HOW STRONG VOCATIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEMS TRANSITION YOUNG PEOPLE INTO THE WORLD OF WORK

November 2012

2

3

4

• Countries with the lowest youth unemployment, high upper secondary completion, and strong economies also have strong vocational education systems serving 16-19 year olds

• But if results are so good, why does VET still have a social stigma? Early tracking, no choices Leads to dead ends (once an electrician, always . . .) Too narrowly serves needs of employers Only prepares young people for (dirty dangerous) low wage trades,

not white collar professions Academics are not rigorous Dumping ground for young people who can’t do anything else

STRUCTURED VOCATIONAL PATHWAYS TO CAREERS LEAD TO BETTER OUTCOMES

5

In strong vocational systems, 40% to 75% of upper secondary students choose to participate: VET can be school based or mix of school and work

STRONG VOCATIONAL SYSTEMS: THE NEW VET

6

Strong vocational systems:

• Have permeable pathways through postsecondary technical education (EX. from entry level banking to bank management to a Ph.D. in economics or IT technician to IT engineering)

• Include modern occupations learned through simultaneous study of sophisticated theory and application to real problems

• Require STEM fields, complex problem-solving in messy situations, and expertise in communication, team work, and presentation

• Respond to needs of labor market and adolescent development

• Are encoded in a social compacts that require young people to learn to work between the ages of 16 and 19 and support them in doing so

THE NEW VET EXISTS IN A FEW COUTRIES AND IS GROWING IN POPULARITY

7

• Qualifications are nationally standardized and transferable

• The student “owns” his or her skills and can sell them in the market place

• Workplace trainers are credentialed to work with young people

• Standardized applied assessments are given by combos of employers & educators

• Curriculum and assessments replicate authentically the uncertain, messy, problem- based, people-intense, and time-limited world of work.

LEARNING CONDITIONS THAT ASSURE THE YOUNG PROFESSIONAL’S SUCCESS

8

• Within a legal framework, social partners work with educators: state directed model (not market model, school model)

• Government provides infrastructure, standardization, and quality control

• State and industry support robust intermediary organizations to provide “glue”

• Around 80%++ of qualifications are standardized and available to young people

NATIONAL POLICIES ENABLE STRONG VET SYSTEMS TO SUCCEED

9

• State takes responsibility for ensuring that training remains broad

• Employers profit from productive young people: helps the bottom line (in both highly &lightly regulated markets)

Incentives to participate vary by country:

SwitzerlandNetherlandsAustralia

NATIONAL POLICIES ENABLE STRONG VET SYSTEMS TO SUCCEED (continued)

10

• EX. The Swiss Federal Institute for VET has a unit that analyzes work situations, breaking them into component activities and problems, and developing competencies and curricula.

• Ex. Swiss industry sector organizations drive curriculum and assessment as partners

• EX. To revise commercial training qualifications, 100,000 stakeholders participated over six years organized by OPET

• EX. In the Netherlands, Colo, the umbrella organization of the Centres of Expertise, reports four times a year on changes in the availability of apprenticeship placements and on-the-job training.

• EX. Over 800 employees of the Centres of Expertise are involved in collecting labor market data, displayed by sector and region in the Colo Barometer.

• COLO maintains regional centres to serve employer needs

SUPPORT FUNCTIONS ENABLE EMPLOYERS TO PARTICIPATE

11

12

SWISSCOM BROCHURE FOR RECRUITING 15 YEAR OLDS TO THE COMPANY

13

In very best situations, work is nothing like school although you earn an academic degree…

• Un apprentissage chez Swisscom te laisse une grande liberté d'action. Ainsi, tu peux structurer toi-même dans une large mesure ton plan de formation. Tu choisis également toi-même les postes de formation pratique pour lesquels tu veux poser ta candidature.

• Tout au long de ton apprentissage, tu peux profiter du soutien d'un coach, avec qui tu effectues régulièrement des bilans de la situation. Tu peux ainsi te situer et définir les prochaines étapes de ta formation.

• Et ce n'est pas tout: Nous te donnons accès à la mobilité. Dès le début de ton apprentissage, nous t'offrons un abonnement général jeune. Et Swisscom te fournit aussi un ordinateur portable.

• Tu peux voir du pays: des places de projet sont proposées dans la Suisse entière. Tu découvres ainsi d'autres régions et peux, suivant le lieu de travail, mettre en pratique et améliorer tes connaissances d'allemand ou d'italien.

• Tu profites de conditions de travail avantageuses: tu as par exemple droit à six semaines de vacances par année d'apprentissage.

RECRUITING BROCHURE, SWISSCOM

14

Intensivetrainingphase

Learning throughskilled work

Source: Strupler, Mirjam; Wolter, Stefan C. (2012). Die duale Lehre eine Erfolgsgeschichte - auch für Betriebe. Ergebnisse der dritten Kosten-Nutzen-Erhebung der Lehrlingsausbildung aus der Sicht der Betriebe, Glarus/Chur: Rüegger Verlag.

NET-BENEFIT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF AN AVERAGE TRAINING FIRM (IN EURO)

15

Learning for Jobs argues that “Workplace learning has many compelling attractions both for young people and for employers; done well, it is the best way for the majority of young people to prepare for the world of work.”

“Select the right skills; teach them the right way; and in the right place.”

Jobs for Youth argues that “Low-skilled youth who, even before the crisis erupted, already experienced multiple barriers in fully integrating the labor market, are now at high risk of inactivity and potentially of exclusion.”

“Using mutual obligation policies, countries need to ensure that no youth enters the labor market without a recognized and valued qualification.”

EVIDENCE FROM OECD COMPARATIVE STUDIES—LEARNING FOR JOBS AND JOBS FOR YOUTH

16

Comprehensive Employment and Training Act 1970s

Job Training Partnership Act and Perkins Act Authorized 1980s

School-to Work Opportunity Act 1990s

Standards Movement to Common Core

• National Academy Foundation Career Academies

• High Schools that Work, Project Lead the Way

• Small career-themed high schools or CTE academies

• Cristo Rey, Big Picture, and Year Up

• Linked Learning

• Early college 9-14 schools, P-TECH

2000s

Pathways to Prosperity, JFF, OVAE initiatives NOW

BUT WHAT IF YOU’RE FROM A COUNTRY THAT HAS A HISTORY OF STRUGGLE WITH THESE ISSUES? A WORD ABOUT THE USA

17

Nancy Hoffmannhoffman@jff.org

www.jff.org

RESOURCES

Helping Youth to Get a Firm Foothold in the Labor Market. DELSA

http://www.oecd.org/els/employmentpoliciesanddata/offtoagoodstartjobsforyouth.htm

Learning for Jobs: Australia, Austria, Belgium (Flanders), the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom (England and Wales), and the United States (South Carolina and Texas); short reports on Chile and the People’s Republic of China.

Jobs for Youth: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The Steep Decline in Teen Summer Employment in the U.S., 2000-2010 and the Summer 2011 Teen Job Market Disaster: Another Bummer SummerAndrew Sum Center for Labor Market Studies Northeastern University, August 2011

Schooling in the WorkplaceNancy Hoffman, Harvard Education Press, 2011

18

WHERE JFF WORKS

19

NANCY HOFFMANnhoffman@jff.org

TEL 617.728.4446 FAX 617.728.4857 info@jff.org

88 Broad Street, 8th Floor, Boston, MA 02110

122 C Street, NW, Suite 650, Washington, DC 20001

WWW.JFF.ORG