ETF Live&Learn n°17 May 2010
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Transcript of ETF Live&Learn n°17 May 2010
NEWS, VIEWS AND INITIATIVES FROM ACROSS THE ETF COMMUNITY ISSU
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Far from equality forwomen at work
Regional approach candeliver big benefits
Wicked problems and thework of the school
Taking Europe’seducation and cultureto the highest levelJan Truszczy ski, new ETFGoverning Board chairman
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Taking Europe’seducation and cultureto the highest levelJan Truszczy ski, new ETFGoverning Board chairman
ń
Live&Learn
Letter from the editorTHE TORINO PROCESSAs part of the ETF’s policy learningactions in its partner countries, thebiennial Torino Process attempts toencourage evidence based policymaking in VET and employment.
Its objective is to provide concise,documented analysis of VET andemployment reform in each country,including the identification of keypolicy trends, challenges andconstraints as well as good practiceand opportunities.
It has two goals:
� To strengthen policy makingcapability by improving the
effectiveness of policy analysisthrough self-assessment. In thefirst year of the two year process,the conclusions of the analysisare expected to validate thestrategic policy orientations andinform subsequent policyadjustments. The second yearwill concentrate on policy areaswhich are at risk if not addressedin a structural manner.
� To give a new impetus to ETFwork during the period 2010-2013.
The Torino Process aims tostrengthen or create institutionalpolicy platforms - national
institutional networks - in anattempt to enhance policy dialogueand coherent, consistent andintegrated policy making.
The ETF will assist and guide theprocess for as long as is needed andshould be perceived as a partner ofthe process – a kind of critical friendto key stakeholders in a country, bethey government, economic andsocial partners, civil societyorganisations or VET and labourmarket policy makers. The TorinoProcess proposes a corporateapproach to policy learning as aworking method and to policymaking as a field of action.
2
THE ETF HELPS TRANSITION ANDDEVELOPING COUNTRIES TO HARNESSTHE POTENTIAL OF THEIR HUMANRESOURCES THROUGH THE REFORM OFEDUCATION, TRAINING AND LABOURMARKET SYSTEMS IN THE CONTEXT OFTHE EU’S EXTERNAL RELATIONS POLICY.
www.etfliveandlearn.eu
Please recycle this magazine whenyou finish with it.Cover Photos: ETF/EUP Images
The results of the first round of theTorino Process will document:
� ETF recommendations to theEuropean Commission for sectorprogramming and the projectcycle,
� ETF interventions in the partnercountries supporting policymaking in VET and employment,
� further capacity buildinginterventions, supporting policymaking, to be carried out directlyby the ETF or to be proposed tothe European Commission forexternal assistance.
Additionally, in the second year, theETF will work on those policy areasin need of urgent structuralassistance, as identified by theTorino Process. This will take theform of expertise communities whowill create, manage and shareknowledge with the respectivecountries.
Exceptionally, in 2010, the TorinoProcess will be carried out togetherwith a policy area examination ineducation and business cooperationwhich was requested by DG EAC.This cooperation must beimmediately analysed consideringthe high youth unemployment and
decreasing adult employment rates,the lack of trust business showstowards public education andtraining, and differences in supplyand demand.
Instead of conclusions, the Torinoprocess will help the ETF tounderstand country contexts betterand to manage them moreeffectively. It will seek a win-winsituation for the ETF and its partnercountries, ultimately benefitting theircitizens, and enhancing the relevanceof EU interventions in the field.
Madlen SerbanETF Director
Live&Learn 3
Live and Learn was in Brussels to speak to Jan Truszczyński, a Polish citizen, who has recently started work as the
European Commission’s new Director General of Education and Culture (DG EAC). What will be the new course for the
body that, with a staff of over 650 women and men and a budget of around �1,400 million, plays a leading role in
Europe’s education, training, culture, youth, citizenship, multilingualism and sport? And what will these changes mean
for the work of the ETF?
Mr Truszczyński joined DG Enlargement in 2007 just as the
new EU Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) was
being launched and he believes significant steps forward
have been made since that time.
“If I look back over the last several years, I can see good
progress on the education front and sometimes also in the
area of culture. The problems that were there in the
relationship between the former candidate countries and the
EU do exist to some extent between the EU and current
candidate countries, but these are the kind of issues that
accompany all relationships between partners. If I compare
IPA with the assistance the EU provided in the 1990s,
nowadays we are faster, nimbler and overall more efficient
and effective. The timeline between planning and the actual
disbursement of funds is shorter than it used to be. These are
all reasons to be pleased,” he said.
Some of the challenges facing neighbouring countries in
terms of human capital development are also to be found in
EU countries. However Mr Truszczyński identifies three key
differences: a weak capacity to design and implement policy
change; a lower level of economic development; and a bigger
and more complex mismatch between skills and the needs of
the labour market. “We need to use the financial instruments
Live&Learn4
“HELPING OUR NEIGHBOURS IS AN INVESTMENTFOR US“TAKING EUROPE’S EDUCATION ANDCULTURE TO THE HIGHEST LEVELAn interview with Jan Truszczyński, new Director-General ofEducation and Culture and chairman of the ETF GoverningBoard
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at our disposal to help neighbouring
countries to modernise their VET
systems and improve their ability to
forecast and plan ahead,” he says, “this
will allow them to better prepare their
education systems to respond to the
needs of their economies.”
“How you get on with your neighbours
matters to every country or regional
grouping; what makes the EU stand out
is the sheer volume of grants and
assistance that we offer our partners,”
he says, “we see this as an
investment.”
ETF work is unrivalled
In his new role, Mr Truszczyński is
looking forward to learning much more
about the work of the ETF.
Nevertheless his provisional verdict is
positive. “The ETF addresses what
needs to be addressed in terms of
changing how educational systems are
organised, analysing and assessing
labour markets and promoting
cooperation between the world of
education and business as well as
reducing the skills gap. I think its
priorities are well chosen, the ability to
draw on expertise is manifestly present,
there is a good working relationship
with CEDEFOP and the work of the ETF
in neighbouring countries is unrivalled in
Europe,” he says.
One area that Mr Truszczyński is keen
to examine when he becomes chair of
the ETF’s governing board is how well it
measures its own effectiveness. “With
every assistance mechanism you want
to make sure it really delivers and this is
best done through monitoring and
evaluation,” he says.
When asked whether the ETF could
contribute to promoting entrepreneurial
learning within the framework of the
EU’s 2020 strategy, Mr Truszczyński’s
reply is a resounding yes. “Where
neighbouring countries seek to achieve
similar goals to the EU, the ETF, with its
remit on business and education, labour
markets and VET, can probably do a lot
of good,” he says.
