacher-training personnel employed by secondary and tertiary schools should

meet some basic requirements in terms of their professional and teaching compe-
tences. These should include:
r comprehension of and belief in fundamental PPE concepts;

r understanding PPE objectives and the strategies for their realization;
r competent and skilful choice of teaching contents;
r complete mastery in up-to-date teaching techniques and educational strategy de-
sign leading to an adequate realization of teachers’ personal and professional
characteristics;
r educational managerial skills;
r mastery of the theory and practice of moral education and the career guidance
of youth;
r mastery in pedagogical and psychological diagnostic techniques to improve
TVET processes; and
r a grasp of recent developments in both the professional field and the educational
sciences; this implies competence in continuous self-training strategies and the
development of individual resourcefulness.
These requirements may only be met through thorough and well-planned TVET
teacher training and the development of professional competence, as well as the con-
tinuous perfection of these competences in the actual exercise of professional day-
to-day activity by teachers. As was identified through relevant research (Kosyrev,
1998; Kubrushko, 2006), regular professional testing and certification of TVET
teacher-training personnel is the best way to guarantee the successful embodiment
of these key requirements.
6 TVET Teacher-Training Requirements: Mapping
The complete list of professional requirements for TVET teacher competence

is presented in the State Educational Requirements for Tertiary PPE (Kosyrev,
1998; Kubrushko, 2006; Zhuchenko, Romantsev & Tkachenko, 1999; Kosyrev,
Kiva & Kuznetsov, 2005), which are issued and circulated in Russia and some
other former-Soviet countries. There are two major clusters of such requirements—
general requirements and professional (subject field) requirements. The latter are
then subdivided into general professional (including general teaching competence)
and specialized professional requirements (Russian Federation. Ministry of Educa-
tion, 2000).
6.1 General Requirements
A TVET teacher should:

r have overall mastery in major humanitarian, social and economic theories, the
analysis of complex social and environmental processes, the mastery of key sci-
entific research methods and self-training strategies (including resourcefulness)
for research and the development of TVET;
r exercise ethical and legal norms in his/her professional activity, including the
development of educational, research, social, engineering and environmental
projects;
r possess an intellectual culture and presentation skills (both written and oral);
r have mastery of the application of computer skills to the educational, social and
engineering fields;
r be flexible and adaptable to the ever-changing professional, technological, social,
scientific and economic environment;
r possess self-assessment and self-regulation skills;
r realize and accept the social importance of TVET as his/her chosen profession;
r be creative and capable of anticipating activity in his/her professional field;
r be ready to conduct personal and professional co-operation and be open to pro-
fessional (special field and educational) innovations, and to act as a team-player
and a group-leader.
There are also certain fundamental requirements for the humanitarian and economic
competence of TVET professionals (i.e. an interest in philosophy, history, arts,
sociology, economics, general management, law, politics, linguistics and sports), as
well as competence in mathematics and science. These fundamental requirements
are typical of any secondary or tertiary teacher training, and they are present in the
State requirements for any level of education.
6.2 Professional (Subject) Requirements

Professional (subject) requirements are subdivided into general professional obli-
gations (including general teaching competence) and specialized ones. Some of the
key TVET teacher competences are listed below.
6.2.1 Competences in Physiology, Psycho-Physiology and Psychology

r basic knowledge of the functioning and development of the human body;
r adequate knowledge (according to the teaching specialization) of psychological
processes (i.e. perception, cognition, imagination, attention, memory, speech,
emotions, feelings and self-regulation) and the laws of their development and
use in education, as well as that of psychological testing and educational research
and diagnostics;
r essential knowledge about hygiene and healthy work practices;
r adequate first-aid skills, and mastery of terror- and trauma-prevention

strategies;
r mastery of team-building and leadership-development skills.
6.2.2 Competences in the Educational Sciences

r mastery of efficient teaching methods and the ability to select teaching contents
for primary, secondary, tertiary and further vocational education;
r basic knowledge of key philosophical, social and psychological theories that
make up the foundation of educational practice;
r mastery of research methods applicable to educational practice;
r mastery of key components and rules of educational processes;
r comprehension of social functions and roles of a TVET teacher;
r basic mastery of analysis and forecasting TVET graduates’ professional activity;
r educational design skills, including objective and task setting, syllabi and curric-
ular development and mapping, class planning and analysis;
r development and maintenance of efficient feedback and professional co-operation
with students and alumni;
r development and efficient and safe use of teaching aids (including engineering
and computer-based support).
6.2.3 Specialized Professional (Subject) Requirements

Specialized professional (subject) requirements are established in accordance with
the particular professional field that a given group of TVET teacher-training students
are to major in at their undergraduate, graduate or further education level. In Russia,
these fields may range from medicine and biology to agriculture and engineering,
from chemical plating to architecture and costume design.
These requirements are laid down by law with separate (for individual subject
fields) State Educational Requirements that are issued by the Ministry of Education
of Russia and some other CIS countries. However, local educational authorities and
individual schools are authorized to amend and expand these national requirements
with extra subjects to a maximum of 5 to 10% of the total timetable. These amend-
ments are usually connected with specific regional requirements for TVET and
TVET teacher training. Another sound reason for such alterations arises from the
shortage of particular categories of teacher trainers, which makes it quite impossible
to educate future teaching professionals in certain subjects. It is now quite common
to substitute some subjects in order to overcome the absence of some temporarily
less-required teacher trainers.
7 Conclusion
Taking the situation in TVET teacher training in Russia and other CIS countries as
a whole, it should be noted that there are still a number of concerns and problems.
Principal among these, experts have indicated the apparent shortage of qualified
TVET teacher trainers, the current low level of teachers’ professional status in the
community and the reluctance of young people to obtain vocational qualifications
in fields that are considered as low-paid and neglected. These are the problems that
require immediate attention on the part of TVET professionals, experts, researchers
and administrators.
As was shown above, professional and pedagogical education (PPE) is a very
powerful institution that provides integrated and finely balanced secondary, ter-
tiary, post-graduate and further training for TVET teachers and instructors. The
PPE system has been developed in detail to meet basic TVET requirements; fur-
ther studies that would allow TVET teacher-training experts and practitioners to
perfect this sphere of education are still being conducted in Russia and elsewhere
internationally.
This chapter has paid particular attention to the State and public requirements
for the procedures, contents and quality of TVET teacher training. The existing
educational standards are being amended and adjusted to conform to the modern de-
mands and needs of national and international communities, including professional
associations, trade unions and local administrations. And it is here that the some-
what challenged and considerably amended TVET teacher-training requirements
are needed.
As a carefully planned and sound way of advancing into the future, it is worth
underlining that the system of TVET teacher training will soon be publicly rec-
ognized as something integral to—and vital for—the sustainable development of
national education, as well as a key element in the advancement of any country’s
economy.
References
Kosyrev, V.P. 1998. [Methodical training of TVET teachers.] Moscow. [In Russian.] ISBN 5-201-
14389-x.
Kosyrev, V.P.; Kiva, A.A.; Kuznetsov, A.N. 2005. [Didactic design based on the competence ap-
proach.] Moscow: TVET Academy. [In Russian.]. ISBN 5-9559-0120-5.
Kubrushko, P.F. 2006. [Contents of professional and pedagogical education.] Moscow: Gardariky.
[In Russian.] ISBN 5-8297-0286-x.
Russian Federation. Ministry of Education. 2000. [State Educational Standard of Higher Profes-
sional Education: Major 030500 – Professional Training (TVET).] Moscow. [In Russian.]
Zhuchenko, A.A.; Romantsev, G.M.; Tkachenko, E.V. 1999. [Professional and teacher education
in Russia: contents and organization.] Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation: Urals State Profes-
sional and Pedagogical University. [In Russian.] ISBN 5-8050-0016-4.
Chapter VIII.5
TVET Teachers and Their Professionalization
in China: A Problem Analysis
1 The Development of the TVET Teachers’ Profession in China
Handicrafts have a long history in China, but a proper apprenticeship training tra-
dition has never been set up. China’s vocational education system came into being
during the Westernization Movement (yang wu yun dong) in the 1860s, when the
royal government of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) began to develop modern in-
dustries. In 1904, the Qing Government issued the Constitution of Imperial Schools
(zou ding xue tang zhang cheng), which brought industrial education into line with
formal education. This was a landmark in the establishment of the vocational edu-
cation system in China.
Concerning the professional development of TVET teachers, Huang Yanpei
(1878–1961), an outstanding social activist and educator, and the National Associa-
tion of Vocational Education of China established on Huang’s initiative,1 played an
important role. He and the association advocated ‘widespread vocational education’
(da zhi ye jiao yu zhu yi), including a reform of the traditional education style,
which was separated from practice and social activities. He demanded that TVET
teachers should take part in the political reform movement and pay more attention
to the needs and interests of working people. This went beyond the mere teaching of
knowledge and skills and broadened the activity of the TVET teachers’ profession
(Li, 1994). A higher expectation was placed upon TVET teachers, namely to engage
themselves more in technological and social development.
Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (henceforth China) in
1949, the development of TVET teaching as a profession has gone through a number
of changes. In 1958 an educational reform was promulgated stating that education
should be combined with production. This reform put forward the quality principle
of simultaneous development of both State-run schools and those run by enterprises,
which broke the unified pattern of formal education. As a result, TVET teachers
were required to combine their professional practice with ‘socialized production’.
Since China’s reform and open-door policy in the 1980s, the government has
issued numerous policies and regulations with respect to increasing TVET teaching
capacity in line with the development in the whole TVET field. ‘The Teacher Law
of the P.R. of China’ (1993, Article 1) and ‘The Vocational Education Law of the
P.R. of China’ (1996, Article 36) provide the legal guidelines on capacity-building

1230 Z. Zhao, L. Lu
and the qualifications of TVET teachers. It can be concluded that the government’s
policy on teachers and the development of schools are vital elements in accelerating
(or hindering) the process of promoting the profession of TVET teacher.
The Teacher Law, Article 3, provides that: ‘Teachers are the professionals who
undertake the duties to educate, teach and train their students in terms of knowledge,
competence and morality to be the builders and successors of the socialist cause and
to enhance the national qualities’. Thus, teachers are defined as teaching specialists.
Furthermore, the Teacher Law provides that ‘The State [. . .] improves their working
and living conditions and raises their social position’. The TVET teachers, as an
important part of the whole teaching body, ‘are the professionals who are specially
qualified and trained’. They are thus capable of teaching vocational knowledge,
skills and moral behaviour in order to enable students to acquire ethics, vocational
skills and good living habits (Zhang, Li & Kiel, 1998, p. 8).
But there are some elements that have impeded the development of TVET teach-
ers as a profession:
r The traditional lower status of TVET in society;
r Unreasonable and changeable policy-making affecting TVET; and
r The lack of any TVET teachers’ organizations with political influence.
In China, the Confucian ideal that ‘Those who do manual labour are ruled by those
who do mental labour’ (i.e. the mental workers govern the physical workers) has had
a profound influence on the knowledge-orientated educational tradition. Even today,
practical occupations are generally looked down upon. TVET is considered merely
as an educational provision for those who have failed university entrance examina-
tions, and not as an effective way of studying or of fulfilling one’s role in society.
Most high-school students—in keeping with the wishes of their parents—only want
to study at university immediately upon completion of secondary education, rather
than obtaining any vocational education or training. In the market-oriented Chinese
society, TVET teachers and the profession do not receive much respect.
At present, in terms of income and living standards, TVET teachers belong to the
lower middle class in China. The employment and promotion of TVET teachers are
regulated almost exactly in the same way as those of general education teachers, but
TVET teachers are perceived to be legally inferior to their counterparts in general
education. Some teachers have had to take on temporary jobs in their spare time
each day or during their holidays to make ends meet. There is no doubt that, in the
pursuit of societal progress and economic growth, not enough attention has been
paid to the development of TVET teachers as a profession.
Another consideration is that, due to the low social status and poor salaries, some
young teachers are not ready to become involved in TVET, which is one of the
features impeding the steady professional development of this sector. As a result, the
visible and invisible flow of TVET teachers leaving the profession is becoming more
and more serious. Furthermore, large numbers of senior teachers will be retiring in
the coming years (Zheng, 1998).
According to the Teacher Law, it is necessary to implement a teacher qualifica-
tion system. Article 34 stipulates that: ‘the State conducts the employment system
VIII.5 TVET Teachers and Their Professionalization in China 1231
by signing a contract with a teacher according to his/her qualification. It also intends

to upgrade their skills and to reinforce the capacity of the teaching force by means
of the assessment of professional proficiency, rewarding higher qualifications and
offering teacher-training provisions.’ Article 10 describes the specific categories of
teacher qualification; the main components refer to nationality, ethnic background,
educational requirements and instructional competence. The teachers’ qualification
certificates must be recognized by the appropriate legal authorities entrusted by the
government.
While great importance is attached to the academic diploma that a teacher candi-
date holds, there are no definite regulations concerning teachers’ professional com-
petencies. Those teachers who have not yet acquired teaching diplomas are expected
to try hard to obtain them. Since the law failed to stipulate the coherence between
the teacher’s major and what he/she is allowed to teach, some teachers have been
given or are attempting to obtain a teaching diploma that does not require passing a
difficult test—although it may have nothing to do with the current subject that they
are teaching.
In respect of career promotion, the law has adopted the same criteria for teach-
ers of general and vocational education. Almost no attention has been paid to the
fact that vocational education is different from general education, the former being
focused on the development of practical competence, such as operational skills and
experience in industry. TVET teachers, who normally have proficiency in practical
subjects, have perceived these criteria as putting them in an unfavourable position.
Therefore, the regulations on career promotion have had a negative impact on the
professional development of TVET teachers.
The Chinese Government has recognized the situation described above and is
trying to remedy it by means of policies, regulations and favourable measures to
improve TVET teachers’ social status and working and living conditions. These
measures include offering a housing property subsidy and other social welfare ad-
vantages. In the more-developed areas, such measures are having a satisfactory im-
pact, but in the less-developed regions many difficulties remain in adopting these
policies.
2 TVET Teachers’ Qualifications
Taking into consideration regional differences in economic development and edu-

cational attendance patterns, the Chinese Government is trying to establish a ‘dual’
TVET system that guarantees simultaneous training in an educational institution and
in an enterprise. At present China has a three-level vocational education system:
r Elementary vocational education (where lower secondary schools enrol primary
school graduates and aim to train skilled workers and farmers at the junior level;
such schools only exist in the underdeveloped rural areas);
r Secondary vocational education—the main part—takes place at senior high-
school level, including specialized secondary schools, vocational senior high
1232 Z. Zhao, L. Lu
schools and skilled-worker schools. (The existence of these three kinds of

schools is due to historical reasons—overlapping between the Ministry of Edu-
cation and Labour.) At present, there is not much difference among them. There-
fore, a new school name—secondary technical vocational school—is gradually
replacing these three former school names;
r Higher vocational education, which enrols graduates from general senior schools
and secondary vocational schools. Schooling is generally for two to three years.
In China, full-time teachers in public vocational schools are considered as govern-

ment employees. (There are only a small number of private vocational schools in
China. Teachers in these schools account for only a tiny proportion of the total
number of teachers; they are considered as employees in an enterprise.) Types of
teachers differ according to the functions of vocational schools. In general, there are
two main types in vocational schools: general-knowledge teachers and specialized
teachers. The latter are usually divided into specialized theory teachers and practical
instructors (see Figure 1). In reality, the structures of teachers in vocational schools
are more complicated than this simplified description.
To cope with the rapid development of vocational schools in China, teachers
need to be produced at a greater rate. In 2003, there were nearly 560,000 full-time
teachers engaged in secondary vocational schools, but only 66.5% of them had com-
pleted four years of study at the bachelor degree level or above and had received the
teaching diploma required by law (China. Ministry of Education (MoE), 2003a).
Particularly, a large proportion of specialized teachers had not yet gained the re-
quired diplomas.
The lack of infrastructures is the main defect for TVET teachers, which is pri-
marily manifested in the following ways:
r There are more than enough general-knowledge teachers, but inadequate num-
bers of specialized teachers and even fewer practical instructors in vocational
schools. In 2004, the percentage of specialized teachers (including practical in-
structors) in secondary vocational schools was less than 50%. The shortage of
specialized teachers is becoming more serious in the new specialties that have
been introduced in accordance with economic restructuring and the development
of new technologies (China. MoE, 2003b).
TVET teachers
Specialized teachers General-knowledge

teachers
Specialized Double-qualified
Practical instructors
theory teachers teachers
Fig. 1 Types of TVET teachers

r In the last two decades, there have been two structural re-organizations of the
Chinese TVET system. Firstly, quite a number of general education secondary
schools that had been unsuccessful in enabling graduates to enter university were
re-organized into vocational schools; secondly, a number of good vocational
schools were upgraded into vocational education colleges. During the organi-
zational transformation, teachers in these schools may have found themselves
unqualified for their new tasks. Many teachers who taught academic subjects—
e.g. Chinese or physics—in the former general education schools were now com-
pelled to teach specialized courses in vocational schools—e.g. secretarial studies
or electronics. Even worse was the situation of those teachers who were not ca-
pable of teaching theoretical subjects; they were assigned to practical courses.
In the case of institutional upgrading, vocational school-teachers became college
lecturers and they too did not receive any corresponding preparation.
r The great shortage of qualified teachers has meant that many experienced skilled
workers or technicians have accepted vacancies as teachers in vocational schools.
Some vocational schools recruit their own ‘best graduates’ to act as instructors,
which for many schools has become a permanent ‘temporary’ measure.
Based on these different situations, it can be concluded that TVET teachers’ needs
for professional training are very different. These can be categorized as follows:
r The former general-knowledge teachers may have acquired experience in teach-

ing but lack vocation-related knowledge and experience in industry. They need
to acquire qualifications in different aspects, such as training in practical skills
or upgrading of related specialized knowledge.
r The skilled workers and technicians from enterprises and public institutions who
have now become teachers are often skilled in occupational tasks, but deficient
in both the subject theory and in pedagogical qualifications.
r The ‘best’ graduates from vocational schools usually have neither practical ex-
perience nor vocation-related knowledge. They are not qualified in pedagogi-
cal skills either. A qualification in instructional aspects is the most urgent need
for them.
r Due to the deficiency in experience, specialized knowledge and in teaching
competence in practical subjects, many teachers are only capable of performing
administrative and support tasks when they are assigned to practical internships
in companies and enterprises.
In addition, there are a large number of part-time teachers engaged in vocational

schools. As experienced workers, technicians or engineers, they are invited to teach
specialized or practical courses, especially for the newly established subjects—this
is the so-called short-term training provisions. Employing part-time specialists from
industry has become quite common in many vocational schools that co-operate with
enterprises to provide training programmes that are needed urgently. It has been
reported that 10% of teaching posts in secondary vocational schools are filled by
part-time teachers (China. MoE, 2003b).
1234 Z. Zhao, L. Lu
Specialists from industry who are engaged as part-time teachers in vocational

schools pose a challenge to the development of the TVET teacher as a profession.
It tends to suggest that full-time TVET teachers should only devote themselves to
theoretical subjects, and that there is no need for schools to build up a full-time
teaching staff for practical training, since this can be undertaken by external spe-
cialists employed part-time.
3 The Education and Training of TVET Teachers
Before the first Opium War (1840–1842), the procedure for selecting teachers was
an integral part of the imperial examination system, which was aimed at recruit-
ing royal officers. In 1897, Nanyang Public Teachers’ Institute (gong xue shi fan
yuan) was established, which is now recognized as the birthplace of modern teacher
education in China.
After the founding of modern China, teacher education was reformed according
to the former Russian model, and a triple teacher education system was established,
as shown in Figure 2.
The following institutions are responsible for teacher education:
r Normal (teacher-training) universities/colleges with a four-year study period
towards a bachelor’s degree, where teacher-candidates for schools at senior
high level are qualified, including those for secondary vocational schools. The
Normal
universities/colleges
(four-year)
Teachers’ universities
or colleges Teachers’ colleges,
TVET teacher colleges
(three-year)
Teachersí Secondary teachers’ Secondary teachers’

education schools schools
& training
institutions
Teachers’/TVET
teachers’ training
institutes in
Other education and universities/colleges
training institutions
Correspondence
education institutions
and TVET universities
Fig. 2 Teacher education systems in China

Source: China, MoE, 1998
entrance requirements are completion of K–12 education and success in the

national examination for higher education, which includes a general-knowledge
test and an interview relating to personality assessment;
r Teachers’ colleges, with three-year study towards an academic diploma, respon-
sible for qualifying junior high-school teachers (including those for elementary
vocational schools). The entrance requirements are the same as those for normal
universities; however, entrance is reserved for those who scored lower scores in
the national higher education examination;
r Secondary teachers’ schools educate primary school-teachers. At present, such
schools only continue to exist in the under-developed regions.
In 2005, China had 188 teachers’ colleges or universities, including those for
TVET. Compared with teacher education for K–12 schools, TVET teacher educa-
tion is confronted with fragile development, which is mainly demonstrated in the
smaller number of specialized institutions for TVET teacher education and their
limited capacity for student enrolment. There are only ten teacher-education insti-
tutions separately established for TVET and a further seventeen similar institutions
attached to other universities (not all the graduates will go to work in vocational
schools). The annual graduates from both kinds of institutions mentioned above,
including those who did not major in teacher education, can meet only about half
of the requirement for new teachers in TVET institutions (Huang, 2000). Thus, vo-
cational schools have to seek other ways to satisfy their need for new teachers.
Universities and colleges (and not teacher colleges) in fact have become the major
suppliers of TVET teachers.
Because TVET teacher education has not been included in the Category of
Higher Education Specialties, issued by China’s Ministry of Education, TVET
teacher colleges have had to set up study programmes according to their own under-
standing of teachers’ qualifications for TVET. There is a lack of scientific research
and systemic arrangement in relation to study programmes for TVET teacher edu-
cation, which can be illustrated in the following way:
r The study programme fails to cover all of the necessary specialties or vocational
fields available in TVET schools;
r Most learning content of the study programme is derived from the corresponding
arrangements of engineering faculties; however, such a transfer lacks empirical
proof;
r Some specialties are more focused on practical skills, such as cooking, and ne-
glect basic academic requirements.
According to the framework curricula recommended by the MoE, the course study
programme for teacher education in China mainly consists of categories of learning
modules on basic courses, specialized courses, psychology and pedagogy. The total
study time in the four-year course amounts to about 2,600 hours, approximately
twenty-five hours per week. It is clear that almost half of the courses are zweckfrei
(i.e. without reference to a specific vocation) (Rauner, 1996). This indicates that the
curriculum developers do not intend to connect teacher training with the practical
1236 Z. Zhao, L. Lu
requirements of a particular vocational speciality. To foster intellectual development

and to transfer knowledge are the guiding principles in developing the curricula in
terms of the structure and contents. It can be said that:
r There is no clear connection between the specialized courses and the require-
ments of the world of work;
r It is difficult for students to have a clear idea of their work in the future (Zhao,
2003).
The investigation shows that the majority of TVET teachers in China understand
their role as ‘semi-engineering’. However, the requirement that TVET teacher
education should be closely combined with the work process lays bare the great
contradictions between the ideal and reality. The development of didactic theory
combining work and learning, practice and knowledge, will demand the develop-
ment of vocationally specialized programmes—‘vocational discipline’ (Gerds, Hei-
degger & Rauner, 1998).
In recent years, great efforts have been made in TVET teacher colleges to set up
specialized study programmes. Relevant research institutions have been established,
such as the Higher TVET Teacher Education Committee within the purview of the
China Vocational Education Association. It has also been decided to set up national
centres of excellence for TVET teacher education and training. All of these mea-
sures have laid important institutional foundations for the development of TVET
as a specialty in its own right and the ultimate realization of TVET teachers as an
independent profession.
In practice, in accordance with the principles of a focus on the vocational process,
transferability and practicality, TVET teacher colleges have started reforming the
curricula in order to set up high-quality and competitive specialties at the level of
higher education, though the reform is still in its initial stage.
r The reform in curriculum development is limited to selecting, adjusting and re-
integrating relevant content taught in the corresponding engineering specialties.
Many colleges have realized the problems caused by following the engineer-
ing education system, because it has not gone far enough in developing teach-
ing/learning concepts directed at the work process (Benner, 1997). The term
‘orientation to vocational process’ is often interpreted as a desire to reinforce
practical skills training rather than making vocational work as a discipline in its
own right, because no signs have been identified of a new educational concept
based on a vocational discipline.
r Among the endeavours to reform study contents in accordance with the principle
of ‘transferability’, a proposition has been made in an indirect way that a TVET
teacher qualification should include work-process knowledge. But, in reality, the
curriculum is still dominated by autonomous technology. It is too much focused
on abstract abilities that are expected to be needed in specialized vocational
work. However, little content related to work and work organization has been
taken into consideration. There is almost no way to guarantee effectively the
transferability of study contents.
r In terms of instructional process reform, quite a few institutions have attempted

to reinforce practical qualifications by requiring students to be trained for an oc-
cupational certificate. Practical qualification is simplified as skills training. The
TVET student-teachers have no way of obtaining essential experience to analyse
and evaluate work and technology. All these reflect the current condition about
how experiential learning and learning related to work processes are conducted
within the traditional TVET education system (Dehnbostel, 2000).
In China, the experienced teachers without pedagogic and didactical qualifications

are being trained in further training institutions affiliated to universities/colleges or
run by private companies. These training institutions provide off-the-job and on-the-
job programmes for practical instructors or double-qualified teachers. According to
incomplete statistics, there are about 350 institutions engaged in the further edu-
cation and training of TVET teachers, among which two-thirds are at the higher
education level offering training provisions for specialized teachers, and one-third
at the secondary education level or run by companies engaged in the training of
practical instructors (China. MoE, 2003b). As stated in China’s Action Plan to vi-
talize education in the 21st century, the MoE supports the development of fifty-six
national key bases for TVET teacher education.
4 TVET Teachers’ Work Activities
In 1998, the Central Institute of Vocational and Technical Education (CIVTE) or-
ganized an international APEC research project on TVET teachers’ working (pro-
fessional) activities in secondary vocational education.2 Based on teachers’ reports,
the following statements can be made:
r The main activities of TVET teachers are preparing for and performing instruc-
tion. Over 70% of the teachers undertake demonstrations and experiments. Since
the percentage of practical instructors is well below 70%, it is logical to assume
that almost all the TVET teachers participate in practical teaching activities and,
thus, there is not a real functional difference between specialized teachers and
practical instructors.
r More and more TVET teachers have undertaken duties that were not previ-
ously foreseen for their professions before. For example, 47% of teachers take
part in labour-market investigation in any year, and over 50% conduct work
analysis. This shows that labour-market analysis has become one of their main
duties.3
r Nearly half of the TVET teachers state that they have rarely been involved in
school management and administration. This is due to the greater number of
school management personnel. However, according to the government’s require-
ment, management personnel will gradually be decreased. Thus, more teach-
ers can be expected to engage in school management and administration in the
1238 Z. Zhao, L. Lu
future, while still conducting their routine teaching tasks. The transfer of teach-
ers’ duties from pure instruction to management will be a challenge for them.
r Ethical, political and social education and instruction are considered as part of
the main tasks of TVET teachers; however, they seldom take part in career guid-
ance. Some 28% of the teachers help gather employment and further education
information for their students, but few teachers analyse the information and use
it in their work.
r In respect of social relations, teachers are more concerned about their relation-
ship with colleagues and students’ parents than with enterprises or communities.
Less than half of them took part in activities to promote co-operation between
their schools and enterprises, communities and social organizations.
r What teachers really desire is to have more opportunities for further education
and academic activities. Nearly 44% of the teachers reported lack of such oppor-
tunities. Therefore, the shortcomings of the teacher-training system are a major
factor hindering vocational education development (Liu, Liu & Zhao, 2000).
Table 1 is a DACUM-chart of China’s TVET teachers’ profession and is one of the
outcomes of the APEC project. Based on this table, CIVTE defined a profile of the
TVET teachers’ profession in China. A TVET teacher should be qualified in the
following aspects:
r Mastery of basic theoretical and specialized knowledge in the specialty, espe-
cially those aspects directly connected with vocational practice;
r Able to correctly analyse and evaluate vocational activities and work processes
in order to develop new curricula;
r Mastery of practical vocational abilities related to the specialty and acquisition
of related practical experience;
r Qualified in the basic theories of vocational education and able to analyse, eval-
uate, plan and implement the instructional process;
r Capable of involvement in school management and public relations;
r Able to educate and instruct students according to all the requirements so that
they can fulfil their vocational choice; and
r Capable of managing one’s own career.
But, in practice, it is still difficult to realize the above aspects due to the existing
conditions in policies and practices.
5 Summary and Prospects
In a review of teachers’ professional development over the last ten years, we can
draw the optimistic conclusion that the TVET teaching body is playing an increas-
ingly important role in China’s education system and more attention is being paid
to its influence on the whole of educational development. China’s MoE issued a
document in 2000, which emphasized that building a high-quality teaching body is
the guarantee of developing vocational education and speeding up the process of
Table 1 DACUM-chart on China’s TVET teachers
UNITS TASKS
1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6
Curriculum Analysis of Analysis of Analysis of Compiling Instructional Curriculum
develop- labour work teaching textbooks experi- evaluation
ment market process contents menting
2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6

Teaching Understanding Study Produce aims of Produce Select and Design and
design students teaching teaching units delivery produce select
contents procedures teaching facilities
media
3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4

Implementation Classroom Practical Organizing Practice
of teaching delivery teaching in simultaneous teaching in
VIII.5 TVET Teachers and Their Professionalization in China
school teaching company
4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6

Management Participate in Teaching and Teacher Student man- Management Management
producing teaching management agement of teaching of practice
school de- files man- courses workshops
velopment agement and
plan facilities
1239
1240
Table 1 (continued)
UNITS TASKS
5 5.1 5.2
Student Help students Provide
guidance to establish career
moral guidance
integrity
6 6.1 6.2 6.3

Teaching Evaluation of Evaluation of Evaluation of
evaluation students’ students’ one’s own
knowledge skills level teaching
level
7 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5

Public Planning of Produce Implementation Demonstrate Promoting
relations public publicity of public teaching co-
relation materials relation achieve- operation
activities activities ment to with
society relevant
depart-
ments and
personnel
8 8.1 8.2
Professional Enhancing Guide and
develop- one’s help peers’
ment knowledge profes-
and skills sional
activities
Z. Zhao, L. Lu
achieving quality education. Furthermore, by means of ‘the Teacher Law’ and ‘the
Regulations on Teachers’ Duties’, better legal and social environments for TVET
teachers’ professionalization are being created.
On the other hand, TVET teachers’ professionalization is still influenced by dif-
ferent factors, which may accelerate or hinder the process of professionalization:
To create a reasonable structure of the teaching body in order to promote quality
education, the capacity-building of TVET teachers at present needs to combine the
efforts of full-time and part-time teaching staffs. This means that TVET schools
should employ a certain proportion of part-time teachers; nevertheless, this may be
viewed by the full-time TVET teachers as a challenge to their professionalization.
There are still problems to be solved with respect to practice-orientation and the
qualification of double-qualified teachers. Furthermore, the poor teaching and aca-
demic capacity of TVET teacher education institutions has become an obstacle to
the development of specialties, for example in terms of study programmes, curricula
and teaching contents.
Notes
1. The National Association of Vocational Education of China (zhong hua zhi jiao she), founded
in 1917, was the first vocational education organization in China consisting of people from
education and economy. Nowadays, it has developed into twenty-six organizations located all
over China, which are having some influence on China’s TVET policy.
2. This APEC Central Funding Project focused on TVET teachers’ standards and their develop-
ment. The participants in this project came from Brunei Darussalam, China, Indonesia, Japan,
Malaysia, Mexico, the Republic of Korea, Chinese Taipei and the United States of America.
3. Though a centralized State, China allows its schools a certain amount of freedom to make their
own decisions on teaching. The teaching plans and programmes made by the State Ministry of
Education or local provincial commissions are generally instructive documents. The school can
arrange its own subjects according to labour-market demand and develop its own specialized
courses on a level that is no lower than the basic teaching requirements of the State and local
governments.
References
Benner, P. 1997. Stufen zur Pflegekompetenz. From novice to expert, 2nd edition. Berne: Huber.
China. Ministry of Education. 2003a. China education statistics yearbook, 2003. Beijing: People’s
Education Press.
China. Ministry of Education. 2003b. China education yearbook, 2003. Beijing: People’s Educa-
tion Press.
China. Ministry of Education. Teacher Education Department. 1998. China’s teachers’ education.
Shanghai, China: Shanghai Science and Technology Press.
Dehnbostel, P. 2000. Lernkonzepte zur Verknüpfung von Arbeitserfahrung und beruflicher Bil-
dung. In: Dehnbostel, P.; Novak, H., eds. Arbeits- und erfahrungsorientierte Lernkonzepte,
pp. 115–27. Bielefeld, Germany: Bertelsmann.
Gerds, P.; Heidegger, G.; Rauner, F. 1998. Berufsfelder von Auszubildenden und Bedarfe in den
Fachrichtungen der Berufsschullehrinnen und –lehrer zu Beginn des nächsten Jahrtausends in
Norddeutschland. Bremen, Germany: Institut Technik und Bildung.
1242 Z. Zhao, L. Lu
Huang, Y. 2000. Reinforcing the building of TVET teaching body and building a high-quality
TVET teaching body. Journal of China’s TVET, vol. 10, pp. 11–14.
Li, L. 1994. History of China’s TVET. Beijing: Higher Education Press.
Liu, J.; Liu, Y.; Zhao, Z. 2000. The project to reinforce education and training of the secondary
vocational school teachers. Beijing: CIVTE.
Rauner, F. 1996. Zweckfreie Berufsbildung in der Berufsschule. In: Dedering, H., ed. Handbuch
zur arbeitsorientierten Bildung, pp. 431–50. Munich and Vienna: Oldenbourg.
Zhang, C.; Li, W.; Kiel, H., eds. 1998. Handbook of vocational education teacher. Shenyang,
China: Liaohai Press.
Zhao, Z. 2003. Berufspädagogen auf dem Weg zur Professionalität. Bielefeld, Germany:
Bertelsmann.
Zheng, X. 1998. On the teachers’ social and legal positions. Education research and practice,
vol. 1, pp. 35–40.
Chapter VIII.6
The Development of Training Modules
for Instructors
Fred Beven
1 Introduction
An increasingly common phenomenon within technical and vocational education

and training (TVET) is the use of a modularized curriculum approach and the
production of training modules that prescribe the learning objectives, content and
assessment requirements. This phenomenon is often associated with top-down cur-
riculum planning and a desire by central agencies to carefully manage the teaching,
learning and assessment processes. Such management is motivated by the increas-
ingly important role that skill formation and its further development play in modern
economies. Yet, although the importance of vocational education to national inter-
ests is amplified through these arrangements, such approaches to the curriculum may
not always effectively engage those who are supposed to implement them (i.e. voca-
tional teachers), nor those who are subject to them (i.e. learners). This chapter seeks
to elaborate the kinds of considerations and conditions required for the effective
development of a modularized vocational educational curriculum. It proposes that
it is necessary to consider curriculum documents and resources as intents only, and
extend a consideration of curriculum as something that is enacted by vocational ed-
ucators and grant them autonomy in doing so. However, ultimately, the curriculum
is something experienced by those who are seeking to learn vocational knowledge—
the students. Vocational educators usually bring particular sets of experiences and
expertise to the teaching and learning process, which extends to how they teach and
use units of modularized curriculum. Vocational learners also have their own needs
and interests, which shape in what ways they engage with the curriculum as enacted
by teachers. In this way, modularized approaches to curriculum and the production
of training modules need to take into account not only the intents and interests of
central agencies, but also the contributions and purposes of teachers and the needs
and aspirations of vocational learners.

1244 F. Beven
2 Modularized Approaches to the Curriculum
Across many advanced Western countries, and increasingly in developing economies

such as those in Africa and Asia, there is a common and a growing phenomenon
within vocational education associated with a modularized approach to the curricu-
lum. That is, it is the use of a modularized approach to organizing the curriculum
and the production of training modules that prescribe the objectives for learning, the
content to be taught and the assessment requirements. These are often associated
with ‘top-down’ curriculum planning in which the intents, content and approach to
assessment are prescribed by central agencies and given to teachers to implement.
These prescriptive measures are often associated with a desire by central agencies
to carefully manage the teaching, learning and assessment processes. Such manage-
ment is motivated by the increasingly important role that skill formation and further
development plays in modern and emerging economies. It seems that in advanced
economies, the concern is to direct and carefully manage the activities of vocational
educators to assist them in faithfully enacting nationally consistent approaches to
curriculum and assessment practices and standards. In Australia, for instance, there
is often an attempt to make the curriculum ‘teacher proof’ through carefully spec-
ifying what is to be taught and learned and under what conditions. Certainly, there
is a need to guide teachers who are enacting vocational education programmes in
order that the content is based on concerns that are wider than the particular inter-
ests of teachers. But, beyond the need to provide close guidance for inexperienced
educators, there is also a concern to direct the efforts of experienced vocational
educators in ways intended to secure the national goals for vocational education
favoured by governments and informed by industry representatives. Elsewhere, in
Laos (Sisoutha, 1998) and Botswana (Ntshebe, 2004), for instance, economic devel-
opment was seen to be premised on an effective and carefully managed vocational
education system, with centrally-developed curriculum materials that can be used
to mitigate against teachers who may lack competence in terms of content to be
taught and teaching skills. A key device to secure fidelity to the intents of sponsors
in both advanced and emerging economies has been the development and use of
modularized curriculum documents. Such measures are seen as those required to
meet the requirements of global agencies for effective and auditable human resource
development and are sometimes required to secure further developmental funds.
Yet, although the importance of vocational education to national interests is be-
ing demonstrated through these kinds of measures, they may not always effectively
engage those who are supposed to implement them (i.e. the vocational teachers),
nor those who are subject to them (i.e. the learners), because what is prescribed may
not meet their needs. The prior concern with administering vocational education
may come at a cost to the quality of its provision. For instance, vocational ed-
ucators usually bring particular sets of experiences and expertise to the teaching
and learning process that can enrich the curriculum process through contextualizing
experiences and selecting appropriate content (Billett et al., 1999). Moreover, unless
educators are committed to the educational content and processes that others wish
them to teach, they are unlikely to implement them with any enthusiasm or careful
VIII.6 The Development of Training Modules for Instructors 1245
consideration of their intents (Fullan, 1982). So, within the relatively private domain
of vocational educators’ practice, they will give preference and energy to those prac-
tices and content that they believe meet students’ needs and that they believe should
be taught (Hall & Loucks, 1978).
Similarly, students participating in vocational education also have their own
needs, priorities and interests, which may be distinct from those proposed by indus-
try and government (Billett, 2000). These needs and aspirations are not knowable to
curriculum development methods that are top-down and centralized. Nevertheless,
it is these needs and interests that shape how these learners engage with what is en-
acted in vocational education. Consequently, modularized approaches to curriculum
and the production of training modules need to take into account not only the intents
of central agencies but also the contributions of teachers and the needs and aspira-
tions of vocational learners. Therefore, this chapter seeks to elaborate the kinds of
considerations and conditions that are required for the effective development of a
modularized vocational educational curriculum. It proposes that it is necessary to
consider not only modularized curriculum documents and resources as intents, but
also what is enacted by vocational educators and experienced and engaged with by
those who are seeking to learn vocational knowledge.
This chapter is structured as follows. Firstly, some consideration is given to the to-
tality of what constitutes the curriculum as a means to evaluate the modular approach. It
is proposed that the curriculum can be considered in terms of its intents, enactment and
experience. In the following sections, considerations for modularization are discussed
in terms of each of these considerations. Following these sections, some guidelines
for the development of modularized curriculum material are proposed.
3 Considerations Across the Curriculum

As a starting point, it is necessary to emphasize that the provision of curriculum doc-
uments is helpful for guiding the kinds of experiences that are provided for students
in technical and vocational education. It is not sufficient for the initiative and interest
of teachers to be the sole determinant of selecting the kinds of experiences and
content students need (Skilbeck, 1984). Instead, the input from others is required to
guide the support for learning. A modularized approach to curriculum is that which
seeks to identify clusters of skills and knowledge associated with particular areas of
vocational practice and seeks to secure their development. Often, this approach is
seen as being akin to building blocks of knowledge that come together as a whole.
That is, students can secure the knowledge from different modules and build up a
repertoire of knowledge, and then apply this knowledge as with tools from a toolkit
(Dawkins, 1988). However, the impetus for a modularized curriculum often arises
from a desire by the originators to secure particular educational goals that have been
identified and prescribed centrally.
Therefore, a modular approach to the curriculum is likely to have a detailed set
of documents that state the educational intents to be achieved, the means by which
1246 F. Beven
these outcomes are secured, including the content, and how the outcomes will be as-
sessed. These prescriptions are provided in the document called the syllabus, course
outlines or some other title, such as ‘training packages’ in Australia. Accompanying
and seeking to secure these intents are associated materials in the form of hardcopy
or electronic resources for either students or instructors. In many instances, both
the documents articulating the intended curriculum (e.g. the syllabus) and the ac-
companying material are developed centrally because of the concern to secure the
outcomes desired by central agencies. In Australia, for instance, this is justified in
terms of attempting to secure nationally consistent outcomes (Dawkins, 1988; Na-
tional Training Board, 1992). Elsewhere, it might be argued that a centre of technical
excellence has the capacity to advise other institutions with less expertise in how a
vocational provision might be organized.
Nevertheless, either way, such a centralized top-down process may not be able
to account for the needs, competence and particular understanding of the individual
vocational teachers who have to implement them, nor the circumstances of where
implementation will occur. This includes the readiness, capacities and interests of
the students who are supposed to engage with these intents and materials.
As mentioned earlier, the case for the teacher-led curriculum development pro-
cess may be flawed, perhaps no more so than in vocational education where there
will be important perspectives about practice (e.g. enterprises, industry) that need to
inform the curriculum. There are very few instances where teachers have come to-
gether principally to organize educational institutions or experiences. Instead, in the
vast majority of instances, teachers and, in particular, vocational and technology ed-
ucators practice their profession within the institutions that employ them (Skilbeck,
1984). This is not to suggest that teachers should not have a role in the formulation
and enactment of the curriculum, including the purposes, form and construction of
curriculum material as in modularization. However, the purposes of the enterprises
in which students will work and the communities they serve also warrant legitimate
inclusion.
So, the process of curriculum development needs to include the interests and
concerns of the community, including industry and enterprises, and often needs to
be enacted through the government to secure a balance amongst various interests.
But it is also necessary to engage with the interests and expertise of those who
will ultimately implement it—teachers. Consequently, while there is a need for cur-
riculum goals and content to be developed by people other than those who teach
them, it is important to involve teachers in discussions about how best they might
be implemented (Billett, 1995). Central here is to understand and realise the kind
of outcomes that students need. So, the teachers’ role might include negotiating
on behalf of the students. One of the key points for this negotiation is the degree
to which vocational education should be more or less focused on the development
of either specific skills or whether it should be a more general, but vocationally
oriented, form of education. Certainly, Australian students seem to value vocational
education in terms of how it can assist them to secure their vocational goals (Billett,
2000). Both current students and graduates made judgements about the quality of
teaching and the worth of the educational provision in terms of how it assists them
to secure the kind of paid employment that they seek. However, those purposes are
not always aligned with the tight descriptions of industry competence requirements.
Certainly, students participating in vocational education and seeking to enter the
workforce look to vocational education to acquire the specific kinds of skills that
will secure them employment and progress in paid employment. Yet, the same study
found that older vocational education students also had concerns about personal de-
velopment that were not wholly accommodated within industry-specific curriculum
intents.
So, from a teacher’s perspective there are two worlds of vocational curriculum.
The first is the rhetorical world in which members of commissions, educational
authorities, the government and others determine what should be taught and how.
This world is driven by education and employment policy, the goals of industry,
and national frameworks and mandates. The other world is the experiential world in
which the teacher is required to enact such a curriculum and work with students in
pursuing their goals of constructing knowledge and meanings to engage in both life
and work. These multiple goals can be described in terms of: the intended curricu-
lum; the enacted curriculum; and the experienced curriculum.
In order to propose what should constitute a modular TVET curriculum, the fol-
lowing set of questions are posed and discussed within the framework of the three
kinds of curriculum identified above.
The intended curriculum:
r What degree of prescription is required in terms of educational intents (e.g. aims,
goals and objectives)?
r What should be the focus of the educational intents and content of the modular-
ized vocational curriculum?
The enacted curriculum:

r What level of detailing of content should occur at the centre and what should be
left for those who enact the curriculum?
r To what degree should the methods of teaching and assessment be pre-specified
and prescribed at the centre and what should be left for those enacting the cur-
riculum?
The experienced curriculum:

r To what degree should the enactment of the curriculum be considerate of the
interests, needs and readiness of learners?
4 The Intended Curriculum

This section examines the notion of the intended curriculum through addressing the
two questions proposed above:
1248 F. Beven
r What degree of prescription is required in terms of educational intents (e.g. aims,

goals and objectives)?
r What should be the focus of the educational intents and content of a modularized
vocational curriculum?
The intended curriculum refers to such policy tools as curriculum standards, frame-
works, or guidelines that outline the curriculum teachers are expected to deliver
and the outcomes that are intended to be achieved. These policy tools vary signifi-
cantly across nations and to a lesser extent within nations. Over the last twenty-five
years, the Western world has seen the vocational curriculum increasingly shaped
by government policy aimed at achieving national uniformity of vocational edu-
cation provision in countries such as Australia. This push for uniformity appears
to underpin many policies that link vocational education to both economic devel-
opment and global competitiveness. Such an approach to curriculum development
is that which comprises the adoption and implementation of a competency-based
approach to training (CBT) by governments in a number of countries. The CBT
curriculum model has been described as ‘technicist’ in nature, meaning that it is
externally prescribed, behavioural in format (Blachford, 1986) and ‘top down’ in its
implementation (Billett et al, 1999). Being technicist in approach, it is responsive
to powerful external interests (i.e. the government and industry). Being psychologi-
cally behaviourist in its approach means that the focus is on observable and specific
(narrow) industry skill sets and often favours ‘doing’ over ‘knowing’, because the
latter cannot be observed. Being ‘top down’ in its implementation means that it
requires a regularity framework for its design and delivery.
4.1 What Degree of Prescription is Required?
Therefore, the question of ‘what degree of prescription is required’ in a CBT cur-

riculum model largely depends upon whose interests are served. The CBT model of
curriculum in Australia and in other countries has been successful in meeting the
economic and developmental needs of the government and the specific skills needs
of industry. However, the current CBT models provide little or no provision for
engaging with and understanding the needs of learners. That is, they render the vo-
cational curriculum as sets of specific learning outcomes (i.e. describe assessment)
that are both qualifiable and quantifiable in terms of their industry requirements. Any
focus on the learner is restricted to the extent to which they already meet these re-
quirements, and not on the development of the learner as either an individual or as a
member of a vocational community of practice. This stands as a serious shortcoming
that has only been partially addressed through the more recent introduction of the
notion of employability skills.
The shortcomings of the CBT approach in focusing only on the specific industry-
based skill-set became apparent to governments during the 1990s and, in their at-
tempts to rectify this, they have attempted to modify it rather than rejecting it. One
approach has been the identification of more generic sets of employability skills that
could be adopted across the CBT curriculum. These employability skills are seen as
critical to a learner’s capacity to work more independently, to become more multi-
skilled and to work effectively with others. Table 1 outlines the various renditions
of such a skill-set as adopted by a number of Western governments.
In Australian curriculum documents these generic or key competencies, while
focusing on the kind of attributes that employers want, sit uncomfortably in cur-
riculum documents and processes that seek to tightly specify and highlight perfor-
mance, because they lack substance and specificity. Yet, the interest in these kinds
of outcomes continues. More recently, Australian employers also have identified
the importance of what have been termed ‘personal attributes that contribute to
employability’ (Table 2) and indicate that these are required as part of the set of
employability skills.
Therefore, as an intended curriculum, CBT curricula are outcome focused, psy-
chologically behaviourist in design, place a great deal of emphasis on assessment
and being assessable. They also focus on describing the specific skill sets that make
up an occupation. So, in seeking to make the educational provision more responsive
to workplace and learner needs, another set of prescriptions has been offered, rather
making the approach more open to adaptation to such attributes.
Moreover, within this approach to the curriculum there has been a preference to
adopt a modularized design approach that enables these curricula to be used in a
variety of both institutional and workplace settings, with the intent of managing the
provision of the vocational curriculum. Within these modules is a focus on a rich
description of the assessment tasks associated with an occupation skill-set, which
tends to privilege the ‘doing’ of over the ‘knowing’ about these tasks.
4.2 What Should be the Focus?

So, what should be the focus of the educational intents and content of a modu-
larized vocational curriculum? In answering this question it is first important to
acknowledge the strengths of the current CBT curriculum models. It is also im-
portant to seek to improve the current models by refining them by taking account
of what recent research has told us about these models. As noted, the introduction
of modular materials into the Australian vocational education system was initially
motivated as a way of controlling the work of vocational educators, and to direct
their efforts towards those objectives that the government thought were important. In
addition, there were concerns that in the different states and territories of Australia
quite different content was being taught, which meant that there was no coherent
national approach or certification of vocational skills. Hence, the introduction of
national approaches to vocational curricula have led to facility in the portability
of qualifications and give greater certainty to employers about the skills individ-
uals initially learned through vocational programmes. Moreover, as the provision
of vocational education has extended far beyond the nation’s technical and further
education colleges, and into schools, workplaces and private providers of vocational
1250
Table 1 Comparative table of generic employability skills by country

Australian key competencies United Kingdom (NCVQ) core Canada employability skills United States (SCANS)
(Mayer Key Competencies) skills profile workplace know-how
Collecting, analysing and Communication Thinking skills Information
organizing information Foundation skills: basic skills
Communicating ideas and Communication skills Information
information
Foundation skills: basic skills
Planning and organizing Personal skills: improving own Responsibility skills Resources foundation skills:
activities performance and learning Thinking skills personal qualities
Working with others and in Personal skills: working with Positive attitudes and behaviour Interpersonal skills
teams others
Work with others
Adaptability
Using mathematical ideas and Numeracy: application of Understand and solve problems Foundation skills: basic skills
techniques numbers using mathematics
Solving problems Problem-solving Problem-solving and Foundation skills: thinking
decision-making skills
Learning skills
Using technology Information technology Use technology Technology systems
Communication skills
Post-Mayer additions: cultural Modern foreign language Manage information
understandings Use numbers. Work safely
Participate in projects and tasks
Source: Australia. DEST, 2002.
F. Beven
Table 2 Employability skills framework

Loyalty Positive self-esteem
Commitment Sense of humour
Personal attributes that Honesty and integrity Ability to deal with pressure
contribute to overall Reliability Motivation
employability Enthusiasm Balanced attitude to work and home life
Personal presentation Adaptability
Common-sense
Source: Australia. DEST, 2002.
education, this approach and its modularized materials have become central to man-
aging a far more widely dispersed and national vocational education system. So,
the current models seem to be overly prescriptive with respect to their occupa-
tional skill-sets, sometimes to the detriment of the skill-sets themselves. However,
it has some virtues in terms of the administration of a vocational education sys-
tem across the widely dispersed and different institutions that provide vocational
education.
Yet, the CBT curricula, while focusing essentially on occupational skills in this
way and because of their prescriptive nature, take little account of the situation
of the learning or of the range of needs of learner themselves. A focus only on
those aspects of an occupational skill-set that are both observable and measurable
is overly simplistic, because the thinking and acting required for such performance
may not remain the focus of teaching or assessment. For example, it is one thing for
a worker/learner in the metal trades to demonstrate their competence at undertaking
a series of different welds. It is quite another for them to demonstrate a capacity
to construct an object that requires them not only to undertake the same series of
welds, but to do so in the context of the job. The context, among other things, might
require them to:
r Work in a safe manner (by undertaking the welds in an order that makes the job
safe during construction);
r Minimizes material wastage (by undertaking the welds in a way that minimizes
material usage or loss); and
r Take account of correct construction methods (by undertaking the welds in a way
that makes the final assembly feasible).
That is, undertaking each kind of weld correctly in isolation (a feature of a modular-
ized curriculum), while being critically important, is not enough because a number
of distinct performance requirements need to be brought together in performing the
work task. The point here is that successfully developing and undertaking sets of
skills (the doing) in isolation, while important, will not by themselves develop the
application skills (the knowing: how to apply those skill in a purposeful way in
practice). A modular curriculum tends to be taught in modularized ways (Billett
et al., 1999), particularly when being delivered in flexible learning settings. This
renders both the teaching and assessment of vocational skills in an atomistic way.
Teachers reported frustration with this approach as they sensed the gaps and overlaps
1252 F. Beven
in a modular curriculum and often had to intervene to assist students develop capac-
ities that would permit them to use the specific skills in the context of work-related
tasks.
This shortcoming of the modular curriculum as a set of highly described curricu-
lum intents needs to be addressed. The current practice of vocational curriculum
development that relies on an industry-driven and centralized approach to specifying
content and assessment specifications needs to be augmented by the inclusion of the
contributions of educators whose expertise in learning can provide the basis for a
more holistic CBT curriculum. That is, providing a situational perspective about
how the particular sets of educational goals and content meet students’ needs and
local requirements. Moreover, the educators’ input into the CBT curriculum may
assist in addressing the imbalance of privileging ‘doing’ over ‘knowing’ and ensure
that attention is paid to the needs of learners as individuals. In this way, there needs
to be scope within a modularized approach to the curriculum that permits teachers
to adapt and modify the descriptions and modules to suit the circumstances in which
they are being taught.
5 The Enacted Curriculum
The enacted curriculum refers to the actual curricular content that students engage
in the classroom or practice setting. The enacted curriculum is what is implemented
and what is shaped by the particular situation (e.g. facilities and resources in the
learning setting); the capacities, experiences and other attributes of those who de-
liver the course (e.g. teachers); and by the specific demands of the situation (e.g.
organizational requirements). Thus, the enacted curriculum is the operationalized
interpretation of the intended curriculum. The intended and the experienced curricu-
lum are important components of the educational delivery system, but most learning
is expected to occur within the enacted curriculum. As such, the enacted curriculum
is the single most important feature of any curriculum.
The questions examined in this section about the enacted curriculum are:
r What level of detailing of content should occur at the centre and what should be
left for those who enact the curriculum?
r To what degree should the methods of teaching and assessment be pre-specified
and prescribed at the centre and what should be left for those enacting the
curriculum?
Billett et al (1999) reported that, following the adoption of CBT in Australia,

there were changes in teachers’ practice that shaped their enactment of it. Teach-
ers reported that they felt that the changes had seen a reduction in the emphasis
on pedagogy and much more emphasis on assessment and record keeping. They
also claimed that a shift towards a more individualized focus for curriculum ar-
rangements came from self-paced approaches to modularized curriculum delivery,
which eroded opportunities for group activities and placed greater demands on
teachers to manage the individual learning trajectories of students as they engaged

individually with self-paced modules. So, the individual pathways of learning de-
manded by the modularized curriculum resources have seen teachers focusing on
self-paced approaches to learning, the customizing of programmes and resource-
based approaches to instruction. Moreover, while assessment had always been an
important part of their teaching practice, they reported that delivering a CBT cur-
riculum had increased the amount of assessment. Further, the teachers reported
that the CBT curriculum required them to keep assessment records at a greater
level of specificity than previously. Yet, the focus on the learner, on meeting their
individual needs, and on opportunities for them to learn in groups had all been
diminished in this curriculum approach. Instead, what was emphasized was stu-
dents’ engagement with sets of experiences organized through modularized mate-
rials that required extensive management and administrative effort on the part of
teachers.
It is clear that the intended CBT modularized curriculum in Australia has im-
pacted on the enacted curriculum by bringing pressure towards greater uniformity
concerning industry standards and a very substantial increase in testing, record-
keeping and auditing. Assessment has become more workplace orientated, but also
more dominant and more focused on once-off performance of disaggregated skills
(Billett et al., 1999).
So, while this overly prescriptive approach to vocational curriculum in Australia
has brought about greater uniformity in outcomes, it has also inhibited the capacity
of teachers to deliver to students the kinds of opportunities, experiences and guid-
ance they often need in their learning. Vocational teachers need to be more than just
implementers of the curriculum developed; they need to be able to apply both their
vocational and pedagogic expertise in order to best meet local needs, including those
of their students. The value of their pedagogic expertise needs to be acknowledged
and should not be wholly compromised by a centralized description. The intended
curriculum has the critical role in identifying content. However, it should not be
so prescriptive as to deny teachers some discretion. As noted, a national prescribed
curriculum, such as that deployed in Australia, cannot account for local needs and
these local needs are often central to the key purposes of vocational education: what
individuals want to learn and what enterprises want learned.
Therefore, within the enacted curriculum teachers need to be able to make
judgements about the best integration of content so as to provide both routine and
non-routine experiences for the learner. Further, teachers need to make judgements
about the best combinations of independent, group and teacher-led experiences. This
will allow teachers to better determine and to respond to individuals’ needs, as a
way to guide their learning and skill development. Moreover, within the enacted
curriculum, assessment practices need to focus on more than just the set of disag-
gregated skills generally found in the intended curriculum. Teachers need to develop
assessment tasks that are more authentic and holistic and that relate to both the local
conditions and to the level of development of learners. These needs are not and
possibly cannot be prescribed centrally; rather, they ought to be developed locally
and be both routine and non-routine in nature.
1254 F. Beven
In sum, within the enacted modularized approach to the vocational education

curriculum, there is a need to acknowledge the role of the educational process that
is enacted by teachers taking into account the needs, resources and capacities that
are located centrally. The focus ought to be on the activities and roles of teach-
ers and the kinds of activities and guidance that learners engage in. The evidence
within Australia (Angus et al. in Billett et al., 1999) is that approaches to curriculum
and assessment need to be transformed to recognize the critical role of teachers in
achieving appropriate outcomes for both learners and industry.
6 The Experienced Curriculum
The experienced curriculum is what students experience when they engage in a

learning setting and programme. It comprises the actual learning that arises from
their engagement in the activities provided by the enacted curriculum. What the
learners experience and how they interpret that experience is central to how they
make sense or meaning from the encounters. Constructivists argue that individuals
are ‘meaning makers’ and when they engage with learning activities and others they
attempt to ‘make sense’ of their world. So the focus is on the actual learning that
arises from engagement in the activities provided for them.
The question posed in this section about the experienced curriculum is: to what
degree should the enactment of the curriculum be considerate of the interests, needs
and readiness of learners?
This question is an important one, as illustrated by Wertsch’s (1998) use of the
terms ‘mastery’ and ‘appropriation’. Wertsch refers to ‘mastery’ as learning asso-
ciated with the superficial compliance to what individuals are supposed to learn,
because others are pressing them to learn this content. Whereas, ‘appropriation’ is
what learners take ‘onto themselves’ in a more full-bodied way, because they believe
it to be true and consistent with their beliefs and interests. Learning activities that
are only curriculum-driven are much more likely to be ‘mastered’ and not ‘appro-
priated’ in Wertsch’s terms.
Modularized learning, particularly that which is delivered in individual ways
(e.g. self-paced, resources based and customized programmes), often lacks the fi-
delity and capacity to be ‘appropriated’ unless careful guidance is provided. This
fidelity and capacity is more generally provided through the engagement with the
expert other (i.e. the teacher). It is teachers that make the educational worth of the
learning accessible to the learner and guide that learning. With competent teaching,
this is often provided in ad-hoc and spontaneous ways, attributes rarely encountered
in highly prescriptive or resource-based individualized learning that is more about
administrative compliance than meeting individual learners’ needs.
Again, drawing from the Australian study (Billett et al., 1999), it was found that
adaptability and skilfulness in learners is more likely to be secured in the kinds
of experiences that learners access in both learning settings and workplace. It was
consistently reported that a combination of experiences (e.g. project work, group
activities, teacher-guided activities and self-managed activities) centred on authen-

tic activities secure ‘appropriated’ knowledge. Further, and importantly, however, it
was the experiences provided by an expert teacher that permitted the bridging of the
contributions of both kinds of learning settings. Even when students were engaged
in college-based programmes only, it was found that the capacity of teachers to use
instances from the workplace to make content applicable to the students assisted
bridging their learning from the college to the workplace.
From the learning literature, we know that learners construct new knowledge
by anchoring it to and building upon existing knowledge. Therefore consideration
of the learner’s current knowledge is central to constructing new knowledge. For
instance, consider the differences in learning experiences between high-school stu-
dents and apprentices on a vocational task. Apprentices have had periods in work-
places, in some cases undertaking the tasks they are learning about, observing and
listening to more experienced workers. With respect to task performance, the ap-
prentice may have developed clear goals for the performance of work tasks as a
result of this experience, whereas the high-school learner may never have engaged
in any kind of workplace practice. As a result, their bases for engaging with and
responding to the content will be quite different.
Clearly, the interests, needs and readiness of the learner are critical success fac-
tors in any learning they undertake, and in particular challenging demands asso-
ciated with learning new knowledge. What teachers need to do is to ensure that,
in the enacted curriculum, they employ learning strategies that enable learners to
draw upon their existing resources. Further, they need also to provide the cognitive
scaffolding necessary to enable them to do this.
7 Conclusions
I conclude this chapter by responding to the following question: What ought to be
the basis for developing a TVET modular curriculum (e.g. what kinds of outcomes,
what kinds of processes to achieve these outcomes, what kinds of methods)? In
short, the answer is to adopt a curriculum development model that accommodates
the needs all of the participants involved. For nations wishing to compete in the
global economy and who need to carefully manage the economic development nec-
essary, there are clear imperatives to centrally manage their vocational education
systems with a centrally developed modular curriculum (the intended curriculum).
However, in an increasingly more diverse delivery system of both public and private
providers, top-down management and nationally-endorsed modularized materials
tend to become key management tools. That is, not only are these materials the
curriculum, but they are also tools with which to manage, monitor and audit the
vocational education system, as well as to guard against teachers who may lack
content and pedagogical competence. These are not the most salient purposes for
the development of the modular curriculum. The purpose needs to be more about
managing the learning, rather than managing the learning system.
1256 F. Beven
The purpose of this chapter has been to argue that current approaches to develop-
ing a modular curriculum (the intended curriculum) can only be partially successful
if account is not also taken of both the pedagogy (the enacted curriculum) and
the needs of learners (the experienced curriculum). The research reviewed in this
chapter indicates that, while the modular curriculum may appear to be serving the
national interest, its success relies upon the fidelity with which it is implemented.
Where the interests of both the teachers and learners are not served, it is unlikely that
implementation will live up to intent. Such a top-down approach is unable to account
for the needs, competence and particular understanding of vocational teachers, nor
the readiness, capacities and interests of the learners.
The process of modular curriculum development needs to include the interests
of all legitimate participants. This means that it requires the legitimate inclusion
of teachers to provide advice as to how modular curriculum content might best be
implemented and enacted. Further, teachers can also negotiate on behalf of students.
Vocational educators bring sets of experiences and expertise to the teaching and
learning process that can enrich the curriculum process by contextualizing these
experiences and selecting appropriate content. Unless vocational educators are com-
mitted to the educational content and processes that others decide they ought to
teach, they are unlikely to give preference to them. Finally, the modular curriculum
needs to be more than just prescriptions of content; it needs also to be pedagogically
robust. From a learning context, a focus only on those aspects of an occupational
skill-set that are both observable and measurable is overly simplistic. This is because
an absence of the thinking and acting required to enable those skills as workplace
performance will render them invisible to the teaching and assessment practices of
vocational educators. It will be input from vocational educators that can address the
imbalance of the current practice of privileging ‘doing’ over ‘knowing’.
References
Australia. Department of Education, Science and Technology. 2002. Key findings: employabil-
ity skills framework. In: Employability skills for the future, pp. 35–50. Canberra: DEST.
<www.dest.gov.au/archive/ty/publications/employability skills/final report.pdf>
Billett, S. 1995. Constructing the curricula: national curricula, teachers’ practice and change. New
horizons in education, vol. 92, pp. 30–45.
Billett, S. 2000. Defining the demand side of VET: industry, enterprises, individuals and regions.
Journal of vocational education and training, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 5–30.
Billett, S. et al. 1999. The CBT Decade: teaching for flexibility and adaptability. Adelaide,
Australia: National Centre for Vocational Education Research.
Blachford, K. 1986. Orientations to curriculum in TAFE. Melbourne, Australia: Hawthorn Institute
of Education.
Dawkins, J. 1988. Industry training in Australia: the need for change. Canberra: Australian
Government Publishing Service.
Fullan, M. 1982. The meaning of educational change. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Hall, G.E.; Loucks, S. 1978. Teacher concern as a basis for facilitating and personalizing staff
development. Teachers college record, vol. 80, no. 1, pp. 36–53.
National Training Board. 1992. National competency standards: policy and guidelines. Canberra:
Australian Government Publishing Services.
Ntshebe, F. 2004. Workplace skill acquisition challenges for Botswana engineering fields. [Unpub-
lished master’s thesis, Faculty of Education, Griffith University, Australia.]
Sisoutha, K. 1998. Developing vocational skills in the workplace. [Unpublished honour’s thesis,
Faculty of Education, Griffith University, Australia.]
Skilbeck, M. 1984. School-based curriculum development. London: Harper & Row.
Wertsch, J.W. 1998. Mind as action. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Chapter VIII.7
Literacy and Learning: Are TVET Professionals
Facilitators of Learning or Deliverers
of Knowledge and Skills?
Jean Searle
1 Introduction
If you were to ask a range of people what they think literacy is, you are likely to
find that they respond in a number of different ways. It may be that they equate
literacy with being able to read and write—but read and write what? The answer
will vary with the individual: it may be the ability to read a street map, read a book
to a child, read the sports pages in a newspaper, or the label on a bottle of medicine.
From this point of view, literacy is seen as a set of social practices. However, if
you ask the same question of governments, the response will either be in terms of
literacy levels of the population or in relation to employment and training. From
this perspective, literacy is perceived to be a set of desirable skills or technologies
required by individuals to gain employment or engage in training. In other words an
‘autonomous’ view of literacy is held (Street, 1984).
It has been this aspect of literacy that, in the past, governments and agencies have
been at pains to quantify, in order to explain and remedy the problem of ‘illiteracy’.
For example, in the 1970s UNESCO and the World Bank focused on measuring
the extent of adult illiteracy by gathering statistics on access to schooling, and im-
plementing mass literacy campaigns in developing and underdeveloped countries
(Arnove & Graff, 1987; Freebody, 1994). More recently, the concern, particularly in
countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Develop-
ment (OECD), has been to compare national literacy levels against international
benchmarks (Statistics Canada; OECD, 2000; 2005). The International Adult Liter-
acy Survey (IALS) used a five-point scale, level 3 of which is deemed to be the level
which represents ‘the ability to cope with a varied range of materials found in daily
life and work [though not always] with a high level of proficiency’ (Skinner, 1997,
p. x). Thus, as will be shown later in this chapter, the ‘magical’ level 3 has become
the benchmark for entry-level training.
In recent years, adult literacy has come to be seen as crucial to the economic performance
of industrialized nations. Literacy is no longer defined merely in terms of a basic threshold
of reading ability, mastered by almost all those growing up in developed countries. Rather,
literacy is now being seen as how adults use written information to function in society.
Today, adults need a higher level of literacy to function well; society has become more
complex and low-skill jobs are disappearing. Therefore, inadequate levels of literacy among

1260 J. Searle
a broad section of the population potentially threatens the strength of economies and the
social cohesion of nations (OECD, 1995, p. 13) [Emphasis added].
2 What is Literacy: ‘Being Literate’?
As we have seen, the concept of literacy is not value-free—it has social, cultural,
political, economic and educational implications. Venezky (1990, p. 2) argues that
‘[it] is one of that class of auto-positive terms, like liberty, justice, and happiness,
that we assume contain simple, primal qualities [. . .] but that under scrutiny be-
come vastly more complex and often elusive, yielding no simple characterization
or definition’. As a result, what is regarded as being literate depends on the defi-
nition of literacy that is adopted, at a particular time in history and in a particular
context.
Literacy is a socially contested term. We can choose to use this word in any of several
different ways. Each such choice incorporates a tacit or overt ideological theory about the
distribution of social goods and has important social and moral consequences (Gee, 1990,
p. 27).
Further, there is no universally accepted definition of literacy. In fact, literacy may be

viewed in relation to learning—as a cognitive or thinking skill, as a social practice,
or in relation to power struggles as an emancipatory act. Moreover, as will be argued
later, literacy is not a unitary construct, but there are rather multiple literacies.
2.1 Assumptions or Master Myths: What is Expected of Literacy?
The autonomous model suggests that literacy is a cognitive skill that individuals may
or may not possess. Associated with this view are a number of theories that depict
literacy learning as being a set of basic skills that are generally learnt in primary
school and prepare a person for the rest of their lives. These decontextualized skills
are often constructed as being generic in nature and so are able to be standardized,
assessed, reported and audited. Such theories give rise to a deficit model of literacy
in which individuals who do not reach the given standard are expected to attend
remedial classes. Not only does this simplistic definition ignore the fact that: ‘Read
is a transitive verb, so literacy must have something to do with being able to read
something’ (Gee, 1990, p. 42). It also unfairly blames the individual for the problems
of society, as indicated in the earlier quotation from the OECD (1995). Hence, lack
of literacy has been linked to poverty, poor health and criminal behaviour (Venezky,
1990). By being labelled illiterate, individuals are ‘taken to be incapable of logic,
scientific thought, literary appreciation, democratic processes, informed judgement,
and, in many cases, [as will be shown in the next section] incapable of being em-
ployed or of contributing to the maintenance and development of social well-being’
(Freebody, 1994, p. 2). As a result, data representing literacy or illiteracy rates have
often been used to push certain social and political agendas and have given rise to
VIII.7 Literacy and Learning 1261
what Graff (1986) referred to as the ‘literacy myth’—increased literacy results in

increased social cohesion, wellness and productivity.
In contrast, an ideological view of literacy takes as its central premise that ‘the
social and political significance of literacy [. . .] derives largely from its role in creat-
ing and reproducing—or failing to reproduce—the social distribution of knowledge’
(Levine, 1986, p. 46). Reading, writing and enumerating are viewed as cultural
practices, learnt in specific cultural contexts and ‘imbued with epistemological sig-
nificance’ (Baker & Street, 1991, p. 2). That is, uses of literacy and numeracy are
meaningful, cannot be generalized across cultures, cannot be isolated or treated ei-
ther as neutral, generic or as technical and so have implications for power relations.
In other words, how literacy is used depends on the context and the relationships
among participants. Gee (1990, 1996) discusses such social practices or ‘discourses’
as ways of talking, interacting, thinking, valuing and believing, all of which are
socially and historically constructed, so that people have to be socialized into the
practice of reading text ‘A’ in way ‘B’. In this sense, Gee is building on Bourdieu’s
(1977) notion of ‘expanded competence’ or language as praxis, which introduces
concepts of language as being functional and strategic—it is not just knowing how to
produce grammatically coherent sentences but knowing about ‘appropriateness’—
‘when to speak, keep silent, speak in this or that style’ (Bourdieu, 1977, p. 646). In
fact, given that the meaning of literacy depends upon the social context in which it
is embedded, and that the particular reading and writing practices involved depend
upon social structures and the institutions of education or training, there cannot be
a single, autonomous literacy. It would be more appropriate to refer to multiple
literacies as will be discussed in the next section.
3 From Theory to Practice

Internationally, literacy studies as an area of research came of age in 1990, given
the prominence of literacy during the International Literacy Year. Prior to this time,
empirical research came from the disciplines of cognitive psychology and linguis-
tics, and focused on how people learn to read and write (Goodman, 1967; Smith,
1971; Sticht, 1975). Later studies (Scribner & Cole, 1981; Heath, 1983; Street,
1984; Gowen, 1994; Hull, 1997; Barton & Hamilton, 1998) used ethnographic
methods to study individuals at work and in their communities, and highlighted the
range of literacies used in the social practices in which people engage. A number
of issues have emerged from these studies, which have implications for the TVET
practitioner.
3.1 Literacy at Work
One of the first issues was raised by Diehl and Mikulecky (1980) who found that
the level of reading ability required for successful work performance varied ac-
cording to the job and, moreover, that reading practices also varied with context.
1262 J. Searle
Mikulecky (1982) also demonstrated that the reading skills learnt in school were
mainly ‘reading-to-learn’ and these did not neatly transfer to out-of-school and work
contexts. In these situations reading is used as an aid to performance, ‘reading-to-
do’, ‘[which] is severely limited by differences in format, social support networks
and required background information’ (Mikulecky, 1990, p. 25). Subsequently,
other researchers (Gee, 1994; Gee & Lankshear, 1997; Luke, 1992) have argued
that the emergence of ‘fast capitalist’ economies has seen an increase in the tertiary
or service sectors and also in information technologies. Jobs that traditionally re-
quired minimal basic skills are becoming more complex, demanding higher-level
reading and computational skills. At the same time that the jobs themselves have
been restructured, the nature of work has also been changing, with the introduc-
tion of new work practices and new technologies (Cope & Kalantzis, 1995; Jack-
son, 2000; Searle & Kelly, 2001) all of which make new demands on the work-
force. Many individuals who have inadequate control of the ‘institutional litera-
cies’ (Barton & Hamilton, 1998; Castleton & McDonald, 2000) essential for work
and living independent lives, become increasingly dispossessed—particularly in
times of decreasing social and welfare provision by the State (Lankshear, 1993). In
Australia, under the principle of ‘mutual obligation’, the long-term unemployed who
are assessed as being below the magic level 3 in literacy and numeracy (mentioned
earlier) are required to attend adult literacy or numeracy classes (as a pre-requisite
for training or employment) or lose their welfare payments. This brings us to the
second issue, regarding ‘whose literacy?’
3.2 Whose Literacy: Institutional or Local?
It has been argued in an earlier section that governments generally promote an au-
tonomous model of literacy. This is a narrow, culturally specific view of literacy
that is premised on the assumption that the skills of reading and writing are context-
free, are universal in time and space and have consequences for social progress
and individual achievement. In practice, this can lead to discrimination in terms of
cultural domination and equity of access to training. It also negates the immense
social capital that individuals can bring to learning and work. These issues are ex-
plored by Prinsloo and Breier (1996) in relation to literacy as part of national adult
basic education and training (ABET) in South Africa. The literacy that is valued
and imposed is a culturally-bound, school literacy in the dominant languages, which
then marginalizes the local languages and literacies of factory or farm workers and
can lead to oppression. Thus, literacy is tied up with values, which indicates a third
issue—literacy as a right for social transformation.
3.3 Literacy as a Right for Social Transformation

In 1975, the UNESCO-sponsored International Symposium for Literacy, held at
Persepolis, Iran, stated that literacy is ‘not just the process of learning skills of
reading, writing and arithmetic, but a contribution to the liberation of man and
his [sic] full development. [. . .] Literacy is a fundamental human right’ (cited in
Nelson, 1989, p. 18). The educational philosophy of this time revolved around a
student-centred curriculum, goal setting, negotiation, individualized programmes,
personal growth and the development of student self-confidence. Thus, the educator
was seen as a facilitator and supporter of learning. Further, the philosophy also
acknowledged the central role of language in learning which, translated into ped-
agogical terms, meant starting with the student’s own language. In some countries,
Australia included, this has led to debates about two-way learning; starting literacy
learning in the student’s first language and then learning the dominant language.
However, concerns are often expressed about the ‘colonization’ of local languages
and the disempowerment of individuals that often ensues. This issue was addressed
by the emancipatory discourses of Paulo Freire. To Freire, education was the means
to bring about radical social and political change. He gave recognition to techniques
related to empowerment through dialogue and through problematizing, for which he
coined the term ‘conscientization’. Through the process of literacy education, Freire
and his followers redesigned experiential situations so that learners developed their
own texts and reflected on their own understanding of themselves, as they exist
with society. Freire referred to this combination of action and reflection as ‘praxis’
(Freire, 1972). Importance is placed on the role of the educator, not as a teacher but
as a facilitator of learning, one who enables reflection and who transmits cultural
knowledge. In this way, learning is participatory; it centres on student motivation
and involves social action. Similar initiatives, in which literacy learning has been
linked to social action, have been reported more recently in New Guinea in which
a critical literacy approach is taken to facilitate community-controlled social trans-
formation (Faracalas, 1997), in promoting critical awareness and education to assist
female waste-rag pickers to transform their lives in India (Narayan & Chikarmane,
2000), and with Xhosa farm labourers, the ‘literate illiterates’, in South Africa
(Williams, 2000). Other initiatives are the ‘multiliteracies’ projects, which focus
on designing social futures and which are underway in a number of developing
countries.
Multiliteracies relate to the increasing multiplicity and integration of significant modes

of meaning-making, where textual is also related to the visual, the audio, the spatial, the
behavioural [. . .] ‘multimedia’ and in electronic ‘hypermedia’ [. . .] to focus on the realities
of increasing local diversity and global connectedness (Cope & Kalantzis, 1995, p. 6)
In some respects, these have responded to the challenge of the OECD, presented
earlier in the chapter, in terms of ‘productive diversity’, developing civic plural-
ism and designing pedagogies that address cultural and linguistic diversity, as well
as the changing realities and ‘multilayered life-worlds’ of the future. But what
does all this mean in practice? The next section will start by briefly address-
ing literacy and literacy learning. It will then lead into implications for TVET
professionals.
1264 J. Searle
3.4 Literacy and Literacy Learning
In relation to literacy, Gee makes a distinction between ‘acquisition’ and ‘learning’

(others refer to informal and formal learning). For Gee (1990, p. 146), acquisi-
tion is ‘the process of acquiring something (usually subconsciously) by exposure
to models, a process of trial and error, and practice within social groups, without
formal training’. This is the way that most people acquire language as a primary
discourse. However, the secondary discourse associated with schooling involves
learning, ‘conscious knowledge gained through teaching or through certain life ex-
periences that trigger conscious reflection. This teaching involves explanation and
analysis’ (ibid.). Of course, learning is not restricted to schooling, but the point here
is that certain forms of knowledge are valued or privileged over others. For exam-
ple, schooling which occurs in the dominant language(s) is given more status than
knowledge acquired using local languages and literacies. Similarly, formal train-
ing in the workplace, often related to technical skills and competencies and linked
to men’s work, is privileged over the acquired knowledge of the social practices
of the workplace, the so-called ‘soft skills’ often associated with women’s work
(Daune-Richard, 2000; Jackson, 1991), which may be gained through a period of
socialization or informal learning. It is to a discussion of what this means for TVET
professionals that we now turn.
4 The Implications for TVET Professionals
4.1 Facilitators of Learning or Deliverers of Knowledge and Skills
When it comes to an appropriate pedagogy, it is not as simple as either being a

facilitator of learning or a deliverer of knowledge and skills. Many practitioners,
who espouse a student-centred curriculum that focuses on the individual and en-
courages self-directed learning, would also recognize that there are times when it is
appropriate to step in and teach a particular skill or to show a way of approaching
a task. Similarly, workers in many workplaces, who may be hired on the basis of
formal technical qualifications, may find that to operate successfully requires the ac-
quisition of context-specific ways of working through informal learning on-the-job.
In fact, many workplaces, which are developing as learning organizations, expect
their employees to mentor new workers. Further, the informal acquisition of local
literacies in the community has been described by Prinsloo and Breier (1996) as
‘apprenticeship learning’, while they also report collaborative learning activities
in terms of ‘mediated learning’. Malan (1996) in South Africa and Castleton and
Macdonald (2000) in Australia have also reported on the role of the magistrates
clerk, sales person, adult literacy practitioner or other trusted member of the com-
munity as a mediator or ‘literacy broker’; one who can ‘code-switch’ between local
literacies and institutional literacies. What is apparent from this research is that
there are many ways of gaining knowledge and learners may require a repertoire
of approaches to assist with their learning. For example, in an attempt to cut across
debates about the teaching of literacy, Freebody and Luke (1990) argue that readers
take on four roles: text de-coder, text user, text participant and text analyst. In any
one activity, the learner might have to literally de-code text, understand the pur-
pose for reading the text, use a number of reading strategies, and consider issues
such as efficiency, time, cost or politeness. So, what does this mean for the teacher
or trainer?
4.2 Principles for Curriculum Design and Pedagogy

The adoption of competency-based training in many countries has changed signifi-
cantly the way that education and training is conceptualized, planned, delivered and
assessed. More than ever before, teachers and trainers are being called upon to inter-
pret sets of competencies and related performance criteria in ways that are, firstly,
responsive to industry and workplace environments and, secondly, legislatively, fi-
nancially and morally accountable. For TVET professionals this means teaching the
technical skills related to units of competence. However, as we have seen, there is
some debate over the transfer of these skills and how they relate to the specific social
practices of the workplace. So, using literacy as an example, the following general
principles are proposed.
Firstly, it is imperative that curriculum designers and instructors have an under-
standing of the discourses that operate within the specific sites in which teachers and
trainers are operating. As social practices, or ways of interacting, valuing and being
in the world vary across domains (schooling, vocational institutions and individual
workplaces), so instructors need to understand the site-specific organizational sys-
tems, work practices and underpinning values. This is partly for pragmatic reasons
(training is organized to suit project needs, climatic or economic conditions) and
partly in order to contextualize the learning and build a rapport or positive learn-
ing environment. Further, as learning in the workplace is highly contextualized, the
teacher or trainer requires an in-depth knowledge of the site-specific texts and tasks.
With the move towards developing learning cultures within the workplace, there is
a necessity for all workers to engage in a range of communicative activities and
learn new literacy practices. This requires training not only in relation to industry
competencies but also the acquisition of those literacies required to participate in
workplace activities.
Secondly, the literacies that underpin competencies should be perceived by cur-
riculum designers and instructors as embedded within those competencies and not as
additions or pre-requisites to the competencies. There is a view that workers should
possess generic literacy skills that are transferable, or, if they have inadequate skills,
they should be ‘fixed up’ first, prior to training. However, evidence presented earlier
suggests that literacies are highly situated and cannot be generalized in this way.
Therefore, in developing a curriculum, attention should be given to those technical
literacies that are required to achieve the stated competence, and these should be
1266 J. Searle
taught alongside the technical competence using the relevant workplace texts. In
addition, we have seen how the changing nature of work has led to increased em-
ployee accountability and a consequent increase in the use of paperwork, as an audit
trail, in the workplace. As a result, there is a need for appropriate training so that
all workers have the skills and understandings to undertake different literacy roles.
For example, a worker could be a text de-coder and text user when completing a
form or checklist correctly, but could also become a text analyst in understanding
the significance of compliance or non-compliance with continuous improvement
systems or in becoming a critical participant in decision-making processes. In sum-
mary, educators and trainers should strive to provide integrated training programmes
in which the technical and social literacies of the workplace are embedded with the
training. The next section suggests some approaches that could be taken.
4.3 Instructional Practices
The starting point for this section is to unpack the concept of an ‘integrated train-
ing programme’. Vocational education and training programmes that integrate lan-
guage, literacy and numeracy within them have four key characteristics. Firstly, they
identify the language, literacy and numeracy competencies (or learning outcomes)
essential for work performance or for community programmes and address these
competencies as part of the curriculum. They should also identify the social lit-
eracies of the workplace or the community, as often these are not made explicit.
Secondly, they take into account the language, literacy and numeracy competence
and needs of the learner and develop these as part of, not separate from, vocational
competence. Thirdly, they ensure that the language of instruction and assessment
used in the vocational programme is consistent with that required for work, or
training or in the community and is appropriate for the learner. Finally, they assess
language, literacy and numeracy outcomes in terms of successful performance of
relevant and authentic tasks.
Integrated training programmes should address the relevant literacies in all three
phases of learning: orientating, enhancing and synthesizing. Orientation introduces
the competence or learning outcome, the tasks involved and the criteria for
assessment. This is the time when the learner’s prior knowledge of the literacies
involved may be assessed or learners could self-assess their own facility with the
relevant texts. Questions should be used to access the learner’s prior knowledge of
the topic so the learning process is likely to be successful. Also, demonstrations
may be necessary to show learners how to use workshop manuals, how to look
up specific standards or how to use new technology. At the same time, any new
language, such as specific technical terms, everyday words used in a technical way
and colloquialisms, needs to be introduced. Also, the language of instruction and
assessment should be presented.
The enhancing phase of instruction is all about mastering new technical or vo-
cational knowledge and the associated literacies. This may take place on-site in
the workplace or community, or in a training room using authentic texts and tasks,
simulations and role-play. It may require moving from the traditional classroom to
a training room set up as a workplace with the requisite furniture and equipment.
As far as possible, the environment should simulate actual work conditions in order
that learners experience the need to develop skills in prioritizing work, coping with
interruptions and developing the social literacies so essential for high performance
workplaces. In addition, not all instruction should be teacher driven. Opportunities
should be given for learners to work independently, with assistance (which could
be computer-aided assistance) or in collaborative groups. If this training takes place
on-the-job, new employees could observe and work with experienced workers in a
mentoring situation. In this way they will learn the communication patterns of the
workplace, including the use of insider terminology. They will also learn to use site-
specific documents and technologies, while at the same time becoming socialized
into the workplace culture.
Finally comes the synthesizing phase in which learners bring together the new
knowledges and literacies to form part of their conceptual framework, as a basis for
further thought and action. Activities associated with this phase include reflection
on what has been learnt and/or summative assessment.
4.4 Principles of Assessment
The previous discussion has mentioned two forms of assessment—initial assessment

and summative assessment. Initial assessment, as part of the orientation phase of
learning, is concerned with making a judgement about the current literacy skills of
learners in relation to training and work or community texts and tasks. Summative
assessment comes at the end of a programme of training and indicates if the learner
is competent or has achieved the required standard of performance. The following
principles apply in either situation. Firstly, assessment should be holistic. That is,
rather than concentrating on the performance of discrete, often decontextualized
skills or individual competencies, it should be possible to address a range of compe-
tencies or learning outcomes through a more holistic approach, through completion
of an authentic task. This could be writing a letter of complaint, or baking a cake or
erecting scaffolding, all of which require specific literacies.
Secondly, assessment should be appropriate to the context. The validity of
performance-based assessment depends on the extent to which the assessment mea-
sures what it is intended to measure. Therefore, standardized tests are usually inap-
propriate and should be discarded in favour of using relevant workplace texts and
tasks for assessment purposes. Moreover, assessment should be reliable and fair.
This means that the instructions for assessment tasks should be clear, explicit and
ordered. The learner should know what is expected, including the time allowed and
the criteria on which their performance will be measured. The language of assess-
ment should reflect the language of instruction. If the learner does not have a good
understanding of the official language or has inadequate literacy for the task, deci-
sions need to be made about alternative assessment processes. These may include
assessment in the first language and use of oral assessment.
1268 J. Searle
In summary, assessment tasks should be contextualized and reflect what learn-

ers/workers are required to do. Assessment should be reliable and fair.
5 Conclusion
It has been argued that it is necessary to recognize the situatedness and pluralities
of literacy, as well as the ideological nature of language and the uses of literacy
for reasons of power and control. As a result, TVET practitioners need to ac-
knowledge different ways of knowing and meaning making. This might be through
collaborative learning in groups, assisted learning (with text, technology or men-
tor support) or independent learning. At the same time, educators must recognize
that learners may operate in a range of domains—at work, in the community, at
home or on-line—and increasingly there are no firm borders between them. In each
of these domains the learner may be using texts and undertaking tasks related to
themselves (as a worker, citizen or family member), which focus on interacting in
groups (at work, in the community or family), or as part of systems communication
within an organization, or communication with the broader community. Each of
these forms of communication requires a different set of literacies: personal/local,
co-operative, systems, procedural, institutional or technical. This is very different
from the unitary, autonomous, often ethnocentric, view of literacy held by many
governments. So, in conceptualizing a multi-literacies model of learning, there is
recognition of the dominant influence of socio-cultural contexts and multiple sites
of literacy activity, which cannot be ‘neutral’ as they are constituted by social
and power relations. Thus, learning requires both the explicit teaching of specific
skills, as well as opportunities for an informal acquisition of knowledge and social
practices.
The TVET professional needs the ability to use his or her professional judge-
ment to identify key learning moments when they will actively intervene to deliver
essential knowledge and skills. At other times, the teacher or trainer may take a back
seat to allow the learners to become more self-directed or engage in collaborative
learning with their peers. Further, there may be times when the teacher, trainer or
work colleague acts as a mentor, facilitating informal learning, usually on-the-job.
It is the professionalism of the teacher or trainer that allows judgements to be made
about the type of pedagogical practices and the timing of learning activities and
events, which is crucial to the success of the learner. To be a professional requires a
sense of ‘vocation’, as well as a depth of knowledge of a particular field of learning
from which to ‘profess’ (Beare, 1992). ‘Practice’ then becomes the application of
that knowledge and learning to the benefit of others.
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Chapter VIII.8
Vocational Education in the Private
Sector in Brazil
Elenice Monteiro Leite, Marinilzes Moradillo Mello and Nacim Walter Chieco
1 Introduction
This chapter has the objective of presenting a panorama of the range, management
and financing of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in Brazil,
highlighting the participation of the private sector. It starts from an analysis of TVET
adapted to the socio-economic context of the country and called, for the purposes
of this study, the ‘non-invisible system’. To give an idea of its size, data obtained
from several sources, official and non-official, are considered. The main agencies
described and summarized are: the S-System; technical schools; independent edu-
cation schools; public and private universities and colleges; government schools for
civil and military employees; workers’ trade unions and professional associations;
non-governmental organizations (NGOs); universities, schools and training centres
in private companies; suppliers; and consultants.
2 Concepts and Context
In the traditional approach, based on European models, TVET is concerned with

educational, technical and technological courses offered by traditional institutions
of vocational training, and can be clearly distinguished from programmes of initial
training and in-service training.
In Brazil, however, the universe of TVET includes not only these programmes
(educational, technical and technological courses), but also any training action of
short, average or long duration, and also seminars, meetings, lectures, consultancies,
capable of contributing to the development and the improvement of abilities, atti-
tudes, knowledge or other requisites, desired or even indispensable for work and for
life in modern societies.
This broad concept of TVET is based on three characteristics of the Brazilian
economically active population (EAP) that affect the demand for education and
capacity-building: (a) the informal sector: around 55% of the EAP’s work is not
legally registered and does not benefit from any kind of social protection; (b) the low
level of education: 60% of the EAP do not complete eight years of study, equivalent

1272 E.M. Leite et al.
to primary education; and (c) there are delays or interruptions in the trajectory for
the acquisition of secondary and higher education. Under these circumstances, tra-
ditional differences between the initial and continuous skills training tend to be less
important, because many people are always ‘launching’ careers in the work market
in different sectors or jobs.
For many Brazilian students, the only way of reaching or going beyond secondary
education is to study while working. This means that many of those who enter higher
education are, in general, more than 25 years old. At this age in many countries most
people are already engaged in in-service education programmes. For the majority of
Brazilian worker-students, a higher education degree can be a means of achieving
stability and progress in their career, but it can also be the pathway to a diploma and
better jobs, for example in the public service.
The fact is that TVET in Brazil is provided by a great variety of agencies that
cater to the formal and informal sectors of the economy, to employed or unem-
ployed workers, in big and small companies in various activities and occupations.
This vocational education market, constituted by public and private institutions, is
frequently informal in terms of certification or educational requisites, does not form
part of formal education and can be disseminated by television, videos, magazines,
newspapers and now also the Internet.
This major market for TVET functions as a ‘non-invisible system’ (de Moura
Castro, 2002b, 2002c): ‘invisible’ in official statistics and public policies; and
‘non-invisible’ since, while it does not have a central co-ordinating body, spe-
cific co-ordination exists among its main parts. Serving a total population close to
200 million and an EAP of more than 80 million people, the Brazilian TVET mar-
ket is similar to that of many other countries in the Latin American and Caribbean
Region. But it has its particularities, which has a significant impact on public and
private provision: (a) the federal government has played a decisive role in the cre-
ation of funds and mechanisms to stimulate the development of vocational education
since the 1940s; and (b) there are a combination of public sector initiatives in its
management and financing.
Among the incentives and mechanisms, at least two are particularly important for
the development of TVET: (a) since the 1940s, compulsory contributions (CC) have
been the main source of financing of the S-System—the expression used for the
national education apprenticeship services; and (b) the Worker Support Fund (FAT),
functioning since the 1990s, with an estimated worth of US$14 billion and an an-
nual budget of US$4 billion, managed by the tripartite equal representation council.
In the period 1995–2002, FAT financed the capacity-building of some 15 million
people with funds in the order of US$1.1 billion by means of the Worker Qualifica-
tion National Plan (PLANFOR) of the Ministry of Labour.
For a long period of time, such public interventions led to important advances in
terms of financing and incentives for TVET in the different sectors of the economy,
including the constitution of an ample infrastructure (schools, workshops, equip-
ment), the development of human resources, technology and methodologies, and the
creation of a ‘TVET culture’ within public and private corporations, which spread
to society as a whole.
VIII.8 Vocational Education in the Private Sector in Brazil 1273
3 The Offer of TVET in Brazil: Public Versus Private
The major part of the TVET segment in Brazil works through a ‘non-invisible’
system, not covered by official statistics, which only reflect the formal courses of
schooling in secondary and higher education, in other words, only technical TVET
at technological and secondary education level. Therefore, in order to estimate and
describe the provision of this market, it is necessary to work with estimates, combin-
ing information from different studies and databases. In this chapter, the following
sources were mainly used:
r TVET census of the Ministry of Education, 1999–2000;
r Vocational Education Unit Catalogue of the Ministry of Labour, 1998–2000;
r SIGAE: the Labour and Management Information System of the Ministry of
Labour, 1998–2000;
r RAIS: Social Information Annual Record, 2000;
r Educational Census, Ministry of Education, 2000;
r Non-formal initiatives of education and work with adolescents, as prepared by
GIFE (1998); and
r The annual S-System report.
3.1 Dimensioning of the TVET Offer

