Chapter 2. Progress towards the EFA goals - Unesco

PROGRESS TOWARDS THE EFA GOALS
Youth and adult skills — expanding opportunities in the new global economy
students can use their qualifications to re-enter
the education system (Flores-Moreno, 2007).
While such examples demonstrate what is possible,
second-chance education remains a highly
neglected area. Effective government coordination
of the wide range of public, private and other
non-government actors involved is rare, partly
because planning for second-chance programmes
is seldom integrated into mainstream education.
There are other ways for governments to
enhance skills development and combat youth
unemployment. One of the most obvious is to
ensure that more young people complete their
education and achieve a qualification. In the United
States, the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act includes financing provisions: youth who have
not finished secondary school can re-enter
education through a community college, vocational
training or apprenticeship. Several states have
introduced programmes led by experienced
principals and teachers aimed at facilitating
secondary school completion, offering
comprehensive after-school and vacation
teaching (CNN.com/US, 2009).
Governments can also combine education and
employment measures. Providing incentives for
companies to offer apprenticeship and vocational
programmes to unskilled young people is one
option. For example, the OECD has argued that
France should gear public assistance and
incentives for apprenticeships towards unskilled
young people and set a benchmark that increases
the share of unskilled youth starting training from
40% to 50% (OECD, 2009b). In the United Kingdom,
which has some of the deepest skill-based
inequalities in the OECD, post-crisis interventions
have been generating employment and training
for long-term unemployed youth (Box 2.17).
Programmes that deliver results
How successful are technical and vocational
systems in providing young people with skills,
meeting company demands and tackling the
problems of youth unemployment, low wages
and insecurity? There are no easy answers to these
questions. Vocational programmes do not operate
in isolation. Macroeconomic conditions, labour
market regulations and investment patterns have
a major bearing on their effectiveness. Vocational
education has the potential to make a difference
in the lives of young people. Yet that potential is
Box 2.17: Skills and employment in the United Kingdom
Even before the global downturn, job prospects for young Britons
were deteriorating and school-leavers without qualifications faced
severe employment disadvantages. From 2002 to 2007, the youth
unemployment rate increased from 11% to 14%. With the recession,
it has jumped to 17% — the highest level since 1993. Relatively
unskilled youngsters leaving school with poor qualifications are
bearing the brunt.
Many of the weaknesses in the United Kingdom’s vocational training
have deep historical roots. Apprenticeship systems have been based
on voluntary provision by employers, with little government
involvement. Moreover, vocational qualification systems have
suffered from high levels of fragmentation and overspecialization.
Reforms were introduced in 2007 aimed at closing the skills gap.
Under new legislation, young people will be required to participate
in education and training until they obtain a qualification or turn 18.
The qualification system is being overhauled and consolidated around
seventeen new diplomas, and is set to become operational in 2015.
These will be composite qualifications combining theoretical
and practical learning, and including an apprenticeship element.
In parallel, long-term job seekers aged 18 to 24 are being offered
a range of support and training options.
Responses to the financial crisis have built on this framework. Under
the 2009 budget, every 18- to 24-year-old unemployed for a year
or more is guaranteed an offer of training or a job, with funding
made available through local authorities and voluntary organizations.
Questions remain about the degree to which the training offered will
equip young people for employment.
Sources: Children England (2009); OECD (2008c); UK Learning and Skills Council (2008).
weakened in countries relying on top-down,
supply-driven models in which governments
determine priorities. Moving towards a demanddriven
approach that responds to the needs of
individuals, companies and the economy is the
overriding priority for reform.
Most rigorous evaluations of technical and
vocational education programmes come from
developed countries. Reviews that control for
selection bias broadly suggest that vocational
education improves employment prospects but
does not necessarily lead to higher pay (Adams,
2007a; Bishop and Mañe, 2005; Ryan, 2001).
Evidence from Europe indicates that apprenticeship
systems reduce youth unemployment and raise
entry into higher-wage occupations (Gangl, 2003;
Quintini et al., 2007). Traditional apprenticeship
programmes are marked by strong gender bias,
however. They achieve far less for women in terms
of jobs, careers and wages (Adams, 2007b).
Traditional
apprenticeships
offer far less
for women in
terms of jobs,
careers and wages
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