Corporate HRD and Skills Development for ... - Unesco-Unevoc

industry, professional associations, and/or labour organizations is necessary in order to
enhance the recognition of the certificates.
4. From measuring knowledge and skills acquired at VTET institutions to a combination of
formal, informal, and non-formal lifelong learning. Considering that learning processes
can occur in various places and in various ways, assessment procedures should incorporate
these different types of learning. The distinction among the three is becoming blurred and
should not be over emphasized. The more important consideration is how well the
candidates can perform their jobs.
5. From focusing on “hard” skills, to a combination of “hard” and “soft” skills assessment.
Various studies have showed that in order to perform the job successfully, an employee
should not only master specific technical skills, but he or she should possess other important
attributes, e.g. team work ability, a work ethic, and communication skills. These “soft skills”
are equally important, if not more so, than the “hard skills” and are therefore worth
considering as part of the assessment process.
6. From local orientation to more global orientation in terms of scope and recognition. Skills
standards are based on the demands of the market where the candidates are planning to
work. Realizing that labour mobility is very high within and across nations, addressing the
needs of local or even national demands has been deemed to be insufficient. The scope and
contents should be broad enough to provide candidates with increased flexibility in order to
work not only at the local level, but also at national or even international level. The candidates
should be flexible whether they want to work for others or for themselves.
Focusing the three themes under skills standards: content and scope, assessment, and
certification, this section will highlight some of the salient issues and challenges faced by
Southeast Asian countries.
7. Standards
The issue of what should be included in the skills standards, the basic (adaptive) skills, the
specific (productive) skills, and the attitude/normative – or soft skills – should be addressed.
In terms of scope, whether the skills standards will be focused on local, national, regional,
or international level demands is another area that should be elaborated upon and agreed to.
8. Assessment
The issue of who should assess the trainees, techniques, and types of as-sessment should be
clarified and agreed to by the relevant stakeholders. Currently, training providers are the sole
assessors. Considering that train-ing providers suffer a conflict of interests, independent or
external assessors are necessary, such as business and professional associations.
The assessment that relies too much on exams and skills demonstration should be
accompanied with documents that can be supplied by the participants in the form of a
portfolio.
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