Reaching the marginalized: EFA global monitoring report, 2010; 2010

PROGRESS TOWARDS THE EFA GOALSYouth and adult skills — expanding opportunities in the new global economyeducation of the workforce. While over 80% ofcompanies in Kenya and Zambia with more than150 employers are active trainers, under 5% ofthose with fewer than 10 workers fall into thiscategory (Adams, 2007b; Tan, 2006). Severalcountries have adopted innovative approachesaimed at extending company-based opportunitiesfor skills development. Singapore’s SkillsDevelopment Fund and Malaysia’s HumanResources Development Fund are financed by a 1%levy on wages, with the revenue used to subsidizetraining for workers in smaller companies. 21Vocational trainingthrough secondary schoolsTechnical and vocational education is offeredthrough a bewildering array of institutionalarrangements, public and private providers, andfinancing systems, so cross-country comparisonshave to be treated with caution. The weaknessof many national reporting systems, combinedwith a lack of consistency, adds a further layerof complication (UNEVOC and UIS, 2006).Mapping a diverse sector. Detailed mapping oftechnical and vocational education reveals somebroad patterns. The most common format is entryin middle school or upper secondary school, orthrough college courses combining general andvocational learning. Most courses at this levelorient students towards labour markets, thoughsome offer a route into tertiary or generaleducation. Some developed countries, includingFrance and Germany, introduce ‘pre-vocational’courses in lower secondary, often targeting themat what are deemed the less academic students.In many developing countries, early tracking isthe rule rather than the exception. In the UnitedRepublic of Tanzania, two out of three vocationalstudents are tracked after primary school, withthe remainder entering specialized technicalschools after completing general education(Kahyarara and Teal, 2006).Participation in technical and vocational educationhas increased alongside the general expansion ofsecondary education, but the degree to whichsecondary education has been ‘vocationalized’ variesmarkedly (Lauglo and Maclean, 2005). In 2007, 16%of secondary school students in developed countrieswere in technical and vocational education,compared with 9% in developing countries. 22Technical and vocational shares were lowest insecondary enrolment in sub-Saharan Africa (6%),and South and West Asia (2%). (Table 2.4)Box 2.11: Private vocational training in Brazil:widespread and successfulThe best-known graduate of Brazil’s Serviço Nacional de AprendizagemIndustrial (SENAI) is President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who trainedthere as a mechanic.SENAI operates one of the world’s largest integrated vocationalsystems, administered by the Confederação Nacional da Indústria(National Confederation of Industry). Delivering courses throughabout 700 training centres in twenty-seven states, it trains 2.8 millionprofessionals a year. Working with government agencies, SENAI hasestablished rigorous, world-class standards for training and certification,enabling graduates to switch between employers and states.Financed through a payroll tax on industry, the SENAI system is managedby entrepreneurs. Companies play an important role in identifyingpriority areas for training and in the design of courses. Administrationalso involves national and regional governments, and trade unions.Source: SENAI (2009).Behind these regional averages are very largedifferences between countries (Annex, StatisticalTable 7). In thirteen of the twenty-five countries insub-Saharan Africa with data, the share of technicaland vocational education in secondary enrolmentwas less than 5%. In Latin America, coverageranges from less than 5% in Brazil, the DominicanRepublic and Nicaragua to over 30% in Argentinaand Honduras. Developed countries, too,demonstrate wide variation. Reported enrolment intechnical and vocational education at the secondarylevel ranges from less than 20% in fourteencountries, including France, Spain and the UnitedKingdom, to over 45% in the Netherlands.Secondary school enrolment – unequalconvergence. One way to assess participation intechnical and vocational education is to measurethe proportion of secondary school students whoare enrolled in such programmes. But to avoidgetting a distorted picture, the fact that countriesvary widely in levels of secondary schoolparticipation must be taken into account. Whiledeveloping countries have been increasingparticipation in secondary education and beyond,that process has been highly unequal.Table 2.5 shows the limits of current progress.Developed countries have achieved near universalsecondary education and progression into tertiaryeducation has increased, with the gross enrolmentratio reaching 67% in 2007. Developing regions arecatching up at varying speeds and from differentIn the UnitedRepublicof Tanzania,two out of threevocationalstudentsare tracked afterprimary school21. Singapore’s fund reaches65% of enterprises withbetween ten and forty-nineworkers. Malaysia’s includesa facility for supporting smallenterprises in developingtraining plans and offersincentives for larger firmswith excess training capacityto offer places to workersfrom smaller firms.22. This uses theconventional benchmark ofISCED 2 and 3 for lower andupper secondary educationlevels.79