HOW STRONG VOCATIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEMS TRANSITION
YOUNG PEOPLE INTO THE WORLD OF WORK
November 2012
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STRUCTURED VOCATIONAL PATHWAYS TO CAREERS LEAD
TO BETTER OUTCOMES
• 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?
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Early tracking, no choices
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Leads to dead ends (once an electrician, always . . .)
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Too narrowly serves needs of employers
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Only prepares young people for (dirty dangerous) low wage trades,
not white collar professions
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Academics are not rigorous

Dumping ground for young people who can’t do anything else
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STRONG VOCATIONAL SYSTEMS: THE NEW VET
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
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THE NEW VET EXISTS IN A FEW COUTRIES AND IS GROWING
IN POPULARITY
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
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LEARNING CONDITIONS THAT ASSURE THE YOUNG
PROFESSIONAL’S SUCCESS
• 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, peopleintense, and time-limited world of
work.
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NATIONAL POLICIES ENABLE STRONG VET SYSTEMS
TO SUCCEED
• 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
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NATIONAL POLICIES ENABLE STRONG VET SYSTEMS
TO SUCCEED (continued)
• 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:
Switzerland
Netherlands
Australia
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SUPPORT FUNCTIONS ENABLE EMPLOYERS TO PARTICIPATE
• 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. 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. Swiss industry sector
organizations drive curriculum
and assessment as partners
• 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
• EX. To revise commercial
training qualifications, 100,000
stakeholders participated over
six years organized by OPET
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SWISSCOM BROCHURE FOR RECRUITING 15 YEAR OLDS
TO THE COMPANY
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RECRUITING BROCHURE, SWISSCOM
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.
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NET-BENEFIT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF AN AVERAGE TRAINING FIRM
(IN EURO)
Learning
through
skilled
work
Intensive
training
phase
Source: Strupler, Mirjam; Wolter, Stefan C. (2012). Die duale Lehre eine Erfolgsgeschichte - auch für Betriebe. Ergebnisse der dritten KostenNutzen-Erhebung der Lehrlingsausbildung aus der Sicht der Betriebe, Glarus/Chur: Rüegger Verlag.
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EVIDENCE FROM OECD COMPARATIVE STUDIES—
LEARNING FOR JOBS AND JOBS FOR YOUTH
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.”
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BUT WHAT IF YOU’RE FROM A COUNTRY THAT HAS A HISTORY
OF STRUGGLE WITH THESE ISSUES? A WORD ABOUT THE USA
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
2000s
• 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
Pathways to Prosperity, JFF, OVAE initiatives
NOW
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RESOURCES
Helping Youth to Get a Firm Foothold in the Labor Market.
DELSA
http://www.oecd.org/els/employmentpoliciesanddata/offtoagoodstart
jobsforyouth.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 Summer
Andrew Sum Center for Labor Market Studies Northeastern
University, August 2011
Nancy Hoffman
nhoffman@jff.org
www.jff.org
Schooling in the Workplace
Nancy Hoffman, Harvard Education Press, 2011
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WHERE JFF WORKS
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NANCY HOFFMAN
nhoffman@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