This presentation was prepared for the Diagnostic Workshop with Regional Governments in Madrid (November 3-4, 2014) in the context of the “Building an Effective Skills Strategy for Spain” project, a collaborative project of the OECD and the Government of Spain. The material was intended as input to the Diagnostic Workshop with Regional Governments and does not aim to provide a comprehensive assessment of Spain’s Skills System.

1. OECD Skills Strategy
Building an effective skills strategy
for Spain
Consultation Workshop with Regional Government
Madrid, 3-4 November 2014

2. Purpose
To explore the strengths and challenges facing Spain’s Skills System.
Objectives
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1. Generate relevant insights into Spain’s current skills system for use in the
diagnostic report
2. Use the OECD’s Skills Strategy framework to inform and structure group
discussions
3. Ensure a wide range of stakeholder participation

3. Agenda
Setting the scene: the OECD Skills Strategy
Exercise 1: Visioning Exercise
Exercise 2/3: Individual Assessment Questionnaire and Individual Skills Strengths and
Challenges Cards
Coffee break
Exercise 4: Identifying Common Strengths and Challenges across Regions in Spain
Lunch break
Exercise 5: Exploring Regional Perspectives on the Collaboration of Spain’s Skills System
Coffee break
Reporting on Results of Individual Assessment Questionnaire
Closing Remarks and next Steps
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4. • Please introduce yourself to the rest of the group with your name, your role “at
work” and your role in the workshop.
• You will have a chance to get to know each other better during the breaks.
• You have 10 minutes for everyone to introduce themselves to their group.
4
Introductions

5. • Your diverse experience and expertise is a valuable resource.
• Making this workshop a success depends upon your active participation. Here
are some tips to help you – and everyone else – get the most out of it:
 Give the workshop your undivided attention
 Contribute your ideas and your experiences – speak up and speak your mind
 Focus your comments and keep them short
 Listen to, understand and learn from each other
 Be constructive and forward-looking
5
Rules

6. Guiding principles for National Skills Strategy projects
 Collaboration between OECD and country
 Approach tailored to country context and
priorities
 Cross-directorate OECD team
 National cross-ministry project team
 Strengthening skills systems through policy
coherence
 Whole-of-government approach
 Engaging all relevant stakeholders
 Bringing together perceptions and evidence
 Learning from international comparisons
 Learning from international experience
• concrete examples
• international experts
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Why do skills matter to countries?

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Why do skills matter to people?

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How can we improve skills and their use?

10. OECD Skills Strategy country projects now underway
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11. OECD-Spain “Building an effective skills strategy for Spain”
Overview of project sequencing: Diagnostic Phase (Q3 2014-Q2 2015)
How can
Spain
maximise its
skills
potential?
What are the
main
challenges
ahead?
Which
challenges are
top priority?
What actions
need to be
taken, and by
whom?
Stakeholder workshops (Q3 2014-Q2 2015)
• Consultation workshop with regions
(3-4 November2014)
• National diagnostic workshop (24 & 25
November 2014)
OECD data:
• PISA 2012
• PIAAC 2013
• Employment Outlook
• Economic Survey of Spain 2014
Skills
challenges
workshop
(Mar 2015)
Country
examples
Diagnostic
phase
Interministerial
project team
and OECD
team meeting
(11 Sept. 2014)
Q3 2014
Draft
Diagnostic
Report
(May 2015)
Q1 2015
OECD Skills Strategy
Diagnostic Report:
(published June. 2015)
Action
phase
Spain
Q4 2015 – Q2 2016
Outline of
Diagnostic
Report
(Mar 2015)
Q2 2015
NOTE: each successive report builds upon the content of the previous one and includes stakeholder input obtained during workshops and latest available OECD data.

