Lifelong Learning and Non-formal Adult Education in Southeast Europe Evelyn Viertel

1. Lifelong Learning and Non-formal Adult Education in Southeast Europe Evelyn Viertel European Training Foundation 4 October 2012

2. Structure of the presentation • EU developments • Three major areas of adult learning: • addressing the problem of low-educated, low-skilled people • labour market training for unemployed jobseekers • training of employed people within and for companies • Government tasks in adult learning • Financing adult training • Conclusions 2

3. EU developments • Strategy: Europe 2020 (“smart, sustainable and inclusive Europe”) and Integrated Guidelines for the economic and employment policies of Member States • Guidelines 7-10: increasing labour market participation and reducing structural unemployment; skilled workforce, job quality and LLL; improving performance of education and training systems; promoting social inclusion and reducing poverty • April 2012 Employment Package • Education and Training 2020 • New financing instruments 2014-2020: 'Education Europe‘ - integrated programme of €15.2 billion for education, training and youth with focus on skills and mobility; ‘Creative Europe’ €1.6 billion • European Social Fund  IPA Comp. IV HRD for candidate countries 3

4. Low-educated, low-skilled people Percentage of people with at the most completed basic education (8 or 9 years) – LFS 2011: 27.5% in Montenegro 28.4% in (fYR) Macedonia 29.9% in Croatia 36.8% in Serbia 43.2% in Bosnia and Herzegovina 53.0% in Kosovo (2009) 53.3% in Albania (2008) 72.0% in Turkey 4

5. Low-educated, low-skilled people • School attendance only approximate indicator • Functional skill levels? • PISA: low performers in various science, reading and maths tests: 18–33% in Croatia, 24–42% in Turkey, 33–40% in Serbia, 50–58% in Montenegro and 56–67% in Albania  problem of low functional skills likely to persist in the future 5

6. Low-educated, low-skilled people • Problem recognised and first efforts taken, for example: • Literacy for 21st century in Croatia • Second Chance project and Integration of Minority Groups project in Montenegro • Mothers and Daughters at School initiative in Turkey • Projects for adult Roma in Serbia, Montenegro and Albania 6

7. Low-educated, low-skilled people • Good practice: • Montenegro: well advertised in advance, learners were paid small allowances, course completion paved the way for entering vocational training • Turkey: goal – 3 million females, wide public advertisement, educational authorities at all levels, other public institutions, NGOs and private sector involved, means-tested scheme for reimbursing transport costs, public certificate award ceremonies and premiums, 2nd-level course completion paved way for taking driving course • Projects for adult Roma: trained assistants from the same community •  need for awareness-rising, outreach activities, incentives and support beyond actual learning 7

8. Labour market training for unemployed jobseekers Table: Expenditure on active labour market provision (ALMP) as % of GDP and ALMP coverage, 2010 8

9. Labour market training for unemployed jobseekers • All countries offer vocational training, re-training or the uptake of various basic or generic skills • For known or unknown employers, within training institutions or at the workplace • Specific focus on young graduates (or dropouts) with insufficient practical skills • Measures and numbers of participants have increased, but this is “next to nothing in relation to the needs”  budgets and PES staff capacities 9

10. Labour market training for unemployed jobseekers • However, also critical demand and supply side factors - • Demand side challenges: slack labour demand in the formal sector, lack of vacancies  national economic development strategies, job creation measures, fighting informal employment • Supply side challenges: The biggest challenge is the low skills levels of the working age population, particularly among unemployed and inactive persons, which make activation difficult and expensive. Training for relevant qualifications. 10

11. Training in and for companies • Most important form of adult training. In the EU, 61% of all companies with 10 or more employees train (CVTS3). • In Southeast Europe only few companies train – mostly bigger, export-oriented companies • But employers consider lack of skilled staff as major obstacle • Reasons: high proportion of small or micro businesses, the option of recruiting rather than training staff, lack of resources and adequate training offers 11

12. Training in and for companies • Good practice: • Training in business clusters • Training voucher scheme for SMEs in Macedonia 12

13. Government tasks in adult learning • Identifying and focusing funding on training the most disadvantaged individuals, regions and businesses (small and micro); • Identifying, together with employers, skill needs and qualifications (rather than programmes) • Stimulating the training market to develop, e.g. by tendering training out • Providing seed-funding for training in areas of strategic importance, by supporting incubators, training within business clusters, universities etc.; • Raising awareness, providing (online) information and counsellingon training offered by both public and private training providers 13

14. Government tasks in adult learning • Ensuring quality of provision by accreditation of providers and/or individual specialist trainers, by regular feedback mechanisms and by possible introduction of a national quality label (the accreditation of programmes becomes superfluous when they are based on nationally agreed qualifications) • Ensuring the independent assessment of skills and the recognition of qualifications, including those not acquired through formal training • Ensuring data collection and analysis for national planning and evaluation of publicly funded programmes, research and developmentand international cooperation. 14

15. Financing adult training • Viable approaches to improve efficiency: • decentralization of public funding, (financial) autonomy of VET providers and improving financial management • implementing new mechanisms to allocate public resources – more accurate formula in calculating inputs and introducing performance criteria • rationalizing network of publicly funded VET institutions or merging VET providers • building partnerships – cooperation between different VET actors to pool and make better use of resources • targeted funding – to train certain groups of people or for certain skills, with a focus on those skills which are in short supply on the labour market 15

16. Financing adult training • Cost-sharing with individuals and companies: • Cedefop overview over financial schemes and lessons learned in EU member states – see: • http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/EN/about-cedefop/projects/financing-training/index.aspx • Training voucher schemes for disadvantaged adults (e.g. in Albania) • Training voucher schemes for SMEs (Macedonia) • Apprenticeship or company internship schemes • Tax incentives in Croatia 16

17. Financing adult training • Demand-led approach in VET financing: • providing incentives through choice and giving (financial) responsibility to beneficiaries of training • making training provision more responsive to learners’ needs and • creating a market for training 17

18. Conclusions • Adult training very important field • Requires inter-ministerial/ inter-agency cooperation and with social partners and other partners at all levels • Cooperation on the three areas of adult training mentioned (low skilled, jobseekers, training in companies) and on cost-sharing policies • Include these three areas into IPA HRD Operational Programmes 18