Mr Truszczyński adds that he is “not
convinced that the EU is such a paragon
of virtue that we can automatically act
as a role model for others.
Neighbouring countries will not stand
idly by as we try to modernise, but will
draw their own lessons and implement
change at a more decisive and faster
pace. It is here that the ETF - with its
expertise gained in Europe, its network
of contacts and its good relations with
the governments of neighbouring
countries - can step in and do more.”
Promoting democracy
“You have to be realistic about the
extent to which education and training
can bring stability and democracy; I
know of no country where the mere
provision of assistance has resulted in
the further anchoring of the values that
prevail in Europe. This depends to a
large extent on whether beneficiaries
are willing to invest their political capital
and energy in making sure the
assistance really benefits their society
and economy. In the desert, money
alone will not make lush greenery
appear,” he says.
Moving on to the theme of future
cooperation between education and
business, Mr Truszczyński says that
“there is a huge untapped potential
here. The entrepreneurial culture in
higher education has to be developed
more and there should be more
dialogue between business and
universities on the future needs of the
economy.”
Mr Truszczyński is looking forward to
preparing a new generation of projects,
one of the largest being ‘Youth on the
Move’, a programme targeting
education, youth policy and international
mobility. He would like above all to see
the new programmes “smoothly
launched and implemented” and to see
them gain acceptance from both
beneficiaries and Member States.
“My job is not the easiest in the
European Commission but it is not so
difficult either… education is a
fascinating field,” he concludes. �
Live&Learn 5
by Paul Rigg, ICE
More and more women are getting educated. In the European Union, 60%of university graduates are women and female
students routinely outperform males at secondary schools. But when it comes to using this education to get a good job,
the situation is very different. For a host of reasons, women are still finding it hard to turn their achievements in
education into tangible benefits on the labour market. No matter which yardstick you use –salaries, participation rates
or the number of women at the top of their profession – in most countries, women still lag considerably behind men.
The ETF brought over two hundred
women and men from around the world
to Turin to consider why this is so at an
international conference on Women and
Work on 7 – 8 March. Participants were
asked to pay special attention to three
aspects of gender equality in the
workplace; how women make the
transition from education to work, what
is needed for the full social inclusion of
women and what are the barriers
women face when they wish to set up
a business.
In its search for fresh ideas, the ETF
decided to use fresh tools to facilitate
the debate by harnessing the power of
social media. Last January saw the
launch of an online forum looking at
global women’s issues to prepare for
the conference
(http://womenandwork.ning.com/).
Moderated by social media specialist
Silvia Cambie, it has continued to attract
debate and comment in the months
since the event took place and currently
has a total of 83 members.
Twenty members of the forum, many of
whom actively blog on women’s issues
in their countries of origin, attended the
first day of the Women and Work event.
They discussed why women do not
always get a fair deal in the workplace
and hammered out a list of
recommendations on how to improve
the situation. As the day progressed,
they kept a wider online audience in
touch by blogging and tweeting as they
went along. The bloggers also produced
three short videos summarising their
Live&Learn6
“CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY“
STILL FAR FROM EQUALITY FORWOMEN AT WORKETF uses social media to facilitate women’s day event
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recommendations which were shown to
policy makers and representatives of
NGOs on the second day of the
conference and which are still available
on YouTube.
The factors that prevent women from
achieving parity with men in the
workplace are many and varied,
according to the bloggers, and start
operating from very early on. Many
young people work as volunteers and
trainees as a way of gaining work
experience. “I’ve noticed that male
trainees are given more substantial
and interesting tasks than young
women who are given mainly
communications and administrative
tasks,” said Lebanese blogger Paola
Salwan, “after these first jobs, men
can more easily find a substantial
position, while women will be hired as
assistants, no matter how many
degrees they have.”
The fact that women have children, and
will need time off when they do, can
make employers less willing to take on
young women in the first place. “Leaving
university comes at a time when women
may also want to start a family,” said
Italian student Alice Averone, “women
are always asked by employers about
their personal lives and their future plans
in a way that men never are.”
Sometimes women’s attitudes can be
part of the problem; many suffer from
low self-esteem and do not aim high
enough in the job market. “Women tend
to self-select by thinking that they are
not capable of certain jobs,” said French
student Florie Lefevbre.
Much can be done to give women a
fairer deal at work according to the
bloggers but improving the situation
calls for the involvement of many
different actors. Their
recommendations were aimed at policy
makers, educators, employers, the
media and individuals and ranged from
improving childcare to encouraging
mentoring schemes for professional
women or ensuring would-be
entrepreneurs get access to capital and
know-how.
Helping to make this a reality is up to all
of us – both women and men – said
Viviane Reding, European
Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental
Rights and Citizenship, in her keynote
speech to the conference. It is also up
to all of us to ensure that gender issues
do not get swept aside in these times
of economic crisis. “This is not only
because accepting anything less than
equal rights for half of the world’s
population is morally indefensible but
also because leaving the tremendous
potential of women underexploited is
something we simply cannot afford,”
she said. �
Live&Learn 7
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Jung Chang
Discussions at the conference were strongly inspired by the Chinesebest-selling author Jung Chang, who presented her personnel experienceof a life in education under suppression in China. Jung Chang encouragedall governments to ensure free and accessible education for all.
Jung Chang, best know for her family autobiography, Wild Swans, stated inher keynote speech to conference delegates that "free and open educationwith equal rights for men and women is a fundamental right".
by Rebecca Warden, ICE
Live&Learn8
How social media can empowerwomen
Social media can empower women, according toSilvia Cambie, director of Chanda Communicationsand the driving force behind the Women and Workonline forum. It can do this by giving women a safeplace to meet and share problems. It can alsoprovide a platform for campaigning and for attractingthe attention of opinion leaders she says. “The moreconservative a society is, the better organised andthe more committed you will find the women are,”says Cambie, “Saudi Arabia has some great womenbloggers.”
Social media can contribute to women’s professionaladvancement by facilitating international networksand mentoring. “Women definitely need to join astructure - we are still a minority in the labour marketso a structure helps you deal with the problems thatminorities have,” says Cambie, “it acts as a kind ofscaffolding throughout your career.”
But while women are very good at social networking,they are often less adept when it comes to usingnetworks to advance their careers. “Women makethe mistake of thinking that the corporate world is ameritocracy and it isn’t. They think if we focus on thetask in hand and do it well, we will be noticed andthat is not always the case,” says Cambie, “men arebetter at focusing on the power games and thepolitics that go with the corporate dynamic.”