12. How to unlock Spain’s full
skills potential?

13. 13

14. Pillar 1: How can a country develop the right skills?
 Gather and use evidence about changing skills demand to guide skills
development
 Engage social partners in designing and delivering education and training
programmes
 Ensure that education and training programmes are of high quality
 Promote equity by ensuring access to, and success in, quality education for all
 Ensure that costs are shared and that tax systems do not discourage
investments in learning
 Maintain a long-term perspective on skills development, even during economic
crises
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Encourage and enable people to learn throughout life

15. Pillar 1: How can a country develop the right skills?
Foster international mobility of skilled people to fill skills gaps
 Facilitate entry for skilled migrants and support their integration
 Design policies to encourage international students to remain after their studies
 Make it easier for skilled migrants to return to their country of origin
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16. Low numeracy skills levels among adults – same in
literacy
Adult Mean Numeracy Skills by Proficiency Levels (PIAAC, 2012)
1.2
0.0
0.0
0.4
2.3
0.3
0.6
2.2
0.4
1.8
0.3
1.5
1.2
1.9
0.9
0.3
0.0
1.4
0.5
0.8
5.2
0.7
4.2
0.8
80 60 40 20 0 20 40 60 80
Japan
Finland
Sweden
Denmark
Netherlands
Slovak Republic
Czech Republic
Norway
Estonia
Austria
Flanders (Belgium)
Russian Federation³
Germany
Average
Australia
Canada
Korea
Poland
England/N. Ireland (UK)
Ireland
France
Italy
United States
Spain
Level 2 Level 1 Below Level 1 Level 3 Level 4/5 No information
%
Source: OECD (2013), PISA 2012 Results: What Makes Schools Successful? Resources, Policies and Practices (Volume IV), PISA , OECD Publishing.

17. Low levels of skill regardless of educational attainment
relative to other countries
Mean literacy score of 25-64 year olds, by educational attainment (PIAAC, 2012)
320
300
280
260
240
220
200
Japan 296
Netherlands 282
Finland 287
Sweden 279
Australia 280
Czech Republic 273
Flanders (Belgium) 274
Norway 280
United States 269
Average 272
Poland 264
Austria 268
England/N. Ireland (UK) 274
Slovak Republic 273
France 260
Germany 269
Denmark 270
Ireland 266
Korea 269
Canada 273
Estonia 274
Spain 251
Italy 249
Source: OECD (2013), PISA 2012 Results: What Makes Schools Successful? Resources, Policies and Practices (Volume IV), PISA , OECD
Publishing.
Russian Federation* 276
Below upper secondary education Upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education Tertiary education
PIAAC mean
literacy score
for all levels
of education
combined

18. Participation in job-related adult education is low.
% of adults
100
80
60
40
20
0
Participation in job-related adult education (PIAAC, 2012)
Job-related adult education
Source: OECD (2013), OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills, OECD Publishing.

19. 19

20. Pillar 2: How can a country activate the supply of skills?
Encourage people to offer their skills to the labour market
 Identify inactive individuals and the reasons for their inactivity
 Create financial incentives that make work pay
 Dismantle non-financial barriers to participation in the labour force
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Retain skilled people in the labour market
 Discourage early retirement
 Staunch brain drain

21. A large percentage of Spanish youth is neither
employed nor in education or training
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Turkey
Spain
Italy
Chile
Mexico
Ireland
Brazil
Hungary
Slovak Republic
Korea
Portugal
France
United Kingdom
Poland
Estonia
Israel
Source: OECD (2014), Education at a Glance 2014, OECD Publishing.
United States
OECD average
Belgium
New Zealand
Greece
Czech Republic
Canada
Denmark
Finland
Australia
Slovenia
Germany
Austria
Sweden
Switzerland
Iceland
Norway
Luxembourg
Netherlands
% of 15-29
year-olds
NEET population among 15 to 29 year-olds (2012)

22. The unemployment rate for youth varies significantly
across Spain
Source: OECD (2014), Education at a Glance 2014, OECD Publishing.

