The document discusses vocational education and training (VET) systems and their impact on youth transitions into the workforce, highlighting successful models from Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Singapore. It identifies characteristics of strong VET systems, such as integrating work-based learning and supporting employer engagement to meet labor market needs. Additionally, it outlines challenges faced by countries like the USA and Norway, particularly regarding youth unemployment and educational completion rates.

1. SCHOOLING IN THE WORKPLACE
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEMS AND YOUTH
TRANSITIONS INTO WORKING LIFE
November 2014
Skills Development Scotland

2. WHY STUDY OTHER SYSTEMS?
2

3. 3

4. OUTLINE
• Best of the best:
– Employer/ market driven: Switzerland
– School driven: Netherlands
– Government driven: Singapore
• Examples of the rest:
– Countries recovering from “university for all:”
– USA, Korea, and China
– Countries trending toward “university for all”:
– Norway and Denmark
– Challenges for Scotland and the US
4

5. VET CRITERIA AND INDICATORS
• Criteria for judging VET: critical to innovative economy & good for
young people
– For employers: pipeline of high skill young professionals aligned
with labor market needs
– For teens: settings that promote healthy maturing and lead
smoothly to productive “working life”
• Indicators of employer/teen “wins”:
– Low youth unemployment rates and NEET rates
– High scores on multidimensional youth labor market index
– Strong skills of 16- 30 year olds
5

6. 6

7. IN 2012, 15% OF 15-29 YEAR-OLDS IN OECD COUNTRIES WERE
NEITHER EMPLOYED NOR IN EDUCATION OR TRAINING, ON AVE.
NEET population among 15-29 year-olds (2012) and change between
2011 and 2012
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Netherlands
Luxembourg
Norway
Iceland
Switzerland
Sweden
Austria
Germany
Slovenia
Australia
Finland
Denmark
Canada
Czech Republic
Greece
New Zealand
EU21 average
Belgium
OECD average
United States
Israel
Estonia
Poland
United Kingdom
France
Portugal
Korea
Slovak Republic
Hungary
Brazil
Ireland
Mexico
Chile
Italy
Spain
Turkey
%
7

8. KOF INDEX: KEY INDICATORS
• Activity state: unemployment and NEET rates
• Working conditions: quality of employment (short term contracts,
involuntary part time, poverty wages)
• Education: formal and informal education, skills mismatch
• Transition “Smoothness” (ease of entry, adult to youth
unemployment rate)
8

9. GERMANY, SPAIN, GREECE, SWITZERLAND 2012
9

10. LOW SKILLS (16-30) WITH HIGH SCHOOL COMPLETION
AS HIGHEST EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
OECD Policy Reviews of Vocational Education and Training
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
10

11. SWITZERLAND AND THE NETHERLANDS
“It is hard for 15 year olds to grow up, but in the Swiss system, young people work
with adults that they respect and it helps them become good Swiss citizens and
efficient, productive employees.”
—CEO of a major Swiss company
11

12. STANDARD STRUCTURES OF STRONG SYSTEMS
• Dual systems (Germany, Switzerland, Austria)
– Combine school, training company, and work on weekly schedule
– Usually 3-4 years
– “School is not the center of the world”
– Tripartite partnership, school supplements employer
• School-based systems with comprehensive WBL (Singapore,
Netherlands, Norway)
– School is launch pad
– May have school-based enterprises within school
– Always includes work-based learning, but could be 60% of school
week, required 6 months, or 1-2 years after 2 years of VET school
– Employer supplements school
12

13. CHARACTERISTICS OF STRONG SYSTEMS
• Have permeable pathways
through postsecondary
technical education
• Include modern occupations
learned through simultaneous
study of sophisticated theory
and application to real
problems
• Require STEM competencies,
complex problem-solving in
messy situations, and expertise
in communication, team work,
and presentation
• Respond to needs of
adolescent development
(talent pipeline of young
PHOTOGRAPH © 2005 David Binder
professionals) 13