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Live&Learn 9
FIND OUT MORE:
ETF “Women and Work”Conference - Turin - March2010 - part 1 -http://bit.ly/9yF9JR
ETF “Women and Work”Conference - Turin - March2010 - part 2 -http://bit.ly/d4AoCW
ETF “Women and Work”Conference - Turin - March2010 – part 3 -http://bit.ly/azKEme
Cooperation with the world of work is one of the most universally agreed needs in education. And yet, it is also one of
the hardest to satisfy. For decades, the two parties that ought to collaborate to prepare people for life and a career
have been kept apart by mutual suspicion. Employers accuse the education sector of not keeping pace with
developments in the real world. Schools argue that education is more than just a production line for workers.
Both have a point. But can we not find
some middle ground? Can cooperation
be implemented effectively to the
satisfaction of all stakeholders involved?
The European Training Foundation is
joining the ranks of organisations that
have contributed to the ongoing debate
by preparing a study that maps the
current status of cooperation among
business and education in its partner
countries. From this, it hopes to distil
recommendations that can take such
cooperation a step forward.
Finding common vocabulary
A launch event for the study in Turin on
29 and 30 March suggested that one
important reason why it is difficult to
get structured cooperation off the
ground is that the worlds of education
and work are just so different.
“Although much progress has been
made in recent years, we still do not
talk the same language,” said Olga
Oleynikova, Vice-President of the
International Vocational Education and
Training Organisation.
She was backed up by Mohamed Slassi
Sennou, Vice-President of the
Moroccan General Federation of
Enterprises, who said that the
suggestion that cooperation was a
matter of getting the two parties to sit
at the same table is rather
oversimplified.
“However much the worlds of business
and education depend on each other,
they are both extremely different. And
not only that – each of the two is
extremely diverse in itself,” he said.
This makes speaking the same
language difficult and some might
suggest that finding a common
vocabulary, rather than speaking the
same language, should be the aim of
any efforts to bring education and
business closer together.
Speaking from a policy-making
perspective, Sjur Bergan of the Council
of Europe said that “education must
take in the needs of the market but
cannot be entirely market-led. While
education must improve employability it
should also prepare for democratic
citizenship and promote personal
development.”
Intermediary role
These things do not necessarily
contradict each other. But despite
plenty of European experience
proving the opposite there remains a
stubborn fear among many
educationalists that employers’
influence on curricula will degrade
these to mere preparation for
employment. And there remains a
stubborn prejudice among many
employers that the education sector
has no real desire to meet current
labour market needs. This deadlock
calls for an intermediary to play a role
Live&Learn10
“FINDING COMMON DENOMINATORS MAY NOTBE AN EASY TASK“
PLOTTING A BETTER COURSEETF starts mapping education and business cooperation
in facilitating discussions between
what should be natural partners.
In countries that have found successful
formulae for forging the qualities of
industry and education into stronger
matter, this lead role has often been
taken by the authorities. A practical
example from Spain showed how
contracts between all parties involved
could oblige partners to cooperate while
leaving them sufficient independence to
creatively and flexibly steer their own
course.
Countries following a dual system where
internships take a prominent role in
regular education have found that
making students commute between
education and work benefits all: the
students, their schools, their teachers
and companies. But in dual system
countries, once again it is the authorities
who play a leading role as mediators
between education and business.
This led a number of participants at the
launch event to conclude that regulation
and legislation are needed in order to
make cooperation work. While this
seems applicable – at least for the
moment – in countries that have a
history of strong central command,
such as those that have emerged from
the former Soviet Union, in other
regions a key factor is the extent to
which employers are organised. Where
small and medium-sized enterprises are
responsible for the bulk of economic
activity but are not able to negotiate
with one voice, collaborating with
employers can be extremely difficult.
Good practice
In many of the ETF’s partner countries,
education and business cooperation is
still in its infancy and repeated calls
were therefore made to include ample
good practice in the final documents.
This can be found in education sectors
that have traditionally had strong links
with their counterparts in the world of
work, such as tourism, agriculture,
medicine and engineering.
ETF director Madlen Serban confirmed
that good practice must be shown in
the study, but also pointed out that its
main perspective will look to the future.
“This means that there may not always
be good practice to draw from,” she said.
The study is likely to show diversity
more than anything else and, according
to the ETF’s Ulrike Damyanovic, the key
challenge will be to synthesise
individual country reports due this
summer into four regional studies in the
autumn and a cross-country overview
that is scheduled for publication in early
2011.
“We are sure to encounter incredible
diversity and finding common
denominators may not be an easy
task,” she said.
The project has been designed so as to
allow each country to write its own
overview, with the ETF providing a
critical review of these. The final
product can then be fed back to each
country to serve as a basis for
improvements.
The country reports will be drawn up
with the help of focus groups
representing as broad an array of
stakeholders as possible.
“Partnership is key in this exercise,”
said Madlen Serban, also replying to the
many calls for government regulation.
“Such partnership cannot be bought
with legislation,” she said, “what is
needed is a change of culture and
mindset. This can only be achieved if all
stakeholders work together and
acknowledge the urgency of the
matter.” �
Live&Learn 11
by Ard Jongsma, ICE
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A major review of Lebanese vocational education is underway in two major ETF initiatives co-funded by the Italian
Trust Fund.
The Torino Process – a system-wide
analysis of Technical Vocational
Education and Training (TVET) in
Lebanon – will improve understanding
of the efficiency of the sector and help
frame better policies for the future.
The Education and Business Study will
analyse the connections between
training institutes and enterprises and
see where policy changes can improve
these links.
Backed by the Minister of Education
and Higher Education (MoEHE), the
studies are being led by Dr Soubhi Abou
Chahine, Torino Process Co-ordinator
for Lebanon.
A Professor of Communication and
Electronics at the Beirut Arab
University, Dr Abou Chahine is also a
member of the Higher Education
Committee and Advisor to the
Minister.
Dr Abou Chahine, who began working
with the ETF in late March, says the
intensive process will be rolled out in
the coming months with initial reports
back to the MoEHE expected within a
few months.
The Education and Business Study will
look at current practice in both TVET and
higher education sectors in Lebanon.
Two focus groups, made up of between
six and ten experts drawn from the
sectors, will carry out a review of how
closely business and education work
together, what impact this has on
training and how well qualifications
match the needs of the Lebanese
labour market.
“It is a question of collecting and
analysing the data and we expect to
have a draft report ready by the end of
June,” Dr Abou Chahine told Live and
Learn.
Live&Learn12
COUNTRY FOCUS: LEBANON
LEBANON BEGINS TORINOPROCESS AND EDUCATIONAND BUSINESS STUDY
�
Dr Abou Chahine: lebanon has astrong history of TVET
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The Torino Process is a bigger project.
