Chapter 2. Progress towards the EFA goals - Unesco

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0 1 2 0 CHAPTER 2 Education for All Global Monitoring Report Spiralling youth unemployment has added a sense of urgency to national debates over technical and vocational training fell only a little, from 15% to 13% (CINTERFOR/ILO, 2008). While some countries, including Australia, Canada, France and Spain, achieved marked reductions, six other countries, including the United Kingdom, experienced increased youth unemployment. Young people with low skills are especially vulnerable, as was evident even before the deep recession took hold. In the OECD, for example, skilled jobs have been created at five times the rate of unskilled jobs since 2000 (OECD, 2008b). The skills gap helps explain the apparent paradox of high growth and stagnant youth unemployment in many countries. In the OECD countries as a group, people with low skills are twice as likely to be unemployed as those with high skills, increasing to four times as likely in the United States. The rising premium on skills has increased the penalties faced by those in the OECD’s large pockets of educational deprivation. Spiralling youth unemployment has added a sense of urgency to national debates over technical and vocational training. While the impact of the economic slowdown is being felt across society, it has fallen most heavily on the young and people with low skills (OECD, 2009d). Young people typically find it hard to get established in the labour market because of their lack of experience, which makes them especially vulnerable in a downturn. The young in general and those with low levels of qualification in particular are emerging as prime victims of the slump. A side effect of the downturn is that it has pushed technical and vocational education and training to the centre of the political agenda. In France, where even before the crisis almost one in five young people was out of work, a quarter of them for more than one year, the government has launched an emergency youth employment programme focused on apprenticeships (CINTERFOR/ILO, 2009). In Japan, though youth unemployment rates are lower than in France, around one-third of workers aged 15 to 24 are in temporary work with insecure contracts (OECD, 2009c). Here, too, measures have been introduced to facilitate school-to-work transition through firm-based training. Comparable measures involving incentives for young people to stay in education, training and apprenticeships are being used across the OECD. Looking beyond the immediate responses, it is important for governments to use the crisis as an opportunity to put in place the long-term investments and policies – in education and beyond – that are needed to combat the marginalization of young people. Good intentions, poor results: problems in the developing world Much can be achieved through good-quality vocational education and training. But in many developing countries, vocational programmes have suffered from a combination of underfinancing, poor design and weak links to labour markets. In some regions – notably sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America – deep cuts in spending during the 1980s and 1990s further compromised quality in vocational education (Johanson and Adams, 2004). Public investment has produced disappointing results, calling into question the potential for vocational education to fuel economic growth and reduce poverty. The poor track record is reflected in student and teacher preferences. In many countries, vocational options are viewed either as a last resort or as a possible route back into general education, rather than as a stepping stone to employment. This is especially true of sub-Saharan Africa, where the reluctance of parents to put their children into vocational streams is supported by evidence confirming that general education generates far higher returns than do vocational alternatives (Kahyarara and Teal, 2006). Thailand adopted the German dual system in 2005; successive governments have attempted to expand vocational education to combat child labour and the marginalization of young people who drop out of school. However, while secondary school enrolment has doubled, vocational enrolment has failed to take off, reflecting concerns of parents and students about the quality of provision and the weakness of links to job markets (World Bank, 2008g). The Middle East: fragmentation and weak links to employment Faced with the world’s highest levels of youth unemployment, governments in the Middle East have identified vocational education as a priority. Two broad models have emerged. At one extreme, students in Egypt are tracked early, but vocational graduates suffer as much unemployment as their secondary school counterparts (Kamel, 2006; Salehi-Isfahani and Dhillon, 2008). In the Islamic Republic of Iran, where tracking into vocational education starts later, it is seen as a sign of failure, prompting many students to drop out. (Box 2.12). 84
PROGRESS TOWARDS THE EFA GOALS Youth and adult skills — expanding opportunities in the new global economy Box 2.12: Training, skills and youth exclusion in the Islamic Republic of Iran The Islamic Republic of Iran’s experience demonstrates the challenges facing policy-makers across the Middle East. Over the past twenty years, the country has made rapid strides in education. Participation at secondary level has increased, average years in education have nearly doubled and gender inequalities have narrowed, especially in urban areas. Vocational education, however, reinforces a mismatch between skills and jobs that perpetuates high youth unemployment. The education system in the country is heavily oriented towards the university entrance exam, the concour, which parents and students see as a route to secure employment, usually in the public sector. Compulsory education ends at around age 15, when students are evaluated and directed on to three separate tracks: the academic curriculum (Nazari), technical and vocational education (Fanni-Herfei) and basic skills through on-thejob training (Kardanesh). The aim of the latter two is explicitly to focus on job skills, but the system fails on several fronts. Tracking brings high levels of attrition. Of the female students who began their secondary education in 2003/2004, nearly one-third dropped out after tracking (Figure 2.27). Most students pursue the Nazari track with a view to passing the concour, spurning the vocational tracks because of their low perceived status and quality. But of the nearly 1.5 million who proceed each year to the concour, 1.2 million fail and leave school lacking qualifications and job skills. Iranian policy-makers increasingly recognize the problems with the current system. Of particular concern are the misalignment of education and labour markets, and the poor quality of vocational education, which operates through a network of highly centralized public training centres. Many of these lack equipment and well-trained instructors, and they produce qualifications that employers see as having limited relevance. The concour system creates further problems. Most of the exams are multiple choice, and teaching methods emphasize rote learning. Students other than those entering elite engineering and medical schools often emerge ill prepared to enter productive enterprises. The mismatch between education and employment is becoming increasingly stark. Steady economic growth has reduced overall unemployment, but youth unemployment remains over 20%. Those who completed upper secondary education have the highest level of unemployment (Figure 2.28). Measured in terms of employment, the benefits of education are dwindling, along with the skills base of the Iranian economy. Education is only part of the story. Labour market rigidity and discrimination also play a role. Gender barriers to Figure 2.27: In the Islamic Republic of Iran, vocational tracking comes with high dropout rates Cohort tracking at lower secondary level, students entered in 2003 % of the cohort 100 80 60 40 20 0 100 Grade 1 (2003) Attrition Female 21 13 58 Grade 2 (2004) Grade 3 (2005) Kardanesh (basic skills through on-the-job training) Source: Salehi-Isfahani and Egel (2007). 8 employment appear to be rising, with unemployment rates among women aged 20 to 24 now twice the level for men of that age group. Whatever the underlying causes, the skills mismatch is a pressing political concern. The rising proportion of young people in the population means the labour force is expanding by almost 4% a year, or nearly 1.2 million people. Many of them will face social exclusion if the Islamic Republic of Iran fails to create enough jobs and give its people the skills they need to fill them. 100 Sources: Salehi-Isfahani and Egel (2007); Povey (2005). 29 12 7 52 80 60 40 20 0 100 Grade 1 (2003) Fanni-Herfei (technical and vocational education) Male 35 Grade 2 (2004) Figure 2.28: Unemployment increases with level of education, but Iranian women are especially penalized Unemployment rates by educational attainment and gender, 2005 Unemployment rates (%) 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Male Female Illiterate Primary Lower secondary Source: Salehi-Isfahani and Egel (2007). % of the cohort Some upper secondary Upper secondary 36 16 13 Tertiary 44 14 12 29 Grade 3 (2005) Nazari (theoretical/ academic curriculum) Total 85
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