NN38, February 2007
Technical and Vocational Skills Development
A CRITICAL GLANCE AT THE WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT (WDR) 2007 ON YOUTH, AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR VOCATIONAL SKILLS
By Kenneth King, CERC, University of Hong Kong
KeywordsWDR, World Development Report, Youth, Vocational training, Skills
Summary
What is the role of skills development or of vocational education and training in the World Development Report (WDR) of 2007 on Youth? This article examines this question and argues that the issue of vocational skills is somewhat neglected. Moreover, that the WDR fails to fully draw attention to the countries where there are major skills development systems that are operating effectively in the vocational training of young people.
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What is the role of skills development or of vocational education and training (VET) in the World Development Report (WDR) of 2007 on Youth? You might expect there to be a lot, as the Report is concerned with youth transitions. And at first sight, there is actually a great deal written in the Report about skills, but much of this is not about traditional, vocational skills at all, but more about other kinds of ?softer? skills. We shall look rapidly at what is said about these various skills both at the school level, and also in the post-school work environment.
Given the poor quality of academic achievement in many developing country school systems, the WDR proposes that the priority should be a solid foundation in ?basic skills? at school level, in primary and junior secondary. This term means ?the set of minimal abilities needed for further learning, work and life, including numeracy and literacy and basic levels of behavioural skills such as perseverance, self-discipline and self-confidence? (WDR, 2006: 71). At the high school, or upper secondary level, the Report talks of the need for ?postbasic skills?, by which it means ?thinking skills, higher order behavioural skills (decision-making skills, teamwork, the ability to negotiate conflict and manage risks), specific knowledge applied to real-life situations, and vocational skills? (Ibid.). So already there is a welter of skills on the WDR?s agenda!
Interestingly, in the key chapter 3 on ?Learning for Work and Life?, these ?behavioural skills? are mentioned no less than 25 times, ?life skills? 15 times, while ?vocational skills? and ?practical skills? are mentioned only 3 and 2 times respectively. What does this mean? In fact, the WDR sees behavioural skills as being very close to life skills. It describes one programme that operates in 25 countries as ?developing such behavioural skills as self-confidence, motivation, teamwork, and conflict management, as well as critical and creative thinking skills; together they are often referred as ?life skills? (WDR, 2006: 72 emphasis added). In other words, for the primary and junior secondary levels, the key skills discussed are these behavioural and life skills.
Specialisation and tracking, the Report urges, should take place in the upper secondary school. An example is given of Chile which moved vocational specialisation to that level in its education reform. There is much discussion about the importance of flexibility, so that terminal vocational tracks can be avoided, and so that vocational graduates can qualify for higher education, as they are said to be able to do in South Africa and Tunisia.
The overall message of the WDR for the curriculum of schools is that the labour markets are demanding workers who have ?strong thinking and interpersonal skills?. Employers are said to be expressing an increasing demand for communication skills. Even entrepreneurship is said to be linked to ?thinking skills? to solve problems and such ?behavioural skills? as self-confidence and leadership. The WDR sums it up again in terms that stress life skills, but not vocational skills: ?So, in today?s complex and changing environment, the challenge is to build skills that allow young people to think critically and creatively, to process information, to make decisions, to manage conflict, and to work in teams? (WDR, 2006: 75).
What is said specifically about the general versus the vocational curricula? The WDR recommends that these be more integrated. Apart from delaying vocational specialisation as mentioned above, there should be more blending of the two streams, with more vocational content being brought into the general curriculum, and more vocationally relevant academic subjects being brought into the vocational curriculum (WDR, 2006: 76).
It is difficult to get much of a sense of the scale of vocational schools, or vocational tracks in the developing world from the WDR. It is admitted that the vocational education sector is small in the developing world compared to the OECD countries, with just 22% of enrolment. This average, of course, masks a huge variation from many Sub-Saharan African countries with a very much smaller enrolment (King and Palmer, 2006), and others like South Korea and China with 40% of their upper secondary cohort in vocational schools.