Designed as a rolling review of policies
and systems to be conducted in
two-year cycles, the idea is that it
eventually becomes integrated into the
self-assessment practices of the TVET
system.
Lebanon has a strong tradition of TVET
and its network of schools has survived
war and political instability.
Currently there are 364 TVET schools in
the country, 70% of which are private.
Some 50,000 students are studying in
the private sector and 44,000 in public
institutions.
The system teaches 135 specialities
with an emphasis on business,
computing, accountancy and business
administration, although industrial
disciplines such as electronics and
mechanics and service, health sector
education and social services are also
taught.
Gathering the data for the Torino
Process will be a longer process but Dr
Abou Chahine expects the raw figures
to be ready by the autumn.
By working with all stakeholders – in
TVET and across the MoEHE strategic
sectors in general education and higher
education, as well as with non-profit
organizations, the Association of
Lebanese Industrialists and unions – a
detailed picture of the existing structure
of TVET, its physical assets, equipment,
student and teacher numbers and
policies, will be produced.
Entrepreneurship education – the ETF is
currently working on this subject with
the general and higher education
sectors in Lebanon – is not specifically
part of the TVET review, but Dr Abou
Chahine is keen to include it within his
work.
“It makes sense to look at ways of
incorporating entrepreneurship
education into the TVET system as
professional education students are
closer to this than most,” Dr Abou
Chahine said.
Aziz Jaouani, the ETF's Country Manager
for Lebanon, said: "Entrepreneurship
education is a key competence. We are
keen to inject this mindset into the
vocational sector too." �
Live&Learn 13
by Nick Holdsworth, ICE
FIND OUT MORE
Torino Process -http://www.etf.europa.eu/web.nsf/pages/Torino_Process_EN?OpenDocument
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Live&Learn14
After years of conflict, the re-emergence of relative political stability in Lebanon following the 2008 Doha agreement
between rival factions and the election of a coalition government in November 2009 presents the EU with an
opportunity to engage in a key country of the Mediterranean region.
The ETF has been fast to respond and is:
� working with the Lebanese Ministry
of Education and Higher Education
(MEHE) to design a national
qualification framework (NQF);
� acting to incorporate
entrepreneurship as a key
competence within the curriculum
across general, vocational & technical
and tertiary education;
� supporting the MEHE on career
guidance counselling;
� enhancing the involvement of the
country in ETF regional projects such
as the Euro-Mediterranean Charter
for Enterprise and the development
of e-learning within the VET system
and lifelong learning;
� and launching the Torino Process and
education and business study which
will analyse the efficiency of VET
systems and foster evidence-based
policy making.
“It’s still early days but the process is
underway”, says ETF Country Manager
for Lebanon Aziz Jaouani.
Moroccan-born, Aziz has wide
experience of working both within the
VET sector and in business. That is of
particular use in Lebanon where
business has continued to thrive
despite the hardships of war.
“The Lebanese have a strong culture of
enterprise. It is now our job to formalise
this within the education system,” Aziz
says.
With a political system that divides
ministerial and sector responsibilities
along religious and factional lines, it is
not always an easy process but one
which enjoys the full support of the
Lebanese Ministry of Education.
Coordinating Committees have been
set up by ministerial decree for the
NQF and entrepreneurship education,
with activities and action plans agreed
and capacity building started. ETF
support is provided on the mapping of
Lebanese qualifications, while plans
for study visits to France for NQF
partners in July and another EU
country for the entrepreneurship
education group in September are
being made. Work has also started on
familiarising stakeholders in Lebanon
with the Torino Process and the
education and business study through a
focus group. �
�
The Lebanese have a strongculture of enterprise by Nick Holdsworth, ICE
PEACE ACCORDS ANDPOLITICAL STABILITY OFFER ETFWINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY INLEBANON
COUNTRY FOCUS: LEBANON
Abdelaziz Jaouani, the ETF’s Country Manager for Lebanon, brings a wealth of experience in education, training,business and entrepreneurship to his job.
A trained engineer who specialised intextiles and clothing at Lyons’ HigherSchool of Textile Industries in France, healso has an MSc in physics andchemistry from Mohammed V Universityin Oujda in his native Morocco.
Aziz – as he is known – has worked as avocational institute teacher and trainer,project manager, policy advisor and hasbeen in charge of projects to set up fivetextile training institutes, a higher
education institute and a number ofspecialist training centres in Morocco.
The experience gained there laid thefoundations for a move away fromeducation and into business, when forsix years between 2000 and 2006 Azizwas co-owner and co-manager ofNovacote, a Casablanca-based textilescompany that produced knittedwomen’s and children’s pullovers forexport.
With an annual turnover of 1.5 millionand 160 employees, Aziz’sresponsibilities included staffrecruitment, training and wage policy.
It was the sort of hands-on experiencein business that is invaluable now in hiswork with the ETF – which he joined asa human capital development specialistin September 2007 – whereencouraging entrepreneurial activity inpartner countries is a key priorityalongside core training, lifelong learningand labour market reform policies.
Aziz, who was also project manager on a�75 million EU MEDA II project onsupporting human capital developmentin Morocco’s textile, tourism and ICTsectors during his time with the textilefirm, says his experience of bothbusiness and training gives him thepractical experience to work with a widerange of stakeholders in ETF projects.
“I have experience both of the supplyand demand side of the labour market,which helps me understand the point ofview of all stakeholders, negotiate withemployers and deal with ministries ofeducation and labour,” he says. �
Live&Learn 15
TEXTILE BACKGROUNDKNITS TOGETHEREDUCATION ANDBUSINESS EXPERIENCE
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by Nick Holdsworth, ICE
A new ETF project is looking at how to develop regional qualifications for the building and tourism trades in Egypt,Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.
A builder from Cairo is hoping to find abetter job by moving to Amman inJordan. A Tunisian hotel receptionist isaiming to find work in a five-star hotel inMarrakesh in Morocco. Just imaginehow much easier things could be forthese individuals and for their futureemployers if they could only take theirqualifications with them.
The need for regional qualifications -something which could act as a kind ofprofessional passport for people across
four countries of the Mediterranean - isthe driving force behind a new ETFproject which began with a launchevent in Tunis in December 2009.
The six-year initiative will facilitate thedevelopment of internationallyrecognised qualifications in sectorswhich are seen as priorities for theregion, starting with the sectors oftourism and construction. “We aretrying to benchmark qualifications, seeif they are comparable and see if we
can move towards a commonunderstanding of what a regionalqualification could look like,” said EvaJimeno Sicilia, the ETF’s Deputy Headof Operations for ENP South.
