Chapter 2. Progress towards the EFA goals - Unesco

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0 1 0 CHAPTER 2 2 Education for All Global Monitoring Report In Ghana, vocational programmes have suffered from fragmented administration and poor quality Box 2.14: Vocational education in Ghana — limited access and poor quality Since independence half a century ago, political leaders in Ghana have seen technical and vocational education as a means of generating jobs. Yet vocational programmes have suffered from fragmented administration, a proliferation of qualification standards and poor quality. Public vocational education in Ghana operates through two tracks. The first, extending from lower secondary to post-secondary, is administered by the Ministry of Education and Social Service and operates through Technical Training Institutes. The second track is run by National Vocational Training Institutes attached to the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment. Several other ministries, agencies and private institutions are involved, each offering its own programmes. The pipeline into vocational education starts in junior secondary school, but parents and students tend to shun vocational streams, with just 5% of students entering public vocational institutions. The share of adults aged 20 to 26 years with formal vocational training stood at just 2% in 2005. Reviews of Ghana’s vocational system have consistently highlighted problems of coherence and coordination. Political oversight has been minimal. Despite what one report describes as a ‘dizzying array’ of examinations, programmes have failed to provide the skills employers seek. One reason is a multiplicity of certification and testing standards developed without employer advice. The quality of instruction is far from satisfactory. Ill-trained instructors, low salaries and outdated equipment all contribute. While some public institutions do provide high-quality training, they remain the exception. There are few evaluations of the benefits of vocational education for Ghana’s youth. The available evidence suggests that graduates of the public system, including polytechnics, are prone to high unemployment. This is unsurprising given that teaching is geared towards the demands of the small formal sector, rather than an informal sector that on one estimate delivers 80% to 90% of skills training. The cost side of the equation is better understood. Vocational programmes account for about 1% of the education budgets. However, recurrent per capita costs in 2006 were five times higher than in primary education and almost three times higher than in senior secondary. Equity is another major concern. While policy documents emphasize the importance of linking vocational education to the national poverty reduction strategy, marginalized groups are effectively excluded. Participation rises with income levels, with the richest quintile seven times more likely than the poorest to have received vocational education. Regional inequality is marked: the northern region, Ghana’s poorest, has one of the lowest levels of vocational enrolment. There is a bias towards males, especially in urban areas. And vocational graduates are twenty times more likely to work in the formal sector than be self-employed as farmers, reflecting a bias against agriculture. Rather than counteracting the disadvantages associated with limited access to education, apprenticeship programmes have the opposite effect — young people with an incomplete primary education are half as likely to make it into apprenticeship as those with a secondary education. The government has adopted reforms aimed at establishing a more efficient and equitable system. The Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training was created in 2006 as an autonomous oversight body, along with the Skills Training and Employment Placement (STEP) programme which targets low-skilled unemployed youth seeking apprenticeships. It is too early to evaluate the latest reforms. Sources: Adams et al. (2008); African Development Bank/OECD (2008c); Akyeampong (2007); Ghana Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (2004a, 2004b); Palmer (2007). There are also signs that vocational education is re-emerging as a priority in development assistance. Several countries, notably Germany and Japan, have been giving precedence to support for the sector. It is too early to evaluate the results of the latest wave of reform. In some cases, old models have proved highly resilient. Mozambique’s government set out a bold strategy, the Integrated Professional Reform Programme, aimed at bringing vocational planning under a single umbrella, with a unified qualification and accreditation programme (African Development Bank/OECD, 2008e). Two years before the end of its first phase, however, there has been little progress in implementing it. 88
PROGRESS TOWARDS THE EFA GOALS Youth and adult skills — expanding opportunities in the new global economy As in other regions, governments in sub-Saharan Africa have to strike a delicate balance between general and technical and vocational education. The overwhelming priority for the region is to increase enrolment, retention and progression through basic education into secondary school. Vocational education has the potential to play a far greater role, however, not least in providing second-chance opportunities to marginalized youth. Public investment and international aid should be directed towards creating opportunities for the poor, in rural areas and in informal employment, with private spending and investment by companies financing training for higher-income groups. Offering young people a second chance Technical and vocational education can extend opportunities for young people still in school. But what of the millions of young adults who have never gone to school or have left education with levels of achievement falling far short of what they need? Can vocational education offer an effective ‘second chance’ for avoiding a future of marginalization? The economic crisis has given that question renewed relevance because young people suffer most when labour demand is reduced. Comparing the effectiveness of ‘second-chance’ programmes and wider targeted interventions for combating marginalization through vocational education is inherently difficult because underlying patterns of marginalization vary. In developed countries, the problem is concentrated at the upper secondary level. Data from the United States indicate that nearly 6.2 million of the country’s 16- to 24-year-olds – 16% of the age group – have left secondary school with no diploma. 26 In France, about 18% of young people lack minimum secondary school qualifications (OECD, 2009b). The yardstick for measuring education marginalization in developing countries is different. Millions of young people in Latin America and the Arab States, especially those from the poorest households, have just one or two years of secondary school, or less. In many low-income countries, only a minority of young people have been to secondary school at all – and an incomplete primary education is often the norm. 27 Evaluations around the world show that ‘second-chance’ programmes can make a difference. Comprehensive approaches that provide training as part of a wider package are more likely to succeed. In the United States, the Job Corps programme offers 16- to 24-year-olds education and training alongside a wide range of support services (Schochet et al., 2003). 28 Modelled partly on the Job Corps experience, the Jóvenes programmes in several Latin American countries, including Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay, have been particularly successful in reaching the marginalized (Box 2.15). Skills for the twenty-first century The Jóvenes programmes are effective because they provide an integrated framework for reaching the marginalized and linking employment with skills training. That key principle also underpins another programme in Latin America and the Caribbean, Entra 21, launched in 2001 by the International Youth Foundation to equip unemployed youth with information technology skills. An evaluation in six countries points to encouraging results for both employment and earnings (Box 2.16). Remedial education combined with flexible courses targeted at marginal populations provides another way to offer the young a second chance. In Bangladesh, a large-scale programme operated by a non-government organization targets young people who have dropped out of formal education. Classes designed to facilitate early catch-up are followed by vocational programmes developed with companies (World Bank, 2006j). In Chile, the Califica programme is aimed at youth and young adults who lack formal secondary education. It includes a secondary education equivalency component that enables people over 18 to study in a certified institution and to gain a certificate that facilitates access to a wide range of vocational courses (Gallart, 2008). Successful second-chance programmes have to be accessible and affordable to people living in poverty, be flexible enough to fit in with the lives of their target population and be seen to deliver results (Jimenez et al., 2007). One of the most successful models has emerged in Mexico. The Open Secondary School system, aimed at young adults who have dropped out of secondary school, offers second-chance opportunities in thirty-three subjects covered in grades 10 to 12. There are no entrance requirements and no time limit on completion, and students can determine their own schedules. The average period for completion is three to five years, after which ‘Second-chance’ programmes can help combat youth marginalization 26. It is estimated that secondary school dropouts earn US$485,000 less on average during their lifetime than do secondary school graduates (Center for Labor Market Studies, 2007). 27. These issues are taken up in Chapter 3. 28. The evaluation found that students graduating from Job Corps programmes gained an average increase in income of around 12% (Schochet et al., 2003). 89
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Chapter 2. Progress towards the EFA goals - Unesco

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