Every TVET student counts!
The International Labour Organization is the tripartite U.N. agency that promotes Decent Work through employment, social security, labour standards and social dialogue. Its work on skills development is guided by the conceptual framework on Skills to improve productivity, employment growth, and development agreed in 2008 by representatives of Governments, Employers’ Associations and Workers’ Associations. Research, policy advice, and pilot projects and technical cooperation programmes to apply good practices in different circumstances across its 185 member States aims to boost the employability of workers, the productivity and competitiveness of enterprises, and the inclusiveness of economic growth. The ILO Secretariat in offices in 40 countries works with Ministries of Labour, employers’ organizations, and trade unions to integrate skills development into national and sector development strategies in order to better meet current labour market needs and to prepare for the jobs of the future; to expand access to employment-related training so that youth, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups are better able to acquire skills and secure productive and decent work; and to improve the ability of public employment services to provide career guidance, maintain labour exchange services, and deliver active labour market programmes.For more information regarding the ILO’s work on skills and employability go to: http://www.ilo.org/skills/lang--en/index.htm; for ILO/Cinterfor's Knowledge Management Plarform, see: http://www.oitcinterfor.org
Anticipating and building skills for the future is essential to a rapidly changing labour market. This applies to changes in the types and levels of skills needed as well as in occupational and technical areas. Effective methods to anticipate future skills needs and avoid potential mismatches include: sustained dialogue between employers and trainers, coordination across government institutions, labour market information systems, employment services and performance reviews of training institutions.
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Measuring the outcomes of skills systems, policies and targeted programmes is essential in order to monitor and improve their effectiveness and relevance. Elements of sound assessment processes include: institutions to sustain feedback from employers and trainees; mechanisms to track labour market outcomes of training and systems of accountability that use this information; and, quantitative and qualitative labour market information and its dissemination to all stakeholders.
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Globally, nearly 68 million young women and men are looking for and available for work, and an estimated 123 million young people are working but living in poverty. The number who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) stands at 267 million, a majority of whom are young women. Significantly, young people are three times as likely as adults (25 years and older) to be unemployed.
Skills development is a primary means of enabling young people to make a smooth transition to work. A comprehensive approach is required to integrate young women and men in the labour market, including relevant and quality skills training, labour market information, career guidance and employment services, recognition of prior learning, incorporating entrepreneurship with training and effective skills forecasting. Improved basic education and core work skills are particularly important to enable youth to engage in lifelong learning as well as transition to the labour market.
Case studies that document good practices and illustrate the benefits and lessons learnt of particular approaches or methods in real practice.
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Designing a Graduate Tracking System for assessing the impact of TVET in Montenegro
Every year, two thirds of secondary school students in Montenegro choose Vocational Education and Training (VET) to access pre-university schooling. However, the whereabouts of these students after graduation remains largely unknown - do they find a job in their vocation, register with the Employment Agency or continue with university education? To support policy makers in getting answers to these questions, the International Labour Organization (ILO) conducted a background study and developed a proposal for tracking graduates from VET education in Montenegro based on administrative data.
The research was presented at a workshop on October 22nd organized by ILO, with the participation of representatives of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, the National VET Agency, the Taxation Agency, the Employment Agency, the Montenegrin Statistical Office and the University of Montenegro. All participants provided valuable contributions to the discussions from the perspective of their portfolio and agreed on future steps for implementing a Graduate Tracking System.
The background study analyses European best practices and suggests a step-by-step model for introducing a Graduate Tracking System, including institutional roles and responsibilities. In spite of sporadic attempts to track students from VET and higher education with qualitative tracer studies, the response rates did not provide the results to support evidence-based policy making. The ILO study therefore suggests creating a comprehensive Graduate Tracking System that combines qualitative surveys with quantitative data on Education, Taxation and Employment, to get a fuller picture on VET graduates’ employment and education outcomes in the long run.
The three most important workshop recommendations include: a) Establishing an inter-institutional Coordination Group and define roles and responsibilities; b) Conducting a pilot tracking of smaller cohorts of VET graduates in 2022 in two sectors (three-year students in the dual vs. the school-based environment and four-year students) by combining administrative and survey data; c) Designing a methodology for data collection and processing of VET graduates in the first half of 2022. The background study and the road map will be published in late 2021 and be freely accessible online.
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