23. Spending on labour market programmes is high, but
mostly on passive measures
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Public expenditure on labour market programmes as a percentage of GDP (2011)
Source: OECD (2013), OECD Stats.
Active measures Passive measures
% of GDP

24. 24

25. Pillar 3: How can a country put skills to effective use?
 Help employers to make better use of their employees’ skills
 Provide better information about the skills needed and available
 Facilitate internal mobility among local labour markets
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Create a better match between people’s skills and
the requirements of their job
Increase the demand for high-level skills
 Help economies to move up the value-added chain
 Stimulate the creation of more high-skilled and high value-added jobs
 Foster entrepreneurship

26. The U.S. has a similar levels of skill, but a greater use of
those skills at work
Use of Skills at Work (PIAAC, 2012)
2.4
2.2
2
1.8
1.6
1.4
Reading at work Writing at work Numeracy at work ICT at work Problem solving at
work
Index of Use
Average Spain United States
Most frequent use= 4
Least frequent use = 0

27. A large share of Spanish workers are over-skilled
Share of all workers who are over-skilled for their jobs,
(PIAAC, 2012)
% of adults
Source: OECD (2013), OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills, OECD Publishing.
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

28. Spain performs below the OECD average on a number
of innovation measures

29. Exercise 1: vision for the future

30. Project yourself into the future and share with the group your views
on:
 Your vision for the future skills system in Spain?
 What would ‘success’ look like – in the short term and in the long
term?
 What are the economic, employment and social outcomes you
would expect/hope to see?
Discuss as a group then write down on the poster 1A:
 What ‘skills headline’ will we read in the newspaper in 5 years
time?
 What will we read in 20 years time?
30
Exercise 1: vision for the future

31. Please share your own individual assessment of the current
situation of Spain’s skills system today, where:
 1 = poor/weak
 5 = excellent/strong
Please do hand them to Sam – the overall results will be
reflected in the workshop report.
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Exercise 2: individual assessment questionnaire
bit.do/Spainskills

32. Exercise 3 (individual): identifying common strengths and
challenges across Autonomous Communities in Spain
Consider the skills system in your Autonomous Community
today:
 What are its strengths? (Card 3A)
 What are some of the challenges it faces? (Card 3B)
On each card, please write down:
 Your views on the 3 main strengths
 Your views on the 3 main challenges
32

33. Discuss your individual responses at your table
 As a group, identify the most common:
• 3 strengths
• 3 challenges
Please write down the results of your group discussion on
posters 3A and 3B.
33
Exercise 4 (group): identifying common strengths and
challenges across Autonomous Communities in Spain
asfs

34. As a group, identify and circle the three most common
challenges
34
Exercise 4 (group): identifying common strengths and
challenges across Autonomous Communities in Spain
Reducing youth
unemployment and NEETs
Reducing barriers to
employment
Improving quality and equity
in education
Stimulating innovation and
creating high-skilled jobs

35. Exercise 5 (individual): exploring regional perspectives on the
collaboration of Spain’s skills system
Information Gap
Objective Gap
Asymmetries of information (quantity, quality, type)
between different stakeholders
Different rationalities creating obstacles for adopting
convergent targets
Capacity Gap
Insufficient scientific, technical, infrastructural capacity of
local actors, in particular for designing appropriate strategies
Policy Gap Sectoral fragmentation across ministries and agencies
Administrative Gap
Funding Gap
Accountability Gap
“Mismatch” between functional areas and administrative
boundaries
Unstable or insufficient revenues undermining effective
implementation of responsibilities at regional and local level
or for crossing policies
Difficulty to ensure the transparency of practices across
the different constituencies

36. Exercise 5 (individual): exploring regional perspectives on the
collaboration of Spain’s skills system
Vacío de
Información
Falta de Metas
Asimetría en la información (cantidad, calidad, tipo)
entre las partes interesadas
Los razonamientos diferentes obstaculizan los objetivos
convergentes
Ausencia de
Capacidades
Insuficiente capacidad científica, técnica y de infraestructura
en los participantes locales, en particular para diseñar
estrategias adecuadas
Falta de Política
Fragmentación sectorial a través de los ministerios,
consejerías y agencias
Hueco
administrativo
Falta de fondos
Falta de
transparencia
“Discordancia” entre áreas funcionales y límites
administrativos
Débiles o insuficientes ingresos debilitando la implantación
eficaz de las responsabilidades a nivel regional o local o
para políticas transversales
Dificultad para garantizar la transparencia de las prácticas
en las diferentes regiones