Based on these sources, it is estimated that the TVET market in Brazil comprises
around 35,000 schools and training centres, with 32 million students enrolled cov-
ered by an annual budget of approximately US$13 billion.
For analytical purposes, and including the participation of the private sector, the
profile of the TVET market in Brazil can be classified into three groups as set out in
Table 1 below, combining different forms of management and sources of financing:
(a) public financing and management; (b) public financing with private manage-
ment; and (c) private financing and management.
In this field, it is possible to identify at least ten groups of agencies with different
modes of financing and management: (a) public and (b) private universities and
colleges; (c) public and (d) private technical schools; (e) government schools; (f)
the S-System; (g) NGOs; (h) trade unions; (i) independent vocational education;
and (j) autonomous consultants. By means of this network, programmes of short,
average and long duration are offered with or without certification for all economic
sectors covering all commercial and industrial activities in urban areas.
Global expenditure for TVET is equally divided among the public sector—taxes,
compulsory contributions, public funds—and the private sector—fees, other contri-
butions, donations, services and product sales. Historically, however, public finance
has massively subsidized private investments in the TVET market.
It may be concluded that around half of this market has private management and
financing. However, if all forms of private management are taken into consideration,
then more than two-thirds of this market is under private control. This is a peculiarity
Table 1 The TVET market in Brazil: 1999–2000: estimate of schools, students and budget of the
main agencies∗
Agencies or ‘System’ Schools/centres Enrolments Annual budget∗∗
(millions) US$ millions
A – PUBLIC FINANCING AND MANAGEMENT
Universities and colleges: 190 0.8 2,400
federal, state and city
Technical schools/secondary
education schools: federal
and state∗∗∗
• Initial training and continued 480 0.2 65
courses;
• Technical courses; 1,000 0.4 480
• Adults and juvenile education 15,050 2.7 945
courses (EJA).
SUB-TOTAL A 15,240 (43%) 4.1 (13%) 3,890 (30%)
B – PUBLIC FINANCING, PRIVATE MANAGEMENT

S-System and participative 2,700 6.0 2,500
federations
Unions and professional 500 1.6 130
associations
SUB-TOTAL B 3,200 (9%) 7.6 (24%) 2,630 (20%)
C – PRIVATE FINANCING AND MANAGEMENT
Universities and colleges 905 1.6 3,600
Technical schools/secondary
education schools: federal
and state∗∗∗
• Initial formation and 1,120 1.0 320
continued courses;
• Technical courses; 1,000 0.3 360
• Adults and juvenile education 2,250 0.3 105
courses (EJA).
Schools in private companies 4,200 5.0 800
NGOs 3,000 3.0 240
Schools and independent 5,000 5.0 800
education
Suppliers 1,500 2.6 210
Consultants — 1.3 104
SUB-TOTAL C 16,855 (48%) 20.1 (63%) 6,540 (50%)
TOTAL (A + B + C) = 100% 35,295 31.8 13,060
∗
= Names of courses and programmes according to Decree no. 5154/04.
∗∗
= The estimates do not include investment in infrastructures.
∗∗∗
= The sub-total of technical schools/secondary education schools is inferior to the sum of
the parts, because the same school can offer different types of courses; in other words, capacity-
building, technical and EJA. According to statistics of Brazil, MEC/INEP (2000a, 2000b), the total
number of units offering EJA beyond the modalities of TVET is 15,050 public schools and 2,250
private schools.
Sources: see the list in the text (plus estimates according to World Bank, 2003, and Leite, 2003b).
of the Brazilian context, because it reflects the S-System’s overall power—the main
and most important provider of TVET in the country’s private sector—financed by
public funds but with private management.
4 The Main Agencies

The non-S-System part of TVET in Brazil is composed in great part of institutions
with long histories of action in the country. For a long time, however, several of
these agencies only managed to survive by not functioning or by functioning in an-
other area of TVET, by occupying a secondary position behind the quasi-monopoly
provided by the traditional TVET institutions. Only recent research can measure the
coverage, diversity and importance in the Brazilian TVET market.
4.1 The S-System

Private in management, public in financing, the S-System is not, in fact, orga-
nized into a system at all. The expression is used only for convenience, being
frequently used by the media because of the similar abbreviations, all begin-
ning with the letter S for ‘service’. This includes different national social ser-
vices for apprenticeship: SENAI/SESI for industry; SENAC/SESC for commerce
and services; SENAT/SEST for transportation; SENAR for agriculture; SEBRAE
for technical assistance to micro and small companies; and SESCOOP for ur-
ban co-operatives. Excluding SENAR, SEBRAE and SESCOOP, there is a trio
concerned with apprenticeship for TVET—SENAI, SENAC and SENAT, and an-
other for the socio-cultural activities—SESI, SESC and SEST. The older S are
SENAI/SESI and SESC/SENAC, created in the 1940s. SEBRAE and SENAR were
created in the 1980s, SEST/SEAT in the 1990s, and SESCOOP, the youngest branch,
in 1999.1
Business people organized into state and national federations, as well as lo-
cal chambers of commerce, are responsible for the S-System and offer capacity-
building programmes—not necessarily in the system’s schools.
Although they are ‘apprenticeship services’, the S-System offers mainly short-
term courses of capacity-building (usually twenty to eighty hours), representing
around 80% of the total enrolments in the system. They also offer technical secon-
dary TVET, and SENAC and SENAI have started offering higher education. The
traditional apprenticeship courses have been in decline since the 1980s, surviving
mainly in the states of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. From 1999, SENAI has been re-
vitalizing its training strategy. Recently, the Federal Law n◦ 10097/00 authorized the
provision of apprenticeship courses for institutions that are not part of the S-System.
Since then, the reintroduction of apprenticeship courses by the S has been occurring.
The S-System is financed by the collection of compulsory contributions (CC) and
taxes paid by students in certain programmes and courses. The CC were instituted in
1942 by the creation of SENAI in the period known as the ‘New State’, a euphemism
used to designate the dictatorship of President Getúlio Vargas.
Contributions to the S-System vary between 0.3% and 2.5% of the payroll of
private companies. The collection is carried out by the National Social Security In-
stitute (INSS), which passes on the funds collected, keeping 3.5% for administrative
purposes. There are particular features for each S:
r SENAR offers TVET as well as social services and its levy, according to the Law
n◦ 10,256/01, is 0.25% of the gross earnings of the agro-industry and 0.20% of
the earnings of rural producers;
r The levy of SEBRAE is 0.3% collected in all sectors of the economy;
r SENAI benefits from two types of contributions paid by the industrial sector: the
‘general’ (1%) and the ‘additional’ (+0.5%, paid by companies with more than
500 employees). This additional contribution is destined to finance research and
scholarships in Brazil and abroad for management positions in companies and of
SENAI personnel. SESI is financed by 1.5% from industrial salaries;
r The levy from SEST/SENAT is 1.5% collected from transport companies and
1% from the autonomous workers (drivers), which constitute the majority of the
sector;
r SENAI has another particularity compared to the other institutions of the
S-System: co-operation agreements with big industrial companies—which can
be totally or partially exempt from the ‘general’ contribution—permit the CC to
be used for the maintenance of courses or TVET schools, promoting and sustain-
ing the creation of schools inside companies.
The CC scheme exists in other Latin American and the Caribbean countries, many
of which were inspired by the Brazilian model (CINTERFOR/OIT, 1990, 2002a,
2002b). However, the Brazilian scheme must be considered unique for the following
reasons:
r it is the oldest in the region, with more than seventy years of service, and has
resisted several attempts for its cutback or suppression;
r it is the only model of public financing with private management in the region;
r almost exclusively, it is administered by representatives of the private business
sector.
Although their usefulness has been questioned, the CC have been maintained thanks
largely to the results and the image of quality and efficiency associated with the
S-System, which receives considerable approval from various segments of the
concerned population: politicians, trade unionists, business people and, above all,
the workers who benefit from the courses.
In effect, the S-System has developed the biggest and most modern infrastructure
of TVET in the country and even in the Latin American and Caribbean Region.
There are 2,700 schools and high-quality centres, with 6 million students enrolled
and an annual budget of US$2 billion in vocational capacity-building alone, apart
from investments in other teaching, culture, health and sports. It has also been re-
sponsible for innovations in technology, methodologies and didactic material in the
field of TVET.
The future of the payment of the CC and of the whole S-System is the object
of present discussions and analysis. It is expected that these will result in the up-
grading of the financing, management and functioning mechanisms, in view of the
contribution of the system to the economy and to Brazilian society.
4.2 Technical Schools/Secondary Education Schools

This group includes not only the regular technical courses, but also all types of initial
and continuing training and adult and juvenile education courses (EJA) offered by
the technical schools network and of primary education in the country.
The schools and their enrolments are predominantly private, but the most typ-
ical and complete element within this group is the network of federal technical
schools, managed and financed by the Ministry of Education, with around 100 high-
quality schools spread across twenty-seven Brazilian states, the majority created
in the 1930s and 1940s. By the end of the 1970s, some federal technical schools
changed themselves into federal centres of technological education (CEFETs) pro-
viding technological graduate courses, as well as technical courses.
Other well-known networks are the state technical schools found in the more
developed states, such as Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio
Grande do Sul. Sao Paulo, for example, has around 100 technical schools like the
State Technological Education Centre Paula Souza, linked to the State University
‘Julio de Mesquita Filho’ (UNESP). These schools were introduced in the 1930s and
1940s, and expanded during the 1970s and 1980s following Law 5,692/72, which
required secondary education schools (high schools) to offer vocational capacity-
building courses. This law did not have a great impact on the existing public and
private technical schools, but ended up setting in motion an increase in the registra-
tion of ‘technical courses’ in the secondary education schools, in order to respond
to the administrative imperatives of the law. This strongly contributed to a reduction
in the quality of the education system since that time (Cunha, 2000b).
By means of the 1997 decree, following the new general law on national edu-
cation of 1996, the curricular independence of secondary education in relation to
technical education was permitted. In 2004, a new decree re-established the possi-
bility of the combination of technical and secondary education. Today, to obtain the
technical diploma, students can attend the integrated technical course, at the same
time as or after secondary education. Since secondary education has almost become
a requisite in order to find employment, young people and adults are returning even
more to the EJA (old ‘night studies’), including the patronage of public and private
workers. The raising of the basic level of schooling for workers by means of the EJA
can be considered a function of TVET in the Brazilian context.
4.3 Independent Education Schools

Exclusively a private group in management and financing, independent education
schools provide a varied range of short-term courses—without official curricular
regulation—in, for example: information technology, foreign languages, mechan-

ics, electronics, dressmaking, cookery, hairdressing and technical design. For more
than sixty years, some of these schools have been pioneers in distance-education
courses, initially by post and now via the Internet. The Monitor Institute and the
Universal Brazilian Institute were created respectively in 1939 and 1940 and con-
tinue to function to this day offering courses in electronics, information technology,
telecommunications, business administration and secretarial skills—by post and via
the Internet.
This sector is practically unknown in official documentation, even though the
schools have been registered in the national list of legal entities. There is evidence of
expansion in the last ten years, mainly due to the franchising system and also thanks
to the public opportunities of credit for micro and small businesses. It is estimated
that the franchised English schools, for example, are worth around US$800 million
(de Moura Castro, 2002b). Many schools today offer non-formal courses and also
the EJA and technical secondary education.
4.4 Public and Private Universities and Colleges

Similar to technical education, enrolments in these courses are also predominantly
private, but the focuses are the public, federal and state universities. It is considered,
as mentioned earlier, that higher TVET education in Brazil, after the foundation
courses in technology, lasts two to three years. At the same time, the majority of
universities and colleges today offer a wide range of specializations and extension
services in TVET.
The public agencies are mainly federal or state universities. There is at least one
in most Brazilian states. Besides this, there is usually a considerable network of
colleges in the large and medium-sized cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants.
Some of the federal institutions have existed since the imperial period during the
nineteenth century, but the last two education laws introduced in 1971 and 1996
promoted the expansion of higher education, mainly private education institutions.
From 2001 to 2003, the number of private colleges grew some 45% in Brazil, with
544 new higher education institutions (Folha de São Paulo, 2003).
4.5 Government Schools for Civil and Military Employees

The public sector schools do not provide as much TVET, although they represent
some of the oldest institutions in the country financed and managed by federal or-
ganizations, such as the Ministry of Administration, which maintains the National
Public Administration School (ENAP), and the Ministry of Economy, responsible
for the Higher School of Financial Management (ESAF). The most developed states
and cities also subsidize schools and foundations, with the objective of building
capacity and enhancing the capacities of public employees.
These government schools have started to be more proactive in the field of

TVET, thanks to the modernization of the public services and the emergence of the
equality and human rights policies. In this new context, demand has grown for the
capacity-building of public employees in more fields, such as information technol-
ogy, foreign languages, entrepreneurship, leadership and client servicing—besides
the EJA. There was a time when the greater part of public employees had low levels
of education.
It should be noted that the Armed Forces—Navy, Army and Air Force—also
benefited from the CC instituted in the 1940s in ways similar to the S-System. This
CC is directed to the financing of military academies and training centres. Little is
known about these contributions, however, because it is very difficult to find reports
or data about these activities.
4.6 Workers’ Trade Unions and Professional Associations

The offer of TVET and other services by trade unions in Brazil is maintained thanks
to a special tax corresponding to one-day’s salary per year of each worker, which is
collected by the Federal Government and distributed to the unions, who manage it.
The unions maintain schools and capacity-building centres offering courses to their
members and associates. Today, the most important agencies are linked to the great
trade unions: Unique Worker Centre (CUT); Agricultural Workers Confederation
(CONTAG); and the Social Union Democracy (SDS). The Without Land Movement
(MST) also provides some TVET, particularly in the mainly rural areas in the south
of the country.
This is possibly a Brazilian peculiarity in the Latin-American context. Here, con-
trary to what has happened in the majority of the countries in the region, the trade
unions have expanded and gained strength since the 1970s, despite the military
dictatorship. They created large and powerful national federations, which became
proactive in political and social arenas. Recently, in the 1990s, they faced a crisis
of reduced employment levels which affected the union taxes that financed their
activities. Despite this, they became more proactive in the field of vocational forma-
tion using public funds (FAT).
4.7 Non-Governmental Organizations

Formed almost totally by non-profit-making institutions, but with private manage-
ment, this group includes a vast range of religious, political and social institutions
with a long history of offering initial and in-service training to poor and vulnerable
groups (Cunha, 2000a). Many of them have existed for more than a century and
receive considerable finance from foreign sources, such as the European Union,
and from religious, ecological and human rights organizations. These institutions
compose what is called the ‘third sector’, whose dynamism is another particularity
in Brazil in the Latin American context. It is estimated that NGOs invest around US
$1.7 billion in the country, involving 30 million volunteers. Half of this money is
devoted to projects in the area of education (de Moura Castro, 2002a).
This sector has become increasingly visible and proactive in the TVET market
since the 1990s due to the new opportunities provided by the Adolescent and Child
Statute (ECA), by the National Education Bases and Guidelines Law and by the
new Apprenticeship Statute, which permitted NGOs to carry out TVET, including
apprenticeships. Public programmes financed by the FAT, such as the PLANFOR
(1995–2002), and also social initiatives by private companies, have contributed
to making the NGOs more visible and active in the TVET market. Today, prac-
tically every church, neighbourhood association and social club offers some kind
of training—literacy classes for the young and adults; EJA courses and capacity
building courses—mainly for the poorer populations living in the suburbs of the big
Brazilian cities.
4.8 Schools and Training Centres in Private Companies
Big companies and technological innovation companies maintain schools, training

centres, cultural foundations and corporate universities for their employees and their
families. Before the Second World War, many schools were set up in the industrial
sector, followed by a great expansion in the 1970s and 1980s stimulated by new
demands and sources of financing, as well as the fiscal incentives and interna-
tional co-operation agreements, such as those of SENAI. Today, a good number
of the companies do not manage the schools directly, but subcontract capacity-
building courses or delegate the task to foundations. Since the 1990s, this activity
has been expanding due to the ‘social responsibility’ role assumed by the private
sector.
In 1995, these foundations formed an association called GIFE—Grupo de Insti-
tutos Fundações e Empresas—consisting of more than sixty of the biggest and the
richest private companies in the country and investing about US$250 million per
year in social projects. GIFE declares itself to be the first Latin American association
that draws together representatives of private organizations to invest in or run social,
cultural and environmental projects in the public interest (GIFE, 1998).
4.9 Suppliers
Large and average-sized companies that produce or sell equipment, systems, ma-
chines and raw material offer training to their clients, whether workers or man-
agers (Leite, 1996). For security reasons, as in the case of selling oil or gas,
this type of training is compulsory by law, but for the majority of the com-
panies, even for the small ones, such a strategy may be designed to increase
competitiveness.
4.10 Consultants
Individuals and small companies that offer specialized consultancy services in di-
verse areas have also been expanding since the 1980s, in response to the demand
for quality programmes, ISO certificates, human resources development and new
management techniques. Beyond this, downsizing processes have led to the with-
drawal from the market of specialized professionals—engineers, economists, and
administrators—who become consultants, providing services to their former em-
ployees and clients.
5 Conclusion
The non-invisible system of TVET in Brazil represents an indispensable support

for the economic and social development of the country. It consists of a diverse
network of institutions that make it difficult to quantify—except by estimates—and
control although it has operated in the country for decades. It can be said that the
‘non-invisible system’ constitutes a solid base for the training of human resources,
with sufficient flexibility to respond to labour-market demands. The provision of
public and private TVET in the country would probably be sufficient to train 40%
of the total EAP annually, in other words, about 32 million enrolments for a total
EAP of 80 million people.
Considering the number and diversity of institutions, this provision could be con-
sidered as a ‘first world’ service in a ‘third world’ society. Its weakness, however, is
the low level of initial schooling of the Brazilian EAP, the shortcomings of which—
in reading, writing, maths and even socialization—frequently end up having to be
compensated by TVET.
The TVET market in Brazil is maintained by an annual investment in the order
of US$3 billion, representing 2% of the total gross national product (GNP) and
40% of the total expenses on education (5% of GNP). Of this total, 50% comes
from private sources, among which the participation of universities and colleges,
technical schools and companies—including consultants and suppliers, and inde-
pendent education—should be pointed out.
Individual expenditure on TVET reached around US$5.2 billion—invested mainly
in secondary, higher and independent education courses—which represents 75% of
the total private funds spent on the TVET market—in other words for a total of
US$6.5 billion, and 40% of the total investment in TVET. This converts to a consid-
erable investment for a country whose per capita income is around US$2,500 and
with an average wage in the formal urban sector—which pays the highest salaries
by Brazilian standards—of approximately US$250 per month, or three minimum
salaries. There is evidence that individual investment is supplemented by scholar-
ships funded by public organizations. These are education credits coming from pub-
lic banks, professional education agencies and large companies that motivate their
employees to enrol in colleges or to take continuing education courses (Leite, 1996;
World Bank, 2003; Revista da Folha, 2003). In any case, these numbers demonstrate
the importance of TVET for Brazilian society, whose poor families cannot afford to
pay capacity-building courses for their children (Leite, 2003a).
The high volume of company investment in schools and courses maintained by
themselves (including suppliers) has been pointed out, beyond their contribution to
the S-System: around US$1.1 billion, representing 27% of the private investment in
TVET in the country. This investment would correspond to around twenty annual
hours of capacity-building per worker from the formal urban sector, or close to 1%
of the annual hours worked. This is a standard above European indexes.
As is the case of many other services in Brazil, TVET is not well distributed
across the population. Most of the time, it caters to workers with higher levels of
education. These people may be identified as young, white males who are already
well placed in the formal urban labour market. Those older than 40 years, female, of
Afro-Brazilian origin and already with a low level of education are frequently left
aside, except in programmes explicitly oriented to equity opportunities.
What stands out is that the TVET market reflects the inequality existing in Brazil-
ian society, and tends to be intensified by being managed predominantly by private
initiative, despite being financed equally with public and private funds. For this
reason, although it works and is able to respond to the demand, the TVET market in
the country deserves to be better known and articulated to public policies of educa-
tion, work and development. Quality evaluation mechanisms of equality and access
promotion are fundamental, as it is in any other market, to guide and preserve the
interest of consumers, as well as to guide public investments.
Note
1. SENAI is the Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Industrial—National Service for Industrial

Apprenticeship (<www.senai.dn.br>); SESI is the Serviço Social da Industria—Social Service
for Industry (www.sesi.org.br); SENAC is the Serviço Nacional de Aprendizaje Comercial—
National Service for Commercial Apprenticeship (<www.senac.br>); SESC is the Serviço So-
cial do Comércio—Social Service for Commerce and Services; SENAT is the Confederación
Nacional de Transporte—National Confederation of Transport (<www.cnt.org.br); SEST is the
Serviço Social do Transporte—Social Service for Transport; SENAR is the Serviço Nacional de
Aprendizagem Rural—National Service for Agricultural Apprenticeship (<www.senar.org.br>);
SEBRAE is the Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio ao Empreendedor e Pequeno Empresário—
Brazilian Service of Technical Support to Micro and Small Companies(<www.sebrae.com.br>);
and SESCOOP is the Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem do Cooperativismo—National Ser-
vice for Urban Co-operatives (<www.brasilcooperativo. com.br>).
References
Brazil. Ministry of Education. Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anı́sio Teix-
eira. 2000a. Censo da educação no Brasil. Brasilia: MEC/INEP.
Brazil. Ministry of Education. Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anı́sio Teix-
eira. 2000b. Números da educação no Brasil. Brasilia: MEC/INEP.
CINTERFOR/OIT. 1990. La formación profesional en el umbral de los 90; un estudio de los

cambios e innovaciones en las instituciones especializadas de América Latina. Montevideo:
IRDB/IRDC/GTZ/BID.
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desarrollo de conocimientos y habilidades de los trabajadores. Montevideo: CINTERFOR.
(Documentos de referencia, 1, Seminario Interamericano Tripartito sobre Formación Profe-
sional, Productividad y Trabajo Decente, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 15–17 May 2002.)
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tevideo: CINTERFOR. (Documentos de referencia, 2, Seminario Interamericano Tripartito so-
bre Formación Profesional, Productividad y Trabajo Decente, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 15–17
May 2002.)
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Paulo/Brasilia: UNESP/MTE/FAT.
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UNESP/MTE/FAT.
de Moura Castro, C. 2002a. Formación profesional en el cambio del siglo. Montevideo: CINTER-
FOR.
de Moura Castro, C. 2002b. Comments on the Brazilian case study: mapping the invisible lifelong
learning (LLL) non-system. Washington, DC: World Bank.
de Moura Castro, C. 2002c. A educação invisı́vel. Veja, no. 1,756, p. 20. <veja.abril.com.br/
190602/ponto de vista.html>
Folha de São Paulo. 2003. Número de faculdades privadas cresce 45%. 3 August 2003, p. C1–3.
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com adolescentes. Sao Paulo, Brazil: GIFE. <www.odb.org.br> <www.gife.org.br>
Leite, E.M. 1996. El rescate de la calificación. Montevideo: CINTERFOR.
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dagem institucional e biográfica: uma comparação Brasil, França e Japão. Sao Paulo, Brazil:
USP/CEM/SEADE/CEBRAP. <www.fflch.usp.br/sociologia/nadya>
Leite, E.M. 2003b. Brazilian VET market: public financing and private management—peculiarities
and perspectives. Montevideo: OIT/CINTERFOR.
Revista da Folha. 2003. Caça ao canudo. 26 October 2003, pp. 8–22.
World Bank. 2003. The Brazilian case study: mapping the ‘invisible lifelong
learning (LLL) non-system’. Washington, DC: World Bank. <siteresources.
worldbank.org/EDUCATION/Resources/278200-1126210664195/1636971-1126210694253/
LLL Brazil Final Synthesis.pdf>
Chapter VIII.9
TVET and Teacher-Training Curricula:
A Developed National Perspective
1 Introduction
The theory of teacher training for technical and vocational education and train-
ing (TVET) cannot provide practising educationalists with a water-tight answer
to one of the most vital and crucial questions: how much time is required to
educate a TVET professional? Unlike most other training fields, TVET teacher
training is double-targeted, as two majors (teacher training and a specific voca-
tional training) are to be mastered equally. It could be concluded that this type
of training would require twice the time and twice the effort compared to single-
field training. However, this is not commonly observed in TVET teacher train-
ing, which can be attributed to the limited training periods followed by most
students who are in search of full-time employment—and preferably as soon as
possible.
Russian university TVET teacher training is carried out according to the State
Educational Standard, which provides an obligatory framework and content for
training and is worded and issued by the Ministry of Education (Russian Federation.
Ministry of Education, 2000). The standard training periods are four and five years,
and graduates obtain their bachelor’s or advanced professional TVET teaching de-
grees respectively. In order to understand the Russian TVET teacher training system
better, it is thought appropriate to resort to a comparative analysis here. Therefore, to
provide the maximum coverage, it is reasonable to compare Russian and American
systems in this chapter.
The basic principles of academic subject clustering and sequencing are rela-
tively similar in the Russian Federation (hereafter Russia/Russian) and the United
States of America (hereafter USA/American). General science and mathematics are
studied during the first and second years of training, and general and specialized
vocational subjects are studied during the third and fourth years; the fifth year is
for achieving a degree of mastery of the chosen major. A noteworthy difference in
schooling is the fact that Russian universities start humanities, psychological and
teacher training during the first stage (from the first university year), whereas in
American universities these subject clusters are typically postponed to the senior
(graduate) stage.

2 Research Methodology
Until very recently the ‘trial-and-error’ method was employed for the selection
of criteria for TVET teacher-training curriculum design and further development
(Zhuchenko, Romantsev & Tkachenko, 1999). Research methodologies of this type
are still found in many educational systems throughout the world. According to this
method, TVET professionals conduct field research in several stages: (a) direct ob-
servation of actual activities carried out by a number of more or less typical TVET
teachers; (b) there is an analysis on points of quality; (c) a preliminary trial of a
working model is arranged; and (d) lastly comes the analysis of test results and in-
ference of place-and-time appropriate recommendations for TVET teacher-training
curriculum design. Among the key disadvantages of this trial-and-error method are
the chaotic and limited nature of the research results and specific limitations at-
tributable to subjective differences in the interpretation of research data by different
experts (see Zhuchenko, Romantsev & Tkachenko, 1999).
Comparative analysis is another efficient method for carrying out research on
TVET teacher-training curricula. As opposed to the trial-and-error method, this
method is recognized as more relevant to the issue considered in this chapter as
it does not have the disadvantages of the former. Thus, comparative analysis of
Russian and American curricula was carried out on the principle of academic subject
clustering (Curriculum Development at Agricultural Universities, 1997). Subjects
were grouped in the way typically used in Russian State educational standards;
that is to say, there are clusters grouping humanities, social and economic stud-
ies, general mathematical and science studies, general and specialized vocational
studies, and educational and psychological studies. American university curricula
were analysed in accordance with Russian subject names and contents, and then
regrouped into these same clusters.
For research purposes, the total number of hours for each subject was measured
in credit hours (Table 1). This is not typical of Russia, but is common in American
education.
Table 1 Comparison of Russian and American credit hours in TVET teacher training
Academic subject clusters Russia∗ Texas Indiana Pennsylvania
Humanities, social and economic studies 34 40 30 25
General mathematical and science studies 31 20 28 26
General vocational studies 38 23 32 24
Educational and psychological studies 41 31 33 41
(including practical field training,
probationary periods, etc.)
Specialized vocational studies (including 54 32 16 34
practical field training, probationary
periods, etc.)
Total: 197 146 139 150
∗
= The Russian standard considered here is for the five-year TVET teacher training with
minor in agricultural mechanical engineering; it is compared to similar American curricular
characteristics.
VIII.9 TVET and Teacher-Training Curricula: A Developed National Perspective 1287
3 General Mathematical and Science Studies
For some minors within TVET teacher training, the general mathematical and sci-
ence cluster is the same as that used for general engineering training. In this case,
specific features of this cluster are understood to pre-determine the structure, con-
tents and objectives of the entire training-course curriculum. To a considerable de-
gree this corresponds to professional engineering training, which may be described
as ‘human/machine’ interaction. Machinery has traditionally been understood as the
central element in this interaction: humans—with all their personal and professional
traits—come second.
American university TVET teacher-training curricula feature a radically different
approach. Here, human beings are the primary concern, with particular considera-
tion for their efficient interaction with the production environment (i.e. industrial,
agricultural, teaching, etc.). Machinery and its characteristics and environmental
links come second in this approach. Thus, the American curricula format and con-
tents are radically different from those in Russia. Universities in the USA offer much
more extensive courses in biology, chemistry, natural science and general mathe-
matics. This prevailing characteristic of general mathematical and science studies in
American curricula may be attributed to both the minor of vocational training and to
general philosophical concepts, particularly the predominant importance of human
interaction with the environment.
4 Humanities, Social and Economic Studies

The current social, economic and political processes taking place in Russia and in
other transition economies determine the modifications and amendments affecting
the format and content of university training for the humanities, social sciences
and economics. The strong positive influence of the Russian educational standard
(Russian Federation. Ministry of Education, 2000) for TVET teacher training means
that the requirements for such training are firmly established, especially in terms of
the content and time allocation.
This standard lays down the contents, structure and time allocation for each
academic subject forming part of the curriculum structure. Modern humanities and
humanist-orientated education tends to influence the key requirements for this as-
pect of professional training. In our opinion, however, the subjects presented—and
their characteristics, that is, the framework, contents and time-budget—are rather
inadequate to the needs for professional personality development. If compared to
American curricula, mother tongue and arts studies receive less emphasis.
An advantage of Russian TVET teacher-training curricula is the inclusion of
such fundamental humanities and economic subjects as philosophy, law, economics,
foreign languages and physical training. However, humanities and economic sub-
jects are considerably more practical and profession-oriented in American curricula,
where a large number of these subjects are marked as electives. Such diverse courses
as university history, efficient project writing, national politics, debating, environ-

mental ethics, presentation of strategy design, international professional communi-
cation, youth leadership development and team building and so on are also included
on the list in the USA. The humanities and economic subject clusters are much
more diverse, practical, flexible, electives-rich and study-motivating in American
curricula. These characteristics stimulate students to achieve professional mastery
and contribute in a greater degree to graduate mobility.
5 General Vocational Studies

TVET teacher training at the higher-education level differs from the secondary level
in a rather marked way in terms of general vocational studies. The in-depth study
of TVET-relevant subjects that is characteristic of university training is not found
in TVET teacher-training colleges, as secondary vocational training is somewhat
limited in terms of the amount of information passed on to the students and the
depth of this information.
General vocational studies in the framework of American curricula feature the
structure and contents that allow the training of a broadly qualified TVET profes-
sional. These studies provide a solid background for further specialized studies and,
at the same time, motivate students for in-depth studies of issues associated with
their major. Having mastered these academic subjects, students advance their com-
petences and obtain more intellectual power for the accumulation of information
related to TVET teaching.
This subject cluster in American curricula incorporates a large economics com-
ponent. Among these subjects are ‘introduction to agricultural activity and eco-
nomics’ (Purdue, Indiana) and ‘introduction to agricultural economics’ (Texas
A&M and Penn State, Pennsylvania). This inclusion of extensive economics sub-
jects is grounded on the educational philosophy and the special features of economic
life typical of the USA, as well as publicly shared pragmatism and the prevailing
spirit of private enterprise that is not common in Russia or any other transitional
country.
Modern communication technologies applied in the USA are based on the ex-
tensive use of computers. Profound mastery of computer skills for professional pur-
poses is integrated into the cluster of general vocational studies. The relevant sub-
jects here are ‘computer systems in agriculture’ (Penn State), ‘agricultural planning
and business programs’ (Purdue), and ‘computer literacy in agriculture’ (Texas).
The general vocational studies cluster in Russian curricula predominantly
contains general engineering subjects, which make up the basis for the students’
mastery of engineering during subsequent training stages. We consider this curric-
ular parameter to be the key advantage of TVET teacher training in Russia—both
in terms of content and the logic of a vocation-oriented curricular design. A key
disadvantage of such engineering-oriented general professional studies clusters in
the Russian curricula is the heavily practical design component of these studies.
That is, an excessive amount of time is devoted to in-depth engineering training, in-
cluding technical drawing and monotonous and repetitive calculations. The mission
of the general vocational studies cluster is to provide students with a fundamental
background in the philosophy of machinery use, technical service management and
design theory.
From the point of view of TVET teacher training, Russian curricula should incor-
porate the general vocational studies cluster that contains not only pure engineering,
but general pedagogical and scientific components as well. This is needed because
its inclusion will probably help teacher trainers to mould the kind of TVET pro-
fessionals who would possess the competencies required by the challenges of the
present-day job market—both in terms of TVET student training and more success-
ful teacher placement. Among such additional courses, there may be some of those
found in American curricula, for example, ‘introduction to agricultural activity and
economics’, ‘computer application to agriculture and TVET’, and so on. The need
for such courses is attributed to the expanding professional field and requirements
for the professional mobility of TVET teacher-training graduates.
6 Educational and Psychological Studies

The educational and psychological studies cluster within TVET teacher-training
curricula incorporates the following components:
1. The psychological component, including physiology, general and TVET psy-
chology, and practical psychology; the key purpose of these courses is to provide
students with the background competence in human behaviour, physiology and
psychological characteristics.
2. Teacher-training courses, including ‘introduction to TVET’, ‘theory and practice
of teaching’ and ‘field TVET teacher training’. The key mission of these courses
is to provide students with background competence in TVET elements;
3. TVET practice applicable to general engineering courses and relevant teaching
methodology; the key mission of these courses is to provide students with the
background competence in teaching TVET courses.
To illustrate the specific contents and curriculum design of the educational and psy-
chological studies that are current for the Russian system of TVET teacher educa-
tion, it is thought appropriate to quote an extract from the Russian State Educational
Standard (Russian Federation. Ministry of Education, 2000) for students majoring
in TVET issues.
r Introduction to TVET (70 hours). General characteristic of TVET; variety of
TVET institutions, majors and minors; TVET perspectives; mission, contents,
methods and structure of TVET teaching; the professional requirements of TVET
teachers (competences, personal traits, abilities, etc.); TVET teacher personal
development; competence-oriented and personality-oriented approaches; TVET
teacher career prospects.
r Human physiology and psycho-physiology (100 hours). The human being as

an integral biological system; ontogenesis; key stages concerning the develop-
ment of the human organism; age characteristics of physiological processes;
psycho-physiological functions and their development in ontogenesis; psycho-
physiological characteristics of perception, attention, memory, speech, conscious-
ness; physical and mental activities at different levels of ontogenesis; profes-
sional adaptation; physical and psychological load tolerance; biological rhythms;
hygiene; physiological practicum.
r General psychology (120 hours). Psychology as a science and practice; objects of
psychology; the history of psychology; Russian and international psychological
schools; psychological methods (research, diagnosis, correction, therapy); ontol-
ogy and psychology of human life; psychology of an individual; personality and
its development; interpersonal interaction; psychology of human activity; verbal
and non-verbal communication; emotions and will; individual traits; motivation
development; practicum on general psychology.
r The psychology of vocational education (100 hours). Subjects of psychology of
vocational education; Russian and international schools of psychology for voca-
tional education; age features of personality development; role of the social situ-
ation and professional and learning activities in personality development; TVET
student psychological activities; special characteristics of TVET; professional
development of a TVET student; the psychological features of a TVET teacher;
practicum on the psychology of vocational education.
r History of teaching and philosophy of education (90 hours). Fundamentals
of pedagogical genealogy; role of folk teaching and religions in the develop-
ment of the educational sciences; organizational forms of moral education and
pedagogical skills in primitive societies; early educational research and the de-
velopment of education systems; education as a science; mediaeval European
education (theories and practice); the development of the educational sciences
and philosophy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; Russian
education (pre-history: seventeenth century, eighteenth to early twentieth cen-
turies, the Soviet period, the democratic development period); education in the
present-day world (role, driving forces, tendencies); the complex global ed-
ucational crisis; comparative international education as a means of resolving
the global educational crisis; human development—factors and concepts; mis-
sion and targets of the present-day educational sciences; national and inter-
national educational sciences; liberty and social requirements as pedagogical
phenomena.
r General and TVET educational sciences (150 hours). The essence, elements,
institutions, driving forces, general tendencies, mission, principles, contents,
methods and means of the TVET teaching process; TVET teaching design; cur-
rent vital issues of TVET; the individual style of the TVET teacher; the TVET
teacher’s professional development.
r Moral education methods (80 hours). The technology of moral education within
TVET; strategies and techniques for solving situations of educational conflict;
functions and strategies of educational influence; moral education design and
management; general characteristics of innovative moral education systems

within TVET.
r Educational technologies (80 hours). Educational models; general characteris-
tics of present-day innovative educational technologies; TVET system design;
educational situations modelling; efficient educational management.
r TVET methodology (280 hours). General characteristics of the key components
and stages of TVET processes; mission and strategies of TVET; taxonomy of
didactic objectives; TVET contents (national, regional and institutional compo-
nents of the State educational standards; principles for the selection of contents,
curriculum design factors); essence, objectives and key characteristics of general,
polytechnic and special field education; scientific and methodological fundamen-
tals of TVET contents analysis and selection; methods, means and forms of
theoretical education and practical training (notions, essence and character-
istics); didactic activities of the TVET teacher (essence, functions, structure
and contents); didactic design of objectives, contents and technology; general
characteristics of TVET teacher technological activities; vocational orientation,
motivation and educational stimulation of TVET students; formation of voca-
tional knowledge and skills within TVET; technological optimization of efficient
TVET; control and activity and competence correction within TVET (structure,
methods, requirements, efficient forms, means, tools); research on professional
competence; practicum on TVET methodology.
The particular features of the pedagogical and psychological studies cluster within
American curricula are as follows:
1. The contents of psychological courses within the structure of the cluster are
based on the behaviourist theory, that is, the strict application of the ‘stimulus-
reaction’ scheme;
2. This cluster emphasizes social and philosophical aspects of TVET in the USA,
that is, American TVET teacher trainers do not consider in depth the general
trends and tendencies of world educational theories, which are thought to be
fundamental in Russian universities (Curriculum Development at Agricultural
Universities, 1997).
7 Specialized Vocational Studies
In Russian TVET teacher-training curricula this cluster is made up of a long and

rather diverse list of courses that are selected according to a student’s major. These
courses are comparatively extensive, having generous time-budgets, amounting to
as much as 1,280 contact hours. The chief disadvantage of this cluster in Russia—
compared to similar American curricula—is in the lack of elective courses, which
are demanded by students who would like to make their own choice of a minor. Such
choice opportunities are recognized as vital for the future professional mobility of
TVET teacher-training graduates.
Curricula in the USA feature this cluster as being made up mostly of elective
courses (except for Texas A&M). This is certainly the result of the unique opportu-
nity offered to university alumni: they can take additional vocational courses even
after their formal graduation from the university.
8 Conclusion
Russian universities provide four-year (bachelor’s degree) and five-year (advanced

vocational degree) TVET teacher training. This training is rather specialized, pro-
viding Russian students with narrow minors. Graduates with the TVET advanced
vocational degree may be employed in any teaching position, including those of
junior professors at university. In comparison, American universities provide TVET
teacher training that entitles course graduates to be employed in high schools. In
this way, American studies are designed to prepare students for teaching in a wider
range of school subjects. The main emphasis here is placed on the training of a well-
rounded teaching professional who would be capable of resourceful data selection
and accumulation, and further efficient self-education.
On the whole, TVET teacher-training curricula are considerably different in
Russian and American universities. This basic difference concerns certain course
contents, course cluster design and a general discrepancy in qualification levels be-
tween the two countries. At the same time, the course objectives and the educational
technologies utilized are relatively similar. This factor provides a solid background
for further co-operation in mutually beneficial TVET teacher training and other as-
pects of Russian-American vocational education.
In order to advance the quality of the TVET teacher-training curricula to meet the
ever-growing domestic and international requirements in this field of training, we
have established a specialized Department of Education Systems and Technologies,
which operates under the auspices of the International Centre of Education Systems.
This department is currently working as a link between the Russian Association of
Professional and Pedagogical Education (Ekaterinburg, Urals Region) and both the
Russian National UNEVOC Centre, Moscow, and the UNESCO-UNEVOC Inter-
national Centre, Bonn. Although this institution is relatively young (established in
mid-2005), the practical outcomes of international co-operation in the field of TVET
teacher training are underway and the perspectives are extremely promising.
References
Curriculum development at agricultural universities. 1997. (Proceedings of the Russian-American
Workshop. Moscow State University of Agricultural Engineering.)
Russian Federation. Ministry of Education. 2000. State Educational Standard of Higher Profes-
sional Education: Major 030500 - Professional Training (TVET). Moscow. [In Russian.]
Zhuchenko, A.A.; Romantsev, G.M.; Tkachenko, E.V. 1999. Professional and pedagogical ed-
ucation in Russia: contents and organization. Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation: Urals State
Professional and Pedagogical University. [In Russian.] ISBN 5-8050-0016-4.
Chapter VIII.10
Vocational Qualifications: The Role
of Trade Unions as Negotiation Fora
Antônio Almerico Biondi Lima and Fernando Augusto Moreira Lopes
1 The Participants in Vocational Qualification want to be Heard
The purpose of this chapter is to discuss, in the light of historical experience and
of recent actions taken by trade unions in the field of vocational qualification, the
advantages of social dialogue and collective negotiations (both bipartite and tri-
partite) aimed at the universalization and social effectiveness of public policies on
vocational qualifications and education in developing countries, especially in Latin
America.
Our starting point is the relative failure of vocational education policies in several
developing countries, and even in some developed countries, following from the fact
that these policies were not connected with those on employment, development and
education. The incapacity of crossing the gap between the market perspective (in
which the market is the only important variable) and the compensatory perspective
(in which the market is a variable of secondary importance) has led, among other
consequences, to problems not being addressed, and to contents and methods being
divorced from reality, as well as to slow progress in the average qualification level
of workers in the countries under study.
These policies on vocational qualification and education, within both the private
sector and in the sphere of government action, tend to ignore or to treat as objects,
those who are the true subjects of such policies—the workers themselves. Therefore,
a hypothesis can be formulated: could it be that the non-participation of workers in
the formulation of policies (guidelines, contents, methods, etc.) and in assessment
is one of the important causes of such failure? If the answer is ‘yes’, would the
traditional trade unions be the most efficient participation mechanisms? Would it
not be the case that a new type of labour representation is necessary, one that goes
beyond the limits of being tied to a particular industry and towards a ‘citizen’s trade
union’ (Lima, 1999)?
In order to answer these questions, starting with the definition of qualifications
and vocational education, we will resort to an analysis of labour relations and of
concrete practices in vocational qualifications carried out by the workers, so as to
subsequently discuss the possibility of trade unions acting as negotiation fora for
the said qualifications.

1294 A.A.B. Lima, F.A.M. Lopes
2 Qualifications and Vocational Education
Nowadays, the terms vocational qualification, vocational education, vocational

capacity-building and vocational training are often used as synonyms. In the present
chapter, however, we distinguish qualification (a social relation built upon the inter-
action of the social agents of work around the ownership, meaning and use of the
knowledge built within and through the work process) from education (a systemized
process of acquiring both general and specific knowledge, that presupposes the exis-
tence of a set of relations among the social agents of education, particularly between
the educator and the student, concerning the appropriation, the meaning and the use
of the knowledge built up by mankind).
The notion of qualification is not new—and neither is the controversy that sur-
rounds it. For decades, it has been viewed as a key concept, and also as the meeting point
between work economy, work sociology and educational sociology. More recently,
pedagogy, as the science of education, has also been incorporated in the concept, based
on debates on the relations between work and education (see Gómez et al., 1989).
Therefore, in a spatially and temporally discontinuous manner, work and ed-
ucational economy have generated the ‘human capital theory’; work sociology
has reformulated itself based on the three-phased ‘qualification-disqualification-
requalification’ scheme, and on ‘qualification as a social construct’, and a cer-
tain type of educational sociology and work pedagogy have developed upon the
paradigm of ‘work as an educational principle’.
These different traditions, each seeking some degree of confluence, have gener-
ated, besides the polysemy observed by Manfredi (1996), a false identity between
education and qualification, as if the latter were nothing but a modality of the former.
This usage, in addition to its connection with the different theoretical conceptions of
work and education, reveals the intentional demarcation of territory by social agents
using concepts for their own ends. Within the scope of work sociology, Littler (in
Castro, 1993), discerns three main concepts of qualification:
1. One that understands qualification as a set of characteristics of working rou-

tines, empirically expressed as in-job apprenticeship time, or as skills acquirable
through training. Therefore, the qualification for the job position and that of the
worker are equivalent.
2. One that relates qualification to the worker’s degree of autonomy, and is therefore
opposed to management control, which would imply skills acquirable through
‘training’ in and for work.
3. One that perceives qualification as a complex, contradictory and multi-determined
social construct.
The authors of this chapter choose to assume this third perspective, following in the
footsteps of Castro (1992, 1993) who, in keeping with his conception of the work
process, states that qualification includes:
1. Conflicts of interests and motivation of three types: inter- (capital and workers),
intra- (different segments of the working class, such as engineers, technicians
VIII.10 Vocational Qualifications 1295
and labourers), and extra- (transversal interactions according to gender, ethnicity,

generation, etc.) social classes;
2. The relation between power and different types of knowledge in the workplace,
where it becomes important: (a) to verify the construction of classifications and
categorizations of qualification; (b) to consider to what extent the definition of
qualification is dependent on tradition and mores; (c) to observe the pertinence
of the characteristics of the acquired type (length of schooling, for instance) and
of the qualities of the inherent type (sex, colour, age) in the construction of the
classification of workers and of the tasks performed by them;
3. Skills acquirable through training, transmissible through language, duly distin-
guishing between the qualification demanded by the job position and the qualifi-
cation of the worker himself/herself;
4. Tacit qualifications, built in the daily life of the workplace, and not transmissible
through language.
As to education, the authors start from a broad concept that perceives it:
1. As a modality of non-material work, linked to the production and reproduction
of knowledge on the whole of human production (Saviani, 1991).
2. Under the form of several processes, that may be grouped (Torres, 1993) as:
(a) formal, characterized by structured curricula and well-defined intentions,
being linked to the chronological age of the students, and issuing certificates
recognized by society de facto and de jure, being, therefore, ‘official’; (b) non-
formal (for example, continuous and lifelong education, liberating education,
popular education and adult education), not characterized by a particular period
of time, and that can happen at any moment in the life of the student and leading
to special certification processes; and (c) informal, those that are casual, and
occur anywhere and at any moment of time, having no structured curricula or
any clearly discernible purposes.
3. Beyond school and/or official (formal) institutions and experiences, also taking
into account: (a) the teaching/learning processes occurring throughout people’s
lifetimes; (b) reading, interpretation and assimilation of facts and events expe-
rienced either individually or collectively; (c) the absorption, modification and
internalization of the existing culture; (d) the appropriation of social knowledge,
a heritage of mankind, in the quest for its own emancipation (Adorno, 1995).
4. As a possibility to be organized around: (a) the combination of education with
material production, adopting work as an educational principle that would al-
low not only the transmission of a new ethics, but, more importantly, whose
objective would be the elimination of the historical split between manual and
intellectual work; (b) a school organization that is public, free of charge, manda-
tory and unique, and that would actually unite general, technical and cultural
learning, abolishing the cultural and knowledge monopolies now existing in so-
ciety; (c) the integral development of a person, imagined as an individual capable
of participating in all spheres of social life; and (d) a transformation regarding
the separation between school and community and the competition that occurs
within the school.
5. The possibilities described above can be observed in the educational practices

developed by the disadvantaged segments of the population, with a view to their
cultural and political emancipation, consisting in what we call popular education
(non-formal educational practices, of an autonomous nature, carried out under
the control or influence of popular organizations) (cf. Brandão, 1980; Guerrieri,
1994). Therefore, educational experiences organized by trade-union movements,
of a unionist and/or vocational nature, would fall under this category.
An analysis of the work/education relationship, starting from the assumptions listed
above, leads us to discuss the way in which educational processes are influenced by the
needs of production, particularly when significant changes are under way in the work
process. Therefore, qualification, as a complex social construct, and closely linked to
the production and reproduction of the workforce, would play an important role in the
individual’s capacity to enter, remain in or be excluded from the productive process
(although these relations can extrapolate the sphere of production proper).
This means that qualifications cannot be viewed as belonging exclusively to the
world of work or to the world of education. It is necessary to perceive them as an
intersecting points, where several approaches and contributions must meet—one of
them being that of the worker-subjects.
3 From the Corporation Trade Union

to the Citizen’s Trade Union
Immediately after the end of the Second World War, the reconstruction and re-
democratization processes launched a new cycle of worldwide growth in the
European countries and in Japan, in which the workers and their organizations ex-
erted considerable influence. It was at this time that the major recommendations
and conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) sprang up, based
on the principles of social dialogue, and of tripartite and collective negotiations. In
the national sphere, the adoption of these instruments, particularly those referring to
the freedom and autonomy of trade unions (ILO, Convention 87, 1948) and the right
to join unions and participate in collective bargaining (ILO, Convention 98, 1949),
permitted and consolidated the involvement of trade unions in the formulation and
enforcement of public policies dealing with qualification (Barbagelata, 2000).
In Latin American countries, however, the maintenance of authoritarian regimes,
interspersed with brief democratic intervals, prevented the very existence of au-
tonomous trade unions, creating to some extent a participation void. In Brazil, for
instance, the Vargas regime (in the 1930s and 1940s) established a model of cor-
poration trade unions based on the ‘Carta del Lavoro’ of Italian Fascism. Although
strongly opposed by the workers for decades, particularly during the 1960s and
1980s, this model has survived until the present. At this moment, new perspectives
are opening up in terms of the democratization of labour relations in the country.
The administration that took office in 2003 immediately established the National
Labour Forum, a tripartite meeting place based on equal representation, with the
task of formulating proposals for reforms that, later on, would be transformed by
the government into proposed amendments to the Constitution, and subsequently

forwarded to the National Congress for debate and approval.
Consequently, lacking the right to organize free trade unions, and with collective
bargaining controlled by the State, the majority of the countries in the region did
not develop a culture of full social dialogue. The workers, both men and women,
were major players in the struggle for democracy that cannot be dissociated from
the demand for the freedom and autonomy of trade unions and the building of
a democratic system of labour relations. The advances attained were curtailed by
new periods of dictatorship, although it could be expected that the region’s present
democratic stability will speed up and lead to some progress.
Nevertheless, since economic crisis and unemployment weakened the trade
unions, an opportunity then opened up for the winds of deregulation to come from
the developed countries, as well as for the hegemony of the ideology of the end of
history and the single thought. One of the axes in this process was—and still is—the
questioning of the role to be played in social dialogue by tripartite and collective
negotiations, as well as the role of trade unions.
However, the old institutionality remains, and also the old culture, disguised as
what could be called neo-corporativism, that is, trade-union action based on a nar-
row vision of gains for a specific group, to the detriment of the working class as a
whole and of society in general (Lima, 2000).
At the other extreme, both the workers’ reflection and practice indicate a new
type of organization, the ‘citizen’s trade union’ that seeks to build a collective con-
tract that takes into account the interests of segments of the population and of the
workers who have previously been ‘excluded’ from several aspects of social life:
housing, social security, minimum income, education, health, transport, etc. The
citizen’s trade union may imply (Nascimento, 1998): (a) trade-union action that
goes beyond the limits of corporations; (b) a new form of trade-union organization
based on diversity and on territory; (c) changes in the concept of representativeness
and in the construction of alliances; (d) new strategies for the creation of jobs and a
new agenda of demands; (e) a new political culture, including the politicization of
daily life; and (f) a new plan for education.
In this case, the discussions concerning vocational education and the new rights
that will allow work qualification, control over the training processes within com-
panies and the questioning of the present education system acquire strategic value.
4 Recent Experiences in Brazil
4.1 The Integrar Programme
Established in 1992, the National Confederation of Metallurgy Workers of the Cen-

tral Union of Workers (Central Única dos Trabalhadores—CUT) started to concern
itself with the issue of vocational training in 1994. The motivating factors were the
profound transformations that had been taking place within the industry. These mod-
ifications, resulting from technological and organizational modernization, required
new skills and capacities from the workers, which were reflected on the job market
by the new profiles required by entrepreneurs.
During the fourth Congress of the CUT Metallurgy Workers, held in 1995, a res-
olution was passed establishing the qualification issue as a priority, requesting that
the National Confederation of Metallurgy (CNM) should ‘include the vocational
training issue on its agenda’, and ‘develop a pilot experiment to serve as a guide for
its actions’. The project, based on guidance from CUT and supported by universities,
had the explicit aim of ‘developing and planning vocational training and establishing
relations between trade unions and unemployed workers’ (CNM, 1998a).
This resolution was the starting point of the Integrar Project, which was devel-
oped along three lines: (a) vocational qualification for unemployed workers (PID);
(b) vocational qualification for employed workers (PIE); and (c) qualifications for
trade-union leaders (PIFD).
From the very start, the Integrar Programme was conceived (see Box 1) as a
qualification and integral education programme, in response to the reality of the
low-level of schooling among Brazilian workers. Therefore, besides vocational and
social qualification, educational actions aimed at improving the workers’ schooling
(basic and secondary education), following an interdisciplinary approach, and bring-
ing regular and vocational education closer together, as well as technical knowledge
and general culture.
Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the CNM only developed the Integrar
Programme as an educational experiment, since ‘it would be the task of CUT to
develop a complete project for the training and requalification of workers in Brazil,
in as much as the solution to the unemployment problem does not lie in vocational
training’ (CNM, 1998b). The process of the formulation of the programme itself has
strengthened this premise:
During two months, the co-ordinators of the Programme held an informal survey among
unemployed workers who were concentrated in several locations in the city of São Paulo, in
order to verify the expectations of this segment as to vocational training courses. The issues
raised by the workers led to three basic premises that served as guidance for the Integrar
Programme: the value of the knowledge already amassed by the workers during the course
of their lives; technical training should be associated with basic education; and a debate
on the issue of employment and income generation—since one of the issues raised was: why
qualify, if there are no jobs? (CNM, 1998b) [Emphasis added.]
The Integrar Programme appeared as an innovative move not only because it in-
troduced new themes, methods and strategies, but also because it placed back on
the agenda former educational experiences acquired by the working class that had
slipped from the collective, unionist and academic memory (or rather, had been
completely forgotten), or that were not thought of as being relevant to the voca-
tional education processes. Moreover, the Integrar Programme became, within the
post-1964 trade-union movement, ‘the first experience of autonomous vocational
education to be conducted in a systematic manner, with unemployed workers, within
a trade-union strategy directed towards this public’ (CNM, 2001).
Since 1996, the various activities conducted by the Integrar Programme have
reached out to 21,000 people in nine Brazilian states. At present, the possibility of the
programme being introduced in Mozambique is being discussed with local unions.
Box 1. The Integrar Programme: main characteristics

1. Concepts: (i) the concept of vocational training – integrate technical
knowledge and basic education, ‘with the aim of developing the skills,
knowledge and attitudes necessary to reinsert the unemployed worker
within the work market and/or qualify him to join projects for employ-
ment and income generation’ (CNM, 1997) as a fundamental part of the
education of the worker citizen; (ii) the concept of active citizenship (the
action of the unemployed themselves creates tension within the institu-
tions); (iii) the concept of a citizen’s trade union, one that participates
and acts in the multiple social dimensions, moving about social space
and time (cf. Nascimento, 1998).
2. Target public: (i) unemployed workers; (ii) employed workers at risk of
being dismissed (downsizing); (iii) union leaders; and (iv) educators.
3. Contents: (i) starting from a central theme (‘core curriculum’), in the
present case, the productive restructuring, within which several fields
of general and technical knowledge are integrated; (ii) the integration
of this knowledge with that brought by the students is also viewed as
content; (iii) emphasis on the development of cognitive, affective and
social skills, with the technical knowledge placed in perspective; and (iv)
incorporation of contents linked to social practices (citizenship, develop-
ment, employment and income generation, co-operativism, the struggle
against unemployment, etc.), through concrete extracurricular activities.
4. Method: (i) application of the principles of popular education to regular
education; (ii) collective construction of knowledge; (iii) dynamic inte-
gration of the workers’ knowledge with academic knowledge (that of the
educators); (iv) the same type of integration between the educators of the
‘pedagogic pair’ (teacher and ‘instructor’); (v) psycho-social diagnosis
(recovery of self-esteem, assistance in cases of alcoholism and drug-use,
support in becoming a permanent member of the course, family involve-
ment).
5. Institutional integration and democratic management, preserving
autonomy. (i) relations with the university; (ii) relations with the public
authorities (municipal administrations, secretariats of labour); (iii) rela-
tions with the trade unions and popular movements.
6. Relation among qualification, workers’ organization and trade-
union action: (i) the possibility of establishing organizations of students
and former students, expanding trade-union action to reach the whole
city, rendering the ‘trade union/society relation’ real and concrete; (ii)
expansion of the actual capacity for intervention in the productive re-
structuring, through negotiation and collective contracts.
Although initially directed at the productive sector, the general principles de-
veloped by the Integrar Programme were the starting point for other nationwide
projects within CUT’s scope of action. These programmes were of a general
scope (Programa Formação Integral—Integral Training Programme; and Programa
Integração—Integration Programme), of regional scope (Programa Vento Norte—
North-Wind Programme; Programa Brasil Central—Central Brazil Programme,
and Programa Flor de Mandacaru—Mandacaru Flower Programme, etc.), and also
related to specific productive sectors (such as the Programa Terra Solidária—
Solidarity Land Programme, the Programa Raı́zes—Roots Programme, and the
Programa Semear—Sowing Programme, directed to rural workers).
Within the Integrar Programme, we intend to analyse specifically the
sub-programme aimed at employed workers, both men and women (PIE), which
has, at its core, the collective bipartite negotiation (employer company/trade union).
The methodology of vocational training negotiated was developed by the CNM,
in partnership with a public university, the Co-ordination of Graduate Programmes
in Engineering at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (COPPE/UFRJ). The
method necessarily includes a participative survey to be held in each company of
the metal-mechanical sector participating in the programme (Zamberlan, Thiollent
& Perrotta, 2002), which is organized according to the following stages:
1. Negotiation and contracting of the PIE between trade union and company con-
sisting of the presentation of the project to the company management by the
CNM/local trade union and COPPE/UFRJ, starting the formal negotiation pro-
cess with a view to conducting the survey.
2. Carrying out the field survey: A survey team formed by two union leaders (em-
ployed in the company) and a trade-union assistant, all qualified for the job
and assisted by the COPPE/UFRJ, developed the survey of primary and sec-
ondary data on the company (technology, organization of production and of work,
products and market development, major competitors and suppliers, vocational
profiles existing within the company, human resources and vocational training
policies, etc.).
3. Preparation of a diagnostic report on the company. The trade-union teams,
jointly with the COPPE/UFRJ team, prepared a specific report for each partic-
ipating company. This report will be discussed with the representatives of each
one of them, and also with the specific trade union, so as to come to an agreement
regarding the information/interpretations and to prepare a final report.
4. Preparation of the proposal for vocational training. Based on the consolidated
report, the proposal for vocational education will be prepared, with the aim of:
(a) raising the level of quality of the personal and vocational life of the workers;
(b) improving the existing labour relations; and (c) expanding the effectiveness
and efficiency of the company’s productive process;
5. Negotiation of the vocational training proposal between trade union and com-
pany. At this stage, the training course to be introduced in the company is ne-
gotiated with the management, and the process of implementing the necessary
actions is formalized through the signing of a legal agreement by both parties.
6. Implementation of the vocational training project within the company. Based on

the results of the diagnostic survey as presented in the report, the project is for-
matted, including the following aspects: (a) basic training, bringing together ba-
sic and secondary education; (b) general technical training, dealing with changes
in the technological actions employed in the company’s productive sector; and
(c) focused technical training, directed at the needs of specific sectors or posi-
tions in the company.
The authoritarian and anti-consensus culture has hindered the contracting of voca-
tional qualification in Brazil. In the case of the PIE, despite the initial receptiveness
shown by the entrepreneurs, most of the experiences have not gone beyond Stage 5.
However, the results were rather significant, whether or not the cycle was completed.
4.2 The National Qualifications Plan

Since its establishment in 1937, the Brazilian Ministry of Labour and Employment
has been either directly or indirectly active in vocational qualifications. The present
administration (inaugurated in 2003), starting from the diagnosis that the National
Plan for Workers Qualification (PLANFOR, in force from 1994 to 2003) was on
the point of collapse, drew up the Social and Vocational Qualification Programme
(PQSP) to be in force from 2004 to 2007.
The Ministry adopted the concept of qualification as a central notion in public
policies. The most relevant aspects of this concept are defined in Box 2.
Box 2. The definition of qualification adopted by the Ministry of Labour

and Employment
Qualification is:
a) an indissoluble part of Labour, Employment and Income Policies, both urban

and rural; public or private, and regardless of whether they result in wage-
earning employment, individual entrepreneurship or solidarity action;
b) a form of vocational education (initial and continuing education) that
should form part of the education of youth and adults, rural education and
vocational education at the technical and technological level;
c) a process for constructing affirmative policies regarding gender, ethnicity
and generation, insofar as it acknowledges the diversity of work and
demonstrates its multiple capacities, both individual and collective;
d) a form of social recognition of the workers’ knowledge, namely, of voca-
tional and occupational certification, that should be an integral part of the
classifications of occupations, professions, careers and skills; a necessity
for youth and adults, both men and women, in terms of vocational orienta-
tion concerning their insertion into the world of work; whenever there is a
dispute over hegemony, the collective negotiation of vocational qualification
and certification should be part of a democratic system of work relations.
Concerning what is actually expected of public policies on vocational qualifica-

tion, the ministry states that: (a) these policies, when integrated with other public
policies, particularly those dealing with employment and income generation, in-
crease the chances of inserting the more vulnerable populations into the working
world; (b) when integrated into educational policy, it contributes to restoring the
right to education of young people and adults, and also of meeting one of the most
important requisites in society and in the world of work—schooling; (c) when inte-
grated into development policies, especially at the local level, these more vulnerable
populations should participate in and enjoy the results of the local industry, and the
support and solidarity of local development; (d) in times of economic growth, if
it has previously been associated with employment generating sectors of the econ-
omy, it affords a greater homogenization of the work market in terms of access
and income, and also reduces the costs and the time spent in the contractual pro-
cess with a more rapid impact upon unemployment; (e) it allows a greater level
of survival for individual and collective enterprises, based on the principles of the
solidarity economy; and (f) in order to integrate work, education and development,
the PQSP must have social effectiveness (to serve those who need it the most—the
unemployed workers and the more vulnerable groups—at the right moment) and
educational quality (class hours and contents compatible to the requirements of the
working world). The general objective of the PQSP is to plan, integrate and finance
the implementation of qualification, certification and vocational guidance efforts,
together with employment, educational and development policies, thus contributing
to the progress and consolidation of the National Vocational Training System, the
Public System of Employment and the National Education System (Brazil. Ministry
of Labour and Employment, 2003).
Based on these premises, the PQSP proposes to co-ordinate the development
of actions focused on the social and vocational qualification of workers, with
emphasis on social impact, educational quality, efficiency, territoriality and empow-
erment, jointly with actions aiming at employment and income generation, certi-
fication and vocational guidance. These proposals are consistent with the concept
of quality adopted, insofar as the ministry views qualification as a set of policies
situated on the intersection of work and education, and intrinsically linked to an in-
clusive and income-distributing development process that aims at reducing regional
inequalities.
The PQSP is subdivided into four types of action: the National Qualification
Plan—PNQ (launched in July 2003); the sectoral qualification plans; the vocational
certification; and vocational orientation. During 2003 and 2004, over 280,000 indi-
viduals were qualified by these programmes, representing an investment of approx-
imately US$50 million.
The notion of quality adopted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment nec-
essarily implies mutual agreement, which has actually occurred in practice, at least
concerning three areas:
1. The National Qualification Plan (PNQ). At the state and municipal levels, the
implementation of qualification actions in specific areas, through territorial
qualification plans (PLANTEQs), requires the discussion, approval and moni-

toring by the employment committees, standing tripartite organisms with equal
representation.
2. The implementation of pilot experiments of vocational certification (metal-
mechanical and civil construction) led to the establishment of tripartite moni-
toring committees.
3. In the establishment of Sectoral Qualification Plans, where the possibilities of
mutual agreement are more evident, since these plans are defined as:
a participative space [. . .] a strategy complementary to the PLANTEQs, aimed at meet-
ing emergency demands for qualification, both general and sectoral, identified through
corporate, social or governmental initiatives [. . .] structured according to the princi-
ples of: (a) integration of the policies on development, employment (particularly work
intermediation), qualification and vocational certification; (b) agreement among gov-
ernmental, private and social agents, special attention being given to tripartite dialogue;
and (c) co-financing according to the size and the economic capacity of each party [. . .]
with participative debate on the project and organization of the public, private and social
agents involved, in the form of an Agreement Committee, with equal representation, and
tripartite at the least (Brazil. Ministry of Labour and Employment, 2004).
Emphasis should also be placed on the debate concerning vocational qualification

and certification within the scope of MERCOSUR (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and
Uruguay), since these debates occur in Sub-group 10, with the participation of gov-
ernments, businessmen and workers. The political guidelines, however, are validated
by the Socio-Labour Committee of MERCOSUR, a standing organism of a tripartite
nature.
5 Possible Bipartite and Tripartite Negotiations
Recent experiences linking vocational qualification and collective negotiations,

originating in the European Union and in several individual European countries,
such as Spain, Italy, Portugal and France, demonstrate the feasibility of an agree-
ment in that area (Uriarte & Rı́molo, 1998). Likewise, experiments that took place
in Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia and Panama, although limited, also demon-
strate the concrete possibilities of this course of action in developing countries.
The international recognition of social dialogue and collective negotiations aim-
ing at vocational qualification is summarized in Recommendation 195 (Human Re-
sources Development) of the ILO, adopted at the ninety-second International Labour
Conference (2004). Within MERCOSUR, the Socio-Labour Declaration also points
to the need for negotiated agreements in the field of vocational qualifications.
In Brazil, the above-mentioned experiences (Integrar Program, PQSP/PNQ and
MERCOSUR’s Socio-Labour Committee), although in the early stages, are auspi-
cious in terms of overcoming models that exclude workers’ participation.
Negotiated vocational qualifications open up new possibilities for the inclusion
of interests, namely, a negotiation process capable of detecting elements in the in-
tersection between the company’s and the trade union’s conceptions regarding the
development of the vocational qualification of workers. This statement is based on

the belief that modern industrialization with social justice and democratic work re-
lations presupposes the active and negotiated participation of all social players.
Vocational qualification is capable of becoming a link between the new demands
brought about by the problems of a mutating production world and possible new
solutions, constructed with the active participation of all stakeholders. In this con-
text, vocational qualification assumes a strategic position, both for entrepreneurs
and workers and for the countries that exert social and political regulation over the
growing exchanges that take place within a globalized economy.
Therefore, a negotiated vocational qualification presupposes (Nascimento, 1998)
the acknowledgement of the fact that its locus is the intersection among at least
three different fields: that of production (work), that of the State (public policies and
citizenship), and that of education (educational action). Moreover, as a public con-
certed action, qualification must be part of a broader agenda, associated with social
and economic development, with social inclusion and with the democratization of
labour relations, insofar as it is not an isolated activity, and cannot be implemented
only from an educational perspective.
In that manner, we can view it as a social and vocational qualification, whose
actions must be implemented along the following lines: (a) democratization of
the labour relations, particularly concerning the strengthening of organization in
the workplace and of collective negotiations and contracting; (b) democratization
of the State, acknowledging the role of social movements in the formulation and
management of public policies, and ensuring their participation in the framing of
employment policies; and (c) the democratization of education, overcoming both the
work/school duality and the notion of occupational or merely instrumental training.
These changes presuppose a deep and joint reformulation of the labour relations
systems, of the public systems of employment and of education systems, whose
principles are expressed in Box 3 (CUT, 1995; Lima, 1999; Brazil. Ministry of
Labour and Employment, 2003). The challenge of building national and regional
systems of vocational training can only be faced through concerted action, where
trade unions, as this chapter has tried to demonstrate, have much to say.
Box 3. Principles for a democratic system of vocational education

1. Unemployment is a political and economic issue that results from devel-
opment models based on exclusion. It is not a personal problem derived
from the worker’s lack of qualification/education.
2. It is the duty of the State to guarantee public, free-of-charge education
of good quality for all, including vocational education.
3. Qualification is a field where different agencies and policies interact,
such as labour, employment and income, and education and develop-
ment. Therefore, social dialogue, tripartite agreement and collective ne-
gotiation and contracting should be guaranteed.
4. The dynamic integration between training and citizenship-building con-

tributes to the development of society, in its social and economic aspects,
to the democratization of the State, to the increase of the productivity of
private enterprises and to the strengthening of social movements and
civil society.
5. Public resources, besides being used ethically, must give priority to ac-
tions that meet the needs of unemployed workers and vulnerable popu-
lations.
6. Social and vocational qualification actions must be carried out together
with actions aiming at development, social inclusion and education, and
must include vocational certification and guidance.
7. The integration between social and vocational qualification and the in-
crease in schooling, insofar as it establishes complementarity among al-
ternative and official modalities of education, contributes to the rescuing
of a fundamental aspect of the social debt—the right to education.
8. Workers, both men and women, must be viewed as individuals, and their
subjective, social and political dimensions must be respected and taken
into account.
9. The process of knowledge-construction must systematically restore and
confer value on the knowledge held by the workers, acquired from the
experiences, work and struggles of their lives, and must also take into
account socio-cultural diversity, implying the rescue of popular experi-
ences of vocational qualification and education.
10. Vocational qualification must not be restricted to the technical sphere,
and it must be combined with general knowledge, culture and education
for citizenship, with a view to the complete education of the worker.
11. Educational processes must be developed within an interdisciplinary and
trans-disciplinary perspective, and oriented along a central axis associ-
ated with the socio-cultural context and the demands of the world of
work and of society.
12. Insofar as the above-mentioned principles are observed, the plurality
and creativity of all educational agents must be respected, whether they
represent the State, private enterprises or trade unions and other social
movements.
13. Vocational qualification and educational actions should, whenever fi-
nanced with public money, be free of charge, broadly publicized and
subjected to permanent planning and evaluation, through mechanisms
of social control.
The recognition of the vocational qualifications and educational experiences

amassed by trade unions and other social movements is the starting point for the
democratization and reformulation of public policies on work and education. How-
ever, the major challenge is to abandon the authoritarian culture, the obsession and
blindness of a certain intellectual elite who, mistrusting the wisdom of their own
people, still opt to import or to adopt solutions when social movements have so
much to offer.
References
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Brasilia: MTE.
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sindical. Sao Paulo, Brazil: CNM.
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para o trabalho. Sao Paulo, Brazil: CNM.
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Sao Paulo Brazil: CNM.
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Brazil: CNM.
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InformaCUT, no. 257, setembro.
Gómez, C.M. et al. 1989. Trabalho e conhecimento: dilemmas na educação do trabalhador, 2nd
ed. Sao Paulo, Brazil: Cortez.
Guerrieri, M.A. 1994. A dialética como método e sua apropriação pela educação popular no
Brasil. [Unpublished master’s dissertation, Espirito Santo University, Vitória, Brazil.]
Lima, A.A.B. 1999. Rumo ao sindicato cidadão? qualificação profissional e polı́ticas públicas
em tempos de reestruturação produtiva. [Unpublished master’s degree dissertation, Salvador
University, Brazil.]
Lima, A.A.B. 2000. Qualificação profissional e sindicalismo Brasileiro na virada do Século XXI:
momento de decisão? In: Núcleo Temático Educação do Trabalhador/Escola Sindical São
Paulo, ed. Portugal, Holanda e Brasil: sindicatos, formação profissional e formação sindical.
Sao Paulo, Brazil: ES-SP. (Formação sindical em debate, no. 4.)
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Brazil: Escrituras.
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social, formación vocational e institucionalidad. Montevideo: CINTERFOR.
Chapter VIII.11
Vocational Education and Development
1 Introduction
We start from the premise that unified basic education (primary and secondary) and
vocational (occupational) education,1 both being a right for all citizens, are basic
necessities for all aspects of life in societies where justice, citizenship and democ-
racy function. Therefore, access to good-quality basic education and occupational
training leads to people’s active and self-sufficient insertion into the working world,
especially in view of recent advances in science and technology. (Since we believe
that basic education and vocational education, in spite of their specific characteris-
tics, are organically related, we will treat them as such throughout this chapter. We
believe that, wherever basic education is of poor quality, vocational education will
be of poor quality too.)
In this chapter, we attempt to emphasize, first, that the mainstream approaches to
the linear relationship between education, vocational training and development do
not take into account the structures of power in a society that has created and neu-
tralized the dualism existing in the educational field, nor the asymmetrical relations
among developed countries and those developing countries that are ‘peripheral’ and
‘semi-peripheral’ (Arrighi, 1998) to capitalist societies.
Secondly, we will try to draw attention to the single or reductionist vision of
development, to the historical contexts in which the theory of human capital was
formulated, as well as to the notions of the knowledge society, competence-based
learning and employability. We will emphasize the fact that the thesis stating that
the ‘developing’ and ‘under-developed’, peripheral or semi-peripheral countries and
the socially excluded, poor and low-income groups find themselves in their present
situation because they have been receiving poor schooling and precarious vocational
education—which has been predominant and recurrent ever since the 1950s—is not
only false, but the opposite of the truth.
It is the opposite of the truth because it masks the asymmetrical power relations
among nations and among social classes in the international division of labour.
Although education and development are always viewed as correlated, basic and
vocational education are not the fundamental determining factors that explain the
backwardness and penury of poor countries and populations. On the contrary, their
poverty is related to the historical inheritance of colonization and their constant

1308 G. Frigotto et al.
subordination to the hegemonic centres of capitalism that still prevent these coun-
tries from developing autonomously and attaining universal basic education, as well
as providing vocational education of good quality. To put it another way, the positive
correlation between education, vocational education and development does not war-
rant the conclusion that the former are fundamental prerequisites for the latter—as
the commonly accepted tenet of economics has claimed for the last fifty years.
In the final considerations in this chapter, we will indicate some of the chal-
lenges, in terms of external and internal relations, that must be faced in order to
produce effective changes in the scenario under analysis, regarding the possibilities
of development and of redeeming the debt in terms of effective democratic basic
and vocational education.
2 Structural Duality and Asymmetrical Relations
We affirm, from the start, that occupational education of good quality is not possible
without the support of basic education of good quality. A historical interpretation of
these relationships, as well as their association with development, proves to be prob-
lematic (see Ramos, 1995, for an analysis of the contradictory relationship between
development plans and programmes and policies for technical and technological
education in Brazil from the 1950s to the 1990s).
Indeed, the historical genesis of the school took place during the eighteenth cen-
tury, during the same sequence of events that brought about the emergence of mod-
ern science and the bourgeoisie as the hegemonic social class. The school plays an
important role in the consolidation of the hegemony of the ruling classes in relation
to a feudal society and to the power of the Church and of the centralized State. The
school arises as a lay public institution, free of charge and universal, having, simul-
taneously, the function of developing a new culture, of teaching new generations the
body of ideas required in modern society, and of systematically socializing scientific
knowledge. It is important to emphasize the fact that, in its classic form, the school is
characterized as an environment for different systematic modalities of learning: the
values, the attitudes, the symbols and the concepts are just as important acquisitions
as the development of knowledge and cognitive skills. On the other hand, it is the
lay school (i.e. not belonging to the Church, not belonging to the capitalist landlord,
and not belonging to the business world), public, free of charge and universal that
synthesizes the ideas of the French Revolution, the effective beginning of modernity,
and of the ideas of an egalitarian, just and fraternal society.
From the start, however, there was an obvious and insoluble contradiction among
the economic and political structure, the social relations within the incipient society
and the need for a dual education: a classic school teaching general education, with
an ample scientific basis, aimed at the ruling classes, and another school, practical
and instrumental, for the occupational training of workers. The school has the func-
tion of teaching, training, coaching or educating, according to the role to be played
in the workforce according to a specific conception devised by the ruling classes. An
VIII.11 Vocational Education and Development 1309
education distributed in homeopathic doses, according to Adam Smith, that prepares

only for ‘what is useful’ for the economy, since everything that is in excess, in the
words of John Stuart Mill, is superfluous and expensive.
With no dissimulation, Desttut de Tracy, in the early nineteenth century, clearly
expressed that which history has subsequently proved to be correct:
Men of the working class, from very early on, need the labour of their children. These
children must soon acquire the skills and, most of all, the habits and the tradition of hard
work for which they are destined. They cannot, therefore, waste time in schools. [. . .] The
children of the learned classes, on the contrary, can dedicate a much longer time to studies.
They have much to learn in order to attain what is expected of them in the future (Desttut
de Tracy, 1801, in Frigotto, 1987).
This same approach gave rise to the development of specific systems of education,
training or qualification, or, using our present designation, vocational (occupational)
education, at the same time or subsequent to basic school education, but more di-
rectly linked to the world of work.
Both this duality of the education system and the dynamic relation between basic
education and vocational training assume different forms in different societies, de-
pending on their historical origins and on the power relations among groups, classes
and class segments, both internally and according to their position in international
relations. It is by no means difficult to perceive the differences between the (approx-
imately twenty) countries that developed, mainly during the twentieth century, as
the hegemonic centres of the capitalist world, and the great majority of countries
that were relegated to the periphery or semi-periphery of that same world.
In the first case, one can observe the consolidation of the right to basic education
as a universal right, leading to articulated systems of education or training, managed
jointly by the public authorities, the private sector and the workers’ trade unions. In
the case of the countries on the periphery, what is evident is a deep inequality in
terms of access to and in the quality of basic education, with high illiteracy rates,
and an economically active population often with less than five years of schooling.
The occupational education policies, in this latter case, develop independently from
the workers they intend to train, under the almost exclusive control of the owner
classes. Ciavatta (2002) illustrates this situation in a comparative study of vocational
training in Brazil, Italy and Mexico.
In the case of Latin American societies, the recent history of several countries
indicates that, in spite of specific characteristics, the education systems are all frag-
ile, and the vocational training policies are prompted by crises or are focused on
teaching specific skills for a specific industry. In Brazil, particularly, the historical
legacy of the ‘coronéis e bacharéis’ (political powers and college-educated elites)
culture, with its strong slave-owning heritage and its philanthropic view of voca-
tional education, still has a strong influence upon the present situation. Concerning
educational management, Brazil constitutes a singular case of an almost monopo-
listic control of vocational education by the patrons of the ‘S’-System.2
A synthesis of this historical process—which prevents linear analyses of the rela-
tion between education and development since the 1950s, as we will see in the next
section—has been made by Arrighi (1998). After taking stock of the international
scenario in this present century, the author concludes that there is a group of coun-
tries that forms the organic core of capitalist economies, where the research activi-
ties are performed that lead to innovations involving new productive methods, new
sources of inputs and new forms of organization. The peripheral and semi-peripheral
countries, on the other hand, perform predominantly physical activities, and are con-
demned to receiving very few innovations and inadequate investments in education,
science and technology.
3 From Human Capital to the Knowledge Society
Since the 1950s, the relationship established between basic education/vocational

education and development has been based on an understanding of development
as synonymous with economic growth, and within a linear perspective, where the
power relations and the limits of the environment are not taken into account. Even
the most contemporary debates on sustainable development, for the most part, are
not free from being influenced by this perspective. The idea of a linear and limitless
development is now fiercely contested by historical evidence to the contrary. As
pointed out by Altvater (1995), the intense industrialization that took place under
this model of social regulation was not universal—it could not possibly be.
The distance between the countries that want to become fit and the societies that are already
fat, that is, rich, has not diminished. Frederich List formulated the rule of cunningness,
according to which ‘after getting to the top, destroy the ladder that took you there, so that
nobody else can follow you there’. [. . .] The model of capitalist industrialization is clearly
not capable of universalization. The successful exceptions to this rule are not enough to
invalidate it. The affluent capitalist society has an orderly side in the North, and a disorderly
or chaotic side in the South (Altvater, 1995, pp. 22 & 25).
Paradoxically, the notion of human capital, based on the research of Theodore

Schultz (1973) on the inequality of economic development among countries in the
1950s, and the notions of the knowledge society, competence-based methods and
employability formulated since the late 1980s, established an increasingly disguised
common meaning regarding the linear vision mentioned above. This common mean-
ing, widespread in international organizations, such as the World Bank, the World
Trade Organization and the Inter-American Development Bank, eventually suc-
ceeded in inculcating in the governments and poor populations of peripheral and
semi-peripheral countries the development illusion mentioned by Arrighi (1998).
Analyses of the historical process, mainly in the twentieth century, such as those
provided by Hobsbawm (1990, 1995) and Arrighi (1996), allow us to affirm that
the notions of human capital and of the knowledge society explain, in a back-to-
front way, two historical contexts of redefinition of capitalist relations and their
consequences, especially in regard to the working classes (Frigotto, 1987).
Indeed, the notion of human capital seeks to answer the disturbing question of
why economic and social inequality among nations and groups of individuals within
the same nation persisted or grew worse in the post-Second World War period.
The assumption, turned into a statement, arrived at from the study of statistical
correlations, was that this inequality was primarily due to differences in investment
in human capital, consisting of investments in schooling, training and health for the
working class.
From the educational point of view, the question that must be asked is: what
are the knowledge, attitudes and values that must be developed in school and in
vocational education that are functional in the world of labour and production?
Economists, managers, technocrats and planners tend to emphasize skills and cogni-
tive dimensions, while sociologists and psychologists underscore attitudes, values,
symbols and ideological dimensions (Finkel, 1977).
This reverse understanding of the historical process is due to the fact that, as
pointed out by Hobsbawm as early as the 1950s, the globalization of markets and
the movement of capital annulled the power of national States, mainly in developing
countries, over the planning of their economies and the control of their currencies.
This scenario marked the beginning of a progressive and mounting ‘vengeance
of capital’ against the external processes that, since the 1930s, were adopted as a
remedy in an attempt to regulate the cyclical crises of capitalism. We are referring
to Keynesian policies, to the Fordist system of social regulation and to welfare-state
policies originating in the contradictions of the capitalist system, in the organized
fights of workers of many countries, appearing as a strategy to confront the ex-
pansion of the Soviet bloc. These policies were concerned with eliminating the
restrictions on the exploitation rates, leading to the maximization of profits.
The breaking of the barriers to profit rates, especially in societies where the cap-
ital/labour relationship was more balanced, was conducted, at first, by means of
strategies adopted by multinational enterprises and, later on, through transnational
enterprises and the growing dominance of financial capital. In parallel, there were
increasing signs that the ‘really existing socialism’, to quote Hobsbawm, was about
to collapse.
The polarization between rich and poor countries began to become evident and,
consequently, the growing inequality among nations, and the increase in the num-
bers of poor and extremely poor population groups, especially in the Southern Hemi-
sphere (see Fitousi & Rosavallon, 1997, regarding the increase of inequality in Latin
American countries). In Latin America, the social movements demanding structural
changes in order to include the great disadvantaged majorities were restricted by
the dictatorship cycle. It was predominantly within the context of dictatorships that
educational reforms based on the ideas of human capital were introduced in Latin
America.
In developing countries, therefore, the vicious circle of mounting internal and
external debts and dependency, and the diminishing of investment capacity, es-
pecially in the social area, were reaffirmed. In spite of the dominant discourse
to the contrary, health, education and occupational training, all of them compo-
nents of the human capital formula, were receiving less and less of the available
resources.
It must be stressed that, given the situation at that time, policies in the fields of
basic education, vocational training and health were being developed within a soci-
ety that, although united, was unequal. It was a matter of producing and reproducing
a labour force adequate to the demands of the development processes, and to assign
to education and vocational training the role of rescuing the developing countries
from their present situation and bringing them up to the level of the core countries.
Likewise, this same model promised social mobility through better-paid jobs. In the
context of labour relations, the idea of regulating social justice through collective
bargaining mediated by public institutions, the private sector and workers’ trade
unions, although weakened, still remained valid.
From the mid-1980s onwards, several processes began to accelerate the process
of globalization of markets and of capital. Emphasis was placed on the importance
of financial capital, the consolidation of new and qualitatively different informa-
tion and communication technologies, and new forms of business organization and
management. These brought about major changes in the productive process. The
economy could now increase productivity by decreasing (streamlining) the number
of workers. The structural unemployment crisis that had been spreading for almost
two decades showed no signs of resolving itself. At the same time, with the col-
lapse of the Soviet bloc and the domination of a single economic model, capital’s
vengeance against labour was complete.
The growing unemployment of the last decades was not merely cyclic, but rather structural.
The jobs lost in the bad times would not return when times grew better: they would never
return [. . .] The historic tragedy of the crisis decades was that production could now clearly
dispense with human beings at a faster rate than the market economy could generate new
jobs for them. Moreover, this process was accelerated by global competition, by the finan-
cial squeeze affecting governments, which—either directly or indirectly—were the largest
individual employers, and not the least, after the 80’s, by the then predominant free-market
theology that pressed for the transfer of jobs to the entrepreneurial forms of profit max-
imization, primarily for private enterprises which, by definition, had no interests in mind
other than their own pecuniary concerns. This meant, among other things, that governments
and other public entities were no longer what was called last-resort employers (Hobsbawm,
1995, pp. 403–04).
It is in this context that the Washington Consensus was formulated, whose pre-
scription for developing countries was that of fiscal adjustments, deregulation of
markets, making labour legislation flexible and selling off public assets. The aim is
to remove the legacy of centralized social policies and to liberate the mechanisms
for the regulation of markets and of capital. The institutional bases that regulate
both international law and the domestic sphere are shifted to genuine market orga-
nizations. The World Trade Organization becomes the forum where the free-market
rules are decided upon, regardless of national interests. Monetarist and pro-fiscal
adjustment neo-conservatism assumes the lead. The International Monetary Fund
and the World Bank prepare the conditions for economic and social policy adjust-
ments, and negotiate these reforms with the elites that, either because they want to
or because they have to, proceed with their implementation.
In Brazil, in terms of basic, higher and vocational education, we have shifted
from civil-military dictatorship to the dictatorship of the market. A new cycle of
educational reform has begun, both in the educational and in the organizational
spheres. A growing process of privatization of institutions has been established. It

is not by chance that, in 2000, the WTO pointed out that one of the most prosperous
markets for private investments is the ‘educational market’. The educational reforms
in Chile, Argentina and Brazil that took place during the 1990s are emblematic of
this new direction. The analyses conducted by Céa (2003) and Grabowski (2004)
demonstrate unequivocally how the reforms of vocational education took place in
the move towards privatization.
In this new materiality of social relations, under the exclusive discourse of the
sovereignty of the market and the private rule of the great economic groups con-
trolling wealth, science, technology and information networks, the human capital
theory, in the terms it was formulated from the 1950s until the 1980s, was no longer
relevant as a basis for educational ideas. That notion preserved traits of an integra-
tive and contractual society. We are now in the era of the post-contractual society,
to quote Boaventura Santos (1999). ‘Who is society? There is no such thing,’ as
Margaret Thatcher proclaimed. ‘There are individual men and women and there are
families.’
The central notion in this move towards capitalist social relations is that of
the knowledge society, derived from technological determinism, meaning that sci-
ence and technology are now seen as autonomous entities, independent of social
relations—or from class relations and, consequently, from the power relations that
order and direct them. According to this determinism, the notion of the knowl-
edge society allows the single discourse to proclaim what Bourdieu and Wacquant
(2000) have named the new planetary vulgate: post-industrial and post-classist
society, a society no longer belonging to the proletariat, but rather to the cog-
nitariat. At the same time, emphasis is placed on the notion that we find our-
selves in a rapidly changing society, a society of discontinuity and, most of all, of
uncertainty.
In the field of basic and vocational education, the knowledge society—where
there are no more classes, only individuals, constantly marked by rapid change, dis-
continuity and uncertainty—which conception, which organization and
which educational practices can resolve economic problems? The answer given by
the educational reforms of the 1990s is the competence-based approaches and flexi-
ble educational structures that no longer prepare the individual for employment, but
rather for employability. It is not by chance that the notion of competence arises
in the business milieu and is incorporated into education, with a view to linking
it to the challenges posed by labour-market instability. Moraes (1998) provides
us with an exemplary synthesis of the body of ideas about the knowledge society
and of the role assigned to vocational education: (un)preparing for the society of
uncertainty.
Employability is a concept that goes beyond the search for employment or job security. It
means a set of skills which you demonstrably have mastered or are able to develop—within
or without the firm. It is the necessary condition for you to feel alive, capable and productive.
It concerns you as an individual, and no longer the company’s situation, good or bad, or the
situation of the country. It is the opposite of the old dream of a lifelong relation to the
company. Nowadays, the only lifelong relation is with the content of what you know how
to do and can do. The best a company can offer you is the following: let’s work together
and let it benefit us both, while it lasts; the break-up may happen for reasons beyond our
control. [. . . Employability] is the new name for security (Moraes, 1998).
The new body of educational ideas that now guides basic and vocational education
expresses a more radical inversion, in a context of regression of the capitalist social
relations. It is not a society of uncertainty, but rather a society of insecurity. The
globalization of capital has increased both the concentration of wealth and structural
unemployment, as well as the extreme poverty in developing countries, as shown in
Chossudvsky’s analysis (1999). We are facing a situation in which, as demonstrated
by István Mészaros (2002), capitalist activities destroy, one by one, the rights at-
tained during the twentieth century, including the right to work, besides degrading
the environment and jeopardizing the bases of human life.
The promise of employability, when confronted with this reality, not only reveals
its own deceitful nature, but also a high degree of cynicism.
a beautiful word that sounds new and seems to be destined to a great future: ‘employability’.
It soon reveals itself as a close relative of flexibility, and even as one of its forms. For the
wage-earner, it means to be available to all changes, all whims of fate, meaning of the
employers. He should be ready to change jobs constantly (as one changes one’s shirt, Ama
Beppa would say) (Forrester, 1997, p. 118).
These ideas of the knowledge society and competence-based learning for employa-
bility, as Beluzzo pointed out, were already presented to us in the 1960s and 1970s as
the ‘human capital theory’. Recycled, it now returns to explain, or to try to explain,
the worsening of inequalities in contemporary capitalism. In this manner, it is now
easier to lay on the individual the blame for his disgrace and his failure: ‘I am poor
because I am incompetent and without qualifications’ (Beluzzo, 2001, p. 1).
In fact, the logic of competence incorporates relevant traits of the human capital
theory, rephrased according to the ‘new’ capitalist sociability. It finds support in the
competitive market capitalism. The increase in marginal productivity is considered
as a function of the adequate development and use of the workers’ competence;
individual investment in competence development is both a consequence and a pre-
supposition of the capacity for adaptation to the instability of life. In the neo-liberal
manner, it is believed that this would result in well-being for all, since everyone
would have autonomy and freedom to make their own choices according to their
skills (Ramos, 2001).
4 Final Considerations
The overview we have presented leads us to stress the fact that one of the first
tasks facing us is the deconstruction of the relationship—dominant up until now—
between education, vocational education and development. It is a relationship that
maintains the colonialist manifesto of subservience and alienation. It should be
emphasized that the situation of inequality, either between regions (North/South),
among central and developing/least-developed countries, or among social groups
within each country cannot be explained first and foremost by their education or
occupational training, but rather by power and strength relations that have been built
up throughout history. ‘Contrary to the commandments and to the jabbering of the
single thought, the majority of them are not poor because they have not received
good education, but rather they have not received a good education because they are
poor’ (Beluzzo, 2001, p. 2).
It is therefore of fundamental importance to clearly grasp that the contributions
of the human capital theory, and also of the concepts of the knowledge society,
competence-based learning and employability, to the understanding of the relation-
ship between education and development do not succeed in explaining the historical
processes that generate inequality among and within nations. On the contrary, these
approaches lead us astray and away from such understanding, misinforming us as
to the role of basic and vocational education as social practices that mediate social
economic and cultural relations. As indicated above, concerning the approach used
by Mészários and Beluzzo, poverty keeps people away from a quality education that
would contribute to their development. And, without access to a quality education,
they are unable to participate effectively in the necessary social, political, cultural
and economic changes.
The establishment of new and different bases for understanding the relationship
between vocational education and development requires from developing countries
a body of decisions and policies to be adopted concomitantly and jointly, in an
attempt to meet both the criteria of social justice and those of the demands of the
productive system.
A first condition that will determine and guide all others would be to build social
forces and movements capable of leading to a cultural change within the elites of
developing countries. Such a change would necessarily break away from all existing
forms of colonization and submission in relations with international organizations
and with the core countries. Without substantial changes concerning the payment
of external and internal debts, developing and least-developed countries will never
break free from this vicious circle, and the quest for greater equality and develop-
ment will remain an illusion.
What would these structural changes be? In the Brazilian case, the following
measures can no longer be postponed: (a) agrarian reform and the taxation of large
fortunes, with a view to eliminating excessively large rural estates; (b) tax reform,
with the aim of reversing the regressive logic of taxation, according to which wage
earners and the poor populations pay more, in order to set right the enormous and
unjustifiable income inequality; and (c) social and legal reforms, instituting a public
sphere that guarantees social and individual rights.
These conditions, along with the strengthening of an active democracy and
a new conception of development—socially just, economically viable, solid and
participative—will bring about the financial, political and cultural changes that are
necessary to break away from the vicious circle of poverty and low investments in
education and in science and technology, so as to give a chance to those who are
doomed to perform nothing but ‘physical’ tasks within the international division of
labour.
For the future, there are crucial and dramatic problems to be resolved that imply
urgently needed distributive policies. It is in this context that the minimum income
policies are situated, such as family school-grants (bolsa-famı́lia) and so on, that
must be associated with the education of their beneficiaries. These policies must
be under public social control, so as not to degenerate into favouritism (the undue
favouring of political associates and protégés) and paternalism, both strong traits
in Brazilian political culture and, likewise, must not be permanent. For that reason,
efforts must target the adoption of emancipatory policies that guarantee employment
or work, as well as income, in order to improve the schooling of populations who,
due to the penury of their living conditions, tend to be satisfied with very little.
Lastly, we must reaffirm that it is imperative to abandon the body of ideas that
served as a basis for educational reforms adopted, at first, during the Latin American
military dictatorships, and which consisted in the notion of human capital and, at
present, under the dictatorship of the market, with the notions of the knowledge
society, competence-based learning and employability. The aim of all these con-
ceptions is the education of an ‘alienated productive citizen’ (Frigotto & Ciavatta,
2002), a marginalized citizen who will end up blaming his/her lack of schooling as
the reason for unemployment or underemployment.
The vocational education associated with a different perspective of develop-
ment, therefore, needs to be combined with basic education and with income- and
employment-generating policies. The broader social expectations consist of advanc-
ing towards a non-dualistic basic education that unites into a dynamic process of cul-
ture, knowledge, technology and work, which is seen as a right for all citizens and a
prerequisite for any kind of citizenship and for an effective democracy; an education
that produces subjects who are culturally, politically and scientifically prepared for
the changes indicated here and who, most of all, possess the non-negotiable convic-
tion that, as historian Hobsbawm (2000) explains, ‘people come first, and cannot be
sacrificed’ in the name of mere ‘economic commitments’. The great challenge of the
twenty-first century does not concern production, but the social capacity for demo-
cratic access to the outcomes of production. What is needed is the construction of an
effectively democratic public sphere, capable of ensuring that all individuals have
the right to work, health, education, dwelling, security, welfare, culture and leisure.
This issue, in essence, is not of an economic, but rather of an ethical-political nature.
Notes
1. In Brazil, the semantic variations for designating educational processes aimed at the workers
are not neutral. Act no. 5,692/71, in establishing mandatory vocationalization in secondary
education, introduced the term educação profissionalizante (vocationalizing education), in an
attempt to overcome the negative cachet suggested by the term ensino profissional (vocational
education), which connotes education directed to working-class youth. The terms formação
profissional or técnico-profissional (vocational or techno-vocational training) defined train-
ing directly related to the labour market. Its contents and purposes, however, were the sub-
ject of disputes between the organized workers and the entrepreneurial class. Starting from
1995, the Ministry of Labour and Employment developed the National Plan for Vocational
Education (PLANFOR), using the term educação profissional, which was consolidated by Act
no. 9,394/96. Beyond semantic variations, it is important to know to what extent the Brazilian
model of vocational education or training is committed to reality and to the needs of the working
classes. Under this principle, we will use, in this chapter, the term educação profissional (voca-
tional education), not in order to conform to the formal aspects of legislation, but rather because
we understand that, nowadays, this term covers the multiple, contradictory and problematic
processes of education for work.
2. For a systematic historical understanding of the conceptions and policies of vocational edu-
cation in Brazil, from the times of slavery to the present, see Cunha (2000a, 2000b, 2000c).
The ‘S’-System comprises institutions created since 1942 with a view to promoting the vo-
cational training of workers from the different productive sectors: industry (SENAI), com-
merce (SENAC), agriculture (SENAR), transportation (SENAT) and entrepreneurship (SE-
BRAE). Concerning the educational approach adopted by the Industrial Apprenticeship Service
(SENAI), the major institution of specific vocational training, see Frigotto (1983).
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Chapter VIII.12
A Technical and Vocational
Teacher-Training Curriculum
1 Introduction
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) are fundamental human
rights, as articulated in Articles 23 and 26 of the Universal Declaration of Hu-
man Rights (United Nations, 1948) which relate to the right to work and educa-
tion. The State is, thus, obligated to ensure that all learners have access to TVET,
albeit in the formal school system, which is its most likely source in African
countries.
However, the introduction of technical and vocational education (TVE) in the
school curriculum has a chequered past, which shapes current provisions of access
and quality. In the developed world, it has been a long struggle along class lines
to convince the wider society that vocational education could be both academi-
cally challenging and more so, rewarding, in an individual’s life. In these countries,
for example the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States
of America, early forms of TVET were apprenticeship schemes aimed at produc-
ing artisans and craftsmen. Nowadays, in countries such as these, TVET has been
transformed into educational support for disciplines that are taught alongside others
from kindergarten to university level and that culminate in the award of various
certificates, diplomas and degrees. The traditional views and approaches to TVE in
Europe, America and other parts of the world have, to a great extent, changed and
continue to evolve as TVE is brought into mainstream general education (AAAS,
1989; Kerre, 2006; Lasonen, 1996).
In the United Kingdom, for example, ‘design and technology education’ is an
innovation in which technical education has been reintroduced into the secondary
school curriculum to ensure technological literacy for all (Kimbell et al., 1991).
In the United States of America, what was previously called ‘industrial education’
has now been transformed into ‘technology education’ and is recommended for all
learners from kindergarten to grade 12. This is undertaken with the aim of making
all Americans technologically literate in the twenty-first century (AAAS, 1989).
In both countries, technology is also a subject of study at university level, with
particular emphasis on teacher education to build a strong foundation for learning.
Indeed, most European countries are now offering or beginning to offer qual-
ifications at the post-secondary education level with a dual orientation towards