NQFs
Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisiahave already begun developing nationalqualifications frameworks (NQFs) overthe past five years with the help of theETF. The new regional project will run in
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“MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES AIM FOR REGIONALQUALIFICATIONS FOR TOURISM AND CONSTRUCTION“REGIONAL APPROACH CANDELIVER BIG BENEFITSHow to manage the Mediterranean labour market together
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parallel and will feed into the nationaldebate. “The important thing is to workwith the NQF so that it isn’t just a wayof recognising qualifications in a givencountry, but can also be used as a toolfor consensually managing the region’slabour market,” Mongi Bédoui,Tunisia’s Secretary of State forVocational Training, told the meeting inTunis.
The project will act as a forum forstructured exchange on topics ofinterest to be defined by the countriesthemselves. Future activities willinclude seminars, workshops, studyvisits and peer reviews as needed. Inthis process, it is the representatives ofindustry who will take the lead.
Tourism industry
Employers as well as politicians see theneed for this kind of initiative and hopeit could upgrade workers’ skills and helpthem develop new ones. “Tourism is avery labour intensive industry and thetastes of tourists are changing – wenow need to talk about newtechnology, health and eco-tourism forinstance – so the need forcompetences is both varied andurgent,” said Loïc Gogue,representative of the MoroccanNational Tourism Federation.
The Arab Contractors Group works in23 countries as well as its native Egypt.“When we work abroad we use localworkers for less important jobs, but wetend to send the management team
from Egypt,” said Anis Zakhary, Advisorto the Chairman, “but it is hard to findthese very qualified people.” Hebelieves the barriers to workersbecoming more internationally mobileare often cultural – such as beingunable to speak the language - ratherthan the lack of technical skills.
The two days in Tunis launched thedebate on how to proceed. Whether tocreate new qualifications for the twosectors or concentrate onbenchmarking existing ones was a bigissue. People also discussed whetherthe pilot should target traditional jobs orsome of the newly emerging ones.What became clear was thatemployers’ federations in countriessuch as Egypt and Morocco havealready done a lot of work onoccupational standards and this canprovide useful building blocks for thenew initiative.
Mutual trust
What was also clear was thatparticipants could see significant gainsin adopting a regional approach. It couldfacilitate mutual learning and buildmutual trust between industry and
education stakeholders and betweencountries they concluded. “It couldallow us to become a kind ofobservatory on the region,” said FatmaBennour of the Federation of TunisianHotels, “we can build a commonframework and then allow individualcountries to fill in the rest according totheir specifities.” It could also facilitatethe mobility of workers therebysatisfying the needs of labour marketsand relieving demographic pressures.“If we work together, it will be easier toexploit the relative strengths ofdifferent countries and we will be ableto achieve more with less,” said Filippodel Ninno of the ETF. �
Live&Learn 17
FIND OUT MORE:
EQF -http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc44_en.htm
Two days in Tunis launcheddebate on qualifications
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Why regional qualifications?
People have always migrated in search of a better life, but until recentlyqualifications have remained a strictly domestic affair, losing their currencyonce people venture abroad. Now globalisation and the correspondingincrease in mobility of workers have led to moves to link up qualificationssystems and frameworks and make them understandable, and thereforeuseable, across borders.
The European Qualifications Framework, adopted in 2008, is the primeexample, but parallel developments are underway in Asia and the Gulf.“Where labour markets are globalised so workers’ competences need tobe too,” said Jean-Marc Castejon, team leader of the ETF’s regionalqualifications project. Politicians in the Mediterranean region are all tooaware of this. November 2008’s meeting of EuroMed ministers of labourand employment in Marrakesh called for more regional cooperation onqualifications and this project is a response to that request.
by Rebecca Warden, ICE
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Live&Learn18
Migration is on the increase in the
Republic of Moldova; during 1999 just
under 100,000 people left the country
to work abroad, but by 2005, the total
had shot up to just under 400,000.
Many may wish to come home after a
few years and a new European
Training Foundation project is aiming
to smooth their path to skills
recognition when they do.
As part of its contribution to the
Mobility Partnership between the
Republic of Moldova and the European
Union, the ETF is working to help these
returning migrants get the skills they
have acquired abroad recognised when
they return home - for their own benefit
and for the benefit of the Moldovan
economy as a whole.
For skills to be useful, they have to be
easily understood by employers and
measurable against national standards.
But if people learn these skills in
another country or in another context
outside of formal education – such as
through work or personal experience or
both - then recognising those skills
becomes a much more complex affair.
During 2009, the ETF has been tackling
this question in two ways. First it has
been developing a methodology for
assessing the competences of adult
workers against European occupational
profiles – that is an agreed set of skills
needed to do a specific job. In order to
do so, the ETF has drawn on its recent
experience in Egypt and has adapted its
approach to the Moldovan context.
Second, it has started working on a
methodology for recognising prior
learning – learning which has usually
been acquired informally either at home
or abroad. Getting this far has only been
possible with the involvement of, and
active contributions from, a wide range
of stakeholders from education, the
ministries and industry.
2010 will see the ETF develop more
occupational standards with the help of
social partners and relevant national
institutions (the reference group). The
resulting methodologies will then be
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“REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA SUPPORTS RETURNINGMIGRANTS“MOOTHING SKILLSRECOGNITION FOR PEOPLEWHO WISH TO COME HOMEWork on skills contributes to Mobility Partnership
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and returning migrants’ competence,
targeting agriculture and construction –
two key sectors of the Moldovan
economy.
This operational work will be
complemented by a second focus on
policy development, namely designing a
system for validating prior learning hand
in hand with the Moldovan Government,
employers and trades unionists as well
as incorporating the results of the work
on occupational profiles into Moldova’s
adult learning system.
A special policy dialogue group,
comprising representatives from the
Ministry of Labour, Social Protection
and Family, the National Employment
Agency, the Ministry of Education and
employers’ associations and trades
unions, will tackle the issue of
certification. The idea is to look for
ways of certification which are flexible
enough to encompass non-formal and
informal learning. Stakeholders will also
discuss the related issues of funding,
quality assurance and which
institutional arrangements will be
needed to oversee this new practice.
Making skills recognised, visible and
portable should benefit several groups
of people – returning migrants whose
skills will be valued and people aiming
to migrate as making the move with
certified skills should encourage them
to opt for legal forms of migration and
improve their situation while abroad. It
will also benefit the Republic of
Moldova as a whole by making its
labour market more attractive and
transparent. �
Live&Learn 19
by Cristiana Burzio, ETF
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What is the Mobility Partnership?