14. 14

15. SWISSCOM BROCHURE FOR RECRUITING 15 YEAR OLDS
TO THE COMPANY
15

16. RECRUITING BROCHURE FOR 15 YEAR OLDS,
SWISSCOM
In very best situations, work is nothing like school although you earn an academic
degree…
• Un apprentissage chez Swisscom te laisse une grande liberté d'action.
Ainsi, tu peux structurer toi-même dans une large mesure ton plan de formation.
Tu choisis également toi-même les postes de formation pratique pour lesquels tu
veux poser ta candidature.
• Tout au long de ton apprentissage, tu peux profiter du soutien d'un coach,
avec qui tu effectues régulièrement des bilans de la situation. Tu peux ainsi
te situer et définir les prochaines étapes de ta formation.
• Et ce n'est pas tout: Nous te donnons accès à la mobilité. Dès le début de
ton apprentissage, nous t'offrons un abonnement général jeune. Et Swisscom te
fournit aussi un ordinateur portable.
• Tu peux voir du pays: des places de projet sont proposées dans la Suisse
entière. Tu découvres ainsi d'autres régions et peux, suivant le lieu de travail,
mettre en pratique et améliorer tes connaissances d'allemand ou d'italien.
• Tu profites de conditions de travail avantageuses: tu as par exemple droit à
six semaines de vacances par année d'apprentissage. 16

17. PHOTOGRAPH Metro Early College High School
LEARNING CONDITIONS THAT ASSURE THE YOUNG
PROFESSIONAL’S SUCCESS
• Qualifications are transferable
among companies
• The student “owns” his or her
skills and can sell them in the
market place
• Workplace trainers are
credentialed to work with young
people
• Applied assessments are given
by combos of employers, unions
& educators
• Apprenticeship places reflect
needs of labor market
• Employers gain an ROI at the
end of training
17

18. YOUTH POLICY: PRINCIPLES AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK
In a youth guarantee, a country promulgates an active labor market
policy (ALMP): this is a public private partnership that promises all
youth a job, or a mix of school and work within 1-3 months of becoming
unemployed through their mid- 20s. Young people are not allowed to be
“NEET.”
18

19. NET-BENEFIT FOR AN AVERAGE TRAINING FIRM
(IN EUROS)
Intensive
training
phase
Learning
through
skilled
work
Source: Strupler, Mirjam; Wolter, Stefan C. (2012). Die duale Lehre eine Erfolgsgeschichte - auch für Betriebe. Ergebnisse der dritten Kosten-
Nutzen-Erhebung der Lehrlingsausbildung aus der Sicht der Betriebe, Glarus/Chur: Rüegger Verlag. 19

20. SUPPORT FUNCTIONS ENABLE EMPLOYERS TO
PARTICIPATE
• EX. The Swiss Federal Institute
for VET analyzes work
situations, breaking them into
component activities and
problems, and developing
competencies and curricula.
• EX. To revise commercial
training qualifications, 100,000
stakeholders participated over
six years organized by OPET
• EX. Over 800 employees of the
Dutch Centres of Expertise are
involved in collecting labor
market data
• EX. COLO maintains regional
centers to serve employer
needs
20

21. SINGAPORE
“In the United States, the bottom 25% of students drop out of high school, whereas
in Singapore, 90% of the bottom 25% graduate from the ITE and have decent
paying jobs.”
—Vivian Stewart, Asia Society
21

22. 22

23. CHARACTERISTICS OF SINGAPORE VET
• 1992 reformed VET from dead end option
• Tightly driven by economic analysis of labor market need
• Created Institute for Technical Education (ITE) and three sumptuous
high tech centrally located mega campuses
• Re-branded “hands-on, minds-on, hearts-on” applied learning
• Serve bottom 25% of students, 90% graduation rate
• 80 percent of the curriculum is offered as modules
• “Plan, Explore, Practice and Perform Model” (27)
23

24. NORWAY AND THE USA
Trending toward “college for all”
Recovering from “college for all”
24

25. NORWAY’S CHALLENGE: DROP-OUT
• Stable completion rate for
many years: 57,5 % of VET
pupils complete within five
years.
• The completion rate is higher
among candidates who got an
apprenticeship.
• In 2013, 68 % of the applicants
to apprenticeship signed a
contract.
• Short supply of apprenticeship
placements is a serious
challenge.
Apprenticeship
33 %
39 % not
completed
Vg3
supplementary
course to HE
20 %
Vg2 Vocational education
Vg1 Vocational education 52 %
25

26. NORWAY’S CHALLENGE: DROP-OUT
• Approx. 40 % VET-students
complete with a VET
qualification.
• The completion rate is higher
among candidates who got an
apprenticeship.
• In 2013, 68 % of the applicants
to apprenticeship signed a
contract.
• Short supply of apprenticeship
placements is a serious
challenge.
Apprenticeship
33 %
39 % not
completed
Vg3
supplementary
course to HE
20 %
Vg2 Vocational education
Vg1 Vocational education 52 %
Qualifying
½ year
Better
transitions
between 2nd
and 3rd year
Better early
introduction
to VET More enterprise
training in lower
secondary
26