1320 B.W. Kerre
employment and higher education. A recent study across some thirteen European
countries, as observed by Manning (2000), revealed that such a focus is seen as
preparing learners for lifelong learning.
On the other hand, in most developing countries there is not enough capacity
to guarantee free access to these educational provisions. Therefore, it is still nec-
essary to train individuals for occupations and trades that exist in the prevailing
economy. Traditional trade subjects, such as agriculture, woodwork, metalwork,
tailoring, motor-vehicle mechanics, home economics and so on are still taught in
schools in an effort to vocationalize the curriculum. Quite often, the intent is to
ensure that those who will not be able to proceed with further education will be
meaningfully deployed in the labour market. Yet, in effect, this is an erroneous as-
sumption, as will be discussed here. The purpose of vocationalization of the school
curriculum is to provide exposure to all students to assist them in understanding the
requirements for work and working life and not merely to train them as artisans and
craftsmen.
In an effort to accommodate TVET subjects in the formal school curriculum,
the issue of teacher education has often been ignored or dismissed. Yet, it is now
apparent that teachers are the determinants of the quality of the graduates of such
programmes, and therefore it is necessary to pay particular attention to teacher edu-
cation for the provision of TVET in schools.
This chapter examines the type and nature of the curriculum that should be in
place to prepare TVET teachers for countries where vocational education and vo-
cational training may be necessary at the same time. The preparation of the TVET
teacher presupposes, first and foremost, an understanding of the type and nature of
knowledge and skills that will be demanded of these graduates in the workplace or
at the next level of education and training. This will, in essence, shape the TVET
curriculum at the student and student-teacher levels. A case study of a TVET teacher
education programme at undergraduate and post-graduate levels, currently offered
at Moi University, Kenya, is used here to suggest what might constitute such a
preparatory programme for African countries. A renewed call is made for a balanced
school curriculum in which the liberal arts, the sciences and technical and vocational
subjects all form part of the core curriculum.
2 The Need for a Balanced School Curriculum
There is an urgent need for Africa to build and nurture a school curriculum that
integrates technical and vocational education into the mainstream general curricu-
lum so that all have access to it. This need was well articulated in the early days of
independence as follows:
the African countries, in a century characterized by technological progress, should embark

on a very broad expansion of technical and vocational education and specialized training
in the interests of their own development and especially for their industrialization (ECA-
UNESCO, 1961, p. 37).
VIII.12 A Technical and Vocational Teacher-Training Curriculum 1321
Africa’s new vision, as articulated at the second International Congress on TVET

in Seoul, Republic of Korea, in May 1999, is to have a policy dimension that sets
‘learning to do’ as parallel to the other pillars of learning and a curriculum dimen-
sion that systematically builds TVET in early forms of learning (see Figure 1). At
primary level, TVET should aim at awareness-raising. This will introduce children
to the world of work and the occupations that most adults engage in. At secondary
level, children will have opportunities to explore these vocations. They will learn
SPECIALIZATION
Tertiary level
EXPLORATION
Secondary level
AWARENESS-
RAISING
Primary level
KEY:
LAE: liberal arts ed.
SCE: science ed.
TVE: tech. & voc. ed.
Fig. 1 An integrated school curriculum for the twenty-first century

Source: Kerre, 2006.
1322 B.W. Kerre
POST-
GRAD HIGHER
TVT WORLD
OF
AG
(Post-secondary) WORK
University/ HE TECH BUS POST-
College/ Tech. Inst.
Level SECONDARY
SPECIALIZATION HSC
TVT
WORLD
OF
WORK
AG
BUS
Secondary Level TECH POST-
EXPLORATION HSC
HE PRIMARY
WORLD
TVT
OF
WORK
TVT
AG TRACK
Primary Level TECH
AWARENESS BUS
Legend:
AG-Agriculture
BUS-Business
HE- Health
HSC- Home science
TVE TRACK
TECH-Technology
Fig. 2 The technical and vocational education and training cluster in Kenya
about the need for work and why it is important for national development and self-
fulfilment for individuals to engage in and develop competence in their preferred
vocation.
At the post-secondary level, they will have opportunities to specialize in areas
of their own choice. Within the TVE cluster is found technology, the study that is
fundamental to all other TVE domains (see Figure 2).
Following this scheme, a TVET teacher at both primary and secondary level will
prepare learners for two important pursuits: further education and entry into the
world of work. It will be a dual approach in order to achieve the goals of orientation
for lifelong learning, to cope with changes in technology and to adopt new lifestyles
in the fast-paced twenty-first century.
In the context of the above curricular goals, the TVET teacher curriculum will
assist teacher-education students to secure the philosophical, sociological and psy-
chological foundations of TVET. It will also assist them to acquire the necessary
technological knowledge and practical skills in specific technology disciplines re-
quired to prepare their students for the world of work. What curriculum, then, should
we consider for such students?
3 The TVET Teacher-Education Curriculum

It follows from what has been proposed above, that a successful initial prepara-
tion programme for TVET teachers should be multi-faceted and offer opportunities
for upgrading both subject area and pedagogical knowledge and skills. The aim
of TVET teacher education is to equip the teacher with the necessary knowledge
and skills to guide the learning process. This will entail pedagogy and discipline
content. At present, there are no set guidelines for preparing such TVET teachers
for elementary and secondary levels of learning.
3.1 Preparing Teachers of TVET Subjects
3.1.1 Aim
The aim for initial TVET teacher preparation is as follows. The introduction of
technical and vocational subjects in the school curriculum is aimed at providing an
opportunity for all learners to acquire relevant knowledge and skills in technical and
vocational occupations and to impart positive attitudes toward the world of work
in school students. A TVET teacher must have both technical skills and pedagogi-
cal/teaching methodology to effectively prepare students for TVET.
3.1.2 Goals
The goals of a TVET curriculum, which by UNESCO’s standards (Atchoarena &
Delluc, 2002) ought to be an integral aspect of the general school curriculum, should
include:
r The introduction and initiation of learners to the world of work and the world of
technology;
r The acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes desirable for career develop-
ment and productive engagement in the world of work; and
r The preparation of learners for further studies at an advanced level in a chosen
occupational field.
1324 B.W. Kerre
Unlike the training of a technology teacher, which focuses on the broad technologi-
cal domain to impart technological competence, the training of a TVET teacher will
focus on the preparation of people who can impart knowledge about the world of
work and also provide specific skills for occupational entry.
3.1.3 Content
Traditionally, TVET subjects in Africa have been based on the following broad
areas: agricultural education, business studies education, health education, home
science education and technical education. Technical education has, over time, been
augmented with specific subject areas, such as: building and construction tech-
nology, electrical/electronics technology, mechanical technology, power mechanics
technology, and information and communications technology.
These subjects can be introduced at the secondary level for exploratory purposes
in the perspective of subsequent specialization at the post-secondary level. In this
way, they build upon the exploratory study of the world of work begun in primary
education. The demand for more practical experience by teachers is high at this level
because it aims at providing the kinds of specific skills that prepare students for job
entry. Consequently, an equal level of competence will be expected of the teacher
trainer.
Similarly, the TVET teacher curriculum content will include technical compe-
tence offered at a higher level, preferably at undergraduate level, if graduates are to
teach at the secondary and post-secondary levels and develop appropriate pedagog-
ical skills.
3.2 Preparing Teachers of Technology Education
A more recent option prepares teachers of technology education—those who will

teach technology as a subject in the school curriculum. Examples of those schemes
already in practice include the United Kingdom’s model of ‘design and technology’
for primary and secondary levels and the American version of technology education
for all from kindergarten to grade 12.
3.2.1 Aim
The principal aim of introducing technology education as a subject of study in the
school curriculum is ‘to impart technological literacy and capability’. Technological
literacy means having the ability to use and manage, assess and understand techno-
logical products and systems. Technological capability means having the know-how
to produce, use and manage technological products and systems.
3.2.2 Goals
The main goals of a well-delineated technology education curriculum for all should
thus include:
1. Developing an understanding of the nature of technology and how it relates to

modern society. The content should cover:
r The meaning, scope and characteristics of technology;
r The relationships among technologies and the connections with other fields;
r The influences of technology on society;
r The role of society in the development and utilization of technology.
2. Developing an understanding of and the ability to create a design. Such content
would be:
r The role and attributes of design;
r The roles and attributes of trouble-shooting, research and development, in-
vention and innovation and experimentation in problem-solving.
3. Developing an understanding of, and abilities for, a technological world. In this
case, the content would cover:
r Application of the design process;
r Selection, production, use and maintenance of technological products and
systems;
r Assessment of the impacts of technological products and systems.
A proper grounding in these three foundational domains of technology education
will develop the understanding and capabilities required for individuals who are
technologically competent and capable of shaping and influencing the course of
their life and that of others in the twenty-first century.
The subject content for teachers of technology education will, besides teaching
skills, include a wide coverage in the above content areas at the post-secondary or
university levels.
4 TVET Teacher-Education Curriculum at Moi University

The School of Education at Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya, established in 1994,
offers a TVET teacher-education programme within the country and also for students
coming from the Sub-Saharan region. The Department of Technology Education has
been offering a four-year B.Ed. programme designed to produce competent teachers of
TVET subjects in secondary schools and post-secondary TVET institutions in Kenya.
Because of the practical nature of the subjects taught to the graduates of this
programme, the courses have been designed with a practical ‘hands-on’ orientation.
Therefore, considerable time is spent in workshops as part of the scheduled teach-
ing. Project work, problem-solving techniques, industrial attachment and teaching
practice in real-life environments form important components of the programme.
The Department of Technology Education at Moi University, therefore, of-
fers a model of technology teacher education that is particularly attractive to the
developing countries of Africa because such teachers will, in turn, produce the
1326 B.W. Kerre
required middle-level manpower for economies that is, today, a priority. Specific
domains of learning in technology education lie in the following areas:
r Building construction technology: encompassing the use of a variety of materials
to produce buildings, furniture, dams, farm structures, roads and so on.
r Mechanical technology: entails machine-work, fabrication and other manufac-
turing processes.
r Electrical and electronics technology.
r Power mechanics technology (automotive and aviation technology).
r Information and communications technology (proposed).
The above courses constitute a rich combination of scientific and technological

knowledge, skills and processes that will prepare young people for the scientific
and technological millennium in which they will spend their future.
Besides studying in the above areas, the students take common university-wide
and school-based professional teacher-education courses. Graduates of this pro-
gramme are also competent to teach mathematics, physics and technical drawing
in secondary schools and higher-education TVET institutions. The courses offered
in each option per year of study are shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Course descriptions in each option at the Department of Technology Education at Moi
University
Course code Course description Course code Course description
TED Technology education IRD100 Communication skills I
(common to all tech-ed
students)
IRD102 Communication skills II
MPT Metal & power technology IRD103 Development concepts
(common to MET &
PMT students)
BCT Building construction IRD104 Quantitative skills
technology
TP Teaching practice IRD200 State, society and development
PMT Power mechanics IRD305 Entrepreneurship for small
technology business
MET Mechanical technology IRD400 Project development appraisal
ELT Electrical technology EDU110 Introduction to education I
COT Computer technology EDU111 Introduction to education II
MAT Engineering mathematics COM205 Computer programming
PHY Basic physics MPT221 Solid and structural
mechanics I
CHE Basic chemistry PAC210 Curriculum development
EDF Educational foundations PAC410 Environmental education
ECT Teaching methods PAC411 Educational administration and
management
PSY Educational psychology
PAC412 Educational planning and
economics
IA Industrial attachment
The programme offers common courses taken by all teacher-education students

in the School of Education. Each academic year has two semesters. Core and re-
quired courses are allocated as shown in the table, which also gives the codes and
descriptions of the courses taken.
5 Post-Graduate Studies
5.1 M.Phil. in Technology Education
The department also offers a master of philosophy degree in technology education

following course work and a thesis option. The programme is designed to produce
high-level personnel to meet the needs of industry, government departments, re-
search and training institutions. It offers enough flexibility for students to specialize
in field-related aspects of technology education.
The programme takes four semesters for full-time students and eight semesters
for part-time students (Table 2). Core, required and elective courses are selected
from those shown in Table 3.
Table 2 M.Phil. degree in technology education course design

Semester 1 Units Semester 2 Units Semester 3 Units
TED 801C Foundations 3 TED 805C Statistics 3 TED 899C Thesis 3
of technology research
education
TED 802C Research 3 TED 898C Thesis 3 Total 3
methods research proposal
TED 808C Curriculum 3 3 Required technology 9 Semester 4
design & courses
development in tech.
ed.
2 Required technology 6 1 Elective educational 3 TED 899C Thesis 6
courses course research
1 Elective technology 3 1 Elective educational 3
course course
Total 18 Total 18 Total 9
5.2 D.Phil. in Technology Education
Because of a growing demand for higher levels of understanding, the department has
also proposed to offer a post-graduate programme leading to the degree of doctor
of philosophy in technology education. The programme is designed to provide the
highest level of scholarship and research in technology education and its graduates
are expected to be competent researchers and trainers of trainers at high levels of
learning and industry.
1328
Table 3 Core, required and elective courses for an M.Phil. degree in technology education
Common courses Construction technology Electrical and electronics Mechanical and automotive Computer technology
option technology option options option
TED 801C Foundations of TED 812R Advanced TED 810R Numerical TED 863R Advanced TED 881R Computer
technology education surveying analysis thermodynamics education tools
TED 802C Research TED 823R Estimating and TED 848R Systems TED 864R Advanced fluid TED 882R Computer in
methods costing in construction analysis and design mechanics education
TED 805C Statistics TED 824R Appropriate TED 849R Control systems TED 865R Advanced solid TED 883R Multimedia in
technology and mechanics technology applications
construction of structures
TED 808C Curriculum TED 831R Site TED 850R Filter signals TED 866R Advanced TED 884R Computer
design & development in investigation, and digital processing mechanics of machines graphics for mediated
tech. ed. exploration, sampling communications
environment and terrain
evaluation
TED 803E TED 825R Construction TED 851R Solid-state TED 867R Advanced TED 885R Computer
Entrepreneurship management & devices and integrated engineering design applications for
education organization circuits educational
administration
TED 804E Seminar on TED 828E Building and TED 852E Power systems TED 861E Industrial TED 886E Wireless
trends and issues in maintenance technology protection processing engineering communications
technology education
B.W. Kerre
Table 3 (continued)
Common courses Construction technology Electrical and electronics Mechanical and automotive Computer technology
option technology option options option
TED 806E Educational TED 829E Advanced TED 854R Power system TED 862E Engineering TED 887E Building
planning and furniture technology operation and control material Internet information
management services
TED 807E Educational TED 834E Interior design, TED 842E Television TED 868E Welding TED 888E Ethical, legal
finance planning and decoration technology and professional issues in
computing
TED 809E Instructional TED 835E Advanced TED 847E Microprocessor TED 869E Automotive
methods and material for structural design techniques electrical systems
technology education
TED 811E Evaluation in TED 836E Foundation and TED 853E Neural networks TED 870E Internal
technology education pavement engineering applications engineering combustion engines
systems
TED 812E Computer TED 855E AC DC TED 871E Industrial
VIII.12 A Technical and Vocational Teacher-Training Curriculum
application Conversion and AC load organizations and

control management
TED 856E Force TED 872E Industrial
communication and engineering and law
electrical control and
machines
1329
1330 B.W. Kerre
Table 4 D. Phil. degree in technology education course design

Year 1 Year 2
Semester I TED 900 Research 15
Code Title Units
TED 901 Advanced research methods 6
TED 902 Seminar: technology education 3
TED 903 Trends in science & technology 3
TED 904 Data analysis 3
Total 15 Year 3
Semester II TED 900 Research/thesis writing 15
TED 905 Research proposal 3
TED 906 Seminars: technology & 3
society
2 electives 6
Total 12 Grand total units 57
The D.Phil. degree in technology education takes three to five years for full-time
students and four to seven years for part-time students, as shown in Table 4. Elective
courses are taken in various areas of specialization, as shown in Table 5.
6 Conclusion
Generally, the teacher-education curriculum is multi-faceted in nature because it of-

fers the opportunity for upgrading both the subject area and pedagogical knowledge
and skills, since the aims of TVET teacher education are to provide the knowledge
and skills to guide the learning process and the ability to develop teaching, taking
into account the graduate’s professional life and career. These aims are realized
in a curriculum that deals with all issues of a teacher’s work, facilitating learning
(learning procedure instead of teaching) and the development of the educational
environment and methodology.
In the case presented here, the TVET teacher-education curriculum skills have
been woven into the curriculum in an integrated fashion, since they are important
elements in helping people adapt to workplace changes and they provide them with
a foundation to learn other skills.
At Moi University, the TVET teacher-education programme has a uniquely struc-
tured curriculum with a strong dual approach. It has a strong technical and prac-
tical component in the technical subject area. It is equally complemented with
a strong teacher-education component. The end result is a well-balanced, trained
TVET teacher capable of imparting technical and vocational skills in a more pro-
fessional way.
Table 5 Elective courses for the D.Phil. degree in technology education
ELT BCT MPT COT TVET: Curriculum,
planning and administration
TED 910 Digital TED 920 Structural TED 930 Manufacturing TED 991 Computer TED 960 A review of
communication systems engineering technology networks for educational TVET programmes in the
environments country
TED 911 Networking & TED 921 Surveying & TED 931 Computer-aided TED 992 TED 961 Policy
web management photogrammetry design Telecommunication formulation and planning
in TVET
TED 912 Renewable energy TED 922 Building services TED 932 Auto test and TED 993 Technology-based TED 962 Evaluation of
engineering design training systems TVET
TED 913 Technology TED 923 Construction TED 933 Design of modern TED 994 Philosophy of TED 963 Training and
enterprise project management automobiles computing in education development
TED 914 Advanced TED 924 Public health TED 934 Modern TED 995 Creating TED 964 Supervision of
software programming engineering mechanical design technology based instruction
learning environments
TED 916 Microprocessor TED 925 Fluid mechanics TED 935 Flexible TED 996 Analysis of TED 965 Advanced topics
VIII.12 A Technical and Vocational Teacher-Training Curriculum
interface techniques automatic machinery research in educational in curriculum

computing development
TED 936 Dynamic of TED 997 Productivity tools TED 966 Advanced topics
automobile in management of change
in curriculum
TED 998 Intelligent TED 967 Effective
systems management of TVET
1331
1332 B.W. Kerre
References
American Association for the Advancement of Science. 1989. Project 2001: science for all Amer-
icans. Washington, DC: AAAS.
Africa: an update on trends, innovations and challenges. Paris: UNESCO-IIEP.
Economic Commission for Africa; United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organi-
zation. 1961. Report of African Leaders Conference on Education in Africa. Addis Ababa:
ECA-UNESCO.
Kerre, B.W. 2006. The study of technology: an imperative in Africa’s school curriculum. The
educator: a journal of the school of education, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 201–12.
Kimbell, R.A., et al. 1991. The assessment of performance in design and technology. London:
School Examination and Assessment Council, Evaluation and Monitoring Unit.
Lasonen, J., ed. 1996. Reforming upper secondary education in Europe. Jyväskylä, Finland: Uni-
versity of Jyväskylä, Institute for Educational Research.
Manning, S. 2000. Qualifications with a dual orientation towards employment and higher educa-
tion: a summary of the results of the partnership projects INTEQUAL/DUOQUAL. In: Sten-
strom, M-L.; Lasonen, J., eds. Strategies for reforming initial vocational education and training
in Europe, pp. 283–89. Jyväskylä, Finland: University of Jyväskylä, Institute for Educational
Research.
United Nations. 1948. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. New York, NY: UN.
<www.un.org/Overview/rights.html>
Chapter VIII.13
Transforming Teachers’ Practice Through
Action Learning
Stephen Billett
1 Introduction
This chapter critically appraises the potential of action learning as a professional

development strategy for teachers. Using the case of a professional development
programme that prepared vocational teachers to become industry consultants, the
chapter examines the potential and the impediments of this approach to managing
change in technical and vocational education. The chapter commences with a brief
commentary on individual change or learning from cognitive and social construc-
tivist and change-theory perspectives. Next, the case study is described and findings
from an evaluation of the programme are discussed. Finally, some conclusions are
drawn about how the action learning-based approaches to educational change might
be best enacted and evaluated.
2 Teachers and Change

Technical and vocational educators are being asked to confront and adapt to change
in order to find new ways of preparing their students for the world of work. That
world it is characterized by change in the kinds of work to be undertaken, the
requirements for the work, and those who are working (Billett, 2006). There are
also changes brought about by governments who want vocational and technology
education to achieve their policy goals, such as economic competitiveness and
efficiencies, in particular ways. Consequently, the change that teachers are requested
to undertake and implement often has its origins elsewhere. Yet, it is frequently
expected that teachers will implement these changes with enthusiasm while being
faithful to their sponsors’ intent. Moreover, there appears to be a belief among
government and industry stakeholders that teachers will implement innovations as
directed. Such a view denies how teachers, like other workers, think, act and decide
how to deploy their energies in the effortful activity of learning and changing their
practice (Billett, 1995). Individuals’ motivation and interest play a key role in their
engagement in effortful activities, such as learning new practice (Billett & Pavlova,
2005). Unless they hold a belief about the potential accrual of benefits from such

1334 S. Billett
activity, their engagement in and learning of these new tasks is likely to be superfi-
cial at best. Furthermore, because technical and vocational educators often practise
within the privacy of their own classroom or workshop, even superficial compliance
to the requests of government and industry may well be restricted to the public
aspects of practice (Logan, 1988). Therefore, and given the relative autonomy of
teachers’ practice and their control over their learning, this raises important ques-
tions about how educational change can best be managed to engage teachers in
effective learning and becoming committed to new practices, such as those required
to assist students to make a successful transition to the world of work.
This chapter discusses a case study in which an action learning-based programme
was used to develop vocational educators’ skills to work as industry consultants. It
is claimed that management of change in teachers is not just about getting them to
adopt faithfully the changes in practice arising from imperatives derived elsewhere.
Instead, the management change should be about developing teachers’ capacities
and dispositions to implement these innovations successfully and, through success
with that implementation, gain commitment to them. Therefore, processes that aim
to foster change in teachers (i.e. professional development initiatives) should be
primarily focused on teacher learning and development.
The assumption within this chapter is that the innovations teachers are asked to
adopt are worthwhile and justifiable. However, this may not always be the case.
Teachers are sometimes asked to implement initiatives that they view as lacking
credibility and utility, which makes it even more difficult to secure the kind of
commitment required for the enthusiastic enactment of these initiatives that their
sponsors desire.
What is advanced here is that gaining teachers’ commitment to educational
change is premised on their ability to implement the innovation successfully, thereby
resulting in the adoption of the innovation as part of their practice and becoming
committed to it. Commitment here is more than enthusiasm for a particular inno-
vation. Instead, it includes a belief on the part of teachers that the innovation is
worthwhile and can assist with the effectiveness of their practice (McLaughlin &
Marsh, 1978) and that the individual has appropriated the worth of this innovation
(Luria, 1976). Underpinning this commitment or appropriation is the development
of the knowledge required for the successful implementation of the innovation. It is
these attributes that provide the ability for teachers to function in the changed cir-
cumstances (Guskey, 1986). Hence, the management of change requires more than
briefing sessions about the virtues of a new initiative: it requires the provision of op-
portunities for teachers to learn the knowledge required for successful performance
with the innovation. So, approaches to managing change need to include the learning
required to effectively implement that change.
Moreover, as adopting changed practices is the product of individuals’ learn-
ing and development, even innovations aimed at transforming institutions need to
view this form of change as an intimate and personal process involving individuals’
competence and well-being (Fullan, 1985). Change has been described as ‘little
deaths’ (Kindler, 1979), with transformational change causing the greatest concerns
to those affected by it. This is because it might take away or threaten to take away
VIII.13 Transforming Teachers’ Practice Through Action Learning 1335
from individuals the very circumstances with which their confidence is embedded.
Therefore, deliberations about the management of change at both educational inno-
vation and institutional transformational level must view individuals’ learning and
development as the primary source of change. The focus in this chapter is therefore
on the management of individual change through learning and development.
3 Teachers’ Learning and Development
As foreshadowed, the process of securing effective change in teachers is seen as a

process of individual learning and development. In particular, the need for teachers
to develop the capacities required to implement a new initiative or practice with
success, thereby developing commitment to it, is seen as essential. These capacities
are premised on securing the dispositions (i.e. values, attitudes and beliefs) appropri-
ate for the change. Knowledge which comprises levels of propositional (knowledge
that) and procedural knowledge (knowledge how) are also primary elements within
this framework (Anderson, 1982). Propositional knowledge comprises information,
facts, assertions and propositions, whereas procedural knowledge comprises tech-
niques, skills and ability to secure goals (Evans, 1991). Procedural knowledge has
a hierarchy from specific autonomous procedures to higher orders of procedural
knowledge, which are postulated to have an executive role in organizing and trans-
ferring knowledge and understandings (Evans, 1991).
The role of ‘non-cognitive’ dispositions, such as values and beliefs, is being in-
creasingly acknowledged in understandings of individuals’ learning (Perkins, Jay &
Tishman, 1993). Values determine the quality of individuals’ actions, for instance,
shaping the degree and focus of their efforts when engaged in a goal-directed ac-
tivity, such as learning a new task. As Goodnow (1990) reminds us, people learn
not only to solve problems, but also what problems are worth solving. It is through
their engagement in active conscious thinking and acting that both learning and the
commitment to what has been learnt arise.
It follows that learning is held to be a constructive process with individuals ac-
tively acquiring knowledge and understanding through interaction with the world
they experience (von Glasersfeld, 1987). This constructive process is initially id-
iosyncratic, being founded on the unique personal history (ontogeny) of the individ-
ual (Rogoff, 1995). However, through social mediation knowledge becomes more
commonly understood and communicable (Newman, Griffin & Cole, 1989). That
is, there is a movement towards inter-subjectivity or shared meaning. Learning is
therefore conceptualized as a process of constructing meaning and making knowl-
edge viable through a process of engaging in activities within social practice. As
Piaget (1968) would say, individuals make sense of what they experience by ei-
ther assimilating it into their existing knowledge (i.e. refining and reinforcing what
they already know) or by extending those structures to accommodate new stimuli
and experiences (i.e. forming new learning). This suggests that to learn something
new requires processes that extend individuals’ existing knowledge. If the learning
1336 S. Billett
process encourages only assimilation type of learning, the outcomes are likely to
be weaker than if accommodation is achieved by pressing the individual into gener-
ating new knowledge and knowledge structures. Yet, generating new knowledge is
far more effortful and demanding than reinforcing what we know, as in assimilation.
Therefore, learning to adopt new practices is unlikely to occur if teachers remain un-
convinced and lack the ability to successfully implement the initiative, and therefore
will not exercise the effort required to secure that new knowledge.
Views that suggest learning is a matter of construction, rather than instruction,
propose the need to guide individuals’ learning rather than directly teach them. Inno-
vations in approaches to instruction, such as reciprocal teaching of comprehension
(Palinscar & Brown, 1984), cognitive apprenticeship (Collins, Brown & Newman,
1989), apprenticeship instruction for real-world tasks (Gott, 1989), apprenticeships
in thinking (Rogoff, 1990), legitimate peripheral participation (Lave & Wenger,
1991) and guided participation (Rogoff, 1995), all emphasize the importance of
close guidance, rather than direct teaching, in supporting learners’ construction of
knowledge. They also emphasize the importance of placing learners in roles in
which they are pressed to take responsibility for and expend effort in constructing
the knowledge they need to learn, albeit guided by more expert others.
Consequently, the instructional role becomes one of organizing and guiding the
learners’ experiences to permit them to construct appropriate knowledge and un-
derstanding. Such a proposition extends the concept of good teaching practice of
‘making sure the learners are doing the thinking’, to making sure that their thinking
is guided towards the effective organization of viable knowledge, through social
mediation. This change in emphasis of the instructional role is underpinned by von
Glasersfeld’s (1987) notion of reinforcement. Reinforcement is usually associated
with external statements of endorsement or rewards by teachers or experts, as char-
acterized within behaviourism. However, now it needs to be equated with learners
achieving a satisfactory organization of knowledge—ontological security—a viable
way of dealing with experiences that are novel and securing a fit with or extending
the individual’s knowledge. This does not negate the value of extrinsic rewards, such
as verbal reinforcement, but suggests that this is secondary to the inherent rewards
that the learner enjoys from reinforcing and extending their viable knowledge base:
the exercise of their personal agency and epistemology (Smith, 2005).
Given these views about learning and cognitive development, a useful way
to describe and evaluate instructional processes is to consider them in terms of
engagement and support. Activities are what learners engage in, and support is that
derived from either direct or indirect guidance provided to learners, and that they
elect to engage with.
4 Action Learning: A Professional Development Method
Action learning is commonly used as a professional development method for teach-

ers. It is seen as an active learning process in which the learners engage in projects
with peer-learning support arrangements—referred to as ‘sets’—and, in some cases,
external facilitators or content experts. The aim of the process is for the individual
to secure particular kinds of learning through engaging in project work. Importantly,
the intent is for them also to reflect upon the learning process through which they ex-
tend their knowledge further. Action learning has been defined as ‘a means by which
people learn with and from each other by attempting to identify and then implement
solutions to their problems/issues/opportunities’ (Revans, 1982, p. 65). This model
of learning was developed after the Second World War when British industries were
short of experienced managers. Revans had recognized the ability of people to work
and learn together productively and effectively in times of common concern. Con-
sequently, he developed a method to support learning based on the development of
‘responsible risk-takers’, who asked themselves and their peers a series of ques-
tions about the problems they faced in their workplace. The questions were used to
clarify problems and to determine likely solutions that were not bound by existing
expertise or theory. In this way, the method is proposed as a practical strategy that
values practice-based learning. It is primarily concerned with pragmatic and instru-
mental goals associated with improving practice by assisting learners to engage in,
learn through and examine their practice through reflection on that practice. This
reflection process seems important because it has the capacity to press learners into
constructing new knowledge (i.e. accommodation rather than assimilation). Signifi-
cantly, many earlier theories about adult learning (e.g. Knowles, 1984) emphasized
the assimilatory aspects of adult learning with a primary concern to protect learners’
self-concept. This concern arose out of clinical-based approaches to development
that sought to protect the learners’ self-esteem and minimize the impact of change
by finding meaning within their existing knowledge. This approach guarded against
transforming individual knowledge, which it saw as being a psychologically risky
undertaking.
However, contemporary approaches suggest that it is important to extend individ-
uals’ knowledge through their own efforts and construction, albeit guided by more
expert partners. Hence, both guidance and critical reflection are held to be important
approaches that can extend and transform individuals’ knowledge when securing
particular kinds of knowledge in response to a practical requirement (e.g. that re-
quired for successfully implementing a new practice). The process of reflection
or questioning insight, as Revans (1982) called it, is central to action learning. It
aims at assisting to convert a specific learning experience into one that extends
understandings and efficacy of practice. In doing so, the action-learning approach
places considerable responsibility on the learner to engage in the kinds of activities
required to secure their goals, albeit with their activities as learners being mediated
by peers, experts and the requirements of the project tasks. This mediation will
likely also provide a form of indirect guidance which is often under-acknowledged.
However, learning theories recognize that much of the knowledge that needs to be
learnt has a social and cultural genesis, and does not arise from within individuals. It
needs to be accessed through interaction with the social world. In relations between
trades workers and apprentices, for instance, there is an acknowledgement that the
more experienced counterpart provides access to knowledge that the individuals
could not learn through discovery alone (Rogoff, 1990). However, action learning
1338 S. Billett
as a method does not have as a key element this access to expertise. Instead, it
uses a facilitative approach and relies to a great extent on the agency and personal
epistemology of the learner.
Consequently, in seeking to evaluate action learning it is necessary to identify
whether this lack of access to expertise represents an impediment to learning.
5 Managing Teacher Change: Activity and Mediation
The interaction between individuals’ engagement in activities and the support they
can access from social sources is a central consideration for developmental pro-
cesses. Dewey (1916/1970) suggested that the most central significant events in
learning and performance are mediated experiences and events related to their adap-
tive function. This suggests that internal mental processes interacting with tangi-
ble purposes or functions are central to effective learning. Or, put more succinctly,
the activities individuals engage in organize their thinking (Rogoff & Lave, 1984).
Learning arrangements which place the participants in the active role of initiating,
planning and managing their learning are conducive of developing these attributes.
It is proposed that when learners are pressed into taking responsibility for their
learning they develop and organize knowledge effectively, and learn to manage the
use of that knowledge.
If activities structure cognition, then the quality of the activities becomes im-
portant. In developing competence in an area of vocational practice it is highly
desirable for staff to access authentic activities, that is, those that are the same as
those in which the targeted knowledge is deployed, not substituted or simulated ac-
tivities. Consequently, projects that provide the participant with an authentic activity
in which they can develop procedures that are authentic are likely to be purposeful
for constructing knowledge associated with that activity (Billett, 2001). Moreover,
the knowledge that individuals need to learn often has a social genesis. This is
particularly true of knowledge arising from the social world, such as educational
initiatives. It is becoming increasingly accepted that the activities are embedded in
socio-cultural practice (Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989; Lave & Wenger, 1991;
Rogoff & Lave, 1984). Indeed, one of the problems with learning arrangements that
are substituted (e.g. training-room or school-based activities) is that they tend to
generate knowledge and understandings based on the requirements of the training-
room or school rather than practice, and as such may not transfer to practice (Billett,
2001; Raizen, 1991). That is, forms of knowledge are shaped by particular circum-
stances and do not readily transfer to circumstances and situations that are remote
from those in which the knowledge was acquired. Access to authentic activities may
reduce this transfer problem (Billett, 2001); however, activity alone is not sufficient.
The mediation of the learners’ experiences by others, expert others and the context
is an essential ingredient of learning arrangements (Collins et al., 1989).
It is becoming widely accepted that there are social bases of cognition (Goodnow,
1990). This implies that guidance of a direct nature (others and expert others) and an
indirect nature (the social and physical context) are important for the construction
of knowledge. Recent research and theorizing has increasingly focused on the role
of external factors and, particularly, the social and cultural contributions to learning
(Brown et al., 1989; Collins et al., 1989; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Rogoff, 1995).
Rather than being solely the product of internal mental activity, the development
and organization of these cognitive processes and structures are influenced by exter-
nal factors, such as social interaction and cultural practices. Within action learning,
social mediation is evident in the contributions of others in the learning set, expert
others external to the set and the facilitative actions of set advisers.
So, in summary, constructivist views of learning which emphasize the importance
and authenticity of activity, social mediation, engagement in social practice and
reflection appear to be partially addressed by action learning, although it tends to
emphasize the agency of the participant over securing access to experts required
from whom the knowledge to be learned can be accessed and learned. Therefore,
on its own terms, the action-learning approach to learning and development appears
to offer an array of attributes by which teachers’ knowledge can be extended to
accommodate and implement innovations.
A case study of teachers’ participation in an action-learning programme is de-
scribed and evaluated in the next section. The evaluation provides a basis for con-
sidering the efficacy of this approach to learning and how its potential might be fully
realized.
6 Managing Change: Industry Consultant Training Programme

The Industry Consultant Training Programme was used to prepare practising voca-
tional teachers for a role as industry consultants working in a fee-for-service role,
providing educational services to enterprises. The programme commenced with an
induction phase, comprising a two-week workshop. This was designed to prepare
participants by providing information about their role and the industrial environment
and to introduce them to the action-learning methodology that was to support their
change to become consultants. In addition, information about the procedures that
the participants would have to acquire to become effective consultants was stated as
goals for their self-development. These procedures included project management,
costing a project, presentation of a project and business planning. The arrange-
ments for teacher-consultant development, beyond the induction phase, were based
on group action-learning processes, or sets, organized by regional locations. These
groups, the project, support from mentors and senior consultants, and the support
arrangements provided by the teacher-consultants’ host vocational colleges were the
core components of the change management strategy. Beyond these was the agency
of the participants. The participants’ roles included: (a) attending weekly meetings
with their support group; (b) participation in activities determined by the group;
(c) completing a learning contract; (d) working on a designated project for two days
a week; and (e) liaising with the college mentor. When the programme commenced
1340 S. Billett
there were few experts available to mentor participants because consultancy was
relatively new within the vocational education system. However, some later groups
had access to colleagues or mentors who had enjoyed success in the programme, and
had gone on to successfully manage industry-training projects. Participants were
selected by their host college. During their participation, they were released from
normal work duties for three days a week, over a period of twenty weeks. On one
of these three days the participants met as an action-learning group to discuss issues
and arrange access to expert advice; this advice was usually provided by a content
specialist external to the group and each group was given a budget to secure these
services. The other two days were taken up working within projects. During the later
part of their release, the participants were intended to be working for the entire three
days per week on a project. However, not all participants were able secure complete
release and some reported having to balance a range of commitments, particularly
teaching duties, with their participation in the programme. Some participants also
reported that projects were not readily available or provided. These participants
sometimes had to canvass for and locate their own projects within industry.
Support was available at two levels during the twenty-week programme. Each
participant was under the guidance of a senior consultant who had a ‘regional’
responsibility for a group of participants from a number of colleges. The senior
consultants’ role included: (a) monitoring the total group and individuals within the
group; (b) bringing in extra (specialist) assistance; (c) being a point of reference;
and (d) meeting with the group one day per week. Access to these consultants and
their attributes were frequently reported as being a key determinant for success-
ful participation within the programme. Each participant also had a college-based
mentor. The role of the mentor was designated as: (a) providing practical advice
and assistance; (b) guidance and support; (c) monitoring participants’ progress and
performance with projects; and (d) meeting with senior consultants and the project
manager as required. It was recommended by the organizers of the programme that
the college-based mentor have fee-for-service experience. However, as stated above,
and particularly in the first programme, not all mentors possessed appropriate expe-
rience or expertise in consultancy activities. Other support processes were utilized
when either the content or the process skills of the mentor were not viewed pos-
itively by the participants. Typical amongst these was a reliance on peer support
within the learning sets and advisory processes.
Although continuing to use an action-learning methodology, the developmental
strategy of the programme was transformed over the three-year period of its offering.
Both participants and mentors reported that, over this period, the developmental
process moved from being less structured to becoming increasingly highly struc-
tured. This change was apparently in response to two different demands. Firstly,
the administrative system’s demand for accountability and the need to provide for-
mal recognition influenced the nature of the programme, with a growing emphasis
on formalized written assessment items. Secondly, the design of the programme
was, in part, dependent upon the preferences of the participants who, for a range of
reasons, appeared increasingly to demand greater structure in the second and third
years of the programme. Reasons advanced by observers for this change include
a ‘less-ready’ group of participants, demands of formal assessment and also the

increased homogeneity of the participants. Of particular interest here was the readi-
ness of participants to engage in self-directed forms of learning and development.
Participants in the later programmes were also asked to develop a learning con-
tract in conjunction with their college-based mentor and senior consultant. A num-
ber of these participants reported that the learning contract was difficult to negotiate
and achieve because of uncertainty with projects and the unknown qualities of the
project work being undertaken. Some respondents noted that the contracts were
‘forgotten about’, because they were unrealistic or perceived as being inappropriate
accountability measures.
7 Evaluation of the Action Learning Methodology
The Industry Consultant Training Programme was evaluated to understand: (a) how
best this methodology might be used; (b) what would inhibit its success; (c) why this
methodology should be used in place of another approach; and (d) when it would not be
useful. Respondents accessed in the evaluation were ex-programme participants and
some mentors. Face-to-face and telephone interviews were conducted with individuals
and groups of participants from vocational education colleges. In particular, telephone
interviews were conducted with non-metropolitan participants in the programme to
determine if their relative isolation influenced participation and success in the pro-
gramme. Some diversity was evident in perceptions about the action-learning process.
The differences included views about the levels of readiness of participants, the pro-
cesses to select participants, the support given by sponsoring colleges, the quality of
mentors and also individual perceptions of the usefulness of the methodology. These
responses provided a basis for delineating strengths and weaknesses of the methodol-
ogy for its use in educational settings, and furnished some overall propositions about
the efficacy of action learning as a teacher development methodology.
Summaries of the data pertaining to the outcomes, utility, conditions for success
and those inhibiting success, and the qualities of action learning are provided in the
next section. These categories were the focus of the questions in the evaluation.
8 Outcomes of Action Learning for the Participants
Respondents stated that different types of knowledge had been generated through
participation in the process. It was claimed that propositional knowledge (fac-
tual information or knowledge that, such as knowledge about industrial relations,
current government initiatives, networks, contacts, college system concepts about
consultancy, etc.) had been acquired through the action-learning process. More-
over, activities that assisted access to procedural knowledge (means of securing
goals and completing tasks or knowledge how) had also been undertaken. Con-
sequently, procedures, such as: writing skills and writing proposals; consultancy
1342 S. Billett
skills; transferability of existing skills; participating in group decision-making;

project management; basic costing; ‘people skills’; and communicating with differ-
ent groups of individuals, were acquired. When comparing the types of knowledge
accessed, it seems that procedures were associated with more transferable or robust
outcomes than was the propositional knowledge accessed. Moreover, dispositional
attributes associated with consultancy were also claimed to be generated through
participation. These attributes included: confidence to go and talk to clients; changed
attitudes to responsibility for learning; and valuing group support.
These responses indicate that a range of knowledge types was developed by par-
ticipants. What the data indicate is that stateable propositional and some forms of
procedural and dispositional knowledge appeared to be accessed by participants.
This is perhaps not surprising for an activity-based approach to learning such as
action learning. While development of the three knowledge types is positive, there
remains the concern that without reflection on practice the development of the
propositional base may be neglected.
9 Utility of the Action Learning Process
The utility of the action learning process has been characterized as providing involve-
ment, activities, reflection, group processes, self-evaluation and relevance in the data.
The consequences of these factors are summarized in Table 1. The perceived utility
of the action-learning approach adopted in this programme is depicted in this table.
This table yields an account of the potential of this approach to engaging learn-
ers in authentic socially-mediated learning activities that press them into activities,
share processes of knowledge generation and develop a capacity for self-evaluation.
10 Conditions to Make Action Learning Successful
The respondents were asked about the conditions required to make action learning
successful. Their responses were classified under the categories synthesized from the
data. The conditions which contribute to the categories are summarized in Table 2;
they emphasize participant qualities, skills of mentors and qualities of the learning
experiences.
The combination of conditions outlined in Table 2 emphasizes the qualities of
the individual and the kinds of support that they received. Yet, even when there were
highly directed individuals, without the adequate provision of appropriate support,
it seems that their learning was less effective. For instance, it appears that a num-
ber of vocational colleges supported their participants effectively by placing them
within specialized commercial or industry training units. However, it was reported
that some participants were not able to practise the skills developed during the pro-
gramme. So, just as not all mentors had the full complement of skills and experience,
not all host institutions provided the opportunities for the participants to engage in
the types of activities and enjoy the sort of support that enabled them to develop
their knowledge of consultancy.
Table 1 Perceptions of the utility of action learning

Factor Consequence Factor Consequence
Involvement • Engaged learners into Group processes • Support of group
activities and pressed valued—learnt from
them into others—discussions;
problem-solving;
• Allowed the learners’ • Everyone was equal in
stage of development groups.
or readiness to be
addressed, and
allowed progress
determined by
learner;
• Encouraged risk
taking;
• Made learner
responsible for own
decisions and
actions.
Activities • Relevant, practical Self-evaluation • Had to be self-monitoring—
and challenging; flowed from motivation and
• Authentic demands; enthusiasm.
• Achievement related
to activities.
Reflection • Provided a basis for Relevance • Allowed for continual
reflection; checking of progress;
• Required participants • The learning activities were
to look at highly relevant.
themselves.
11 Conditions that Inhibit Effectiveness of Action Learning
The conditions likely to inhibit successful participation in action learning are sum-
marized against each category in Table 3. Again, the responses to this item have
been classified under categories synthesized from the responses. Here too there is
an emphasis on a combination of individual and organizational factors.
Although reflecting concerns similar to those depicted in Table 2, the data here
provide a basis for considering the importance of selection, conditions for educa-
tional institutions offering such programmes and the demands of participants that
may need to be addressed to secure effective learning.
12 Preference for Action Learning Against Other Approaches

The respondents were able to identify why action learning was a preferable ap-
proach to teacher development. It was claimed in the data that this preference was
attributed to:
1344 S. Billett
Table 2 Conditions that make action learning successful

Categories Conditions Categories Conditions
Participant • Self-directed; Process • Support with project—provision,
qualities • Analytical ability; guidance and feedback;
• Ability to make and use • Clear expectations and reporting
judgements; mechanisms—specify
• Action orientated. outcomes—agreed
objectives—agreed timelines;
• Senior management support.
Skilled • Experienced—available— Learning ex- • Support with project—back-up

facilitators willing—encouraging; periences when undertaking project;
• Knowledge of tasks to be • Access to project—ideal project
learnt—able to present would have beginning and
alternatives; attainable end;
• Non-directive in style; • Foster responsibility.
• Able to provide a range of
support;
• Empathetic with role.
Management of • Selection of
action participants—inform them
learning of their role and
expectations.
Table 3 Conditions that inhibit action learning

Categories Conditions Categories Conditions
Participants • May come from a culture Pressure from • Requests for too much structure
which has not participants in learning process;
encouraged: risk taking, • Overly specific framework may
critical reflection, inhibit the sort of outcomes
innovation, and being desired from action learning.
entrepreneurial;
• Lack of critical skills;
• Dependency on highly
structured approach to
learning;
• Inappropriate selection; College culture • Not conducive to change or
• Lack of readiness; support of change.
• Lack of motivation.
Organization • Lack of support;
• Unavailability of project;
• Lack of sponsorship— Mentors • Quality of mentors—content
arrangements made so knowledge and process skills.
participation can occur;
• Lack of strategic vision.
r learning by doing—‘you cannot learn to be a consultant by just listening—it’s

not the same as being involved’;
r the belief that the only way to develop the skills is to make it all interact;
r requiring you to think and become more actively engaged;
r the fact that it is a highly active process; and
r the fact that it turns theory into a practical exercise.
These statements of preference emphasize the acquisition of procedural knowledge

through participation in goal-directed activities associated with the goals of the de-
velopmental programme.
However, other data emphasized that, with a lack of support, participants might
find themselves in situations that were beyond their existing competence and could
result in negative outcomes for them, thereby inhibiting further development. More-
over, the development of some forms of propositional knowledge required didactic-
type approaches of instruction that were not accessible to all participants. This was
the kind of knowledge that these individuals would not learn by discovery and
collective problem-solving alone. The respondents suggested the following list of
circumstances in which the use of action learning would be inappropriate. These
circumstances are when:
r factual (conceptual) information is privileged;
r risks are too great to warrant experiential learning;
r other methods work better to provide information; and
r the environment is all wrong (i.e. not supportive).
So this set of outcomes from the evaluation of this programme has provided a ba-
sis for considering the potential and limitations of action learning to manage the
effective development of teachers through assisting them in learning new practices.
In the concluding section, some key issues are teased out and conclusions offered.
13 Managing Teacher Change
From the above, with careful management and some change, the action-learning
method has the potential to provide access to and assist with the development of the
types of knowledge that are required for the continuing development of vocational
and technical teachers. The reflective process, if used effectively, may provide a
basis for strong conceptual growth in individuals and make the learning process
transformational. To what degree it is possible to organize reflective activities as
a structured component of the action-learning process remains unclear, because it
is a process that is dependent largely upon the participant. However, as a learning
process which features guidance from either peers or mentors while engaged in
authentic tasks associated with work practice, action learning has a range of benefits
to offer in the development of professional expertise. In order to realise its potential,
there are certain activities and practices that need to be enacted. These include the
1346 S. Billett
readiness of the participants to engage in this kind of independent and collaborative

learning, and the quality of guidance for participants.
While it is not necessary for participants to be familiar with action learning, it
would seem that selection and induction processes need to acknowledge the au-
tonomous nature of the learning arrangements and prepare participants for this role.
Ideally, participants should be asked to justify their inclusion in a developmental
programme and being part of a socially-mediated process. This might assist with
choosing participants who are most ready and prepared to learn in the self- and
group-directed manner demanded by action learning. Ultimately, learning is a highly
individualized process and the interests and motivations of the learner are key de-
terminants. A strong focus in the induction phase about the nature of autonomous
learning and its responsibilities may be helpful here. This might include the benefit
of seeking and securing appropriate support and guidance.
The support and sponsorship of the participants’ host vocational college was also
a key determinant. Participants from colleges where supportive arrangements were
available reported benefiting from access to projects, interest by senior staff, access
to mentors and having clear and practical goals to achieve. These colleges had clear
intentions for the use of the consultants and had planned the integration of the par-
ticipants in their strategic directions. The converse of all the above was also true
when colleges’ disinterest about their nominee’s engagement and support resulted
in the outcomes for the participant being limited.
As individuals’ readiness to participate in the action learning model of develop-
ment is likely to be quite different, support is necessary to monitor their progress,
provide support as required and then to fade when the support is no longer required.
Participants will respond quite differently to the challenges of autonomous or group-
learning arrangements. The degree of support available is likely to be differentiated
according to the readiness of participants, and depending upon how they progress.
However, while differentiation is required, it is still necessary to maintain the prin-
ciple of giving the participants a task within their overall capability, yet one that will
push them to the limits of their capability and will require action, thereby extend-
ing the learner and providing a basis for reflection. So the key principles of action
learning should not be compromised; rather, the management of learners’ readiness
needs to be taken into account in induction procedures to build a level of guided
support that, over time, extends the participant to achieve the programme’s goals.
The support of mentors is, therefore, crucial. A development model to be considered
by mentors is that provided through the use of modelling, coaching, scaffolding and
fading (Billett, 2001; Collins et al., 1989).
The degree to which group activity will play a major role will be determined by
the preferences of participants and access to other forms of support. However, at
its most modest level, group support for the learning sets will probably provide the
most practical and realistic form of reflection on action. At its greatest potential, it
will provide a forum for modelling, comparing development and clarifying socially-
determined knowledge and making it congruent. It was these kinds of interactions
that were identified as being useful for small business operators (Billett, Ehrich &
Hernon-Tinning, 2003).
It can be seen from the theoretical discussions advanced initially and the data
from the evaluation that followed, that action learning provides a basis for extending
the individual’s existing knowledge in order to adopt innovations, if managed in the
ways indicated above. Yet some additional emphasis may be required within the
action-learning approach. It seems that a weakness of action learning in pushing
the learner into the process of accommodation is the access to more expert others
and reflection. If the social mediation is only through the learning set, this may
have limitations in terms of being able to access what is hidden and may remain
unknown through experiential learning. Here, perhaps expertise might be required.
Moreover, an expert can provide a sophistication of guidance beyond that which
can be acquired through peers. This is particularly the case in making accessible
that conceptual knowledge which would be otherwise inaccessible. It would seem
that action learning may privilege the development of procedures over concepts.
So, while the experiential and shared nature of ‘learning sets’ are important, they
are likely to be enhanced by access to particular expertise. A purely experiential
approach to teacher development may lead to assimilation rather than accommoda-
tion, as expert guidance and reflection are likely to be salient in the generation of
new cognitive structures when kinds of knowledge to be learned are known about
and have been proved through time and practice. This is perhaps more likely to be
the case if reflection is also without social source and mediation. Therefore, it is
held that close guidance by more expert others be considered to complement the
social mediation of the learning set.
In conclusion, from the constructivist perspective, action learning—although
instrumental—provides an array of attributes (e.g. authenticity, social mediation,
engagement) that are conducive to the development of the range of knowledge re-
quired for practice within a domain of activities, such as becoming a consultant.
The major emphasis on guided learning also recommends this approach and posits
it within current views about how individuals construct knowledge. This can include
the use of the more expert partner. It has been advanced here that managing change
is primarily concerned with the development of the capacities to be successful with
the changed practice. Without the development of vocational and technical teachers’
ability to succeed with innovations, it would seem that many governmental innova-
tions and changes to practice required to support students’ learning may remain only
as intents. At the centre of even the most instrumental approach to the management
of educational change is teacher learning and development, because ultimately it is
the teachers who are the curriculum makers, and initiators and enactors of change.
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resentation in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Chapter VIII.14
Professional Learning and TVET:
Challenges and Perspectives
for Teachers and Instructors
Christian Harteis
1 Introduction
The time is past when training for vocational practice ended with apprenticeship.
Now, almost every vocational job is likely to be subject to permanent change driven
by developments in society and the economy. While much research on vocational
education and training considers the necessity of workers’ lifelong learning, less
emphasis is given to the effects of this change for teachers and instructors in the field
of technical and vocational education and training (TVET). In contrast to school-
teachers, who are well regarded in research on professional practice, this lack of
emphasis might be caused by a general shortage of research and the limitations of
the research on teachers’ professionalism in the field of adult education. This chap-
ter’s contribution considers ways to develop and maintain teachers’ and instructors’
professional competence by firstly developing a definition of professional compe-
tence and then discussing options for professional learning within vocational edu-
cation. By proceeding in this way, similarities to common occupations will become
obvious. In particular, the chapter proposes that a combination of practice-based
experiences and those in educational institutions is required to secure the kinds of
adaptable knowledge necessary for vocational educators.
The chapter is structured as follows. Firstly, a conceptual framework for consid-
ering professional competence is advanced that relates to repertoires of individual
knowledge. Then, on this basis, an analysis follows on the role of theoretical and
practical knowledge for achieving a high level of professional performance and the
consequences for teachers and instructors in TVET. The chapter ends with the con-
clusion that professional learning as interplay between experiences in institutional
and practice settings is indispensable for the acquisition and maintenance of the
professional competence of TVET teachers and instructors.
2 Professional Competence
When discussing issues of professional learning or professionalism the core ref-
erence is professional competence. In the following sections a theoretical concept

1352 C. Harteis
of professional competence and its development will be presented. This comprises

a typology of professional competence and a consideration of the acquisition of
competence.
2.1 Typology of Professional Competence
Much educational research focuses on the teaching and learning of teachers, so that
teaching certainly is among the best investigated domains in education. Ample find-
ings exist about the ways of moving from being a teaching novice to becoming a
teaching expert (Berliner, 2001). The most prominent approach is research on exper-
tise, which usually compares cognitive features of persons who have different levels of
expertise while problem-solving or dealing with professional tasks (Ericsson, 2003).
Expertise, in this view, is defined by the capability to show excellent performance
consistently and repeatedly. However, it is very difficult to operationalize excellence
in teaching, in particular in the field of adult education. Referring only to the number
of teaching days, participants, numbers of courses or turnover (if freelancers) would
provide a quantitative measurement, but may miss differences in the quality of the
teaching process. However, it is difficult to define qualitative features of high teaching
performance explicitly or to find ways of measuring them. Most of the studies about
expertise—not only in the domain of teaching—try to avoid such problems by op-
erationalizing it through calculating the likely amount of experience required in the
domain in order to develop it. Studies on teaching expertise assume a time span of ten
years for its acquisition (Berliner, 2001).
Theories developed on the basis of empirical findings from different domains
have received much attention, for instance the theory of knowledge encapsulation
(Boshuizen & Schmidt, 1992) or the theory of learning from experience (Strasser &
Gruber, 2004). These theories explain the growth of expertise by changes in the
individual’s repertoire and the structure of explicable or declarative knowledge. Re-
garding the path from novice to expert, these theories claim that theoretical declar-
ative knowledge is enriched by practical problem-solving and through deliberate
practice. With an increasing level of expertise, declarative knowledge loses its di-
rect relevance for practical solutions, and case-based patterns of practice emerge
instead that are more likely to be able to respond to non-routine or unfamiliar prob-
lems within the domain. At expert level, declarative knowledge is encapsulated in
experience-based memory organization packets—the so-called encapsulation the-
ory thus describes how expert knowledge changes its quality if rich experience
with domain-specific cases is accessed. Experts, when asked about their ways of
problem-solving, less frequently report the use of declarative knowledge than do
novices, mainly using and relying on their extensive practical experience. The the-
ory of learning from experience describes cognitive processes occurring when prac-
tical reality confirms or contradicts an individual’s knowledge about procedures
and operations, that is, their procedural knowledge. If practice confirms procedural
knowledge as being appropriate for reaching action goals, this procedural knowl-
edge is strengthened by reflective confirmation. As a consequence, robust learning
VIII.14 Professional Learning and TVET 1353
from experience occurs—as it does also when procedural knowledge fails, which
leads to a modification of that knowledge.
It is plausible to describe professional competence by using expertise research,
because the demand on professional performance usually is set at a high level. Pro-
fessional competence is mostly based on the domain-specific knowledge of the pro-
fession that can be distinguished in declarative knowledge—knowledge explaining
facts and objects—and procedural knowledge—knowledge about how things work
or how things interrelate. The importance of these two kinds of knowledge changes
with increasing professional experience.
Accordingly, Gruber and Rehrl (2003) proposed a model for professional com-
petence consisting of the following four elements:
1. competence for the adequate accomplishment of recurring tasks (routines);

2. competence to deal with novel situations (i.e. mental models of anticipated situ-
ations);
3. competence to acquire and recall well-founded domain-specific declarative knowl-
edge; and
4. competence to become part of a community of practice.
In recent publications these elements are complemented by intuition as a component

of professional competence (for the domain of adult education see Harteis & Gruber,
2006).
2.2 The Acquisition of Professional Competence

The acquisition of professional competence is a twofold process. On the one hand,
the development of domain-specific theoretical knowledge occurs in institutional
forms of learning (e.g. apprenticeship, training). In those settings, mainly declarative
and general procedural knowledge is taught in order to provide learners with a set
of foundational knowledge for their occupation and general strategies for applica-
tion to the occupation. On the other hand, professional activity embeds individuals’
learning in the social context of the workplace and gives access to a community of
practice (Wenger, 2003). By doing so, procedural knowledge on the use of declar-
ative and general knowledge develops in the context of the workplace, and in ways
that reflect both the norms and practices of the workplace, and also individuals’
expanding repertoire of experiences (Billett, 2006).
The acquisition of domain-specific knowledge and its embedding in the commu-
nity of practice cannot be considered independently, but require to be understood as
complementary processes (Mandl, Gruber & Renkl, 1996). During the occupational
apprenticeship within the dual system in Germany, apprentices experience vocational
school as an educational institution independent of the employing firm and paral-
lel to within-firm instruction and training. Thus, they have to integrate knowledge
and skills acquired in both contexts. The relationship between individual and socio-
cultural processes affects the development of professional competence over the entire
1354 C. Harteis
occupational career. Employees bring their specific experiences into a formal training
setting, they (hopefully) modify their knowledge and create new skills during and
within the training setting, and finally they transfer training content into their daily
working lives. When integrating experiences into training, as well as when transfer-
ring training lessons into practice, the application of knowledge in work activities is
monitored by the learners in their respective workplace situations. Recent literature
and research acknowledges the importance of the integration of formal and informal
learning processes (Gruber et al., 2005) and the interrelationship between individual
and social contributions to professional learning (Billett, 2006).
The relationship between theoretical and practical knowledge is important, because
the former is transformed into the latter through professional activities. To become a
professional in any occupation requires extensive formal learning in order to receive
a certificate that opens access to an occupational field. In this way, learning within
educational institutions is a precondition to gaining the opportunity for transforming
theoretical knowledge into practical knowledge through professional learning. How-
ever, these formal education experiences usually alternate with a more practical phase,
which takes place in occupational institutions. In this phase, more practical skills are
acquired that finally constitute professional competence and that help to grow into a
community of effective practices (Boshuizen, Bromme & Gruber, 2004).
Research on expertise, which investigates roots for excellent performance in
professional domains, has generated fruitful insights on the development of pro-
fessional competence. However, the way of thinking about professional expertise
has dramatically changed in recent years. A few decades ago, it was considered
that professional competence was based on the amount of specific knowledge a
person had accumulated during their professional life. This view has been replaced
by a perspective differentiating dimensions of knowledge and action competence.
Certainly, there is a need to integrate both individual cognitive aspects and social
and cultural dimensions of growing into a community of experts (Billett, 2001).
Individual cognitive processes like acquisition, storage and retrieval of knowledge
in memory systems are represented by research on expertise, whereas socio-cultural
theories of professional development highlight processes that are increasingly be-
coming integrated in communities of experts and acquiring practical knowledge
through directly participating in professional practice. Therefore, there is a need to
understand the repertoire of performances that are required to secure that profes-
sional knowledge and competence.
3 The Role of Theoretical and Practical Knowledge
3.1 Theoretical Knowledge:

Individual Cognitive Correlates of Expertise
Traditional cognitive research on expertise defines experts as persons who, by ob-
jective standards and constantly over a long time, show excellent performance in
typical activities of a domain (e.g. medicine, chess, music). Expert performance is

often illuminated by comparison with individuals with limited performance—the
novices. In contrast to giftedness, expertise is usually considered as acquired spe-
cial skill in, or knowledge of, a particular subject through practical experience. De
Groot’s (1965) seminal work on chess masters pioneered the scientific orientation
of research on expertise, within the domain of chess playing. The most striking
difference between grandmasters and weaker players was revealed in a memory
task, in which subjects were presented with chess positions for a few seconds and
asked to reconstruct them immediately. The experts’ superior recall was explained
with specific perceptual patterns they held in their memory that were closely related
to their domain-specific knowledge.
De Groot’s (1965) interpretation of the findings directed the future research
on expertise from the perspective of information-processing theory and cognitive
psychology. The focus on the analysis of cognitive correlates of expert perfor-
mance (perception, memory, knowledge, problem-solving) has since been main-
tained (Ericsson & Smith, 1991), and has only recently been supplemented by
research on the contexts in which expert performance is situated (Ericsson et al.,
2006). The main research effort was focused on the modelling of cognitive struc-
tures and mechanisms that characterize expert information processing, thus aimed
at providing a rich description of expertise.
The most prominent empirical research method is the quasi-experimental con-
trastive approach (Voss et al., 1986). Experts, novices and sometimes also subjects
with an intermediate level of expertise (semi-experts) are compared. Results of con-
trastive comparisons show large differences between experts and novices in memory
performance. These large effect sizes cannot be explained by general memory fac-
tors: no differences occur in control tasks like digit-span. Thus, it is obvious that
domain-specific practice determines the differences. To a certain degree the cross-
sectional comparison can be interpreted as a developmental model of competence
development ‘from novice to expert’ in specific domains.
Generally, experts’ superior memory performance is closely related with their
knowledge. Many studies demonstrated the importance of a substantial amount
of theoretical or declarative knowledge for expert performance. At its beginning,
research on expertise investigated the importance of previous knowledge in
well-structured domains like chess. In particular, the chess studies identified the
huge impact of knowledge on memory performance of briefly presented chess po-
sitions; even children with less elaborated memory abilities than adults presented
better performance if they had more previous knowledge. Studies using think-aloud
protocols in the domain of physics also showed positive correlations of previous
knowledge and problem-solving skills (Simon & Simon, 1978).
In more practical professional fields, many expert actions are highly automatized.
Field studies demonstrated that, increasingly, theoretical knowledge was converted
into procedural knowledge with growing expertise. In his ACT-R model, Ander-
son (1982) stated that the development of competence mainly consists of chang-
ing declarative knowledge through practice into proceduralized knowledge. This is
achieved through knowledge compilation and rule tuning (i.e. the refining of what
1356 C. Harteis
has been previously learned). The development of competence as a basic component

of expertise can be described in three phases (declarative, compilation and tuning
phase). Learners first acquire considerable declarative knowledge, which is later
proceduralized and associated with practice. Then, the skill is automatized and tuned
through repeated exercise, leading to its becoming proceduralized.
According to this model, the development of domain-specific expertise is
achieved through and demonstrable at several stages. For instance, in the field of
medical diagnostics, Patel and Groen (1991) conceptualized four steps for expertise
development: beginners have declarative knowledge available; intermediates have
already compiled their knowledge into simple procedures; generic experts dispose
of domain-specific schemata and scripts; and specific experts have enriched these
with case experience.
The relevance of knowledge for expert performance is so obvious that studies
on expertise only rarely define the concept of knowledge that is being deployed.
After the ‘discovery’ of the importance of knowledge and proclaiming the cog-
nitive paradigm, the use of the term ‘knowledge’ apparently became quite open.
Indeed, research showed that many different types and qualities of knowledge can
be differentiated, each of them with a distinguished functionality. De Jong and
Ferguson-Hessler (1996) proposed a 4 × 5 matrix, in which four different kinds of
knowledge (i.e. situational, conceptual, procedural and strategic) and five different
criteria of knowledge (i.e. superficial versus deep, isolated versus linked, explicit
versus complied, visual or analytic, and general versus domain-specific) are differ-
entiated. This differentiation shows that the connotation of the concept knowledge
that is adopted in identifying expertise and identifying characteristics of expert per-
formance is far from trivial. A number of the knowledge concepts described by
De Jong and Ferguson-Hessler clearly indicate that acquisition, storage, retrieval
and application of knowledge is not only an individual matter, but also includes
socio-cultural components in the form of networking as negotiating meaning and
best-practice-proofs as well.
Therefore, the extensive body of research on individual cognitive components of
expert performance provided much evidence about the impact of knowledge on ex-
perts’ perception, memory and problem-solving skills. However, findings about the
domain specificity of expertise imply that the analysis of domain knowledge plays
a major role in research on expertise. These domains are best understood through a
consideration that includes the social and cultural factors that shape them.
3.2 Practical Knowledge: Socio-Cultural Correlates of Expertise
In contrast to traditional cognitive concepts of expertise that focus on academic

knowledge, the socio-cultural approach to expertise introduces a different episte-
mology of knowledge, which is exclusively related to social practice. The basic
assumption of socio-cultural theories is that individuals and social context cannot
be analysed as separate units (Vygotsky, 1978). Rather, humans and social context
are mutually interrelated, because individuals are both actively constructing their
cultural systems and are influenced through them. As people, from their early inter-
actions on, develop a kind of social sense, they begin to construct their perception
of the social world and selectively engage in social practices. By engaging in social
practice they in turn construct new knowledge, subjective beliefs and experiences
(Valsiner & van der Veer, 2000).
Thus, socio-cultural theories define learning processes not as cognitive processes
but rather as personal development becoming increasingly embedded in social inter-
actions and increasingly shaping an identity within social systems. Similarly, the pro-
cess of expertise development is described as an on-going integration in professional
communities, in which new workers are guided by more competent members and
increasingly become full participants in the field of work (Lave & Wenger, 1991). The
basic idea of socio-cultural research on expertise, therefore, is to stress the context
dependency of knowledge and competence development. Context is defined as the
historically developed culture of practice, including particular cultural artefacts and
ways of interactions. Accordingly, the knowledge base of competence development
is bound to social activities and interactions within a particular kind of practice.
Consequently, the epistemology of knowledge refuses to define essential knowl-
edge as an objective entity located within people’s heads. Rather, Lave and Wenger
(1991) use the concept of ‘knowledgeable skills’ instead of declarative or procedu-
ral knowledge. By this means, practical skills and knowledge are directly linked. In
their ethnographic study of midwives, the process of knowledge and skill application
was investigated through scientific observations of participation and guidance in a
specific culture of professional practice.
Research on social cognition generated many linkages between mental represen-
tations and socio-cultural background in certain professional fields (Resnick, Levine
& Teasley, 1991). These theories emphasize that workplaces represent unique his-
torically derived practices with unique sets of situational factors that shape the
requirements for workplace performance. Expertise development is linked to the
ability to learn the particular knowledgeable skills and to perform effectively in a
particular instance of work practice.
The most applicable research method to investigate relevant practical knowledge
in different professional fields is the longitudinal ethnographic study using obser-
vations and interviews. Findings from Billett’s (2003) ethnographic study in the
field of hairdressing demonstrate the differences of cultural factors of workplaces
(for instance, division of labour, clients, location, layout). By investigating essen-
tial knowledge in hairdressers’ activity and problem-solving, conclusions of the
interdependence of socio-cultural practice and individual life histories can be drawn
about how it is manifested in particular hairdressing salons.
Socio-cultural research on expertise points out the practical component of knowl-
edge in particular cultural contexts. This approach denies investigating abstract theo-
retical knowledge as essential for skilful professional performance. As knowledge and
the particular context cannot be separated, social engagement in practice is essential
for expertise development. Through participating in social practice and experiencing
guidance from competent workers, people learn essential knowledgeable skills. In
1358 C. Harteis
sum, the socio-cultural approach suggests that consideration of abstract theoretical

concepts makes no sense for analysing professional competence, because only social
practice shapes the meaning for abstract theories. Thus, an integrated consideration
of individual and socio-cultural components of expertise seems to be appropriate.
3.3 The Role of Experience
Research on individual cognitive components of expertise generated evidence for

the necessity of theoretical, declarative knowledge, whereas socio-cultural research
focuses on practice-related knowledge, caring little about abstract, context-free
knowledge. To carry both approaches to extremes, two misleading assumptions
arise that are often discussed in instructional design debates of vocational train-
ings. These misconceptions reflect flawed assumptions about formal and informal
learning, which claim that either theoretical knowledge alone or practical knowledge
alone can lead to professional competence.
3.3.1 Misconception 1
The first misconception is that huge amounts of theoretical knowledge lead to the
development of professional competence. Focusing on primarily theoretical cur-
ricula of vocational training, the idea might develop that a substantial amount of
abstract knowledge leads to professional competence. However, recent educational
studies have shown that providing learners with much declarative knowledge often
leads to inert knowledge rather than to expert knowledge. Evidence exists in the
fields of commercial vocational training or higher education that theoretical knowl-
edge acquired during learning could not easily be transferred to daily-life problems
(Mandl et al., 1996). Similar findings were found to be true in the domains of teach-
ing, medicine and others. The impact of theoretical knowledge in the domain of
counselling is supposed to be limited as well: after theoretical training in artificial
environments, counsellors often fall back on their subjective theories and routines
(Sowarka, 1991).
Thus, despite considerable evidence of the huge impact of declarative knowl-
edge on expertise development, theoretical knowledge seems to be a necessary
component of expertise, but not a sufficient one. It is a fallacy to equate ‘expert
knowledge’ with ‘declarative, theoretical domain knowledge’. As was mentioned
above, expertise comprises more than just acquisition of declarative knowledge and
automatization of routine actions. Experts, in addition, excel by flexibility of actions
(‘adaptive expertise’—Hatano & Inagaki, 1986) and these are most likely accessed
and premised in practice-based experiences.
3.3.2 Misconception 2
The second misconception is that huge amounts of practical knowledge lead to the
development of professional competence. The gap between theory and practice is
frequently found in complex domains. Practitioners claim that workaday knowl-

edge, common sense and social competences are sufficient for skilful performance
(Zarifian, 1995). It is argued that concepts of theoretical instruction show deficien-
cies. Current German discussions about redirecting teacher education back from
university to practical vocational training institutions indicate the trend to dramati-
cally reduce theoretical and academic parts of vocational training (Keuffer, 2005).
However, practice without theoretical reflection does not lead to deep learning
processes. Declarative knowledge is essential: to evaluate the quality of practice; to
review problems and solutions; and to implement innovations (Heid, 2005). If it is
true that practice shows unique characteristics in particular respective socio-cultural
contexts, then abstract knowledge is even more essential for flexibly applying var-
ious concepts for different categories of practical problems and diverse practice
situations.
Like theoretical knowledge, practical knowledge seems to be a necessary but
not a sufficient component of expertise. In recent theories of expertise development
(Ericsson et al., 2006), it is held necessary to combine both aspects by introducing
experience as essential knowledge. Experience is defined as episodic knowledge
about how, when and in which situation to apply knowledge successfully. In other
words, such theories argue that the combination of both ‘formal’ and practice-based
learning is crucial. Expertise development includes not only the accumulation of
declarative and procedural knowledge, but also processes of reorganizing existing
knowledge according to specific situations and to constraints set by the social com-
munity of experts in the domain. The main educational issue then is to generate
experience-based knowledge structures, which show high subjective relevance and
personal importance related to experienced practice within relevant social contexts.
In sum, the ‘right’ kinds of experience provide a basis to combine academic and
practical knowledge for the development of expertise and professional competence.
It requires the development of learning environments that foster both individual
cognitive components of expertise—formal learning processes might be appropriate
to foster such processes—and socio-cultural assimilation and accommodation pro-
cesses—preferably fostered through ideas on how to initiate practice-based learning
during professional activities. Professional experience in the above-mentioned sense
increases episodic knowledge and, thus, contributes to the successful, flexible and
innovative use of declarative knowledge, as well as to the mastery of specific prac-
tical situations.
4 Consequences for Teachers and Instructors in TVET
The section above argued in detail for the necessity of interplay between learning
experiences in educational and professional settings. Such a successful interplay is
what we call ‘professional learning’. Two consequences result from the demand for
professional learning for teachers and instructors in TVET. First, some conclusions
can be drawn for the development of their own professional competence. Second,
consequences for their professional tasks also arise.
1360 C. Harteis
4.1 TVET Teachers’ Professional Learning
Teaching in the field of TVET with a high claim of professionalism means that
teaching is based on the state of educational research and follows evidence on how
to deliver conditions for effective learning. Professional teachers have to update their
professional knowledge and competence (Craig, 2003). The quality of teachers’
professionalism in that understanding is usually—amongst other things—indicated
by the amount of formal training passed and the level of academic achievement
(Eraut, 2000), which all refer to theoretical knowledge stocks. As noted, theoretical
knowledge on learning processes can easily remain inert and teachers may return to
familiar routines and behaviour based on familiar beliefs, even if they have theoret-
ical knowledge on learning that contradicts their routines (e.g. Leung & Park, 2002;
Sahin, Bullock & Stables, 2002). For instance, interviews with university teachers
revealed that their epistemic beliefs shape their perception of how they practice,
including their actions, options or restrictions for improving teaching quality, al-
though they all emphasize didactic knowledge that suggests certain actions (Harteis,
Gruber & Lehner, 2006). In view of the high value of formal education and the fact
that formal education might also be indispensable for becoming familiar with the
latest research, it is important that training and further education courses should be
designed in a way so as to avoid the creation of inert knowledge.
Empirical studies deliver evidence that features of instruction can be identified
which foster the applicability of knowledge. Those instructional principles refer
to the paradigms of situated learning (Gee, 2004) and constructivism (Kivinen &
Ristelä, 2003), and proclaim the following:
r Articulation: teachers, as well as learners, should vocalize their thoughts and
their interpretation of the content presented;
r Reflection: learners should develop mental models and then test them against
alternative approaches in discussions with others (e.g. learners and teachers);
r Activity: the process of learning and instruction should not be considered simply
as one-way interaction with an active teacher and reactive learners, but learners
should be actively involved in work on authentic problems;
r Equality: teaching is traditionally connected with a hierarchical relationship be-
tween the teacher and the learners. The new perspective regards every person in
the learning setting as having the same importance. Teachers should act rather as
coaches and tutors than as demanding a privileged position.
As is apparent, those principles might best be realized through experiences in educa-
tional institutions. They represent quite appropriate approaches for teaching adults
in technical and vocational education and training. Probably the most popular de-
sign for integrating these principles is ‘cognitive apprenticeship’ (Collins, Brown &
Newman, 1989). That approach leans on the principles of the classical handicraft
apprenticeship, which is conceptualized as a process of gradually growing towards
the level of a master of trade. At the beginning, the apprentices just observe the
expert and then start with their own activities that gradually reach expert level. Cog-
nitive apprenticeship adopts all of these moments on cognitive learning processes.
The teacher as expert starts the process by explaining a problem from their perspec-
tive and then articulating their thoughts when solving the problem. The learners
are required to verbalize and discuss their views. During the process of cognitive
apprenticeship, the teacher gradually steps out of the problem-solving processes,
which finally are achieved by the learners themselves. Ultimately, the teachers in-
tervene only on the demand of the learners. During the entire process the learners
have to reflect on the tasks and articulate and discuss their perspectives. Finally, the
learners explore for themselves and create their own strategies for dealing with a
problem. Such a didactic design not only enhances the development of applicable
knowledge, but also facilitates growth into a community of experts and developing
a common learning culture within that community.
A model that focuses on learners with considerable previous knowledge is called
‘cognitive flexibility’ (Vosniadu & Ioannides, 1998). Assuming that people who are
already quite competent in a domain tend to be fixed in their position, this approach
proclaims to analyse complex problems from different theoretical perspectives in
order to increase learners’ cognitive flexibility. In this way, existing, perhaps simpli-
fied mental models and beliefs about the domain should be weakened and modified.
By representing different perspectives, side effects and collateral consequences can
be explored. This process results in action competence in complex domains, such as
in professional teaching.
Consideration of the didactical principles mentioned above does not constitute
a pedagogical revolution. Ideas of learners’ activity, action and participant orienta-
tion, and reflection of thoughts and experiences have a long tradition in the field of
adult and vocational education (Terhart, 2003). However, verified and systematically
gained information on the extent to which those ideas are applied in the field
of vocational education in general, and teacher education in particular, is not
available.
When shifting the perspective away from learning in educational institutions and
towards practice-based learning, it quickly becomes evident that the didactic prin-
ciples represent modes of working life. Working on problems, discussing positions
with others and reflecting on solutions are components of challenging workplaces.
However, learning during work does not occur automatically, but depends on the ex-
tent to which people perceive their work as a source for learning (Bauer et al., 2004)
or to which people perceive space for learning activities. The subjective construal
of meaning of working life influences thinking and reflection of practice (Billett,
Somerville & Fenwick, 2006) and this shapes what counts as competence for the
individual through their professional learning.
As enterprises increasingly use educational ideas (e.g. when proclaiming learn-
ing enterprises), much research on workplace and professional learning focuses on
employees in the system of the private economy. Recently, some publications have
also focused on public administration as places where learning processes occur
(Ni Cheallaigh, 2001). However, less attention is paid to teachers’ opportunities
for learning during their professional activities. Of course, there is a great deal
of research on teacher education, but this mainly focuses on learning experiences
1362 C. Harteis
within educational institutions. And if this is true for teachers in general, it is more
so for the field of adult and vocational education.
Whereas there is no doubt that teachers and instructors in technical and voca-
tional education and training reflect on their practice and are actively engaged, it
is questionable whether they find partners for articulating and discussing perspec-
tives on learning and instruction. Adult educators normally act (as many school and
university teachers also do) as solitary persons, if they do not actively search for
supervision and coaching. It seems to be a common shared belief that teaching is a
kind of private sphere where only learners and the teacher are involved. Under those
conditions, it is difficult to find practice-based learning opportunities with peers.
Therefore, it is necessary to engage teachers in these processes.
4.2 TVET Teachers’ Tasks
As vocational education aims to secure applicable knowledge that should not remain
inert, the expectations concerning teachers’ and instructors’ methods and perfor-
mance may reach a high level. In educational settings, research on learning and
instruction defines criteria for standards of professional teaching. In the explana-
tions of the situated learning approaches of cognitive apprenticeship and cognitive
flexibility, some of those standards have been formulated through research. Even if
they do not embody a pedagogical revolution, as the ideas have already existed for a
long period of time, they still might be challenging for a wide area within vocational
education. Two examples should elaborate this assumption.
r In Germany, for instance, compensatory vocational education for the disadvan-

taged or unemployed often takes place as regular courses following a traditional
way of teaching: the instructors entertain the learners who at best play a reac-
tive role—if showing any action at all. The teachers are satisfied if the courses
run without interruption, the learners are satisfied if they can spend an unde-
manding time in the classroom, and the employment administration is satisfied
if the courses are full, because their participants do not appear in unemployment
statistics.
r It is very difficult to assess the direct effects of formal vocational education. In
many cases, it is difficult to measure learning success at the end of a course,
because it may demand a certain period of reflection and testing outside the
learning environment. At least, without an experimental design (which usually is
not available in enterprises) it is impossible to assess the effect of formal educa-
tion on work performance. Under such circumstances, the culture of evaluating
vocational education courses often follows just formal purposes. In most cases,
summative evaluation assesses learners’ satisfaction at the end of a course, which
can be related to factors other than teaching quality from a viewpoint of educa-
tional expertise. Thus, a rational way of teaching is to follow well-known ways
and not to risk a change of working settings.
If these two examples describe a considerable part of vocational education, the find-
ings already mentioned above suggest that teachers follow proven patterns of teach-
ing, even if they contradict some of the available educational theoretical knowledge.
If practice promotes conservative tendencies, the motivation for change is low. How-
ever, in times of increasing competition affecting the field of vocational education,
there is a greater probability that circumstances will change.
Probably a much more important development than rising competition might be
the tendency that enterprises increasingly acknowledge the value of practice-based
learning processes that do not interrupt working processes. The stock of knowl-
edge and experience existing in the staff of an enterprise is normally great. If enter-
prises would succeed in organizing an effective exchange of experience, expertise
and implicit knowledge within the staff, the effect probably would be much bet-
ter than that resulting from the efforts of formal education. Therefore, enterprises
have intensified efforts of knowledge management as organizational development.
Knowledge management means the organized exchange of information within an
organization, such as a vocational education institution, which aims at tapping a
range of explicit and implicit knowledge as far as possible. It can be seen as an
(technical) instrument for enabling informal learning at workplaces. Organizational
development means preparing the structures of an enterprise for future demands.
Contemporary approaches focus on the creation of conditions that support the de-
velopment of competences (Harteis & Gruber, 2004).
The field of informal education opens new professional tasks for teachers in the
field of vocational education. The practice-based experiences provide increased at-
tention and esteem, but stand to render the traditional teaching roles of instructor
and trainer superfluous. Therefore, a changed role is needed: teachers in vocational
education as tutors, arrangers and supporters of professional learning. The tasks then
are less the teaching of learners, than counselling managers and learners in order to
facilitate learning processes that are close to work processes.
However, by emphasizing practice-based learning, it should not be assumed that
formal learning is not required. Workplace experiences do not deliver enough oppor-
tunities for learning or the knowledge needed is simply not available in an enterprise.
Moreover, it is also imaginable that employees and managers have to be prepared
and trained for realizing a learning enterprise and exchanging their experiences in
a knowledge-management system. Thus, organizing the interplay between formal
and informal education as a way of managing professional learning is the most
promising perspective for teachers in vocational education.
5 Professional Learning
Little work has been done to integrate the ideas of formal and informal learning.
This concerns both the necessity of seriously integrating ‘situated aspects’ in formal
learning environments, for example through the adaptation of examination systems,
and the necessity to integrate formal aspects in situated learning environments,
1364 C. Harteis
because learning is arduous if the context is weak. For example, workplace learn-
ing does not always proceed smoothly, but requires intensive instructional support,
particularly if little expertise exists in the working team. Learning activities at work-
places, however, require time and space, and they depend on explicit rules allowing
employees to follow learning activities instead of productive ones. In the respective
educational and organizational research, this topic is discussed within the concept of
‘learning culture’. Attempts to construct a learning culture in an organization require
both some formal regulations and opportunities to make use of context-dependent
learning processes. If both requirements are fulfilled, learning can happen even in
individuals who are disadvantaged for one reason or another, and who cannot easily
enter traditional formal learning environments.
Teachers in vocational education work will change, if the ideas of integrat-
ing learning experiences in the workplace and educational institution advance far
enough that they become popular. Teachers in vocational education have to develop
their competence over time as circumstances change. This leads back to the point
made at the beginning of this chapter: learning demands stretch over the entire span
of occupational life, and this applies to teachers as well as to other occupations.
Of course, everything that has been advanced above is as relevant for teachers as
for others. And it would be equally appropriate for teachers to succeed in pro-
fessional learning—enrolling for formal education and turning them into informal
learning processes during professional activities. Due to the absence of empirical
data, it is just possible to add some assumptions about difficulties in opportunities
of workplace learning for the teaching domain—especially in vocational education
and training. The biggest challenge, but also the most promising one for teachers
in vocational education and training, is to succeed in both, realizing professional
learning for the development of their own professional competence and counseling
and tutoring learners and being enterprising in creating occupational environments
that support employees’ professional learning.
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Chapter VIII.15
Industrial Attachments for Instructors
in TVET Delivery
1 Introduction
Industrial attachments usually refer to the formal placement of trainees in the work-
place to facilitate the achievement of specific learning outcomes that would poten-
tially lead to their employability on completion of a training programme. Industrial
attachments typically involve training providers and industries (through employers)
forming partnerships to offer situated learning opportunities in the workplace so that
learners and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) practitioners
have access to authentic experiences that only the workplace can offer.
Apprenticeships, traineeships and cadetships are at the core of industrial attach-
ment within TVET. Within these schemes there are variances among paid, unpaid,
full-time and part-time arrangements. These types of attachments were traditionally
designed for young learners aspiring to become employable in their chosen fields.
Nowadays, older and more experienced workers are also participating in re-training,
lifelong learning and personal development.
Industrial attachment is not only critical for trainees, it is equally important for
teachers, trainers and instructors (who are referred to as TVET practitioners in this
chapter). The term ‘industrial attachment’ is commonly used in Asian and African
TVET systems to describe arrangements allowing practitioners to replenish and up-
date their skills. In other countries, it may be called on-the-job learning for teachers
and trainers (e.g. Finland), return or back-to-industry programmes (e.g. Australia)
and industry placements or secondments (e.g. United Kingdom).
TVET practitioners are ‘involved in a range of “direct” activities, such as de-
livery, development, and review and assessment of courses or modules’ (NCVER,
2004, p. 7). The delivery of courses or modules within TVET institutions remains
the most common activity for TVET practitioners. However, among industry cir-
cles, subject specialists with trade competencies, rather than those with additional
pedagogical skills, are still regarded as effective trainers. Gauld and Miller (2004)
found that many employers continue to engage subject specialists for the provision
of training in the workplace: ‘Many employers are sending the message that any-
one can be a workplace trainer or training specialist once they have some knowl-
edge in a particular content area’ (p. 18). However, there are important pedagogic