The work of the ETF forms part of a wider EU project – StrengtheningMoldova’s capacity to manage labour and return migration – which iscurrently being coordinated by the Swedish Public Employment Service. Allthis is taking place under the Mobility Partnership, a new instrument for thejoint management of migratory flows which was signed by the MoldovanGovernment and the European Union in June 2008.
The Mobility Partnership aims to promote practical improvements whichwill allow the EU and its partner country to manage migration in a moreco-ordinated and responsible fashion. It is striving to provide a moreefficient framework for legal migration and for the reintegration of returningmigrants by tackling issues such as social protection, border management,remittances and what information is provided to potential and returningmigrants. When Moldovan and EC officials and ETF Director MadlenSerban attended a meeting in Brussels last November, they drew somevery positive conclusions about the effectiveness of this approach to date.So much so that plans are now afoot to launch a similar partnership withGeorgia.
Links between research and policy making in the Western Balkans have yielded some impressive results in recentyears. Reforms are in progress, but more research evidence is needed to inform policies and links between researchanalysis centres and the policy world need to be developed. Recent efforts to promote ETF-commissioned researchresults to a political audience may hold clues to how such links can be strengthened.
Information and policy go hand in hand.Information is needed to feed policydevelopment, to monitor policyimplementation and to evaluate theeffect of policies. But in the short term,information costs both money and time.This can jeopardise its popularity amongpolicy makers who work with stringentbudgets and relatively short politicalmandates.
“The Western Balkans haveexperienced deep crisis andpost-conflict trauma where the logic offirst planning and then implementingevidence-based policies in educationhas been displaced by the need totackle urgent issues,” according to LidaKita, who works in the ETF OperationsDepartment on projects related to theWestern Balkans.
“Most policy making is done in a verydisorderly, ad hoc and often highlyimprovised way. Countries often do notknow to what extent the policies theyimplement achieve their objectives andif they do know that objectives were
not reached, they lack the evidence toexplain why,” she says.
In other parts of the world this may bebecause of a lack of research capacitybut not so in the Western Balkanswhere the biggest hurdle is the weaklink between research centres and thepolicy world.
The ETF helps to mobilise localresearch capacity and link it to policy
making. In the Western Balkans, arecent flagship example of this hasbeen its work in promoting inclusiveeducation. This project used localresearch capacity in all countriesinvolved, overseen by theBelgrade-based Centre for EducationPolicy.
One of its focal areas was teachers’competences for inclusive education.The ETF has now used its networks
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“THE FACT THAT WE’RE HERE TELLS US THAT POLITICIANSARE AWARE THAT WE SHOULD BE INVOLVED“MAKING POLICY AS GOOD ASITS WORDETF promotes evidence-based policy making in theWestern Balkans
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and lobbying force to promote abetter link with policy making inprecisely this field, most recently bypresenting the results of the study toa regional ministerial conference onteachers’ transversal competences inBelgrade on 25 and 26 January.
The meeting revealed many signsthat the political will to involve theresearch community more closely inpolicy making is there.
“At least the fact that we’re heretells us that politicians are aware thatwe should be involved,” said NatashaPantic of the Centre for EducationPolicy. She had been invited as alocal representative of the ETFproject.
But listening to researchers is onething. Heeding their advice is adifferent thing altogether and moreoften than not, new policies areintroduced on the fly because anurgent need arises and neither timenor money is available to researchdifferent options. Ms Pantic,however, does not believe politiciansalone are at fault.
“Many researchers work in isolationand without much awareness ofcurrent agendas. Also, they typicallydo not approach research from aninterdisciplinary angle, while this isquite badly needed. In that respectresearch from NGOs often bettermatches current policy making.”
Borèo Aleksov of the Ministry ofEducation and Sciences in the FormerYugoslav Republic of Macedonia hasanother reason why it can be tricky forpoliticians to consult traditional researchcommunities.
“Much of the research we need directlyaffects the sector in which theresearchers that carry it out operate.When we looked at ways of depoliticisingthe teaching profession, all we receivedfrom the academic community wasrubbish. In the end, the entire reform wasdeveloped within the ministry.”
While other authorities have had moresuccess with involving the researchcommunity, incidental examples ofgood practice are no guarantee that theuse of evidence in policy making willyield the desired results, according toPawel Zgaga, director of the Centre forEducational Policy Studies at theUniversity of Ljubljana.
“In most countries you can see goodexamples of research-based policydevelopment. But more often than not,the proposed policies are being blockedin parliament. So what you get is thatpolicy planning is OK, but theimplementation is thwarted becausehighly specialist issues are decided onby relatively lay people in nationalparliaments.”
So what does Mr Zgaga think is needed?
“Historical luck,” he laughs, beforecontinuing on a more serious note.
“We need time. When the sameexperts can work on the same issuesfor some time you can see results.”
“Yet, in the real world there will alwaysbe certain policy processes that won’tfollow a rational model,” says Lida Kita.
“Solutions may precede problemdefinition and important players mayhave good reasons for lobbyingsolutions that are unrelated to declaredstrategic policy outcomes. Externalfactors or stakeholders may alsoimpose policy directions.”
In spite of that simple fact of politicallife, the ETF will continue to strive tosupport research communities in theWestern Balkans to better preparethem for a more proactive role in policymaking.
According to Lida Kita, this meansgenerating focus because there is aclear tendency to continually realignboth research and policy to differentdonors’ priorities.
“We also need more formalmechanisms to help researchcommunities to interact withauthorities. And because the topicsdiscussed are so specialist, anotherpriority in the immediate future will beto link these communities withinternational research networks.Regional cooperation gives themstrength in numbers, better access toinformation, more visibility, and morecredibility for informed policies bygovernments and donors.” �
Live&Learn 21
by Ard Jongsma, ICE
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Natasha Pantic: researchersshould not work in isolation
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Pawel Zgaga: Proposed policiesare being blocked in parliament
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Stephen Murgatroyd does not sufferfools gladly.
With more than 30 years’ experience atthe top in universities in Britain, Canadaand Dubai, a couple of dozen books tohis credit and nearly twenty yearsrunning a communications consultancy,his blunt assessment of schools is thatthey are “failing organisations” run by ademoralised profession that hasbecome little more than an army oftarget-obsessed box tickers.
Witnessing a presentation by DrMurgatroyd, who delights in the title ofChief Scout of MurgatroydCommunications and Consulting ofEdmonton, Alberta, Canada - other titleswhen the firm was set up in 1992 includedChief Explorer, Outfitter and Cartographer– is a lesson in kinetic energy.