27. MAIN MODEL: VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING
(VET)
A different
introduction
to upper
secondary
More
flexibility and
relevance
Piloting a dual
model
27

28. 28

29. THE PATHWAYS TO PROSPERITY REPORT
“The American system for
preparing young people to lead
productive and prosperous lives
as adults is clearly badly broken.
Failure to aggressively overcome
this challenge will surely erode
the fabric of our society.”
29

30. EDUCATION LEVEL OF U.S. LABOR FORCE
No High School
8%
High School
Diploma /GED
24%
Some College,
No Degree
14%
Certificate
12%
Bachelor's
Degree
Associate's
Degree
10%
21%
Graduate
Degree
11%
Source: Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, 2012 30

31. U.S. HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATE STAGNATING
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
13
1
United States
Czech Rep
Estonia
Germany
Switzerland
Denmark
Canada
Norway
Sweden
Russian Fed
Austria
Slovenia
Israel
Slovak Rep
New Zealand
Hungary
Finland
UK
Netherlands
Luxembourg
EU19 Avg
OECD Avg
France
Australia
Iceland
Belgium
Poland
Ireland
1
27
Korea
Chile
Greece
Italy
Spain
Turkey
Portugal
Mexico
Brazil
1990s 1980s 1970s 1960s
Source: Schleicher (2007) based on OECD data. Approximated by percentage of persons with high school or equivalent qualfications in the age groups 55-
64, 45-55, 35-44, and 25-34 years
31

32. THE U.S. LAGS IN COLLEGE COMPLETION
32

33. FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO “WHY NOW”
State/Nat
Skills
ional
Leader-ship
Mismatch
Economic
Crisis
Inter-national
Models
Un/under-employ-ment
Cost of
university
Political
and
Public
Will
Interest in
early
college
data
Harvard
and JFF
&SDS
Potential for systemic transformation & improvement across
education and workforce outcomes
33

34. CHALLENGES TO BUILDING A SYSTEM OF PATHWAYS
• Early Career Advising
– Districts lack a systemic strategy to introduce young people to
careers
• 9-14 Pathways
– Few high schools and community college integrate and align
programs of study with labor market needs
– “High demand” community college programs are not accessible to
young entrants
• Intermediaries
– Communities lack linking organizations and infrastructure for WBL
• Employer Engagement
– Employers tired of general “please engage with schools” requests;
sometimes have a dim view of adolescents; disconnect between
high schools, community colleges and unions
34

35. PATHWAYS TO PROSPERITY IMPLEMENTATION LEVERS
Intermediary links
High School
to at least
Associates in
High Demand
Field
Engaged
employers,
unions offering
WBL and
internships
between
education and
unions &
employers
Early, sustained
career counseling
Committed state
leaders and
favorable policy
environment
35

36. AND THE NEXT GENERATION!
Hoffman Schwartz grandchildren
36

37. RESOURCES
• Youth, Education, and the Role of
Society: Rethinking Learning in the High
School Years, Robert Halpern, Harvard
Education Press, 2011
• Schooling in the Workplace
Nancy Hoffman, Harvard Education Press,
2011
• KOF Youth Labour Market Index (KOF
YLM Index):
• www.kof.ethz.ch/en/indicators/ylm-index >>
• KOF study (No. 51) “On the Multiple
Dimensions of Youth Labour Markets: A
Guide to the KOF
• Youth Labour Market Index”:
• www.kof.ethz.ch/en/publications/p/kof-studies/
Nancy Hoffman
nhoffman@jff.org
www.jff.org
37

38. TEL 617.728.4446 FAX 617.728.4857
info@jff.org
88 Broad Street, 8th Floor, Boston, MA 02110
122 C Street, NW, Suite 650, Washington,
DC 20001
WWW.JFF.ORG
Appian Way
Cambridge, MA 02148
WWW.GSE.HARVARD.EDU
NANCY HOFFMAN
JFF Co-Lead, Pathways to
Prosperity Network
nhoffman@jff.org
AMY LOYD
Director, Pathways to Prosperity
Network
aloyd@jff.org
BOB SCHWARTZ
Harvard Co-Lead, Pathways to
Prosperity Network
Robert_Schwartz@gse.harvard.e
du
38