1368 S. Choy, S. Haukka
competences as well as content that are required for effective learning in workplaces
and elsewhere (e.g. in TVET colleges).
Industry also values and prefers much of the training that takes place within the
workplace. There is no doubt about the authenticity of the workplace as a learn-
ing environment. Scholars, learners, employers and TVET professionals across the
globe agree that the workplace provides the most authentic learning environment to
train a competent workforce (e.g. Billett, 1992; Deissinger & Hellwig, 2005; Hager,
2004; Harris & Simons, 1999; Harris, Simons & Clayton, 2005). The workplace
also remains the main site for enculturation (Vygotsky, 1978) and the inculcation of
trade values (Harris & Simons, 1999).
In many instances, training and skilling for employment is conducted solely
within educational institutions. This approach is described by Hager (2004) as the
‘front-end’ model. The failures and limitations of the front-end model generated
debates and triggered an increase in the integration of on-the-job and off-the-job
learning. The workplace is not only the most authentic learning environment, but a
context for learners to transform and construct vocationally and socially meaningful
knowledge and skills (Brown, 1998; Billett & Boud, 2001). This type of contex-
tual learning is founded on the theory of constructivism because learners make
meanings by anchoring the content with the context through interaction with the
learning environment. Three types of cognitions are used to characterize learning
in the workplace: situated cognition (Lave, 1988); social cognition; and distributed
cognition (see Putnam & Borko, 2000). Benefits of workplace learning also extend
to TVET practitioners who remain the key ‘connective specialists’ (Young & Guile,
1997), linking educational institutions and the workplace. Industrial attachment is
seen as an effective professional development activity for TVET practitioners to
maintain the currency of their vocational knowledge and expertise, including their
knowledge of technologies and practices commonly used in contemporary work-
places (Loveder, 2005). This on-going development is necessary because the role of
TVET practitioners is constantly changing.
2 Changing Role of TVET Practitioners
The roles of TVET practitioners are constantly changing (e.g. Attwell, 1999;
Clayton, Fisher & Hughes, 2005; Harris et al., 2001). A diversification of the
work roles of TVET practitioners includes spending more time working in industry,
particularly monitoring learner progress in workplaces. Some have become ‘con-
sultants’, with marketing, project and other management skills, as well as skills in
developing, managing and maintaining relationships within their organization and
with their enterprises and other clients. Others are acting as ‘learning brokers’ to
learners, enterprises and providers (Chappell & Johnson, 2003). To provide lead-
ership and consultancies to industry, TVET practitioners need to be well informed
and up to date with internal and external changes taking place, as well as with the
changing needs of the labour market. This knowledge would assist practitioners in
VIII.15 Industrial Attachments for Instructors in TVET Delivery 1369
preparing trainees for contemporary workplaces, as well as for future employment

or entrepreneurship.
Three main sources of change have affected TVET practitioners: (a) reforms in
TVET policy and practice; (b) developments in TVET pedagogy; and (c) changes
in industry. Attwell (1999) provides a succinct summary of the types of changes in
industry that have relevance for TVET practitioners.
The increasing rate of change, driven by new technology, new forms of work organization,
the shortening of the product life-cycle and new demands on quality have likewise led to
increased attention on the need for a flexible workforce able and willing to adapt and shape
new products and processes and to the role played by both initial and continuing VET in
the development of skills and competence (p. 190).
These types of changes in industry are incessant—more rapid in some areas and
slower in others. The significance and influence of ‘telematics’ (the combination
of telecommunication networks and computer technology) (Young & Guile, 1997,
p. 209) are occurring across most industries. Knowledge of recent changes and
their incorporation into the formal curriculum for TVET practitioners take time.
The quicker and less formal way to maintain the currency of industry changes is
for TVET practitioners to participate in industrial attachment and directly access
workplaces or learn through other agents, such as professional bodies, guilds and
networks.
Given all this, industrial attachment is particularly essential for maintaining the
competencies of TVET practitioners. Attwell (1999) lists such competencies as fol-
lows:
1. Knowledge and understanding of changing working life and society;

2. Occupational subject-matter expertise and the ability to apply occupational
knowledge in different contexts;
3. Pedagogical expertise and the ability to apply it in planning, implementing and
evaluating different pedagogical and curriculum strategies; and
4. Self-reflection and research into the practioner’s activities, students’ activities,
changing working life and society, occupational subject knowledge and new ped-
agogical and curricular strategies for self-development and the development of
the management of learning (p. 196).
In an ever-changing industrial environment, arrangements for industrial attachments

must form part of an overall professional development strategy for TVET practi-
tioners. This would help ensure that practitioners are equipped with the necessary
workforce skills and capabilities for the near future. Dickie et al. (2004, p. 6) stress
the need for a range of skills and capabilities. These include:
r an ability to adapt to change and cope with uncertainty;
r client-focus skills;
r management and leadership capabilities;
r coaching, mentoring and networking skills;
r information and communication technologies (ICTs);
r knowledge/work capabilities, i.e. the ability to access, create and use knowledge
to add value to businesses;
r pedagogical expertise, learner focus and industry currency knowledge and skills;
r continually upgrading their skills and knowledge;
r self-managing their own careers and development as they move across registered
training organizations (RTOs) and within industry;
r accommodating identity shifts as they move across roles and organizations;
r learning to work in teams, across organizations and within networks; and
r being prepared for more fragmented and specialized roles, such as assessment.
This list comprises an extensive set of requirements that will need a range of on-
going development strategies. Common to all of these is the kind of experiences in
workplaces that will permit an understanding of these requirements, their potential
development and the important exercise of individuals’ efforts to secure professional
development.
However, to fulfil their role in linking the training provided in the institutions to
the needs of industry, TVET practitioners must maintain expertise in VET pedagogy,
as well as industry competence and workforce developments. Gilleard (1996) pro-
poses that educational practitioners assess the effectiveness of their own skills and
competencies and improve self-development through direct and indirect activities in
both learning places—the institution and the workplace. Self-development, together
with self-empowerment for learning, will make individuals aware and consciously
responsive to changes in their fields.
Moreover, in terms of organizational change, Papadopoulos (1994, in Attwell,
1999, p. 192) sees teachers as the spearhead of change and progress and argues that
‘greater opening up to the world of work’ is a necessity. He recommends a change in
the approach to teaching through empirical learning, ‘learning by doing—drawing
on lessons learned from the workplace’ (p. 192). Papadopoulos goes on to argue that
teachers cannot create situational learning experiences without an understanding of
workplace contexts and changes. Such understanding can be gained through regular
industrial attachment.
No longer can TVET practitioners continue delivering quality training using the
knowledge and skills acquired during their initial training, especially in the ab-
sence of regular industry updates. Despite the changing roles of TVET practitioners,
demanding them to regularly update knowledge and skills in line with industrial
changes, the training of TVET practitioners—and follow-up staff development for
that matter—remains deficient.
3 Training of TVET Practitioners
The literature on training for TVET practitioners relates mainly to initial teacher
preparation to meet the minimum requirements for a TVET teacher or trainer em-
ployment. There is little attention to industrial attachment as part of this initial
preparation or for maintaining the currency of industry knowledge and expertise
once in the workforce. In most European countries for example, industrial knowl-
edge, skills or competencies form a pre-requisite for TVET teacher training (e.g.
Nielsen, 2002). Industry attachment is less co-ordinated and not regulated for in-
service training. In Germany’s dual system, training in the workplace is facilitated
by workplace trainers (Deissinger & Hellwig, 2005). The responsibility for regulat-
ing work-based training lies with the respective chambers of commerce. Teachers
with a university degree and at least one year of practical experience provide the
off-the-job component to apprentices. These teachers teach the more generic com-
ponents and are not required to maintain industry skills. This situation may fail to
appreciate the importance of knowing how to apply generic knowledge in workplace
settings.
Elsewhere, it appears that maintaining the currency of industrial knowledge
and skills is less co-ordinated. Although widely assumed to be an imperative for
lifelong learning, it is often left to individuals to organize such attachments by
themselves.
Training and skilling of practitioners has been principally the domain of TVET
or university institutions. Harris et al. (2001) describe effective development pro-
grammes as a ‘three-fold’ activity: ‘It needs to ensure that teachers and trainers are
well equipped in their technical areas of expertise, that they have a solid foundation
in facilitating learning in a wide range of settings and that they have opportunities
to develop personally and professionally’ (p. 81). Yet, Attwell’s (1999) research
shows that there is no consistent approach to training TVET professionals. Ped-
agogical programmes are available for those with vocational qualifications and/or
experience. These programmes are offered full time, part time or on the job. In Eu-
rope, Attwell (1999, p. 197) observed that ‘occupational or professional expertise’
(industry expertise) forms a requirement for all TVET practitioners and is measured
as industry work experience. The length or breadth of such experience is rarely a
serious consideration.
Initial preparatory programmes for TVET practitioners have focused largely on
the TVET pedagogy and less on industry skills. They consist of theoretical knowl-
edge and practical competencies in the delivery of TVET using the theories and
principles of andragogy. Most are customized versions of generic teacher-training
courses (see Nielsen, 2002, for Western and Eastern European examples). In Europe,
there is no standard established for TVET teacher training: each country has its
own systems and standards. In most European countries, there is greater emphasis
on improving the quality of vocational teachers rather than workplace instructors.
In Germany, Austria and Denmark, which have a dual system, classroom teachers
and workplace instructors engaged in TVET have comparable qualifications and
requirements. In Scotland and England, the role of workplace trainers is limited
to assessment. According to Nielsen’s (2002) review, most countries in Europe are
working towards a standardized qualification for TVET practitioners.
TVET in most regions of the world is founded on partnerships between the gov-
ernment, industry and TVET providers. There is much evidence of successful and
supportive partnerships for the delivery of TVET for aspiring workers. Industries,
through employers, are now more active in the development of the workforce and
enhancing the social and economic capital. They contribute to the establishment
of standards and industrial competencies and provide situated learning and training
opportunities for trainees. While industry support and commitment to the develop-
ment of employable workers is widely evident, similar arrangements and commit-
ments for on-going training and skilling of TVET practitioners to maintain industry
currency appear lower on the agenda of the key partners. Perhaps the value of main-
taining currency and its impact on the quality of TVET is not fully appreciated at
the policy level. The absence of any strategic policy or regulatory requirements for
the currency of industrial knowledge and experience for TVET practitioners leaves
no particular authorities or partners taking responsibility or leading the way.
As connective specialists, and a conduit between RTOs and workplaces, TVET
practitioners need more formalized arrangements to continue their learning and
skilling to ensure that industry and competency standards are up to date. TVET
employers (RTO), industries, the TVET or university providers and the practitioners
themselves remain the key partners who can introduce change.
Deeper understanding and appreciation of the significance of industrial attach-
ment for TVET practitioners would invigorate debates and provide greater promi-
nence, thereby gaining genuine support and commitment from all partners.
4 The Significance of Industrial Attachment

for TVET Practitioners
There is an abundance of literature that supports the stance that effectiveness as

a trainer is related to the qualifications and experience of the trainer (Birken-
holz, 1999; DiGeorgio, 1982; Hiemstra & Sisco, 1990; Leach, 1996; Olson, 1993;
Thompson, 2001; Walter, 2002). A recent study by Gauld and Miller (2004) noted
that effectiveness as workplace educators improved with increased subject (work-
place/trade) knowledge. This was the view from 31% of a sample of trainers
(n = 303) with over ten years of experience. From a consideration of the literature,
it is possible to identify five key premises that underpin the significance of industrial
attachments for TVET practitioners:
Firstly, industry currency is regarded by Dickie et al. (2004) as one of seven
clusters of capabilities and skills required by effective TVET practitioners in Aus-
tralia. Such currency would ensure that they can ‘balance delivery of technical and
industry-specific skills with generic employability skills’ (p. 103). Similarly, Cort,
Härkönen and Volmari (2004) identified up-to-date vocational skills and knowledge
as one of five in a set of competencies needed by TVET practitioners who then
incorporate ‘what they learn into their own teaching programmes to ensure trainees
leave the VET system with immediately useful skills’ (p. 22). Therefore, securing
this currency is essential for TVET practitioners.
Secondly, there is a need for an understanding of the specific manifestations
of vocational knowledge. Off-the-job training for learners largely focuses on a
whole-of-industry level, whereas on-the-job learning concentrates on the immediate
practices and products to meet the business outcomes of the workplace (Harris
& Simons, 1999). Workplace learning is procedural or instrumental in nature while
theoretical and conceptual aspects that explain the ‘why’ form the content of learn-
ing in TVET institutions. It is often assumed that learners will be able to ad-
equately contextualize, integrate and apply their knowledge and skills gained in
educational institutions. TVET practitioners play a critical role as ‘connective spe-
cialists’ (Young & Guile, 1997) to contextualize the theory into practice. This is
why it is fundamental for them to maintain the currency of industry changes and
developments, thereby understanding its authentic application.
Thirdly, as the world of work changes, it is necessary to understand how those
changes are manifested in workplaces. According to Young and Guile (1997), work-
ers in the new economy must also have higher levels of conceptual understanding
and a combination of ‘occupational and organizational capability’ (p. 207) in order
to operate across groups of occupations. For TVET practitioners this means regu-
larly returning to industry not just to update their knowledge and skills, but also to
learn how to apply occupational knowledge in different and changing work contexts.
In this way, both TVET practitioners and their learners develop what Engeström
(1995) calls poly-contextual skills—the ability to move confidently between groups
with different kinds of expertise. Young and Guile (1997) believe that developing
these skills requires a shift in practitioners’ work to include more collaborative
approaches to apprenticeship training, such as facilitating ‘learning conversations’
among trainees, apprentices and employees on different sites and with different ex-
periences through, for example, communities of practice. In this way, the imperative
to maintain the currency of skills in the face of transforming workplace requirements
stands as an important rationale for industrial attachments.
Fourth is the importance of maintaining the credibility of TVET practitioners.
Maintaining technical currency is critical to TVET practitioners who are often crit-
icized for lacking up-to-date and relevant experience and knowledge, particularly
in relation to technological advances and ways of working in modern workplaces
(Loveder, 2005). TVET practitioners must learn about new and emerging develop-
ments, changing work cultures and competency requirements in their industrial ar-
eas so that they are better equipped to train their learners. Cohen and Tichy (1998, in
Gauld & Miller, 2004) assert that industry knowledge and experience alone are not
enough. TVET practitioners must ‘draw appropriate lessons from their experience
and be able to make their tacit knowledge explicit’ (p. 9). The ability to articulate
how one completes a work task requires different skills. For example, one cannot
assume that a good athlete is also a good coach. Many employers are sending the
message that anyone can be a workplace trainer or training specialist once they have
some knowledge in a particular content area. Gauld and Miller’s (2004) research
showed that an excellent knowledge of the subject alone was not adequate for
trainers. TVET practitioners are required to promote job competence (performing
complete roles in the workplace), as well as task competence (practical tasks).
Fifth is providing connections for students between educational institutions and
workplaces. Cort et al. (2004) recommended that teachers maintain close contact
with companies providing jobs for future trainees, through for example ‘twinning
arrangements’ between teachers and workplace instructors. They also recognized

work placements as an important way of providing teachers with invigorating and
stimulating experiences. Practical training periods in companies allow teachers to
update their skills and knowledge in the subject areas they teach, while encouraging
them to experiment with new teaching methods and materials, ‘giving them a realis-
tic and holistic impression of the professions, and bringing elements of realism into
their teaching’ (pp. 38–39).
In these five ways, current experiences of industry changes, knowledge and skills
could have significant positive implications for the quality of TVET delivery. Indus-
try attachment for practitioners to maintain currency needs to be an integral element
of quality provision of TVET. In the next section, some examples of how different
systems have approached the provision of experiences are reviewed.
5 Models of Industrial Attachment for TVET Practitioners

While there is much literature on the initial training of TVET practitioners, little
detail is available on industrial attachment arrangements to maintain the currency
of changes, knowledge and skills taking place in industry. TVET practitioners in
most countries are not considered as teaching professionals like school-teachers and
university academics. Their training and development appears less coherent and is
often fragmented, compared to teaching/training professions in other sectors. Cort
et al. (2004) assert that professional development of TVET practitioners is too im-
portant to be left to the individual teachers’ motivation and personal incentives: ‘It
is not only the individual teacher who has to become more ‘professional’, but the
entire organization’ (p. 39). Organizational change and competence development
have to go hand in hand. Cort et al. stress that change in teachers’ working cultures
requires commitment and time. In a review of European case studies on how VET
practitioners update their vocational skills, they found that on-the-job learning for
teachers and trainers now forms a standard component of their training. On-the-job
learning improves their skills and provides them with experience of work in industry.
5.1 Australia
In Australia, VET practitioners are required to hold a Certificate IV in Training and

Assessment as a minimum qualification and must be able to demonstrate vocational
competencies at least to the level of those being delivered. This is stipulated in
Standard 7.4 of the Australian Quality Training Framework for RTOs. Practitioners
maintain currency by returning to industry, engaging in private practice, attending
conferences, participating in in-house training activities, staff development work-
shops or undertaking self-directed learning (Holland & Holland, 1998). Although
regular industry placement is regarded as critical for VET practitioners to keep up-
to-date with changes and technologies, there is no consistent approach or formal
co-ordination of such activities. Most RTOs negotiate these activities with their net-
work of industry partners to suit their contexts. Up to ten working days a year are
allocated by some RTOs as paid professional development where the placements
are arranged for VET practitioners. Other RTOs encourage VET practitioners to
organize their own industry experience. Research by Harris et al. (2001) found that
TVET practitioners who feel no need for an industry placement, particularly those
from industry areas where change is slow and gradual, upgrade their knowledge
and skills through meetings, seminars, conferences and through their networks in
industry.
Many part-time TVET practitioners who maintain their industry jobs are in a
better position to update their knowledge and skills. Similarly, those who own busi-
nesses have easy access. Others learn from their trainees and when visiting or as-
sessing trainee competencies in the workplace. Using student work-based learning
experiences as a means of maintaining knowledge about changing industry struc-
tures, practices and technologies is not unusual. Mulcahy (1999) noted this in his
research on vocational work experience in the hospitality industry.
Clayton et al. (2005) found that ‘return to industry’ was one of the skills-
maintenance strategies used by some technical and further education (TAFE) in-
stitutions in Australia, designed to encourage industry connections. They noted that
return to industry involves ‘teaching practitioners spend[ing] some time working
in industry in their field of teaching specialization’ (p. 27). Approaches included
industrial work or project placements to re-skill teaching staff, and ranged from
mandated to self-initiated stages and from brief to extensive periods of time. Their
study identified barriers to maintaining vocational competency that are particularly
relevant to return to industry. These barriers related to resources, dispositions and
practicalities, as summarized in Table 1.
Provision of co-ordinated industry placements for practitioners is a matter of
greater importance for RTOs with staff on on-going employment conditions. Staff
with short-term contracts are often expected to take responsibility for up-dating and
maintaining industry currency. It is also common to see private (non-governmental)
RTOs playing a lesser role in industry placement, largely because they tend to
recruit staff who already have the adequate industry experience for the delivery
of TVET.
In Australia, there is some evidence of industry playing a more active role in
supporting practitioners to maintain currency of changes and skills. The case with
Bakers Delight illustrates a successful example.
Bakers Delight is Australia’s largest bakery franchise. It has formed unique part-
nerships with the Box Hill Institute of TAFE in Victoria and the Sydney Institute in
New South Wales to train apprentices. The Bakery Skills Incorporation Programme
(BSIP) is educating TVET practitioners about the company’s internal development
programmes and offering them a holistic understanding of training and development
initiatives (Davis, 2004). TAFE teachers formally assess core competencies of ap-
prentices when they are at the TAFE campus. The franchisee and TAFE teachers
work together to build trust and rapport as they develop the apprentice. The learning
partnership results in mutual benefits for both partners and the apprentices.
Table 1 Key barriers to maintaining vocational competence through ‘return to industry’

Key barriers Aspects
Resource • Lack of time and money;
• Teaching workload;
• Pace of change;
• Teacher release and replacement for professional development.
Disposition • Lack of confidence;
• Fear of returning to an industry that may not be familiar to them anymore;
• Resistance to change;
• Lack of motivation;
• Failure of teachers to recognize their own skills deficits.
Practical • The difficulty of finding workplaces that were willing to allow teachers to use
new technology and expensive machinery.
• Accessing workplaces that were up to industry standard or that were engaged
in training using training packages.
• Lack of such businesses across the various industries in regional areas.
• Organizational impediments, such as poor management and educational
leadership, devaluing the importance of technical skills, and a lack of
incentives, regulation or policy within institutions.
• Environmental impediments, such as difficulty accessing training due to
geographical isolation, rapid and frequent technological change, and a
changing and ageing population.
Source: Adapted from Clayton et al., 2005, pp. 28–29.
5.2 Finland
Finland is the only country in Europe that has a statutory in-service training require-
ment for TVET practitioners of five days a year. Continuing education centres offer
courses to update or upgrade teaching competence as part of career advancement. A
continuing education college specializes in educational administration and delivers
courses in educational leadership and management.
Finland’s Telkkä—the development of education and training evolving from
working life—is regarded as an exemplary case of industrial attachment that aims to
keep TVET practitioners abreast of the changes, technologies and business practices
in the areas they teach. The structured programme includes activities before and
after the TVET practitioners work in a company. The framework of the programme
comprises:
r distance work—pedagogical aspects of VET;

r a seminar to brief teachers for training workplace instructors;
r planning the on-the-job learning period;
r two months on-the-job—forming pairs of teacher-plus-‘worker’ and training one
to two workplace instructors;
r feedback—reporting by teachers and by the workplace;
r synthesis and analysis; and
r training model, best practice and materials.
This arrangement allows mutual benefits for industry and practitioners. TVET prac-
titioners help to train workplace instructors during their on-the-job learning, en-
abling ‘instructors to develop their pedagogical skills by co-operating with teachers
while teachers benefit from instructors’ up-to-date knowledge of recent technologies
and work practices’ (Cort et al., 2004, p. 28).
5.3 United Kingdom

Assessment reforms in General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs) and
National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and the introduction of competence-
based courses in the United Kingdom have resulted in new standards in teacher/
trainer education. These standards are designed to equip VET practitioners with
skills and competence in training and assessing in the competence-based model
(Prescott, 1995). Industry placements typically involve VET practitioners being
paid for up to four weeks and located in a site that they sourced and arranged
themselves. VET practitioners in some industry areas (e.g. trades) are able to take
on part-time employment or run their own business to gain currency in industry
practice.
Powell’s (2001) analysis of the Technician Engineer Career Path (TECP) in the
United Kingdom demonstrates that tutors/trainers from institutions with successful
education/industry relationships ‘continually upgrade their technical and soft skills,
and at the same time are commercially orientated [. . .] and the contents of a depart-
ment’s programme, as well as the mechanisms for their delivery, meet the needs of
companies and learners’ (p. 436).
In a survey of 891 members of staff from 108 further education colleges in the
United Kingdom, Brookes and Hughes (2001) observed that placements (or sec-
ondment to industry) were perceived as the most enabling factor by 31% of the
sample. However, this was the option least used by respondents (27%). The survey
respondents explained barriers that included lack of opportunity, increased demands
of the job and lack of ‘slack’ periods in timetables. Brookes and Hughes noted
the success of bursary schemes in encouraging teachers to ‘use holiday periods
or dedicated INSET time for updating’ (p. 5) and rewarding them financially for
work placements. They found diversity in the nature and frequency of updating in
different subject areas. For example, information and communication technology
practitioners updated their skills and knowledge more frequently—it is evident that
without such currency they would soon be redundant.
5.4 India
Jain and Saxena (2002) identified two models of industrial training to update the
skills of TVET teachers in the western region of India. One model involved gradu-
ate teachers (in engineering) spending three months in industry. The second model
involved teachers spending one month in industry and, after a six-month interval,
repeating their training in another industry. Institution and industry supervisors

monitor the training in both models, and teachers receive a certificate of completion.
Careful planning and negotiation with industry underpinned the success of these
models in maintaining the currency of TVET practitioners’ industrial knowledge
and skills.
5.5 Malaysia
Industrial attachment and staff exchanges between vocational and technical in-
stitutions and industries in Malaysia were two of the professional development
activities recommended by Mustapha (2001). Other activities included in-service
education, networking, and knowledge and skills upgrading. An industrial attach-
ment programme for polytechnic lecturers (on full pay) has since been introduced in
Malaysia, with the purposes of enhancing industry/institution relationships and pro-
viding opportunities for these teachers to update their skills and knowledge (Bax &
Hassan, 2003).
5.6 Southern Africa
Okaka (2003) provided a brief review of industrial attachment arrangements in

Southern Africa. In his report on the status and needs of TVET trainers in the
sub-region of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), industrial
attachment was practised in Mauritius (for technical skills), Malawi (for in-service
trainers) and Botswana. The report highlighted several problems with arranging
industry placements for TVET practitioners. The main barriers included time con-
straints for trainers, industry in Malawi seeking payment for placements, insur-
ance/indemnity, and the lack of acceptance of industrial attachment as a formal
mode of staff development. Weak industry links in Zambia widened the gap between
the knowledge of trainers and the technology level in industry. To improve industrial
attachment, Okaka recommended proper planning, cost-sharing between industry
and the training system, continuous upgrading and ensuring that it is an acceptable
mode of staff development.
These programmes of organizing industrial attachments provide some instances
of approaches and policies that are worthy of evaluation.
6 Industrial Attachment: Issues with Current Models
The analysis of literature on industrial attachments for TVET practitioners pro-

vides limited details about the nature or processes. There is diversity across dif-
ferent regions of the world, within countries and even between industry areas.
Whether industrial attachment is formally co-ordinated or initiated by individual

TVET institutions or practitioners, there is little detail about the nature of what is
learned when being placed in an industry to update knowledge and skills. How the
newly-learned knowledge and skills inform the delivery of TVET or how these add
to the capacity and capability of the TVET practitioner is not known. How the new
knowledge and skills relate to the curriculum for the TVET practitioner is unclear.
Who determines the minimum requirement of the new knowledge and skills that
practitioners need is not discussed. These unknown matters raise further questions
and have implications for the currency, standards and quality of TVET content and
delivery.
The Australian example of the relationship between two RTOs and Bakers
Delight illustrates the importance of good relationships, the building of trust and
rapport between the providers and their industry partners. Similarly, the Technician
Engineer Career Path (TECP) model in the United Kingdom relies on strong edu-
cation/industry relationships. Finland appears to have one of the most co-ordinated
and structured programmes for TVET practitioners to keep them abreast of industry
changes. Feedback from teachers and an agent in the workplace where they com-
plete industry placement provide details of learning acquired during the placement.
This is then used to discuss and design training models, identify best practice models
and develop training materials for the delivery of TVET. The Indian model, where
an initial one-month period is allowed for industry attachment and then repeated
after six months in another industry, requires much planning and negotiations. This
arrangement would be a challenge for most TVET institutions and industries should
they have to organize and co-ordinate regular placements for TVET practitioners.
Malaysia’s recommended approach to staff exchange between TVET institutions
and industries is interesting. However, there is little information about how exactly
this operates, and also about the value of such exchange to the participating agents.
The issue of payment to industry for placement of TVET providers in Malawi ques-
tions the partnership roles and responsibilities.
Clearly, the way that industrial attachment for TVET practitioners is valued and
organized varies across different industry areas and countries. Generally speaking, it
is evident that each TVET provider is left to manage industrial attachment within its
organizational contexts. None of the above examples provides details of regulatory
frameworks or strategic policy positions that could be used as a guide. However, the
examples allude to a few considerations for those planning to integrate industrial
attachment into the professional development of TVET practitioners.
7 Industrial Attachment for TVET Practitioners:

Matters for Consideration
The success of industrial attachment as a key component of training would be

the result of a lengthy process with input from various partners and their agents.
The level of commitment from governments and industry in developing competent
workers is encouraging. Strategic and local policies have impacted on the nature,
speed and level of change to achieve training goals. Countries that have ‘brokers’
to organize industrial attachments (e.g. the industry chambers in Germany, new ap-
prenticeship centres in Australia and the Technician Engineer Career Path in the
United Kingdom) show greater success with partnerships between industry and
providers.
Unless there is similar input into industrial attachment for TVET practition-
ers, updating and maintaining the currency of industry knowledge and skills will
continue to be a less important agenda item. Industrial attachment under profes-
sional development should be linked more strategically to organizational needs and
capability.
Training and industrial attachment for TVET practitioners is not regulated or
systematically co-ordinated in most countries. This requires dialogue, agreement
and commitment from governments, industry and TVET providers and practitioners.
New partnership arrangements need to be forged between key agents to organize
industrial attachment for practitioners.
Without doubt, there is no single model that would suffice for the contexts of
all TVET practitioners. The dynamics of the partnerships between the various play-
ers and the contexts of each situation would be a crucial point for consideration.
Each model also needs to be looked at in the context of the participating agents
(government, industry, TVET institutions, practitioners, trainees and the commu-
nity). Longer attachment periods would be required in larger workplaces for TVET
practitioners to understand fully the complexity of the workplace, while in smaller
workplaces learning about the workplace at a systems level would take considerably
less time.
Industrial attachment requires proper planning, cost sharing and commitment
from all partners—TVET practitioners and their employers, industry, government
and other professional bodies. Attending to the barriers identified by Clayton et al.
(2005) is a start to planning and organizing industrial attachment for TVET prac-
titioners to maintain the currency of changes taking place in industry, as well as
knowledge and skills. Given the constantly changing nature of the workplaces to
which TVET practitioners’ teaching and their students’ learning is directed, it is
essential that practitioners engage in forms of industrial attachments in order to
maintain their currency of knowledge and skills. Ultimately, it is industry that will
benefit from trainees being suitably prepared for work and working life. Without
suitable industrial attachments, practitioners may be compromising the quality, rel-
evance and currency of industrial skill requirements.
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Chapter VIII.16
I Hate Left-Handers or Occupational
Health and Safety Training
Richard Gagnon
1 Introduction
I am not an ergonomist; I am left-handed. I finished the basement of our family

home in 1981. Throughout the work, I was covered in sawdust from the wood I was
cutting with my ‘standard’ circular saw. When I bent over to get a better view of the
cutting line, my face was a receptacle for many of the flying particles. I was lucky
that I was never hurt.
I am not a negotiator; I am left-handed. In 1956, I went to school to learn how to
write. On my mother’s advice, I used my right hand to do so. ‘They’ll force you’,
she said. Since I was compliant, I was never punished.
In the summer, I played baseball at the catcher position, which I liked. That was
before the days of left-handed gloves, which were rare and no doubt too costly
for the recreational group in my town—and before I even knew they existed. I
would catch the ball like a right-hander, then whip the glove off my left hand
and throw the ball. I didn’t really think about it; I just adapted. Other left-handers
functioned differently: they would wear their glove backwards. Each to his own
ungainliness!
I did not make a career in baseball. I ultimately became a theoretical physicist. I
am a dangerous team member, an impossible violinist, an end-of-table dinner guest,
a rude person. To shake hands, I offer my left; I would be dead had I worked on a
construction site.
And I hate left-handers—those sinister (from the Latin sinister, meaning ‘on the
left side’), maladroit (from the French maladroit, meaning mal + à + droit, literally
‘trouble on the right’, or ‘awkward’, ‘clumsy’) characters who are in the minority—
as much as I hate scissors, which dig into my skin when I use them, soup ladles,
Turkish coffee makers, which pour burning liquid beside the cup or the bowl instead
of in it, screwdrivers that numb and pain my muscles and tendons when I try to turn
them to the right. It’s only at night that I like left-handers, when I find peace before
going to bed, when I brush my hair and teeth in front of the mirror—when I am a
virtual right-handed person (right and left being reversed in the image reflected in
the mirror).

1384 R. Gagnon
2 Fitting a Square Peg into a Round Hole
The example of the left-handed person illustrates the insurmountable tension that
exists between society—with its enormous, virtually irrepressible power of normal-
ization, standardization, regulation, legislation and imposition, with its collective,
imperial, vital and irresistible needs and its inevitability that no one contradicts—
and individuals, with what are the most important things in their eyes, often hidden,
private, oblique (Denoyel, 1991) and adaptive, with their rights and needs that no
one disputes, with ultimately everything that distinguishes and vitalizes them. Ac-
cepted, this tension—between the individual and society, private and public order,
choice and the norm, organizations and men, women, you and me—promotes health
and safety. Denied, this tension begets death.
The risk of accidents increases when workers are forced to use tools, work meth-
ods or equipment that do not suit them because they are not skilled at using them,
do not understand them, do not find them relevant, wish to work otherwise, prefer
to work alone or do not like their co-workers—all of these reasons together and
each one of them separately is enough to generate discomfort, stress, doubt and
the risk of accidents. The risk of accidents increases when a company, work team
or organization requires individuals to subscribe to a common task, share informa-
tion, pool efforts, eliminate the useless, clear areas, respect absent people, welcome
newcomers, but when these individuals—or perhaps only one of them—care only
about themselves. The risk of accidents increases when the interests of one party
take precedence over those of another party—be they one or many, unknown or
renowned, large or small, emerging or multinational—when what is relevant for
one party is brushed aside by another, when what is true, valid and proven for one
party seems laughable and unfounded to another, when there is disagreement on the
very value of learning, methods and behaviours in work situations.
Figure 1 illustrates this dialectic between public and private order, in conjunction
with the relevance and validity of the stakes. It can be seen how the predominance
of any one of the characteristics inherent in organized work jeopardizes the other,
thereby increasing the risk of compromising the health and safety of the individuals
and groups involved.
Private
MOTIVATION AUTONOMY
Relevance Validity
INTEGRATION OBJECTIVITY
Public
Fig. 1 The characteristics inherent in organized work in democratic societies, showing the
inevitable tensions that develop between them
VIII.16 I Hate Left-Handers or Occupational Health and Safety Training 1385
Fierce, fundamental opposition can be observed between the divergent poles,

but also potent characteristics that must be preserved to ensure health and safety in
work environments. Characteristics such as motivation and autonomy on the private,
individual level stem from the feeling that what we do is relevant for us, appropriate
to the task, meets our needs and desires for personal and professional development,
physical integrity, financial security for ourselves and our families; they stem from a
feeling that we do it well, as is appropriate to control the situation, in a way that gives
us confidence, that is adapted to us and to our own environment, enough in any event
to enable us to work alone when necessary and in a team when necessary, assuming
our share of initiative and responsibility, comfortable, believing ourselves compe-
tent, with a competence that is meaningful, gratifying, evolving and our own. Then
there are characteristics such as integration and objectivity on a public, social level,
when quality, efficiency, recognition, public health and public safety require a de-
personalization of competence, a definition and an application imposed on everyone
of learning, methods and behaviours recognized by businesses, professional orders,
occupational associations, public agencies and governments, science and society. It
is only then that certificates, diplomas and competency cards are issued and that
the person or organization is integrated into the group, if he, she or it has met the
requirements and demonstrated operational mastery.
In the event of disagreement between private and public orders, you can rebel,
refrain from doing anything, and impose your own law if you are the strongest,
or you can cheat. This is the eminently popular coercion system. You can also
negotiate. But without agreement, without acceptance of one another’s projects,
without mutual respect, and without a planned approach for achieving harmony and
a common commitment, all forms of deviancy come to the fore, with the risks and
perils of each. With such agreement, acceptance and respect, however, relevant and
complementary efforts can be made that will generate better results in terms of cre-
ating healthier and safer working conditions for everyone and obtaining everyone’s
active support in maintaining and improving them. Of course, you do not always
have a choice: favourable conditions must be met to achieve such agreement; they
must be prepared, because collaboration cannot be improvised, but is learned for
the most part. How do you bring individuals and groups to accept such ambiguous
rivalries, duality and ambivalence? How do you avoid systematic compartmental-
ization, which generates accidents and diseases, of opposed yet vital character-
istics? How do you avoid divisions and prevent disasters? How, specifically, can
technical and vocational education and training (TVET) environments contribute
positively?
3 Health and Safety in TVET Environments
TVET environments can contribute positively in three ways, namely those men-
tioned earlier: first, negotiation among all parties concerned, so that distinct and
legitimate projects and objectives can co-exist as effectively as possible, so that
individual and group motivations can be harmonized, not standardized, but made
1386 R. Gagnon
compatible, so that all those involved in these environments—students, instructors,

administrators, support staff—can be integrated as effectively as possible, so that
many ways of doing things, being and learning can be compared and accepted;
second, ergonomy, that so specific and practical form of negotiation between body,
mind and environment, through the concerted creation of a natural bridge between
oneself and what is beyond oneself, as if one was the extension of the other, for
exactly the same reasons as those mentioned above; and third, coercion, because
it is often necessary in order to maintain a satisfactory work and study climate,
although it less frequently generates benefits in the long term.
Health and safety are fundamental needs; all the sick and crippled agree on this
point. And when you no longer have health and safety, you become aware of them
and regret their absence. Thus, prevention is a necessary evil, but an evil nonethe-
less, otherwise people would practise it as often and joyfully as possible, which
is not the case. It involves instilling fear in people—but carefully-considered fear,
known as caution—from the top of the educational organization to the bottom and
vice versa; teaching students to overcome this fear, but not excessively, not to the
point of recklessness; complicating everyone’s life, practically harming them, with
belts, masks, disinfections, reports on projects and obligations; irritating instructors
and administrators with more frequent and lengthier reports, greater accountability
and growing ethical considerations; imposing deadlines on the company, training,
preventive withdrawals, apprenticeship supervisors, additional costs, production de-
lays, production delays, and—apprentices!
Now let’s define ‘prevention’ in a TVET environment again, this time in an op-
erational way:
A series of activities of any nature, compatible with the full achievement of the educational
mission, which are intended to reduce to an acceptable level risks to the health and safety of
the individuals and groups in technical and vocational education and training environments.
This specially requires the existence and maintenance of ambient and environmental condi-
tions conducive to the achievement of the educational mission and to the preservation of the
physical and mental integrity of the individuals and groups (adapted from Gagnon, Leclerc
& Lacerda dos Santos, 1995; see also Vézina et al., 1998).
Let us assume that a systemic approach to prevention is particularly appropriate to

the application of this definition in these environments, given the complexity of the
issue and the highly undefined nature of acceptable activities. From this point of
view, we can establish three levels of intervention:
1. The macroscopic, which considers the entire technical and vocational education
and training set-up as a whole, including schools, businesses and the other parties
involved; let us call it the institutional level;
2. The mesoscopic, which includes the team of instructors and students, the class,
the administrative service, and any group of persons, formal or informal, that
it has been deemed appropriate to set up; let us call it the work or study-group
level; and
3. The microscopic, which is the smallest relevant unit, regardless of what it in-
cludes; let us call it the individual level.
Now, let us consider the action that can be taken on these three levels to apply the
operational definition of prevention in a TVET environment. Each action should
contribute to at least one of the following objectives:
r preserving the health and ensuring the safety of the people and groups in these
environments, so that the environments as such are healthy and safe;
r developing the health and safety-related skills of the people regularly present in
these environments, that is, most categories of personnel and students, so that
they can play an active role in maintaining and developing a healthy and safe
work and study environment;
r developing both the teaching skills of instructors and the components of the ed-
ucational setup related to the teaching of health and safety (educational material,
workshops, equipment, programmes and so on), because instructors and compo-
nents of the educational set-up constitute the leading training agents for students
in these topics;
r developing the occupational health and safety-related skills of students, includ-
ing aptitudes for on-going training and continuing education, for when they work
in occupational environments as employees.
Three types of action can be considered for each of the three levels; each offers
advantages and inconveniences which should be carefully evaluated:
1. Open action encourages initiative and active participation from the individuals
and groups of individuals that carry out the action. An example of open action
would be to ask the relevant people, groups or departments to suggest new or
improved preventive measures to increase everyone’s health and safety in their
work or study environment. Such action would be very effective in adjusting
working and study conditions to the needs and desires of the people, groups or
departments concerned, because these parties would be the originators of it. It
would thus very likely produce sustainable benefits. These parties would gener-
ally suggest only measures that they deem desirable and that would thus be mo-
tivating; their involvement in identifying and possibly implementing measures
would be highly formative and skill-building. This would give rise to what can
be called a ‘learning organization’. On a pedagogical level, open action is in line
with modern educational paradigms that place the individual and group learners
at the centre of their learning, prompting their reflection, refining their critical
thinking, making them accountable. More process-oriented than content, open
action encourages the emergence of new ideas and the harmonization of public
and private poles. However, it requires effort, energy, perseverance and the ability
to manage the unforeseen. It also requires an open and receptive attitude that is
not found in everyone or in every context;
2. Closed action, unlike open action, involves asking individuals and groups of in-
dividuals to carry out projects, measures and behaviours that are predetermined
by the people in charge; an example of closed action would be to make the wear-
ing of adequate safety equipment in workshops mandatory. Such action would
be very effective if it seemed directly necessary to the individuals and bodies
1388 R. Gagnon
concerned (such as students, instructors, management), because simply teaching

how to wear equipment properly would be sufficient for the results to be im-
mediate. It would also have the enormous advantage of requiring only minimal
effort and energy from the people involved, because they would not need to find
a solution to the problem. The action/solution would be given to them ‘freely’,
so to speak. At that point, such solutions often become quite obvious, which
makes them easier to adopt. On a pedagogical level, closed action is in line with
the traditional educational paradigm, in which the instructors have the relevant
and valid knowledge which they impart to students. Students can be receptive
to the knowledge and assimilate it if they want it, if it makes sense to them,
or if the instructor is a model that they wish to emulate. Such action can also
generate a ripple effect among those who wish to contribute to the group effort
without it costing them too much, or whose resistance to change is minimal.
This comes very close to a behaviourist approach to training which rewards good
behaviour, but punishes bad in a context where the domination of one pole can be
more easily exercised over the other, generally the public pole over the private,
often to the detriment of harmony, and where coercion finds fertile ground. More
content-oriented than process, closed action, more easily than open, promotes
rapid results when met with a consensus. Otherwise it generates tension, dissat-
isfaction and delinquency;
3. Hybrid action, which is somewhat open and closed, has certain characteristics,
advantages and inconveniences of open and closed action, depending on the
proportion. An example of hybrid action is giving individuals and groups of
individuals choices among a certain number of closed proposals and asking them
to establish an order of priority in carrying them out.
All three types of action are intended to achieve the same goal: to generate an in-
dividual and group movement in favour of health and safety in the entire TVET
environment, because this is the way in which healthy and safe conditions will be
best embodied, will evolve and will be maintained: sheltered from individual, ad hoc
or local initiatives that could jeopardize them; protected by the rest of the system like
a living organ is protected by the rest of the body. This movement is a complex one
that is difficult to generate but, once generated, is sustainable through its systemic
inertia. That is why the action taken must be selected with careful attention to the
context, organizations and people.
4 Examples
Inescapable and acknowledged by virtually all experts on the subject, the commit-
ment of an organization’s management to health and safety is the best example
of action that is institutional in scope. In a TVET environment, this commitment
signifies that management openly and tangibly supports any reasonable approach
taken by the organization in favour of health and safety. It may be reflected in a
number of specific measures: adopting and disseminating an institutional health
and safety policy, negotiated insofar as possible with the personnel and students
(open action), or imposed, if negotiation is not possible, by credible, recognized
people in charge (closed action); creating a health and safety committee linked
to the top hierarchical level of the organization but representing all levels of the
organization; allocating sufficient budget resources for projects deemed relevant;
setting up an organization-wide health and safety training and awareness-raising
operation; publishing and circulating regular columns or news on health and safety.
Beyond words, a true commitment on the part of the organization’s management is
difficult to obtain. It nonetheless constitutes the essential key to a sustainable move-
ment in the environment. In an educational organization, management administers
the human and material resources; it directly influences the choice of instructors,
technical and support staff, equipment, the programmes offered in the institutions
and the conditions under which they are offered. Management is often in close
contact with other educational environments, government departments and busi-
nesses. It can thus support and develop partnerships, influence decision-makers and
innovate.
When it comes to work and study groups, several examples of action can be
given because there are several types of groups. Instructors at an institution can sit
down together and systematically and regularly review and adjust, if need be, the
general measures in respect of health and safety at the institution, and share them
with newcomers; people can be put in charge of health and safety; a committee can
be set up; activities can be organized to generate new ideas and projects. Instructors
in the same sector can analyse their education or training programme in the light of
health and safety considerations from an environmental perspective of sustainable
development if possible—because the TVET programmes that take environmental
considerations into account are still few and far between—and report on them to the
parties concerned.
Education and training programmes have a great influence on the development
of sound skills in students, skills that include and integrate health and safety-related
components when they are put to use. A number of these programmes compartmen-
talize health and safety and view it as separate from the rest of the content, as an
independent module, sometimes taught by the same person in several loosely related
programmes, relying on the students to automatically integrate the material with
other more obviously technical topics, which only some of them manage to do. The
teaching of health and safety must be systemic to be successful, must penetrate all
training sites in the way that blood and plasma circulate throughout the body. From
this point of view, on a pedagogical level, instructors must collaborate—something
that is most difficult for all sorts of reasons, one being that our everyday lives are
increasingly complex—in order to share and compare their approach and philoso-
phy, complement one another, and negotiate common positions, priorities, modes
and means of evaluation. This requires meeting, explaining practices that have been
covert, entrusting others with pedagogical material instructors have developed for
themselves, admitting weakness, continuing their own training, trusting others—
failing which, health and safety as a system is at stake. Similar revisions may also
be made to the educational material, the equipment, the work required of students in
1390 R. Gagnon
the school environment and during training periods in the work environment. Each
instructor and his/her students also constitute a study group; why not create a health
and safety committee in such a group, put people in charge of health and safety, visit
classes, workshops and plants from a health and safety standpoint, create learning
teams and have them talk, so that each becomes aware of what it is doing rather than
simply doing it? This brings us right to the individual level.
On this level, we are seeking to influence individuals so that they voluntarily
uphold common health and safety values, harmonizing the private relevance and
public integration mentioned earlier, and adopt healthy and safe behaviours when
they work or study—mastered behaviours that are valid for them and for others, with
variants. Now let us concentrate on students for a moment, or more specifically on
one of the mysteries of students: their learning style. Some students rely on concrete
experience and like to take action; they almost always learn by trial and error. Some
are abstract and like to think; they learn by developing theoretical models at length.
Others rely on concrete experience and prefer to think; they learn a tremendous
amount through their feelings. Still others are abstract and prefer to act; they learn
by rigorously testing theories in the field. All those students, regardless of their
learning style, end up in TVET at the same time. What a nightmare! Obviously the
instructor does not have all these learning styles. The instructor, like anyone else,
has learning preferences and consequently, if they are not careful, preferred students.
The instructor must deal with the students’ learning preferences to make sure that
they learn as effectively as possible. We will not go any further on this topic. We
have opened the door and will simply mention that there is some very interesting
research and hypothetical solutions being developed, including the experiential ap-
proach to learning (Kolb, 1984), which is not well known to instructors. We have
not yet finished training the trainer!
5 Conclusion
We have combined two ideas. The first is that healthy and safe working and study
conditions can be developed and maintained in a TVET environment when the in-
terests and modes of operation of individuals and organizations are in harmony,
and that such harmony is best achieved through negotiation rather than through
coercion. Coercion, however, remains necessary when agreement between the par-
ties is not possible. The second idea is that it is advisable to approach the de-
velopment and maintenance of such conditions in a systemic way by targeting
as effectively as possible all relevant aspects of the problem on a global, inter-
mediate and local level, and striving for positive results on each of these lev-
els. An individual and group movement can thus be created around a common
goal, freely accepted by the majority. The goal may be based in the definition
of prevention that we provided. Box 1 summarizes the main components of this
programme.
Box 1. Components chosen to improve occupational health and safety

training
Goal
To generate an individual and group movement in favour of health and safety
in technical and vocational education and training environments.
Objectives
r Preserving the health and ensuring the safety of the people and groups in
these environments;
r Developing the health and safety-related skills of the people regularly
present in these environments, i.e. most categories of personnel and stu-
dents;
r Developing both the teaching skills of instructors and the components of
the educational setup related to the teaching of health and safety (educa-
tional material, workshops, equipment, programmes, etc.);
r Developing the occupational health and safety-related skills of students,
including aptitudes for on-going training and continuing education.
Systemic approach
Modes of action Types of action Levels of intervention
• Negotiation • Open • Institutional
• Ergonomy • Closed • Work or study group
• Coercion (if necessary) • Hybrid • Individual
Operational definition of prevention
A series of activities of any nature, compatible with the full achievement of

the educational mission, which are intended to reduce risks to the health and
safety of the individuals and groups in TVET environments to an acceptable
level. This specifically requires the existence and maintenance of ambient and
environmental conditions conducive to the achievement of the educational
mission and to the preservation of the physical and mental integrity of the
individuals and groups.
This process is a complex one that is difficult to implement and that must be
planned and tested through pilot projects in order to avoid catastrophe and dis-
couragement. We are not looking at the shortest or easiest route; those involved
must take time and wait for results, which will be achieved slowly; they must also
evaluate the results at all levels—an aspect we have not discussed. The evaluation
provides information and allows for adjustments, but for many, it is also a powerful
1392 R. Gagnon
incentive, especially when positive results are achieved. Health and safety in the
TVET environment is like a whale—enormous, magnificent and endangered!
References
Denoyel, N. 1991. ‘Le biais du gars’, formation par l’expérience et culture de l’artisan. In: Courtois,
B.; Pineau, G., eds. La formation expérientielle des adultes, pp. 155–74. Paris: La Documenta-
tion française.
Gagnon, R.; Leclerc, L.-P.; Lacerda dos Santos, G. 1995. Formation et sensibilisation en efficacité
énergétique en milieu sociosanitaire. Quebec, Canada: Université Laval, Faculté des sciences
de l’éducation. (Report of a pilot study carried out at the Ensemble de santé de l’Enfant-Jésus
and the Centre François-Charon and presented to the Vice-présidence Efficacité énergétique of
Hydro-Québec and the Régie régionale de la santé et des services sociaux de Québec.)
Kolb, D.A. 1984. Experiential learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Vézina, M. et al. 1998. Évaluation des déterminants de l’efficacité d’une formation en matière de
sécurité du travail dans le secteur minier. Montreal, Canada: Institut de recherche en santé et
en sécurité du travail du Québec. (Collection études et recherché, R-207.)
Chapter VIII.17
The Bologna Declaration and Emerging Models
of TVET Teacher Training in Germany
1 The Bologna Declaration
The Bologna Declaration (1999) represents the commitment by twenty-nine (now

forty-five) European countries to reform the structures of their higher education sys-
tems with a view to establishing greater transparency and ease of mobility within the
European Union, but equally, if not more importantly, the Bologna Declaration rep-
resents the intention to establish and develop a coherent system of higher education
that would be recognized in the competitive international domain in terms of high-
quality educational provision (Bologna Process Committee, 1999). The timescale
set for the implementation of the declaration was stringent, with a deadline set
for 2010 for all signatory states. However, the Bologna Declaration is not legally
binding, which is a key factor to be considered in the context of emerging structures
and practices across Europe. The lack of a legal requirement to comply with the
recommendations of the Bologna Process enables countries to implement reforms to
a greater or lesser degree according to their individual commitment to the principles
underpinning the Bologna Declaration.
The Bologna Declaration notes that a ‘Europe of Knowledge’ is an important
factor for social and human growth. The importance of education and educational
co-operation for the development of stable, peaceful and democratic societies is ac-
knowledged as being paramount. It was also made clear that the central aim of creat-
ing an improved convergent system of higher education should be that of becoming
an attractive and therefore marketable educational ‘product’ in the global arena.
The Bologna Declaration identifies key issues, which, if addressed, would con-
tribute to improving compatibility and comparability among European higher
education institutions. Six requirements were agreed and these have become the
key measurable indicators for a common European Higher Education Area. The six
requirements are as follows:
1. The adoption of a system of easily comprehensible and comparable degrees. This

was to be achieved through the implementation of the ‘diploma supplement’,
a measure designed to provide graduates with a clear transcript, including a
description of the awarding institution, to aid employability and international
competitiveness.

1394 F. Bünning, A. Shilela
2. The adoption of a system essentially based on two main cycles, undergraduate

and graduate. Access to the second cycle would require successful completion
of first-cycle studies, which would last a minimum of three years. The degree
awarded after the first cycle should also be an entrance qualification to the
European labour market. The second cycle should lead to the master’s and/or
a doctorate degree.
3. The establishment of a system of credits that would be transferable across
Europe. This measure was suggested in order to promote student mobility. These
credits—the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)—should also be made
available in further education contexts, provided they are recognized by a higher
education institution.
4. The promotion of mobility. Particular emphasis was given to widening access to
study and training opportunities for students. In addition, it was recommended
that periods of time spent in a European context by teachers, researchers and
administrators should be positively recognized.
5. The promotion of European co-operation in ‘quality assurance’ with a view to
developing comparable criteria and methodologies.
6. The promotion of European dimensions in higher education, in particular with re-
gard to curriculum development, inter-institutional co-operation, mobility
schemes and integrated programmes of study, training and research.
It was agreed that a follow-up meeting in Prague in 2001 would enable represen-
tatives of signatory states and ministers to assess achievements to date, to consider
the next steps and future priorities.
2 The Prague Summit, 18–19 May 2001

The Prague Summit focused on the importance of higher education for democratic
values and the values of cultural and linguistic diversity, as well as the diversity of
higher education systems. In Prague the Ministers called upon existing organizations
and networks, such as the Network of National Academic Recognition Informa-
tion Centres (NARIC) and European Network of Information Centres (ENIC), to
guarantee, at the institutional, national and European level, a fair and efficient pro-
cess of recognition of awards. The ministers noted that in many signatory countries
the bachelor’s, master’s and comparable degree systems were already established,
together with a credit system guaranteeing the recognition of qualifications across
Europe, thereby facilitating access to the European labour market. An additional
consideration emerging from the Prague Communiqué was the development of the
notion of ‘quality assurance’ in European higher education. The next meeting was
to be held in September 2003 in Berlin.
3 The Berlin Conference, 19–21 September 2003
The focus of this meeting was to intensify the efforts to implement Bologna at the
institutional, national and European levels. In the preamble to the resultant Berlin
VIII.17 The Bologna Declaration and TVET Teacher Training in Germany 1395
Communiqué (‘Realising the European Higher Education Area’), the essential deci-
sions of previous years were reaffirmed and positively evaluated. The Berlin Com-
muniqué contained the goals of Bologna and Prague, but sharpened the focus by
defining priorities for the next two years. These priorities included:
r quality assurance,
r the two-cycle system; and
r recognition of degrees and periods of studies.
This chapter focuses on the second priority, considering firstly:
r the implications of the two-cycle system on the degree system in German uni-
versities in general; and, secondly
r the potential implications of the two-cycle degree system on TVET teacher train-
ing in Germany.
4 Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in German Universities

The implementation of the bachelor’s and master’s degrees in German higher edu-
cation institutions has had a groundswell of support from most German universities,
but the restructuring of degree programmes has not been a straightforward reform,
nor has it resulted in one transparent structure across the Länder. Those institutions
showing commitment to the principles of Bologna have also adopted the ECTS
system of credit transfer, while simultaneously rewriting their curriculum offer to
comply with the requirements of Bologna with regard to the European dimension of
the curriculum.
Given the lack of legal status attached to the Bologna Process however, these
structural reforms and curriculum changes have not been made mandatory and have
developed according to the extent to which the different Länder have supported such
reforms to date. In this respect, the governance of the reforms reflects a decentraliza-
tion corresponding to the German federal structure. Figures derived from data from
the winter semester 2005/2006 (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz, 2005, p. 11) reflect
the approach taken by the different Länder to the Bologna Declaration. Berlin has
decided that all degree programmes should move to the bachelor’s/master’s model;
64% of the degree programmes in Berlin are aligned to the bachelor’s and master’s
degree structure while Saxony has not shown such commitment to the new struc-
tures, only 18.6% of the degrees in Saxony are currently organized in this way.
Despite the fact that most academic institutions have adopted the concept of a
two-cycle degree system, approaches to restructuring have been diverse. Although
most institutions have opted for a model whereby the bachelor’s degree takes a
standard period of study of six semesters and the master’s degree requires four
semesters of study, there are variations to this model.
This diversity of structures is mirrored by similar variations in the pace of
change. According to recent statistics referring to the winter semester 2005/2006
(Hochschulrektorenkonferenz, 2005, p. 11), 52.9% of programmes offered at Fach-
hochschule are bachelor’s or master’s while only 29.5% of degree programmes of-
fered at universities follow the new structures, thus indicating the increased readi-
ness of Fachhochschule to engage with these significant changes, compared with the
universities which have been seemingly slower to take up the challenge of change.
Against the backdrop of such fragmented developments, the new degrees have
been differently received by various stakeholders. In a recent study, Alesi et al.
(2005, 4.4.4) identify significant levels of scepticism expressed by students, em-
ployers and teachers alike. The scepticism directed at the new degree structures can
be assumed to be based on a lack of clarity about how the new degree structures
compare with the former structures. Consequently there exists a lack of confidence
in the quality of the resultant standard of the emerging graduates. Anecdotal evi-
dence suggests that this is particularly evident in the technical sector, for example
in engineering, where traditional German qualifications are still held in the highest
esteem by employers (Schmoll, 2004). This potential conflict is heightened by the
fact that the new structures are often perceived as an ‘import’ from the British edu-
cation system, where degree programmes in technical areas have not enjoyed such
a tradition of quality or prestige.
5 The Two-Cycle System in TVET Teacher Training
The degree system at both national and international levels was supposed to follow
comparable frameworks. The first-cycle degrees should offer access to second-cycle
programmes and second-cycle degrees should give access to doctoral studies. The
new two-cycle-system in TVET teacher training marks a radical change in the prepa-
ration of TVET teachers. The traditional system consisted of one-block degree pro-
gramme at university lasting from four to five years with two Praktikum placements.
The standard period of study finishes with the first State exam, which is followed
by a probationary period (Referendariat) of one-and-a-half to two years and fin-
ishes with the second State exam. Since the two-cycle-system only applies to the
period of study located in university, TVET teacher-training curriculum designers
are faced with a particular challenge when considering how to map the traditional
probationary period against the new structures.
Providers of TVET teacher training envisaged that the introduction of a two-
cycle system would result in new career opportunities for future graduates. The
possibility for graduates to exercise flexibility in career choices on completion of
each degree cycle was an aspiration of German curriculum designers for TVET. It
was hoped that the two-cycle structure would free graduates from a single career
path (teaching) by enabling them to opt for alternatives at different stages of their
study. This element was considered to be an important aspect in a rapidly changing
job market (Thierack, 2004, p. 26). A second, seemingly obvious, advantage of
the two-cycle system was the possibility of shorter periods of study, which would
enable graduates to enter the job market more quickly (Schulz, 2004, p. 114). A
third desired output of the new degree structures was an intensification of models of
partnership to enhance practical training (Thierack, 2004, p. 25).
The adaptation of the two-cycle degree was also intended to help ‘internation-
alize’ higher education. This term is interpreted by the Bologna Declaration to
mean several things, each aspect of which would engender significant reconceptu-
alizing of both curriculum design and the marketing of such programmes abroad
(Ploghaus, 2004, p. 11). The integration of the European dimension in all cur-
ricular provision (including opportunities for additional language acquisition and
bilingual teaching), although present in some universities, has not been a driv-
ing factor for change in TVET in Germany. The aim of strengthening the status
and quality of European higher education in the international context (Bologna
Process Committee, 1999) can be seen to be particularly ironic in the sphere of
TVET in Germany, as Germany has enjoyed a long and distinguished tradition
of TVET, both in Europe and in the wider global context (Green, Wolf & Leney,
1999). Furthermore, the priority for each academic teacher-training institution has
been to recruit and train teachers for the home context, since there is a shortage
of well-qualified TVET teachers all over Germany, particularly in technical areas.
The prognosis for the next ten years is that the demand for TVET teachers will
exceed the supply in Germany. According to Standing Conference of Education
Ministers (KMK) statistics there is currently a shortage of 8,800 TVET teach-
ers in Germany (Innovative Fortbildung der Lehrer an berufsbildenden Schulen,
2006).
Despite this seemingly inward looking profile, German academic institutions
have enjoyed successful relationships in TVET teacher training at local levels in
a variety of forms: for example, joint programmes, Erasmus projects, etc. The
introduction of an international element, as a strategic intention, both in terms
of clientele and provider represents a new and challenging dimension for TVET
teacher training in Germany. This can be seen as something of a double-edged
sword, offering both opportunities and threats to academic institutions such as
universities and Fachhochschulen. Opportunities for international expansion have
been welcomed by most academic institutions with the result that a variety of col-
laborative programmes are now advertised in university publicity demonstrating
engagement with the international dimension proposed by the Bologna Declara-
tion. The adoption of ECTS has enabled institutions to use a common academic
‘currency’ for participation in a ‘borderless’ European higher education area (Kar-
ran, 2004). However, this also poses questions of credibility and allegiance for
TVET teacher training in Germany. A firm commitment to the traditional system
in TVET teacher training, including compulsory State exams, is borne out even
in the newly evolving models of TVET teacher training. Few academic institu-
tions have designed programmes which rely solely on the accumulation of credit
points without the stringent application of a summative assessment at the end of
the training period, whether this be during the university period of study or dur-
ing the probationary period. It is hoped that the newly designed module examina-
tions will soon be considered ‘equivalent’ to the traditional ‘State exam’ (Ploghaus,
2004).
6 Emerging Models in TVET Teacher Training
The influence of the Bologna Declaration on the development of new models in

degree structures in TVET teacher training has resulted in a variety of approaches
in German universities. An analysis of new structures implemented by German aca-
demic institutions reveals three emerging models. For the purposes of this chapter
these models can be described as: (a) the consecutive model; (b) the top-up model;
and (c) the blended model.
6.1 The Consecutive Model
The most dominant model appears to be the consecutive model. This model is very
similar to the former single-block programmes in that the three educational strands
of major, minor, and vocational education/didactics are integral to both cycles of
study (see Figure 1). An example of the consecutive model can be found at Berlin
Technical University. Other universities are considering this model as part of their
portfolio, e.g. Hannover University, Dresden University of Technology.
6.2 The Top-Up Model
In contrast to the consecutive model, the top-up model introduces just one strand
of teacher training at the bachelor’s level. This element is normally the technical or
vocational strand. In this model other recognized aspects of teacher training, such
as didactics and minor subjects, are only introduced at master’s level (see Figure 2).
This model has been in operation at Hannover University since 2003/2004.
6.3 The Blended Model
The blended model offers a two-cycle degree system introducing two strands of
teacher training at bachelor level, together with one module of vocational education
and didactics which is open to students from other faculties. The master’s degree
offers opportunities to deepen understanding of all three strands, see Figure 3. This
is an established model at Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg (the Magde-
burg model).
6.4 Operational Aspects of the Blended Model
The single module of vocational education and didactics is offered in all subject
disciplines at bachelor’s level. This module provides the link to the master’s level
study, where it is studied in greater depth (see Figure 4).
Characteristics:
Major, minor, and vocational education/didactics
are already integrated in the bachelor’s
programme;
Major and minor are continued at the master’s
level.
Fig. 1 The consecutive model
Characteristics:
Master programme builds up on a bachelor’s
degree (e.g. in a technical field);
The major results from the field studied at
bachelor’s level;
Minor and vocational education/didactics are
studied at master’s level exclusively;
Major is continued at master’s level.
Fig. 2 The top-up model

Characteristics:
Studies at bachelor’s level focus primarily on the
vocational/technical major; the minor is closely
linked to the major;
Vocational education/didactics is delivered in a
separate module. This module is open for students
from other faculties (e.g. engineering);
Studies of major, minor and vocational
education/didactics are continued at master’s level.
Fig. 3 The blended model
6.5 Advantages and Disadvantages of the New Models
The three emerging models described above offer both advantages and disadvan-
tages for TVET teacher training in Germany. Although they have been explained
as discrete systems in this chapter, there is evidence to show that some universi-
ties are not limiting themselves exclusively to one model. Hannover University,
for example, introduced the ‘top-up’ model in 2003/2004, but there are plans for
the consecutive model to be offered from 2008/2009. As each model becomes part
of the established fabric of TVET teacher training, so the advantages and disad-
vantages of each model can be identified and monitored in relation to the envis-
aged outcomes of restructuring. To recap, the intended outcomes of restructuring
included:
r New opportunities for flexibility in considering career options;
r Shorter study periods;
r Enhancement of practical training;
r Internationalization of degree programmes.
The significance of the concept of ‘emergence’ with regard to the different models
for TVET teacher-training structures cannot be overemphasized as the models will
evolve according to the extent to which stakeholders are convinced or persuaded by
their quality. Saarinen (2005) notes that: ‘international influences find their way into
national policies persuasively rather than authoritatively’. The new degree models
Fig. 4 The Magdeburg model
appear to be meeting the intended outcomes in a variety of ways, both positively

and negatively, as is shown in the next section.
7 New Opportunities for Flexibility in Considering

Career Options
New opportunities for graduates to consider alternative career options were envisaged
as one outcome of the newly structured programmes. Although, in theory, this applies
to both the master’s and the bachelor’s level awards, in practice the broadening of
career opportunities is more relevant to graduates at bachelor level than for master’s
degree graduates, who will normally have a particular career orientation. It is worth
noting that this was always to be a challenge, as evidenced by Alesi et al. (2005,
4.9), whose study conducted in France, the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary and the
United Kingdom showed that employers demonstrated a lack of conviction about
the feasibility of offering employment to bachelor graduates from universities. Both
the bachelor’s graduates and employers from all analysed countries (apart from the
United Kingdom) perceive the bachelor’s degree from a university as fulfilling only
a part of the training necessary to enter a vocational profession with expertise and
confidence. The same study revealed that bachelor’s graduates from universities in
Germany could find employment in positions that were formerly filled by employees
with a mid-level professional qualification (Fachwirt/Meister). Of those employers
asked, 37.5% indicated that if they were to employ bachelor’s graduates from uni-
versities, they would be willing to offer them such positions. Only 29.9% expressed
a willingness to offer them positions equal to their qualification. It is, however, also
worth noting that over one-third of those employers surveyed (36.6%) said that each
case would be considered on its individual merits. The survey revealed that the larger
the company, the greater the acceptance of the bachelor’s degree from a university as an
adequate level of qualification for entry into the profession. The authors of the survey
concluded that the acceptability of the bachelor’s awards as an entry qualification
into a profession cannot yet be confirmed in Germany, given the diversity of perspec-
tives of employers. In this respect, the changed structures alone cannot yet lay claim
to increased employment opportunities for bachelor’s graduates from universities.
This scepticism about the possible employment benefits gained from bachelor’s
award degrees from universities is also reflected in the TVET teacher-training sector
in Germany Polyvalenz von Abschlüssen auf Krücken (Spöttl, 2004, p. 76) [Employ-
ment opportunities for degrees on crutches]. This scepticism is grounded in the lack
of confidence felt for new degree systems when compared with the success of the
traditional German TVET teacher-training system. It is feared that the introduction
of the new bachelor’s programmes could undermine the high status and quality of
the academic TVET teacher training. Furthermore, it is feared that the possibility
may exist to introduce positions at public VET colleges which could be filled with
bachelor’s degree graduates from universities, thus undermining the current salary
structures. Such issues of governance in TVET teacher training are identified by Kyvik
(2004) as complicating factors to the process of reform. Indeed, analysis of the three
emerging models for TVET teacher training in relation to employment opportunities
reveals that each model could have a different impact on such opportunities.
The consecutive model offers a programme which is closely focused on teacher
training with the result that the graduates (at bachelor’s level) will already be ex-
perts in their (teacher-training) field; however, this could be a disadvantage if the
graduates try to find employment with their bachelor’s degree alone, outside the
teaching domain. Employers may not value the emphasis on teacher training in
the first-degree portfolio. Moreover, employment opportunities in the public sector
are currently limited. These factors alone mean that the graduates emerging from
the consecutive model with a bachelor’s degree from a university could be faced
with limited options for employment, which could be seen as a direct contradiction
of one of the envisaged benefits of restructuring.
The top-up model offers a first-degree programme which is predominantly fo-
cused on subject expertise in a given discipline. This being the case, the gradu-
ates emerging from the top-up model could be considered to have an advantage
over their peers graduating from the consecutive model when seeking employment
outside teaching. However, although they may be well qualified in their subject
discipline, they will not have an equivalent depth of expertise in teacher train-
ing as those from the consecutive model, thus putting them at a disadvantage if
they were to seek employment in education. The top-up model is commonly of-
fered for areas in TVET where there is a great need for teachers, e.g. engineering,
electrical engineering, etc. This may initially appear to be an obvious solution
to an employment crisis. However, the limited pedagogical training offered at
bachelor’s level in the top-up model might even exacerbate the dearth of good
teachers in short-supply subjects if many bachelor’s graduates are employed from

this route.
The blended model can be considered as a compromise between the first two
models. It aims to provide graduates with alternative career options by focusing on
areas that are relevant for employment outside teaching, while simultaneously intro-
ducing pedagogy and didactics at the bachelor’s level, thus offering a compromise
between the consecutive and the top-up models. The bachelor graduates from this
model may not possess the equivalent subject expertise as their counterparts from
the top-up model, but their command of subject knowledge would enable them to
compete for jobs in a non-teaching environment.
The majority of master’s level programmes in TVET teacher training in Germany
are specifically career oriented, thus limiting choice in employment opportunities
at this stage of training. Students at this level in TVET usually follow one career
path. An exception to this is the ‘Magdeburg model’ where three different types of
master’s degree programmes are offered and only one of these leads to a career in
teaching in the State sector (see Figure 4).
8 Transfer Between Programmes
When considering the flexibility offered by TVET teacher-training programmes, it

is also worth noting the degree to which students are able to transfer between any
given programme. Each model offers a different degree of flexibility.
Transfer between programmes would be problematic in the consecutive model.
This model can be seen to produce the most secure professionals, as the training
includes subject expertise and didactics at each stage of the training. However, this
model does not lend itself readily to transfer. Although students can transfer credits
in terms of subject discipline, a seamless transfer would only be possible if students
transferred to a programme following the consecutive model.
The top-up model offers most flexibility in terms of transfer from one programme
to another. As long as students achieve their bachelor’s award, they are entitled to
register for a master’s programme leading to a career in TVET teaching.
The blended model is open to graduates from different models, the prerequisite
being that graduates should have followed a module covering vocational education
and didactics as part of their bachelor studies. In this respect the blended model
offers a solution that lies between the consecutive and the top-up models.
9 Shorter Study Periods
Although the period of study can be seen to be reduced for a bachelor’s degree,
the employment situation outlined above indicates that graduates emerging with a
bachelor’s degree will probably still need to go on to study for a master’s degree
if they are to gain employment. In this case, the new study period of five years (to
obtain a master’s degree) may, in some cases, represent a longer period of study
than the former system which may have required only four-and-a-half years. This
outcome would be an indication that the opposite effect of the original objective of
shorter study periods would have been achieved in Germany.
10 Enhancement of Practical Training
The link between theory and praxis has often been identified as a possible weak-
ness in the traditional system of TVET teacher training (Nielson, 2002; Hochschul-
rektorenkonferenz, 2006) and one of the aims of the Bologna Declaration was to
strengthen the practical elements of TVET teacher training through the restructur-
ing exercise. In this respect, the reforms were welcomed as an opportunity to plan
programmes with a strengthened element of practical training. Although this was
a hoped-for ‘by-product’, the three emerging models do not demonstrate evidence
of a strategic approach to restructuring which would ensure the inclusion of more
intensive periods or stronger links with practical training.
Since all bachelor’s and master’s programmes have traditionally included a prac-
tical element, it has been difficult to envisage how this might be strengthened. One
possible approach is to combine the university stage of TVET teacher training with
the Referendariat (Schulz, 2004, p. 113). Schulz raises the question of the feasibility
of a one-year probationary period. This approach would simultaneously achieve two
goals of Bologna by shortening the study period and strengthening the practical
elements of TVET teacher training.
11 Internationalization of Degree Programmes

The promotion of European dimensions through curricular development, inter-
institutional co-operation, mobility schemes and integrated programmes of study,
training and research, as cited in the Bologna Declaration, pose particular challenges
for TVET teacher training in Germany, although the expectation has been that in
general terms degree programmes would be more attractive to international stu-
dents (Alesi et al., 2005, 4.8.3). The traditional focus for the TVET teacher-training
sector has been the German education system and employment market. Despite the
apparently limited interest in an international dimension for TVET, the Magdeburg
model includes two masters’ programmes specifically designed to encompass an
international perspective. Although the Bologna Process provides an opportunity
for universities to develop international programmes, very few universities have
taken advantage of this. Dresden University of Technology and Otto-von-Guericke
University, Magdeburg, are two universities that have done so. Although these pro-
grammes are proving to be popular with international students, the experience to
date is that reciprocal arrangements can prove challenging where an exchange re-
quires relative fluency in a language other than English; for example, a cohort of
students from Otto-von-Guericke University were registered on a dual awards in-

ternational master’s degree programme (see Figure 4) in the 2005/2006 programme
and spent a semester in England, but there were no British students to reciprocate
the exchange. Otto-von-Guericke University also received a number of Chinese and
Vietnamese students during the same year, but no German students went to China
or Viet Nam. The most cited reason given for this lack of take up was the potential
for language difficulties.
12 Conclusion
This study concludes that, although the demands of the Bologna Process are being
met in Germany, there remains some inconsistency in the development of conver-
gent programmes and the pace of change is sometimes hindered by the rate at which
the new programmes are becoming recognized by employers. At the time of writ-
ing, many institutions are running both the traditional degree programme and the
new two-cycle programmes. The TVET teacher-training sector faces particular chal-
lenges in this respect. The three emerging models, when considered together, offer
a range of approaches to TVET teacher training, which in some respects represents
broader thinking in terms of preparation for a vocational profession. However, the
new diversity of programme structures is beginning to pose questions for the sta-
bility or coherence of the TVET teacher-training system within Germany with the
result that although the requirements of the Bologna Declaration may be addressed,
enabling mobility and flexibility within Europe, these two aims may be thwarted in
the German context by the emergence of three models which do not always map
neatly onto each other.
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desministerium für Bildung und Forschung.
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Bs-Programmträgerinfo Nr. 06.)
Chapter VIII.18
Standards for Occupation-Directed Professional
Development of TVET Personnel
in Developing Countries
Peter Gerds
1 Possibilities and Challenges of National Teacher

Qualification Standards
1.1 Possibilities and Consequences
In the last two decades, a process of developing standards for occupation-directed

education, training and development has come from the Anglo-American countries.
It can now be seen in many countries all over the world, not only in developing, but
also in transitional and developed economies. It seems to be not understated that the
establishment and acceptance of national teacher qualification standards (NTQS),
not only for the education and training of the workforce, but also for vocational
and technical teaching staff, has set in motion radical changes and improvements.
Nevertheless, some undesirable consequences are possible. In the United States of
America and the United Kingdom—the countries having the longest and most ex-
tensive experience with national qualification standards—these consequences are
becoming more and more visible and a topic for scientific and public discussion.
Nevertheless, the process of establishing standards, including corresponding accred-
itation and certification procedures, seems to be imperative all over the world. But
we are in the comfortable position of being able to learn from experience in order
to avoid undesirable outcomes. Some authors suggest that the development of rig-
orous national teacher qualification standards and their certification may ‘increase
the professional standing of the teaching profession; create a consistent, unified vi-
sion of accomplished teaching; and install in the general public a positive image of
public education’ (Serafini, 2002, p. 318). Furthermore, ‘the extensive nature of the
standards development process is seen as an innovative model for developing the
codified knowledge of teaching excellence, designed to remove misconceptions of
what constitutes good teaching’ (Serafini, 2002, p. 320).
A great deal of scientific research gives evidence of much improvement resulting
from standards: for example, in the United States teachers who have been certified
against National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) have been
shown to be more effective classroom teachers (Bond et al., 2000). NBPTS certifi-
cation may provide the ability for teachers to create a ‘staged career’ with gradually

1408 P. Gerds
increasing professional standing, responsibilities and status. A major precondition

of these achievements is that standards are developed by teachers for teachers, as in
any other of the more recognized professions. This has consequences on the devel-
opment of cornerstones and concepts for pre- and in-service teacher training and on
delivery—and not only for TVET teachers. These concepts correspond to general
international trends of curriculum development, such as:
r Raising the degree of teacher’s freedom in decision-making and choices (e.g.
more flexibility in terms of prescribing teaching objectives and content in a looser
curriculum format instead of detailed regulations).
r Providing flexible and reversible relations between learning and working for
teachers based on modular curricula for pre- and in-service teacher training,
usually based on standards.
r Generalization of TVET teacher-training curricula by ‘regrouping vocational
specializations’ (King, 1994, pp. 62–50) and by stressing cross-field qualifica-
tions (OECD/CERI, 1998, p. 42).
r Combining and linking different pathways of recruiting TVET personnel within
a coherent system of teacher training, according to the different functions of
teachers (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 1997): (a) practitioners from industries without
formal technical and pedagogical qualifications; (b) teachers with or without vo-
cational, technical but with pedagogical qualifications; and (c) practitioners from
industries with formal technical/vocational qualifications.
1.2 Risks and Challenges
Most of the challenges in the context of TVET teacher-qualification standards refer

to the processes of certification and assessment of standards.
1.2.1 A Possible Tendency Towards Controlling Instead of Professionalizing

Teachers
One of the major reasons for introducing assessment in the United States was orig-
inally to support the teacher’s teaching performance and to create reflective and
co-operative practitioners. But in recent times the function of assessment has shifted
more and more towards sorting and ranking of teachers and not only to certify teach-
ers but also to deny qualification (Delandshere & Petroski, 1998).
1.2.2 A Possible Shortfall of Useful Instruments for Assessing Teaching

Performance
Teaching is an extremely complex, partly open and partly hidden process. It cannot
be assessed sufficiently only by the use of numerical psychometric data, but must
also be considered through interpretative processes that remain open for responses
and discourses with the candidates. If not, assessment tends to become a rather rigid
VIII.18 Standards for Occupation-Directed Professional Development 1409
instrument for ‘compartmentalizing’ and isolating the scoring process rather than
developing teaching performance (Serafini, 2002, p. 323).
1.2.3 The Possible Creation of a New Universal Dogma of Teaching

An established certification board with established sets of instruments, procedures
and personnel may represent the only legitimate view of teaching and creating a
new dogma. Specific local adaptation of curricula, teaching styles and control as
desirable features of a modern system, not only for developed countries but also for
developing countries, may be suggested.
1.2.4 Possible Neglect of Culturally Sensitive Teaching Pedagogies

Exporting and importing teacher qualification standards, including procedures and
measures of certification and assessment across different cultures and nations, over-
look that teacher’s attitudes, biases and cultural identities must conform to their
student’s expectations and experiences, which are embedded in their cultural and
occupational traditions.
TVET teacher-qualification standards should only be developed in specific con-
texts by those who are affected by them.
1.3 Some Recommendations for Cross-Cultural Standards

As outlined above, the process of finding, defining, certifying and assessing national
standards can only be carried out by referring to the particular cultural, economic
and work-related environments in different countries and economies. But it is ex-
tremely interesting that, in spite of all the national differences, especially concerning
different emphases on input- or output-oriented standards, many common princi-
ples have been applied when generating and implementing standards, especially in
developing countries, as much for the TVET of the workforce as for the educa-
tion of TVET personnel. The results, therefore, are comparable enough to allow
the extraction of some general characteristics of standards and the process of their
development.
A comparative analysis of standards for the education of occupation-directed
teachers and trainers from the Asia-Pacific Region and for Africa provides us with
the following similarities:
1. Standards contain detailed descriptions of applied competencies in a particular

vocational field, containing a defined number (usually between eight and thir-
teen) professional core areas (which are also designated in some countries as
‘professional standards’ or ‘professional roles’). Standards combined with per-
formance criteria and outcomes-descriptions serve as criteria against which a
person may be assessed for entering and exiting a learning programme, or for
1410 P. Gerds
awarding certification for a special occupation or a profession, or accreditation

of prior achievements.
2. Standards refer to a particular level of occupational or professional performance.
This level of performance can only be defined in relation to the specific na-
tional economic and cultural criteria of expertise. They also have the function
of equating graduates to a defined occupational or vocational level on the labour
market. Usually four or five levels of increasing responsibilities and grades of
professionalization can be distinguished in the particular fields belonging to an
occupation or profession. This means: the identified vocational or professional
core tasks belonging to a vocational or professional field can be performed to
different degrees of complexity and difficulty, according to different functions,
responsibilities and particular job descriptions.
3. Standards are gradually going to be more market, occupation and work-process
oriented. Empirical research methods and procedures for defining vocational
teacher qualification standards meeting these demands (like or deriving from
DACUM) are spreading internationally. But to what extent these methods are
really suitable for investigating the actual and future specific professional ac-
tivities of vocational teachers, including the frequencies, degree of difficulty
and importance and the scope of professional activities, is an open question
(CIVOTE, 2000; National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 1997;
South African-German Development Co-operation, 2000; Gerds, 2004; Gerds
& Höpfner, 2004).
2 Criteria for Teacher Qualification Standards

in Developing Countries
A comparative analysis of the processes and results of the implementation of voca-

tional teacher-qualification standards indicates that some remarkable improvements
in teacher’s professional competencies have been achieved. But, due to constraints
of time, finance and other obstacles, some shortcomings must also be named, espe-
cially:
r Research of job analyses of vocational teachers has been limited to only a few vo-
cational fields or some small samples of teachers and vocational schools/training
centres.
r Research and development capacities have been very limited. Many of the prac-
titioners involved in the processes of developing standards were not ready to
participate sufficiently due to lack of qualification, time or financing.
r Systematic evaluation, comprising empowerment of the staff involved, as well as
assessing the results of introducing standards, has not been sufficiently installed.
We are convinced that the results of developing and implementing vocational

teacher qualification standards can be enhanced by a stronger professional orien-
tation, supported by professional evaluation teams, towards three sets of criteria.
2.1 Systems Criteria
Systems criteria indicate the extent to which standards and qualifications are based
on real trends impacting on the future development of the vocational/professional
fields and the embedded economy.
When starting to define vocational teacher-qualification standards, analyses must
be carried out, for example referring to:
r Current and future processes of transformation of work, workplaces and occupa-
tions in different sectors and in an international, national and regional scope.
r Conceptual framework for the vocational teacher’s profession and their process
of professionalization.
2.2 Process Criteria

Process criteria mark the extent to which the composition and political process
of the standards-generating bodies meet the requirements for generating occupa-
tional/professional standards.
Experiences from the work of different national standards-generating bodies
demonstrate that the quality of standards is crucial depending on different parallel
and interactive streams of activities. Meetings of the standards-generating bodies
should be held in order to:
r agree on a general strategy and a master plan for research and development pro-
cesses;
r agree on the proposed working-group members and mandates, including the
teachers;
r agree on the format, methodology and content criteria on which working-group
members should base their generation of standards;
r review the standards and agree on a consultative process;
r consider the feedback and changes required.
Meetings of professional fields-related working groups should be held in order to:

r draft the standards based on the results of occupational analyses and considering
the formats and contents criteria;
r revise the standards in terms of the feedback and standards-generating body
mandate.
Consultations with the sector should be held, including:

r workshops with training providers, helping them to understand the standards as
well as how they could use them properly;
r workshops with training providers who had used the standards in some way or
who discussed them with their organizations;
1412 P. Gerds
r consultations with stakeholders from companies, other training providers or with

employers’/employees’ organizations.
There should be interaction with other standards-generating bodies in order to:
r ascertain the possibilities of co-operation;
r ensure the exchange of information.
2.3 Format Criteria of Standards
Format criteria for standards should at least give information on:

r the general layout and formatting schemes, including headings, language, glos-
sary and titles of the standards;
r the level appropriate to the learning pathway within which the learning mod-
ules/units are located;
r the credit values, reflecting the average length of time an average learner is ex-
pected to take to complete the learning module, programme or unit;
r a statement of purpose, attempting to summarize the contents of the standards
and to describe the value added to the practitioner;
r performance criteria, describing unambiguously the key competences that should
be acquired for successful completion of a given occupational/vocational
task;
r specific outcomes, providing the basis on which the assessors will exercise pro-
fessional judgement on learner’s professional performance and express the pur-
pose of the standard in more detailed ways that are measurable and verifiable.
3 An Example: TVET Teacher-Qualification Standards

in Ethiopia
3.1 Demands for Construction of the System
In the context of the Ethiopian-German Technical and Vocational Education and

Training Programme, the process of establishing a TVET teacher-training system
based on national teacher-qualification standards started in 2004. The responsible
bodies agreed that the system had to meet the following general demands:
r To provide high flexibility and differentiation of the TVET teacher-training sys-
tem so as to allow different entries and pathways for TVET teacher-applicants
with different learning preconditions, such as their formal level of education, and
their formal certified and informal acquired vocational competence.
r To provide a coherent and open system without dead ends.
r To link pre- and in-service teacher training within a complete modular
system.
r To implement a modular structure of teacher training based on cultural, economic

and pedagogical standards embedded in national TVET teacher qualifications.
r To define teacher-qualification standards as detailed descriptions of components
of applicable competences in order to perform the teacher’s core tasks on a de-
fined level.
r To use teacher-qualification standards as criteria against which candidates will be
assessed for entering or exiting a teacher-training programme, or to be employed
as a teacher, as well as to enhance teaching expertise and performance.
3.2 Special Demands on TVET Teachers in Developing Countries

There are different qualification strategies to cope with different regional, local and
sectoral demands, such as:
r Planning TVET teacher training for developing countries has to consider a wide
range of demands originating in regional, local and sectoral differences of eco-
nomic development and labour-market characteristics. In particular, it is respon-
sible for the training of a workforce for some existing industrialized cores mainly
producing for the world market, as well as satisfying the regional and local
supply of teachers and combating poverty in rural/remote areas. Each of these
requires different TVET strategies and qualifications.
r Traditional forms and contents of work and production in wide areas, on the one
hand, and highly sophisticated standards of production for international markets
on the other, require TVET student-teachers and graduates with different levels
of formal education, prior experiences/achievements and levels of qualification.
r Profound differences of quantity and quality of existing technical/vocational
training facilities, especially in terms of equipment, media and staff qualifica-
tions, require a coherent national TVET teacher-training system consisting of
modular pre-service and in-service training,
r Vocational training not only for the small formal but also for the dominant infor-
mal sector requires highly flexible, low regulated and locally adaptable training
provision.
3.2.1 Demands for Highly Flexible TVET Teacher-Training Provision

r To provide a narrow linkage between their own pre-service (initial) and in-
service (further) teacher training, and to use modern forms of distance education
and e-learning.
r To have command both of the vocational (practical) skills and theoretical knowl-
edge that are required to train their students.
r To establish and conduct strong relationships and networks between their schools
and the local/regional business world in order to offer vocational training on
needed and employable qualifications.
1414 P. Gerds
r To develop demand-driven contents and forms (courses, programmes, modules)

of TVET provision.
r To recognize the large variety of student’s demands, interests and prerequisites
of learning.
3.3 Ethiopian Teacher-Qualification Standards System
Agreements were reached on two central elements of the Ethiopian TVET teacher-
qualification standards system: (a) there would be nine core fields of actual and
future TVET teacher activities; and (b) four actual and future TVET teacher quali-
fication levels could be identified and agreed upon (Figure 1).
Qualification levels for TVET-teachers/trainers
Master
Level Fourth qualification level
Bachelor
Third qualification level
TEVT-Specialist
Second qualification level
Qualified Trainer
First qualification level
Studied
units
Hoepfner, BOBB/Gerds ITB 2003
Fig. 1 Qualification levels for TVET-teachers/trainers
3.3.1 Agreement on Nine Core Fields of TVET Teacher Activities

The stakeholders involved in developing TVET teacher-qualification standards (min-
istry, universities/college, national and international experts) agreed on the nine core
fields of TVET teacher activities set out below, based on the results of empirical re-
search (teacher’s job analyses in Ethiopia) and analyses of international experiences.
The core fields contain general descriptions of major activities as a component of
TVET teacher-qualification standards.
National TVET Teacher-Qualification Standards
FoST 1: Plan, conduct and evaluate teaching lessons and instruction Each field of
standards (FoST)
FoST 2: Provide occupation-related learning environments, materials and
media comprises
four specific
FoST 9: Professional development standards (St)
in accordance
with the
FoST 1 FoST 2
qualification level
FoST 9
Each specific standard

St 1
St 1 is going to be described
St 2 St 1
St 2 by specific outcomes,
St 3 St 2 critical cross-field out-
St 3
St 4 St 3 comes, essential em-
St 4 bedded knowledge and
St 4 assessment criteria.
Hoepfner, BOBB/Gerds, ITB/2003
Fig. 2 The complete system: thirty-six national TVET teacher-qualification standards by combin-
ing nine core fields of activities and four TVET teacher-qualification levels
For the purposes of planning, conducting and assessing occupational training

modules based on the standards, it is necessary to put them into concrete and
occupation-specific groupings, especially by defining the particular occupational
learning assignments, outcomes and performance criteria (Figure 2):
1. Plan, conduct and evaluate teaching lessons and instruction;

2. Provide occupation-related learning environments, materials and media;
3. Provide and conduct assessment;
4. Guidance and placement of learners;
5. Curriculum development and evaluation;
6. Develop and conduct school/TVET institutional management;
7. Enhance public relations;
8. Join research projects and processes;
9. One’s own professional development.
3.3.2 Agreement on Four Qualification Levels

Every core field contains a series of activities (duties) that require qualifications on
different levels (Figures 3 and 4).
1416 P. Gerds
TVET Teacher-Qualification Standards on Different Levels

The Example “Assessment”
Level 4
“Manage quality
assurance system”
Level 3
“Design and moderate
Notice: assessments for learning
Programmes”
Each subject
acquired on a previous
qualification level is the basis Level 2
for acquiring subjects “Design assessments for
on a higher level
learning programmes”
Level 1
“Carry out assessments”
Hoepfner, BOBB/Gerds, ITB/2003
Fig. 3 An example: the core field ‘assessment’ with its specific standards on the four TVET
teacher-qualification levels
r First qualification level (National Certificate as a ‘qualified trainer’). Practition-

ers who have achieved the first level of qualification will have achieved a basic
competence in planning, delivering and evaluating TVET units. They will be
capable of making significant contributions to achieving targeted and structured
skills development at course level. Achieving the qualification level will allow
the practitioners to advance to the next level.
r Second qualification level (National Diploma as a TVET specialist/instructor).
Practitioners who have achieved the second qualification level will advance their
competence on a wider range of TVET roles. The qualification is thus more a
formative than a specialist qualification. Practitioners will be capable of mak-
ing significant contributions to structured and targeted skills development at the
level of TVET learning programmes within vocational schools or other learning
venues. Achieving this qualification level will allow the practitioners to advance
to the next level.
r Third qualification level (bachelor). Practitioners who have achieved the third
qualification level will have achieved a deep occupational base in support of
TVET practice. This will further advance their competence in selected TVET
roles and build a basis for specialized learning. They will be capable of making
significant contributions to structured and targeted skills development within or
across organizations and at sector or national level. Achieving this qualification
level will allow the practitioners to advance to the next level.
TVET teachers with different levels of qualification and with different functions
in technical and vocational schools
Transition
from teacher
training to
employment
Transition
from
employment
as teacher to
TVET-
training
Coherent
National successive
certificate pathway
National
diploma
Qualified skills TVET- Bachelor

trainer specialist/ degree Master
instructor Ph.D
degree
2 2
semesters 2 semesters 2 semesters semesters
Fig. 4 Flexible and coherent career pathways within the Ethiopian standard-based national TVET
teacher-training system
Source: Gerds/UniBremen/ITB
r Fourth qualification level (master). Practitioners who have achieved the fourth
qualification level will have mastered education-oriented methods of research in
a chosen field and will be capable of specialized practice within a TVET-based
or TVET-related career. They will be in a position to conduct further studies
at doctoral level. Practitioners with this qualification will contribute to building
Ethiopia’s TVET community.
Figures 5, 6 and 7 show three different pathways for TVET teacher training.
1418 P. Gerds
Direct employment as TVET teachers on A-Level after having achieved M.A.

degree after eight semesters directly.
Transition
from teacher
training to
employment
Coherent
successive
pathway
A-Level
National
certificate
B-Level
Qualified skills National

trainer diploma
C-Level
D-Level
TVET- Bachelor Master Ph.D.
specialist degree degree
2
semesters 2 semesters 2 semesters 2 semesters
Fig. 5 Pathway I: coherent and full academic programme

Source: Gerds/Uni-Bremen/ITB
4 The Ethiopian Draft National TVET Teacher-Qualification

Standards
Following the cornerstones of the edifice, next we present an example of fields of

standards related to the qualification levels and the appropriate specific standards.
First, the fields of standards have to be determined. In the DACUM chart (CIVOTE,
2000) we can find the following eight occupational core fields of TVET teaching
activities:
Employment as TVET teacher at different levels of qualification and with

different functions in technical and vocational schools
Transition
from teacher
training to
employment
Transition
from
employment
as teacher to
TVET training
Coherent
successive
pathway
Picking
A-Level up special
modules
as in-
service-
National training
certificate
B-Level
Qualified skills National
trainer diploma
C-Level
D-Level Ph.D.
TVET- Bachelor
Specialist degree Master
2 degree
Fig. 6 Pathway II: coherent academic four semester programme, combined with in-service-
teacher-training
Source: Gerds/Uni-Bremen/ITB
1. Curriculum development;
2. Teaching design;
3. Implementation of teaching;
4. Management;
5. Student guidance;
6. Teaching evaluation;
7. Public relations;
8. Professional development.
1420 P. Gerds
Employment as TVET teacher at different levels of qualification and with

different functions in technical and vocational schools
Transition
from teacher
training to
employment
Picking up
special
modules as
in-service-
training
A-Level
National
certificate
B-Level
Qualified skills
trainer National
diploma D-Level
C-Level
Ph.D.
TVET- Bachelor Master
specialist degree degree
2
Fig. 7 Pathway III: short-time-programme, combined with in-service teacher training
Based on the above DACUM-chart and comparable findings of job-analyses from