When the 59-year-old ETF consultantpresented his paper on ‘Wickedproblems and the work of the school’ atan early November symposium at VillaGualino, Turin – one of nine that will bepublished in a special edition of theEuropean Journal of Education, guestedited by the ETF in June 2010 – it wasmore science museum open day thaninternational one-day conference.
Ignoring the standard room setting of alarge desk with ranks of chairs in frontand a screen behind, Dr Murgatroydstrode out to the front of the desks and,bouncing with enthusiasm for his topic,launched into a brief survey of Alberta’ssocial and economic geography.
Against a map of the province showingmajor centres of population, naturalresources and statistics on educationand employment, he argued that mosteducational policy remains stuck in the20th century and fails to address whatwill be needed two generations hencein the second half of the 21st century.
“Schools can be seen as permanentlyfailing organisations that never achievethe outcomes expected, being pulled inso many different directions byemployers, parents, publishers,
pressure groups, universities,government, health services, teachersand unions,” he says.
“We need to re-think teacher educationand professional development. Weneed to find ways to substantiallyenhance student engagement.”
One way is to stop teaching subjects,give back autonomy and responsibilityto teachers and, to borrow a conceptfrom the world of design – work withwicked problems that encourageteamwork, inclusiveness and criticalthinking across disciplines.
Wicked problems are those that “tendto have tentacles” – the further onegoes into them the more complex theybecome.
He illustrates this by reference to realissues put before school students inCanada and Britain.
In Canada a class was asked to workout ways to permanently reduce waterconsumption in their community by20%. Using a real life problem thatwent beyond the school walls and thatobliged them to use different disciplines– environmental science, geography,
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“ONLY BY SEEING SCHOOLS AS ‘FAILING ORGANISATIONS’CAN MEANINGFUL CHANGE BEGIN“WICKED PROBLEMS AND THEWORK OF THE SCHOOLAdvisor to Canadian provincial education minister thinksoutside the box
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maths, communication skills – gave achallenge and focus to the students.
In Britain at a Royal Society of Artsschool in Cheshire students were askedto find ways to reduce loneliness facedby elderly people in their community.
It is these sorts of complex problemsthat today’s young people will have tograpple with in their adult lives, DrMurgatroyd argues.
Talking to Live & Learn after giving hispresentation, he expanded on hisphilosophy.
When in 1992 he set up the world’sfirst online MBA programme for theAthabasca University - Canada’sleading distance learning institution –the internet as we know it today didnot exist. That did not stop himconnecting distant groups of studentsvia computer-based seminars wherethe first assignment was to look at foursets of company accounts and explainwhy you would invest in them. Andthat was before the students hadreceived a single lecture on businesseconomics.
Only by engaging students in real lifeproblems can thorny issues such as thehigh drop-out rates in education for post16 year olds in Alberta, be tackled, DrMurgatroyd believes.
The approach is also useful fordeveloping innovative andentrepreneurial thinking – a key issue ina country where 92% of businesses areSMEs and 60% of these will changehands or close down within the nextfour years as their current owners growolder.
As an advisor to David Hancock,Alberta’s progressive Minister ofEducation, Dr Murgatroyd believes hehas a unique window of opportunity toinfluence the province’s educationallandscape for the next decade or more.
Under an agreement with teacherunions that stipulated no collectivebargaining until 2011 in return for fillinga pensions gap, the education ministerhas the opportunity to make someradical changes.
“We have to take a futurist perspectiveand make changes now that will benefit
the next couple of generations,”Dr Murgatroyd says.
And about those job titles when he sethis firm up? People always ask aboutthat, he says with a smile.
Chief Scout is the managing directorwho goes out drumming up work; ChiefExplorer works on developing concepts;the Outfitter is the operations managerand the Cartographer maps outcompany strategy.
Simple really. �
Live&Learn 23
Brief Profile of Alain Michel, chair of the editorial boardof the European Journal of Education
A leading educational researcher, policy advisor and thinker, Alain Michel,the Paris-based chair of the editorial board of the European Journal ofEducation is looking forward to the ETF special issue due out in June 2010.
The nine papers by ETF experts and consultants on human capitaldevelopment – education for change, sustainability and social gains will bethe first time the peer-reviewed, research-based journal has been givenover entirely to writers from one institution.
The papers mix studies drawing on ETF experience and practice in partnercountries and more theoretical papers on how teaching approaches caninfluence change.
“The main idea of the special issue is how the ETF can both contribute toimproving human and social capital and at the same time sustainabledevelopment,” Mr Michel says.
by Nick Holdsworth, ICE
FIND OUT MORE:
The Murgatroyd Blog -http://themurgatroydblog.blogspot.com/
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Live&Learn24
Entrepreneurial education is increasingly a part of lifelong learning plans in European Union partner countries as keystakeholders in the public and private sector face the challenge of economic and social change.
An impressive range of projects,initiatives, programmes and policiesbeing implemented in countries ofSouth Eastern Europe, Turkey and theMediterranean region suggest that EUplans to create a strong and flexibleknowledge society in the comingdecades already have foundationsbeyond its borders.
A two-day high level reflection panel onentrepreneurship education jointlyhosted by the European TrainingFoundation (ETF), the EuropeanCommission (EC) and the Croatiangovernment in Zagreb mid-March,brought together leading policy makers,government officials and educationalistsfrom 11 non-EU member states toshare experience, promote cooperationand plan for the future.
With Europe still reeling from its worsteconomic recession in 70 years andgrowing global competition fromemerging economies such as India andChina bringing new challenges, thepressure to create an enterprise culturehas never been greater, participantsagreed.
Peter Baur, Deputy Head of Unit in theCommission’s DG Education and
Culture, underlined the importance of ameeting that followed four similarpanels last year involving EU membercountries.
“It is essential to open up educationand training to other countries and toencourage cooperation. It is extremelyimportant to share good practice andpolicies. Our problems are similar; it iscritical to see if we can find commonsolutions,” Mr Baur said during themeeting held at Zagreb’s DubrovnikHotel.
Equal footing
Marko Curavic, Hhead of Uunit at, DGEnterprise and Industry, stressed thekey position of entrepreneurshipeducation within the EC’s strategicvision for improving economiccompetitiveness.
“We don’t see any difference between[EU member states and] the countrieshere. It is a learning process that we areparticipating in on an equal footing,” hesaid.
That message was underlined by ETFDdirector Madlen Serban who praisedthe work being done in Croatia – where
entrepreneurship learning has been akey feature of the education system forthe past decade.
