THE TORINO PROCESS EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY MAKING FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOREWORD By its nature, vocational education and training (VET) is a unique policy field, located as it is at the crossroads between various sectors. As an educational option available to young people, it is closely related to the employment sector, providing, as it does, skilled workers. It also enables workers to gain additional skills through continuing training. It contributes to social affairs, in terms of its aim to enhance the employability and social integration of citizens. Unlike other policies, VET as a policy field implies a multi-stakeholder approach, both public and private, given that implementation is ensured by state institutions, by private training providers and by companies. Lastly, VET encompasses formal, informal and non-formal training, which assumes that policies are capable of addressing issues relating to all these areas. The complexity of VET indicates the need for a systematic, comprehensive and genuinely sector-wide or even cross sector-wide approach in the policy making cycle. It calls for combining different angles of analysis, points of view and perspectives to make sure that all aspects of VET systems are adequately underpinned with robust arguments and evidence. That said, the relevance of adopting a cross-country analytical perspective still needs to be justified. Is it meaningful to assess and try to identify what is common to VET systems from different regions of the world, given their great diversity in terms of history, traditions, values, economic development and political settings? Two interrelated drivers make this approach meaningful. Firstly, recent global changes affecting human resource-related policy making, namely, the emergence of a global knowledge-based economy, has revitalised reflection on skills development. Secondly, there is growing recognition of the importance of research that ensures that policies are decided on the basis of prior documented analysis of the implications, opportunities and risks at stake. This requires that other countries’ experiences are factored into decisions, as evidence-based policy making implies some knowledge of other systems and policies. The central impetus for societal change in all countries is the dynamics and effects of globalisation. Based on world-wide industrialisation and global interdependence and a continuous flow of people, ideas, capital and goods, globalisation has led to the emergence of a global knowledge-based economy. Globalisation presents opportunities, but it also poses challenges. In most economies the demand for a highly educated workforce is increasing while the demand for unskilled workers is decreasing (or the definition of low-skilled worker is changing). A major challenge, therefore, is to ensure an adequate level of education that enables everyone to keep pace with new demands. Education systems have made great progress all over the world. For instance, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals regarding universal primary education have been achieved in all the European Training Foundation (ETF) partner countries. However, this great achievement creates pressure on secondary education; this increasingly positions VET as a positive alternative – provided it can fulfil the expectations of both the market and society. There is now a renewed interest in the contribution of skills to development in many international processes, such the Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (G-20). Key international institutions such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Bank, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) are thus revising their development strategies to give a higher profile to the skills agenda. Globalisation, democracy and the public accountability impetus all call for evidence-based policy making and policy learning. Globalisation and democracy seem to be interrelated, as recent events in the Arab world illustrate. Democracy imposes new requirements and standards on policy-makers, who are expected to report more on their policy choices and to demonstrate their achievements. This public accountability impetus tends to be accompanied by tensions in countries in transition between global and local perspectives, triggered by the interventions of international donors. In recent years this has stimulated, in education policy studies, a new emphasis on the growing phenomena of policy borrowing and policy learning. All countries have to factor the requirements and effects of globalisation into their policies. In many ETF partner countries, attention is also paid to European Union (EU) VET policies, as an additional, inspirational discursive frame, whether through the Lisbon Strategy, the Copenhagen Process or the Bologna Process (which covers vocational higher education). How and through what mechanisms are these policy discourses transformed into practice in national VET systems? Initial ideas are described below; however, they merit deeper analysis, especially in terms of identifying innovative international assistance methodologies – such as those of organisations such as the ETF – that better contribute to the sustainable reform of national VET systems. Madlen Serban ETF Director ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report and the Torino Process are the result of a team effort. The ETF would like to acknowledge the contributions of Marie Dorleans, Keith Holmes, Jean-Raymond Masson, Søren Nielsen, Dagmar Ouzoun and Helmut Zelloth, who analysed the information in the national reports for the preparation of this document. Administrative support was provided by Mirella Rossi. The ETF would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the counterparts from the partner countries who contributed to the national reporting process in 2010, as well as the ETF country teams which facilitated the process in the countries. The ETF is also grateful to the statistical team, the internal peer reviewers and the ETF editorial board members who provided valuable input, comments and suggestions on the final drafts of the documents. CONTENTS THE TORINO PROCESS: EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY MAKING FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING MAIN RESULTS OF THE TORINO PROCESS 2010: CROSS-REGIONAL ANALYSIS VET SYSTEMS AND POLICIES IN THE WESTERN BALKANS AND TURKEY VET SYSTEMS AND POLICIES IN THE SOUTHERN AND EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN VET SYSTEMS AND POLICIES IN EASTERN EUROPE VET SYSTEMS AND POLICIES IN CENTRAL ASIA 1 THE TORINO PROCESS: EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY MAKING FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING INTRODUCTION Objectives Rationale Inspired by the Copenhagen Process, and drawing on the Open Method of Coordination, the Torino Process is a periodic, participatory analysis of VET systems and policy Evidence-based policy making is widely discussed in progress in line with an ETF-designed methodology, many countries as a way of ensuring more transparent which aims to provide a concise, documented and robust policies, and making policy-makers more assessment of VET reform in each partner country from accountable for meeting the needs and expectations of internal and external efficiency perspectives. It covers the the constituencies they serve. identification of key policy trends, challenges and constraints, as well as good practices and opportunities. Evidence may come from a range of sources and can take such forms as statistics, surveys, studies, evaluations and Its main objectives are three-fold: international reports, which, in turn, can be economic, sociological, historical, cultural or political in nature. The 1. to enable partner countries to base VET policies on ability to trace information and cross-check it against evidence, with a view to improving VET’s different sources or perspectives and to use comparison contribution to sustainable development, paying as an assessment tool are the most important features of particular attention to competitiveness and social evidence. cohesion; 2. to shape the design of the ETF’s support strategy to In Europe evidence-based policy making is increasingly partner countries; achieved, in the framework of common objectives, 3. to inform the ETF’s recommendations to the through regional instruments and tools that are designed European Commission regarding EU external to monitor and evaluate policies and to provide feedback assistance. on policy progress, especially through open coordination. The process also provides an opportunity for partner In the VET field this translates into 33 European countries countries to source structured information on EU participating in the Copenhagen Process, which is based developments and policies in the education, training and on regular assessment exercises (performed every two employment fields. The process is designed around a years and, since 2010, every four years) of national policy country-led policy learning approach, whereby countries progress by national authorities and social partners, for learn from reform initiatives being implemented which a common assessment tool is used. This process elsewhere. serves as a platform for refining national VET policies and adjusting the common European VET agenda. The Torino Process was launched in 2010 as a two-yearly exercise. The ETF intends to ensure its sustainability by While this common agenda does not yet exist across all empowering countries and reinforcing national institutions