South Africa and Ethiopia, the following list of core-fields of TVET teaching activ-
ities was agreed.
1. Planning, conducting and evaluating teaching lessons and instruction;
2. Providing occupation-related learning environments, materials and media;
3. Assessment;
4. Guidance and placement of students;
5. Curriculum development and evaluation;
6. School/TVET-institution management;
Table 1 The nine core fields of TVET teaching activities assigned to the four levels of qualification
First qualification level Second qualification level Third qualification level Fourth qualification level
(qualified trainer) (TVET specialist) (bachelor) (master)
Plan, conduct and evaluate ‘Plan, conduct and evaluate ‘Plan, conduct and evaluate ‘Plan, conduct and evaluate ‘Assess one’s planning,
teaching lessons and work process related work process related integrated teaching units conducting and evaluating
instruction teaching units’ teaching plans’ and plans’ of teaching units and plans’
Provide occupation-related ‘Prepare learning aids’ ‘Design and select training ‘Select and produce teaching ‘Co-ordinate the design of a
learning environments, materials and facilities’ media’ variety of training
materials and media materials’
Provide and conduct ‘Carry out assessments’ ‘Design assessments for ‘Design and moderate ‘Manage quality assurance
assessment learning programmes’ assessments for learning system’
programmes’
Guidance and placement of ‘Advise and refer learner’ ‘Provide vocational guidance ‘Guide and support learners’ ‘Plan guidance and placement
learners to learners’ of learners’
Curriculum development and ‘Determine occupational ‘Carry out labour-market ‘Conduct labour marked and ‘Conduct occupational
evaluation work assignments and analyses and give training job analyses and set up analyses and
design learning and work inputs for creating more modules for TVET’ corresponding curriculum
assignments’ self-employment and design, experiments and
business chances’ evaluation’
School/TVET-institution ‘Carry out teaching and ‘Conduct teacher and student ‘Participate in producing ‘Conduct demand-driven
management teaching files management’ management’ school development plan’ school-programme-
planning and
organization’
Public relations ‘Demonstrate teaching ‘Produce publicity materials’ ‘Produce plans for public ‘Conduct communication and
achievement to society’ relations activities’ co-operation networks
between school and
local/regional industries
and business’
Research ‘Carry out elementary field ‘Conduct elementary field ‘Design and conduct ‘Design, conduct and
research’ research’ research’ co-ordinate research’
Professional development ‘Apply methods of ‘Guide and help peers’ ‘Engage in professional ‘Plan professional
self-reliant learning’ professional activities’ development’ development in
organizations’
1421
1422 P. Gerds
7. Public relations;
8. Research;
9. Professional development.
Table 1 shows each of the nine core fields of TVET teaching activities assigned a
set of standards on the four levels of qualification.
References
Bond, L. et al. 2000. The certification system of the National Board for Professional Teaching
standards: a construct and consequential validity study. Greensboro, NC: University of North
Carolina, Center for Educational Research and Evaluation.
Central Institute for Vocational and Technical Education—CIVOTE. 2000. Vocational teacher
standards and the formulating method: final report. Beijing: CIVOTE. (APEC Central Funding
Project.)
Delandshere, G.; Petroski, A. 1998. Assessment of complex performances: limitations of key mea-
surement assumptions. Educational researcher, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 14–24.
Gerds, P. 2004. Strategy for implementing a standard-based TVET teacher-training programme in
Ethiopia. Addis Ababa/Bremen: Ethio-German Technical and Vocational Education and Train-
ing Programme.
Gerds, P.; Höpfner, H.-D. 2004. Cornerstones for the development of national TVET teacher-
qualification standards. Bremen/Berlin/Addis-Ababa: Ethio-German Technical and Vocational
Education and Training Programme.
King, K. 1994. Technical and vocational education and training. In: Husén, T.; Postlethwaite, T.N.,
eds. International encyclopaedia of education, 2nd ed., vol. 11, pp. 6245–51. Oxford, UK:
Pergamon.
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. 1997. Vocational Education Standards for
National Board Certification. Washington, DC: NBPTS.
Organization for Economic Co-operationand Development. Centre for Educational Research and
Innovation. 1998. Making the curriculum work. Paris: OECD.
Serafini, F. 2002. Possibilities and challenges: the National Board for Professional Teaching Stan-
dards. Journal of teacher education, vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 316–27.
South African-German Development Co-operation. 2000. Standards and qualifications for
occupation-directed education, training and development practitioners. Pretoria: National
Skills Authority.
UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre. 1997. Training of teachers/trainers in technical and
vocational education. Paris: UNESCO.
Chapter VIII.19
Curriculum Research and Design as a Subject
of TVET Teacher Training:
Practice and Experiences
from Two International Projects
Joachim Dittrich
1 Introduction
The following text deals with work and experiences, concepts and backgrounds of
selected international co-operation projects in the field of technical and vocational
education and training (TVET). More specifically, there are two projects funded
under the EU-Asia-Link Programme of the European Commission, namely ‘Design
and Implementation of a Curriculum on Curriculum Development’ (DCCD)1 and
‘Development of Trans-national Standards for Teacher Training for Technical and
Vocational Education and Training with a Multidisciplinary and Industrial Orienta-
tion’ (TT-TVET),2 the current activities of the ‘United TVET Network on Innova-
tion and Professional Development’ (UNIP),3 which aim to support the development
and implementation of masters’ study courses in TVET as a basis for sustainable
implementation of international TVET research and development, and a German-
Malaysian co-operative Ph.D. programme.
2 Curriculum Research and Design

In this chapter the term ‘curriculum research’ is used according to Rauner (forth-
coming): ‘The core question of curriculum research is the legitimization of educa-
tional contents and objectives in vocational education, as well as the systematization
of these contents and objectives in vocational curricula and training programmes.’
According to this definition, the term ‘curriculum’ does not explicitly refer to the
organization and realization of teaching and learning processes at the micro-level of
individual activities of learners and teachers—which in any case is seen as the task
of the teacher—but concentrates on the content and objectives of vocational educa-
tion, i.e. on the framework settings for vocational education and training at a meta-
level. Consequently, ‘curriculum design’ means the process of defining contents and

1424 J. Dittrich
objectives of vocational education for a specific occupational profile and arranging

the contents in a way that best supports the learner’s competence development.
Increasingly, TVET teachers have to be proficient in curriculum design. Spöttl,
in his chapter on participative curriculum development in this volume (see X.5),
lists—following Huisinga (2005, p. 357)—five different curriculum development
settings. Only one of these settings does not rely on teachers’ competences in cur-
riculum development. This one, which he calls ‘central curriculum development’
can be found where TVET is strictly regulated, either because the respective regu-
lative bodies want to be in command of the executive level, or because they feel that
the executive level needs very close supervision. The other settings all rely on the
competence of TVET teachers for curriculum development.
Curriculum research plays a variable role in the different curriculum development
approaches (Huisinga, 2005). However, if vocational curricula are to be targeted at
the development of competences that will later be required in workplaces, the rapid
changes taking place in technology, work and social organization, as well as their
future developments, have to be taken into account, while the input of curriculum
research to curriculum development is indispensable, as for example Spöttl outlines
in his work-process-oriented curriculum development.
Since structures, regulations and practices are extremely diverse across the world
(Grollmann & Rauner, 2007; Lauterbach, 1995–2006), we restrict ourselves to
country settings with which we are familiar from project work.
3 The World of Change: Asking for Vocational Professionalism
Both, the DCCD project with partners from China, Germany, Ireland and Malaysia,
as well as the TT-TVET project with partners from Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia
and Spain, are confronted with agendas of change in the participating countries.
Without going too deep into detail, the situation in the partner countries can be
sketched as follows:
r China is aiming at the development of high-quality TVET teaching and train-
ing staff in order to be able to educate and train a highly skilled workforce.
This is evident from the initiative of developing higher vocational education
on a large scale. On the other hand, individual vocational schools and other
training institutions have to tailor their curricula for TVET to the needs of the
local economy and industries. ‘In teaching, vocational schools and vocational
training institutions should integrate education with industrial production, aim at
serving the needs of local economic development, and maintain close ties with
enterprises, thus helping trainees to acquire practical skills and become skilled
workers’ (China. People’s Congress, 1996, Article 23).
r With the implementation of framework curricula for TVET based on so-called
‘learning areas’ (Lernfelder) in Germany, which started with the last modern-
ization campaign in the late 1990s, there is a lot of freedom for education and
training institutions, as well as for individual teachers, to tailor TVET provision
VIII.19 Curriculum Research and Design as a Subject of TVET Teacher Training 1425
in co-operation with companies, which are one of the partners in the German dual
system of vocational education and training. Furthermore, it is intended to raise
the quality of TVET provision, as well as the attractiveness of TVET institutions,
by giving more freedom to institutions in terms of organizational and financial
management, as well as of co-operation with companies and other stakeholders in
order to give them the opportunity to develop into so-called ‘regional innovation
centres’.
r For several years Indonesia has been following a strategy of decentralization,
which also applies to the provision of TVET. The quality of TVET is regarded
as one of the key issues in reducing poverty and unemployment. Recently, a law
was issued that requires teachers (including TVET teachers) to have a qualifica-
tion at least at the bachelor level and that their qualifications must be certified
(Indonesia. Ministry of National Education, 2005). Institutions with connections
to industry are very much favoured in order to provide TVET students with the
required skills for employability. Here, Indonesia looks at the German or Swiss
dual systems of vocational education and training and adopts parts of them ac-
cording to its needs. TVET institutions are relatively free to adapt their pro-
grammes to local, regional and sectoral requirements. Hence, the competencies
for such adaptations are required at least among parts of the staff.
r Ireland has a hardly regulated, highly demand-driven TVET provision. Institu-
tions providing TVET have to tailor their offers to the demand of industries and
students. So, curriculum development capabilities are needed at these institu-
tions. At the same time, there is hardly any formalized TVET teacher education
available, so that discussions on curriculum R&D as a subject of TVET teacher
education are extremely difficult.
r Malaysia is further developing its system of National Occupational Skill Stan-
dards (NOSS), which was heavily influenced by Anglo-American NVQ-type
philosophies. ‘The National Dual Training System (NDTS) was launched in
July 2005 to strengthen the training delivery system and ensure that the training
provided was in line with industry requirements’ (Malaysia. Prime Minister’s
Department, 2006, p. 248). The curricula used in this new scheme are called
National Occupational Core Curricula (NOCC) and show a similar structure to
those recently used in Germany (see above). Beginning in 2006, only four NOCC
had been developed and were available, so TVET experts in Malaysia are fac-
ing two challenges: first, quite a number of additional NOCCs will have to be
issued in the near future; and, second, there will be the need for processing these
core curricula on an individual basis for implementation of actual education and
training by the individual TVET teacher and in the individual TVET institutions
with their specific environment.
r Spain revised its VET system in 2002 (Spain. Ministerio de la Presidencia, 2002)
in terms of reconfiguring and redistributing the responsibilities for TVET be-
tween national, regional and local authorities and stakeholders. Certification and
accreditation of competencies and professional qualifications are integrated at
the national level through the National Catalogue of Professional Qualifications,
whereas the curricular elements of TVET provision are under regional and local
1426 J. Dittrich
responsibility. The consequences for TVET teachers are reflected in the Educa-
tion Act (Spain. Ministerio de la Presidencia, 2006, Article 91), which defines
curriculum development as the first in the list of tasks of teachers. TVET teacher
training, which is currently based on a model from 1970, is being remodelled in
accordance with recent developments.
r In the framework of the so-called ‘Copenhagen Process’, Europe as a whole set
out a strategy4 for improving the overall performance, quality and attractiveness
of VET in Europe. The promoters of this process argue that this will mean a
fundamental transformation of education and training throughout Europe. One
aspect is the implementation of a ‘European Qualification Framework’ (EQF),
which is currently under discussion. EQF is not likely to lead to a unified
European TVET system because of the principle of subsidiarity that governs
education-related politics in the European Union. Thus, curriculum work in the
EU will remain at the regional or local level.
Looking at the whole world, global economic competition increases the pressure to
produce high-quality products. High-quality products and high-quality, high-value-
added work are seen as being at the core of economic success for twenty-first century
economies all over the world (Veal, Dittrich & Kämäräinen, 2005). At the same time,
global economic competition induces the need for regions to develop genuine profiles
in terms of marketable products, but also in terms of quality living environments in
order to retain high-quality workforces in the region (globalization and localization).
To summarize, all mentioned countries and world regions aim to develop TVET
and highlight the role of TVET teachers for the development of quality in provision.
Wherever occupational curricula are defined with a national scope, they tend to
provide only a framework for the content and procedure of TVET provision, which
leaves the elaboration of the actual content to be learned and the learning sequences
to local actors, i.e. regional authorities, TVET institutions or even to the individual
TVET teacher.
At the same time, to varying degrees national framework settings require that
TVET provision be tailored to the needs of the (regional) labour market and com-
panies in terms of knowledge and skills, of the individual learner in terms of pro-
fessional competence development, and of community development in terms of, for
example, citizenship and lifelong and self-directed learning. As a consequence of
these complex tasks, TVET teachers in all the countries mentioned (except Ireland)
are required to have an academic degree, even though the degree-level varies be-
tween bachelor and master, as do the regulations on the subject of the degree, e.g.
whether it is in teaching or in the respective subject area.
4 TVET Philosophy, Teacher Training and Innovation
These short descriptions of the individual situations in the various countries show
that there is a high demand for curriculum development competences among TVET
experts and especially TVET teachers and trainers.
This demand is generated by TVET system concepts, which rely on the adapta-
tion of TVET to the needs of industry, economy and society and which acknowledge
the need of adaptation to regional and even local needs. At the same time, a certain
standardization of occupational profiles is required for transparency of national (or
trans-national) labour markets, as much for employers as for employees. Employ-
ers, on the one hand, want to be sure that the people they hire under the label of
‘skilled worker for a specific occupation’ have certain knowledge and competences
in the respective occupational field. Employees, on the other hand, want to have the
opportunity to change employer, the sector in which they are working or even the
region where they live and, at the same time, be sure that the education and training
they have received will be recognized under such changed conditions.
To meet these requirements a curriculum for an occupational profile should be
defined nationally or even trans-nationally and it should give room for adaptations to
the particularities of economic sectors5 and geographical regions.6 At the same time,
given the pace of technological development, some freedom has to be provided for
development in time without putting at risk the function of sustainable occupational
profiles and the individual development of professional identity.
In this chapter it is not possible to review all existing concepts for the definition
of occupational profiles in terms of the above-mentioned criteria.7 However, one ex-
ample will be given that illustrates that under certain conditions TVET teachers need
competences in vocational curriculum development: Heidegger and Rauner (1997,
pp. 19 ff.), for example, suggested for ‘core occupational profiles’ that follow the con-
cept of ‘open dynamic occupations’: (a) a nationally defined core of 50% to 60% made
up of content specific to the respective occupation; (b) up to 20% to 30% of content
specific to the company profile and the region which is defined by the regional agencies
in charge; and (c) another 20% to 30% of content that is targeted towards work- and
company-related integrative knowledge, as well as towards business-process-related
organizational development. In our context, the percentages are not important. Essen-
tial is the fact that there is some freedom in the legal definition of an occupational
curriculum, which finally has to be filled and defined at the regional, sectoral and/or
local level, hence by those people we call our TVET experts.
Nevertheless, a macro-view which was addressed at several conferences of the
United TVET Network on Innovation and Professional Development (UNIP) de-
serves some attention. The need for sustainable national R&D systems in TVET
was addressed. While two of three contributing forces to innovation, namely politics
and industry, are everywhere in place, the third force—a developed infrastructure of
research—is often far less developed, especially in developing and transition coun-
tries (Dittrich & Rauner, 2004). TVET, when installed as an academic subject at
universities, including research and academic degrees, will have as one of its core
topics vocational curriculum development, together with subjects such as vocational
pedagogy, work processes and their organization in terms of the opportunity they
provide for learning, or the tools and media specific to the vocational discipline and
their tutorial quality. Hence, curriculum research and design is a central research
topic in TVET at academic institutions, which provide both scientific knowledge
generation and TVET teacher/trainer education at the same time.
1428 J. Dittrich
In order to facilitate international knowledge exchange and development, the TT-

TVET project aims to define trans-national standards for TVET teacher education.
The objective of the project is not only to contribute to the quality of TVET teacher
education, but also to contribute to the development of TVET research at universities
and TVET teacher-education institutions in the participating countries. In view of
diverse national TVET systems, it is usually difficult to generate a common job
description as a basis for the further definition of required competences. All partners
in both the TT-TVET and the DCCD project, however, stated that their countries
currently are targeting work-process-oriented TVET, and that in modern concepts a
teacher is required:
r to moderate learning processes instead of instructing students ex-cathedra;
r to discuss with students real work processes instead of theoretical laws;
r to set up learning environments in co-operation with companies, instead of sim-
ply preparing lectures;
r to carry out work-process studies in companies, instead of studying science text-
books;
r to identify relevant learning areas for students based on knowledge of work pro-
cesses, instead of downgrading scientific knowledge to the level of skilled work.
It is therefore clear that teachers in such an environment will have to do a great

part of the curriculum work themselves so as to plan the learning processes for their
students. This is because their work is situated in the economic sector for which
their students will be qualified and also in the local area where they work in close
co-operation with companies.
5 Tools for Curriculum Research and Design

Teachers as well as researchers are in need of tools if their task is curriculum re-
search and design. This became evident with the great success of the DACUM ap-
proach to curriculum development. The DACUM tools, however, seem not to be of
much use for accomplishing the above-mentioned tasks for modern TVET. This is
not because they are not good; it is rather related to the shift from competency-based
training to work-process-oriented education and training in TVET, which can be
observed at least in the countries mentioned previously.
In the framework of the project ‘design and implementation of a curriculum on
curriculum development’ (DCCD), a consortium of universities from China, Ger-
many, Ireland and Malaysia started to develop such tools for the development of
vocational curricula, mainly based on developments and experiences from European
and German pilot projects. These tools are individually tailored to the respective
regional conditions and needs.
The toolbox consists of a collection of methodologies in the form of recipes,
backed by a sound theoretical foundation of work-process-oriented philosophy
and based on a model of competence development, which was derived from a
combination of the competence development model of Dreyfus and Dreyfus (1986)

and the situated-learning approach (Lave & Wenger, 1991).
5.1 Foundational Principles
The underlying philosophy set down in a few words8 is the following (see Figure 1):
learners acquire competences by successively proceeding from the outer borders of a
community of practice towards its centre. While still outside the community of prac-
tice, learners-to-be already have some preliminary knowledge of the field of work
from their social experience or as a consumer of the community’s products—for
example, everybody has a rough idea of what a car mechanic, a carpenter or a nurse
does. When entering the community of practice as a novice, the learner first has to
acquire orientation and overview knowledge through guided solving of well-defined
tasks while using sets of systematic rules. Advanced beginners will face systematic
working tasks in a situated context that requires considering and valuing a higher
number of sometimes conflicting rules, facts and features. When learners are able
to handle such tasks, they are considered to be competent. To become proficient,
learners have to acquire detailed and functional knowledge through solving com-
plex problems without having pre-considered solutions available, which includes
the corresponding theoretical and specialized knowledge. To become an expert in a
profession is not usually possible in the framework of initial vocational education
Specialized and advanced knowledge acquired through

Expert
responsible perception and solving non-deterministic tasks, which
need a lot of (practical) work experience and specialized
(theoretical) knowledge.
Proficient
Detailed and functional knowledge acquired through solving a
complex problem without having pre-considered solutions and
corresponding specialized (theoretical) knowledge.
Competent
Coherent knowledge acquired in a situated context through

considering and valuing several rules, facts and features.
Advanced beginner
Orientation and overview knowledge acquired through guided

solving of well-defined problems using complex systematic rules.
Novice
Stages of competence Learning areas for competence development from

development (Dreyfus & Dreyfus, 1986) novice to expert
Fig. 1 The four learning areas, from novice to expert

1430 J. Dittrich
and training because this requires a lot of practical work experience and specialized
knowledge.
Starting from this philosophy, learners best acquire the competences which they
need for executing their profession by successively learning to manage more and
more demanding work tasks. As several projects in the European and the German
context have shown (see, for example, Spöttl & Gerds, 2002; Bremer & Jagla,
2000), it is possible to describe an occupational profile for the purpose of educa-
tion and training by a restricted number of about ten to sixteen core professional
tasks.
Such core professional tasks (hereafter ‘professional tasks’) have to meet certain
conditions in order to be appropriate as the basis for a vocational curriculum:
r The professional tasks need to represent the broader, higher-level work process;
they must be specific to the respective occupational profile; and together they
must cover the whole occupational profile.
r A professional task needs to describe a complete work process that involves and
connects planning, implementation and evaluation phases, making reference to
the contents and methods of the respective area of skilled work. When a pro-
fessional task is being performed, its purpose, function and meaning need to be
recognizable in terms of the broader, higher-level work context.
r Professional tasks have to be paradigmatic in nature. This means that, in learn-
ing to handle these tasks, learners must be able to modify, deepen or expand
their subjective understanding in situations with an unfamiliar type of problem.
Paradigmatic working tasks are managed using existing knowledge and experi-
ence, while enabling the creation of new action plans and fostering competence
development.
One task of curriculum development and research is to identify these core profes-
sional tasks for the occupational profile in question. Another task is to sequence
them according to the logic of competence development, which was briefly de-
scribed above and is illustrated in Figure 1. Finally, the tasks have to be analysed and
described in a way that they can be used as a reference for education and training
and, if need be, for assessment.
5.2 The Tools
The methodologies developed in the DCCD project include the following:
5.2.1 Occupational Sector Analysis

This is primarily a tool for identifying the structural data of the targeted sector in
order to support the discussion on the layout of the occupational field in terms of
what type of occupational profiles are needed in a specific economic or industrial
sector and what the trajectory of development is. Topics to be analysed are, for
example:
r structural change in terms of work organization, of business segments, or of qual-

ification requirements;
r the development of the education and training sector in terms of the number of
trained staff needed, of the level of qualification required by employees, and of
the anticipated future development of the education and training landscape;
r the relevance for the labour market in terms of how important this sector is for
overall employment in the region and how it will develop;
r the contribution to the innovation milieu in the region in terms of in which way
the sector contributes to innovation, of what synergies can be expected when
co-operating with other actors, and of what the innovation culture looks like;
r the contribution to social modernization in terms of whether the sector con-
tributes to developing citizenship, sustainability or active participation of em-
ployees in shaping work and society, of whether the employees’ competences are
made broad use of, and whether the sector contributes to enhancing ‘the quality
of service’, which produces added value for clients;
r attractiveness in terms of whether an employment in the sector seems attractive
for young people and their parents and whether there is an excess of demand for
training places or there are unused training capacities.
At first sight, this tool seems to be more helpful for TVET planners than for TVET
teachers. Then again, TVET schools, at least in China, have to choose and adapt
occupational profiles to meet the local needs for which this tool can provide some
support. It can also sensitize TVET teachers to tailor TVET provision to the needs
of their students, as well as to the needs of the labour market and industries.
5.2.2 Expert Workers’ Workshops

Expert workers’ workshops, as well as work-process analysis, are used to identify
the above-mentioned core professional tasks. Expert workers’ workshops in addition
are used to get input for the sequencing of the tasks in order to reflect the course of
competence development.
The critical point for the quality of output of the workshops is the selection of par-
ticipants, who must be expert skilled workers in the operational area and occupational
profile in question. The participants must have acquired significant work experience
in the respective occupational field, their current work profile should involve techno-
logically advanced work processes, their professional tasks should be complex and
driven by innovation, and they should have some degree of autonomy in performing
the work they are doing in order to be used to bringing in their own ideas. Some
additional criteria have to be met, but are not listed here for reason of space.
But also the competence of the (usually) two moderators is crucial. While one of
the moderators will have the task to facilitate the course of the workshop, it is indis-
pensable that another facilitator already has technical knowledge of the respective
occupational field. Ideally, the facilitator has been trained in the field and has worked
as a skilled worker in various related areas. Alternatively, the facilitator may have
acquired some experience as a trainer or instructor in the respective occupational
1432 J. Dittrich
field. He/she must be able to act as a competent discussant and be able to understand
the contributions of the participants.
An expert workers’ workshop roughly has four sections:
r Participants present their own occupational history in terms of stages of profes-
sional development and the related working tasks.
r In small-group work participants identify and briefly describe professional tasks
of the occupational profile.
r The groups present their results in a plenary session and the various group results
are aggregated to a selection of core professional tasks.
r Participants group the professional tasks according to which tasks a novice, an
advanced beginner, a competent and a proficient worker can perform.
Experiences with the international projects have shown that the success of these
workshops also depends on the cultural background of participants. While in con-
texts where participants are used to a culture of criticism and open discussion the
results are usually promising, lower quality output is achieved in cultures where so-
cial harmony is the higher value. This can partly be found in many Asian countries.
If it is evident that such a problem will be encountered, this methodology can be
used as a verification tool for core professional tasks that are identified in the course
of work-process analysis.
5.2.3 Work-Process Analysis

Work-process analysis is used as a tool for identifying the work-process knowledge,9
the learning potential and other characteristics associated with the professional
tasks. The team to conduct the analysis is best set up as a group of three to four
persons, including an expert worker, a vocational school-teacher and a training in-
structor, all of whom are experienced in the relevant occupational field. This ensures
the availability of sufficient technical and educational competence. Work-process
analysis can also be performed by an experienced TVET researcher alone, provided
he/she has sufficient knowledge of the field in question and his or her competence
covers the technical as well as the educational part.
Work places are selected where core professional tasks—or part of them—are
accomplished. Researchers accompany workers when working on their tasks, ob-
serve them and pose questions in order to understand the work process and to iden-
tify the work-process knowledge associated with the tasks. They also use additional
material like technical documentation, procedures, work-plans and the like in order
to analyse the tasks. The grid for analysis contains six major items:
r In what business or work process does the professional task form a part?
r What are the characteristics of the workplace where the task is carried out?
r What objects/items will be worked on for this specific task?
r What tools, methods and organizational forms will be employed?
r What demands on skilled work have to be met?
r What interfaces with other professional tasks exist?
These items, which are all detailed in several sub-items, allow a holistic and detailed
description of all aspects of the related occupational work.
Due to the fact that it is difficult to comprehensively portray the whole spectrum
of work content and demands that are related to a professional task from merely one
position, other positions should be analysed that represent the professional task. As a
matter of principle, it is advisable to use different teams of curriculum developers to
analyse a professional task. The more comprehensive the mix of industrial sectors,
ranges of products and sizes of companies in the analysis being undertaken, the
more valid will be the results for designing the curriculum.
If expert workers’ workshops do not seem to be viably producing the required
quality of output, the method can be extended for the purpose of identifying the
spectrum of core professional tasks. This extension is not described here due to
space constraints.
5.2.4 Systematization Methodologies

Using the data generated so far, so-called education and training plans are drawn up
by competent TVET experts. Such a plan contains a short overall description of the
occupational profile and didactically elaborated descriptions of the core professional
tasks. The task descriptions are associated with the learning areas of Figure 1. The
association is elaborated using the information from the expert workers’ workshops
in conjunction with the outcomes of the work-process analyses. The individual pro-
fessional tasks are documented according to a specific scheme containing a textual
description of the task, a description of the objects, tools, methods and organization
associated with this specific task and of the demands which are posed on the worker
and the article produced, as well as a definition of education and training goals that
should be achieved when learning to handle this task.
Such descriptions of professional tasks are a useful definition of what stu-
dents and apprentices should learn during a training programme. They point out
a reference for education and training especially for the situation of a co-operative
education and training scheme where companies and TVET institutions co-operate.
Companies provide the space for practical experiences while TVET institutions
provide the theoretical knowledge and critical reflection of all aspects of occupa-
tional work. Finally, for vocational teachers they provide a clear picture of what
students and apprentices should really be learning and what the respective occupa-
tional profile is about.
However, in order to meet national regulations, such education and training plans
might have to be modified or even re-worked to meet the criteria for vocational cur-
ricula. Fortunately, in the DCCD-project there are no major modifications necessary
to adapt these plans to German or Malaysian requirements. In China the possibility
is emerging to use such vocational curricula, even though the majority of vocational
curricula still exhibit structures according to the related academic discipline.
The regional versions show minor but at the same time important characteristics,
which make them suitable for the respective cultural and economic context. Major
differences exist—naturally—when it comes to the procedure, how the results of
1434 J. Dittrich
the methods mentioned so far are transferred into the form of curricula required in
national contexts.
6 Teaching Curriculum Research and Design

in TVET Teacher Training
Lecturers themselves have to be competent in applying such tools in their specific

subject area and in the specific cultural context in order to be able to moderate
learning processes for teacher trainees. In the DCCD project, local experts who are
at the same time university lecturers qualify themselves by attending seminars and
by practical application of the tools. These experts will teach the application of the
tools in the framework of teacher-training courses at their universities. A handbook
on the application of the tools, as well as teaching material, is prepared in each of the
relevant languages. The project consortium develops additional seminars for other
target groups, like in-service teachers and trainers/instructors in companies.
Modules for TVET teacher training at universities, as well as seminars for in-
service training, exhibit a common structure. The training course is made up of a
seminar unit of about sixty hours providing theoretical and methodological knowl-
edge, practical exercises of application and reflection and discussion. It is completed
by a real-world application of the methodologies learned, which is organized by the
learners themselves, possibly in co-operation with other participants. So the learning
process is self-directed and has a co-operative nature. Participants carry out a project
of curriculum development including preparation of the documentation. Counselling
and supervision is provided by the lecturers, including group discussions of all par-
ticipants of the course, where new experiences are exchanged and reflected.
For the first part of the course, it is important to use methods like small-group
work, role-plays and group discussions in order to assure that all participants be-
come aware as far as possible of the central issues of the approach and of the under-
lying philosophy. For maximum learning success, the second part relies heavily on
regular feedback/communication between participants and supervisors in order to
identify, solve and reflect upon problems arising in the real-world application of the
methodologies. This second part is meant to ensure that participants not only know
how to apply but in the end are also able to apply the tools successfully.
7 Summary
Curriculum research and design are an important topic of TVET teacher educa-
tion for two reasons. Firstly, TVET teachers increasingly need these competences
for their own day-to-day work, as well as in their role as participants in central
curriculum development work. Secondly, curriculum research contributes to the de-
velopment of TVET as such at the academic institutions where TVET teachers are
educated. In an international project, financially supported by the EU-Asia-Link
programme, a concept for teaching curriculum research and design is being de-
veloped and will be implemented in regular TVET teacher-education courses in
the participating universities in Germany, China and Malaysia. It is very likely that
other universities from Indonesia, Malaysia and China will follow in implementing
similar research subjects in university-based TVET teacher education—not neces-
sarily based on the same methodologies. For China and Malaysia this is happening
at a time when the inception of national TVET research can be observed. Indonesia
is still at the very beginning of such a process, and other developing and transi-
tion countries are observing these developments with interest. It looks like TVET
research and development capacities are going to be built up in countries all over
the world that have recognized the importance of vocational education and training
for their economic and social development. Hopefully, this will contribute to fight
the stigmatization of TVET and to develop it into a profession that is able to par-
ticipate in national and regional innovation processes, as well as being involved in
international knowledge exchange.
Notes
1. See: <www.itb.uni-bremen.de/dccd>
2. See: <www.itb.uni-bremen.de/tt-tvet>
3. See: <www.unip-net.org>
4. See the ‘Declaration of the European ministers of vocational education and training, and the
European Commission, convened in Copenhagen on 29 and 30 November 2002, on enhanced
European co-operation in vocational education and training’: <ec.europa.eu/education/
copenhagen/copenhagen declaration en.pdf>
5. To give an example: wherever an electrician works, whether in a power station, in food pro-
cessing industries or in electrical equipment for office buildings, he/she will have to deal with
different appliances, different (legal) regulations and different requirements on the part of the
customer. Certain principles will be the same in all sectors, but the electrician will be educated
and trained in one of them. Nevertheless, he/she will be able to perform in all sectors.
6. Another example: a construction worker will be faced with different styles of construction in
different regions (e.g. concrete-built, brick-built, wood-built houses); a worker in agriculture
will be faced with different agricultural products according to the region/climate.
7. For an introduction to a number of approaches, see Huisinga (2005).
8. For a more comprehensive description, see for example Kleiner et al. (2002), in German.
9. For the quite complex meaning of the term ‘work-process knowledge’, see, for example,
Boreham, Samurçay & Fischer (2002).
References
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Francis.
Bremer, R.; Jagla, H., eds. 2000. Berufsbildung in Geschäfts- und Arbeitsprozessen. Bremen,
Germany: Donat.
China. People’s Congress. 1996. Vocational Education Law of the People’s Republic of China.
(Adopted at the nineteenth meeting of the Standing Committee of the eighth National People’s
Congress on 15 May 1996.)
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Dittrich, J.; Rauner, F. 2004. Key challenges for TVET teacher professionalisation. (Keynote
address at the UNESCO International Meeting on Innovation and Excellence in TVET
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Dreyfus, H.L.; Dreyfus, S.E. 1986. Mind over machine: the power of human intuition and expertise
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Huisinga, R. 2005. Curriculumforschung. In: Rauner, F., ed. Handbuch Berufsbildungsforschung,
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tiani.
Lauterbach, U., ed. 1995–2006. Internationales Handbuch der Berufsbildung. Bielefeld, Germany:
Bertelsmann. [Loose-leaf-collection.]
Lave, G.; Wenger, E. 1991. Situated learning: legitimate peripheral participation. New York, NY:
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Rauner, F. 2008. Vocational education and training research: an introduction. In: Rauner, F.;
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UNEVOC.
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Associate Editor
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Contents
Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lv

Arvil V. Adams
VOLUME 1
Part I Overview

Ron Hansen

Jay W. Rojewski


v
vi Contents


for Prosperity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Budd L. Hall
Peter Poschen

Karen F. Zuga

Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Manfred Tessaring

Walter R. Heinz

Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Stephen Billett

Poonam Agrawal


David Johnson

Madhu Singh
Contents vii

Madhu Singh

Joshua A. Muskin

William Ahadzie

Robert Palmer

Enrique Pieck

Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Laila Iskandar

Peter H. Sawchuk

Partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Madhu Singh
VOLUME 2
Perspectives

viii Contents


Claudia Jacinto





1994–2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
Simon McGrath


Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

Peter Grootings

for the New Economy
Joshua D. Hawley
Contents ix

Joshua D. Hawley

Moses O. Oketch
Pacific Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
Man-Gon Park

Johanna Lasonen


of Fiji . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
Viliame Rabici

Lina Kaminskienė



x Contents

Phoebe Moore

Olga Oleynikova

Naing Yee Mar

Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
Lavinia Gasperini

Monique Conn


Countries



Liberia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
Lyle Kane

Bilal Barakat
Contents xi

Zuki Karpinska


Julia Paulson

War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849
Rachel Yarrow
VOLUME 3



Jon Lauglo

Keith Holmes

Peter Noonan

Academic Drift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
Andre Kraak
xii Contents


George Preddey

George Preddey

David Atchoarena

David Atchoarena

Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1037
Kenneth King

Richard Walther

Adrian Ziderman


Félix Mitnik

from Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1123

Barry J. Hake

Contents xiii

Stephen Billett

Stephen Billett

Philip Grollmann

Erica Smith

Federation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1219


Fred Beven

Jean Searle

Walter Chieco

Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1285
xiv Contents

Moreira Lopes



Stephen Billett

Christian Harteis


Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1383
Richard Gagnon


Peter Gerds

Joachim Dittrich
VOLUME 4

and Delivery
Contents xv

Felix Rauner

Felix Rauner

Felix Rauner


of TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1483
Anneke Westerhuis

Klaus Ruth

in Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1505
Peter Dehnbostel

TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1521


Felix Rauner

Robert D. Renaud

Felix Rauner

Felix Rauner
xvi Contents


Michael Gessler

Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1627
Georg Spöttl

Ulrich Heisig

Uwe Lauterbach

Richard Huisinga



Stephen Billett

James Avis

Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1739

Klaus Schaack

Contents xvii

David Johnson


Margarita Pavlova

Ron Hansen

and Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1835

Shyamal Majumdar



Man-Gon Park


xviii Contents

Maja Zarini


Peter Kearns

Tracey Wallace


VOLUME 5
Education

Development


for All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2039
Phillip Hughes

Manuel Cardoso
Contents xix



Manuel Cardoso
Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2163
Richard G. Bagnall
United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2177
Michael W. Harvey

Karen Plane

Karen Plane


Richard L. Lynch

Antoaneta Voikova

Annette Gough


Jon Lauglo
xx Contents

Frederic J. Company

and Emily Hazelman

Alternative? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2343
Norman Lucas

Karen Plane




Hong-Geun Chang

Contents xxi

Jihee Choi


Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2487

Toshio Ohsako
VOLUME 6


Kind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2521



Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2571

Bernd Overwien
xxii Contents

Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2597
Madhu Singh


Peter Dehnbostel

Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2647

Karen Magro

Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2679

TVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2697
Richard Gagnon

Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2713
Erik de Vries

IT Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2747
Rita Meyer

in TVET
Karina Veal

Karina Veal
Contents xxiii

Danielle Colardyn

John Stanwick

Danielle Colardyn

David Hoey

Grazia Scoppio

Institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2853

Michael F.D. Young

John Hart


Michael F.D. Young

New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2935

Magdalena Balica
Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2971
Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3003

VOLUME 4
Part VI
Education for Work: Research,
Curriculum Development and Delivery
Section 9
Research and Innovation
Felix Rauner
Institute Technology and Education, University of Bremen, Germany
Chapter IX.1
Overview: TVET Research
Felix Rauner
1 Introduction
Research on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is a relatively

young field within the domain of educational research. It was only in the second
half of the twentieth century that State institutes for TVET research were founded
to investigate the foundations for the development of national TVET systems and
to support planning bodies in shaping and organizing vocational education and
training. Among these were the All-Union Research Institute for Technical and
Vocational Education in the USSR in Leningrad (1963), the Center for Research
and Leadership in Vocational and Technical Education in the United States (1965),
which was later (1977) extended to a national research institute, the French Centre
d’études et de recherches sur les qualifications (Céreq) in 1970, the Federal Insti-
tute for TVET Research (Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildungsforschung—BBF), the
future Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (Bundesinstitut für
Berufsbildung—BIBB), in Germany in 1970. In China a central institute for voca-
tional education and training and two regional institutes were established through a
co-operation project with Germany. At the international level, the foundation of the
European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP—1975)
was a milestone for the internationalization of TVET research. Finally, the establish-
ment of the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational
Education and Training (UNESCO-UNEVOC—2000) testifies to the international
interest in TVET research.
Research on vocational education and training is concerned with all types and
institutions of vocational education. It includes further education, the qualification
of vocational teachers, as well as national structures and systems, and international
comparative studies. On a systemic level, research on vocational education and
training focuses not only on different programmes but also on the interface be-
tween general and vocational education, the transition between vocational edu-
cation and higher education and the transition from vocational training to the
labour market. The definition of vocational education is often diffuse, which ren-
ders any explanation of vocational education research quite difficult. In contrast
to the traditional, continental European understanding of higher education, the
English-speaking world understands higher education also as a qualification for a
World of Work, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-5281-1 IX.1,

1444 F. Rauner
profession. Internationally, the dimension of vocational education research is still

not very clear (Rauner & Maclean, 2008) due to the heterogeneity of the different
national TVET systems. Until now, the international scientific communities of vo-
cational educators and TVET researchers have been neglected. This is the major
difference between TVET research and general education research. General—as
well as higher—education research has been based on internationalism from the
very beginning due to the development of universities and the system of scientific
disciplines. This has facilitated the emergence of internationally-shaped research
practices.
2 The Occupational Form of Work as a Point of Reference
A characteristic of TVET research is that it focuses on occupational work in differ-

ent professions. The development of technology and the increasing differentiation
into technological clusters, as well as the increasing specialization of the organiza-
tion of work processes are fundamental features of the interconnection between oc-
cupational work and technology. The necessary division of labour and co-operation
in the organization of social work leads to the formation of the occupational form of
work and accordingly to vocational qualifications. Research on occupations—a di-
mension of TVET research—pays attention to the historical genesis of occupational
work and its development in the context of changing labour markets in the knowl-
edge society. Two competing theories determine the research questions and methods
of TVET research. From a socio-historical and sociological point of view, the oc-
cupational form of work seems to be exposed to an erosion process that follows
the law of the progressive instrumental rationalization of processes touching every
social sphere. From this perspective, empirical developments in the world of work
can be interpreted as progressive de-qualification processes (Braverman, 1974), as
well as a shift from the standard career path to the patchwork biography. The transi-
tion of labour markets and employment systems means that education targeted at a
specific occupational form of work is no longer required and that markets for modu-
larized qualifications emerge instead. Mackenzie and Wajcman (1985) criticize this
view of the historical process and refer to the explicit and implicit economic and
technological determinism that suggests a different view and research direction.
The shaping-oriented perspective emphasizes the fact that the occupational form
of work represents a constitutive societal relationship and that vocational identities
contribute to the constitution of personal identities.
Vocational research also shows that occupations forming part of industrializa-
tion are exposed to erosion processes. Occupations that are oriented towards a
knowledge-based economy are more stable because they are grounded in an open
and dynamic core professionality (Heidegger & Rauner, 1996). The realization
of the concept of an open and dynamic core occupation should permit the estab-
lishment of contextually stable occupational profiles and the creation of public
awareness of the latter. It should further achieve high flexibility, stability and
IX.1 TVET Research 1445
transparency in specific work fields and considerably reduce the number of accred-
ited vocational trainings. TVET research also demands that it should not just be con-
cerned with sociological and historical analysis, but should also support the planning
of vocational education and training and the strongly differentiated TVET dialogue.
According to several positions in TVET research, the occupational form of work
is likely to remain when the increasing dynamic of technological innovations leads
to an erosion of traditional professions (Kurtz, 2005). The concept of an open, dy-
namic, technological core professionality is viewed as a characteristic of vocation-
ally organized work, which meets the demands of a domain-specific qualification
as well as the flexibility of operational organizational structures. Therefore, occu-
pational and domain-specific qualifications comprise the analytical as well as the
formative dimension. The development of the core occupation of ‘car mechatronic’
is an example of a development where TVET research contributed significantly to
the development of a European architecture of vocational education and European
vocational education research (Kruse, 2008).
3 Fields of TVET Research

In TVET research one can distinguish five major research fields with a variety of
links between each other and to other research traditions.
3.1 Occupational Development

Work in a society is normally organized according to occupations. Even in those
parts of the employment system where occupational research assumes an erosion
of occupation-based work, the question of the effects of this development remains
a topic of TVET research. Unlike sociological occupational research, educational
occupational research has a stake, via its methods of sector analysis and qualifi-
cation research, in the development of occupations and occupational domains. Na-
tional structures of occupational development cause considerable problems for the
establishment of international economic relations. The mobility of employees and
the emergence of transnational labour markets necessitate the internationalization
of occupational development. This poses a challenge for TVET research to concern
itself beyond its comparative studies with the development of international occupa-
tions. Besides the traditional professions, like engineers, scientists, medical doctors,
lawyers, etc., particular craft trades, like cook, bricklayer and hairdresser, are also
international occupations. But other new occupations, such as the above-mentioned
car mechatronic, receive the interest of internationally organized employers. In this
research field, TVET research is also challenged to critically scrutinize the politi-
cal approach of a modularization and unitization of occupations and occupational
domains (Young, 2005), since effects on the development of international markets
for skilled labour can be expected.
1446 F. Rauner
3.2 Occupational Domains and Vocational Disciplines
There is a worldwide distinction among ten or twelve occupational domains. Occu-

pational domains include similar occupations and disciplines. National and
international classification systems, like the ‘Standard Occupational Classification
System’ (SOC) in the United States or the ‘International Standard Classification
of Occupations’ (ISCO), on the other hand, have the objective of increasing the
comparability of labour-market statistics. These classification systems are less ap-
propriate for organizing vocational education in training centres, e.g. vocational col-
leges, according to disciplines and faculties or for organizing a common elementary
training for related occupations. These occupational domains are also associated
with the vocational disciplines for which TVET teachers are educated. So far, there
is no international agreement on occupational domains. A first step towards an
international system of vocational disciplines is the Hangzhou Declaration (Veal,
Dittrich & Kämäräinen, 2005). An international expert conference organized by
UNESCO institutes defined twelve vocational disciplines (Table 1).
Research and teaching in the vocational disciplines can be structured into four
fields.
1. Genesis and development of the contents and forms of occupation-based skilled

labour, qualification requirements and the related occupations and occupational
domains.
2. The contents of vocational education as a dimension of analysis, design and eval-
uation of domain-specific training, qualification and socialization processes.
3. Analysis and design of learning supportive skilled labour: its methods, tools and
organization as well as the requirements imposed on the latter.
4. Finally, there is the question of the subjects of skilled labour. In the technical
disciplines this concerns domain-specific technology, which has to be operated,
maintained, repaired and, in the interaction between man and machine, designed
in a way that is supportive of learning.
3.3 TVET Systems

At the systemic level, research is concerned with national TVET systems under the
aspects of:
r the interaction between the TVET system and the employment system;
r the permeability between general and vocational education;
r the history of TVET systems;
r the development and evaluation of training programmes; and
r learning sites of vocational education and training and co-operation between
learning sites.
Table 1 Twelve vocational disciplines as defined in the international framework curriculum
Vocational discipline Topics Vocational discipline Topics
Business and administration r Production and distribution Education and culture r Child and youth care;
of goods; r Nursing education;
IX.1 TVET Research
r Services; r Adult education;

r Marketing, administration, r Special needs target groups;
finances, insurance; r Music and dance;
r Transportation, logistics, r Etc.
tourism;
r Etc.
Production and manufacturing r Manufacturing; Leisure, travel and tourism r Travel;

r Mechanical engineering r Sports;
design; r Tourist services;
r Supply engineering/ r Catering and hospitality;
environmental engineering; r Etc.
r Automotive engineering;
r Etc.
Civil engineering r Construction; Agriculture, food and nutrition r Agriculture;

r Wood; r Food production;
r Surface and coating r Domestic economy;
technology; r Etc.
r Etc.
1447
1448
Table 1 (continued)
Vocational discipline Topics Vocational discipline Topics
Electrical and electronic r Production systems; Media and information r Printing;
engineering and information r Building equipment; r Electronic advertising;
and communication r Information and communi- r Electronic customer-service;
technology cation technology; r Sales promotion;
r Media technology; r Etc.
r Etc.
Process engineering and energy r Applied sciences; Textile and design r Clothing production;
r Energy conversion; r Fashion;
r Etc. r Interior design;
r Art and craft;
r Etc.
Health care and social care r Health care; Mining and natural resources r Mining;
r Clinical care; r Oil and natural gas;
r Personal hygiene; r Etc.
r Nursing;
r Etc.
Source: Veal, Dittrich & Kämäräinen, 2005.

F. Rauner
A relatively common typology of TVET systems emphasizes the thresholds in the

transition from school to work. The school-to-work transition refers to:
r The period in one’s life between completion of general education and the begin-
ning of gainful employment—the individual aspect;
r Training systems, institutions and programmes that prepare young people for
employment after completion of general education—the institutional aspect;
r The transition from school to vocational training (first threshold)—the training
market aspect;
r The transition from vocational training to work (second threshold)—the labour
market aspect.
Four models of the school-to-work transition can be distinguished in an international
comparison. Each one is characterized by great differences in the transitions from
(general education) school to vocational training (first threshold) and from vo-
cational training to work (second threshold), with regard to time, institution and
content.
In the first model, the first and second thresholds in the transition from school to
work are reduced to one threshold—for two reasons: (a) in-company labour markets
in which the occupational form of work plays a subordinate role or one that is not
at all dominant; (b) vocational training on that basis can be dispensed with as an
independent career step between school and employment systems. In this model,
training is carried out as a dimension of company organizational development.
The second model is characterized by a relatively long and little-regulated
transition phase with extended search and orientation processes for young peo-
ple, a simultaneous high rate of youth unemployment and other social risk situa-
tions, and an extremely demand-oriented flexible, continued training market with
low-qualified, industrial jobs. This model is also characterized by a high first- and
second-transition threshold. Participation in training programmes is closely linked
to entry into the employment system and commencement of gainful employment
and can be a temporary solution during one’s search for a job.
To avoid qualification deficits, this model focuses on jobs with the fewest re-
quirements at the level of operational tasks as well as on-the-job training. The
United Kingdom and the United States have a definite affinity to this model (United
Kingdom. Department for Education, 1994; Doeringer, 1991; Münch, 1989; Rauner,
1995).
In the third model, the transition from school to work takes place via a regulated
system of dual vocational training. In this model the young person is a trainee,
a student (in a vocational school) and an employee in a training company at the
same time. Both the first and second thresholds are of a relatively low level. The
transition to the training system is smooth because the role of the adolescent as a
pupil is gradually taken over by the role of the youth as skilled worker. As a trainee,
he or she becomes an employee of the company and thus has the opportunity to
establish an employment relationship beyond the training period. In this model, the
education system and working world are linked to each other in a demand- as well
as supply-oriented manner via the institution of the occupation. Dividing work into
occupations is:
1450 F. Rauner
r A constitutive aspect for all industry-wide, open labour markets;

r A decisive factor for the organization of company work processes;
r The reference point for dual vocational training.
Vocational training thus becomes a bridge between the working world and the edu-
cation system. Youth unemployment is correspondingly low in numbers. This model
dominates in some European countries, such as Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands
and Denmark (Mertens, 1976).
In the fourth model, the transition from school to work is set up as a system of
school-based vocational training. Completion of general education is followed by
a vocationally-related or vocationally-oriented form of school. On completion of
the vocational school, the student usually acquires a State certificate for the school
occupation attained.
Whereas the first threshold in this model poses no problem for young people, the
second threshold becomes the decisive transition to the employment system. The
transition from school to work is postponed for the duration of school-based voca-
tional training. School and work remain institutionally separate. Vocational training
is definitely supply-oriented. A large number of countries with a well-developed,
school-based (State) vocational training system can be classified under this model.
The four school-to-work transition models essentially differ depending on the
significance accorded to the occupation as the organizing principle for labour mar-
kets, the company work organization and vocational training. In the first model (e.g.
in Japan), the occupational form of work and thus the related vocational training
has limited significance, whereas occupations represent the central aspect of the
third and fourth models. The first question to be discussed, therefore, is that of the
importance attached to this polarity for the developing European labour markets, as
well as the integrated skilled-labour markets.
Comparative TVET research is attributed an increasing relevance given the pro-
gressive internationalization of labour markets. The descriptive style of comparative
research is supplemented by evaluation studies, which make it possible to demon-
strate the differences between more or less successful TVET systems by reference
to quality criteria. An essential basis for this research field is the national and in-
ternational TVET statistics and the national TVET reports. In a European com-
parative study, among other things, eleven European TVET systems were compared
under the aspect of the transition from vocational training to the employment system
(Descy & Tessaring, 2001). According to the findings, countries with a dual model
of apprenticeship training are distinctly more successful in organizing the transition
of young people with a completed vocational education into the employment sys-
tem. In countries with a school-based TVET system, youth unemployment is at a
much higher level.
3.4 TVET Planning and Co-ordination
Major importance is assumed by the research field devoted to the foundations of

TVET planning and TVET co-ordination. In this context, research is concerned with
the identification of the qualification requirements and training contents following

changes in the employment system. Qualification research presupposes the consid-
eration of the normative prescriptions for vocational education. These are not only
the training objectives, but also the normative criteria for task analysis and design.
A particular approach to qualification research results from the methods of early
diagnosis in qualification development. The methods of competence and expertise
research, as well as of work and task analysis, are particularly relevant in this re-
spect. Educational economics in this context analyses the cost-benefit structures of
TVET programmes and TVET systems (Lerman, 2008). The methods for the esti-
mation of the future quantitative and qualification needs, however, led to satisfactory
results only at the level of labour-market development. Other means of predicting
future developments turned out to be unreliable. This is above all due to the fact that
the occupation-based organization of work and the design of vocational training
programmes and processes have to be viewed as discursive design processes em-
bedded in the social dialogue between the stakeholders in vocational education and
training. Therefore, they evade prognostics to a large extent. In this respect, TVET
research has the mission of justifying and testing design options and of contributing
in this way to a discursive communication between TVET practice, TVET research
and TVET policy (Grollmann, 2008).
3.5 Professional Competence Development
Vocational education differs from all other types of institutionalized education at

schools and universities in that learning about the work process is an indispensable
part of professional competence development. However, this applies only if voca-
tional proficiency (Berufsfähigkeit) is presupposed as a defining criterion that is
typical of vocational education and training. A broad range of topics, like the design
and organization of learning-supportive work processes, organizational learning,
learning through tutorial work systems, professional socialization and the devel-
opment of vocational identity, are addressed in this research field. Basic research
is clearly dominating. The European research network ‘Work Process Knowledge’
has produced important results in this regard (Boreham, Samurcay & Fischer, 2002).
On the other hand, analysis of the development of vocational identity in the process
of vocational education and socialization and the resulting occupational and orga-
nizational commitment is still little developed (cf. Kirpal, 2004). Applied research
has developed methods and instruments of qualification research whose results have
provided the basis for curriculum design.
Two concepts of qualification research that were developed for the design of
vocational curricula and that gained some relevance at the international level can be
placed in occupational research.
r The DACUM procedure for the identification and analysis of professional func-
tions (as a first step towards the development of vocational curricula) was
developed in the United States and Canada in the 1970s.1 In the meantime
this procedure is applied particularly in development aid. In a first step, the
1452 F. Rauner
characteristic functions (units) of an ‘occupation’ or a similar employment (job)

are identified by ‘expert workers’ during a two-day workshop. Afterwards, these
units are broken down into separate tasks. It is only at the stage of weighting
the units that experts of TVET planning, TVET practice and TVET research are
consulted.
r While the DACUM method, following the tradition of behaviourism, makes de-
contextualized tasks the basis of curriculum development, an alternative research
and development approach pursues a fundamentally different strategy in identi-
fying ‘paradigmatic work situations’. This approach is about the context-related
identification of professional functions that ultimately leads to case descriptions.
These case descriptions have to meet two conditions. Firstly, they have to prove
typical of the occupation in question and, secondly, they have form a logical part
of a curriculum that follows the concept of competence development from the
novice to the expert level (Dreyfus & Dreyfus, 1986). Professional functions
or work situations, according to this concept, have a paradigmatic quality if
they give rise to a decisive step in competence development in the sense that
they engender a new and extended view of work contexts (Benner, 1984). Here,
the investigation of professional functions and situations leads directly to the
vocational curriculum: the case descriptions, structured according to develop-
mental logic, are the curriculum. An advanced version of this research concept
was developed at the University of Bremen, Institut Technik und Bildung—ITB
(Rauner, 2004).
4 Teaching Methods for Vocational Education
The topic of teaching methods for vocational education is first of all a topic of TVET
practice. It includes the design, testing and evaluation of educational processes.
The selection and justification of the appropriate teaching contents and training
objectives, as well as the teaching and learning forms, are the core tasks of the
didactics of vocational education. The superior goals of vocational education, such
as the idea of enabling prospective executives to co-shape the world of work and to
participate actively in processes of corporate organizational development, challenge
TVET teaching methods to concern themselves with the identification of learning-
supportive tasks that are open for design. The topic of TVET teaching methods has
thus become a focus of activities for TVET research.
A curriculum following developmental logic for design-oriented vocational train-
ing must meet two superior criteria. The contents and objectives must be ordered
according to developmental logic. This requires that the professional tasks to which
the curriculum refers are identified and formulated in such a way that the beginner
(in the training process) has the chance to make the transition into training with
his/her prior experiences and knowledge so that he/she can build on his/her present
competences, expectations and orientations.
A future car mechanic who starts his apprenticeship has, of course, wide-ranging
experience and knowledge in handling cars acquired as a driver and user of cars,
and presumably also through the performance of more-or-less simple repairs that
are frequently carried out by technically interested non-professionals. Therefore, it
seems quite natural also to refer, in the beginning, to the practical use of the car when
it is made an object of professionalization during the necessary shift of perspective
from the technically interested user to the automotive professional. The standard
service, which consists of checking the safety and roadworthiness of the car ac-
cording to professional standards, and the performance of standardized maintenance
activities in the context of this service suggest themselves as appropriate work tasks.
They make it possible to learn and experience at the first stage of training what the
occupation is mainly about.
Changing tyres, for instance, is a standard procedure in the case of normal wear
and tear. If the tread on a tyre looks unusual, however, it is normally an indicator
of quite complex problems, whose identification and repair requires considerable
work experience. It is thus considered a difficult task that can only be mastered at
an advanced stage in becoming a car professional.
This example is intended to illustrate that the curriculum concept is presupposed
in task analysis. So the issue is not about merely investigating in an empirical re-
search process what the typical work tasks of a car mechanic are. For the area of
maintenance this might well reveal functions and tasks that are indeed characteristic
for the formulation of a qualification profile. For the purpose of formulating a de-
velopmental curriculum, however, such a task description would be of little use, for
the identification of tasks for a developmental curriculum determines the criteria for
the quality of the tasks to be investigated.
The development and testing of types of computer and Internet-based learning
are some of the topics of teaching research that deserve particular emphasis (Pabst
& Zimmer, 2005). What remains largely unclear and scientifically disputed is the
concept of key qualifications. This issue was introduced into the discussion via
the findings of labour-market research. These suggested the idea that vocational
education, facing ever shorter innovation cycles in technological development, has
to abandon the concept of adapting the contents of vocational education and train-
ing. This leads supposedly to the teaching concept of a transfer of timeless and
interdisciplinary qualifications that would retain their relevance for the world of
work. These qualifications were—hypothetically—attributed a key function. How-
ever, TVET research to this day has not succeeded in providing evidence for the
validity of this hypothesis. Nevertheless, it is undisputed that social competences
(soft skills) become more important and that domain-specific competences continue
to be the core of professional expertise (Chi, Glaser & Farr, 1988).
5 Evaluation and Quality Assurance
In the context of educational economics, education and qualifications have also be-
come an economic quantity that is attributed critical relevance in the competitiveness
of national economies. This has led to a variety of research and development
threads which have the common goal to develop scales, indicators and procedures
1454 F. Rauner
to measure and improve the efficiency of vocational education. The procedures of

summative and formative evaluation are available for monitoring innovation pro-
cesses in the TVET system (Kurz, 2008). The procedures of quality assurance and
educational controlling are methods derived from business administration and view
training institutions, such as vocational colleges, as an institution for the ‘production
of qualifications’. It has been critically remarked concerning the more pedagogically
accentuated and participative type of quality development that this misses the point
of TVET processes, namely, personality development in the sense of ‘education
through the medium of professional work’. An attempt to mediate between the qual-
ification of innovation programmes in the education system and the participative and
formal evaluation is the method of programme evaluation that was developed at the
ITB (Deitmer, 2008).
6 Towards an International Research Community

In the course of the internationalization of TVET research and the need for TVET
planning supported by research, further countries have established national insti-
tutes. The establishment of public institutions, however, must be considered as an
initial step for TVET research, and not yet the decisive step on the way towards
a developed research discipline. Normally, the research tasks of public institutes
are defined to a large extent by the governmental departments responsible for vo-
cational education and by those branches of industry participating in training. But
the internationalization of TVET research depends, as in any research tradition, on
the question of if and to what extent these research activities are university based
and linked to teaching. The qualification of prospective scientists and researchers
is an infallible indicator of the definitive establishment of a scientific discipline
and the associated research activities. This means, in practice, that an advanced
research infrastructure exists no sooner than when the professionalization of experts
has reached the level of master and doctoral programmes at universities.
Broadly established TVET research in Germany is based on study programmes
for the education of TVET teachers in thirteen different vocational disciplines at
more than forty universities (Rauner, 2008). From this perspective, the UNESCO-
UNEVOC initiative for the professionalization of TVET teachers through the de-
velopment of proposals for the establishment of master programmes, differentiated
according to twelve vocational disciplines, has a crucial importance for the further
development of TVET research (Veal, Dittrich & Kämäräinen, 2005). In countries
where the education of TVET teachers is not yet organized at the level of master
programmes for vocational disciplines, TVET research has few opportunities to de-
velop. In this case, its orientation depends on what disciplines address problems
of vocational education. Economic and sociological topics, like human-resource
management, lifelong learning, labour-market research, educational economics and
sociology of education or biographical research then shape TVET research. The
disciplines that are at the core of TVET research are missing—the educational sci-
ences and vocational disciplines.
It becomes apparent that the establishment of university programmes for the
education of TVET teachers at the level of masters’ and doctoral programmes,
especially in East Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and China, as well as
the extension of the European research network VETNET and the intensification of
the international dialogue between the national and regional scientific communities,
are important contributions to the establishment of TVET research. Its results will
encounter increasing demand in many policy areas, such as labour-market policy,
economic policy, innovation and education policy, as well as in TVET practice.
7 Development Perspectives
The research fields discussed here are differentiated further and presented compre-
hensively with reference to the state of the art in the Handbook of technical and
vocational education and training research (Rauner & Maclean, 2008). The sci-
entific community thus has, for the first time, a relatively complete catalogue of
research topics and missions at its disposal, which can be used as a system of indi-
cators to identify the profiles of local and regional programmes of TVET research.
What is of crucial importance for the future development of TVET research is the
standing of vocational education in the context of national education systems. It is
an open question whether the academic drift in education will continue and whether
forms of vocational education will increasingly spread to universities. The establish-
ment of study programmes below the level of baccalaureate studies in countries like
the United States and China appears to confirm this trend. On the other hand, one
can observe an international tendency to re-establish the tradition of apprenticeship
training in the shape of ‘modern’ or ‘new apprenticeships’. Countries like Malaysia
and Italy have enacted laws re-establishing dual forms of vocational education and
training. These divergent development threads suggest that the different models and
traditions of qualifying employees for the intermediate sector of the employment
system will continue to compete worldwide—also in the next decade. This provides
support for the idea that these processes should be accompanied by well-developed
TVET research.
With the inclusion of a section on vocational education research in this hand-
book, as well as with the publication of the Handbook of TVET research in the
International Library of Technical and Vocational Education and Training the
course is set for strengthening the international community for vocational educa-
tion research. Researchers have the chance to improve the quality of their research
through intensification of the scientific dialogue via electronic media or through
strengthening research collaboration. The qualification of the new generation of sci-
entists and the release of international journals and book series should be the centre
of attention. National and international exchange programmes, as well as thenational
research support policies, still do not offer enough opportunity for organizing work.
1456 F. Rauner
The fact that research support is organized only at the national level is often a
barrier for the development of science if the organization is not also open to in-
ternational support structures. UNESCO-UNEVOC fulfils a moderating and co-
ordinating function in the establishment of an international scientific community
in TVET research which generates innovative impulses for the discipline.
IX.2 Methods of TVET Research, by Felix Rauner

Felix Rauner discusses the question of whether TVET research can simply draw
on the existing methods of other scientific disciplines or whether it is (or should
be) in possession of its own research methods particularly oriented towards the
specific aspects of the topic. He does so by, first, presenting the problem of subject-
related research methods in general; second, in addressing the analytical dimen-
sion of TVET research; and, finally, discussing the question of whether the four
fundamental research methods—i.e. observation, experiment, interview and content
analysis—need specific shaping in the course of their adaptation to TVET research.

Performance in TVET, by Christopher Selby Smith
Selby Smith discusses another key driver of reform: research. In an increasingly
turbulent environment, an interest by decision-makers in evidence, an openness to
new perspectives and a willingness to learn progressively and systematically from
experience is central to improving policy, practice and performance in TVET. The
chapter considers the relationships between research and decision-making at three
levels in Australia: (a) national and state or territory policy-making (Australia being
a federal country); (b) the level of institutions providing services, such as techni-
cal institutes or other providers; and (c) the level of practitioners. These Australian
studies illustrate the diverse ways in which a beneficial relationship between R&D
and TVET decision-making can function—or be frustrated—in relation to policy,
planning, management and practice depending, amongst other things, on the roles
that researchers play.

of TVET, by Anneke Westerhuis
The chapter by Westerhuis gives an account of developments in the role of research

in educational policy-making in the Netherlands; in particular for TVET. The Dutch
case is presented as a typical illustration of developments taking place in other
European countries. The article argues that the post-Second World War bond between
national policy-making, educational innovation and research has fallen apart. West-
erhuis argues that, by acknowledging the fact that this alliance cannot be restored,
researchers will have to redefine their position on the innovation of education.
IX.5 TVET Research as a Dimension of Innovation,

by Klaus Ruth
Ruth’s chapter traces the interrelationship between TVET and innovation. The re-
view examines whether TVET contributes to innovation or, more specifically, to the
innovatory capacities of organizations. It considers the question: ‘Is there a preferred
type of technical and vocational education that is advantageous to certain types of
innovation?’ Since people are the mediating agents, the chapter focuses on the ac-
tual competences held by people who have participated in vocational education and
training programmes and draws a line from their participation to innovation and into
the building of innovatory capacity in organizations. The focus of observation is on
identifiable differences in TVET systems that are embedded in particular industrial
cultures.

in Germany, by Peter Dehnbostel
Dehnbostel describes the fundamentals and developments of pilot projects and dis-
cusses core issues concerning function, design and quality criteria of the scientific
monitoring of pilot projects. The focus is on the foundation and the positioning,
from the perspective of the philosophy of science, of scientific monitoring as ac-
tion and utilization research, and on the transfer of measures and findings into the
system of norms and regulations. The article concludes with an outlook which pays
attention to the danger for pilot projects that can be expected from the reform of the
federal system in Germany.

TVET, by Ludger Deitmer and Lars Heinemann
Deitmer and Heinemann analyse the role of evaluation and evaluation methods in
the field of TVET. They argue that the adaptation of newer evaluation approaches
could be helpful for optimizing the learning processes underlying successful TVET.
They do so by, first, briefly discussing the role evaluation used to play (and still
plays) concerning TVET; second, giving an overview on what evaluation methods
are used under what circumstances for what purposes; third, they describe what as-
pects of TVET could be interesting subjects for evaluation; and, fourth, they present
an example of a formative evaluation method to show the potentials of evaluation
1458 F. Rauner
tools for TVET. Finally, the authors present suggestions about how these evaluation
methods could be put to use.

Challenges to the Institutionalization of TVET Research, by
Wolfgang Wittig, Uwe Lauterbach and Philipp Grollmann
Grollmann, Wittig and Lauterbach analyse different factors influencing the profes-
sional knowledge, practices and the performance of TVET teachers. In addition to
teacher education, which is a crucial lever for increasing the quality of teachers and
their professional performance, the institutions in which teachers work constitute
another crucial factor shaping the quality of their work. Therefore, the institutional
environments are held not just as independent variables, but also are closely asso-
ciated with teachers’ professional performance. This implies that any reform trying
to professionalize TVET—whether at the global or local level—needs to take into
account both levers. The chapter begins by establishing the context—an overview is
presented of the fragmented and fragile situation of the TVET profession globally.
Next, a conceptualization on professionalization is proposed, supported by some
empirical findings. Finally, some conclusions for policy and practice are drawn.
IX.9 Qualifications Research, by Felix Rauner

Rauner in his second contribution to this section (not counting the Overview) shifts
the focus to the issue of qualifications research. He argues that, due to the accel-
erating structural changes taking place in the world of work, massive changes in
the occupational structures and in the qualifications requirements for employees
have developed during the last decades. This development results in a growing need
for new occupational profiles and the modernization of traditional occupations and
new curriculum designs. Determining the content of these curriculum designs is the
aim of qualifications research. Rauner presents different approaches to this field:
first, qualifications research as a transformation of scientific knowledge; then, an
introduction to the sociological and occupational-studies approach to qualifications
research.
IX.10 Measuring Educational Quality in TVET,

by Robert D. Renaud
In Chapter 10, Robert Renaud asks: How do we know when an educational in-
stitution is doing well compared either with other institutions, or against external
standards? He provides a clear survey of the topic of the use of performance indica-
tors to measure the quality of institutional provision, both the pros and the cons, and
provides details of indicators such as selectivity, expenditure and quality of teachers.
He concludes, however, that these sorts of indicators, so often employed, do not get
to the central question of learner outcomes. He argues that future research ought to
focus less on institutional characteristics and more on learner outcomes.
Note
1. See Glendenning (1995) as well as the procedure developed further by Norton (1997) at the
National Center for Research in Vocational Training (NCRVE) (before 1988 at Ohio State
University): Design a Curriculum (DACUM), and also a critical assessment of curriculum
development in the United States by Finch and Crunkilton (1979).
References
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Park, CA: Addison-Wesley.
Boreham. N.C.; Samurcay, R.; Fischer, M., eds. 2002. Work process knowledge. London/New
York, NY: Routledge.
Braverman, H. 1974. Labor and monopoly capital: the degradation of work in the twentieth cen-
tury. New York, NY/London: Monthly Review Press.
Chi, M.T.H.; Glaser, R.; Farr, M.J., eds. 1988. The nature of expertise. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Deitmer, L. 2008. Programme evaluation. In: Rauner, F.; Maclean, R., eds. Handbook of technical
and vocational education and training research. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.
Descy, P.; Tessaring, M., eds. 2001. Training and learning for competence: second report on voca-
tional training research in Europe—synthesis report. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publica-
tions of the European Communities.
Doeringer, P.B. 1991. Turbulence in the American workplace. New York, NY: Oxford University
Press.
Finch, C.R.; Crunkilton, J.R. 1979. Review and critic of strategies for determining career educa-
tion curriculum content. (Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational
Association. San Francisco, California, April 1979.) (ERIC ED 178 696.)
Glendenning, D. 1995. DACUM roots. Ottawa: Canadian Vocational Association. (Occasional
paper, no. 7.)
Grollmann, P. 2008. Prognostic and prospective vocational training research. In: Rauner, F.;
Maclean, R., eds. Handbook of technical and vocational education and training research. Dor-
Heidegger, G.; Rauner, F. 1996. Vocational education in need of reforms. Düsseldorf, Germany:
Government of North Rhine-Westphalia.
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sity of Bremen, Institute Technology and Education. (Final report of the fifth European Union
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for the International Labour Organization.)
Chapter IX.2
Methods of TVET Research
Felix Rauner
1 Introduction
Scientific disciplines and research traditions are characterized by specific topics,

research questions and problems, corresponding findings and results, and not the
least by specific research methods. Accordingly, one can talk of technical and vo-
cational education and training (TVET) research as a scientific discipline only if
it is possible to name the specific methods relevant for its general topic—TVET.
Methodologically, this refers to the problem of subject-related research methods
(Rauner, 2005). It is hardly surprising that research which aims at interdisciplinarity
relies, via the agents involved in the scientific process, on the methodological instru-
ments of those disciplines contributing to the multidisciplinary practice of TVET
research. Scientists usually employ research methods according to their own disci-
plinary background, which entails the consequence that they tend to re-interpret and
shape their research topic as belonging, respectively, to the social sciences, labour
studies, engineering or natural sciences. The question is therefore whether TVET
research can simply draw on the existing methods of other scientific disciplines or
whether it is (or should be) in possession of its own research methods, which are
particularly oriented towards the specific aspects of the topic.
2 On the Problem of Subject-Related Research Methods

The differentiation, in the history of the humanities and social sciences, of the fun-
damental methods of observation and experiment developed in the natural sciences
into a multitude of specific methods is discussed controversially. TVET research
cannot escape this controversy since it is in many respects also sociological re-
search. Gerhard Kleining holds the firm opinion that the connection of methods
to the respective topics diminishes the epistemic potential of the social sciences,
because this practice leaves no room for other data than those generated with the
disciplinary methods. It is this subject-specific segmentation of empirical research
methods that possibly explains the ‘harmlessness of humanities and social sciences’
(Kleining, 1995, p. 13 [original source in German]). With reference to the history

1462 F. Rauner
of research methods in the natural sciences, Kleining advocated a recollection of

everyday methods and the unity of methods through a reversal of their subject-
specific fragmentation.
An opposite view is taken by Harold Garfinkel. This position is interesting for
TVET research already because Garfinkel’s ‘Studies of Work’ concept
(Garfinkel, 1986) touches a central topic of the discipline. The author postulates
a ‘unique adequacy requirement’ for research methods. According to this concept,
the primacy lies in the research topic. Even if one neglects the difficulty of accept-
ing the adequacy of a methodological approach for a particular topic as a selection
criterion—what method is there to prove in turn the adequacy of this choice?—the
aim of a uniquely adequate selection and development of research methods in certain
cases leads to a sacrifice of methods when the latter do not fit the particularity and
uniqueness of the research topic (ibid., p. 57). Uwe Flick et al. point out in their
methodological considerations on qualitative research that the criterion of adequacy
applies in particular to qualitative methods: ‘For almost every procedure it is possi-
ble to detect for what specific research topic it was developed. Usually the starting
point was the fact that the available methods were inappropriate for this particular
topic’ (Flick et al., 1995, p. 22 [original source in German]).
TVET research therefore faces the question of whether there are good or even
coercive reasons for a differentiation of methods according to specific research top-
ics or whether Kleining’s position in favour of a unity of methods should be adopted
instead.
TVET research is basically concerned with occupation-related work tasks and
processes as constitutive elements of the organization and shaping of education
and qualification processes, which take place in the context of more or less for-
malized TVET programmes and systems. Its epistemic interest is directed towards
phenomena constituted by the situative practices of agents. The contexts of agency
therefore are a central source of knowledge and not a source of distortion.
John Heritage, in his analysis of Garfinkel’s approach, draws the conclusion that
traditional studies of occupation lead to a dead end: ‘The studies [. . .] are largely
silent about the matters which make these occupations significant in the first place’
(Heritage, 1984, p. 298).
Garfinkel has attempted to establish the adequacy of methods for the ‘studies
of work’ by a radical critique of the inadequacy of traditional analysis techniques,
as well as by an interpretive foundation of analysis ‘from within’ the professional
practice. He therefore also calls for a comprehensive domain-specific competence
of researchers who conduct studies of occupations (Garfinkel, 1967, 1986). But the
dilemma that characterizes sociological analyses of work and occupations is the fact
that even though the right questions can be asked, the methods developed still define
the subject of the investigation as a sociological one. The claim raised by Garfinkel
to clarify what makes the content of professional work can be fulfilled only if the
(limited) scope of this approach is taken into consideration and the occupational
and work studies are conducted by the relevant vocational disciplines or with their
participation (cf. Stratmann, 1975; Müllges, 1975; Rauner, 2002).
IX.2 Methods of TVET Research 1463
3 TVET Research as Analytic and Developing Research
The analytic dimension of TVET research is thoroughly connected with the de-
velopment tasks at all levels of vocational education and professional work from
working and learning individuals to the structures of the education and employment
systems. From this emerge the analytic and formative examination of the contents
of professional work and vocational education. The analytic dimension of TVET
research, due to its proximity to the empirical sciences, has a sociological imprint
as far as the research methods are concerned. This is expressed, for instance, by the
distinctly sociological qualification research, which for some time was quite popular
within TVET research (Grünewald, 1979). The declining interest in this research
field on the part of research and educational policy is attributed to the relatively
little practical relevance of its results (Dybowski, Haase & Rauner, 1993).
The majority of the results expected from TVET research immediately aim at the
planning processes of modernizing and re-organizing occupations and occupational
fields, as well as the corresponding education plans, developing and testing of new
training instruments (media research and development), and developing and testing
new learning and training methods. These developmental and design-oriented tasks
can be handled only in co-operation with the relevant vocational disciplines and
their pedagogy.
4 The Implementation of Fundamental Methods

of TVET Research
One can distinguish four fundamental methods in research: observation, experiment,
interview and content analysis. Do these general methods require a specific shaping
in the course of their adaptation to the research topics, and what would then be the
characteristics of these methods assimilated by TVET research?
4.1 Observation
Systematic observation has always been a part of the methodological repertoire of

TVET research. Of course, it makes a difference whether the observation relates to
the course of an experiment, the behaviour of learners in their natural environment,
e.g. in the work process, or whether it is a case of participant observation in a social
group. A general rule for all types of observation is the maxim that the researcher
must not affect the object to be observed, i.e. the object of his research, through
the observation. This would mean that, in the course of the observation, a different
research object would be created, spoiling the validity of the results. Of course, this
is especially true of participant observation since participation in a process, even
if only by observation, influences and changes the process itself. Therefore, the
method of participant observation has brought about numerous rules to minimize
1464 F. Rauner
the distortion of the research process as far as possible. Does this maxim, which
was developed in the context of empirical social studies, apply also to observation
in the context of TVET research? The answer is ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Whenever vocational
training processes are viewed under the aspect of a social process, the observation
rules apply as they do for social research in general. A specific implementation
with regard to the particulars of vocational education is unnecessary in such a case.
This is different when a professional work process—performed by, say, a skilled
worker—is observed with the aim of identifying the professional knowledge realised
in the process. In this case different rules apply.
1. The observing researcher must also have the professional skills to understand the
observed work process in its professional aspects and to judge the activity of a
skilled worker as an expression of professional knowledge.
2. A distanced participant observation would in this case impede the interpretation
of the observed activities. On the other hand, intervening questions or even an
intervening participation in the work process (‘What will you do if the measuring
device X fails?’) give the skilled observer the opportunity to reach a much greater
depth of investigation.
This means that the researcher constitutes, by intervening, the situation he observes
and analyses. A passive participant observation turns into active participation. In
this case there is a gradual transition to situative experimental research activity.
4.2 Interview
Professional interviews are different from expert interviews conducted in empirical

social research in that they are applied in the context of qualification research, e.g.
in task analysis (Niethammer, 2005). In a professional interview, the professional
interest in the work contents and the corresponding qualification requirements and
competences is emphasized. Once again, the researcher in this case needs an ade-
quate level of professional competence. This allows him/her not only to superficially
notice the interviewees’ statements, but only to interpret them with regard to their
substantial meaning. Especially, the researcher can draw conclusions from right and
wrong answers and from answers revealing more or less professional competence,
and use these conclusions in the course of the interview to achieve deeper insights
into the interviewee’s professional knowledge.
The professional interview is applied in theory-based TVET research. The results
are employed in the development of occupations, the development of curricula, the
design and evaluation of training processes, as well as in biographical research.
A particular form of professional interview is the action-oriented interview. This
method is applied predominantly when the context of the real work action must take
place during the interview. In this case, the interviewed person can answer questions
by giving practical demonstrations of concrete work actions. At the same time, the
researcher gains the opportunity to participate in problem-solving (cf. Becker, 2005;

Hacker, 1996; Rauner, 1998).
4.3 Knowledge Diagnosis
An instrument that is crucial for TVET research is knowledge diagnosis. Knowledge

in the form of action-governing and action-explaining is a pedagogical category of
fundamental importance. Knowledge diagnosis is about the study of the conditions
under which learners acquire knowledge in the work-process and in vocational
education, and about the interpretation of the work-process knowledge that finds
its expression in professional actions. Hacker makes a distinction between govern-
ing, accompanying and justificatory knowledge (Hacker, 2005). Action-governing
knowledge includes not only the ‘know that’, but also the ‘know how’, e.g. when
in the course of error diagnosis complex analyses of cause and effect become nec-
essary. This type of knowledge has an immediate affinity to professional skills and
is therefore still the one most likely to be accessible for knowledge diagnosis. The
diagnosis of explaining and justificatory knowledge refers to complex professional
actions that must be assessed with regard to various evaluation criteria and the cor-
responding effects of the work step.
For the purposes of knowledge diagnosis, Hacker differentiates between: (a) task-
centred approaches; and (b) agent-centred approaches. The following ‘dynamic ap-
proaches’ are classified as agent-centred and ordered according to the degree of
precision:
r the invitation to think aloud;
r narrative storytelling (Orr, 1986);
r questioning (oral or written) with different means of structuration (e.g. repertory
grid technique, Scheer & Catina, 1993);
r invitation of verbal and non-verbal demonstrations of procedural and subject
knowledge;
r invitation to supplement and organize knowledge parts presented to the parti-
cipant;
r invitation to supplement and correct presented knowledge prototypes (as semi-
standardized interview);
r experimental interventions on single aspects (Hacker, 2005, p. 619).
4.4 Competence Assessment
The assessment of professional competences typically becomes the focus of atten-

tion when the learning individuals are in need of advice, when learning achieve-
ments have to be checked, and when the quality of training has to be evaluated.
Competence assessment in the field of vocational education and training faces
the particular difficulty that the rich experience gained through PISA cannot be
1466 F. Rauner
transferred to vocational education. This can be made most clear from the example
of the methods with which scientific and mathematical literacy were measured. In
both domains the design of assessment tasks can build upon the objective knowledge
provided by the mathematical and natural sciences. What is required is an agreement
on what actually is to be meant by literacy in the two domains.
Vocational education and training, on the other hand, aim at competences that
enable people in practice to solve, in their respective occupation, an unlimited scope
of real professional tasks adequately. Theoretically, there is no limit to the number
of possible solutions to a professional task close to reality. Therefore, the results
of professional problem solutions can at best be partially subsumed under the cat-
egories of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. The solution to a real professional task is therefore
evaluated according to the criterion of ‘viability’. This general criterion covers a
number of different categories. Besides the criterion of functionality, the categories
of social compatibility, environmental compatibility, profitability and sustainability
are advisable. When professional competence development is to be assessed, so that
evaluation tasks and their solutions have to give information about the quality of the
training, then the development of instruments for competence assessment becomes
more complicated.
The particular difficulty of diagnostics in the domain of vocational education
and training is a result of the variety of occupations. Each occupation requires the
development of specific assessment tasks. Given the fact that occupations are often
regulated only at the national level, international comparisons become extremely
difficult. At the same time, there is a political interest in integrating vocational edu-
cation and training into the international procedures of competence assessment and
to compare the quality of VET both nationwide and internationally. This poses a
challenge to TVET research to intensify its activities in the field of competence
assessment (cf. Haasler & Beelmann, 2005; Erpenbeck, 2003; Bremer, 2004).
5 Conclusion
The development of subject-related research methods is a genuine field for TVET
research. Despite the distinct interdisciplinarity of TVET research, specific research
methods were developed for its core, which fit the particularities of research ques-
tions and research tasks in TVET research. Besides pedagogical research as a
sub-discipline of TVET research, it is especially the multitude of vocational dis-
ciplines which are indispensable whenever research questions and design problems
regarding the contents of professional work and education are at stake. This ap-
plies to the majority of research and development tasks. The establishment of a
large number of vocational disciplines fails in many countries because these dis-
ciplines are not established at the university level for the education of vocational
school-teachers. As a consequence, the academic infrastructure for TVET research
is missing too. If there is, on the other hand, a university-level education of voca-
tional school-teachers in different vocational disciplines, then a practice of TVET
research differentiated into several occupational fields also emerges. The Hangzhou
Declaration (Veal, Dittrich & Kämäräinen, 2005) on the establishment of vocational
disciplines as a prerequisite for the professionalization of TVET teachers and the
introduction of an international master’s degree for TVET teachers is therefore a
milestone in the development of TVET research and also for the development of its
research methods.
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Chapter IX.3
TVET Research as an Aid to Improved Policy
and Performance in TVET
1 Introduction
Questions as to whether research and development (R&D) affects policy or

practice—if so, through what pathways; and whether the relationships can be
improved—have been of interest in Australia and overseas (to researchers and also
to decision-makers) (Selby Smith et al., 1998, chapter 2).
Previous studies have shown that the relationships between R&D and its decision-
making outcomes are almost always complex and not easily discerned. The idea of
a one-to-one relationship between R&D and decision-making generally has been
discredited, although individual studies can have an impact. Nevertheless, there is
an acceptance of differences between R&D and decision-making domains; and of
the importance of linkages between them. Thus, reviewing the evidence for and,
where possible, evaluating the extent of influence of R&D on decision-making ne-
cessitates consideration of three areas: decision-making; R&D; and the linkages
between them.
The relationships between R&D and decision-making can be considered primar-
ily from the perspective of R&D; or primarily from the perspective of decision-
making and action. The latter perspective is adopted here, since earlier studies
have indicated that the perspective from R&D can narrow the investigator’s fo-
cus, overstating research’s impact (the ‘key-hole’ problem) and underestimating the
complexity of decision-making. Also, the impact of R&D on decision-making is
defined to incorporate two elements: ‘use’, i.e. whether the R&D served a particular
decision-making purpose, such as to solve a problem, as a weapon in political or
bureaucratic conflict, or to improve conceptual understanding; and ‘influence’, i.e.
whether the R&D made a difference to the decision that was made. Thus, R&D can
be used in decision-making even if it did not have an influence. Secondly, R&D can
influence decisions not to act—as well as decisions to act. Thirdly, even when R&D
is used by decision-makers, or has influence with them, they may not explicitly
recognize it.