Croatia was a founding partner in theZagreb-based South East EuropeanCentre for Entrepreneurial Learning,which brings together leadingstakeholders in the field from Albania,Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, theformer Yugoslav Republic Macedonia,Kosovo (as defined under UNSCR1244), Serbia and Turkey.
Participants in the panel, which wasopened by Croatia’s education ministerand heard a keynote address fromTajana Sapic Kesic, State Secretary atthe Ministry of Economy, Labour andEntrepreneurship, identified key areaswhere networking and cooperationcould help ensure better and moresustainable policies and implementationof entrepreneurship education.
Examples of best practice includedTunisia, where since 2005 theUniversity of Sfax has been introducingan institution-wide policy ofentrepreneurial education thatintegrates the principle into all studyprogrammes through purpose-builtteaching modules.
“ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION REQUIRES A NATIONALVISION WITH STRONG LEADERSHIP“ETF PARTNER COUNTRIESDEMONSTRATE ENTERPRISE CULTUREHigh level panel discussion on entrepreneurship educationhosted in Zagreb
Live&Learn 25
Coordinated via an Entrepreneurshipand Placement University Centre,(known locally by its French name theCentre Universitaire d’Insertion etd’Essaimage de Sfax) the university’smission to make its graduates moreemployable and promote an enterpriseculture and validation of research intothe area has proven so successful that,with the backing of the ministry ofhigher education, it is now beingadopted across all of Tunisia’suniversities.
The proportion of students citing settingup their own businesses among theirtop three post university career plans,has risen steeply from just 3.8% in2004 to 46% last year, when a third ofall Sfax graduates stated that becomingan entrepreneur was their key aim.
Validating projects
“We still have more to do. We need toimprove implementation and for thatwe need ideas,” Professor saidLassaad Mezghani, Associate Professorof Economics at Sfax,said, adding thatone way to share good practice wouldbe to agree methods for validatingprojects that could be adapted tocountry-specific needs.
The extent to which entrepreneurshipeducation could be promoted indifferent countries depended on manyfactors – political, structural and culturalparticipants agreed.
In countries such as Bosnia andHerzegovina, where a federal structuremeant that educational policy wasdecided at a local (canton) level,achieving a common approach was achallenge. In other countries, such asIsrael where there is no nationalstrategy for entrepreneurshipeducation, a strong enterprise culturehas encouraged the establishment ofsmall businesses, particularly in hightechnology fields.
Delegates the meeting agreed thatcontinued cooperation, networking andsharing of best practice would enablethe momentum to be maintained.
Tony Gribben, the ETF’s team leaderfor entrepreneurial learning, noted: “Ifwe are going to move forward withentrepreneurship education in anykind of strategic way it requires anational vision with strongleadership.”
Leaders in business, education andgovernment ministries needed to worktogether with other stakeholders tocreate societies whereentrepreneurship becoames part of theculture.
Ivana Pulitz, Director of the CroatianEducation Ministry’s Directorate forInternational Cooperation and EuropeanIntegration, stressed that whileentrepreneurship education remained“an evolving area in policy terms” itwas one where partnership could onlystrengthen it.
Suggesting a follow- up meeting in oneyear’s time, Mr Curavic of DG Industryand Enterprise, urged participants toconcentrate on sharing “good practiceand indicators based on pragmaticexperience.”. �
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Live&Learn26
The rapid pace of technologicalchange, increasing competition andchanges in patterns of consumptionare driving new modes of productionand manufacturing in Turkey. This isincreasing the demand for highlyqualified workers who have thenecessary skills and ability to adaptto change.
But the VET schools - whose job it is totrain this workforce - are struggling tokeep up. Such is the speed oftechnological change that even thoseschools which are well-equipped andhave good teachers at their disposal canfall behind in a matter of years.
This creates a difficult situation both forVET graduates who find their trainingdoes not equip them for the world ofwork and for employers who cannotfind the kind of workers they need andmay be obliged to spend time andmoney retraining people as aconsequence.
For many, the solution lies in helpingVET schools to build a closer workingrelationship with industry as the bestway of producing a better fit betweenthe training they provide and the needsof the labour market. Șișli Technical andVocational Secondary School in Istanbulprovides an interesting example of howthis can be done.
An early adopter, the school began tobuild its links with the Turkish car industryback in 1992 when it began cooperatingwith Toyota. The resulting trainingprogramme aims to produce qualifiedtecnical personnel who can provide aftersales service. Agreements have sincebeen signed with a wide range ofcompanies from the sector includingMercedes-Benz Türk, Doðuþ OtomotivServis ve Ticaret, Toyotasa ToyotaSabancý Pazarlama ve Satýþ, OtomotivSanayi Türkiye, Efsane Motor ServisTicaret, Honda Türkiye, Mengerler TicaretTürk, DENTUR- Deniz Turizmini VeDenizciliði Geliștirme Derneði, TOFAȘTürk Otomobil Fabrikasi. Agreementstypically include enlisting the help ofcompanies in setting up laboratories atthe school which are then used to trainstudents from 10th grade upwards.
Law helps schools work withcompanies
The idea of promoting cooperationbetween schools and industry is
nothing new in Turkey. The legalframework was established as far backas June 1986 by the Apprenticeship andVocational Education Law. The lawbecame known as the VocationalEducation Law in June 2001. It aims topromote a closer relationship betweenthe two actors as a way of reducing thecurrent skills mismatch and helpingschools today to anticipate what theneeds of the labour market could betomorrow. Cooperation is formalised bymeans of education cooperationprotocols signed between theDirectorate General of TechnicalEducation for Boys and schools andcompanies. So far 172 suchagreements are in force but,considering the size of the Turkish VETsystem, there is room for a lot more. �
TURKISH VET SCHOOLBUILDS LINKS WITH CARINDUSTRYSchool - industry cooperation key to reduce skillsmismatch
by Mustafa Ozcan, ȘișliTechnical and VocationalSecondary School
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Torino Process
The Torino Process is a participatory review of progress in vocational education and
training policy carried out every two years by all ETF partner countries with the
support of the ETF. Launched in January 2010 it began with a review exercise and
the preparation of reports to be discussed at national level. Live & Learn will speak
to partner country stakeholders and ETF staff involved in the Torino Process about
their involvement and what they feel works or could be done differently.
Country Focus: Croatia
With Croatia looking forward to a future as an EU Member State, Live & Learn
takes this opportunity to investigate ETF involvement in the country. Country
Manager Vaclav Klenha will talk about his role and experience and the spotlight
will fall on the challenges of economic change facing the country and how an
entrepreneurial mindset can help turn skills and ideas into jobs and
employment.
Live&Learn 27
IN THE NEXT ISSUE…
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