In summary, this particular chapter 3, ?Learning for Work and Life?, does not give much attention at all to vocational education or to vocational skills. Is the situation any better for the other key chapter 4, ?Going to Work??
Chapter 4 is certainly positive about the role of so-called traditional apprenticeships in developing countries, and acknowledges that they are the source of 80-90% of all basic skills training, for example in Ghana. The WDR is also positive about ways of strengthening indigenous apprenticeship systems, and here it, more controversially, draws on the World Bank?s informal sector voucher project in Kenya to claim success in its enhancing the access of master craftsmen to new technologies and upgrading their skills, thus improving the quality and relevance of the training they could offer their apprentices. [The reality is that there were very major problems of corruption in the project, and the voucher element proved to be entirely unsustainable.]
The WDR notes that training in the private sector by employers is often overlooked in favour of public training programmes. But evidence is adduced that the enterprises are indeed active trainers, though it is admitted that that is more the case with larger, foreign-owned, export-oriented firms. In fact, it is admitted that larger firms are ten times more likely to train than those with ten or less employees. Nevertheless, the conclusion, surprisingly, about enterprise-based training is that it is ?relevant and effective?.
By contrast, training in public sector training institutions is said to be ?open to question. Rigid, low-quality training systems disconnected from labour markets have led many countries to reform their programmes? (WDR, 2006: 113). At this point, readers with a sense of history might be wondering if this WDR was going to repeat what was thought to be the very strong endorsement of private sector training in the well-known World Bank policy paper of 1991, Vocational and technical education and training:
Training in the private sector ? by private employers and in private training institutions ? can be the most effective and efficient way to develop the skills of the work force. In the best cases employers train workers as quickly as possible for existing jobs. (World Bank, 1991: 7)
In the WDR, there is some danger of a similar conclusion, as it comments that ?Overall, training systems are moving away from a narrow focus on inputs for training, with more instructors, workshops, and equipment ? to a focus on outcomes, with attention to skills standards set by employers and competency-based delivery by a mixture of public and private provision?? (WDR, 2006: 113). To a public training provider in many countries, with a very small budget, out of date instructors and antiquated equipment, this could easily be misread as negating some of the very things that are critically needed.
One of the strongest messages of this key chapter on ?Learning for Work and for Life? is that ?skill development should respond to local demand and promote competition among providers? (Ibid.117). This is illustrated from the Joven (youth) programmes for disadvantaged youth in Latin America. But the reader is left wondering if there are any good quality public sector training programmes, for instance in East or South East Asia, or in the OECD countries.
For readers who only have time to read the Overview or Executive summary at the beginning of the WDR, and who are looking out for ?skills?, there are, as we said above, plenty of references to skills in this WDR. It is used 58 times in 22 pages! But there is every kind of skill mentioned (behavioural, parenting, leadership, basic, higher order, cognitive, advanced, life), but there is no mention of technical, vocational or practical skills. And what are the key messages about skills to be gained from a quick glance? It is surely this: ?Inculcating life skills in schools is the surest way to enhance the capabilities of young people? (WDR. 2006: 16). And as to practical and vocational skills? Well, the most obvious message is rather negative as we have already implied above:
Practical training that combines occupational and behavioural skills can make young people more mobile. But the track record of schools and even large public national training institutions in providing such skills has, at best, been mixed. (WDR, 2006: 14)
In conclusion, there is an opportunity lost, once again, to draw attention to the countries where there are major skills development systems that are operating effectively in the training of young people.
References
King, K. and Palmer, R. (2006) Skills, Capacities and Knowledge in the Least Developed Countries: New Challenges for Development Cooperation. Background paper produced for the 2006 UNCTAD Least Developed Countries Report, Mobilizing and Developing Productive Capacity for Poverty Reduction. Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh: Edinburgh.
World Bank (1991) Vocational and technical education and training: A World Bank policy paper, World Bank, Washington.
World Bank (2006) World Development Report 2007: development and the next generation, World Bank, Washington
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