1470 C. Selby Smith
2 The Framework for Analysis
Analysis of the relationships between R&D and decision-making is undertaken

using a three-fold framework, which considers decision-making (in section 2.1);
the R&D domain (in section 2.2); and the linkages between them (section 2.3).
Section 2.4 identifies three separate levels of decision-making in education.
2.1 Decision-Making
Ham and Hill (1993) argue that the study of decision-making should analyse three
areas: the process by which decisions are made; the distribution of power; and the
assumptive worlds of key participants. Palmer and Short (1994) argued that the pro-
cess of decision-making is characterized by a number of stages; and that R&D of
different types can play a part at each stage (see also Rist, 1996). For example, R&D
can be used at the problem identification and agenda-setting stage; in the subsequent
phase of deciding on the course of action to be adopted; and at the monitoring and
evaluation stage, which provides opportunities for programme fine-tuning and ad-
justment to changing circumstances. Robinson (1998) has argued that there are a
variety of decision-making processes, which can incorporate R&D very differently.
For example, pragmatic decision-making characterized by no systematic consulta-
tion or research (although R&D may be used in an ad hoc way to support one stance
or denigrate another) is contrasted with other decision-making processes that incor-
porate the systematic investigation of existing R&D and even the commissioning
of more. Many of the decision-makers on technical and vocational education and
training (TVET) consulted during the empirical investigation identified the complex,
changing and time-pressured nature of their operating environment as an important
factor in not directly considering R&D evidence before taking decisions. The time-
frames of research were seen to outlast those of policy-making, so that results were
often ‘too late’. Similarly, there had been substantial staff turnover, reducing the
impact of accumulated knowledge, skills and attitudes (Selby Smith et al., 1998,
chapter 3).
Secondly, the distribution of power among the key stakeholders who participate
in decision-making can affect the likelihood of R&D influencing decisions, espe-
cially if the stakeholders vary in their attitudes to R&D and its potential use. In
education, as in other sectors such as healthcare, decision-making can be mediated
through complex structures and arrangements: for example, in technical institutes,
universities or teaching hospitals. Often decision-making is contested: for example,
between different levels of decision-makers, between public and private providers,
when the distribution of power between key stakeholders changes—as it did in
Australia following the election of the Howard Government in March 1996. In such
a complex and dynamic environment there tend to be many openings for R&D
to influence decision-making (although R&D competes for influence with other
factors).
IX.3 TVET Research as an Aid to Improved Policy and Performance in TVET 1471
Thirdly, there are the assumptive worlds of key individuals and organizations
involved in the decision-making process. The studies suggest that there are signif-
icant differences in the assumptive worlds of key stakeholders. Meanwhile, in the
education sector, public service downsizing has tended to reduce the role of research
branches, which has acted to distance decision-makers further from R&D. There
was evidence of differences in the assumptive worlds of key decision-makers, too, at
the different levels of decision-making. For practitioners, where formal R&D-based
evidence is often supplemented by local experience and knowledge, the extent of
R&D’s impact is affected, perhaps substantially, by the knowledge, attitudes and
experience of the decision-makers.
Three other points are briefly noted. First, at the level of TVET providers there
has been a considerable increase over recent years in competitive pressures accom-
panying regulatory reform in Australia. It might be anticipated that R&D, conceived
as a non-core activity, especially that initiated by researchers rather than decision-
makers, would be adversely affected. On the other hand, it was found that, in at least
some TVET provider organizations, high (perhaps increasing) value was placed on
the contribution of R&D information, skills and attitudes to competitive advantage.
The case studies of individual TVET providers, while reflecting specific factors in
particular contexts, underlined the importance of a decision-making environment
predisposed to listen to R&D findings, the contributions of key individuals rather
than formal structures, and the cumulative contributions to organizational effective-
ness from successfully applying R&D to decision-making.
Secondly, in Australia, as in many other countries, globalization and increased
international competition are leading to the closer integration of a range of policies
to enhance efficiency and innovation, including in TVET. Some of the main drivers
of educational policy and practice originate outside the sector; and in these other
areas important developments are influenced by R&D activity and knowledge accu-
mulation. It follows that R&D not specifically directed at TVET can significantly af-
fect decision-making there. Examples include competition policies, developments in
financing arrangements or human-resource management approaches, and changing
perspectives on the appropriate balance between producer and consumer interests.
Providers and practitioners with an R&D culture can act as mediators and advo-
cates between overall policies, workplace practices and the R&D domain. TVET
systems and institutions require a capacity to translate relevant R&D undertaken
elsewhere—domestically and overseas—so that it can be applied effectively in local
circumstances.
Thirdly, there are indirect as well as direct links between R&D and decision-
making at all levels, including decision-making by policy-makers, provider
organizations and individual practitioners. Community groups use R&D for decision-
making and can influence the research agenda. Some communities, such as employ-
ers, professional groups or industrial organizations, are significant stakeholders in
TVET, and influence decision-making directly. Each stakeholder organization uses
R&D to advance its own interests, deploying a wide range of information, includ-
ing R&D-based information, in their engagement with current political and policy
debates. They also use R&D for communicating with constituents and for other
1472 C. Selby Smith
purposes, including industrial negotiations. It can, however, be the wider commu-

nity’s call for change rather than direct R&D evidence that produces modifications
in decision-making by provider organizations or individual practitioners. ‘Clamour’
(Postlethwaite, 1984) can both initiate research and be driven by it. Here, R&D
has an impact on decision-making which is indirect, mediated through community
activity, the media, public opinion and the political process.
Researchers should have ‘suitably modest’ expectations about the contribution
of R&D to decision-making. R&D is only one of a number of sources of informa-
tion available to decision-makers; and information from all sources is only one of
many inputs into the decision-making process. This conclusion applies to all levels
of decision-making. For example, Brown (1991), considering healthcare decision-
making in the United States, concluded that ‘on a good day, ideas (information)
may gain a hearing amid the swirl of political considerations, but it must be a
very good and rare day indeed when policy-makers take their cues mainly from
scientific knowledge about the state of the world they hope to change or protect.’
In our Australian study, two-thirds of the senior TVET decision-makers who were
surveyed considered that, in reaching decisions, political and strategic considera-
tions played the greatest role, with research-based information being used in half
the cases described to support a decision already taken (Selby Smith et al., 1998,
chapter 5). Boud et al., (1997) have argued that, at the level of educational providers
and individual practitioners, decisions tend to be made according to past prac-
tice, perceptions of industry needs and local constraints rather than based on
research.
2.2 R&D
Research in education is ‘so diverse and includes so many approaches that we
are not communicating well if we just talk about ‘research’ with a capital “R” ’
(Anderson, 1998). The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, 1993) defines re-
search with reference to the Frascati Manual of the Organization for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD), as comprising ‘creative work undertaken on a
systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of
man, culture and society, and the use of this knowledge to devise new applications’.
Thus, R&D studies are characterized by originality; R&D has investigation as a
primary objective; and research shades into development and application. ‘R&D’
has three main outputs. First, it provides new knowledge and applies existing knowl-
edge in new ways, including for new audiences and in new settings. A second output
of research is research skills and attitudes: an approach, a way of doing things
or of assessing alternative sources of information. R&D creates human capital as
well as knowledge. A third output of research is appropriately educated people,
who are critical for both the research system and improved decision-making. Most
‘impact’ studies concentrate on the knowledge creation aspects of research. Since
R&D involves an aspiration to truth, it precludes conclusions being reached before

the evidence is examined or despite it (Weiss, 1991).
OECD and ABS classify R&D by type: basic research; strategic research; applied
research; and experimental development (ABS, 1993). Research in any field, includ-
ing TVET, can be distributed among the four types according to the motivation for
undertaking the R&D. Three significant implications arise. First, one would expect
different levels of impact for the different types of research. For example, R&D
which specifically addresses a current problem clearly defined by users is likely to
be thought ‘more relevant’, particularly in the short term, than research intended
to expand decision-makers’ conceptual understanding. Secondly, one might expect
different patterns of impact between the types of R&D in various decision-making
situations. For example, national and regional decision-makers might be expected to
attach higher priority to strategic research and less to developmental activities, with
the reverse being expected for educational providers, because the former tend to be
less concerned with detailed implementation and more with strategic questions (and
conversely for TVET providers and practitioners). Also, different patterns of R&D
impact would be expected at different stages of the policy cycle, e.g. agenda setting
compared to policy formulation, implementation or evaluation. Thirdly, perceptions
of use and influence tend to vary among types of R&D, because some types of
research are more clearly visible than others. Even when the information from a
research study is used or has an influence on decision-making, this may not be
visible to a particular stakeholder. However, the skills and attitudes developed by
the R&D system can be used in all decision-making settings (and in the research
system itself).
The accumulative nature of R&D means that, while an individual study can have
an impact on decision-making, this tends to be the exception rather than the rule.
R&D tends to contribute to a climate of opinion, providing a set of ideas and re-
sources. At particular times, certain ideas are ‘in good currency’, while others are
not or are no longer. Trace-back studies suggest greater research impact, particu-
larly from basic R&D, than forward-looking studies. Viewing research ‘as a process
of debate’ (Klein, 1990) or conceptualizing a ‘knowledge reservoir’ (Buxton &
Hanney, 1997) highlights the value of an on-going research capacity from which
decision-makers can draw ideas, information and advice.
Educational researchers employ a wide range of approaches. Since different
policy questions benefit from different techniques and methodologies, it is impor-
tant to match the approach to the problem. Much research, especially in univer-
sities, is conducted from the standpoint of a particular academic discipline; and
R&D in education can employ many disciplinary perspectives. When researchers
adopt a particular disciplinary approach, it influences the problems identified, the
questions posed, the techniques adopted to investigate them, the way in which re-
sults are reported and the audiences with whom researchers interact. It can also
influence quality standards—a problem for some interdisciplinary studies. Fox
(1990) has argued that, in the USA in the 1980s, research based on ‘economiz-
ing values’ was particularly influential—and Brown (1991) agrees. It has been sug-
gested that, in Australia, much recent decision-making in education can be traced to
1474 C. Selby Smith
the rise of economic theories of institutions and rational actor views in the academy
(Seddon, 1998). To the extent that the issues concerning decision-makers warrant
attention from more than one disciplinary perspective, researchers require not only
competence in their discipline but other skills and personal characteristics to enable
them to collaborate effectively.
R&D is carried out in various locations: universities; other not-for-profit, spe-
cialist research organizations; within-government departments and agencies; by ed-
ucational providers; in private consultancy firms; and by practitioners. Indeed, it
can be argued that anyone with relevant skills can carry out R&D and they can do it
anywhere. However, there are advantages in carrying out particular types of R&D in
different locations. They have their own history and culture, their own incentive and
reward structures, which may (or may not) encourage relevant research. Each loca-
tion tends to specialize in particular types of research; and each produces different
combinations of research outputs. Thus, a disproportionate amount of basic research
is undertaken within universities, whereas the ‘Big 6’ consultancy firms in Australia
tend to concentrate at the ‘D’ not the ‘R’ end of the R&D continuum, generally
synthesize existing research and are less confined to one academic discipline than
university researchers. The great majority of R&D by TVET practitioners appears to
represent the actions of individuals seeking to improve the operation of an activity
with which they are involved. These studies are often relatively brief in duration and
produce either no report or one with only limited circulation. There is a balance to
be struck, from the overall societal viewpoint, among the different types of research
and, by implication, among the different locations. Recently, funding has been the
major mechanism for (re)directing the national research effort in Australia, to in-
crease the linkages between researchers and users, and thus capture a greater level of
economic and social benefits from the public resources invested in R&D. Australian
researchers are responding to these incentives, somewhat blurring the distinctions
between the types of R&D undertaken in the different research locations.
Different research settings also tend to attract researchers with different ap-
proaches, values and interests. These differences have implications for the research
done and where it has an audience. For example, it appears that researchers in con-
sulting firms have particular skills in ‘helping things happen’ and ‘in linking various
resources together quickly’ (Thorn, 1998). R&D by practitioners tends to be related
to immediate problems, to be known about by (some) potential users and hence
more likely to be applied by them. Studies that are initiated by researchers may
be less immediately visible to decision-makers, less easy for them to incorporate
appropriately in decision-making processes, and perhaps more likely to challenge
established ways of thinking or acting. Similarly, it may be that some research is
judged accordingly to who did it rather that what was done.
Of course, research is not solely to provide information for decision-making,
especially if the relationship is conceived as narrowly instrumental and short term.
Research has other important societal purposes: it is not just the servant of decision-
making. In Australia, for example, West (1997) has argued that education, including
research and research training, has special social and cultural dimensions that con-
tribute to the transmission of knowledge, an informed citizenry and the quality of
life.
2.3 Linkages
The impact of R&D on decision-making is affected by the linkages between re-

search (and researchers) and decision-making (and decision-makers). Contact be-
tween the two domains, not only at the close of a study, but also before it starts and
during its conduct, can strongly affect impact. The contacts can even establish ‘mul-
tiple areas of collaboration between the two parties which transcend the impact of
a single study’ (Huberman, 1990). Linkages between the two domains can be facil-
itated through particular institutional arrangements, key stakeholder organizations,
other interest groups and the media, and mechanisms such as funding arrangements,
so that linkages are conceptualized better as a ‘web’ or ‘network’ (Selby Smith
et al., 1992). To stress the concept of linkages is to be concerned with facilitating
the establishment of multiple pathways through which research can influence policy
and practice.
The literature on the web of linkages is sparser than that on decision-making
or research. Linkages have a two-fold task: to transmit information from potential
users of research within the decision-making system to researchers about the R&D
needed for decision-making; and to transmit to potential users information about
relevant R&D which has been undertaken within the research system. One defining
characteristic of linkages is information flows. There are many forms of informa-
tion flows: formal or informal; direct or indirect; long term or immediate. Although
linkages are established because one party, usually decision-makers, wants to gain
access to information, this presupposes that decision-makers know what they want;
that researchers understand what decision-makers want what research, and when;
and that researchers wish to respond and are able to do so. These conditions are
frequently not satisfied.
In practice, there are often difficulties in creating and maintaining an effective
web of linkages. Review of the literature reveals that, first, it has tended to focus
on linkages involving information flows, with greater recognition only recently of
tacit knowledge and the movement of people. Secondly, the impact of research on
decision-making tends to be greater where the linkages occur throughout the re-
search project rather than solely at the end. Such linkages facilitate on-going interac-
tion and increase the likelihood of research being used. They also assist researchers
to understand better the needs of decision-making. Thirdly, when research occurs
in decision-making settings, whether at the level of policy or practice, the link-
ages between R&D and decision-making tend to be closer. There is also a greater
likelihood of external research being taken into account (see Selby Smith et al., 1998,
Chapter 2, Section 4).
The funders of educational R&D have tended, at least in Australia, to focus on
dissemination—‘a remote audience for research with whom communication must
be established’ (McGaw, 1998)—rather than on linkages. Viewing dissemination as
the final step of a project also has its political aspects, since it can be construed as
the responsibility of researchers.
Stressing the multiple pathways through which research can influence policy
and practice in TVET identifies the importance of multiple areas of collaboration
between researchers, policy-makers, practitioners and the wider community.
1476 C. Selby Smith
Education systems include numerous communities, multiple pathways for use and
influence, and a wide range of possible interactions and feedback. Translating ideas
and concerns is not a task for researchers alone, but for all stakeholders. The stronger
the linkages, the clearer the pathways of influence are likely to be and the greater
the likelihood of uptake for new ideas. Linkages can also be a means of ensuring
that researchers address the ‘right’ questions.
The web of linkages includes both formal and informal arrangements. Huberman
has stressed formal linkages, ‘sustained interactivity’, for achieving instrumental
change. Informal arrangements can also facilitate the flow of information, research
skills and attitudes, and educated people. Indeed, particular research processes can
themselves act as a linkage with policy-makers, practitioners and other users (see
Selby Smith, 1999). The linkages can be indirect as well as direct, for example,
through the industry partners or professional associations, or more diffusely through
public debate, the media and community organizations. The conduct of research
projects can also act as a linkage among researchers.
Three other matters are noted. First, since there are significant differences be-
tween the research and decision-making communities, there is a role for research
‘brokers’ to facilitate the exchange of information, skills and attitudes between
R&D producers and potential users. A United Kingdom study of the payback from
research projects identified ‘policy-maker involvement and brokerage, as key fac-
tors in enhancing utilization’ (Buxton & Hanney, 1994). Secondly, the increasing
tendency by decision-making organizations to outsource R&D does not remove the
need to retain an integrative, translating and co-ordinating function within agencies.
TVET providers, like co-ordinating authorities, can only integrate new information
from research effectively if they have the skilled personnel and other capacities
in-house to ask the appropriate questions, assess the evidence, and know how and
when to use it. Thirdly, there is an international dimension to the relationships be-
tween research and decision-making. Australian TVET is operating increasingly in
a global environment and subject to international influences. Researchers, as well
as policy-makers and practitioners, interact with colleagues overseas and those in
Australia. The potential web of linkages, aided by technological change, is expand-
ing substantially within and across groups.
2.4 Levels of Decision-Making
Three levels of decision-making can be distinguished: national or regional level;

the level of individual education and training providers; and practitioners (such as
teachers).
Policy decisions at the national or regional level are concerned with establishing
the overall legislative and organizational framework in the functional area, deter-
mining major programmes and the resources to be made available. Planning deci-
sions focus on establishing the parameters, including financial and human resources,
and the organizational structures to support programme implementation, having
regard to effectiveness and efficiency criteria, but also, often, political considera-
tions. Many policy and planning decisions occur at the level of individual TVET
providers, particularly where systems are devolved.
Practitioners also make decisions, sometimes on the basis of R&D. The relation-
ships between R&D and decision-making at this level can affect the efficiency and
equity of education and training outcomes. Policy change is of little instrumental
use if practice is unaffected. Decision-making by practitioners is concerned pri-
marily with service delivery at the local level, involving, for example, relationships
between teachers and those being taught. Numerous potential audiences exist for
R&D at this level of decision-making; R&D can be used for a variety of purposes;
and multiple direct and indirect pathways are possible between R&D and TVET
practitioners.
3 Two Australian Studies
Two Australian studies illustrate some major findings in relation to the relationships
between TVET research and TVET planning, management and policy.
3.1 The Impact of Research on VET Decision-Making
The research team was asked to review the evidence for and, where possible, eval-
uate the extent of influence of research in vocational education and training (VET).
There were three main findings (Selby Smith et al., 1998, pp. 1–28).
First, the evidence was that research had an impact (in terms of both use and
influence) on VET decision-making, but not in the way that many people had
anticipated.
r The research enterprise was accumulative. Much research does not stand on its
own as a piece of work, but adds to that which existed before. This accumulating
body of knowledge contributes in decision-making to the creation of a climate
of opinion and the development of a set of ideas. Over time, research’s main
contribution may be to the ‘big ideas’. A number of the ‘big ideas’ preoccupying
senior TVET decision-makers over recent years in Australia were grounded in
research.
r The outputs of the research system include research skill and attitudes and trained
personnel (human capital). They contribute to the maintenance and development
of the research system and can contribute in varying degrees to decision-making.
These outputs were often overlooked by ‘users’. However, their contribution to
improved decision-making in TVET was demonstrated in a number of the case
studies.
r Individual research studies were used and had influence on TVET decision-
making (in policy and planning; practice and performance within provider
organizations; and community relations). However, the examples of individual
1478 C. Selby Smith
studies might not be typical, so that the value of research could not necessarily
be judged by them alone.
Secondly, it was not possible to evaluate (quantitatively) the extent of the influence
of research on TVET decision-making. Its influence was positive, but research was
certainly not the only factor influencing decision-making (and, in many cases, it was
not the most important).
r There were many different types of research and they could be used in a wide
range of decision-making contexts. These different types of research had varying
levels of visibility to the separate groups of users and other stakeholders, which
affected these groups’ knowledge of the extent of the influence of research. It
may be concluded that one could not decide which types of research were used
and had influence more than others. Other factors were also important.
r The extent of the use or influence of research could not be determined by con-
sidering the research system alone. The use and influence of R&D depended
critically on the circumstances of decision-making in a particular context and
the linkages between research and decision-making in that context. The research
study demonstrated that there were many contexts.
r There were many (potential) uses of research in TVET decision-making. Uses
include: to resolve a particular problem; as a weapon in explicit political or bu-
reaucratic conflict; and to justify a decision already made—as well as in problem-
solving or assisting users to increase their conceptual understanding of an issue.
TVET research in Australia has been used in these various ways at different
times, although the different uses were not always made explicit.
Thirdly, the extent to which research can be used and have influence in TVET
decision-making can be enhanced by the actions of the stakeholders. Enduring
linkages appeared to be based on the sustained mutual esteem and understanding
of the potential contribution of each party, and where those linkages emphasized
collaboration for the good of the TVET system as a whole.
r Researchers had an obligation to be committed to the research enterprise, to keep
up-to-date in their field, to maintain the quality of their work and to be willing
to engage with their broader communities. The research system needs to have
appropriate incentive structures to encourage such behaviour.
r Decision-makers have an obligation to be engaged with the world of ideas and
to think, read and participate in intellectual debate. They cannot expect to make
good decisions without thought: they have the responsibility as professionals to
develop their own human capital. The incentive structures in their work settings
should encourage such actions.
r Since a significant amount of research is now commissioned by users, their ac-
tions influence the quality of research. A strong preference for short-term and
instrumental research can weaken the research base in the longer term.
r A weak network of effective linkages undermines the potential for research to be
used in TVET decision-making and to have influence. It limits the potential for
the two-way flow of information and people, and for feedback.
3.2 A Range of Case Studies
Seventeen case studies were undertaken on the relationships between R&D and
decision-making in TVET (Selby Smith, 1999). A framework for considering the
case studies on a consistent basis was developed to facilitate comparisons. Three
main factors influenced the selection of the case studies.
First, it was apparent that a large number of case studies would be required if the
diverse range of factors that can affect the relationships between R&D and decision-
making, and thus research’s impact on action, were to be properly represented in
relation to policy and planning, practice and performance, and community relations.
Taken together, the case studies illustrated the variety of ways in which R&D can
have an impact on TVET decision-making.
Secondly, the selection of case studies was affected by the funding body’s in-
dication that it was particularly interested in the impact of VET research on three
areas: policy and planning; practice and performance; and community relations. Of
the seventeen case studies: seven related to the impact of R&D on decision-making
at the level of national, state and territory policy; six related to decision-making at
the level of individual training providers; and four to community relations aspects.
Nevertheless, there remained wide differences between the case studies, even at a
particular level of decision-making.
Thirdly, many of the R&D projects examined in the case studies were initiated
by users and, hence, may be thought more likely to have a subsequent impact on
decision-making. As McGaw concluded, ‘serious consideration of recommenda-
tions is enhanced when education providers are seriously engaged as sponsors of
the review’. Nevertheless, some projects were initiated by researchers; and it is of
interest whether the mode of initiation affected the subsequent impact on decision-
making. Researcher-initiated projects may be less visible to decision-makers; less
easy to incorporate in decision-making processes; and perhaps more likely to chal-
lenge established ways of thinking or acting.
Four main conclusions were drawn from the seventeen case studies (Selby
Smith, 1999, pp. 196–207). First, taken together, they confirmed the validity of the
broad framework adopted for analysing the relationships between R&D on the one
hand and policy, practice and performance in TVET on the other. Typically, aspects
of the decision-making arrangements, the relevant R&D system and the linkages
between them were significant. Within the decision-making arrangements, the case
studies illustrated the importance of the policy process, the relative power of the re-
spective stakeholders and the assumptive worlds of key actors. Within the R&D sys-
tem the three attributes of new and better information, research skills and attitudes,
and educated people were all significant. Linkages between R&D and decision-
making, and between researchers and decision-makers, were shown to be important.
Linkages were both formal and informal. There were linkages before and during the
research project, as well as at its completion. The linkages established through a
single research project could have effects which transcended the impact of the sin-
gle study. Linkages were important at each level of decision-making. The linkages
could be indirect as well as direct—for example, through community organizations,
1480 C. Selby Smith
the media, public opinion and the political process. The emphasis on linkages, rather
than on more narrowly defined dissemination, increased the mutual responsibilities
of both researchers and decision-makers.
Secondly, the case studies emphasized the complexity of the situations which
arise in the real world. The case studies revealed the individuality of the specific
circumstances through which the broad relationships between R&D and decision-
making operated; and the importance of considering dynamic aspects of the relevant
situation as well as more static aspects. Administrators, policy-makers and TVET
practitioners tended to seek clear conclusions and simple recommendations for ac-
tion, whereas the case studies emphasized that R&D often reveals the complexity
of real-life situations. The case studies also emphasized the considerable impor-
tance that can be attached to individual champions or sponsors, whether in initiating
the R&D or making effective use of the results. One set of decision-makers who
are often overlooked, but who were brought to centre stage by certain of the case
studies, were trainees and students in TVET. Research can influence their partic-
ipation, their decision-making and that of training providers through their active
involvement in the research process and the consequent enhancement of their active
voice. However, the precise contribution of R&D to decision-making was hedged
with many uncertainties and qualifications. Sometimes no single analyst, observer
or participant appeared to be in a position to know the full story. The estimates of
R&D’s impact on decision-making were often subjective and incomplete. The case
studies illustrated the multiple sources of R&D, its multiple destinations in TVET
decision-making, and the multiple pathways through which impact can occur.
Thirdly, in considering the relationships between R&D and decision-making in
Australian TVET, the case studies complemented other approaches (such as lit-
erature reviews, symposia, quantitative studies and consultations with key stake-
holders), by providing a richness of detail and an appreciation of the complex and
varied channels through which broad relationships operate. For example, surveys
enabled familiarity with a wide range of material, speedy appreciation of common
elements and generalizations about the overall project; but the survey analysis tends
to be shallow compared to case studies, which allow for a much greater depth of
understanding. Illumination of the research question was enhanced by the use of
purposeful maximum variation sampling, the wide range of different cases included
in the study and their diverse circumstances.
Fourthly, the case studies raised the difficult issue of the precise boundaries of
R&D, especially in relation to research skills and attitudes, and at the practitioner
level. Indeed, it has been argued that in organizations where the culture of R&D
is strong, the distinctions between R&D, continuous improvement, action research,
professional social inquiry, reflective practice, learning and work become blurred.
An openness to evidence in making decisions, for example, can be characterized as
a way of working, as well as a characteristic of R&D. Paradoxically, those who are
already most knowledgeable are often those who are most open to new evidence. A
number of the case studies could be seen as wrestling with how best to define the
precise boundary of R&D activity in TVET.
4 Final Comments
During these Australian studies it was suggested that the research process is driven
by the evidence, the search for improved understanding and an attitude of open-
ness. It was argued that the researcher’s role involves engagement at two levels: the
theoretical framework or discourse of discussion; and the practical or experiential
evidence. Although this engagement at two levels involves tensions, they are an
essential element of performing the researcher role. Of course, the R&D system is
wider than the individuals who undertake research, since it involves the institutions
of knowledge production, the mechanisms which support it and the processes by
which established positions are challenged, tested and, where necessary, changed.
The greater the stress laid on tacit and uncodified knowledge, the more attention
is focused on research skill and attitudes, and the greater the concentration on action
research, professional social inquiry and reflective practice by provider organiza-
tions and individual practitioners, the wider the definition of R&D tends to become
(and its likely impact on decision-making in TVET). Indeed, in an increasingly
turbulent environment, an interest by decision-makers in evidence, an openness to
new perspectives and a willingness to learn progressively and systematically from
the experience of oneself and others is central to improving policy, practice and
performance in TVET. These Australian studies illustrate the diverse ways in which
a beneficial relationship between R&D and TVET decision-making can operate, or
be frustrated, in relation to policy, planning, management and practice.
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Chapter IX.4
Repositioning the Role of Research
in the Innovation of TVET
Anneke Westerhuis
1 Introduction
The optimistic concept in the post-Second World War period of creating a better
society via government policy also made its marks on education. In the Netherlands
and in many other Western countries, the State took the initiative of modernizing
society. Research and science were seen as major contributors:
the application of knowledge by political means—and not the responsiveness of govern-
ment to private wants—becomes a test of good government. In this respect, the problem of
modernization becomes a constant struggle over two conflicting principles of rule, namely,
the public interest as seen by the public and the public interest as seen by the scientific elite
(Apter, 1967, p. 433, quoted by Idenburg, 1975).
Research—and researchers for that matter—have been an important source for new
ideas and implementation strategies to reform education into a meritocratic system
for the upward mobility of the population.
This chapter is about fundamental developments in the role of research as
an instrument for education policy in the Netherlands, in particular for technical
and vocational education and training (TVET). However, as the situation in the
Netherlands is now strongly influenced by European TVET policy, the Dutch case
can be seen as an illustration of developments also to be found in other European
countries. This chapter will argue that research is losing its position in the tradi-
tional triangle of policy-making, research and innovation of education, as this tri-
angle is now falling apart (Onderwijsraad, 2003; Vandenberge, 2005; de Bruijn &
Westerhuis, 2004). Acknowledging the fact that this triangle can never be restored,
researchers in particular are obliged to redefine their position. This chapter will give
some suggestions about where to find this new position.
2 The Changing Position of Research in Educational Innovation
In 1968 Philip Coombs published The world educational crisis: a systems analy-
sis (Coombs, 1968). The need to innovate in education was profound, if education
wanted to give an adequate answer to the growing demand for education by the

1484 A. Westerhuis
Innovation chain
National policy
Educational
Schools
support
structure
(linking pin)
Universities and
research
institutes
Knowledge chain
Fig. 1 Interfaces between the traditional knowledge and innovation chains (after de Bruijn &
Westerhuis, 2004, p. 7)
population and by industry (Idenburg, 1975). The research world should be one
of the major contributors in overcoming this crisis by dedicating itself to educa-
tional reform. In this atmosphere of crises and with a sense of urgency, the re-
search/development/diffusion (RDD) concept was adopted as an effective way to
unite the forces of distinct fields of expertise: (a) national policy-making; (b) re-
search and knowledge production; and (c) teaching and education. In this way, the
innovation process in education was modelled after research and development in the
industrial world. In this RDD concept, research had its position at the beginning of
the process by conducting a research agenda of policy-inspired topics. The research
results reached the schools (the third link) through the educational support system,
responsible for converting them into real actions (Figure 1).
Another feature of this RDD concept is its linear top-down character: ideas come
first. Ideas reach the classroom in a ready-made way (instruments, curricula, teach-
ing methods) via expert institutes, limiting the role of educational practitioners to
that of adopting what the ‘experts’ had developed for them. In the 1960s it had
already been concluded that large-scale innovations failed because the teachers did
not adopt the materials developed for them by those experts. The chosen solution—
inviting a limited number of teachers to participate in the development process—was
not a fundamental improvement on this approach (Westerhuis, 1999).
Nowadays, the ministries of education break away from the role of organizing
education with distinct input from the research community at the national level.
Schools are given much more freedom to organize innovation as a local school
initiative (de Vijlder, 2005; Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, 2005).
This is particularly true for TVET. Compared to the other segments of the national
education system, the TVET sub-system, together with higher professional educa-
tion, is in the forefront of the move towards decentralization and school autonomy.
With the evaporation of the traditional RDD system, TVET researchers in par-
ticular see their natural habitat gradually collapsing (de Bruijn & Westerhuis, 2004;
Lagerweij & Lagerweij-Voogt, 2004):
r The dynamics of change are in a transition process. Moves for change will come
less from the national level and will be replaced by the involvement of local
IX.4 Repositioning the Role of Research in the Innovation of TVET 1485
stakeholders. Schools, in particular VET schools, will organize their own net-
work of opinion leaders and stakeholders (Bakker, de Vijlder & Westerhuis, 2004;
Hooge, van der Sluis & de Vijlder, 2004).
r In school-based innovation, traditional forms of research do not find a place as
they are replaced by trendy consultancy concepts like ‘knowledge management’,
‘appreciative inquiry’, the ‘learning organization’ and ‘total quality manage-
ment’. At local level, innovation is not seen as the implementation of research
outcomes, but as a—particular—form of organization development (Bruijns,
Egberink & Gansewinkel, 2004).
r The process of policy-making transfers from a linear planning/action/evaluation
cycle with distinct roles for ministries, schools and interest groups, for ex-
ample, into a multi-focus on-going process without clear beginnings and ends
(Abma, 2004; de Bruijn, ten Heuvelhof & in ‘t Veld, 2004).
r The number of academic posts/units specializing in TVET research is diminish-
ing. The possibilities of organizing networks of policy-makers and educational
practitioners around these posts are therefore limited (MGK, 2005).
r The gap between research questions and research methodologies validated in
national research programmes and research questions and processes validated by
practitioners is widening (Vandenberge, 2005).
r Researchers are no longer seen as the exclusive producers of knowledge. In to-
day’s society, there is a growing acceptance of the idea that knowledge is a multi-
functional concept. Knowledge comes from a variety of sources; from research,
but also from educational practice. In stressing the importance of the practical
value of knowledge, the value of knowledge is no longer defined in reference
to methodological rules (Gibbons et al., 1994, Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). The
ultimate consequence of this approach is the blurring of distinctions between
opinions, facts, beliefs and validated knowledge, as in Lyotard’s famous rhetori-
cal question: ‘who decides what knowledge is?’ (Lyotard, 1979).
r New initiatives in educational policy-making are hardly accompanied by re-
search programmes, either to feed the process of goal setting and design, or to
assess results against goals, stakeholder roles or international examples of similar
initiatives (MGK, 2005).
r A growing number of researchers are employed in private institutes, competing
for commissions. This type of contracted policy evaluation research mostly has
the limited objective of feeding policy-making with empirical data. This means
that researchers are no longer in a position to raise fundamental questions with
regard to policy assumptions (Nijhof & van Esch, 2004; Stuurgroep Evaluatie de
Wet educatie en beroepsonderwijs, 2001).
r The professional identity of researchers is weakening. Researchers are still
members of professional bodies, but this membership no longer entitles them
to privileges and professional freedom. The professional identity is replaced by
an employment identity; the researcher is first and foremost a loyal member of
the institutes’ staff (de Wilde, 2001).
Not surprisingly, publications and workshops focusing on the relation between re-
search and educational practice are initiated in particular by the research
1486 A. Westerhuis
community (Wald & Leenders, 2001; AWT, 2003; OECD, 2003; ORD, 2003; de
Bruijn & Westerhuis, 2003; de Bruijn & Westerhuis, 2004; van der Sluis, 2004;
Manning, 2005). The leading question in many of these initiatives seems to be:
‘how to make research findings more accessible to practitioners?’ In phrasing the
predicament as a language problem on the part of researchers and an attitude or
competence problem on the part of educational practitioners, the point is missed
that behind this question lies hidden a more fundamental problem.
3 What Way Forward?
Indeed, from a wider perspective, the changing position of research in educational

innovation and school development was inevitable. The strong position of the re-
search community depended heavily on the traditional RDD cycle and the acknowl-
edgement of the research community’s monopoly in the production of knowledge
in this cycle.
Perhaps researchers should be modest and acknowledge the fact that they were
blind about the critical assessment of their research in schools/local governments
while the national RDD system was in place. Perhaps they only paid lip-service to
the claim that the intended research should be relevant for practice (Vandenberge,
2005). From this point of view, an obvious solution would have been to strengthen
the links between research and school development by employing appropriate re-
search methodologies and by allowing the direct involvement of practitioners in
research activities: action research, design research, development research. A likely
consequence of this strategy would be that research is regarded as a toolbox of
working methods, employed by researchers when defining a new role, such as in
acting as methodology experts, facilitating teachers to learn how to reflect, how to
pose questions, how to redefine questions after rounds of consultations, etc. In this
process, researchers are facing competition with (management) consultants. On the
other hand, they have a head start in their profound knowledge of the education
system and its characteristics.
Nevertheless, after a more fundamental assessment of the role of research in
what we routinely call the knowledge society, I would argue for a more fundamental
approach and challenge by particular TVET researchers in defining a new role.
We are familiar with the high esteem for knowledge shown in such familiar terms
as ‘the knowledge society’, ‘the knowledge economy’ and ‘knowledge manage-
ment’ and the proliferation of research activities. Some TVET schools are even
calling themselves ‘regional knowledge centres’. De Wilde (2001) points to the
fact that the rise of the knowledge economy is accompanied by a loss of status
for people in traditional intellectual professions. For him, the explanation is the
tendency to assess knowledge only in terms of its value for production purposes—
for the addition of value. This knowledge is not the exclusive domain of intellec-
tuals. Knowledge is primarily instrumental in the development of new technolo-
gies (Drucker, 1969). In the words of de Wilde: ‘the production of knowledge is
now under an industrial regime’. For Drucker, the rise of the knowledge economy
is not a chapter in intellectual history, but a chapter in the history of technology

(de Wilde, 2001, p. 15). In this industrial regime, knowledge is subservient to inno-
vation and therefore a critical asset in the on-going competition for improvement and
efficiency.
For educational researchers this view looks familiar, as the RDD concept of
research was dedicated to educational reform. The idea of employing research
methodologies that allow for the direct involvement of practitioners can be seen
as an obvious step to be taken at the very moment when the innovation agenda
is no longer established at the national level but by schools. In linking research
activities exclusively to local innovation, research is an instrument for school-based
innovation. This means innovation in the most instrumental interpretation of the
production of new programmes, the definition of new roles, the involvement of more
stakeholders, etc.
The right to question policy priorities came as a bonus with the position of re-
searchers in the RDD cycle. In being regarded as a scientific elite, research had some
authority. As can be seen in Figure 1, the research community was a counterbalance
in policy-making. Therefore, one of the striking features about the collapse of the
RDD concept is the fact that the position of researchers as opinion leaders in national
TVET policy agenda debates is no longer taken for granted. However, looking upon
this development as inherent—and therefore inevitable—in the Drucker version of
the knowledge economy is too deterministic.
If we acknowledge that a wide range of stakeholders is defining the strategic aims
of TVET, the most important consequence is the loss of a focus point for research
in collecting, assessing and distributing research findings, for debates on the quality
of research designs and methodologies, for the classification of local findings in
wider, general concepts and for critical reflection of local findings against general
concepts.
In my opinion, an infrastructure for organizing these kinds of activities is needed,
even more so when research activities are widely spread in VET. One of its
aims should be to raise the quality of knowledge produced with the introduc-
tion of validated and reliable methods and competence development of people in-
volved in research activities, but also to organize a knowledge base and a forum
for critical assessment of, for instance, stakeholder perspectives included and ex-
cluded in research activities. Let me illustrate the working methods for competence
development and establishing this knowledge base by two examples from my own
research practice.
The first example illustrates the role of research in the Dutch National Pro-
gramme for the Innovation of TVET (2004–2007). In this programme, TVET
schools could apply for a grant in order to conduct innovative projects adapting
teaching and learning to local industrial needs. The programme had three research
strands:
r (quantitative) research on the effects and outcomes at both project and pro-
gramme level;
r monitoring local innovation processes in case studies;
1488 A. Westerhuis
r knowledge circles for members of project teams aiming at the explication and
validation of good practices and innovation strategies.
In particular, the knowledge circles are dedicated to explaining local practices by
confronting these practices with a conceptual framework. By doing this, practi-
tioners are challenged to detect patterns in local practices in four—intellectual—
assessments. The role of the researcher in the knowledge circle is to facilitate these
intellectual assessments:
r evaluating a conceptual framework as an abstracted expression of project ambi-
tions;
r framing local practices (situated knowledge) in this concept via study visits to
local practices aiming at the assessment of their strong and weak points and, by
doing this, challenging the visitors to assess their own practice as well;
r improving the development of local practices in this double confrontation with a
conceptual framework and other local practices;
r fleshing out the framework with good practices, as defined by the members of
the knowledge circle.
Another example is a programme organized by the Centrum Voor Innovatie Van
Opleidingen (CINOP—Centre for the Innovation of Education and Training) in the
Netherlands for TVET schools and local (school) networks that wanted to improve
their relations with the local industry and other local stakeholders. This programme
is also organized as a dual track in combining reflection and evaluation of local
innovation processes. The schools volunteering to join this programme agreed to
co-operate in assessing local initiatives against a conceptual framework of three
linked questions:
r What role do we want to have in this region?
r Which educational facilities and programmes are appropriate to this role?
r What stakeholder relations fit this role?
The assumption is that the answer to the first question should lead the way to an-
swering the other two. Another assumption is that it is inevitable for VET institutes
to define their role in terms of a clear aim, validated by the school staff and the local
stakeholders as a frame of reference for programme development and evaluation.
In this programme, each of the five schools and networks has a residential re-
searcher. The role of these researchers is to participate in local development pro-
cesses by observing the formal and informal answers given to these questions. The
observations are compared in research meetings, both to detect similarities and dif-
ferences and to identify blind spots in local answers in terms of innovation processes
and their outcomes. The observations are also shared with local practice. This pro-
gramme has two aims. The first is to improve local practices in a confrontation with a
conceptual framework supposing coherence in the three answers. The second is that
the observations and answers will enable researchers to develop a practical theory
in which conceptual, instrumental and strategic elements will constitute a system of
accumulated knowledge (see also de Bruijn & Westerhuis, 2004).
Both examples have in common that local innovations are confronted with a
conceptual framework—local developments are assessed within a wider perspective
than that of local aims and working methods. This confrontation is an interactive
process in which the production of local knowledge and generic knowledge go
together, but are identical. In this they also have in common the fact that this in-
teractive process is not eternal; co-operation is temporary. From the point of view
of the researcher, co-operation is limited to the moment the researcher wants to
join other practices in order to enrich the practical theory. From the point of view
of local practice, co-operation is relevant up to the moment a conceptual frame-
work is no longer an inspiring source for local innovation processes (see also
Doets, n.d.).
In these examples, research is a focus point for collecting, assessing and dis-
tributing research findings and the classification of local findings in wider, general
concepts and for critical reflection of local findings against general concepts. This
infrastructure is definitely not a revival of the old tripartite national network, if only
by acknowledging that ‘doing research’ is now widely practised and therefore also
the claim of knowledge production.
4 The Research Agenda
The confrontation of local findings with conceptual frameworks presupposes re-

searchers and practice share a common agenda. In the Netherlands, there is strong
support for the idea to launch an innovation agenda in TVET as a shared responsi-
bility of national (ministries, social partners) and local policy-makers (school man-
agement and local stakeholders, i.e. local industry). The point is not so much to
produce an agenda as a compromise after several negative attempts, but far more to
facilitate an on-going process of discussions and opinion-sharing in a network; the
innovation agenda as a process (de Vijlder, 2005; Ministerie van OCW, 2005).
However, this proposal is dedicated to the organization of an action programme
for innovation, which should be supported by national and local stakeholders.
The role of research is to facilitate the execution of this agenda by monitoring the
progress of local innovations and their contributions to the national agenda. In this,
it is not a research agenda in terms of system analyses or a critical assessment of the
imminent developments of TVET in the longer term.
Tom Schuler claims that, because initially education policy is located in min-
istries of education and has an institutional basis, it is amenable to research and
research policy and funding. He contrasts initial education to lifelong learning that
‘lacks an institutional base, a professional identity, an administrative location and a
political profile. Moreover, there is no agreed framework around which knowledge
can be cumulatively constructed’ (Schuler, 2005, p. 174). For him the challenge
for research in lifelong learning is in sketching out possible scenarios, and link-
ing them to empirical trends and issues—to aspire to generate such a framework.
The point I would like to make is that the frameworks for knowledge accumulation
1490 A. Westerhuis
should neither be dedicated exclusively to acute and manifest problems in the well-
established education sectors, like the TVET sector, as these problems are trans-
formed into this policy agenda. It is not an easy task to identify such a research
agenda, or even to legitimize such an agenda. The temptation to mirror the acute
policy agenda in a research agenda is strong (see, for instance, the Dutch VET 2002
research agenda: van der Sanden, de Bruijn & Mulder, 2002). In my opinion, this
research agenda should dedicate itself to less visible aspects of education. An in-
teresting topic is, for instance, the potential of the TVET sector to transform itself
into a lifelong learning system. Research could, in co-operation with schools and
other stakeholders, dedicate itself to an analysis of the sector from the conceptual
framework of lifelong learning. Another topic could be the imminent features of in-
novation in VET; the nature and quality of the relations between local VET institutes
and local industries and their impact on the short-term and long-term employment
of students.
Of course, both agendas should not be kept apart. It would be very inspiring and
rewarding to ‘confront’ both agendas in their priorities and—hidden—assumptions.
Moreover, it is feasible to integrate both agendas not only with the mutual recogni-
tion of priority settings in terms of the effectiveness of innovations and the efficiency
of innovation processes, but also in terms of the evaluation of structures, institutional
arrangements and political priorities.
The point is, of course, that VET research has to organize itself in order to parti-
cipate in this process of agenda setting. This is where the infrastructure for research
will come in again. In collecting, assessing and distributing research findings, this
infrastructure is also a platform to evaluate research findings and, by sharing them
with the international (VETNET) research world, to transform them into accumu-
lated knowledge. In this respect, it is also a network for reflecting the development
of VET and its challenges as a preamble for agenda setting.
5 Conclusions
De Wilde points to a paradox in the knowledge society: He claims that the

‘knowledge intensity’ of society will drop significantly when flexibility, change
and innovation become its major aims. Innovation and change imply discontinu-
ity, and consequently a permanent change in the rules of the game. In the long
run, accumulation of knowledge will be jeopardized as standards and points of
reference constantly evolve: ‘Consequently, one ends up knowing nothing at all’
(de Wilde, 2001, p. 29). This is a serious and recognizable point for researchers; as
they are not innocent bystanders in this process. The moment research findings from
monitoring activities are fed into a system (or programme), the object of research
changes. In balancing the protection of the methodological design of monitoring
and being supportive of local practice in facilitating learning processes, research is
co-responsible for this change.
Another paradox might be added in the fact that the higher production of infor-
mation and the lower thresholds to disseminate information (Google!) discourage
the practice, traditionally rooted in the academic world, of accumulating knowledge

from a variety of sources.
Working in an infrastructure of researchers and with a long-term research agenda
can work as safeguards in the accumulation of knowledge from a variety of mon-
itoring processes. This chapter has described the collapse of the previously taken-
for-granted co-operation between policy-making, research and educational practice,
each with a clear division of roles in the innovation of education. This collapse can
be explained from two angles. The first is that research is no longer the exclusive
source of knowledge acclaimed by practice as a prerequisite for change. And the
second is that researchers have lost their position in the agenda-setting of educa-
tion. As policy-making in education, particularly in TVET, is partly decentralized to
schools, the agenda for the innovation of education is in fact a forum for negotiating
national and local policy priorities, leaving research in the waiting room until it is
invited to monitor the progress of innovations.
This chapter has shown that the loss of the traditional position of research in edu-
cational innovation represents more than a loss of status for researchers. In its close
links to educational policy and educational practice, the research world was also
a framework for the evaluation of policy-making and for the innovation of school
practice. With the collapse of the traditional infrastructure, research has lost this
position. The consequence of this loss is that a focus-point for collecting, assessing
and distributing research findings is also missing and, with that, an infrastructure
for the accumulation of local experiences in a conceptual framework and practical
theories.
This chapter is a plea for an infrastructure in TVET research that organizes
debates on interactive methodologies, combining educational innovations with the
construction of practical theories, the classification of local findings in general con-
cepts, and the critical reflection of local findings against the background of general
concepts. With that, this infrastructure also accumulates knowledge for the evalua-
tion of the policy-inspired innovation agenda in TVET in its practical outcomes and
for system evaluations of institutional arrangements and policy priorities.
In organizing debates on interactive methodologies and the confrontation of local
findings with general concepts, this infrastructure is not the exclusive domain of
researchers; i.e. researchers in the traditional definition of academic researchers. It
is a home for everybody working in VET willing to reflect on his/her experiences
and performances in confronting them with other experiences and performances.
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Chapter IX.5
TVET Research as a Dimension of Innovation
Klaus Ruth
1 Introduction
This chapter traces the interrelationship between technical and vocational

education and training (TVET) and innovation. It examines whether TVET con-
tributes to innovation or, more specifically, to the innovation capacities of organiza-
tions. It considers the question: is there a preferred type of technical and vocational
education that is advantageous to certain types of innovation? Since people are the
mediating unit, the chapter focuses on the actual competences held by people who
have participated in TVET programmes and draws a line from their participation to
innovation and into the building of innovatory capacity in organizations. The focus
of observation is on identifiable differences in TVET systems that are embedded
into distinct industrial cultures.
The chapter has four main sections. First, we sketch the most recent develop-
ments that can be observed in innovation. The second part relates these trends to
various paths of competence-building identifiable today. The third part analyses the
capacity of different vocational education and training systems to generate ‘shaping-
oriented’ work. Finally, we look at some prospects of TVET for future innovation.
2 Innovation Being Re-invented
Probably the most important single trend of recent decades in companies’ policy
and business strategies is the acknowledgment of innovation and of innovativeness
as a core competence for corporate success. Since Schumpeter’s seminal works on
innovation and economic growth (Schumpeter, 1939), economists have been aware
of the crucial role of innovation in affecting the economic performance of compa-
nies, but it still took some time before the lessons were incorporated into companies’
day-to-day operations.
Innovation is perceived as a process that has many characteristics. The core con-
cept of innovation is the introduction of new artefacts, products or processes into
the spheres of production and service. Today, new ways of looking at innovation
processes are emerging.

1496 K. Ruth
The classical understanding of innovation has been the process of developing

and commercializing new products or launching new processes to improve product
quality or lower production cost. This view was strictly limited to companies where
experts for innovation (or more precisely, for new product development or the design
of processes) were employed. It was the work of von Hippel (1988) on the sources of
innovation that drew attention to hitherto unrecognized innovatory actors: users and
suppliers. This new perspective transcended company boundaries and opened up the
perspectives for innovatory processes by considering other companies (suppliers or
customers) as important actors in the innovation arena. It also brought new, previ-
ously unrecognized innovation experts into the game. These new experts also intro-
duced new knowledge domains into the innovation processes. In von Hippel’s case
studies, key users of the machinery or aircraft industry had the opportunity to bring
their mainly practice- and experience-based expertise into the development process.
Similarly, supplier companies were given the chance to include manufacturing and
material know-how into the overall innovation process (von Hippel, 1988).
These tendencies have evolved towards innovation networks (Duschek, 2004),
which today are a widespread form of organizing innovatory processes. Innovation
networks can assume different forms: intra-organizational or inter-organizational;
local and regional or global; their communication and co-operation can range be-
tween direct contacts (meetings) and virtual/electronic communication and collab-
oration, or mixtures of these forms. Finally, innovation networks bring together
a wide range of people with different educational and professional backgrounds.
These actors contribute different types of knowledge, skills and expertise, which
add new dimensions to innovatory processes.
Changes in innovatory processes, changing expectations on innovative products,
as well as the changing competitive situation on the markets have influenced the
perception of innovatory actors. Years ago, particularly during the phase of ‘learn-
ing from Japan’ (Dertouzos et al., 1989; Womack, Jones & Roos, 1990), Western
companies learned that one crucial factor in Japanese success on world markets was
(and is) the ‘design to cost’ approach. This method involves the internal departments
of cost calculation in very early stages of innovatory processes (Imai, 1991).
Another—for this chapter—even more important step in opening the innovation
arena, was targeting design to manufacturability. This meant departing from the
sequential track in which the manufacturability of a new product is the final problem
to be solved (if at all targeted). Again, the Japanese taught the world that manufac-
turability is a primary goal of product innovation and that in order to ensure a high
level of manufacturability, the production planning and shop-floor people need to be
included in very early stages of the innovation cycle (Imai, 1991). Other participants
must include specialists, like knowledge managers, who are sourcing knowledge
bases (e.g. the patent database) and feeding knowledge into the innovation process.
These changes widened the formerly closed ‘monastery of design monks’—i.e. the
engineers as key innovatory actors—to a ‘lively bazaar’ of many actors with diverse
backgrounds and a diversity of design and innovation goals.
This tendency was amplified with the advent of inter-organizational innovation
networks, which are made up of the company (or companies) that aim to introduce
IX.5 TVET Research as a Dimension of Innovation 1497
product innovation, supplying companies, customers (both industrial or end-users)

and additional stakeholders. The problem of these inter-organizational innovation
teams is much the same as the intra-organizational scenario that was sketched above.
Both types of innovation teams must deal not only with knowledge creation, but
knowledge sharing and knowledge retention (Aoshima, 1997). Since knowledge
creation is widely accepted and studied as a core activity of innovation (Nonaka &
Takeuchi, 1995; Nonaka & Nishiguchi, 2001), the focus of the following paragraphs
will be on knowledge retention and particularly on knowledge sharing.
Shared knowledge is one of the important resources for successful innovation.
Therefore, those organizations or networks or teams that establish the best struc-
tures to achieve a common understanding among individuals representing different
functions (organizations or disciplines) are the ones with the best innovatory per-
formance and thus with competitive advantages (Hong et al., 2004). The synergy
of shared knowledge cannot easily be achieved, because knowledge does not have a
unique nature. There can be different ‘cognitive universes’ between organizations or
departments; there can be incompatible knowledge domains between departments
or teams; knowledge can be tacit in its nature and thus difficult to codify or to make
explicit (Senker, 1993), and, ultimately, a lot of knowledge is ‘sticky’, i.e. held by in-
dividuals and cannot be separated from them or objectified. Thus, we observe plenty
of obstacles that impede knowledge sharing as a planned process. But, nevertheless,
some reports reveal good practice with regard to knowledge sharing (e.g. Nonaka &
Teece, 2001; Harryson, 1998).
Taking into account the above-mentioned circumstances, innovation has deeply
changed its nature since the early works of Schumpeter—in at least two respects:
1. The idea of sequential steps in innovation—concept design, system design, detail
design, prototype testing and refinement and manufacturing—has made room for
the conception of concurrent innovation.
2. The hitherto well-accepted distinction between radical and incremental inno-
vation is difficult to maintain. It is difficult to determine the role of practical
knowledge and experience in innovatory processes.
Many radical or breakthrough innovations in history have not been made by sci-
entists or engineers, but rather through technicians or highly-skilled craftsmen.
For example, technological progress before 1850, particularly in the case of the
steam engine, was developed and produced by craftsmen, skilled workers or tech-
nicians who deployed a knowledge that originated from practice rather than from
science (Mokyr, 2002; Rolt, 1986). Similarly, practitioners developed the transistor
by advancing through trial-and-error methods, which eventually rendered a result
(Braun & MacDonald, 1978; Rosenberg, 1982; Senker, 1993). Thus, the assumption
that radical innovation is based on (theoretical and scientific) knowledge and incre-
mental innovation thrives on skills/experiential knowledge is nowadays increasingly
obsolete—not to mention the difficulty in distinguishing radical from incremental
innovation.
The aforementioned evolution from sequential to concurrent (or at least overlap-
ping) innovation phases highlights the necessity to share knowledge. Knowledge
1498 K. Ruth
and experiences that are available in functional areas at the end of the formerly se-
quential innovation process (e.g. manufacturing expertise, but also suppliers’ capac-
ities) are now required at the early stages (concept design) and during the on-going
innovation process. The particular case of knowledge sharing between manufactur-
ing and early design stages is similar to the need to bring workers’ knowledge into
the design process.
Reports from the semiconductor industry (Brown, 1997; Buss & Wittke, 2000)
reinforce the importance of sharing knowledge. During the last decades of dynamic
random access memory (DRAM) chip production, every new generation of chips
required completely new production facilities and organization. It turned out that a
crucial problem was the transition from prototypical or test production into a volume
production. In the 1990s the test production took place in laboratories (labs) run by
engineers and technicians, while the volume production was located at manufactur-
ing sites (fabs) operated by workers and technicians. On the one hand, the knowl-
edge and experience flow from the labs to the volume processing was necessary;
on the other hand, a stream of experiential knowledge from the volume production
site to the laboratory was indispensable—particularly during the transitional (over-
lapping) phases, when defect density and line yield were insufficient. Besides the
many lessons to be learned from this example, it turned out that knowledge and
experience sharing is important for innovation to be put into practice. A significant
means utilised during these processes was the exchange (in some cases massive) of
personnel between laboratory and volume production. This allowed the constructing
of similar mental models1 and eventually sharing knowledge and experiences to
benefit product and process innovation.
The next section picks up the findings of this special case and feeds them into a
more general concept of experience as an innovation factor.
3 Experience as an Innovation Factor

A very common observation that can be made about research on process innovation
and also in some fields of product innovation is the ‘hidden’ or informal involve-
ment of practitioners—preferably skilled and experienced workers. Looking closer
at this phenomenon shows that traditionally there is a gap between the designing
engineers’ models of machine systems and the actual operation mode of these sys-
tems. Workers who are operating these systems have, as a rule, a different view of
the machine systems, because they have plenty of opportunities to become familiar
with the peculiarities and ‘quirks’ of machines—a ‘universe’ that is usually closed
to engineers. This accumulation of experience and knowledge is very often used to
improve the machines or to make the operation more efficient. The direct machine
workers, as well as the maintenance workers, are in that respect very important
innovatory actors who might contribute to both process and product innovation.
In the case of process innovation, there are production systems that are more
tolerant of different operation modes and that are in every stage under the immediate
control of workers (e.g. short assembly lines for simple products). Such easy-going
systems are an ideal playground for influencing (or, in other words, improving)
the processes by production line workers. Here, workers can apply their expertise,
mainly experience-based expertise, gained through daily operation in the production
line.
This process operates somewhat differently in the case of large technological
systems (like nuclear power plants or chemical processes), where controlling and
maintaining the systems is a complex task and which is characterized by a separa-
tion of the real processes and the actual operators. In other words, the processes are
impalpable and out of reach of the immediate senses, but nevertheless their basic
source of building expertise (which contributes to the construction of innovation
capability) is experience. Still, experience itself—though a potential wellspring of
expertise—often comes with the risk of blinding people and narrowing their minds
by lulling them into a false sense of security about their hypotheses (on the opera-
tion, their tasks), their skills, their expertise and mastery (e.g. the case of a nuclear
power plant accident in Japan is analysed in Ruth, 2001, pp. 177 ff). In order to avoid
incorrect or at least misleading hypotheses on the operation mode of complex pro-
duction systems, it is essential that the operators do have a certain level of theoretical
knowledge. Such knowledge can complement experience—or, rather, provide the
foundation on which experience is embedded. Education and training systems and
respective qualification frameworks at best need to cover and address both theoreti-
cal and practical knowledge. A closer look at different types of vocational education
and training systems will provide insights into the relationships between favourable
(or disadvantageous) combinations of theoretical and experience-based knowledge,
and the level of innovativeness. Before approaching this issue, however, the field of
product innovation will be touched upon briefly.
As in the case of process innovation, production workers can play an important
role in product innovation. If we consider the manufacturing of machinery as the
arena, the actual production experts are workers in manufacturing and assembly,
especially concerning improvements to the manufacturability or the ‘design-to-
assembly’ quality of products. In the very particular case of machine tool man-
ufacturing, the products manufactured (and assembled) are at the same time the
(technical) means of production. This bivalent situation enables workers to use their
experience, knowledge and imagination for product improvements (Ruth, 1995;
Ruth, 2003). Even if these improvements are somehow incremental steps in a con-
tinuous innovation process, their impact can be enormous in increasing a company’s
competitiveness (Imai, 1991).
The outlined relationships between work-process experience (knowledge) and
innovation obviously depend on various factors, which are supporting the innova-
tiveness of companies’ product and process improvements. Consider wafer develop-
ment in the semiconductor industries, not simply as an example of a strongly
science-driven high-tech innovation field, but rather as the product innovation in
the more traditional mechanical and electrical machinery. We can then assume the
qualification structure and qualification level on shop floors as crucial components
1500 K. Ruth
of innovatory capabilities. The composition of qualification and skill is covered by

the concept of competences, which can be defined as
an ability that extends beyond the possession of knowledge and skills. It includes: i) cogni-
tive competence involving the use of theory and concepts, as well as informal tacit knowl-
edge gained experientially; ii) functional competence (skills or know-how), those things
that a person should be able to do when they work in a given area; iii) personal competence
involving knowing how to conduct oneself in a specific situation; and iv) ethical competence
involving the possession of certain personal and professional values (Leney et al., 2004,
p. 94).
If we add the sociality of competence, i.e. that certain components of competence

are not entirely possessed by individuals, but rather are shared between them and
that thriving on competence requires co-operation of the individuals, we will ap-
proach the question of how such a competence can be maintained? The answer is:
by learning. This means all forms of learning, i.e. formal, informal and non-formal
learning (Bjørnåvold, 2001). The important point, besides the aspects of recogniz-
ing different forms of learning (theoretical and practical learning) originating in
different learning spheres (shop floor, R&D laboratories, and also in everyday life
outside workplaces), is the factor of providing learning opportunities at work while
working. We can assume that the more learning opportunities workplaces (especially
on the shop floor) do provide, the better are the opportunities to actively involve the
people in innovatory processes. But, evidently this involvement depends to a large
extent on the individual’s competence level, which we can assume as consisting
of the general education level, the knowledge level of the subject field, and of ex-
periences acquired during work at the workplace. A systematic and international
comparative view on the relationship between qualification and innovation, thus re-
quires consideration of the correlation between the systems of vocational education
and training and the innovation systems—the latter not on highly aggregated levels
(such as national or regional innovation systems), but rather on the company or
network level.
4 Institutionalizing Innovation Capacities in VET Systems
If the assumption of a relationship between skills, experience and knowledge on the

shop floor and the level of companies’ innovativeness is right, then we can project
that the underlying vocational learning and training system can exert an important
impact on innovation.
In an international comparative perspective, the differences between national
VET systems must be delineated in trying to determine their possible relationships
with innovation and innovativeness. It is especially necessary to consider possible
differences in the structure, the processes and the outcomes of the vocational edu-
cation and training systems.
Table 1 gives a general overview of the structure of TVET systems (focus-
ing on initial TVET). A structural analysis shows one cluster of countries with
predominantly apprenticeship systems. They are labelled ‘dual system’, because
Table 1 Structures of TVET in Europe

Predominantly dual system/apprenticeship Mix of school-based and apprenticeship
routes routes
Examples: Austria, Germany Examples: UK, Netherlands
School-based (mainly vocational) School-based (mainly pre-vocational)
Example: Finland Examples: Ireland, Italy, Japan
Source: Leney et al., 2004, p. 32.
they combine theoretical and practical learning at different learning sites (school
and workplaces). Among others, Germany and Austria can be mentioned as exam-
ples. The second logical cluster of TVET schemes comprises school-based systems,
which—according to the international classification system (ISCED)—can be dif-
ferentiated into one sub-cluster that follows a vocational path leading to a qualifi-
cation recognized by the labour market (e.g. Finland), and another sub-sector that
follows a pre-vocational track ending with a general educational level with no recog-
nition on the labour market (e.g. Italy, Japan). The fourth cluster is characterized
by a mix of school-based and apprenticeship/dual systems (e.g. United Kingdom,
Netherlands).
This classification gives us a description of the pathways followed to achieve a
certain goal: employability. It allows one to consider outcomes of the different path-
ways. In general, those individuals passing through a dual system/apprenticeship
programme will most likely hold a competence that comprises theoretical and
practical experiential knowledge. The former acquired during schooling, the latter
earned at the workplace while participating in real production processes. Compared
with this type of outcome, the school-based pathways often lead to somewhat de-
ficient competence structures. The pre-vocational school track supplies individu-
als with almost no practical job-relevant experiences for the workplace. Evidently,
when these workers enter work, they cannot be expected to hold significant practical,
experiential knowledge that might contribute to innovative processes. Similarly, the
school-based vocational path does not provide the learners with sufficient practical
knowledge.
The highest level of useful practical experience is acquired through dual systems
with a systematic theory/practice relationship. Since apprenticeship programmes
have a limited duration (usually around three years), practical experiences are
limited, but they offer a much better starting point for augmenting experience
than do school-based systems. Even if the schools include some temporary work
placements, these practical experiences often do not offer sufficient learning
opportunities, nor do they necessarily have a close relationship with the subjects
taught in school. Still, even graduates from school-based systems have the chance
to gain experiences, with the quality depending on the opportunities for learning
offered in work, once they made the transition from school to work. Thus, a par-
ticular type of vocational education and training can offer an initial advantage (or
disadvantage) regarding the acquisition and composition of theoretical and experi-
ential knowledge. Depending on learning opportunities offered in and during work,
this deficiency can be compensated after the school-to-work transition.
1502 K. Ruth
If the relationship between the TVET systems and the innovatory capabilities of
individuals are to be strengthened, we have to go beyond simply offering learning
opportunities in work to demand the shaping orientation of working and learning
(Rauner et al., 1988). The shaping orientation can be understood as setting a goal of
enabling the workers to pro-actively shape their immediate working environment,
form their processes, understand the relevant work processes and products, develop
improvements and put them into action.
The question is: how can a shaping orientation best be reached and institution-
ally embedded? First, the organizational backing must allow for shaping, that is,
creating organizational structures that support non-deterministic task descriptions
and implement flexibility and autonomy in task allocation. These pre-conditions,
when complemented by a learning-supportive working environment, will sustain the
transition from traditional production sites towards working and learning laborato-
ries (Leonard, 1998). In such new contexts, innovative stimuli originating from the
shop floor or skilled workers’ experiences and practical knowledge need to coalesce
with the other (if not all) types of knowledge in order to generate an innovation
competence (Ruth, 2000, p. 15).
5 Prospects: Can TVET Systems Become Pillars of Innovation?
In trying to estimate the future role of experiential knowledge, we must consider the
potential role of work-based practical knowledge as a huge and widely ignored store
of knowledge. Utilizing this knowledge requires creating favourable conditions at
work sites, such as: (a) production processes that simultaneously are learning en-
vironments; (b) a corporate culture that facilitates co-operation, communication
(and thus knowledge sharing) among all relevant innovative actors—particularly
including those ‘players’ that hold practical experience, i.e. shop-floor people; (c) a
pronounced shaping orientation being expressed at all levels of vocational training
and learning (in initial TVET, continuous TVET and all informal and non-formal
learning).
TVET systems that contribute most to a high level of innovativeness are those
that target beyond such ‘simple’ goals as ‘employability’ in the meaning of cre-
ating functional skills and qualification. Even if these functional qualifications are
acquired at a high level of proficiency, their graduates lack those core capacities
that make up for shaping-orientation: expertise in the subject field; virtuosity of
performance; (social) responsibility; transcendence; and reflexivity. Evidently, these
goals are idealistic to some degree, but they are highly useful as role models. The
more existing TVET systems approach these goals, the more likely they are to
achieve shaping-oriented working and learning, which eventually would sustain
innovation and innovativeness.
How can we implement the shaping orientation in VET? As a general guide,
theoretical and practical learning must mutually sustain each other. Every phase
of vocational training and learning must balance theory and practice. For the
school-based VET systems, this means providing access to work practice and relat-
ing practice systematically with theory learning. For dual systems, the ‘abundance
of practice’ has to become seamlessly interlocked with theoretical knowledge.
If this balance of theoretical and experiential/practical knowledge can be achieved,
and other important organizational and socio-cultural factors are met, one can attain
a culture of knowledge sharing, which is the ‘transmission belt’ on which innovatory
competence will thrive.
Note
1. The adoption of the mental model approach must not be overdone, because there are serious
obstacles to this concept, like the danger of closing mechanisms within a team sharing the same
mental model and the general danger of self-referentiality (Davison & Blackman, 2005).
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Chapter IX.6
Modellversuchsforschung: Pilot Project Research
in Germany
Peter Dehnbostel
1 Introduction
Pilot projects in the education system have been in use in the Federal Republic of
Germany as an important instrument of reform and innovation since the educational
reform conducted around 1970. The 1971 ‘Agreement on Pilot Projects’ (Modell-
versuchsvereinbarung) between the federal government and the different German
states forms the political framework for the nationwide conduct and recognition of
pilot projects. The legal basis for the co-operation of the federal and state levels
in educational planning was established by the new Article 91b of the German
Constitution in 1969. Since that time, pilot projects have been supported through
federal funding and complementary funds from the states and private companies,
and carried out over the whole education system from pre-school to the university
level. It was in the sectors of in-school and out-of-school technical and vocational
education and training (TVET) that pilot projects were most intensively put into
practice. This sector is the focus of the following discussion.
In the following sections the fundamentals and developments of pilot projects
are described and core issues concerning the function, design and quality criteria of
scientific monitoring are discussed. Here, the focus is on the foundation and the po-
sitioning, from the perspective of the philosophy of science, of scientific monitoring
as action and utilization research, and on the transfer of measures and findings into
the system of norms and regulations. The theoretical and conceptual structure and
orientation of pilot projects, the achievement of scientific outcomes and successful
transfers are also the core of pilot project research. The chapter concludes with an
outlook which pays attention to the danger for pilot projects to be anticipated from
the reform of the federal system in Germany.
2 On the Origins and Development of Pilot Projects
The origins of institutionalized pilot projects in the education sector have been de-
scribed and discussed many times (see, among others, Dehnbostel, 1998, pp. 188 ff.;
Schmidt & Kutt, 1990; Weishaupt, 1980, pp. 1298 ff.; Rauner, 2003, pp. 400 ff.).

1506 P. Dehnbostel
Two fundamental decisions that were taken during the initial phase must be re-
called: (a) the character of pilot projects as a part of education policy; and (b) the
dual (theory and practice) related mission attributable to scientific monitoring. Pilot
projects were planned as essential vehicles for innovative educational policy and
educational planning in schools and universities, and also for vocational education
and training. As starting points, both measures and programmes of educational pol-
icy initiated on a national scale or short-term practice-oriented tasks and problems
were foreseen. The outcomes of the latter were expected to contribute to the fur-
ther development of the education system as a whole. The Federal and Interstate
Commission (Bund-Länder-Kommission—BLK), following the 1971 Agreement on
Pilot Projects, defined the objectives of pilot projects and their scientific monitoring
as follows:
Pilot projects have the aim to improve existing practices on the one hand and to test new
ones on the other. They shall be oriented so as to give important decisions for the devel-
opment of the education system. The scientific monitoring has the mission to support the
operation of the pilot projects and to describe and analyse the effects of the reform measures
(BLK, 1974, p. 4).
These objectives were integrated into policy, practice and science from the point
of view of educational policy and educational planning. During the educational re-
forms of the 1970s, this took shape through the implementation and testing of a
thorough reform of educational programmes designed to improve equal opportuni-
ties, emancipation and autonomy. At the upper secondary level, for instance, the na-
tionwide pilot projects on the school-based and co-operative elementary vocational
training year (Berufsgrundbildungsjahr) and the large-scale projects to combine
general and vocational education, like the Kollegstufe NW (‘college level in North
Rhine Westphalia’) and the berufsfeldbezogenen Oberstufenzentren (‘vocational up-
per secondary schools’) in Berlin, should be mentioned (see Dehnbostel, 1988,
pp. 107 ff.). Scientific monitoring was organized quite differently in these and other
pilot projects, both in organizational and epistemological terms. Given the objec-
tives cited above, scientific monitoring was always discussed under the aspects of
its double function: (a) practice-oriented and supportive tasks; and (b) analytic tasks.
The function of ‘description’ and ‘analysis’ was initially linked to the point of view
that pilot projects were equivalent to controlled experiments and had to be analysed
with the exact methods of empirical social research. On the contrary, the ‘support’
function was often interpreted as an action-oriented approach in accompanying
research. Carrying out this approach was and is connected with numerous concep-
tual and methodological problems.
In vocational education and training, from the very beginning there used to be a
clear separation between pilot projects conducted in vocational schools and those
conducted in enterprises—the so-called business pilot projects. Pilot projects in
vocational schools were under the supervision of the BLK, whereas in the case of
business pilot projects since 1977 it has been the Federal Institute for Vocational
Education and Training (Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung—BIBB) that has had re-
sponsibility for funding and guidance under the supervision of the Federal Ministry
IX.6 Modellversuchsforschung: Pilot Project Research in Germany 1507
for Education and Research. The implementation and transferability of reforms were
commonly acknowledged as the long-term goals of pilot projects, although politi-
cal influence on pilot projects tended to decline after the end of the educational
reform in 1970. Among the business pilot projects, the emphasis shifted from po-
litical reforms to projects that were mainly aimed at problems and innovation in
TVET practice. Among the BLK pilot projects in vocational education and training
schools, on the other hand, support for programmes has intensified since 1998 (see
Pätzold et al., 2002, pp. 9 ff.; Sloane, 2005, p. 658).
In the selection or launching of pilot projects, five principles of eligibility were
conceived by the Ministry and the BIBB (see Dehnbostel, Holz & Ploghaus, 1994,
pp. 5 ff.):
r evidence of a sufficient innovatory potential with regard to concepts, staff and
equipment;
r the way the pilot project is to be carried out, which was largely expressed by
clarity and flexibility in the basic methods;
r participation of an independent scientific monitoring agency;
r assurance that the processes, insights and results of the pilot project work were
transferable;
r co-financing with the promoting organization of the pilot project.
The independence of scientific monitoring was regarded from the outset as a prereq-
uisite for scientific objectivity, as well as for the general introduction and transfer-
ability of pilot project outcomes. Any obligation on the part of scientific monitoring
towards the positions of the promoter of the pilot project was thus excluded, as
was the exercise of scientific monitoring as commissioned research. With regard
to research staff, this means among other things that staff members of the pro-
moting organization cannot simultaneously be employed by the organization that
conducts the scientific monitoring, and vice versa. From an epistemological and
methodological point of view, it is possible up to the 1990s to distinguish five
major research approaches, the sequence of which reflects to some extent the ori-
gins of and changes in scientific monitoring (see Dehnbostel, 1998, pp. 190 ff.;
Lipsmeier, 1997):
r traditional empirical social research;
r product and process evaluation;
r agency and action research;
r responsive evaluation;
r systemic evaluation.
As will be described in the following section, the agency and action research ap-
proach is of particular importance, due to the development of our understanding of
science and evaluation and also to the particular nature of pilot-project research
as practice-oriented research. The action-research approach and the orientation
towards practice are also encouraged by the fact that the institutions responsible
for this research field have undergone a distinct change: the role of university-based
scientific monitoring, which used to be the largest group in the past, has been taken
1508 P. Dehnbostel
over by private institutions, which now share more than 50% of the market. The pref-
erence for action research and evaluation—which is not always supported by scien-
tific argument—can surely be explained to a considerable degree by this evolution
in the organization of scientific monitoring. Its ‘commercially determined profes-
sionalization’ (Sloane, 1996, pp. 82 ff.) is closely associated with the demands and
interests of enterprises and project promoters. On the other hand, private research
institutes and research groups are distinguished by their proximity to practice and
also particularly by their high level of competence in the domains of counselling,
qualification and organizational development—that is, in the very domains that are
predestined for a modern, practice-oriented scientific monitoring.
Scientific monitoring faces the fundamental question of whether it should be or-
ganized with reference to entire programmes or to single pilot projects. The increase
in the number of individual pilot projects and relatively informal working groups has
been accompanied by a growth in project-related monitoring activities in the case
of business pilot projects. This entails the danger that deficits emerge with regard
to the generation of findings and results relevant to a range of projects, and that
the implementation and maintenance of scientific quality and research standards in
monitoring are hardly guaranteed to a sufficient degree. Furthermore, in respect of
the reduced or completely absent political and programmatic interest, there is the
question of how the innovative measures for the further development of the TVET
system will be put into practice. It has to be feared that pilot projects have the effect
of only ‘incremental innovation’ (Kern, 2001, pp. 25 ff.), that is, of piecemeal reform
measures that are largely limited to the target groups and institutions involved and
whose findings and results are either hardly transferable due to their singular nature
or even cancel each other out.
Another important change that can be noted in the development of pilot project
work is the growing importance of organizational and human-resource development
for innovations in TVET. Organizational development is associated with viewing
and changing structures, processes and individuals in a holistic way, whereas pilot
projects concentrating on TVET typically only affect parts of the organizations in-
volved in innovation processes. Taking into consideration the more holistic approach
of organizational development could bring new perspectives and approaches into
pilot projects and contribute to an increased participation of TVET in the shaping
of work and technology. However, the fact that pilot projects deal with compe-
tence and training standards in the public system of education also contributes to a
widening of organizational and human-resource development, which can expected
to be useful for enterprise and management concepts, like ‘the learning enterprise’
and ‘knowledge management’.
3 Pilot Project Research as Action and Utilization Research

In its initial phase, the scientific monitoring of pilot projects was strongly influenced
by empirical social research. This became evident in particular in the extensive
pilot projects carried out on the school-based and co-operative elementary voca-
tional training year. The empirical analysis in scientific monitoring was dominated
by quantitative procedures and methods, and in part the monitoring was conceived
as research to test hypotheses that had been formulated in advance. Its claim to
generate objective and accurate propositions and results followed the practice of the
natural sciences and was based on the epistemology of positivism. When the pilot
projects were completed, diverse judgements were made on the extent to which
the tested measures had achieved their objectives. The decision-making support for
education policy was thus based on the classic empirical foundation of a data set
as objective, as reliable and as valid as possible. Although the model function of
empirical and experimental basic research was no longer undisputed in this domain
after the positivism debate, the systematic distinction of theory and practice, the
abstraction from social contexts through standardization, the generation of nomo-
logical statements and the primacy of quantitative methods retained their position.
However, it turned out that the data produced in this way led neither to the desired
transferable theories nor to the aspired practice-oriented solutions to problems (see
Zimmer, 1997).
Already in the 1970s, action-oriented monitoring concepts had received increas-
ing attention—in line with the overall debate on action research (see, inter alia,
Moser, 1995, pp. 33 ff.). Qualitative methods were more frequently included and
the contribution of research to an innovative change of practice was improved. In-
stead of the independent investigation of the circumstances and objects of analysis,
scientific results should be closely connected with practical development activities
and should refer back to the latter. The strict separation of science and practice,
where scientists alone were supposed to possess expertise and predictive capacity,
while practitioners were at best conceded some participation and were otherwise
regarded as objects of study, appeared less and less tenable. As was observed in the
context of a pilot project supervised by the BIBB, monitoring ‘in which researchers
assumed the position of distanced, “neutral” observers and kept out of the project
at the local level could not be taken into consideration. Instead, a research process
directly included in the pilot project was necessary’ (Laur, 1978, p. 35).
The idea of action-oriented scientific monitoring was perceived, as Gstettner and
Seidl put it with regard to the evaluation design of the college level in North Rhine
Westphalia, as ‘an attack on the primacy of classical empirical social research in the
field of the evaluation of pedagogical innovations and as a plea for a large-scale shift
of paradigms’ (1979, p. 450). This took place in the context of a general change
in the understanding of science, which had presupposed until then ‘that scientific
knowledge was distinguished from pre-scientific knowledge through a principally
higher rationality’, that ‘it was taken to be “better justified”, “more rational” and
generally superior to traditional patterns of interpretation’ (Beck & Bonß, 1991,
p. 416). Following this logic, the ‘less rational or even irrational’ social practice
needs to be amended in line with scientific knowledge. On this position concern-
ing the relationship of science to practice there is agreement—despite the contrary
positions they normally take—even between critical theory and critical rationalism.
Accordingly, ‘practice [is perceived] following the model of a scientification of a
1510 P. Dehnbostel
non-scientific world, which must be adapted to the rationality standards of scientific

reflection’ (ibid.).
Action research was used in the form of many scientifically more-or-less sound
approaches and variants as the basis for a large proportion of the pilot projects car-
ried out since the 1970s. It currently appears to be the dominant type of scientific
monitoring. However, a precise estimation of the proportion is made difficult by the
fact that many researchers monitoring pilot projects do not give sufficient informa-
tion on their research approach. Action research refers to the principles originating
in Lewin’s approach, which constitutes an epistemologically independent approach
in the social sciences distinct from traditional empirical social research. The princi-
ples of action research, following the original concept and its further development,
are (see inter alia Flick, Kardoff & Steinke, 2000; Moser, 1995, pp. 33 ff.; Probst,
Raub & Romhardt, 1999, pp. 49 ff.):
1. The connection between research and practice, with research being understood
as interdisciplinary.
2. The reference of the research process to actions and related problems, develop-
ments and solutions.
3. The integration of theoretical knowledge and practical findings in the sense of a
survey and the spiral development of the latter.
4. The selection and employment of methods and instruments with the principal
objective of analysing on-going processes and enabling information and self-
regulation, where particular attention must be paid to the fact that changing
practice has effects on the research concept and theory so as to influence and
further develop them.
5. The participation of practitioners in the research process and of researchers in the
operative process; that is, suspension of the strict distinction between researchers
and practitioners or ‘research objects’, as well as partial reciprocal responsibility
for the further operation of research and practical processes.
The suspension of the distinction between researchers and practitioners mentioned
in the last paragraph has clear conceptual consequences on questions of co-operation
and methods. Totally equal treatment, as it applies to the responsive evaluation ap-
proach (see Ehrlich, 1995; Ehrlich & Heier, 1994; Sloane, 2005, p. 662), is not
reasonable given the different ‘systems of agency’ and ‘intentions of action’ in the
two groups. For instance, Habermas, in his ‘Theory of Communicative Action’,
emphasizes the distinction between the ‘agency system’ of the social scientist,
which is ‘normally a part of the academic system’, and the ‘agency intentions’ of
practitioners, whose ‘participation in the co-operative interpretation process [serves]
the establishment of a consensus, on the basis of which they can co-ordinate their
action plans and realise their relevant intentions’ (1981, p. 167). Despite all action
orientation and connectivity between theory and practice, one has to recognize the
different roles of researchers and practitioners and to take them into consideration
in the methodological design of scientific monitoring.
The steadily differentiating range of action orientation and the complementing—
rather than alternative—approaches of scientific monitoring nowadays include above
all the object-related research of Strauss (1994), the self-reflective research of

Bourdieu (1997) and the approach of utilization research that will be discussed
below. The pluralism of these various approaches promotes theoretical development
and serves, not least, to ensure and further develop the pilot-project approach and
scientific discourse. Utilization research is of particular relevance for scientific mon-
itoring because, from a methodological point of view, it pays great attention to the
application and practice-oriented aims and the theory/practice connection of pilot
projects. However, this does not entitle it to put forward a general model of scientific
monitoring, for it is surely correct that ‘an undoubtedly accurate model for scientific
monitoring cannot be worked out’ (Schemme, 2003, p. 35).
Utilization research discusses and investigates, under the catchword ‘utilization’,
the reception and use of theoretical findings and scientific knowledge in practice
and society (see Beck & Bonß, 1989; Kardoff, 2000). Its critical foundation is the
assumption that scientific results are largely without consequences and hardly trans-
ferable into political and institutional action. Scientifically generated knowledge is
accordingly not used in practice at all or, if it is, has a considerably modified or
even misinterpreted form. With its connection to real practical processes, utilization
research already takes into consideration the changed interpretation of science men-
tioned above, according to which science ‘does not generate “unconditioned truth”
that could be adopted without question. What it can offer is limited interpretations
which go further than common-sense theories, but which can be used in practice in
a similarly flexible way’ (Beck & Bonß, 1989, p. 31).
Utilization research belongs to the science/practice communication of pilot
projects and extends beyond the principles of action research outlined above, in-
sofar as the reference of the research process to actions takes place systematically
under the aspect of utilization. The objectives and research interests of scientific
monitoring are predominantly oriented towards practical innovations and their uti-
lization, but, nevertheless, scientific backing and theory building play a part that
must not be neglected. The point is not only generating practice-oriented results
and solutions, but also achieving theoretical and basic findings. Theoretical work
has to be connected to practice and it needs to be done in advance, as well as in
an accompanying and an evaluative way. The tension between practical innovation
and theory building is not overcome by utilization research, but should be perceived
as constitutive and directing from a conceptual point of view. The levelling of this
relationship via the adaptation of the researcher’s tasks to those of the promoter,
which can be observed in some pilot projects, results in the renunciation of an inde-
pendent role for science and its co-operation with practice. The difference between
science and practice is maintained in action research and utilization research, but
due to a changed relationship of theory and practice there is nevertheless a unity of
the two.
In utilization research the generation of knowledge takes place in the context
of application, which means that knowledge is generated in another environment
and under different conditions than usual (see Kremer, 2001, particularly pp. 50 ff.;
Reinmann-Rothmeier & Mandl, 1998). The situative integration of research leads
to a higher degree of social embeddedness and responsibility and to co-operative
1512 P. Dehnbostel
work schemes. In contrast to the traditional separation of basic research and applied
research, there is a continuous exchange of theoretical foundations and practical
applications and also a mutual reference of theory and practice.
4 The Cyclical Research Process Proven by Quality Criteria
Action and utilization research are often reproached for a lack of general relevance
or a lack of evidence for their research findings. This is, in fact, a danger that should
not be ignored. The predominant orientation towards evaluative measures and mea-
sures of organizational development—which is to be found, above all, in business
pilot projects—can lead to a negligence of research and theory and reduce scientific
monitoring to the functions of advice and organizational development, even if the
idea of action research is emphasized. These mistakes can be avoided by linking
the research process to binding quality criteria. For action and utilization research,
however, these must not or should not mainly be interpreted as the classical quality
criteria of empirical social research, like objectivity, reliability and validity, but in
criteria like inter-subjectivity, communicative validation, authenticity, triangulation
and adequacy (see Moser, 1995, pp. 118 ff.; Pätzold, 1995, pp. 62 ff.; Steinke, 1999,
pp. 205 ff.). These criteria are under discussion in the relevant literature on qualita-
tive social research with the consensus that their application depends on the selected
research approach and needs to take place in a way that is adequate to the object in
the relevant field of action. Before this requirement is discussed in detail, the process
of action-oriented research will first be described as an ideal type (see Dybowski
et al., 1999, p. 16).
The process of scientific monitoring in a pilot project consists, in principle, of
two successive conceptual stages that have to be repeated in a cyclical process up to
the empirically ascertained conclusion. As Figure 1 shows, these are theoretical con-
ceptions and empirical and practical conceptions. In the empirical and practical con-
ceptions, research fields and fields of action are depicted systematically with regard
to their development, design and analysis. A field of action can consist of a train-
ing programme, the development of material or the development of methods. The
theoretical conception comprises the fundamental research design of the monitoring
process, including a justification of the chosen research approach, the inventory and
description of existing fields of action, as well as those yet to be developed, and the
field-specific design of the study. The latter includes the state-of-the-art of the theory
concerning the research object, the major research questions and hypotheses, as well
as the research methods that are applicable in principle. The methodological design
usually chosen in action and utilization research assumes that research questions
and hypotheses are not constituted on the basis of a theory, but themselves must
be viewed as a part of theory building in the research field in question. This in-
ductive approach, typical of qualitative social research in general, makes it possible
to capture the links between economic, corporate and educational contents, which
are essential for the research interest. Another methodological assumption is the
Theoretical conceptions Empirical and practical

conceptions
Research design of scientific
monitoring
Field of action
Inventory and description of
existing fields of action and those
to be developed • Planning and development
• Design and implementation
• Analysis and evaluation
Field-specific research design:

• Theoretical references
• Fundamental questions
• Research hypotheses
• Methodological instruments Phase of reflection and revision,
new cycle
Fig. 1 The cyclical process of scientific monitoring
idea that there is no practice without theory, that each practice includes immanent
theories, which cannot be judged per se as right or wrong.
The empirical and practical conception refers in most cases to a number of
agency fields that are the topic of the pilot project. At the stages of planning and
developing a field of action, as well as of exercise and design, the supportive role
of scientific monitoring prevails, whereas at the stage of analysis and evaluation,
genuine research work takes place, which is based on research methods like inter-
views, observations, group discussions and document analyses. Based on the idea of
qualitative and developing, as well as utilization-oriented, research, the theoretical
foundations are further developed during and after their application in the research
field, especially according to the knowledge achieved in the analysis and evaluation
phase. The fact that this phase of analysis and evaluation is not organized in a sum-
mative way, as could be inferred from Figure 1, but rather in a formative way, is a
consequence of the qualitative research approach.
The quality criteria for qualitative research have to be made explicit in the the-
oretical conception of scientific monitoring, so that they can be realised in the em-
pirical and practical conception and further developed for a possible subsequent
cycle. As Pätzold argues: ‘in the current debate on quality criteria in qualitative re-
search, the opinion prevails that they cannot simply be taken over from quantitative
research. Criteria for qualitative research must be newly defined, filled with new
contents and match the procedure and objectives of the analysis’ (Pätzold, 1995,
p. 62). For pilot-project research, Pätzold takes the following criteria to be adequate:
1514 P. Dehnbostel
‘process documentation’, ‘proximity to the research object or relation to the agents

directly involved’, ‘communicative validation’ and ‘triangulation’ (ibid., pp. 63 ff.).
For the most part, this is in line with the statements in the relevant literature on
qualitative social research. As regards the distinction between general objectives
and quality criteria, variations in accentuating certain points are made especially
by Moser (1995, pp. 118 ff.). In his detailed discussion of quality criteria, Steinke
arrives at extensive ‘proposals for core criteria for the evaluation of qualitative re-
search’ (1999, pp. 205 ff.), which consider in particular constructivist positions and
thus the idea of a limiting reference framework. Here, the dependence of quality
criteria on the selected research approach is clearly pointed out, which again empha-
sizes the necessity of a theoretical and methodological foundation for a particular
approach in the context of agency- and utilization-oriented scientific monitoring. It
also has to be taken into consideration that the criteria should be basically named
and explained in the theoretical conception, but that their realization in concrete
action or in research has to be carried out in an object- and development-related
way.
Without the consideration, reflection and development of quality criteria, the
qualitatively oriented scientific monitoring of pilot projects remains arbitrary and
without proof. Besides, the criteria of the research process and of the epistemic and
innovation process make the development and the results of the pilot project trans-
parent and communicable, so that they facilitate, if not make possible, the transfer
of the latter.
5 Transfer and Structuration as Developmental Principles
The question of transfer has to be regarded as essential for the outcome and the
existence of pilot projects. For instance, Rauner concludes: ‘The answers of pilot-
project research to the question of the transfer effects of pilot projects in vocational
education and training will be decisive as to whether, to what extent and in what
way this instrument of innovation will be a part of the established research and
development programmes of the future’ (2004, p. 195). In the discussion on the
opportunities, achievements and shortcomings of previous transfer activities, there
emerged over recent years an increasingly critical view, which may be ‘based in part
on an overly naı̈ve understanding of the nature of the sequence of transfer processes’
(Euler, 2005, p. 57).
Without going further into this debate, it has to be observed that the dominant
role of practice in action and utilization research outlined above is particularly in
accordance with the transfer of processes, knowledge and results of pilot-project
work. It is the mission of utilization research in co-operation with researchers and
practitioners to continuously confront pilot-project developments and tests with the
application and immediate use for the pilot project and the further development
of TVET. This type of utilization research is analytical, discursive, supportive of
action and prospective (see Beck & Bonß, 1991; Dewe, 1991, p. 3). Moreover, the
real transfer has to be continuously included in the scope of utilization research as

far as possible and it has to be regarded as a development principle in pilot-project
work (see Dehnbostel & Demuth, 1995, pp. 48 ff.).
In a course of action of this kind there is—as discussed above—an influence
of practice on scientific monitoring that leads to a consideration of the trans-
fer, and conversely the research process influences practice and contributes to
the further development of the latter and the transfer process. The cyclical phase
model that was depicted in the previous section promotes this transfer orientation.
Transfer is used as a method and a development principle, both in the theoreti-
cal conception and in the empirical and practical conception. What takes place
is a transmission of (intermediate) results, experiences and processes which have
repercussive effects on the fields of action, the operation and the objectives of
the pilot project. This transmission must be understood in the sense of an ac-
tive use of developed, tested and theoretically secured innovations from the pi-
lot project into the practice of the regulatory system of vocational education and
training. In this regard, a distinction is necessary between transfer and contin-
uation (see Kutt, 2001; Pätzold et al., 2002, pp. 10 ff.). The continuation of
pilot-project processes and results means their sustainable use through the agents
involved in the pilot project, whereas the transfer aims at an application that
goes beyond the persons and institutions participating in the pilot project and sets
new standards in the TVET system via an active process of appropriation and
dissemination.
Methodically, the transfer takes place continuously and not immediately follow-
ing the generation of results. This means, for example, that a qualification pro-
gramme is not disseminated and transferred only after its successful operation, but
already at the testing stage. The traditional conception of transfer as the transmission
of a tested concept or a complete product is thus replaced with a process-oriented,
formative understanding of transfer. Transfer thus becomes an instrument for con-
tinuous feedback and has effects on the course of the pilot project, as well as on
developments on the part of the target person of the transfer, who actively uses the
contents of the transfer, thereby giving information on the adequacy and transfer-
ability of the contents. The transfer can therefore be conceived as a development
principle which is retroactive for the pilot project in question and which connects
and changes processes and objectives. Traditional transfer instruments, like written
material or workshops, still maintain their high relevance and can be supplemented
by Internet presentations and network activities. Moreover, the process orientation
and the character of the transfer as a development principle necessitate extensions
that become manifest, as mentioned above, particularly in the systematic integration
of the transfer in the pilot project work and in the cyclical monitoring process.
In respect of vocational education and training, structuration must be regarded
as another fundamental principle of pilot-project work. Pilot projects in vocational
education and training are characterized either by focusing on the agents under
the aspect of qualification, putting aside aspects of structure and organization,
or—conversely—by setting out from the structural and organizational conditions
and adapting the contents of learning and qualification. Both perspectives have
1516 P. Dehnbostel
meaningfulness and legitimacy and are often mixed in with real pilot-project work.
In an educational pilot project, this is often assumed to entail the risk of a dominance
of structure and organization for reasons of pedagogy and educational theory. On
the whole, pilot projects display a dualism of agency or qualification on the one
hand and structure and organization on the other, which becomes manifest in many
sociologically monitored pilot projects and in theoretical studies. As Walgenbach
explains, epistemic processes in science tend to ‘abstract from the institutional con-
text in (and through) which members of organizations act (and can act)’ or they tend
to ‘view the behaviour in and of organizations [. . . ] as determined by constraints’
(2001, p. 356).
This is where the theory of structuration with another scientific understanding of
structure and action, including practical and conceptual implementation, comes into
play. The dualism of action and structure need not, according to this theory, show
itself as a contradiction or opposition or be interpreted as such. It is assumed that
behaviour, actions and development processes in organizations are neither predom-
inantly determined by organizational constraints, nor unilaterally by the individual
will and self-organization of the members. The clarification of the relationship or
the overcoming of the dualism of agency and structure in an analytical, theoretical
and application-oriented perspective, and thus the creation of duality, is the major
commitment of structuration theory approaches in organizational theory (see, for
example, Ortmann, Sydow & Windeler, 1997; Windeler & Sydow, 2005), which are
based on the theory of structuration by the English sociologist Anthony Giddens.
For pilot-project work and pilot-project research, this approach is fundamental
as qualification and competence development have to be transferred through work
environments and learning structures. Successful pilot projects generally show that
organizational and structural conditions have to be put in a relation to agency and
learning, even if this does not occur on a theoretically validated basis. In TVET-
related pilot projects, a connection or duality between individual competence devel-
opment and objectively oriented structures is established, which shows at the same
time that structures have to be regarded as ‘a product and a medium of the actions of
social agents’ (Goltz, 1999, p. 75). Especially for pilot projects in company-based
in-service vocational training, the rule applies that the existing dualism of agency
and structure has to be transformed into a duality in which there is mediation be-
tween individual learning and action processes for competence acquisition on the
one hand and corporate working conditions and organizational structures on the
other. A duality is established when actions and structures mutually constitute each
other in recursive processes and have useful effects on each other.
6 An Outlook
As instruments of innovation and reform in technical and vocational education and

training, pilot projects have undergone a considerable increase of relevance since
the 1970s and have become an important instrument for the further development
and quality improvement of TVET. Scientific monitoring, as a necessary part of

pilot projects, has prevailed in the form of action and utilization research within a
variety of different research approaches. Practice orientation, in the sense of uti-
lization research, has to be understood as a theoretical and conceptual approach
that accompanies the fundamental extension of the social sciences in past years
and that is embedded into the context of action research. Particularly with re-
gard to business pilot projects, one has to draw attention to the growing impor-
tance of organizational and human-resource development for innovations in TVET.
The new business and work concepts associated with current social and economic
changes require continuous organizational and competence development processes
that are linked to concepts of lifelong learning and professional competence and
which must be viewed in the context of the transition from the industrial to the
knowledge- and service-based economy. In addition, pilot projects contribute, by
their reference to standards of competence and education and to the public system
of education, to a widening of human-resource and organizational development,
which can be expected to be of high value for enterprises with regard to busi-
ness and management concepts, such as ‘the learning enterprise’ and ‘knowledge
management’.
The criticisms directed against pilot projects for some time refer above all to
the actual innovative effects of pilot projects and the transfer of knowledge and
measures. The interpretation discussed above of transfer and structuration as devel-
opment principles of pilot projects pays attention to this reproach. What is more
important than this criticism is the change in education policy concerning the ‘re-
form of federalism’ that is currently taking place in Germany. In the context of this
reform, joint funding by the states and the federal government, as well as the frame-
work agreement on pilot projects, are being abolished, which removes the basis for
the BLK pilot projects. In this way, pilot projects in general are called into question,
even though the position of business pilot projects continues to be formally secured
by their specification in the Vocational Education and Training Act of 2005. The
realization of the changes in education policy announced during the discussion on
the reform of federalism would not only impede and call into question innovation
and reforms in the TVET system, but would also weaken the competitiveness of
the economy, the labour-market prospects of trainees and the employability of those
participating in in-service education—all of which are linked to continuous inno-
vation of the education system. These arguments were not taken into consideration
in the current discussion. There is the danger that the reform of federalism will
inflict irreparable damage on pilot projects with regard to the necessary reforms
and innovations. To the experimental and innovative development of measures and
concepts, their scientific monitoring and their transfer in the sense described in this
chapter, there is no alternative.
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Chapter IX.7
TVET and R&D Evaluation:
The Potential for Optimizing TVET
1 Introduction
In this chapter, we analyse the role evaluation and evaluation methods have typically
played so far in the field of TVET and argue that the adaptation of newer evalua-
tion approaches could be helpful for optimizing the learning processes underlying
successful TVET.
First, we will briefly discuss the role evaluation used to play (and still plays)
concerning TVET. We argue that this role is not sufficient to evaluate TVET in a
useful way as it neglects the ‘black box’ of innovation that is crucial for all learning
processes at individual, project or organizational level. Other evaluation approaches
that focus on innovation in the area of research and development could be used
instead to light up this black box. Subsequently, we give an overview of what eval-
uation methods are used under what circumstances for what purposes (parts three
to six). In the seventh part, we describe what aspects of TVET could be interesting
subjects for evaluation. In the eighth part, we present an example of a formative
evaluation method to show the potentials of evaluation tools for TVET. Finally, in
part nine we develop suggestions on how these evaluation methods could be used.
2 Evaluating TVET: Historical Trends and Problems
Evaluation is a systematic and objective process that assesses the relevance, efficiency
and effectiveness of policies, programmes and projects in attaining their originally stated
objectives. It is both a theory- and practice-driven approach, whose results feed back into the
policy-making process and help in formulating and assessing policy rationales. However,
there is still a lot of confusion on what evaluation can realistically and effectively achieve
(Fahrenkrog et al., 2002).
This quotation can be found in the IPTS Technical Report ‘RTD evaluation toolbox:
assessing the socio-economic impact of RTD policies’. This toolbox differentiates
between eleven evaluation methodologies and concerns describing, for example,
their applicability to policy instruments and interventions, examples of good prac-
tice, conditions for application, data requirements, scope and limits. Taking four

