Australia. Making It Real: The Benefits of Workplace Learning in Upper-Secondary VET Courses
In OECD countries, ‘real world’ upper-secondary vocational education and training (VET) programs are used to engage less academically oriented youth in learning, while helping to prepare them for post-school work and/or further training. In general terms, VET programs with high employer involvement, such as apprenticeship schemes, are considered to be superior to classroom-based VET programs that are typically found in many English-speaking countries. In this study, we examine outcomes from a potential ‘third way’: classroom-based VET with a short-term structured workplace learning component. Using propensity score matching and PISA data linked to information from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth, we find time in workplace learning is associated with higher school completion rates and better employment transitions.
Tags : Australia; High Schools; Learning - workplace; Paper; Source: IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor; VET - vocational education and training; Workplace - learning;
Canada. On-The-Job Training: The Solution To The Skills Shortage
As the economy is slowly bouncing back, employers are struggling to fill open positions. But it isn’t because there are fewer workers looking for employment – it’s because those workers seeking jobs don’t necessarily have the right skills. According to
a new CareerBuilder.ca survey, half of employers feel there is a shortage of skilled workers in Canada. Due to this skills gap between what employers want and job seekers possess, positions are staying open for extended periods of time: 3 in 10 employers currently have positions in their organization that, on average, stay open for 12 weeks or longer.
Tags : Article; Canada; Shortage - skills; Skills - shortage; Source: CareerBuilder; Training - workplace; Workplace - training;
Canada. Why colleges are increasingly being seen as the smart choice
This post-secondary option is no longer the poor cousin to university—even if your parents don’t agree.
Tags : Article; Canada; Colleges and Universities; Source: Macleans;
Canada. A Typology of Adult Learning: Review of the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation of Canada’s Model
Through a primarily conceptual process the authors arrived at a typology consisting of five classes of learning: foundational; higher education; workplace-related; labour market-related; and personal/social. While initial feedback has been positive, the typology needed to be tested for utility in describing the actual participation patterns and practices of adult learning. This paper assesses the utility of the SRDC’s adult learning typology by addressing three broad questions: 1) How does the typology compare to emerging international adult learning classification schemes (UNESCO, OECD-PIAAC and EUROSTAT)?; 2) To what extent is the typology useful in describing actual participation patterns as captured by the Access and Support to Education and Training Survey?; 3) How well does the typology describe how adult learning activities are organized provincially, using British Columbia as a case study? Based on the examination of the typology conducted in this report, the authors recommend to revise the SRDC’s typology. They further recommend that future surveys collecting information on organized forms of adult learning and education should be designed to collect information on all forms of formal and non-formal learning activities, as well as on informal learning.
Tags : Adult education; Analysis; Andragogy; Canada; Review; Source: CLSRN - Canadian Labour Market and Skills Researcher Network; Typology; Working paper;
India. The Indian vocational education and training (VET) system: status, challenges, and options
India is at the cusp of becoming an economic powerhouse. For that to happen, however, the country needs to alter its workforce education system by reengineering the Indian vocational education and training (VET) system. India's VET strategy includes creating basic work-centered common curriculum for the unskilled; developing a more flexible and responsive VET system that effectively educates and trains many more of the semiskilled; and raising the competencies of the skilled worker to international levels by using, for example, public/private partnerships. Regardless of the model for delivery of this training, this article suggests that the Indian workforce education system should adopt a comprehensive organisational strategy that accommodates the balancing of competing missions.
Tags : Analysis; India; Paper; Source: NCVER - National Centre for Vocational Education Research; VET - vocational education and training;
Italy. Does Apprenticeship Improve Job Opportunities? A Regression Discontinuity Approach
In Italy the reforms of the last twenty years shaped a dual labour market with different levels of employment protection for permanent jobs, on one side, and temporary jobs like apprenticeships and fixed-term contracts, on the other side. The main difference between apprentices and other types of temporary workers is that the former should receive firmprovided training. The firm incentive in hiring apprentices consists in the possibility to pay lower wages and in a reduction in labour taxes. Using an Italian administrative longitudinal dataset containing information on all the job contracts started between January 2009 and June 2012, we estimate hazard functions towards permanent jobs and contrast the ones of apprentices with those of other types of temporary workers. The hazard function estimates based on a regression discontinuity approach affirm that apprenticeships are sorts of “long entrance halls” towards open-ended contracts, especially within the same firm where the apprenticeship was performed.
Tags : Analysis; Apprenticeship; Italy; Paper; Source: IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor;
USA. Skill Mismatches in the EU: Immigrants vs. Natives
The objective of this paper is to analyse and explain the factors behind the observed differences in skill mismatches (vertical and horizontal) between natives and immigrants in EU countries. Our analysis shows that immigrants are more likely to be skill mismatched than natives, being this difference much larger for vertical mismatch. In this case, the difference is higher for immigrants coming from non-EU countries than for those coming from other EU countries. We find that immigrants from non-EU countries are less valued in the EU labour markets than natives with similar characteristics, a result that is not observed for immigrants from EU countries. These results could be related to the limited transferability of the human capital acquired in non-EU countries. The findings suggest that specific programs to adapt immigrants’ human capital acquired in home country are required to reduce differences in the incidence of skill mismatch and a better integration in the EU labour markets.
Tags : Analysis - comparative; Comparative analysis; Foreign workers; Paper; Skills - mismatch; Source: IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor; United States of America;
USA. Bridging the Skills Gap: Workforce Development is Everyone's Business
Whitepaper on the skills gap and the important role talent development professionals play in helping organizations identifying and closing skill gaps where they exist. The 2015 ATD survey found the following gaps:
• 62%: communication/interpersonal skills
• 58%: managerial/supervisory skills
• 58%: critical thinking and problem-solving skills
• 51%: leadership/executive-level skills
• 50%: process improvement and project management skills
• 41% technical skills.
Tags : Gap - skills; Skills - gap; Source: ADT - Association for Talent Development; Statistics; United States of America;
The Wider Economic Impacts of High-Skilled Migrants: A Survey of the Literature
In recent years, the economics of migration literature has shown a substantial growth in papers exploring host country impacts beyond the labour market. Specifically, researchers have begun to shift their attention from labour market and fiscal changes, towards exploring what we might call ‘the wider effects of migration’ on the production and consumption sides of the economy – and the role of high-skilled migrants in these processes. This paper surveys the emerging ‘wider impacts’ literature, including studies from the US, European and other countries. It sets out some simple, non-technical frameworks, discusses the main empirical findings and identifies avenues for future research.
Tags : Economic benefits; Foreign workers; Literature review; Paper; Source: IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor;
A Learning Hub in a Refugee Camp?
University of Geneva Professor Barbara Moser-Mercer’s Experience.
Tags : Article; Conflict settings; MOOC - Massively Open Online Course; Source: Coursera;
Global labour market, global VET
National and public education and training authorities continue to play a central role in maintaining standards. Proof of skills lies in recognised qualifications, which require quality assurance arrangements governed by trusted authorities. These continue, in most cases, to be public authorities. Nevertheless, many European countries understand the need to integrate a global dimension when developing or updating their national qualifications, study programmes and curricula. Countries also use standards developed by international and sectoral bodies to shape their own national
En français. Une formation professionnelle mondiale pour un marché du travail mondial
Tags : Briefing note; Source: Cedefop - European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training; VET - vocational education and training;
