Setting up the Stage: Persistent and Perennial Issues in TVE and Upper-

Secondary Education

Josh Hawley

The Ohio State University

Fourth ECA Education ConferenceThe Missing Link: Rethinking the Role of Technical Vocational Education in Upper

Secondary Education Jointly Sponsored by the World Bank and by the Ministry of Education and

Science of the Republic of AlbaniaOctober 24-26, 2007, Tirana, Albania, Sheraton Hotel

Outline

1. Some Persistent Issues with TVE and Upper Secondary Education

2. Variations in the ECA Countries

3. Defining TVE in the changing world

4. A Vision for TVE

1. Persistent Issues in TVE

• The legacy of history– Countries vary in the degree to which they have moved away

from the Soviet model

• Doing occupationally oriented TVE well is hard.– Jobs have changed, so that very few TVE programs are in

trades, and now require training in a wide range of fields.

• Separation between vocational and academic systems creates unequal mastery of key academic content.

– Vocational education is still maintained as a completely separate system from upper secondary as a whole.

– Academic subjects in vocational schools receive less focus– Number of TVE concentrations has remained very high in

some countries (e.g., Ukraine)

1. Persistent Issues (continued)

• The level of vocational education– At least 4 ECA nations still have lower secondary

vocational programs

• Low academic achievement of vocational education

– PISA Math scores for upper secondary vocational students are lower in 12 OECD nations; even after adjusting for socio-economic barriers

– Completion rates for vocational post secondary are lower then for ISCED Route A courses.

1. Persistent Issues (continued)

• Employment outcomes of vocational education

– Unemployment rates for vocational grads are higher then general secondary

– Differences in employment rates are most significant for girls

– Economic returns to general skills increasing globally

1. Persistent Issues (Cont.)

• Social Partnerships– Overall, there is an assumption that

partnerships can be created through legislative action, rather then fundamental redesign of teacher work

• Qualifications and accountability – Qualifications are still primarily subject to

exams, but often students can not go on to higher education directly.

2. Variations in the ECA Countries

• Five Areas– Management– Structure– Financing– Social Partnerships– Quality Assurance

2a. Management

• Management of TVE does not give business enough control over curriculum, instruction and financing:– High quality VET depends largely on labor market

information from a Statistics or Labor Ministry. – Companies need to be engaged to interpret this

information for education– Business involvement in management will lead to

direction to TVE management for retraiing sector

2b. Structure

• There are consistent structures in the ECA nations in vocational education– Initial vocational, secondary vocational, and

higher education

• Issues– Continuing use of ISCED programs at the

lower secondary level– Very few nations in ECA allow secondary

vocational graduates to enter higher education

2c.Financing

• Education expenditures– Total education expenditures in ECA countries vary

from about 2-7% of GDP– For TVET….from about .01% of GDP to to 0.9% of

GDP

• Per capita financing is in place in very few countries

• Continued confusion about local and national spending divisions

• Continued spending on items such as student subsidies but not on buildings/materials

2c. Financing (cont.)Table 1. Expenditure on education by each country

Total Education Expenditure

% of GDP % of GDP% of education

budget% of GDP Per

Capita

Albania 3.1 0.24 7.3 27.0 2006

Armenia 5.47 0.25 4.63 22.26 2006

Azerbaijan 2.7 0.13 4.65 13.1 2006

Croatia 4.8 N/A N/A N/A 2005

Czech Republic 4.11 0.41 10.09 20.05 2005

Georgia 2.53 0.01 0.5 3.05 2006

Estonia 5.1 0.5 11.0 25.4 2005

Kazakhstan 2.3 0.21 6.2 5.58 2006

Kosovo 4.4 N/A N/A N/A 2006

Kyrgyzstan 4.12 0.42 10.1 41.31 2005

Latvia 5.0 0.7 N/A N/A 2003

Lithuania 5.0 0.6 N/A N/A 2003

Macedonia 4.0 N/A N/A 16.0 2005

Republic of Moldova 8.2 0.9 9.7 N/A 2006

Montenegro 3.3 N/A N/A N/A 2000

Romania 3.5 0.6 16.0 N/A 2005

Russian Federation 3.5 0.083 2.38 N/A 2004

Serbia 3.8 N/A N/A N/A 2006

Slovakia 4.38 N/A N/A N/A 2003

Slovenia 5.96 N/A N/A N/A 2004

Ukraine 6.4-6.6 0.4 5.2 N/A 2007

Uzbekistan 6.24 N/A N/A N/A 2004

CountryIndicator

Year

TVET Expenditure

Data from World Bank case studies on TVE.

2d. Social Partnerships

• General lack of clarity on what and why you use social partners in TVET.

• Some modest successes.– Financing of training/education in Albania

through a 1% payroll tax– Sector boards in use in some industries for

Croatia

2e. Quality Assurance

• Most ECA nations continue to maintain control over both delivery and quality control of TVET.

• There are some examples of active quality control mechanisms– Kazakhstan maintains a central office to conduct

quality studies– Romania and Georgia have a framework to develop

qualifications frameworks– Slovak Republic and Estonia have national exams for

university entrance which vocational grads can take

3. Defining TVET

• Components of TVE System– Lower secondary TVE programs designed primarily

for labor market entrance– Upper secondary TVE programs (2 forms, regular

length programs and shorter adult retraining programs)

– Post secondary vocational programs (both for those coming from upper secondary TVE as well as from general secondary education

– Non degree vocational training– Firm based vocational training

3 (Cont.) Definitions in a changing world

• TVE structure needs to evolve– Upper secondary curriculum has remained

largely unchanged in degree of focus on vocational subjects

• Employment (on the other hand)– Increasingly demands more complex skills

(communication or cognitive)– Application of academic subjects within

context

3c (cont) Definitions in a changing world

• Possibilities for TVE at the upper secondary level– Creating clusters of occupations that can offer a

range of career opportunities for (youth such as in Sweden)

– Rationalizing the level of schooling and expertise offered at the upper secondary level (such as in Ireland)

– Eliminating vocational programs that can be done more successfully by the private sector (such as in Malaysia)

4. A Vision for TVET

• More specific issues– Get rid of TVET below the upper secondary level. It

simply is poor preparation for work and, more importantly, for further schooling

– For countries that need TVET for special needs populations, re-structure these as special education not vocational education

– Make sure all vocational schooling provides a equivalent degree to general secondary education (same test)

– Ensure all TVET graduates can enter higher education without remediation

4. (Vision cont.)

• These principles can help guide your work– Learning within context is important for both

academic and – All education should be preparation for work

and learning, not simply one or the other– All students need access to further training

and education– Offer youth access to dual qualifications

(academic and professional)

Questions/Comments

Josh HawleyHawley.32@osu.edu

305 West 17th Ave. (Room A482)College of Education and Human Ecology

The Ohio State UniversityColumbus, OH 43210

www.osu.edu