1522 L. Deitmer, L. Heinemann
classical fields of research and technological development (RTD) policy (financing

R&D; provision of R&D infrastructure; technology transfer and innovation diffu-
sion; legal framework), the report analyses different possible evaluation method-
ologies (Polt & Rojo, 2002). The report, however, does not make any reference to
TVET—and this is not very surprising. Up until now, neither the part TVET may
play in introducing innovations in a learning organization nor the role evaluation
may play in this process have been thoroughly examined. Since the introduction of
evaluation procedures at the beginning of the twentieth century, the main subject
of evaluation has usually been the effects and impacts of policies, programmes and
projects.1 So, evaluation has been carried out when TVET is organized in the form
of a project or a programme and when some stakeholder(s) wanted to find out about
the programme’s effectiveness. This obviously does not apply to many countries
or many ways of organizing TVET. When some, mostly local or regional, TVET
programme was evaluated, this evaluation frequently concentrated on directly mea-
surable effects—a category such as ‘the number of participants entering the labour
market in a given time span after the end of training’ being inevitably one of the
most obvious measures.2
This has had the effect that evaluating TVET was viewed in the same way as
evaluating any other policy programme (and thus not giving TVET a prominent
place in discussions on evaluation methodologies and fields). Furthermore—and
probably most importantly—this setting has restricted the use of evaluation methods
in TVET, as programme evaluations mostly looked at the effectiveness of a given
programme, but not at the underlying learning processes in TVET themselves. If,
for example, labour-market entry is the single most important category to evaluate
the quality of a TVET programme, some crucial aspects of TVET fall out of focus.
Generally speaking, the aim of TVET is to educate people in such a way that they
are suitably skilled to enter a future labour market, to adapt to further changes in
technology and work organization, and even to play an active role in these changes
(Manske, 1994; Manske, Mickler & Wolf, 1994).
Two interlinked aspects in this definition do not allow the relevance, efficiency
and effectiveness of TVET to be reduced to a simple category like labour market
entry. First, TVET aims at future skill needs. The pace of technological and or-
ganizational development means that any TVET that is solely focused on today’s
skill needs may already be out of date by the time the trainees enter the labour
market. Thus, TVET has to aim at a thorough, broad understanding of a profession
enabling graduates to incorporate new knowledge and developments. This leads to
the second aspect—that TVET is education. Enabling people to adapt to (and even
actively shape) future technologies and work organizations, to become experts in
their professions who are able to reflect upon work processes and optimize them,
requires a broad range of skills—domain-specific as well as general ones. Develop-
ing these skills, TVET has to restrain itself partially from the actual demands of the
labour market in order to secure skills for the future.3
These indirect effects of TVET are hard to measure and thus normally left out of
evaluations. Moreover, one can often analyse them only a considerable time after the
end of a given TVET programme. But, if the aspects of TVET we briefly sketched
IX.7 TVET and R&D Evaluation: The Potential for Optimizing TVET 1523
above are crucial for the effectiveness and relevance of TVET, evaluation has to
change its direction so as to be able to obtain satisfactory results. From analysing
overall outcomes, we have to shift our aim to look at the underlying learning pro-
cesses in TVET.
Apart from evaluating the results of processes, evaluation has a long-standing
tradition of trying to optimize processes themselves. Here, we see the advantage of
applying these approaches to the evaluation of TVET. Especially for the evaluation
of R&D processes, evaluation methods have been developed that aim at looking
into change processes themselves and optimizing them. In the final chapter, we will
discuss what preconditions have to be met for evaluating this role. Now, in order
to shed light on the whole panorama, we first will give an overview of different
evaluation methods that may be used for different purposes.
3 The Purposes of Evaluation

In general, evaluation can be geared to the following purposes and grouped accord-
ing to the following evaluation types (Will, Winteler & Krapp, 1986; Kromrey, 2001,
p. 114; Stockmann, 2002, p. 221).
3.1 Evaluations Performed for Legitimation Purposes

Evaluation focuses mainly on examining the efficiency and effectiveness of the mea-
sures, projects and planning goals. It often centres on output measurements based on
figures. Input/output comparisons are used to examine the return on investment and
the degree to which requirements have been met. Questions that can be at the heart
of the examination are, for instance, whether the project was worth the financial
outlay and whether the measures undertaken have proved to be cost-effective. An-
other variation is a target-hitting check, i.e. whether and to what extent the project’s
defined targets have been achieved so far. The results of a programme are usually
analysed after its completion and its success evaluated by external evaluators.
3.2 Evaluations to Broaden the Knowledge Base
This kind of evaluation serves above all scientific interests by examining the effec-
tiveness of social interventions in the form of research using scientific methods (e.g.
by formulating and checking hypotheses). Here, designs are realized that allow ef-
fects to be allocated to project activities by controlling the relevant framework con-
ditions, using methods that are uncontested. Methods of empirical social research
dominate here and the evaluator must be seen as an external social researcher. A
typical question to be examined here would be whether, for instance, the measures
carried out during a project were the cause that led to the achievement of goals (see
examples in: Simmie, 1997; Deitmer, 2004).
3.3 Evaluations Geared to Development and Promoting Dialogue
Evaluations of this type have, above all, a formative and supportive approach
and are designed to strengthen the quality development and quality assurance
within the innovation process. In the United States evaluation community, the
range of participation-based evaluation approaches has expanded to include types
with names such as ‘empowerment evaluation’, ‘fourth-generation evaluation’ or
‘participatory evaluation’ (Guba & Lincoln, 1989; Fetterman, Kaftarian & Wanders-
man, 1996; Patton, 1997). In contrast to scientifically distanced and/or external eval-
uation (see para. 3.2 above), this kind of evaluation is, above all, characterized by a
broad participation of the ‘affected parties’ in the evaluation process. Accordingly,
the evaluation is designed as a process of structured presentation and confrontation
of (partly conflicting) perspectives of the various actors. The evaluator or the eval-
uation team acts, among other things, as a moderator and supports the discussion
process between the actors within the framework of the changes supported by the
programme (examples are: Ehrlich, 1995; Deitmer et al., 2003, p. 213).
4 General Perspectives on Evaluation
A common and important differentiation is analysing under what circumstances

suitable and relevant evaluation tools can be best used and what effect was made
between ex-ante, intermediate and ex-post evaluation. Below, we explain the key
issues and purposes of these approaches:
1. Ex-ante perspectives of evaluation. The key issues are to appraise the potential
scientific, social and economic benefits of a programme or project, to ensure that
benefits should cover the costs, to agree on research objectives and targets, work
plans and to define the necessary monitoring processes (Boden & Stern, 2002,
p. 6). This is also classified as pre-formative or prospective evaluation (Stock-
mann, 2002, p. 222).
2. Intermediate perspectives of evaluation (Boden & Stern, 2002, p. 6), which
means formative evaluation. In this case, the evaluation is carried out during the
life-cycle of an on-going programme and project. This can be also classified as
implementation research evaluation. A formative evaluation refers to the regular
feedback on achievements made while the project or programme is being carried
out. The primary function of this kind of evaluation is to inform stakeholders
about the achievements, but also about blockages or malfunctioning elements
within the R&D process. Stakeholders like programme managers, practitioners
and providers of R&D want to be informed on these achievements in order
to steer R&D processes for good ends. This formative evaluation activity may
require the active co-operation of the direct and indirect project actors in the
process of evaluation. The purpose of this evaluation in the course of the process
is to achieve optimal co-ordination of objectives and measures in the envisaged

field of activity (Hughes & Nieuwenhuis, 2005, p. 18).
3. Ex-post perspective on evaluation. This is evaluation of the impact or results
of a programme or a project usually comparing input and output. This is also
known as summative evaluation, expressing the ‘drawing up of a balance sheet’.
According to Kromrey, summative evaluation means a summarizing or final
judgement on the effects brought about by, for instance, an R&D programme
(Kromrey, 1995, p. 313)—or brought about by a single R&D project. Answers
to the following questions are sought: What effects have been achieved by the
project measures? Has the programme achieved its goals? What conclusions can
be drawn for the organization of future processes both at the project and at the
programme level?
In practice, these three phases (and thus the three evaluation approaches) are
interlinked; there is, for example, feedback between intermediate or ex-post eval-
uation and ex-ante evaluation or the design process of programmes. Also ex-post or
summative evaluation is contributing or can contribute to the formation of new or
prolonged programmes.
5 Evaluation Approaches: Utility Versus Scientific Quality
In the course of an evaluation, the methods and approaches of empirical social

research are applied. The focus here is not on ‘the logic of a science geared to
gaining knowledge, generalization and transferability’, but ‘the logic of a practical
project geared to the “success” of its activity, often as part of a state-administrative
intervention programme or an intervention programme funded by social organiza-
tions’ (Kromrey, 1995, p. 315). Therefore, this type of evaluation cannot be equated
with scientific basic research, but is application-oriented and places the applicability
and utility of the evaluation results in the foreground. Evaluation is thus a form of
practical research or action research. However, it demands professional work and
the observance of scientific principles from the evaluators.
The processes of change when carrying out a project, programme or other ob-
ject of evaluation are seen as social processes, which favour an evaluation design
that is qualitative, process-oriented and process-accompanying and therefore to a
certain extent open. Increasingly, the dominant view is that evaluations must more
strongly reflect the perspectives and needs of the stakeholders, and that qualitative
and quantitative methods can usefully be combined (multi-method approaches).
In the last two decades, this has led to a change in the theory and practice of
evaluations of publicly-funded programmes. This demands above all that both the
people directly affected by a project, as well as the people responsible for a project,
must be able to use the evaluation results. Consequently, Stockmann states: ‘The
quality of evaluations can therefore not be measured by one criterion alone. Not only
the scientific quality of the result is important, but also the fact that evaluations are
useful, because only then can they have an impact on political and social processes
of change’ (Stockmann, 2002). So, the utility criterion has gained broad recognition
alongside the scientific quality criterion. This has been a focus of evaluation dis-
cussions for many years. Or, as Chelminsky (1995, p. 6) describes the more recent
development of evaluation research: ‘We think less about absolute merits of one
method versus another, and more about whether and how using them in concert
could result in more conclusive findings.’
6 Process-Oriented Methods of R&D Evaluation
Most evaluation approaches focus on input (e.g. money) and/or on output data (e.g.
new market products) because these factors are easy to quantify. Such evaluations
are often done by external evaluators and usually take the form of final or summative
evaluations. Despite the fact that such evaluations provide valuable insights into
cost/benefit issues, the missing link is that they do not deal with the process as
such. Also, they do not actively involve the actors and stakeholders. Especially in
evaluating R&D processes, formative evaluation methods were developed and used
that focus on innovation and learning processes.
The three key questions for R&D project members are as follows:
r What are the critical success criteria for assessing the performance of our R&D
project?
r Does the evaluation approach allow us to clarify what has helped or hindered the
co-operation and communication processes?
r What is the link between input criteria (e.g. resources) and the knowledge sharing
and collective learning effects?
When selecting appropriate R&D evaluation criteria, one can consider four types of
data (Smith & Blundel, 2001) relating to R&D measures:
1. Input data: for example, R&D financial inputs (number and quality of R&D
experts employed and physical resources invested in an innovation project);
2. Output data: for example, patents emerging from an innovation project;
3. Bibliometric data: e.g. scientific publications (including co-publications by re-
search bodies and industry and/or citation indexes).
4. Information about the innovation process as such.
Evaluation of the fourth item assists R&D actors in accessing the quality of the
co-operation, in order to find out what is going or not going well. In other words,
evaluation methods of this type try to look into the ‘black box’ of the innovation
process.
7 Areas of TVET—Areas of Evaluation
The whole range of evaluation methods and fields can be applied to TVET in var-
ious ways. In this part of our chapter, we will sketch what evaluation designs have
proved useful or could be worthwhile to apply to what aspects of TVET. Obvi-
ously, this depends heavily on the way TVET is organized. For example, on-the-job
training requires a different approach than school-based training in terms of roles,
actors and settings to be analysed, as well as in terms of categories to evaluate
against.
When evaluating on-the-job training, one has to analyse for the learning pro-
cess the relation between trainee and trainer (and possibly other co-workers), where
learning often follows a novice/expert paradigm. Here, a central question is how
the trainee acculturates into a community of practice with its specific values and
social norms. Evaluation may be interested in how informal knowledge about work
processes, subjects and organization is transmitted, to what degree work tasks work
as learning tasks, to what extent the organization of work processes allows or holds
back learning, what the core skills for a specific profession are, how they are trans-
mitted, to what extent does assessment reflect these skills and so on.
For school-based learning, relevant settings and actors would be the school and
its teachers. Here, one focus of evaluation would be curricula (e.g. based on sub-
jects or learning areas) and didactic approaches (e.g. action-oriented, problem-based
learning, etc.), the relation of theoretical knowledge to real-work processes, the
school’s means to simulate work processes, etc.
Furthermore, for alternating organizations of TVET, like Germany’s, Austria’s
and Switzerland’s dual system or the United Kingdom’s modern apprenticeship, the
co-operation between the different learning places is another important focus of
evaluation.4 Main categories here are: (a) co-operation and collaboration between
school and enterprises and more directly between trainers and teachers; (b) how
general theoretical knowledge taught at vocational school is ‘translated’ to make
it applicable for practical problems; (c) how practical knowledge developed at the
workplace in industries or in-service organizations is translated into school sub-
jects; (d) how school-teachers keep up-to-date with technological and organizational
change at the workplaces, etc.
Additionally, there are important subjects for evaluation at the first and sec-
ond ‘thresholds’ for young adults—entering training and leaving training into the
labour market. At the first threshold, one may be interested on the individual level
in how the skills and knowledge acquired in general education fit into the needs
of the training system and form a sound base to master the profession in train-
ing. At the system level, one may ask about the efficiency and effectiveness of
the mechanisms leading to TVET (career guidance, regional demand and supply,
etc.). At the second threshold, evaluation can focus at the individual level on the
fit between skills acquired during TVET and labour-market demands and the effec-
tiveness of socialization into a community of practice; at the system level, into the
efficiency of mechanisms leading people into the labour market, matching training
and jobs, etc.
Interestingly, most of these evaluation foci are related to processes themselves

and not to their results. Thus, beyond the focus of many evaluation studies that
concentrate on the outcomes of TVET or a TVET programme (as legitimate and
important as they obviously are), there is another area where evaluation has not yet
been this established but could nevertheless have an important impact. Interestingly,
the examples we chose for evaluation of the TVET process have above all a clear
affinity to formative evaluation methods looking at innovation and learning pro-
cesses. Still, a broad mix of evaluation methods is important here too. In this area,
one can use external evaluation as well as self-evaluation methods for the stakehold-
ers involved in these processes, like trainers, teachers and the professional students
themselves. For example, trainers, teachers and trainees can evaluate together the
content and learning opportunities of a typical work and learning task in TVET, or
external evaluators can analyse the processes in vocational schools when trying to
adapt to new curricula. Obviously, there are a lot of other options for evaluating
TVET processes, which we will not try to mention or even systematize here. The
point we wanted to make in this part of the chapter is that the learning processes
underlying TVET are an important field of evaluation that has not yet received the
attention it deserves. Analysing these processes, it is worthwhile to supplement the
evaluation methods that are well known in evaluating outcomes and impacts with
methods that are used in R&D evaluation. This has the advantage that evaluation
can focus directly on the learning processes and their effects on trainee, trainer and
possibly whole organizations. We will discuss this point in our final section, after
describing more in depth below one of these formative, process-oriented evaluation
methods in order to illustrate their design and to clarify their potential to analyse
learning processes.
8 An Example of a Process-Oriented Evaluation Method
The evaluation design of the EE Tool (Deitmer & Ruth, 1999; Deitmer et al., 2003;
Deitmer, 2008) represents a type of evaluation designed to promote innovation pro-
cesses and to support their actors. This evaluation tool is intended to improve and/or
support the self-control and self-determination of the actors concerned. This is done
through a systemic process of reflection. The goal is to find out the extent to which
innovations become effective—even beyond the support period. In this procedure an
intermediate/concomitant and project-supporting form of evaluation (Kromrey also
refers to the ‘helper and advisor model’ of the evaluation, 1995, p. 332) is selected
whose purpose is to ensure that interim results of the evaluation can already be
reflected back into the process during implementation of the project.
The evaluation process (Figure 1) consists of a preliminary clarification of the
evaluation criteria to be applied, an evaluation workshop with the weighting and
evaluation of the criteria by the TVET project actors, an internal evaluation by the
external evaluation team and a perspective meeting that provides feedback on the
course and results of the evaluation for the people involved. During the evaluation
A. Preparation of the criteria system

• forming an external evaluation team;
• elaborating performance criteria in relation to
programme goals and effects;
• preparing the project’s practitioners and promoters.
D. Feedback B. Self-evaluation
• mirroring back the results of the self- • gathering information on project
evaluation; achievements;
• discussion, conclusion and further • individual weighting and scoring of criteria;
outlook; • min./max. discussion;
• final report. • reflection and consensus discussion.
C. Analysis
• documenting the discussion;
• visualization of the results;
• external views on strength & weaknesses.
Fig. 1 Evaluation cycle of an actor-oriented programme evaluation
process, the project actors are encouraged to undertake criteria-based self-evaluation

in order to assess how well the project goals are achieved. The various viewpoints of
the actors are made clear during these discussions. This can lead to conclusions for
further action. Finally, the process is documented in a project management report
which can detail newly agreed goals.
The most important design element of the EE Tool is the criteria-based ques-
tionnaire. The criteria were selected on the basis of innovation theory research lit-
erature (Deitmer et al., 2003, pp. 137–70) and deal with the following five topics:
goals; resources; project management; partnership development; and communica-
tion/learning. These criteria are briefly described below.
8.1 Safeguarding the Self-Evaluation Process

The moderator team formed before the evaluation starts should display a degree of
independence from the specific interests of the different network partners. During
the first half-day workshop the stakeholders and actors of the network weigh and
score the above-outlined criteria. The evaluation approach is based on an individual
and collective self-assessment on the actors. Based on the criteria assessment, the
reasons for lower or higher scores are expanded by the actors in the discussions.
Through group discussions insights about the different aspects of the project im-
provement process emerge. It is important that group discussions are not just about
reaching a ‘compromise’ between the different actors, but should enable everybody
to have a deeper understanding of their position in the network.
This kind of evaluation requires additional skills for the evaluator. He/She has
to act as a moderator or facilitator of the discussion and needs to cover sufficient
knowledge about evaluation methods in general (Heinemann, 2008).
Existing evaluation models do not elicit this understanding. Boden and Stern
state that: ‘We do not have sufficiently developed models that explain the relation-
ships between RTD (research, technology and development policies), other socio-
economic processes and mediating factors and socio-economic impacts such as
competitiveness, innovation, public health and quality of life’ (Boden & Stern, 2002,
p. 13).
Obviously, the main focus of this tool is on learning processes as they display
themselves in the course of R&D projects. When applying it to TVET, one has to
adapt (and even substantially change) it according to the different settings. Thus,
main criteria would be those that refer to learning, e.g. in workplace-based TVET.
But the approach itself—to help the actors by means of self-evaluation to get in-
sights into the learning processes, their preconditions, the factors enabling and con-
straining them, etc.—still remains valid.
9 Conclusion: From Evaluating TVET to Evaluation

in TVET?
As a routine task accompanying processes, evaluation is still not widespread in the

TVET sector. When evaluations are carried out, this is often done to evaluate effec-
tiveness and efficiency of specific TVET programmes, often driven by reasons of
accountability. The broad panorama of evaluation methods and their possible mix
we described here aimed at showing that there are areas of TVET where evalua-
tion can have a suitable impact too (see also: Dehnbostel, 1995; Lipsmeier, 1997;
Ehrlich, 1995; Rauner, 2002).
Focusing on the underlying learning processes and using also formative, process-
oriented methods is not a task that is easily integrated into TVET. Here, at the con-
clusion of our chapter, we will describe some of the most important preconditions
and implications to expand the field of evaluation to TVET.
When evaluating learning processes, we have to be sure to sufficiently involve
the most relevant stakeholders—teachers/trainers and learners. Often, some aspects
of self-evaluation can be used here, as the real experts for the learning process are
the participants themselves.
It is useful to carry through evaluations in a way that allows the participants
to make use out of the results, i.e. that they can optimize their learning processes.
Using methods of formative evaluation can help this.
But this implies not only adapting evaluation methods that have not been widely
used in TVET, but also changing the scope of evaluation. If we are to analyse
learning processes, we have to focus on what is happening at the schools or the
workplaces themselves. Instead of evaluating large-scale programmes, there is a
point here to carry out evaluation practices on a small scale in order to optimize
training and learning. By integrating evaluation into the everyday routines of TVET,
there is a lot to gain: first of all, by focusing on actual learning processes, TVET
can become a part of the evolution of the organizations that carry out TVET. In
this way, TVET may be seen as part of an on-going process of quality devel-
opment. Again, this requires embedding TVET evaluation into the processes of
quality development that go on in an organization as a whole and implies a pro-
cess of collaboration and co-operation between the persons in charge of TVET
and the quality department—something that is not easy to organize. In an on-
going German project5 (Rauner, 2006) on quality in TVET, we found that ex-
actly those companies that undertook this effort are the ones that usually meet the
highest quality standards and achieve the greatest profit from TVET in terms of
apprentices that already, during their apprenticeship phase, are highly productive
workers.
Obviously, there are some pitfalls in concentrating on formative forms of evalu-
ation and self-evaluation in TVET. The main problem already demonstrates itself
by having used the notion of quality development and not quality assurance in
the paragraph above. These evaluation methods do not tend to deliver results that
are easily comparable to others. This is already true on the enterprise or school
level. Formative and process-oriented methods have been developed to optimize
(on-going) processes—not to evaluate results. On the school or enterprise level,
the application of such methods means being able to find out where problems are,
and how to solve them during the process—something that may balance out the
loss of comparability, e.g. between different classes at school or the problems of
TVET in different vocations at one enterprise. If we move on now to a larger-
scale comparing performance of different schools and different enterprises, and
different TVET projects and programmes (or even different TVET systems), the
problems with these evaluation methods deepen. Up to now, we are not aware
of any method that directly compares the results of such evaluation methods in
TVET. What one is able to do, however, is to analyse results in terms of good prac-
tice and develop general recommendations that have to be adapted to the different
cases.
In general, this means that one should make use of the whole arsenal of eval-
uation methods in TVET. Evaluation methods that have been used for a long
time in analysing outcomes and impacts of TVET (and other) programmes have
their own right and may be ideal to compare results on a larger scale. This can
be accompanied, too, by using evaluation as part of the quality management of
TVET processes—an approach that is still in its infancy. Here, evaluation deliv-
ers results that may not be readily comparable but can help to optimize the ways
TVET is actually carried out, including weak factors that influence the learning
process and are often neglected. Thus, especially R&D evaluation, when care-
fully adapted, has the potential of uniting TVET and quality and shedding some
more light into the ‘black box’ of innovation that underlies learning processes in
companies.
Notes
1. In recent decades, another focus of evaluation has emerged—formative approaches try to op-
timize on-going processes by, for example, raising communication levels between actors or
empowering stakeholders.
2. Obviously, there have been other kinds of evaluation carried out in TVET. We simplify here in
order to sketch a general trend.
3. A third reason not to restrict evaluation of TVET to its direct efficiency in terms of labour-
market entry would be that this is not a solid measure as it depends to a large extent on other in-
fluences that one cannot control—national, regional and local growth rates, international trade,
etc. The most sophisticated TVET programme cannot create jobs during a general economic
depression. Thus, this argument does not consider the general problem of evaluation and TVET
we are discussing here.
4. As it is for the ideal types mentioned before, too. As on-the-job training normally cannot do
without theoretical inputs on subjects of the profession, school-based training in TVET requires
practical phases, too.
5. IBB 2010: The main goal of this regional programme is to support the quality of innova-
tive apprenticeship. The programme covers all aspects of the dual apprenticeship system, the
school-to-work transition, as well as the implementation of ‘real’ dual approaches integrating
apprenticeship and technical school/university qualifications and certificates.
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Chapter IX.8
TVET Research Organizations and Scientific
Communities:1 Challenges
to the Institutionalization of TVET Research
1 Introduction
This chapter provides an overview of the extent and the shape of the organization of
TVET research on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and its
variations across different countries and supra-national organizations. This will be
carried out by describing some fundamental challenges regarding the institutional-
ization of TVET research, reporting about the form of TVET research in different
national and supra-national contexts, and then summarizing and pointing out some
future directions.
As many contributions to this handbook will show, TVET is embedded into
complex interplays of historically evolved societal functions. Patterns of techno-
logical and economic innovation, labour markets and industrial relations and ed-
ucation systems and traditions are the main determinants of the actual situation,
policies and practices of TVET in different countries. With this variation, the re-
search questions, methodologies and the location in disciplinary maps vary ac-
cordingly. These varying national and cultural traditions of TVET research are,
however, based on the same historical roots, as well as confronted with concur-
rent challenges brought about by ‘megatrends’, such as increasing globalization and
international competition and the accelerating speed of technological and economic
innovation.
As to the joint roots, one can refer to central European traditions of learning in
practice and its institutionalization in the form of master/apprentice relations, which
are found not only in the mediaeval crafts sector, but also in other cultures, as eth-
nological studies on learning have illustrated impressively (Lave & Wenger, 1991).
Learning in practical environments as opposed to more formalized learning settings,
such as in schools, colleges and universities, can claim to be an anthropological con-
stant and is probably more widespread than the equally universal modern systems
of schooling.
As to the universal challenges, many problems regarding the reproduction and
further development of technological and economic knowledge and its societal
distribution are very similar across cultures, when one looks below the surface
of international variations. To some extent the ‘knowledge society’ stands in the
way of acknowledging the significant function of skills and more implicit forms of

1536 W. Wittig et al.
knowledge for economic and social processes (Neuweg, 2004; Schön, 1983), than
is usually associated with the term ‘knowledge society or economy’.
Nevertheless, in all industrialized countries certain forms of researching aspects
and structures of TVET have developed. Very broadly speaking, the degree of in-
stitutionalization of research on TVET as a domain or even a discipline of research
varies with the degree to which vocational education is assigned a significant role
within the overall educational and socio-economic environment. Since learning in
and for practical work settings does not constitute an explicit part of the education
system in every national tradition, any attempt to depict the global situation of the
institutionalization of this research has to be rather open in nature.
The roots on which the development of TVET research associations are based can
be broadly clustered into the research strands and disciplinary frameworks shown in
Table 1.
Therefore, any scientific association that can be classified into one or more of
these broad research strands will cover certain aspects of TVET research, partly
implicitly and sometimes explicitly, for example through certain networks and spe-
cial interest groups. Before turning to some scientific associations that might be
to a certain extent ‘national’, but can be characterized as ‘international’ in their
scope and impact, some examples will be given of the national institutionalization
of TVET research.
Table 1 Grouping of TVET research associations into research strands and disciplinary
frameworks
Research strand Disciplinary framework
Socio-economic training and qualification Sociology and political sciences
research
Life-course and school-to-work transition Sociology and social psychology
Educational and curriculum research Education, teacher training and educational research
Empirical psychological research on Psychology and empirical educational sciences
learning and the development of
expertise
Economic research on investments into Economics and macro-economic research
education and learning
Research on human resources Business administration and HRD
development (HRD)
Research production technologies and Scientific management, ergonomics, work sciences
learning
2 TVET Research at the National Level
2.1 Australia
Australia is a federal State in which powers are shared between the central gov-
ernment and the federal states or ‘territories’. According to the 1901 Constitution,
general and vocational education both fall within the competence of the federal
states. The role of the federal government in education and vocational education
IX.8 TVET Research Organizations and Scientific Communities 1537
derives from its responsibility for Australia’s overall economic development. The
Commonwealth Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs
(DEETYA), which came into being in 1996, ensures the relative national uniformity
and unity of the education and vocational training system, and provides a large
amount of the necessary funding.
The major providers of initial vocational courses are the publicly financed techni-
cal and further education (TAFE) colleges, which are included in the tertiary sector
of education. Apart from initial training, they also provide further training as well
as courses following on from initial vocational courses. Structured training in the
workplace is provided through apprenticeships or traineeships. In the late 1980s,
together with the federal states, territories, employers and social partners, the cen-
tral government initiated a reform process to reorganize the vocational education
system based on the training-reform agenda. The main elements in this reform are
the implementation of the competence-oriented organization of training, a complete
overhaul of the introductory stage and the introduction of structured training at the
workplace.
In the interests of unified, nationwide shaping and co-ordination of the TVET
system during this revision, the central and federal authorities agreed on a new
national system of vocational education which was approved in July 1992. The
Australian National Training Authority (ANTA), which has been in operation since
early 1994, is the most important body. ANTA supports TVET research activities
in many respects. This means that TVET research in public research institutes and
in universities can concentrate on a clearly definable area of initial and further vo-
cational education for the whole of the Commonwealth of Australia, with all of its
variations, and provide its research results as a contribution towards the reform of
vocational education.
In addition to the activities of the Australian Council for Educational Research
(ACER), the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) also
carries out applied TVET research. It was founded in 1980 in Adelaide as a limited
liability company, and is the most important institution in this field of research.
The NCVER’s research activity essentially focuses on skill-oriented training, pro-
cedures for assessing the results of skill-oriented qualification methods and man-
agement methods for (workplace-related) training projects. The National Training
Markets Research Centre (NTMRC) is also located within the NCVER. This is a co-
operation project involving the NCVER and Flinders University’s National Institute
of Labour Studies.
Since 1992 a centre in Monash University—the Centre for the Economics of
Education and Training (CEET)—has been dealing with specific questions related
to the economics of education and vocational training. It is funded by ANTA through
the Research Advisory Council.
At the University of Technology in Sydney there is also a Research Centre for
Vocational Education and Training—RCVET. This centre is also funded by the
ANTA Research Advisory Council. It works on research, diffusing research results
and supporting other research activities, and in so doing falls back on the widely
recognized expertise of the University of Technology’s School of Adult Education.
The research focus is learning at the workplace, and its assessment.
2.2 China
In the People’s Republic of China—as in other countries—TVET research goes

hand-in-hand with economic, industrial and social development. Chinese vocational
education experts date the start of TVET research at the same time as the creation of
the industrial schools in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The expan-
sion of industry sparked a need for qualified workers who had acquired some sort of
organized vocational qualification. This need for vocational education led to a need
for TVET research. From 1949 to the start of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, TVET
research supported in particular the development of technical secondary schools and
skilled workers schools.
The reform of vocational education, which was carried out in the late 1970s,
sparked a major increase in the demand for TVET research. Nowadays, there are
independent research institutes at State level, in provinces, towns and autonomous
areas, as well as in technical colleges and universities. Vocational education is be-
coming a discipline in its own right within the field of educational science. The sixth
Five-year Plan only mentioned one vocational education project, but by the seventh
this figure had already risen to eleven. The figure continued to rise, reaching forty-
two by the ninth Five-year Plan. Half of these projects are based in the education
ministry.
Some of the most important research institutions at State level are the Min-
istry of Education’s Central Institute for Vocational Training (CIVT), the Occu-
pational Skill and Testing Authority (OSTA)—which comes under the Ministry
for Labour—various vocational education societies and associations, as well as
research bodies in branch ministries and commissions. The CIVT, which was
set up in 1990, is a national research institute whose research focuses on ser-
vices with a view to the reform and further development of vocational educa-
tion. The centre of attention lies with applied research in vocational education
policy, financing, job classification, teaching/learning research, media develop-
ment and teacher training. The CIVT is also responsible for documentation, in-
formation and the transfer of knowledge. The most important research work of
OSTA, which is also application oriented, is the development of occupational,
qualification and testing standards and qualification of the specialized personnel
required.
At present, most of the branch ministries and commissions still have their own
vocational education research bodies. Following the reorganization of the min-
istries and commissions and the principle of ‘one task, one responsibility’, it is
likely that their structure will also change. Examples of these research bodies are
the National Association for Research into Agricultural Vocational Education, the
Research Association for Technical Secondary School Training in Transport, the
Research Department for Technical Secondary School Training in Metal-working,
or the Research Centre for Vocational Education in the Ministry for the Energy
Industry. These bodies are supported and run by the branch ministries. They differ
in terms of their type of organization and tend to deal with highly specific areas.
Some of them are attached to technical secondary schools or specialized schools
as research departments. They are largely responsible for supporting reforms and
solving problems in practice.
At the provincial level, vocational education research institutes have progres-
sively been set up since 1985. The majority of these research bodies come directly
under the education commissions of the provinces or cities. They are responsible for
carrying out applied research, and providing advice and services to support region-
ally adapted reform. This includes research into vocational education development
strategies, organization of the vocational education system, financing, legislation,
curricular development, teaching/learning processes, organizational development
and teacher training.
2.3 France
The context of TVET research in France is a purportedly ‘meritocratic’ system in

which general education is favoured over vocational education and training and
where apprenticeship training in particular has traditionally had a relatively low
reputation. In the nineteenth century, the traditional system of apprenticeship train-
ing was dismantled in the course of the dissolution of guilds and corporations. The
partial reorganization of the vocational training system under the responsibility of
the Ministry of Education in the mid-twentieth century did not lead to stability, and
it was only in the 1990s that the figures of those young people with a vocational
qualification outnumbered those with a qualification from the general education
system. Given the emphasis on full-time schooling in initial vocational education,
it is no surprise that the French system is also characterized by a clear institutional
distinction between initial training and continuing education or lifelong learning.
Whereas initial vocational education and training falls under the authority of the
Ministry of Education and the regions, the responsibility for continuing vocational
education and training is assigned to the Ministry of Labour.
A consequence is that TVET research in France developed only relatively late
and that it is characterized by segmentation, both into topics and into disciplines.
This means that TVET research is either concerned with initial training, including
the vocational programmes at university level, or with lifelong learning and adult ed-
ucation. In addition, there is a sub-segmentation into different disciplines with little
or no co-operation between them. Accordingly, studies in TVET are conducted by
economists, sociologists, psychologists, political scientists and others, while a co-
herent scientific community around the theme of vocational education and training
has not developed.
Nevertheless, there are some important institutions that focus exclusively on
TVET research. Since the end of the 1960s the structuration of the research field
was improved by the establishment of national research institutes and networks.
The most important of these is the Centre d’études et des recherches sur les quali-
fications (Céreq—Centre for Studies and Research on Qualifications), which was
founded in 1971 and has become the largest organization devoted to TVET re-
search in France. Céreq, which is operating under the authority of the ministries
of education and labour, is organized as a network of eighteen research centres at

universities. It is mostly concerned with prospective studies on employment, the
professional integration of young people, and the development of the TVET sys-
tem. Whereas the expertise of Céreq ranges over the entire economic and social
sciences, there is also an institution specializing in pedagogy, the Institut national
de recherche pédagogique (INRP—National Institute of Educational Research).
As regards the thematic orientation of French TVET research, one can identify
five areas that appear to be of particular importance. The first one is the issue of
inequalities in the education system. This field includes studies on access to general
and initial vocational education, processes of social reproduction and on access to
lifelong learning. The second area is the socio-professional integration of young
adults. Here the transition from school to work and the issue of youth unemploy-
ment are in focus. The third major research theme is the structure of the French
education system and the role of the different stakeholders in TVET. The fourth
research area focuses on the organization of work and its evolution, while the
fifth one deals with vocational teaching methods, especially learning processes and
conditions.
2.4 Germany
Vocational education in Germany has a long-standing tradition as a discipline

that is predominantly concerned with university education for TVET teachers
(Lipsmeier, 1972, p. 24). Suffice it to mention Georg Kerschensteiner (1854–1932)
and Alois Fischer (1880–1937) as the doyens of the discipline (Lauterbach, 2003,
pp. 31 ff). German vocational education research traditionally focuses on teaching
research and the system of vocational education and training. In the past the re-
search methods were embedded in the German tradition of the humanities and had
a predominantly hermeneutical orientation. In the last two decades a shift towards
quantitative methods of social research has taken place.
In order to capture the complex topic of vocational education adequately, the
pedagogical approach was extended to research questions related to sociology, eco-
nomics, political science, psychology and law. This interdisciplinary approach is
termed Berufsbildungsforschung [TVET research]. It is concerned with the phe-
nomena of general and vocational education that directly or indirectly refer to
occupations and professions, to the acquisition of (vocational) qualifications and
to (professional) activities. It studies the conditions, processes and outcomes of
the acquisition of technical and general qualifications in the context of cultural,
societal, political, historical and economic circumstances. An example would be
the personal and social attitudes and orientations that are considered relevant for
initial and continuing vocational education (including informal learning) and for the
performance of (vocationally) organized work processes. The systems of vocational
education need to be viewed in the context of the education system as a whole (cf.
Lauterbach, 2003, p. 326; Schmidt, 1995, pp. 482 ff.; Teichler, 1995, pp. 501 ff.;
Kell, 1996).
In the report of the German Research Foundation on ‘TVET research at univer-

sities in the Federal Republic of Germany’, the field of interdisciplinary research
approaches is documented in detail and the necessity of interdisciplinary studies
is demonstrated (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, 1990, pp. 22 ff., 92 ff.). This
variety of disciplinary research interests, theories and methods promotes theoretical
discourse in vocational pedagogy, as well as in those disciplines that participate in
TVET research. This interdisciplinary linkage with reality in research projects is an
essential criterion for the relevance of research for educational practice, administra-
tion and education policy (cf. Achtenhagen, 1999, p. 100).
How can informal, project-related, internal interdisciplinary communication be
permanently transferred into the interested scientific community? At the national
level the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Berufsbildungsforschungsnetz (AG BFN) [working
group TVET research network] was established for this purpose in 1991. It includes
the many university chairs in vocational pedagogy, the Federal Institute for Voca-
tional Education and Training (BIBB), the Institute for Labour Market and Occupa-
tional Research (IAB) of the Federal Employment Services, independent institutes
like the German Institute for International Pedagogical Research and the institutes
for educational research of the Länder. AG BFN promotes the exchange of research
findings and documentation. The project ‘VET Communication and Information
System’ (KIBB), initiated by AG BFN, and the ‘VET Literature Database’ record
the research findings.
2.5 United Kingdom2
The United Kingdom is another very good example of the close relationship be-
tween the organization of the TVET sector on the one hand and the structures,
communities and institutions of TVET research on the other. In principle, strongly
policy-driven research can be distinguished from more academic traditions in the
UK.
2.5.1 Policy-Driven Research

It is difficult to delineate a system of technical and vocational education in the UK.
Vocational education is mainly provided as part of the large further education sector
(FE colleges) but is also anchored in secondary schooling and other educational
sectors and places of learning, such as adult education, human resources and ‘in-
formal learning’ (Cullen et al., 2002). In addition, there are increasing variations
with regard to TVET provision between the different countries—England, Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland.
Much of the research that can be found on TVET, therefore, is strongly associated
with immediate policy needs and is often commissioned by associations and actors
within the structure described above. UK-wide, it is typical that there is a strict in-
stitutional separation between different elements of the learning cycle in vocational
education. The responsibilities for learning provision, design of the curriculum and
assessment and awarding of qualifications are separated. In TVET the former are
under the auspices of the respective ministries and/or specific sectoral bodies, such
as the learning and skills councils, whereas the latter are usually under the auspices
of special awarding bodies and controlled by the so-called ‘quangos’ (quasi non-
governmental organizations), such as the Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA)
and the Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA) in London for England.
All of those organizations commission research according to their needs. There-
fore, this can range from research on the development of occupational standards
and curriculum (specific awarding bodies or sectoral actors sometime in conjunc-
tion with the quangos) to programme organization and evaluation (e.g. the associ-
ation of FE colleges—the Association of Colleges, AOC) or larger-scale statistical
accounts (e.g. through the QCA). Naturally, there are also research and develop-
ment projects with a focus on cross-sectional issues in TVET, such as gender bal-
ance (Raffe, Croxford & Howieson, 1994), school-to-work-transitions (Bynner &
Chisholm, 1998), or ‘competitiveness’, which are then initiated by the respective
administrational bodies, e.g. the Department for Trade and Industry with specific
sectoral support programmes (e.g. Brown, Rhodes & Carter, 2002) and often em-
phasize comparative aspects.
2.5.2 Academic Traditions

This policy-driven research is complemented by more independent educational
and social scientific research, which usually benefits either from research funding
schemes like the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) or as part of on-
going research in universities. In principle, two strands can be distinguished: TVET
as a source of innovation and as an economic factor. This example is best embodied
through the ESRC Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance
(SKOPE), which until 2006 was located in Oxford and Warwick as a network of
academics (e.g. Grugulis, Warhurst & Keep, 2004; Keep & Mayhew, 1998; Mayhew,
Keep & Coney, 2002).
Then there is the more educational tradition, which looks at innovation in teach-
ing and learning, such as the Teaching and Learning Research Programme3 of the
ESRC, with the following programme themes directly related to TVET: professional
learning; workplace learning; and further and post-16 education.
An important publication in this field is Vocational education and training, for-
merly published under the title of The vocational aspect of education, which is based
on a long-standing tradition in vocational education of institutions like Huddersfield,
Bolton and Wolverhampton. These institutions are vocational institutes by origin
and were always key-players within vocational teacher training. During the last
decade they were upgraded to universities. This journal is also associated with
a biannual conference on vocational education research and surrounded by a re-
spectable scientific community.
Interestingly, the British Educational Research Association (BERA) does not
comprise a special interest group (SIG) on vocational education. Thematically, the
closest SIG deals with the topic of professional learning—typical representatives are
rooted in psychological approaches to vocational learning (Eraut, 1994;

Fischer, Boreham & Samurcay, 2002). This might be symptomatic of the low level
of organization of British researchers in TVET, corresponding to the low degree of
organization of the field and the profession itself.
All in all, research on TVET in the UK is more based on loose networks of
specialists with research-based expertise on vocational education, its pre-conditions
and effects, rather than that of a consolidated structure or tradition of TVET research
(Elliot, 1996; Randle & Brady, 1997).
2.6 United States of America
There are various reasons why it is difficult to identify where the emphasis lies in
TVET research in the United States of America and to make general comments
on this field. As in most countries, vocational education is a research subject for
the whole range of social sciences. There is no specific institutionalized scientific
discipline for labour, vocational and economic education. Besides these theoretical
scientific reasons, the research subject itself further muddies the waters in that it
distinguishes between vocational education, technical education, vocational train-
ing, etc.—terms which in German are lumped together under the heading berufliche
Bildung.
Apart from the Department of Education at the federal level, there are a further
twenty ministries with competence in this field. Two ministries—the Department of
Education and the Department of Labour—are in overall charge. Programmes such
as career education, initial vocational education (occupational education, vocational
education, co-operative education, adult education) and various promotional mea-
sures for disadvantaged groups in the population (e.g. the illiterate) are handled by
the Department of Education.
Company-oriented measures (on-the-job training, apprenticeship programmes),
the promotional programmes, anti-unemployment measures through companies,
trade unions and other institutions and programmes, such as the Job Training Part-
nership Act, come under the Department of Labour and the Employment and Train-
ing Administration.
Actual vocational and technical education as such is provided in community
colleges, technical institutes, etc., which come under the aegis of the states or
school districts, though it must be said that vocational and technical education is
not the preferred path in the education sector by any stretch of the imagination—
that is to say that it is not very highly regarded when compared with ‘general’
education.
The National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE) was the
largest national establishment in the USA dealing with research, development and
diffusion of subjects related to vocational education. The centre is financed by the
Office of Vocational and Adult Education of the Department of Education. Since
1988 the centre’s headquarters have been at the University of California, Berkeley,
and it has played a key role in working out new concepts in the field of qualifications
for the workforce.
The NCRVE closed its doors on 31 December 1999. Its mission is now being car-
ried on by the National Research and Dissemination Centers for Career and Techni-
cal Education (NCCTE). The National Research Center is located at the University
of Minnesota, St. Paul, and the National Dissemination Center has its headquarters
at the Ohio State University, Columbus.
3 TVET Research at the National and Supra-National Level
3.1 Scientific Societies and Research Establishments
From the second half of the nineteenth century, national and international insti-
tutes and organizations that systematically carried out educational documentation
crystallized out of this activity. National institutes to be mentioned here are: The
Office of Education (Washington, DC, 1868) from which emerged the Department
of Education; the Musée pédagogique/Institut pédagogique national (Paris, 1879);
the Pestalozzianum (Zurich, 1874); the Office of Special Enquiries and Reports
(London, 1895); and the Zentralinstitut für Erziehung und Unterricht (Berlin, 1914);
international educational organizations and institutions include: the International
Bureau of Education (Geneva, 1925), the International Institute for Intellectual
Co-operation (Paris, 1925), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cul-
tural Organization (UNESCO, Paris, 1946), the bodies of the former Western Euro-
pean Union/European Community/European Union, such as EURYDICE (Brussels,
1981), and of the Council of Europe, such as EUDISED (Strasbourg, 1970). Even
the World Bank in Washington, DC, has its own Education and Employment Divi-
sion which backs up the Bank’s political work with scientifically based studies, etc.
Since 1971 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
has been running the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) in
Paris, which has a prominent profile on account of its lively publication work, e.g.
Education at a glance, OECD indicators.
As a direct result of conferences on comparative education, scientific societies
were founded, such as the Comparative Education Society in 1956, which is to-
day’s Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), the Comparative
Education Society of Europe (CESE) in 1961, and the World Council of Compar-
ative Education Societies (WCCES) in 1970. The CIES and CESE grew out of the
scientific work of the university institutes for educational studies or comparative ed-
ucation. The WCCES brings together the national societies (comparative education
societies), of which there are now more than twenty-five, whilst the membership of
the CIES is made up of individual researchers.
After the Second World War a series of independent research institutes were set
up outside universities. They were mainly financed through national public funding
or by international organizations. They are either very empirically organized and
provide services for the educational administration (e.g. the Centre international
d’etudes pédagogique Sèvres (CIEP) and the Deutsche Institut für Internationale
Pädagogische Forschung (DIPF)), or they are strongly rooted in theory and method
(e.g. the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)).
The picture is completed by regional or globally organized societies and organi-
zations, which were not founded in response to executive or legislative requirements
(non-governmental organizations) but rather as a result of the special interest of
researchers, e.g. the International Reading Association (IRA) and the International
Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA).
3.1.1 IEA
The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)
was founded in 1959 and is a non-governmental international association based
in Brussels, to which research institutes, universities and governmental authori-
ties from over forty-five countries belong. Its role consists of conducting inter-
national comparative school achievement studies and thereby developing indicators
for learning processes and, in particular, for the outcome of learning. Through reg-
ular observation of the output of education systems a basis of knowledge can be
built up for users in education policy, educational administration and educational
research, in order to bring about improvements.
3.2 Other International Organizations

and Scientific Associations
3.2.1 AHRD
The Academy of Human Resource Development4 (AHRD) was formed in order
to encourage research on human resource development (HRD), to disseminate in-
formation on HRD, to encourage the application of HRD research findings and to
provide opportunities for interaction and information exchange between individuals
concerned with HRD as researchers or practitioners. AHRD is an association of
HRD professionals and is based at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green,
Ohio, USA. Its activities include the organization of regional and international re-
search conferences and the publication of peer-reviewed journals, such as Human
resource development international and Human resource development quarterly.
3.2.2 AERA—SIGs on Workplace Learning and Career and Technical

Education
Within the American Educational Research Association (AERA), there are two
special interest groups (SIGs) concerned with subjects involving TVET research.
The Workplace Learning SIG is a group of researchers dedicated to the study and
the application of research concerning adult learning processes in the context of

work. Their objectives include the identification and dissemination of trends and
best-learning practices from workplaces, and the investigation of the roles of par-
ticipants in the learning process, the design of adult learning activities, and the role
of the organization in fostering learning activities. The mission of the Career and
Technical Education SIG is to promote the interchange of ideas and methods be-
tween general and vocational educational researchers and to aid in the design and
conduct of research.5
3.2.3 EERA and VETNET

The European Educational Research Association6 was founded in 1994 with the
aim of promoting educational research in Europe through fostering co-operation
between European associations and institutes, as well as international organizations.
EERA is an umbrella organization of national educational research associations and
organizes the annual European Conference on Educational Research (ECER), the
most important forum of this discipline in Europe. As a part of its organization,
EERA features a number of networks on different research areas to provide a fo-
rum for the exchange of information. Among these, the Vocational Education and
Training Network (VETNET)7 is the one concerned with research and develop-
ment in the field of initial and continuing TVET. Its general meetings take place
at the ECER conferences. The activities of VETNET include the organization of
research seminars and of the annual ECER-VETNET conference programme, the
development of international contacts and the publication of printed and electronic
newsletters.
3.2.4 EARLI
The mission of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruc-
tion (EARLI) is the promotion and development within Europe of empirical and
theoretical research into learning and instruction, as well as the exchange of infor-
mation relating to these issues. EARLI is an association of European researchers
based in Tilburg, Netherlands. Its major activities in the pursuit of the general ob-
jectives mentioned earlier are the organization of conferences, like the EARLI Bi-
ennial Conference, the first of which took place in 1985 in Leuven, Belgium, or the
European Practice-based and Practitioner Research Conference, the publication of
two scientific journals, Learning and instruction and Educational research review,
the edition of a book series and the provision of services to facilitate co-operation
and to exchange information between researchers (e.g. translation). As a part of its
organization, EARLI includes a number of SIGs on topics like ‘evaluation and
assessment’ or ‘learning and professional development’ that feature their own con-
ference series.8
3.2.5 ILO
The International Labour Organization (ILO), which was founded in 1919, is the
only UN Organization whose bodies are composed on a tri-partite basis of repre-
sentatives of governments, employers and workers. The ILO lays down statutory
requirements in conventions and recommendations in the field of labour law, con-
tractual and organizational freedom, abolition of forced labour, etc. Training is one
of the organization’s main priorities. This can be seen, for example, in ILO Con-
vention no. 142 (1975) on Vocational Guidance and Training in the Development of
Human Resources and in Convention no. 159 (1983) on Vocational Rehabilitation
and Employment (Disabled Persons). But it also provides concrete support in the
fields of vocational education, rehabilitation, labour-market policy, labour adminis-
tration, working conditions, labour law, etc.
Field programmes, technical programmes and action programmes are conducted.
The field programmes are represented by continental/regional institutes. The South
American region is one of the most active here with the CINTERFOR research
and documentation centre and MERCOSUR.9 The action programmes are basis-
oriented and run transversally across the field and technical programmes.
The technical programmes are thematically structured operational units. The
units include the International Institute for Labour Studies and the Turin-based
International Training Centre. The former deals with international labour market
research, while the International Training Centre provides, amongst other things,
(further) training for officials from educational administrations, trade unions, etc.
Analogous to the ISCED classification, the ILO provides the following classifi-
cations:
r International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO);
r International Classification of Status in Employment (ICSE);
r International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC);
r Classifications of occupational injuries (formerly industrial accidents).
3.2.6 IGIP
The International Society for Engineering Education (IGIP—Internationale
Gesellschaft für Ingenieurpädagogik) was founded in 1972 in Klagenfurt, Austria.
IGIP is an association with members from seventy-two countries and enjoys consul-
tative status with UNESCO and UNIDO. Its activities are related to all areas of voca-
tional or professional education in engineering and technology, ranging from skilled
workers to graduate engineers. The major objective of IGIP is the promotion of a
scientific approach to engineering education, which includes the improvement of
teaching methods and the development of practice-oriented curricula. IGIP confers
the title of ‘International Engineering Educator’, accredits training centres for en-
gineering educators and documents the qualification and competence of technology
teachers. The activities of IGIP also include annual symposia on engineering edu-
cation, the organization of seminars and the publication of conference proceedings
and newsletters.10
3.2.7 IVETA
The International Vocational Education and Training Association (IVETA) is an
organization and network of vocational educators, TVET organizations, businesses,
and other groups and individuals involved in technical and vocational education and
training worldwide. The organization strives to serve as a forum for professional
linkages between educators, the further development of vocational education, the
sharing and distribution of problem solutions in TVET practice and the worldwide
dissemination of vocational education and training information. Its activities include
the organization of international and regional conferences and the publication of
the biannual International journal of vocational education and training. The fo-
cus of the organization’s activities is on socio-economic training and qualification
research, as well as on educational and curriculum research in an international
perspective.11
3.2.8 OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which is
based in Paris, was founded in 1961. Its twenty-nine member states are amongst
the richest countries in the world. Its role is to promote economic development,
employment and living standards and to contribute to the development of the
world economy and world trade. The organization sees its main task as being the
planning, co-ordination and intensification of economic co-operation and devel-
opment, encouraging economic development with full employment and monetary
stability.
UNESCO, EUROSTAT and the OECD co-operate under the aegis of the OECD
to achieve the international comparability of educational statistics. Within the OECD,
questions on general and vocational education are mainly handled in the Department
for Statistics and Indicators in the OECD’s Directorate for Education, Employment,
Labour and Social Questions. Promotion and support for the development of re-
search activities and the introduction and testing of innovations in the education sec-
tor are carried out by the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI),
which was set up in 1968.
3.2.9 UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
is the only specialized agency of the UN to have a mandate in the education sector.
UNESCO’s work in the field of vocational education is essentially of a statutory
nature. The Recommendation on Vocational Education, which was adopted in 1962,
was revised in 1974. In 1987 the first global congress on vocational education was
held, at which the draft of a Convention on Vocational Education was tabled.
In organizational terms, vocational education within UNESCO has been up-
graded. In 1992 the UNESCO Technical and Vocational Education Project
(UNEVOC) was set up. In parallel to this development, it would appear that the
Division for the Renovation of Secondary and Vocational Education (ED/SVE) has
become more sharply focused on general questions of vocational education. New

subject areas have been introduced, and are organized on an interdisciplinary basis.
Currently, an attempt is being made to involve NGOs more closely with projects.
The Section for Science and Technology Education already did this in its 1996/1997
programme.
With the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), UNESCO
has tried to create a mechanism that serves ‘as an instrument for assembling, com-
piling and presenting statistics of education, both within individual countries and
internationally’. The ISCED classification was revised in 1997. Initial vocational
training in the secondary sector is classified as ISCED level 3, whilst vocational
training in the tertiary sector comes under ISCED level 5. The aim of this is to
‘make existing international statistics on education more transparent’ (Statistisches
Bundesamt, 1997, p. 8).
3.2.10 UNIP
The United TVET Network on Innovation and Professional Development (UNIP)
is the youngest of the international associations that play a role in TVET research
and also the one with the least formalized structure. Its activities are predominantly
concerned with the education of TVET teachers. The network was created as a part-
nership activity of UNESCO-UNEVOC and international TVET researchers on the
occasion of the International Seminar on Innovation in TVET Teacher/Trainer Edu-
cation held in Hangzhou, China, in November 2004. In addition, the network aims to
set up a professional community for promoting innovation in teacher education. The
network is co-ordinated by the Institute Technology and Education at the University
of Bremen, Germany.12
3.2.11 The World Bank

The role of vocational education in the World Bank has changed since the early
1990s. Whilst in the 1970s and 1980s it was particularly projects in this field that
were promoted, nowadays the view is that:
Vocational and technical skills are best imparted at the workplace, following general edu-
cation. The private sector should be directly involved in the provision, financing and gover-
nance of vocational schooling (Watson, 1996, p. 47).
The World Bank Group acts first and foremost as a bank, i.e. research—if research
there be—is always conducted from an economic point of view. The importance of
the World Bank in terms of TVET research tends therefore to be related to its role
as a publisher, or in the transfer of knowledge. The (major) World Bank projects are
now widely documented on the Internet. Via topics (education and training), regions
and countries or a server’s global search engine, researchers can call up primary
information. Pdf documents about the vocational education systems in individual
countries can also be called up.
4 Future Perspectives
The current development of research organizations and scientific communities in

TVET research is characterized by a new emphasis on learning in the workplace and
by the challenge of technological change, which is often associated with the notion
of the knowledge society. Another difficulty is the formation of an international
scientific community under the circumstances of quite different national traditions
of vocational education and training. A major step towards common standards for
the international community was the 2004 International Seminar on Innovation
in TVET Teacher/Trainer Education in Hangzhou, which led to the definition of
standards for master programmes based on commonly recognized vocational disci-
plines.
Notes
1. In particular, the reports of individual countries are based on an earlier publication on the topic
(Lauterbach et al., 1999).
2. Thanks are due to Graham Attwell for his advice on these paragraphs.
3. <www.tlrp.org/>
4. <www.ahrd.org/>
5. <www.aera.net/> and <workplacelearningsig.org/>
6. <www.eera.ac.uk/>
7. <www.vet-research.net/>
8. <www.earli.org/>
9. SEAPAT is the Asiatic counterpart of CINTERFOR, although it has not yet achieved the
level of professionalism and quality of the latter. See <www.ilo.org/public/english/mdtmanil
/index.htm>.
10. <www.igip.info/>
11. <www.iveta.org>
12. <www.unip-net.org/>
References
Achtenhagen, F. 1999. Berufsbildungsforschung. In: Kaiser, F.J.; Pätzold, G., eds. Wörterbuch der
Berufs- und Wirtschaftspädagogik. Bad Heilbrunn, Germany: Klinkhardt.
Brown, A.; Rhodes, E.; Carter, R. 2002. Innovative attempts to support learning through con-
tinuing vocational education and training in advanced supply systems in the automotive and
aerospace industries. (Paper presented at the FORUM workshop, University of Evora, Portugal,
7–9 February 2002.)
Bynner, J.; Chisholm, L. 1998. Comparative youth transition research: methods, meanings and
research relations. European journal of sociology, vol. 14, pp. 131–50.
Cullen, J. et al. 2002. Review of current pedagogic research and practice in the fields of post-
compulsory education and lifelong learning: final report. London: The Tavistock Institute.
(Submitted to the Economic and Social Research Council.)
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. 1990. Berufsbildungsforschung an den Hochschulen der Bun-
desrepublik Deutschland. Situation/Hauptaufgabe/Förderungsbedarf. Senatskommission für
Berufsbildungsforschung. Weinheim, Germany: VCH.
Elliot, G. 1996. Why is research invisible in further education? British educational research jour-
nal, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 101–11.
Eraut, M. 1994. Developing professional knowledge and competence. London: Falmer.

Fischer, M.; Boreham, N.; Samurcay, R. 2002. Work process knowledge. London/New York, NY:
Routledge.
Grugulis, I.; Warhurst, C.; Keep, E. 2004. What’s happening to ‘skill’? In: Grugulis, I.;
Warhurst, C.; Keep, E., eds. The skills that matter, pp. 1–18. New York, NY: Palgrave.
Keep, E.; Mayhew, K. 1998. Vocational education and training and economic performance. In:
Buxton, T.; Chapman, P.; Temple, P., eds. Britain’s economic performance, pp. 367–95.
London: Routledge.
Kell, A. 1996. Kooperation in der Berufsbildungsforschung: Rückblick, Zwischenbilanz und Aus-
blick. In: Diepold, P., ed. Berufliche Aus- und Weiterbildung: Konvergenzen/Divergenzen, neue
Anforderungen/alte Strukturen, pp. 9–24. Nürnberg, Germany: Bundesanstalt für Arbeit.
Lauterbach, U. 2003. Vergleichende Berufsbildungsforschung: Theorien, Methodologien und Er-
trag am Beispiel der Vergleichenden Berufs- und Wirtschaftspädagogik mit Bezug auf die
korrespondierende Disziplin Comparative Education/Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft.
Baden-Baden, Germany: Nomos.
Lauterbach, U. et al. 1999. VET research in other European and non-European countries. In: Descy,
P.; Tessaring, M., eds. Training in Europe: second report on vocational training research in
Europe 2000. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
Lipsmeier, A. 1972. Vom Beruf des Berufspädagogen: zur Wissenschaftstheorie der
Berufspädagogik. Deutsche Berufs- und Fachschule, vol. 68, no. 1, pp. 21–49.
Mayhew, K.; Keep, E.; Coney, M. 2002. Review of the evidence on the rate of return to employ-
ers of investment in training and employer training measures. Oxford, UK: Centre on Skills,
Knowledge and Organisational Performance.
Neuweg, G.H. 2004. Könnerschaft und implizites Wissen: zur lehr-lerntheoretischen Bedeutung
der Erkenntnis- und Wissenstheorie Michael Polanyis. Münster, Germany: Waxmann.
Raffe, D.; Croxford, L.; Howieson, C. 1994. The third face of modules: gendered patterns of par-
ticipation and progression in Scottish vocational education. British journal of education and
work, vol. 3, pp. 87–105.
Randle, K.; Brady, N. 1997. Managerialism and professionalism in the Cinderella service. Journal
of vocational education and training, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 121–39.
Schmidt, H. 1995. Berufsbildungsforschung. In: Arnold, R.; Lipsmeier, A., eds. Handbuch der
Schön, D.A. 1983. The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. New York, NY:
Basic Books..
Statistisches Bundesamt, ed. 1997. Internationale bildungsstatistische Grundlagen. Stuttgart,
Germany: Metzler-Poeschel.
Teichler, U. 1995. Qualifikationsforschung. In: Arnold, R.; Lipsmeier, A., eds. Handbuch der
Watson, K. 1996. Banking on key reforms for educational development: a critique of the World
Bank review. Mediterranean journal of educational studies, vol. 1, no. 1.
Chapter IX.9
Qualifications Research
Felix Rauner
1 Introduction
The emergence of institutionalized vocational education for employees in the inter-

mediate sector—skilled workers, technicians and other qualified employees below
the level of university education—has given rise to a growing interest on the part
of economic and educational policy in the investigation of the qualification require-
ments that employees are facing. It was especially the accelerating technological
change and the corresponding rationalization processes in the world of work—first
in the agricultural and afterwards in the industrial sector—that led to far-reaching
and revolutionary changes in the occupational structures and in the qualification
requirements for employees. Since then, vocational education has been facing the
problem of developing new occupational profiles at ever greater speed, to modern-
ize traditional occupations and to develop, in the shape of vocational curricula, the
necessary contents and objectives of training programmes for practical training in
companies and, above all, at vocational schools and vocational study programmes
at universities.
2 Qualifications Research as Transformation

of Scientific Knowledge
A widespread method for determining the contents of vocational education is the

transformation of the disciplinary knowledge generated by the sciences into teach-
ing and learning contents for vocational education and training. Donald Schön
criticizes this concept of deriving practical knowledge from science: ‘This concept
of “applications” leads to a view of professional knowledge as a hierarchy in which
“general principles” occupy the highest level and “concrete problem solving” the
lowest’ (Schön, 1983, p. 24). As this method is very common, it will be discussed
here although it does not, strictly speaking, belong to the methods of qualifications
research (Schein, 1973).
The basic assumption of this research approach is the thesis that social knowl-
edge is generated by the sciences and that it is available via textbooks for any

1554 F. Rauner
type of education and training. Practical knowledge, as it appears everywhere in

professional work, is interpreted in this perspective as applied scientific knowledge.
This widespread common-sense theory that has always shaped the attitude and con-
duct of TVET teachers and TVET planners has engendered manifold methods and
rules to transform theoretical knowledge into the language of users in the domains of
work, to exemplify it with reference to specific contexts, and, above all, to transfer
this knowledge by means of inductive learning methods, such as action-oriented
learning. ‘Pure mathematics’ thus becomes, in the world of vocational education
and training, disciplinary and occupation-specific ‘applied’ or ‘professional’ math-
ematics. Technical matters in the vocational domains of construction, mechanical
engineering, computer science and electrical engineering are interpreted and pre-
sented as applied sciences. The fact that technology springs from an inextricable
relationship between what is socially desirable and what is technically possible—so
that technology is essentially a reification of societal ends—escapes our attention in
this perspective. Under the applied sciences approach technology therefore remains
confined to technical guidance (Techniklehre) that neglects this connection.
Table 1 The six dimensions of practical knowledge

Sensitivity Increasing professional experience advances with the developing
ability to realise and evaluate ever finer distinctions in the typical
situations of professional work.
Contextuality The increasing work experience of the members of a professional
community of practice leads to the development of similar patterns
of action and assessments, as well as to intuitive modes of
communication that reach far beyond verbal communication.
Situatedness Work situations can only be adequately conceived if they are also
understood in their genesis. Experience-based assumptions,
attitudes and expectations shape perception and situative action and
they constitute an extraordinarily subtle differentiation of action
plans.
Paradigmatic quality Professional job tasks have a paradigmatic quality in the sense of
‘developmental tasks’ if they continuously pose new substantial
problems in the development process that force actors to reconsider
and restructure their traditional concepts of action and patterns of
behaviour.
Communication In a community of practice, the subjective contents of the facts
communicated are matching to a high degree. The degree of
professional understanding is far above the level of
extra-professional communication, and the full meaning of
context-related language and communication is intelligible only to
the members of the community of practice.
Perspective The successful handling of unpredictable work tasks on the basis of
basically incomplete knowledge (knowledge gap) is characteristic
for practical work-process knowledge. From this emerges a
meta-competence that enables people to deal with non-deterministic
work situations.
Source: Rauner, 2004b (adapted from Benner, 1997).
IX.9 Qualifications Research 1555
Against the concept of applied sciences as the fundamental method of deriving

vocational training and learning contents the objection is raised that this method
generally misses the point of vocational knowledge. Professional skills result from
work-process knowledge, which exceeds the dimension of scientific knowledge by
far (Rauner, 2002). Polanyi (1958) had pointed to the importance of the tacit knowl-
edge that in many ways shapes human action and especially professional compe-
tence. Following the novice/expert paradigm (Dreyfus & Dreyfus, 1986), Patricia
Benner identified six dimensions of practical knowledge in her studies on the pro-
fessional skills of nurses (Table 1).
In his work ‘The reflective practitioner’, Donald Schön argued for the original
character of practical knowledge (Schön, 1983). According to him, it is the basis in
particular of practical skills. In the course of the foundation of ethnomethodology,
Garfinkel emphasizes that the knowledge incorporated in practical work is crucial
for the study of professional skills (Garfinkel, 1986). Finally, one can refer to the
notion of practical concepts. Unlike scientific concepts, the aspects and scope of the
meaning of practical concepts are developed on the basis of experience. Practical
concepts, which are subjectively owned by humans, play a central part in profes-
sional work as they predominantly lay the grounds for action-governing knowledge
(Holzkamp, 1985, pp. 226 ff.). In this respect, the European research network ‘Work
Process Knowledge’ has established a research tradition that is important for the
shaping of vocational training processes (Boreham, Fischer & Samurçay, 2002).
Even though knowledge research has emphasized the importance of practical and
experience-based knowledge—besides scientific knowledge—for professional abil-
ity for decades, the concept of applied sciences is still dominant at vocational
schools.
3 Sociological Qualifications Research

Sociological qualifications research is represented predominantly in the sociology
of industry and in labour studies. Qualifications research in the sociology of in-
dustry received a major impulse from Braverman’s ‘deskilling’ thesis. In his his-
torical study on the change of the world of work, he came to the conclusion that
there is an on-going process of a de-qualification of human work in an economy
that follows the logic of capital utilization. Technological development provides the
instruments and methods for the objectification and substitution of human skills
(Braverman, 1974). Qualifications research in the sociology of industry was first
oriented towards the objective of gaining deeper insights into the de-qualification
processes determined by technological and economic development in order to pro-
vide information for policy advice with the aim of humanizing the world of work.
From this perspective, professional qualification appears as an instrument of re-
sistance against de-qualifying forms of work (Manske, 2005). It was only with
the critical reflection of this deterministic research tradition (Rosenbrock, 1984)
that the paradigm of shaping and design moved to the centre of qualifications re-
search (Lutz, 1988; Rauner, 1988). Vocational education is thus also conceived as
1556 F. Rauner
Fig. 1 The interaction of

education and training, work
and the object of work in
analytic and design-oriented
perspective as a topic of
research and teaching
an independent variable in the interaction of work, technology and vocational edu-

cation (Figure 1).
In this context, qualification research has the function of studying alternative
development paths in the organization of work and to provide grounds for them in
the shape of scenarios (cf. Heidegger et al., 1989).
The progress of the psychology of work and of ergological qualification research
is largely shaped by the argument of the Taylorist division of labour. The political
programme of ‘humanizing the world of work’ also leads to a change of perspective
in labour studies oriented towards a design of work that supports personality de-
velopment. Already in the 1960s renowned work psychologists defined the concept
of complete work actions as models for design-oriented labour studies (Emery &
Emery, 1974; Hackman & Oldham, 1976; Ulich, 1994, p. 161). The extension of
room for manoeuvre and the enrichment of professional work are identified both in
the horizontal dimension of the scope of agency and in the vertical dimension of
individual decision and control. A particular affinity to qualifications research exists
on the part of the overlapping and complementing concepts in the psychology of
work:
r the concept of socio-technical systems design;

r the concept of motivation-supportive work design;
r the concept of personality supportive work design.
Building upon extensive empirical and theoretical studies, organizational psychol-

ogy and the psychology of work have made important contributions to the anal-
ysis, evaluation and design of work activities and qualification requirements. In
order and conditions analysis, qualification requirements and degrees of freedom
in the fulfilment of tasks are investigated according to different degrees of complex-
ity (e.g. assumptions about possibilities for interaction). The intention of working
out subject-related evaluation and design proposals is the basis for psychological
analyses of activities for the identification of variables that improve performance,
well-being and qualification. A number of differentiated procedures have been
developed for this purpose:
1. For the analysis of work activities: job diagnostic survey (JDS), subjective work
analyses and task analyses, the investigation of regulation requirements and ob-
stacles, as well as stress-related work analyses and the task-analysis inventory,
etc.
2. For the evaluation of work activities: criteria of feasibility, tolerability, reason-

ableness and satisfaction; the task assessment system with the main categories of
organizational and technical conditions, degrees of responsibility, performance
requirements, as well as qualification and learning requirements; the contrastive
task analysis for design recommendations for the supportive application of infor-
mation and communication technology.
3. For the design of work activities: criteria of personality-supportive work design
with extensible leeway for the flexible actions and autonomous decisions, promo-
tion of prospective work organization, e.g. in the development of programmable
software systems or decentralized manufacturing systems; concepts of task ex-
tension; alternative approaches to human-centred work and technology design.
On the whole, work and organizational psychology has developed a number of
criteria and instruments for the humane design of organizations. In this context,
the primacy of participation orientation as the psychological core of qualification
concepts and of a systems design that supports learning has a crucial relevance. On
the other hand, the concentration of organizational psychology and the psychology
of work on the shaping of tasks, activities and socialization processes entails the risk
that necessary processes of individualization, education and socialization will fail to
receive attention and that the progressive criteria of support for the personality are
to a large extent unfolded in an abstract way, i.e. separated from their historical and
social relations.
Qualifications research in the social sciences always reaches its limits when the
work-process knowledge incorporated into the work processes has to be decoded.
With his ethnomethodological ‘studies of work’, Garfinkel (1986) attempts to over-
come this barrier where sociological research with its traditional ‘occupational stud-
ies’ has failed to achieve results for vocational education.
The gap in the social science literature on occupations consists of all the missing descrip-
tions of what occupational activities consist of and all the missing analyses of how the prac-
titioners manage the tasks which, for them, are matters of serious and pressing significance
(Heritage, 1984, p. 299).
In this way, the major deficiency of qualifications research in the social sciences—
the lack of methods for the identification of the contents that define professional
work and training—is made explicit. Garfinkel’s method of the ‘studies of work’
therefore also aims at the solution of this methodological problem. The research
interest of this approach is directed towards:
r a detailed description of how the work is performed;
r the identification of the specific knowledge and skills necessary for this work;
and
r the identification of the fundamental gap between the model version of a work
activity (theory) and the actual performance.
This research approach is based on the assumption that any work can be con-
ceived of only as a practical activity and the practitioner acquires the ability ‘to be-
come aware of contingencies and to manage somehow, in dealing with the situative
1558 F. Rauner
imponderabilities and local constellations, the observable adequacy and efficiency

of his activity’ (Bergmann, 1995, p. 270; translation by the author of this chap-
ter). It is this ‘somehow’ that is brought into focus in the ‘studies of work’. The
methodological problem for sociological research is to capture the investigated work
processes so exactly (via tape-recordings, video, photos, observation protocols, the
results of the work process, etc.) as to allow for the identification of work-process
knowledge in the analysis. According to the method of thick description, there is
a clear distinction between the documentation and representation of the work pro-
cesses on the one hand and the subsequent analysis and interpretation of the data
on the other. In this way, the researcher foregoes the chance to capture the work
process interactively in its various dimensions. Understanding requires asking ques-
tions, experimenting and challenging. But this is only possible when the researcher
interactively participates in the work situation instead of merely observing and doc-
umenting the situation, however detailed. Therefore, there is the critical objection
that the ‘studies of work’ lead to nothing more than a descriptive duplication of
practical work activities and are accordingly of little relevance for qualification re-
search. What remains correct is Garfinkel’s intention to get access to the knowledge
embodied in practical work. If he succeeded, this type of research would have a
virtually revolutionary impact on curriculum research. The limited scope of the
‘studies of work’ as a method of qualification research is due to the fact that the
contents of work and training processes are essentially inaccessible for sociological
research. The understanding and investigation of professional work and vocational
education with the aim of achieving knowledge that could be utilized for the design
of vocational training processes requires disciplines that have access to the substan-
tial contents. These are, above all, the vocational disciplines, that emerged in the
course of the professionalization of TVET teachers.
4 Vocational Disciplines: Occupational Studies
Unlike qualification research in the social sciences, qualifications research in oc-

cupation studies has an epistemic interest that is design-oriented. This interest is
directed towards the substantial and methodological design of educational processes
and learning in the work process. Occupation-oriented qualification research has
its starting point in the attempt to achieve an interpretive access to reality, which
generated interactively through expert conversations and, if necessary, through
participation in work activities. In action-oriented expert conversations the re-
searcher, via his/her questions, suggestions, intervention as well as possible work
activities, is involved in the situation to be analysed. He/she thus represents a quasi-
experimental reality whose scope reaches as far as the work situation. In this way,
he/she can participate in the work reality and shape it in such a way as to achieve
a high level of interpretation and understanding. Unlike the possibilities offered by
the sociological method of thick description, the occupational researcher is familiar
with the work situation and enters into the situation. The interview with the skilled
worker thus becomes a ‘conversation among professionals’. The professional and

emotional openness of the actors towards the researcher results from the experience
of a dialogue ‘among colleagues’. The interviewees talk to a person they experi-
ence as professionally competent in a different way than they would to a researcher
who is alien to the occupation concerned. The researcher not only knows what the
dialogue partner is talking about (and what he/she does not talk about) and what
he/she is doing in his/her work situation, but the researcher can also interpret the
statements and the actions of the interviewee with regard to their manifold objec-
tive aspects and relations. It is self-evident that this is of crucial importance also
for the performance of the conversation and the work activity. The researcher per-
ceives a statement not only in a formal sense, but also in respect of its content
as more or less sensible, efficient, etc., and can take this into consideration as the
interaction proceeds. The participant observation, to which passive observation is
necessarily confined, is transformed by the occupational researcher into the pos-
sibility to constitute the very object of research through his/her interaction when
he/she participates in the work process. The intervening work activity generates a
quasi-experimental work situation which allows a depth to be achieved in qualifica-
tions research that is otherwise unattainable. In this context, the authors point at two
problems that can be mastered by qualifications research only with some experience
and practice.
Qualifications research in occupational studies is, however, at this point con-
fronted with the problem of ‘self-evidence’. As all actors in the research process,
including the researcher, experience themselves as members of one and the same
community of practice, those facts that are considered self-evident ‘among experts’
tend not to be mentioned. The reality to be investigated becomes the reality of
insiders. This can lead to a more-or-less restricted research perspective if, after
adopting an internal perspective, the researcher loses the ability to maintain the
distance necessary for understanding and reflecting on the study situation. With a
view to this problem, Agar has introduced the metaphor of the researcher as ‘the
professional stranger’ (Agar, 1980). The carrying out of action-oriented professional
conversations therefore must aim at constituting and capturing two realities at the
same time: the reality of the outsider and the reality of the insider. This also points
to the different dimensions of the relationship between work and subject that have
to be investigated here (Figure 2).
This is best achieved in a supervisory arrangement. In a team of two members, the
occupational researcher represents the realities of the insider, whereas a sociologist
Fig. 2 Action-oriented professional interviews carried out in teams

1560 F. Rauner
or an ergologist represents those of the professional outsider. In this way, it can

be ensured that the balance and the tension of proximity and distance, as well as
consideration of the competences relevant for qualification research and the carrying
out of work studies, are represented in the research process.
5 Conclusions
The professionalization of TVET teachers and the associated establishment of

university-level study programmes for vocational disciplines also give rise to
domain-specific qualification research (Rauner, 2004a). It becomes apparent that,
in this research field which is crucial for vocational education, the methods of em-
pirical research in the social sciences reach their limits. A special chapter of the
‘International handbook of TVET research’ presents methods that are particularly
relevant for domain-specific qualifications research (cf. Rauner & Maclean, 2008,
chap. 3). These include the method of expert/worker workshops to identify the
characteristic professional functions of an occupation (Spöttl, 2008). Other relevant
methods are interview and analysis techniques, like the ‘action-oriented professional
interview’ (Becker, 2005; Niethammer, 2005) and the ‘occupation-related task anal-
ysis’ (Röben, 2005).
The Institute Technology and Education of Bremen University, building on ex-
tensive experience in qualifications and curriculum research, has developed refer-
ence documents for curriculum development and for the design and evaluation of
vocational training processes (Kleiner et al., 2002; Reinhold et al., 2003). This is
how an important step in the transfer of scientific know-how from qualifications
research into TVET practice has been taken. The quick dissemination of the re-
sults and the methods of qualification research is impeded by a TVET landscape
that is shaped by very different systems. In this regard, vocational education dif-
fers fundamentally from university education, which is essentially characterized
by international scientific communities. However, as vocational education has by
now started to be involved in processes of internationalization, among other things
in the course of the UNESCO-UNEVOC initiative towards a master’s degree for
TVET teachers differentiated into twelve vocational disciplines, the chances for a
dissemination of results and methods of qualification research have considerably
improved.
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Chapter IX.10
Measuring Educational Quality in TVET
Robert D. Renaud
1 Overview
How do we know when an educational institution is doing well compared either

with other institutions or against external standards? In technical and vocational ed-
ucation and training (TVET) programmes, performance indicators have been used
in the process of accreditation, evaluation and rankings. With institutions facing
increased competition for diminishing resources and with stakeholders demanding
greater accountability, the study and use of performance indicators has never been as
crucial as it is now. This chapter begins with an outline of the more notable benefits
and limitations of using performance indicators to evaluate the quality of TVET
programmes, which is followed by a brief summary of the findings of empirical
studies that assessed the relation between institutional characteristics and learner
outcomes (i.e. criterion validity). Finally, specific recommendations are presented
with respect to how future research can obtain a clearer understanding of how insti-
tutional characteristics contribute to the learning and development of learners.
On the positive side, the use of performance indicators enables prospective learn-
ers, employers, researchers and other organizations to acquire information about
schools. On the other hand, their value is uncertain as they seem to be used on
the basis of little more than an assumed relationship with the quality of education
(Johnes & Taylor, 1990; Nedwick & Neal, 1994; Tan, 1986). In general, once learner
input variables and school experiences have been taken into account, the link be-
tween institutional characteristics and learner outcomes is weak. One of the main
issues that future studies should address is what TVET programmes are doing to
foster greater levels of learner involvement during their educational experience.
2 The Definition of Performance Indicators
The term ‘performance indicators’ in the context of TVET refers to measurable

characteristics of an institution that provide an indication of the level of educa-
tional quality it provides. Bogue and Sanders (1992) define quality in general as the
‘conformance to mission specification and goal achievement’ (p. 20). Comparable

1564 R.D. Renaud
with ISO 9000 standards (International Organization for Standardization, 2005), this
definition suggests that a quality institution is one that accomplishes what it has set
out to do. Given that educational goals vary widely across schools, Tan (1986) notes
that what constitutes quality in some institutions may not be as applicable to oth-
ers. For example, Johnes and Taylor (1990) found that the proportion of graduates
who found employment is highly influenced by subject area. Despite the potentially
vague notion of educational quality, there are several people who define a high-
quality institution as one that fosters a desired level of learning and development.
For example, Tan describes the main function of assessing quality as determining the
degree to which institutions ‘affect significantly the intellectual and scholarly devel-
opment of students’ (p. 260). This describes the value-added approach in defining
quality in education in that quality is measured by the impact it has on its learners
(Nordvall & Braxton, 1996).
While some have linked measures of quality with an institution’s output, others
have suggested that quality can be measured by focusing on the processes of an
institution or, in other words, what the institution itself does to promote the learning
and development of its learners. Braxton (1993), for example, outlines an approach
to measuring educational quality by focusing on the demands placed on learners
(i.e. processes), which implies a corresponding level of learner achievement (i.e.
outputs). This emphasis on processes is congruent with common expectations (e.g.
college rankings in the popular media) in that, assuming schools are using their
resources efficiently, then intensiveness of investment (i.e. the more that a school
can provide) can regarded as a measure of quality (Wachtel, 1976).
A fairly common approach in evaluation research to assess the quality of a
programme is likened to an input-process-output model by examining the rela-
tion between the processes and the outcomes when the inputs are held constant
(Scheirer, 1994). In education, one might assess the relation between expendi-
tures per learner (process) and retention (output) controlling for incoming abil-
ity (input). Schierer points out that if the processes have any influence on the
outcomes (as intended), then these two factors should be associated. In other
words, high levels of output should be preceded by high levels of the correspond-
ing processes. Looking from the opposite perspective, finding little or no rela-
tion between a selected process and its intended outcome could reflect any of the
following situations: (a) the programme was provided as intended (e.g. large li-
braries, small classes), but failed to have the desired impact; (b) the programme
was not provided as intended (e.g. class sizes were much larger than expected);
or (c) limitations in the analysis that misleadingly suggest that there is no rela-
tion (e.g. coding a continuous variable like high-school grade-point average as a
dichotomy).
On a practical level, assessing the relation between processes and outputs (among
other reasons) can help to identify those operations most likely to maximize learner
performance on desired outcomes (Astin & Panos, 1970). Moreover, Nichols (1964)
points out that studying the relationship between institutional resources and learner
outcomes is important to at least three groups of people: (a) the learner who is
choosing which school to attend; (b) administrators and social planners who govern
IX.10 Measuring Educational Quality in TVET 1565
the resources; and (c) researchers who attempt to understand more fully how the
educational environment contributes to learner outcomes. Thus, without showing an
empirical relation between both the input and process variables and the outcomes,
the degree to which one can conclude that the TVET programme is effective (i.e.
schools are fostering learner development) is more difficult to confirm.
3 Benefits and Limitations of Performance

Indicators in TVET
The use of performance indicators in TVET can be beneficial in several ways. First,
it can be argued that they attempt to fulfil an increasing accountability demand
(Nedwick & Neal, 1994). Second, Bruneau and Savage (2002) note that the in-
dicators can be helpful in establishing general standards for a particular type of
school (e.g. vocational). Without accepted standards, it would be much easier to
report continued success regardless of how well an institution has performed. Sim-
ilarly, consistent use of performance indicators provides one the few standardized
ways to report information, which may prompt lower ranking schools to improve
their facilities (Webster, 1992). Finally, with the help of popular media, information
about lesser known schools that may have gone unchecked by learners or employers
is more widely accessible (Pike, 2004; Webster, 1992). It is important to note that
each of these features hinges on two critical assumptions. First, it is expected that
the information conveyed by these performance indicators is interpreted and used as
intended. Second, and arguably most crucial, is that the institutional characteristics
used to evaluate schools actually reflect the level of educational quality in terms of
the learners’ learning and development that occurs in TVET programmes. There-
fore, the degree to which the information in educational performance indicators
benefits stakeholders (i.e. learners, administration, employers) is tempered by how
well these assumptions are met.
Not surprisingly, it seems that virtually every aspect of the commonly used
performance indicators in education has been sharply criticized (see Bruneau &
Savage, 2002). The most commonly recognized problem with most indicators is
that they seem to be based largely on the assumption that they are related to
learner outcomes and, thus, accurately reflect the level of educational quality of
an institution (Astin & Panos, 1969; Ball & Halwachi, 1987; Cabrera, Colbeck &
Terenzini, 2001; Conrad & Blackburn, 1985; Johnes & Taylor, 1990; Nedwick &
Neal, 1994; Tan, 1986; Toutkoushian & Smart, 2001). Another related limitation
regarding the selection of institutional characteristics is their redundancy. Many
of these indicators are highly correlated with each another (Astin, 1971; Astin &
Panos, 1969; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). For example, Astin (1971) reported
that selectivity is highly correlated with an institution’s prestige, class size, library
size, teachers’ salaries, endowment, academic competitiveness among students and
political orientation. Therefore, it is hardly surprising to see that a highly selective
school ranks high on most if not all other indicators. Third, although the institutional
1566 R.D. Renaud
characteristics used as process indicators are indeed important (e.g. adequate li-
braries, qualified instructors), most of them are measured at such a general level
that they obscure the fact that each institution does not pursue the same educational
goals (Ball & Halwachi, 1987; Hu & Kuh, 2000; Nichols, 1964; Page, 1995). As
such, many of these indicators are far too removed from the learners’ actual learn-
ing experiences (McGuire, 1995; Schmitz, 1993). For instance, these indicators
do not look at classroom processes that have a direct impact on learner learning,
such as frequency of higher-order questioning (Renaud & Murray, 2007). Finally,
a reliability concern with most indicators used to evaluate or compare the schools
(e.g. instructor/student ratio) is that they may not be based on consistent criteria
(Conrad & Blackburn, 1985). For example, the definition of faculty in determining
the faculty/learner ratio could be considered as only permanent full-time faculty
by one institution, while another includes any course instructor (e.g. even part-
time instructors). However, even if the criteria were consistent, several reports (e.g.
Hossler, 2000; McGuire, 1995; Webster, 1992) indicate that the information pro-
vided by institutions is either incomplete, inaccurate or, in an effort to put forth the
most positive image possible, deliberately false.
4 The Relation Between Institutional Characteristics

and Learner Outcomes
Much of the research that has examined the relation between institutional charac-
teristics and learning outcomes applicable to TVET (see Beywl & Speer, 2004)
has been recently reviewed in extensive detail by Pascarella and Terenzini (2005).
Therefore, what follows is merely a brief summary of the main findings of empirical
studies that examined the degree to which learner outcomes are associated with
commonly used indicators of effectiveness representing either selectivity, expendi-
tures or quality of teaching.
4.1 Selectivity
Selectivity appears to be one of the most studied indicators (Chinien & Boutin, 2005)
and is typically defined as the average entering grade of all the incoming learners
in a particular institution, with higher average grades indicating more selective in-
stitutions. Overall, the link between selectivity and learner outcomes seems to be
inconsistent. While several studies have found a significant relation between selec-
tivity and various outcomes assessed using more objective, standardized measures,
such as persistence (Astin, 1982; Ewell, 1989; Schmitz, 1993), educational at-
tainment (Astin, 1982; Astin & Panos, 1969; Kim, Rhoades & Woodward, 2003)
and future earnings (Kingston & Smart, 1990), other outcomes that tend to rely
quite heavily on more subjective self-report measures, such as general learning
(Hu & Kuh, 2000, 2003; Knox, Lindsay & Kolb, 1992) and personal development
(Ewell, 1989; Hu & Kuh, 2003), appear to have little relation with selectivity.
4.2 Expenditures
As with selectivity, the relation between the financial aspects of an institution

and student outcomes remains unclear. While some studies have found little re-
lation between various financial indicators and persistence (e.g. Marcus, 1989;
Schmitz, 1993), analytical and problem-solving skills (Kim, 2002) and self-ratings
of intellectual growth (Strauss & Volkwein, 2002), other studies report positive
effects on outcomes, such as educational attainment (Ryan, 2004), persistence
(Astin, 1982) and gains in interpersonal skills (Toutkoushian & Smart, 2001). As
with many studies that compared institutional characteristics with learner outcomes,
the effect of expenditures is often indirect (e.g. Smart et al., 2002) through learners’
perceptions of the school environment and their level of involvement. As such, some
statistically significant regression coefficients obtained from analyses of very large
samples, depending on the context, may seem less important in practical terms (e.g.
Toutkoushian & Smart, 2001).
4.3 Quality of Teaching
It appears that a widely held assumption is that teachers who are most highly edu-
cated or qualified (i.e. licensed) are better instructors compared to others who are
less educated. As such, one of the more popular indicators of instructional quality is
instructor qualifications, which has been found to have little relation with a learner’s
amount of schooling completed and occupational status (Alwin, 1974), retention
and graduation rate (Schmitz, 1993), and educational aspirations and prediction of
career choice (Astin & Panos, 1969). As with selectivity and financial indicators,
the few exceptions reporting positive associations tend to be those representing spe-
cific sub-groups, such as a cultural minority (Astin, 1982) or a particular area of
study (Astin & Astin, 1993). A similar pattern of results has been found in studies
that examined other indicators of instructional quality, such as teaching salary (e.g.
Alwin, 1974; Ayres & Bennett, 1983; Astin, 1982; Foster & Rogers, 1980) and
class size (e.g. Astin, 1982; Astin & Panos, 1969; Kim, 2002; Schmitz, 1993). Per-
haps one explanation for the lack of significant findings is that these indicators may
be too vague or inappropriate to measure teaching effectiveness more accurately
(Torres, 2004).
4.4 Overall Conclusions

Based on much of the published empirical research as reviewed by Pascarella and
Terenzini (2005) and substantiated further by Chinien and Boutin (2005), the main
1568 R.D. Renaud
conclusion is that after controlling for various measures of learner input, commonly
measured institutional characteristics seem to have little to do with how well a
learner does. However, a few main considerations are worth noting, such that the
findings of research in this area are interpreted with appropriate caution. If much
of the variation due to incoming characteristics has been considered, and with such
a relatively small proportion of the remaining variance attributable to process in-
dicators as measured in these studies, this indicates that a sizeable proportion of
what determines learner learning and development does occur during the educa-
tional experience in TVET. However, this does not tell us the degree to which
the remaining variance in predicting the outcomes is accounted for by institutional
characteristics compared to other sources, such as learner effort or involvement.
Pascarella and Terenzini (2005) offer three other relevant considerations. First,
these studies were quite varied in terms of methodological rigour, which makes
it difficult to draw consistent conclusions. Second, the link between institutional
characteristics and learner outcomes is difficult to confirm because the level and
effect of individual characteristics, such as ambitions, aspirations or motivation, can
change substantially during the college experience. Finally, of the studies that did
report a significant effect, the findings usually were found only with some specific
sub-groups.
5 Recommendations for Future Research

In addressing the general limitations in this field of research, there are several rec-
ommendations that future studies should consider to help clarify our understanding
of the link between institutional characteristics and learner achievement in TVET
programmes.
5.1 More Specific Indicators
One general explanation for the weak relation between institutional characteristics
and learning is that many of them are far too removed from both the actual practice
of teaching in the classrooms and the learner interactions that have a much stronger
connection with learning (McGuire, 1995; Schmitz, 1993). In other words, more
valid measures of educational quality may be found by focusing on specific teach-
ing practices applicable across a range of disciplines. For instance, one potentially
useful process indicator that has received relatively little attention is the course-
level academic process described in several studies by Braxton and Nordvall (Brax-
ton, 1990, 1993; Nordvall & Braxton, 1996) and by Bruneau and Savage (2002).
Basically, the course-level academic process is intended to represent the cognitive
demands placed on learners in terms of the level of questioning (i.e. application,
analysis, synthesis and evaluation) on assignments and exams according to Bloom’s
taxonomy of cognitive objectives (Bloom, 1956). Two other related course-level
processes are the amount of student feedback (Cabrera et al., 2001; Ewell, 1989)
and narrative evaluations (Astin, 1999). As with higher-order questions, Ewell’s
findings that selectivity was positively related with the amount of student feedback
provide indirect support for its use as a process indicator.
While it is useful to have a sense of how much learners progress toward the
intended outcomes, it would be more helpful to know how much these gains were
achieved in absolute terms. For example, the College Student Experiences Ques-
tionnaire (Pace, 1990), used in numerous studies (e.g. Hu & Kuh, 2003; Kaufman
& Creamer, 1991; Martin, 2000; Pike, 1995), asks learners to rate their perceived
gains in areas such as intellectual skills and personal development. As noted by
Hu and Kuh (2003), one drawback of this approach is that the baseline may not
be consistent across institutions. As such, it is more difficult to clarify how much
progress has actually occurred (i.e. how much is ‘very much’?). A clearer measure
could include items that ask learners to indicate (at each time the outcome data is
collected) their perceived level of proficiency more specific to content and the types
of intended learning (Anaya, 1999; Torres, 2004).
Another common limitation occurs when a single item is used in self-ratings to
assess a latent construct representing learner outcomes, such as math self-concept
(Sax, 1994), perceived health (Ross & Mirowsky, 1999), and religious beliefs and
convictions (Lee, 2002). Unlike some institutional characteristics that can be as-
sessed reliably with a single observable indicator (e.g. library expenditures), the
reliability of data representing a latent outcome variable is typically improved
by having several items that assess the latent construct (Nunnally & Bernstein,
1994).
5.2 Student Effort or Involvement

