OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and Training Training and Education Vocational of Reviews OECD A Skills beyond School Review of Israel OECD Reviews of Vocational Higher level vocational education and training (VET) programmes, are facing rapid Education and Training change and intensifying challenges. What type of training is needed to meet the needs of changing economies? How should the programmes be funded? How should they be linked to academic and university programmes? How can employers and unions be A Skills beyond School engaged? The country reports in this series look at these and other questions. They form part of Skills beyond School, the OECD policy review of postsecondary vocational education and training. Review of Israel Contents Pauline Musset, Małgorzata Kuczera and Simon Field Chapter 1. Introduction and initial assessment Chapter 2. Tackling the skills challenge Chapter 3. Strengthening co-ordination and social partner engagement Chapter 4. Building an effective framework of work-based learning Chapter 5. Building pathways of access and opportunity for vocational students Chapter 6. Developing a dual-skilled teaching workforce Further reading OECD (2010), Learning for Jobs, OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and Training, OECD Publishing. A Skills beyond School Review of Israel See also www.oecd.org/education/vet. For more information about OECD work on skills, see http://skills.oecd.org. Consult this publication on line at http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264210769-en. This work is published on the OECD iLibrary, which gathers all OECD books, periodicals and statistical databases.Visit www.oecd-ilibrary.org for more information. ISBN 978-92-64-21075-2 91 2014 02 1 P 9HSTCQE*cadfje+ OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and Training A Skills beyond School Review of Israel Pauline Musset, Małgorzata Kuczera and Simon Field This work is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the OECD or of the governments of its member countries. This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. Please cite this publication as: Musset, P., M. Kuczera and S. Field (2014), A Skills beyond School Review of Israel, OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and Training, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264210769-en ISBN 978-92-64-21075-2 (print) ISBN 978-92-64-21076-9 (PDF) Series: OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and Training ISSN 2077-7728 (print) ISSN 2077-7736 (online) The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law. Photo credits: Cover © LituFalco - Fotolia.com. Corrigenda to OECD publications may be found on line at: www.oecd.org/about/publishing/corrigenda.htm. © OECD 2014 You can copy, download or print OECD content for your own use, and you can include excerpts from OECD publications, databases and multimedia products in your own documents, presentations, blogs, websites and teaching materials, provided that suitable acknowledgment of the source and copyright owner is given. All requests for public or commercial use and translation rights should be submitted to [email protected]. Requests for permission to photocopy portions of this material for public or commercial use shall be addressed directly to the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) at [email protected] or the Centre français d'exploitation du droit de copie (CFC) at [email protected]. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS – 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The OECD is very grateful to colleagues in Israel and particularly the Israeli national co-ordinator Shmuel Pur and his colleagues at the Ministry of Economy for their work in providing information and advice and organising the visits and meetings. We are very grateful to the authors of the background report on Israel which provided a very important foundation for our work. We would also like to thank the many people in different parts of Israel who, during our visit and meetings, gave their time to welcome us and answered our questions. Oren Geva played an essential role in the preparation of this review, making many major contributions. OECD REVIEWS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING: A SKILLS BEYOND SCHOOL REVIEW OF ISRAEL © OECD 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS – 5 Table of contents Summary: Strengths, challenges and recommendations .............................................. 7 Strengths ......................................................................................................................... 7 Challenges and recommendations .................................................................................. 8 Chapter 1. Introduction and initial assessment............................................................ 11 The review of Israel and its place in the OECD study ................................................. 12 The structure of the report ............................................................................................ 13 A snapshot of the system .............................................................................................. 13 Previous OECD analysis and recommendations .......................................................... 20 References .................................................................................................................... 25 Chapter 2. Tackling the skills challenge ....................................................................... 27 Challenge: A growing skills shortage threatens the economy ...................................... 28 Recommendation: Decisive action to develop vocational education and training in Israel ............................................................................................................................. 38 Supporting arguments .................................................................................................. 38 References .................................................................................................................... 42 Chapter 3. Strengthening co-ordination and social partner engagement .................. 47 Challenge: A fragmented system which is both inefficient and an obstacle to industry engagement .................................................................................................................. 48 Recommendation: A new body to engage stakeholders and drive strategy ................. 50 Supporting arguments .................................................................................................. 50 References .................................................................................................................... 55 Chapter 4. Building an effective framework of work-based learning ........................ 57 Challenge: Despite all the benefits, work-based learning plays a very small role in VET .............................................................................................................................. 58 Recommendation: Mandatory work-based learning .................................................... 60 Supporting arguments .................................................................................................. 60 References .................................................................................................................... 67 Chapter 5. Building pathways of access and opportunity for vocational students ... 69 Challenge: Limited opportunities for upskilling .......................................................... 70 OECD REVIEWS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING: A SKILLS BEYOND SCHOOL REVIEW OF ISRAEL © OECD 2014 6 – TABLE OF CONTENTS Recommendation: A systematic approach to transition ............................................... 74 Supporting arguments .................................................................................................. 74 References .................................................................................................................... 80 Chapter 6. Developing a dual-skilled teaching workforce .......................................... 83 Challenge: Career structure does not meet the dual requirement ................................. 84 Recommendation: Develop a consistent framework for the preparation of vocational teachers ......................................................................................................................... 85 Supporting arguments .................................................................................................. 86 References .................................................................................................................... 90 Figures Figure 1.1 How many upper secondary students are enrolled in vocational programmes ............................................................................................. 15 Figure 1.2 How much do families spend on tertiary education? ............................... 20 Figure 2.1 Labour market participation in Israel of different population subgroups 30 Figure 2.2 Poverty rates ............................................................................................. 31