37. Exercise 5 (individual): exploring regional perspectives on the
collaboration of Spain’s skills system
Using the “Mind the Gaps” framework, consider the issue of Skills
System collaboration in your region today. Identify how national
and regional governments (vertical) and line ministries within each
region (horizontal) could collaborate more effectively.
 What are some of the strengths? (Card 4A)
 What are some of the challenges?
(Card 4B)
On each card, please write down:
 Your views on the 3 main strengths
 Your views on the 3 main challenges
37

38. Discuss your individual responses at your table
 As a group, identify the most common:
• 3 challenges
38
Exercise 5 (group): exploring regional perspectives on the
collaboration of Spain’s Skills System

39. Consider the reasons why the 3 common challenges exist and write
them down on the space provided on poster 4C.
Time permitting, write down concrete examples of what has been
done to address the challenges (best practices) on card 4D.
 Please hand in your examples (card 4D) to Sam at the end of the
workshop
 Electronically, submit examples to Aurora or Isabel (Spanish
National Team) by November 14th
39
Exercise 5 (group): exploring regional perspectives on the
collaboration of Spain’s Skills System

40. Resultados del cuestionario
Desarrollo de competencias
Reducción del abandono escolar y más "programas de
segunda oportunidad”
Jóvenes talentosos tienen la oportunidad de sobresalir y
profundizan sus competencias
Jóvenes obtienen algún tipo de experiencia laboral antes de
terminar la educación inicial
Programas de desarrollo de competencias y de formación se
adaptan a las necesidades de las empresas y las PYMEs
La gente desarrolla las competencias que exige el mercado
laboral
Adultos de todas las edades tienen en promedio un buen nivel
de comprensión de lectura y matemáticas
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Débil
Promedio
Bueno
Sin respuesta

41. Resultados del cuestionario
La activación de la oferta de competencias
Competencias adquiridas de manera no-formal o
informal pueden ser validadas o certificadas
Oficinas públicas de empleo orientan a las personas
desempleadas hacia trabajos o programas de formación
Información sobre las necesidades del mercado de
trabajo a nivel local y nacional es fácilmente accesible
Alianzas sólidas a nivel local y nacional
Políticas dirigidas a asegurar que la gente esté empleada
o participe en la educación y la formación
Razones por las cuales la gente está desempleada están
bien identificadas
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Débil
Promedio
Bueno
Sin respuesta

42. Resultados del cuestionario
El uso de competencias
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Contratación de aprendices después de la finalización de un
aprendizaje
Transferencia de nuevas tecnologías y conocimientos entre
las universidades y las empresas
Uso efectivo de las competencias en el lugar de trabajo
Información sobre el mercado de trabajo y las previsiones de
la demanda de competencias
Empleadores invierten en el desarrollo de competencias de
sus trabajadores
Contratación de personas cualificadas que cumplen con los
requisitos del puesto
Débil
Promedio
Bueno
Sin respuesta

43. Resultados del cuestionario
Sistemas eficientes de competencias
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Instituciones del sector público diseñan políticas,
legislaciones y reglamentos sobre competencias en el
futuro
Datos e información relevantes sobre la evaluación de la
demanda de competencias
Coordinación en el sector público garantiza coherencia en
el diseño de la política
Alianzas sólidas entre los actores gubernamentales y no
gubernamentales
Evaluación de impacto de políticas, leyes y reglamentos de
competencias
Incentivos financieros para individuos y empresas
Débil
Promedio
Bueno
Sin respuesta

44. Closing remarks
Any further thoughts, suggestions and questions

45. For more information
To discuss OECD’s work with countries on building more effective skills
strategies at national and local levels contact: joanne.caddy@oecd.org
To learn more about the OECD’s work on skills visit: oecd.skills.org