There is accumulating evidence confirming the positive effect of the amount of
learner effort on various outcomes (see Chinien & Boutin, 2005; Pascarella &
Terenzini, 2005), such as the number of non-assigned books read with critical
thinking (Terenzini et al., 1995) and learner/instructor interactions with overall
competence (Martin, 2000). Moreover, it appears that learner involvement ex-
plains a sizeable portion of the remaining variance in outcomes, once incoming
ability has been controlled. Thus, the implication here is that educational quality
in TVET programmes could also be assessed by looking at the impact of what
an institution does to promote greater levels of learner involvement. While most
studies that compared traditional measures of quality and learner outcomes found
them to be weakly related, it appears that certain institutional features may ac-
tually have an indirect influence on learner outcomes mediated through their in-
volvement, such as academic and social integration. For example, Ethington and
Smart (1986) found that selectivity appears to show a positive, indirect link with
future educational aspirations mediated through academic and social integration.
Finally, knowing that any particular institutional characteristic (e.g. library size) is
1570 R.D. Renaud
not likely to contribute, directly or indirectly, to every learner’s achievement in the

same manner, the effects of these processes would be more validly measured by
considering the learner’s level of involvement or exposure. As such, Astin (1978)
suggests that exposure should be addressed in terms of both time or quantity and
intensity.
5.3 Collect Data on Several Occasions
One of the main recommendations concerning the measurement of learner outcomes

would be to collect data on several occasions compared to the typical approach
whereby outcomes are assessed either near the beginning and again near the end of
a programme, or in many cases, only at the end of the programme (Torres, 2004).
One reason why many previous studies may have found it difficult to determine the
relation between institutional characteristics and outcomes is because adult learn-
ers are becoming more mobile (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). With an increasing
number of learners moving from one school to another, it is difficult to know how
much some learners have been exposed to an institution’s environment. Another
factor is that the relation between institutional characteristics and outcomes may
be non-linear (e.g. Kingston & Smart, 1990). Finally, collecting outcome data on
several occasions would help to rule out other factors that may obscure the relation
between the process indicators of interest and learner gains (Astin, 1978). For ex-
ample, if the outcome is a normal part of maturation (e.g. critical thinking), then
the outcome measure will not vary significantly with the amount of exposure to the
programme (i.e. it could compare learners of the same age but at different levels of
training).
5.4 Include Effect Sizes

Among the many studies in this area that obtained their results from large samples,
it is not uncommon to find statistically significant relationships with a coefficient
or variance accounted for in the outcome that in practical terms is arguably quite
small (e.g. Astin & Astin, 1993; Foster & Rogers, 1980; see also Pascarella and
Terenzini, 2005). Including effect sizes will help to clarify the degree of practical
significance of the findings and allow for a more valid comparison of results across
different studies. Having results that are more directly comparable across studies
would enable researchers and administrators to interpret the trends more clearly,
which would lead to more informed choices concerning future studies and policy
decisions. Finally, Vacha-Hasse and Thompson (2004) note that the inclusion of
effect sizes is not only desirable, but its requirement has become more widespread.
In addition, for the interested reader, their paper provides a concise explanation of
the estimation and interpretation of effect sizes.
5.5 Test for Interaction Effects
On a more applied level, Astin (1970) points out that testing for interactions is useful
when it may be too difficult to make substantial changes to the entire school envi-
ronment. In this case, one could make changes to specific areas within the institution
that will better accommodate the sub-group of students who are likely to benefit the
most. Moreover, Pascarella and Terenzini (2005) note that, given the increasing di-
versity of the learner population, future research would do well to increase its focus
on the conditional effects of institutional characteristics. One of the main questions
that research has been exploring more frequently in recent years is how the effects
of institutional characteristics on learner outcomes are a function of the learners’
level of effort and involvement (e.g. Hu & Kuh, 2000, 2003; Smart et al., 2002). For
example, having better teachers (as indicated by higher mean salaries) may have
positive effects on learner learning, but only for those learners who interact with
their teachers more frequently.
5.6 Conduct Qualitative Research

Finally, while much of the research in this area is based on quantitative methods,
well-designed qualitative research would help provide additional insights regard-
ing the specific ways of how institutional characteristics affect learner outcomes
in a manner that more broadly focused quantitative research typically cannot (Pas-
carella & Terenzini, 2005). In addition, Lee (2002) suggests that, with a sizeable
part of the variance in the outcomes left unexplained, exploratory qualitative re-
search can help identify some of the other possible influences. For instance, using
qualitative analysis to examine four institutional case studies, Tsui (2002) has found
several specific classroom processes pertaining to writing and discussions that fos-
ter learners’ critical thinking skills. Moreover, in multi-method studies, qualitative
approaches can provide additional validity evidence for the main conclusions. For
example, Ayres and Bennett (1983) found that the results of interviews with learn-
ers, faculty and administrators agree with those from the corresponding quantitative
analysis that faculty quality is the most important institutional characteristic con-
tributing to learner achievement.
6 Conclusions
While the information derived from performance indicators can provide useful de-
scriptive information, perhaps the most notable limitation is that it is usually based
on the misleading assumption that it accurately reflects the varying degrees of
learner learning and development. The majority of the studies that compared in-
stitutional characteristics with learner outcomes clearly show that, after controlling
for incoming ability, institutional characteristics appear to have little influence on
learner outcomes. Given that the main criticisms of the use of process indicators
1572 R.D. Renaud
are that they are far too removed from actual learning experiences and are assessed
quite vaguely, future research should examine the effects of course-level processes
that can be measured more reliably, such as the frequency of higher-order questions
and instructor feedback and to assess more specific learning outcomes in greater
detail.
With the need for institutions to be increasingly accountable to learners, parents,
industries, government and accreditation organizations, programme evaluation in
TVET programmes is more important than ever. If the measured characteristics of
an institution (i.e. what the school does or has) have little relation with the intended
outcomes (i.e. educating learners), then either the indicators are not being assessed
as they should, or they are inappropriate for evaluating educational programmes.
The main purpose of researching the predictive validity of process indicators is to
gain a clearer understanding of at least some of the specific things that TVET does
to foster the intended learning and development among its learners.
Perhaps the most telling implication of what this research suggests is summed up
by Pascarella and Terenzini (2005):
based on a flawed conception of educational quality that prompts misleading comparisons.
As a result, decisions with high price tags for both individuals and public treasury are based
on a demonstrably invalid set of variables for describing college’s impact on learning out-
comes (p. 642).
If TVET programmes are truly committed to providing the best possible learning
environment for their learners, then the financial and personal costs of making unin-
formed and inferior choices based on scant evidence is one that these schools simply
cannot afford to continue paying.
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Section 10
Curriculum Development and Delivery
Felix Rauner
Institute Technology and Education, University of Bremen, Germany
Chapter X.1
Overview: TVET Curriculum Development
and Delivery
Felix Rauner
1 Introduction
The development of curricula and their implementation is one of the key compe-
tences of teachers in the area of educational planning and practical training for
technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions and training
companies. It also plays a central role in the preparation of vocational school-
teachers. The present section contains a total of eighteen chapters that address this
topic. The chapters in the first part are concerned with the foundations and practice
of curriculum development, including theoretical learning foundations and methods
of research on curricula. The second part summarizes those contributions that con-
centrate on the implementation of vocational and occupational curricula. Organiza-
tion, design and evaluation of vocational processes are the main points of interest.
First, the major features of this complex theme will be explained in order to pro-
vide the reader with an introduction that will assist in studying individual chapters.
2 The Curriculum as a Foundation

for Vocational Teaching and Learning
For the development of each curriculum, three questions need to be answered:

r Which criteria and theories can be used to build a systematized structure of in-
tentional learning—in this case vocational learning?
r What are the contexts and related goals for vocational learning?
r Which forms of learning will assist in achieving the goals of vocational learning?
The answers to these three questions differ depending on the author’s preference
for normative or theoretical concepts. Particularly, educational goals originate in
normative guidelines and models that were originally part of educational policies.
In descriptions of occupational tasks and competences, the intended tasks that are
typical for a specific occupation, the subject-oriented educational goals and con-
texts, as well as general competences, are manifested in occupational descriptions
and vocational education curricula. The setting of occupational tasks, as well as the
World of Work, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-5281-1 X.1,

1580 F. Rauner
differentiation of occupations, is a normative directive. Occupational specifications

are the result of confrontational negotiations between social partners and State in-
stitutions. One of the intentions of research on qualifications and curricula is to
increase the consistency of those negotiations and development processes. Occu-
pational profiles are the result of resolving tensions between scientific criteria and
political and practical interests. In a wider sense, curricula determine work processes
and include the occupational form of job-related tasks. In addition, curricula define
the level and extent of professionalization.
An analysis of work and business processes from the point of view of the iden-
tification of relevant professional tasks and qualification requirements is sometimes
viewed as a purely scientific task carried out on qualifications and curriculum re-
search. Qualifications requirements and the evolution of professional work, accord-
ing to widespread opinion, justify the viewpoint of scientific objectivity. This idea is
right and wrong. It is right because the identification of occupational tasks and qual-
ification requirements follows scientific criteria when the normative implications,
which play a role during the definition of research questions and the development
and selection of methods, have not been examined. If, on the other hand, external
practicability rather than internal relevance of scientific results is intended, then
research results have to be evaluated according to their practical relevance. In order
to analyse occupational tasks it is necessary to consider the results of empirical
research, as well as an analysis of the organization of the working process. Great
scope usually exists for organizing work. The separation of one task into sub-tasks
for the professional worker, as well as the setting of rules about the order of different
tasks, is part of job design or occupational description. The criteria and concepts
of job design and occupational description are considered while identifying oc-
cupational tasks, knowledge and skills (Hackman & Oldham, 1976; Ulich, 1994;
Schüpbach, 1993).
Figure 1 refers to an important idea which has gained programmatic weight in
the discussion about occupations: the ability of apprentices (learners) to shape the
world of work and society according to social and ecological responsibility (Sekre-
tariat der Ständigen Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder in der Bundesrepub-
lik Deutschland—KMK, 1991). This important idea has had a great impact on the
context and form of curricula. Although practical experience shows that appren-
tices frequently have to adapt themselves to the changing conditions of the labour
market, we argue that occupational training should be concerned with autonomy
and self-development, as well as with solidarity and constitutive competence. We
therefore oppose the still widespread normative conviction that work context and
forms of work organization are predetermined and that the apprentices have to adapt
themselves to them.
In the basic theoretical discussion of psychology, there is a controversy between
polarizing development theories, where education is either viewed as adaptation or
as a creative capacity.
One of the polarizing theories is drawn from Rubinstein and Leontjew and de-
fines development as a process of reflexivity and acquisition of societal heritage—
as a subjective socialization process (Leontjew, 1982). The question is: how can
X.1 TVET Curriculum Development and Delivery 1581
Design
innovation
Reflective design Participative human
competence resources
Education Qualification
Understanding Adaptive qualification
Explaining and interpretive Action -directing
knowledge knowledge
(know- that) (know - how)
Adaptation
reproduction
Fig. 1 Knowledge and know-how in the tense relationship between education and qualification
Source: Rauner, 2004, p. 22.
something new be created? What is the engine of historical processes? If the de-
velopment of subjective competence is understood as a reflexive and inquisitional
process, then the answer is: development as adaptation.
Piaget (1980) argued that subjects internalize the historical process and therefore
must have creativity and constitutive competence as well as the foundational ability
to create something new and to transcend societal reality.
This theoretical grounding is important for qualifications because reflection the-
ory has an affinity to the concepts of reproductive skills and adaptation as a qual-
ification. The theory of the creative human being has an affinity with constitutive
oriented occupational pedagogy, as well as the concepts of participative technical
design and organizational development (Rauner, 1995).
3 The Curriculum as a Foundation for Situational Learning
Occupational education and development processes take place as processes of

becoming accustomed to a specific community of practice: occupational beginners
become occupational experts through processes of vocational education and train-
ing. The novice paradigm and the theory of situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991)
offer a theoretical justification for the developmental systematization of occupa-
tional learning. Therefore, curriculum development and curriculum research must
identify characteristic work tasks typical for an occupation and the development of
specific competencies. In curriculum research, therefore, the concept of develop-
mental tasks (Havighurst, 1972) became popular (Gruschka, 1985). Developmental
tasks are defined by Havighurst as tasks that pose new and complex problem situa-
tions for the worker and that significantly contribute to his/her further development
and individualization over the life-cycle.
1582 F. Rauner
A developmental task is a task that arises at or about a certain period in the life of the
individual, successful achievement of which leads to his happiness and to success with later
tasks, while failure leads to unhappiness in the individual, disapproval by the society, and
difficulty with later tasks (Havighurst, quoted by Gruschka, 1985, p. 46).
A curriculum for a constitutive occupational education needs to fulfil two general

criteria: context and educational goals need to be in a developmental logical order
(see Table 1); and the differentiation of the context as well as working and learning
need to be process oriented. This presupposes that occupational tasks are built on
each other and follow logical steps so that the apprentice can construct new knowl-
edge on existing experiences and competences.
For the development of an occupational curriculum, three different phases have to
be recognized: beginners; advanced learners; and experts. The methods of domain-
specific qualification research help to identify occupational developmental tasks and
the relevant knowledge (Fischer & Rauner, 2002).
The transformation of characteristic occupational tasks and situations into occu-
pational curricula can take place in different ways. Benner (1984) recommended
the utilization of various case studies for the training of nurses. Another ap-
proach emphasizes the occupational working knowledge and resulting educational
goals.
Table 1 On the structuration of vocational curricula

Learning fields Tasks Performance
Experience-based, Knowledge on how to Unpredictable Experience-based
systematic in-depth explain things work tasks (non-deterministic)
knowledge systematically and to fulfilment of tasks
solve problems
situatively
Detailed and functional Knowledge on what is Problematic, Theory-based
knowledge essential for skilled specialized (non-deterministic)
work in detail and how work tasks fulfilment of tasks
things work
Contextual knowledge Knowledge on how and Systematic work Systematic (rule-based)
why things are related tasks fulfilment of tasks
to each other this way
rather than another way
Orientation and Knowledge on what the Occupationally Guided (deterministic)
overview occupation in question orienting work fulfilment of tasks
is mainly about tasks
4 Occupational Versus Academic Curricula
The leading question in this chapter is: can a criterion be used to determine between
an occupational and an academic curricula? The institutional framework of occupa-
tional education determines the occupational curriculum. The occupational form of
work becomes the point of reference for the development of curricula.
The academic curriculum is traditionally created by criteria of science and the

subject. Curricula at universities are not primarily oriented towards the academic
profession but towards the systematic acquisition of the foundations of a scientific
discipline. Students in a particular programme of study should be enabled to participate
receptively and actively in the research process in order to acquire the foundations of
their subject. Research questions, theories, methods and results are emphasized in
the learning process. Contextual legitimation is a duty of scientists in each discipline.
They define themselves as members of the scientific communities and not primarily
as members of professional domains. Physics has a paradigmatic meaning in this
context because one conducts science-oriented and not occupation-oriented studies.
Under the influence of American pragmatism, the occupational orientation has
gained ground among academics. With the internationalization of degrees in Europe,
the principle of occupation-oriented education has entered higher education and is
now considered to be on equal terms with scientific orientation. Unlike vocational
education, higher education does not have highly developed curriculum and qual-
ifications research. It is academic professions that have an orientation function in
the development of university curricula. However, occupational qualification often
does not take place before entering work after graduation and in a more-or-less for-
malized process of acquiring professional competence and identity. That is the main
difference between a university curriculum and a vocational curriculum. While the
vocational curriculum is targeted towards vocational proficiency, the university cur-
riculum offers an occupational orientation. Based on this foundational difference,
teaching concepts of modularization in vocational education and training are evalu-
ated differently. In discussions among occupational pedagogues it is emphasized that
the goal of achieving occupational ability prohibits a modularization of occupational
degrees. The individual training steps are interpreted in a holistic way. The holistic
curriculum designed for a specific occupation is the foundation for acquiring occu-
pational ability. On the contrary, the modularization of higher education degrees is
an established structural principle at universities. The difference indicates that educa-
tion at universities is still mainly acquired through the procurement of subject-based
scientific competences. These can be represented in a modularized curriculum. Oc-
cupational competence, on the other hand, is understood as a holistic concept for
which the modularization of educational and training contents is not appropriate.
5 Concepts for the Development of Occupational Curricula
A great variety of curriculum development theories compete with each other. The
differences result from theories of occupational learning, which explicitly and
implicitly underlie curriculum design. Curriculum designers need to modify and
simplify scientific knowledge and transform it into contexts of occupational learn-
ing. This concept equals the ‘applied sciences’, which implies that societal knowl-
edge is embedded in science. The application of this knowledge in practice is a
process of didactical reduction and transformation through pedagogues: teachers,
trainers, lecturers.
1584 F. Rauner
Completely different is the curriculum design concept when work-process knowl-

edge is understood as the key element for occupational curricula. Experts need to
identify which knowledge about working processes should be taught.
Research in occupational pedagogy is taking a different direction today because
researchers have realized that teaching knowledge and just talking about action-
oriented learning does not lead to the intended competences and skills. There-
fore, instruction has shifted towards a process orientation (Boreham, Fischer &
Samurçay, 2002). Vocational pedagogy is challenged to develop a new compe-
tence concept and rethink the cohesion between experience, knowledge and skills
according to the theories of multiple intelligences from Gardner (2002), the epis-
temology of practical competence (Schön, 1983), the ethnomethodological concept
of the studies of work from Garfinkel, as well as the category of practical terms
(Holzkamp, 1985, pp. 226 ff.) and practical knowledge (Benner, 1984).
In the investigation of occupation-based work, as well as in the development of
occupational profiles and curricula, TVET research has to rely on occupational stud-
ies. The expertise research has so far been mainly concerned with theories, methods
and findings about learning in context or in correspondence with occupational work.
In labour studies there is a well-developed tradition of the analysis and formation
of work processes. Therefore, there are some commonalities between research in
occupational pedagogy and occupational science (Hacker, 1992). The difference
is that occupational science focuses particularly on such aspects as workload and
health, humanization of work, health protection, as well as the qualification of em-
ployees. Research on occupations and occupational field development, including
occupational tasks, focuses on subject-oriented aspects of learning, education and
competence development (learning in the process of work). TVET research and
expertise research have in common that both are concerned with research about the
emergence of know-how in work and learning processes (Franke, 2001).
Occupational science tries to identify knowledge that emerges in different oc-
cupational domains. It attempts to answer questions, such as: Which skills and
what explicit and implicit knowledge do industrial electricians need in their do-
main of maintenance of complex network-, computer- and media-integrated indus-
trial processes? This level of differentiation in qualifications research constitutes its
didactical-curricular relevance.
6 The Shaping of Vocational Learning Processes
Educational scientists have requested that they should shape vocational curricula in
an open way in order to meet the situational educational process. Learners should
be treated as subjects of their own development and learning process, which implies
that teachers need space and autonomy in shaping the curriculum. Particularly, vo-
cational education is more than the implementation of a vocational curriculum. The
domain- and company-specific implementation of a curriculum, as well as the dy-
namics of technological development, render the educational activities of teachers
and trainers relatively autonomous with regard to the curriculum.
Mainstream vocational pedagogy argues that vocational education is based on

reflective work experiences. Lave and Wenger (1991) dedicated with their work
on ‘situated learning’ the re-establishment of the original form of all vocational
learning: the education of master craftsmen. The attractiveness of the apprenticeship
model is rooted in the fact that an apprentice can grow into occupational practice
almost automatically. A precondition is vocational education that recognizes the
change of work and technology.
It is thanks to Donald Schön that more emphasis in research is put on the central
meaning of reflection in work experience. This acknowledgement is important for
systematizing knowledge through subject-based theoretical learning in vocational
schools in addition to learning in the work process. Other theories about work share
the belief that processes of cognition are based on active learning. In this context it
seems to be problematic to lay most emphasis on the instrumentalist type of action
as a model for the teaching of vocational learning. Michael Brater (1984) has intro-
duced the idea of a creative and shaping dimension of action in vocational pedagogy.
7 Evaluation, Assessment and Diagnostics
Evaluation, assessment and diagnostics are dimensions of curriculum implementa-

tion that became increasingly important under the pressure of the instrumental ra-
tionalization of educational and qualification processes, as well as human resource
management. Alongside, there is a rich practice of competence diagnostics in all
those cases where the qualification for particular professional tasks entails the ac-
quisition of licenses. An example would be the certification of pilots who need a
variety of security and relevant competences and the ability to work with an in-
creasingly more complex technology. In such cases the evaluation of educational
programmes as well as competence diagnostics and the introduction of assessment
tools gain importance. One foundation for the assessment of occupational skills is
the evaluation of skills and knowledge. It is hardly surprising that in recent years
the attitude of assessing professional competences at the level of skills has prevailed
instead of merely inquiring into the prerequisites of professional action in terms of
knowledge. Only the examination of occupational skills offers guarantees for the
success or failure of vocational education processes.
Initiatives about the separation of competence measurement from the curriculum
and the occupational education process are of great importance for educational pol-
icy. If the establishment of international education markets succeeds, modularized
certification systems following the model of the British system of national voca-
tional qualifications (NVQs) will remain the only way in which the occupational
education markets can be regulated. In such systems, individuals decide about
the qualifications and in what way they want to acquire them. The idea of lo-
cal/geographical and time independence offers flexibility in regard to developments
in the labour market. Nevertheless, experiences with this system indicate that a
de-qualification of employees occurs as a consequence of the diffusion of voca-
tional programmes and certification systems. Ultimately, it is rather obstructive for
1586 F. Rauner
the flexibility of labour markets. Obviously, there is no acceptable alternative that

would offer a higher permeability of vocational programmes. Therefore, curricula
development and implementation will remain as key topics in vocational practice,
planning and research.
X.2 The Mutual Shaping of Work, Vocational Competence

and Work-Process Knowledge, by Nicholas Boreham
and Martin Fischer
In their chapter Boreham and Fischer deal with the concept of work-process knowl-
edge, and its mutual shaping with vocational training and work. They give a list of
principles for the design of vocational curricula that are oriented to the acquisition
of work-process knowledge.
X.3 Situated Learning and Cognitive Apprenticeship, by Michael

Gessler
The chapter by Gessler deals with the approach of ‘situated learning’ that had been
developed during the 1980s and 1990s, particularly as a criticism of the cognition-
focused paradigm of psychology and of teaching at schools that is untrue to life.
Learning under authentic conditions and in the context of social practice is the
main feature of the teaching/learning arrangements of ‘cognitive apprenticeship’.
This concept is illustrated by the example of training to be a master craftsman
and in an extended way combines the idea of experience-guided learning (master
craftsman/apprentice) and principles of cognitive learning. The dialogue makes it
possible for beginners to actively contribute to problem-solving and with the help
of experts to acquire the necessary relevant knowledge, despite their still restricted
cognitive resources. Learners will slowly grow to be a part of an ‘experts’ culture’.

Development, by Georg Spöttl
Spöttl addresses different approaches to curriculum development. He shifts the

focus to the concept of participative curriculum development, which aims at
involving the target group of curricular decisions directly into the process of cur-
riculum development.
X.5 The Deskilling and Upskilling Debate, by Ulrich Heisig
In his chapter, Heisig provides an introduction to the deskilling and upskilling de-
bate, i.e. the argument around the question of whether the capitalist method of pro-
duction is characterized by a constant reduction or a constant increase of the skill
level for jobs. Heisig points out the milestones in the debate’s history and gives an
account of the contemporary state of affairs.
X.6 The Pedagogy of Apprenticeship, by Uwe Lauterbach
After describing the advantages of apprenticeship schemes over technical and voca-
tional schools in the transition to work, Lauterbach presents old and modern forms
of apprenticeship, such as co-operation learning and alternance. He discusses the
present situation in Europe where there is a convergence of apprenticeship-like
schemes. He notes that apprenticeship schemes will have to learn to assert them-
selves faced with the competition of higher education.
X.7 Approaches to Designing TVET Curricula, by Richard

Huisinga
Huisinga draws our attention to the fact that, on an international scale, there are not
many schemes for designing curricula in vocational education and training available
and even fewer have been worked out in detail. After tracing back the reasons for this
lack as far as to ancient Greek philosophy, he reviews the current state of approaches
to designing TVET curricula.
X.8 Collaborative Work-Related Learning

and Technology-Enhanced Learning, by Alan Brown,
Jenny Bimrose and Sally-Ann Barnes
Brown, Bimrose and Barnes shift the focus to collaborative learning and technology-
enhanced learning. They provide examples of substantive, collaborative, work-
related learning and continuing professional development. The first is drawn from
the experience of inter-organizational learning in manufacturing supply-chain net-
works. The second deals with a guidance network illustrating the use of social soft-
ware to support the development of a ‘community of interest’ of careers guidance
practitioners, policy-makers and researchers. The authors examine specific types of
technology-enhanced learning, particularly in relation to the development and use
of social software, that are further enriching collaborative work-related learning and
development.
1588 F. Rauner
X.9 Action-Based TVET, by Hans-Dieter Höpfner
Höpfner first gives an introduction to action regulation theory as a blueprint for

action-based TVET; second, he describes why training/teaching in TVET should
be trainee-centred; third, he elaborates on work assignments as a core element of
action-based TVET; and, fourth, discusses the role of this concept within new di-
dactical approaches for TVET.
X.10 Vocational Learning: Contributions of Workplaces

and Educational Institutions, by Stephen Billett
Billett identifies contributions to the learning of vocational practice from experi-

ences in both educational institutions and workplaces. The chapter proposes that
each of these settings potentially provides particular contributions to learning voca-
tional practice. When each set of contributions is usefully exercised and integrated,
they stand to purposefully support rich and robust vocational learning. Yet, this inte-
gration is not possible in all circumstances. Therefore, it is important to understand
the strengths and weaknesses of the contributions from both kinds of settings, and
how best their learning potential can be maximized and their weaknesses limited.
This paper is structured to achieve these purposes.
X.11 Work-Based Learning: An English Experience,

by James Avis
The chapter by James Avis explores work-based learning in the context of changes
taking place in vocational education and training in England, locating these within
an understanding of the economy and the way in which work-based knowledge
is construed. It draws upon literature that examines the work-based experiences
of young people, illustrating the tension between understandings of work-based
learning that stress knowledge creation and those orientated towards young people
disaffected with schooling.
X.12 Language Mastery Development within TVET for

Professional Mobility, by Andrei N. Kouznetsov
Kouznetsov’s chapter discusses several topics linked with language mastery

development. According to the author, second-language mastery for professional
mobility is in general vital for citizens of transition countries whose job markets
are developing rapidly. Another aspect of the language acquisition problem affects
countries with a considerable immigrant population. This body is frequently in need
of job adaptation to the host community, characterized by a language foreign to
immigrant ethnic groups. Language training of native and mixed immigrant groups
is associated with careful selection of relevant teaching contents and techniques.
Emphasis is placed on the competence-centred approach to teaching contents se-
lection, as it is considered as being a powerful and up-to-date instrument—though
disputable in terms of terminology. Student diversity and the ways of tackling it in
a language classroom are still another issue for analysis is this context—for mixed
ethnic groups in particular.
X.13 Why do German Companies Invest in Apprenticeship?

by Klaus Schaack
Schaack elaborates on the question of why German companies invest in appren-

ticeship. His chapter explores outstanding features of German apprenticeships in
order to understand how they interact with their political, cultural, social, educa-
tional and economic environment. Hence, the objective is to understand German
training amidst its wider environment, instead of analysing isolated training models
or comparing such constructs.
X.14 Workplace Learning: Metacognitive Strategies for Learning

in the Knowledge Economy, by Hugh Munby, Nancy L.
Hutchinson and Peter Chin
Munby, Hutchinson and Chin draw on their empirical work in the area of secondary
co-op education to advance strategies for workplace learning with three emphases.
The first of these concerns instruction that focuses on the metacognitive functions
of routines for novice workers; the second concerns instruction about science in the
workplace; and the final section considers workplace instruction for students with
exceptional problems. They conclude that in each of these three related emphases,
participation in not enough. The strategies they recommend provide guidance at
three levels: organizing learners’ experience; guiding the development of and un-
derstanding of routines; and facilitating the development of self-regulated learning
and use of knowledge to respond to changing tasks and workplaces.

and Skills Development in South Africa, by David Johnson
Far too much attention has been paid to education systems that are qualifications
driven rather than to systems of recognition that motivate people to become aware
of their own potentialities and construct their own life-projects. There is very little
research to show how the education system might exploit such latent capabilities
for employability, technological advancement, citizenship and poverty reduction.
1590 F. Rauner
Johnson argues that we should be thinking less about what education systems should
teach and train, and instead recognize the dispositions that already exist. Johnson has
certainly set off an important policy dialogue on achieving relevance in education
that is oriented towards real-world social and economic challenges and one which
harnesses pupils’ potential to the fullest.

Perspective: The Promises and the Limits of Formal
Schooling, by W. Norton Grubb and Marvin Lazerson
Grubb and Lazerson provide us with critical reflections on what they call the ‘Edu-
cation Gospel’: the idea that formal schooling prepares individuals for employment
and has the capacity to resolve all problems in the public as well as in the private
sphere. They propose that this idea is the reason why educational institutions have
become focused on occupational preparation, as well as to many other changes in
the way education is structured and funded. They suggest that it also has an impact
on the connections between schooling and employment and the mechanisms of in-
quality. They argue that in the future it will be necessary to not just understand the
strengths but also the limitations of both vocationalism and the ‘Education Gospel’.

Relationship between Vocational and Technology
Education, by Margarita Pavlova
Pavlova focuses on the analysis of the vocationalization of secondary education in
developed countries (with some emphasis on Australia and Russia) via technology
education and argues that it is an essential component in achieving the goals of voca-
tionalization, although the rationale for technology education was developed within
a philosophy strongly opposed to the aims and objectives of vocational education.
X.18 Valuing Experience as well as Knowledge in Schools,

by Ron Hansen
The chapter by Hansen explores an alternative conception of ‘knowledge’ and the
relation between a knowledge-based economy and school technical programmes.
How is knowledge—the commodity we value so highly in schools and in industry—
depicted by both sectors? This question is answered by examining the sociology of
knowledge literature. After examining how knowledge is portrayed and legitimized,
Hansen looks at the importance and place of ‘experience’ in school and industry
settings.
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Poeschel.
Chapter X.2
The Mutual Shaping of Work, Vocational
Competence and Work-Process Knowledge
1 The Concept of Work-Process Knowledge
The definition of work-process knowledge (Boreham, Samurçay & Fischer, 2002;

Fischer, Boreham & Nyhan, 2004) is based on empirical research into the compe-
tence requirements of modernized workplaces, especially those that have undergone
a transition from Taylorism (strong hierarchy, top-down decisions, segmented work
roles and fixed working procedures) to more organic structures (wider participation
in decision-making, flexible labour processes and the involvement of all grades of
employee in continuous improvement). The essential claim that underpins the theory
of work-process knowledge is that, in the latter kind of working environment, em-
ployees need system-level understanding of the work process in the organization as
a whole in order to fulfil their responsibilities for participating in decision-making,
working across boundaries and contributing to continuous improvement. The reason
is that their extended role requires them to understand how their own immediate
tasks interconnect with operations carried out in other parts of the organization.
This claim is based on empirical studies of the ways of knowing that underpin flex-
ible work in modernized workplaces. Work-process knowledge was defined by the
EU Framework IV project WHOLE (Work Process Knowledge in Technological
and Organizational Development, see Boreham et al., 2002) in terms of four main
attributes:
1. It is a systems-level understanding of the work process in the organization as
a whole. Here, ‘work process’ is a portmanteau expression which includes the
business process—the overall configuration of the commercial and/or produc-
tive capacity of the company that enables it to respond to market demands; the
production process—the range of commercial and/or industrial tasks performed
across the company, such as design, machining and quality inspection, and how
these interrelate to each other; and the labour process—the ways in which the
workforce is deployed in order to carry out these tasks; for example, who is
responsible for which decisions, and the roles carried out by different members
of the organization.
This aspect of the definition of work-process knowledge focuses on its breadth
of purview. However, the empirical research conducted by the WHOLE project

1594 N. Boreham, M. Fischer
(Boreham et al., 2002) suggested that further terms need to be added to this defini-
tion. These are necessary to provide a more complete picture of this way of knowing.
The second term in the definition is that work-process knowledge is ‘active’,
in the sense of ‘active’ that distinguishes it from ‘inert’ knowledge (Perkins, 1992).
Any knowledge can be judged active or inert in relation to a given activity. It is active
if possessing it enhances performance in that activity: for example, knowledge of a
musical score is active knowledge for the musician performing the music, because
it enables him or her to produce the right notes. However, knowledge of the value
of the shares of a company in which the musician has no interest is inert (at least,
in relation to his or her musical performance), as it does not have an impact on the
way the music is played. Thus:
2. Work process knowledge is actually used in the performance of the work in
question—it is ‘active’ as opposed to ‘inert’ knowledge.
This part of the definition is important for the design of vocational training. By
identifying those aspects of an employee’s knowledge of the system that are actually
used in the performance of his or her work, then the task of specifying the knowledge
content of a training course is made much easier.
However, the definition as it now stands is still not sufficient to account for
the phenomena that researchers observed when they were investigating work-process
knowledge in contexts such as electrical maintenance (Samurçay & Vidal-Gomel,
2002) and medicine (Boreham, Foster & Mawer, 1992). These investigations of how
work-process knowledge actually guides work resulted in the rejection of a sim-
ple representational epistemology in favour of an epistemology in which work and
work-process knowledge stand in a relation of co-construction. By co-construction
we mean that the worker’s knowledge is partially constructed out of the work, and
that the work is partially constructed out of the worker’s knowledge. Research car-
ried out by WHOLE participants suggested that the co-construction of work-process
knowledge often occurred in response to a problem that required redesigning the
work process. Responsibility for dealing with such problems often falls on or-
dinary workers in organizations which involve them in continuous improvement,
especially when understanding and/or solving the problem requires stepping out
of a narrow work role or fixed procedure and negotiating or collaborating with
people in other parts of the organization. This emphasizes the constructivist aspect
of work-process knowledge and rejects an epistemology that is merely represen-
tationalist. Mere representationalism depicts knowledge as a state inside people’s
heads which mirrors, by means of internal images, what is occurring in the world
outside. Thus ‘work’ might be assumed to exist independently of the worker (e.g. as
a collection of objective entities, such as markets, product specifications, machines
and job descriptions) and the worker’s knowledge might be assumed to represent
these entities. (Cf. Ochanine’s 1978 theory of operative images, a representational
view of work-related knowledge critiqued by Boreham, 1988.) Constructivist epis-
temologies reject a dualism of inner and outer worlds, arguing that knowledge is
fashioned publicly through social interaction and that its content reflects the social
structures within which that interaction occurs. The theory of work-process knowl-
X.2 The Mutual Shaping of Work 1595
edge acknowledges that there is a dialectic between representing and constructing.

When we are perceiving the world we are constructing or using terms for our per-
ception, e.g. perceiving a tree means not only the perception of forms and colours
(like photography). The process of perceiving is related to meaningful terms like
‘tree’, insofar it is a process of constructing reality. On the other hand, ‘tree’ is also
a representation of reality (see Boreham et al., 2002, pp. 122, 127). This provides
the next part of the definition:
3. Work process knowledge is constructed by employees while they are engaged in
work, particularly when they are solving problems involving the reconfiguration
of the work process.
However, even these three terms were not enough to account for all aspects of the
work-process knowledge we observed in modernized workplaces. Further aspects
of the research carried out by the WHOLE project suggested that work-process
knowledge is more than mere know-how accumulated by years of unreflective prac-
tice. Rather, it is the result of reflection on problems in the workplace that actually
generates new knowledge out of diverse knowledge resources, including both prac-
tical experience and theoretical understanding (Boreham, 2004). On the basis of
research in different sectors—industrial maintenance (Fischer, 1995; Samurçay &
Vidal-Gomel, 2002), production islands (Fischer, 1995), medicine (Boreham, 1989;
Boreham et al., 1992) and chemical laboratories (Fischer & Röben, 2002)—it was
found that employees’ knowledge of the work process was not a matter of accu-
mulated practical experience nor a direct application of their scientific (academic)
knowledge in practical situations, but a new understanding constructed out of a
synthesis of theoretical and practical knowledge. Conceptual models of the orga-
nization of work in a company would be synthesized with the lived experience
of working there, or a theoretical model of a machine found in an engineering
specification would be synthesized with experiences of the peculiarities of that
machine’s functioning when it was operated on the shop floor. This led to a de-
construction of a group of binary oppositions often encountered in accounts of
work-related knowledge—theory versus practice, declarative knowledge versus
procedural knowledge and ‘knowing that’ versus ‘knowing how’. Thus:
4. In place of the binary opposition between ‘knowing how’ and ‘knowing that’,
work-process knowledge is typically constructed by synthesizing codified and
experiential knowledge in a dialectical process of resolving problems in the
workplace.
To locate this abstract definition in a real-world case study, reference can be
made to Mariani’s (2002) investigation of an Italian knowledge-creating chemical
company, carried out as part of the WHOLE project. This example is particu-
larly relevant to the current problems afflicting European industry as it shows the
functionality of work-process knowledge in supporting the kind of organizational
restructuring that companies often undertake in response to international competi-
tion. Challenged by increasing competition in the field of plastics manufacturing,
the company studied by Mariani changed the emphasis in its business plan from
manufacturing to research and development. Previously, research and development

had constituted 20% of the business and manufacturing 80%, but these proportions
were reversed and the core business became researching new types of plastic, devel-
oping the technology to produce them and licensing other companies to make the
new products with the processes they had developed.
The research and development activity was carried out in the company’s laborato-
ries and pilot chemical plants. New types of plastic were developed in the former and
then the pilot plants, small-sized production facilities, sought to develop new tech-
nological processes for manufacturing them. Thus, in place of chemical products,
this company was discovering the chemical structure of new plastics and the tech-
nological knowledge needed to manufacture them (the formulae would have been
of limited value without a proven manufacturing process for turning them into mar-
ketable products). In a very real sense, then, the firm became a knowledge-creating
company—its main product was now knowledge—and an excellent example of the
kind of enterprise that the European Commission hopes to develop as the backbone
of its knowledge-based economy. However, the transformation of the company re-
quired a significant change in the work process. Profit depended on patenting as
many new processes as possible, so the pilot plants had to be reconfigured for many
new experimental production processes each month. This meant that the employees
operating them had to work very much more flexibly than is usually the case in
continuous process manufacturing, where the production process may remain un-
changed for years on end. Not only were they stepping into new work roles several
times each month as new production processes were tried out, but all grades of
worker were involved in evaluating the new processes as part of their regular du-
ties as pilot-plant operators—in effect, knowledge creation had become the ultimate
purpose of their work. In order to cope with this new way of working, they needed to
understand the work process as a whole: as one experienced employee commented:
‘It should never be allowed to happen that an individual cannot interpret a certain
output because he or she does not know what happened at a previous stage in the
process’ (Mariani, 2002, p. 24).
The transformation of the company entailed a new approach to training and
work-based learning. The induction of new workers now placed more emphasis
on understanding the production process as a whole and less on training them
for specific roles. Extensive use was made of meetings and other ways of struc-
turing conversations to promote continuous dialogue among employees about pro-
duction methods—it was largely through this dialogue that employees constructed
the understanding of the work process that enabled them to run the pilot plants
innovatively. Moreover, it was in these meetings that the workforce synthesized
scientific knowledge and practical know-how as they grappled with the problems
of creating, implementing and evaluating new plastics technologies. All aspects of
the above definition of work-process knowledge are illustrated in this example: in
order to do their work, the workers needed to understand the whole work process;
their knowledge of the process was active and not inert; it was constructed in the
context of experiments in reconfiguring the work processes, while the experiments
themselves were constructed out of the new knowledge of the work process the
workers were developing; and the knowledge-creation process involved synthesiz-

ing practical experience with theoretical understanding.
2 The Origins of the Concept of Work-Process Knowledge

Although discussions of ‘process knowledge’ can be traced back to the 1920s,
perhaps the earliest appearance of the term in its German form—Arbeitsprozess-
wissen—occurred in the context of a German debate about the need for reform
of vocational education and training. The German word has two English transla-
tions: ‘labour-process knowledge’ and ‘work-process knowledge’. Whilst the lat-
ter is more widely used in contemporary debates (see Fischer, 2000), the former
provides a better translation of the original meaning of the term. When Wilfried
Kruse introduced the term Arbeitsprozesswissen in 1986, his notion included both
the skills that are needed in more flexible work settings and the overall orientation
to the object of work that facilitates employee participation. Even in Kruse’s early
notion, the originality of the concept lay in the fact that theoretical knowledge had
to be related to knowledge gained from experience (see Kruse, 1986).
Many years later, the concept was applied in a series of projects carried out
by the Fundacio Centre d’Iniciatives i Recerques Europées à la Mediterrania in
Barcelona (CIREM), an organization funded by the European Commission to pro-
mote economic development in the Mediterranean Region. One CIREM project had
the aim of improving the performance of a group of hotels on the island of Mallorca
(Kruse, 2002). The hotel group wished to attract a more up-market clientele, but it
realised that it could do so only by developing the ambience distinctive of high-class
hotels, i.e. an ethos of personalized service. Consequently, the project was launched
to develop a higher standard of service through ‘continuous quality improvement’.
The philosophy that guided this project was a quality-circle methodology, in which
staff were encouraged to identify and solve problems that stood in the way of high
quality service. Following standard practice, staff met in cross-departmental groups
to analyse the origins of the problems they had reported. This exercise led quickly
to the realization that a problem that manifested itself in one department of the hotel
(e.g. in reception) might have been caused in another department, and might well
have repercussions in a third. It was also realised that employees working in one
department could throw light on the problems that occurred in others. These insights
highlighted the importance of the ‘internal customer’: in addition to providing a
service to their guests, high-quality performance implied providing a service to col-
leagues in other departments. Conducted in this way, the quality circles increased
the participants’ awareness of the interdependency of the different departments in
which they worked, and the interconnectedness of the members’ work roles. This
knowledge was identified by Kruse as Arbeitsprozesswissen with the English sense
of ‘labour-process knowledge’.
At approximately the time that Kruse pointed out the need for labour-process
knowledge when companies are introducing new technology, alternatives to
Tayloristic work organization were being developed in several European countries
including Scandinavia (see Ehn, 1988), Germany (see Brödner, 1985) and the
United Kingdom (see Rosenbrock, 1989; Cooley, 1988, 1989). The project ‘Human
Centred CIM Systems’ funded by the Esprit Programme of the European Union was
a milestone in the development of work and technology. Partners from Denmark,
Germany and the United Kingdom tried to establish an interdisciplinary way of de-
veloping computer-aided production systems better suited to human needs and abil-
ities (Corbett, Rasmussen & Rauner, 1991; Rauner, Rasmussen & Corbett, 1988).
This work reveals how work and work-process knowledge are mutually shaped in
the context of work modernization.
An important part of the development of these technical systems was the intro-
duction of ‘island production’, which integrated previously separate stages in the
processing of an order (design, machining, quality control, etc.) to create a single
multifunctional work unit. This improved the efficiency of the production process.
For example, in the traditional segmented work system, many delays to produc-
tion originating on the shop floor are unpredictable because the circumstances that
give rise to them are not known to the central planning department. However, un-
der island production the lines of communication are shorter, more of these factors
are known to the production planners and can be taken into account. Additionally,
workers in production islands can deal with contingencies, such as sudden machine
breakdowns, as they can immediately adjust production targets—in traditional work
systems, these were fixed and difficult to modify quickly. The underlying principle
was the same as in the Spanish hotels: the transformation of a fixed, bureaucratic
work system into a more organic, flexible one capable of adapting speedily to shift-
ing customer requirements and to its own internal problems. However, in extending
the concept of work-process knowledge to embrace manufacturing, a new factor was
brought into the picture: the nature of the production process itself. In recognition
of this, the meaning of the original term Arbeitsprozesswissen was extended from
‘labour-process knowledge’ to ‘work-process knowledge’, the latter being defined
as knowledge of the labour process and the production process.
3 The Mutual Shaping of Work and Work-Process Knowledge
Work in a production island creates close links between indirect work, such as
planning, and direct work, such as machining, as it assumes decentralized planning
and the delegation of much decision-making to the workshop. One result is that
the experiential knowledge that skilled workers accumulate about specific charac-
teristics of the workshop—the roles of co-workers, the configuration of individual
machines and the particular materials and tools in use—needs to be integrated with
the more abstract knowledge required for planning production runs. This integration
is one of the defining characteristics of how work-process knowledge is constructed.
The relationship between the integration of direct and indirect work and the integra-
tion of experiential and abstract ways of knowing is not a simple cause-and-effect
relationship, but one of mutual shaping. The modernization of work along the lines
we have described both creates and is facilitated by the acquisition of work-process
knowledge by the workforce.
This mutual shaping is revealed in an important piece of research into how skilled
workers and apprentices reacted when island production was introduced and con-
fronted them with the need to work in new ways (Fischer, 1995). The research
aimed to explore what skilled workers and apprentices knew about planning and
organizing order processing and therefore, broadly speaking, what they knew about
the operational set-up and workflow in the organization as a whole. The participants
were asked to draw a diagram of their workplace depicting the operations and flow
of materials on the basis of their previous work experience.
In many cases, a very comprehensive overview of the processing of an order was
depicted in the skilled workers’ sketches (see Figure 1, which describes how an
order [Auftrag] goes to the sales department [kaufm. Abteilung] and the design de-
partment [Konstruktion]. Then, an engineering drawing [Zeichnung, Stückliste] is
Fig. 1 Work-process knowledge of a German skilled worker

produced that goes to the head of the production department [Fertigungsleitung].

Process planning [Arbeitsvorbereitung] and production control [Fertigungsteue-
rung] are responsible for converting the engineering drawing and the parts list into
the computer system [Umsetzen von Zeichnung und Stückliste auf EDV-Anlage] and
for producing employee documentation [Arbeitspapiere, Materialscheine, Lohn-
scheine, Laufkarten]. And, in this way, the work flow planning [Terminabläufe]
is determined. In the factory buildings [Werkhallen], the product is produced with
CNC machines [CNC-Fertigung] and manually [manuelle Fertigung]. After that,
quality assurance and final inspection takes place [Qualitätssicherung, Endkon-
trolle]. A foreman [Meister] is responsible for the assembly of all parts before the
product goes to the inspection department [Prüffeld] and the distribution department
[Versand]).
An examination of these sketches clarified the essential content of the work-
process knowledge of these workers. One participant called it the ‘knowledge of
how one organizes production’. He regarded it as the essence of his expertise and
its development as the central purpose of vocational and further education. The
study found that experienced skilled workers possessed a good understanding of
the work process as a whole, not only in the sense that they could name the stages
in the processing of an order in the factory accurately, but in the sense that they
knew the contributions of the different departments and the order in which they
contributed. On the basis of investigations of the participants’ backgrounds, it was
clear that this knowledge had been acquired from their work experience. What is
especially interesting is that in most cases the skilled workers who revealed that
they possessed this knowledge had no formal responsibility whatsoever for the plan-
ning of order processing. Their knowledge about the planning and organization of
production had been gained informally, typically in situations where short periods
of close collaboration with other departments became necessary to deal with prob-
lems such as unforeseen events and the disruption of production. These collabora-
tions were usually spur-of-the-moment activities that occurred outside the official
lines of communication and the formal decision-making procedures of the factory.
Fischer’s (1995) research thus shows that the construction of work-process knowl-
edge depends on a variety of informal relationships in the factory. This culture of
knowledge production can be overlooked if new production concepts are defined in
an exclusively technical or system-theoretical perspective.
4 The Mutual Shaping of Work-Process Knowledge

and Vocational Training
Recent reforms have attempted to design curricula for encouraging the acquisition
of work-process knowledge (Fischer & Rauner, 2002). Where work systems have
been modernized in the way described, these developments have sometimes gone
hand-in-hand with the development of curricula based on incorporating the acquisi-
tion of work-process knowledge into the performance of activities in the workplace.
Vocational curriculum development of this kind begins by defining the purpose

of the occupation in its broadest terms, analyses the overall work process within
which it takes place, designs ways in which trainees can acquire knowledge of the
context and the overall work process, then ends by imparting the theoretical and
practical knowledge and skills required for each activity field. This is designed
to replace the model of vocational curriculum development that has prevailed in
many countries over the previous decades—essentially a set of bureaucratic proce-
dures for enabling individuals to meet externally-imposed standards, such as lists of
competencies and set texts and assessment by written examinations. As is widely
acknowledged, the traditional curriculum is proving inadequate for meeting today’s
need for flexible employees. The concept of work-process knowledge is a useful
tool for designing alternative kinds of vocational curricula designed specifically for
flexible, knowledge-creating work in contexts where a significant amount of the
company’s knowledge assets are constructed in the workplace.
To appreciate the contribution of these new approaches to the design of vo-
cational curricula, we need an appropriate theory of work itself. This can be
found in the cultural-historical theory of activity developed by Leont’ev (1978) and
Vygotsky (1978). As Leont’ev’s (1978) classic statement makes clear, activity the-
ory is not an all-encompassing theory so much as a set of principles for constructing
local theories to account for specific types of activity. However, in all applications of
activity theory, work is represented as a collective activity directed towards a com-
mon object, and the activity itself—the collective engagement with the object—is
represented as a set of social practices based on a historically-determined division
of labour. Activity theory claims that the human mind (or, more particularly, the
higher functions such as problem-solving) come into existence only in the context of
purposeful social interaction, and this theoretical perspective is consistent with our
claim that work-process knowledge is constructed by co-workers within the process
of work itself. Leont’ev (1978) and Vygotsky (1978) both maintain that collective
learning in the context of activity is mediated by cultural artefacts and symbols,
such as language and tools. The central problem of curriculum development then
becomes to engage newcomers with this culture so that they become competent
participants in the activity in question. It is important for our present purposes to
appreciate the difference between activity theory and other theories of culturally
embedded collective work-based learning, such as Lave & Wenger’s (1991) notion
of situated learning. A significant difference between activity theory and the lat-
ter is that activity theory recognizes that the acquisition of vocational competence
requires structured teaching and learning in classrooms, as well as acculturation
in workplaces. This follows from Leont’ev’s (1978) postulation of a hierarchy of
human behaviour: at the top of the hierarchy, collective activity is directed towards
a common goal; on the next level, individual action is directed towards sub-goals
of the overall activity; and at the lowest level, operations—basic behaviours such
as perceptual discrimination, literacy and numeracy—develop naturally and are
nurtured through education. While the higher psychological functions come into
existence only within collective activity, the functions placed lower in the hierarchy
may be developed through education and experience outside the workplace. In other
words, people do not learn just by participating in communities of practice. There

is a role for formal schooling too, and the task of the curriculum designer is to
articulate it with work-based learning.
5 Vocational Curricula for Work-Process Knowledge
Within the above framework, we propose four essential principles for the devel-
opment of vocational curricula to prepare employees for flexible working envi-
ronments in which work-process knowledge is needed to underpin working across
boundaries and the integration of different functions, and in environments which re-
gard the continuing acquisition of such knowledge by the workforce as an important
factor of production.
Principle 1. The curriculum must be planned within a conceptual framework

derived from an analysis of the overall work process (rather than an analysis
of the textbooks which contain the relevant disciplinary knowledge, or an
analysis of the competencies required in individual job descriptions). The
reason is that, according to activity theory, work is the context within which
human abilities reach their highest level, and basic psychological operations
are transformed into vocational competences only when they are mediated
by the socio-cultural activity of the workplace and its business environment.
Principle 2. Close collaboration must be achieved between the key personnel
in the workplace and the external training provider, so that they can align
theoretical study with practical experience. This co-ordination is mediated
by a shared concept of the overall work process. Principle 2 is important as it
constitutes at least a partial resolution of the historically determined tension
between the different stakeholders in vocational education.
Principle 3. When delivering the ‘theoretical’ part of the curriculum, classroom
instruction must be integrated with the formative experiences that the trainees
are concurrently obtaining in the workplace. This is to enable decontextual-
ized theory to be transformed into higher psychological functions through
the mediating role of the culture and artefacts of the workplace.
Principle 4. The learning process must be encouraged by ensuring that trainees
engage in teamwork in authentic work situations—because much of the
competence required in flexible work systems is collective (Boreham, 2004).
Such competence is acquired in pursuit of the common object of joint activ-
ity, and will depend on integrating conceptual understanding of the overall
work system with practical activities.
6 An Example of the Design of a Vocational Curriculum
These principles are illustrated by an experimental curriculum known as GAB,

which was implemented in six Volkswagen factories in Germany as part of a
pilot-project programme (Deitmer et al., 2004). The expansion of the German

acronym GAB translates as ‘business process and work process oriented vocational
training’ (Bremer, 2000), and the curriculum development process itself is known as
the ‘work process co-production of curricula’ (Bernard, 2000). This experiment was
one of several initiatives currently being made in Germany to reform the traditional
dual system of apprenticeship. The dual system, which absorbs nearly a third of
each cohort of 16-year-old school-leavers, usually involves serving an apprentice-
ship with a firm (Betrieb) for three days a week and attending a vocational school
(Berufsschule) for the remaining two days. During the latter, conventional class-
room teaching is provided in general subjects (such as mathematics, citizenship and
languages) and in the vocational subjects (such as mechanical engineering) that are
needed to pass the apprenticeship examination.
Despite the esteem it enjoys in many other countries, in Germany the dual system
is widely regarded as being in a state of crisis. One problem is that it trains appren-
tices for approximately 360 narrow and highly demarcated ‘occupational profiles’
(Berufe), a degree of segmentation now believed inappropriate for the requirements
of modernized flexible work. A second problem is that many employers are now
questioning the relevance of the theoretical content of the vocational subjects taught
in the vocational schools (to be distinguished from the general education subjects).
German training law requires apprentices to attend vocational schools to study the
theoretical aspect of their trades, but hitherto there has not been any effective way
of ensuring that the classroom element of the curriculum is relevant to the content
of the work. The GAB curriculum addresses these problems directly. It is intended
to support the transition currently under way in Volkswagen from a highly demar-
cated labour process to a more flexible one, involving (among other measures) the
integration of twenty-seven narrowly specialized trades into six polyvalent ones. In
addition, the curriculum aims to rationalize the college-based part of the apprentice-
ship which, as we have already remarked, is not co-ordinated with the practical ex-
perience gained in the workplace. Work-process knowledge plays two crucial roles
in this curriculum. First, it is an intended outcome of the GAB curriculum (although
it is by no means the only kind of knowledge students are expected to acquire, as
the continuation of general education throughout the years of the apprenticeship
is a valued part of the dual system). Second, the concept of work-process knowl-
edge itself provides the framework for the curriculum development process. These
contributions will be discussed with reference to the four principles of curriculum
design introduced above.
6.1 Principle 1
Given the aim of preparing employees for flexible work systems, the new curriculum
must break out of the classification and framing imposed by the dual system—the
tramlines laid down by the narrow occupational profiles, by the demarcation be-
tween narrow trades and by the traditional gulf that separates the college instructor
and the works manager. To achieve this, a radically new conceptual framework
has been drawn up for the curriculum, one conceptualized in terms of the flexi-
ble work process in the whole factory (and indeed, its business environment). The
work process is represented in terms of a four-level hierarchy of ‘activity fields’
and the kinds of knowledge each requires. At the top is the activity field constituted
by the overall work and business process in the automotive sector—understanding
that requires strategic or ‘orienting’ knowledge. Descending the hierarchy, the other
levels of activity respectively are: the engineering of whole automotive systems; the
engineering of system components (such as electronics and valves); and finally spe-
cific operations on the shop floor. Each descending level in this hierarchy requires
more detailed and localized types of engineering knowledge. To develop a detailed
curriculum using this framework, researchers decompose the work roles pertaining
to each activity field into BAGs (Berufliche Arbeitsaufgaben—occupational work
tasks, but not the narrow tasks of the behaviourist tradition or Taylor’s school of
scientific management). An example of a BAG within the polyvalent occupational
profile of Industriemechaniker (industrial mechanic) currently being introduced at
Volkswagen is maintenance and inspection work. While such an item of curriculum
content is not particularly novel in itself, the new principle is that each part of the
curriculum is related to all the other parts by its position in the curriculum frame-
work. This framework represents links between activities in one part of the process
and activities elsewhere.
6.2 Principle 2
Since the German dual system was set up after the Second World War, the vo-
cational schools and the companies that sponsor apprentices have tended to de-
velop their respective contributions to apprentice schemes separately, resulting in
a lack of co-ordination between the theory taught in the former and the practical
experience gained in the latter. However, on our epistemological assumption—that
work-related knowledge is fashioned out of events and phenomena through social
interaction—then the development of work-process knowledge can occur only if the
two organizations fashion the curriculum in close partnership. In other words, this
can happen only if they become a single activity system with a common objective.
In the example we are discussing, this is achieved by setting up small curricu-
lum development teams, each consisting of a member of the teaching staff from
the vocational school, an experienced worker (usually a supervisor) from Volks-
wagen AG (the company’s manufacturing division) and a full-time industrial trainer
from Volkswagen CG (the company’s training division). These teams are the germ
cells of the curriculum development process. As they contain representatives of
both the vocational school and the company, they are well placed to integrate the
theoretical and practical parts of the curriculum. Specifically, they are tasked to
carry out a series of BAG-Erleben, investigations of the BAGs in an activity field.
The aim in each case is to define a ‘learning arena’ corresponding to the activ-
ity field. The vocational curriculum will consist of learning arenas defined in this
way, and the structure of the learning arenas will mirror the structure of the work
process—very different from structuring the curriculum by academic disciplines
disconnected from work experience. An important development that has resulted
from this approach is the recognition that the kind of engineering theory traditionally
taught to intermediate trainees (typically, a simplified version of the theory taught
to degree-level engineers) might not be appropriate. Research has consequently
sought new kinds of theory more appropriate for the role of a technician in a flexible
firm.
6.3 Principle 3
Using the curriculum framework we have described, the BAG-Erleben teams select
theoretical content for its relevance to the actual work role, taking account of the
hierarchy of activity fields. In the curriculum documentation, each learning arena is
set out in two parallel columns, one headed ‘vocational school’ and one ‘company’,
and this layout makes it clear how the content of the classroom sessions must be
related to the work experience—all within the context of the whole. An example for
the industrial electronics mechanic is given in Table 1.
However, it must be stated that this experimental integrated curriculum is not
currently accommodated within the legal regulations of the German dual system.
Vocational schools are regulated by the German Länder, whereas vocational training
in companies is regulated by federal law.
6.4 Principle 4
Thus far, emphasis has been placed on how classroom teaching is adjusted to the
work process. However, in the spirit of mutual shaping, the curriculum develop-
ment process also involves modifying the workplace to create opportunities for
combining theory with practical experience. This is essential so that apprentices
can construct work-process knowledge in the context of authentic work. It is a tru-
ism that the workplace does not necessarily provide ideal conditions for learning.
Consequently, the curriculum builders have selected key work tasks and redesigned
them to facilitate learning and especially the alignment of theoretical teaching with
practical experience. One example of innovations of this sort is the creation of spe-
cial ‘learning bays’ in the factories, set up for standard production tasks such as axle
assembly and after-sales service, but also intended as arenas for the construction of
work-process knowledge. Typically, a group of four to six apprentices will spend
six weeks in one of these learning bays, giving them the opportunity to acquire
knowledge and skills in an authentic setting. The apprentices do the same work
as the regular employees in surrounding work stations, but they have the support
of a skilled worker who acts as a facilitator for their self-directed, problem-based
activity.
Table 1 An example of a ‘Lernfeld’ for the industrial electronics mechanic

‘Lernfeld’ 8 Repairing electrical drives Time schedule
Learning area 2 Company: 12 w.
VET school: 80 h.
This work task not only includes disconnecting and connecting a new (identical) electrical drive,
but also the integration of a new similar electrical drive that respects the most important
parameter (velocity, acceleration, moment of torque). This task requires profound knowledge of
electrical drives and its control. This type of knowledge is even more important than the
knowledge of the mode of operation of electrical machines. The core task of a specialist in the
workshop is parameterizing the control of an electrical drive.
Objectives of learning at both places of learning

In-company training VET school
The apprentices check and repair electrical The students know the elements of electrical
machines and drives taking characteristic devices like electrical machines, power
values and operating parameters into account. electronics and control systems. They are able
The manufacturers’ instructions have to be to analyse and assess the electrical drive
considered (e.g. characteristic values, power system and its components according to the
electronics, control system). The apprentices application and the necessary connection.
analyse the failure-free operation of electrical They analyse the flow of energy and
devices and document parameters information. They apply basic measurements
professionally. for parameterizing the electrical drives. They
are able to justify the use of special measuring
instruments and have a good command of
them.
Contents of work and learning
Objects Tools Requirements

r Inspecting and r Electrical drive system (electrical r Analysing the
starting electrical machines, controllers, characteristics of
drives taking the power-electronics); electrical drives;
specific r Software for parameterizing; r Parameterizing
application into r Special measuring instruments electrical drive
account;
r Replacing worn r
(e.g. true RMS);
r
professionally;
Handling special
Installation diagram;
out components r Manuals and manufacturers’ measuring instruments
in electrical securely and
instructions;
drives and
machines;
r Electromagnetic compatibility r
professionally;
r Work safety (EMC). Applied handling of
special tools/software
while operating Methods for the parameterizing;
electrical
r r Professional
devices. Estimating and accessing the
actual state of an electrical device; maintenance of
r Testing and using control systems r
electrical drives;
and software; Work safety while
r Replacing electrical machines, r
operating machines;
wires and components of power Professional selection
electronics and control systems; and replacement of
damaged or worn out
parts;
Table 1 (continued)
r Parameterizing the electrical drive r Respecting EMC;
with respect to guidelines and r Handle external
application (booting programmes processing of repair
for testing and inspecting);
r Selecting standardized
orders.
components (e.g. electrical

machines).
Organization
r Work safety (voltage, rotating
parts);
r Self-directed gathering of
information (parameter of electric
devices);
r External processing of repair
orders.
Source: Fischer & Bauer, 2007.
Apprentices are also encouraged to construct work-process knowledge in the

context of another modification of the standard production environment, known
as ‘working and learning tasks’. These are genuine commercial orders that are al-
located to the apprentices on the grounds of their instructional potential, includ-
ing their suitability for encouraging the apprentices to develop along the pathway
from school student to a fully integrated member of the workforce. The tasks are
holistic, typically including order placement, preparatory work, manufacture, qual-
ity control and delivery to the customer. This completeness, of course, encourages
apprentices to understand the whole work process and how individual operations
within that process are interrelated. Procedure manuals are laid out in curriculum
form to heighten the perceptions of both apprentices and trainers about how theory
can be related to practice. In tackling the problems posed for them, the teams of
apprentices are encouraged to construct innovative ways of dealing with production
problems, thus encouraging the formation of work-process knowledge (Dehnbostel
& Molzberger, 2004).
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Chapter X.3
Situated Learning and Cognitive Apprenticeship
Michael Gessler
1 Behaviourism and Cognition
In the article ‘Psychology as the behaviorist views it’ by John B. Watson, the
demand of behaviourism is formulated as follows:
Psychology, as the behaviorist views it, is a purely objective experimental branch of natural
science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior. Introspection forms no
essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its data dependent upon the readi-
ness with which they lend themselves to interpretation in terms of consciousness (Watson,
1913, p. 158).
As a ‘black box’, cognitive processes are excluded from research, as they are not
open to objective observation.
After the ‘cognitive turn’ in the 1960s and by the development of ‘cognitive
psychology’ (Neisser, 1967), the ‘black box’ is replaced by the metaphor of the
‘glass box’. Mental processes and cognitive structures—for example, perception,
attention, memory development, information processing (cognitive styles), intelli-
gence and talent (cognitive skills), knowledge representation, meta-cognition and
motivation—are now in the focus of the research interests of psychology. However,
the demand for objective research is taken over from behaviourism and is ideally
carried out by laboratory experiment. Here, situative influences are ‘disturbing vari-
ables’ in regard to the validity and reliability of results, due to which their influence
must be controlled through the help of special methods (for example, by elimi-
nation, keeping constant, homogenization, parallelization, covariance analysis or
randomization).
2 The Situated Cognition Movement
The ‘Situated Cognition Movement’ criticizes this cognition-focused, natural scien-

tific paradigm. The excluded situative conditions are included again by the protago-
nists of the Situated Cognition Movement. According to the assumptions of situated
learning, the acquisition of knowledge is contextually tied to the learning situation,
due to which the acquired knowledge can only with difficulty be transformed from

1612 M. Gessler
one context to another (Bredo, 1994). Brazilian street urchins, for example, were
able to solve arithmetical problems in the context of their street business, while
not being able to do this with tasks of equal value at school (Carraher, Carraher
& Schliemann, 1985). For such knowledge, which is not useable or used, White-
head (1929) coined the term ‘inert knowledge’.
2.1 Origins
The concept of situated learning is based on insights by the Situated Cognition

Movement. Its historic roots, however, can be traced further into the past. Table 1
provides an overview of the actors.
To begin with, we will introduce the ‘classics’ (Dewey, Kerschensteiner,
Piaget and Vygotsky), then the representatives of the Situated Cognition Movement
(Lave, Resnick, Greeno and Rogoff), and finally the concept of ‘cognitive appren-
ticeship’.
For John Dewey, experiences are both the precondition and goal of cognition.
Thus, actions must necessarily be a component of learning. For the development of
personality, solution-oriented learning in the context of real actions and problem-
atic situations is decisive. In this context, participation and democracy are criteria
for the quality of the design of learning processes, and at the same time learn-
ing must support the development of participation and democracy (Dewey, 1916).
Georg Kerschensteiner was a representative of the ‘Activity School Movement’ in
Germany at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1910, Kerschensteiner went
to the United States of America and met Dewey, whose ideas had deeply influenced
him. Self-activity of learners, manual activity, character formation and education
towards being a citizen are features of his approach. Wood and metal workshops,
kitchens and school gardens were created to make learning by the ‘living’ object
possible. Furthermore, Kerschensteiner founded the mandatory part-time continua-
tion school for youths aged from 14 to 17. These youths were taught for eight to
ten hours a week, as an accompaniment to their work. For Kerschensteiner, work
Table 1 Situated cognition and situated learning

Historical origin Situated cognition Situated learning
Progressive education Cognition in practice, Cognitive apprenticeship,
J. Dewey 1859–1952 J. Lave, 1988 A. Collins et al., 1989
Activity school (Arbeitsschule) Socially shared cognition, Anchored instruction
G. Kerschensteiner, 1854–1932 L. Resnick, 1987a,b CTGV, 1990
Genetic epistemology Perceiving affordances, Cognitive flexibility,
J. Piaget, 1896–1989 J.G. Greeno et al., 1993 Spiro et al., 1988
Social development theory Guided participation, Situated learning, J. Lave &
L. Vygotsky, 1896–1934 B. Rogoff, 1990 E. Wenger, 1991,
Community of practice
E. Wenger, 1998
X.3 Situated Learning and Cognitive Apprenticeship 1613
was an educational medium for forming man, the goal being the ‘useful citizen’
(Kerschensteiner, 1912).
In contrast to John Dewey and Georg Kerschensteiner, Jean Piaget and Lew
Vygotsky are representatives of psychology. Piaget coined the terms ‘assimilation’,
‘accommodation’, and ‘equilibration’: by assimilation, environmental impressions
are interpreted on the basis of existing cognitive schemes; they are assimilated
by cognitive structures. By accommodation, the cognitive schemes are changed to
make environmental influence understandable and to make it possible to attribute
a meaning to them. By equilibration, the organism strives for a balance of these
two processes (Piaget, 1929). For Vygotsky, higher mental abilities develop at first
inter-personally within a socio-cultural environment, and only then intrapersonally.
By interaction, children’s psychic activity is stimulated. They process and change
concepts and meanings. Higher cognitive development is the product of a con-
struction by the child by way of an interaction with its socio-cultural and historic
environment. The child, the other person, and the context can, so to speak, melt into
each other by a single action. Due to this, for Vygotsky guided accompaniment of
a child by an adult, just as a kind of teaching which is orientated at the ‘zone of the
next development’, is important for learning and development (Vygotsky, 1987).
The Situated Cognition Movement follows these basic theories. Prominent rep-
resentatives are Barbara Rogoff, James Greeno, Luaren Resnick and Jean Lave.
For Greeno, Smith and Moore (1993) knowledge is not a private cognitive struc-
ture. Knowledge develops and exists as a relation between an individual and his/her
situation. The individual reaches back to experiences that again bear the reason for
their existence, the situation, within themselves. On the situation’s side, the existing
situative ‘affordances’ are decisive. The constant nature of action and the actors’
ability to act are determined by the similarity of the situation (reaching back to
personal experience), as well as by the conditions of the situation (restrictions or
offers). The authors do not assess learning by comparing inter-individual learning
increases, but by the extent that individuals and groups are attuned to the stimulating
conditions and restrictions of the material and social systems within which they
interact (Greeno, Collins & Resnick, 1996).
For Barbara Rogoff, cognitive development is also determined by the respective
social milieu. Social milieux provide a kind of cultural curriculum for the develop-
ment of cognitive processes, due to which the design of learning processes is a mat-
ter of how well learning is socially embedded in its environment. Learners acquire
experts’ knowledge by being guided by accepted experts. The learner contributes
actively to solving increasingly complex tasks and step-by-step acquires experts’
knowledge through ‘guided participation’.
Lauren Resnick (1987a, b) understands cognition to be a socially divided activity.
She compares learning processes at school to those outside school and investigates
the students’ transfer abilities. Her assessment of learning at school does not pro-
duce a positive result. The transfer of knowledge to fields outside school is only
seldom successful. One reason for this is single, individualized learning at school,
while outside school learning is embedded in social contexts. At school, purist pro-
cesses of thinking and remembering are supported and demanded for examinations,
1614 M. Gessler
while outside school the use of aids is a matter of course. At school, she says,
abstract knowledge is communicated, while outside school situation-specific com-
petences are needed. The distance between learning situation and application situa-
tion prevents meaningful learning which again would be necessary for independent
learning.
Jean Lave (1988) criticizes the current way of understanding the learning trans-
fer: the common understanding is that the keeping up of cognitive structures guar-
antees the transfer of knowledge across different contexts. Knowledge is separated
from the context of development and use and is given the nature of a tool. This de-
contextualized concept of knowledge leads to a de-contextualized and untrue-to-life
understanding of teaching/learning. For Lave, transfer means to carry out actions
within similar contexts, and learning should be appropriately contextualized. Now,
the social embedding of actions in a community of practice as well as the dialectic
relationships of the people within this community become important for the design
of learning processes (Lave, 1988).
Lave combines her approach with existent transfer-theoretical approaches and
also opens up a new category. Theories of learning transfer formulate conditions for
the successful transfer of knowledge and skills from learning situations (source) to
the application situation (target). According to the behaviourist ‘theory of identi-
cal elements’, a transfer is possible if situation A (source) and situation B (target)
show identical elements or identical stimulus-response elements (Thorndike &
Woodworth, 1901). With the cognitive turn of the 1960s, the significance of cog-
nitive and particularly of meta-cognitive processes for transfer performance is em-
phasized (Flavell, 1976). By her approach of ‘cognition in practice’, Lave founds
a fourth line of theory. While behaviourism emphasizes ‘external conditions’ and
cognitivism emphasizes ‘interior conditions’, her position might be called an ‘in-
termediate condition’: man’s interaction with other humans within a community
of practice.
Thus, analogous to its own theoretical demand, the Situated Cognition Movement
is embedded in a cultural-historic context: for Dewey (1916), experiences are both
the precondition and goal of cognition, and for Lave (1988) communities of practice
are important places of learning. Kerschensteiner (1912) designed his work school
as a counter-model of the book school, and Resnick (1987b) criticizes the book
school, as it is too little orientated to the reality of practical work. Assimilation
and accommodation (Piaget, 1929) make attunement (Greeno et al., 1993) possible.
Vygotsky (1987) and Rogoff (1990) start out from similar premises: cognition is in-
fluenced by the socio-cultural environment, and the development of learners should
happen by being guided by an expert who accompanies and supports the learner,
while at the same time demanding performance.
3 Cognitivism and Social Constructivism
The concept of situatedness is to a large extent understood to be a new paradigm

which is supposed to overcome and replace the predominant cognitivist school.
Furthermore, ‘social constructivism’ is different from ‘radical constructivism’.

Glasersfeld (1989, p. 162) formulates two demands of ‘radical constructivism’:
‘(a) knowledge is not passively received but actively built up by the cognizing
subject; (b) the function of cognition is adaptive and serves the organization of the
experiential world, not the discovery of ontological reality’. Representatives of ‘so-
cial constructivism’ would extend this definition as follows: (a.1) knowledge is not
passively received but actively built up by the cognizing subject (a.2) by interaction
with his/her (a.3) socio-cultural environment and the (a.4) situational conditions;
(b) the function of cognition is adaptive and serves the organization of the experien-
tial world, not the discovery of ontological reality (see Berger & Luckmann, 1966;
Vygotsky, 1978).
In the concept of perception, cognition, knowledge and action, prominent repre-
sentatives of the situatedness approach (Greeno, 1997a; Suchman, 1987; Kirshner &
Whitson, 1998) find fundamental differences between cognitivism and situated cog-
nition. The core of their assumption is that the communication of knowledge cannot
be understood to be a kind of passing on of objective knowledge from one individual
to another. Much more, knowledge acquisition is the result of an active process of
construction by the learner, which is embedded in the acquisition situation. The
learning situation is considered to be decisive for activating knowledge later. Thus,
the actual learning situation is of crucial significance for the concept of learning.
Knowledge stocks cannot be considered to be separated from the learning process
and the learning situation (Salomon, 1997). Furthermore, there is the assumption
that it is difficult to transfer learning matter to situations which are seriously dif-
ferent from those during the learning process (Mandl, Gruber & Renkl, 2002).
Thus, ‘each experience with an idea—and the environment of which that idea is
a part—becomes part of the meaning of that idea. The experience in which an idea
is embedded is critical to the individual’s understanding of and ability to use that
idea’ (Duffy & Jonassen, 1992, p. 4). Furthermore, representatives of this approach
emphasize that particularly the situative analysis of learning as an activity system,
where individuals participate as members of social groups and as parts of greater
systems, is most appropriate to the situatedness and the nature of social learning
(Greeno, Collins & Resnick, 1996, p. 40).
The controversy between the Situated Cognition Movement and cognitivism at
first led to a hardening of the opposing positions (Greeno, Smith & Moore, 1993)
and finally resulted in recognizing that the cognitive and the situated perspective are
complementary positions and that both schools could contribute to the goal of im-
proving learning performances and making educational institutions more effective
(Anderson, Reder & Simon, 1996). Nevertheless, the epistemological assumptions
are different (see Table 2).
Despite the convergence achieved on the basic empirical results, by reaching
back to the different reference frames different educational interpretations were
deduced. This resulted in more elaborate approaches which picked up principles
of situated learning without, however, leaving the results of cognitive psychology
out of consideration. Through the more recent research on instruction, several ap-
proaches were developed, like Spiro’s et al. (1988) cognitive flexibility theory or the
1616 M. Gessler
Table 2 Cognitivism and social constructivism

Dimension Cognitivism Social constructivism
Knowledge and Knowledge is a cognitive Knowledge is a personal
reality representation (a mirror) of a construction and inseparable
given reality and can be from the situation of which it is
translated into language. the product.
Mind and body Thinking is an independent Thinking is an interdependent
process of manipulating social activity relating the
cognitive representations. individual and the situation.
Individual and Inside-outside-relation: thinking, Part-whole-relation: thinking,
society learning and development are learning and development are
placed inside the individual by culturally embedded and a part
way of social influence. of the social environment.
anchored instruction approach by the Cognition and Technology Group at Vander-

bilt (CTGV, 1990), which refer to the foundations of the situatedness principle.
Most of these instruction models include the use of modern information and com-
munication technology (Duffy & Jonassen, 1992) and try to make social interac-
tion possible orientated towards actual applications (Mandl, Gruber & Renkl, 1997,
2002). The common grounds of these models can be summarized by the follow-
ing fundamental demands for the design of learning environments: (a) knowledge
and learning are always situated; (b) knowledge is individually constructed by the
learner; (c) for this, knowledge shared by a society is crucial; (d) learning means
increasingly taking part in an experts’ community; (e) situated learning particularly
focuses on the application aspect of knowledge. Thus, learning situation and tasks
are questioned regarding their authenticity.
4 Course of Development in Research
At the beginning of developing the concept, it was field surveys and ethno-
methodologically-oriented methods that were predominant (see Carraher, Carraher
& Schliemann, 1985; Suchman, 1987; Lave, 1988), while at an advanced state of
developing the theory experimental and evaluative proceedings were increasingly
chosen.
Among the studies during the early phase, there was the investigation by
Carraher, Carraher & Schliemann (1985). They investigated the transfer of knowl-
edge with Brazilian children as well as housewives in Orange County by at first
giving them arithmetical tasks in everyday situations. Later, the test persons were
not able to transfer their acquired knowledge to contexts and tasks similar to those at
school. The authors drew two conclusions: (a) the test person’s knowledge was very
much tied to the context; (b) the more knowledge is rooted in the activity context, the
less possible it is to transfer it to another field of application. Some representatives,
like Suchman (1987), went one step further with their assumptions. For Suchman, all
knowledge and thinking is embodied by being tied to contexts. Action plans are not
understood to be action-controlling cognitions but to be the results of actions, i.e. to

be rationalizations. In his opinion, action plans develop only during or after action,
they do not control action itself but emerge in the course of action in the form of
context-bound knowledge. This assumption could not be supported by more recent
studies (Law, 1997), which made Suchman revise her position.
The second phase of empirical research on situated learning started out from a
concept which became popular in the context of the instruction-psychological ap-
proach to cognitive apprenticeship (Collins, Brown & Newman, 1989): the mode
of action of the community of practice, the collaborative group. Greeno, with his
approach, focuses on the analysis of systematic interaction both among individuals
and with those resources that exist in their environment or rather their activity sys-
tems (Greeno, 1998). He conceptualizes learning as the individual’s participation in
socially organized activity systems. The more each single learner participates in the
interactions in the centre of such learning systems, the bigger the learning progress
(Greeno, 1997a, 1997b). His colleagues investigated this with the help of studies
called ‘design experiments’ and which are carried out mostly in co-operation with
teachers in mathematics lessons.
Altogether, this second phase of empirical research on situated learning shows
a certain degree of change: situated learning is no longer understood to be an al-
ternative to cognitive learning but to be a theory on the construction of knowledge
within learning environments that mostly work with computer-based tools (see, for
example, Holoch, 2002; Mandl & Gerstenmaier, 2000; Mandl & Gräsel, 1997).
The goal of these studies is most of all the construction of common knowledge
in collaborative groups by exchanging distributed individual knowledge. Thus, the
core of the theory of situated learning is addressed—the focus is on the activity
systems or rather the interplay of learning subject, learning community, learning
matter/subject/topics/artefacts, learning medium/tools, division of work and rules.
With the help of appropriate models of these systems (Engeström, 1990), it has
meanwhile become possible to work out a clear understanding of the term ‘situated’,
which is definitely different from the debate during the first phase.
However, even the second phase shows theoretical and empirical deficits: motiva-
tional and emotional processes with the construction of knowledge within learning
environments have not been made sufficiently explicit so far. This is considered an
important perspective for empirical research on situated learning (Gerstenmaier &
Mandl, 2001).
5 Cognitive Apprenticeship
The learning arrangement of ‘cognitive apprenticeship’ is an approach at designing

situated learning environments. The starting point of the development is
criticism of untrue-to-life teaching at schools. Collins et al. (1989) with their model
are orientated to the example of training to be a master craftsman, which aims at
predominantly communicating practical knowledge.
1618 M. Gessler
For the design of learning environments, the authors demand learning within
social contexts, with realistic tasks and with the learner being guided by experts
as partners. Among the focuses of this approach there is the communication of
problem-solving skills within the context of realistic social situations. The strived-
for action competence and the appropriate cognitive skills are communicated by real
problems of the application field. ‘Apprenticeship embeds the learning of skills and
knowledge in their social and functional context’ (Collins, Brown & Newman, 1989,
p. 454).
5.1 The Example of Classical Training

It is typical of the learning situation in training for a skilled trade that at first there
is co-operation between apprentice and master craftsman, while working with tools
on real work-pieces. Learning matter is highly orientated towards real application
situations and not at the structure of systematic knowledge. The degree of difficulty
of the tasks—while being guided by the expert—gradually increases. In the event of
difficulties, the master craftsman as an expert in his field supports the learner with
advice, suggestions and responses (scaffolding) (Brown & Cole, 2000).
5.2 Implicit Knowledge as a Model Category

Polanyi starts out from the fact that ‘we can know more than we can tell’ (Polanyi,
1966/1983, p. 4). Knowledge is never completely explicit: ‘it is also necessarily
fraught with the roots that it embodies’ (Polanyi, 1966/1983, p. x). The way in
which cognition is dependent on personal conditions cannot be formalized, as one
is not able independently to express one’s own dependence (Polanyi, 1966/1983,
p. 25). Due to this personal restriction to experience, implicit knowledge cannot be
completely expressed.
Also, implicit knowledge should not be completely expressed, as otherwise it
loses its function—or rather its value. We are able to recognize faces, even though
we do not look at the details of eyes, nose and skin; we are able to perform actions,
even though we do not perceive and control every single sequence of these actions.
We are capable of acting just because knowledge remains partly implicit. If we tried
to express the implicit knowledge, both entity and meaning would be lost. From
something we turn to something else and perceive the former under the impression
of the latter (Polanyi, 1966/1983, p. 11). We are able to explicitly perceive matters
or to perform actions (explicit), as we do not perceive the process of perception
or rather the process of action control (implicit). The development of competences
requires taking implicit knowledge into account and developing it. This is an aspect
which is taken up by the cognitive apprenticeship model.
5.3 From Apprenticeship to Cognitive Apprenticeship
The goal of the approach, which is communicating flexible application knowledge

and transferable problem-solving skills, shall be achieved by realizing learning pro-
cesses that are close to real problems and contexts. The novice will then understand
how experts cope with complex problems, tasks and demands, and which cognitive
and meta-cognitive strategies are used by the experts to solve a problem.
During a problematic learning situation, which is as close to reality as possible,
partly internal processes and strategies are explained to learners through the expert’s
practical activity. In the context of the problem and its solution, the meaning and the
significance of the necessary fundamental data, facts and terms are communicated
by the expert (explication). After this, the learners are supposed by themselves to
cope with learning situations that are as close to reality and to practice as possible
(practice). Proceeding with steps not yet known to the learners, the experts assist
them through hints and advice. Progressively and according to the level of skill
and knowledge, this assistance is gradually reduced in favour of the learner him-
self/herself controlling the learning process.
5.4 Learning How to Read, Write and to Solve Arithmetical

Problems
In the sense of cognitive apprenticeship, Palincsar and Brown developed the method
of ‘reciprocal teaching’ for learning reading strategies as early as in 1984. At first,
the teacher demonstrates four steps in the work (modeling): (a) the text is read aloud;
(b) questions regarding the text are formulated; (c) the text is summarized; finally (d)
assumptions regarding the following parts of the text are developed and difficulties
with handling the text are identified. Then the learners take up the role of teacher.
The teacher helps with individual steps (coaching), gives advice and responds to
difficulties (scaffolding) and, with the increasing competence of the students, re-
duces his/her help (fading) (Palincsar & Brown, 1984). An approach at writing was
developed by Scardamalia and Bereiter in 1985. They analysed cognitive strategies
used by experts (‘procedural facilitations’) and developed work steps that they de-
fined more clearly by way of additional help. These work steps are: (a) developing
an idea; (b) improving it; (c) working it out; (d) defining goals; and (e) putting the
ideas into a context. Help for the second step—‘improving’—is, for example, the
following reflexive assumption: ‘I think this is not really necessary because . . .’;
‘This is not really convincing because . . .’; ‘Other readers will not agree with . . .’.
As in the case of reciprocal training, the learners will then take over the productive
role, and the teacher will change over to coaching, scaffolding and, finally, fading.
The learners learn particularly that writing is an intentional, systematic and self-
critical process (Scardamlia & Bereiter, 1985). Schoenfeld’s approach at solving
arithmetical problems also combines the goal of reflecting and further developing
one’s own strategies of problem-solving and the methodical steps of modelling,
1620 M. Gessler
coaching, scaffolding and fading. For example, the teacher asks in the course of
coaching: what are you doing at the moment and why? In how far will this step—if
successful—help you with finding a solution? (Schoenfeld, 1985).
5.5 The Framework Model
For the design of learning environments, Collins et al. (1989) then developed
a framework model. This framework model shows four dimensions: (a) content
or subject; (b) teaching methods; (c) work sequence; and (d) social context of
learning (sociology). Table 3 offers an overview of these dimensions and their
details.
Regarding content, the authors formulate four fields that should be covered. At
first, (a) knowledge of facts and terms must be at hand as a necessary basis for each
learning field (declarative knowledge). Also, (b) problem-solving strategies are nec-
essary (heuristic strategies and techniques for the solving of problems; knowledge
of how to solve problems). Another content field includes (c) control strategies or
rather meta-cognitive strategies. Control strategies reflect current problem-solving
processes through supervising and regulating components and help with deciding
about how to proceed with the next step towards solving the problem.
The dimension of teaching methods includes seven methods for the design of
learning environments, according to the principles of cognitive apprenticeship. (a)
Modelling of excellence: as a first step, an expert introduces the method to solve a
concrete problem. For this purpose the expert externalizes and explains (verbalizes)
invisible and implicit processes, like heuristic strategies and control strategies. The
goal is to build up a mental model which includes the facts, processes and steps
towards a solution that are necessary to solve the problem. (b) Coaching: during
the following step the learners themselves try to solve the given problem. While
doing this they are not only constantly observed by the expert but also ‘coached’:
Table 3 Cognitive apprenticeship

Dimension Details
Content (4) r Knowledge of facts and terms r Learning strategies
r Problem-solving strategies r Control strategies
Methods (7) r Modelling of excellence r Articulation
r Coaching r Reflection
r Scaffolding r Exploration
r Fading
Sequence (3) r Increasing complexitiy r Increasing diversity
r Global before local skills
Sociology (5) r Situated learning r Exploiting co-operation
r Culture of expert practice r Exploiting competition
r Intrinsic motivation
according to each learner’s knowledge, the expert offers assistance, hints, sugges-
tions, responses. Furthermore, he/she draws the learner’s attention to aspects of the
respective problem or the way of proceeding as introduced by the expert, which have
not yet been perceived. (c) Scaffolding: with increasing knowledge, the relationship
between learner and expert is characterized by a co-operative way of proceeding.
Regarding the difficulties and the extent of their contribution, learners should take
over just as much as is appropriate to their knowledge. In case of difficulties, the
expert offers individual assistance. (d) Fading: the expert gradually reduces his/her
assistance (fading) until the learner is able to solve the respective problem or a
similar one completely by himself/herself. (e) Articulation: learners are supposed
to grasp the contents acquired in the current knowledge field by structuring and
articulating them. For this, every possible way of articulating knowledge is allowed,
such as question-and-answer games or even the expert and learner swapping roles.
This kind of articulation offers the possibility for the learners to speak about their ac-
quired knowledge through co-operative activities. (f) Reflection: this method makes
it possible for learners to compare their own problem-solving processes to those of
colleagues or experts. Media are suitable for supporting the reflexion, as they make it
possible to record problem-solving processes. (g) Exploration: the experts in charge
of teaching are supposed to support the learners with discovering and exploring
ways of proceeding by making them interested in a problem, defining the problem
field, and proposing problems with different levels of difficulty. Just as in the case
of ‘scaffolding’, assistance is also supposed to be reduced in the course of increas-
ingly independent explorative behaviour, until the learners are able independently
to define, determine and systematically solve the problems.
According to Collins et al. (1989), the dimension of sequencing learning envi-
ronments includes three principles.
1. Increasing complexity: the level of difficulty of the offered contents should be

designed according to the principle of ‘from simple to complex’, so that more
and more knowledge and skills are required in the respective fields.
2. Increasing diversity: parallel to increasing complexity, an increasing variety—or
rather increasing diversity—of learning situations and exercises shall be given, to
ensure the successful practice of skills and strategies. This principle is supposed
to contribute to making the learners able to apply the acquired strategies and
skills in other, unfamiliar contexts and to be able to transfer learned solutions
to other contexts. This demand is particularly challenging: the more a way of
proceeding is abstracted, verbalized and made more generally valid, the less it
contributes to solving special, complex problems (Weinert & Helmke, 1993).
3. Global before local skills: the goal is to make the learners able at first to develop
a mental model of the entire field and the entirety of activities necessary for a
solution, the skills and strategies sought, before being confronted with particular
contents. This is supposed to be achieved by making it possible for the learners
to successfully work on those complex problems that are of interest for them,
even before having acquired all the necessary skills and strategies. For this,
the respective expert offers them special assistance (scaffolding). Sequencing
1622 M. Gessler
exercises in this way is supposed to provide a scaffold or assistance on the way

towards being able to solve problems independently. It is supposed to help with
assessing one’s own progress and with building up effective control strategies.
Under the dimension of social context Collins et al. (1989) subsume five principles.
1. Situated learning: according to the assumptions of situated learning, the concrete

learning situation is considered to play a crucial role. According to the situated-
learning approach, the mental representation of a concept always happens in con-
nection with the material as well as social environment of the learning situation
and the socio-cultural components, e.g. interaction with other participants in the
learning process.
2. Culture of expert practice: according to this principle, learning environments
shall be designed in such a way as to make it possible for learners to actively
work on skills and processes of expert practice. Expert practice or expert culture
includes cultural and normative features of the expert’s way of thinking in the
respective field. Working on the way of thinking of this culture is supposed to
enable learners to take it over.
3. Intrinsic motivation: for the cognitive apprenticeship model, the intrinsic motiva-
tion of learners is considered to be very important. The methods of ‘modelling’,
‘coaching’, and ‘fading’ make intrinsic motivation possible. Furthermore, intrin-
sic motivation is supported by true-to-life tasks and problems.
4. Exploiting co-operation: according to this principle, learning environments shall
be designed in such a way as to support co-operative problem-solving. On the
one hand, this is supposed to have a motivating influence on the learners; on
the other hand, it is supposed to be a method to make the learners extend their
learning resources by gaining profit from the competences of the other members
of their group. Frequently, co-learners are more able than experts to pass on
their knowledge to colleagues. Furthermore, through such a way of proceeding,
learners will acquire communicative and co-operative competences.
5. Exploiting competition: by solving the same problems, learners are supposed
to have the possibility of comparing their solutions and particularly how they
discovered them. Thus, developing competition is supposed to result in increased
motivation and efforts. However, the emphasis is laid on the importance of the
process which led to a solution—before the solution proper.
5.6 Points of Continuation and Resuming
The ‘Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt’ developed the approach of

‘anchored instruction’, which is based on principles similar to those of cognitive
apprenticeship (such as, life-practical contexts, situatedness and meaningful prob-
lems). In this context, two expectations are interesting: (a) the group developed its
principles into audio-visual media which then accompany learning as a medium
for teaching/learning (video series ‘Jasper’); and (b) the group investigates which
conditions at school are necessary to implement its approach. The design and use of
media and school development are then important extensions (CTGV, 1990, 1997).
Another way of resuming is represented by the five steps of competence devel-
opment from being a novice to being an expert, as described by Hubert Dreyfus
and Stuart Dreyfus. Through this system it is possible conceptually to describe
the step-by-step increase of competences that are acquired in situated communi-
ties (Dreyfus & Dreyfus, 1987). A refinement of this approach is the six dimen-
sions of practical knowledge according to Patricia Benner (1997). This is the kind
of knowledge that is typical for experts. Then, it must be assumed that the six
dimensions (sensuality, contextuality, situatedness, paradigmness, communicativ-
ity and perspectivity) also develop step by step. Martin Fischer again introduced
a system which, through work-process knowledge, combines practical knowledge
and theoretical knowledge. Fischer distinguishes the pair of opposites of practical
and theoretical knowledge or rather context-related, implicit knowledge (practical
knowledge), as well as context-free, action-justifying, explicit knowledge (theoret-
ical knowledge). By context-related, action-guiding and explicit knowledge both
kinds of knowledge form a synthesis (Fischer, 2000). Whereas Fischer describes
the form (implicit/explicit), Felix Rauner differentiates the concept of competence
while following Gardner and thus develops the category of ‘multiple competences’
(Rauner, 2004). How much different competences require particular and different
processes of competence development is an open question, particularly for the con-
cept of multiple competences.
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International Handbook of Education

for the Changing World of Work

Editorial Advisory Board:

UNESCO-UNEVOC Head of Publications:

ISBN: 978-1-4020-5280-4 e-ISBN: 978-1-4020-5281-1

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c Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009

Printed on acid-free paper

This International Handbook of Education for the Changing World of Work is

The idea of developing and publishing an ‘International Handbook of Education

leadership of the Head of Publications, Ms Natalia Matveeva, with assistance from

UNESCO-UNEVOC, Bonn Rupert Maclean

International Library of Technical and Vocational Education and Training

UNESCO-UNEVOC International Handbook of Education

UNESCO-UNEVOC Book Series ‘Technical and Vocational

in transition economies; how changing work situations form personal identities;

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List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxix

List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xlvii

Foreword: TVET for the Sustainability of Human Kind . . . . . . . . . . . . . lxix

Prologue: Skills Development in the Informal Sector

1 The Pedagogical Roots of Technical Learning and Thinking . . . . 5

2 A Conceptual Framework for Technical and Vocational

3 Towards Achieving TVET for All: The Role of the UNESCO-

4 TVET Glossary: Some Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Part II The Changing Context of Work and Education

Section 1 Changing Workplace Requirements: Implication for Education

I.1 Overview: Changing Economic Environment and Workplace

I.4 Redefining Gender Roles in the Workforce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

I.5 Anticipation of Skill Requirements: European Activities and

I.6 Redefining the Status of Occupations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161